47. Katya
47
S o, this is what power feels like… I could definitely get used to it.
Every single person (and creature) is looking at me, waiting for my command.
I scan the arena floor, searching for Aemon. Where is he? Gods dammit. I took too long. I took too long with Raiden and—
My gaze snags on a figure crouched beside the wall. Aemon. There’s no telling how injured he is, but he’s alive and that means there’s a chance.
“Protect the prisoners,” I shout in ümbrian, pointing at the carnage below.
Guards pour onto the arena floor, some from the tunnels, others jumping or climbing down from the lower sections. To my horror, those patrolling the upper levels simply throw themselves over the walls, crashing onto spectators below or to their deaths on the arena floor. I recoil at the sound of body after body hitting the ground with a wet splat. I hadn’t anticipated that.
Our ferryman-guard attempts to climb the wall as well, but I command him to “Stop” before he can leap over. He freezes with his hands gripping the ledge, one foot partway up the wall.
The guards who didn’t splat on the arena floor obey my command and step between the prisoners and the dragon. I don’t know how much longer I can maintain so many connections. I’m spreading myself too thin, my hold on the guards’ minds is tenuous at best, and my head feels like a freshly cracked egg, but I grit my teeth and hang on.
Just a little bit longer.
The crowd watches in stunned silence as the prisoners escape into the tunnels, while the guards die trying to save them. I see a couple of prisoners grab Aemon as they flee and help him cross the arena and into the tunnel. A few intelligent spectators start gunning for the exits, but most just continue to watch the massacre below in befuddlement. All except the male in the box directly across from mine, his ruby encrusted crown sitting askew on his head. His attention is focused solely on me.
King Khalmos.
I whirl around. “We’ve got to go,” I say to Leina and the two girls standing beside the now frozen-to-his-chair commissioner. We all start for the exit, then thinking better of it, I spin around, rush to the frozen guard and steal the pistol from his belt.
Better safe than sorry.