Ironhold, Trial One (Ironhold #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

“Time to die,” Lazlo says, moving forward.

He swings at me and I barely dodge, feeling the blade whistle past me, far too close for comfort. Lazlo reverses the stroke and strikes again, attacking me with a speed that he has no right to, given his size. I manage to tangle his blade in my net, but Lazlo uses that against me, too, wrenching his blade to drag me closer.

He hits me with a punch from one gauntleted fist, and I taste blood as I stagger. He hits me again, and I fall to one knee on the sand. Lazlo steps back, disentangling his blade from my net and raising it. I know that his next blow will either kill me or injure me so badly that I cannot avoid the death blow to follow. Terror fills me. I will not be fast enough to avoid it.

Even as he does it, though, I see a flicker in the shadows. I feel the moment when the shadow cat steps through them, perching on the edge of the colosseum’s walls and then leaping down. It seems to skip from shadow to shadow as it runs, disappearing and then reappearing, there one moment and gone the next.

It disappears, and the next moment, it is appearing from Lazlo’s shadow, leaping up at him from out of it in the kind of ambush that is impossible to avoid. Lazlo cries out as claws rake at his chest, leaping back, forgetting about cutting me down.

The shadow cat doesn’t give him even a moment to breathe. It throws itself forward with a savagery that even a skilled gladiator like Lazlo finds it hard to deal with. The creature claws and bites, not giving him a chance to recover, gouging deep wounds in his flesh.

Even so, Lazlo manages to strike back. He brings his sword around, and I feel the moment when it impacts with the side of the shadow cat, feel the pain and the fear there. I am fully expecting it when it slips back into Lazlo’s shadow, disappearing from view, avoiding his next attack.

“Your tricks won’t save you,” Lazlo says.

I circle around him, my fear for the shadow cat mixed in with fear for myself. I can see it through the eyes of the birds, skulking around the edge of the arena, the wound in its side bleeding. But I can also feel its anticipation, feel that it is waiting for its moment, not merely trying to hide and recover. I keep circling Lazlo, and I feel the moment when the shadow cat steps into the shadows again.

I know what it was waiting for now: it was waiting until Lazlo turned, until the sun meant that his shadow was behind him. The cat leaps through the shadows, coming up out of them and jumping onto Lazlo's back. Its teeth fasten onto his neck from behind, its claws digging into him so that he cannot dislodge it. The cat bites down with crushing force, bearing the huge gladiator to the ground. Lazlo screams, and that scream is cut off by the crunch of the shadow cat’s jaws as it crushes his neck in them.

I wince at the death. I never intended for the cat to kill, but I am the one who summoned it, who brought it to my aid. I am as responsible for this death as for that of the null I slew before. The thought of that disgusts me, and it means I stand there for just a second too long.

A knife comes out of nowhere, slicing into my side. I spin and face Vex. He looks furious, but not all that fury is directed at me. I see the look of hatred that he shoots the shadow cat's way. It brought him down once before, and it took the efforts of all the healers to put him back together again, the scars still on his face. He has as much reason to despise it as me.

“I'll kill both of you,” he promises. Even as he does it, his knives dart forward, aiming for me and the cat. I snatch up my net, using it to deflect them, falling into the rhythm of the combat.

Before, I could not deflect all of Vex’s blades. But that was when I was distracted, trying to fight Lazlo at the same time. Now I can do it. I protect myself and the shadow cat, even as it slinks through my shadow, disappearing, obviously getting ready to repeat the trick it used against Lazlo.

Vex is much warier, though. I see his eyes as much on his own shadow as on me. He keeps that shadow in front of him, not closing in, just waiting. He doesn't need to close on me, not with his ability to manipulate the knives from a distance. Even as he keeps a careful eye on his shadow, his knives spin through the air at me, attacking me from every side. I deflect them, dodge them, and keep going.

“How long can you keep this up, Vex?” I ask him. I can see he’s sweating in the sun. The strangest part is that I can hear my voice clearly. The crowd has gone silent as if sensing that this is the moment when things will be decided.

Several of Vex’s knives fall to the ground. Is that because he is too weak to hold them up? I see the look of anticipation on his face as I move in and realize that it's a trick. The knives come back up, one of them slicing into my leg, making me fall. I roll desperately in the sand, avoiding the next few.

I'm not afraid anymore, not the way I was at the start of the bout. Now the adrenaline is pumping through my veins, hard enough that I barely even feel the pain. I know I have been wounded several times, but none of it is enough to stop me. I have to trust that I will be able to keep going long enough to finish this bout.

Vex and I stalk one another. I'm limping, but so is he, and he's still watching his shadow at least as much as me. He can't give me his full attention, which means his attacks are not as ferocious as they might otherwise be. I have a chance, but can I take it?

The shadow cat chooses this moment to make its move, obviously deciding that Vex is not going to allow it to get behind him easily. It settles for leaping from the shadow of Lazlo’s fallen body instead, jumping up at Vex from the side. If it weren’t injured, it might be fast enough to bring him down before he can react.

As it is, Vex spins towards it in time, thrusting a dagger home in it, making the cat fall away and lie there on the ground, breathing heavily. Has he dealt it a mortal blow? That thought brings almost as much grief with it as the death of Finn. The cat wouldn't be involved in the fight if it weren't for me, and now it is badly wounded.

Vex advances on it, obviously determined to finish it before he returns his attention to me. It means that attention wanders from me just for a moment, but a moment is all it takes. I heft my trident thrust with it, lunging forward, determined to do what I can to save the shadow cat. I will not let him reach it. I will not let him kill it.

I feel the moment when my trident plunges into his body, impaling Vex. His knives all drop to the ground, his concentration broken. I move to him, and the crowd is chanting now, cheering for me, but also making its demands clear.

“Death! Death! Death!”

I move over to Vex, staring down at him. He looks up at me with hatred, but also shock, as if he can't believe that I've managed to do this, that I could possibly defeat him. Even after I beat him in the training bout, it seems he believes he is just better than me.

“Death! Death! Death!”

I look up to the emperor's box. He is standing there, looking down at the proceedings with a grim expression. In spite of the distance, I swear I can see him looking into my eyes. He raises a fist, thumb down, declaring that there will be no mercy for Vex. I am to kill him.

I draw my curved dagger. It would be so easy to slash it across Vex’s throat, the way he did with Finn. So easy to get revenge for my fallen friend. I have been commanded to do it by the emperor himself. After everything Vex has done, doesn't he deserve it?

Perhaps, but I do not deserve to have to be the one who does it. I do not deserve to be forced to be a murderer. Because that is what this would be. This would not be some death in the midst of combat, would not be the only thing I can do to protect myself or others. I would be killing someone who is helpless.

I throw my knife down in the sand.

“If you want him dead, kill him yourself!” I call out.

The crowd boos and cheers in equal measure. I have just survived a nearly impossible fight, but I have also failed to give it the blood it desires in this moment. They will have to make do with Lazlo’s blood, and with Finn’s.

I head to the iron gates. Already, attendants are coming out with carts to retrieve the fallen. They take up Vex, and the shadow cat, healers already starting to work on them. No doubt I will be punished for failing to kill on command, but I do not care. Relief floods through me.

I have done it. I have survived the games.