Saffryn's eyes dart around the cage, fingers exploring every bit of the enclosure they can reach. But after a while she hisses in frustration, attention roving outward to the rest of the rooftop. To each of us.
Her eyes catch on the metal snake—now looping back and forth between the two remaining empty cages. Then she turns her gaze outward and upward, searching the open air as she whispers something under her breath.
"Care to share you wisdom?" calls Howla, and Saffryn breaks out of her state of concentration to scowl over at her.
"The mechanical beasts stopped caging people here," she snaps. "Even though there are plenty of exposed Heirs to pluck. There must be a reason. My guess? The cages will only open once they're all filled."
"Or maybe they stopped because everything's gone to the Depths in a rowboat," Howla fires back. "Firstborn, there's a damn coup or something going on up there! There's Mire in the water! none of this is going according to plan."
"We don't know that for certain," says Saffryn, gnawing a lip for a moment as she looks up to the spectator tiers. "Maybe they're doing that to trick us into thinking everything's more urgent than it is. It could just be part of the Revelry."
"It's not," I say. "I checked. The fear, the shock...it's all real."
"They pushed other Heirs into the Mire! Our own people!" Howla adds, incredulous.
Her eyes squeezed shut, Saffryn shakes her head. "Alright, alright, well...we don't know that the beasts would respond to, know or even care about any of that. They likely just carry out the directives they were created with, I doubt they can adapt to a situation no one planned for."
There's a short exhale of a laugh and movement from outside the cages as Pash strides over to one of the unconscious guards, hoisting him up and hauling him off towards one of the empty cages. The snake continues its idle looping as Pash heaves her peer through the door, shoves his legs in with her boot so they don't stick out, and slams it shut.
Thrall, catching on, approaches the last of the cages with another of the incapacitated guards in tow. The instant he steps within two paces of it, the beast uncoils itself from around its base, lashing out and hissing. Thrall jumps backward just in time, but it's whip-fast—advancing and striking again in an instant. Right before it can drive its fangs home, a golden-bronze blur makes impact. Thrashing and curling around one another, Pash and the mechanical snake continue their struggle from just to the side as Thrall gently settles the other guard in the final cage and closes him in.
The snake immediately ceases its thrashing, releasing its hold on Pash's arm and sliding away. My golden guardian stands, feather-hair gone wild, running gauntleted fingers over the new dents in her armor.
A loud scraping and clanking sound from the final cage steals my attention, and a heartbeat later my door springs open and I'm hurling myself mindlessly through it, gulping in air as though there'd been bars around my lungs, too.
The others are freed as well, all of them watching the cage as the bottom drops away, until finally the hapless guard inside has disappeared completely. Kaidin is the first to rush over and peer into it, though I follow close after. A hole leading down into the shadowy unseen—notably free of water, so far as our view extends. Then something appears at the bottom, growing gradually larger. It's the guard, again. Still out cold and entirely dry.
"It's a lift," observes Howla from over my shoulder.
Brow furled, Kaidin takes the beast-eater beneath the arms and pulls him out while the Ariskolese Heir and I step out of his way. Then before anyone can argue, Kai takes his place and it begins its descent once more. I reach across the Web after him, seeking out potential threats. There is something down there and a ways off, but it's neither animal nor a person—more like the faint shadow of that bright, unknown presence I'd sensed elsewhere in the labyrinth.
Ignoring a sudden swell of guilt, I look briefly through Kaidin's eyes as he reaches the bottom of the shaft and steps off the lift. All I see is a chamber lit by the same glowing violet lichen from the Dead City. Two arched exits lead off into inky darkness.
Returning to myself, I glance back at the others before stepping up to take his place on the returning lift.
"Wait," says Howla. "Why go down there? Why continue with this?" She looks from me and back to the others. "We need to get out of here. Help our people."
"We can't." Saffryn's eyes are cast down and to the side, her voice quiet. Flat.
"Look around. We can't get out from here without exposing ourselves to the Mire. And if it's really all the beast-eaters against us save these two—" her gaze flashes up to catch mine, and I nod, jaw set. "Then we don't have a chance of making a difference out there. But this place was designed to be flooded, and designed for us to find ways around that. We can't get out. We can't help the others right now, not even those of us who are already Fallen. But we can do what we came here do to. Whatever gets us around the water gets us around the Mire, too."
While Howla grinds her teeth and my guards exchange grim looks, I just shake my head. "All I know is that I'm not letting Kai go down there alone." Then I step onto the lift. As it scrapes into action and I descend into the cramped darkness of the shaft, I force myself to focus on breathing evenly and nothing else. Or at least, I try. I'll be no use to him down there if I come out panicked.
Kai awaits at the bottom—attention riveted on the stone walls of the chamber. On the meticulously detailed glyphics and images carved into them, filled in by lichen and moss. It depicts the transformation of the firstborn Ulven—founder of Falrun—into his Sentinal form.
Behind us, the lift scrapes upward once more. Kai turns to me. "Do you feel anything down either of those halls, Nik?"
I gnaw my lip, eyeing the leftmost one. "I feel something, yes, but I can't tell what it is or connect to it. It's down there." As I extend a finger, something materializes from the heavy shadows of the opposite corridor. The violet light slides over its form as it steps within view, glints off the narrowed black orbs of its eyes. A mechanical wolf, taller at the shoulder than I am at the head.
It emits a low, strange sound somewhere between a true growl and an echoing, metallic tap. In a heartbeat it bursts into a sprint straight for Kaidin. Tripping forward, I toss myself in its path.
"Nik!"
Kaidin's shout reverberates in my ears as the beast makes impact, knocking me to the ground. It looms over me, jaws poised as if to strike. But then it freezes on the spot, limbs locking into place with a snap as it stares down at me.
Its jaw and throat begin to convulse. It jerks its head back, then forward—and vomits an enormous key straight into my lap.
