The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw by Christopher Healy, Todd Harris Page A

running, but her limbs felt like they’d been encased in concrete. A voice echoed inside her skull: Come back here . And then she was turning and slowly walking back across the room, straight to the spike-covered brute. She knew Jezek was controlling her with the Djinn Gem, but she was powerless to stop it. She tried to stay focused but found her mind and her vision growing hazier by the second.
    Ruffian noticed Lila’s zombie-like stare and snapped into a frenzy. He elbowed Madu in the face, wrapped the long curtain around him, and ran for Jezek. Chess pieces flew as the bounty hunter snatched up the king’s game board and swung it at the only part of Jezek not covered in spikes—his face. The board broke across the Darian’s nose and sent him stumbling backward.
    Lila heard Ruffian yell “Run!”—and she was overjoyed to realize that she could . As she scrambled for the exit, Lila saw Madu writhing on the ground, his body twisting and contorting as he transformed into a thirty-foot-long sand snake.
    Lila could hear the crinkling paper sound of the giant serpent slithering behind her as she and Ruffian raced down the hall to the palace entryway. Just before they reached the doors, Ruffian let out a pained groan. “Hnnh!”
    The snake’s jaws were clamped over his shoulder, its fangs sunk deep into his flesh. Lila pulled her quarterstaff out of its holster and, with all her might, whacked the snake across the nose. The creature winced, released Ruffian, and swished back down the hall. Ruffian slumped against the wall and slid to the floor.
    “You okay, Ruff?” Lila crouched beside her mentor.
    “No,” he said bluntly. “The venom is in my veins. You have to go on alone.”
    “Like that’s gonna happen,” Lila scoffed, putting her arm around his shoulder and trying to stand him up.
    “Stop it, Lila,” he wheezed. “They’ll be back any second. You need to go.”
    “Not without you.”
    Ruffian removed his hood. His skin looked waxy. “I’ll be fine, Lila,” he said. “This isn’t the first snakebite I’ve ever had. My blood is resistant to most venoms.”
    “You don’t look very resistant,” she said. “Your face is all veiny.”
    “Look me in the eye, Lila,” he said. “I need to know you will stay alive. I cannot lose another one.”
    Footsteps sounded from down the hall. The Darians were coming. More than just two of them. Using the doorframe, Ruffian dragged himself to his feet. “I’ll hold them off. Please go. Tell your brother what we’ve learned.”
    Two black-clad Darian thugs burst into the entryway, striking at Ruffian with their swords. Ailing though he was, the bounty hunter deflected their blows. “Run,” he wheezed at Lila. “Now. Go.”
    Lila fled. He said he’d be fine , she told herself. He said he could resist the venom . But she was smart enough to know that sometimes when an adult doesn’t want to frighten a child, he will tell the child what she wants to hear, whether it is true or not. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she ran along the cliffside path.
    Moments later, inside Yondale Castle, Madu and Jezek stood in a small stone alcove with high stained glass windows, a hazy-eyed King Edwyn at their side. Sitting on a pedestal before them was a glowing crystal orb that appeared to be filled with swirling green mist. The mist parted, revealing the scarred face of Lord Rundark.
    “It is done, Warlord,” Jezek said.
    “The girl?” Rundark asked.
    “She got away,” Jezek reported. “Just like you wanted.”

11
A N O UTLAW S QUATS W HERE H E S HOULDN’T
    “ A re you certain nothing lives here?” Frederic asked of the dirt-walled burrow in which he and the other princes crouched, ducking to avoid the dangling roots overhead. He glanced around at the many shadow-black recesses that were not illuminated by Liam’s small torch. “I’m pretty sure those are bones over there.”
    “They are . Very old bones,” Liam said.
    “Ooh, a puzzle,” Duncan said,