Ceres raced down the castle's corridors, fueled by her need to get to Thanos before she lost him forever. Fear drove her on; she couldn't win a city just to lose the man she cared about.
Ceres sprinted, and she didn't stop sprinting when a pair of guards stepped into her path with spears leveled. Instead, she threw herself into a slide, cutting up as she passed one guard, leaping back to her feet and cutting at throat height as she kept running. She raised her sword for another slash as a figure rounded a corner in front of her, stopping herself barely in time as she realized that it was a servant in front of her, not a guard.
"Where are they executing Thanos?" Ceres asked.
"The s-south courtyard. That way. The third corridor. Please don't hurt me."
"I'm not going to hurt you. Go to the great hall. My father and my brother will keep you safe."
At least, she hoped so. Ceres had seen too many die already today.
The servant might have started to thank her, but Ceres was already running again. She sprinted up a flight of stairs. Another guard stepped in front of her, a royal bodyguard this time. He thrust at her with a short sword. Ceres parried the stroke, and this time the power within her rose up in response, lashing out to throw him back from her path, stone already creeping over his skin.
Ceres skidded around the third turning, the speed she was moving making her slide on the worn mosaic of the floor. She caught herself in time and kept moving, knowing on instinct that she was in the right place. There were too many people gathered there for it to be anything else.
They stood at windows and in doorways. There were servants there and nobles, even a few guards, although they seemed to be more concerned with looking out than with trying to defend the castle.
One of them looked round as Ceres approached, then charged. Ceres stepped aside, tripping him and moving behind him.
"Thanos," Ceres said. "Where is he?"
The guard pointed to the nearest window, and Ceres slammed his head against the floor, knocking him unconscious. She ran to the window, ignoring the rest of those there, and looked out.
She was above ground level now, looking down on the courtyard. What she saw there made her draw her breath in.
A gallows stood at the far end of the courtyard, surrounded by executioners and guards. On it, Thanos hung, his arms bound behind him, his legs kicking as they tried to find purchase on the air. His face was red with the need to get oxygen, although not as red as the coals that burned beside him, obviously waiting for some worse fate.
And the people there stood there watching, unable or unwilling to act. Ceres wouldn't stand by. She couldn't, so she did the only thing she was able to. She stepped out onto the window ledge and leapt.
The stone of the courtyard came up to meet her faster than Ceres had hoped, jarring against her knees as she hit it. She rolled, coming up to her feet with her weapons in her hands.
The executioners and guards there were already reacting, turning and drawing their weapons. Ceres stepped in to meet the first, parrying the swing of a hot iron and slamming her elbow into his face to knock him back.
Another came at her with a headsman's axe. Ceres sidestepped the first downward sweep of the axe, then leapt as the man swung it across. Ceres jumped above him, thrusting down as she did so, her swords slamming down through his collar bone.
She turned as more opponents readied themselves to fight, yet there was no time for an extended battle. Thanos didn't have that much time. She had to save him, but the executioners stood between her and the spot where he still hung suspended by the rope around his neck.
Ceres hesitated, trying to judge the weight of her sword; then she flung it like a discus, hard and true. She watched as it slashed through the rope that was hanging Thanos, letting him tumble to the gallows. She would have run to him then, but the executioners and the guards were on her.
A sword came for Ceres's face and she barely parried it in time. A hot iron brushed her sword arm, and Ceres had to fight to keep from dropping the weapon she held. She lashed out with her blade, feeling it bite home, then struck out with the power that lived within her. An executioner turned to stone with a disemboweling spike poised to strike, and Ceres moved back.
They kept coming, and with only one blade, it was hard for even Ceres to keep that many at bay. She cut down one guard, spun away from a second, but a blow from a heavy hammer got through, knocking her off balance.
For a moment, Ceres reeled, and that instant was all one of the guards needed to attack. He lunged forward, forcing Ceres to defend, and as she blocked his blow the guard kicked out, knocking her from her feet. He stood over her…
…and then his head was flying as Thanos stepped into the gap he'd left. He held out his hand to Ceres, fragments of rope still tied around it, the noose still hanging around his neck. Ceres put her hand in his, just grateful to feel that he was really there as he helped her to her feet. That he was really alive, not gone, not dead.
They stood back to back then. If there had been more time, Ceres might have said something. Might have held tight to him just with her gratitude at seeing him alive, and with love and more. There was no time though. The guards were still coming, and they had to be ready to meet them.
Ceres parried and thrust, cut and deflected, trying to lead guards into one another, snatching up an axe with her left hand as one fell from the hands of a dying guard. Ordinarily, she would have leapt and spun, danced her way through the violence and never stayed in one spot.
Now, though, she stood there, taking on guards as they came to her. She parried the swing of a sword with crossed weapons, struck back with the axe she held, and thrust with her sword at the same time.
She didn't turn to see what threats might be behind her. She had to trust that Thanos would be able to protect her, and she did. Even surrounded by combatlords in the Stade, she hadn't felt this protected, and she was determined to ensure that no guard managed to get through to harm Thanos.
A spearman ran in and Ceres moved to put herself between the man and Thanos. She hooked the shaft of his weapon with her axe, pulling the spear from his hands while she cut him down.
"Try to get to the gallows," Ceres called out to Thanos.
"I'm right behind you," he assured her.
They moved together to the gallows, stepping up onto the platform there. Ceres cut down a guard who tried to attack Thanos as he climbed into place, then stood side by side with him while the guards milled about beneath them. Ceres kicked a guard back into the throng as he tried to clamber up after them, and saw Thanos slice open an executioner's arm as he attacked.
They stood there side by side, and Ceres found herself waiting for the next wave of the attack. Ceres didn't want to wait though. She leapt into the heart of the remaining men as they started to climb the steps to the gallows. She cut left and right, trusting that Thanos would follow her as she used the advantage of height to bolster her attack.
He did. Ceres saw him fighting with all the skill and passion she remembered, stopping blades, striking, cutting and moving. Thanos fought like a rock, as dependable and unmovable in the chaos as stone, stopping every assault that came to him. Ceres felt more like water, slipping into gaps and pushing through every defense that stood in her way.
Even so, there were more men there than she thought there might be. Plenty of guards had turned out to see Thanos die. Ceres had run as fast as she could to save him, but that meant that she'd run far ahead of Sartes, or her father, or any of the others who might have helped her in the fight.
There was only Thanos, but for Ceres, that was everything. She parried a blow aimed at his head, and stepped aside to allow his counter cut. He swept the legs out from one of the guards, and Ceres struck down with her heel as the man started to rise. In Ceres's eyes they fought like two halves of one intricate whole, always seeming to know what each other's next move would be. They stood together at the center of a ring of enemies, and Ceres waited for the next wave of attackers.
"Ceres," Thanos said, "there are things I should say-"
"Then say them when we've won," Ceres said.
"I need to say this. I-"
She didn't get to find out what Thanos wanted to say though, because the rebels chose that moment to pour into the courtyard. They sprinted in, cutting down the guards while they were still looking the other way. Ceres saw her father wielding his blacksmith's hammer, her brother stabbing with a blade that seemed made just for him.
They cut through the remaining guards as if they weren't there. With surprise on their side, they cut them down to a man. Given what she'd seen the executioners do from her cell, for once Ceres had no regrets.
In a matter of seconds, she went from standing in the middle of a circle of enemies to one composed of friends. Sartes was already stepping forward.
"We've taken most of the rest of the castle," he began. "There might be a few guards holed up in the outer rooms, but-"
Ceres loved her brother, but for now, she only had time for one man. She turned and clung to Thanos, kissing him because it seemed impossible not to do it. He kissed her back, and Ceres could feel the passion there, the desire.
"And I'll just be quiet, then," Sartes said.
Even that didn't stop Ceres. She'd crossed an ocean to try to get back to Thanos, and sprinted through the castle to try to save him. All the times she'd been in danger, all the times she'd been lost, it had been Thanos she'd thought of. She clung to him despite the cheers of the men around her reminding her that they were anything but alone.
When she finally stepped back from him and looked around, Ceres could see the eyes on her. The only eyes that mattered to her were Thanos's, deeper and more beautiful than she remembered, but she had to keep in mind that she was more than just one person. She was a leader here.
Even so, she clung to Thanos's arm while she addressed them. With the energy of the battle leaving her, elation mixed with weakness, and wasn't that a perfect reason to lean a little harder on him.
"We've done it!" she declared. "You've done it. The castle is ours!"
While the cheers resumed, Ceres turned back to Thanos, throwing her arms around him once more.
