It drags him behind a pile of rubble, bashing his head and shoulders on jagged fragments along the way.

The Watchers all become fully alert and ready for battle, but they’re practically hyperventilating. These guys have not fared well here.

I stand frozen. If these legendary warriors are afraid, what should I be feeling? I’m beginning to wish I had just kept my mouth shut about coming here. Being killed in a gladiator arena is starting to sound merciful now.

They all fly after Little B even though there’s more than a little stress on their faces. They kick and yank and try to pull him out of the tentacle’s grip.

Then another one of them gets sucked backward. As far as I can tell, the thing that took him was the scorching wind.

He gets yanked back through a window of a half-demolished building. Within seconds, screams erupt from inside.

The nearest Watchers rush to the window and look inside. They look away like they wish they hadn’t seen what they just saw.

Somewhere, another kind of screaming heads our way. It’s a mad shriek in the distance that sets my nerves on edge.

The Watchers back away with Little B who is kicking off the last of the tentacle that had him. They turn and begin rushing away from the building and the direction of the mad screams.

Someone grabs my arm and pulls me with him. To my surprise, it’s Beliel. ‘Stick with us. We’re your best chance.’

I notice he doesn’t say best chance at what. I bend to grab my sword off the ground, not caring if any of them see me do it. They’re too busy getting in formation and scanning for danger to pay any attention to me.

We scatter, half running with our backs to each other. These guys have worked together before. Too bad it doesn’t seem to help them much here.

Where’s Raffe?

What have I gotten myself into?

Chapter 36

36

We run through the district, zigzagging this way and that like a pack of wolves escaping from a hunter. The place is full of broken bricks and old bones. Charred and twisted chunks of wood lie alongside rusted pieces of metal among the debris.

I try to keep up with the Watchers, some who run and some who fly low to the ground as though worried they could be seen higher up. Beliel flies with his hand on a Watcher’s ankle to guide him. It must take a lot of trust to fly blind. The Beliel I know would have a lot of trouble doing that.

They’ll probably kill me as soon as they get the chance, but I’ll deal with that after we escape from whatever it is that’s trying to kill us now. I make the mistake of turning around to see what we’re running from.