جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 90

(POV: Alexander) I ran down the damp tunnels as fast as I could move while holding my sword out in front of me, because Mae had told me she decoded the coordinates for the underground sanctum, and I needed to find Zareth before she tried to face the cultists down here by herself, so I rounded the final turn and burst into the central chamber just as Zareth placed her bare hand directly over the pulsing runes on the altar. "Zareth, stop!" I yelled, taking off running across the stone floor toward her, but before I could take two steps, a massive shockwave of violet energy exploded from the altar and shattered the stone ceiling right above our heads. Dust and debris rained down on the floor in a thick cloud, and I threw my body over Zareth to shield her from the falling rocks while the ground shook so hard I nearly lost my grip, coughing through the dirt filling the air as I asked her if she was alright. "I am okay," Zareth coughed, pushing herself up from the floor while wiping soo

(POV: James) I left Sabriel with the medical staff in the safe tent and hurried down the stone steps toward the outer perimeter of the palace walls, because Kaelor had given me strict orders to check every gate and make sure no more reinforcements could slip in from the city streets while we were still cleaning up the mess from the courtyard battle, and my boots crunched on the gravel as I walked past the darkened archways. "Is the gate secure?" Marcus asked, jogging up beside me with his sword resting on his shoulder, and he looked around the empty street with a frown on his face while wiping sweat from his forehead. "The main gate is locked tight, but we need to check the side alleyways near the residential wing," I said, pointing toward the dark gap between the stone buildings, "because if any of Vane's men are still hiding out here, they will try to hit us where we are weakest." "Lead the way," Marcus replied, falling into step beside me as we turned down the narrow passage, "

(POV: Zareth) I sat at the wooden table in my temporary quarters and stared down at the small metal amulet we had recovered from the altar in the grand hall, turning the trinket over in my hands while the strange red light pulsing from its center began to shift into a steady silver beam, and I leaned closer to watch the beam point directly toward the western wall, which made me realize the trinket was actually acting as a compass pointing straight toward the cult's hidden headquarters in the old district. "If this amulet is pointing straight to the old district, that means Vane and his remaining loyalists are hiding out right under our noses in the abandoned quarter," I said out loud to myself, standing up from the table while sliding the glowing trinket into my leather pouch, and I walked over to the corner of the room to strap my dagger belt around my waist and pull my travelling cloak over my shoulders. There was no time to waste waiting around for another full council meeting o

(POV: Sabriel) I sorted through the wooden crates piled inside the main armory, checking every weapon to make sure the strike team had enough silver blades and healing tonics for the upcoming raid on the amphitheater, and I winced slightly every time I reached down to lift a heavy bundle, because my left shoulder was still throbbing from the stitches tearing during the courtyard defense, but I ignored the pain and tossed a pouch of steel bolts onto the workbench anyway. "You are going to pop every single stitch back open if you keep lifting those crates by yourself," James said, stepping through the open armory doors while holding a roll of clean bandages in his hand, and he walked straight over to the bench and blocked my path before I could reach for another box. "I am just organizing the supplies for the raid, James, and I do not need your help," I snapped, trying to step around him to get to the healing tonics, "so go check on the guard rotation instead of bothering me." "I al

(POV: Kaelor) I scaled the outer wall of the amphitheater with my hands gripping the rough masonry, and I pulled myself up over the ledge before looking down into the massive open arena below where dozens of cloaked cultists stood in a wide circle around a deep stone pit, chanting in low, rhythmic voices while holding lit torches that flickered against the dark stone seats, and I knew we had arrived right in time before Vane could finish what he started, because the space down there was filled with thick smoke and the smell of burning oil that made my throat burn with every breath I took, and I turned slightly to signal the men behind me while keeping my eyes fixed on the center of the ring where the chanting was growing louder by the second, and I gripped the hilt of my sword so tightly my knuckles turned completely white, and James crawled up onto the ledge beside me with his weapon drawn, and Marcus followed right behind him to check the positions of the guards along the upper tie