Aven was going to die.

  The thought was not a new one. He'd been certain of his own coming death many times, whether in melodramatic anguish during Father's training or far more realistic expectations on voidspawn hunts. When Father approached with sword in hand and murder in his eyes, Aven had been certain that his death had arrived. When the voidspawn dragged Old Fox's corpse into the pit and Aven let go of the ledge, he'd been certain that death had arrived. When the death singer raised its claws, and Aven had nothing left, he'd been certain that death had arrived.

  He'd survived all of that. He'd chosen to live through all that. Now to be condemned to execution.

  Somehow, even as the dark thoughts assailed him, he slept. Fitfully, brokenly. He still slept.

  He dreamed of home. The brief happy times when Father and Mother both smiled upon him, when he went riding with Helena and told stories to Viola as she lay in bed ill. Even Mother's embrace seemed soft in memory when she comforted him after the harsh training. Father's cold eyes warmed with pride when Aven finally succeeded in the brutal drills.

  Those phantoms passed as he woke in darkness, alone in a cold stone cell, counting down the hours and minutes to death.

  Even in the darkness of that cell, he hoped. No, less hope than fantasy. Reason knew there was no hope. The plan had entirely depended on the element of surprise, on Logash's runes being able to break the cursed manacles and let them fight on equal terms. Catching a token force of wine-soused guards by surprise was one thing. A full force of prepared guards was another. And Yvris held the book.

  If he could get the book while Yvris still slept...

  If he could sneak past the guards...

  If he could open the cell door...

  The "ifs" collapsed, a tower of sand against the waves. Hope drowned in cruel reality.

  In the windowless gloom of Zav level, the Warden's Eye far above brightened. The doors creaked open. Morning was here, and it was time for Aven to die.

  Aven was so caught in the moment, he was almost disappointed to see Tanya trundle down to Zav level with her food cart. Breakfast would come before death, it seemed.

  Tanya smiled at the guards. "Morning, dears."

  One guard gave her a nasty glare, which told Aven everything he needed to know about the man's character. In Aven's book, anyone who could possibly think ill thoughts towards a pleasant minari widow bearing breakfast must be a truly twisted soul.

  The other guard, to his credit, returned Tanya's smile and greeting.

  Tanya pointed past the guards to Aven, "Could you please let me through? I need to give our poor prisoners their breakfast."

  "This one's marked for death," the nasty man said. "No one talks to him or gives him anything."

  "Oh, dear, how sad," Tanya's face fell. "I was still told to feed all the prisoners. As dangerous as I'm sure he'd be with a bowl of porridge."

  The other nearby guard nudged his nasty companion, "Let her by. Go on. We don't starve prisoners just because they're going to be hanged."

  Hanging, was it? That was the first Aven had heard of the method of his execution. Given Yvris'...imaginative way of running Hellfrot, Aven had dreamt up all sorts of ways his demise might go. Hanging was rather more mundane than most of his fantasies. From Erdrak's threats, being fed to the frostfangs alive was a real possibility.

  The nasty guard inspected the bowl of porridge that Tanya filled up, stirring through it with a gloved finger. Having confirmed that it was, in fact, a bowl of porridge, the guard spat in it and passed it through to Aven. Aven accepted it without complaint. Even a tainted meal was a meal.

  Tanya gave Aven an apologetic shrug, "I'm so sorry, dear. Not much of a last meal, I'm afraid. I had a special meal all planned out for the festival, but our honored mayor cancelled the feast in all this hullabaloo." She dabbed at her eye with a kerchief. "Poor boy. I hope you know there's plenty of us who'll be sad to see you go."

  If Aven's death satisfied the Head Warden's bloodlust, then he wagered it would be greeted more with relief than sadness by most.

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  "Thank you, ma'am," Aven bowed to her. "You've been a bright and warming star in the gloom and cold here."

  Tanya smiled through the tears, "I'm sure your mother would be proud of you."

  Sir Nasty shoved Tanya away, which left Aven hoping that he'd step a bit closer to Janaya's cell. Unfortunately, he was as cautious as he was nasty, so no opportunity for deserved hellfire-smiting came.

  The porridge was exactly as all the food in Hellfrost had always been. One step up from the mud of the courtyard, one step down from horse feed, and miles and miles away from the sumptuous delicacies of Father's table. He'd had worse. But he was glad for the meal all the same.

  The spoon scraped the bottom of the bowl as it collected the last drops of the porridge. The empty bowl stared back at him. A part of him still hoped that Tanya had found some way to smuggle... something into the bowl. What exactly, he wasn't sure. His hopes weren't concrete enough to latch on to anything.

  He ran his fingers over the bowl. It certainly was a bowl. He examined the spoon. Aye, definitely a spoon. While Janaya's hellfire could make spoons into deadly weapons and Logash could mark the bowls with runes, alas, the void didn't seem to have those particular powers. Certainly not when the manacles bound his vis.

  "Janaya," Aven spoke up.

  "Quiet!" Sir Nasty banged on the cell doors.

  Aven ignored him. What were they going to do, punish him? "They tried to execute you, didn't they?"

  "They tried," the rattling laughter came from the neighboring cell. "And they tried again."

  "What was that like?" Aven asked.

  "I said quiet!" Sir Nasty gave the metal bars another furious whack. Persistent, that one. But he couldn't hit Aven, and he wasn't quite bold enough to brave Janaya's cell. So he settled for rattling the bars and yelling impotently. "Quiet! No talking!"

  When Janaya answered, her voice lacked its usual wrath. Her voice was heavy. Weary. "The fire in me will not allow me to die before my time. For me...it's not different from the other torture." A whisper that almost had the harshness of a choked sob, "I've brought death to so many, but I've never really faced it myself."

  No comfort then. Not that he truly expected any.

  "I'm sorry that it won't be your hand that kills me," Aven said.

  The doors above opened again. Heavy boots approached. The Warden's Eye focused on Aven's cell.

  "I'm sorry that I won't be able to give you the death you deserve," Janaya replied.

  Erdrak approached, along with a pair of other guards. They stepped around the voidpit, avoiding Janaya's cell.

  The guard captain stopped in front of Aven's cell, looking down at him. Hatred burned in those eyes. It was almost admirable. Aven wasn't sure he had the capacity to hate anyone that much, much less someone as far below him as he was below Erdrak.

  "Time to die, voidtouched," Erdrak inserted the key and gestured to the other guards.

  Aven hadn't decided to fight until that very moment. Maybe that was why the soldiers were off-guard.

  When the first guard entered and grabbed Aven's wrist, he lashed out. A knee to the groin. Fully armored legionary armor included protection for that sensitive area. Hellfrost guards' armor did not.

  Then a punch to the throat. When the guard staggered back, gurgling and clutching his neck, Aven used him as a battered ram. Out the cell door, into the second guard as Erdrak backed away with a roar.

  Nasty's baton slammed into Aven's back. Pain flared. The baton hit him again, this time on the side of the head.

  Aven dove to the side, and Nasty followed, expression feral with eagerness.

  That enthusiasm overcame caution, because Aven was lying right in front of Janaya's cell. The hellfire splinter stabbed into his neck, and that nasty enthusiasm became a much more pleasant look of shock as Janaya's roar of triumph rang out.

  The fourth guard was already approaching, but he wasn't nearly so eager. His hand trembled as it raised the baton.

  "Back, voidtouched!" the guard's voice shook.

  When Aven feigned a step forward, the guard flailed wildly. Leaving an opening for Aven to dart in and loop his chains around the guard's throat. He spun around behind the guard, choking him as Erdrak stomped forward. The panicked guard actually let go of his baton, hands scrabbling at the chains.

  "What do you think you're doing?" Erdrak sneered.

  A good question. Aven hadn't thought this far at all. He was only acting, spurred on by Janaya's whoops. He backed away, dragging the struggling guard with him while the others staggered to their feet. Except Nasty, of course, who was preoccupied with dying.

  Erdrak stepped over Nasty's near-corpse. The dying guard clutched at Erdrak's leg, but the captain grabbed him with one hand and hurled him aside. Into the voidpit. The gurgling scream faded as the void swallowed him.

  With the distraction, Janaya lunged from inside the cell. Without even looking, Erdrak's hand shot out and seized her wrist. A faint sizzle rose as the hellfire scorched him, accompanied by the sulfurous scent, but Erdrak didn't let go. He yanked, slamming Janaya's full body against the metal bars until she went limp, then shoving her body back like a rag doll.

  Without her screaming encouragement, the Zav level suddenly seemed deathly silent. Logash and Esharah were watching from their cells. Logash even gave an apologetic look while straining against the bars.

  "I'm glad you decided to be stupid," Erdrak grinned. "Killing you myself is more satisfying. Getting to tell Vestra I killed a voidtouched..." A low rumbling chuckle rose.

  Dying to Erdrak wasn't any better than dying by hanging, if Aven had to choose the manner of his death.

  If he had to choose...

  The voidpit almost seemed to call out to him.

  Aven smiled at the approaching ogre, "I'm happy to deny you that pleasure."

  He glanced past Erdrak to Esharah. The dezar was watching with wide eyes. Without her empathic touch on his mind to share thoughts, her face was too alien for him to quite read. He hoped a smile and wink were enough of a goodbye on his part.

  Aven released the guard and shoved him forward. In the second that Erdrak was distracted with shoving his subordinate aside, Aven hurled himself into the pit.

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