Lena threw herself to the ground as the howls behind her grew in intensity—along with the clink and scratch of claws on the cobblestones. She pressed herself under the bush, the old thorny stems snagging at her habit and showering her with rot, and scrabbled into the musty darkness beneath the wall. Curling her fingers as best she could into the damp soil, Lena pulled herself forward, wriggling until her feet were almost concealed under the rosebush, the weight of the great thick wall, dark and cold and ancient, bearing down over her head.

The gap was tight, her lungs constricting as she forced her shoulders farther, her arms outstretched. She thought she could feel a wisp of air from the other side—but it was then that a bark came from close quarters, followed by a frenzy of growls, a snapping of teeth. Something closed around the tough leather heel of her boot; a surprising strength pulled her backward. Panic fueled her. Reaching up, she gripped the wall’s slick underside with clawed hands. Her shield-eyes snagged on a root, the leather strap snapping. She let them fall, kicked out hard, and redoubled her efforts, squirming frantically under the wall until she could see the light filtering through the other side. She squeezed her shoulders forward and, with more difficulty, her hips, ripping the coarse material of her habit. By this time, she had begun to sob—but somehow she forced her way out.

Lena staggered to her feet, half falling into the forest. Her heart plummeted as she absorbed the sight confronting her. The forest was a picture of decay, the trees visibly withering. A gray residue veiled their bark and occasionally bumped outward in a strange fungus. The storm cloud was as thick as it was within the walls of the city, flashing and rumbling between the trees. She thought of her shield-eyes, fallen under the wall—but where she had crawled, the hounds could surely follow; she couldn’t risk retrieving them. She ran instead, stumbling over roots, slipping on wet leaves. Here and there, a rotted trunk had fallen across the path, or a branch half snapped from a larger tree threatened her head.