Chel went to throw himself forward, but his drunken foot slipped on the polished stair and he crashed sideways, just as Foss and Rennic surged past him. They leapt at the Mawn, driving them back into the hallway beyond, while Chel staggered back from the wall nursing a fresh bruise to his temple. At least everyone inside is unarmed, he thought, one hand to his head.

Lemon bounded past him, still carrying a bottle from upstairs. ‘We’ll take care of these boys, wee bear. Follow Whispie, get princey out the back door, eh? See you at the wagon.’ She tossed the bottle in her hand, caught it by the neck, then with a wild cry she charged toward the open doorway after Foss and Rennic just as another Mawn heavy appeared.

Loveless had Chel by the scruff. ‘Go, go, go!’

Whisper leading, they ran, Kosh keeping a nervous and disapproving pace beside Chel and Tarfel, Loveless to their rear. Chel felt light-headed, fighting a rising tide of bile at the back of his throat. He was flying down the stairs, never faster on his feet, but his body was exacting a terrible price. He rubbed a sleeve over his face, mopping at a sudden, stinking sheen of sweat.

The walls had changed, they had reached the lower floors and now slabs of unpolished dark stone loomed alongside them. No more corridors, instead a wide hallway at the stairway’s end, and across it, a heavy-timbered archway with a rolling double-door.

‘There,’ Loveless urged, pointing ahead. ‘The courtyards are beyond. Shit!’ She came up short, a look of panic in her eyes.

Chel crashed to a halt, the others with him, and fought back a revolting burp. ‘What? What is it?’

‘My sword. I need to get it back from the steel-room.’

Something thumped over their heads, hard enough to shake dust from the floorboards above.

Chel raised a sweat-slicked eyebrow. ‘Seriously? Now?’ He thought he could hear Lemon roaring overhead.

She met his eye with a look so fierce he released the noxious burp.

‘Give me your tokens. I’ll get everything I can, meet you at the wagon. Whisp, get the horses hitched and be ready to go.’ She gestured to the door. ‘It’s one-way, once you’re through, you can’t get back. If the rest of us don’t appear by the time you’ve hitched the team, make for the bridge and we’ll meet you there.’

Chel found his legs were trembling; it had to be from the run down the stairs. ‘And what if you don’t show there, either?’

She flicked her eyes back to him. ‘Stick with Whisp. She’ll look after you, cub.’ Then she was away down the hallway, around the corner and gone from sight.

Whisper put one hand on his arm. Time to go.

They made for the door.

***

Chel stared blankly around the torchlit courtyard. ‘Where did Lemon park the wagon? Did anyone see?’