The horn's mournful call still echoed when the floor beneath Liora trembled.It wasn't the gentle quake of distant thunder, this was the pulse of something alive, something closing in.
"What was that?" she demanded, her voice thin in the vast chamber.
The Shadow Prince didn't answer. He strode to a wall of runes and pressed his palm against the carvings. The stone bled shadows that spilled onto the floor, twisting into a jagged doorway.
"They are the Hunters," he said at last, his voice low. "And they can smell fear."
As if to prove his point, the silver flames flared, revealing shapes moving beyond the shattered gates at the far end of the hall. Liora caught only flashes. armored beasts on all fours, with glinting fangs and eyes that burned like coals.
Her throat tightened. "What are they?"
"Old debts made flesh," he replied. "And they will not stop until they have torn you apart."
Before she could argue, his hand closed around her wrist, cold, strong, and unyielding. He pulled her through the shadow-forged door, and they plunged into a narrow corridor lit only by the faint glow of runes underfoot.
Liora's heart pounded against her ribs. "You're not even going to explain why they want me?"
"Later," he said, without looking back. "If you live."
The corridor suddenly opened into an arched balcony overlooking an endless abyss. Wind screamed up from the depths, carrying a stench of iron and decay. Across the gap, a crumbling bridge stretched into darkness.
The prince released her wrist and drew a blade from his side. Its edge shimmered with silver fire.
"You go first," he ordered.
"Excuse me?"
"They'll come for me, but if you hesitate, they'll take you before I can stop them."
A snarl split the air behind them. Liora spun three of the Hunters burst into the corridor, claws gouging the stone as they charged.
"Run!" he barked.
Liora's feet hit the bridge, the rotting wood groaning under her weight. The abyss yawned below. Halfway across, a massive shadow leapt from the darkness, landing in front of her another Hunter, its jaws dripping black ichor.
Behind her, the prince's voice was sharp as steel."Don't move."
The Hunter's eyes fixed on her, unblinking. Then it lunged.