Page 25 of Ensii
“She’s never led us astray yet.”
Talitha slung her shield off her back and onto her forearm. “Come,” she said. “Let’s go then.”
Ashek fell in beside her as they advanced toward the open gates.
“Zula, take your soldiers from our ranks and set up a guard. I am leaving the securing of the outside of the palace to you.”
“Let no one enter,” Ashek ordered. “If there are more of those demons on the loose, more warm bodies will only complicate the matter.”
Zula gave the order, shouting for the rest of her battalion to join her from the marching ranks. They broke off and jogged to meet her.
Their first act was to lift the body of Tatia out of the street. They carried her into the shade of a guard’s pavilion and that was the last Talitha saw of her.
“Welcome home!” Talitha shouted as the gates passed over them.
A cheer went up from the freed Ilians and Hudspethites, jubilation and excitement despite the gore of the past hours. The Hudspethites cheered even louder than the Ilians, their excitement bleeding over to the northerners who whooped and howled in their victorious battle cries.
Talitha searched every dark corner and shadow for signs of more demons. Yet there was nothing. They were under attack, so it was not surprising that there were no servants or stable boys in sight. What made it odd was that Talitha could not even hear the animals. The stables were within earshot, surely the sirrushes and pigs and oxen should be making some noise? Had they all been killed as sacrifices, too?
Zula’s soldiers stopped everyone who attempted to enter the gates after them, turning everyone away before they even had the chance to plead their case.
“This way.” Talitha stepped for the main entrance, the one that led to the receiving room. There were only two places that Naram and Nehemian would have gone. One would have been the courtroom and the other would have been the temple to Anakti near her grandfather’s old quarters. Did that make them her quarters now? Talitha wasn’t sure she wanted them. Then again, she would have to see what state her own chambers were in.
Right then, the thought of sleep was her fondest fantasy. She wanted nothing more than a few hours’ respite. She wasn’t sure how she was still awake. It must be simple force of will.
The last time Talitha and Ashek had walked this way together, they had been all but strangers. How things had changed. Now they even came with their own army.
Ashek had been in awe of the winding staircase and the atrium with peafowl and greenery last time. The peafowl were gone, though the greenery appeared untouched. And Ashek was significantly less impressed than last time.
Their group made their way through the winding pathway. No one said it, but this would have been the perfect place for an attack.
Talitha was sure they were all holding their collective breaths. As they reached the top, the sound of panting became just a little louder, but she couldn’t quite rest yet. Nehemian was a puppet master, Naram was a puppet. Both were cunning, but neither was a soldier.
Talitha listened for any sign of the traitors in any direction. Nothing.
“We should split up into groups of twenty,” Talitha suggested.
“Agreed,” Ashek nodded. “Shaza, you go with your northerners and Wasari.”
“Gilsazi, take Kurzik. Ashek and I will go together.” It might have been unwise to keep both leaders together—if they were attacked, then both ensaak and priestly co-ruler might meet their end tonight. But Talitha didn’t expect to meet her end tonight and for now she wanted Ashek where she could see him.
They came across the first body near the doorway from the receiving room into the passages leading to the courtroom. It was a servant woman, but the look of her. Body twisted and sprawled out as if she’d been trying to get away unto her last breath. Her mouth was open in a ragged scream and her chest had been ripped open.
White, broken bones protruded from meaty, shredded insides. The fractured and broken lines of sinew mingled with broken cartilage and bone, smeared in clotted blood.
Talitha grimaced, then looked past. It appeared that the bloody paw prints had gone toward the gates and the body was at least four hours old. It must have been from one of the monsters they’d already killed.
Exhaling, Talitha moved past.
