Chapter 278: An Untimely Awakening

Max eased himself through the doorway, keeping one hand around the frame while his bare foot searched for a foothold between the outer bars. The cage tilted beneath his weight, and he froze, waiting for the movement to settle before pulling himself higher.

“Easy…” he whispered.

He climbed onto the roof and reached for the lowering rope descending beside it. The women had secured its loose end around the support below, leaving it stretched tightly enough for him to climb down, though the distance seemed considerably greater now that nothing stood between him and the fall.

The rough fibers scraped his palms as he descended, gripping the rope between his feet to keep from sliding. Halfway down, footsteps reached him from between the houses.

Max stopped and held himself still.

“Quiet. She should be alone by now.”

He recognized Antiope’s voice and slowly turned his head. Several figures moved along the path toward Myrina’s house, their weapons catching faint traces of moonlight as they passed beneath him.

“Watch the back,” another woman murmured.

Max waited until they disappeared between the buildings before continuing downward. His arms trembled beneath his weight, but he loosened his grip carefully, lowering himself until his feet finally touched the earth.

He crouched beside the support, breathing through clenched teeth. After weeks spent inside the cage, his legs felt stiff beneath him, and he remained there long enough to make certain they would hold before slipping toward a nearby storage shelter.

Its entrance was covered by a hanging hide. Max pushed it aside and searched the shelves by touch, finding a waterskin, strips of dried meat, and a short knife with its sheath beside a cutting board. He wrapped the food in a scrap of cloth and secured everything against his waist.

Outside, a muffled voice rose near Myrina’s house.

Max paused beside the entrance, listening as someone hurried around the building. He knew what they had come to do, but returning would accomplish nothing beyond putting himself within Antiope’s reach.

He turned down the passage leading away from the village.

The last houses disappeared behind him as he entered the forest, pushing between broad leaves that brushed moisture across his bare chest. Thick roots crossed his path, forcing him to watch his footing while the canopy swallowed most of the moonlight.

Ahead, the ground rose into the wooded hill he had often watched from his cage. He followed its slope, hoping to see enough of the surrounding land from the top to choose a direction.

Old trees crowded the hillside, their roots disappearing beneath layers of fallen leaves and dark soil. Moss covered the stones between them, and several fallen trunks had rotted so thoroughly that his foot sank into one when he stepped across it.

Max caught a branch to steady himself.

Beside the trunk, the earth had collapsed around a narrow opening. Roots hung across its mouth, tangled with loose stones, and the darkness beneath them continued farther down than he could see.

He shifted his weight to step around it.

A stone slipped beneath his heel and rolled into the opening, knocking dirt from the roots before disappearing. He heard it strike the sides several times, each impact fainter than the last, until a dull sound reached him from somewhere deep below.

Max had already begun to turn away when the branch in his hand trembled.

He stopped.

Warm air escaped between the roots, carrying the damp smell of buried earth. The leaves nearest the opening stirred, then settled as a faint grinding reached him through the soles of his feet.

Cold sweat gathered across his forehead.

“Oh, shit…”

The ground shifted before he could step back.

Max threw himself away from the opening, landing hard against the slope and sliding through the leaves. He caught a root before tumbling farther, dragged himself upright, and scrambled toward the village.

A deep growl spread beneath the forest.

It passed through his chest with enough force to disturb his breathing, and he reached instinctively for his magic as the trees began shaking around him. Nothing answered. He clenched his teeth and kept moving, stumbling over roots until the first houses became visible through the trunks.

Then another tremor nearly threw him from his feet.

Max caught a tree and looked back.

Cracks spread through the hillside, splitting the soil around roots that strained beneath the movement. Earth slid into the openings, carrying leaves and stones with it, while the trees above swayed so violently that their branches struck one another.

The shaking continued beneath the path he had crossed and into the village. Dust spilled from the roofs, doors rattled in their frames, and frightened voices began rising between the houses.

Inside one of them, Myrina woke to dirt falling across her face.

For a moment, she believed she was still dreaming. Antiope stood beside her sleeping place, holding a dagger above her, while several other women crowded near the doorway. A sharp, acidic smell reached her nose, drawing her attention toward the blade.

“Sister? What are you doing?”

Antiope did not answer.

Her face had gone pale, but her attention was fixed upon the wall as another tremor shook the house. The women behind her stumbled against one another, their weapons lowered while the sound beneath the ground grew louder.

Myrina pushed herself upright. She recognized that sound, and the realization briefly overwhelmed even the sight of the dagger in her sister’s hand.

“Why…?” Antiope whispered. “Why is the sacred beast waking now? It isn’t the Silver Crab cycle yet.”

A clay vessel fell from a shelf and shattered beside her feet.

The noise brought her attention back to Myrina. Her sister was awake, the others were losing their nerve, and the shouting outside meant that people were already leaving their homes.

Antiope tightened her grip and drove the dagger downward.

Myrina twisted aside, the blade passing her throat and burying itself beside her head. She caught herself against the floor, staring at her sister as Antiope pulled the weapon free.

“So this is how you want to do it?”

Her voice shook, and tears gathered in her eyes, but her palm had already begun to glow.

Silver light wrapped around her body, spilling between her fingers and spreading across the floor. Antiope drew back as the glow expanded, but there was barely enough time to raise her arm before it struck the walls.

The entire house burst apart, throwing broken clay and fragments of silver light into the trembling night.

At the forest edge, Max ducked as the flash illuminated the trunks around him. He saw debris rising above the roofs, but a violent movement beneath his feet pulled his attention away before he could understand what had happened.

The land began to rise.