Scarlett wrapped her arms around Arrah, who giggled in response.

“What are you doing here? How did you escape from Azure Heights? Are you okay? How’s your brother?” Scarlett launched her questions at Arrah while cupping the girl’s face as if she were trying to make sure that the Iman girl was really there, and not a figment of her imagination.

The other Imen smiled, watching the reunion while occasionally glancing at the sinkhole we’d left behind with Patrik’s spell. With hands resting on their sword hilts, they were ready to intervene if hostiles came through. It was only a matter of time.

“I fought my way out,” Arrah replied. “I crossed the Valley of Screams through another secret tunnel that the Maras knew nothing about and headed straight for Vesta’s village.”

“You know Vesta?” Scarlett gasped, her eyes wide with surprise.

It shouldn’t have come as a shock, though. Arrah was the only Iman that the Exiled Maras couldn’t control, and she knew everything that was going on with Neraka. She was bound to have frequent contact with the free people beyond the gorges.

“I do. So, when the elders told me what you were planning, I had to come get you before it was too late. I learned about the Dhaxanians’ alliance with the daemons from the Exiled Maras,” Arrah said. “I didn’t have a chance to tell anyone about it after I found out, and that was just a few days before you left. The Maras were keeping an eye on us. I couldn’t even speak to you freely until I got Demios out of there.”

“Well, as it stands right now, that alliance no longer exists,” I replied.

Arrah blinked several times, visibly confused.

“We spoke with the Dhaxanian prince,” Scarlett explained. “At first, he wanted to have us picked up by the daemons and taken to Infernis, which is why it took us this long to get back. But then Avril convinced him to join us. We’ve got the Dhaxanians on our side now.”

“That’s wonderful news!” Arrah smiled, then looked at me. “Well done. Most of us didn’t even know there were still Dhaxanians left out here in the wild. I’d initially thought they’d all died out, and, if there were any still breathing, they were most likely daemon chow. Clearly, they’re still kicking.”

“What happened there?” Dion asked, pointing at the sinkhole.

“Ah, that brings us to part two of our Dhaxanian problem,” I replied. “You see, we did manage to convince Nevis, the Dhaxanian prince, to help us, but it happened just as the daemons were coming in to pick us up. Also, Nevis decided to be a jerk and put us through a test to prove ourselves worthy of his support.”

“Wait. What do you mean by ‘test’?” Alles interjected, though the concerned look on his face told me he already had an idea as to where this conversation was going.

“He gave us a five-minute head start, then let the daemons come after us through the tunnel,” I muttered, watching the color drain from the Imen’s faces.

“Oh, crap,” Arrah breathed.

“Upside is he pointed us toward Dion and Alles,” I replied with a shrug, looking for the brighter side of our situation. “There are two tunnels below, meeting in a crossroad right underneath the mountain and connecting four daemon cities, including Infernis and Draconis.”

“Yeah, I know,” Arrah replied. “Which is why we took the liberty to rig the area with some proprietary blends of explosives, in case we had to go into the mountain and get you out through one of the tunnels. I mean, that was the plan, anyway, after Dion and Alles told us you had yet to return.”

“You still haven’t explained that,” Dion said, pointing at the sinkhole again.

“We had to collapse the tunnel in order to get to the surface, and you. We took out at least one or two dozen daemons in the process, but there are still plenty of them down there as we speak, clawing their way out,” Patrik replied.

“How many do you estimate?” Arrah asked, her brow furrowed.

“At least another hundred and fifty, maybe more,” I said. “They’re led by Cason. If he’s still alive, that is. He was one of the first to fall in the collapse.”

Arrah exhaled sharply, her eyes glassy. “Good grief,” she managed, then switched her attention to one of the Imen standing next to her. “Get it all ready. Light it all up.”

The Iman nodded, then grabbed a torch from one of his companions and walked several yards up the snowy ridge. He pulled out several brown wires. I immediately recognized them as fuses. He looked up at us before lighting them up.

“Two minutes!” he shouted.

Just in time, I realized, as the stench of daemon was beginning to permeate through the snow. They were a resilient bunch of bastards. I had to give credit where it was due. Soon enough, they were going to pierce through the collapsed tunnel section and spill onto the surface, looking for us. We sure as hell did not want to be here when that happened.

“Out of all the daemon princes, you got the single most insufferable of them all,” Arrah muttered, then motioned for her Imen to get on their horses, while Dion and Alles brought our indigo stallions forward.

“You know Cason?” I asked, getting in the saddle.

“Yeah, he paid Rowan a visit once on behalf of his father. It was an awkward meeting to say the least,” Arrah replied, shaking her head slowly, then clicked her teeth, prompting the horse to move. “Now, come on, follow me. We’ve left a fake trail toward the edge of Lagerith Plains for potential hostiles. It’ll take them off the path you took here, but it’s not safe to go around that side just yet, either.”

With Scarlett, Heron, and Patrik on horseback, and Hundurr by our side, we were ready to go. Arrah took the lead, and we followed her, galloping down the last two hundred yards of the mountain base.

“Where are we going, then?” I asked.

We reached the bottom of Athelathan and made a sharp turn to the left, going around the mountain and away from the path back into Lagerith.

“There’s a remote cabin over on the north side of the mountain, far from the tunnels and out of sight,” Arrah replied. “We’ll need to lie low for a while, at least until dawn, and that cabin will be perfect for that. The daemons who survive what comes next will be circling the mountain and following the fake trail we left for them, too. Once the coast is clear, we’ll head back to Ragnar Peak.”

The first bang tore through the night, just as Heron and I briefly glanced at each other. Our horses neighed, and we nudged them with our heels to get them to go faster. Fortunately, that wasn’t a problem for the unnaturally fast equine creatures.

“There we go.” Arrah grinned. “Cue the second…”

The second explosion made the ground beneath us shake. The shockwave traveled for the whole two hundred yards that we’d already put between us and the sinkhole. It brushed against us before it fizzled out into a gust of cold wind.

“Perfect timing?” I muttered, glancing over my shoulder.

The view took my breath away. Beyond the snowy ridge and black silhouettes of pine trees, flashes of bright orange illuminated the area, as flames licked at the night sky. Black smoke billowed, spreading and obscuring the blanket of stars, while we got farther away.

“Absolutely. And here comes the third,” said Arrah, just as the third explosion thundered and shook the ground. Based on the noise level and the incoming whiffs of explosives, Arrah and the Imen had rigged a triangular area back where we’d come out from, with two of the hot points positioned on the slope.

If the first two didn’t keep the daemons underground, the third definitely would. The earth still trembled beneath us as we made our way toward the hidden cabin. Echoes of daemons growling and wailing trickled through the thick pine trees we left behind. The rumbling of at least half a mile’s worth of tunnel caving in sent shivers down my spine.

“Well done, Arrah!” Scarlett exclaimed as we shot through the dark woods covering the northeastern slope of the mountain.

“We had time to go over possible outcomes and prepare,” Arrah replied. “If you hadn’t come out when you did, we would’ve drilled a hole into the ground at dawn and worked our way up into Dhaxanian territory.”

“I’m afraid that would’ve been too late,” I replied. “We would’ve been gone by then, and not to a good place.”

And what great timing she’d had, to be there waiting for us just as we worked our way back to the surface. It felt as though the universe was trying to tell me something—that there was still hope. That this world, as wild and as restless as it was, wanted us to win this fight.

Back in our frosted restraints beneath the mountain, we’d gotten our first real taste of despair. Everything else we’d encountered before had been somewhat manageable. There had always been a way out—or a dragon to help us push back. This time, however, we had been on our own, completely trapped, with a powerful creature whom we needed more as an ally and never as an enemy.

I didn’t like feeling helpless. That was, by far, my main takeaway from that entire affair with the Dhaxanians. Under no circumstances was I ever going to allow myself or my loved ones to get backed into a corner like that again.

From now on, I’d be sharper. I’d anticipate betrayal from anyone and everyone. It didn’t mean I’d stop trusting people. On the contrary, we needed friends on Neraka, wherever we could get them. I just needed to make sure we had an exit strategy, in case friends turned into foes again.

We’d gotten burned once by the inhabitants of Azure Heights. No way that was happening again. At least with Nevis there had always been two possibilities: he would either help or betray us. Surprisingly, he’d started with the latter before coming to his senses and understanding that history would never favor a side that thrived by inflicting pain and torment on others.

The pure white snow around us reminded me of what we’d just accomplished. There weren’t many leaders left standing on Neraka, but we’d managed to get two on our side. Provided we got through the night, the next day was going to find us on our way back to Ragnar Peak.

As we went deeper into the woods, I found myself wondering what Harper and the others were doing. I found a sliver of additional comfort in the hope that they were also on track and at least in possession of the swamp witch’s location.