SEVERAL HOURS LATER, the door creaked open, and the two guards returned. They pulled Akshara to her feet and dragged her back upstairs. They took her outside, and she looked up at the full moon. A crowd gathered at the base of the temple, waiting for a ritual that Akshara imagined was going to be the sacrifice of Erevia. The sorceress may have caused her all kinds of trouble, and lied to her often, but she didn’t deserve to die. She had kept her safe in the endless desert, and Akshara was starting to grow quite attached to her.
The guards dragged her towards the steps. “Walk,” one of them said.
She took the stairs one at a time, and the guards pushed her from behind. “Faster!”
When Akshara reached the top, the guards took hold of her again and pulled her to the back. The men of the silv
