“You heard him!” Jorick shouted as he got to his feet and unsheathed his sword. “Let’s go!”

Evin dusted himself off and looked around the roof. There were now two gaping, jagged holes where the chimera’s fire breath had struck, and several wizards lay unconscious. Across the roof, Evin could see several more wizards on the other side of the transparent wall that bisected the top of the keep, forming a barrier between the half of the keep that was inside the dome and the half that was on the outside. The wizards threw their hands in the air and opened their mouths as if they were shouting, but the thickness of the wall absorbed their screams. On the inner half of the keep’s roof, the chimera busied himself by chasing a screaming man around the edge of the roof, lashing out with his claws and tail to try and knock him over.

In the northwestern corner of the roof, Evin saw the trapdoor.

“This way!” Evin raced toward the door. He looked over his shoulder and saw Jorick following him, his hand gripping Bet’s arm tightly to drag her behind him.

“You don’t have to be so rough,” Bet complained.

“I don’t want to hear it, you phony!” Jorick shouted at her.

Evin skidded to a stop and let a screaming wizard run in front of him, the chimera hovering at the magic-user’s heels. Then, he dived to the edge of the wooden trapdoor, grabbed the iron handle set in its middle, and pulled the door open. A set of stairs spiraled down into the keep.

Another column of flame lit up the sky and exploded behind them as they descended into the depths of the keep.

The trio scrambled down into a long carpeted hallway one floor beneath the top of the keep. They veered past small wooden tables and plants in ornate pottery. Metal lanterns lit the way, and in between them, tall paintings depicting somber men and women in wizard robes lined the walls. Wooden doors were set in the walls at regular intervals, and at the end of the hall was another stairway leading down.

Evin could hear the sounds of more booming, roaring, and screaming above their heads as he led the way down the long corridor to the other set of stairs. He strained to hear whether anyone was on the other side of the doors as he passed, but if there were, they made no sound.

Finally they reached the end of the hall. Just as Evin began to lead the others down, two figures burst up from below.

The people—two men, one fat and balding, the other short and stick thin, both wearing bright blue robes and clutching long staffs—stopped. Both groups stared at each other.

“Betilivatis?” the skinny wizard asked.

“Colton.” Bet nodded at the short wizard, then the fat one. “Klem.”