Iryana cried out as the dakya threw her off, her knife still embedded in his neck.
She climbed to her feet, muscles shaking. The dakya ambled toward her. Had she failed? She searched the ground around her for weapons, but her spear was too far.
Heart racing, Iryana summoned her shield, but an ache tore through her, and it merely flickered.
She braced, but the dakya collapsed, twitching. She kept watching, waiting for it to get back up, but the dakya slowly stopped moving.
She had done it. Every muscle in her body relaxed, knees dropping to the dirt.
Iryana looked down at herself in wonder that she was still alive. Rips and tears covered her clothing. Blood, both black and red, coated her hands. Dirt seemed packed into every crevice of her armor.
The buzzing around her quieted, a buzzing she had forgotten was there, and then she heard the cheering.
She looked above the pit for the first time since the battle began. The soldiers were hooting, shaking their fists in the air. They were celebrating her kill. Her survival.
They would have celebrated her death just as loudly.
She hated it. Hated their eyes on her, hated the expectations they had now. This show of skill had been unavoidable, but now she would have to continue to match or outdo it to impress them.
With the high of the battle still supporting her, Iryana managed to climb the ladder that was thrown down to her.
It was Vaneshta who helped her up over the lip.
“That was awesome,” Vaneshta laughed, slapping Iryana on the back.
Iryana hid her wince, looking to the others. Darish looked at her differently than he had before. More carefully. Pyetar barely glanced her way, still brooding over the railing like he hadn’t moved at all.
A smirk tilted her lips. Poor, disappointed Pyetar.
“Well, the little guardian isn’t half as useless as I thought.” Darish chuckled, like he was pleased at this turn of events. “In fact, I think I know how to fill the hole on one of the teams in my squad.”
Pyetar turned at that, eyes boring into the back of Darish’s head, but it was Antar who spoke. “Seems a better use of her talents than laundry duty.”
Darish walked up to Iryana, a challenge in his eyes. “No one will say you’re untrained now. You can handle going outside the wall.”
Iryana tried to calm herself down, tried to focus on what he was saying. Everything hurt, and she felt a little lightheaded. She had impressed him, right? And he was offering her a difficult job, one outside the stifling walls of the fort. One where everyone would be focused on the dakii that could be lurking in the trees and not on her.
Still, she couldn’t help the anxiety, the unease, that came with those expectations. With the feel of failing.
“She’sunforged,Captain. And a recruit,” Pyetar pointed out. He was trying to hide it, but she could tell from the tightening of his shadowed eyes and tense jaw he was angry.
Darish looked at Pyetar. There was hesitation there—worry even—but Darish hid it well. It seemed Pyetar even made his superior officers nervous around him.
“It’s happened before.” Darish shrugged. “And if she’s willing to take the risk, I don’t have a better alternative right now.”
Were they short-staffed? Pulled too thin? Iryana tucked that bit of information away, too.
“You really want her guarding your back?”
“Does my back need guarding?” Darish straightened and squared his shoulders.
Iryana stepped closer to them, not interested in watching them stand off. “I’m in.”
“Good.” Darish turned to Vaneshta. “Let the rest of the team know.” And then he shouted for everyone to head back.
“Congratulations.” Vaneshta smiled at her, a tension around her eyes that wasn’t there before, and then headed into the pit. Hopefully to gather the weapons, because Iryana didn’t have the strength to climb back down there at the moment. At least she hadn’t broken Vaneshta’s spear.
The horde of spectators abandoned the pit as quickly as they’d congregated around it, seeming to be in a rush to get back to their duties and training. Iryana stood to the side, the world a bit of a blur as she received a few claps on the back as soldiers passed her by.
