The explosion had been ferocious; for an instant, Aelyn feared too ferocious. Lumps of blackened and burning fungus were strewn across the square, some still raining down hundreds of yards distant. The growth itself had been annihilated all the way back to the palace steps, simply blown to bits by the force of the blast. As the black smoke billowed, Aelyn realised with a surge of triumph that the fungal mass was burning fiercely. The flames crackled, spreading further into its enormity with every passing second. The fungus writhed, as though trying to squirm away from the inferno that was eating it alive, and Aelyn felt a sting of bitter satisfaction at the thought that this awful thing might feel pain.

The explosion had scattered the insect tide, burning many to windblown ash, and Aelyn spat a mouthful of charred bug-dust onto the slick cobbles. The blackened bodies of greenskins were strewn about, still burning. The troggoth was lying on its face, the flesh of its back aflame.

Three watchmen had also been consumed by the blast, Aelyn saw with a stab of regret, but the rest were staggering groggily to their feet. Captain Morthan stood, the cut on her forehead reopened and spilling blood down over one eye. Borik and Olt rose, the latter shaking his head as though to clear the ringing in his ears.

The ground shook again beneath Aelyn’s feet, another savage tremor, and a fresh geyser of sundered rock spat skywards on the other side of the square. Diminutive black-clad figures spilled up from below. As her hearing returned, she became aware of fresh screams ringing from within buildings all around her, and crash after crash as more tunnel entrances burst open from below.

Captain Morthan spat a tooth, blinked twice, then turned and hauled one of her watchmen to her feet. ‘Fountains Square,’ she barked, and to Aelyn her voice still sounded muffled by the blast. ‘We’ve done all we can here. Fountains Square!’

Morthan set off, weaving slightly as she ran. Aelyn and her companions shared a look, then followed the captain and her surviving men. Morthan led them along the square’s western edge, as far away from the emerging greenskins as was possible, and hurriedly unlocked a postern door in the inner wall.

‘We’ll cut along Makeweave Street, down the back of the Red Firkin and across Tinker’s Square to the Fieldway,’ she said to her watchmen. ‘That should bring us to the square from the west.’

Aelyn took one last glance behind her before she ducked through the postern gate after the watchmen. The fungal abomination burned, and the palace with it, a vast pyre for all those who had died at the victory feast.

‘Goodbye, old friend,’ she whispered, then ducked into the tunnel and was gone.

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

FALL