Page 57 of The Iron Vow

“Keirran,” I urged, extending a hand down, “give me your sword.”

He did, passing it up by the hilt. I grabbed it, set it beside me on the roof, and reached for him once more. “Now your hand.”

A Nightmare scuttled toward me out of nowhere and leaped for my back. It landed, disturbingly light, and then there was a blinding pain in my shoulder as it plunged something sharp into my flesh.

Clenching my jaw around a yell, I reached back with my free hand, grabbed whatever I could, and yanked the Nightmare over my head. It sailed into the void, dropping past Keirran, barely missing him as it flailed and plummeted to the stones far below.

“Keirran.” I reached for him again, and this time his fingers latched on to my wrist. I dragged him out of the hole, ignoring the way my shoulder blazed with pain, and pulled him to his feet on the roof. His eyes were bright with worry as they focused on me.

“You’re bleeding.”

“It’s not serious,” I told him, handing him his blade. “Come on, we’re almost there.”

We continued across the roof, running along beams and leaping over holes, until we reached the spot where the fallen tower leaned against the wall. Rotting and ancient, it pointed like a finger toward the highest spot in the castle, the spire with water pouring from the top floor. I reached the base of the fallen tower and started to climb, trying to ignore the searing pain every time I used my right arm. I could feel warm wetness spreading across my back and hoped that whatever the Nightmare had stabbed me with wasn’t poisoned.

Gritting my teeth, I reached for the top, and Keirran’s hand gripped mine and drew me up the final few feet. As I scrambled up with him, the stones beneath me disintegrated, making me stagger, and Keirran grabbed my other arm.

His face paled as he drew his hand back, the palm and fingers stained red. “Not serious,” I insisted, though his expression remained alarmed. “It won’t kill me. Besides, there’s no time to deal with it now.” I gazed up the stone pathway before us, all the way to the turret roof, sticking out over empty air. The final spire, thin and crooked, waited for us on the other side of a deadly plunge to the bottom of the castle.

“There’s quite a leap at the end,” Keirran mused, judging the space between turret and tower with narrowed eyes. I stared up at it, too, noting the water pouring from the top floor, cascading to the bottom. Most of the outer walls were gone, showing the lower floors through the gaps.

Keirran and I scanned the outer wall of the tower, searching for the best way in. “If we aim for the third floor from the top,” I said, “we’ll avoid most of the waterfalls. I think we’re going to get wet no matter where we go, but at least the floor beyond isn’t waterlogged.”

“What about the next one up?” Keirran replied, pointing to a hole farther up the tower. “It’s a harder jump, but we’ll be closer to the top—”

A scratching sound interrupted him, and he glanced back as a trio of mouthless horrors clawed their way onto the tower with us. “Never mind. Third floor it is.”

We sprinted up the tower, running along the uneven path, hearing the Nightmares skittering behind us. From the corner of my eye, I caught bursts of orange light coming from the courtyard below, heard the screams of the Nightmare ringing off the towers, and prayed my family would be safe for just a little longer.

Keirran reached the end of the makeshift bridge and hurled himself into the air. I watched him soar gracefully over the gap, come down, and hit the ledge with room to spare, rolling into the tower. With the Nightmares right on my heels, I sprinted up the turret and bunched my muscles to follow.

A rumble went through the air, and the entire tower beneath me shuddered. I staggered, but the edge was right there, and I couldn’t stop. I leaped into empty space, seeing a Nightmare slash at me as it flung itself off the roof as well, missing. It tumbled to the ground, bursting into dust on the stones.

Oh, this is going to be close.

I reached for the ledge, suddenly knowing I was going to miss it. But then Keirran was there, stretching out an arm and grabbing my wrist as I came down. I hit the side of the tower with a grunt that drove all the air from my lungs, but the grip on my hand didn’t waver. Keirran pulled me onto the ledge before we both collapsed, gasping, on the stones.

My lungs burned, my legs shook, and my back stung with a constant, fiery pain. I wished I could lie down on the hard stones and not move for a few minutes, but I forced myself upright and gazed around. We had landed in a small, circular room with a pillar of water gushing straight down the center of the spire. A spiraling staircase, the same one I had seen in my dream, ran along the wall to the floors above.

Keirran stood as well, putting a hand on my non-wounded arm. “Are you all right?” he asked. I nodded, and his gaze rose to the stairs. “Whatever we’re looking for, it has to be up there, right?”

“Let’s hope so.”

22

TEARS AND REGRET

The stairs were covered in tears. There was no way to traverse them without stepping in the water, which sloshed against my boots and made my eyes burn wildly. For a moment, Keirran hesitated, eyes shadowed. But then he set his jaw and followed, striding up the waterlogged steps until we both reached the top.

My throat and eyes burned. The smell of the tears was overwhelming, and the entire floor was covered in several inches of water, making it look like a small indoor pool. Nearly every wall had fallen away, showing open sky, and a swollen red moon had come out from behind the clouds. The hole in the center of the room gushed water, tears flowing through the cracks in the floor and over the sides of the tower in an unending stream of poison and despair.

Keirran coughed, holding his sleeve to his jaw as he gazed around. “So much water,” he rasped. “Where is it all coming from?”

“There,” I said, and pointed across the room.

A square pool, looking almost like a marble bath, sat against the wall opposite us. There were no faucets, no streams gushing into the pool, but water overflowed from every side, spilling to the floor in an endless cascade.

“Okay,” I mused, breathing as shallowly as I could as water sloshed around us. “We’re at the top of the tower. Where could the essence be? Do you see it, Keirran?”

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