Renegades (Hotbloods #3)

“Still operable, though it’s not particularly stable these days. A few of the guys tried to reinforce the support beams, but they gave up after one too many cave-ins. We don’t use it so much, unless there’s a Northern fighter who really wants a shot at a Southern warrior.” She chuckled.

Navan grimaced. “You still get a few coming through this way, then? I thought they’d have given up after Mako punched that Northerner’s head clean off.”

“Apparently, they still want to prove they’re better than us.” Nisha sighed.

Navan frowned. “I thought you were a Northerner, originally?”

“I am, but don’t spread it around,” she whispered back, a coy smile on her lips. “It was simpler when the planet wasn’t split in two. Legendary fights, like you wouldn’t believe! Every warrior an equal—no North, no South, just Vysanthean. Ah well, that’s what happens when you put nobles in charge of things. We’d be far better off with a government taken from the people, voted for by the people.” She sighed, then gestured for us to follow her.

“Careful, Nisha, you’re starting to sound like a revolutionary,” Navan teased, though I could see a glimmer of respect in his eyes. I felt it myself, too. These were the kinds of people who should be running things—the ones who saw a brighter future for Vysanthe, like Seraphina.

Nisha grinned. “Perhaps I am one! That’s the thing about revolutionaries: they look the same as everybody else,” she said, chuckling to herself as we pressed on through the grim sight of the fighting pits. There weren’t many people crowding the floor today, with most of the betting stalls closed up, and only a few clashes of metal to be heard from the edge of the actual pits.

“It’s quiet,” I said absently, casting a glance over the miserable faces of the gamblers. They didn’t seem as animated as the ones we’d seen the last time.

“It’s still early,” Nisha replied, leading us around the pits to a doorway cemented in the side of a sheer rockface. “This place doesn’t liven up until the sun goes down.”

After opening it with a set of rusty keys, she urged us forward into the darkness beyond. Dim light flickered from emergency lamps, but the ground was slippery underfoot, the walls dripping with cold moisture. It was treacherous, to say the least, and I almost lost my footing a few times. Had it not been for Navan’s hand gripping me tight, I’d have fallen on my butt more times than I cared to count.

“This is where I leave you,” Nisha said apologetically as we reached a fork in the tunnel. “Head down this passageway, and you’ll come out in the North. Tread carefully. As I said, the walls are crumbling.”

“Thank you, Nisha,” Navan replied, pulling his old friend into another tight embrace.

“What are pals for? Don’t wait so long until you visit again, okay?”

Navan smiled. “I won’t.”

With that, Nisha disappeared back up the tunnel, headed in the direction we’d just come. Meanwhile, Navan and I took the path that led directly in front of us, walking side by side, until the tunnel thinned out, forcing us to walk single file through the dark, narrow space. I wasn’t ordinarily claustrophobic, but the passageway was almost making me wish we’d risked the barrier. I could feel the walls pressing in on me as a thunderous roar boomed above my head. All around us, things cracked and creaked, making me dread each step, in case the whole thing fell down. Reaching out to touch the walls didn’t help either, given that each time I felt a vibration ripple through the stone, fragments of rock crumbled downward, covering my face and hair in a layer of damp dust.

Still, we pressed on, knowing it was the only way to reach the North without being detected by the barrier’s sensors. If Korbin caught us, I was fairly sure he wouldn’t stop to listen to what we had to say. We had to reach Brisha before the rest of our troop so we could explain to her what had happened. She might not be our biggest fan, but I knew she would at least hear us out.

“You okay back there?” Navan asked as particularly violent thunder ricocheted through the passageway, making everything tremble. My teeth juddered.

“Still in one piece,” I murmured, fearing that any kind of volume might cause the support beams to break.

“It shouldn’t be too much farther now,” he said reassuringly, though there was no way he could have known that, unless…

“Have you been this way before?” I asked, curious.

“Once or twice, to collect fighters from the North. That was a long time ago, though,” he replied. The thought comforted me. If he’d been this way before, then perhaps he did know where the end was.

“How can this tunnel exist?” I wondered, knowing it went against the split between North and South. “Do the queens know about it?”

“It’s one of those don’t ask, don’t tell scenarios,” Navan replied. “The guys who run the joint make sure no spies get through, and in return Gianne lets them keep the pits open. They only let fighters through. They’ve always been pretty strict on that. Although, it doesn’t look like there have been many fighters through this way in a while. Besides, it’s not like you could fit an army through without it falling to pieces. Hell, you probably couldn’t get more than two or three people through without it falling down,” he mused, setting my nerves on edge. Just the mention of it falling down made my heart race.

“Are you sure we’re nearly there?” I asked, imagining a horrible death, crushed beneath the rubble of an entire mountain.

“Almost,” Navan promised.

True to his word, I noticed a glimmer of light up ahead. At first, I panicked, thinking it was a flashlight in the hands of someone trying to scout us out. But then I realized it was the cold light of day, and never had I been happier to see it. With a final blood-chilling boom of rock crumbling behind us, we surged out into the crisp air. I crouched low to the ground, drawing every icy breath deep into my lungs, wanting to get the stale heat of the tunnel out.

Turning, I saw that the tunnel entrance had held, though it had felt like it was going to cave in around us. Miraculously, we had made it without alerting anyone to our presence. Navan offered his hand, helping me up. I smiled, seeing the streaks of dirt and grime all over his face, looking like war paint.

“You’ve got muck on you,” I teased.

“So do you,” he remarked, brushing some of it away with his thumb.

Feeling relieved, I glanced around at the harsh landscape. I could see the mountainside rising up beside me, but there was no hint of the barrier. It was too far up. Still, I had Navan, and he would be able to lead us back to Nessun.

Just then, I heard a familiar sound in the distance. My head whipped around, snapping in the direction of the noise. Navan’s eyes were already fixed on the jagged teeth of the mountain range up ahead. Across the snowy peaks, figures were appearing, swarming toward us, their wings outstretched.

The image made my blood freeze.

“They must have been monitoring this whole barrier area,” Navan muttered.