Page 111 of Silver & Gold
Maybe Raider’s mind was processing slowly. Maybe that was why he didn’t see Kahzir move. But Fadesh didn’t seem to see Kahzir move either. One second, the arcanist was protesting. The next, a red line bloomed across his throat.
Maybe, even then, the power of the Alchemist’s Stone might have saved him. Indeed, the wound began to close. But Kahzir snatched the Stone from where it hung and yanked it away, snapping the golden chains.
His knife—no, a scalpel—flashed at Fadesh again, plunging into his black-robed body. The arcanist cried out in pain and shock. Then he crumpled to the ground.
“No one is my equal,” Kahzir sneered at him. “Not the maker of this thing. Certainly not you. Accomplished?” Kahzir spat on the groaning figure. “You snatched this when the opportunity was there. Now I have snatched it. Is that an accomplishment? No. But it is an asset—and I will use it. Partner? You were a mere instrument, wielded by my hand—and a clumsy instrument at that.”
Apparently satisfied, Kahzir bent to the groaning figure and slashed. There was a choking gurgle—then silence.
Kahzir straightened. His face was still. Emotionless once more. His eyes were cold. He calmly turned a lever at the head of the table.
Raider’s sluggish nerves jolted as the sides of the Box came up. A sound of horror slurred from him as the lid slid shut.
Raider shut his eyes, but he knew, of course, that it wouldn’t help. It wouldn’t change the fact that he could feel this closed-in space even without seeing it. It wouldn’t stop what was coming.
As the Box sent its first heavy shock through Raider’s body, he screamed.
CHAPTER 34
SETH COULD NOT ESCAPE the homunculus. Impervious to harm, it pursued him relentlessly through the palace.
Every part of its body he cut away was simply reformed into the animate but unliving clay.
It needed no weapons. Its body was its weapon. Clay fists slammed into Seth’s face and torso. Clay fingers snatched and grabbed.
Seth needed to get away from the homunculus so he could circle back to the catacombs. He had to get to Raider. So he ran as fast as he could.
When he found himself at the doors of the dining hall, he put on a burst of speed, racing past the low tables to another set of doors. But when he threw those doors open, the clay creature oozed from the wall’s bricks of fired clay.
Seth shouted in dismay.
Where the hell was the Hammer?
Where the hell was Nasrin?
Why was there no one to help him?
Why was there no one here at all?
As Seth neared the entrance hall, he heard the sounds of a fight. Blades clashed. Men shouted and screamed.
He raced toward it, hoping the chaos might distract the homunculus.
In the entry hall, the Hammer fought hard against men whose pointed bronze helmets marked them as Prince Rahim’s. The prince’s men weren’t alone. Others fought beside them, soldiers of powerful men that Seth wouldn’t have reason to know. But Zarina would. She had known from the start how perilous her position was.
Though Seth couldn’t quite forgive her for what she had forced on him and Raider, he did understand why she’d done it. Clearly, she had many enemies—and now they were all showing themselves.
Even here, the homunculus was relentless. It rose from the floor of clay tiles right in front of Seth. He chopped off its head once more and fled.
Seth found himself at a set of grand doors. He hauled them open to find the vast space of the throne room—and another fight.
Here he found the rest of the Hammer. And Prince Rahim with more of his men.
Here, too, was Nasrin, guarding the empress as she huddled in a corner.
Zarina had said there was an escape door behind the throne. She must have been on her way to that but had been cut off. Maybe if Seth could clear a path to that, she could get out—and so could he.
Maybe then, he could get back to Raider.