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At least this was better.

Emerie’s heart quickened when he was finally unbound. She held her breath, unsure if he would suddenly leap on her with claws at the ready.

“Everything hurts,”he groaned, darting his head between them.He stretched his arms and legs out on all fours.

She let out her pent-up breath.

“Why did you leave these on him?” the woman asked, moving her stolen dagger to the ropes crossing over his back and down his limbs.

“Don’t,” Emerie cut in before gently grabbing her wrist. “Don’t remove them. I need them to stay on.”

The woman’s gaze was suspicious, her brows lowering as she glared. Thankfully, after a moment, she nodded.

Emerie walked over to the Duskwalker and clenched her jaw when his raven skull freely turned to look over his shoulder at her. Even on all fours, his skull was close to her own head height.

“C-can I climb onto your back?”

His head darted to the woman, who nodded, and he lowered himself for her. Once she was firmly on his back, she cringed.Crap. I forgot to put my jacket back on.It would have been perfect to sit on to protect her pubic bone from being annihilated by his lizard spikes.

She placed her bag there instead, hoping it was enough.

She gripped the rope around his neck. “Okay. Now don’t forget I’m up here and cut my head off going through a doorway.”

She let out the tiniest squeal when she jolted side to side as he stood properly. He absolutely didnotfeel like riding a horse.

“I’ll take the lead and clear the way,” the woman said, moving to open the dungeon door. “Let’s go.”

Emerie laid down the moment Ingram was in motion but kept her face firmly up to guide them. She struggled to keep her bearings on their location with how fast he sprinted, her hair whipping behind her from the chilly air streaking past them.

His paws and hands slapped and thudded against the stone ground, echoing in the hallways.

“Left,” she shouted. They turned down a short hallway that came to an intersection. “Left again. Then straight.”

At the end of the hall was the stairway to the ground level.

The woman opened the door, frightening the shit out of the guard before Emerie and Ingram emerged right behind her. Emerie glanced at them, and their bewildered eyes met her own determined ones.

“Go right!”

She yanked on the rope around his neck when a handful of guildmembers passing through the wide and tall hallway noticed them. Hard not to notice a giant Duskwalker, if she was being honest!

Ingram turned in that direction, and they were immediately followed.

“The door on the right,” she instructed, trying to keep her voice low.

A small staircase took them to the entrance of the lower south tower. She didn’t know if Ingram was panicked, but his breaths snorted from his nose holes, and his motions were more jolted. His body was hot against her knees and torso, and his muscles working beneath her brought attention to how... unbelievably strong he felt.

The alarm rang, and Emerie’s pulse thundered in her ears.Shit! I was hoping we’d have more time.

They sped down the hallway that would lead them to the northern lower tower, and as they were coming up to a staircase that lead to the top, a guildmember appeared in the entryway.

They took one step in their direction, started some outraged shout, then the woman running in front of them pounced. With one swift motion, acting so fast that Emerie barely had time to register it, she sliced their throat open.

Ingram leapt over the Demonslayer, who cupped their wound in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding, and Emerie’s eyes crinkled in guilt.

“I said not to kill anyone!”

“Hemade that promise,” she callously answered. “I did not.”