The preparation-room guardian died with its fingers six inches from the bell rope.
Golden Axe did not pause to admire the distance.
The tracker cut the rope free and wound it around his arm while Matthew and the shield-bearer finished the two attendants. Their mage had used only one moderate spell since entering the burial tunnel. The healer had closed a cut on Matthew's forearm and nothing more.
No alarm followed them through the crypt.
They reached the underground gatehouse eight minutes faster than before.
The portcullis filled the passage exactly as it had during their first attempt. Its chains rose into the protected winch room inside the fortress. Narrow firing openings overlooked the tunnel from beyond the bars. Green light moved behind them.
Golden Axe had stopped the guardian bell. The gatehouse saw them anyway.
A warning bell rang above the passage. Its answer spread through the keep, and black fire awakened in the channels along the walls.
