“And now for our grand predator—the roc!” The warden’s voice boomed across the arena.
Sajda’s hands were clammy as she and the guards wrestled with the roc’s enormous cage. When they had it close to the gate, the guards backed away. Several of them grabbed the ropes that hung down from the length of netting that was rolled above them. A quick jerk of their wrists, and the netting tumbled down into place, surrounding the entire arena. Sajda climbed on top of the cage and leaned down to grab the latch.
A large hooked beak snapped at the bars of the cage closest to her hand. She was going to have seconds to let the roc free and get under the netting before it came for her. Drawing in a deep breath, she let her magic coil around her muscles and then she was moving. Flipping the latch, she jumped off the cage and slid under the netting as the roc exploded into the air.
The bird’s body was the size of a large stallion, its velvet-brown feathers glowing in the afternoon sunlight. Its wingspan was easily the length of two cells end to end; and as it rose into the air, it gave a piercing cry that sent the remaining dogs whining onto their front paws, their red eyes gazing up at a predator who could eat them as a small snack.
The roc wasn’t interested in the garmrs, though. It wasn’t interested in the reiligarda, who were steadily crushing three competitors into a wall, their skeletal limbs moving with sickening speed and strength.
The roc wanted those who were bleeding.
And Javan was standing in a puddle of blood—his own, the dog’s, and Kali’s.
Sajda’s skin went cold, her magic a rush of iced lightning that left her shaking with the effort it took to hold herself still.
“Get an arrow,” she murmured even as he whipped an arrow to his bow.
The roc beat the air with its wings, rose to the top of the arena, and began circling.
“Now!” she said, not caring what the guards around her thought of the warden’s slave shouting advice to a competitor.
Javan raised his bow just as two other competitors crashed into him, sending him into the ground.
“No!” Sajda lunged forward, her hands reaching for the net, but Javan was already up. Kicking, punching, swinging the bow like a weapon, and beating back the two who were doing their best to kill him. One of the attackers rushed for him again, and Javan sent an arrow into the man’s chest.
The roc screamed as it dove, talons the size of Sajda’s arms extended toward the melee. The crowd roared, and Javan looked up at the last second to see the impending threat.
Kicking the second attacker aside, he dropped.
Not toward safety, in front of Tarek.
A tiny sob escaped Sajda’s lips as the prince stood in front of Tarek, bow raised though there was no time to loose the arrow before the bird reached him.
The roc slammed into Javan’s chest, sending him stumbling back into Tarek and the wall. Its talons closed over his shoulders, and then Intizara was there, hacking at the bird’s feet with her battle-axes.
The roc shrieked, a deafening cry of rage and pain, twisting away from Javan and back into the air, blood dripping from its talons. Javan lifted the bow and sent an arrow flying. It buried itself in the roc’s side, but the bird continued circling.
Intizara whipped around to face an incoming reiligarda. The surviving prisoner who’d attacked Javan lunged forward again, running at Javan with a short spear. The prince pushed Tarek out of the way, and the spear grazed his chest, sending blood pouring.
The roc shrieked again and charged. The reiligarda sent Intizara flying into the wall and came toward Javan, skeletal arms reaching, its mouth gaping open in a soundless scream of fury.
“Remember, remember, remember,” Sajda whispered, her hands locked in a white-knuckled clasp. “Come on. It’s right behind you.”
Javan backed toward the wall beside Tarek, his eyes on the approaching roc even as a reiligarda advanced from his left and the other prisoner came from his right.
The prince said something, and Tarek bent swiftly to grab a small bag tied to the black cloth that had covered the bow and arrow.
Another arrow from Javan buried itself in the roc’s chest, and the bird reeled away as the reiligarda and the prisoner converged on Javan.
He went down, and Sajda was already tearing the netting out of the way when he kicked free just long enough to toss a few arrows toward Tarek before the prisoner grabbed his ankles and brought him back to the floor.
The reiligarda slammed its arms into the attacking prisoner, and as the man’s grip slackened, Javan drove a sword through his arm. It wasn’t a killing blow, but it was enough to make the man roll away and try to run. He didn’t get far. The roc crashed into him, landing heavily on the ground and crushing the man beneath him.
Javan kicked and shoved at the reiligarda, but the skeletal creature was strong as iron and single-minded in its pursuit of the one who wore the dirt from the grave it had been meant to protect.
In the center of the arena, Hashim and two others fought the remaining reiligarda. All the dogs were dead. So were the serpents and at least nine prisoners. A few beetles cruised the floor, but no one was paying them any attention.
Terror was a blinding light trapped in Sajda’s chest. Her magic swirled and scraped, begging for freedom, and she could barely breathe past the tears clogging her throat.
What would she do if she lost both Tarek and Javan?
She’d be trapped, alone in the bowels of Maqbara. As she watched Javan struggle to keep from getting crushed by the reiligarda, a thread of anger blazed through her terror.
Why had he offered his friendship? Why had he made her laugh and think and trust? She’d been surviving just fine on her own for years. She hadn’t known what she was missing. But now, she knew. She knew the depths of her loneliness if he died. She knew the void that would open within her. A void no amount of starlight would ever fill.
Tarek worked quickly with the materials he himself had left behind for the prince’s use. Grabbing a small nest of rags wrapped in a ball of woven straw that had been smeared with pitch, he struck the tip of an arrow against a piece of flint held over the straw ball.
Sparks showered onto the ball, and it ignited.
Tarek yelled and jabbed an arrow deep into the ball. Javan gave another kick to gain an instant’s reprieve from the reiligarda while he twisted at the waist, caught the arrow Tarek tossed his way, and plunged the flaming arrow deep into the chest cavity of the reiligarda. The creature stumbled, reached for him once more, and then collapsed to its knees as the fire ate through it.
Tarek already had another burning arrow ready. Javan sent it into the reiligarda who was fighting Hashim. Hashim was on his knees, his mace raised above his head in a futile effort to protect himself from the attack. He looked up as the skeleton dropped, and his mouth opened in surprise to see that Javan had been his salvation.