But then the two anomalies glanced at each other, sharing an invisible signal before launching simultaneous attacks directly toward Ashlyn alone, stealing her focus and allowing the four other warrior-women the chance to approach.
Naari and Cresta didn’t hesitate, rushing forward to meet their opponents with weapons raised, while Ashlyn sent darts of wind and twisting vines toward her two magical foes, only to have them blocked and burned.
Do something! screamed Kiva’s inner voice. Help them!
But she was frozen in place, fearing she would only get in the way and cause one of her friends to become hurt.
Frantic, her gaze swung from Ashlyn and her elemental battle, to Cresta and Naari as they met the four warriors strike for strike, the crash of steel ringing around the arena. It wasn’t just swords they were defending against — a broad-shouldered woman fought with a fearsome spear that was a cross between a sickle and a scythe, while her freckled companion had a metal chain in one hand and a spiked mace in the other. Only the final two women — one of whom had gold threaded into her armor, and the other wore a horned helmet — used weapons more evenly matched against Kiva’s friends, but they fought with enough ferocity that even Naari, who had undergone the same warrior training as them, was struggling to maintain her defense. And Cresta —
As Kiva watched, Cresta lost patience with the broad-shouldered, spear-wielding woman and gave a war cry before bending at the waist and ramming straight into her midsection, tackling her to the ground. Their weapons dropped in the fall, leaving the two of them to wrestle unarmed, neither gaining a foothold. But Kiva wasn’t worried about the scrappy ex-quarrier — she was concerned because it now meant Naari had three warriors all focused on her.
For too long, people had been saving Kiva. She’d only survived the Trial by Ordeal because Jaren had protected her. More recently at Zalindov, Cresta had looked out for her. Even at Blackmount Castle, Ashlyn had helped free her. Naari, Caldon, Torell — all of them had saved her from one danger or another. She’d always had to rely on them — but no more. She might have no fighting experience and limited physical training, but right now, her friends needed her.
Naari needed her.
Terrified but determined, Kiva tightened her grip on her dagger and sprinted forward to where Naari was battling the three women. As she ran, she saw the helmeted warrior fumble her footing, opening up her vulnerable side. Naari took immediate advantage, thrusting her blade in a quick jabbing motion, once, twice, three times, and the woman went down with a pained scream, which quickly tapered off into silence as she stilled on the ground.
Kiva’s heart clenched as the warrior’s eyes closed, Naari’s words repeating in her mind once more: Kill or be killed. Those are our only options.
Later, Kiva would have time to process the senseless violence happening in the arena. For now, she had to remain alive long enough to do so — and make sure her friends did, too. Because Cresta still wrestled with the broad-shouldered woman, grunting and groaning as they each landed hits, while Ashlyn continued to defend against fire and wind in her elemental battle, and Naari still faced both the mace-and-chain-wielding woman and the one with the gold-threaded armor.
It was the latter whom Kiva targeted, racing to block the golden warrior from striking out at Naari’s unprotected back. Fueled purely by desperation, she leapt the remaining distance just as the woman pivoted, her crystal blue eyes gleeful as she raised her sword to meet Kiva. In turn, Kiva stretched her dagger out as she soared through the air, ready to meet the woman’s blade.
But then, suddenly, Kiva wasn’t leaping toward the golden warrior anymore, because a gust of wind caught her mid-flight and flung her away — right into the inner water circle.
Kiva plunged beneath the surface, stunned. At first, she thought Ashlyn must have been trying to keep her safe, but that notion soon vanished when she kicked her way upward only for another gust of wind to shove her straight back down again.
Fear coursed through her as she broke through the surface again and again, barely able to inhale enough air each time before she was pushed under once more. During one of her attempts, the briefest of glances across the sand revealed Ashlyn was oblivious to her plight, fully distracted by the ginger-haired anomaly, who had transformed the fiery outer ring into a giant flaming python. It was taking all of Ashlyn’s focus to keep from being burned alive, with her using both wind and earth magic to try and smother the serpentine inferno. All the while, the air anomaly was grinning her jagged-tooth smile in Kiva’s direction, keeping her in her underwater prison.
But then it became clear that the elemental warrior had been toying with her, and now she was done, because when Kiva was next forced under, a solid air barrier kept her from resurfacing.
At all.
Within seconds, Kiva’s lungs began to burn, prompting memories of the water Ordeal and when Queen Ariana had attacked her at the River Palace. She’d nearly drowned in both instances — just as she was drowning now.
Not like this, Kiva begged as she punched her hands into the invisible barrier. Somehow, she still had the dagger gripped between her fingers, but it did no good against the anomaly’s magic.
Pain spread down her throat and across her chest, her heart galloping as her restricted airways convulsed. She needed air. She needed air. But she was surrounded by water, with no escape.
Jaren’s face came to her then — Jaren, who had dived deep into the quarry and breathed life back into her. Jaren, who had fought off his own mother to protect her and then held her all night afterward.
This time, Jaren couldn’t help her.
Kiva didn’t even know whether he would if given the choice.
But — no. That wasn’t true. Because despite all the heartache she’d caused him, it wasn’t in his nature to let anyone suffer, including her. Maybe even especially her. He would always save her — she knew that like she knew her own name. And the thought of never seeing him again, of surrendering her life to this miserable Jiirvan arena and dying before she had a chance to make things right between them, was too much for her to bear.
Her lungs were screaming for oxygen now, her vision blackening at the edges, but Kiva mustered the last of her strength and propelled her body upward, smashing her daggered hand into the air barrier — only to find it was no longer there.
She broke through the surface, coughing and gagging, meeting no resistance as she swam laboriously to the edge and hauled herself onto the sand. There, she spat out water and sucked in painful, choked breaths, acutely aware that her friends were still fighting for their lives. Because of that, she only allowed herself five seconds to recover before standing shakily to her feet.
A quick glance revealed Cresta had overcome the broad-shouldered warrior, who was now lifeless on the ground, leaving the ex-quarrier to partner with Ashlyn against the fire and air anomalies, explaining why Kiva had suddenly become free. Cresta had no magic, but she was fearlessly using her blades against the warriors — even throwing some wicked star-shaped knives she must have pilfered from her fallen opponent. Together, she and Ashlyn were taking ground, even with the python having been transformed into a flaming whirlwind, fueled by both anomalies combining their magic.
Naari, however, was beginning to struggle against the freckled chain-wielding woman and the golden warrior, both of whom were relentlessly brutal in their attacks, their weapons like blurs. The guard was bleeding from multiple wounds, some alarmingly deep, and it was clear that her strength was failing.