The stair out of the forge shook every few breaths. Below it, magma crept over the bronze gates and drowned the last of the embers. Pei Jing took the stairs at a steady pace. He felt each step through the two hemp bands holding the new blade across his back. If a stair shifted under his foot, he had time to shift with it.
At the upper landing, he looked out on the central dais. The roof of the cavern, more than three miles wide was coming down. The fourteen thousand swords had lost their courses when the core came out of the throne. Now blades struck one another and fell through the dark in showers of sparks. He saw a bronze broadsword spin past a broken spear and sink point first into the magma.
Sword Sovereign Xiao still sat on the throne. His empty hands rested in his lap. A slab of stone fell thirty paces away and smashed the eastern railing. The old bones did not move.
Pei Jing stopped under the arch at the hall junction. Stone fell steadily beyond the shelter of the arch. Inside it, he had enough room to open his pack and check what he could reach in a fight. He put the healing vials at the top and closed the pouch of stones.
