Chapter 40
Inej was horrified by the scene before her.
She rushed to Manu in an attempt to hold his legs and keep him still so he wouldn’t be cut again, but she never made it.
The elves who’d brought him in were suddenly there, tackling her to the ground.
She banged her chin on the floor, sending pain shooting across her face and into her scalp.
She tried to look up at Manu, but one of the elves put their hand on the back of her head to hold it down as Chanda’s laugh echoed around the room.
Manu had gone silent, but she heard the sickening splat of blood as it dripped steadily onto the floor, mixed with the squeak of the chains as he swayed.
She was no match for the two elves, but she couldn’t just lie there and do nothing. “Get off me!” Inej yelled in vain.
“What do you think you’re going to do, human?” one of them mocked.
Inej saw the spark of black as one elf released a bolt of magic near her cheek.
And then, suddenly, they were gone. The moment Inej was free, she rolled to the side and jumped to her feet.
Chanda’s eyes were narrowed as she glared at her.
The two Dark Elves pulled themselves up from the floor with murderous expressions.
“How did you do that?” Chanda demanded.
Before she could respond, a feminine voice in an accent she didn’t recognize whispered in her ear, “If you want to free Manu, do as I say.”
Inej tensed, unsure what to make of the woman or her words. But at this point, she needed all the help she could get.
“Answer me,” Chanda warned as she took a menacing step toward Inej, her hand out.
The threat of bodily harm was clear, but Inej lifted her chin. It no longer mattered whether she died or not. Someone had come to help Manu, which meant she would do whatever she could to help them succeed.
Inej was breathing heavily, her palms sweating as she met Chanda’s furious gaze. “Are you scared? Because you should be.”
“Of you?” Chanda snorted. “Not at all.”
Shadows moved, and the next thing she knew, two new Dark Elves burst from them. Chaos erupted as everything happened at once. The Dark went after the two females who had held her down. Inej turned away as Chanda directed a bolt of magic at her.
Bronze magic clashed with black as a battle erupted behind her. Inej dove to the side to escape yet another attack from Chanda. She scrambled behind one of the many machines and hastily looked for a way out.
“CHANDA!”
Inej froze at the sound of Manu’s voice. She looked to where he had been hanging, but he was no longer there. Inej peered around the side of a contraption for Chanda and saw fear flash over the elf’s face before she turned.
“Manu? Can you hear me?”
He fought to hold on to consciousness, and the sound of Rhi’s voice gave him the reinforcement he needed. “Aye,” he whispered.
“I’m freeing you. Hold on.”
The manacles around his wrists released before she finished speaking.
He was only a few inches off the floor, but the numerous slashes, as well as the loss of blood, had weakened him.
He stayed on his feet by sheer will alone.
Every breath moved the skin of his back, sending ripples of misery through him again and again.
But he forgot all of that when he saw Chanda going after Inej and bellowed her name.
“This is a nice attempt, but I expected you to have some help,” his ex-friend replied when she finally faced him. “So, I made sure I had some of my own.”
At her words, elves poured into the room.
Manu spotted Jai and Arya, along with Rhi and a Wood Elf, engaging the new opponents.
When Manu looked back at Chanda, he saw her dragging Inej out of the room.
He took a step, agony filling him. Each cut felt as raw and vivid as lightning beneath his skin.
But it didn’t compare to the pain that exploded across his back—bright and unforgiving.
He was the only one who had seen Chanda leave, and he was the only one who could save Inej.
He just had to get to her in time. Manu clenched his teeth and ran across the floor in his bare feet, ignoring the blossoming pain.
There was a line of Dark standing between him and the doorway he had to get through.
Manu had only taken two steps when Rhi appeared. He watched in amazement as iridescent orbs of magic flew from her hands and struck the Dark, sending them screaming in pain as they collapsed to the ground.
Inej was several inches taller than Chanda, but the elf was stronger than she looked. Chanda had a grip on Inej’s arm, her other hand latched onto Inej’s hair as she yanked her head back.
“Move,” Chanda ordered furiously.
Inej knew the odds of surviving had diminished significantly now that they were out of the room and away from anyone who might help.
She fought against Chanda at every opportunity, hoping to give Manu time to come after them.
She had seen the line of Dark Elves and knew that, despite his friends’ help, it would take time for him to be able to follow.
And Shaldorn was a big place with many rooms to hide in.
Chanda half-dragged, half-pushed her toward the stairs. Inej grabbed the railing to keep her feet under her. The moment she did, ice bit painfully into her fingers. She attempted to adjust her grip, but her hand slipped off at the same time Chanda yanked her. Inej lost her balance.
Then the world careened as she tumbled down the hard, granite steps, her shoulder slamming into stone, limbs flailing, and bones jolting with every brutal impact.
Until she blessedly reached the bottom. She landed on her front, facing away from the stairs.
She lay still, afraid to move, afraid to even breathe.
Above her, the sounds of battle drifted down, along with the occasional grunt and shout of pain.
What she didn’t hear was Chanda. This might be her only chance to escape.
Maybe she could find her way back to Manu, if for nothing more than to beg his forgiveness for her part in everything. But first, she needed to get up.
The plunge had happened so quickly that she had no idea if Chanda had fallen with her or not.
Inej lifted her head from the icy floor, and pain promptly stabbed through the base of her skull until her entire head throbbed in time with her heart.
Moving cautiously, she got one hand beneath her, then the other, and pushed herself up enough to swivel her head to the staircase.
Her gaze landed on Chanda, who lay just a couple of feet away, her eyes closed. She bled from a head wound.
This was it. This was how she would escape. The promise of freedom got her moving. Inej pushed past the aches and pains that seemed to cover every inch of her body. Now wasn’t the time to see if any of her injuries were serious. She needed to get to Manu.
Yet as she climbed to her feet and stood unsteadily, she looked at the stairs and worried how she would make it up them again.
There had to be another way. She turned, eyes searching desperately.
The movement of a shadow had her heart dropping like a stone to her feet.
She took a step back as a short, stout Dark Elf emerged.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he sneered.
Her hope didn’t just fade. It was violently, sadistically ripped out by the roots. She stumbled back a step as a sinister smile curved the Dark’s lips.
He held up his hands, white magic bouncing back and forth between his palms. “I think I’ll have a little fun with you before I take you to Mortham. Enjoy these last minutes of freedom, human.”
The Dark shot his hands out, the magic arcing toward her.
He was so quick, she didn’t have time to do more than raise her arm in a feeble attempt to shield her face.
Suddenly, someone dropped down between them, blocking the attack.
Inej lowered her arm to find Manu, his tunic barely hanging on his body.
He didn’t look at her, didn’t acknowledge her, as he and the Dark circled each other.
Manu didn’t know if the pain from the torture or the cold hurt worse. It had taken everything he had to launch his body over the railing from the floor above. He knew the landing would be painful, but he forgot all about it when he saw the Dark going after Inej.
He managed not to just block the Dark’s attack but also stay on his feet.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Inej rush behind the stairs.
Unfortunately, so did his adversary. Chanda might be down, but he hadn’t been able to check to see if she was dead.
That meant he had to keep an eye on her, too, in case she woke.
Manu stepped to the side and slid on some blood that ran down his legs onto the floor.
He righted himself immediately, but the Dark took the opportunity and delivered a double punch of magic.
The first strike got through, but Manu blocked the second.
Just as he was about to release a volley of his own, the Dark vanished into the shadows.
Pain exploded through his back as his enemy delivered two more rounds of magic, along with a punch.
Manu’s legs buckled from the pain. He dropped his right shoulder and rolled to one knee, but when he righted himself, the Dark was gone.
Manu clenched his teeth when the Dark delivered yet another strike to his back.
He felt the warm, slick blood flow in thick ribbons into the waist of his trousers.
His strength was waning fast. If he didn’t get the upper hand soon, he wouldn’t.
Manu acted as if he were turning to the left.
The Dark flashed out of sight. Manu then spun to his right as he stood and reached out his hand into a curtain of shadows, wrapping his fingers around the elf’s throat.
The shadows fell away to reveal the Dark’s yellow eyes blazing with hatred as he grasped Manu’s forearm with both hands in a vain attempt to stop him.
But Manu had a hold now, and he wasn’t letting go.
He squeezed. The Dark’s gray skin began to turn purple as Manu constricted his airway.
In a last-ditch effort, the Dark struck out wildly with his magic.
Several blasts struck Manu, but he didn’t stop squeezing until he heard the snap of bone, and the elf went limp.
He tossed the Dark aside and turned around to look for Inej.
Instead, he found himself facing four Dark Elves, a Moon Elf, and a Mountain Elf.
Blood dripped from his arms onto the floor.
He would have to be careful not to slip again.
He looked at each of the elves, sizing them up. They fanned out to circle him.
Manu had faced off against more elves than this, but he hadn’t been wounded then. He called to his magic as he saw the Moon Elf shift to the balls of her feet. She was getting ready to attack when Rhi appeared beside him with the Wood Elf. A second later, Arya and Jai were there.
“Do you mind if we join in?” Rhi asked him with a smile.
Jai lunged forward with a battle yell as the skirmish began.