Shadow City

by Francesca Flores

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Ryuu asked, stepping between them. “We need to get everyone out.”

  As Aina turned to find one of the Sacoren and tell them what was happening, gunshots broke out.

  38

  The gunfire came from above, where Aina had sent the people from her tradehouses. But straining her ears, she caught the sound of return shots and she breathed a sigh in relief. Her tradehouses were fighting Kohl’s men.

  Her eyes flicked toward the back of the safe house, where a boarded-up door led deeper into the mines—into the tunnels, where Kohl and the weapons might be. The Inosen might walk right into a trap.

  But the only other option was to send them into open gunfire.

  “I need to help them up there and get an idea of what we’re up against,” Aina said in a low voice to Tannis and Ryuu. “Can you get Mariya and the Inosen to the mine entrance and tell them where to go from there, Ryuu? And you can cover them if one of Kohl’s men comes to attack through there, Tannis.”

  They paused for a moment, exchanging a quick look that she couldn’t read, and then moved, calling the Inosen to gather in a group. Not wasting another moment, Aina slipped past the Inosen to reach the steps leading outside. She withdrew the pistol she’d stolen from a dead Thunder grunt and checked that it was loaded. As much as she hated using guns, she’d need one for this fight.

  Gunshots fired from the trees. The people from her tradehouses went on the defensive, staying low and only shooting when they caught sight of movement within the trees. But even without being able to see all their enemies, the sheer amount of shots fired and the flashes of weapons passing between the trees told Aina they were heavily outnumbered.

  Still, she joined them, kneeling behind a crate next to one of the tradehouse bosses. The silver barrel of a gun caught her eye between two trees. She fired first. The bullet struck and the man fell.

  But just as she ducked behind another crate to avoid return fire, Tannis and Ryuu joined her at either side.

  “You think we’d let you join the fun without us?” Ryuu asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “I was always a better shot than you, anyway,” Tannis muttered, firing into the trees and eliciting a shocked yelp from whomever she’d struck.

  A smile spread on Aina’s face as she settled between them, but they were still outnumbered. Her hand went to the grenade she’d stolen from the dead Thunder employees, and she looked over her shoulder at the entrance to the safe house. Gunshots and the screams of the dying built up louder around her. All of this was Kohl’s doing. So many things tried to choke and drown them in this city, but all of them were here as living proof that they could fight back with fire and blood too—that they deserved a future, like Teo had before he’d been robbed of it. The Inosen behind her, fleeing for their lives now in the tunnel, deserved a future too. She didn’t need to think on it much more than that.

  “Get down!” she shouted to Tannis, Ryuu, and the tradehouses fighting next to her—then she uncorked the grenade and threw it toward the tree line.

  She dropped, flattening herself to the ground and holding her hands over her head as the explosion rent the air and the heat of flames rose. A moment later, screams and thunderous footsteps joined the din. Jumping to her feet, she saw men running toward them from the south and firing at the fighters in the trees—the grenade had caught plenty of them, leaving bodies and scorch marks on the grass, but more streamed out now.

  From the south, though … She squinted, trying to make out the faces of the people rushing to help them fight. After a moment, she noticed one thing they all had in common: bright blue hair, streaking across the night.

  Tannis gasped and pointed. “The Kaiyanis soldiers. They’re here, that means—”

  She didn’t finish her sentence, and Aina couldn’t blame her—she wouldn’t get her hopes up about Mirran, Raurie, and Lill unless they showed up themselves, alive and unharmed.

  Kohl’s men skirted around the trees and fired back at the Kaiyanis soldiers, half of them providing cover as the other half darted toward the mine safe house relentlessly. The moment they found an opening, they’d storm through Aina and her fighters to reach the safe house.

  Aina scanned the faces of the fighters in the trees, searching for some sign of Kohl, but it wasn’t light enough yet to make anyone out. She only had a moment to decide what to do, but it was simple; they had fewer than twenty people protecting the entrance to the safe house. They wouldn’t stand a chance if even half of Kohl’s men managed to reach them and attack at close range. Having the Kaiyanis soldiers here would help, but … if the Inosen left through the mines and came out into the open again, Kohl’s men would shoot them. The only choice was to lure his men away from the open field, so the Inosen could escape into the forest once they left the mines.

  “Fall back!” she called out, her voice sending birds flying out of the trees—loud enough for Kohl’s men to hear and give chase. A minute later, Aina, Ryuu, Tannis, and the two tradehouses poured inside the dimly lit safe house. It was empty, Mariya and all the Inosen having fled through the tunnels. The boarded-up door they’d left through hung off its hinges.

  “Put out the lights and then get in the tunnel,” she whispered. They all moved, extinguishing the candles and then filtering through the entrance to the tunnels in the pitch-black. Once they’d all gathered in the tunnel, she moved the door back in place. It wouldn’t deter Kohl’s men, but hiding the entrance and leaving the room dark would slow them down for a minute.

  Their breath and footsteps were the only sound as they raced down the sloping tunnels eastward, deeper into the mines. A sulfur scent reached her nostrils, and she tried not to breathe too deeply. But since oxygen was scarce down here, she soon had to take in as much breath as she could.

  It was completely dark as they wandered the tunnels, ears strained for some sound of the other Inosen fleeing. Ryuu led the way, using one candle he’d taken from the safe house. Its light came in flashes, illuminating his face and the rock walls of the tunnels. As they walked, Aina looked toward the dark cracks in the walls and the dirt floor beneath them, remembering how the Mothers came to her in a place similar to this and wondering if they were here now, in some form.

  “There’s only one way out, so we can’t get lost,” Ryuu whispered back to them, his voice strangely loud in the silence.

  After about five minutes, more light shone from farther down the hall with a reddish glow; someone carrying flares. Aina drew her knives, blinking against the sudden light to see who approached them. Then a voice called out, echoing off the tunnel walls.

  “Who is that? Ryuu?”

  Ryuu stopped, his eyes brightening at the familiar voice, then called back, “Lill? It’s us!” Aina and Tannis followed him at a run just as Lill, Raurie, and Mirran turned the corner ahead and nearly walked into them.

  “You’re all alive,” Aina said, smiling in relief.

  “When did you get back here?” Tannis asked, pulling Raurie into a hug.

  “About an hour ago,” Raurie said. “We saw what was happening and knew we had to act fast, so we sent the soldiers to fight above and came down here to bring you all out. The others made it, but we came here when we didn’t see you. Come on, we need to get out of here.”

  The red light of Lill’s flare led the way as the sound of heavy footsteps grew behind them, echoing off the tunnel walls. Kohl’s men must have broken through the door. Aina’s blood turned cold at the thought. It was too dark here to try to fight; it would be a bloodbath. If she died here, she wouldn’t stop Kohl at all. “We’re almost there,” Ryuu whispered back, his voice tinged with fear. “We’ll come out on the first tier of the pit and can climb out from there.”

  The tunnel sloped upward, opening into a wider cavern. Sunlight filtered into the cavern from up ahead, illuminating a large crate in the center of the room. It sat on a track, as if someone had pushed it into the mines on one of the carts usually reserved for carrying diamonds and
ore through the tunnels. Metal glinted from the slightly open lid of the crate: dynamite, pistols, rifles, grenades. Ryuu saw it at the same time she did and slowed, sucking in a sharp breath. Raurie, Tannis, Mirran, and the two tradehouses had reached the mouth of the tunnel and exited, but Lill hung back.

  “If they get their hands on those weapons…” Ryuu began in a strained voice. “The Inosen are probably still in the mines. They won’t be able to escape.”

  Aina cast one glance back toward the tunnel where the sounds of Kohl’s men charging toward them grew louder each second. Turning back to Ryuu, she said, “We’re already outnumbered.”

  Without a break in his step, Ryuu walked toward the crate of weapons and searched through it. Lill called his name in a strained voice as the heavy footfalls of Kohl’s men grew closer. Then Ryuu straightened, holding a grenade in one hand, his eyes bright with panic and exhilaration.

  “This is more important than me and my family,” he said, answering Aina’s unspoken question. “You two go ahead.”

  Aina rolled her eyes and stayed next to him as he backed up toward the mouth of the tunnel where Lill still stood with her arms crossed.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Lill scoffed, moving closer to Ryuu.

  Together, Aina, Ryuu, and Lill peered into the dark depths of the tunnel, waiting.

  Hair rose on the back of Aina’s neck and a cold sweat trickled down her spine. She suddenly felt twelve years old again, sitting in a tavern that was about to be blown up right before Kohl found her; right before everything changed.

  Kohl’s men came into view, racing through the tunnel and toward the weapons, their guns lifting when they saw her. Ryuu uncorked the grenade and threw it. They turned and ran.

  Pale blue sky was visible for one brief moment before sound exploded into shreds around Aina and everything turned white.

  39

  When Aina opened her eyes, the world was on fire.

  Shaking herself awake, she saw Tannis kneeling in front of her. A blaze ringed the pit of the diamond mine, climbing the walls and trapping everyone inside. As Aina’s hearing came back, so did Tannis’s voice shouting at her to get up.

  Her ears still rang as she stood, her legs trembling slightly. Tannis yelled at her to make herself useful and then ran to join the fight. Aina forced herself to focus on the scene ahead.

  Fire blazed through the mines, set off by the bombs to surround the whole pit. A swirling mass of black smoke prevented her from seeing anything but snatches of movement at a time. Orange flames licked the walls of the pit, building heat around them until she felt like she was inside a furnace. She tried to breathe normally, but ash fell on her tongue and she began coughing.

  Gunshots fired through clouds of smoke, hitting targets indiscriminately. Aina flinched when one struck the rock wall behind her, then began moving around the pit in a crouch, her heart pounding in her throat.

  They’d collapsed the mines, trapping Kohl’s men, but surely not all of them had gone inside the mine—plenty of them were still alive to fight now. Her eyes watered from the smoke, but she blinked it away and searched for any sign of her friends and the Inosen.

  After only moving ten feet around the mine, she looked upward, craving some sign of fresh air as it grew difficult to breathe. A bird streaked through a pockmark of gray sky far overhead. An image flashed through her memory of the falcon pendant Teo had worn, its amber eyes staring up at her, and her heart ached. Teo was gone, and the Inosen here barely stood a chance to escape with their lives … all because of the fight for power between Kohl and Bautix.

  A gust of wind blew away some of the smoke to her left, clearing a narrow path. Ryuu stood at the foot of a ladder, his face sweat-streaked as he gestured for people to climb it. He looked toward the smoke, seeing an enemy she couldn’t from here, and then up at the people who’d nearly made it over the lip of the pit. The Inosen who weren’t fighting climbed it as fast as they could, ducking and screaming whenever a bullet passed close to them. As Aina watched, two of them were struck and fell from the ladder.

  There was a thud in front of her and she nearly tripped over a body. Someone she didn’t recognize, likely one of Kohl’s men—blood streaked the front of his chest, spilled from his mouth and glassy eyes. A chill swept over her despite the raging heat, but then she felt a spike of determination; magic was one thing these men didn’t know how to fight with, for it required faith in something greater than steel and coin.

  As Aina crossed the narrow path toward Ryuu, more glimpses of the battlefield became clear. Raurie and a few of the other Inosen, including June and Sofía, had spread themselves out between the Kaiyanis soldiers and fought back against Kohl’s men. They took diamonds from the crates strewn around the pit. Tannis and Mirran fought alongside the Kaiyanis soldiers, shouting orders through the cloying clouds of smoke. Lill stood at the foot of the ladder, in front of Ryuu and guarding the passage of the Inosen trying to escape.

  As Aina ran toward the ladder, Mariya Okubo had stepped onto the first rung, her gaze tilted upward. The lip of the pit was only twenty feet up, but it must have seemed like a thousand miles away with the bullets striking the side of the ladder.

  “Get to the Tower now with as many men as you can take!” Aina shouted when Mariya looked down, her face covered in ash and sweat. “Go through one of the secret entrances that you haven’t closed yet. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”

  Mariya gave her a grim nod and resumed her climb, moving quickly as if sheer speed would help her escape the gunshots.

  But there was no time to check and make sure she reached the top safely. Aina ducked behind the line of soldiers again and ran, circling around the mine pit.

  She still had to find Kohl.

  To her right, a familiar voice cried out. Raurie fell to her knees, a bullet having struck her leg, but she lifted a diamond and spoke the same spell Aina had used in the cavern under the Tower—“Cayek inoke.” A moment later, a wall of rocks on the other side of the mines crumbled on top of Kohl’s men. The world shook and burned around them, and if Aina’s thoughts were lining up correctly with the madness in front of her … Kohl’s men were being butchered.

  Keeping low, Aina raced around the edge of the mines, staying behind the line of Kaiyanis soldiers to avoid enemy fire. The whole way, as she passed the swirling clouds of smoke, she felt a storm building up inside her too, one that made her want to stop right here and fight alongside them all to make them pay for what they’d done to her city—what they wanted to do to everyone like her.

  A wooden beam fell from the wall of the pit. Aina skidded to a stop, covering her face with her hands as it crashed to the ground and sent a cloud of smoke into her face. But then it cleared, and as a path opened in front of her, she saw him.

  Kohl.

  He stood at the mouth of a tunnel entrance, flames highlighting him from behind as he fired over and over into the crowd. He was killing anyone in sight whether they were actively fighting him or not. A few of his bullets struck down his own men.

  The city needs you, Teo had said.

  Maybe Kohl wanted the south to survive and thrive once this battle was won. But his plans had killed Teo, and his bullets were killing Inosen now, people from the place he claimed to love. In his fight to control it all, he would destroy it. And she was done with seeing her home destroyed.

  She glimpsed him in snatches as she approached, the smoke passing over him in grasping tendrils. Her breaths came slow and steady now despite the heavy smoke.

  When she was a few feet away, the smoke between them cleared, and Kohl suddenly stopped firing. His body tensed, like it could tell something was wrong before his mind realized it. His head turned toward her in one sharp movement, and though she couldn’t read his reaction in his eyes, his mouth opened slightly in surprise.

  She knew this man. The boy who’d become ruthless to survive, who’d seen that the only way to move forward in this country after the war was to latch on to a scrap
of power and build it from the ground up, taking and taking so no one took from you. The man who’d feared losing his home as much as the boy he’d been; the man whose home she’d taken.

  The same man who’d both saved and doomed her, and knew exactly how to use that against her even if he’d grown to care for her over the years.

  But the only love he knew was control.

  He holstered his gun, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he caught his breath. She swallowed down the lump in the back of her throat.

  He was just another version of what she could have become. “Aina,” he said, his voice flat. “You should be at—”

  The metallic screech of her scythes as she withdrew them both from their sheathes told him exactly what she was here for. His bloodshot eyes tightened for a moment, the sapphire blue deepening with the emotion he so rarely showed, and then hardened to ice once more.

  “I should have known, shouldn’t I?” he asked in a low voice, almost to himself rather than her. “You crave revenge just like I do. You want to rule too but alongside me isn’t enough, you—”

  She lifted one of her scythes so its blade was level with his throat. The smoke passed over her hand in a serpentine trail, hiding it so all that was visible was the metal against his flesh. Something changed in his eyes then, the monster she’d grown used to over the years rising up yet again—like clockwork.

  He drew a dagger faster than blinking. Catching his strike with her scythe, she held fast, both of them grinding their feet into the ground and pushing back. He broke the hold first, pushing hard enough that her weapon almost flew out of her hand, and then he advanced.

  They fought hard, their blades glinting sharply in the light, the smoke gathered so thickly around them that the rest of the world disappeared. Sweat dripped into her eyes and her lungs burned with ash settling in her throat. The heat built in intensity as they drew closer to the fire, making every breath a battle.