Page 36 of Daring the Drakarn Warrior Lord
He went still. His chest heaved. Fury radiated from him like heat from the crystals above.
"You fight like cowards," he spat.
"We fight to win." I didn't move the blade. "Is this over?"
He yielded.
We left him there, wings damaged, pride shattered. Lexa limped for the first few steps but forced herself into a steady pace. The cut on her arm was still bleeding. Her breathing sounded wrong, too shallow. Probably bruised ribs from that tail strike.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Fine."
She wasn't fine. Neither was I. My shoulder throbbed. My hands shook from adrenaline. The taste of blood in my mouth was a reminder of how close that fight had been.
But we were moving forward. That was what mattered.
The passage kept going. My calves burned. Sweat soaked through my shirt, mixing with the stone dust that coated everything. The heat intensified as we went on, pressing down like a physical weight.
Another intersection. This time, I chose right, following the sound of distant voices. Other participants, probably. TheSkalanth was designed to force confrontation, to test warriors against each other as much as against the obstacles themselves.
We were walking into a meat grinder.
The voices grew louder. Multiple speakers, arguing or fighting or both. The passage opened into a chamber carved from solid rock, maybe twenty meters across. Heat crystals the size of my fist lined the walls.
Six Drakarn warriors filled the space.
They'd been fighting each other, that much was obvious. Scales were scratched. Wings torn. One warrior sat against the wall, ash mark already visible on his shoulder. Eliminated.
They all turned when we entered.
Silence fell like a blade.
Then chaos.
Two of them came at us immediately, seeing easy targets. The others went back to fighting each other, too focused on their own competition to care about humans. The chamber became a mess of bodies and violence, everyone trying to reach the exit on the far side that led deeper into the Temple.
I ducked under a wing strike, felt claws rake across my back. Fabric tore but didn't reach skin. Lexa was beside me, her knife flashing as she drove it toward a warrior's exposed flank. He twisted away, but the movement opened him up to another participant's attack.
We used the chaos. Stayed low. Moved fast. Let the Drakarn fight each other while we navigated the edges of the battle.
A massive warrior with brown scales blocked our path to the exit. He wasn't fighting anyone, just standing guard, waiting. Smart. Let the others exhaust themselves while he stayed fresh.
His eyes found mine. Recognition flickered across his features.
"The Warrior Lord's pet." His voice carried over the sounds of combat. "This will be a story."
"Get out of the way," I said.
"Make me."
Lexa threw her knife.
It wasn't meant to hit him. Just to distract. He batted it aside with one clawed hand, and in that moment of diverted attention, I ran straight at him.
But not to fight.
I dropped into a baseball slide, using the smooth stone floor and my own momentum to carry me between his legs. He grabbed for me but missed, his claws closing on empty air.
