Traitor to the Throne

I careened around the next corner, my bare feet skidding on smooth marble.

And then, like a Djinni blossoming from the sand, Jin was there at the other end of the hallway, firing at something I couldn’t see. My heart took off and I felt myself speed up.

He turned, gun up, raised toward me as I bolted down the hall. The soldiers were close behind me, but he wouldn’t have a clear shot at them, not with me in the way. I pumped my legs harder; I had to get to him before they got a shot off at me.

I could almost hear the hammers pulling back on the guards’ rifles.

I crashed into Jin full speed. His arm curled around me. He turned me sharply just as the guards lined up their shots, until there was nothing but his body between me and the bullets.

I could feel the pistol pressing into my back. I curled one hand around it and Jin’s grip yielded.

It was like being home.

I aimed in the space around Jin’s body that was still shielding me. Three quick shots. And then there weren’t any more. Not from me. Not from them.

Because I didn’t miss.

I pulled away from Jin. There were three bodies slumped on the ground, dead, and then there was nothing but Jin filling my vision.

‘You’re bleeding.’ Jin’s hands were frantically searching my body.

I was shaking hard. The sensation of being back in his hands. Of us being together again. Of pure relief.

‘Not mine.’ I shook my head. I had no idea where the blood had come from. ‘We have to move. We need to get people out—’

‘We are.’ Jin grabbed my hand. ‘They’re getting as many people out as possible. Shazad is taking care of the gates and and Imin escaped with your friend Tamid in the confusion. We need to—’ We burst around a corner. Kadir stood in our way, flanked by two of the Abdals, their twisted bronze faces staring at us blankly. Like Noorsham. But without any eyes. Without any flesh or blood inside. Or any doubt.

This was what the Sultan had wanted. Soldiers who couldn’t turn traitor. Demdji who didn’t have a conscience. Who wouldn’t fight his control.

I fired on instinct. My last bullet. It plunged straight through the clay where its heart should have been. It didn’t even stagger.

‘Well, little Demdji bitch.’ Kadir raised his gun towards us. ‘No traitor brother of mine around to save you now.’

‘Want to bet?’ Jin stepped in front of me, shielding me from Kadir, ready to fight him. But Kadir wasn’t interested in a fair fight; his finger was already pressing down on the trigger.

That was when the gates exploded.

The Sultim staggered, his shot going wide. It was enough. I grabbed Jin’s hand. We bolted for the stairs, a spiral leading up and up and up. Our feet pounded against stone as we climbed, Kadir close behind. We burst out onto a hallway. And I realised suddenly that I knew where we were.

I spun towards the room at the end of the hallway. It was Tamid’s workroom. The one where I’d been able to see the roofs of Miraji. When I’d thought about jumping. I slammed the door behind us, shoving the bolt into place a second before Kadir crashed into it, making the wood shake. In the corner of the room, one of the glass bottles fell from the shelf and shattered across the ground.

There. A coil of rope among the bottles and the bandages.

I grabbed it with one hand and ran to the balcony, Jin close on my heels. It was a narrow jump between the edge of the balcony and the wall. And from there it’d be an easy climb down.

‘I think we can make that.’ I was breathing hard. I was trying to be sure. I thought it was about the same distance as it was between Tamid’s roof and the one next to it at his house back in Dustwalk. I’d made that jump before. But that was so long ago it was hard to remember. And the drop here was a whole lot farther.

‘I wish I shared your confidence, Bandit.’ Jin’s breathing suddenly sounded shallow. I looked over and saw him clutching his side.

I grabbed his hand and pulled it away. It was a long cut. A stray bullet, maybe. ‘Damn it.’ I looked around desperately. Kadir was hammering on the door behind us.

We were trapped. No way back. Only forward. ‘If I can make it’ – I tied the rope to the banister of the balcony – ‘can you crawl?’

That smile pulled at the edge of Jin’s mouth. ‘Have I told you that you’re exceptional lately?’

‘No.’ I looped the rope around the edge of the balcony again. ‘You disappeared on me for a few months without explanation instead.’

Jin spun me around to face him. ‘You’ – he kissed me quickly, on the left corner of my mouth, sending a rush through me – ‘are’ – the right corner of my mouth this time – ‘exceptional.’

I didn’t wait for it. I pulled him to me, kissing him fiercely before pushing him away. ‘We don’t really have time for this now.’

‘I know. I’m distracting you.’ He tugged on the piece of rope and the loop I’d made came untied. ‘As exceptional as you may be, you’re also exceptionally bad at knots.’ He started doing something complicated, his fingers working deftly. And then he turned to me. In a few quick motions he’d looped the other end of the rope around my middle. ‘If you’re going to risk your life, might as well do it safely.’

‘You’re sure that will hold?’ I looked at the tangle around the railing uncertainly.

‘You can trust a sailor with knots,’ Jin said. ‘And you can trust me with you.’