Chapter 26 · Ash Ledger - Chapter 26: Down the Ash Well

"Move." Mara shoved past me, ledger case banging against my ribs.

"You don't even know where we're going."

"Down." She pointed at the crack in the vault floor, stone split wide enough to fall through. "That's the only place Voss won't follow. Not yet."

I looked back at the vault door. Still locked. Still holding. The pounding outside had stopped three minutes ago, which meant they were getting a ram or setting charges.

"That crack goes nowhere," I said.

"It goes under the fort." Mara was already kneeling at the edge, fingers testing the stone lip. "Old supply line. Your people built over it and forgot."

"How do you know that?"

"Because we've been mapping your fort for six months, Vale. You think we just walked in blind?"

I wanted to argue. I wanted to tell her she was wrong, that there was another way, that I wasn't about to climb into a hole in the ground with an enemy scout and a blood-bound ledger that might kill me if I made the wrong call.

But the vault door shuddered. Metal groaned.

"Fine." I grabbed the rope coil off the supply rack. "You first.