50. Aemon
50
T he city I step into isn’t the same one I left behind. Storefronts are destroyed, the streets littered with broken furniture, overturned carts and everything from fruit to books to wigs trampled into a pulp. Plumes of smoke rise from the city center to collect along the cavern ceiling, leaving the air so acrid it burns my throat and makes my eyes water. The streets are overflowing with fae. They smash store windows, overturn vendor's carts and steal whatever they can carry. A fae soldier fires at a crowd of males, hitting two before the rest take him to the ground, his screams rising to the level of bloodcurdling before they cut off altogether. Cheers follow as the soldier’s arm and head are tossed aside like trash. A pair of children weave through the chaos, snatching jewelry and coin from the dead and dying littering the ground.
I hike Katya up and tighten my grip. The last thing I need are some assholes knocking her out of my arms. I’ve already killed enough people today. I rush through the crowd, pressing Katya’s head to my chest protectively. She passed out the minute she saw my face—whether that’s because of the knock she took to the head when the guards dropped her or something else, I have no idea. I’d only just pulled up the pants I’d taken off of the soldier when I heard her scream. Turns out buttoning up a shirt while shapeshifting and running is really fucking hard. By the time I found her, she was being hauled away by a dozen soldiers, and all I could do was slip into the group and wait for a moment to strike.
I just wish I’d had the time to kill Khalmos slowly.
“Leina,” Katya says, the word barely audible over the din. Her eyes flutter open, then shut again.
I lift her so her lips are closer to my ear. “Leina? What?”
“Meeting us. Tunnels by—”
“I’m already headed that way. You just rest.”
“Heavy.”
I sputter a laugh. “You are definitely not heavy.”
“Your back…”
“I’m fine. It was nothing a little shapeshifting couldn’t fix.” That’s not true, actually. It was painful as fuck and took an eternity because of the wolfsbane, but she doesn’t need to know that.
The corner of her lips tips up into a half smile. “I’m glad.”
“Me too,” I say, trying to keep things light. She risked her life for me. Twice. First in the arena, then in the tunnels. The only person to ever do that was my father right before they killed him and took me anyway. I was too young to save him, but I made a promise that day to my father and myself that I would never let harm come to anyone I loved again.
It’s a promise I intend to keep .
By the time I reach the caves, the air is thick with smoke and raining soot. I tug on the handle, but the door out is locked tight. I’m hit with a moment of panic, until the door cracks open and a pair of eyes peek at me through the opening.
“Aemon?” says a scratchy male voice from the other side.
There’s some knocking and the sound of metal scraping metal and the door swings open. Rand grins up at me. “You made it just in time. We was about to seal up the tunnel.” He glances at Katya, and his smile falls, but he doesn’t comment on it. That’s what I like about Rand; he knows when to leave a man alone. He shuts the door behind me, and two men immediately swoop in with metal rods they got from gods-only-know-where and fix one end into a space chiseled from the rocky floor and the other against the door, buttressing the entrance.
“I don’t think anyone’s coming after us right now,” I tell the old man.
He nods as if he knows this already and says, “Better safe than sorry.” He turns back to his men. “Gods dammit, Rory. This isn’t that hard.” He shoves one of them to the side and repositions the rod.
I lean against the wall and take a deep breath. As much as I hate to admit it, the day is catching up to me, and Katya’s starting to get heavy. Usually, I’d rest after such an involved healing, but that just isn’t an option right now. At least I can breathe. Breathing is good.
I adjust Katya in my arms and start down the tunnel. It doesn’t take long before I hear voices coming from up ahead.
A lot of voices .
Soon, I’ve reached the tail-end of a slave cavalcade. I weave through and around the humans, and a few fae, clogging the passage. I catch a glimpse of Mave leaning against the wall, with two little girls pulled tight against her. Our eyes meet and she gives me a small smile. Katya will be happy to know she’s safe.
I'm pummeled with smiling greetings and pats on the back as I continue to cut through the throng in search of Leina. I’m not used to this kind of attention, or any attention really, and definitely nothing positive. I honestly don’t know what to do about it, so I just nod and return their smiles to the best of my ability—which, admittedly, isn’t the greatest. Finally, I reach an open cavern where I find Leina talking to the other slaves in a way that makes it clear, she’s in charge. I’ve got to say, leadership looks good on her.
After a few seconds, she spots us and her face lights up in excitement, but quickly dims when she takes note of Katya’s condition. Excusing herself, Leina jogs over. “Aemon. Gods. I thought you were dead.” She pushes onto her toes to take a closer look at Katya. “What happened?”
“She got a nasty hit to the head. You got any healers that can help her?”
Leina smooths Katya’s hair back, her eyes searching her friend’s face—for what, I don’t know. “Not here.” She drops down to her feet and turns her attention back to me. “Jael was the only one we had, and she escaped last week. The best we can do is get her to the nearest town and hope someone there can help.”
“How long will that take?”
She shrugs. “Depends on where this tunnel comes out. We’ll go as fast as we can.” She eyes my trembling arms, suspiciously. “Do you need help? She’s got to be getting heavy. ”
“No.” I instinctively grip her tighter, then loosen my grip. The last thing she needs are more bruises.
Leina cocks her head and gives me a pitying look that makes my skin crawl. “Aemon—”
“Nobody’s touching her but me, Leina. End of discussion.”
She throws her hands up in surrender. “Fine. I was just trying to help.”
“I can take care of her.” I know I’m being overly defensive, but the thought of anyone carrying her while she’s hurt and unconscious like this makes my stomach roll.
Leina plants her hands on her hips and purses her lips. She’s annoyed. Good. I’ll take annoyance over pity any day. “Nobody said you couldn’t take care of her, but…” She shakes her head, as if trying to dislodge whatever’s floating around in there. “How are you even standing? I mean, we all saw what happened to you in the arena. You should be dead or dying. At the very least, you shouldn’t be able to just pick up a woman and carry her gods only know how far after being sliced to bits by a dragon.”
“It wasn’t that bad.” Yes. It was.
“Yes. It was,” she says, echoing my thoughts.
“Don’t you have things to do?” I ask her.
She lets out a huff. “Fine, but don’t think this means you’re getting out of telling me.” She spins around and claps her hands. “Alright, we’ve waited long enough. It’s time to go. Those barricades won’t hold them forever.”