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“Hey, get back here,thief!”
Echoes of his shouts battered myear.
Oh crap. Now we were busted. I almost swallowed my tongue. We couldn’t get caught. Not now or ever. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, pushing me harder and faster. Gods, my ankle hurt like nothing I’d ever felt. But we had to keepgoing.
Karim twittered in my ear and jumped up and down on myshoulder.
“Going as fast as I can,” Isaid.
Boots thudded behind me as the guard gavechase.
My pulse skyrocketed. At this rate, I wasn’t going to escape, and the end of my life flashed before my eyes. Ali left alone in the world. No one to fend for him or get him his medicine. The Avestan, carrying away my brother’s dead body for cremation. Sobs racked mychest.
Up ahead, something glowed red on the walls. What the heck was that? Some sort of trap? The sultan’s weapon? Karim shrieked again and leaped off me, making for the pulsing void in thewall.
“Karim, no!” I hissed against the pain blazing up my legnow.
Ali would kill me if I didn’t return with hispet.
That was the least of my worries. Behind me, the tread of the guard grew louder, closer. Each step vibrated through mybones.
I glanced over myshoulder.
The guard was gaining speed, and only fifty feet separatedus.
Dread squeezed my lungs. My hands tightly clasped the hilt of my dagger ready to make use ofit.
In front of me, Karim hurried back, carrying something metallic, glowing with red letters I didn’t understand. What was that? Another treasure? Looked magical with the freaky-red radiance. Whatever it was, it’d fetch me a handsome price and was going in with the rest of my collection. In the Darkwood forest, a woman known as The Collector amassed magical items. Bet she’d pay me a fortune for something like the thing. So, when Karim bounced onto my shoulder, I snatched the item from him. About the length of a banana, it was smooth and rounded and had a spout, reminding me of a teapot or something. Probably inlaid with jewels. A thrill skated down my arms as I dumped it inside mybag.
The guard closed the distance betweenus.
“Get here,thief.”
A rough hand seized my shoulder, sending my pulse orbiting into the heavens. The guard twisted me around to face him. His eyes glimmered with the satisfaction of apprehending athief.
I was tall and slender, built for sprinting, jumping, and fast getaways. Not for taking on burly soldiers much bigger than I was. Besides, with my twisted ankle, I wasn’t exactly in ass-whooping condition. But I gave it a shot, anyway, kicking him where I knew it’d hurt him most. A whoosh of air rushed out his mouth, and he bent over. His face and neck flushedred.
Wiggling from his filthy grasp, I backed away. My ankle was killing me. I’d used it to support myself when I’d launched my attack. Bad move. But necessary to save my life. I didn’t get two feet away before he grabbed my wrist. His fingers dug into my flesh sohard.
Now I was one hundred percent convinced the djinn had cursed me with bad luck. Never before had I beencaught.
Repeated punches to the guard’s head and neck failed to gain me myrelease.
Karim joined in the fight, slashing at the brute with hisclaws.
Startled shrieks rang in my ears. The guard seized my monkey and threw himaside.
A scream tore from my lips. “No,Karim!”
The guard grabbed me by the throat. “Give me the treasure,bitch.”
Terror wedged deep in my chest. I pulled out my knife, slashing his arm, and he let go of me with ahowl.
In return, he slapped me so hard I swear my brains rocked like a ship on stormy seas. The dagger dropped from my grasp and hit the rocky cavefloor.
Karim hissed at the guard, and the man laughed, taking a swipe with hisfoot.
A hard punch knocked me to the ground with a crunch. I landed right on the large, metal object inside my bag. Scorching pain flooded my chest. I gasped for the air that had been knocked out of my lungs. That wasn’t the only pain riding inside me. My throat, wrist, ankle, and head all ached. Quicker than a striking viper, I rolled off the object digging into my breasts and scrambled across the rocky ground, out of the guard’s grasp. My hands fumbled for my blade, but he kicked the knifeaside.
