I turn for the horse to do as I’m told, swinging a leg over its bare back. Only then do I realize Big Hat is no longer around.
Shit. That can’t be good.
“Come on now, Valkor! Let’s not make this harder than it needs to be!” Garyn bellows after a haughty laugh.
“It can be simple if you fuck off and let us walk through those gates with my horse,” Thane shoots back.
“Without my retribution?” Garyn makes atsk tsknoise. “Not happening and you know it. I suggest you cough up the coin now before you lose a few limbs and, if I’m lucky, an eye.”
Thane squares his shoulders and deepens his defensive stance. “Let’s be honest with ourselves, Garyn. We all know that after today, you’ll be telling everyone you went blind because of me.”
A shadow runs over Garyn’s face, his skin tightening behind the eyepatch. “Well, if you want it that way, I hope you make it to the Crystal Realm, though one of Xaimur’s hells seems more fitting for a fucked-up soul like yours.” The men behind Garyn swarm me and Thane with tight grips around their weapons. Garyn snaps his fingers. “Kill him and bring that pretty girl to me.”
“What?”I shriek. What in the shadows do I have to do with any of this?
I give Thane a death glare, waiting for him to do something. He doesn’t budge.
Why is he just standing there? Why isn’t he trying to get us out of here?
“Oh, Orvena.” I grip the reins to guide the horse away from him, ready to gallop to the gates and take off becausefuck this. I am not about to die because of some man’s ego.
A battle cry erupts, and one of Garyn’s henchmen rushes forward with an ax in the air, taking a swing at Thane. Thane dodges it with ease, and a dagger materializes in his hand. He stabs the man in the chest, twists him around to slice his throat, then kicks him into another man charging his way. He performs all of this in movements faster than I can blink.
I back away on the horse, searching for a way out. The only exit I can spot is the gates we snuck through. I start for them as more men swarm Thane, but someone yanks me backward by the rucksack before I can get anywhere and slams me to the ground.
The horse whinnies and wastes no time clomping away as the breath whooshes out of my lungs. I cough as a man appears above me with a hatchet in hand. He swings down, but I roll out of the way just in time and hop to my feet.
“Come on, pretty girl,” he taunts, licking his lips. “I won’t hurt you if you make this easy.”
“Uh, Thane!” I call.
Just as quickly as I say his name, a dagger whizzes through the air and jams straight into hatchet man’s temple. Well, damn. I guess he is worth the coin.
When the man drops to his knees, the dagger is magically snatched back out and returned to Thane. Blood dribbles from a hole in hatchet man’s head before he collapses. If this had been performed during target practice and not on an actual mortal, I’d find it pretty damn impressive.
I put my attention on Thane again. He fights off every man using one hand to slice and stab and the other to blast incomers away with gold whorls. Each strike is done with perfect precision. Not a single slip or fall happens. No one can land a punch or even a finger on him. If a sword swings his way, he ducks or dodges it and then retaliates.
Honestly, he isn’t even breaking a sweat. He makes it look easy with how relaxed he is, yet every blow is vicious and deadly. Every move practiced, premeditated.
Too good with his magic.
Too good with his swords and daggers. Not like The Divine soldiers but more like a natural killer. Like a…
He spins and blocks another attacker with his blade as he shoots a whorl of magic from his hand. I squint, unable to breathe as I watch the golden trails of his power dissipate, leaving behind black wisps in their wake.
It’s now the reality of what I’m facing hits me like a ton of stone.
The way Thane effortlessly fights, swinging his blades in the air, decapitating and stabbing men through the heart. Using magical daggers for those he can’t quite reach and then signaling them back just to finish them off.
When we first met at the Tilted Crystal, he struck fear into every heart.
He jumps off dangerously high roofs and lands without a sound.
Threatens to behead vicious skrellins.
Blood on velvet tables.
Men having to be buried because ofhim.
