Page 101 of Shadows of Ruin

This time, I drew my blade from the pack on my horse, feeling more prepared than before.

Some guards already stood defensively in front of the gates.

“For Queen Roxana!” I yelled, and the others chimed in behind me, shouts of comradery and a single purpose. We’d escape for her.

Fifteen guards surrounded the gates, and the hooves I’d heard a block before were heading our way.

I sliced across the neck of the closest guard, ignoring that they were once my men. If I looked too closely, I’d never get us out of here. Escape was all that mattered now.

Despite our exhaustion, we pressed on. The storm didn’t help.

As if sensing our diminishing reserves, the rain lessened to a pitter, but the thunder and lightning refused to cease.

Corbin shouted, a blade slicing his arm a few feet from me, but he quickly corrected for it, flicking his sword to the other hand and stabbing it into the guard who’d gotten a jump on him.

I lost track of the others but trusted them to hold their own. Soon, only two guards remained, fighting Hale and Leif.

“Go,” Leif shouted to Hale. Corbin was the first to the gate, shoving hard and finally opening it. He mounted his steed.

“Open!” he yelled to us.

We rode toward him as the last guard fell. The sound of hooves grew, and my head twisted as my gaze shot toward the center of the city entrance. A group of guards on horseback rode straight for us.

“Go!” Leif shouted again.

They couldn’t follow. None of them could know where we were heading. We needed time to find Lana. To form a plan, before anyone alerted Andras to our location.

Leif rode up to me. “Get out of those gates now.”

“We can’t let them follow,” I argued, but Leif reached across my horse and grabbed my arm.

“I know, Ian,” he said. “They won’t.”

I frowned, looking between him and the approaching horses. Corbin, Hale, and Kalliah had already cleared the gates.

“I can’t let you stay.” I couldn’t lose someone else tonight. Especially not Leif.

Leif shifted his horse, circling me in a way that caught me off guard. As my horse turned to follow, it faced the gates. Leif drew a hand back and smacked my horse. “Ya!” he shouted.

My horse bolted forward. I drew on the reins, but Leifdismounted his steed and was already pulling the gate closed, remaining inside.

“Leif!” Kalliah yelled, riding toward me. She dismounted, running and thrusting her arm between the metal bars to grab him. “Don’t do this.”

“I swear to you, Kalliah Brennan,” he said, reaching his hand between bars and stroking her cheek. “Nothing will keep me from your side. I’m merely buying you time.”

“Swear it again,” she cried.

“I swear it. You will see me again. If Lucinda hasn’t killed me, they certainly won’t.” He smiled.

“Stay alive, brother,” I commanded. “Kalliah,” I said, hating the fact that I had to say anything to her. “We must take the time he’s given us.”

“No,” she said. “No.” She grabbed the collar of Leif’s shirt and yanked him toward the bars, kissing him fiercely.

Corbin moved faster than I did, pulling his horse forward to Kalliah’s side. He grabbed her arm, dragging her back to her own horse. “I’m sorry,” I saw his lips say but didn’t hear him.

“Don’t you dare die, Leif Ivans,” she yelled.

He saluted us and turned to face down the approaching guards.

---