Nora’s eyes widened. “Yes—go. Thank you.”
“Wait,” Joli said. “I’ve bandaged plenty of wounds when our farm workers got sick. Can I help you?”
“That would be great,” the healer said.
“Good luck,” Joli told the group. She gave Ovrun a quick smile, then sprinted off with the blood lyster.
Krey was blinking hard, looking suddenly young and vulnerable. Nora pulled him into her arms. “I’m sorry.”
He gripped her tightly. “Zeisha is strong.” After a moment, he stepped back, wiping his eyes. “We don’t have time for emotion right now.”
“I know.” She pulled in a quick breath. “Krey, something tells me I have to confront my father myself. I’d say it was God if I believed in him, but . . . I don’t know how I know, I just do. I don’t think his people will kill me.”
“But he might,” Krey said.
Her throat tightened. “I know.”
“Damn it, Nora.” Krey wiped his eyes again and spoke in a hoarse whisper. “I’ve lost enough people I love. I don’t want it to happen again.”
She froze. Yes, there was a battle raging in the forest nearby. Yes, she was determined to confront her father. To take the crown or die trying. Several life-altering events were vying for her attention.
But did Krey just admit he loves me?
She stepped closer. “That thing you just said? We’re coming back to it later.”
The corner of his mouth came up—the barest hint of a smirk. “Okay.”
“I need to confront my father. So are you planning to keep arguing with me, or will you use that brilliant mind of yours to actually help me figure out how?”
His eyes shut briefly. When he opened them, they were full of steel. “I have an idea. You’re not gonna like it.”
In the last week, Sarza had immediately told her guard every single time she had a vision. She’d had several every day. Sleep deprivation, hunger, and stress had done the trick.
Most of the prophecies had seemed pointless. She’d seen a thief stealing an apple in Cellerin City. A storm over Deroga. Two guards falling asleep on their watches. The king had gotten more furious with her every time she gave him information he couldn’t use.
Then yesterday, she’d had four visions, back to back. The first three had shown her where large groups of Nora’s rebels were hiding. In the last vision, she’d seen the empty forest by the palace. Rebels suddenly appeared within the trees when the king’s soldiers approached them. Sarza didn’t know what to make of that.
Acid had eaten her stomach alive as she’d shared the visions with a guard, then with the king. She’d kept glancing through the bars, where Dani sat in the neighboring cell, staring straight ahead, her mind held captive by the king. If Sarza had held back one detail, she’d have had to watch Dani suffer. The king had often mused openly about torture options. Maybe he’d have his guards cut off Dani’s fingers one by one, he’d said, or set her limbs on fire, or slice her tongue in two.
Dani was the closest thing to a loving mother Sarza had ever had, which was pretty sad, considering they barely knew each other. The king was well aware of Sarza’s attachment to his sister-in-law. Dani was his key to controlling his personal seer.
An hour ago, however, everything had changed.
At dawn, Sarza had woken to a vision. It was a potential prophecy; she could choose how to respond to it. She hadn’t spent more than a half second making her decision. She’d act. And she wouldn’t tell her guard. Yes, Dani might get tortured. But Sarza’s vision had told her there would be more suffering if she took the safe route.
She might not survive what was to come. She told herself it didn’t matter. Death would be better than this damn dome, than mental slavery, than future madness. But some irrational part of her still yearned for the life she’d briefly had, surrounded by people who cared about her. She wanted that life again. It was a silly dream, but she couldn’t let go of it.
The guard at the desk moved. Sarza stiffened as he walked to Dani’s cell. He stood before the bars and grinned. “Stand up.”
Dani obeyed, as Ulmin had instructed her to always do.
“Clasp your hands above your head and turn, like you’re dancing.” This guard treated Dani as a puppet when he got bored. He laughed as she did a slow pirouette. “There’s army soldiers under this dome, you know. I want you to sing your thanks to them, loud and strong, like you’re the soloist at a fancy concert. Go ahead, Dani, sing!” He gestured to the window, turning his back to Sarza.
It was time.
Dani drew in a deep breath. As the first note exited her mouth, Sarza reached through the bars and pulled the guard’s gun from his holster.
The man spun to face her.
Sarza cocked the gun. “Unlock my cell.”
“You know this won’t work—” the guard sputtered.
Dani’s strong alto voice singing “Thank you” nearly drowned out his words.
“Do it.” Sarza aimed the gun at the center of his chest.
The guard unlocked the cell, muttering about how the king would kill him.
Sarza exited. “Get in there, and don’t say another word unless you want your knees blown apart.”
He stepped in the cell, and she locked it, then demanded he remove the knife from his pocket. He slid it under the bars to her, and she shoved it in her own pocket.
Sarza desperately wanted to release Dani, but doing so would ruin this plan and result in punishment for them both. She’d seen it in the prophecy.
No time to dwell on that. As Dani sang, Sarza instructed the guard to give her his uniform shirt. She put it on and tucked it in. It was huge, but it would do. As she slipped out the front door, Dani continued singing.
Electric lamps illuminated army soldiers all over the property. Sarza moved into the shadows. Her prophecy led her on a brisk walk to a tiny building on the west side of the palace property, behind the orsa stables. A large padlock held it closed. One earsplitting shot from her gun destroyed the lock.
She ran into the room and flipped the light switch, revealing a metal box, nearly as wide as the room and taller than Sarza. It was labeled “SOLAR BATTERIES.” She circled around to the back of it and yanked out all the cables from four large batteries. The room went dark—along with the rest of the palace grounds, she hoped.
In the distance, people shouted. Sarza wanted to run, but her task wasn’t over. She pulled out the gun she’d taken, aimed it at the back of the battery box, and shot one bullet after another. Every time, the gun flashed with eye-searing light and boomed with ear-destroying sound. Acrid smoke reached Sarza’s nose. Through the crack between the destroyed door and its frame, she saw a flicker of firelight. Her gun let out a hollow click. This was where her vision had ended.
The door swung open. Two men, one carrying a torch, ran into the little room.
Before Sarza could pull out the knife, someone grabbed her arms. “What do we have here?”
Sarza just smiled as he held her wrists with a grip as tight as shackles. She wasn’t sure why she’d done this, and she didn’t know if she’d survive the day or even the next few seconds, but she was certain of one thing.
Somehow, she’d just helped her friends.
Just as Krey had predicted, Nora hated his plan. But it was solid, or as solid as it could be with so many unknowns. He said a silent prayer of thanks that she’d agreed to it, despite the risk to both of them.
They watched as Vin approached and landed. Nora pulled the black-and-orange stone from her pocket and let Vin soak up its power. As the orange glow disappeared from Vin’s body, she retrieved the stone.
She and Krey ran into the trees, stopping at Zeisha’s tent, where Ovrun was updating Kebi on the plan. “We have to go,” Nora said. “Take good care of her, Kebi.”
“I will.”
Nora, Ovrun, and Krey mounted Vin. Krey’s heart thumped at a quick, hard rhythm, as if it could beat the uncertainty and fear from his chest.
> When Vin rose above the buffer of trees, the sounds of fighting rose around them, louder than ever. Gunshots, cries of pain, and shouted commands melded into a terrible, violent song.
“Let’s save our land!” Nora shouted as they left the battle behind.
Vin hadn’t even gotten up to speed when he slowed and hovered over the trees east of the dome. He breathed yellow fire toward two patrolling soldiers, sending them scurrying away.
Then he drew in his wings and landed, facing the dome. As his passengers dropped to the ground, violent blue flames shot from his mouth. In seconds, he created a doorway in the magical stone. He didn’t stop until he’d also blasted a hole in the fence inside the dome. That done, he lifted into the air.
Through the openings Vin had created, light from lampposts illuminated the palace garden. Several soldiers were already running toward the opening. Shots rang out.
Krey let out a low curse.
“Grab me!” Nora hissed.
Krey and Ovrun each took one of her arms.
“Don’t shoot, I’m the princess!” Nora yelled. But shots and shouts drowned out her words. A bullet hit the edge of the hole in the dome.
“We can’t go in there!” Ovrun said, pulling them away from the opening.
Suddenly, everything inside the dome went dark. The three of them froze. The gunshots halted.
“What happened?” Nora breathed.
“I don’t know, but let’s go in.” Krey tugged at her arm.
They ran into the dark dome, Krey and Ovrun still holding Nora’s arms.
The darkness under the dome was thick. High, narrow vents brought in a bit of sunlight, but almost none of it reached the ground.
Ignoring the continued shouts of soldiers, Krey navigated through trees and bushes. He held back a grunt when his shin hit a stone bench. Nora let out a soft gasp as she nearly fell. Krey and Ovrun kept her upright. They shifted their route frequently to stay away from soldiers.
Krey expected to feel relief when they reached the open space beyond the garden. Instead, his heart pounded harder. Hundreds of soldiers surrounded them. Dank, moist, dark air seemed to crawl along the skin of Krey’s face and neck. An irrational fear swept through him—that the dome itself would fall and crush them all.
Then he saw moving lights in the distance—and as bad as the darkness was, lights were worse. Don’t come this way. Please.
Nora pulled the two of them along. Krey bumped into someone. He kept going, his breaths coming even faster than before.
In his peripheral vision, he saw another light glimmer to life. Then another. They were flames, and they were multiplying. Getting closer. Before long, he spotted a soldier several mets away carrying a lit torch and several unlit ones. The man brought the cold end of one torch to the flaming end of another, lighting it and handing it to a soldier, barking orders as he did so.
Nora whispered something, maybe a curse.
“Just keep going,” Krey breathed in her ear.
Nora pulled them to the left, where everything was still in shadows. But the flames continued to move and multiply. Soon, the whole area would be lit up.
“Run,” Nora whispered.
They broke into a jog. “Heads down,” Krey said.
Nora pulled them to the right to avoid a torch. Ovrun tripped, falling to his knees and bringing Nora down with him. They both leapt to their feet.
Suddenly, Krey became aware of whispers behind him. He resumed his jog, pulling Nora and Ovrun along.
But they weren’t fast enough. Someone grabbed Krey’s arm, yanking him away from Nora. A quick glance showed Krey that two other soldiers had Nora and Ovrun. They were shouting questions, mostly variations on, “Who the hell are you?”
Time for some acting.
Nora was first. “Oh, thank the stone! I’m the princess, and these men—”
Krey interrupted her. “Get your hands off me! We’re bringing the princess to her father! Do you have any idea what I went through to find her?”
Ovrun shook off his captor and pulled Nora away from the person holding her. Flickering torchlight reflected off the gun Ovrun pressed into her side. “Everyone get back! The king told us to bring him the princess. You touch any of us, and I’ll shoot her. Then what’ll you tell the king?”
The hands holding Krey let go. Everyone stepped back, clearly unwilling to risk their princess’s life. More soldiers gathered around, attracted by the raised voices.
Krey grabbed Nora’s arm again. “Take us to the king!” he demanded.
A new voice, female and ringing with authority, joined the mix. “What’s going on here?” Krey looked over to see a tall woman in army uniform, glaring at the other soldiers. When she’d gotten a quick rundown from the man who’d grabbed Krey, she turned to Ovrun. “I’m a captain in the king’s army. You’d dare threaten the princess’s life?”
“All I’m saying is, I want to make it out of this alive, with the reward owed to me. If I drop this gun, someone’ll shoot me and my friend and take the princess themselves. All you gotta do is lead us to the king. He sent us out months ago to find her. Trust me, he’ll be glad to see us.”
There was a pause. The woman stared at all three of them, then said, “The king’s command was to bring his daughter to him if anyone found her. I’ll lead the three of you to him. He can decide what to do about the threat you made.”
She stepped forward, and Ovrun growled, “No closer.”
Nora let out a convincing sob.
“Follow me,” the officer said. “Eskel, Kadar, you guard their backs. Everyone else, get back to your stations. This could all be a distraction.”
The other soldiers started to move, and Krey wanted to shout with triumph.
“Wait!” someone shouted.
Krey looked up. His stomach dropped. A middle-aged royal guard had arrived and was staring at Ovrun. Krey recognized the man from his time at the palace.
The officer stopped, holding up her hand to halt the rest of them. “What is it?”
“I recognize one of them. The big guy—Ovrun. He used to be a royal guard. He recently escaped.”
The officer stiffened. “They said the king sent them out months ago to find the princess. He threatened to shoot her if we don’t let them escort her to her father.”
The guard let out a short laugh. “He’s been in love with her since he met her, no way will he shoot her.”
The officer spun around, pulling out a gun as she did so. “Don’t move!” She aimed her gun at Ovrun. “Drop your weapon.”
Ovrun did. Not that it mattered; he’d refused to load the gun, knowing he might have to point it at Nora. He and Krey were both carrying loaded guns too, but they were of no use in their pockets.
“Hands up,” the guard said. “All of you.”
They obeyed. Any fight might result in bullets. And bullets might catch Nora. As Krey held his hands up, he mourned the absence of his magic. What he wouldn’t give to grab Nora and fly her into the darkness above. But taking down Ulmin was their goal, so all three of them were full of shield fuel.
Nora would have to confront her father on her own. Krey caught her gaze and gave her a small smile and a nod. “You got this.”
“Step slowly toward me, Princess,” the officer said. “No magic. We’re not allowed to kill you, but we’ll wound you if we must.”
Nora took a small, slow step forward, then a second.
The officer turned to the soldiers around them and barked one more order:
“Kill the two men.”
35
Other than a little cough and a touch of fatigue, I’ve recovered. Tomorrow, I’ll return to Uncle Quin’s.
Last night, I was still awake when my candle burned down to nothing. I was fighting my irrational fear of the dark when Ulmin came in. He couldn’t sleep either. The queen has insisted he keep his distance while I’m sick, but tonight, he sat next to me in bed and dared to hold my hand. We talked, and when I started drifting off, he stayed whe
re he was. Knowing he was next to me, I wasn’t afraid.
Call me silly, but when Ulmin is with me, I feel like we can take on the world.
-Letter from Ambrel Kaulder to Dani Kaulder
Dated Wolf 16, 180 PD
“No!” Nora shouted.
No one seemed to hear her. All at once, panic entered every face except those of the blank-eyed soldiers. Heads swiveled. Guns aimed everywhere and nowhere.
A dozen versions of one question filled the dark space: “Where did they go?”
Nora spun around. The soldiers seemed to be looking through her. What the hell?
Something caught her eye, and when she shifted her gaze, she froze. Firelight glinted off the silver fur and blue, faceted eyes of a unicorn. It stood behind a soldier, its regal white horn piercing the air above his head.
It had come back to prove itself to her. Or maybe to seek redemption.
Nora didn’t know how the unicorn had found them or why it had taken so long. For that matter, she had no idea why the unicorn’s magic was even working on them. They’d all eaten shield fuel. Maybe it acted on the watchers, not those who were hidden.
Banishing the questions from her mind, she pulled in a shaky breath and gave the gorgeous creature a single nod. It blinked out of sight.
She turned to Krey and Ovrun. They were looking around, flummoxed. “Unicorn,” she breathed. She didn’t think the soldiers could hear her, but she wouldn’t bet on it. “We’re hidden. Let’s go. Remember, they’ll see you if you get too close.”
She dashed toward a gap between two soldiers, hoping it was wide enough to preserve their invisibility. Krey and Ovrun followed. Half a second after Nora ran through it, a female soldier shouted, “I saw him, the one who used to be a guard! Then he disappeared!”
Nora turned her head, eyes wide. “Careful!” she hissed.
Keeping plenty of space between themselves and the soldiers filling the grounds, they sprinted to the chapel, where they halted, catching their breath.
The Stone Eater (The Magic Eaters Trilogy Book 3) Page 37
