Book One – Chapter 17

If they were liars, operating with some sinister intent, then Yu was as good as dead. To confide in the wrong person, in someone who worked under the wing of the syndicate, would be as good as cutting his own throat and handing them the knife. That much was obvious.

The other possibility – that they were entirely sincere – would destroy him all the same. If they were set on their path to rescue Fallem’s brother, then Yu could not follow. They would seek out the Shaira and they would throw themselves into that death-trap of a mountain. No matter how desperately Yu longed to leave this infested guild, he would not join such a suicide mission.

Even if there were good people among them, even if one or two chose to help him in all earnestness, it would not matter. If he confided in someone who might abandon their own, honourable ambitions – be it the rescue mission or something else entirely – to protect him instead, it would change nothing. They could not withstand what was coming. They could never stand against the guard-raiders.

They simply could not.

He had seen the proof.

Imbiad’s magic had been smothered in seconds.

The shaman had crushed his ice like it was nothing.

That was it.

That was what made all of this meaningless.

Meaningless.

Utterly meaningless.

There was no safety in people.

There was no safety in the escort party.

Not in Imbiad. Not in Fallem. Not in any of them.

The raider-guards had brought down a guild that was meant to be untouchable. They had overtaken a mountain bastion fortified against storms and witches and armies of orks. That alone proved them exceptionally strong, ruthlessly cunning, and more dangerous than any one man could ever hope to face.

Yu would die.

If he stayed, if he clung to the desperate hope that someone from the escort party might help him, he would die. No one could shield him against an omira assassin. No one could oppose the shaman – that thing, whatever she was – who could break magic with her presence alone. And if they fled with him, they would not be able to hide. Not from Estingar and Deltington, with their exceptional senses.

Which left him only one option.