Hugh thrust his arms upward, between Mauro’s massive arms, trying to break his hold. The air smelled of singed flesh. Hugh jerked his arms up, Mauro’s arms went wide, and the big knight headbutted Hugh in the face. Blood drenched Hugh’s lips. Broken nose, for sure.

Mauro grabbed Hugh into a bear hug, lifting him off his feet. Bones groaned.

“Kate!” Robert pointed to the right. I glanced in that direction at the medmage lying in a pool of blood. Steinlein strained to say something and reached into his pocket.

Hugh jabbed his thumbs into Mauro’s eyes. Mauro hurled him aside like Hugh weighed nothing.

Steinlein pulled out a bloody key ring.

Keys. Keys to the cage. I dropped on my knees by the bars. “Here.” If I could get out of the cage, between Mauro and me Hugh was finished.

Mauro grabbed at Hugh, but the preceptor moved out of the way. Burns covered his arms. The flesh around Hugh’s neck blistered.

Steinlein’s hand shook. He crawled toward the cage, leaving a bloody smudge on the floor. Hurry. Hurry.

Mauro bellowed again.

Steinlein stretched his hand with the keys toward me. I reached for it. The tips of my fingers just brushed against the keys. Magic sawed through my arm with fiery teeth and I jerked my fingers back. Damn it.

Hugh darted behind Mauro, grabbed his right wrist with his left hand, planted his right hand on Mauro’s shoulder, and swept his legs out from under him. The big man crashed down like a colossus on legs of sand. The room shook from the impact. Mauro’s head bounced off the floor.

Steinlein pulled himself forward another foot and collapsed, his hand stretching to the bars. I thrust my arm through the ward. The magic burned me, so intense that tears slid from my eyes. I clenched my teeth and reached through the agony, stretching.

I couldn’t let Mauro die, not big, kind, funny Mauro. He’d watched my back, he brought my dog treats, he helped people . . . I wanted him to live and be happy. I wanted him to go home to his wife. I wanted it so much. I didn’t want him to die here.

Magic was ripping my arm off.

Mauro was my friend. I couldn’t let him die here.

The world melted into pain. I screamed.

Something pulled me back. I blinked and realized Robert’s arms gripped me. My fingers held the blood-slicked keys.

Hugh grabbed his sword with both hands, point down, and drove it into the big man’s chest, sinking the entire weight and power of his body into it. The gladius sank in three inches. Mauro screamed.

I lunged to the door.

“No!” Robert clamped me down.

Hugh picked up Ted’s mace and brought it down onto the gladius like a hammer. The sword slid into Mauro’s chest.