by Andrew Rowe
I should have asked for more about what the followers of the Tyrant were capable of.
Now if I had to fight, I was going in virtually blind.
And that meant I wasn’t planning to fight at all.
I needed to find every possible alternative. Every means of escape.
The odds of that working narrowed further when we reached our destination. A cabin in the middle of the woods.
Thomas walked up and knocked on the door. A moment later, it opened, and I took a step back.
The young woman on the other side wasn’t wearing a military uniform. She had long blonde hair, perfectly styled, and wore a fire-red dress.
A casual look would have told me she was dressed for a ball, but a closer inspection of the dress showed that it consisted of threads with a faint metallic sheen. That’s Ironweave, or something like it. The same thing they use to make dueling tunics. She just dyed it red to make it look fancy.
Similarly, she was wearing several pieces of gaudy-looking jewelry, but they weren’t cosmetic. Well, most of the pieces weren’t.
Her necklace glowed with an Emerald-level enchantment, and the two overly-large crystals on the rings on her hands were essence crystals. High-density ones, at least Class 3 or 4. They were probably worth a fortune.
She had a second necklace — or something else — glowing green under the high collar of her dress. That was unusual, considering two enchanted items in the same location tended to interfere with each other. Having two powerful items in the same location was a strange risk. Maybe someone as powerful as she was had a workaround, though.
My conclusion? She was a tremendously dangerous person with a carefully cultivated appearance of indulgence.
And with that, I had a good idea of who I was talking to and how dangerous my situation had become.
“Corin Cadence.” Elora Theas gave me a charming smile, with just the slightest hint of her teeth showing. “I believe you wished to speak to me.”
I have made a terrible mistake.
I didn’t dare step forward, so I chose to bow instead. “Lady Theas. It’s a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”
I hadn’t expected for it to be under these circumstances, but that was probably obvious.
Elora returned my bow. “The pleasure is mine. I believe it’s long past time we discussed some issues of mutual interest.” Elora stepped outside. The soldiers parted for her. “Would you like any refreshments? I have a bit of tea inside.”
I shook my head. “If you don’t mind, I’d prefer some answers.”
“Straight to business, then. You’re very much like your brother in that regard.”
My heart skipped a beat. “My...brother?”
I was feigning my reaction to a degree. I was reasonably confident she was working with Tristan at one point or another.
But a part of that reaction was real, too. I still didn’t know how to handle the fact that Tristan was both alive and working with some very dangerous people.
“Ah, yes. What do you know about your brother, Corin?”
I narrowed my eyes. “My brother entered the spire five years ago. He failed his Judgment. And he never returned.”
Elora smiled. “You’re making some interesting assumptions there. But you’ve given me an important answer with that, and so I owe you one in exchange. What would you like to know?”
“What are you working on with Tristan?”
She shook her head. “Poorly phrased. Currently, the answer to that would be ‘nothing’. My turn. Your dear mother. How is she?”
“You probably know better than I do.”
“That doesn’t help me, dear. Try again.”
I didn’t like this sort of information gathering game. I recognized what she was doing, of course, trying to pry information out of me that I wouldn’t even realize was important. Sera would have been better at countering that sort of strategy.
I had no patience for it.
“I haven’t seen my mother in close to three years. As far as I know, she’s out of the country.”
“Ah. Now that is helpful. Your turn.”
I narrowed my eyes.
Fine, if she’s going to play this way, I’m going to ask something I actually care about. “What do you know about what happened with Tristan in the spire?”
“I do think it would be better to ask him that question, don’t you?”
I folded my arms. “I don’t exactly have the means to do that.”
“I think we both know that you do, darling.”
She knows about the book. Either that, or she wants to try to gauge my reaction to her statement.
“Very well, an alternate question. What’s the point to all this? Kidnapping me?”
Elora laughed. “Oh, my dear Corin. We’re not doing anything so base as kidnapping you. We’re extracting you.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Extracting? As in, from a dangerous situation?”
“Quite. But you owe me two questions now. Let me see... What do you know about any weaknesses that the visage Katashi might possess?”
One of the soldiers — Woods — shuffled uncomfortably.
I considered the question.
How much do I want to give these people?
Nothing, I decided almost immediately. Not until I know their motives. But I have to at least make what I’m saying sound convincing, in order to ask other questions myself.
I can make an opportunity out of this, provided they don’t just kill me afterward.
“His healing abilities are weaker than those of his sister, Ferras.”
Elora narrowed her eyes. “And how would you know that?”
“Because someone suffered an injury that he couldn’t heal, but he suggested that Ferras might be able to. You’ve asked two questions, now it’s my turn.”
“That was a follow-up. But very well, I’m amused. You may ask.”
“Why choose to send people for me right now? You could have just sent me an invitation to meet you sometime after the test.”
She shook her head. “And my dear, sweet Derek would have dissuaded you, or tailed you. No, you’re isolated out here. I can’t have Derek tainting your mind or dashing in to carry you off somewhere.”
I nodded. It was a reasonable assessment.
“You seem nervous. Why?”
I blinked. “Because I was worried I was going to be executed?”
“Oh, dear. No, nothing of the sort, I assure you. You’re far too useful right now.”
The last two words didn’t evade my notice. “Okay, you claim you’re here to ‘extract’ me. Where do you plan to take me?”
“Why, Corin. I’m going to make all your dreams come true.” She clasped her hands together. “I’m taking you to your brother.”
I took a step back. “How? The Serpent Spire is locked.”
Elora laughed. “A second question, but I’ll humor you. Locks have keys, darling. Now, my turn! What has Derek told you about me?”
The jilted lover looking for gossip?
No, this is more tactical.
“He misses you.”
“Nonsense, he would never say that.”
I shook my head. “It’s not what he says. It’s what he doesn’t say.”
That was one of those lines that sounded much deeper and more philosophical than it actually was.
Unfortunately, my paltry platitudes were ineffective. “Your assessment, while adorable, is not what I needed. What has he told you about me?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “He told me that you’re a powerful Summoner. I think he used to climb with you. And you used to know Tristan, as children. You and Tristan were working together for a while, and you tried to bring Derek in on your plans. Derek refused, and you parted ways.”
“True enough. Uninteresting, but mostly accurate. Go ahead.”
I nodded. “I take it you’re the one who hired the Blackstone Bandits to keep an eye on me?”
“I wouldn’t quite call it
‘hiring’, but yes, I was the reason they were looking after you for a time.” She smiled. “Let me ask you something that might actually have a useful answer.” Elora smiled. “How much do you know about the man who calls himself Keras Selyrian?”
Carter turned and looked straight at Elora, then to me. She was clearly interested.
“A bit. He’s a criminal who you attempted to arrest, working with my mother. He escaped.”
“Intriguing. I believe you know a good deal more than that.”
I slowly moved my head up and down, considering what was safe to say.
“He’s a foreigner and an expert combatant. I watched a memory crystal of your fight with him. He’s comparable to an Emerald-level attuned, if not stronger.”
“You’re dodging.”
I shrugged. “Maybe you should have been more specific.”
Elora waved a hand, her crystal ring glimmering as the light on it shifted. “Very well, then. Go ahead.”
I glanced to Carter, then back to Elora. “How long have you been working with servants of the Tyrant in Gold?”
Elora frowned. “What?”
The soldiers all tensed, turning toward me.
I may have just made another terrible mistake. But resh it, if she honestly doesn’t know, I’d rather have one potential ally than zero.
“Carter has a magical mark on the back of her right shoulder that—”
Eyes turned toward Carter.
Carter took a few steps back and reached into her pouch.
Woods tackled her to the ground.
I heard a snap. It wasn’t from the impact, though.
Woods pulled Carter’s arms behind her.
“Disarm and search her.” Elora clapped her hands together.
“You who are born of the Serpent,
Wrought with scales of adamant and bearing claws of fire,
I call upon our pact.
Visage of venom, hear my voice!
Wyvern, I summon you!”
A draconic beast appeared in the air above Elora, roaring into the sky. It was considerably larger than the version she’d summoned against Derek and Sera in the survival match.
Either she’d been holding back then, or she’d grown considerably stronger in the last few months.
Possibly both.
Michel moved to help hold Carter’s legs down, while Thomas flipped open Carter’s pouch, pulling her hand out of it and retrieving what she’d grabbed.
A stick, now snapped in two.
“What’s this?” Thomas demanded.
Carter chuckled. “A twig, obviously, sir. Never seen one before?”
Oh, no.
I turned to Elora. “That’s a signaling item. We need to leave right now.”
Elora turned to look at me, her eyes narrowing. Then, slowly, she nodded. “Agreed. Finish disarming her, then we’re getting out of here.”
“You’re too late.” Carter laughed again. “He’s already here.”
There was a blur of movement.
Then Woods fell backward, staring at two arms that were no longer connected to his hands.
Thomas had just enough time to open his mouth before a blur slammed into his throat. His hands reached up toward a growing line of red.
Michel’s aura flared yellow for an instant before something struck her in the jaw, slamming her into the ground hard enough to send her into a tumble across the forest floor.
The attacker was faster than my eyes could perceive.
Then someone was looming above Carter, a look of disdain on his face as he lifted — and then tossed — Woods’ severed hands.
“Attunements.” The figure wiped his own bloodstained hands against his previously pristine white shirt.
“You think so highly of them, and yet, they can’t help you in the slightest if you’re suppressing them.” He shook his head. “Not that little ones like yours would have mattered, anyway.”
The man was tall, slender, with short hair that had been dyed a dark green tone. His garb was entirely white, aside from the bloodstains.
His eyes were bright yellow. Almost gold.
“Now.” He turned down to Carter. “What’s all this nonsense?”
Carter stumbled to her feet. “I’m sorry. I’ve been compromised. We were instructed to suppress our attunements, and I couldn’t hide the mark properly.”
The man raised a blood-stained finger to her lips. “That’s enough, darling. No need for excuses. We’ll clean things up.”
To the side, Elora moved a finger.
The wyvern dove.
The man turned, frowned, and dodged a swipe from a barbed tail.
“Elias, Warden of the Adamantine Wall, I summon you!”
A titanic stone figure burst from the ground in front of Elora. I’d seen this before, in my vision of her fight with Keras, but I hadn’t seen it in person.
The man smacked the wyvern’s tail to the side with a palm, looking up at the stone golem. “Hrm. Neat.”
“Elias, bind him with chains of authority!”
Golden chains manifested around the man, pulling him toward the ground.
He frowned. Then the wyvern slammed its tail into his chest.
He didn’t move an inch. That kind of mass should have smashed through solid stone, but he didn’t even seem to notice the impact.
The bloodstained man just stared blankly for a moment, then shook his head. “No, I don’t think you’re doing this right.”
He touched a hand to the chains. “You see, this is all magic. The chains...” He closed his eyes, and the chains vanished. “This rather vicious beast.”
The man vanished, then reappeared with his hand grabbing the creature’s tail.
Then the wyvern vanished, too.
The man pointed at the golem. “This one looks sturdier, but in truth, it’s the same.”
He walked casually toward the massive golem as it brought it fists down on top of him. It must have been two stories tall, dozens of tons in weight.
He raised a hand and caught the descending stone fist. For the first time, he seemed to show a hint of effort, just for an instant.
And then the golem collapsed into an inert pile of stone.
“Delicious.” He smiled, turning back toward Carter. “Now, where were we?”
“We were leaving, I believe, m’lord Saffron.”
Saffron. That’s one of those “ess” names Keras warned me about.
The man — Saffron — nodded. “Ah, yes, yes.” He turned toward Elora. “But she was rather rude, wasn’t she?”
He took a step forward, then paused.
Thomas had grabbed his leg. The wound on Thomas’ neck was gone. “Never leave a healer in a condition to heal themselves, monster. Now die.”
A black aura flared from Thomas’ hands, burning through Saffron’s pant leg.
Saffron winced. “Good advice. I’ll offer some in return.” Saffron shook his leg free, then knelt down. He showed no signs of injury. “Don’t talk so much in the middle of a fight. Especially when you’re completely outmatched. Here, I’ll help.”
There was another blur, then Thomas fell backward, letting out a distorted scream.
All that had happened in a handful of seconds. I wasn’t waiting for anything else. I bolted toward the woods. If anyone was smart and still alive, they’d follow me.
Haste.
I threw as much mana as I could into my legs. I didn’t care about finesse right now.
Saffron appeared right in front of me. I barely stopped myself from running right into him.
“You’re fleeing from me.” He stared at me.
“I... I’m not with them,” I managed to stammer.
His eyes narrowed. “No?... Hm, interesting. Sit.”
I found myself sitting.
“Good boy. We’ll talk when I’m done.” He vanished again.
My mind was screaming to get up, but my body wouldn’t respond.
This is no time for half-measures.
> I reached up and touched my Enchanter attunement, then I flooded it with pure mana from my hand.
More.
More!
I charged my attunement with mana until my hand burned and trembled with agony.
But I still couldn’t make myself stand.
Shivering, I pushed myself around to look back in the direction I’d come from. The mental command forced me to sit, but it wasn’t restricting me from doing anything else.
The first thing I considered was pulling my own signaling stick out of the Jaden Box, but that wasn’t likely to work. Derek was too far away to get to me quickly, and I didn’t even know if the stick would work at all at this range.
Instead, I pulled the signal monitor off my shield sigil. That would trigger the tracking device to activate.
It was a slim hope that the Soaring Wings would arrive in time to help. In truth, I didn’t know if they could handle a threat like this, anyway. I didn’t even know if Derek could.
But I wasn’t going to let myself die without doing everything I could to try to survive.
Thomas was pawing at his mouth. Trying to heal a missing tongue, perhaps.
Michel was back on her feet, her Citrine aura active. I watched as she focused mana in a fist and threw a punch at Saffron.
Saffron stepped to the side, avoiding the attack as if it had come at him in slow motion. Then Saffron’s hand moved like a blur, and I saw a splatter of crimson across the forest floor.
Michel fell to her knees, clutching at what was left of her throat. She didn’t rise again after that.
I shivered.
I still couldn’t stand. Instead, I turned toward a tree, tilting my feet.
Jump.
It wasn’t much, but I blasted myself a few feet to the side.
Jump.
I pushed myself further, trying to conceal myself from view. I wasn’t going to get very far with just the ring moving me, but maybe Saffron would forget about me if I was lucky.
At the moment, he was walking toward Elora. She hurled blasts of fire and lightning from her hands, but he just walked through them, ignoring the attacks entirely. They vanished when they hit him.
An expression of understanding crossed Elora’s face, and she changed tactics. “Torrent of Stone.” A tornado of dozens of stone spears appeared around her.
