We walked hand in hand to our room, Castor going to his own.
Once we were in our room, Sahora slowly sat down on the bed and curled her knees tightly to her chest. Through the bond, I could feel she was having to think through every breath. I sat down in front of her, not touching, just breathing with her.
“You're okay. You're safe.” I told her
Her eyes snapped up to mine, and fierceness laid there. “My safety is not the concern.” She uncurled slightly.
The door slammed open. Sahora jumped to her feet. Gart stood in the doorway. Through the bond, the calm in her hit me like a wall.
I stood. “What’s going on?”
“Your sentence has been moved up.” He withdrew his sword, a smile on his face. “The High Priest has issued the order for your heads.”
Sahora stood on the balls of her feet. He lunged. She slipped outside his blow and redirected his elbow downward. Before he could react, she pulled the sword out of his hand and ran it through his stomach. She yanked it free. The squelch turned my stomach.
“We need to get Castor, the shard, and leave.” Her voice was calmer than it should have been.
My blood went cold, my hands shook. “He…issued the…”
Her voice was sharp. “Oliver. Focus. You can fall apart after we’re out.”
I shook my head. She shoved the sword into my hands. “Take it. You’ll need a weapon.”
Boots thudded down the hallway.
Sahora readied herself. A guard rounded the corner. She was on him instantly, dagger to his throat. The blade slid across. His surprise came out as a gargle. She grabbed the sword out of his hands.
Stepping into the corridor, Castor was already out of his room.
His sword was drawn,“What’s the plan?” he asked
Sahora walked forward, scanning the room. I felt through the bond that she was assessing our options.
“We need the shard.” She responded.
“It was in the entryway. We can grab it on our way out.” I responded, my voice shaking more than I wanted it to.
The hallway erupted.
The smell of sweat and steel filled the hall. Ten men crowded the exit of the hall.
Sahora didn’t give them time to form ranks. She rushed the closest guard. His sword grazed her shoulder. I felt the sting through the bond.
She didn’t flinch.
She stepped into him instead and drove the stolen sword into his stomach. He folded with a grunt, sliding down the blade.
Someone slammed Sahora into the wall. Stone bit into her spine. Through the bond, I felt her breath leave her lungs for a brutal second.
“Oliver!” Castor yelled.
I moved on instinct. I lifted my sword just as a blade came down at my head. The impact jolted up my arms and made my hands go numb.
Panic crawled up my throat.
I swung anyway and caught cloth and skin across his chest.
Not clean. Not practiced. Just enough to make them back off, just enough to keep space between us and their steel.
And then a laugh cut through the corridor.
Sahora’s laugh.
It was hollow. Wrong. It froze the men nearest her for half a heartbeat.
She drove her dagger up under a guard’s ribs. His body went rigid. She let him drop like a sack, already turning toward the next one.
Castor moved through them like this wasn’t new. One strike, then another. Three men fell before I could even track their blades.
Sahora tackled another man on her left, driving her shoulder into his stomach.
He punched her across the face.
She headbutted him back, smiling.
The dagger went into his throat before he could make another sound.
I drove my sword into a man on my right. His eyes bulged as I yanked my sword out.
Castor finished the last two while we ran. We pushed into the entry hall.
My heart dropped.
Gone.
The Life Shard’s shrine was empty.
Near the shrine, a guard lifted his sword. Castor ran at him, knocking his sword to the ground. Castor pinned him there, his sword at the man’s throat.
Sahora walked over. Crouched near him and asked, “Where is it?”
He glared up at her. He spat at her feet.
She grabbed his arm,and at his elbow she bent it the wrong way. His scream filled the hall.
“Where is it?” Her voice was hard.
“The arena.” He rasped. “The High Priest and his son took it.”
Sahora looked up at Castor and nodded.
He drove the sword through the man’s throat. The sound turned my stomach.
“Let’s move.” She didn’t look back.