‘Don’t call me that,’ I retorted.
I put my boot in the middle of his back for leverage and twisted his arm up with all my might until I heard a loud pop.This time, he didn’t laugh.
I scrambled away from him and started running while he howled in pain behind me.
The crowd was cheering and calling to me.Perhaps everyone thought I had lost when he got me in that headlock?It would take more than a headlock to force me to concede.
When I reached the shield, I took the risk of losing time to mark his position.He was already running for the mace, his arm dangling uselessly at his side.
I was only feet away from the knives when I heard him behind me once again.Turning just in time to raise the shield, I blocked the first blow.The move saved me, but the impact of the mace broke the shield right down the middle.I threw the useless splintered wood away.Before he had time to swing the mace again, I snatched up a knife and flicked my wrist, watching as it buried itself in his face.I had aimed for the only place he wasn’t armoured.
It was astonishing.It did absolutely nothing to slow him down.The knife was protruding out of his face, right beside his mangled nose as he moved towards me.
There was nothing I could do when the mace struck me in the chest, breaking ribs.I fell to the ground with the mace embedded in my breastplate.I lay on my back and looked up to see Lord Warwick’s balcony above me.Atlas and Torgrin were there, and they weren’t looking at their soldier.
Both captains leaned over the rail, yelling words I couldn’t hear over the crowd’s excitement.I felt my broken ribs with every painful gasp.My eyes eventually focused on Torgrin’s mouth.It could’ve been the pain or the exhaustion, but I thought I saw him say,‘Survive, no matter what.’
The sound of running water reached me through the darkness.Pain radiated through my skull; it stabbed at me, making me nauseous.I couldn’t prevent a moan of pain from slipping out.
Gentle fingers brushed my face as I became aware that I was lying on someone’s warm lap.
‘You hit her too hard, Atlas.’
‘You said hit the girl, so I hit her!Next time you want to make someone unconscious, you do it,’ Atlas grumbled.
Who gently cradled my head and stroked my hair soothingly?I opened my eyes to see Torgrin’s frowning face.
‘Are you okay?’he whispered.His eyes were dark as onyx, framed with long, spiky lashes.He had a well-sculpted mouth for a boy, but somehow, it sat well with all his sharp, youthful angles.I reached up to trace the fern-shaped scar on his brow and cheek.He didn’t move from my touch and continued to stare back at me as if he were memorising my features.
‘What’s your name?’he asked, letting me explore his face with my fingertips.
My hand was wrapped in a bloody bandage, and something pulled at my memory.My name?What was my name?Why can’t I remember?My heart rate sped up as if my body remembered something my mind didn’t.I looked at my bandaged hand and tried to clench it.
Sore.
Sore, like my head.I explored the large lump on my crown with my fingertips.
Then it came to me all at once.Mother’s dead stare.The sword in her back.The man who tortured her.His spine-chilling eyes, cold like ice, slicing into my very soul.
Grief broke over me like a wave, and tears spilled hot and relentless as my sorrow grew too heavy to bear.Torgrin held me and soothed me with words and gentle touches.I cried quietly until I lost consciousness again.
Someone shook me awake, hurting my head.
‘You must wake up!Now!’
The beautiful, scarred boy forced me out of that peaceful darkness, and I lashed out at him.
‘Yes, hit me and get up!He’s found us, and you must go now!’He dragged me to my feet, but I was dizzy and would have fallen if he wasn’t still holding me.
‘She can’t walk!’
‘Tor, put her in the river!’
‘She could drown, Atlas!’
‘Better that than letting him get his hands on her.’
‘I can’t …’ Tor paused.
