Page 234 of The Cradle of Ice

On two, they got the barrel rolling toward the hole; even Perde helped by kicking at it, maybe demonstrating how a kitten might knock over a milk wagon.

But that was not their goal.

While Rhaif was weak in bridle-song, he had noted the flashes of malevolent green fire burning away any of Nyx’s attempts to unlock the copper door. Even with Shiya’s and Daal’s support, the trio failed each time and were only exhausting their energy.

So Rhaif had suggested this plan.

On one, they tipped the barrel through the hole and watched it tumble through the air toward the curve of door under them—then ran.

On zero, the blast deafened. The Hawk jolted hard as a fiery sun exploded under them. Rhaif and the others got tossed off the floor planks and crashed down. A spate of flames washed through the hole behind them.

Raash’ke panicked, flying throughout the hold, beating at their group with their wings.

Rhaif covered his head.

I’ve rung its bell, Nyx—now it’s your turn.

* * *

EVEN THOUGH SHE was prepared for the blast, the concussion and hard shake of the ship nearly loosened the song trapped in Nyx’s throat, chest, and heart.

She clutched to Shiya for the anchor of her bronze and to Daal for his font of power. Before signaling Rhaif below, the three of them—all on their knees—had built a golden pyre of bridle-song. They stoked it and threw more fuel atop it, until Nyx could see its glow through her closed eyelids.

Only then had she nodded to Darant.

They had one chance to make this work—if it worked at all.

Prior to this, their repeated attempts to reach the door were thwarted and blocked by the unnatural emerald energy from the hidden spider. As frustration grew and they became tired, Rhaif had wondered if the spider was suffering the same, spending all his energy concentrating on the door. Rhaif had suggested dropping a bomb atop it, ringing the dome below like a struck bell. If the spider was down there, the sound inside would be a thousandfold worse than outside, hopefully startling the spider and breaking its concentration long enough so they could do this.

Nyx released her flood of song, fueled by Daal and focused through Shiya. Nyx followed down with it. As it struck the dome, she continued into the door itself. Despite outward appearances, the copper—like all metals—was mostly empty space, just billions of motes of hard matter, each surrounded and held apart by twirls of energy. She easily slipped between those gaps and through the copper.

Within the metal, she read the map of the lock. Once the pattern shone in her mind’s eye, her bridle-song picked it open.

At the last moment, emerald fire lashed out from below, trying to burn away what she had done, but it was too late. A great rumble rose around the ship, trembling it. Below them, the seven petals of the door peeled open, sliding into the surrounding dome wall.

Warm air burst upward, instantly turning to mist in the cold and swamping around the Sparrowhawk. Blinded, Darant backed them out of that thermal chimney. The sudden warmth also challenged the lift of their balloon’s hot air. They momentarily dropped until they reached the frigid cold, then lifted higher again.

Jace and Krysh helped them stand. Shiya managed on her own.

“What if the spider closes it again?” Jace asked.

Nyx knew the answer, but Shiya voiced it.

“I locked it open,” the bronze woman intoned.

Nyx nodded. At that last moment, as the spider recovered from the deafening blast, Nyx had felt the shift in the copper. Those hard bits of matter had realigned, wrecking the pattern. Like jamming an iron bar into a forge.

“How did you know how to do that?” Nyx asked Shiya.

She gave a confused look. “I … I just did.”

Nyx remembered when she had flown her raash’ke for the first time. Certain buried reflexes had risen without thought, from memories instilled into her. Had Shiya experienced something like that? In the past, Shiya had demonstrated some knowledge of these doorways and their locks. Though Shiya’s memories were corrupted or missing, some deep corner of her awareness still reacted instinctively when the spider had lashed out, thwarting him.

Graylin and Rhaif came rushing in, looking frozen.

“Did it work?” Rhaif gasped out through chattering teeth.

As answer, Nyx pointed to the misty column of warm air rising out of the open dome.