Page 78 of Of Nine So Bold

Pain shrieked through my arm again, climbing farther, all the way to my shoulders like it had acid-tipped claws.

“Let me explain something to you, runt.” The guard’s voice surfaced past the ringing in my ears as the agony faded again. “There’s a seam of gold down there. These lazy brutes located it before a bunch of them decided to be stupid enough to let the tunnel collapse on their heads. So now you’re going to get it for us, or I’m going to watch you shit yourself while I burn up your arm with my little toy.” He held up his wrist, and the braceletglinted in the dim torchlight. “And then I’ll do the same to every stoneskin here. Understand?”

My whole body was shaking. My eyes crept over to the other giants. Norbert was there. Brock and Ignatius too, along with so many more whose faces I recognized but whose names I’d never learned. Contrary to what it seemed when the guards arrived, they hadn’t ordered all the giants to come back to work so soon. No, they’d left about fifty in the cavern, mostly the women and children, as well as the duke and a few of his henchmen.

It wasn’t mercy. It was power. The Erenlians knew this was suicide, but each group would stay calm for the sake of protecting the other—at least where everyone besides the duke and his fellow “every Erenlian for themselves” types were concerned.

Even Norbert appeared on edge right now. He was a bully, but he didn’t want to suffer or die any more than anyone else did.

I couldn’t let the guards torture them. And I couldn’t get back to my treluria if I got my brain and body fried by the guard.

But going forward was certain death too.

“What’s it going to be, runt?” The guard rested his hand near his bracelet in implicit threat.

I shuddered again. “Okay.” Bracing myself, I climbed to my feet. On my ankle, a shackle clanked where it chained me to all the others. “I’ll get to work, like you said.”

The guard snorted derisively, like he expected the answer.

I tensed as he tapped the bracelet again, but this time, no pain followed. Instead, a tingling sensation spread through me, like a dull, muted version of when a limb would go numb and then begin waking, but across the entirety of my body. I blinked fast, my mind reeling at the sudden awareness—dim and muffled though it was—of the tiny threads of mold and fungus growing through the stone around me.

My magic was back. Just a bit, but back.

Breathless, I darted a glance at the soldier. They let us access a tiny amount of our magic every time we mined. Never enough to hurt them, not with how far away the guards stayed from us at all times in the tunnels.

But this man was standing so much nearer than any of the guards had come in the entire time I’d been here.

The guy just smirked like he could see what I was thinking. “Any idea you get in that rocky head of yours about taking this from me and getting those stoneskin abilities of yours back, trust we’ve already thought of it. So get your ass moving, runt, or we’ll see how thelittlestoneskins like paying for your laziness.” He tapped the bracelet meaningfully. “Or maybe I’ll just send them down here in your place. They’re tiny. Maybe they’ll fit between the stones better than you. After all, we like having them to remind you brutes to stay in line, but it’s not as if we needallof them for that.”

My gut clenched. Kids? He’d hurt the kids in that cavern?

I’d kill him first.

The thought came out of nowhere, but it was as hard as stone and burned like lava in my veins. I wasn’t a killer. Never had been. I knew death happened in nature, but the wanton killing that humans and Erenlians and others engaged in was anathema to me.

But this? This was rage. Protective, defensiveragebuilt of the gods only knew how many days in this place, where this sick bastard and all his buddies threatened to harmchildrenif I didn’t crawl into a death trap, simply because our lives didn’t mean as much to them as the potential forfuckinggold.

Still smirking, he shoved my shoulder to get me moving.

That was his next mistake.

Side-stepping his hand, I grabbed his wrist and spun. For once, the fact I was only slightly taller than an average human worked in my favor, giving me the angle I needed. I slammedan elbow backward into his midsection but I didn’t let his arm drop. No, that I pinned above me and shoved upward with my shoulder, dislocating the joint.

Dex always insisted we needed to know how to fight. He’d made us train constantly over the years, all to make sure we could protect ourselves if necessary.

Gods willing, I’d get the chance to thank him someday.

The guard screamed, but my attention was on the other Aneirans in the hall. They reached for the bracelets on their wrists like they all were racing to be the first to burn my nerves to crisps.

“Stop or I kill him!” I barked.

The other guards froze, their eyes going from me to the man I’d pinned and back. I got the feeling this guy was in charge somehow, and like the duke’s henchmen, when the guy in charge wasn’t giving them orders, they weren’t sure what to do.

“Unchain them.” I jerked my chin toward the giants, never taking my gaze from the Aneirans.

“This won’t work,” gasped the man I held. “You won’t?—”

I yanked his arm upward higher, and he choked on a scream. Keeping my attention on the others, I suppressed a wince at the sickening feeling of tendons and ligaments stretching beyond what was natural.

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