“Guess so.”
They waited for another handful of gut-wrenching hours, watching the sun rise beyond the mouth of the cavern until it shone straight down on the pale arena sand, as blinding as fresh-fallen snow. A dull murmur began outside and grew louder, signaling a gathering crowd. Even in the shade of the cave, sweat ran on Eva’s face and dampened her hair. She swallowed, throat dry, stomach rumbling although she knew she was too sick to eat, even if their captors would have brought them anything. At the moment, she might have killed for water, let alone freedom.
The sounds of the crowd continued to grow and the guards appeared again, a score of them this time. Eva saw them drop a bundle outside the cave where the shadows met the sun in the arena. The man who led them wore a scarlet sash draped around his shoulder and a second piece of cloth wrapped around his head. His bare chest was a crisscross of scars. As he drew closer, several of the other men nocked arrows to their bows and drew back. The man with the sash pointed to Eva and Sigrid and waved them forward before pointing to the gryphons and holding up a hand.
Sensing their riders were about to be taken from them, the gryphons went into a frenzy and attacked the iron gates, slashing the bars with their claws and beating them with their wings. The archers fell back in surprise and raised their bows to fire. At the last moment, Eva and Sigrid jumped between the terrified men and the gryphons, waving their hands.
“Don’t shoot!” Eva screamed, half expecting to be filled with half a dozen arrows. “Don’t shoot!”
She turned to Fury and managed to catch his eyes. He shook his head, feathered chest heaving as Eva reached up and petted the short feathers between his eyes.
“Sshhh, it’s alright boy,” she said, choking on her emotions, tears running down her face. “It’s alright. Everything’s going to be…”
Try as she might, she couldn’t bring herself to say it. “Go to the back,” she managed to get out. “Go the back, now’s not the time to fight. Trust me.”
After a long moment, the gryphons backed away from the bars, heads lowered to the sand, hissing. Eva and Sigrid stepped forward, raising their hands in the air.
“Fight or die,” the man in the scarlet sash said. “Weapons out there. We leave, you go get them.” He pointed to the bundle his soldiers had deposited outside the cavern at the edge of the shadow. Eva and Sigrid nodded to show they understood.
Two guards stepped forward and unlocked the chain around the iron gates. As soon as Sigrid and Eva were through, they locked them again. This sent the gryphons into another rage, but they remained in the back of the cavern. The guards who didn’t have arrows on bows surrounded them with spears. They herded them to the bundle of weapons and then backed away at the edge of the sunlight, disappearing up a set of stairs carved from stone behind a small iron-studded door.
Sigrid unwrapped the bundle and grunted in small satisfaction. Their weapons were lying inside the canvas. Eva picked up her sword and spear, feeling a pang of longing for her lost necklace. Sigrid finished sliding the last of her knives into her belt and chest scabbard and picked up her spear, giving it a practice swing.
“You ready for this?” she asked Eva.
Eva tried to speak but her throat tightened every time she opened her mouth. She thought she might throw up all over her friend if she tried again. Instead, she gave a curt nod, a complete lie. The crowd started cheering outside as if sensing something was about to happen.
“Eva…,” Sigrid said, clearing her throat. “If we die —”
“We’re not going to die,” Eva said, surprised to find her voice. Her heart hammered in her chest harder than Soot beating on the anvil in his forge. Her hands tingled and felt lifeless and it was all she could do to hold onto her spear.
“Right,” Sigrid said. “Let’s get after it, then.”
Exchanging one last look, the two Windsworn stepped into the blinding sand of the arena.
The roaring crowd hit them like a hard, northern wind. Eva almost staggered back against the sheer volume of it. She blinked, raising a hand to shade her eyes and looked around the pit, surveying their surroundings for the first time.
The back side of Anarchos’ quarters rose up above the arena walls to the right, indicating they were north of the temple gardens. Eva squinted and saw the priest sitting in a large stone chair beneath a shaded cover, Ivan chained and at his side. The walls of the arena circled them all around, at least twice as tall as a person on horseback. Even though they were made of rough sandstone, Eva doubted they’d be able to climb out. Citizens and pilgrims packed into every available space in the seating above, crammed onto benches, hanging from columns and arches. They screamed and jeered like a pack of wild dogs who smelled blood on the hunt.
A collection of rocks formed a short, broken platform in the center of the sand. Rusted iron gates, guarding dark caverns similar to the one they’d been kept in ringed the walls. Columns circled the entire pit about a stone’s throw from the walls, but other than these features, the place looked to be empty.
“What do you think we’re supposed to do, tumbling tricks?” Sigrid asked, shouting to be heard over the noise of the crowd.
Eva shrugged, wondering what cruel trick Anarchos had conjured up for them. “Maybe —”
The harsh shriek of rusted metal on rock cut through the roar of the crowd. Directly across from them, Eva saw a portcullis raise. An enraged scream reverberated through the darkness beyond before a gigantic, light tan cat leaped into the sand. The beast yowled again, revealing a mouthful of yellowed fangs, the front two “saber teeth” almost as long as Eva’s sword.
Sigrid shook her head. “Damn.”
Eva could only stare at the creature as it prowled the opposite side of the arena, screaming in rage at the spectators far out of its reach. She’d seen a handful of sabercats during her patrols on the frontier, but whether it was because she was on the ground instead of in the air or just a product of her fear-laden mind, this specimen looked almost twice the size of the others.
Sheer muscle stood out against its scarred, filthy hide. The veteran markings of many battles tortured captivity brindled its lean body. Either way, the sabercat looked furious and hungry for blood, its tawny head jerking around in an attempt to take in the crowds, matted ears laid back.
“Eva!”
Sigrid was already running. Eva took off after her, ducking behind the circle of columns on the far side of the arena opposite the sabercat. Even as she ran, Eva knew they couldn’t evade the creature forever. The beast could cover the entire width of the arena in the time it took them to run a quarter of the distance, and there was nowhere to hide or get out of its reach.
Fortunately, the stench from thousands of people masked their scent and the sabercat had yet to spot them. It paced back and forth, baring its impossibly long fangs and batting the air with paws the size of shields. Eva guessed it had been in the arena before otherwise it would be trying the walls.
She recalled Celina’s sparring instructions. Although the woman had tried to kill her in the end, before she’d become entirely possessed Celina had spent countless hours teaching Eva the art of war. Even though she’d been a slow learner at the start, Eva couldn’t help but hone her skills under the tutelage of one of the Gyr’s mightiest warriors.
Always be on the offensive.
Eva snorted, still following Sigrid from pillar to pillar. She doubted Celina had fighting a sabercat on foot with no armor in mind when the commander had given that advice.
“Got any bright ideas about how to kill this thing?” Eva shouted to Sigrid as they continued to dart behind columns, staying as far away from the roaming sabercat as possible.
“Yeah,” Sigrid said in between breaths. “We’ll need to stab it a few times.”
“Oh good,” Eva said, breathing hard as well. “Was worried we didn’t have a plan and would die a gruesome death without putting on a show. I’d hate to disappoint our audience.”
They paused after running about a quarter of the
distance around the arena circle, the sabercat across from them, partly hidden by the cluster of rocks in the center of the pit. Peeking out from behind the column, Eva followed its movements as it continued to pace, drawing closer to the tunnel they’d emerged from. Overhead, the crowd booed and screamed in frustration at the lack of blood thus far.
“Well, let’s give them a show,” Sigrid said, hefting her spear. “You go in from the left, I’ll come in from on top of the rock.”
“Wait, why am I the bait?” Eva asked. Sigrid didn’t even bother turning around to answer.
“Because I’m better with a spear!”
Eva’s entire body felt like it was made of cloth, flapping and flailing in the wind but she took a handful of strides toward the cat. Stepping out of the cover of the rocks, she realized it was no longer on the opposite side of the arena. She spun around but saw no sign of the sabercat. Her blood ran cold. They were being hunted.
Sigrid, a stone’s throw away, looked across at her, wondering the same thing by the look on her face. Eva took a cautious step forward, turning as she did to watch all around her. She took another step forward, hoping to climb the cluster of rock in the middle of the arena and get a better vantage —
A tawny shape flashed out of the corner of her eye and Eva threw herself to the side just as the sabercat pounced. She felt a rush of air and the reeking smell of captive animal as the creature soared past her, its front paws smashing into the sand where she’d been standing a second before. Eva made it to her feet just as the cat turned. She held her spear out in front of her, the tip wavering in her shaking hands. Eyes locked on the beast, she took a cautious step back.
The sabercat’s yellow eyes looked much like Fury’s and Eva understood for the first time the terror an angry gryphon instilled in its opponent. The cat snarled, matching every pace Eva took backward with one toward her. Its sword-like fangs glinted in the bright sun as its muzzle pulled back in a snarl. Eva shouted and jabbed her spear at the cat’s face, hoping to keep its focus while Sigrid attempted to circle behind them.
When the spear lashed out at its face, the sabercat let out a high-pitched yowl and swatted at the head, nearly tearing it from Eva’s grasp. No matter what she did, it continued to advance, one paw then another, undeterred by her shouting and stabbing. Eva saw the cat’s muscles tense, preparing to pounce. She buried the butt of her spear in the sand and braced it as best she could, a twig trying to turn back a tempest.
Everything happened at once.
Sigrid’s spear flashed through the air, burying itself in the sabercat’s shoulder as it pounced. The beast rose above Eva, claws, and fangs bared. Gritting her teeth, Eva crouched, bracing her spear the best she could as the cat fell upon her.
Chapter Fifteen
Pure panic seized Eva. The sabercat’s enormous bulk writhed on top of her. Matted, rank hair pressed against her — an overpowering, gagging stench of urine and rotten meat. She felt hot blood running through her clothes but didn’t know if it was the beast’s or hers, didn’t know if she’d been sliced to ribbons by the cat’s claws or if it’d been impaled on her spear.
Over the sabercat’s screams of pain and the thunderous excitement of the crowd, Eva thought she heard Sigrid shouting. The cat twisted again trying to regain its footing and Eva felt a searing pain in her leg. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move — didn’t want to die this way. Panic gripped her and Eva thrashed with all her might. If nothing else, she needed to fight free of that awful smell.
What took mere moments seemed like hours. Eva rolled free at last, sand flying. She scrambled away, and almost collapsed on her left leg. Looking down, she saw blood running from a ragged cut made by the cat’s hind claws. Fighting the throbbing pain, she turned around and drew her sword, waiting to be shredded to pieces.
Instead, the cat focused on Sigrid, limping toward her with the broken shaft of Eva’s spear buried in its chest. Somehow, Sigrid retrieved her spear from the cat’s shoulder while Eva was trapped beneath it. The iron head splattered blood across the sand as the dark-haired girl waved it in front of her to ward off the enraged, wounded beast.
Eva rushed forward, limping as fast as she could on her injured leg while the sabercat focused on Sigrid. Screaming, she lunged forward and scored a deep gash down the cat’s side with her short sword. The sabercat screamed and turned on her. At the same time, Sigrid drove her spear into its neck. The beast let out another gurgling scream and shook its head, bulling Eva aside as it fought to free the spear lodged in its neck.
Eva scrambled backward on her arms and good leg. Blood splattered the pale sand as the sabercat jerked back and forth. At last, it sank to the ground. Eva let out a long breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. The roar of the crowd rolled over them like thunder. Sigrid stepped forward, yanked her spear from the sabercat’s neck and drove it down the beast’s throat.
Eva lifted herself onto a rock, sweating, bleeding, and heaving for air. Sigrid joined her eyes wide from the rush of near death.
“Something tells me…”Eva said in between gulps of air. “That we aren’t finished.”
As if on cue another rusted gate shuddered and screeched from the tunnel directly across from them.
“Damn it, Eva. Why do you have to say things like that?”
Sigrid looped Eva on her shoulder and the two set off as fast as they could away from the rising gate, the only weapons they had were Eva’s short sword plus Sigrid’s spear and her array of knives. With each fumbling step, Eva glanced back over her shoulder, looking for whatever new terror would surely emerge from the cavern.
“Come on,” Sigrid urged, half dragging Eva toward the cavern where the gryphons were still held. “Got to…get to the gryphons!”
As she spoke, a high-pitched whine cut through the noise of the crowd. Eva glanced behind them and her breath caught in her throat.
Their next opponent looked like something out of a nightmare, a monster insect on six spindly, jointed legs ending in barbed points. It’s pale purple body was narrow and oblong, ending in a point at both ends. A long neck ended in a triangular head with a dozen red eyes bulging out like frog spawn on a pond.
Eva thought the sabercat had been fast until the new monster rushed toward the dying animal, sand kicking up behind it, legs moving so fast they blurred. Reaching its prize, the bug reared up on its back four legs and impaled the sabercat with its front two pincers. The points sank clear through the cat and it died without so much as a twitch.
“Mother of tempests,” Sigrid swore as the bug’s barbed pincers ripped the sabercat’s corpse in half.
They reached the cave just as the giant insect finished shredding the sabercat. Eva saw its collection of bulging eyes spot them just as they passed out of the sunlight. Sensing live prey, the bug threw back its head and emitted another high-pitched scream. And then it charged.
“Get the gryphons free!” Sigrid shouted, unslinging Eva from her shoulder. The dark-haired girl twirled the gore-spattered shaft between her hands, focused on the monstrous insect scurrying toward them faster than a horse at a gallop.
Gritting her teeth against the throbbing pain in her leg, Eva half ran, half limped toward the gryphon cage. Passing the small tunnel she heard guards shouting at her but with the bug so close, none dared step from behind the safety of their locked gate to stop her. Reaching the iron bars, Eva took her sword in both hands and swung as hard as she could at the chain holding the gate shut.
Eva’s sword reverberated in her hands and the three gryphons rammed their heads into the gate, to no avail. Eva glanced back and saw the bug reach the mouth of the tunnel. Although it couldn’t cram itself into the shorter, wider tunnel, the monster still swiped at Sigrid with its forelegs, the girl dancing out of reach and jabbing at the barbed points with her spear.
Summoning all of her strength, Eva swung at the chain again and again. Sparks flying, hands tingling, the chain held firm.
“Eva, it’s coming in!” Sigrid scream
ed, the terror thick in her voice.
In a frenzy of anger and fear, Eva struck the chain again and again. Fury charged and the metal gate lurched forward, pushing the chain taut. Eva screamed and swung again.
That was all it took. Against the might of three grown gryphons, the chain burst apart, striking the cavern wall with a ping. Fury, Sven, and Belarus surged forward, nearly knocking Eva over as they charged the insect, which had forced itself halfway into the tunnel by lowering its back legs and driving them into the sand.
The shriek of the creature mixed with the blood-curdling screams of the gryphons as they attacked. Eva watched, heart in her throat as Fury bulled his way past the bug’s pincers and reared up on his lion legs, slashing with his talons. Sven and Belarus latched on to one of the pincers and savaged it with their beaks until the barbed point hung by a stretch of green hide.
The insect screamed in pain and outrage. Eva fell to the ground, clutching her ears. The monster retreated and the gryphons gave chase.
“No!” Eva shouted. As soon as the gryphons made their way into the open arena, Anarchos would order them filled with arrows.
But it was too late. The gryphon burst out of the cavern into the sunlight, rising into the air while Sigrid and Eva gave chase on foot.
At the sight of the gryphons, the crowd roared even louder. Fury, Sven, and Belarus flew low, diving at the insect as it spun around to track them. Fury made his stoop and slammed into the narrow body of the bug with his outstretched talons. Before it could recover, Sven struck as well but a flailing limb knocked him aside. Before Belarus could attack the insect’s soft, exposed underbelly, it managed to right itself and lashed out at the black gryphon with its uninjured pincer. Sven crashed into the arena floor in a wave of white sand.
Sigrid took three long bounds and hurled her spear in a perfect arc. The throw was true, but the spear glanced off the bug’s carapace and skittered away. The insect whipped around, spotting easier prey than the trio of gryphons harrying it. Shaking off Sven as it made another pass, the insect scuttled toward them, no slower for its wound. Knowing she could never run away in time and with no other options, Eva raised her sword in both hands, hoping to strike at the insect’s soft belly.
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