Page 47 of The King of Frost and Shadows

I was thankful for that, but the reprieve wouldn’t last long. They’d be eager to spill my blood, so I needed to get my bearings. I suspected there was more to this place than what I could see.

“Over here,” the dark-blond man shouted, running left. “Let’s get these. They’re easy pickings.”

I looked over just in time to see a cluster of weapons tied together on the ground.

The blond man and five other men ran toward the weapons while the rest rushed off toward the axe gauntlet. For the moment, I wasn’t their main target, which gave me time to survey my surroundings for a chance to survive.

I scanned the rest of the area. A massive white rock took up thirty feet of space across from the tower. Numerous weapons had been laid strategically in the center on the top.

Aboompierced my ears, and a male prisoner screamed in agony. He dropped, and another explosion went off, but I couldn’t make out what was happening. Ten people were between me and the person.

In a chain reaction, a platform sprang up on my left, hurtling the blond man and one other across the arena. Their bodiessmackedagainst the tower, barely missing one of the eight people climbing to the top, and the sound of cracking bones reached me. Black blood sprayed from their bodies and dripped down the gray stone.

With the crowd in front of me now cleared, I could see across the entire arena. Four people in various spots in the center of the floor were sinking into the ground.

My throat clenched as I realized that the area around them was faintly darker than the dirt, and the way they sankfaster as they fought told me everything I needed to know—quicksand.

The body of a man only ten feet away appeared to be missing a leg and half his side. He must have been in the explosion. Anotherboomsounded from the area between the axe gauntlet and the massive rock. A female with white hair that had frosted tips widened her eyes and stared down. Half of her foot was missing. She wobbled, trying not to fall, and searched the ground around her.

Then I noticed blackened rocks similar to what was under the man in front of me.

My chest heaved. This was worse than I’d expected. Not only did we have to fight each other, but there were booby traps all around us.

I could use that to my advantage if I thought quickly.

From the platform on my lower left, level to the ground, came groans from a man who’d jumped on the massive rock. Sharp edges stuck through his hands, and blood puddled from them and even out of his shoes.

A sour taste filled my mouth, and I tried not to let hysteria claim me.

Whimpers from the four fae trapped in the quicksand snapped my attention back to them. Blood pooled around them like the sand was ripping them apart. My heart quickened. It had to be porous quicksand, which was worse than the soupy kind. This kind would indeed rip them apart and push all the oxygen from their lungs, killing them before their heads went under.

Eldrin beamed from his spot beside Tavish. He was enjoying watching his own people die.

Tavish, Finnian, and Caelan all wore sober expressions like this was the last thing they wanted. The contrast between the four was striking and spoke volumes.

Tavish wasn’t as coldhearted as I’d believed. He had baggage, but he hadn’t gone down that evil of a road.

Knowing I couldn’t help the trapped prisoners, I turned my attention to the axe gauntlet. There had to be more to it.

Another group of men was working together to figure out how to get the weapons from the platform, and I couldn’t keep standing here. I needed to get a weapon or find a hiding place for the next hour.

People had reached the top of the tower and were climbing over the edge, which meant that it wasn’t a place I could hide. My ears rang, and my blood turned cold when the truth settled over me. There was no place to go. I’d have to fight and hope like hell I survived.

My attention focused on the hidden platform. The weapons had been jostled during the launch, meaning the rope might have loosened. I just needed one of the men to loosen it further for me to grab one.

Two men squatted by a third man’s legs and grabbed his ankles. Once their grip was secured, the third man inched across the platform, reaching for the weapons. The crawling man yanked on the rope, loosening one side just as the platform sprang.

The two guys tried to yank the third back, but they weren’t quick enough. The man jolted upright, and the two of them rose a few feet off the ground. They released their hold on their friend, and he flew off the platform as the two of them crashed to the ground.

With the awkward momentum, Crawling Guy didn’t smash into the tower but instead landed in the middle of the quicksand trap, which was still tugging down two who hadn’t died yet. He landed facedown in the sand and died almost instantly.

The weapons he’d loosened landed a few feet from me—one short sword, one dagger, two quivers of arrows, and a slingshot. The rest of the items scattered into the quicksand, including all three bows.

I took off running, needing to get there before the others. I had my eye on the short sword and the dagger, but ten others were rushing in the same direction.

I pumped my arms faster, but the others moved quicker. They reached the stash of weapons seconds before me and began fighting over the sword and dagger while I swooped in at the edge, grabbed a quiver of arrows, then snagged the sling. I pivoted to get out before anyone noticed me, but a gigantic, calloused hand caught my arm.

I got spun around to face a man with hair the color of coal. He sneered, “Not so fast,sunscorched. You don’t get any of these.” He reached for the arrows protectively tucked like a football against me, leaving himself open for me to kick him in the gut.

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