Page 6 of Ashes of Gold
“Rahk.” Jhamal greets him with some special handshake.
“All the others I was with have fallen,” Rahk says to no one in particular, but his stare is fixed on me. “What should we do?”
Jhamal throws his blade; it swivels and whistles over my shoulder. Somewhere behind me someone groans before hitting the ground. Rahk covers himself with his shield, the ferocity in his eyes dimming. The ground is a sea of carnage and ash on both sides.
“What should we do?” Rahk asks again, his gaze darting between us. Jhamal looks at me too.
“I—” I break out into cold sweat.
“Jelani?”
“I, uh—” My heart races. “Go back through the forest. We need cover. You all do. Get inside Yiyo Peak. Bar the door shut. I’ll finish them off out here.”
“What?” Jhamal cuts in, but Rahk doesn’t wait to hear. He runs off to grab the others.
“Jhamal, go with them. Defense isn’t enough. Without you all armed with magic, it’s— I missed the moment I needed. Having you out here now is too big of a risk.”
“No.” His jaw flinches and he deepens his stance, his mug mean.
“You have to listen to me!” I grip his arms. “You will die out here, you hear me? GO!” I shove his chest. “Listen to me, dammit!”
His nostrils flare.
“Please.”
He doesn’t move for several moments. We cut down three others, back-to-back, before he pulls me to him, presses his lips to mine, and retreats into the forest.
I sense the Chancellor before I see him.
“It’s finally just you and me then, Jelani.” His eyes flick to my gleaming wrists and I swear he licks his lips. I raise my arms, summoning my magic. A ball of light glows brighter between my shaky hands.
Magic flickers on his fingers, but I react first.
“Ah!” I fire at him.
But the world goes lopsided.
My head is wet and sticky, my fingers red. I blink. Someone pulls me.No,I try to say, but the words only play in my head. I spot Jhamal, running faster than the wind toward me, fury in his eyes. His javelin flies from his fingers and someone holding me lets go. But others grab hold of me. I can’t move. I can’t breathe.
“No!” Jhamal roars, fighting through the army of them growing around me. Their prize. The prey they’ve hunted for so long. Captured. I look for someone, anyone, to help. But all I smell is the mountain where I sent my people—burning.
CHAPTER TWO
METAL CLANGS AS Icome to. Something tickles my throat, but I can’t seem to cough. Jhamal’s hands work carefully over me, sewing something. His brow is slick with sweat, worry kneaded there too. He pulls a bandage, tearing it with his teeth.
“Help me! It’s too much blood, please!” he says to someone, and I squint but the world is hazy. Where am I? The surface beneath me is cold at my back. It’s hard, like a floor. Stone walls and a row of iron bars form the cell around us. We’re imprisoned? My breath catches and I try to sit up, but pain shoots up my back. I lie back down, pain rippling through me. Everything hurts.
A woman hobbling by shoves a needle and thread through the bars at Jhamal.
“All I could manage,” she says before limping off.
“Thanks.” He takes it.
I’m sprawled out on the ground. Something stings and the wrinkles in Jhamal’s brow soften. He presses down on my leg and works the needle in and out. My skin tugs. Stitches? He’s sewing the flesh back together where my gold cuffs meet my arms. It’s only then I notice scrapes all over my body. I see them, but I feel nothing.
I close my eyes, running my fingers across the wounds, trying to remember.
“What did they do to me?” I try to say, but it comes out like a cough.
