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Kerrigan had no idea what that thing did, but it was a move she hadn’t anticipated. She didn’t know what it was or what it could do. She couldn’t possibly be ready for this.
“Need a magical artifact to win?” she asked. “Pathetic.”
“Anything goes,” he reminded her.
Without warning, he hurled the small rock at her feet. She jumped back, expecting it to shatter as it had that first night they’d fought, but it just rolled harmlessly toward her, knocking into her boot. The crowd was silent with anticipation. Kerrigan took another step away from the thing that might as well have been a bomb.
Her eyes met Basem’s for a second, and he smiled. “Carthai.”
The world exploded. Kerrigan dropped to her knees, and her hands went to her head. There was ringing in her ears that she couldn’t explain. Her vision was blurry, and she was seeing double. But all around her, the rest of the world looked… normal?
It hadn’t been an actual bomb. Not what she had thought at all. But somehow, it was still making her bleed from her ears. She could hardly see anything in front of her, and the ringing… the ringing wouldn’t stop.
She struggled to get back to her feet, but then there was a boot at her shoulder, kicking her over. She lay on her back and tasted the rusty blood in her mouth. Her eyes watered as she stared up at Basem’s giant form. He had a knife in his hand as he leaned his knee into her chest. She gasped as the pressure crushed her ribs and pinned her helplessly to the ground.
The knife came to her throat. He bent down until he was speaking into one of her ruined ears, “I own magic in this city. You never stood a chance.”
The edge of the blade cut into her neck. Pain seared through her, bringing her to the edge of consciousness. But she couldn’t lose here. She couldn’t let her life end with him slitting her throat in the Wastes. Fordham had taught her about pain. He had told her how to survive through pain. Pain made her stronger.
“You think you’re so strong?” she croaked, feeling the knife bite into her. She ignored it and forced herself to laugh.
“What’s so funny, Red?”
“No matter what happens here, you’ve already… lost,” she got out.
“Doesn’t look like that to me.”
She grinned, going for madness. “Oh, but I’m just the distraction.”
Basem’s eyes widened.
“You never wondered why my friends didn’t come to the fight? Or why I danced around the ring until you were nearly exhausted? I was here to keep you and your goons in one place. Your house has already been… raided.” Her eyes were triumphant as she told him, “Ever is gone.”
45
The Rescue
Basem roared, slicing across her neck, “Die, leatha bitch!”
At the same second, Kerrigan used her last bit of energy to pull the amber orb to her. She grasped it in her hand, and the world returned to normal. Her awareness righted itself. Whatever the orb had done to disorient her had evaporated. Even her ears were no longer ringing. Though they were still bleeding.
Her hand went to her throat, trying to stop the blood from seeping out of her. He hadn’t pressed down hard enough to kill, just to wound, but she could see he wanted to go in for another shot.
She blasted him backward with all the air, water, fire, and earth she had in her veins, and he flew through the ring and out into the crowd. With a heave, she came unsteadily to her feet. But the fight wasn’t over.
As much as she wanted to end his life right here, that wouldn’t be justice for what he had done to Lyam. What he had tried to do to her. She needed to get him out of the Wastes. He needed to be arrested and stand trial for his crimes. Death wasn’t good enough for him.
She strode forward, still holding the orb in her hand. Basem took one look at her, a fiery red ball of vengeance, and took a step back. The crowd booed him as she advanced. True panic flicked across his features for the first time. And with a look around to see that he had lost favor, he reached into his pouch and withdrew a black orb.
“I’ll be seeing you, Red,” he said. Then, he threw the orb to the ground, shattering it into a million pieces. The ashy smoke enveloped him, and he was gone.
“No!” she screamed.
But there was nothing she could do. Basem had escaped.
Kerrigan sank to her feet as the announcer came out to declare her the winner. The crowd had a mixed reaction. No one had been killed. One competitor had fled.
She didn’t even have the energy to care what they thought. Basem was gone. She had been this close, and he had slipped out of her grasp.
