Praetorian Rising, стр. 87
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"Cam, we've gotta go!" Theo bellowed over the turmoil in the square. The fire was moving closer, the hungry mouth of flames like a groaning monster consuming everything in its path.
"Go then!" she shot back. "I won't let these soldiers die for no reason. I will save them, damn it!"
Camille gripped one of the soldier's wrists and inspected his shackles: just like the rest of them, they were rusted shut. As much as she tried, she couldn't rip them apart with her bare hands.
The men were urging her to leave them, too—all of them Rogues, willing to die in exchange for her safety. It was heartbreaking to see the terror in their eyes as they urged her to run, begged her to leave them behind in their chains.
"It's okay, Camille—we know who you are, we've heard the stories," the young man before her said. "We're willing to die for what you started."
His wide blue eyes and scruffy blonde hair reminded her of Lunci, and she ached to brush it out of his face the way she'd done for Lunci so many times before. His gentle words stabbed at her heart, penetrating to the depths of her soul. It was her fault. These men fought for a cause she'd unknowingly started, a moment that she barely remembered. A day that would haunt her for days and years to come.
Camille grabbed the iron peg keeping the soldier attached to the wall and yanked on it with everything she had. Her fingers screamed for mercy, but she clung to the metal with fierce determination. With a final cry, Camille managed to wrench it from the stone with a satisfying clunk. She whipped around to face Theo, grinning victoriously. She could do this, she could rip them all free, and they could run as one unit. "I won't let you die, not like this. Do you hear me?"
"O-okay," said the Rogue, his expression transforming from the grim acceptance of death to one of renewed hope.
She began to tear at the pegs lining the stone wall, yanking on the chains with everything she had until they broke free. Theo started at the opposite end, while Neeko stood guard, his jaguar eyes on the watch for incoming attacks. Camille reached the final peg and pulled, her hands now bleeding from the effort, blackened smoke filling her lungs and threatening to suffocate her. The last one held fast, drilled so deep into the stone wall that she could barely keep her grip.
"It won't budge," she cried, tears flowing freely down her cheeks in sudden panic, "I can't, it's not moving!"
The man sitting on the ground nodded his head once, the stark pores of his face like polka dots in the smear of dirt across his cheeks. Reaching up with a shackled hand, he placed a calloused palm against her arm and smiled. "I've lived a full life dear child," the elderly man said, his voice a raspy, grating noise. Camille shook her head, but his hand remained firm. "You've done what you can, now get them out of here."
Theo pried the chain connecting the man to the others apart, and the shackled Rogues took off at a clipped run.
"I can save you," Camille begged. Tears flowed down her cheeks in a rush as she tugged against the shackle connecting the man to the wall. "I can keep trying." Smoke caught in her throat and made her choke, but she ignored the stinging pain and the flow of salty wetness streaming down her face.
"No; you must go," the elderly man said. His voice was a harsh whisper in the density of smoke, but she heard the tremor of panic beneath his determined layer of courage. "I'm not your responsibility, and this isn't your fault."
"I'm sorry," Camille said in despair, the blunt resignation of his life hollowing out all remaining words in her throat.
"We all have our time, my dear. And now isn't yours!"
Her eyes met his through a cloud of debris and sediment, the shaky cobblestone ground rumbling underfoot.
"Camille!" Theo bellowed from over her shoulder.
She felt a hand on her arm yanking her backward and onto her feet before another hand pressed her head to the warming heat of Theo's chest.
A loud, bursting wave exploded just behind them, sending flames and debris rocketing upwards. Camille was flung into the opposite building with a cloud of heat pressing into her exposed flesh. Her head slammed into the stone wall as she landed, sending a hot white light blasting through her vision before a thundering mass of crumbling stone, metal, and wood rained down from the skies.
Chapter Eighteen
Farewell
"Captain! Did you hear me?" A soldier screamed at Vesyon over the blast of the explosion emitting from the compound. He stood like a glazed statue, his face growing hot from a cloud of fire and ash as he stared at the damage.
In Vesyon's haste to get to Camille, he hadn't heard Charlie scream at him to stop, hadn't felt her hands on his arm yanking him backward. He hadn't noticed when she jumped on his back and wrestled him to the ground. Vesyon was positive she'd acted on orders from Phillip—if not, she would have been more upset about the broken nose Vesyon had given her while trying to wrestle free of her grasp. The village grounds had catapulted into the air, the force of the explosion blasting his cheeks with bitter warmth as his face rose from the mud-slicked grass he'd landed in.
He had kicked Charlie unceremoniously off him, meaning to continue into the village, uncaring that the town square would be nothing but smoldering rock and crumbling buildings. There was no thought behind his actions; he just knew he needed to find Camille. Phillip's blood-soaked hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"She's gone Vesyon; we need to keep