Hidden Magic of Aldarae: Seeking Magic Pt.II

Part Two: The Kill

When I opened my eyes, the muddled thought that I might still be unconscious floated to the front of my mind. Then I registered the cold feel of stone under my back and realized I was not drifting in nothingness; it was just dark. I groaned and tried to push myself up, head aching and muscles sore. The clank of chains and sudden recognition of cold iron around my wrists and ankles stopped me. I hesitated.

Where am I?

Painfully slowly, memory returned. Shae and I had been at the tavern, then we’d had to run. Then there were Guardsmen and mercenaries and the Captain. The poison…Shae was poisoned. The realization left me breathless. I whipped my head around, searching desperately as my eyes adjusted to the practically nonexistent light of the cell.

She wasn’t there. Why wasn’t she there? Wait…I doubled over and groaned as my headache intensified, feeling like it was going to split my skull in two. More memories: I’d begun to wake up in the back of a covered wagon—who knew how long ago, now—and Shae had been sprawled next to me. She was unconscious, breathing ragged, but some color had returned to her skin. I wasn’t sure that they had given her the antidote, I couldn’t use my magic with the power-resistant cuffs on, but I thought they must have.

They wouldn’t want such a prize dying before they could give her a public execution.

I must not have been thinking straight, because I remembered making the ridiculously stupid decision of trying to escape with absolutely no plan or thought of where I was going, just by brute force. Now, I’m not exactly dead weight in a fight, but I was cuffed and barely conscious, and I had a recently poisoned friend to deal with. I remembered throwing myself toward the back of the wagon and rolling off, grabbing Shae’s arm to drag her with me. We hit cobblestone—hard—and I’d tried to stumble to my feet, somehow getting my hands under one of Shae’s arms and lugging her with me.

I think we made it about a foot before the guards descended on us. They ripped the Shadow away from me…then all I could remember was a flash of steel and excruciating pain in the back of my skull.

I winced.

Yeah. Not my best idea.

But then…still the question of where in the hells was Shae? I was starting to panic now, forcing myself to my feet despite the heavy iron weighing me down. My ankles were shackled, but I could shuffle awkwardly around the cell, peering into darkness. No. I was the only one in here, besides a few very bold rats. “Scram,” I hissed at them in Old Tongue when they came forward to sniff my toes, and they fled squeaking into the cracks in the stone.

There was no door. No, wait…yes there was, above me. I tilted my head back and saw the tiniest sliver of torchlight fighting its way through a crack that was far too straight to be natural. I was deep underground then.

I moved to take another step and suddenly came to the end of my tether, collapsing with a sharp jerk and the clatter of chains. “Gods all damn it,” I spat, wincing as the metal bit into my skin. I rolled back into a sitting position. “Shae!” Screw it, if they wanted to shut me up, they could just knock me out again. “Shae! Where are you? Can you hear me?! Shae! Shae!”

To my complete surprise, something knocked on the stone to my left. I jerked and fell over again, then managed to crawl as close as I could to the wall of my cell. There was a crack in the rock; big enough for one of the rats to slip through, but not much else.

A voice was whispering through it. “Cia? Cia, you there?”

“Oh, thank gods,” I murmured, then said louder. “Yeah, I’m here. You alright?”

A brief, bitter chuckle. “Define alright.”

I cracked a smile despite myself. “Not poisoned?”

“Yep. Healthy as an ox and shackled like one, too.”

“Same here.” I let out a sharp breath of relief. At least she was alive.

Well. For now. I didn’t hold out much hope in that way for long.

“So what’s the plan?” Shae asked. If she was thinking as morbidly as I was, she hid it well.

I mentally shook myself. Right. Plan, there was always a plan. We would get out of this. We had to.

“I can’t use magic,” I told her, my brain kicking into overdrive. “But…” Herbs couldn’t stop me from speaking Old Tongue. That had to be useful somehow. What could I—?

I gasped. Shae hissed urgently, “What, what is it?”

“Rats,” I whispered, leaning as close to the crack as I could.

A beat of silence, then a very dry, “Excuse me?”

A slow smirk made its way across my face. “I have an idea…”

To Shae’s credit, she listened to my whole plan before telling me it was stupid, and that I was crazy.

Well, I can’t say I hadn’t been expecting that reaction. “Look, I know what you’re thinking—”

“I seriously doubt that.”

“But.” I glowered at the wall. “What other options do we have?”

Silence for a long moment. Then a resigned, “Alright. What exactly do I have to do?”

“Ehm…you’re not gonna like it…”

“Just spit it out, Cia.”

I told her.

She didn’t like it.

We had to wait what felt like at least half a day for them to come feed us, though admittedly we had no sun or moon to gage the time. Shae, ever the positive ray of sunshine, began wondering aloud if they were really going to go through the bother of a public execution after all, or if they were just going to let us starve to death beneath the Guards’ Central Command.

For that must be where we were: locked in one of the high security cells beneath the square, blocky building that loomed just beyond Castle Street. I’d never actually been inside before, not even into the antechamber where citizens came with complains or reports for the Guard. This place featured in too many of my nightmares.

Well, you’re awake now, I told myself sharply when I realized my mind was starting to drift listlessly. You’re awake, and you’re here. Now how do you plan to get out?

Almost as though cued by my thoughts, the slab of rock above my head that allowed that tiny sliver of light through groaned and began to shift away.

I dropped to my stomach, uncaring of how stone and iron scraped at my skin, and hissed into the crack, “Get ready!” before popping—well, more like awkwardly scrambling—back to my feet. I didn’t have time for a conformation; I could only hope Shae had heard me.

By now the slab-door was about halfway open. The sudden light sent white-hot shafts of pain shooting into my head through my eyes and I squinted, hissing involuntary.

A voice chuckled above me. “Down, kitten,” a man mocked. I glared, but my eyes hadn’t adjusted enough for me to make out more than a vague shadow leaning over the square hole where the slab had once been. The shadow moved, and what might have been half a loaf of bread dropped into my cell. My stomach growled and I told it to shut up, but the guard heard. He laughed again.

“Better enjoy that,” he said. I could see his grin now, more an expression of bared teeth than anything else. “You and your thieving friend’s last meal.” He laughed harshly. Like a crow’s caw, but less musical.

My stomach flipped in trepidation. Last meal. That would mean the execution would take place sometime tomorrow. We had to hurry.

“Oi, Erik. You done over there?” My guard turned his head in the direction of Shae’s cell; Erik must be the one in charge of bringing her “last meal”.

I heard a muffled grunt, then, “Stone’s stuck, hang on a second.”

My guard frowned. “Hurry it up, would you? Our shift’s over after this.”

I took advantage of his distraction and bent to be closer to the crack between the two cells. “Be ready. Attack quickly.”

I heard the faintest shuffling and squeaking in response to the Old Tongue.

There was a grating sound, then a loud huff. “Well, if you would come and help me with this—"

Erik never got to finish that particular sentence. He must have managed to get Shae’s door open, because his voice suddenly cut off in a strangled yelp. I heard my guard swear colorfully, terror in his voice. In the scant instants he had, he looked down at me. I could see him clearly now, eyes wide with fear and hate.

I grinned. “Kitten has claws.”

Then the sea of rats overtook him.

It was a simple plan, really: call as many of the furry little buggers as I could and stash them all in Shae’s cell—hers had a bit of a lower ceiling, she’d told me. She’d been practically buried in brown and black bodies, which I can’t say I envied her for. But the moment the door was pulled back, the rats launched themselves at the guards.

Rats don’t seem all that threatening in groups of two or five, but at a couple hundred all together…

The little creatures are vengeful. It’s in their nature. And city rats are even worse than the common garden variety. I gave them the opportunity to get back at the shinning-bald-monkeys who had kicked and shot them for fun for years, and they seized it.

“Don’t kill!” I shouted up into the light. I’d told them already, but you never knew with rats.

“Well, that was dramatic.” Shae poked her head over the opening of my cell, smirking. I grinned up at her and lifted my chained wrists.

“A little help?”

She hopped down into the cell and brandished the lockpick she’d somehow stashed on her person—considering the guards had searched us both pretty thoroughly, I didn’t even want to know. I could see rope burns on her own wrists; careless of the Guard, to only use iron on me, but I supposed it was rather expensive to chain every prisoner. And I wasn’t exactly complaining. Rope was child’s play to a rat’s needle-teeth.

In a matter of moments, I was freed from the herb-reeking iron, but each second seemed to last an eternity. We had to go, we had to go, we had to go.

“There,” Shae said, smugly satisfied. I didn’t even wait for the chains to drop from my ankles before murmuring a command to the wind. The Shadow let out a rather undignified squeak as we rocketed into the air and were deposited—somewhat ungently, I was stressed and my control wasn’t a good as it normally was—into the stone corridor above our cells. Torches lined the walls, illuminating the writhing masses of rats, and where they congregated over two particularly shrill lumps.

“Keep them here,” I told the creatures as I pulled Shae to her feet.

The boss rat, a large, muddy brown fellow with whiskers scorched off the left side of his face, scampered up to my feet and eyed me with a beady black gaze. Then he nodded, once, and scurried back to join the fun.

“Thank you!” I called as we took off down the hallway. Hopefully in the right direction. I’d never particularly liked rats, but I vowed that after this I would give every rat I saw a scrap of food for the rest of my life.

“Left,” Shae barked when we came to a branch in the hall. “I remember from when they were dragging us down here, I was pretending to be unconscious.”

“I bloody love you,” I told her as we slipped down the lefthand hallway.

I could practically feel her smirking. “I know.”

Smug, brilliant thief.

“I can’t believe that worked,” she panted. We made another turn and raced up a flight of steps. A window we flew past offered the briefest glimpse of a color-streaked sky and the sun sinking over the city’s West Wall.

“Neither can I,” I admitted, calculating in my head as we ran. We had to have been in those cells for at least a day, if it was now sunset.

“Remind me to never insult your plans again,” Shae muttered. We were coming up on a door, a roughly hewn slab of oak bolted and with a posted guard. The man—almost a boy really, he wore no helmet so I could clearly see the youth in his face—started violently when he saw us running at him, then braced his feet and brandished his spear.

“Halt!”

“Darkness!” I responded instantly, flicking my fingers at him. I was tired, and it was easier to use sensory deprivation than actually knock someone out just with magic. The guard gave a sharp cry of fear and confusion as his sight was swamped with blackness, then a pained grunt when Shae drove her fist into his gut, sending him to the ground.

“Unlock, open,” I ordered the door. It obeyed, creaking on its rusty hinges. Shae and I darted out into the suddenly blinding light of the main floor of Central Command. Several dozen uniformed men and women turned to look at us, jaws dropping open.

This was where things got complicated. Neither Shae nor I had ever actually been in the building before, so we were going off her half-blind memories and pure instinct as to how we got out of here. My eyes darted around the room, taking in the two doors set in the wall opposite us, the massive table in the center of the room around which the guards and their Captain were clustered, and the windows set high into the walls above our heads.

The guards were moving, drawing weapons and shouting orders. We had maybe three seconds.

“Windows,” I hissed to Shae, readying my magic.

“Got it,” she snapped back, brandishing her lockpick like a dagger as the guards charged us.

“Up, fly!” I shouted in Old Tongue, and a wind suddenly ripped through the room, circling me and Shae like a comforting blanket and buoying us up toward the stone ceiling. After taking half a moment to adjust to not having anything solid beneath her, Shae took aim with her lock pick and threw it toward the nearest window.

The tiny metal tool flew straight and true, a silvery needle that lodged itself in a hairline fracture in the top left corner of the glass that I hadn’t even noticed until Shae hit it. The crack spiderwebbed across the rest of the glass, and I pulled at the power in my gut, easing the spell with the energy of the already breaking window. “Shatter.”

It gave way with a rather understated rain of glass, tinkling almost sluggishly toward the floor below. The guards rushed to cover their eyes and I whispered to the wind, “Freedom.”

We drifted toward the jagged opening, and joyful relief started to blossom in my chest. I glanced sideways at Shae and saw that narrow-escape sort of smile starting to spread across her face.

Of course, that was when the hook wrapped around my ankle.

I suddenly jerked to a halt, startling my magic into a falter that almost dropped Shae. She gave a sharp cry, and I reaffirmed my control, pushing her toward the window even as I awkwardly bent to see what had ensnared me.

A grappling hook, the kind used to scale walls. One of the guardswomen had tossed it at me and managed to get the thing wrapped around my right ankle. I gritted my teeth and tugged, murmuring to the rope and metal in Old Tongue to coax them to loosen.

I was watching now when the second hook flew toward us, aimed for Shae’s arm. “Fall!” I screeched at it, and it obeyed.

Shae was at the window now, screaming at me to hurry up. We had seconds before the other guards realized what was going on and came as reinforcement. Even if she got out right now, she could still be caught the second her feet touched the ground.

I was tired and hungry. I didn’t have enough power to free us both. I smiled at her, my body jerking in midair as another hook wrapped around my left wrist.

“Good luck, Shadow.”

Her eyes went wide. She wasn’t stupid, she must have some idea of what I was going to do. “Cia, no—!”

“Fly, speed, safe, protect, GO!” I shouted, pouring every ounce of power I had left into my voice.

With a crack and a rumble, the wind whisked Shae out of the window, her protests whipped away with her. The spell wouldn’t last long, but hopefully it could get her to the edge of the city.

The spell holding me aloft gave out, and I plummeted toward the cold stone below. Just enough of my magic remained that my landing was cushioned slightly, so instead of breaking multiple bones I only twisted my ankle and the wrist I threw out instinctively.

My magic was gone.

I was unconscious almost instantly.

The next time I woke, I was once again in a dark, unfamiliar cell. This one was a bit more traditional, with a door set in the wall and bars across the small square space in the center of it, which allowed a few meager beams of torchlight through. That was the first thing I noticed.

The second thing was that I was gagged. And chained. Again. Bloody perfect.

My head ached and every muscle in my body decided to revolt when I tried to push myself up off the pile of straw I must have been thrown onto. I groaned—the sound muffled by the foul-tasting cloth in my mouth—and collapsed back, feeling like my skull was about to split down the middle.

Voices registered through my headache. They were muffled and distorted by the door that separated them from my cell, but I could make out most of it.

“She awake?”

“Dunno. Maybe, sounds like it.”

“Well, why don’t you check?”

“No way in the hells! You check the witch.”

“Coward. She’s gagged and bound, she can’t use her magic.”

“That’s what Erik and Colm thought, and look what happened to them.”

Silence. I felt the tiniest pinprick of guilt, but I pushed it away. Erik and Colm weren’t dead, which was probably a lot more than I’d be able to say for myself soon enough.

A helmeted face appeared on the other side of the bars. I held perfectly still, not sure if it would be in my favor to pretend to still be unconscious or not.

“Oi. Witch. You awake?” That was the woman’s voice.

I didn’t respond, trying to work out some form of plan through the pounding in my head.

There was the shuffling clank of chainmail settling, then I heard a muffled, “Still asleep, or else she’s faking.”

“Should we get the Captain?”

My blood ran cold. Why on earth would they need to get the Captain?

“Maybe. It has been almost six hours. I’ll go, you watch her.”

“No way! I’ll go, you stay with the freak!”

They devolved into bickering, and I rolled my eyes. Typical. I was a bit more alert now, so I took stock of my options.

There weren’t a lot. I was chained and magic-bound, had a blinding headache, was stiff and sore, had somehow lost my shoes, and I was under armed guard. Albeit apparently none too bright armed guard.

Barring some miracle from the gods, I couldn’t see a way out of this.

“Bradley, Farym!”

I jerked at the sound of that voice, chains clanking loudly.

“Captain!” There was the distinct sound of uniforms snapping to attention.

“Is the prisoner awake?”

I held my breath, leaving my eyes open just a crack to watch the barred opening in the door.

“Possibly, Sir.”

An exasperated sigh. “Possibly, Guardsman?”

“Ah—that is, we heard noises, Sir, but she still appears to be unconscious. Though she could possibly be faking. Sir.”

“Well, why didn’t you check?”

Silence. I smirked in spite of myself.

The Captain sighed heavily. “Very well. I shall do it myself.”

“Yessir.”

I tensed. There was some more clanking, then door began to slide inward. I winced at the grating sound of stone on stone.

Footsteps, heavy and booted. I kept my eyes closed, forcing my breathing to be even. My hands curled into fists, but there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t even sit up properly for gods’ sakes!

“You. Girl. Look at me.”

I didn’t move.

Captain Reynard gave a long-suffering sigh. “I said...”

I didn’t even have time to register more than the heat of his body coming closer before his hand was fisted in my hair, yanking my up. I cried out instinctively in pain and fear, eyes flying open to meet a gaze so blue it chilled me.

“Look at me, witch.”

I snarled into my gag, animalistic, bringing my cuffed hands up to scrabble uselessly at his arm. He smirked. “That’s better,” he said coolly, suddenly releasing his grip on my hair. I dropped heavily to the stone and winced as my body protested vehemently. He took a step back, looking down at me with a smugness that I longed to scratch off his face. “You’re a pretty thing, aren’t you?” he commented lazily, digging the toe of his boot into my ribcage to roll me onto my back. Rage burned in my chest, and I tried to scuttle away from him, but my shoulder hit the back wall of my cell. He grinned. “I guess it just goes to show,” he continued, tilting his head as he eyed me up and down. “Evil takes all forms.”

It certainly does.

I met his stare with my own, hoping he could see the hatred there. Erryn had told me stories of this man—before he knew what I was, when everything had been easy—of how he was like an uncle to my friends, how he was always kind, if a bit gruff. That he used to bring them sweets when they were children, and had been a great comfort to their mother after their father’s death.

Looking at the man before me, I couldn’t believe it. My magic may have been suppressed, but it was still there, twisting uncomfortably through my veins as it struggled to get away from the anger and fear and hatred rolling off this man in waves. There was something wrong in him, I could feel it.

“Well, you and your ilk won’t hold power in this land much longer,” Captain Reynard said conversationally. I glared at him. He smirked. “Soon enough sorcerers will be extinct. Starting with you.” He turned to go, dragging the heavy door closed behind them. He spoke to the guards, and his words sent a chill down my spine.

“It’s about two hours until sunrise. Take her to the stone pyre then. We’re almost done preparing.”

“Yessir!”

All strength left my body and I sagged against the wall.

This was it. I was going to die, and there was nothing I could do about it.

No, stop that, a determined voice snapped through my mind. It sounded oddly like my mother. There is always a way, a plan, something. Just think. Come now, girl, think!

Okay.

Okay, think.

I couldn’t use magic, I couldn’t speak. But…but I could still use my hands, albeit limitedly. Alright, that was a start. I looked around the cell, desperately searching for anything that I could use for a weapon, or—wait, the straw! Shae had taught me how to pick locks. I wasn’t very good at it, but if I could find a few sturdy strands, twist them together… I set about hunting through the filthy piles, telling the voice in the back of my mind that reminded me even if I could get the cuffs off I’d still be in a guarded cell to shut up. One step at a time—

“Hey, Billy. Rowena.”

I froze. That voice.

No, there was no way.

“Hi, Erryn.”

“Hey. What’re you doing here? I thought your shift ended an hour ago.”

I could practically see him shrugging nonchalantly, that disarming half smile sliding across his face. “Figured I could stick around a bit longer, see if anything interesting happens with our prize. Besides, Captain wouldn’t let me go after the Shadow.”

The more masculine of the two voices laughed. “Yeah, he was none too happy about losing her. But you know the Dog Squad will find her soon enough.”

I blanched. There was only so much my protection spells could do against a pack of highly trained tracking dogs with plenty of access to Shae’s scent. I hoped my wind would be enough…

“Oh, here, I brought you some sustenance.” Erryn’s voice again.

“Hey, cheers, mate!” That was Billy I guessed, his exclamation followed by the sounds of vigorous eating. My stomach growled plaintively.

“Oi, what’re you, a starving mutt? At least pretend to be civilized,” the other voice—must be Rowena—snapped. Then her tone changed as she evidently took some of Erryn’s offered food. “Thanks, Cooper.”

He chuckled. “No problem, Bradley. Anything to help out a friend.”

I narrowed my eyes. I still hadn’t moved a muscle since first identifying Erryn’s voice. What was he planning?

“Yeah, fanks mahn.” Billy again, evidently talking around a mouthful of food. Rowena started to scold him again, but suddenly her voice cut off.

“Wha—?” I heard her mumble, then there was the distinct clank-thump of a body decked out in chainmail and a helmet hitting the floor, followed quickly by a slightly heavier sounding clunk-thud. Rattling, clinking, then the shnick of a key in a lock. The door grated inward.

I blinked against the sudden beams of torchlight. Erryn stood in the doorway, twirling a key around his finger and grinning at me lopsidedly. “Hey, Cia,” he said casually, stepping into the cell. “Miss me?”

He had no gods-blessed idea. He made quick work of my shackles and gag, and the instant the chains clattered to the floor I vaulted to my feet, throwing my arms around his neck so enthusiastically he staggered back a few steps.

“Easy,” he laughed quietly, returning the hug briefly but fiercely before pushing me away. He still had that charming little half smile. “I wish I could think that was just because you’re happy to see me, but we’ve gotta go.”

I nodded. “Right.” I followed him out into the hall, stepping carefully over the snoring bodies of his brother- and sister-in-arms. “Drugged the food?”

He nodded, peering in both directions down the hallway before starting right and beckoning me forward. “Yeah. Simple sleeping draught, but it should keep them down long enough to get you out of here.”

“Thank you,” I said softly, meaning the words with all my heart. They didn’t seem nearly adequate. “Erryn, you—you just turned your back on your whole life. You know that, right?” We turned a corner. “I can’t believe—I mean, for me—"

“Hey.” He stopped suddenly and turned to me, taking my face in his hands. He smiled, hazel eyes warm and familiar. “Of course, for you. Do you really think I could just let you die?”

I knew we had to hurry, but I couldn’t stop the deep sense of gratitude and affection welling up in my chest and spurring me to hug him again. “Thank you,” I murmured once more. Then I released him, and we resumed our hurried escape.

Erryn slipped his hand into mine, tugging me along, “I wish I could take full credit here, but actually we worked out a plan so that I seem completely blameless in your daring escape,” he said, glancing over and grinning at me.

I blinked. “We?”

We had come to a small door set deep into the stone wall and Erryn pushed it open without preamble, ushering me through. The street outside was dim and quiet. I looked around, letting my eyes adjust—and had to clap a hand over my own mouth to keep from shouting.

“Hey, there,” Shae said, stepping from the shadows with a smug smile plastered across her face.

“You…” I looked back and forth between my two friends. “You—What?”

“No time,” Shae said, darting forward and grabbing my arm. “Long story short, I tracked down Golden Boy over here and convinced him I was on your side. We set this up so’s it looks like I was the one who drugged your guards. Cooper’s gonna go back in and pretend to be passed out with the rest of them—where are your shoes?”

I looked down at my bare feet. “Oh. Um, I don’t know, actually. I woke up like this.”

Erryn blinked and looked at my feet as well, then winced guiltily. “Sorry, Cia, I didn’t even notice, I was hurrying—"

Shae muttered something in thieves’ cant that I figured wasn’t very polite. “Whatever,” she said in plain Common. “Can you magic something up for yourself?”

I nodded.

“Right. Then let’s start running. Cooper says the patrol will be back this way in a few minutes.”

I nodded again, turning and opening my mouth to thank Erryn and bid him goodbye. Instead, my eyes widened and what came out of my mouth was, “Get down!”

He obeyed without question, dropping to the ground as I threw up my hands and shouted, “Sheild!” in Old Tongue.

The arrow that had been fired from the window of Central Command ricocheted off the glowing golden barrier that had suddenly erected itself around us. I heard shouting and scrambling within the walls, but before Erryn or I could get over our shock to move ourselves, Shae snapped us both back into action with a shouted, “Run, you idiots!”

She was already halfway down the alley. I sprinted after her without a second thought, and a moment later I felt Erryn following. “Must’ve…seen us,” I panted to him.

He nodded grimly, and I saw he’d drawn his sword. My heartbeat stuttered. There was no way we were getting out of this without a fight.

Guards were following us. I didn’t need my magic to alert me to the sounds of heavy boot-steps and clinking chainmail. Where are we going? I projected to my companions, hoping someone had an idea.

Of course, Shae did. “East Wall,” she hissed, darting around a corner. We had caught up to her by now and were running in a sort of bird-migration triangle, Shae taking point with me and Erryn flanking her.

“The drain,” he added, clipped and short. Conserving air, as he’d been trained to do.

“Yeah.” We slipped into the tiny, dark space between two buildings, and Shae held up a hand for quiet. I immediately knew what she was planning and sent my magic out like a fine mist, breathing, “Silence, hidden.”

An invisible fog settled around us, muffling any noise we might have made and blurring us from view. We waited, barely breathing, while the guards came closer and closer. They were in the adjoining alley, torchlight throwing sinister shadows along the cobblestones. We heard them shouting, but they didn’t even pause as they passed our hiding place. Slowly, painfully slowly, the sound of the patrol faded away into the distance.

Shae let out a slow breath, then cautiously poked her head back out into the alley. She nodded once, then beckoned us forward, creeping out. We followed just as warily, Erryn’s eyes jumping around in their sockets and my magic on high alert, curling out in the darkness to detect any life.

Nothing more than sleeping civilians and a few stray cats.

I kept the blur of protection around us as we resumed our trek, now running at a diagonal from our original path so we didn’t meet up with our pursuers. Gradually, the darkness around us seemed to thin as we ran. Sunrise was approaching. We had to get out of the city before then, before the light could flush us out.

We almost made it. The wall was ahead of us, just across the last street. We could see the latticed bars of the drain set into the gray stone, beckoning us forward like the beacon in a lighthouse. Perhaps that was why our caution lessened, why we darted forward without pausing to check for an ambush.

The moment my still bare, and now absolutely filthy, feet touched the uneven street, I felt it. That haunted, twisting presence I’d felt back in my cell swamped over me and I gasped, doubling over. Shae and Erryn stopped, calling my name, but I didn’t have time to reassure them or warn them. I stretched out my fingers and gasped, “Reveal!”

With a muffled curse, Captain Reynard fell from his hiding place, one of the roofs now at our backs. We jerked around to face him, Erryn’s sword flicking out before his eyes registered who our assailant was. When they did, they widened. “Captain—" he started, blade lowering a fraction.

Reynard snarled at us, drawing his own blade. “Traitor,” he spat at my friend, who cringed as though the word was a physical blow. Shae was pressed against my side, dagger drawn and ready. Magic curled around my fingertips, aching to be unleashed. “I knew you would come this way. You’ve always been clever, Ryn. Just not quite clever enough.”

Erryn winced again at the pet name, which—aside from myself once or twice—I’d only heard his brother use. “Captain, please,” he said softly, taking a hesitant step forward. “Please, just listen for a moment. Ciara isn’t evil, you have to understand—"

“Oh, I understand,” the Captain cut him off. His voice sounded heavy and sad, but there was that wrongness to it, raising my hackles and instantly earning my distrust. My fingers twitched. “I understand you have been beguiled by these whores’ lies!” He gestured emphatically at us with his sword.

Shae stiffened beside me and growled, the sound coming from somewhere deep in her chest.

Erryn was shaking his head, eyes wide and pleading. “No, you don’t understand. Magic isn’t evil; that’s the lie. It’s just a tool, it can be used for terrible or amazing things—"

Reynard shook his head. “You sound just like your father,” he muttered despairingly.

Erryn and I froze. Realization slowly started to build in my mind. Oh no…

“He could have been a great man. But he was too weak, too gullible. I knew you must have fallen into the same trap. It’s why I came alone; I wanted to spare you the shame of having your comrades see you like this.” He hefted his blade, eye narrowing. “I will tell them the witch enchanted you. Yes, that’s better…” He took a step forward.

“Sleep, stop, confusion, cold, heat, wind, fire, stone, break, scent, blind, deafen, STOP!” I screeched, flinging my hands up. Magic exploded away from me like a tidal wave, crashing into him in an almost visible wall of power.

He kept coming. “Every inch of my uniform and blade is soaked in dragonsbane, girl,” he said with a sneer, dark eyes glinting predatorily. Then he charged.

Before Shae or I could make a move, Erryn leapt in front of us. Steel crashed against steel, grating harshly as sparks flew. For a moment I was stunned, watching as the two men strained against each other, evenly matched in strength. Then Erryn twisted his blade and threw Reynard back, mouth twisted into a snarl.

“What happened to my father?” he all but roared as they stared at each other.

The Captain started to circle, like a wolf on the hunt. Erryn, Shae, and I circled the other direction, always keeping the same distance between us. “He was killed by one of the vermin he so often tried to protect,” Reynard spat.

“That’s not true!” I shouted, unable to stop myself. Too long. For too long I had listened to these lies, swallowed them down to protect my own secret. But what did it matter now? One way or another, I would never return here again. “Haydir didn’t kill him! You know that, I know you do! The man who killed Darian Cooper wasn’t even a true sorcerer—he gained his power through blood and lies and darkness, he wasn’t born with it!”

For a moment they all just looked at me, stunned. But I couldn’t stop now. I was done pretending, done hiding. And my magic had given me the answer, so clearly singing it through my mind it seemed ridiculous that I hadn’t know it before.

“Who gave you the dragonsbane, Reynard?” I demanded, narrowing my eyes and taking a step forward.

The Captain seemed too stunned to react, staring at me with his sword immobile in his grip.

“Who taught you to protect your weapons and your body against magic? Who gave you the power you wield like a child who’s found his father’s blade?”

Reynard gritted his teeth, snarling at me. “That is different,” he spat. His sword was shaking in his hand now. “He serves the royal family, he is controlled—"

I laughed, high and bitter and maybe a little mad. My magic could feel Shae and Erryn’s confusion and discomfort, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. “Rolond is controlled by no one,” I hissed. “Tell me, what did he have to promise you? What was worth killing your friend?”

Erryn made a soft sound that was either of shock or grief. Reynard’s eyes slammed closed, going completely dark. “I should have killed you where you lay,” the Captain seethed.

“Yes. You should have,” I agreed, and let loose with another torrent of magic. I didn’t need to speak this time. My rage and sorrow powered the spell, sending it rocketing toward him in a solid lance of golden light.

The magic struck him in the chest and threw him back against a wall, pounding against his defenses but not breaking them completely. I raised my hands to attack again, but Erryn moved before I could. He charged forward with a wordless battle cry, blade an arc of gleaming metal in the pre-dawn light.

I’ve never held with the idea of a helpless maiden who simply stands to the side while the men fight. But in that moment, I realized there was almost nothing Shae or I could do. They moved too fast, a blur of limbs and steel. If either of us tried to attack, we’d be just as likely to hit Erryn as we would the Captain. I danced anxiously around the combatants, searching desperately for a clear opening.

As it turned out, I didn’t need one. With a clatter, Erryn disarmed Reynard. His sword flew through the air to land several yards away in the street. Both men froze, Erryn’s blade now lowered to Reynard’s neck where he crouched on the ground. They were breathing hard, staring at each other. I stayed where I was, still as stone, unsure what I should do.

“You were arrogant,” Erryn said quietly, “to think you could take us on by yourself.” His sword began to quiver slightly in his grip. “How could you?” he demanded, voice very soft. “You were his friend. He trusted you.”

“He would have torn this country apart,” Reynard answered, staring him down with those empty eyes. Erryn gritted his teeth, pain and sorrow clearly etched across his face, and my heart broke for him. “Go on then,” the Captain baited, snarling. “Kill me. Prove yourself a traitor.”

I saw Erryn’s hand tighten on the hilt of his sword and I took a step forward. He shouldn’t have to do this. I knew he’d killed before, but he’d done it in the heat of battle, not like this. Not the man who’d been like a second father to him.

I raised my hands and gathered my magic.

Killing is easy, so easy, if you know what you’re doing. A simple jolt to stop the heart or close the throat. In theory, it would take no more energy than lifting a finger—though the cost to a mage’s natural power was steep. I opened my mouth…

And closed it again, letting my hands lower. I couldn’t do it. My magic churned sickeningly at the very thought.

Reynard knew it. He must have seen it in our faces, Erryn’s and mine. He smirked, and helpless rage boiled in my gut. “You don’t have the spine,” he spat viciously. “For all your depravity, you simply lack the conviction—"

His voice choked off and his eyes went wide. Then he coughed, a gurgling, rasping sound that set my hair on end, and a spatter of crimson flew from his lips. Erryn stepped back, shocked, as his Captain fell forward, a dagger buried to the hilt in his back.

For a moment we remained frozen. Then a shape detached itself from the ever-fading darkness between the houses and moved forward to reclaim her blade, cleaning it emotionlessly on the hem of her tunic. “We couldn’t let him live,” the Shadow said calmly, sheathing her weapon.

Slowly, painfully, Erryn nodded. His eyes were fixed on the Reynard’s lifeless form. Cautiously, I approached and laid a hand on his arm. The moment I did, he snapped to attention, a wall going up in his eyes that made my heart clench in grief.

“Come on,” he ordered, and turned his back on the Captain. Shae and I followed silently as he led us to the drain, leaving death and guilt and fear behind as we raced toward freedom.

We were silent, not even a breath audible between us as we slipped through the sleepy town that crowds up against Varcia’s walls. By the time the false gray light of pre-dawn had warmed to the orange gold light of the sun, we were in the forest. Erryn called us to a halt without a word, simply raising a clenched fist. He walked around the small glen we had found ourselves in, securing a perimeter. Shae and I sank to the ground, relief and guilt and old, old anger sucking all the energy from my body. I simply lay back in the grass and closed my eyes.

“So.”

The single word seemed too loud after so long in quiet. Erryn and I snapped out attention to Shae. She was sitting up, arms wrapped tight around her middle. She fixed us with flinty indigo eyes.

“What’s next?”