The heavy adrenaline that had sustained Ye Chen’s body through the battle slowly drained away, leaving a hollow, agonizing exhaustion in its place.
The vaulted ash chamber fell into total, heavy silence, broken only by the distant, slow dripping of water from the cracked ceiling.
Captain Vane and his surviving mercenary had dragged themselves through the shattered eastern portcullis, leaving Ye Chen and Lin Xi alone beside the ancient bronze altar.
Ye Chen took a slow, heavy step forward, but his knees buckled slightly under the sudden, crushing weight of his physical fatigue.
He leaned heavily against the hilt of his broadsword, planting the broad iron tip deep into a fissure in the flagstones to keep his balance.
Lin Xi was at his side in an instant, her hand reaching out to steady
