She looked for Ty, but he was nowhere in sight. Then she heard another loud rumble, directly over her head, and looked up.
“Oh no,” she breathed. Overhead, a jagged rock—almost as big as the boulder that had killed Hennessy—wiggled like a loose tooth in a socket. Then it broke loose and came rushing down—rushing towards her and Tutti and Lor.
It was too late to run—even if there had been anyplace to run to. So Ellina did the only thing she could. Bowing her body over Tutti’s much smaller frame, she crouched down, trying to shield the little girl as best she could before the boulder hit them.
“Hang on, Tutti!” she shouted, or started to shout. But before she got more than the first word out, she heard the sound of the rock thudding hard over her head and thought,
This is it, I’m going to die!
Chapter Twenty-six
Only somehow, she didn’t die. Though she heard the rock strike, it didn’t touch her.
Daring to look up, she saw a shimmering, incandescent material somehow spreading like a canopy just over her head. She could see through it—see that it was supporting a huge rock which would have brained her and probably smashed her if the strange shield hadn’t suddenly leapt into the way.
Another load of rocks fell and she heard a noise—something between a grunt of effort and a shout of pain—in her ear. Looking back, she saw that Ty was kneeling behind her—crouching over her, in fact, the same way she was crouched over Tutti.
The big Kindred’s muscular arm was extended over their heads and the shimmering shield that was protecting her was somehow coming from the top of his forearm, Ellina thought. The gods only knew how much weight he was supporting on that one arm but he kept it steady and still, not allowing the load of rocks and rubble to crush her.
“Ty?” she gasped, wondering how he’d gotten around to save her so fast. “Are you all right?”
“I am if you are, little one,” he growled, looking at her anxiously. “Are you injured?”
“I…I don’t think so,” Ellina said. The rumbling and roaring above seemed to have stopped, at least for now. Maybe the cave-in was finally over.
“I think it might be over,” Ty said, echoing her thoughts. “I pray to the Goddess it is, anyway—don’t know how much longer I can hold this lot up.”
His face was a sneer of effort and he gave a jerky nod at the load of rocks and rubble on the glimmering, transparent shield.
“Dump them off,” Ellina told him. “Tutti and I will be all right.” The little girl was still clutched in her arms. Indeed, she seemed frozen against Ellina’s ribcage, not saying a word though Ellina could hear her rapid, panting breath and feel her frantic heartbeat, so close were they pressed together.
“You’d better get out from under first—just in case,” Ty told her. “Just be careful—as soon as I dump the rocks and stand, I’ll be at your side to guard you.”
“All right.” Carefully, Ellina edged out from under the shelter of the shield. She looked around, but there didn’t seem to be any more assassin acrobats or bomb-throwing fools. The guards were standing over several dead bodies and the wooden platform was riddled with holes but somehow it had withstood the barrage of rocks and rubble.
Well built, Ellina thought distractedly. I shall have to give a royal commendation to the master builder who designed it. Right after I find out who let the troupe of assassins into the very middle of the Grand Promenade, anyway.
She heard an effortful grunt and then the sound of a huge pile of rocks sliding onto the ground. The weight of them shook the holey platform a bit but it held. And then Ty was right beside her, the glimmering shield still extended from his forearm. Glancing at it, Ellina frowned. She’d thought that it was part of his armor but somehow it seemed to be coming directly from his flesh—how was that possible?
“It’s over—I don’t see any more of them and the ceiling seems to have stabilized,” Ty said in her ear, breaking her concentration.
Ellina looked up and saw he was right. Though there was a jagged hole in the roof of the Grand Promenade which was letting in a thin shaft of brilliant sunshine, no more rocks were falling and none—as far as she could see—were loose.
“Thank Thufar,” she whispered shakily, her heart pounding. She wished she could let herself to feel weak in the knees now that the assassins were dead and the cave-in was over, but she was still out in public and she knew she couldn’t allow herself that luxury yet.
Ty’s next words confirmed her thoughts.
“Don’t thank Thufar quite yet,” he growled in her ear. “Look at the crowd below—they’re panicking, Ellina. Someone must calm them.”
Ellina looked down to where he was pointing. Indeed, the common people were still pushing and shoving behind the barricades, trying to get away. She didn’t like to think how many would be trampled if someone didn’t make them stop—and that someone had to be her, she realized.
Tutti was still clinging to her—little arms around Ellina’s neck and legs wrapped round her waist like a climbing vine—and didn’t show any signs of letting go. So Ellina took the little girl with her.
Stepping forward, she found herself directly under the ray of brilliant light coming from above. Raising her voice to be heard over the
