Page 142 of Crown of Darkness
Eris spins around, her knife held in her fist and the whites of her eyes showing. “We need to leave. Now.”
“The real crown has to be here somewhere! Distract it.”
“Vi!” Andraste slices her ropes on Eris’s drawn blade, which is a gutsy move at the best of times. “As much as I hate to agree with your… friend, this is not the time. Give me my sword!”
“No,” Eris snaps.
“Give her the sword,” I yell, because three swords are better than two.
Eris shoots me an incredulous look, then tosses Andraste’s sword at her.
“Maybe the clue was in that thing!” Eris points at the spider-crown scuttling over the walls. “There has to be a reason the oracle sent you to find it.”
“I’ll get it.”
I sprint across the stone flagstones, sliding beneath a whip of actinic blue fire as the Briar King stands. Snatching at the crown, I scrabble to my feet, and shove it in the bag slung over my shoulder.
Andraste lunges forward, slashing through one of the whip-like vines. Her blade sheers through the thick trunk, but the mess of thorns writhes toward her.
I leap over the thorns, grabbing Andraste’s gauntleted wrist as I go. “Run!”
Together, the pair of us sprint toward the archway, where Eris is gesturing to us.
“I’ll cover you!” Eris yells.
Stone columns collapse ahead of us, the arch crumbling across the entrance. I skid to a halt, throwing my hands up to protect my face.
When the dust clears, the entrance is completely covered.
“Curse it.” I turn around breathlessly. There has to be some way out.
“This way,” Andraste says grimly, yanking me toward a set of broken doors that lead further into the ruined keep.
Thorns lash out, and I leap over them, landing with a jarring thud and throwing myself forward into a roll. One slashes through my cheek, the sting like the hot kiss of a blade. “Eris!”
She clears the way, the sweep of her sword hacking through brambles and thorns.
The thorns don’t touch her, I notice.
Instead, they recoil, as if not even they are certain what sort of magic stalks within their midst. But there are more of them, crawling over the walls and seeking to cut off our only path to freedom.
I drive my sword through the thorns, slashing and hacking. Sweat drips down my spine, and I can feel that cursed creature trying to break free of my bag.
Eris cuts an entire wall of thorns free, revealing a gaping tunnel. Andraste summons a faelight, and a thick layer of dust on the carpets stretches into infinity. Nothing has come this way for centuries, but I can’t help staring into the dark and wondering if this is theonlyway out.
There has to be a way out.
There has to be—
There.
Something shivers, deep below me.
“I can feel the Hallow,” I gasp, turning toward an ancient spiral staircase. “It’s still alive.”
Eris grabs my arm. “This Hallow has been forbidden for centuries. We don’t know if it’s even usable.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
