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With a brief glance at each other, we run to her aid.
I veer right, grabbing a stone from the ground and hurling it toward the chimera’s flank, drawing its attention long enough for her to recover. Tasos charges in, driving his weapon through its gut with enough force to pin it to the fractured column behind it. The beast lets out a guttural scream as the woman slashes upward at its throat, severing its windpipe. Blood sprays in hot bursts, coating the sand in dark pools as the beast jerks and collapses.
The three of us stand panting, surrounded by the creature’s carnage. She looks from Tasos to me, then she sneers and—without a word of thanks—strides away.
“Come on. We’ll be safer in numbers,” Tasos says as he marches after her.
“I don’t—”
A chimera launches from behind a broken structure. Its claws rake through Tasos’s torso before its jaws clamp down on his neck. With a violent shake, it tears his head clean off. His body drops to the ground as the creature tosses the severed head aside like a child discarding a toy.
Another chimera prowls into view, yellowed fangs bared.
I turn and sprint through the shifting sands. The wind favors my direction, pushing on my back and propelling me to run faster.
Around me, the chaos escalates. Screams and sinister growls pierce the roar of the crowd. Blades gleam and arc in flashes. Blood splashes in thick streaks on the sand. People fall; bodies crumple. The chimera are merciless, reducing competitors to nothing more than a gruesome spectacle.
I’d always known the Games were a death trap, but at least one champion is meant to make it to the end. How could anyone be expected to survive this?
My lungs burn, my feet slipping in the churned sand as I round a cluster of collapsed columns. The chimera are still pursuing, and as I glance back, my stomach drops.
There are three of them now.
I skid to a stop, caught between shattered pillars on one side and the encroaching beasts on the other. My grip tightens on the dagger in my hand, my breaths growing sharp and shallow as I turn around.
The chimera close in slowly, almost theatrically, their hulking forms blotting out the flickering sunlight.
Above, the sky grows dark. Angry clouds churn in spirals as a low rumble of distant thunder rolls through the air, and another gust shoves me back against the pillars.
The chimera circle tighter, sand shifting beneath their paws as they prepare to lunge.
I ready my blade.
Then lightning strikes the sand.
Chapter 51
Aella
The arena descends into disorder as Lyxander unleashes bolt after bolt of lightning at the chimera prowling toward Nyssa. The crowd lining the stands are a flurry of motion as they scramble from their seats and rush toward the exits.
Overhead, the clouds churn, promising a storm yet to break. Lightning snakes through the darkness, leaving behind the low rumble of thunder that reverberates through stone and bone alike.
I reach the lowest tier of the stands and launch myself over the wall into the arena. My feet hit the sand, the sensation of goiteía sliding from my skin makes me shiver, whatever marks are carved into the walls have nullified the cuff. The others land with heavy thuds beside me and we fan out toward the chaos. Kato and Rhaya veer left, while Cynna streaks past me on my right, Silas close behind her.
Lyxander and I sprint across the sand, as I focus my every thought on Nyssa. The image of her facing down the chimera burns in my mind, and I cling to the hope that the crack of Lyxander’s lightning wasn’t in vain—that it bought her at least a few seconds, precious moments, to escape.
“Don’t let your head get ahead of your feet,” Lyxander says.
“I’m not,” I snap.
The sky groans again, bright arcs of fury splitting the clouds.
“We’ll find her, Aella. Together.”
I charge toward her last position, through the shifting sand dunes, through the snarls and screams, through the echoes of a battlefield that refuses mercy. And then, almost too swiftly, the shadows shift.
A hulking shape leaps from the left. Teeth glint as the chimera lunges, its serpentine tails writhing in anticipation. The snarl splits the air, a malicious sound stealing all my attention.
