Endure

by Sara B. Larson

  “Rylan!” I screamed, finally untangling myself enough to jump to my feet and charge forward toward the black sorcerer, who had begun to summon a dark cloud around himself and Rylan. He stumbled back, yanking his sword out of the man’s arm and lifting it once more just as the blackness enveloped them both.

  I plunged into the darkness and hit the black sorcerer square in the chest, knocking him to the ground with the force of my inertia. With a sound that was barely even human, he pressed his gloved hand to my chest, right above my breasts, digging his clawed fingernails into my skin. I was immediately unable to move. My entire body felt like it was burning up, as if he’d somehow injected the fire he wielded directly into my blood through his hand on my chest.

  And then a sword pierced the darkness, swiping down across the black sorcerer’s throat. His fingers spasmed against my skin, and then his arm dropped to his side on the ground. I threw myself backward, off his body, as the darkness dissipated.

  Rylan stood next to us, breathing hard, gripping his sword with both hands.

  We both stared down at the black sorcerer, hardly able to believe he was dead. I clambered to my feet and hurried to Rylan’s side. All three guards were dead, and Akio still lay unconscious. But would more be coming? I didn’t know if we could survive another fight. And Rylan was injured. His left arm was a mess of bloody, charred skin, with small pieces of his shirt still visible where it hadn’t burned away. And I was still shackled.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, letting the sword in his right hand fall to his side.

  “Your arm.” I lifted my hands toward him, but he shrugged me off.

  “There’s no time. What’s the rest of your plan? How are we going to get those off of you?”

  I stared at his ruined flesh, my heart pounding incessantly beneath my ribs. Then my gaze turned to the guards lying on the ground. “We take their robes and disguise ourselves. We’ll have to fight the other two black sorcerers guarding the door at the end of the hallway, and then take our chances in the tunnel.” I gestured to Akio. “I’m hoping he has the key that will release the irons, since he has the one that unhooked the chain from the floor.”

  Rylan stared at me for a long moment, probably hoping for a better plan. Then he clenched his jaw and nodded. He dropped to the ground next to Akio and rolled his body over to search for the keys. He found them hooked to his belt and quickly began trying them on the shackles that still bit into my wrists. Finally, on the third try, the lock popped and the irons opened, releasing me.

  As soon as they were gone, I flexed my hands and began to rub my raw wrists. Rylan’s eyes widened at the sight of my abused skin, but I quickly turned away and knelt next to the sorcerer closest to him and began to remove the robe from the sorcerer’s body. He did the same to the others, including the black sorcerer we’d barely managed to defeat together. Eljin would need a robe, too. Once we both wore them, and I had the keys from the guard who had been standing in front of the cell doors in one hand and a curved sword in the other, Rylan turned to Akio once more.

  He’d begun to stir, his eyes fluttering, but he hadn’t woken yet.

  Rylan stepped toward him, lifting his sword to finish the job, but the memory of Akio bringing me food last night, of the sadness in his eyes when he’d told me he was sorry, surged up, and I jumped forward to put my hand on his arm, stopping him.

  “What are you doing?” he whispered angrily.

  “He’s helped me. I can’t be the one to kill him — or to watch him be killed.”

  Rylan stared at me. “He is one of King Armando’s top sorcerers. He’s the enemy, Alex.”

  But something inside warned me to leave him be. He didn’t deserve to die — at least not by our hands. “I’m not sure what he is. But I’m not killing him.”

  Rylan shook his head in frustration. “Fine.” He knelt down and hit Akio on the head with the hilt of his sword, making sure he stayed unconscious for a while yet.

  “Let’s go,” I whispered as I stepped toward the door, leaving behind the destroyed cell. The wall still smoked where the sorcerer’s fire had hit, and bodies littered the ground. I shut the door and turned to face Eljin’s cell. There were multiple keys on the ring, and Rylan kept watch while I tried one after another, until finally one slid in and the lock turned.

  When I swung the door open, Eljin was standing there waiting. When he saw the robes, he stiffened, until I hurried to pull the hood back so he could see my face.

  “Alex,” he breathed, with wide eyes. “What happened? What have you done?”

  “There’s no time to explain. Put this on and be prepared to fight.”

  Eljin did as I asked, his eyes flitting to Rylan, who held his injured arm awkwardly at his side. I couldn’t imagine how he was able to handle the pain he was in right now. I knew the agony of a black sorcerer’s fire. Had I made the worst mistake yet, in trying to attempt this escape? We were so close, though. So close to freedom. At least, from King Armando’s palace. If we didn’t try, it would have meant a sure death. At least we had a chance of living this way. Even if it was slim.

  “What now?” Eljin asked once his robe was on.

  “Now we go back into that tunnel.” I hated the thought of willingly descending back into that dark, terrifying place. But my fear of staying here in Armando’s palace and letting him take my blood was stronger.

  Eljin’s dark eyes widened. “There are two black sorcerers guarding the door. And even if we make it past them, it took days to get here from the wall dividing the two kingdoms. We barely survived with those guards, and we won’t have food or water this time. And even if we did survive, and didn’t run into any more black sorcerers down there, how would we get back through the wall again, into Antion, without being discovered and killed?”

  “Do you have any better ideas?”

  He was quiet for a moment, and then: “No.”

  I glanced around the cell, at the dirt and stones that made up the dungeon of King Armando. The mad king who wanted to rule the entire world with blood and terror in his left fist and ultimate power in his right. “If we stay here, we’ll all die. They’re going to take my blood. The king thinks it will make his sorcerers invincible for some reason. He’s done all sorts of terrible experiments with his black sorcerers. And he wants to use me now.”

  “I’ve heard the guards through the door,” Rylan added. “Armando’s gathered a huge army. Vera and some other powerful sorcerers’ deaths have got him spooked, according to the rumors I overheard them talking about. He’s convinced that Antion and Blevon are going to war again, and that now’s the time to make his move before he loses anyone else. He’s going to invade Antion very soon, and once he defeats us, he’s going to continue on to Blevon.”

  Images of Damian trying to fight his uncle’s massive army, led by black sorcerers and a deranged king, with his own diminished forces, without me or Rylan or Eljin by his side, threatened to tear apart the little courage I’d managed to dredge up to attempt this ill-fated escape.

  “If any of us has a chance to make it — even if it means leaving the other two behind — you go.” I made my voice firm, refusing to let them hear the fear that I struggled to subdue. “No matter what,” I continued, when Rylan tried to protest. “Damian has to be warned. He needs to take our people and retreat to Blevon. If they band together, perhaps there will be a small chance of winning this battle. He has no idea what is coming. He has to be warned,” I repeated emphatically, my voice rising despite my best efforts to stay calm.

  Eljin reached out and touched my arm, and Rylan nodded. “It’s all right, Alexa,” Eljin said. “We’ll make it. We’ll all make it so we can warn him.”

  I glanced at each of them in turn. “And if we get separated — if one or two of us aren’t going to make it?”

  “Then whoever can escape will. But only if you promise to do the same, Alexa.” Rylan sounded angry, but I was glad. Anger was good. Anger made him faster, more dangerous.

 
“I promise,” I agreed. “We better go before the king grows suspicious about what is taking so long and sends more men down here.”

  Eljin and Rylan exchanged a glance. But then Eljin lifted his sword and quietly said, “For Damian.”

  Something inside of me constricted, something deep in my chest, near my heart. “For General Tinso and Tanoori and Jax,” I added, lifting my sword to cross his.

  “For all of us — even those we have already lost.” Rylan’s eyes were bright with unshed tears when he lifted his sword to meet ours.

  An image of my brother grinning at me, teasing me with a cup of water after sword practice, flashed through my mind. “We can do this.” My hand tightened on the hilt of my sword.

  Eljin nodded.

  “Let’s go,” Rylan said.

  With a deep breath, I let my sword drop to my side. I met Rylan’s eyes one last time, wishing I had the chance to say so much more, but then he lifted the hood back over his head, turned, and opened the door, stepping out into the hallway. Eljin and I did the same, leaving the cells behind and striding forward to the fight awaiting us by the door to the tunnels.

  Rylan reached up and plucked a lit torch from the wall, just before we turned the corner into the hallway where the black sorcerers stood, guarding the entrance to the tunnel. Would they both be black sorcerers this time? Or just one? Or neither of them? It was impossible to know. But with Rylan injured and Eljin powerless, my plan wasn’t going exactly as I’d hoped.

  When we stepped out into the hallway — three robed figures holding swords at our sides — the two men at the end of the hallway straightened from their slightly relaxed positions, leading me to believe they hadn’t heard the sounds of our fight. But they were certainly on alert now, as we moved toward them silently. If only one of us spoke Dansiian, we could have pulled off our disguises better.

  As we drew closer, one of the robed guards said something in Dansiian. Taking a risk, I nodded my head.

  It was apparently the wrong response, because the guard reached for his own sword and shouted something else at us in Dansiian. I felt Rylan and Eljin stiffen on either side of me, preparing for the fight to come.

  When he shouted for a third time and we still didn’t respond, he lifted his sword and sank into a fighting stance. The other guard lifted his hand, revealing the telltale glove.

  “For Antion!” Rylan suddenly shouted, lifting his sword and running forward. Eljin and I exchanged a shocked glance, and then we both lifted our swords and rushed after him.

  The black sorcerer had already summoned his fire, and he threw it at Rylan. But this time, Rylan flung himself to the ground, rolling forward, jumping back onto his feet, and continuing toward the guards. The fire exploded against the wall in between two doorways, shaking the dungeon. Dirt sprinkled down on our heads as we continued to run.

  Rylan got there first, and the clang of his sword hitting the other guard’s echoed through the hallway. I heard voices behind the closed doors calling out in alarm, but I ignored them, focusing on the black sorcerer, who held a sword in his other hand and leaped forward to jab at Eljin, just as he hurtled another fireball, this time at me. I threw myself on the ground, but it grazed my shoulder. Pain exploded down my arm, and my vision tunneled to black for a moment. I rolled onto my back, trying to breathe through the agony, flexing and unflexing my hand to make sure it still worked. I heard someone cry out, and I forced myself to ignore the pain and dragged myself to my knees, gripping my sword with one hand.

  The black sorcerer and Eljin were fighting, while Rylan engaged the other guard. Both of the Dansiians were well trained, but Rylan, at least, should have been able to defeat the guard more quickly than this — his injury was slowing him down.

  As I forced myself to my feet, Eljin battled furiously with the black sorcerer, swiping his sword at him again and again, trying to keep him from being able to summon more fire or any other abominable tricks, but I knew from my sparring with him that Eljin wasn’t nearly as talented at sword fighting as I was — not without his sorcery to aid him. He relied on using his power too much, and now that it was gone …

  The black sorcerer parried his blow with his sword in one hand, while summoning his fire again in the other. They spun around, so that Eljin’s back was to the door. He had nowhere to go.

  With a scream building in my throat, I hurtled toward them, lifting my sword. But I wasn’t fast enough. Eljin’s eyes met mine just as I leaped forward. My blade impaled the sorcerer from behind an instant too late, right as he released the fire at Eljin. My friend was trapped. Time seemed to halt for a split second as Eljin’s eyes filled with sadness, and then the fireball exploded against him and the door with a blinding flash and a reverberating boom.

  The black sorcerer collapsed forward onto the ground, and I landed on top of him, my sword through his chest.

  “Eljin!” I screamed, scrambling to my feet, my shoulder throbbing. I yanked my sword out and rushed toward the burning, gaping hole where Eljin and the door had stood only moments before. “ELJIN!”

  I ground to a halt on the top stair, all the air suddenly stolen from my lungs. He lay sprawled halfway down the stairs, his face and body burned, his neck at a horrible angle, his eyes open and unseeing.

  “No!” My howl of agony tore through my body. There was a thud behind me and I spun, terrified I’d see Rylan lying dead behind me, too. But he stood there staring at me, his chest heaving, the guard sprawled at his feet, unmoving.

  When his eyes met mine, I just shook my head, tears suddenly blurring my vision.

  There was a shout from the staircase down the hallway from us — more Dansiians were coming.

  We both hurried to the smoking doorway, and I rushed down the stairs to kneel beside Eljin’s body as the tears spilled out onto my cheeks.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry,” I whispered over and over as I gently closed his eyes. I let my head drop toward him. It was my fault he’d come here — my fault he was dead. I couldn’t let myself think of Tanoori, back at the palace. So hurt already, and now this. Now, because of me, the only man she’d ever let herself love was gone.

  “We have to go, Alexa,” Rylan said next to me. “Now!”

  The echo of boots on the stones above us forced me into action, even though my entire body was shaking, and I could barely see through the tears. Rylan hurried down the rest of the stairs, and I made myself follow him, leaving Eljin behind. Rylan hit the bottom first and turned down the tunnel, back the way Eljin and I had come. Everything inside me hurt, echoing the pain of my wounded shoulder as I reached the bottom and let myself glance up the stairs at Eljin one last time.

  Men in robes stood in the doorway, holding torches and swords. They shouted something in Dansiian, and terror seized me.

  I spun to face Rylan, who had paused, waiting for me. “Run!” I shouted.

  We took off blindly down the tunnel. In the fight, he’d lost his torch. Rylan had longer legs, and even though he had that slight limp, he started to outdistance me. When he noticed, he slowed his pace slightly.

  “No!” I yelled. “Go! Just go!”

  I could hear the Dansiians behind me, swarming into the tunnel. Rylan picked up his pace again. I pushed myself as hard as I could, but the one meager meal Akio had brought me last night was all I’d eaten in days, and I’d already been weakened before that by all our mistreatment over the course of our captivity. I was too slow, and I knew it.

  A sudden blinding flash of light was the only warning I had to throw myself to the ground, just as a fireball rushed past my head and exploded past me in the tunnel. Why were they all trying to kill me? Had Armando decided he could drain the blood from my corpse if I tried to escape?

  “Rylan!” I screamed, scrambling back to my feet and forcing myself to stumble forward into the choking smoke and debris.

  “I’m here!” His answering shout was somewhere ahead of me. “I’m all right!”

  I nearly collapsed with relief, but inst
ead I made myself start running again. I could hear the men behind me. Close. Too close.

  “It’s a cave-in!” he shouted again, his voice tight with desperation.

  His words didn’t compute until I’d made it a few more feet and run into a blockade — a wall of dirt and debris, with a few tiny flames licking at the darkness.

  I was trapped.

  “Alexa!” His frantic yell came from the other side of the rubble. I was just barely able to make out his face, staring at me, in a small gap. “Start digging, you can make it. Hurry!”

  I shook my head. “Run, Rylan. Go. You promised!”

  “No. I’m not leaving you here! You’ll die!”

  “Go, Rylan — warn Damian! You have to keep your promise!”

  “You’ll die,” he repeated, an agonized shout.

  “I’m just one person, Ry! You have to stop this — it’ll be a massacre. You can’t let all our people die to try and save me!”

  He shook his head, but then more dirt fell from above us, piling on top of the already massive mound of rubble.

  “Tell Damian I love him — tell him I didn’t want to die!” I cried over the rising sounds of the Dansiians getting closer. I glanced over my shoulder. They were running toward me. The black sorcerer had his hand raised, more fire waiting to be thrown at me.

  “Stop! I surrender! I surrender,” I repeated, my voice breaking on a sob as I dropped my sword. It clattered to the ground as I lifted my hands.

  “Alexa!” Rylan howled my name. He sounded like he was crying.