Page 58 of Cry of the Damned
“It’s a miracle you’re still alive,” Rob said. “You lost so much blood. And then that fire wolf… I’ve never seen… I didn’t think anything like that could be possible.”
“I didn’t either.”
I moved from Ila to Bethel, checked her over, and straightened her head, which was slumped to one side. From her, I went on to my wolves and struck their fur. Kall let out a long exhale when I threaded my fingers into the thick, white fur at his neck.
“How long do you think it will take them to wake up?” Rob asked, a tone of worry in his voice that made me look up.
I had assumed our problems were over, but maybe they weren’t. I stretched to my full height and faced him. “Is something wrong?”
“Well, I went up the stairs, only halfway. There are students up there—apprentices, mostly—and I think they’re slowly building up the courage to come down here.”
“Oh, no.”
That would be bad. They would not understand what had happened here. Even if they gave us a chance to explain, they would not believe us. All they would see was a group ofwildlingsinvading their precious Academy. What they would think about the absence of guards and magistrates was anyone’s guess.
“‘Oh, no’ is right,” Rob said.
Mind reeling, I thought of what to do. One thing was for sure, they couldn’t find us here.
“Okay, okay, okay,” my eyes darted all around as an idea came to me, “let’s take them through there.” I pointed at the passage that led to the dungeon.
Rob frowned as he thought about it, then started nodding. “Good idea.”
Without another word, he picked up Ila, cradling her in his arms, and quickly disappeared into the dark passage.
I shifted into my wolf form.
Rob came out a moment later as I was dragging Bethel by the collar of her shirt, which I’d captured carefully in my teeth.
He scratched his head as he tried to decide which wolf to help first. He walked past Novuk, who was the biggest, and chose Kall.
It wasn’t hard to get Bethel in. She felt slight compared to my wolf strength. I left her next to Ila, just a little way past the entrance, then ran back outside.
Rob was dragging Kall by the hind legs, putting all his weight into it. “Damn, he’s heavy!”
I went for Maki next. It would take both Rob and me to be able to move Novuk. He was too massive for either one of us to do it alone.
I sent my teeth into the scruff of Maki’s neck—I hated to do it, but I could already hear the students’ voices echoing in the winding staircase—and started dragging him toward the passage. On my way there, I passed Rob, who was struggling with Kall’s weight. I dropped Maki off and dashed back out to help Rob. Together we easily got Kall in, then we rushed out to start working on Novuk. While I pulled him by the scruff of the neck, Rob pushed. We’d barely gotten him into the passageway when students started spilling out into the chamber. I pressed the rock to activate the slab, which moved into position, shutting just in time.
Rob exhaled in relief. “That was close,” he whispered. “What now?”
“We wait.”
CHAPTER 23
Whilewewaited,sittingwith our backs against the walls of the narrow passage, I thought about what we should do.
The commotion had drawn the students out of bed, and I had to assume that by now, they were truly puzzled by the lack of magistrates and guards. Convincing them of the true nature of the Academy would be next to impossible, even under the current circumstances. And what they might try to do without the leadership of the magistrates was anyone’s guess.
My head hurt considering the possibilities of what the older students might try to do. I lowered my forehead to my knees and tried to listen to the easy breathing of my friends as they slept, recovering from their exhaustion. The warm light of the torches cast everything in warm colors and projected dancing shadows on the walls.
“Are you okay?” Rob asked, sitting against the opposite wall, a few yards away from me.
“Just thinking,” I said.
“About?”
“The students up there.” I glanced upward. “We’ll take our little ones back, of course.”
