Page 56 of A Tribute of Fire

They were clear.

I ran along the path, choosing left or right based solely on my gut.

The pathway emptied out into what appeared to be a residential area. There were cramped and poorly constructed apartment buildings all on top of one another. Some small children were playing in the dirt outside their homes, shaded by trees. We ran through a mostly deserted street and I felt the eyes of people watching us from their windows.

I wondered if they would help the men following us, telling them which way we’d gone.

Quynh was already panting behind me and it caused a knot to form in my abdomen. Her breathing hard wasn’t good. The chase hadn’t even begun yet.

I considered slowing down, not pushing so much, but I had to put as much distance between us and our pursuers as I could. I turned up an alleyway, looking around at the buildings as we ran. This was not the kind of place that the temple would be built in. It would be in a more expensive area.

We cut through several more alleys, some open squares, and down a street to find another opening into the labyrinth. I plunged back in, never letting my grip on Quynh go, even though my hand and her wrist had become sweaty.

The second horn blew, although it seemed a long distance off. Had we come that far that quickly, or were the walls distorting sound?

There was a thunderous roar as the men yelled, beginning their pursuit.

How long would it take them to catch up? Quynh had a short stride, and many of those men had been very tall and would eat up the ground quicker than we could.

Stupid girl. You should leave her.

Demaratus’s voice filled my head, but much as I had before, I refused to listen.

I wanted to ask Quynh if she was well, but I was afraid that if we spoke, it would make it easier to find us. I would only speak to her if it was absolutely necessary.

We made a left turn and I saw that there was a dead end approximately fifteen feet away. I slid to a stop and then turned, dragging Quynh along as I went right instead.

She was wheezing but still managing to keep up with me. And although I wouldn’t have admitted it, I had slowed down a bit for her benefit.

Demaratus’s voice was still in my head, telling me what a bad idea that was, but I had no choice.

The maze opened into another pocket, a marketplace. Would they have put their temple in a square like this one? Or would they not want commerce to be mingled with their worship?

“There they are!”

I looked over my shoulder and saw a group of men, maybe a dozen, with their swords raised. They’d entered the agora from a different tunnel and I pivoted, banking hard to my right, and headed into the marketplace.

While I hated to harm the livelihoods of the people who weren’t participating, Quynh’s survival was worth more than a few coins.

Stupid girl, don’t forget that chaos and confusion are your allies in battle!

I cut the leg of a table piled high with melons as we passed so that all the melons poured onto the ground. I heard several of the men tripping and falling—they’d been running too fast to come to a stop.

Quynh and I turned a corner and I saw a pen full of goats. I undid the latch, opening the gate. I yelled, waving my hands, and the goats barreled out, straight into the oncoming group of men. There was more swearing and confusion as we left them behind and I turned right down a narrow alley.

I considered the possibility that someone might be waiting for us at the other end, and I had my sword ready.

But when we entered the street, all I saw were carts full of hay. “Stay here,” I told Quynh.

There was a fire in a pit nearby, and I grabbed one of the logs and brought it back to the carts, setting fire to as many as I could before I heard the shouts of our pursuers.

They were headed down the same alley. I pushed one of the carts in front of the exit. People emerged from their homes and shops to help put out the fires, not realizing that I had deliberately set them.

One man did. He pulled his sword out and came toward me.

Before he could act I ducked down and sliced across his abdomen. Not deeply enough to kill him, but enough to stop his pursuit. Hishand went to his gut, shock all over his face as he started to bleed onto the sidewalk.

Fire and steel.

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