Akino collected his weapons, but Elena noticed an added urgency in his movements. Visha pocketed her pod. Akiri was no longer scowling, but there was a dark, almost murderous look in her eyes. Elena could almost imagine her thoughts:If I die because of this Ravani bitch—
“Wewillmake it,” Elena said. She met their gazes, biting back her nerves as they stared, eyes like flint. She fished hurriedly in her pockets for her pod, not Yassen’s, but the other. It was smooth and unmarred, face clean of scratches.A novice’s pod, she thought suddenly as she drew it.Not a captain’s.
“Here, look at this,” she said, highlighting a route in red. It indicated a path that diverged from their planned route, hugging the rocks and then climbing up the steep cliffs of the western side of the tower. There was a sheer drop of several hundred feet on this side, which Elena noted. “But it will work,” she said hastily. “We can’t go the eastern route like we had planned. The Jantari guards will be out. But they won’t expect someone creeping up the cliffs because—”
“It’s a suicide mission,” Akiri said.
Visha shot her a look. “Not if we move carefully. And quickly.”
Akiri opened her mouth to retort, then seemed to think better of it. Akino belted on his gun, flexed his hands. His scar, hanging down from the edge of his eyebrow like a thin crescent moon, scrunched as he smiled.
“I’ll beat you to it, di,” he said to Akiri.
She sniffed. “Like hell you will. I was born two minutes before you.”
The searchlight swung back, and they hid in the crevice again. By the time it receded, Elena felt heat building in her arms, something gritty on her tongue. It took her a moment to realize it was ash.
Her Agni was stirring.
Which could only mean that he was growing impatient.
“We should move forward,” Visha said.
“On my signal,” Elena cut in.
Visha met her gaze, eyes narrowing. “Right. Captain.”
Elena crept up the wall. She could feel Visha’s cold, disparaging gazeon her neck, could feel all their eyes boring holes into her shoulders like perfectly round pulse wounds. She had a sudden, irrational fear that if she looked down, she would find their guns pointing at her.She got caught in the pulse fire, she could almost imagine Visha saying.Poor, poor queen.Elena gripped her gun. She did not look down.
She climbed up onto the next ledge and sidled along the wall until she found the path cutting into the cliff. Once they reached it, she began to move quicker, rounded the corner, the others on her flank.
The corridor sloped upward, then veered left, but the swollen curve of a boulder blocked the view ahead.A blind spot.Elena crept forward. She strained to listen past the blood pounding in her ears for any sound, any indication of something waiting ahead. Nothing. Even the wind held its secrets.
Cautiously, Elena continued. The boulder loomed above her, its red face dark in the moonless night. Twenty paces, ten, five…
As Elena reached the turn, she spotted movement in the shadows in the corridor ahead. She held up her hand, signaling, but then the shadow morphed, and a man stepped toward the far wall, his back to her. He had a jagged silver weapon strapped to his shoulder.Zeemir.Elena backpedaled. The soldier had not seen her. He was too busy fiddling with his pants, the jangle of his belt bouncing through the air. She stepped back and crashed right into Visha.
The strategist hissed, and it was this sound, so quick and innocuous, that made the soldier whirl around. His eyes widened.
“The devils—” he began, reaching for his gun. But Visha was already moving, a blur of armor and knives and bright teeth, her dagger slicing cleanly into his neck as his pulse shot ripped through the fragile quiet. It cleaved through the boulder, rock and dust exploding in the air. Elena dove to the ground. An alarm wailed, and the searchlight swung around, its white, searing light washing out the rocks, Visha, the twins.
The memory came rushing back, pinning her to the ground.
The hoverpod’s searchlight. The burning mountain. Yassen, grasping her hand.
Elena, run.
She clawed onto her knees. Shapes swam in and out of her vision. Her men, where were her men? Elena clutched her gun, calling. Suddenly, someone grabbed her elbow.
“Come on!” Visha shouted.
She pulled her up and they sprinted through the western passage as the searchlight whirled, trying to find them. Elena heard soldiers shouting over each other. Some went down the southern path, away from them, while others turned to the canyons in the east. A few came rushing toward the western cliffs. Toward them.
“Down here,” Visha said. She rushed to the edge of the path and hopped down on the ledge jutting underneath it. Elena followed, just in time as the soldiers rounded the corner and ran past. They were heading in the direction of their fallen comrade.
“The twins—” Elena began.
“Don’t worry about them,” Visha said. “Now climb.”
