The men who’d appeared from the shadows advanced, their steps making the floorboards creak. Khalil didn’t react to the earlier taunt, maintaining his stance as he pulled out his curved sword and faced the men slowly closing in on them.
He was much calmer than Sophie was. She stared at the man crouched low in the rafters, shaking. She reached out with her senses and could feel magic radiating off him, energy that he had gathered in preparation for this ambush. The dark man dropped from the rafters and onto the tallest stack of crates in one fluid, graceful motion. He stood up straight and crossed his arms, surveying them as a wide grin spread across his face.
“Foolish little Samarans,” he said, looking directly at Khalil. “Do you think it’s a secret that your order helps escaped slaves? Do you think it’s a secret that more important fugitives seek to hide themselves with your help? Do you think it’s a secret that there are larger powers outside of our continent helping you?”
Khalil didn’t answer.
“So predictable.” The thug chuckled, and it sent chills up Sophie’s spine. “Did you really think it would be so easy to escape from the Spider? There are few—if any—who can keep secrets from me.” He tilted his head slightly, and his menacing demeanor shifted to one of quiet curiosity as he surveyed Khalil.
“I was very impressed by your survival skills. Traveling through the desert is no mean feat, much less while trying to elude someone with my prowess.” He shifted his weight from side to side. Sophie felt the slight pulling of magic, the Spider was using it to keep his balance on the crates. “Not all of my contracts are for hunting and killing. Some of them are very similar to what you are doing now. I would hate to see talent such as yours squandered over such a trivial matter. We could make a very profitable team. All you have to do is give me the girl. I’ll even pay you for your trouble.”
He watched Khalil intently from his position on the crates, but Khalil said nothing. Sophie shuffled nervously behind him. The silence was like the calm before the storm, the tension almost palpable. Everyone watched Khalil, waiting for his answer. He wasn’t really considering the other man’s offer, was he?
“Khalil,” she said tentatively, reaching out to touch his arm.
Khalil held up a hand to still her. She pulled her own back as Khalil’s hood tilted up to where the other man stood above them. “No,” he said through teeth clenched so hard the word was barely more than a hiss, then held his sword out in front of him in a defensive position. “You won’t have any of us.”
The Spider assessed Khalil for a moment before sighing. “Pity,” he said, sounding genuinely disappointed, then looked at his men. “I need the girl alive. Kill the others.”
At his words, the two men in front of the door approached Joel while the others closed in on Khalil.
“Are you ready?” Khalil asked softly, his head turned so that Sophie could see his nose and mouth over his shoulder.
Sophie remembered the conversation they had had in the desert. Had it only been a couple of days ago?
“Yes,” she whispered. She could see his lips curve into a smile. Sophie took a few steps back to give him some space and took a deep breath, clearing her mind. Her hands shook, but she clasped them together to still them. She was afraid, but she couldn’t let her fear get in the way, not when they were this close. She wouldn’t go back willingly, and she would not let anyone else die for her.
The man closest to Khalil lunged at him, sword aimed at his chest, but Khalil dodged nimbly, sidestepping the swing and bringing his own blade down. The thug jumped back, narrowly avoiding the cut and swinging his sword again. Khalil parried the blow. Steel rang against steel as he turned aside a second attack. The other man rammed his shoulder into Khalil’s chest while he was distracted, causing him to stumble back, and took the opportunity to thrust his blade at Khalil’s midsection.
Khalil turned with the blade and it cut through empty air. He grabbed the man’s arm and pulled him forward, bringing a knee up into his abdomen. With a hiss of expelled breath, the man fell onto his side, clutching his stomach and retching.
The second man rushed Khalil. Sophie almost screamed, but Kahlil fell back to the ground to avoid the swing, driving his foot up and into the man’s groin, and using the momentum to flip him over his head. The man crashed to the ground in a heap, moaning in pain.
Khalil’s movements were smooth, with an almost cat-like grace, each step and swing executed as if he had done it a thousand times. Every blow used with the perfect amount of energy so as not to be wasteful. Sophie kept her guard up, but at the same time, watched him in awe. How had he mastered fighting like this without sight?
One of the men Joel was desperately trying to fend off gave a short cry of anger and disengaged from his fight in an attempt to grab Sophie, but Khalil blocked his path, deflecting his initial swing and slamming the hilt of his sword into the side of his face. Sophie winced as the man lurched sideways, spitting blood.
Sophie felt the flare of power right before a line of white-hot fire flashed at Khalil’s face from where the Spider was perched, but Sophie extended her will, diverting the magic before it could touch him. The man didn’t seem surprised at her counter and immediately followed up with a burst of force designed to knock her off balance, but she deflected it into a pile of crates beside her. The containers erupted from the strength of the blow, raining splinters down on them.
He grinned at her, white teeth gleaming in the darkness. He looked as if he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
“So, the little girl does know a couple of tricks.” He flicked his wrist at her, and Sophie felt a surge of energy. She barely blocked it in time, directing it upwards, causing it to blow a hole in the ceiling. The Spider raised a hand, and she felt an immense pressure attempting to push her backward. Sophie held up her own hands, pitting her abilities against his. It was more vicious than anything she had faced before. At that moment, with their power touching, she got a sense of the man who called himself the Spider. His anger and his conviction welled up inside her mind and threatened to overwhelm her.
With great effort, Sophie pushed away his awareness and felt the pressure lessen. She lifted her arms and directed the energy over her shoulder, smashing another stack of crates behind her to pieces. The Spider stared at her, his grin gone. There was no way she could take him on by herself. He was too strong.
Panting, she stepped back and felt her foot sink into the floor. Startled, she fell to one knee and looked down. Shadows had wrapped around her leg, cold and greasy where they touched her skin. The tentacle-like patch of inky blackness began to pull her backward. Sophie slid a few inches toward the shadows before she was able to grab one of the loose floorboards, her fingers digging between the planks. She couldn’t hold on for long.
The air popped and crackled around her fingertips as she gathered energy to her free hand and reached down to the writhing blackness. Sweat dripped into her eyes as she concentrated. She had to be very careful since the thing was slowly coiling itself around her. Otherwise, she would burn herself. Fire burst to life in her outstretched hand, the flame growing bigger and brighter the more energy she poured into it. She felt the heat on her skin. A few degrees hotter, and it would sear her flesh, even from a distance. Since the thing was made from shadow, it couldn’t be set on fire like the Soulless, but the flame had the effect Sophie had hoped for. It writhed and retreated from the light, loosening its grip on her.
Khalil parried another blow and kicked the remaining man attacking him in the chest, causing him to stumble back. In the momentary reprieve, Khalil leaned down to grab Sophie’s arm, pulling her the rest of the way out of the shadow’s grip.
She looked up at Khalil, as the man who had stumbled regained his footing and rushed back at him. Without any time to think, she threw the fire in her hand at the man’s face, causing him to pitch backward with a scream of surprise and pain. Khalil let go of her and spun, sword flashing. The attacker crumpled to the ground, groaning.
Sophie felt another surge of power from the Spider and pushed Khalil aside as a lance of green energy flew past them. She wove her hands in and out over her chest, weaving magic into a shielding spell as another flash of green light ricocheted off her newly formed barrier. She concentrated on curving the buffer of solid air and energy around them. “Stay behind me!” she shouted to Khalil as another strike came for them, flashed against the shield spell, and rebounded into a wall.
“Foolish mageling,” the Spider snarled, his calm facade cracking. “You cannot defy me forever! It was a mistake to run from the privileges your master gave you! You had everything and threw it away!” His eyes shone with a fury unlike Sophie had ever seen before. His words rang with a hatred that was so personal it stunned her.
“If your master did not require you back alive, I could have killed you in the desert. You don’t deserve all you have been given! Instead, you selfishly run from those who value you, and in the midst of it all, you coldly throw anyone who helps you in my path.” He took a few deep breaths, and when he spoke again, his voice calm and steady. He grinned vindictively at her. “Perhaps you are more Zo’rahni than I thought. Crushing those less valuable beneath you.”
The air grew dense and crackled around Sophie at his words. Fear and anger threatened to overwhelm her, and she let the shield spell flicker and dissolve as she faced him. “No,” she said, her words barely a whisper. “I’m not like that.”
The Spider openly laughed, the sound hollow and grating. “How many corpses will you step over to get what you want?”
“No!” she screamed, and magic flared to life, barreling away from her with the speed and power of an avalanche. The sudden force knocked everyone back off their feet and sent the Spider toppling over the edge of the crates he stood on.
Sophie stood in the middle of the room alone, her chest heaving. Everything around her was destroyed. Broken and splintered wood lay in heaps as a fine cloud of dust settled over them. Nothing moved. Sophie sank to her knees, her mind reeling from the uncontrolled burst of magic.
Some of the debris shifted, and Joel got to his feet coughing. He looked a little worse for wear and dirty, but uninjured. He looked around frantically and stumbled over to her, grabbing her arm. He pulled her to her feet and toward the door. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“But Khalil…” She looked back, her eyes searching through the rubble but unable to find their companion. Had he been hurt in the blast? Was he buried somewhere in here?
Joel seemed to sense what she was thinking. “He’ll be fine. Come on.” He dragged her out the door and into the daylight.
The sunlight temporarily blinded her, but Joel continued to pull her along, and she was eventually able to run with him. The street was deserted as it had been when they entered the building. Sophie still felt disoriented from what had happened inside the warehouse. Spots floated at the edge of her vision and her legs felt weak. She didn’t know where they were running to, but even through the haze in her mind, she could tell that this wasn’t the way they had come. They were running closer to the docks.
They turned a corner into an alleyway, and Joel released her arm, gasping for breath and leaning back against the wall.
“Can you check to see if anyone is following us?” he asked, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand.
Sophie nodded and slowly stuck her head around the corner. There was still no one on the streets. She could see the warehouse in the distance, but the building remained silent and still. If Khalil wasn’t wounded, he should have been able to get out by now. “I don’t see anyone. Should we go back for Khalil?”
Just as she was about to turn back to Joel, an arm grabbed her from behind. Sophie gasped, but before she could cry out, a cloth was placed over her nose and mouth. She struggled, trying to push the fabric away from her mouth, but the hands kept it firmly in place. There was some sort of substance lacing the cloth, something that smelled slightly sweet and left a bitter taste in her mouth. Her body started to tingle as she breathed in the fumes and fought harder, trying to pull his hand away from her mouth.
Her eyes filled with tears as she struggled, Joel’s face coming into view. Joel. Why was he doing this? Hot tears ran down her cheeks and soaked the cloth.
Sophie scratched at his hand and tried to turn her head away, but it was no use. She began to feel weak, and her vision started going black around the edges. She felt tired. So tired. Sleep sounded really lovely. Why had she been panicking before? Sophie closed her eyes and leaned back into the arms wrapped around her.
A voice floated to her out of the darkness, whispering softly in her ear. “I’m so, so sorry…”