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some of the hardened soldiers stepped a little lighter in the place.
    Thaniel stopped suddenly before two sets of armored boots, happy for the opportunity to stop moving. Hot bile churned in his stomach, already threatening to erupt from just the few steps it took to make it to the base of the tower. He relished a deep slow breath.
    Silence stretched.
    Irkhir, standing only a few paces in front of the wall of crimson muscle he had stopped at , was staring at something over Thaniel’s head. Behind him, was Keriim.
    “Where’s Elycia?” The moment Thaniel saw Keriim, the words shot out of his mouth.
    The man didn’t answer. He just stood there caressing the blade of his axe with one of his thumbs. If he had the ability, Thaniel was sure the man’s glare would have burned a hole in his forehead.
    Irkhir regarded Thaniel with calculating eyes. Then, he twisted. His thickly muscled neck flexed tight as he looked back over his plate mail at Keriim. The brute’s senses were uncanny. He must have felt Irkhir’s scrutiny coming because by the time he’d turned his head, Keriim had assumed the same posture as the rest of the men. He made sure Irkhir saw his eyes leave the top of the arch to regard him, as if he weren’t just an instant before that glaring at Thaniel with murderous intent. The leader of the First studied the man like a cat studies an injured bird.
    “Don’t worry Caller. ” Irkhir answered as if Thaniel had been speaking to him all along. “They’re bringing your girl. You’ll get your kiss before you…” His words trailed away as if the wind stole them before they left his lips.
    Leather armor creaked as the men closest to him tensed. Murmurs of alarm rippled through the First. Everywhere Thaniel looked soldier’s bulging eyes were locked onto something somewhere over his head.
    “By the Creator’s eyes.” One of them swore.
    “We’re in it now.” Said another.
    “We are dead men.”
    “Shut up.” Irkhir snapped, one of his axes flying into his hand. “I will kill the first man who deserts the First.”
    What were they looking at?
    Thaniel grimaced as a horrible feeling overtook the rising bile in the pit of his stomach. Slowly, he raised his head up, letting his eyes track to where everyone but Keriim was looking.
    They had stopped him right under the first arch. It was so wide that, with his eyes on the floor, he hadn’t noticed either of its two bases. Thaniel wanted to be sick. Covered with the same gut wrenching pattern as the rest of the place, it vaulted twice as high as he was tall. The living pattern made it seem like the arch twisted violently as it shot out of the floor on his right, racing over his head, before it bored back down into the stone on his left. As disorienting as it was, it wasn’t really any different than the rest of the place. The entire chamber, except for the scaled path he was standing on, made him want to vomit.
    He felt the blood drain from his face as he noticed what they were all really looking at. It was soft at first, just a faint accent, as if someone had highlighted its fantastic details in blue chalk. But as he watched the sickening pattern, the azure intensified, making it seem like the arch was coming to life.
    Thaniel thought he might die when that dra head lit up right in front of his face. But there was something about this arch that seared his soul.  It resonated down inside him, like it was part of him. A deep internal thrumming that made him feel… connected to it on some level he didn’t know existed.
    In his peripheral vision, Thaniel took in Irkhir’s head shaking back and forth unbelievingly.
    “Take him to the top.” His voice grated like steel being sharpened on a stone.
    He was barely even aware of the men that carried him, the back of his boots thudding against the stone steps as they dragged him up the tower. They moved fast, every step a resilient march forward to the inevitable. They didn’t stop below any more aches. Not