Through the screen they heard the soldiers debating how to respond. Nim looked at Keely and raised an eyebrow. The other woman gave a tiny nod, and Nim firmed her grip on the sword.
One guard left to check for further orders, and they heard his boots stomping through the hall. As soon as the door was closed behind him, they started running. Keely in front, pulling at the chain, Nim struggling to hold the sword behind her in her free hand.
“Help! Help me!” Keely called as they flew toward the dais.
The soldier spun toward her voice, his hand on his sword, already drawing. It took a moment for him to recognize them. And in that moment, he dismissed them as threats and let his sword hand loosen. A calculating look crossed his face as he realized that he would be the one to capture them for the king.
And then they were on him. “Please, sir, you must help us!” Keely sobbed dramatically, reaching up to grab his arm and pull him toward her with her free hand.
It was all the opening that Nim needed. She used their momentum to help her swing the heavy sword around and smash it hard into the soldier’s head.
Her one-handed grip was too weak to hold it firm, and the sword turned in the air, hitting him with the flat of the blade. It was a brutal blow, but not enough.
Keely leaped to the side, pulling them both clear as the soldier stumbled forward and sank to his knees. He was only down for a second before he was pulling himself back up with an angry growl.
“Help me!” Her whisper was harsh, but she knew Keely had understood when the other woman stepped closer and wrapped her hands over Nim’s on the hilt of the sword.
Working together, they whirled it overhead and down as hard as they could, into the Blue’s vulnerable neck, splitting his armor and wedging deep into his shoulder, almost decapitating him in a sudden rush of hot blood.
Gods. Nim retched and felt Keely shuddering beside her. But they couldn’t stop. They stepped back, away from the dying man, and then rushed up the dais and onto the stage, frantically working together to wind the handle that would release the brocade.
And then it was open, Val blinking, dazzled by the sudden light. She threw herself forward, dragging Keely with her, desperate to hold him but unable to find anywhere that wasn’t injured.
“Gods. Val. Gods.”
“Nimmy?”
She wiped his forehead with her sleeve. “I’m here. I’m here. I’m so sorry. What have they done to you?”
He blinked slowly, confused. “Nimmy?” His rasping voice was almost too low to hear. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“I know.” What else could she say?
Val’s hands were wrapped in a long chain that was thrown over a high beam and attached to a hook, holding him dangling. Ordinarily she would just fly up and undo it, but how could she with Keely attached to her arm?
The other woman understood immediately. “If you can get us both up there, I’ll unhook it.”
Nim had no idea if she could even lift Keely, let alone fly her up to the beam, and she had a moment of terror. What if she failed?
She pushed the thought away. There was no time for doubt.
She wrapped her arms around Keely’s waist. She had no other option but to pin Keely’s chained arm behind her back, but they managed to leave her other arm free.
“On three. One, two—” They both leaped, and Nim flared out her wings, using the momentum of their jump, forcing her screaming muscles and battered wings to carry them both up and then, impossibly, to hold them as Keely fought with the chain.
It had started to rust. Keely tugged and pulled frantically, but it didn’t budge.
And then it was too much, and they were falling.
Nim crashed into the ground, barely holding the other woman safe as her arms shuddered in exhaustion. She let go and stepped back to catch her breath.
She shook out her arms and then stepped forward to wrap them around Keely once more.
“Again.”
This time Keely counted, and then they were flying again, up, up to the beam.
Nim’s wings juddered, and she gritted her teeth over her hissing pants, clamping her arms around Keely, holding her, trying to focus on staying in the air for one more second. And one more.
