by Andrew Rowe
He twisted even as he recoiled, trying to slip her grip. He was stronger than she’d expected, but she just hit him again with his free hand and the knife slipped free.
After that, she swept the knife out of the way with a foot and pressed him back against the door.
He smashed his forehead downward. She twisted, but not fast enough, and his head collided with her upper lip rather than her nose.
Velas stumbled back, tasting blood, and Cassius took that moment to turn and run.
So much for family.
A blur of motion and Velas was in front of him. She punched him in the face.
He staggered back a step, taking the punch surprisingly well, and then raised his fists into a high guard. A flick of the wrist and he had another knife in his hand.
Velas waved a hand downward. “Drop it or I drop you.”
“Sorry, Jaldin. I’ll take my chances with you over Sterling.” He walked to the right. She mirrored him, not bothering to draw her sword.
Instead, she tried something new.
“Eru volar proter taris.” She felt a momentary jolt as the rune concealed on the back of her shoulder flared, and Velas felt essence surge through her body. She’d activated the safer of her two new dominion marks.
Cassius lunged as soon as she started speaking, clearly understanding that a spell was being cast. Velas raised her arm, and the knife impacted against it just after she finished her phrase.
A shower of sparks flashed from the surface of her skin as the knife skidded across it harmlessly. The sound of impact was like the dagger was scratching against a metal plate rather than bare flesh.
Velas grinned.
Guess the armor is going to do me a bit of good after all.
Her opponent hopped back, wary. He was alert now, more aware of the threat that Velas presented. It hardly mattered.
Cassius was a good fighter, but he wasn’t Velas.
She waited, let him circle a bit, enjoying the dance. She sidestepped a thrust toward her throat, then struck him again.
When he recoiled this time, his nose was bleeding freely. He spat blood.
Seems like this helps me hit just a smidge harder, too. Not a bad side effect.
Velas raised her arms, keeping them in the way of any future attacks while she talked. Drawing from the armor’s power reinforced her entire body, but she wasn’t going to risk seeing what would happen if he hit her in the eye or another vulnerable spot. “I can always go back and beat the answers out of Luria. Inconvenient, but the paladins still have him in a cell.”
“Luria doesn’t know where Sterling is.” Cassius took a couple steps back, then wiped his nose with a sleeve. “In fact, he didn’t know where I am, either. How did you find me?”
“Went back to where you fought Asphodel in the woods with her and a travel sorcerer. She pointed out the exact spot. We found some dried blood. Some was yours, from when she broke your ribs.” Velas grinned. “How are those feeling, by the way?”
Velas stepped in and punched him in the ribs.
He’d had nearly a year to heal, but even so, he bent over double from the strike. Maybe it was lasting damage, or maybe she’d just hit him that hard.
He managed a quick counter-swipe with the knife, but Velas was ready, and she just stepped back out of reach.
Velas changed her mind. This wasn’t enough of a challenge, even without the sword. The rune was stealing any fun she might have had from the challenge.
She briefly contemplated turning it off, just to make things more sporting, but she doubted even that would offer her enough of a challenge to bother.
Velas swept his right leg while he was still recovering from the hit to the ribs, then drew her sword and planted it atop his chest. “Now, we’re going to have a conversation. If it’s any comfort, by the time I’m done with Sterling, he’s not going to be in any condition to come back for you.”
Cassius was too busy coughing to reply, and for a moment, Velas wondered if she’d managed to punch a rib into something vital.
That would be awkward.
Gonna have to be a careful about where I hit people while this rune is on.
She took the moment to kick his hand, dislodging the hopefully final knife, and then moved back into position.
“I don’t know where he is,” Cassius managed after several moments of coughing.
“You’ve got an idea, otherwise you wouldn’t have risked fighting me.” Velas pushed downward on her sword, just a little. Not even enough to pierce through his shirt. Just enough to give him a little motivation.
“I haven’t seen him in months. I can tell you where he was, but I don’t—”
Velas shook her head and sighed. “This isn’t getting anywhere. Do we have to do this the hard way?”
Cassius coughed, then looked Velas up and down. “Now you’re just bluffing. You’re not going to hurt the children, so there isn’t much more you can do to threaten me. We both know torture isn’t effective at getting true answers.”
Velas nodded thoughtfully. “You’re right. I’m done here.”
She lifted the sword. For a moment, it looked like she might plunge it straight back down...
...but when she jammed it down, it was just into the weapon’s scabbard.
Cassius lifted his head, coughed again, and then stared at Velas’ retreating form. “What? You’re just going to leave?”
Velas turned her head back. “Oh, no. You were right, I’m not going to get anything more out of you. I’m just backing off to give her a turn.”
The shadows at Velas’ side coalesced into the form of a thin rethri woman. The newcomer strode forward with clarity of purpose.
Velas smiled, retrieving the Heartlance from where it was leaning against a tree nearby. “All yours, Rialla.”
***
Velas winced as she dipped two fingers into a container of foul-smelling paste, then wiped it against the thin cut on her neck.
She wasn’t sure exactly when Cassius had managed to cut her. Probably right when the fight had first started?
Doubt he managed to cut me after I’d turned on the rune, but...ugh. I need to be more careful.
I hate poison.
Fortunately, she remembered Taelien’s solution to their little assassin’s test. And it was true; Thornguard always carried an antidote to their poisons somewhere on their person.
Unlike the prop used in the tests, though, this one was awful. If they hadn’t interrogated Cassius thoroughly, she would have suspected it was just some kind of half-decomposed fruit or something.
“Could have saved us both some trouble if you’d let me talk to him from the start.” Rialla was leaning up against a tree nearby, her arms folded. Her indigo eyes were narrowed in what Velas presumed to be a combination of worry and frustration.
Velas waved her other hand dismissively. “What fun would that have been? You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to punch that guy in the face.”
“Eradae 14th, last year.”
“Hm?”
“That’s the day that Sterling, Cassius, and Luria murdered those paladins.”
Velas paused treating her wound to stare in Rialla’s direction. “You actually remember that?”
“I remember that week for different reasons.”
Oh. The whole killing her own father thing. Yeah, that’d stick with someone.
Velas shrugged, replaced the cap on the bottle of paste, and shoved it aside. She took out her waterskin from her pack and poured the entire contents on her fingers, trying to get rid of the foul smell. It mostly worked.
She tossed the waterskin to Rialla next. “Fill her up for me?”
Rialla sighed. “I’m not a sink.”
Velas grinned. “But you could be!”
Rialla shook her head, putting a hand over the top of the bottle and concentrating. A steady flow of water trickled down from her palm into the bottle. When it was full, Rialla coughed, wiped her forehead, and walked the bottle back ov
er to Velas. She could have tossed it back, but that wasn’t her style.
Velas accepted the bottle and put it back in her pack. “Thanks, Ri. So, what do you think?”
“I think you should have killed him.”
“Wasn’t what I meant. But anyway, I’ve always had a soft spot for kids. Must have picked it up from Auntie Ess. And I wasn’t going to take care of them myself, so...”
Rialla walked back over to her tree. “You gave him your ‘ess’ name.”
“Hardly a problem at this point. Sterling already knows it, and Cassius really is trying to get out of the business. Wonder how long it’ll be before the clean-up crew comes knocking. Maybe ending it now would have been a mercy.” Velas lifted her pack, slipping it back on. “Okay, think I’m ready to go.”
Rialla lifted her own backpack. “Good. I’m tired of being here, and we have a long way home.”
“Home? Is that what we’re calling Velthryn these days?”
“I grew up there.”
With a father that wanted to kill your brother, yeah. Doesn’t sound like home to me.
Velas put the thought aside. “Fair. I suppose it’s a nice enough city, if you can deal with the arrogance of the nobility.”
Rialla didn’t take the bait. “As for what you were asking about earlier, I think it’s pretty straightforward. Last Cassius heard, Sterling was in Selyr. That’s one of the main Thornguard headquarters, and it’s also where Aayara usually does business. I think she’s been running us in circles on purpose.”
Velas tightened her jaw. “Or he’s found a way to slip around without her noticing. He’s got void sorcery, after all.”
“It’s possible, but I think we need to consider the fact that your esteemed teacher might be wasting our time.”
“That’s not like her.” Velas shook her head. “Even if she knows where Sterling is located, she’s got an objective behind where she’s been sending us. Maybe the real goal was just to get us to remind Cassius of his place. Or maybe she expected us to follow this lead toward something else.”
“I think we might want to fill Scribe in about this. Isn’t he up near the Selyr area?”
Yeah, and he’s not the only one.
Velas felt the scar under her right arm itch. It was distracting.
“Fine. We’ll contact Scribe. But if he’s already in the area, he might already know.”
It was Rialla’s turn to frown. “You think he found Sterling and didn’t tell us?”
Velas shrugged. “You never know with him.”
If I had a good enough reason, I might keep that sort of thing to myself.
...But Jonan doesn’t seem to have the motivation. He wasn’t close with any of the targets. He’d probably be more professional.
“There’s a good chance this is a trap. If Sterling knows we’re following him, going to Selyr is a considerable risk. He’ll be at the height of his power and resources in Thornguard territory.”
“Agreed. It sounds lovely. Best news I’ve had in months.” Velas cracked her fingers. “Let’s hit Velthryn first. Our paladin friends are going to want to know that we’ve picked up the trail.”
“When do you plan to tell Lydia about your other identity?”
“Ah, such a deliberate way of phrasing that question. You’re learning, Ri. The answer is never.”
Rialla paused in her tracks. “I don’t think that’s wise, Vel. If you keep referencing information coming in from outside sources, she’s going to know something is amiss.”
“Red knows I was Myros, but unless Jonan has been indiscreet, she still doesn’t know about our ties to Symphony. I’d rather keep it that way. Wouldn’t you?”
“I think we can trust her. I think she’s a good person.” Rialla sounded wistful, but resumed walking behind Velas.
Velas rolled her eyes. “Lydia is a good person. That’s precisely why we can’t tell her. You think she’d let me keep this shiny paladin badge if she knew I’d been working with a vae’kes from the start?”
“Maybe, if you volunteered the information...”
“Bah. I work better keeping this stuff separate. If you’re worried about arousing suspicions, we can pass information to Jonan, and he can funnel it through to her.”
Rialla frowned, but she nodded after a moment. “Very well. But there will come a time when you need to tell her the truth.”
“That’s a problem for the future. Today, I can just relax and enjoy the poison. Mmm, poison.”
“If you actually start to feel anything get worse, let me look at that. Antivenoms aren’t miracle cures.”
“Aww, I’ll be fine. ‘Preciate that you’re worrying about me, though. I would feel better if we had comfy beds to sleep in tonight...”
“No, Vel. I’m not going to try teleporting us that far. I’ve only tried line of sight, and even that makes me dizzy for hours. It takes years to get the proficiency to go any serious distance.”
“We could go to the side of a cliff where you can see the bottom of the mountain. That’s line of sight, yeah?”
“Sure, if you want to land at the velocity of falling off a cliff.”
Velas tilted her head to the side. “Wait, really? Doesn’t teleporting skip everything in between?”
“I don’t know much of the theory behind how it works. Maybe veteran sorcerers can get it to work that way. But when I’ve tried going up or down a flight of stairs, it feels like I jumped and landed.”
“Huh. What if you take us to about ten feet above the ground, then I use motion sorcery to cushion our fall?”
“No, Vel. We are not teleporting off a cliff.”
Velas sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. But I’ll have you know that you are no fun at all. In fact, I hereby dub you, ‘Funslayer.’”
Rialla stopped to bow theatrically. “I’m honored by your beneficence, oh-great-taker-of-unnecessary-risks.”
“Now that’s more like it.” Velas laughed, then slowed her walk to put an arm around Rialla’s waist. “Now, what if you just took us down part way?”
“Not happening.”
“Aww.”
Chapter II – Lydia I – Sorcery Burns
Lydia stood on the circular roof of a tall stone tower, nearly fifty feet across. She was precariously close to the edge, with a hundred foot drop awaiting her if she took a step too far.
Careful...wait for it...
She watched as a serpentine coil of flame descended from the sky, hissing as if it was alive. It was moving too erratically for her to be certain that any evasive action would succeed, and the tower’s edge limited her range of motion. Instead, she held her ground, raising her left hand, palm-outward.
“Flames, I command you to disperse.”
The flames shivered even as she did, the spell extracting a toll on her body. It was not enough — the sirocco hovered above her, its downward movement arrested, but it shook as if struggling to break free from her command. Narrowing her eyes, she lifted her other hand and pressed her palms together, focusing on the fire. Her spell was still active, a connection still in place — she reached out for that connection with her mind, touching the original source of fire.
Vendria, buy me some time.
[Understood, Lydia.]
Lydia couldn’t see the gemstone in her pack flash, but she sensed the power of the stone activate.
A many-faceted green barrier appeared around Lydia just in time to stop a handful of flaming arrows hurled by her opponent. The arrows vanished, leaving deep furrows in the barrier where they’d impacted, but the tornado of flame remained.
It shifted closer to her.
“Disperse,” she commanded, pulling her hands apart. She tore the flames asunder with her word and gesture, separating the heat until it faded harmlessly.
That gave her only a moment of respite, however. Her opponent was a determined one.
The older man stood about fifteen feet away, closer to the center of the rooftop. His hands were pressed together, his half-do
zen bright metal rings shining in the morning light. He closed his eyes for a moment in concentration, then pulled his hands apart and pointed skyward. “Lightning, descend and strike!”
Lydia hissed, drawing and throwing her sword in the instant before the spell took effect. A perfectly guided spell would have ignored the metal and stayed true to its course, but her opponent was not giving it that degree of focus — the lightning arced downward and struck the metal weapon, which clattered harmlessly to the ground. Layers of protection sorcery prevented the weapon from being damaged by the blast.
“Interesting, but not—”
She threw a rock at him.
The sorcerer had a momentary look of confusion as he stepped to the side, avoiding the projectile. “What do you—?”
Her hand was already in her pouch, then back in motion, hurling a handful of rocks — each glowing a soft purple.
“Wall.”
The stone floor of the tower rumbled as a thin section of granite rocketed upward, blocking her hurled projectiles and her line of sight.
That was good. It blocked his vision of her, too.
She rushed closer, nearing the wall as a fiery snake — a literal snake, this time, not merely a spiraling flame — circled around the wall. The elemental hovered a few feet off the ground, hissing at her as it lunged.
Lydia grabbed it around the neck with her right hand, her ring flaring to life as it suppressed the creature’s flames. “Go to sleep, Tythus. Sleep.”
The snake stared at her for a moment, then fell limp. She set the familiar down gingerly, turning just in time to see her opponent leveling a ring-laden hand in her direction.
“Voidlance.”
A trio of glowing black javelins appeared behind her opponent, hovering for a moment before shooting forward.
Her first instinct was to raise another barrier, but she brushed it aside. Void spells were designed to counter protection sorcery. For her, there was very little that could be worse.
She hurled herself forward, landing on the other side of the wall as the spears punctured the air behind her, the stone wall providing protection where sorcery could not. Her right leg screamed as she impacted against the ground, reminding her of the one type of sorcery she hated even more than void: the sorcery that had stolen much of her old power, leaving her vulnerable enough for Sterling to shatter her limb.
