Kairu descended a staircase, rushed through another corridor dimly lit by oil lamps, which he angrily knocked to the floor. The oil ignited, and pools of fire spread across the hallway. He ran to the end, not even glancing into the side rooms with their iron doors, turned right, and saw the passage ended in a staircase and a hatch. Where the hell did Joanna go?..

  He reached the end and stopped, surprised by the silence above, only a vague hum disturbing it. Then he raised his arms, grabbed the hatch’s edge, pulled himself up, and clambered out, stumbling into a room with a clean, wooden floor. Squinting from the bright light, he stepped back, and only then could he take in where he was. The sight took his breath away.

  Chandeliers shined beneath the ceiling, their yellow glow illuminating the enormous hall more brightly than sunlight. The space was filled with dozens of astonishing machines and shelves reaching to the ceiling, lined with flasks, distillation apparatuses, and retorts connected by transparent tubes. Massive engines creaked and hummed softly. Wisps of semi-transparent steam rose toward the ceiling. Wires and thick cables snaked along the floor and walls. Ahead, at the far wall, the floor rose to form a high dais with a desk piled high with papers. Among the folders and inkwells on the desk stood glass globes containing blindingly bright sparks of light. Around the perimeter of the hall, that was essentially a gigantic annex to the central tower, were enormous dark windows adorned with stained glass images of saints.

  But all of this paled, fading into the background, next to the brilliance of the Lake of Aktida, which stood on a metal pedestal in the center of a massive pyramid built from wires and iron rods. This pyramid was located in the corner of the laboratory, and dozens of wires ran to it from three enormous iron crates. The diamond was the first thing anyone would notice upon entering the lab. The iron pyramid was surrounded by piles of schematics, and a thin green beam was directed at the Lake of Aktida, across which waves of electric discharges danced, making it glow even brighter, eclipsing all other sources of light. It was the cornerstone, the reason for all of Saelin’s victories in the war since the fateful summer of 1453, his ultimate weapon.

  But it rightfully belonged only to Kairu, and no one else.

  That’s why, the moment Kairu saw the diamond, he didn’t hesitate. He rushed toward it, scattering all the schematics lying on the floor, stumbling several times over wires, and managed to strike it down with the tip of Alaskrit. The Lake of Aktida rolled away, gleaming so intensely it hurt to look at.

  A piercing screech tore through his ears; it felt as if an invisible fist punched him in the gut, throwing him back against the wall. Despite the searing pain throughout his body, Kairu managed to reach out and close his fingers around the diamond’s cold surface. He gasped for air, his eyes bulging from pain, helpless, writhing and howling on the floor… He thought he was dying, just for a few agonizing seconds. But the diamond, clenched in his hand, gave him strength.

  "Kairu!... KAIRU!!!"

  The world spun, and with his cheek against the cold floor, he saw Woody running toward him, having just climbed up from the hatch, shouting in terror. Kairu managed to raise a hand to show he was still alive and crawled away from the crackling pyramid. Woody rushed over, grabbed him, and hoisted him up:

  "Do you have it? Great… Now let’s get out of here!"

  The lab door burst open.

  Woody cried out and suddenly flew into the air. His eyes bulged, and a thin trickle of blood escaped his mouth... Saelin had raised a hand, and Woody flew back, slammed into the wall, crashed onto the desk, and then slid off, crumpling lifelessly to the floor. Saelin looked at Kairu, his face twisted into something inhuman—he was deathly pale and truly terrifying at that moment. The barrel of a rifle rose, and Kairu saw only a crimson flash... The bullet pierced his left hand, the one gripping the diamond. His fingers involuntarily unclenched, and the Lake of Aktida rolled across the floor once more. Kairu cried out and choked, grabbing his throat as an invisible hand lifted him off the ground. He could only wheeze and flail his legs before being hurled against a wall. Pain blinded him; blood pulsed between his clenched fingers...

  "Don’t touch him!"

  Lainter stood on the windowsill beneath the shattered stained glass high above. The shards of colored glass hadn’t even hit the floor yet when he leapt, mouth wide open and stretching mid-air… Kairu looked up, stunned, as his best friend’s body sprouted fur before his eyes, ears turned triangular, his jaws elongated, sharp dagger-like fangs emerged, and his long fingers transformed into hooked claws.

  Saelin laughed and lunged to meet him.

  The two wolves collided in mid-air, crashing down as they tumbled, snarling and growling, among the smoking wreckage of shattered shelves, trying to rip each other’s throats out. In a savage frenzy, slashing each other with terrifying claws, they lunged, leaped apart, circled with snarls, pounding the floor with clawed paws. They smashed furniture, overturned tables, broke shelves, their agony more destructive than a hurricane. But the battle lasted only a few minutes. Suddenly, Saelin dodged Lainter’s leap, bolted to the side, jumped onto a table, transformed back into a man, and clapped his hands.

  Panels in one of the lab walls suddenly slid open in opposite directions, revealing a dark niche. From it emerged, roaring thunderously, two enormous steel machines. Saelin slipped between them as they blocked him from view. They looked like giant barrels on caterpillar tracks, with multiple pipes belching black smoke rising from their backs. On each side of the barrels were iron mounts holding what looked unmistakably like gun barrels, though Kairu had never seen anything like them.

  Lainter-the-Wolf froze in surprise and backed away. The barrels turned, aiming their guns at him. A burst of fire erupted across the room, punching neat holes in the walls. Lainter roared and bolted, zigzagging across the hall, limping, leaving a bloody trail. The steel beasts tracked him, their barrels following, and in seconds bullets nearly caught up before he vanished behind columns in the far corner of the lab. The volley hit a shelving unit instead, liquids from shattered flasks and retorts spilled across the floor, ignited—and the lab turned into hell itself.

  "Woody! Kairu!"

  It was Rita. She leapt from the lab’s balcony, ran toward one of the steel machines, deftly climbed onto its roof, and slashed a bundle of wires with her dagger. The machine sparked, roared, and burst into flames, falling silent. Rita jumped down and took cover behind the flaming wreck, just as Saelin, now armed with a rifle, opened fire on her.

  The fire was everywhere. Smoke stung their eyes and filled the vast hall to the ceiling. The black smoke from the steel monsters’ pipes mixed with the white steam from broken chemical flasks, forming a thick fog where only flickering flames and muzzle flashes could be seen. Kairu collapsed to the floor, covering his head from flying bullets and debris, then lifted his eyes, searching through the chaos for the glow of the Lake of Aktida… And there it was. Not far away, the diamond lay among shattered glass and sparking wires. Somewhere beyond the lab’s doors came the sounds of screams, explosions, and clashing swords, but Kairu heard none of it. He saw nothing but the diamond’s glow.

  The laboratory was in flames. Saelin’s blueprints and his intricate devices were burning, the floor and walls ablaze, and in this fiery inferno it was hard to see anything at all. Rita had taken cover from the gunfire behind a desk—her arrows were gone, and acrid smoke was curling nearby, making her eyes water. But the smoke also served as cover, and she dashed away, slipping from Saelin’s line of sight, trying to find Kairu. The laboratory was filled with clanging, roaring, and crashing; in this cacophony of sounds, her own desperate cries were lost, unheard by her friends.

  Kairu crawled forward. At the moment when a veil of smoke still separated him from Saelin, he reached the diamond, clenched it tightly, and rushed toward the massive iron pyramid, ducking from the bullets that roared through the lab, desperately clutching his prize. Taking cover behind a metal contraption, he caught his breath, peeked out, trying in vain to spot his friends through the smoke. Then he shouted, pouring as much strength as he could into his voice:

  "Rita! Woody! Where are you?!"

  There was nothing but the crackle and roar of flames. He screamed again:

  "Get out! I have it! I have the diamond!"

  He leapt up, burst from his cover, sprinted across the hall past an overturned table near which Saelin’s papers smoldered, turning to ash, darted across the lectern and jumped down. He looked back—somewhere behind the wall of smoke and flame he could hear Woody and Rita’s voices. He darted toward them, leaping over fire that singed his boots and shirt, broke through the swirling smoke, and ended up right in front of the dark passage from which the gun-mounted machines had rolled in.

  "Rita!" he yelled, cursing and looking around. "Woody! Someone!"

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  He turned back, zigzagging through broken shelves, and suddenly froze. The surviving tank-like machine rolled out of the smoke straight toward him, its gun barrels turning to face him.

  "Kairu!.."

  Something struck him hard, and he fell sideways, slamming into a redwood worktable. His ears rang from the gunfire, and Kairu instinctively curled up and crawled away until the bulk of the table gave him full cover. Only then did he look back... Woody. Woody Miles, who had shoved him out of harm’s way, let out a horrible, inhuman cry of pain and collapsed to his knees, still trembling as bullets had torn through his chest. Kairu screamed too, madly—everything around him felt like a nightmarish dream, but he couldn’t wake up or believe that this wasn’t real…

  "WOODY!!!"

  The gunfire ceased. The iron monster suddenly halted and slumped awkwardly, lowering its barrels, as if it had run out of fuel. Kairu rushed back, forgetting all danger, crawled to Woody, grabbed his hand, horrified to see the blood soaking through his shirt.

  "I… told you," Woody muttered with effort, blood frothing from his mouth, as when lungs had been hit. But this time, one of the bullets had also struck his heart. He trembled faintly in Kairu’s arms, paling by the second. "Remember… in the Enchanted Forest… I told you… someday I’d repay you. I… paid it back… I saved you too… I had to… couldn’t do otherwise…" He coughed, shivered, and Kairu realized with horror that there was nothing more to be done, that Woody was dying.

  "I… repaid the debt… You saved my worthless life twice. In Nalvin… On Ilvion… I – once… Too bad… but it can’t be helped… Leave me… I’m no good for anything now… They’ll kill you… Too many of them… Take Rita and run with the diamond… Let it mean something… Run!"

  The sound of cocking weapons echoed. Kairu no longer heard it; still kneeling, he couldn’t take his eyes off Woody’s face as he took his final breath—and stopped breathing.

  "Woody… No… No…"

  Sobs choked his throat. The smoke in the lab was beginning to clear, but another kind of fog now clouded Kairu’s eyes, and he couldn’t see or hear anything. He forgot that death stalked nearby, that his left hand still gripped the Lake of Aktida. Something ached deep under his ribs, a wild, merciless pain that gave him no peace. He couldn’t believe that Woody Miles would remain here. In this burning laboratory.

  "Kairu!"

  The sound of cocking guns again. Bullets whistled once more, now fired in isolated bursts from muskets. Swords clanged. Someone grabbed his arm. Lainter. Back in human form.

  "You have the diamond?"

  He nodded, unable to speak.

  "Let’s go. Norton is wounded. The ceiling’s about to collapse. Time to get out of here. There are still tons of guards, and they’re chasing us… Kairu, he’s dead. Leave him, you can’t help him anymore."

  Kairu lifted his head. Yuf, Remiz, Viggo, and Atgard were standing beside him. Atgard held Norton in his arms—limp and deathly pale. All of them were covered in soot and blood, with cuts and dark bruises on their faces and clothes, hair tangled and soaked in sweat. Kairu looked around. The hatch he had come through was right nearby. Just a jump away, and they’d be safe.

  "Where’s Rita?" he suddenly asked, coming to his senses.

  Lainter looked back. The smoke was slowly dissipating, drifting out through the shattered, bullet-riddled windows. And then they saw. Just ten paces away, among the flames, broken furniture, and shattered experimental setups, stood Saelin. With his left arm, he held Rita tightly to him, her head lolled limply, eyes closed, legs barely supporting her. In his right hand, Saelin held a dagger, its blade halfway buried in Rita’s right shoulder.

  "What a mess you’ve made," Saelin said. He was breathing heavily, sweat beading on his forehead. Behind him, several guards appeared, raising their rifles.

  "Let her go," Kairu said, rising slowly.

  "I’ll let her go and let you leave, if you give me the diamond."

  "Kairu," Yuf whispered.

  "How do I know she’s alive?" Kairu shouted.

  "She’s alive. But you don’t have much time. The dagger was poisoned. Want to save her? Give me the diamond. I swear I’ll let you go."

  "Don’t trust him!" Viggo growled. "Why would he just let us go?"

  "I don’t care about you," Saelin said flatly. "I want the diamond. And I want you," he nodded at Kairu. "But it’s your choice: join me with the diamond, or leave, but without it. Or leave with it—and she dies. I promise you that."

  "Kairu…" Yuf started again, but Kairu raised his hand.

  "Yuf, go."

  "What?"

  "Go!" Kairu snapped, almost angrily. "Help Norton."

  "You’re not seriously going to—"

  "Get out of here! Now!"

  In the ensuing silence, Atgard was the first to approach the hatch. Holding Norton close to him as if he were his own son, he began to descend. Remiz nodded to Kairu and followed after Atgard. Viggo cursed quietly and joined them. Yuf hesitated, glancing from Kairu to Rita and back again.

  "I hope you know what you're doing," he whispered, then stepped back and disappeared down the hatch.

  Kairu turned to Saelin and slowly raised the hand holding the diamond. But his eyes were only on Rita. He tried to see some sign of life in her limp body, in her deathlike face, tried to catch the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

  "Time is not on your side, Seer," Saelin said with a cold smile. "And yet, it all could’ve been different if you'd come alone. Why all this bloodbath, this chaos and destruction? Half a year of experiments—gone. But that’s nothing. We were supposed to work together, do you understand? We should have been allies, damn it!"

  "Allies?" Kairu shouted, rage choking him. "You just killed my friend! And you're ready to kill another if you don’t get the diamond! Your henchmen murdered my father! And Petros! And hundreds, thousands of people in the Southern Province and under Mainor! Allies? Since when?"

  "That’s a monstrous mistake, boy," Saelin said, and to Kairu’s surprise, the professor looked at him with sorrow.

  "Petros poisoned your mind. Taught you to hate me. You don’t understand... This war—it's his doing. His plan, from beginning to end. All these deaths—because of him. And you can put an end to it."

  "No!" Kairu shouted. "You’re lying!"

  "I can tell you the whole truth. If you come with me right now. The girl will live. And together we’ll stop this war."

  "I don’t believe you! Let Rita go, and we’ll leave! But I’ll never join you!"

  "That's a shame," Saelin said coldly. "In that case, hand over the diamond. You have very, very little time."

  Kairu felt like he was suffocating. The Lake of Aktida burned in his fingers and gave him strength. Its surface was so smooth… so right against his skin… Everything happening felt like a nightmare, reality was warping, and Kairu desperately wanted to believe it was just fevered delirium. His senses blurred, he barely understood what he was seeing or doing, only hazy images flashed in his mind. Like in a dream, he stretched out his hand—and in that moment, time stopped. His fingers opened by themselves, but he no longer felt the diamond slip from his weakening grip, fall to the floor, and roll, shining like the midday sun, toward Saelin.

  Saelin shoved Rita forward, and Kairu saw that she was half-conscious, merely drugged or dazed. She took a few shaky steps, and he leapt forward and caught her in his arms. Rita collapsed into him like a giant heavy doll.

  "That’s it, boy," he heard Saelin’s voice, as if from far away. "And now… take him!"

  Soldiers with rifles stepped forward. Kairu, holding Rita tightly with one arm, pulled a dagger from his belt with the other and pressed its tip to his own throat.

  "Try to touch me—and I’ll kill myself!" he shouted. "You need me alive, Saelin? You won’t get me alive! I have nothing to lose, believe me!"

  In that moment, he feels everything, even the bullet lying in the barrel of the musket, the tremble in the soldiers’ fingers on the triggers. His mind is sharpened to the extreme… and he senses a force, some mix of his will, fury, and grief gathering into a dense, invisible core in his mind, ready to strike… He puts all his hatred into that strike, all his power… all the destructive energy of the Lake of Aktida. It pours into him like a waterfall, a blinding, inexhaustible source… and bursts outward as a focused, invisible ray that no magic could block. This beam can’t be seen, one can only glimpse the lightning crackling in the air. And Saelin takes the full force of it. He flies backward, slams into the wall, and slides down. But the pain isn’t from the impact… He curles up, clutches his head, groans… screams… howls, uttering sounds of inhuman agony…

  And Kairu, watching this trembling, soaked, rat-like creature struggle to its hands and knees, already knows what would happen next, he even knows the thoughts racing through that mind, slick and twisting like an eel…

  "No! No! NO!!!..."

  Oh yes. He knows that suffering too. Everyone who had long been in contact with the diamond, who had gazed upon it, who had felt its magic, was bound by that same curse. This was for Woody Miles… For Rita… For his father, who died on the threshold of their home… For his brother, who’d spent nearly a year enslaved by pirates… For all who had fallen on the fields of Nalvin and Mainor… Let this be the reckoning. It is nothing compared to what he himself had endured...

  No.

  The power faded. All that remained was the blistering heat, large drops of sweat on his temples and across his whole body, his shirt soaked with sweat and blood like after a steam bath, curls sticking to his face. Saelin lay on the floor, breathing heavily, unable to rise. Now he was nothing but a pitiful, exhausted, weak, and unbelievably old man. Once powerful, now powerless. The soldiers hesitated, then, after a few seconds of uncertainty, turned from Kairu and rushed to aid their master.

  Kairu backed away and dragged Rita into the hatch. No one seemed to follow.

  There was no bleeding; the dagger’s blade had sealed the wound. Kairu couldn’t tell, couldn’t feel whether she was still alive or if it had all been in vain. But he wasn’t going to leave her here, no matter what. He had already forgotten how the Lake of Aktida felt in his hand: right now, only she existed for him, lying in his arms, and all the treasures of the world meant nothing.

  Only once had she shown weakness before him. He had always seen her as a fierce warrior, and only now realized how fragile she really was… Once, she had saved him in the crypt. Now, it was time to repay many debts. Woody had already closed his account forever. Now it was Kairu’s turn.

  "Rita… Don’t die…"