Hiya didn’t think. Her instincts took over. Before she knew it, she was tearing down the alley, holding Ekta’s wrist in a death grip.
“Hiya!” Ekta shouted. “Hiya, stop it! You’re hurting me!”
Hiya finally came to her senses. She was drenched in sweat, and her breaths came ragged and uneven.
“We just left him there!” Ekta squeaked.
“You saw that thing!” Hiya shrieked, knowing just how hysterical she sounded. “Do you think we can fight that? You were right. You were right, Ekta. I was a chal for thinking we could help.”
“I’m scared,” Ekta said, breaking down into tears. “I’m scared, Hiya. I wanna go home.”
Somehow, witnessing Ekta’s panic calmed Hiya’s own raging torrent of emotions. Her thoughts came more clearly, and she took a deep breath before looking Ekta in the eye.
“I know, Ekta,” Hiya said. “I am too. And you’re right. We can’t leave Bolin. I’ll… I’ll go back to help. I want you to go to Janani, alright? Tell her everything that’s happened. She’ll send help. Okay?”
She expected the terrified girl to obey, so she was shocked when Ekta frowned and shook her head, her expression full of determination.
“No,” she said. “Wherever you’re going, I’m coming too. I won’t abananadon you.”
Hiya wondered if this were the right decision. Perhaps not, but she didn’t have the time to argue. “Stay close, alright?”
Ekta nodded.
“Then let’s go. Oh, and Ekta?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s abandon.”
Hiya drew a deep breath and made her resolution.
She led Ekta through Samar Patag, quickly locating Bolin’s position. Finding him wasn’t nearly as hard as she feared—his shouts and running feet carried far in the empty city streets.
But what to do when we get there?
They’d recklessly approached the beast without a plan, and it had nearly gotten them killed. If Bolin was still alive when they reached him, they needed some way of—if not winning—then at least escaping together.
What would Neel do? What would Vaak do?
Hiya wracked her mind as they ran, yet no solution was forthcoming. She wasn’t like Bolin or Neel or even Janani. She simply wasn’t smart enough to think on her feet like that.
When they finally found Bolin pressed against the wall at the end of an alley, Hiya still had nothing. So she did the only thing she could.
“Hey! Over here!” she yelled, causing the beast to spin and regard her. Bolin was covered in tiny scratches that covered his face and arms.
Ekta gasped, and Hiya frowned.
How is he still walking? she wondered. While the wounds looked bad, they looked only as bad as the ones Bolin got when Svar beat him. The beast could’ve killed Bolin in seconds, so why hadn’t it? It chased him into this alley instead. Why?
Because it’s toying with him! Hiya realized. And maybe, just maybe, they could use that to their advantage.
Hiya’s mind whirred, and a plan began to form. A plan that could very well—
A black blur descended from the sky, so fast that before anyone had registered the newcomer’s arrival, the bipedal beast’s head was rolling on the ground, cut cleanly from its body.
The body of the translucent beast that had nearly killed Bolin fell over, dead.
The new beast stood on its hindlegs, spread its webbed wings, and roared.
29
RAY IN THE DARK (PART FOUR)
With each beast slain, Vir’s sense of dread deepened. Yes, he was faster than before. Yes, any normal demon would gawk at his performance—and many of the rampart observers, including Janani and Greesha, did. Vir didn’t know why they’d congregated on the walls when he’d told them to stay put inside, but he didn’t have the time to worry about that right now.
He’d won every battle, but he was losing the war.
Already, several Ash Beasts had broken through. At this rate, the city would soon be flooded, the spectators on the walls the first to die.
I can’t let that happen, Vir thought, decapitating a Phantomblade with his Prana Bladed katar. Without the prana of the Ashen Realm to strengthen them, these beasts were little more than fodder. Unlike Vir and Shan, they hadn’t learned to prevent their prana from leaking out. Yet their sheer numbers were astonishing.
Even as Vir defeated the current wave, dust clouds in the forest to the south signaled the arrival of another. It was a never-ending onslaught, and Vir now had a tragic choice to make.
Continue protecting the larger southern front? Or hop to the northern wall, dispatching enemies there, hoping he would make it back before the southern wave overran the wall?
It was a terrible decision to make, and it was the second of such decisions he’d had to make on this day. Either way, people would die. All Vir could do was choose whom.
The slums ringed the walls around the entire city, so it would be his people—Gargans—who suffered worst.
The castle and its Keep were situated slightly closer to the northern wall than the south. If Vir stayed to fight the larger wave to the south, there was a chance that some of the beasts that broke through the north would attack the Keep, which stood a better chance of defending itself.
Only one option might allow him to keep everyone safe. With Dance of the Shadow Demon, he could move quickly between the two fronts to save the city. But only if his prana held out, which he highly doubted. It’d take too many invocations to get him there all the way.
If I combine Dance with Blink, though…
It might just work. Yet even if it did, it’d give away his identity. With so many on the walls, using the ability without being detected would be tricky.
As Vir struggled with this weighty decision, a new presence appeared from behind him.
Vir whirled instinctively, slicing the new threat before his mind had even registered the demon’s red skin, its four arms, and giant stature.
“Hail, friend,” Cirayus said, easily blocking Vir’s blade with Sikandar. “I am Cirayus of Clan Baira, and I mean you no harm.”
Vir froze for a full second, shocked by Cirayus’ appearance. Vir was about to reply when Cirayus cut him off.
“While we have never met, I am here to aid Governor Asuman and Clan Chitran in their time of need,” Cirayus said, speaking loudly. Far louder than was required for the short distance that separated them. “Know that Clan Baira supports the plight of Samar Patag during this crisis. Would you accept my aid, masked warrior? I assure you, I can hold my own in battle.”
I see, Vir thought, catching on to Cirayus’ plan.
“Well met, Cirayus of Baira. Your reputation precedes you, Ravager,” Vir said, speaking loud enough for the demons on the ramparts to hear. “I hear your offer, and gladly accept your aid.”
Vir couldn’t hear the spectators on the ramparts, though with half of them pointing at Cirayus, it wasn’t difficult to imagine what they were saying.
“Allow me to deal with the southern horde,” Cirayus said. “You have other places to be, do you not?”
Vir nodded. “You sure know how to make an entry, I’ll give you that,” Vir muttered, too softly for anyone on the walls to hear.
It was as though the weight of a Godhollow had been lifted from Vir’s shoulders.
“Hey,” Cirayus replied in a similar tone, winking. “I can’t let you hog all the glory, can I?”
Vir shook his head wryly. “Thanks, Cirayus. It’s good to finally have you back. I… dunno what I’d have done without you.”
“Aye. We have much to catch up on. But that can wait. First, let us save this city.”
Vir nodded again, and Blinked away, High Jumping over Samar Patag’s wall.