Marked for Death

Chapter 49

As Kandler reached the end of the tarpaulin-lined tunnel, he saw Burch and Sallah racing into the middle of a sawdust-floored open area that seemed to stretch on forever. The shifter loosed his crossbow at something above, and Kandler poked his head out of the tunnel to see Te’oma flapping away on her cloak, which had transformed once again into batlike wings.

The justicar craned his head around to see the entire arena. Rough-hewn bleachers lined both of the longer sides of the place, each of which stood behind a system of split-rail fencing that kept the crowd separated from the arena floor. Hundreds of warforged stood in them and stared at the shifter and the knight who had just barreled into the place.

For a moment, it seemed that the observers thought the intruders were part of the show, but when Burch’s errant bolt sailed into the stands on the opposite side of the arena, the crowd leaped to its feet and roared in outrage. In the center of the arena, two of the largest warforged Kandler had ever seen turned from where they had put a halt to their fight and stomped toward the intruders.

“What in the name of the Silver Flame are those?” Kandler heard Sallah shout to Burch as she pointed at the massive creatures. They looked something like a warforged, but they stood over twenty feet tall, even hunched over. The plates of armor that formed their skin were each at least an inch thick, and foot-long spikes rose from their backplates and the backs of their limbs. In place of hands, their arms terminated in massive weapons. The right was a massive hammer made of battered granite. The left was an axe-head nearly as tall as a man.

As the creatures lumbered toward Burch and Sallah, they rasped their weapon-hands together. The edges of their steel axes drew huge lines of sparks from their hammers’ stony surfaces.

“Titans!” Burch exclaimed.

The arena floor shook with the massive creatures’ every tread.

Kandler glanced behind him and saw a squad of five war-forged warriors stomping up the tunnel behind him. “So much for the stealthy route,” he said to himself before dashing out to join Burch and Sallah on the arena floor.

As Kandler reached the pair, Burch growled a greeting at him. “Just like old times,” the shifter grinned with a bravado the justicar wished he felt.

Kandler shook his head as he looked up at the titans and said, “I don’t remember them being this bad.”

The lady knight stood transfixed by the sight of the creatures rumbling toward them. Kandler grabbed Sallah by the arm and turned her to face him. “Ready to fight?” he said.

Sallah stared at him with wide, green eyes. “Those things?” She pulled her arm away as if he was mad.

Kandler jerked his head toward where the warforged now blocked their way back through the tunnel. “I like those odds better,” he said.

As the words left his lips, he glanced about and saw identical squads standing at the end of each of the other tunnels. Their best shot was to try for the closest tunnel, right back the way they came.

The three warriors turned together and charged at the warforged standing in the mouth of the tunnel. The defenders stepped out to meet the intruders.

The titans slowed as they reached the brawl, unable to storm in against the strangers without killing their smaller brethren. Instead they stood hovering over the fight, their arms raised high as they waited for a chance to slam down a killing blow.

“Stop them!” a voice rang out from the stands, piercing through the noise of the battle and the roar of the crowd. “Capture them alive!”

“Follow me!” Kandler screamed as he engaged the first of the guards. Having been ordered not to kill, the warforged held back, and Kandler soon had the best of his foe. A shot from Burch’s crossbow took out another.

Just as Kandler saw his way clear to the nearest tunnel entrance-only a single warforged still stood in his way-something that looked like an ornate shield slammed down in front of him. Its edge bit deep into the floor as it sliced down through the hapless warforged before him, cutting it in half.

Kandler looked up and saw that the shield was actually the axe-arm of one of the titans. The monstrous creature shambled in front of the tunnel door as it tore its weapon from where it was embedded in the floor.

A scream came from behind Kandler, and he turned to see the other titan knock Sallah aside with its massive hammer. The blow smashed into her chest and sent her flying back and skittering across the arena floor. Her sword sailed away from her grasp and landed several yards beyond.

Kandler started to run toward the fallen knight, but the other titan’s hammer slammed down just behind him. The blow missed him, but it shook the floor hard enough to knock him flying.

The justicar rolled with his momentum, tucked himself into a neat somersault, and sprang to his feet, his sword still at the ready.

“Hey, boss!” Burch said. The shifter stood right next to the justicar, his loaded crossbow in his hands. “We finally out of luck?”

Kandler shook his head. “Not yet.”

“You idiots!” the voice from the stands said, even louder this time. “I said I want them alive!”

The rest of the voices in the arena fell silent, and the titans froze, their weapon-arms poised to strike at a moment’s notice.

Burch grinned at Kandler and said, “Now that’s lucky.”

“The problem with luck,” Kandler said, “is that you can’t count on it.”

“Archers!” the voice rang out.

A long rank of warforged stood up from the back rows of the stands, raised their bows, and stretched them toward Kandler and Burch. The justicar glanced back to see that one of the titans had blocked the nearest tunnel exit with its foot. It was a long dash to either of the next-nearest exits.

“Surrender, breathers!” the voice said.

Burch nudged Kandler on the shoulder and pointed toward a blue-painted box in the center of the arena stands opposite the side the justicar had come through. It was large enough to hold a score of spectators, each of whom sat in a large chair. These were stacked in tiers to provide their occupants with a perfect view of the entire arena.

A warforged dressed in a crimson cape with a silver hood stood at the front of the box. His silvery armor plates, burnished to a mirror finish, reflected the light of the dozens of torches distributed throughout the arena. In his hand, he held a golden horn that amplified his voice as he spoke.

“Canyou hit him from here?” Kandler asked.

“Maybe,” the shifter said, “but not all the archers too.”

Kandler looked up at the warforged leader in his private box. It galled him to surrender, but he didn’t warm to the thought of certain death either. He thought of Esprл and Xalt where he’d left them standing outside the stadium, and he knew the most important thing he could do was buy them time. If he could convince the warforged to hunt down the changeling too, then all the better.

Kandler shook his head and sheathed his sword, and Burch slung his crossbow across his back. They strode across the arena floor to where Sallah lay on the ground. Blood trickled from her nose, and she looked pale, but her eyes were open.

“I can’t breathe,” the lady knight gasped with a panicked look on her face. “I think my chest is crushed.”

Kandler knelt next to her and put his hand on her chest. It was dented horribly, but something was wrong. He couldn’t feel her breathing at all, despite the way she panted. “Maybe,” he said, lifting the bottom of her shawl to reveal a shiny silver breastplate beneath. He smiled and said to her, “I thought I told you to leave your armor behind.”

“All of it?” Sallah said, trying to laugh.

Kandler reached down to Sallah’s side and unbuckled her armor, then nodded at Burch to give him a hand. They sat Sallah up, and her dented breastplate fell away. The lady knight sucked in a large breath of air and held it.

“How’s that feel?” asked Kandler. He looked around to see that a score or more of well-armed warforged had surrounded the trio. The creatures stood there with their weapons out and ready but did not say a word.

Sallah reached up to feel her ribs. “Painful,” she said, “but I’ll live.” She glanced at Kandler and Burch, “Thanks.”

“Don’t thank us,” the justicar said. “Thank our host. If he hadn’t said something, you’d probably be a smear running down the side of that titan’s axe right now.”

“That’s a bit more gratitude than I think I can muster at the moment,” Sallah said, seeing the impassive faces of the warforged pressing in around them.

“Bring them to me!” the voice from the stands said.

Many warforged hands reached down and lifted the intruders to their feet. “Keep working at it,” Kandler said to Sallah. “You’re about to get your chance.”