“Without actually being present, it wasn’t possible for me to detect the trap,” Iannis told me. “I was able to see the magic, but not what sort of magic it was. In my elation at spotting the key, I didn’t think to warn Rylan about the possibility of a trap until it was too late.”

“Crap.” I kicked at a rock, and it went shooting up the hillside. Dammit, but I needed to get over there! “Rylan!” I shouted again, as loudly as I could, hoping that my mental voice would wake him.

“I’m… here….” Rylan’s voice echoed faintly in my head. My knees went weak as relief surged through me, and I braced my hand against a tree to steady myself.

“Thank Magorah,” I said, my voice a little shaky. “Are you okay?”

“I feel like I’ve been hit by lightning, but I’ll live,” he grumbled.

“Can you stand?”

“I’m getting to my feet now.”

“Good. Iannis says that you need to destroy the clock.”

“Hell no,” Rylan growled. “I’m not touching that thing again. I don’t think I could survive another hit like that.”

“The trap should no longer be active,” Iannis said—he was still joined with me, so he could hear Rylan. “I believe it was a one-shot spell.”

“You believe?” I said testily. “Are you willing to risk my cousin’s life on that?”

“If he does not destroy the clock, then everyone inside will be destroyed when Lord Logar arrives with his mages,” Iannis said sternly. “There is no choice in the matter.”

“Fuck.” Why did I keep finding myself in these impossible situations? “Rylan, Iannis says the spell’s deactivated. You have to destroy the clock or we won’t be able to get you all out.”

“Fine,” Rylan said. “But you owe me a bottle of teca.”

“Done.”

“We should get up the hill,” Elnos said. “That way we’ll be able to see if the wards come down.”

We scrambled up the hill, my heart beating a rapid tattoo against my chest as anxiety chewed my gut. Was Rylan going to be able to destroy the clock? Or would it hit him with that spell again? What if he did destroy the clock, but the wards didn’t come down? What would we do then?

“I smashed the fucking thing to bits,” Rylan said, no small amount of relish in his voice. “Is there anything else I need to do?”

“The wards are down,” Elnos said, his voice bubbling with excitement. “We can get in now!”

“Yes!” I crowed, a grin spreading across my face even as a strident alarm pealed across the open air from the direction of the bunker, assaulting my sensitive ears. “We’re good to go. Get out of there and go grab Noria. We’re coming in.”

* * *