“What do we do now?” Dimic asked.

“We fight.”

“You fight,” Dimic said. “I’m going to cut through those logs and fill up the wells.”

Before I could stop him, he leapt off the ledge as his brother had done. He took out one guard by sliding his blade across the man’s leg as he rolled by. Then he was off, running toward the dam stopping the water flow.

Soldiers moved to stop him, but I didn’t see what happened next because a barrage of them reached the top of the staircase.

My position proved an advantage. Only one could fit up the stairs at a time, so I dispatched them each quickly in turn. At least until the last three grew wise and huddled at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for me.

I leapt down the stairs, kicking one in the face and elbowing another. I got my sword up to block the third one’s blow.

He swung. I knocked it aside.

I went for his knees. He blocked.

I circled around the soldier. He matched me step for step.

I took every skill Cion had taught me and rammed my sword over and over again toward the soldier’s chest. His blocks became sluggish. Fear played about his eyes.

That look was still on his face when my sword slid into his stomach. He gasped and fell to the ground.

I pulled my blade free and turned to assess the situation.

Cion was holding his own against Rodric.

Dimic was hacking away at the beams of wood stopping up the lake. It looked like he’d already gotten through one and was fighting the current of water to hack at the next.

Water cascaded over the beams and hit the slabs full force before pooling back into the room.

If I didn’t get those slabs moved, then the water would just trickle wastefully down the open tunnels.

I raced to where the ropes wound around wheels, waiting to be raised or lowered, and swung through the ropes holding up the first slab.

There was a loud crash as one of the slabs fell to the ground and keeled forward. Water flowed over and around it into the tunnel leading to one of the wells.

It was swiftly followed by three more.

Rodric screamed in frustration.

Before the echo of the last slab settling in place had died out, I was already running toward Dimic. His thin body wouldn’t be able to stand up to the increasing current for long.

Worse, as I got closer, I spotted the soldier he’d cut across the leg climbing up the beams toward him. He was hidden under the stream of water. Dimic couldn’t even see him.

“Dimic, look out!” I called.

He turned in time to avoid the soldier’s blade from running through his side, but he lost his balance on the beam. He splashed into the water behind him.

“Dimic!” I screamed. I swallowed the bile creeping up my throat. My heart thudded in my chest. He couldn’t swim.