“Fucking hells,” Kire breathed as they ran up. Gavin, the half-elf, and the women had fled ahead of them, and she was still feeling the buzz of energy from the stimulant and blood magic, but even she wondered if they’d all make it out. [i]You will, you’ll make it, come on![/i] She sensed the other two lagging behind her and she stepped back, offered her other hand to Ysaryn, her mind filled with nothing but expletives and the desire to see them all out together. Behind them the ground rumbled as the rune chamber started swallowing itself up, but ahead of them, the mines had opened up, sunlight filtering through gaps in the roof. [i]So close![/i] A part of the stone ceiling fell, narrowly missing Gavin, but it had given them a makeshift ramp up to the uppermost level of the mines, towards the exit. Some of the women, running on adrenaline alone, had stumbled, and Gavin shouted for the half-elf to pull them up to the rock slant. 

Another loud crack followed closely behind them; fissures opened up in the stairs they had just left behind and in the walls, widening and climbing up just above them. “Look out!” Kire braced herself against the rock wall that threatened to fall on them, using the stimulant-driven energy for the Ring to convert into dragon-strength. With a pained cry she held it back. “Go! Get them out!” She gritted her teeth as she braced herself, willing against hope for the wall to list away from her, her heart thudding fast.