Ram took a sip from the mug. “So it is.”
She sat on the cot next to him, the smile still lingering. “What you said last night was clever,” she said, “And brave. Koldin may have bent Nikolai’s will, but you were the one to tip the scale. Daniel is fortunate to have a friend like you.” She hesitated, fingers intertwined. “You promised him you’d find him, and when this is over, we’ll gear you up.” She stood and crossed the room abruptly, almost hurriedly, and sat with her back to the wall, where, for the first time, her eyes fell to the ground and stayed there.
Ram watched her, puzzled. For the next while, the three of them lapsed into silence. Then the door opened again. Tarvin poked his grinning face in. “Nikolai says it’s time.”
* * *
The eighth level of Bryn Mawr had but one hall leading from the circular walkway—the hall that lead to the dungeons. Here, so deep in the belly of the mountain, torches replaced electrical lights, and the flickering flames cast haunting shadows along the brown stone of the hive’s walls. The spiral staircase that circled up towards the higher levels was the only way out. Below them, beyond the inner rail, was a circle of uneven ground that the Akorites referred to simply as the pit. It looked like a giant excavation drill had bored down into the earth and simply stopped there, though if history was accurate, this place had been eroded out by a water source centuries ago. Now, it was dry as bone.
Ram had to admit, this was the perfect location for the fight to take place. The pit offered a miniature arena of sorts, while the walkway above provided the Akorites with a safe vantage point from which to satisfy their thirst for violence. At first he had wondered how the two combatants were to be lowered into the pit, but after circling the walkway and getting a view from all angles, he noticed a ladder that led about halfway down the wall into the pit from the far side of the walkway, away from the stairs. The ladder was rusty, and several of the rungs were missing. Once Kora and the Preceptor were in the pit, there would be no getting out until one of them was dead. The nausea returned.
The Akorites were all there, waiting. Koldin and Myra stood with Ram by the rail, silent, nervous. He could read it on their faces, though the only hint he got from Myra was a slight tightening of her lips. Of the group, the three of them were closest to the stairway. Dasha and Lazar peered into the pit a quarter of the way around. Lazar rubbed his hands together anxiously while Dasha spoke to him in tones too low for Ram to hear. Barin stood with Tarvin across the pit in a straight line. His foot tapped impatiently on the flagstone. Nikolai casually leaned on the rail, halfway between Barin and Lazar, the ever-present smug grin plastered on his face.
Ram briefly considered attempting to reason with the man, but he already knew what the outcome would be. No, the situation was out of his hands. There was nothing he could do to stop it. He could only wait and watch, though he loathed the thought of witnessing such unrestrained violence. The only thing that kept him rooted to the walkway was Myra’s calming presence and the fact that sitting alone in his room would be an even worse torture than watching the fight.
Beside him, Koldin stirred. “Here they come.”
The two bruisers, whose names Ram still hadn’t found out, emerged from the murky hall that led to the dungeon. The first dragged a struggling Kora with him. Ram’s heart lurched into his throat at the sight of her. Her hands were tied behind her back, and a coarse sack covered her head and shoulders. The second bruiser led a Preceptor, though had he not been aware of this fact beforehand, Ram would have never guessed it. Equally bound and hooded, this poor fellow stumbled along blindly without making a sound.
Barin stopped his foot-tapping and spat down into the pit. The savage grin Ram had seen the night before returned. The others, however, hid whatever reactions they may have had as the bruisers led the prisoners around the walkway towards the ladder. Save for the shuffling of feet, the eighth level was as silent as the grave it was about to become.
“She’ll win,” said Koldin under his breath.
The bruisers removed the sacks and untied the wrists of the prisoners. They shoved Kora and the Preceptor towards the ladder, each following their respective prisoner down the rungs, so that the two were never together.
Ram tried to catch a glimpse of Kora’s face, but he could not, nor could he tell who the Preceptor was. Once all four were down in the pit, one of the bruisers dragged the Preceptor to the far side of the enclosure, winding his way across the jagged and broken ground. There, he spun the Preceptor around to face Kora.
Ram lurched against the rail and nearly cried out. It was Tess Kerrigan. Despite the dim lighting from the torches, he recognized her in an instant. His mind churned like a blender, and he felt lightheaded. How had Kerrigan fallen to the Akorites? What all had happened since he and Daniel left the Preceptor camp? Did she know he was here? Weak at the knees, he felt his legs give out from under him.
Myra caught him with an arm around his waist before he could fall. “What is it?” Concern layered her emerald eyes. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Ram tried to speak, but his throat had suddenly gone dry. He licked the roof of his mouth. “I wish I had. It’s—”
Before he could say anything else, Nikolai kicked the rail post he was leaning on with the tip of his boot, and the metal resounded like a gong in the echoing depths of the mountain. “We’ll not bother with ceremonial niceties,” he said, his voice bouncing off the stone walls in all directions as though he were the ringmaster of some primordial circus. “You will fight, and the one who lives will walk from here a free woman. This is my word.”
The bruisers let go of the prisoners and heaved themselves back up the ladder. The one bringing up the rear gave the last rung a solid kick, knocking it free of the frame. The rung clattered to the stone below. If there was any chance of them getting out before, it was definitely gone now.
“Idiot,” said Koldin, “Does he not realize what he’s just done?”
Ram blinked. “What do you mean?”
Koldin pointed at the rung. “He wants Kora to lose, and yet he’s unwittingly given her the advantage already—a weapon. Skies above, I hope she gets to it before the Preceptor does.”
Ram nodded weakly. Inside, he felt like a miserable wretch. Thanks to him, Tess and Kora were trapped in a den of lions, with the only way to freedom being for one to kill the other, and he would be forced to watch the whole thing. What at first had appeared to be his first major success had quickly spiraled into a disaster that would inevitably cost one of his allies their life.
He felt Myra’s presence near him. She took his hand in hers. He had no doubt she could sense his distress, but her eyes were raptured by the scene below.
And so were his.
* * *
For the first time since being taken captive by the Akorites, Tess was once again in control of her own fate, for the time being, at least. If Nikolai had as much honor as he boasted, all that stood between her and freedom was the trembling Akorite girl on the other side of the crude arena, the same girl that had been in the dungeon with her only hours ago. Tess didn’t know what the girl had done to bring this punishment on herself, but judging by her widened eyes and shaky knees, she didn’t even have the guts to fight, much less a chance at winning.
Tess took in a measured breath and relaxed her shoulders. Her training in the academy had prepared her for this. A flash of pity stabbed at her stomach, but was quickly overridden by her military subconscious telling her to end this and walk away. It was going to be a quick fight.
She blocked out the onlookers, spectral in the wavering torchlight, and advanced across the broken terrain of the pit in an arched trajectory following the rough wall to her left. The girl watched her every move with flitting eyes, like a fawn wary of a crouching wolf.
Tess locked eyes with the girl and kept stalking nearer. The girl wasn’t reacting. It was like she was rooted in place. Was she really that afraid?
Tess lunged forward, and the wo
rld went silent. She jabbed her foot at the girl’s chest. A kick to knock her off balance, a backhand follow-up to bring her down, and then she would end it. Quick, calculated, efficient.
At the last second, the girl’s mouth parted, and she threw herself out of the way, clumsily dodging the attack. Tess’s momentum carried her forward. She outstretched her hands to avoid smacking into the wall. The impact stung her palms. Brimfire, this girl was quick.
By the time she recovered and spun around, the girl had retreated to the far side of the pit, where she crouched like a wounded animal, breathing heavily.
Tess attacked again, this time propelling herself off a slab of the stone ground that jutted up at an angle. Once again, the girl barely managed to avoid contact, but her movements were delayed, choppy, as though her body were half a second behind her senses. The fact only bolstered Tess’s confidence.
On the third attack, the girl was a split second too slow, and Tess landed a swift heel to her shoulder. She spun in a full circle and crumpled to the ground with a cry. Tess didn’t give her the chance to get back up. She pounced, pinned the girl down with a knee to the chest, and locked her hands around her throat.
The girl thrashed and bucked, but she was smaller than Tess and could not escape her grasp. Tess almost let her go out of sheer pity. Almost. Too much was at stake for her to not take whatever chance she had at freedom, even if it meant taking a life by such a crude method.
“I’m sorry,” she said, as the girl’s strength ebbed under her, “But one of us has to make it out.”
* * *
Ram watched helplessly as Tess choked the life out of Kora, one agonizing second at a time. His pulse pounded in his ears, and his hands gripped the rail with white knuckles. Beside him, Myra turned her face away.
“Come on,” whispered Koldin, “Fight her. Fight.”
* * *
“I’m sorry, but one of us has to make it out.” The moment the words left her lips, something changed in the girl’s eyes. For the span of a heartbeat they pled, begging for a breath. Then they pulsed with panic and zoned out, as if Tess were no longer there. These were the eyes of the dying. But even as Tess kept her hands locked on the girl’s throat, her pupils darkened, the panic morphed into wild hatred, and for the first time since the fight began, Tess was afraid.
With a sudden surge of strength born of pure desperation, the girl gripped Tess by the shoulders and hurled her to the stones of the pit, knocking the wind out of her. Tess scrambled back towards her, but the girl had crawled away gasping in raw breaths of air. She groped blindly amid the broken stones, and when she rose, she held the rusted iron ladder rung in a trembling fist.
Tess backed away from her on all fours, searching for a loose stone—anything to defend herself. There was nothing.
The girl came at her, a snarl on her lips.
Tess struggled to find her footing, but the uneven terrain betrayed her, and she stumbled down to her knees. Her breath caught in her chest. Madness kindled in the girl’s eyes like a flame as she stumbled drunkenly across the pit towards Tess. In those eyes, Tess saw her own death.
* * *
Ram’s jaw dropped. Kora brandished the ladder rung like a sword, and though she still clutched at her throat with her free hand and pitched forward as though on a ship in harsh waters, Tess wasn’t getting up, and he feared Kora would beat her to death where she knelt. His lips moved in a silent plea, but no sound came out.
Without taking his gaze off the pit, he circled farther along the rail, drawn to the combat like a metal ball to a magnet. He was so terrified, he felt like he was down in the pit with them. This was not the Kora he knew. This was an animal, driven by some primordial force to survive only awakened by the very face of death. It was then that he fully understood what Koldin had said earlier. Tess had cornered the bear.
* * *
As the girl bore down on her, Tess drew in a deep breath, preparing herself. This had turned into a fight she was not going to win. There was only one way she would make it out alive.
The girl swung the ladder rung like a scythe.
Tess ducked and felt the blunt weapon rush inches over her head. She dove off her knees and plowed her shoulder into the girl’s stomach, drawing out a sharp gasp. The two fell to the ground. Tess felt rock dig into her back, but she ignored the pain. Abandoning any sort of poised technique, she kicked savagely at the girl’s midsection until she was clear of her flailing arms and legs.
Tess jumped to her feet and sprinted across the pit, heading straight for the ladder. She veered her angle and hit a rising rock slab at a dead run. At the peak of the slab she hurled herself into the air. Wind rushed in her ears, and the next moment, her body collided with the ladder.
For a moment, she could only hang on, stunned and battered, until her breath returned to her. She scrambled up the ladder like a gymnast, swung over the rail, and bolted for the stairs.
A figure stepped in her way.
* * *
Cheers turned to cries of alarm as Tess knocked Kora aside and, defying the limits of the human body, propelled herself off the stone slab to the ladder. Nikolai shouted orders, sending the two bruisers to cut her off as she headed for the stairs, but a lone figure beat them to it.
Myra planted herself in front of the stairs.
Ram cried out. Tess showed no signs of stopping. At this rate, she would plow Myra over like a bull. For a reason he could not explain, seeing her in danger gave wings to his feet. He tore off faster than he ever imagined he could run and flung himself between Myra and the charging Preceptor.
Tess collided with him like a hurricane. He fell. His head met the third step with a skull-jarring crack, and he slipped into darkness.
Chapter Twelve
The morning wore on, and still there was no sign of Ram. Daniel sat in the shade of a tree, watching Litty flit about from one makeshift plaything to another. He marveled at her ability to entertain herself for so long, but he figured that to her, this was as exciting as any park or toy store would have been to a normal child. He leaned back with his arms behind his head and smiled at her.
Despite the calm of their surroundings, Daniel couldn't keep worry from gnawing at his stomach. Ram was late, and Daniel was starting to regret him going off after Kora. Was he still looking for her? Was he on his way back? Or had something happened to him, too? If he and Litty had already had to deal with night beasts and scorpions in Obenon, how much more danger had Ram faced out in the wilderness by himself?
Daniel shook his head. It would do no good to dwell on things that might not even be true, and right now, Litty was his priority. Ram was clever, when he tried. He could fend for himself.
A tap on his leg brought him back to reality. He realized his eyes had closed. Litty climbed up his legs onto his lap. She balanced one foot on each of Daniel's thighs, and put her hands on his shoulders, her face inches from his. Her blue eyes had mischievousness written all over them.
Daniel tried to stay serious. "Can I help you, little miss?"
Litty opened her mouth to say something, but her stomach beat her to it with a loud gurgle. She giggled, and it was music to him.
"Oh, I see," Daniel said, "What should we do about that?"
Litty planted her little fists on her hips and gave him such a scolding look that he threw back his head and laughed. His shaking knocked her off balance, but before she could tip over, he caught her and pulled her in for a tight hug. "I get the point."
They shared some of the crackers and dried fruit from the distribution center. Daniel didn't feel that hungry, so after a few bites, he leaned back again and watched the crumbs pile up on Litty's dress. After a while, he felt himself dozing off.
He was somewhere in between another bout of fitful dreams and consciously aware of it when the sound of a distant motor roused him. Wiping the tiredness from his eyes, he stumbled over to Litty and picked her up. He saw nothing coming from the forests or the mountainside, and it took him a moment to r
ealize that the vehicle wasn’t coming from the ground.
A chopper appeared west of the Howling Crags, hovering through the air, no larger than a fly from this distance. Daniel pumped his fist, excitement coursing through him. At last, help had come. The chopper rode low and sped towards Obenon until it was close enough for him to feel the gusts of wind created by the propellers. Litty covered her ears.
The chopper landed in a field near the edge of town where Daniel and Litty waited. With the engine still running, the tinted door popped open. Four figures in Preceptor uniforms dropped down and set a brisk pace towards the town.
“See those people, little one?” Daniel said. They’re coming to help us. We’ll get back on the train, and they’ll take us to our new home.”
His face clouded. In the elation of being so close to success, he’d forgotten about Ram. Was he still out in the mountains somewhere, or had he found his way back to the camp? Maybe he was one of the approaching four—that would explain why they were already on their way, looking for him. If Ram wasn’t with this group or back at camp waiting for him, Daniel was certain that Kerrigan would have mounted a search party.
The four Preceptors were getting close.
Daniel couldn’t tell if Ram or Kerrigan were among them yet, but he could see the firearms in their hands. For some reason, knowing that they were armed and he was not made him nervous. He dismissed the feeling.
At last, the Preceptors were close enough for him to see their faces. He ran his hand through his hair. Neither Ram nor Kerrigan were part of the group. A bear of a man with a battle-worn face led the way. A single red stripe on his shoulder marked his high rank. Of his three lower-rankers, Daniel only recognized the young, dark-haired girl. She was one of Kerrigan’s soldiers, though he couldn’t remember her name.
He leaned close to Litty. “These people are our friends, okay?”
She nodded, but her wide blue eyes were fixed on the Preceptors. Her hand found his.
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