That wasn’t true. The low rumble that echoed through the passageway belied the fact that there was definitely something in the shadows, a growl, building to a roar.

The light from the spheres bloomed as Kufa hurried back. “We need to move.”

Ro peered into the darkness again. The roar sounded again.

“What is it?”

“Something I thought would still be asleep.”

She barged past them, her feet scrabbling as she started to climb the way they had come.

“Wait,” Ro said, grabbing her furs. “We’re leaving?”

The old woman pulled herself free of his grip. “As swiftly as we can, if we want to live.”

“But the Leveler …”

“Will still be there when the owner of that roar has passed, but we won’t be. We’ll be either on the surface or sliding down its gullet.”

“What about the faithful?” Ro argued. “What about finding the Path?”

Dis thought she was going to strike him.

“What use is the Path if you are dead? I’m trying to protect you. We can come back, but only when the cobonica has passed.”

“And that’s what the sound is? A cobonica?”

“What do you think?” She tried to continue on her way, but Ro wouldn’t leave her. “Let me go!”

“No.”

That was the voice that Dis had heard in the Great Hall the day he joined the Nihil. That was the voice that commanded the Storm.

Ro shrugged off his furs and, kicking them aside, pulled a cylinder from his belt. For a second Dis thought it was the artifact he had seen Ro studying on the Spider, until Ro pressed his thumb against the control on the side of the device and a yellow blade slid elegantly from its tip.

A lightsaber. The Eye of the Nihil had a lightsaber.

Ro stood, legs braced and saber burning, and glared into the darkness. The roar turned into a bellow and was joined by a slithering and a scraping, the stone beneath Dis’s feet trembling as he took his place by his Eye, fragments of ice falling like snow from the ceiling.

“Ready?” Ro asked, staring straight ahead.

“Ready,” Dis confirmed.