No air.
“Come.”Ambrose commanded. If the shadows wouldn’t listen, there was only one chance to save Lily. To save herself. “Come.”
Her skin tingled and her charge filled the air, growing with the glow under her skin as her hair whipped around her face and a blinding light erupted from her chest and filled the arena, blasting against the walls.
Some warriors screamed as the light burned their eyes and they held their bleeding faces.
The shadow mage swung around, face set with fury as he encased himself in shadows and her light penetrated through everything.
Rowland roared and lunged for the Behemoth while it was disoriented, grabbing onto the horns of the middle head as he pulled, the muscles in his arms straining but he didn’t let go. The Behemoth snarled and roared but couldn’t pull itself from the fighter’s grasp as Rowland dug his heels intothe ground. Hot saliva flung through the air and the Behemoth planted its hands into the dirt and tried to rip its horns from Rowland’s hands as the skin around its neck began to tear.
The other two heads fought to snap their jaws around him, but Rowland batted them away as though they were puppies nipping at his heel. His arms tensed as he pulled and skin and flesh tore around the beasts’ middle neck.
As though pulled from a trance, the other fighters sprang into action, sinking their weapons into its flesh anywhere they could manage.
The creature raged and rushed forward to crush Rowland against the stone wall but the giant of a man planted his feet and only slid back a few feet as he twisted his arms in a circle and pulled the Behemoth’s middle head from its shoulders with a horrible squelch and blood spilled onto the ground—so dark it was almost black.
Rowland held the head above his own, drenching himself in the monster’s hot blood as nobles gasped from above. This had to be one of the few times they’d seen one of their precious creations harmed.
The body stayed upright as the other two heads lifted to the sky and let out a roar that could only be conjured from the darkest of nightmares. Its remaining glowing red eyes trained on the fighter that just decapitated it.
“Now!” Lily yelled from beside her as she grabbed Ambrose’s arm and rushed for the now free space between them and the hallways.
Shadows curled around Ambrose’s ankle, knocking her to the ground as the shadow mage closed the distance between them, slender fingers outstretched, his gray eyes shining with murder.
Lily curled her body around and brought both of her swords up to eye level. “Go.”
“I can’t leave you.” They were so close, just a few more feet.
“Go.” Lily didn’t look back as her swords clashed against the shadow mage’s magick.
Ambrose flung herself at them, her sword scraping the ground as she pulled herself to her feet and was met with Lily’s foot as she kicked her square in the chest.
“I said, go!”
Ambrose struggled to pull breath into her lungs as she stared helplessly at Lily, who masterfully wound her body around the shadow mage, striking ferociously anywhere she saw an opening. The speed in which they both moved was a blur of dark blue and black clashing together. Even without a weapon, it was clear the mage and Lily were evenly matched in strength.
“Now!” Lily yelled.
Tears stung the back of Ambrose’s eyes but she turned her body and ran down the first hallway that she could. Angry sobs caught in the back of her throat as the arena—and Lily—disappeared.
Chapter 41
Halls stretched in front of her and to her left and right. Rough dragonstone walls dripped with a foul-smelling water and a firelight hung every ten feet or so to light the way. From where she stood, she couldn’t see any of the other Trial Champions that also made it through, but their screams of pain and fury carried through the halls like spirits. Peering into the shadows it was impossible to know which hallway to take, so Ambrose let her instincts take over and sprinted down the one to her right. She prayed to all of the gods it was the right choice. It didn’t matter which one heard her.
She chased the passage, hand along the wall to guide her as the firelights danced and flickered, casting ominous shadows. Fresh blood staining places as she fled. Something very large and unseen chittered at her from an opening to her right and she quickly flung herself down the one to her left. The halls opened up into more halls as she ran, openings that would lead her left or right, further into, or away from the battles that raged inside.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Left.
Right.
Her breathing tore at her lungs, burning with each inhale and exhale as the smell of rot and moss filled her mouth and nose, so thick she could taste it. She took shallow breaths to keep herself from vomiting. The stenchwas so awful it was as though she were running over decaying bodies, long buried.
