I gritted my teeth in panic. What were they going to do? Who did they have to fight?

The trumpeters blew once more, signaling that the trial was to begin, and Nasu spoke urgently to Dagan, his lips near Dagan’s ear. After a second, they briefly bumped their forearms together, and Dagan drew his dagger and sicklesword from his belt. Nasu drew his sicklesword and a mace, and they crouched into a fighting stance, their backs together. Whatever they would encounter, they would face it together, as friends.

With a harsh grating sound, the massive gate swung open once more and a group of guardsmen marched out in battle formation to the sounds of the drums. Dagan and Nasu tensed, clutching their weapons in white-knuckled fists.

Then more guardsmen spilled from the corridor, pulling a large, covered cart, which creaked and groaned beneath the weight of its contents. The men tugged, their muscles straining, until they’d pulled it to the center of the ring. As they locked the wheels, Uruku stood, a dark smile pulling his lips toward his ears.

The soldiers marched back toward the gate, leaving the cart standing where it was, the cover tied down with thick hemp ropes.

But something was under that cover.

Something alive.

Dagan and Nasu stood before it, crouched in anticipation. The crowd murmured below me.

“Iltani, what’s in the cart?” My voice came out warbly. Wrong. Off-kilter, fear changing the tone and tenor. Below us, the crowd quieted.

“Only the gods know what that maggot has done.”

As the guardsmen marched toward the exit, the last one pivoted and sliced through the rope, then ran to join the others behind the closing gate. The clang of the metal slamming shut reverberated around the Pit.

At once, the cover of the cart fell away as the rope split, and the contents of the cart were finally exposed.

Lions.

Two of them.

The male lifted its head and roared, and I screamed Dagan’s name loud enough to fill the Pit, the city, and hopefully, the ears of the warriors all the way in Laraak.

Come help us. We need you.

In horror, the people sitting closest to the Pit scrambled to find seats on higher ground, but the walls were much too high for the lions to escape. Dagan and Nasu, too.

My chest heaving, I wrenched myself out of my seat.

“Dagan!”

Nasu unsheathed his nerium-encrusted blade, spoke quickly into Dagan’s ear again. Dagan nodded and sheathed his sicklesword, then took up both his and Nasu’s daggers.

“Stop this!” I screamed furiously at Uruku, who was tense, his hands braced against the edges of the box in front of him, a gleeful smile on his lips. He wanted to watch them die! He must not have even cared about Arwia or he already knew where she was. This wasn’t a trial. It was a slaughter.

Uruku glanced at me and laughed, the violence about to commence bringing his bloodthirst out in full bore. He pointed to the fracas that was unveiling itself below.