To Seduce An Assassin (The Omaja Series Book 2)(96)

“Let’s go!” he whispered to Yajna and Jiandra, and they ran for the shelter of the prison building’s shadows. Once there, Yavi threw the hook up and caught the inner edge of the wall surrounding the palace. Yajna gave Yavi his bow and arrows, took Jiandra onto his back, and climbed the rope quickly.

Yavi followed, secured the hook on the other side, and waited for his brother to climb down with Jiandra first. He tossed his brother his bow and arrows, slid down the rope, and then the three of them ran for the trees where their horses were hidden.

Yavi paused before mounting his horse. “We can’t leave yet. We need to know if the sword really kills the Vyrkune.”

Jiandra shook her head, out of breath. “We can’t face down that entire palace full of Vyrkune, Yavi. They’re too fast.”

“I’m not suggesting we confront the entire horde. I’m thinking if we can catch one alone and kill him with the sword, we can drag him out here and wait.”

“They are sure to pick up our scent soon, brother,” Yajna warned. “If we stay in the area, they’ll likely come to us, but in greater numbers than the three of us can handle.”

“Let’s circle back to the southern gate, slip through the secret passage there,” Yavi suggested. “Hide until we see one who’s separated from the others.”

Jiandra frowned. “But what if they track us there? We’ll have trouble escaping again.”

“This might throw them off a bit.” Yavi drew his dagger, grabbed the blade, and sliced open his palm. He stepped back and dripped the blood over the snow and rocks at their feet, letting it trickle until there was a good amount of blood on the ground. Then he sheathed the dagger and held out his injured hand to Jiandra. “Would you fix this, sister-in-law?”

She smiled and grasped the Omaja in her fist. Its bluish-purple light sprang to life. She covered his bloodied hand with her own, and soon he felt the pain dissipate, the skin seal back together, and strength re-enter his hand. He bent down and used some fresh snow to clean the blood off his skin, then turned to mount Sikar.

They took a wide route around the small forest of trees, then angled back along the road leading to the southern gate of the palace. They dismounted and hid the horses behind the jutting fa?ade of the large gatehouse, used the secret passage to slip inside the wall, then hurried along in the shadows to the back of the stables.

There was movement in the open yard at the back of the palace, sounds of growling and angry shouting. They could hear Uman’s voice over the din, issuing orders.

Yavi threw his grappling hook up to the roof of the stables and motioned Yajna to go up first with Jiandra. Yajna handed him his bow so he could take Jiandra on his back. Yavi slung the bow on his own back over the Zulfikar sword and followed them up. They ducked down behind a pitch in the roof just as the horde rushed toward the southern gate like a herd of vicious animals, chanting “Blood! Blood! Blood!”

Yavi prayed they wouldn’t smell them or their horses on their way out, that the scent of the fresh blood he’d left in the copse of trees to the east would distract them.

As the last of the Vyrkune rushed through the gate, Yajna strung an arrow and picked off one of them at the rear of the group. He fell, convulsing a moment, and the rest of the horde thankfully didn’t look back on their way out.

Yavi leapt off the roof into a pile of hay, then scrambled to his feet and drew the greatsword. He plunged it into the Vyrkune’s chest and looked up just as Yajna tossed his bow down to him. Yajna and Jiandra slid down the rope to the ground, and Yajna retrieved the hook.

“Let’s get him on my horse.” Yavi handed his brother his bow, and Yajna helped him lug the creature through the gate and around the gatehouse to where their horses were waiting. They draped the limp Vyrkune over Sikar’s hind quarters, quickly secured him to the saddle with a rope, then mounted their horses and fled west along Darpan’s outer wall. Yavi prayed the pool of blood he’d left on the ground would buy them enough time to get away from the city and back to the fort.

When they were almost to Anvitha, Yavi noticed that his passenger had not stirred. He calculated that it had been at least twenty minutes since he’d pierced the creature’s chest with the sword, and he hoped that meant the sword had worked.

Ahead of him, Yajna motioned to something behind him. “Brother, look!”

Yavi turned in his saddle to see a sea of dark forms moving in the fields behind them. The horde of Vyrkune had picked up their scent, and were following them to Anvitha on foot.

And gaining on them.

Yavi kicked Sikar into a faster gallop, and Yajna and Jiandra did the same. They could see the torchlights of Anvitha a couple miles ahead, glowing above the gates in the distance. As Yavi closed in on the fort, he began shouting at the top of his lungs at the gate guards.

“Open the gate! Vyrkune are coming right behind us!”

The guards took a moment to hear and understand his shouting, but then Yavi saw the gates swinging open. He looked back. The pale white faces and black gaping mouths of the horde were visible in the moonlight now—they were only a couple hundred feet behind him, and gaining by the second.

By the time Yavi, his brother, and sister-in-law rushed through the gate, there was barely enough time to close it. His soldiers shoved the gate doors shut, then tried to hold them as the horde smashed into them from the other side. The gates were forced open just enough for three Vyrkune to push their way inside. Before Yavi could dismount, they had attacked some of his men, opening their wide jaws and biting into the soldiers’ faces with their sharpened teeth. The remaining soldiers struggled to shove the gate closed completely so they could lower the bar.