The world would have to find someone else to save it.
“Ithrean guide me.” Perhaps if she died here, she’d be close enough to her gods for Ithrean to hear her and guide her across safely. She took out the coin her grandmother had given her and kissed it. There was nothing special about it, nothing that could help her.
Naavah Ora touched the cold stone. She wanted one last connection to her people before she joined her family.
Her hand met the smooth stone—
And light exploded from the statue. The force of it threw her backward, and she sagged to the floor.
Naavah Ora passed out to the angry cries of dryads around her.
Llian’In always said the hunt was more fun when they try to escape, when they didn’t know the danger they were in.
I hope he’s oblivious.
I hope he runs.
Chapter 66
Ash
Ash had never seen the inside of the Vaskan state prison. Now he was here he wasn’t sure why he’d ever wanted to.
His hands were tied behind his back, a new constant in his life he wasn’t impressed with. Two guards escorted him to his cell, shoving him ahead of them toward his temporary home until someone decided how he was to die.
Everything was made of cold stone. They’d passed through three heavily guarded and several-times-locked steel doors so far. So deep below Alt Võina, moisture was dripping from the ceiling.
It was quiet in the corridor save for their footsteps and his panting. His side was bruised and ached with every step. Now the adrenaline had worn off and realisation had set in, nothing masked the pain.
Ash heard a faint moan from one of the cells. None of them had light inside; whoever had made the sound was hidden in the shadows.
One of his guards pushed him. “Behave and you might get sentenced to death tomorrow.”
Ash stumbled but caught himself. The pain in his ribs flared. “That’s a good thing?”
“Let me put it this way.” His guard slammed him into the bars of the cell. Now that his face was pressed into the steel bars, Ash saw movement in the shadows. The silhouette of a broken man. One arm twisting away from his body at an angle that made Ash’s stomach roil. “This guy was a smartass, too. But not anymore, eh?”
The guards laughed and the man cowered at their voices.
Maybe a death sentence wasn’t the worst option.
“What happened to him?”
“As I said, he was a smartass like you. Thought he knew better. We threw him into the arena.”
Ash felt nauseated. He’d heard that word before.
“You know of it, don’t you?” One of his two guards walked around him so he could look at Ash. He grinned. “That’s where we take prisoners who don’t behave. They have too much energy, see. We give ’em a place to burn it. That’s where you’ll go if you don’t shut up.”
Ash spat in his face. It was stupid but he doubted he’d get another chance.
The guard straightened and wiped the spit from his face. “Time to show you your new home.”
Ash was shoved hard out front. The guard he’d spat on stopped in front of an empty cell and opened the door. They threw him in and Ash landed on his bruised side. The pain was so sharp he couldn’t breathe.
“No need to get cosy. No one gets out alive after attempted murder, actual murder, and the selling of illegal wares.”
The other guard stepped into view, still wiping at his face. “We’d kill you right here right now, but we’re not killers like you. You’ll get a fair trial and hang.”
Ash scowled. “Yeah, you’re cuddly bunnies compared to me.”
“Jest while you can. We’ll suggest cutting out your tongue before the hearing so you can’t object.”
Ash didn’t sit up until the steel door shut behind them. Ever since he’d started travelling with Doran, he got himself into all manners of bad situations but he’d never been imprisoned. He was good at getting himself into trouble, but he had a knack for getting out of it, too. Usually. Doran was saving the world with Ora and Levi. He didn’t even know the mess Ash had got himself into.
Ash leaned back into the cold, wet stone wall. What would they do if they were here? Doran would easily get out of this, he always had a lockpick hidden on him. Ash’s cell door had several complicated locks, but they’d be no match for Doran. A challenge, perhaps, but he’d crack them. Naavah Ora could burn her way through. Ash bet even Levi would have had a trick or two to get out of here. But Ash? Ash had nothing. No secret weapon. No lockpicks stashed away anywhere—and even if he had, he’d never had the skill for them. Doran had tried to teach him, and Ash had kept breaking them. There was no way out of this for him.
The only thing he had now were his cracked ribs, a massive bruise, and a short future.
Ash really wanted to see Naavah Ora again. Just once.
He doubted he’d still be alive by the time they realised he wasn’t coming.
Once I’m awake, there’ll be nowhere he can hide. Nowhere he can run to. I’ll find him, and he’ll know what it means to betray the goddess of the dead.
Chapter 67
840
“Hello?” 840 knocked on his door. He had hoped they’d left it unlocked, but it was shut tight.
“Yes, 840?” He had expected an Elder on the other side, not a young initiate. Guard duty wasn’t something that benefited the sacrifices.
“I would like to speak with Elder Pios.”
She hesitated. “Why?”
“I want to tell him that I’m sorry. I can see now where I went wrong.” He couldn’t tell her the whole truth or else she’d never let him out. This was his only chance. He couldn’t waste it.
His door unlocked. A young girl waited on the other side, thin and coy. She couldn’t have been here for long. The older sacrifices, the ones who’d been here for years and were close to their ceremony, looked smug and self-righteous. This girl didn’t fit in yet.
He could trick her. She was still gullible, and he’d come this far. If he made up a lie and got her to look the other way, he might have been able to escape.
But that would mean abandoning Doran, and he couldn’t do that.
“Can you take me to him?”
She nodded and walked ahead of him. “Don’t walk away!”
He had no intention of leaving. The village had barely changed since the last time he’d been here. Girls were reading in the small courtyard. Elders sat with some of them, teaching them.
There were no farms or gardens anywhere. How had they ever convinced him their sacrifices would guarantee a good harvest?
The initiate led him across the small courtyard, and entered the one-story house on the other side. She stopped at the door opposite the one they’d come in and knocked.
“Wait here.”
They didn’t make him wait for long.
“Elder Pios is ready for you, 840. Right this way.”
He stepped into the office and found himself face to face with Elder Pios. Most of the children never got to see this room from the inside. It was much nicer decorated than 840’s own chamber was. There were even flowers on the window sill behind the desk. Sunlight flooded the room. No bars gated the window. The desk Elder Pios sat behind was a rich brown, cut from fine oak. An apple sat on a white plate, carefully sliced, with a small knife resting on the plate.