Because he knows he can kill them all, I knew. Now that he was free, he could handle them all. I thought he could even if he hadn’t had possession of his sword.
But it gleamed from his grip, shining and strong and sharp, compared to the dull, black daggers made of mountain stone that hung from the men’s grips.
“Would any of you like to challenge me?” Rowin growled to them all once we’d stepped into the hallway. Even half-starved and injured, the horde king looked ten times stronger than all of them.
I saw a dark grin curl over his lips when none moved. It was Emmi who finally took a step back, who lowered his dagger. Next to him, Bray followed his lead.
“I didn’t think so,” came Rowin’s rasp. His hand tightened on me. “Lead me from this place,sarkia. I have been away from my horde too long.”
With that, he turned. He turned his bare, unprotected back on a hallway full of armed men and he didn’t seemed concerned in the slightest when he did.
I had no choice but to follow. His grip, though gentler than Benn’s, was unyielding and I had to jog to keep up with his long strides.
We were journeying towards the eastern stairwell. My body functioned on instinct and my legs climbed the seemingly endless stairs, my lungs tight as I huffed for breath.
Soon, we reached the ground level of that silent, eerie kingdom. I thought of Tess and my gut churned when I knew that I couldn’t leave her. I needed to return once I helped the horde king escape. I would not abandon her now.Especiallynow.
When we emerged from the entrance of the Dead Mountain, I spied the sliver of the moon through a break in the fog overhead. A burst of cool air filled my lungs and an unseen wind ruffled through my hair.
“Sarkia,” came his voice.
The fog was thickening.
The exhaustion of the evening—of the whole damnweek—and the shock of what had happened was starting to catch up with me.
The fog was merciless to my plight, however. It began to swarm against us.
Pull it together, I told myself, stopping at the entrance, closing my eyes. Rowin wouldn’t be able to last long in the fog. I wouldn’t risk it. I only needed a small barrier of protection. It wouldn’t take much of my remaining strength, would it?
Focusing, I drew in a solid breath, forgetting what had just happened. I needed to focus on one thing and one thing only.
The hum in the air started. I imagined my little bubble of protection. Where no one could hurt me. Where I wassafe. I rolled it in my hands like it was clay and then I expanded it, hurtling out from me until it was large enough to encase Rowin too.
I heard his sharp breath.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that I’d warded off the fog from us both.
And he was staring at me. With a furrowed brow and a determined look in his eyes that I recognized.
“Hurry,” I told him, my voice coming out like a whisper though I hadn’t intended it to.
Behind us, I heard a rush of footsteps and an echoing of voices at the mouth of the mountain, bouncing off stone and funneling towards us.
“Are we just going to let himleave?” came Mo’s voice. “Weneedhim! Or else we are all dead!”
They couldn’t see us through the fog.
“He cannot go far. He will fall to it soon. We will just need to be ready when he does,” came Emmi’s voice. “Mina doesn’t have the strength to drag him all the way to his horde.”
Rowin pulled me forward and we ventured farther and farther from the Dead Mountain, heading west, towards where I knew hispujerakand his hordesmen patrolled the fog’s edge. My barrier of protection spasmed and lifted briefly when I felt a wave of dizziness overcome me, but I built it up once more.
Like a flame that needed tending, I realized. That neededfeeding.
“There,” I gasped out, seeing something begin to appear through the fog. A golden glow.
With a burst of adrenaline, I hurtled my barrier outwards, making a clear path before us, like I’d done before.
And there, at the end of the pathway, was a small encampment. One that hadn’t been there earlier that morning. In a golden basin, a fire was roaring and Dakkari males milled around, talking and eating.
