Page 133 of A Thousand Nights Before Dawn
Waaiz backed up, blocking the window with his arm. “Go!”
Namir lifted Zahra off of him, standing with wide eyes as she placed her hand on her bleeding shoulder.
“Wait,” Zahra cried, as Namir pulled her toward the door. She reached toward Waaiz. “Don’t!”
Waaiz’s scar wrinkled as he smiled, an effort that seemed to pain him. An arrow struck him in the back, and he crumpled to the floor.
Namir closed the door, his hands trembling as he dragged Zahra from the room. He held hiskhopeshat his side, guiding her down the stairs. “They’re in the building.”
At the bottom of the stairs stood Ramses. Moonlight shone on him from the windows. An assassin was dead on the floor beside him, and his head was bleeding from being struck. He signed with one hand. “Three assassins went toward the throne room.”
Namir gritted his teeth, signing in reply. “We have to warn my mother and sister.”
“There are guards there to protect them,” Ramses signed. “I must protect you.”
Zahra turned toward one of the doors as another vision came to her. “Give me your dagger.”
Confusion filled Ramses’s face, but he took it from his belt and tossed it to her.
Zahra caught it in her hands, motioning toward the door. “They’re coming through there next.”
Namir’s eyes narrowed. “Then we will be there to greet them.”
He traded swords with Ramses, and Ramses smiled and laughed. “They’ll think you did all the work.”
A grin came to Namir’s lips before they moved into position.
Ramses and Namir waited on either side of the door, and Zahra hid by the stairs. The door flew open, and two of the assassins burst through. The first one saw the body on the floor and moved to the side, but Ramses was waiting there with his blade at the ready. The second assassin turned to the other side, his blade clashing with Namir’skhopesh.
The first assassin fell to the floor, badly injured in his side by Ramses’s blade. He swiped his knife at Ramses.
Namir backed up as the assassin pushed hard against his blade. Zahra came out of hiding, holding her dagger close to her chest. The assassin saw her approaching and slid his blade off of Namir’s to hit her. Zahra ducked, and he completely missed her. She swiped at his side with the dagger, digging it deep in his skin.
The assassin cried out, and Namir kicked him backward. He sank his blade into the assassin’s chest as Ramses dispatched the other assassin. They turned to each other, heaving.
Zahra stepped back, looking out of one of the high windows. The blood moon was full. She signed as best she could with one hand. “We don’t have much time until the night ends. If we?—”
She stumbled backward as Ramses stepped toward her, his form cast in shadow and his eyes glowing red. Namir sprinted forward, catching Ramses’s blade with his own.
Zahra moved to the side. “Don’t hurt him!”
Namir forced the blade from Ramses’s hand, and he dropped hiskhopeshto shove Ramses up against the wall. Ramsespushed against him, reaching for his dagger, which wasn’t there. His voice was deep and animal-like as he pointed at her. “Assassin.”
Namir shook his head. “She isn’t.”
“He doesn’t see me,” Zahra said. “He sees a threat.”
Ramses kneed Namir in the ribs, and Namir cried out, stumbling backward. Ramses ran forward, reaching for his blade, but Namir tackled him.
Zahra stumbled backward into the moonlight, watching with stunned eyes. Even though Namir was in the darkness, he was still fighting Ramses. Why was he not affected, too?
“Pull him into the moonlight,” Zahra cried.
Namir grunted. He threw Ramses toward Zahra. Ramses caught himself, but he froze as the moonlight chased the red from his eyes. He looked up in confusion at Namir, then back at Zahra as he realized his actions.
Namir signed to Ramses, and Zahra stepped away.
“I’m sorry,” she heard Ramses speak.
