Finally, I found ours. The bag that had been over my head when I was brought down still lay on the floor and the cot—
The cot was empty.
Lewis staggered into sight beyond the bars, blind in the darkness and clutching a bloodied temple. “Ottilie, he’s—”
I was slammed into the wall, a hand around my throat, another twisting my wrist. My sword clattered to the floor.
Wake snarled in my face.
Then he was torn away. Harden followed his initial assault with a straight punch to the nose, then took the other man to the floor in a heap. A pistol discharged with a burst of light, momentarily blinding even me.
Wake roared.
“Lewis!” I cried, stumbling around the wrestling forms.I could barely breathe, my throat aching, lungs struggling to recover. “I have… I have the…”
I shoved my pistol through the bars and waved it wildly. He took it without a word, directing it at the battling pair. Lewis’s weight was decidedly on one leg, the other still thickly bandaged and showing signs of bleeding again.
I shoved a key into the lock as Harden and Wake continued to exchange blows. Another gunshot went off and Wake shuddered, but did not go down. Harden did, though. His knees hit the floor.
Harden’s face began to turn ashen as Wake Leeched his life away, healing himself.
“Lewis,” I gasped.
“No more bullets!” I felt his hand close over mine, taking charge of the keys. “Go!”
I lunged for my fallen sword. In one smooth movement I snapped it up and threw myself at Wake, screaming unintelligibly as I did. My feral attack had the desired effect—he broke off murdering Harden, but that brought his full attention back to me.
Something inside me cowered as he straightened. In the sepia world of my Entwined sight, the blood on his face was black. His rage appeared mindless, his expression grotesque.
I stabbed him. The monster turned, taking the point of my sword to the meat of his shoulder instead of the tender flesh of his throat. He reached out at the same time, seizing my sword by the crossguard and clearly intending to jerk it from my grasp.
I abruptly let go. Wake staggered back, tripped over Harden in the confined space, and went down.
I launched after him, kicking vengefully at his kidney. Though satisfying, this was unwise. He grabbed my ankle and pulled me to the floor. I nearly landed on my own sword and heard a clatter as it was knocked away.
The breath punched out of my lungs and my energy flagged. Gaping like a fish out of water I rolled, scrabbling for my sword. I found Harden instead and commandeered his arms to haul myself upright.
“Em! Move!” Lewis shouted.
Harden hauled me backwards. I toppled into him, kept only from falling by his now firm barrel-hold on my upper body.
The door of the cell slammed open, taking Wake full across the side as he found his feet again. He staggered, stunned, and toppled backwards into the deepest shadows.
He did not reappear.
The three of us stared for a long moment, fists and weapons ready, breaths harried and rough.
Still, the Moonless did not come. Instead of feeling relief I felt increasing dread.
“Where did he go?” I whispered.
“Away to lick his wounds,” Lewis replied.
“To steal the life from someone else before he takes another run at us,” Harden summarized. Harden hauled one of Lewis’s arms over his shoulder. “Hey there. We need to go.”
“Emrys,” Lewis rasped back with a pained half-laugh. “You know a way out?”
“I do. Ottilie? You hurt?”
