BooksBarbecue
Back The Endless Skies
Chapters (57)
  1. Copyright Notice
  2. Dedication
  3. Map
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. 45
  50. 46
  51. 47
  52. 48
  53. EPILOGUE
  54. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  55. Also by Shannon Price
  56. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  57. Newsletter Sign-up

Standing on shaky legs, I check my body. Blood trails down my upper arm and the side of my leg where the armor doesn’t cover it, but otherwise, I’m all right.

Ahead of me lies nothing but open land. My spirit rises, only to be snapped back down as if shot with a human’s bullet. Rowan.

She and Ox were out of the path of the falling crates—weren’t they? They must have been. But even with the humans distracted, she and Ox wouldn’t have had time to escape the way Io, Sethran, and I did. Trapped on three sides, only one would have remained open.

They went into the mines.

42

ROWAN

The mines push inward and downward, and in the span of moments, I feel like I’m suffocating. With both arms out, my fingertips brush either side of the walls. Small lamps line the mineshaft, cutting my vision with bursts of light and harsh shadow. With every step, I think, This is what it felt like at Garradin. They couldn’t get out. They ran out of air.…

Ox runs ahead of me. When the crates began to fall, they pulled earth with them, creating a rockslide. The humans were trapped and crushed under the weight of the dirt, and that’s the moment Ox grabbed me and pulled me into the westernmost tunnel of the mines.

We can’t be more than a few feet into the earth, but already, it feels like too much, like there’s no air to breathe. I catch a glimpse of Ox’s face in the lamplight. His eyes are wide, face flushed with sweat and fear. Nothing I’m thinking is unique to me.

“Ox,” I say. “How are we going to get out?”

“There have to be air vents,” he says. “Same way there are vents in the tunnels below the palace. The humans need to breathe, too. Come on.”

I trust him, my own mind struggling to keep up with the twists of the tunnel. Ox is continually choosing left and avoiding the veins that go deeper into the ground. Shouts from behind us tell me we’re so close to being caught. My heart thrums in my chest, my breath coming in weaker and weaker gasps. Suddenly, we round a corner and see light.

Not six feet off the ground is a vent—a small one, but one is all we need.

“Hurry,” says Ox, and he ushers me forward. He kneels and lets me use his cupped hand as a step, then boosts me up. Rocks cut into my skin as I crawl through the square passageway, maybe a foot and a half thick. Ox shouts at me from behind, and before I can say anything back, he pushes me out and into the dirt. I fall hands first onto the outside of the mine and get up, reaching back for Ox.