sight of one another. Instantly I recognize two of them as Tomm and Pira. The other four are faces I know from the arena. They have simply materialized through the dim light of the forest, their silhouettes rippling in the dark.
The light of recognition hits their eyes at the same time. Then Tomm narrows his eyes and lunges for me.
Every instinct trained into me now surges through my veins. My body reacts—I duck down and seize the dagger in my boot, then bring it up in time to block his hit with the hilt of his blade. Another Striker aims for my other side, but Jeran’s already there. Somehow he manages to knock the blade from the second Striker’s hand and turn it on him. Adena is fending off the two others, all the while trying to get into her canvas bag of weapons.
My eyes sweep desperately over to the edge of the forest. The end of the warfront—and beginning of Federation land—is just beyond us, so close I can taste it. If we could just get over, we might run into enemy troops, but at least the Strikers won’t follow us.
Then I see Red. His teeth are bared. In one mighty sweep, his wings unfurl to their full expanse. He turns his rage in the direction of the Strikers fighting Adena.
Panic surges through me. I shove Tomm back and send a thought barreling through my link with Red. Don’t hurt them!
His head whips toward me.
They’re Strikers, I tell him as Tomm hits me again. This time his hilt catches me in my side and I dart away, pain lancing up and down my body. Mara needs them.
As soon as I think this, Pira’s blades flash before my eyes. I flinch. There are just too many of them, and I don’t have my other weapons with me. They’ll capture us at this rate unless we spill their blood. Unless—
—and then I realize that Pira isn’t attacking me, but clashing blades with Tomm. She shoves her Shield back before giving us an angry glance.
“Stop playing games and get the hell out of here,” she signs to me with rapid, cutting gestures. Then she whirls to face Tomm as he gives her an incredulous stare.
“What are you doing?” he signs furiously. “Firstblade’s orders!”
But Pira just shakes her head. There’s no time to explain, and we’re too close to the border to risk speaking out loud.
I don’t linger, even though I want to meet Pira’s gaze and ask her why she’s helping us. There’s no time for questions or conversation. Nearby, Jeran breaks away from the Strikers he’s fighting. Adena has managed to wrestle out two of her blades from her canvas bag and connected their hilts together, turning them into a new double-bladed weapon, and slices a deep gash into one of the Striker’s legs. He stumbles, wincing. Still silent, as trained to be.
I dart for the border with Red. Jeran sees my movement and breaks away from his Strikers long enough to make a run too. Adena stumbles backward, but Jeran reaches her and catches her as she’s about to fall, yanking her upright again and pulling her forward. We all run.
Red drops back behind us. As we gain speed, he whirls around and bares his wings at the oncoming Strikers. They shrink back slightly, hesitant to attack him. He turns around and tilts his wings down, lifting himself into the air, and glides over us in a single sweep.
We’re almost there. The forest feels like it parts for us as we sprint. The trees start to look unfamiliar.
And then I realize, in our mad dash, that the Strikers are falling behind. No, they’ve stopped. They’ve reached the edge of Maran territory, the no-man’s-land where our warfront shifts to our enemy’s, the limit of where they can go.
I look past the forest to where a clearing slopes down into the valley that leads into unfamiliar land. This is what finally makes me slow to a stop. My ears ring with a high-pitched buzz, and my breaths come in labored gasps. The look on Pira’s face still hovers in my mind, haunting me, and I realize that I’m so unused to her acting on our side that her help frightens me. It means she knows just how desperate our mission is, and how much we need it to succeed.
I should feel some sense of relief that we’ve escaped the Strikers chasing us, but all I feel is the unfamiliar dirt under my