Hatan ignored the pain and rolled forward, getting behind the waheshi. He spun his weapon around twice, placing slashes across the back of both its rear legs.
It fell, back legs useless. One more swing of his glaive struck the back of its neck.
Dead.
He wasted no time, and ran straight for the fallen soldiers and citizens. Sands, dozens of citizens lay dead. Their bravery nearly brought him to tears. To think that they’d had courage to face such horrors. There were several dead waheshi as well.
“Shanon!” He shouted. “Falshon!”
There was no response, but he checked the face of every person he passed until he saw one he recognized.
Shanon.
He dropped to his knees beside her. “No,” he whispered. “No, no. Not you.” He grabbed her hand, but it felt surprisingly warm. In fact, there was a pulse on her wrist.
She was alive.
***
Emil and Rivar walked side by side through the streets of Jehubal. Along with several other soldiers, they were rooting out any waheshi running rampant through the city. They had no idea how many had made it through, but they’d been hunting them down for long enough that the sun was dropping down over the Scorched Waste.
Several other soldiers had joined with them, including some from Mazanib and the shamanfolk tribes. One of the shamans walked with them, Mashe. She could supposedly sense the waheshi as some sort of nothingness, and she was convinced there was one waheshi left.
“This way,” Mashe said. She stopped in her tracks after turning the corner.
Indeed, there was a waheshi. It had lost all of its limbs and was stuck on its stomach, gnashing at the air as Katsi’s pet lizard was trying to bite down around its neck, which was protected by spines.
Beside it stood Katsi and another shaman. The other shaman looked bored while Katsi was clearly amused. “We should just finish it, Katsi,” the woman said.
“But Ris, he’s having fun,” Katsi said. “He really wants to finish it.”
Ris shook her head before regarding the crowd of soldiers that gathered. She gestured at the group and said, “Somebody please convince her to let me kill this waheshi.”
“Fine,” Katsi said.
Ris ended the waheshi with a flash of her blade.
Mashe shook her head. “That’s all of them, then.”
“The battle is over?” Emil asked.
“It’s over,” Katsi said, making an expression that was both a frown and a smile.
Chapter forty-three
Perfect
Migo awoke feeling well rested. It took a moment to realize that he was in bed and something was toying with his hair. Was that Katsi? He could smell her, but there was another scent in the air.
He sat up as Scales croaked, bouncing away from him on the bed.
“Gah,” Migo grunted.
“Migo,” Katsi said groggily, rolling over from beside him.
Migo could barely remember getting in the bed. He’d taken another one of Ris’s potions to stay alert long enough to scour the city for every last waheshi. Once sure the deed was done, Katsi helped him into the palace and deposited him in the nearest bedroom. He must have passed out as soon as he laid down. The aftereffects of Ris’s potion had left him feeling so tired.
Light spilled in through a window on the side. It had to be later in the day. How long had they slept? “I feel like I’m remembering less than I should,” Migo said.
Katsi laughed sleepily. “The important part is that we won. Jehubal is safe.”
Migo nodded, rubbing his head. “No, I’m missing something. What happened to all the waheshi?”
“Oh.” Katsi sat up and showed him her arm where the armlet with Ranaz’s blood was placed. “Ris caught Adrina back at Mazanib. She’s actually a stormcaller. She brought the armlet to me, and I was able to use it to summon enough lightning to eradicate their entire army. I guess you were unconscious for that part.”
“Sounds like I missed the best part.”
Katsi smirked. “It was amazing, yes, but no. The best part is right now, waking up next to you.”
Migo’s heart melted, and he felt a surprising amount of emotion building in his chest. He nodded and bent over, touching his forehead to hers, closing his eyes. He breathed her scent, letting it fill his lungs completely.
Sands, she was right. This was absolutely the best part.
Now if only her drakotah wasn’t nibbling on his ankle.
Katsi laughed when Migo kicked his foot away. “He’s just hungry,” she said. “But I am, too.” She slipped out of the bed, pulling his arm. “Come. I hear there’s this regent here who makes really good cookies.”
Migo smiled and crawled out after her.
