Page 176 of Quicksilver

The Widow's Bane. Thank fuck for the Widow Bane.

Belikon was on his knees, teetering like he was about to topple over, but he wasn't dead. I heard the scrape Solace made when Fisher dragged it free—metal on bone—but I didn't make the same mistake twice. I tore my gaze away from Fisher and gave every bit of my attention to Harron. “You're in way over your head, Rat,” the captain hissed. “The pieces of this game have been in play for millennia. You can't begin to comprehend—”

I advanced, my remaining dagger gripped loosely in my hand. Inside Harron's guard again, I slashed his shoulder and drew blood. He was wrong. Yes, the players in this game hadbeen making moves for centuries. But that didn't change the nature of the game. It was kill or be killed, and I knew what I had to do to win.

“For pity's sake,end her!” Madra commanded. The queen hadn't entered the fight. She watched from the sidelines, mad with rage, the front of her beautiful dress sprayed with ichor.

“How many centuries has she been using you to do her dirty work, Harron?” I panted. Darting back, away from his dagger, I moved out of his reach. “Shouldn't you have been in the ground a long time ago?”

“Madra gifted me with eternity—”

“So that you could serve her. So that you could be her fucking slave. Most prisoners' sentences end. They’re released, or they”—I dodged a cutting upward sweep of his dagger—“walk through that black door you spoke of. But you just keep on suffering, don’t you.”

“Death has forgotten me, bitch. My name is nowhere on his register.”

I felt the cold smile unfurling across my face. I’d been haunted by the idea of this moment. Harron had owned me the last time we'd face each other. I should have died at his hand, and that knowledge had made me fear facing him again. But now that the moment had come...I realized that I was better than him.

I paused, making my delay look like hesitation, and the captain fell for the bait. He charged, dagger swinging right for my throat, but I dropped to the ground and swept out his legs from underneath him. It was straightforward from there. I twisted and fell on top of him. Wrapped my legs around his throat, and squeezed.

“Get up! Stop toying with her!”

Madra's petulant cry sounded far away. My ears were full of Harron's labored wheezing. He tried to stab backward andplunge his dagger into my thigh, but I batted away his arm and wrenched his wrist into an unnatural angle. Harron dropped the dagger.

Feigning shock, I said, “Wait a minute. I think Death just remembered your name, Harron.” And then I snapped his neck.

“SAERIS! NOW!”The cry came from Lorreth. Malcolm was on his back at the top of the stairs that led down into the labyrinth. I hadn't seen how he'd gotten there, but he looked like he was rousing himself and seconds from getting up.

To my left, Fisher shoved Carrion with one hand, holding back six feeders with the other. Carrion stumbled and fell down the stairs. Fisher speared one of the feeders through the stomach, then landed a blow to its neck with the flat of Solace’s blade so powerful that it knocked the monster’s head off rather than severed it. Eyes wild, he swung his gaze across the platform until he found me.

Go! Now!he commanded.I'm right behind you.

“Harron!” Madra shook with grief. She broke into a run, heading straight for me. I didn't wait to find out what she would do when she got to me. I snatched the dagger Harron had pulled from his stomach and sprinted toward the stairs. My feet barely touched the ground as I raced down them and reached Lorreth and Carrion. Both had their swords in hand, ready.

Relief hit me square in my solar plexus when I felt Fisher's hand on my back. He hadn't wasted any time catching up. “Move, move, move!” he shouted.

Together, the four of us ran.

The opening of the labyrinth loomed ahead, foreboding and dark. As I raced into its yawning mouth, I realized that its slick back walls were made of obsidian. And they were razor sharp.

“Run all you like!” Malcolm shouted after us. “The labyrinth is my domain. It's going to eat you alive!”

Fisher grabbed my hand as we ran. He didn't let go.

“Where the hell are we going?” Lorreth panted.

Fisher pulled me to the left, down a corridor of obsidian that looked like a dead end. But it wasn't. A narrow opening, barely wide enough to accommodate a body, opened up to the right, and he ushered us through. “The first ten moves to the labyrinth are always the same. That's where you face the first obstacle. Then the route to the center changes.”

“What do you mean, the route changes?” Carrion demanded.

“I mean it fucking changes. The walls move. Go!”

Carrion blanched, but he ran. I wasn't so worried about the walls moving part. I was more concerned about the word 'obstacle.' And the fact that Fisher had been stuck in here for over a hundred years. He wouldn't have told us to come in here if he didn't think it was our safest option, though.

He guided us right again. Lorreth skidded as he rushed through the corner, his feet going out underneath him. He crashed into the wall ahead but scrambled up and kept running. Awesome. It wasn't just the walls that were slick obsidian; the ground was, too.

“Left! Go left!” Fisher cried.

Tell me you have a plan. It was a hell of a lot easier speaking into someone's mind when you were sprinting for your life.