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Dawsyn nods to them one last time and then shows them her back.

“Dawsyn,” Ryon says immediately, his face one of grim reproach. His eyes beseech her.

Dawsyn barely meets them. There are too many people watching. Listening. “Time to move,” she says simply, and walks by him.

She meanders through the horde, looking for its end, but Ryon follows close behind. She can feel him at her back once more.

“Malishka,” he rumbles darkly.

“Not here,” she bids, tunnelling through the people at greater speed. Space lies ahead, away from the crowd. Space and more bleak darkness.

The second they are free, Ryon has her wrist in his grasp. It is a testament to her affection for him that she does not immediately wrench it free. Instinctively her body tenses, combative.

Ryon pulls her to the wall of the Chasm, pulling her in front of him, so that his body blocks her from view of the others.

“You lied to them?” he says at once, his voice so low, there would be no hope of anyone else overhearing. His eyes flick back and forth, searching her face. Always searching.

Dawsyn is momentarily distracted by him. The closeness of him always drives her mind far away from the set course.

“Dawsyn.”

“Yes,” she says, finally. She looks away. “I lied.”

“Why?”

“Why?” she repeats. “What do you believe they will do now if I tell them that the kingdom below is just as wretched as the one above? Just as dangerous?” Dawsyn awaits an answer that does not come. Ryon’s expression only darkens. “Do you truly believe they will follow me deeper into this Chasm with no knowledge of what lies before us? With no reassurance that it won’t all be for nothing?”

“They followed youhere,Dawsyn. And you did not need to deceive them to do it!”

“And it was a miracle,” she replies icily. “The quantum of which will likely never be matched.”

Ryon shakes his head at her, his temper rising. “You must tell them the truth, Dawsyn.Now.Before it makes folly of this plan.”

Dawsyn grits her teeth to keep her voice from rising. And yet, shame climbs the walls of her throat. “I’m sorry,” she tells him. “I’m sorry for not speaking with you first. ButIknow these people. I understand how they think, how they behave. They will not follow me down that path, Ryon. Not unless they believe it has a known end.”

Ryon gives a frustrated huff. “Then you have very little faith in them,” he says.

“Just as they do in me,” Dawsyn rebuts, quietly seething. “I have persuaded them into this hole. I will not test the extent of their leniency once more.”

Ryon’s jaw ticks. He stands tall, looking over her head, and down into the interminable nothingness of the path ahead. “You test their leniency already, malishka,” he says grimly. “We have no idea what may lie in wait here.”

“No,” Dawsyn cedes. “But I know what lies in the opposite direction. And if I must use their ignorance against them to give them freedom, then so be it.”

With that, Dawsyn leaves his side. She steps closer to the middle and holds her torch high above her.

Soon she sees the glow of a dozen torches rise in response, signalling their willingness to be led through the dark.

Dawsyn turns, facing the road ahead.

When you lie within the mouth,

The cost will be no fewer.

They go against the flow of water, lumbering with aching slowness. Trepidation coupled with the lack of light means they must trek slowly and yet still people fall. The ground hosts sharp rock that seems to appear from nowhere. Dawsyn remembers the feel of differing terrain beneath her feet the first time she stood on ground that was not covered in snow and ice. It makes their steps overly cautious, their gait unsure.

The glint of flame that reflects the black rockface plays tricks on the eyes. Dawsyn finds herself walking with her ax in hand, if only to quell the rising fear in her belly. The magic within her is disturbed by its surroundings as well. It roils at each foreign echo, each speck of light.

Dawsyn looks behind her often, letting the light of her own torch shine over the hoods of the horde behind her. All squint and bend their heads to the ground, trying to make out the hazards there.