Page 225 of Blade of the Nightking

We turned the next corner and came to a sudden halt. The boy stood halfway down the road with a group of city guards clad in scaled armour, curved spears in hand and vicious-looking blades at their hips. He spoke animatedly, gesturing wildly as they listened. The moment he spotted us, he thrust out an arm and pointed straight at us.

The guards turned as one.

"Rìan—"

"Run."

He grabbed my hand.

Shouts rang out behind us. People scattered from our path as we tore down the street and into the nearest alley. The narrow passage wound between reef walls, too high to climb and too sheer to scale. The thunder of armoured boots echoed behind us as the guards gave chase. My chest burned from the smoke inhalation, every breath a fresh stab of fire.

We rounded another corner only to find a second group of guards blocking the passage ahead.

Everything happened at once.

Rìan shoved me behind him, but the guards were on us almost instantly, hemming us in from both directions. Hands seized me. Something slammed into my temple hard enough to send stars exploding across my vision. Before I could recover, a fist drove into my stomach, knocking the air from my lungs as I crashed into the sand.

An amused chuckle sounded above me. The guard who'd struck me.

A heavy weight landed on top of me an instant later, a knee driving between my shoulder blades and pinning me down. The sand ground against the side of my face, grit slipping beneath my veil and into my mouth. I coughed and choked, but every attempt to draw breath only dragged in more. Something warm trickled slowly down the side of my face.

Steel flashed as Rìan drew his sword from the scabbard strapped across his back.

The first soldier went down with a cry as the flat of Rìan's blade cracked across the side of his head. Rìan pivoted smoothly, driving an elbow into another guard's face hard enough to send him reeling before sweeping the legs out from beneath a third. A fourth crashed into the reef wall as Rìan drove him aside, never breaking stride. One after another, the guards fell back beneath his assault as he carved a path toward me.

I heard an angry command in a language I didn't understand. A hand tore the veil from my face, then fingers tangled brutally in my hair. Pain exploded across my scalp as my head was wrenched backward, followed by the cold sting of a blade pressed against my throat.

Rìan froze instantly, his sword still raised, both hands locked around the hilt. His chest heaved as he stared at the male holding me.

I'd never seen such naked fury on anyone's face. He looked one heartbeat away from tearing every person in Pelaga apart with his bare hands.

One male strode forward from the cluster of guards. He was enormous, dwarfing the others, his skin as dark as polished ebony and his head completely shaven. Silver gleamed from his brows, nose, lips, and pointed ears.

He barked an order in his native tongue, leveling the tip of his short sword at Rìan.

Rìan didn't move.

The order came again, harsher this time.

The guard holding me wrenched my head back farther. I hissed as steel bit into my skin.

Rìan's jaw clenched.

Slowly, he lowered his sword. Without taking his eyes off me, he kicked it across the sand toward the waiting guards. One of them snatched it up immediately.

The commander jabbed a finger toward Rìan and spoke again. Rìan's eyes narrowed, but slowly he raised his hands.

Two guards stepped forward at once, relieving him of every weapon he carried. One removed the knives from his belt one by one while the other searched him thoroughly. He crouched and, to my surprise, drew a dagger from inside Rìan's boot before tossing it carelessly into the sand.

The first guard paused. Turning a blade over in his hand, he shouted something to the commander.

One of Rìan's iron knives.

The commander strode over at once and snatched it from his grasp. He examined it for a long moment before addressing the others.

A ripple of laughter spread through the gathered guards.

The commander smiled, revealing several missing teeth. There was nothing kind in his expression.