captured...
“Nyek,” she breathed, heart leaping as she spotted him not far from the platform she’d been chained to. Covered in blood, he fought a crowd of warriors. His twin screamed directions from the top of the altar opposite. Her heart froze in her chest for one terrible moment as he went down, the rest piling in on him.
No... he couldn’t be... a tear slid from the corner of her eye. He’d come for her. He couldn’t die now.
With a roar the pile of warriors rose up like a volcano erupting. Nyek burst through them all, his arms spread and light catching his blood-covered blades.
“Kill him! Strike him down now! For the glory of Ursal-Kai!” Tavik screamed from his perch on the altar. The old guy in the fancy robes was nowhere to be seen.
She wriggled on the platform, yanking at her bonds, but they were too tight. There was no way she could break free.
She heard a crash as something heavy landed on the platform with her. Squeaking, she curled up as much as she could, trying to cover her head. When she managed to peek over her arm, she found herself face to face with a tank bot. It was from the base, the sigil of the Cabal on its forehead unmistakable.
“Oh thank god,” she whispered. Relief washed through her. For the first time in her life, she could have kissed a machine.
It lifted up on its back legs like a praying mantis about to strike, front legs tipped with lethal blades raised. She didn’t hesitate, pulling her hands and feet toward herself and stretching out her chains for it.
At her nod, it struck, faster than she could see, and sheared the chains through.
“Help Gracie!” she ordered as she rolled off the bed, diving for the nearest body and relieving it of the blade in its outstretched hand. Armed, she felt much more confident, snarling as one of the fanatic warriors rushed her.
“Die, human scum!” he bellowed as he attacked, his blade raised high over his head.
She didn’t think. She just reacted. The blade, a s’tovik very like the one she’d trained on with Aastan, felt like an extension of her hand and arm as she swept it in a wide arc. The warrior’s face held a stunned look as it parted company from his body, bouncing away across the deck. Bile rose, but she had no time to think. She had to protect Gracie as the bot cut her free. So she moved like a machine, cutting down each and every warrior who rushed her, the maniacal gleam of fanaticism burning in their eyes. They would not offer mercy so she gave them no quarter, wielding her blade with lethal precision until the deck around her ran red with blood.
“For the glory of Ursal-Kai!”
She heard him before she saw him and whirled to see the biggest warrior she’d ever seen run across the deck toward her. The metal beneath her feet vibrated and she turned, knowing this was it. He was too big, too strong… she would be cut to ribbons.
But fuck it, she wasn’t going down easily.
“Come on then!” she snarled at him, resetting her grip and lifting her blade to attack.
Before she could skewer him through, he stopped abruptly, a look of shock on his face as he was lifted up. Slowly a blade tip emerged from the center of his chest, blood flowing from the wound down the front of his body. He slumped and another faceplate appeared over his shoulder for a second before the Cabal bot cast him aside.
There were two tank bots.
“Cabal for the win!” she shouted, making it to Gracie’s side as the bot spun away again. The two women watched as the bots and Nyek laid waste to the warriors in the hall.
Finally, none stood apart from Nyek and his brother, still on the altar.
Nyek advanced, a soft, chilling smile on his lips.
Indra shuddered at the wounds he’d sustained—deep slices down his torso and back and myriad other cuts and bruises—but he barely seemed to notice them, spinning his blades around his wrists as he stepped into the circle in front of the altar.
“Come, Tavik, let us finish this once and for all,” he invited, spreading his arms wide. “Surely you are not afraid to face the runt?”
Runt? She almost spluttered a laugh at that. How could his brother consider Nyek a runt when they were identical? Not to mention that he’d almost single-handedly cut down all his brother’s warriors?
Tavik