Page 143 of Crown of Darkness
Behind her, a horrific rumble echoes through the stones.
“Is it just me?” Grimm asks, his fur rising along his spine, “Or can anyone else hear that dreadful rasping sound?”
I have no idea where he appeared from.
“It’s not just you,” Eris says, her face grim as she turns toward the throne room.
The doors slam open, the stones in the floors parting as if some enormous leviathan swims beneath them. The bleached skull of something monstrous tosses apart enormous blocks of slate as if they’re mere pebbles. I catch a glimpse of an ancient eye socket, gleaming with the eerie blue light of a wight’s magic.
“Is that a….” Andraste’s voice trails off.
“Dragon,” I whisper in horror, because the last of the great dragons died out centuries ago.
“Find that Hallow!” Eris screams, shoving me toward the stairs.
We sprint down the hallway as the creature shoulders its way through the floors behind us.
Down and down and down we go, boots hammering on the stone.
Creepy catacombs loom ahead of us.
Of course.
“This way!” I lunge through cobwebs, sweeping them aside with my sword.
A rat skitters past my boots—please let it be a rat—and then an enormous belch of blue flame rockets through the catacombs behind us.
Its heat blooms over my skin as I throw myself behind a stone statue of some headless armored prince. Knees stinging, I throw my arms over my face and belatedly shield. A bubble of air surrounds me, blue flame washing over the edges.
And then the flames die down.
I slowly lower my arms, gasping for breath. Little spot fires bloom all along the tunnel. An ancient pennant drips flame, and a channel of oil on the far side of the tunnel blazes with light.
The air tastes hot and ashy.
“Eris?” I yell.
Nothing.
“Andraste?”
My sister appears on quiet feet, jerking me upright even as she presses a finger to her lips. I’m so relieved to see someone alive—even her. I grab my sword from the ground, hissing as my hand closes around hot metal, though I dare not drop it.
“I don’t know where Eris went,” Andraste says, linking with me mentally. “We have to get out of here.”
“Not without her.”
The dragon is enormous, its skeletal tail lashing behind it as it lumbers around the corner of the catacombs. Once upon a time, it must have been as big as three houses, but all that remains are bones, bleached by the grave.
“I have an idea.” I point to the roof.
She understands instantly.
“Distract it!” She slips into the shadows.
“Hey, you!” I yell, stepping out of my hiding place and waving my hands.
The wight’s head turns toward me.
