Chapter 48 Kiera
Kiera
The ground trembled beneath my feet, but I kept running. I’d sliced through my chain the moment I saw them haul Aiden to that platform.
After the supervisors had taken him, another one came and tossed me into the empty cell. He didn’t even bother to search me—possibly because I was sobbing hysterically. It took little effort to be convincing.
He locked me in, glared at the dead supervisor, then walked away, muttering that he’d find someone else to clean up the mess.
Ruru had found me just as I’d unlocked my cell. I told him what happened, and together, we opened the rest of the cells.
We freed the prisoners from their shackles, but told them to wait for the first explosion before fleeing. Ruru handed our two stolen Wolf knives to a few Dag women, instructing them to cut anyone’s chains they could. I also passed out a few of my small knives.
We hurried back to the main cavern, where I fully intended to search for Aiden. But then they’d dragged him out and ordered everyone to gather around for an execution.
I’d given the keys to Ruru, telling him to unlock as many shackles as possible and to arm the prisoners with whatever tools and weapons they could find.
But I couldn’t leave Aiden to die, no matter what he told me.
Now I prayed to all the Four that he was close behind me. Along with Maz and Nikella, after they lit the bomb fuses in the main cavern.
Ruru was somewhere ahead of me, leading the prisoners to freedom amid the anarchy.
Soldiers shouted, eyes wide and wheeling. Some ran back toward the explosion. Others kept stampeding toward the beach. They shoved the prisoners out of the way to reach the greater threats.
They probably figured there was no escape regardless.
But enemies on the beach? That had to be Jek and Skelly and the others.
A woman running next to me stumbled and lost her grip on the sunstone pick she carried. I grabbed it and shoved it back in her hands. “Keep going! Split any prisoner’s chains you can before we reach the water.”
She nodded, her face determined despite the blood smeared on her cheek.
I slowed down, shoving the stragglers along. I cut what chains I could with Mother’s knife. This was the best use this gods-damned knife had ever seen.
A soldier crashed into me. I fell to the ground, and people trampled over my body. Pain pounded through me. I cried out, dragging myself into a side tunnel.
I clutched my knife, trying to catch my breath. The next explosions could happen any moment. But I hadn’t seen Aiden, Maz, or Nikella.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Panic threatened to drown me.
Breathe. Breathe. Keep moving. Get out. Save the others. Breathe. Breathe. GO!
I hauled myself to my feet, staggering as pain wailed through my body. Gritting my teeth, I tailed the stream of soldiers and prisoners. No need to use Aiden’s markings.
I found the body of one prisoner, then another. Trampled. I prayed for them as I snatched up a discarded sunstone axe.
The salty smell of the sea and the stench of burning oil hit me the moment I stumbled out of the tunnel into blinding sunshine.
Screams and shouts battered my ears. A battle raged on the beach between me and a dark ship.
Shadow-Wolves and Dag warriors clashed with soldiers. Arrows whistled through the air. Steel and sunstone drew blood. Bodies dotted the sand like flies.
“Kiera!” Ruru waved to me from the water. His arm hung at an odd angle.
I raced forward, dancing around soldiers and warriors.
“I can’t swim,” he panted, sweat trembling on his upper lip. “Keep leading them.”
The prisoners were wading toward the stolen Shadow-Wolf ship, but a few of them balked at the Wolves standing at the railing. One of them yanked off their mask, revealing red hair.
“Climb up!” Skelly shouted, waving at the rope ladder he’d let down.
I sheathed Mother’s knife and threaded my arm around Ruru’s waist. “We’ll lead them together.”
I plunged into the cold water. It dragged at my heavy ankles and the remnants of my chains. But I kept charging through.
Ruru groaned, doing his best to stay upright. A few of the prisoners slipped under the water before flailing above it again, still clutching their makeshift weapons.
“Drop them!” I screamed. “Just get on the ship!”
One man—the same one who’d helped me clean up the body—dropped his sunstone chisel to the bottom of the bay and paddled for the ship. Only for an arrow to sink into his back.
My last thread of calm shredded. I beat at the water, kicking my exhausted legs, keeping a stranglehold on Ruru’s waist.
They will not kill me. They will not kill us. We will not die here.
I thrashed my way to the ladder. Prisoners clambered up it and onto the ship. I shoved Ruru onto it.
“Climb,” I gasped and turned around.
“Kiera, don’t!” he called.
But I’d already started swimming back to the beach. There were more prisoners to save. I wasn’t done yet.
A series of explosions ripped through the white stone cliffs. Rocks ground together like giant teeth. The cliff buckled.
My heart stopped.
The tunnel coughed out dirt, shuddering.
And then—
A handful of figures burst out of the tunnel. Soldiers and Aiden, Maz, and Nikella.
I nearly sobbed with relief. They were alive. They’d made it.
But the mine was still collapsing, spewing stones at everyone on the wide beach.
The battle halted as the fighters raced for their ships. The soldiers retreated to their warship, and the Dags and fake Wolves splashed their way to our ship.
Maz threw an older woman over his shoulder and kept running toward the water. Spear in hand, Nikella snatched up a skinny girl and followed. Sprinting hard across the beach, Aiden seized the arm of a boy younger than Ruru.
A woman called out, thrashing in the water, trying to get to me. I swam toward her. An arrow grazed my cheek.
I jerked back. Rellmiran archers were still shooting from a corner of the beach. Until a massive chunk of the cliff crushed them.
I struggled toward the woman, then clasped her hand and towed her to the ship.
Maz had beaten me there. He carried the old woman all the way up the ladder. I let the other woman go first, then followed her on the slippery rungs. I glanced down once to see Nikella and Aiden and the people they’d saved below me.
We’re going to make it. We’re alive. The mine is dying. We saved as many prisoners as we could. We’ve won.
Rising hope pushed me up the last few rungs onto the ship. The deck was crowded with Dag warriors and half-dressed Shadow-Wolves and prisoners. People bled and cried in huddles. Skelly yelled from the captain’s wheel to get everyone below. Prisoners scuttled down the hatch.
The cliff devoured the beach and slammed rocks into the bay, violently shaking the ship.
“We need to get the fuck out of here!” Skelly roared.
A barrel with a lit fuse crashed onto the deck in front of me. My mind blanked.
Maz seized it and threw it over the railing. It exploded, raining bits of wood and boiling oil over us. I threw my arms over my head, whimpering as my skin burned.
“Fucking bastards!” Maz roared across the gap of water between us and the warship.
Yarina and Sigrid, in their Wolf garb but without masks, stepped up next to their brother and fired arrows at the soldiers.
Aiden and Nikella clambered onto the ship with the boy and the girl, whom they shoved down the hatch.
I snatched an abandoned bow off the deck and yanked an arrow from Yarina’s pouch.
“Good to see you, princess!” she shouted and loosed another arrow. It hit a soldier, sending him into the churning sea.
But they were loading the catapult with another lit barrel.
“Shoot the barrel soldiers!” I yelled, firing at one of the men. I missed. But Sigrid didn’t.
The barrel exploded in the soldiers’ faces.
Maz cheered, lifting his battle axe above his head. He beamed down at us.
Just as an arrow slammed into his chest.