Hearts in Zenith (Four Husbands and a Lover)

54. Of Trust

After a while, my guide lifted his fist in the air, stopping our progress, then pointed to walk back the way we came. About a hundred paces deeper in the tunnel than the stop, Taffiz whispered, "They might lay in wait on the other side of a spike trap—at least I would."

I nodded. I would too.

"I'll hop twice to show where it ends," Taffiz instructed. "Until that point, you go single file. Don't linger. Each woman must set her foot exactly where the one before her stepped. There're markings, but don't waste your time searching for them. No matter if those who have passed through the trap are winning or losing, don't rush."

I thought of something else. "Don't let them push past you to trigger the spikes."

This time Taffiz nodded.

"I will go last," I said in a tone that brooked no argument.

His chin jerked toward me, but it was the only objection he allowed himself. I smiled: if he wanted me alive, now he had to keep all of us alive.

We lined up behind Taffiz and set out in a centipede fashion. He signaled the beginning of the trap—right where two painted spear maiden pointed their spears toward each other from the opposite walls, maybe guards trying to close the way to the intruders. A cruder drawing of a scorpia was scratched over the ancient frescoes. The Wheel of the Valiant circled it in a deeper, yet wobbly etching. Brilliant. And artistic!

Soundlessly, Taffiz started his run through, each foot hovering for a moment before touching the floor to show where it was safe to step. After I moved to the first safe position, I spotted a worn metal marking sealed into the floor—the letter afraz, same as the word for 'beginning'.

My eyes glued to the feet of the woman ahead of me, but I darted a glance ahead whenever I was able, so I saw Taffiz hop twice, then lunge to flatten himself against the wall. The woman in front of me expelled her breath. I agreed: it would be better to not get caught out here.

The leading woman of my squad was through. She landed next to Taffiz. When the third just about stepped out of the trapped section, an attacker darted from her hiding place.

The wild scream echoed down the stone passage. The scorpia assassin threw her weight against Taffiz, intending to topple him back into the tunnel and spring the trap on the rest of us.

"Eyes on the ground," I rasped. "Keep moving."

The sentinel who jumped us screamed for reinforcements. All five of the scorpia assassins could be within the earshot... then they would be upon us in no time.

Taffiz drew the first of the scorpia assassins away from the trap, but as expected, the rest of them popped out of the darkness, one by one. My women jumped into the fray as they emerged from the trap.

I was two steps away from the end, when a shuriken whistled, aimed at the woman ahead of me. She was one leap away from safety. I dove forward, propelling her ahead. The spikes exploded from the walls, the ceiling and the floor. They snapped together like the jaws of an eel. Missed me by a hairbreadth!

The tunnel was still reverberating from the banging of metal on metal, the shattering of the stone shrapnel ripped out of the walls by the mechanism, when I landed in a tangle of slashing, grunting, yelling and biting. Hot oil from the broken lamp burned under the combatants' braced feet. This was dirty fighting to the death. The kind I loved the most.

A knife clung on the stone next to me. I grabbed it, not wasting time getting my own dagger out.. got pushed into a square room the tunnel turned into after the trap.

Someone screeched that Taffiz was a traitor. 'Traito—' actually, since the word ended in a wet gurgle of a throat slashed. Which is how all insults should end.

We had the numbers, so the fight went down in our favor. One of them died. One was knocked out with her head bashed against the stone. Two surrendered.

I lifted each head by the hair to take a good hard look into their eyes. "Where are Peleth and Parneres?"

They remained silent.

Taffiz labored to fashion adequate bonds from rope we had with us and torn clothes. Once he finished, he set his violet eyes on me. "They are guards, protecting their superior. Peleth is close with her property."

A growl started in my chest when he called Parneres 'property', but he shook his head slightly. I gnashed my teeth. That's what Parneres was in scorpia's world. Property. Taffiz was reminding me what I was against.

"Let's go," I commanded.

Taffiz caught my sleeve. "To defeat Peleth, you'll have to trust me."

Before I barked an irritated 'yes, yes, I do', he brought my hand to his chest by the sleeve and pressed my palm tightly to his heart. It thumped fast and loud through flesh and gray cloth. Very much like him, a firebrand under his plain exterior.

"Give me your full trust, Ishmara. Not this 'I-will-go-last' piss-poor trust," he pleaded. "Or Parneres remains the property of his cousin."