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Wood creaked as I rested my shoulder against the crate. From across the warehouse, Shade put a finger to his lips. As if I didn’t already know that an ambush required silence and the element of surprise. Idiot. I rolled my eyes but gave him a nod.
According to the rumors, Marcellus and his trade partner were meeting here at sunset. There were no windows on the bottom floor of the building so I didn’t know for certain, but I was sure the sun must’ve dipped below the horizon by now. Even though I knew it was pointless, I cast a glance through the large hole in the ceiling that was used to haul goods to the second floor. Only the edge of a wooden crane and another dark ceiling stared back. Where were they?
A heavy thud resounded outside the robust warehouse door. I whipped my head towards it. While my mind tried to connect the sound with a source, Elaran and Shade shot up from their hiding places as well.
“Something’s wrong,” Elaran said. He stalked towards the door and placed both hands on it. A groan escaped his lips as he put his full weight behind a shove. “It won’t open.”
Fear fluttered its poisonous wings in my chest. “What do you mean it won’t open?”
“My guess, that sound we just heard was someone slamming a bar in front of the door,” he said.
“It’s a trap.” Shade jerked his head towards the side of the room. “Get to the staircase.”
We took off at a run.
“How could–”
An explosion roared through the building and broken boards shot towards us from the direction of the stairwell. I threw my arms up to protect my head. Jagged edges tore gashes in my arms as they flew past while a splinter made it through my defenses and left a cut in my cheek, just below my eye. I drew in a sharp breath between clenched teeth. Wood banged on stone as debris sailed through the air and clattered to the floor.
“You alright?” Shade called from somewhere to my left.
“Yeah,” I shouted over the ringing in my ears. “Elaran?”
“I’m here!” he replied.
Heat met me as I lowered my arms and turned in the direction of our intended escape route. An explosion had torn out the staircase so that only a burning hole of scattered wood was left. Flames licked the walls on the whole right side of the building. This was bad. I wiped off the blood running down my cheek and darted to where I’d heard my companions call out.
A few red slashes marred Shade’s left arm but Elaran looked relatively unharmed. Since he’d been the furthest from the stairs after checking the door, it seemed as though most of the projectiles had missed him. Good.
“Stairs are gone,” I said as I came to a halt next to them. “We can’t even climb through. Everything’s on fire over there.”
“A detonation this big, how did that happen?” Elaran pitched a piece of wood in the direction of the staircase, frustration evident on his face. “How did we miss that?”
“They could’ve snuck in from somewhere upstairs and planted it after our sweep. I don’t know. We didn’t have time to sweep the whole damn warehouse, remember?” Shade shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get that door open. Grab pipes, logs, or whatever you can find.”
We split up. My heart thumped in my chest as I rummaged through the room in search of something that could smash through the door. The flames crept closer along the wall. Crackling and popping of wood echoed as the whole building seemed to groan in response to the fire eating its hull.
A broken plank was the best I could find so I snatched it up and rushed to the door. Shade and Elaran were already there, trying to jam another flat piece of wood into the small gap under the door. Once it was in, they heaved. Cracks spidered throughout the makeshift lever. And then it snapped.
“Gods damn it!” Shade bellowed and hurled the useless piece across the room.
“Give me that.” Elaran grabbed the plank I’d brought.
Dull thuds rang out as he banged it into the entrance again and again. The sturdy door vibrated with each strike but for all Elaran’s strength, it barely produced a mark. He moved to the wall and started another assault. Chips flew through the air but it was with growing dread that I realized the progress he made was too slow. We would be dead before he got through. It wasn’t that bad yet, but eventually the fire would swallow all the oxygen in the vast warehouse.
“What the hell is this building even made of?” he shouted as his improvised battering ram broke in two.
“Alright, both of you, get over here,” Shade said. “If we push the door at the same time maybe we can make whatever’s blocking the door snap too.” The three of us put our hands to the door. “Now!”
My boots slipped on the sand-covered stones as I put every smidgen of strength I had into forcing the door outwards. Muscled arms tensed on either side of me as Shade and Elaran did the same. The door let out a groan but remained firmly in place.
Terror seeped through my body like a flood of ice water. We were going to die here. Rumbling, followed by another series of loud bangs, echoed across the room as burning wood fell from the flame-covered right side of the building and crashed to the floor.
Shade whipped towards me, panic swirling in his black eyes. “Can’t you use the darkness or something?”
“To do what?” I threw my arms out in desperation. “Create more black smoke? It doesn’t give me superhuman strength or anything that’ll actually help get us out!”
The assassin turned frantic eyes on the elf. “Elaran?”
Guilt flashed over Elaran’s face and he averted his eyes. “I can’t.”
I knew what he was asking, what we were asking, but we were quickly running out of options and if we were going to survive, we needed to get out. Now.
“Look, I know that using magic costs you part of your future but please, if you don’t, we will all die.” Shame burrowed into my chest at even asking something like that but impending death made desperate people of us all.
“It’s not that. I literally can’t.” He punched a fist into the unmoving door. “Ever since we got here I just... I can usually feel the magic inside me but ever since we left the island, I can’t even feel it anymore.” He raked both hands through his hair. “The forest gave us our magic so... I don’t know. I think we can only use it when we’re close to it.”
The hopelessness that washed over me at hearing our last hope crushed threatened to drown me so I shoved it out. Feeling would have to wait. Tapping my fingers to my forehead, I paced back and forth. Think.
“What about that?” I pointed to the hole used for hauling goods to the second floor.
“Don’t you think I’ve considered that already?” Shade snapped. “It’s too fucking high! I can’t jump that high. Can you?” He whipped from me to Elaran. “Can you?”
Fire roared from the right side of the building. It had spread from the wall and the nonexistent stairwell to the crates on the floor and was now making its way towards us. Smoke burned in my throat.
“Okay, not jump then.” I dropped my arm as an idea struck. “Throw. You’re strong. Especially you,” I said, looking at the elf. “If I jump while you throw me into the air, I could make it up there.”
“Then what?” Elaran asked. “How do we get up there?”
“The crane.” I pointed at the edge of the wooden structure peeking out of the hole. “I’ll lower the rope from the crane.”
“If you miss...” Shade began.
“I’ll break my legs on the way down, I know. But we’re out of options. So just don’t... throw me off course or, you know, not high enough.”
Burning wooden beams crashed to the floor as the fire spread further up the side of the building. Soon, the whole right side would come falling down on our heads.
“Get ready,” I said and backed up as far as I could.
Under the square-shaped hole in the ceiling, Elaran and Shade got down on one knee and knitted their fingers together. I released a long exhale. Here goes nothing.
In a burst of speed, I sprinted towards them. Managing to time it right, I succeeded in placing my foot firmly in their waiting hands. Their combined strength launched me into the air.
For a moment, it was as if everything was suspended in time. No pain, no fear, no looming death as I sailed through the air. The edge of the hole came closer. I stretched my arms high above me. A strange sort of calm filled me as I realized that there was nothing more I could do. Either I would reach the edge or my upwards momentum would stop and I would plunge back towards the stones before salvation was within my grasp. And I could do nothing to affect the outcome.
Rough wood appeared under my fingers. Yes! But the sudden jerk as gravity once more pulled my body downwards yanked my right hand from the edge. My left hand tightened on the boards as I scrambled to regain my hold. Swinging my arm back up, I managed to get a firm grip on the planks. The muscles in my arms shook as I heaved myself upwards. Splinters and pebbles dug into my palms as I clawed my way up and onto the floor. Rolling over on my back, I let my chest heave for a second before climbing to my feet. I could breathe when I was dead.
A ridiculously ironic thing to say when I was trapped in a building where I couldn’t breathe because it might kill me. Speaking of... why was the air better up here? I whirled around to find a small opening in the wall. When part of it had collapsed and the boards had fallen down to the ground floor, it had created a hole big enough to climb through. I swore I could spot the roof of the one-story building next to ours if I gazed through it. That was our way out.
I rushed over to the crane. We would have to hurry, though. Flames licked the ceiling and it wouldn’t be long before it too came crashing down. I studied the wooden device. Operating it seemed easy enough, it looked like it would only be a matter of pulling the right lever, but moving it into position was the issue. It was facing the wrong way.
While sending a prayer to any god who would listen, I put my bloodstained hands on the side of it and pushed with all my might. The construction groaned but didn’t move.
“Come on!” I screamed and retreated a few steps.
After backing up, I ran back to the crane and threw my full weight into it, shoulder first. Something at the base snapped lose. My shoulder throbbed but I put my hands back on the side of it and shoved. It moved. Hope fluttered in my chest.
Once it was in position, I pushed on the lever and watched the hook at the end of the rope plunge downwards. I ran back to the hole and stuck my head down. Fire roared in the ceiling above me.
“Are you on?” I shouted.
Shade and Elaran were scrambling to get a grip on the line. “Now!” they finally yelled.
I sprinted back to the operating panel and pulled the large lever in the other direction. The thick rope creaked as it was hauled back up again. When the heads of my two friends finally appeared in the hole, I couldn’t stop the tears of relief rolling down my cheeks. Reaching my hand out, I helped them climb onto the floor.
“There’s our exit.” I pointed to the opening in the wall. “We gotta hurry!”
Shade coughed but managed a nod. I shoved them both forward and when they took off in a sprint, I followed. Crackling flames and popping wood drowned out my heavy breathing. We were almost out. Fresh air and cool stones waited only a short distance away. I couldn’t believe we’d actually managed to make it out.
My stomach lurched. The board beneath me cracked and my leg disappeared through the floor. My other knee hit the planks with a thud but at least that part held. Heat seared my boot. The ceiling on the other side of the floor was on fire. I yanked my leg through the hole and shot to my feet. Over the noise of the fire and the crumbling building, my companions hadn’t heard my mishap but now that they had arrived by the opening, they whipped around. Alarm flashed over their faces when they realized how far away I still was.
“Storm!” Shade called. “Hurry!”
Something huge snapped above me. I threw myself backwards as the ceiling above my head crashed down.