Page 113 of The King of Koraha
Imaginary Gurice slapped her.You’re an idiot. If Xerxes kills the King and the entire population of Koraha, it’sXerxes’fault, not yours. Stop blaming yourself. Did you do the best you could?
Shyla considered Imaginary Gurice’s question.Yes.
There you go. Now wake up and go pretend to be dead.
Hot brightness greeted her. Her skin was tight and stiff. Sand coated her mouth. She blinked. Her eyelids scraped over the dry orbs in her eye sockets. The tunnel they had crawled through was wider. Without her magic, the sand must have slid down into the hole. Better than the dune collapsing on top of them.
Rendor stirred beside her, groaning. He was half buried in sand. “What…Where…”
“We survived,” she said. “I think.”
“You think?”
Remembering Imaginary Gurice’s comment, she said, “It’s not over yet.”
He groaned again. “What time is it?”
“Guessing by the heat, I’d say close to the end of the danger zone.”
“Then you better help me find the cuffs.”
Moving required an immense effort. Her brittle and dry skin cracked and bled as she dug through the sand. Once they found the cuffs, they crawled from the hole that had saved their lives from the killing heat. Even though the danger was past, the sunlight stabbed through her sun cloak and sizzled on her skin. But she ignored it as best she could because now they needed to survive Xerxes.
Wielding magic scraped her insides raw. Each push of her will on the sand left her weak and shaky. But she replaced the stake and secured the cuffs around Rendor’s battered wrists. Then she smoothed the sand around the dune, erasing their tracks except the ones she’d left when running over the dune. Then they staged their bodies.
“Facing each other?” Rendor asked. He lay down with the stake behind him and twisted on his side as if he’d collapsed from a sitting position.
“But I would have tried to get the cuffs off you.”
“And when you couldn’t? What would you have done to save us?”
“Oh, right.” She took off her sun cloak, then lay next to him. Covering them with her cloak as best she could, she moved close to him. With the last bit of her energy, she floated a layer of sand to create shade. She held it up until her strength ran out.
“Close your eyes,” she warned Rendor before it fell on top of them.
The stage was set. There was nothing left to do but wait. She didn’t even have enough power to scan for nearby bumps. They’d have to rely on mundane methods to warn them when Xerxes and his people approached. Exhausted, she fell asleep.
“…coming,” Rendor murmured, waking her.
The sound of voices and boots crunching through the sand reached her. Time to play dead. Considering her current physical state, she would have no trouble pretending to be a dried-out corpse.
“Seven hells,” Xerxes said. “What a waste.” His voice sounded from above them as if he stood on top of the dune.
“I told you she was stubborn,” Vilma said. “Do you want me to check and make sure they’re dead?”
“No,” Xerxes said. “If by some miracle she isn’t, I don’t want you being influenced by her magic.”
“She’s pulled off a miracle before,” Jaft said.
Shyla clamped down on a curse and hoped Xerxes ignored Jaft’s comment.
“Sunray, can you counter her magic if she tries anything?” Xerxes asked.
“If she’s alive, then yes. She’ll be very weak,” Rae said.
Xerxes must have given her a blackfire pendant along with that new name.
“All right. Go down and make sure they’re dead.”
