Page 113 of A Thief to Die For
There’s still tension in the air, but now with their capture, more of the guardsmen relax and emerge from their hiding spots. The collective sense of abandoning ship seems to grow as men run to gather weapons. Supplies. Most don’t even look at me. Unarmed, I’m not their opponent any more. And I’m certainly not their leader.
No one is.
‘What about him?’ Diggs asks, eyeing me nervously.
I remain still, hands open. But I see it: he’s going to tie me up too. Not just because it’s the safest for him. He’s a friend of Soren.
And then I’ll never get to Agatha or Marian.
I dart to the side, risking the tentative peace and sprint. At a flipped catapult, I dive underneath.
Diggs’s voice calls out, alarmed, ‘Hey! Where’d he go?’
I glance back while belly-crawling and spot Diggs jogging the other way – probably realising the other guards are about to leave him behind.
Sam and Levi will have to wait to be set free. Agatha has to be close – and alive – or I wouldn’t have felt anything from her before. Maybe she’s hiding.
My gut wrenches – Agatha might hide but not Marian. Where are you?
It hits me that I should be able to use the connection to guide myself. I try to focus … and feel nothing. Agatha and I haven’t really connected. Slowing my brain to home in on her is as natural as breathing underwater, but I force it. Maybe if I think about the parts of her that have intrigued me – her love of science, her intelligence. I throw in how badly I want to find her, and I feel it – the tug of the threads holding us together.
It’s followed by a swift kick of terror, stronger than before. I spin around, trying to follow where it leads as if it were a scent drifting on the breeze. But it’s gone. ‘Agatha!’ I call. I start running again, weaving around debris and scouring burned wagons. Is she buried under something? ‘Marian!’
I round some fallen trees and freeze when I see Atlas. He’s holding a fancy crossbow from the wall of his High Command. His daughters are tied up and gagged at his feet.
My pounding blood runs molten.
‘I knew you’d come for them,’ he says, aiming at me. He sounds smug, like holding his daughters hostage is something to be proud of. ‘I just had to wait.’
My hands slowly rise. You fool. You should have grabbed a weapon. ‘What are you doing?’ I ask, carefully. Marian’s temple is bleeding. Agatha’s eyes are big, and she’s got a streak of blood on her cheek.
‘I told you.’ He waves his crossbow. ‘I was waiting for you to arrive.’
So he can kill me? Get his revenge for the revolt, since he probably just heard my whole speech to his guardsmen? Not sure how true that crossbow aims, but from twenty feet away, my chances aren’t good. ‘Well, I’m here now, so let’s talk.’
‘Oh, I don’t want to talk.’ He laughs incredulously, eyes wild, hair dishevelled. ‘I’m ready to start shooting.’
I tense, but then he surprises me by swinging to aim at his daughters. ‘All three of you deserve to die for what you’ve done.’
‘Whoa, whoa, whoa,’ I say, lunging a step.
‘Stop!’ he shouts, jerking his weapon back to me. ‘Don’t you dare move.’
‘Okay, not moving,’ I assure him.
Agatha whimpers and I somehow feel it in my soul.
‘Good, then where was I?’ He returns to aiming his crossbow at his daughters, this time at Marian’s face.
My reaction is visceral. A bolt that close would mean instant death. It takes everything to keep my voice calm. ‘Come on, now. There’s nothing we can’t talk out. Don’t forget that I have a ton of resources you want. Old-world treasures. Cattle. Wheat. Electricity. And I’m your gateway to real magic. I’ll tell you anything you want to know.’
A sick smile twists Atlas’s face. ‘They all left me – Coatl’s dead. My guardsmen have deserted me. They even stole my coat. My armour. All because of you. I know I’m not making it home, so there’s only one thing I want now – and that’s to see you suffer.’
‘I’ll get you home,’ I say. ‘Just let Marian and Agatha go.’
‘No, you won’t.’ He shakes his head. ‘You’re a terrible liar. But I will let you choose one of them.’
‘For what?’ I ask warily.
