39. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The arena master backed away, panic spreading across his face. “Kill them!” he shrieked at the guards. “Kill them all!”
His frantic command reverberated down the corridor before he bolted away. The guards leapt into action, and Nik pulled Alena behind him.
In an instant, the corridor was a battlefield, red-clothed guards launching themselves at Nik and the Non-Humans. Dhark grabbed the closest guard by the throat and bashed his head into the stone wall. He took the guard’s sword, and the other Non-Humans males followed his example.
Nik disappeared into a blur, taking out guard after guard. Alena ran to pick up the nearest sword to help defend the female Non-Humans and their young.
A guard with dark, greasy hair barrelled into her, sending her tumbling to the ground, sword clattering out of reach. She thrust her bandaged hand out in a desperate attempt to grab the hilt, but the guard crushed it beneath his studded sandal. Crippling pain erupted through her fingers, tearing a scream from her throat.
“Alena!” came Nik’s shout.
The guard’s lip curled. “No one takes on the arena and survives.” He added more weight atop her hand, and an agonising jolt of pain radiated up her arm, like tendrils of fire. “Many have tried before you and they have all failed, just like you will.”
A dark shape shoved him, knocking his foot away. With tears in her eyes, Alena cradled her hand to her chest and glanced up to find Dhark.
“Filthy beast!” The guard struggled to his feet, his gaze ablaze with a fierce loathing. “You dare attack your master? Laran will punish you for this.”
Hands smeared with blood, Dhark rushed the guard with a bellowing cry, smacking the sword out of his grip as if swatting a fly.
The guard scrambled backwards, his eyes widening. “No—”
The Non-Human grabbed the guard by the throat, cutting off his breath, but another red tunic sneaked up behind him.
“Watch out!” Alena cried out.
The second guard didn’t hesitate, thrusting his short sword through Dhark’s ribs. The Non-Human roared, letting go of the greasy-haired guard who dropped to the ground, sputtering. Dhark spun around and, in one swift motion, his massive fist connected with the second guard’s head, sending him flying into the stone wall with a resounding crack.
Crimson blood blossomed through the Non-Human’s tunic, dripping from the protruding blade. He dropped to one knee, his face as white as the moon.
“Dhark!” Alena rushed to his side, kneeling to assess the bleeding gash. Her own hand, darkening with contusions, throbbed in agony from every tiny movement she made. Unlike her injury, though, Dhark’s wouldn’t heal. The blade had hit deep. Too deep.
Panting, the Non-Human staggered to the ground. Alena helped him lie down, pressing her veil against his side in an attempt to staunch the blood. Out of the corner of her eye, the greasy-haired guard leapt to his feet and grabbed his sword.
He loomed over them, a sheen of sweat on his brow as the tip of his blade skirted Alena’s throat. “The master will reward me well for killing the Outsider’s sister.”
The blade drew back, ready to strike, and every muscle in Alena’s body tensed. Though she knew she should escape, she couldn’t leave Dhark behind.
Not after he’d saved her.
A violent explosion ripped through the corridor, sending her crashing to the ground. The force of the blast knocked the breath out of her lungs, and she lay on her side, gasping. Magic crackled in the air all around them, and the torches burst into flames, sending fiery sparks in every direction. Fire engulfed the guard, his tunic and hair catching fast, and he shrieked, slapping his hands over himself. The flames danced out of his reach, enveloping him whole, and he soon keeled over, thrashing and screaming until his movements stopped and the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
Covering her nose, Alena averted her gaze. The Gifted Kantabri warrior emerged further down the corridor with a crazed expression: his nostrils flared and a wide, manic grin on his face. A dozen other warriors poured through the archway behind him, armed to the teeth, and launched themselves into the fight with battle cries.
The fires grew within the tight corridor, eating away at the straw and benches and stretching through the iron bars like fingers, eager to caress anyone who came too close.
Grey smoke permeated the stifling air and obscured Alena’s view. Dhark lay on his back, face contorted in pain and a pool of blood spreading beneath him. His gaze shifted to the other Non-Humans being led to safety.
“They’ll be safe, Dhark.” Alena took his cold hand in her uninjured one, knowing there was little more she could do for him. He’d lost too much blood. “I promise we’ll get them out.”
“Alena!” Nik’s voice boomed over the screams and clash of steel, and she searched among the chaos for him.
“Over here!”
In a flash, he appeared by her side, sword in hand. “The Kantabri’s gone mad, he’s burning everything! We need to leave. Now.”
“No, wait.” Teeth clenched, she pressed her veil over Dhark’s gash with her wounded hand while her free hand clutched his cold one. “We can’t leave him.”
The Non-Human’s eyes were half-closed, and his nostrils flared as he lay panting.
Nik’s face grew solemn. “We can’t stay here. If we don’t want to end up burnt to a crisp, we need to go. I may be fast, but if we’re surrounded by flames, my Gift won’t be of any help.”
Through the smoke, she took in the fallen bodies scattered throughout the corridor, whilst blurred outlines of guards and warriors continued to fight.
“Let’s move him then.” She searched for a safe place among the flames. “With luck, one of the warriors can use healing magic.”
It was a desperate plea, but she didn’t know what else to do. The familiar sensation of hopelessness enveloped her, and her throat tightened.
She couldn’t abandon him as well.
“Alena.” Nik gripped her shoulder. “It’s too late.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but Dhark’s hand slipped from hers. “Dhark?”
He didn’t answer. He lay perfectly still, and when she checked his chest for a heartbeat, there was none. The light in his eyes was gone. “Oh, Dhark.”
A sob crept up her throat, but she pushed it down. There would be time to grieve for the dead later.
Nik grabbed her arm, careful of her injured hand, now swollen up to her wrist. “Let’s go.”
A wooden beam supporting the cage closest to them groaned and collapsed in a thunderous roar, lifting a cloud of soot and dust. Nik covered her with his body, protecting their heads with his arms.
“Get out of there!” a warrior shouted ahead, then disappeared through the archway. The other warriors filed behind him, fleeing from the burning furnace.
Picking themselves from the ground, Alena and Nik rushed forward. Flames licked at them from all sides. Ahead, the archway’s beams groaned, blackening and peeling in the heat of the fire.
Alena stopped in her tracks. “Nik!”
A loud crack filled the air, and his eyes bulged before darting about the debris. He swiped a black and red painted shield from a dead warrior just as the whole archway came tumbling down.
“Watch out!” He pulled Alena against him and held the circular shield over their heads. Sizzling flames and embers rained down on them, and the wave of hot air burned Alena’s throat. She covered her face with a scrap of her dress, trying not to inhale the thick smoke.
“Red? Are you all right?” Nik brushed the soot from his face in a futile effort. “We need to find another way out.”
She nodded, her parched throat unable to form a single word.
“Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He disappeared in a blur, and she remained crouched on the warm stone floor, black and grey smoke once more obscuring her view. The fiery haze brought back terrible memories of the fire in the elder’s tent in Camp Bessi.
Images of Elder Yorn handing her the golden torc amid the flames flashed through her mind. Would she ever find the necklace again, or her mother?
Would she ever find Katell?
The thought of perishing in the arena without seeing her sister again made her heart ache with unbearable anguish.
Nik’s dark shape reappeared, his brow set in a deep frown. “We’re trapped. There’s no other way out.”
She craned her neck to behold the burning wreckage of the collapsed archway blocking their path. A tangle of flames and heat that formed an impenetrable barrier.
“There’s no way through that,” he said, following her gaze. “My speed is no help either.”
He tucked his nose inside his bloody tunic, a series of coughs racking his body.
More wooden beams collapsed in the blaze with a deafening roar, each impact sending tremors through the floor. Amid the chaos, her heart slammed into her ribs. Suffocating dread mounted within her, panic clawing at her mind.
They were trapped. The smoke burning their lungs would kill them long before the fire.
A faint spark of humour lit up Nik’s teary eyes. “If I were a godly man, I’d start praying.”
“Would the gods listen to us?”
“Possibly. Although whether they’d help us or not is a different matter.” He turned away to hack his lungs out.
Alena huddled closer and reached out to clutch his hand. “I’m sorry, Nik,” she murmured, her voice strained with remorse. “I didn’t mean for us to die like this.”
His blue eyes shone like jewels against his soot-covered face. “At least it wasn’t for nothing. We saved them all, didn’t we?”
She nodded, finding some consolation in the fact that they’d released dozens of slaves.
Her vision blurred while a whirlwind of emotions surged within her. With her impending fate looming, a single thought consumed her mind. “Nik, please… I need to know. Did my sister truly make it out?” Her voice quivered with both dread and hope.
“She made it out, Red.” His steadfast gaze bore into hers. “I promise you. Your sister was the best fighter the arena had ever seen, as strong as the Warlord and as fierce as… the Huntress.”
Alena smiled, unable to stop the flow of tears streaming down her face. Two of the Achaean Twelve; a high compliment indeed.
“The crowd loved her…”
A hissing sound echoed in the distance.
“She had a kind heart…” Nik’s breaths came in short bursts. “…beauty that defied the Cyprian goddess…”
The hissing grew louder, and the searing heat receded as though someone had smothered the flames.
Alena lifted her head. “Nik—”
The collapsed wooden beams sizzled and cracked, releasing clouds of white smoke and concealing everything around them.
No, not smoke—vapour. The fire was being put out.
Nik’s hand tightened around hers.
Gleaming filaments of ice crawled along the walls and floor and overcame the flames with a final hiss and crack. Magic froze everything in its path with such rapidity that Alena shivered; crisp, cold air prickled her skin.
“By the Moon.” She got to her knees, amazed by the intricate patterns of ice glinting along the corridor. The transformation was magnificent.
Beside her, Nik appeared equally captivated. He stared at the frost beneath his feet. “Twelve be damned…”
A moment later, the cold settled, and the clouds of vapour dispersed, unveiling several outlines ahead.
“Alena!”
Her heart leapt. “Leukos…”
His dark frame emerged from the mist as he climbed over the frozen debris. A handful of Gifted warriors followed, guarding his back.
At the sight of him, an unexpected warmth kindled inside Alena’s chest. “Leukos!”
She doubled over, succumbing to a coughing fit, the lingering smoke irritating her lungs. Holding her up, Nik guided her through the patches of ice. She pulled away, rushing the last few steps to meet Leukos, and his strong arms enveloped her whole.
Leukos let out a long breath, and the relief he exuded surrounded her like a warm, soothing embrace.
“By the Sea, Alena,” he whispered in her hair. “I thought you were lost.” He clasped her face, his dark eyes raking over her.
“You saved us.” She couldn’t suppress her grin.
Leukos released her, and his gaze roamed over her. His eyebrows shot up at her swollen hand. Without a word, he pulled the waterskin from his belt and helped her take a few sips, soothing her throat.
“The ice.” She gawked at the frozen ground crunching beneath her sandals as he wet a cloth and wiped her face of ash and smoke. “This is your magic, isn’t it? It’s beautiful.”
The cloth paused on her cheek. An indecipherable emotion smouldered behind his gaze, directed solely at her.
“We need to hurry,” he said at last. “We’re not safe yet.”
He turned to the others and, upon catching sight of Nik, he went rigid.
“Leukos?” Alena asked.
A shadow settled over his features, and his jaw tightened.
In the next beat, a warrior pulled their attention, shouting from the archway. “Let’s go!”
Leukos grabbed her uninjured hand and led her over the collapsed debris. Around the corner, a myriad of fires awaited, but they dodged them, never stopping until the patrons’ secret staircase came into view.
Leukos tilted his head up the winding stairs. “Go. Agapios is waiting for us outside.”
Alena followed the others, gathering the heavy folds of her dress. Her legs trembled with each step, and her lungs burned. She stopped halfway to catch her breath and expected a sharp rebuke from Leukos, but when she turned, there was no sign of him.
Or Nik.
She strained her ears, but all she could hear was the beating of her own heart.
Without another thought, she rushed back down the stairs.
Something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong, but of all the possibilities that came to mind, seeing Leukos gripping Nik’s throat against the wall was the least expected.