74
Kiria
Kiria unclasped her breastplate with shaking fingers. A single candle lit her tent, hiding the phantom shadows of the guards that stood in a tight ring outside.
She’d barely begun to fight, feeling the meagerness of her training, when the soldiers around her spotted an opening to spirit her away and fought to get her clear of the melee. The escape was grueling. Enemy soldiers by twos and threes kept appearing to track down their little group. Chetana felled several of them. Protect the Keeper—that was their duty. And they did it. She helped where she could, but her ability didn’t stack up to the meanest trained soldier. So many attackers got close, though, spraying her with their blood, before full darkness settled and the battle paused.
Soldiers had put up these small tents w
