CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Her jump was short, but she still managed to grab the ledge. She quickly started to slip but I dived onto my chest, latching on to both of her wrists.
I ve got you! I said. I began to shift my position so that I could pull her back up. I had no leverage currently.
The maidens are here! a man said from below us. I couldn t see his face, but I heard the sound of leather sandals running along the roads and sidewalks. People began to converge beneath Quynh s feet.
Help me, I told her. Grab on to me.
But Quynh looked up at me with an expression that made my fear a thousand times worse.
No! I shouted.
My hands were sweating and her left hand came loose. I reached for it but missed.
Lia. She d never sounded so calm, so collected. It s time. Let me go.
Get a ladder! someone beneath us said.
We don t have time for this. Give me your other hand, right now! Quynh, please! Don t do this! Hysteria and terror pushed out every pain, every other emotion. I cannot lose you!
I was lost the moment my name was chosen. We have only been delaying fate.
Grabbing her right wrist with both of my hands, I tried to pull her up, but she wasn t helping me and had gone slack. We re so close. We can make it. Give me your other hand!
My arm burned, and my shoulder felt like it was about to be ripped out.
I love you, she said, and there was a finality to it that exacerbated my frenzied dread.
Sweat broke out on my back and it took everything I had to hang on to her. My strength was waning.
You promised me, I said with a sob. You promised me you wouldn t give up.
I m not giving up. I m giving you a chance. Let me go.
I won t! I yelled the words back, my chest and throat aching.
There was a sharp tug. The crowd had torches and I blinked, realizing that I could see them clearly. They had found a ladder and a man had climbed it to pull at her feet. His skin was as pale as a ghost, his hair redder than flame. As if he were an apparition from the underworld, come to claim my sister.
Quynh! I pleaded. Please!
She had been holding on to my wrist, but she let go, unwrapping her fingers. One for many, she said.
I screamed as she was ripped away from me, her wrist sliding through my hands.
I rolled over, lying flat on my back while I listened to her scream. I couldn t watch. I should have. I should have given her that honor, borne witness to her death, but I couldn t.
That image would have immobilized me and this would have been over.
I put my hands over my ears, wanting to block out the sound, squeezing my eyes shut. The desire to give in, to let them take me so that I could join her, was overwhelming.
Stupid girl! Don t let her sacrifice be for nothing!
We had both come too far for me to give up now. I had promised her I would go on.
I got up on shaky legs and began to run along the flat rooftops, looking for a way down. While being up here was currently better so that I could evade pursuers, it would also make me easier to find, up high, not able to run down alleys or dart through buildings to hide. I was too exposed.
Quynh s name pounded in my heart. Every beat was for her.
I went north, the direction that the Locrian hetaera had told me to run. Not only was I being hunted on the streets, but there were men following me, a rooftop or two behind.
In the moonlight, I saw the temple with the stone carving. It wasn t far.
We could have made it, my heart wept bitterly, but I knew it wasn t true. There were too many hunters now. My only hope was to run as quickly as I could and outpace them.
I saw a tall white canvas just ahead. A sail merchant had one of his wares out on display. I took out my throwing knife and jumped toward the sail, reaching out to pierce the canvas so that I could safely travel down its entire length.
I landed a bit more abruptly than I d anticipated and rolled into it, jumping up and continuing on. There were arrows, spears, rocks.
But I knew how to deal with those kinds of missiles. Just keep moving .
An arrow did manage to nick my shoulder, but what was one more scar?
A man crashed into me, shoving me back against a wall. I wasn t stunned or surprised and tried to absorb the blow as best I could. He made the mistake of raising his arm to swing his axe at me, and I took the opening to stab him in the armpit.
Demaratus would have been so proud of me.
A detached part of my mind wondered if my attacker would die. I had killed men today. That probably should have felt more significant to me, but those men had been trying to hurt me and Quynh.
Or maybe it was because Demaratus had spoken of slaying enemies in battle so often that I had become hardened to it.
And the loss of Quynh . . . that was payment enough. I had no more tears to shed, no guilt to feel over men who wanted us both dead.
It felt completely unreal that she was gone. After everything we d been through, everything she had survived, to have it end up like this?
I couldn t think about it now. I had to keep running.
A hunter waited for me in the middle of the road, his spear held out in front of him. Like I would be enough of a fool to impale myself on it. I hit it out of the way with my sword and swiped at his back, feeling my blade cut into him.
Part of me wanted to turn around and face my would-be attackers. To take out as many of them as I could before I joined Quynh in death.
But Kallisto was the only sibling I had left. I couldn t let her marry Lykaon, couldn t let her be queen of a dead land.
There were still many people I needed to save.
The full moon hung low in the sky, as if it were guiding me. I turned a corner and there it was.
The temple of the goddess. Beckoning to me.
I assumed that there had to be a trap waiting for me. If I were hunting someone and knew the exact place they were headed, I would plan an ambush with a line of armored men with shields and weapons.
There were men there, but they were lying in the street and on the sidewalk. Asleep? Dead? I didn t know and I didn t care.
The way to the temple was clear. I didn t feel relief or gratitude. I was numb. There was a fence with an open archway and I ran through it. A fountain quietly burbled in the middle of a stone courtyard. I raced past it, running up the steps and through the giant columns that held up the stone carving and the roof.
The doors were massive and made of bronze. An arrow hit the wall next to me, and I turned to see several men at the archway. They did not enter the courtyard, did not come up to the long porch where I currently stood.
As if there were an invisible line holding them back.
It didn t stop them from shooting their arrows at me, though, from taunting me, trying to call me back to them.
I ignored them and placed my hand on the door and pushed.
Nothing.
It didn t give at all.
I fought off a wave of panic and tried again as another arrow came close to hitting me.
Then I pushed the other door, thinking the first one had been stuck.
Neither one worked. Both doors were locked.
I took a step back, keeping a stone column between me and the group of hunters outside the courtyard.
There weren t any windows, no way to get in. I banged against the door, thinking someone might come and open it for me.
No response.
At some point those men were either going to come in here after me or they would ring around the temple grounds and fire off a shot that would hit me.
I slumped down to the ground. I d come so far. I d made it only to find the doors locked, and it was just a matter of time before one of these men killed me.
Now what should I do?
Stupid girl! The doors aren t the only way in. Go up! Climb!
I hurriedly got to my feet and ran around to the side of the temple. It was at least twenty feet high, but unlike the smooth facade on the front, the rocks here were unfinished and provided foot- and handholds. I slid my xiphos back into its sheath. I was going to need both hands.
With a grunt I began my ascent. There was still yelling and commotion outside the archway and beyond the fence, but none of the men tried to physically follow me. They continued to shoot poorly.
My legs and hands were burning. This was more difficult than I d thought it would be, requiring a great deal of balance and strength.
I was nearly to the roof but realized that there wasn t anything else to grab on to. I looked around, desperate to find something to use as a handhold, but found nothing.
Stuck. I was going to be stuck.
Then, like an answer to a prayer, a spear embedded itself into the wall next to me. The thrower must have been exceptionally strong to get the spear into place, or the stone was softer than I thought. Either way it was exactly where I needed it to be. I tested it and found that it could support my weight. I used it to keep climbing and got myself to the edge of the roof.
The edge jutted out from the wall, and the only way up would be to leap out and hope that I caught the eave before falling. I took out my sword and used it to reach up and hit the clay tiles at the edge, knowing that if I grabbed them they would slip away, as they weren t attached to anything. They began to fall, one after another in a cascade, until there was a spot clear for me. I put my xiphos back in the sheath.
I counted to three, held my breath, and then I jumped.
My fingers curled around the edge and I gripped tightly as I began to swing. I would need enough momentum to get myself up. I kicked out with my legs, rocking back and forth, harder with each pass.
It took me a couple of attempts, my arms weakening from the strain. I reminded myself that I hadn t come this far to fail now. With one final burst I finally managed it, hooking one of my elbows over the edge, then the other, and using them to leverage myself up.
The edge of the roof scratched me as I climbed, but I didn t care. I turned over when I d pulled myself up completely, lying against the cool tiles under my back. But then another spear clattered uselessly a few feet away from me as a reminder that I had to keep moving.
The roof was slanted and the tiles farther up were bolted into place. I climbed carefully, not wanting to slip or fall. At the top I took my xiphos out and used the hilt to break the tiles apart, making a large enough hole for me to fit through. I saw the wooden support beams underneath. I lowered myself down, my feet touching a thick beam. I leaned forward and unfurled my legs behind me. Gripping the beam tightly, I hung there, seeing how far I had to drop to the stone floor.
This was going to hurt.
I grit my teeth and let go.