Eight

Up until now I'd been missing the one thing I needed to get out of here. From memory I adjusted my gait to accommodate my sword, the heavy weight different from what I was used to with my talwar, but it would do the job.

Distant shouting and footsteps sounded at the other end of the infirmary, signaling that Thohfsa's scream had been effective.

Noor ran to the door and looked down the hall, eyes wide with fear. "How in the name of the djinn are we getting out of this one?"

I exhaled, my heart beating as loud as a tabla. I counted slowly in my head, stilling my nerves, as I rocked back and forth on my feet. With a blade, I felt sure. Powerful. I raised it in front of me. "We'll do things my way this time."

Steps pounded against the stone, the same insistent boots I'd heard for the past year. Noor jumped back as two guards entered the room, weapons drawn. I recognized one as the guard who went after the rock I'd thrown, his hair cropped short and beard closely trimmed. The other had his uniform buttoned unevenly and an unbrushed nest of curls. Their eyes went from Thohfsa on the ground to me holding her bloodied sword.

I huffed a laugh at their shocked expressions and remembered how Thohfsa used to berate them. "Don't tell me you haven't wanted to do the same?"

Noor stepped forward, her hands extended in a placating way. "The warden is dead. You can either let us escape under cover of darkness and have the chance to live, or fight us and die." She gestured to the weapon in my hand.

"I didn't know we were giving them an option." My fingers curled tighter around the hilt, and I took a step forward.

"I know you said you were good with one of those, but I'd rather get out of here with as little bloodshed as possible," Noor said through gritted teeth.

"I can't promise anything," I called back to her, my eyes narrowing.

I very much doubted we would be walking out of here without any more blood spilled.

The guards agreed, because they advanced on us, their own blades gleaming in the torchlight.

The roar inside my head quieted.

I shifted back and forth on my feet and savored the familiar rush of fight brewing in my veins. My muscles woke, remembering each drill with Baba in the training field, each bout as I honed my skill.

The first guard with the neat beard lunged and I pivoted backward and struck his scimitar down with Thohfsa's short sword. He wasn't expecting my sure strike and his sword dangled in his grasp. He gaped at me, and I didn't waste time driving the blade into his belly too. Noor gasped behind me and my arms screamed with the force of another killing blow. The guard cried out, the weak mewl of a drowning cat.

The slovenly guard came at me with a roar, but I couldn't wrench Thohfsa's sword out fast enough. I abandoned it and rolled away as he sliced the air with his double-bladed scimitar, missing me by inches.

I came to my feet, empty hands itching to steal his blades. The guard followed me, charging forward as my feet danced around him. I reached for the pommel of Thohfsa's sword and managed to heave it out this time.

When the guard arched his scimitar high, I dove under and slammed my hilt into his jaw, letting the heavy metal handle of Thohfsa's sword swing forward with all its weight.

He fell like a boulder onto the floor.

Noor ran over to him, placing her fingers against his neck. "Well, at least this one's not dead."

"More will be," I said, my mouth curling into a grim line. "If not them, us."

I picked up the incapacitated guard's double-bladed sword by the center pommel and sliced it through the air.

"I can only use as many swords as I can hold. I'll settle for two right now." I looked down at the other scimitar, a single curved blade lying in a pool of blood on the floor. "You take that one."

Noor looked like she had just swallowed a cupful of thorns. "No thanks, I'm sure I would be more of a danger to myself than others."

"You need a weapon, take it." I walked to the doorway and looked down the hall. No other footsteps. No other guards.

Noor gingerly picked up the hilt with two fingers. It dangled limply from her grip, and her hands shook.

I gave her an incredulous look. She might be right, she didn't look like she could use the weapon at all. No wonder she concentrated her efforts on digging out of here instead of fighting her way out.

"You okay?" I asked, examining her blanched face.

Noor exhaled slowly. "The zoraat blend the healer used wasn't perfect, I could have mixed one better. I'm still feeling the effects of recovery. But at least she healed my wound and made me conscious so Thohfsa could interrogate me." She rolled her shoulders and winced, massaging the back of her neck. "My head is pounding."

"Where is the healer now?" I eyed Thohfsa's body. She wasn't moving, but there was still a slight rise and fall to her chest as she bled out. But I was not inclined to give her a swift death given what she had put me through.

"She was ordered to leave as soon as she was done. I have to admit, I didn't expect Thohfsa to have the kind of resources to get a healer from the emperor that fast."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "You said the emperor wanted his zoraat back, right? It makes sense he'd be interested in you."

"I don't like the idea of that."

"I wouldn't either."

I knew what it was to have the attention of Emperor Vahid, and he was merciless.

We stepped over the bodies and crept down the hall of the infirmary, easing open the door. Outside was dark and eerily silent, but more importantly, there were no guards in sight.

We skirted around the building toward the opposite perimeter wall, the one not along the cliffside. My breath was trapped in my chest, the pressure nearly unbearable.

The other guards may not have been alerted yet, but soon they would notice Thohfsa and the others missing.

We had to be as quick as possible.

We crawled along the grass, avoiding the roving torchlight from the guard towers. Thohfsa's watchtower was next to the main entrance, and we headed there to climb up and over the perimeter wall. My breath was a white puff in the cool air.

A few more minutes and we would be free. A few more steps and we'd leave this prison behind.

But as we crouched in the grass, I froze at a yell in the distance.

Noor bumped into my back. "What?"

"I heard a shout."

After a moment, the noise was impossible to ignore. Multiple guards called out, their voices coming from the direction of the infirmary. The stamp of feet pounded the grass.

They were close.

Then, the worst sound—the sharp ringing of bells echoed through the prison.

My blood froze. Now they were looking for us.

I clutched my swords tight, like they were an anchor.

The last time I'd faced the guards head-on, it hadn't gone well.

But this time, it was different. This time, I had weapons.

With swords in my hands, I was invincible.

Noor's own sword nearly flew out of her grip when the bell sounded and she whirled on me.

"Every time you turn, I think you are going to stab my eye out," I muttered as I shifted away from her swinging sword tip.

"I told you I didn't want to hold one!" she snapped.

"You don't hold a sword, you wield it. And it's helpful to have in case we—"

The unmistakable hiss of a blade leaving its sheath cut underneath the chaos around us.

I could identify that sound in the middle of a storm.

I stopped short at the edge of the infirmary and dared a glance around the corner.

Half a dozen guards stood, their scimitars raised, looking for us.

"You're going to need that sword after all."