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Before the gate is even halfway raised, Baby forces her way under it.

And Tobi realises something else. This is the first of three trials. Harok is not meant to die here. This is spectacle. There must be some way the Solwen ensure the tribute does not die during the Trial of the Beasts.

Tobi tugs on Lymok’s sleeve. “In this state she will kill him,” he says, a note of fear in his voice. “I thought you were planning to give him to Diazuul?”

Lymok pulls his sleeve from Tobi’s grip and grasps him by the chin. Lymok’s smile is sickening. “So you believe your Irgorye’s tale is lies and Diazuul lives?”

“I do not know. I know little of your ways. But I know you do not intend to kill Harok like this. What happens?” His voice is rising high with panic. “What happens to the beast, Lymok?”

Lymok’s eyes narrow, “I will not tell you again to call me Irgorye, kushir. And when I take you to bed, Ereyek. You will scream it.”

Baby reaches Harok and leaps at him. He throws his left arm across his body to protect himself and her jaws close around it, ripping his flesh. Harok screams. The crowd cheer. Harok shakes his arm hard and looses it from Baby’s jaws. It’s covered in blood. She tries to pounce again but Harok darts back fast enough that she crashes to the ground.

She’s always been suspicious of Harok. Always growled at him. She saw the demon in him, Tobi thinks. She saw it all along.

Harok’s back is to the wooden wall of the pit and Baby is snarling at his feet. “Please, what happens to the beast?” Tobi says again. “You cannot plan to let her kill Harok. How will you stop her?”

Lymok smiles, dark eyes glittering. “Ah, you are a clever kushir. I always knew so. No, he will not be killed. He will be blooded. And then his body will be ready for the demon’s feasting.”

Tobi looks at Baby, ready to pounce. And then he sees the archers. Two archers are poised, on opposite sides of the viewing platform, with strung bows pointed down into the pit. “You plan to shoot her?” he says, feeling sicker than ever. “Baby? Ashaki? My cat?”

“Yes,” Lymok says. “We will let her have her fun with him and then we will save him so we can take him to the next trial.”

“You can’t,” Tobi’s voice sounds weak. “You can’t kill her.”

“If you wish it, kushir,” Lymok says coolly, “I will ask the archers to stand down. I will present Diazuul with Harok’s mauled broken body. Would you prefer that?”

Tobi looks at Lymok.

What can he do? Harok will not die here, but he is sure that Baby will. He has to do something.

Tobi is unbound. Lymok and his supporters clearly think there is nothing he can do. And perhaps they are right. He is surrounded by Solwen on all sides. If he tried to run, he would be caught in moments.

But there is one place he could go.

All eyes are on Harok as Baby rears up on her hind legs. She knocks Harok down onto his back, down in the dirt that lines the pit. She surges forward onto him and her teeth sink into Harok’s flesh. He roars in pain.

Tobi sees the archers nock their bows. Ready.

And he knows he cannot wait and watch this a moment longer. He cannot watch Harok or Baby die. He jumps to his feet and snatches Demonica from Lymok’s lap — once again the huge blade feels light and warm as his fingers close around it. He can use this blade, he thinks, he knows, as he moves fast and vaults over the edge of the viewing platform into the pit. He lands elegantly. No more tricky than leaping down into Baby’s cage.

He hears the gasps of the watching Solwen, but he doesn’t have time to put on a show. Demonica feels good in his hands as he races across the pit floor. He needs to get to the gate Baby entered through. It’s the only exit from the pit and Tobi knows Baby will only calm when she knows she can get out.

Harok is on the ground, with Baby on top of him. But Tobi has Baby’s attention now. She turns from Harok to watch him.

Tobi reaches the gate and hacks at it with Demonica. One of the wooden bars splinters.

But not fast enough. Baby is on Tobi, a great paw lashes talons across his back, shredding the flimsy alit. He turns, shocked Baby would harm him even in this state.

But when he looks at her, she looks wild. He can tell she does not know him. He can smell a bitter scent of some unknown drug. Some foul herb from this forest. Something to make her a crazed beast.

Baby snarls at Tobi as he presses his back to the gate. The Solwen are watching, in uproar.

“No, no. Not him. Get him out. Stop this,” Lymok screams from up above. His voice piercing, above the din of shouts and jeers.

Tobi knows there are only moments before Lymok demands the archers shoot Baby.

Tobi lifts both his hands. He looks at Baby and calms his breathing. He makes the low sweet sound the Beast Tamer of the Rose Court once taught him. The calming call, before he says, “Lalian. Lalian ary juzu.”