I had promised Caris I would save Cillian and bring him to her.I had promised Cillian that I wouldn’t let Caris risk her life for him.An oppressive heaviness settled in my chest.
I’d failed them both.
Miraculously, I made my way out of the dungeon and then out of the crumbling castle with Caris unnoticed.
Just like the castle’s hallways, the streets of Capita appeared deserted.I could smell smoke and blood in the air, and the clashing of steel grew louder the closer I got to the gate.Hope flooded me when I saw the familiar form of my best friend fighting in the chaos.
But why was Atlas in Capita?
The morning light was weak, and the smoke made it hard to see who else was fighting besides Atlas, but when the figures of my father and sister appeared through the smoke, I thought I might be hallucinating.Tomas was the one to see me first.
‘You’re alive!’Tomas cried out.‘Cillian?’
I had trouble swallowing the lump in my throat when his eyes searched behind me for the blacksmith.I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak.
Atlas’s face was marked with soot and sweat, and the knight he was fighting had lost part of his chest plate – it looked as if it had been blasted off.Atlas’s sword sunk into the knight’s exposed side.When the defeated man fell to his knees, Atlas used his booted foot to slide the dead knight off his sword.
He turned and saw me, a relieved grin breaking across his face, but then his eyes fell on Caris thrown over my shoulder, and his smile disappeared.
‘Is she … ?’he asked.
‘Alive,’ was all I could manage to croak out.
Atlas swung back around as more soldiers came at us.Fuck.There were too many of them.Atlas and Tomas would take one down, and three more would appear.My father and Braya were fighting just as hard, but I could see the weariness in their movements.I didn’t know how Caris had convinced my father to give us aid, but Capita still outnumbered us.
‘We can’t get through,’ Tomas said in a strained voice, even as he kept fighting to break the solid wall of fighting men.
I had gotten Caris out of the dungeon only to die at the city gate.My father and his soldiers joined us, keeping Caris and me in the middle.I dropped my sword and carefully lowered her from my shoulder to take her in my arms.I wanted to see her face one last time.
‘Thank you for coming back for us,’ I whispered, holding her tight.She had gotten my father and Atlas to take on King Hared in his own city.Caris’s bravery and fortitude was extraordinary.It had captivated me, even as a boy.
Her lashes fluttered, and I smiled as her eyes opened.I wished we had more time.
‘Are we out of the city?’Her midnight eyes widened.
‘No, the king’s men have us cornered,’ I said, heavy with defeat.
‘Help me stand.’
‘There’s nothing you can do.They outnumber us.’I helped her stand but held her waist as she swayed slightly.
Caris looked around, seeing the truth of my words.‘I can stop this.’
‘You might die trying.’
‘What does it matter if we’re going to die, anyway?’Her tone was flat, but I could feel her power building.The air pulsated with it, making the hairs on my nape tingle.
‘King Hared won’t kill you if you surrender to his men.’I had seen the way he watched her when she wasn’t looking.His lust for her would keep her alive.
‘Am I to watch as he kills everyone else but keeps me as a plaything?’
‘The power you have is too strong.Using it almost killed you in the dungeon.’I would rather die right here with my men than watch her sacrifice herself for me again.
‘So, when you are all dead, and I’ve given myself to them, should I let the king and his Order of Men take my eyes too?’Her anger was tangible, surrounding us as her eyes swirled with black shadows.
‘Never, Caris.’
She pulled away from me and moved through the fighting men to face the wall of Capita soldiers and knights.I tried to follow, but she had pinned my feet to the ground with her damned shadows.
