The Gates of Memory, стр. 101
“Don’t make me do this,” Regar said.
Brandt heard the son’s pain, but determination as well. If Hanns didn’t back down, Regar most certainly wouldn’t.
Hanns’ shoulders slumped. For a moment, Brandt thought Regar had convinced his father.
Then Hanns stood up straight. “I’m sorry, too, Regar. I should have taught you better. I should have prepared you better for her attacks. Your failure is mine.”
The ball of fire hovering in front of Regar transformed, flattening and expanding into a wall of orange flame, licking at the air like a hungry animal. With every pace it advanced it grew in size, speed, and intensity. Brandt considered absorbing it, but there was nowhere for the heat to go. The air was already blistering hot.
Hanns remained, waiting for the wall of destruction to reach him.
When it did, the battle began in earnest.
54
Stairs. Alena decided that if she never saw another staircase again she would die a contented woman. Why would anyone choose to live in a place like this? Sure, it had never fallen to a siege, but she wasn’t sure safety was worth the never ending burn in her legs. Making matters worse, Ren wasn’t as familiar with Faldun’s winding ways as she would have liked. Several times they were forced to climb up the stairs they had just descended.
Alena was also surprised to find that going down stairs could be just as torturous as going up them, but in wholly different ways. Her knees and legs ached, and her most vivid wish was only for flat ground.
Fortunately, they ran into no resistance as they descended and searched for the entrance to the lower tunnels underneath the mountain. It seemed that the entire might of Faldun was focused below, preparing to defend against an attack that would never come.
When Alena saw Hanns and Brandt fall from the sky she swore her imagination had finally gone too far. She thought perhaps she’d taken one stair too many and her mind had shattered. But she leaned over the wall and saw the conclusion to their wild descent. Jace joined her, grunting as the two landed safely in the square below. Alena might have been without words, but that was a problem that rarely afflicted her brother. “Didn’t know that was possible.”
Alena shook her head, still not sure she should believe what her eyes were telling her.
“I want to try that someday,” Jace announced.
Alena just shook her head again. She had no other response.
Ren urged them on and Alena resumed their descent. When Ren finally announced they were on the correct level, she almost hugged him. They took a moment to shake out their legs before continuing.
The party ran through the empty streets of Faldun, Ren becoming more confident in his directions the closer they came to the entrance. The emptiness of Faldun unsettled her. Unlike Sheren’s village, Faldun was clean and tidy. It looked like it should be occupied, and the fact that it wasn’t jarred her senses.
Then Alena saw it, a square entrance that led deep into the mountain behind Faldun. They ran closer, but when they were about ten paces away Alena came to a stop, along with everyone else in the party.
Why had she ever wanted to enter a tunnel like that? She hated caves, tight spaces, and the darkness that knew no sunlight.
There would be another way to the gate, she was certain of it. Those who had come before wouldn’t have limited themselves to one entrance. They could find another route, one that would no doubt be safer.
Beside her, Jace spoke. “Alena, I know this might sound odd, but I’m certain that if we go in there, you’re going to die. Let’s find another way.”
The others all bobbed their heads, except for Toren, who signed his agreement.
She had already turned around to begin their search when she realized what had happened. The thoughts were her own, but they had been shaped and exaggerated. Her dislike of tight spaces had grown into a crippling fear. She dropped into a soulwalk and saw the weaving they had walked through. It wasn’t terribly strong or complex, which meant it hadn’t been left by the queen, but by someone else.
Alena could guess. The queen rarely, if ever, was alone. She had brought some of her priests with her through the gate.
With a thought, she brushed away the weavings wrapped around her and the others. She detested compulsions of all kinds, but hated it most when her own emotions were used against her. The others blinked. Most of them quickly realized what they’d experienced, but Ren looked properly horrified.
Now wary of traps and weavings, Alena scouted ahead. Her soulwalk revealed another barrier, stronger, stretched tight across the entrance of the tunnel. It looked vicious. But now that she was aware of it, she was confident she could overcome it.
She addressed the group. “She brought priests. Jace, Ren, and Toren, take the lead, but don’t enter the tunnel until I give the signal. Once I do, charge in and kill anyone in front of us. Even if they stand still. The real battle won’t be physical.”
Jace looked uncomfortable with the order, but they both silently agreed. Alena had Sheren stay behind her. She didn’t want her in the soulwalk, not in battle against the Lolani.
Then Alena focused on her soulwalk. She followed the threads the priests had left. They weren’t far from the entrance, no doubt ready to finish whoever managed to pass through the first two levels of compulsion.
Alena stepped up to the weaving and her father’s knife appeared in her hand. She sliced through the barrier, cutting the compulsion into pieces. In the physical world, she gestured the warriors forward. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to go far to find the soulwalkers.
Until then, she could distract them.
Alena followed the withering threads of compulsion to their owners, two women who reeled backward in surprise. They hadn’t expected an attack from a fellow soulwalker.
Alena connected with