The Emperor's Edge 3: Deadly Games

The Emperor's Edge 3: Chapter 13 Part 2

“Close the door!” Amaranthe shouted, stumbling for the exit. “Get back!”

When Books tried to comply, he cracked his head on one of the beams, and his foot caught in a coil of rope. He dropped his lantern and stumbled to the floor. His light winked out. The door he’d thrust shut banged against the frame and bounced open again.

The glow of Amaranthe’s lantern was enough to reveal a fat insect as long as her finger flying from the hold. A tail reminiscent of a lizard’s streamed out behind it. Some utterly useless part of her mind remembered the Kendorians called them Fangs.

Wings flapped, and the insect veered straight toward Books. His feet were tangled in the rope, and he floundered.

Amaranthe tore her sword free and set the lantern down in one motion. She darted to Books’s side and swung at the insect. The blade sliced it in two. Its halves splatted to the deck, the long tail still twitching.

Before she could reach down to help Books to his feet, more buzzes filled the silence.

“Emperor’s warts,” she cursed. She started toward the cabinet, hoping to shut them in, but movement near the door made her jerk back.

Books extricated himself and leaped to his feet, his blade out before he stood fully upright. Four Fangs streamed out of the cubby.

“Back to back,” Amaranthe barked. “Slice them or squash them beneath your boots, but you’re dead if you let them bite you.”

“Understood.” Books lowered into a crouch, sword raised.

One Fang veered toward Amaranthe. She whipped her blade at it, but the insect sensed the threat and flitted upward. Her tip smacked into a beam instead, jarring her arm. The blade stuck in the wood, costing her precious time.

The insect arrowed toward her neck. She ducked, spinning and tearing her blade free. Books’s sword sliced in, hacking a wing off the Fang. It spiraled toward a wall.

Before Amaranthe could thank him, she spotted two insects flapping toward him. “Watch out!”

The wingless one bumped against a cabinet door near her. Fear stole finesse, and she chopped at it like a logger with an axe. Wood chipped free, and bug guts splattered.

“Got one,” Books said.

“Where are the other two?”

Amaranthe put her back against the cabinets and held her sword ready before her. She strained her ears, listening for their buzz, but she heard footfalls instead. Maldynado and Akstyr.

“Stay back, you two,” she called, charging for the corridor. “The bugs are deadly.”

She darted through the hatchway in time to see Maldynado ducking and flailing his arms. Akstyr lingered behind, and he backed away at her warning.

A Fang buzzed about Maldynado’s head. Amaranthe ran toward him, sword poised for a strike.

He saw her coming and dropped to the deck. She never took her focus from the bug. It drew in its wings to dive at Maldynado, but she skewered it.

“Where’s the last one?” she demanded. If it escaped into the night, it could buzz about the city, infecting countless citizens.

“Got it,” Akstyr said in a strained voice.

He stood on the steps, his arm outstretched. A bug hovered in the air, inches from his open palm. The wings continued to flap, but it did not make any forward progress.

Amaranthe raised her blade. “Shall I?”

“Wait,” he whispered.

Akstyr’s eyelids drooped, almost as if he were falling asleep, but Amaranthe knew better. She did not lower her sword and debated on simply ending it, but Akstyr needed practice to master his art.