"...And who said anything about escaping?"
Hakon stared at the warlord, his jaw nearly dropping to the floor.
He accidentally dropped a silver coin from his fingers, and it rolled slowly across the explosive black powder scattered on the ground.
"Huh?!" Hakon stammered, taking a step backward toward the stairs. "Are we going to die just to do this?! Ubba, I'm a thief, not a damned martyr!"
Hearing these words, Ubba threw his head back and let out a laugh.
"You foolish boy." Ubba chuckled, "Do you think I'm going to sit in a dark tunnel and light a fuse myself?"
Hakon paused, "Then... who will light them?"
"The inside man, of course," Ubba grinned broadly, leaning back in his chair. "Our greedy friend who runs the royal wine cellars. We promised him a chest of the Iron Kingdom's gold as soon as the castle falls. But what he doesn't know is that the fuse cords on those clay pots burn much faster than they look."
