Anzil (Gladiators of Krix #2) - Miranda Martin Page 0,34

produces a handful of coins, and sidling sideways while staying outside my direct reach, hands them to the woman.

“Take that, buy your medicine,” I say. “Save your child.”

“Thank you,” she says. “How can I ever repay you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I say. “Go before there’s trouble.”

She nods fast and disappears into the crowd. Anzil and I leave the merchant, who makes indignant sounds.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Anzil says.

“Probably not,” I say. “I can’t stand injustice. Or stupidity.”

“I see,” he says.

“What do you think will come of it?” I ask.

“Hopefully nothing,” he says.

And then we see Jyark and two of the guards walking towards us. “Guess we’re about to find out.”

“We found the market,” Jyark says.

“Good. Is she there?” I ask.

“Maybe,” Jyark says. “We’ll find out when we get there. If nothing else, we’ll shut them down. Again.”

“Why don’t the King’s Guards do this?” I ask.

“They’re paid,” Jyark shrugs.

“Then why won’t they stop us?”

“Price of business,” he says as if that explains it all.

This entire place runs on corruption, blood, and death. The more I learn of this place, the more it becomes clear that freedom isn’t going to be enough. I have to get my people off this planet. It’s its own special kind of hell here.

As we move through the crowd, all the guards that came with us reform with our group. We walk down another alley until we’re at the city wall. Jyark leads us out a side gate that has sleepy guards who barely pay attention to us as we leave.

He walks along the outside of the wall. Something smells. It’s really foul too, worse than the mounds of shit Ductore forced me to shovel, and it’s growing worse. It isn’t long before I find out what and immediately regret knowing. A stream of sewage pours out of a barred entrance to what has to be the city sewers.

“In there,” Jyark says.

“You’re kidding,” I say.

“No,” Jyark says, tying a piece of cloth over his nose and mouth.

The smell is enough to turn my stomach, but Jyark motions, and one of the guards with us pulls on the bars. Two of them lift up and out. Great. This is exactly the thing I wanted to do next.

We walk into the sewers.

ANZIL

I stay behind her, but my senses are hyper-alert. The sewers are tall and wide; I barely have to duck. The stench is terrible, and it pulls at memories. Memories of home and my last day there. I shove them away and focus on my surroundings.

Kiara is unlike any female I’ve ever known. What she did in the market was incredible. She’s bold, fearless, and her sense of right and wrong is honed to a razor's edge. She is the kind of female my mother had dreamed of me finding.

I don’t know if my mother would approve of her being a different race. It doesn’t matter, though—my mother is long gone. Widows’ share their blessings, there is no denying my heart.

The sewage tunnel comes to an intersection, and we go left. A while later we go right. Light drifts down from grated holes above us, opening to the city over our heads. It isn’t long before we hear voices ahead. When we turn the next corner, four heavily armed guards block the path.

“Hold,” one of them says. “What’s your business?”

“We’ve come to trade,” Jyark says.

“No trading today,” the guard says, pushing Jyark back.

“Don’t you dare touch me,” Jyark barks, drawing steel.

The guard draws his sword, and then we’re surrounded on both sides by idiots with weapons. I pull Kiara closer, stepping back to see what happens while protecting her.

“I said it’s closed,” the guard growls. “Go on your way.”

“Do you think I’m an idiot?” Jyark asks. “I can hear them!”

“Do you?” the guard grins, and the others with him laugh.

“I am with House Batius and I demand you step aside,” Jyark yells.

“Oh, well then,” the guard says. “How could I have missed that fact? Let me clarify. We’re closed. Doubly so.”

Jyark steps forward, bringing his sword to an attack position. Kiara pulls free of my grip and steps in front of Jyark to stand between him and the guard. I push Jyark aside to protect her back.

“I’m looking for someone,” Kiara says. “I have reason to believe she might be here, but she shouldn’t be.”

“No one is here,” the guard says.

“Right,” Kiara says.

One of the men with the guard blocking our way stares at Kiara strangely, then he moves in and whispers in his ear. The leader