Page 76 of The Sun God's Prize
Sheelan seems surprised by that.I know I am, though I suppose I shouldn’t be.
“Good,” the Sun God’s daughter says.“Then I don’t have to scrimp on our passage.”She rolls her eyes skyward with a little laugh.“If I had to endure our journey to the north under those conditions?I think I’d murder someone.”She giggles.
We’re walking past a shack, Sheelan’s laughter distracting her, but I’m tense, warned ahead by the sound of clanking, the faint whisper I catch on the breeze that washes toward us.I grab her by the arm and pull her back before she can clear the corner, stepping in front of her, though too late to keep the soldier lying in ambush from spotting her.
He’s far from alone, six men and women in the god armor of the Sun God leaping out with swords drawn, and striding out after them, of all people, Theille.
***
Chapter Thirty-Six
Why is he here personally?I don’t care to wait for the answer, a fleeting question in my mind, though he plans to answer it while I swing the staff that is my only weapon into position.
We’re surrounded quickly, ten more guards falling in behind us.I need blades, and I am already planning to liberate two from the soldier who holds his with sloppy fear.
“Brother.”Sheelan pushes past me before I can stop her, again with the bold moves and uncaring for her own safety.She’s going to get herself killed at this rate, or me, though she gives me no time to get in front of her again, confronting Theille and his guards, who stare at her in terror.
It’s clear they’re unsure, confused and concerned, while the Sun God reincarnated gestures at his sister with a short, golden sword of his own.The armor he wears is the same ridiculous design that I fought him in so recently, though it’s even more elaborate now, no doubt more befitting a ruler rather than an heir, at least in his mind.
“Traitor,” he says.“Kill the false child of the Sun and her filthy foreign companions.”
“Here to finish what you started, Theille?”I snarl that at him over his sister’s head.“Killing your own father wasn’t enough for you?”
The guards flinch in surprise.Wait, they don’t know?They’re looking at him with shocked expressions, Theille’s fury at being challenged turning to anxious command.
“I said kill them.”He pushes one of the soldiers by the shoulder, shoving him toward us.“Your God commands you.”
They’re going to do it.I feel their decision before they make it.I can’t defend Sheelan and Aurous from them, though, not alone.
I’m going to do my best to try.
“Stand down.”I recognize the voice, pivoting, looking up.The black-armored warrior stands on the roof of the shed, and she’s brought her sisters, the members of her dark order melting out of the shadows, surrounding the soldiers.The gold-clad guards immediately obey, even more terrified now, and I know why.This is not a good place to find themselves caught.
“Hepha,” Sheelan says in a calm, confident voice as though this was the plan all along.
“Most Divine,” the warrior says, leaping down to the dock to salute her princess.“Forgive my late arrival.I’ve been tracking your journey but only just caught up.”Someone did note our return, then.Of course, she would have.
Theille shakes in rage.“Why are you all just standing there?”He tries to draw his own sword but it’s so long, the tip gets caught in the sheath and he’s spinning in a ridiculous half-circle, trying to free it.The guards stare at him in open horror now, but when one of them tries to help him, he slaps the man’s hands away.Theille is panting as he finally jerks the sword loose, leveling the blade that trembles from the weight and his lack of control at his sister.“I’ll finish it myself.”
“My God,” one of the guards gasps, “we’re to return Her Holiness to the temple.”
His fellow guards seem as distraught as he is at this change of plan.Which means Theille lied to them.Has he maintained so little control that he’s been forced to do so?They’re not treating him like their new ruler, but still like their prince.A sudden power shift can do that.
Only then do I note that these guards were not among the archers who watched him murder his father, I’m sure of it.But do they know what really happened, or are the stares they give me accusing as well as afraid?
“You question your God?”Theille spins on the guard who spoke up, slapping him across the face with one golden gauntlet.It’s not a hard blow, but he turns his head on impact, a line of blood appearing on his cheekbone from the metal’s pressure.“Do as I say at once.”
The guard bows his head to him, teeth gritted, fury on his face that Theille doesn’t see when the soldier steps forward.“You murdered our God,” he tells me.And now I know what lie the Sun God’s son told, “and now you will die for it.”
“I did,” I say before any can refute it, before the black-armored warrior can step in, or even Sheelan can speak up.“I, unarmed and alone, with archers covering me from all angles.I murdered Isthisahaloun.”I look down at myself, then back at her again.“I appear miraculously unharmed for one who should be threaded through with arrows.”
Theille’s guards still hesitate, and now I know why.They’re questioning it, too.“You slew the archers,” their leader says in a voice filled with doubt.
“All of your archers,” I say.“Without weapons, while stabbing your God in the throat from six seats away.”The man is quivering, scowling, while I shrug.“Yes, a task easily accomplished, don’t you agree?”
“She used magic!”Theille’s accusation isn’t helping him, only making his guards more afraid.I’m ready to attack again when a soft hand touches my shoulder, Aurous holding me still.
While the warrior Hepha stares into my eyes with her dark gaze still.“Kill her, now!”
