Amneris and Colt made their way up five levels before being properly ambushed.

A groan came from Colt as he leaned against the wall, Amneris peaking around the corner. “Why can there never be an easy way to escape prison with you around?” he asked.

“Shush,” she waved a hand to keep him back. “I’m trying to count.”

Fifteen . . . Sixteen . . . Maybe somewhere closer to thirty.

Amneris pressed herself against the wall. “Oh boy. I mean, it’s not a lot but neither of us is exactly at our full power and I’m pretty sure we won’t be able to get through without one of us – and by that I mean you – getting killed—”

“I got the picture, Amns.”

Colt used a small amount of power to summon the khopesh she had lent him the day before they imprisoned. Amneris stared at the blade, the one he had given her on her fourteenth birthday. She looked away. This was too weird.

That was when she was attacked.

Someone grabbed Amneris, throwing her to the floor in front of the soldiers she’d been counting moments again. She laughed nervously, pushing her hair from her face. “Um . . . Hi?”

A guard kicked her across the face.

Amneris rolled to her feet, wiping gilded blood from her lip. “Rude.”

Colt stood over her, spinning the khopesh in his hand. “I say it again. Prison escapes are easier without you to cause trouble.”

“Start a party, you mean.” She took his other hand to stand.

Amneris summoned her staff, sweeping it out in front of her. The guards closest flew back.

She turned to Colt. “You make it sound like you’ve had to escape prison without me.” She shoved him to the side to catch an attacker’s blade on her staff. Amneris whacked them away. “Or were you talking about the time I tried to kill our father?”

“How did you—”

Colt was cut off once the guards regained their footing. Three attacked as one. Colt used the hilt of his blade to whack the first in the throat. He kicked them to the ground, spinning to the second who received a strong punch to the jaw. The third managed to punch Colt in the stomach. He doubled over. The guard made to strike again—

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Only to have a blade pushed through their throat.

Amneris pulled Colt to his feet. The two stood back-to-back, guards on all sides. There were definitely more than thirty.

“You could have told me who you are,” Amneris snapped after kicking a guard in the side.

“Now?” Colt asked. He used his power to spray red mist in the eyes on three guards. They were cult down with his blade. Colt turned back to Amneris. “You want to do this now?”

Amneris whacked her own opponent in the face with her staff, knocking them out. “Yes I want to do this now! Would just like some privacy first!”

Amneris channelled her power through her staff. A beam of blinding light and heat. The shock of the sudden light knocked those resistant to heat out while the others were burnt to ash.

Now alone, she turned back to Colt. “Why didn’t you tell me who you are?”

“What was I supposed to say?” Colt spread his arms in frustration, khopesh still in one hand. “It was not like I could walk up to you and say, “Hi there! I am your dead husband! How you been!” You would have killed me on the spot!”

“I might not have!” she countered.

“Amneris.”

“For all you know—”

“Amneris.”

“—I might have let you live!”

“Amneris!”

“What?”

Colt threw the khopesh so fast Amneris was almost unable to dodge it. Almost. She dropped to the floor. The blade grazed her hair before flying straight into the heart of another guard.

Amneris looked between him and the body. “You know what?” she said as he helped her to her feet. “We can have this conversation better.”

“No shit.”

He pulled the blade from the fallen guard.

The two continued to run.

* * * * * * * *

Several hours and thirty floors later, the pair found themselves sitting against the wall, panting.

“I know,” Amneris said, trying to defuse the tension between them, “It’s ironic ‘cause I have no breath.”

Colt managed a laugh, leaning his head against the wall. “Yeah,” he agreed. “If anyone should look like a dying fish, it is me.”

“I don’t look like a dying fish.” Amneris stood and stretched. “How many floors we gone up?”

“Thirty. I think.” He shook his head. “I doubt we would be able to keep track.”

“How big is this place?” Amneris groaned. “I’m hungry and want something to drink and really need to bathe.” She looked over her clothing. “Ugh, and I’m all covered in dirt and blood. Swear making me look blacker than I am.” She raised an eyebrow at her partner. “Then again, you look worse than me.” A wave of her hand healed a large bleeding cut on the side of his face. Amneris cocked her head to the side. “How does it feel to be tall for the first time ever?”

Colt rolled his eyes. “I have always been taller than you.”

“Barely,” she snorted. Amneris looked up at the stone ceiling. “Wonder how big this place is.”

“Some Terpolite prisons are over one hundred floors high.” Colt pushed himself to his feet. “I believe this is one of those which would mean . . . More than sixty floors until we reach the surface. Assuming I am counting right.”

“Oh boy. Fun.” Amneris grasped her staff. “We better get a move on, eh?”