It’s hard, as I reach for what makes the shadow cats so deadly, for that knack of becoming one with the shadows.It feels like I’m trying to lift a heavy weight, drawing out something far more difficult than speed or strength.I grasp it, but I know I can’t hold it for long.I need to move quickly.
Around me, the world turns to shades of darkness, everything there recreated in shadow.I can see the actual shadows as deep pools of darkness, which look like something I might simply dive into if I hold my breath.
Shard is attacking again.He leaps out of a mirror, rushing at me, slashing at me.But even as he does, I step into one of the shadows, disappearing.
I come back into the world behind Shard, stepping out of his own shadow as he emerges from another mirror.I know I’ll only have one chance at this, so I thrust with my spear, aiming for one of the spots where his shining armor gives way to open flesh.
Shard cries out as the spear plunges through him, impaling him and emerging from the far side of his body.He stares at me and gasps as if he can’t quite believe what I've done.I drag him back through the shadow with me, pulling him back to the entrance to the maze, onto the open sand.
Shard collapses, his weapons falling from his hands even as I let go of the power I’ve borrowed from the shadow cats.Color bleeds back into the world, and that lets me sees the blood covering me.Shard’s and mine.
“Lyra Thornwind is the victor!”Marcus declares, and the crowd roars in response.I can see healers running out onto the sands, trying to get to me, and to Shard, who’s still gurgling and writhing in pain.
I’m grateful the healers are coming so quickly, because I don’t have the strength to stand anymore.I’ve lost too much blood, and now I fall, darkness rising up to meet me.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
I wake on one of the slabs in the healers’ room, down beneath the colosseum.Everything hurts, and I feel so weak that it’s tempting to simply close my eyes and fall back into unconsciousness.
“Don’t sleep again, Lyra.”It’s Alaric’s voice.“You might not wake up if you do.”
I fight to keep conscious, looking over at him and trying to focus.Alaric is still wearing a disguise, looking like one of the trainers, but I can feel the waves of worry pouring out from him as he looks my way.
Healers are working on me, bandaging my wounds and starting to close them with magic.Others are working on Shard, trying to heal the wound I caused with my spear.I’m glad I didn’t kill him.It’s necessary for me to fight my way through the brackets of the arena to get to Selene, but I don’t want to have to kill the people I face along the way.He’s groaning as the healers work on him, but maybe that’s a good sign.
“How do you feel?”Alaric asks me.
HowdoI feel?I hurt, the pain of my wounds hitting me now that the adrenaline rush of the fight has left my system.Moving makes me wince with pain, but I force myself to sit up anyway.One of the healers starts to push me back down, but in that moment, I see a couple of the bodies laid out on other slabs, the dead left there until they can be taken from the colosseum or thrown to the beasts below.
“I don’t want to be here,” I say, and that’s enough for Alaric.
He helps me from the slab, supporting me as I stand.I feel drained in a way that I never normally do after a fight or using my magic.Some of it might be down to my wounds, but instinctively, I know that a part of it is because I borrowed the shadow cats' ability to walk from one shadow to the next.Even with my skills as a beast whisperer, trying to hold an ability like that within me took almost more power than I have.
“Are you sure you’re okay to stand?”Alaric asks.
I nod.“I just want to get out of here.”
Alaric doesn’t argue, but helps me from the healers’ chambers, heading out through the preparation areas and up through the colosseum.Marcus is hurrying up.
“Lyra, are you all right?”he asks.“You shouldn’t be on your feet.You should still be with the healers.”
“She doesn’t want to be,” Alaric says.
“It’s about what’s best for her, not what she wants,” Marcus says.
Alaric shakes his head.“If Lyra wants to leave, I’m going to help her to leave.Do you want to be the one to stop her?”
Marcus hesitates.“No, of course not.But Lyra, if you leave now, you might not heal properly.You know what your win today means: you’re going to get through to the final of the games.You’re going to have to face Selene.You can’t do that if you’re hurt.”
“Is that all you can think of?”Alaric asks.“If Lyra wants to go, I’m going to help her.”
Marcus looks as though he wants to argue.
“I don’t want to be in the preparation areas,” I say.It isn’t just that I don’t want to be around the dead, it’s also because I don't feel safe down here.“As you say, I’m through to the final.People have already tried to sabotage me earlier in the games.Do you think they won’t try again now?”
Someone tried to poison me, right at the start of the Grand Tournament.People have tried to attack me, to injure or kill me, so I can't fight.Selene wants to face me, but some of her supporters seem determined to make sure I can't fight her.They seem afraid of me in a way Selene isn't.
There’s a real risk that one of them will take advantage of my weakness to make sure I can’t compete in that final bout.It wouldn’t take much.Bribing a healer to make sure they do a poor job.Poisoning me while I’m in the healers’ chambers.Having me killed quietly while I can’t fight back.
