There was a moment of shocked silence, a collective intake of breath, and then the palace hall exploded. The crowd screamed and ran amok, some crashing to the floor to escape the great Lila bird swooping down on them only to be crushed by the feet of those running for the doors. Women screamed as men pushed them out of the way to make their escapes.

When the stunned guards turned on Bonn Skaard, who now held his bloody ax in one hand and his long blade in the other, Leiffen was ready with a silver orb. He tossed it at the faces of the Nazeer guards where it exploded, blinding them instantly.

Nargos Nazeer's face was as red as the blood pooling at his feet from his son's severed head. "Guards!" he shouted. "Guards!"

But with the crowd rushing through the hall, the second in command couldn't get through. And the guards, most of them drunk by now, staggered around in the outer hall, scrambling to locate their discarded weapons.

Sputtering curses, Nargos pulled a sword from the belt of a fumbling guard, blinded by the orb, before kicking him in the ass and sending him flying off the dais and into the crowd. In the same motion, the Nazeer duke threw off his cumbersome robe. The old scrapper's body was still as taut as a young man's.

Growling through clenched teeth, Nargos charged the Skaards.

Leiffen jumped to dodge the whoosh of the blade, cutting the air.

By now, the Nazeer royal family had surrounded Starlex and were attempting to pull her through a curtained doorway behind the dais.

Leiffen released another orb. It exploded above the guards' heads in a great flash, scattering them like rodents. Starlex fell to her knees, her hands over her head. Leiffen grabbed her arm and led her through the curtains.

Bonn's lifted his long blade, meeting Nargos' gladius with a great clank. Bonn's foot found Nargos' chest and kicked. With a pained grunt, Nargos stumbled backward. Tracking through his son's gore, he tumbled off the edge of the dais into a crowd of panicked women.

With a deft swing of his ax, Bonn dispatched a guard and followed Leiffen and Starlex through the doorway and up a narrow staircase. Noise from the rushing guards echoed through the torch-lit hallway as they ran.

Leiffen led them to a balcony where he had prepared a rope earlier. He had looped it across a mezzanine railing spanning the courtyard to the outer wall.

"Ready?" he asked Starlex.

Not waiting for her answer, Leiffen grabbed her by the waist, and slipping his hand and foot through a loop in the rope, he jumped from the balcony. Starlex gasped as her feet touched air. She grabbed onto the rope and felt it burn her palms.

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They swung from one balcony and bounced their feet off the next to gain momentum. In the courtyard below, a phalanx of Nazeer guards aimed their crossbows at them.

Starlex screamed as the arrows released, and Leiffen dropped a silver orb. It exploded, skewing the arrows' paths away from them.

They reached the city wall. Starlex untangled herself from the rope, struggling to maintain balance in her cumbersome gown.

"Climb down the other side and mount the silver horse," Leiffen panted.

"Did my sister send you?" Starlex asked breathlessly.

"Yes, and we won't get paid unless you make it back alive. Now go!" With a gentle push, he sent Starlex over the wall. Her skirts softened her landing as she hit the rocky ground next to the waiting horses. Following instructions, she placed a sandaled foot in the left stirrup of the silver horse—its withers as tall as she—and pulled herself up and into the saddle.

Leiffen held out his hand, and the orb returned to it intact. He swung the rope back the rope back to the balcony. Bonn made a grab for it but was stopped when two Nazeers approached from behind.

"Damn," Leiffen muttered. A small battalion of guards had gathered in the courtyard below. Some were pointing their crossbows at Bonn, but some were moving toward the wall, toward him and the girl on the other side.

Leiffen released an orb and sent it exploding in the guards' faces to buy them time. Bonn was still fighting the other guards, his ax swinging while the rope dangled in the vacant space between the wall and the balcony.

"Ride up to those hills and wait for us," Leiffen barked at Starlex.

“What?” Her pale, frightened face shone up at him.

"No time for questions, love."

He reached down and slapped the stallion's rump, and the horse took off in a wild gallop.

Starlex's nervous fingers grappled for the reins. The skirts of her gown ballooned around her, the weight of them almost pulling her off the saddle as she rode like lightning toward the Crags.

The air, although hot and arid, filled her mouth with the taste of freedom as she squeezed her thighs around the horse's girth. She shot an anxious glance over her shoulder as she rode, hoping to see the Skaard warrior making his escape, the one with the golden hair and eyes the color of blue ice.

Nargos Nazeer had wrenched himself from the crowd and was now on the ground, fully armed, shouting commands to the gathering army. Bonn Skaard sent a guard flying off the balcony, knocking out several on the ground.

"Kill him, you fools!" Nargos screamed, his face as red as the distant Crags. "You there," he waved his sword at a cadre of men. "Go after the girl! I'll have your heads if you lose her! Go!"

Three Nazeers released a shower of arrows at Bonn, who pulled his shield from his back in time to deflect them. He looked over his broad shoulder and saw a line of guards with swords drawn running toward him from inside the palace hall. He cast his eye to the dangling rope then down to the courtyard below where more crossbows were aimed at him.

Leiffen read the play and threw another orb, this time directly at Nargos, whose men would have no choice but to protect him. Or risk his wrath.

The orb exploded in a fiery cloud, sending Nargos cursing and cowering. As expected, the nearby guards gathered around their duke, lifting their shields over his head.

Bonn Skaard sheathed his weapons in his bronze-studded belt. Then, with a great Skaard cry, he made a flying leap toward the dangling rope.