Members of the Guard had collapsed the perimeter into a semicircle around the opening, not a breath of air between them, facing outward. Their Launch Beams ignited in a brilliant blue lattice of bars, deterring even the craziest, bravest of pilgrims from charging. The hum was an awesome thing to hear, somehow overpowering even the clank of the door completing its slide into a hollow compartment of cement.

“I’ll go alone,” she commanded, and she sensed the guards’ fierce unwillingness to let her do such a thing. But they were wise enough to keep their protests silent. The worshippers would of course be enraptured by her bravery, though needlessly so. She’d know if anyone besides Mikhail had passed through before her, and no one had. Also, she had a virtual armory of weapons hidden throughout the caverns. No, she must go alone. She couldn’t risk a witness to those things about to occur.

Alexandra stepped across the threshold of the entrance, placing her foot on the tiny bump in the floor that triggered the closing of the door. Again came the rumbling, the vibration, the squeal of moving metal. Looking at the footprints Mikhail had left in the dust, she didn’t move until the door closed with a hard thump.

After the last echoes of that thump bounced their way to oblivion, complete silence enveloped her. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. There was little doubt that Mikhail knew she had entered the stairwell to the caverns. There was every doubt that she knew how he’d react. No one had been to the Glade in over a year.

She began her descent, treading in the footsteps of a god.

The Orphan had been standing guard upon the wall for over ten hours. His muscles were stiff; his joints ached; his lower back had begun to spasm, just a little. And he was hungry. Damn, he was hungry. If it were appropriate, he’d scale down the sheer cliff of his wall, march out to the man and horse he’d killed, and feast on their meat. Man or beast, he didn’t care. Build a fire, cut some slices of flesh, roast it up.

Maybe the Orphan was going crazy up here on the wall.