Assassin's Maze

by Everly Frost

  Warm liquid trickles across my forehead.

  That is not a good sign.

  I don’t have breath to scream, gasping for air.

  Her gaze is cold and hard. “I am General Griffin. How did you get this sword?”

  I squint at my katana as she brandishes it in front of my face. She must have removed it while I was out. I keep my eye on it. The hard reality is that she could stab me with it right now—kill me with my own sword—and I wouldn’t be able to stop her.

  I glance sideways at Amalia. She knows all the answers, but for some reason she remains silent.

  I swallow, drawing air into my lungs, and take two deep breaths before I can answer. “That sword is mine.”

  Just then, the other general lands within the circle, dropping neatly to her feet beside Amalia and putting away her wings. She has auburn hair, tied in knots across her head, and is just as fiercely muscled as the one who knocked me from the sky.

  She gives Amalia a deep bow, “My Queen, the other two invaders are tiring and will soon be restrained.”

  Amalia gives her an indulgent smile. “General Glaive, the male Valkyrie is a monster and must be killed. Take that weapon and use it on him.”

  Amalia points to the Keres gun resting in the ash. Glaive quickly bends to retrieve it.

  “No!” I struggle against General Griffin, but she grabs my face with her free hand, her fingers digging into my bruised jaw, making me wince.

  She grinds her teeth at me. “I’ll ask you once more: how did you get this sword?”

  Glaive pauses nearby before she rises with the Keres gun in her hand, staring at my sword. Surprise shoots across her face before a deep frown creases her forehead.

  I growl up at Griffin, “My mother gave it to me.”

  “You are trying my patience,” Griffin snaps. “Who was your mother?”

  “Her name was Anna Cassidy.”

  General Griffon huffs at me as if I’m pathetic. “Not her human name. Her Valkyrie name.”

  I blink at her. There’s a difference? Mom was only known by one other name, but it was her assassin’s name. Surely that isn’t what this woman is asking me for, but it’s the only other answer I have.

  “They called her the Glass Fox.”

  General Griffon gasps, recoiling from me. “This is the sword of a traitor.”

  She pitches it point first into the ash beside my thigh as if she doesn’t want to touch it any longer. It barely misses my wings and vibrates from the force of her thrust.

  Anger courses through me. To throw someone else’s katana into the dirt is to spit on their soul.

  I glare up at her, speaking very carefully. “That is a disrespectful way to treat my sword.”

  Griffin’s hand tightens around my jaw. “That sword belonged to our third general: General Glass. She rebelled against our queen after the first ringmaker attacked us. In fact, General Glass tried to kill her, and for that she was banished. Her soul and the souls of her descendants will never rest here with us.”

  Griffin peers closer at me. “You must be her descendant. You have the same eyes.”

  I chew on that for a second. I think that means I won’t come here when I die. It would mean that Mom didn’t come here either. Although Mom was in the diamond maze, so she must be here… somewhere… or at least her soul followed me here…

  Not coming here when I die is not something I will cry about.

  I take a glance at Amalia. Ordinarily, I would expect her to be crowing about my capture right about now but she’s unusually quiet. If what Griffin says is true, then my ancestor refused to follow her. There could have been any number of reasons for that, but the one I’m aware of is Amalia’s theft of Keres feathers. It makes me wonder how much truth she told her people about her own actions and to what extent she misled them.

  All things considered, the fact that my ancestor fought Amalia makes me insanely proud.

  “She didn’t agree with what you were doing, did she?” I shout at Amalia. “She tried to stop you killing Keres—”

  Amalia shrieks over the top of me. “The other intruder is a Keres female. You have to kill her. Now!”

  My heart sinks. Until now, the Valkyrie have treated Archer like a human. That will change now.

  Glaive immediately takes to the sky, her face set with determination to carry out her queen’s orders. She takes the gun with her.

  The two Valkyrie warriors standing on my wings step off and Griffin pulls me to my feet, but I was waiting for any shift in her weight. I tuck my wings, pull her off balance, and scoop up my sword at the same time.

  I swing back, a clean cut that sprays ash and blood through the air.

  My blade is whisper quiet. She doesn’t have time to react.

  Griffin’s head hits the ground to screams from the other Valkyrie.

  I spin to Amalia, but she is already gone, disappearing into the growing crowd.

  I no longer have the gun to end her, and if I go after her, I won’t get to Slade and Archer in time to help them. I leap and release my wings, soaring after General Glaive as a barrage of furious women rages after me, ready to beat me to a pulp. I pull my feet up just in time to avoid their grasping hands.

  Twenty… maybe thirty… warriors take to the air behind me, a rising swarm as I soar after Glaive. She will carry the message to the Valkyrie on the right flank that they are to kill Archer with their power. I have to beat her to it.

  I ignore my bleeding face as I soar after her, the wing-beats of so many women following me that I can’t tell them apart. I zigzag to avoid the daggers they throw at me and the arrows they shoot from the ground.

  My sword is still in my hands, my most trusted weapon.

  In the distance, Archer and Slade have moved further toward the island, but they are surrounded by Valkyrie, still battling them.

  Glaive pauses up ahead to shout orders to another rank of Valkyrie below who immediately mobilize in Archer’s direction. Her pause is all I need to catch up, but one of the women shouts from behind me. “General Glaive, watch out!”

  The general glances back just in time to see me and avoid the cut of my sword. Dashing forward, she closes in on Archer’s location, close enough to shout orders.

  With a final burst of power, I hurl myself into her and swing my sword.

  Glaive screams, “Kill the Keres woman!”

  Too late, my sword meets her neck. I snatch the gun from her falling hand and deposit it safely into my harness, but my heart sinks as quickly as her body drops to the ground below.

  The upturned faces of the warriors on the ground tell me that they heard the order. So did Slade and Archer, their exhausted gazes turning my way as I attempt to soar toward them.

  Before I can travel more than a few feet, a warrior collides with me. Another three grab me from behind, yanking me backward, while I try to hit and kick my way out of their hold.

  On the ground, a silver haze of killing power grows around the women closing in on Slade and Archer. A wave of iridescent heat sears my skin and forces me backward in a way that a blade can’t. They are all harnessing their killing power and pooling its force among themselves.

  With a scream of frustration, I curve upward, forced to fly away from it. I can’t get in there. I can’t help Archer. My damn body is too vulnerable. If I fly through that much death, my heart will stop before I reach the ground.

  Slade promised he would protect Archer. The determination on his face is unmistakable as he shouts to her, “Get inside my wings! You’ll be safe there.”

  At the same time, he looks up. His eyes meet mine for a second before Archer dives against his side. Then he wraps his arms around her, dropping them both to their knees. He ducks his head, releases his wings, and wraps them tightly around her, forming a shield that conceals her completely.

  The warriors attack.

  Their power hits Slade’s wings, rippling across them, silver streaks of light sparking as their killing power collides with the energy i
n his wings.

  I hold my breath as the force crackles and shrieks, but the more they target his wings, the more their power sparks back at them, biting their faces and hands so that they flinch away from him.

  They can’t get through.

  They scream with frustration, their power dying down as they appear to realize that it’s futile to try to kill Archer that way. There is no way to get through Slade’s strong wings and no gaps in them like there are gaps between feathers.

  One of them spits and screams, “A Valkyrie protecting a Keres! You dishonor your people!”

  Slade doesn’t budge as they continue to hurl insults at him.

  In the air, I evade another three Valkyrie who try to grab me. I need to get to Slade and help him, but the remnant haze of killing power still lingers in the air. Give it two more seconds, just two, for it to clear so I can fly down there…

  I scream as the Valkyrie who spat at Slade drives her dagger into his back. The only way to get to Archer is to go through Slade’s body instead of his wings. The short daggers they used before are nothing like the ones they use now. They strike between every vertebra in his spine, their attacks vicious and bloody, trying to make him open his wings.

  Slade’s roar of pain rises above the shelter he created for Archer, above the shouting women. He shakes, jolts. He can’t defend himself. All he can do is keep Archer safe.

  Rage flows through me.

  Nobody hurts my man.

  I spear toward them, power filling my hands as I burst forward, knocking the nearest woman to the ground and sacrificing my last dagger into the back of the next one’s neck. I thud to the ground at Slade’s back. I don’t have time to be gentle, wrenching out the blades that remain along his spine.

  “Slade! I’m here!” My voice cracks at the damage the Valkyrie did to him, but I swallow my emotions and pull myself upright. I have to trust that he will heal quickly now that the blades are removed. “I’m here. I’ll protect you.”

  He shudders, the slump of his shoulders telling me he is badly wounded. I take guard at his back. This is the only way the Valkyrie can get to Archer so this is where I will stay. No matter what happens.

  I spring at the next warrior who attempts to attack, my sword piercing her body before I kick her back. The next Valkyrie loses a hand. The one after that, a leg. I have no remorse and no sympathy, but neither do they.

  I am not one of them. I am their enemy.

  They curse and taunt me. “Traitor! Filth!”

  I let their taunts roll off me.

  Their attacks are relentless. The pain from the wounds in my legs increases and so does the ache in my head. I’m wounded but I can’t stop. I have to protect Slade and Archer.

  Between the blades and arrows that fly my way, between the ducking and spinning, I catch sight of an endless army. An endless force.

  I don’t have a chance.

  A scream builds inside me.

  I won’t die here.

  I refuse.

  The next blade cuts my face. The next fist nearly breaks my jaw. I sense my bones shifting but I turn just before they break. I ignore the pain and strike back as hard as I can but it’s not enough…

  I don’t know where Amalia is. I have the gun, but my hope of stopping her is dying a painful death. My chest heaves and the well of power inside me is nearly sucked dry.

  I’m fighting an entire army on my own.

  And I’m losing.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  A roar echoes across the air, so ferocious that the women around me jump, many of them turning to the sound. I try to place it—a voice maybe—but the reverberation bounces around inside my head.

  The Valkyrie women recover and return their attention to me again, their blades blurring as I deflect them. One of them succeeds in swiping my feet out from under me. I land on my back, expecting a follow-up kick but the woman jolts backward, her head turned.

  In fact, they’re all looking in the same direction.

  I jump to my feet and shoot into the air for a second, keeping my eye on Slade at the same time. I intend to drop right back to the ground once I know what the new threat is, but what I see makes me freeze.

  Cain bursts from the entrance to his diamond tunnel, his massive body powering across the field of ash. His shout echoes around us, amplified by his assassin’s magic. Copper light blazes around him; his protective suit is cut up, and he clutches a gun in each hand.

  Even from this distance, I can see that he’s angry as hell.

  He throws the weapons aside, which tells me that he has used up all his bullets, and charges at the nearest warrior, his Keres power blazing. She screams and drops at his touch, convulsing on the ground.

  He leaps over her. Screams fill the air, Valkyrie women drop, and Cain plows through their ranks, his power shrieking ahead of him.

  He runs straight for Archer as if she is some kind of beacon. He sprints so fast that he is only moments away from reaching us.

  At the same time as incredible relief and gratitude flow through me, fear also rises inside me, making the scene below me crystal clear. Cain’s expression is drawn and focused. He wears the look of battle fever that blocks out everything except his target. Whatever happened to him in that tunnel, it made him mad. Real mad. All he wants is to get to Archer.

  I have no problem with him cutting through the risen Valkyrie, but neither Slade nor I will survive the Keres power bursting off Cain right now.

  The closer he gets to our position, the closer he is to killing us.

  I have to get Slade out of the line of fire.

  While the Valkyrie women brace, weapons ready for Cain, I drop to the ground, shouting, “Slade! Open your wings. Let go of Archer. Now!”

  Slade responds immediately. He lurches back and his wings retract, revealing Archer huddled next to him, her arms wrapped around her knees, her head resting on top of them.

  She is glowing. Her back gleams as if her wings are right beneath the surface, but her expression is blank. She is somewhere else. Whatever she’s doing, it’s calling Cain and fueling his rage.

  I wrap my arms around Slade’s waist, pulling him upward, screaming at him to move. “Slade! Hurry!”

  He is sluggish, his torso slippery in my arms.

  Blood… a lot of blood…

  A scream grows inside me. Archer was resting right up against his chest, her Keres power flowing as close to the surface of her skin as it gets. It is like poison to Slade. Meanwhile, the Valkyrie were stabbing him in the back. Even when I stopped them, he was protecting Archer and wasn’t healing the whole time…

  Sick to my stomach, I release my wings and pull him into the air, his body limp in my arms, his arms and head dropping forward.

  I lift him out of Cain’s path just in time.

  Cain bashes through the ranks of women, sending them sprawling, and scoops Archer into his arms, running with her, one outstretched arm punching through the Valkyrie ahead of him.

  Archer unfurls, her focus snapping back to him. “Cain!”

  He roars, “Am I in hell?”

  He skids to a halt, far enough away from Slade and me that we’re safe from the power raging through him.

  The Valkyrie warriors nearest to him drop to the ground, their bodies trembling before the life leaves their eyes. The others back away, rushing to get clear of his power.

  Cain’s fists clench against Archer’s back. “I saw the future. You died and I… was not a good person without you.”

  I startle to hear that. Slade said he saw the future, too. He said he saw a whole life without me. I wasn’t in his version of the future either.

  Archer cups her hand to Cain’s cheek. She is half curled in his arms, one leg hooked around his hips in a way that appears uncomfortable but she looks right at home there. “I’m here. So are Hunter and Slade. Slade kept me safe.”

  Cain turns, tilting his head back, a measure of concern passing across his face when he sees Slade and the way I’m holdin
g him up. With a deep, indrawn breath, Cain dims his power, but he’s clearly struggling to reduce it altogether. The battle rage hasn’t left him. In all honesty, I don’t want him to calm down. As long as he is glowing, the Valkyrie will keep their distance. They will take advantage of the break to rally, but we will deal with them when we have to.

  I drop to ground, sliding to my knees, keeping a safe distance from Cain that doesn’t put us too far away from him that the Valkyrie will be tempted to attack us. I gently rest Slade’s upper torso across my lap, laying him with his chest toward my stomach to avoid putting pressure on his healing back. I support his head in the crook of my arm. His breathing is shallow and his wounds are healing so slowly that fear grips me.

  His body needs to process the Keres power and it’s taking far too long. Archer’s power is… I shake my head. When she finally gets it back, it will be incredible. The way Cain fought his way to her, the power flowing through him, it’s as if he was tapping into it somehow. Maybe it’s the connection between the Keres rings they wear—the Queen and her daughter—but Cain and Archer are connected like nothing I’ve seen before.

  The impact on Slade was devastating.

  I stroke his hair, wishing I had Tansy’s power to heal him, tears burning my eyes as I whisper, “You could have been killed.”

  His eyes flutter open, pale blue slits, the worry in them wrenching my heart around. “Is Archer safe?”

  “You protected her just like you promised. Don’t talk now. Focus on healing. We won’t have long before the dead Valkyrie attack again.”

  He gives a dry laugh. “It’s a Valkyrie apocalypse.”

  I laugh-cry, tears dropping from my eyes as I press my forehead to his. He exhales and closes his eyes, sliding one arm around my back to hold me close. His nearness affects me like a live wire, bringing me alive, making me painfully conscious of the wounds that my body is desperately trying to heal.

  I have to make it through this. We all have to.

  I murmur, “I always wanted to know more about my history. I never thought I would be sorry to meet my ancestors.”

  I take deep breaths, pulling my emotions together for these few seconds of safety. Cain’s presence continues to keep the Valkyrie at bay but they won’t stay distant for long. We will only have a few moments of peace.