Blood and fire filled the air with their heavy stench.
As he crawled through the ruined streets of the city, dragged by gasps for air, his body protested.
Selis dragged him up, her hand locked around his wrist, like a vice, her blade spattered with fresh red.
The shouted cries of pursuers rang behind them through the broken streets.
Darius was far from done.
Kael gritted his teeth to keep the whimper from escaping him as each step sent jolts of pain splintering out from the open wound in his side.
"Goddamn. How much longer?"
"Not far," Selis hissed. "If we can get over the northern wall, we'll disappear."
A sharp whistle broke the silence.
Instinct took over. Just in time, as an arrow whizzed past, burying itself in a wooden frame of a collapsed building, Kael shoved Selis to the side.
A second arrow struck a glancing blow to his shoulder.
Pain flared, yet he forced himself to move.
"Move your ass, Kael!" Selis shouted, pulling him into a side alley.
"They're closing in!"
Kael heaved an unhappy breath and made himself follow.
He could see the ground slick with blood and rain, crumpled bodies in grotesque heaps.
The city was turning into a fucking graveyard, and they were next unless they got the fuck out of there.
A second set of footsteps thundered behind them.
A look back over his shoulder sent ice through his spine: four assassins, wreathed in the black of Shadowborne, tearing the world behind them as they covered the last of the distance with alarming speed.
"I didn't f*cking call you," Kael screamed.
Selis didn't respond. She turned on her heel, slinging a dagger on the way out with surgical precision. It hit home, embedding itself in the throat of the closest assassin.
The man gurgled and then fell in a heap.
The other three didn't slow.
"Go!" Selis yelped and turned to the sound. "I'll take care of this!"
I'll show you how to handle this," Kael snarled, but she was already moving.
Her sword snapped, plunging into the first attacker with a sickening crunch as steel ground through flesh.
Blood spurted in thick arcs, splattering the walls of the alley.
The second assassin leaped forward, the scimitar slicing toward her throat.
Kael hadn't had time to do much; he kicked a loose stone, and it skimmed to slide under the assassin's foot.
The man hesitated, allowing Selis to drive her dagger up under his ribs.
The remaining assassin growled, pulling out a couple of short blades.
Selis didn't even have time to defend against his first strike before he followed it with more, forcing her back against the wall.
Kael moved without thinking.
He picked up a discarded sword from the ground and thrust it through the attacker's spine.
The blade pierced through flesh and bone, emerging from the man's chest in a horrific tableau.
The assassin's body convulsed, then crumpled forward, dead.
Selis wiped her own face, her eyes large and frantic. "I told you to run."
"Fuck that," Kael panted. "We're in this together."
A familiar voice rang out, slicing through the night.
"So touching. But it won't save you."
Kael's stomach turned to ice. Darius.
He stepped out from the darkness, his golden eyes sparkling with sadistic humor.
His sword was unsheathed, its blade slick with blood from his last kill.
Other assassins spread out behind him, cutting off any chance of escape.
Selis stiffened. "Shit."
Kael gripped his hand around his sword.
"Thought you'd bleed out, brother."
Darius chuckled. "And I really wasn't wanting you to just accept your fate. But here we are.
You've created a real mess here, Kael. You think you could really just walk away? That I'd let you?"
Kael splattered blood on the earth.
"I don't care what you let me do."
Darius sighed and shook his head. "Always the stubborn one. But it's time to end this."
He waved a hand, and his men advanced.
The assassins lunged.
Kael barely had time to lift his sword before the first landed on him.
The blades collided in a shower of sparks that sent steel grinding against steel.
He twisted away from a second blow, then drove his knee into the attacker's gut.
Selis glided like a shroud, alternating between adversaries, her daggers plunging into the tissue with pitiless exactness.
She ducked one assassin's blow, then skewered his armpit with her blade, twisting until his scream became a wet gurgle.
Kael caught sight of Darius frozen in place, watching. Enjoying the show.
"You fucking coward," Kael growled, striking down another attacker.
"Are you too afraid to confront me yourself?
Darius sneered. "Oh, I'll get my turn. But I want to see you bleed first."
Kael barely dodged the blow.
All but a deep gash in his thigh where a razor-sharp knife glided, however, enough to catch him unawares.
He bore down, chewing through the pain, as he pushed himself on and on, fueled by rage to keep attacking.
Selis emitted a strangled scream.
Kael turned just as one of the assassins plunged the blade into her stomach.
"No!" He lunged, his sword sweeping a grotesque arc across the attack's neck.
The head of the man thudded to the ground.
Selis reeled, clapping her hands over her wound. Blood oozed through her fingers, soaking her clothes.
She gazed up at Kael, her eyes wide with shock and parted lips.
"Damn it," she panted. "That's bad."
He caught her before she could reach the ground.
"Don't go. Just hold on, damn it."
Darius sighed. "How disappointing. I had expected a lot more from her."
Kael's anger flared. He placed Selis down slowly and faced his brother.
"You're going to pay for that."
Darius sneered as he drew his sword.
"Then come and make me."
Kael charged.
The world faded around him as he swung, every bit of rage pouring into his hammer.
Darius matched him, every sword stroke a clash of brutal, deadly combat.
Kael's muscles protested, but he pushed through. He couldn't.
Then Darius feinted, a calculated misstep.
Kael took the bait.
Kael's breath left him in a rush, Darius' blade shimmering before him as it sank deep into his side.
A blast of pain hit him, white-hot and scorching.
He wavered, hands losing purchase on his sword.
Darius laughed. "Oh, are you predictable?"
Kael dropped to his knees, blood collecting beneath him.
He hardly heard Selis' weak, gasping breaths behind him.
Darius was on his knees next to him, holding his hair, making him look up.
"Here is where it ends, little brother. Any last words?"
Kael smirked, blood running from his lips. "Yeah. F*ck you."
Darius sighed. "Typical."
And then he drove his sword forward.