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‘Kipp,move!’

Kipp snatched the totem from the plinth and looked to Thea and Cal in panic. Thea was already scrambling towards the side of the valley, which rose up from the ground into a rocky overhang.

‘Up there!’ She grabbed Kipp’s arm and shoved him to the face of the gorge. ‘Climb!’

The three of them clambered up the rock, struggling to find purchase.

‘It’ll crush us!’ Cal yelled.

‘Get to the overhang,’ Thea cried, her muscles trembling with the effort. If they could reach it, the boulder would pass beneath them. ‘Hurry!’

Thea was first and she swung herself out across the valley, her legs dangling below as she watched the rounded mass ofstone pelt towards them, her friends still in its path. She hung there uselessly, biting down on her shouts of panic – they would not help Cal and Kipp now.

Cal was suddenly hanging by her side, his cheeks red, sweat running down the side of his face.

‘Now, Kipp!’ he bellowed.

Kipp jumped —

Long limbs flailing, Kipp latched onto the overhang with a yelp.

A roar below sounded as the boulder crashed through the gorge beneath them, crushing the strange trees and grass, scraping the sides of the valley, causing rock to crumble.

Thea watched in horror, imagining the bloody pulp they would have become if they had remained in its path. The three of them dangled there in shock for a moment, as the boulder at last collided with the end of the gorge, splintering to pieces upon impact.

When Thea was sure there wasn’t another boulder to follow, she let go, swinging down from the overhang and landing deftly on the ground below.

‘Holy gods…’ Kipp muttered as he landed less gracefully beside her.

Cal followed. ‘We would have been dead without you, Thea,’ he said, clapping her on the shoulder.

But Thea’s attention was on the totem in Kipp’s hands. ‘Let’s see it then.’

Kipp held it out on his palm. Secured to a black band of fabric, there it was: a pair of crossed swords, a true Guardian’s totem. ‘How do we decide whose it is?’ he asked quietly. ‘We all felt it. We’re all worthy.’

Thea tore her gaze away from the totem and dusted her hands off on her pants. ‘You take that one, Kipp,’ she said. ‘You felt it first, you got to it first.’

‘But without you —’

Cal waved him off. ‘One down. Two to go.’

Relief bloomed in Thea’s chest. ‘Let’s get out of here, then. I’d rather not risk getting crushed to death again.’

‘Can’t say I fancy it much either,’ Cal replied, eyeing the gorge. ‘Up or down?’

‘Up,’ Thea decided. ‘We keep an eye on the Thezmarrian coast, we can see the lay of the islands better. Agreed?’

‘Agreed,’ Kipp said, securing his totem to his arm. ‘Who would have thought useless little old me would be the first?’

‘Oh fuck off, Kipp, without Thea you would have been a splat on the rocks beside that thing.’

Thea laughed shakily as they started back up the valley. ‘One down. Two to go.’

By the time the trio reached the top of the gorge once more, the midday sun was surprisingly harsh despite the chill of winter. There was no sign of the other shieldbearers, which made Thea uneasy. Either everyone was leagues ahead of them and totems were sparse, or a terrifying number of her peers had succumbed to the cliffs or their fellow shieldbearers. She didn’t know which was worse.

Keeping the coastline of Thezmarr in sight, they made their way to the next island. It was a wider gap than the previous, but they used the thick, rusted chain to climb across with relative ease. From the other side, Kipp gripped Thea’s arms firmly and helped her with the final few links, Cal following close behind.

It was little more than a spit of land and in only moments, they were crossing a small chained bridge onto another. This next island was larger, the trees and bushes here denser than before, blocking the sun from view as the canopy closed in around them.