Page 136 of The Shadowed Oracle
“My undying friendship?”
“Eh,” Tyla snorted, “You can’t fill a closet with that.”
“I knew it!” Raidinn dropped his sword to his side. “You loved being in that fancy gown, didn’t you?”
“Oh, would you shut up! Ingrid was the one who mentioned a closet! I was thinking more in terms of?—"
Chants started up again, cutting her off. The crowd was now hungrier than ever, calling out to their favorite gladiator.
“HAXUS!”
“HAXUS!”
It echoed like bass drums over the sound of jangling chains.
And the abomination once called King Horace was unleashed.
Chapter Forty-One
The momentthe chains hit the wet dirt, the massive animal was upon the gladiator closest to him. Even standing ten feet tall and possessing the bulging frame of a bull standing on two legs, he torpedoed at the soldier so quickly that Ingrid couldn’t trust her eyes to track him. His speed was supernatural. Armor and limbs went flying in the air like they’d been sucked up by a tornado and spit back out in seconds.
Before she could blink, Haxus was attacking the next closest warrior.
From the small sample, it seemed the monster operated like a heat-seeking missile. Whatever was closest to him would be charged with full force. Dean backed up slowly, not wanting to attract attention, but also making sure he and Ingrid were out of the line of sight. There were still six Occian gladiators working their way across the arena, and for now, they were holding the beast’s attention.
Haxus took out the second soldier with ease, monstrous talons catching a vulnerable spot in the male’s helm, ripping it off along with half of the unlucky soldier’s face. The remaining gladiators immediately fled like frightened insects, a fewaiming directly at the prisoners and the shackled princess they protected.
Dean and Veston charged out together. Using the momentum against his opponent, Dean led one to his left, only to make an acrobatic spin to the right, jabbing him in the base of the neck. The other gladiator escaped Veston’s slashes but was met from behind by Raidinn and Tyla, who fought like twin vipers side by side, working in wordless perfection.
Ingrid wasn’t the only one whose senses and reflexes had sharpened since coming to Ealis.
“What about Callinora?” Tyla asked the question as if the conversation had never stopped. “If we’re driven away from her, she’ll be helpless.”
Dean shook his head, starting to answer. “We can’t…”
“Can’t what?” Raidinn begged. “Say it. Not much time left.”
“Yes,” Veston said harshly. “Do finish that thought.”
“We can’t worry about her. Not now.” Dean was still catching his breath. “Look! Look at what we’re up against. Just look!”
Haxus had closed the gap between the remaining gladiators, taking out all but two, who had no choice but to fight the beast and leave their targets for later. Shouting through their thick iron face-guards, they yelled tactics to one another, teaming up to confuse Haxus. One wielded a bow and arrow, while the other stood a good length away, cracking a long whip. One after the other, they took turns agitating the monster with strikes to the rear. Haxus growled, pulled an arrow from his thick hide, barreled towards the offender, then stopped in his tracks to attack the soldier whipping him from the opposite direction. Like a game of keep away, but with the most lethal being Ingrid had ever laid eyes on.
“Callinora might be lost already,” Dean continued. “We don’t know what those binding spells have done to her. She was never the main objective anyway. Our mission is to protect Ingrid.”
“Unacceptable,” Veston said sharply. “I won’t leave Callinora here to die.”
“She’s why we’re here in the first place,” Tyla argued. “Without Callinora, without Arryn, this was all for nothing. How can the three of us possibly protect Ingrid? We need our army. We need shelter.”
Dean kept his eyes fixed on the battle before him as he spoke, “At this very moment. We have to choose Ingrid.”
“The hell you do,” Ingrid said.
“Even if we did manage to save them,” Dean groaned. “Who knows what is waiting for us back in Marraden?”
“Her people are waiting,” Veston stated plainly. “They will rally behind her.”
“And Ballius? The advisors? They removed the king from his throne. They might’ve killed him. How do you think they’ll treat his daughter?”
