Page 44 of Daring the Drakarn Warrior Lord
She twisted in my grip with enough violence that I had to adjust my hold or risk actually hurting her. The moment my arms shifted, she drove her elbow backward into my ribs. Hard enough to make me grunt.
I set her down and immediately regretted it.
She spun, blade coming up in an arc that would have opened my throat if I hadn't jerked back. The tip of her weapon scraped across my jaw, drawing a thin line of blood.
We both froze.
"Darrokar …"
The sound of combat erupted from the corridor beyond the sanctum.
We both turned toward the archway. Voices raised in challenge. The clash of weapons. Wings beating against stone.
More participants, fighting their way toward the inner chamber.
Terra's attention snapped back to me. I saw the calculation in her eyes. Saw her recognize that my focus had split, that I'd have to divide my attention between her and whatever was coming through that archway.
Three Drakarn warriors burst into the sanctum.
Young. Aggressive. Their scales were scratched from previous fights, their weapons already drawn. They saw me and hesitated for just a moment.
Rath could probably handle them. I could pursue Terra and end her foolishness.
Instead, I turned from her and went to meet the young warriors claw to claw.
12
TERRA
The sanctum was empty.
I stood, chest heaving, blood dripping from the cut above my eyebrow, and stared at the bare pedestal where the blood-flame should have been.
Gone.
Someone had slipped past while I'd been fighting Darrokar. While I'd been so focused on proving I could match him blow for blow, another warrior had grabbed the prize and disappeared into the tunnels beyond.
I wanted to scream. Wanted to collapse right there on the stone floor and let exhaustion take me. My shoulder throbbed where I'd slammed into a wall three chambers back. My ribs ached from a tail strike I hadn't dodged fast enough. Every muscle in my body felt like it had been wrung out and left to dry.
But I didn't collapse.
Because giving up now, after everything, would make this whole insane venture meaningless.
I limped across the sanctum, my boots scraping against stone that had been polished smooth by centuries of ceremony. The pedestal stood in the center of the chamber, carved fromvolcanic rock and inlaid with symbols I'd hadn’t yet learned to read. Empty. Mocking.
Whoever had taken the blood-flame couldn't have much of a lead. Minutes, maybe. The finish line was at the city's edge, a solid distance even for a Drakarn with wings. If I moved fast, if I pushed through the pain and exhaustion, I might still intercept them.
Might.
The word tasted bitter.
I'd fought so hard to get here. Survived obstacles designed to break warriors twice my size. Taken down Drakarn competitors through sheer stubbornness and tactics I'd learned from watching Darrokar drill his warriors. Made it all the way to the inner sanctum only to arrive seconds too late.
The unfairness of it burned in my chest.
But standing here dwelling on it wouldn't change anything. I needed to move. Now.
I turned toward the exit corridor. My legs protested the first step. The second was worse. By the third, I'd found a rhythm that was more hobble than run but at least kept me moving forward.
