by Elina Vale
“Well, I have had it for a while now.” Boa cleared his throat when a surge of memories involving a young Eavan washed over him. After all, it was during his search for the map to the pendant that he had met Eavan.
“How are we going to get this to Shri? I have no idea where the Mairas took her. I wonder if she’s still alive.”
“She is alive! She must be.”
“Okay, okay!” Teron said, wincing as he pushed Boa’s forceful grip away. “But how am I going to get this to her?”
“We must... You must figure something out.” Boa started to pack his belongings. “You know how to make a portal, don’t you?”
“A traveling gate?” Teron knelt and slowly gathered his papers and books into one pile. “Yes, I can do it... theoretically.”
Boa stopped. “Theoretically?”
“I’ve never made one before. Not without help.”
“Well, now it’s time for your test. Hurry; we must leave soon before Eavan comes looking for us.”
“You’re not telling Eavan of your plan?” Teron paused. “Are you insane?”
“I am not. My plan includes Eavan not knowing it.”
“Because she would forbid you.”
Grabbing his pack, Boa started tossing his clothes in it. “I make my own decisions.”
“If you say so,” Teron said, pushing his papers into a satchel.
As they finished packing, Boa rushed Teron out the door. Eavan would not be happy when she found out Boa had taken Teron to Ironflare, but what choice did he have? Boa walked ahead and Teron followed him silently. Glancing behind as he walked down the dingy avenues, Boa saw Teron’s forehead creased, and he was biting his lower lip. He had no time to hesitate.
“This is a good place.” Boa turned around. They were standing in an alley with no lights, no doors, and no windows to be seen. There was a dead dog laying among the heaps of refuse. Approaching Teron, Boa clutched his shoulders. “You can do this. Just... do what Eavan taught you.”
“It’s not as simple as that, you know,” Teron said. He rubbed his sweaty hands on his jacket and glanced around nervously. “I need to put the sparks into the right order, and I need to know where I’m going. I don’t. I have never been to Ironflare. All I know is what Shri described to me.”
“Eavan has traveled by gate to a place she hasn’t been.” He grabbed Teron by the sleeve. “Do it.”
“Take your hand off," Teron growled. "Eavan is the most talented air-senatai of this age. We may share mastery over the same element, but I’m a third-year trainee!”
“Keep your voice down,” Boa hissed. Leaning in to whisper, he added, “Listen, I must get into the Spike. Without the proper distractions, Shea is going to remain one step ahead of us. Do you want to help?”
“Of course I want to help. I’m not sure if I can, though.”
"Then you’d better be willing to try. Otherwise, you’re of no use to anyone.”
Teron narrowed his brows, the light of magic sparking in his eyes as he glared back at Boa. “Stand aside.”
Lifting his arms high, Teron stared into the space in front of him. He squinted his eyes and stood motionless for a long time. He didn’t even blink, and Boa started to think that maybe the boy had lost his magic, burned himself out or something. If that was the case, Eavan would be furious. He tried not to move, but after some long quiet minutes, something finally happened. Teron’s forehead was sweaty, and his hands trembled. A tiny spark emerged into the air. It began to grow, but before long it popped, flashed, and faded.
Teron fell to his knees, burying his face in his hands. “I can’t do it.”
Boa cursed.
“I’m sorry,” Teron growled. “I nearly had it, but I lost the sparks. I must be doing it wrong. It shouldn’t take this much energy. I’ve read in my books, that—"
“You really can’t do it?” Boa was more frustrated with himself than with Teron. Using a student had been a bad idea. He had one option left... but he didn’t like it.
“I haven’t seen a portal being cast in a long time,” Teron said. “If I saw one, I could study it and see how it was made. But it’s... I’m sorry. I can’t do it.”
“Stand up,” Boa said. “There’s someone in Sungarden who can help us.”
Teron stumbled up. “Who?”
“Don’t worry, he’s a good man,” Boa said. “Kind of.”
"Why didn’t we go to him first?”
“He won’t be happy to see me.”
Boa knew exactly where to find Barnabas: relaxing in his tavern. Well, it wasn’t exactly Barnabas’s tavern, but he made his home there, and everyone in this part of the city knew where to find him. “Gordon’s” was the name of the place, and it was a decent establishment that served strong ale and exotic wine. Customers could even get some bread with meat if they were lucky.
Barnabas sat on his stool near the fireplace. He was as tall as ever, and to Boa, he looked almost the same, although his gray beard used to be black. Age had changed his colors for certain, but he still sat straight, his eyes dark and challenging. His hands were crossed on the table in front of him, countless jewels sparkling in the rings. A woman in armor stood behind, staring Boa and Teron with a watchful eye.
“Riverson,” Barnabas said, lighting his pipe and leaning comfortably back, lighting his pipe while he was talking. “You have guts to show your face here. You know what I do with thieves.”
Boa smirked at him. “Hello, Barnabas.”
“Thief?” Teron asked. “Boa’s no thief.”
“Oh?” Barnabas chortled. “What do you call someone who steals your possessions while you sleep?”
Teron regarded Boa with shock. “You did that?”
“No. I bought that necklace.”
Barnabas’s eyebrows rose, and he puffed a ring of smoke from his mouth, studying Boa through it. “As I recall, I declined to sell it to you. So, you broke into my home, stole the necklace, and left fifteen silvers for it!”
“Twenty silvers,” Boa said. “A reasonable price for a necklace.”
“It was worth more than that. I know you delivered it to the Queen of Papuyen.”
“That was then. But right now, I need—"
“You need?” Barnabas stood up, forcing Boa to step back. “You have some nerve needing something from me.” His baritone rumbled through the room.
“I need,” Boa said, lifting his hands to show surrender, “to pay my debt to you. Another twenty silvers, shall we say?”
Barnabas sat back down, rocked back, and crossed his legs on the table top. “Twenty for the necklace, and five more for delayed payment.”
Boa set twenty-five silvers on the table. “Are we good?”
Sitting forward and scraping several of the coins into his hand, Barnabas jingled them by his right ear. “Yeah, we’re good. For now.”
Boa nodded at his companion. “This is Teron. He’s a third-year trainee on Senatai Island.”
Barnabas studied Teron. “I know. That cloak he’s wearing screams ‘senatai.’” He gestured to the two chairs in front of him. “You know, it’s not wise to wander this part of the city dressed like that.”
“We can handle ourselves,” Boa said, sitting down.
Teron joined them, though he seemed less comfortable than Boa.
“These days, Senatai aren’t appreciated in Sungarden,” Barnabas said, sipping from his mug.
“I know,” Boa said. “Magic is looked down upon.”
“Well, senatai are sneered at, but the city folk surely love their magical fountains and lights. The senatai from the Spike are expensive nowadays, Riverson. People need their help, but the prices are too high. Some have even been asked to give up their children.”
A shock went through Boa. “What?”
“They say the price for assistance is cheaper if they let their children be involved in some new kind of training at the Spike. But there’s something weird about it. Most folks who agreed haven’t heard from their children in a l
ong time, but the teachers at the Spike won’t respond.”
Boa couldn’t possibly understand why Shea would want children. Shea hated children. Could she be experimenting on them?
“Do you know what’s happening in Ironflare right now?” Barnabas asked.
“I haven’t been there in months,” Boa said.
“Care to gather some information? People here are anxious. But you know how it is.” He lifted his goblet higher, and a servant rushed to pour him some more wine. “I could sell that information for good money.”
“You would exploit the pain of those people to get wealthier?” Teron whispered.
“Pain and misery, my boy, are the heart of wealth,” Barnabas said. “Business is booming. If my terms are too much for the people, they have no choice but to pay senatai fee and end in deeper debt. Then, they come back to me, praying on their knees for my help. I had to hire three new debt-collectors this month.”
“Despicable,” Teron mumbled, but he quieted when Boa gave him a stern glare.
Nevertheless, Barnabas gave out a gruff laugh. “What is it I can help you with? My time is precious, Riverson.”
“We need a traveling gate.”
“Fine. Ask your senatai to do it.”
“I’m just a trainee,” Teron said through clenched teeth. “I tried, but the damn sparkles didn’t obey me! I need—”
“You need to be back at your studies.” Barnabas pointed at him with his pipe. “How does Firestone let you use a trainee, Boa?”
Boa said nothing.
A slow smile crept onto Barnabas’s face. “Ah... You haven’t told Eavan. I’d pay to watch what she does to you when she finds out.”
“Never mind Eavan. Will you help us?”
He studied them for a while, then finally nodded. “Yeah, I’ll help you. A traveling gate will cost you twenty silvers.”
“That’s robbery!” Boa shouted.
Barnabas leaned back and inhaled smoke from his pipe. “That, my friend, is business.”
The silvers found their new owner, and Boa and Teron now waited in a dark alley, where Barnabas had agreed to meet them in two hours. When he arrived at the meeting place, there was an old man with him.
Boa eyed the old man. He was bald and crouched, and his cheap clothes hung on his rail-like frame.
“Good evening,” Barnabas said. “Excuse the lack of pleasantries. My friend here has agreed to create a portal to Ironflare, but he wishes to remain anonymous in name.”
“All I need is a gate.”
“Of course,” Barnabas said. “You will be careful, yes? Ironflare is dangerous these days, and, well, I can’t collect my information from you if you’re dead.”
“I never said I was coming back with information,” Boa said. “I already paid you in silver.”
“Are you certain? If you agree to fund me, I could provide the gate free of charge.”
“I can’t even promise I’ll survive what I have planned.”
“Ah, well,” he shrugged. “Maybe some other time then.” He tapped the old man. “You’re up, my friend.”
The old man began to cast flamboyantly, his eyes wide and his arms flailing, and faster than Boa expected, a gate flashed into the alley. Teron’s eyes skimmed the portal, studying every bit of the spell that he could behind the old man’s hurried mastery.
Boa nodded his thanks to the magic-wielding man, and then to Barnabas. “Come on, Teron. We have urgent business.”
“But if I could study it a bit longer—"
“No time.” Without hesitating, he pulled Teron through the gate.
They appeared just outside of Ironflare. The outermost walls of the city cast a bleak shadow them. Trying to shake the unsettling feeling of traveling by gate, Boa strode forward determinately. With winter approaching, the air had cooled. A cloud of sand belched out from beneath Boa’s boot. He and Teron needed to stay close to the Iron wall, or the patrolling pike-holders would see them.
“Why didn’t we make a traveling gate to take us inside the walls?” Teron called, hurrying after him.
“The city is magically protected. No one can open a gate inside the city except for the High Mistress.”
Teron frowned. “But why not? I know it’s possible to create such wards, but not even she should be able to open a gate with those wards active. She must have some kind of artifact that allows her to ignore them.”
Boa turned to look at Teron. “I don’t know how she does it. Magic stuff that’s beyond either one of us. The fact that she can do it at all is cause enough for alarm.”
“Boa!” Teron called, tugging his sleeve until Boa stopped walking and faced him. “Who was that old man? He didn’t look like a Spike senatai.”
“He wasn’t,” Boa called back. “He has magic, but he was never accepted by the Spike.”
"Why not?”
“Who knows? Maybe his family didn’t have the money to grant him the training. Maybe the High Master didn’t like him. He didn’t seem to have any affiliation, so he can’t practice his magic openly. The Order doesn’t allow it.”
“That seems unfair.”
“It is. But that’s the ancient law. Only people trained in the Spike, and nowadays on Senatai Island, are allowed to use magic. If he wants to use it, he has to do it secretly and with the risk of exposure.”
“What would happen if he got caught?”
“He would be executed.” Boa placed his hands on Teron’s shoulders once again. “Enough babbling. Now, here’s the deal: remember what we talked about? Find a way to get the Pendant of Absent to Shri. She needs it, or Shea will find her one way or another. Get inside the city, go to the Third Ring, and find a caravan out.” He gave Teron a handful of silver coins. “Pay your way out of here as soon as you can.”
“You know who I am, right?” Teron said, gazing at the coins in amusement.
Boa regarded him, then snatched the coins back. “You’re a DeLureau. I need these more than you do. But hide that pendant.”
Teron studied the pendant, tracing its carvings with his finger. Boa felt lost without it, but it was time to give it up. Someone finally needed it more than he did.
“What about you? How will you escape?” Teron asked.
Boa’s face darkened. I’ll go and find Shea. Maybe I can talk some sense into her. But once she has me, she’ll never let me go. She could keep me as a slave. She could toss me into the dungeons. She could kill me. Glancing back at Teron, he answered, “I don’t plan to escape.”
ONCE THEY WERE SAFELY inside the Third Ring, Boa squeezed Teron’s arm, telling him to stay true to himself and to help Shri in every way he could. It sounded like a goodbye, but before Teron had the chance to respond, Boa stalked away into the shadows.
Teron took in his surroundings.
I’m actually in Ironflare.
Home of the senatai, home of Shri.
He glanced up at the tower Spike. It shone like a black jewel in the center of the city, a commanding shadow hanging over everyone. With a shiver, he glanced at the wall behind him, where the Fourth Ring was located. Beyond that lay the Fifth Ring.
The Pit.
What a miserable place Ironflare was. Even here in the Third Ring, Teron could see it. The people were scared. They walked with their heads down, squeezing their bundles against their chests, glancing nervously from corner to corner.
A group of soldiers emerged into the street, sending the citizens into the shadows of the alleys.
The head soldier confronted Teron. “Show me your pass.”
Rolling up his sleeve, Teron presented his wrist. Boa had painted the symbols that would let him walk the rings freely. He had used a bold ink; the images looked and felt like real tattoos.
The pike-holder studied it with a frown. Teron’s heart pounded. Maybe the symbol was wrong? His heart clutched as he pictured the horrible dungeons inside the tower, but the guard let go of his wrist. “It’s nearly curfew, trainee. You need to get back to the tower.”
&
nbsp; “On my way now,” Teron said, feigning confidence.
The pike leaned closer and grinned. “You trainees are too damn cocky. I don’t care if you are a future drokashai, young one; I have the legal right to kick your ass if you don’t do as I say.”
Teron lifted his jaw and stared into the soldier’s eyes. “I’ll be sure to let the High Mistress know. Good night.”
Escaping their glances, Teron hurried onward with his heart pounding. When the pikes chose not to call him back, he fled behind the nearest corner and leaned his back against the wall. Letting out the breath he had been holding in, he decided to find a place where he come up with a plan.
Boa had advised him to sign on with a caravan that could take him home, but it seemed that nobody was leaving. The city was under lockdown. If Teron was going anywhere, he would have to smuggle himself out in a merchandise cart. After that, then what?
I must find some way to locate Shri. Doesn’t look like I’ll be visiting the largest library in the land anytime soon. I’ll have to come up with another way to research a way to reverse the ripping.
Glancing up, he could see the Spike’s pointy summit reaching towards the darkening clouds.
He couldn’t leave Ironflare yet.
CHAPTER 20
JAVID WAS EXHAUSTED. His head throbbed. He desperately needed something to drink, but escaping in such haste had made it impossible to grab anything with him. He needed to stop and take a breath, but the city was filled with pike holders. Luckily, Shea hadn’t yet sent any Senatai after him. Maybe she didn’t want anyone to know someone wanted to escape tower. She tried so hard to keep up the appearance of a loving mother who took care of everyone.
A patrol of pikes emerged from around the corner. Javid fled into a quiet alley and hunkered down behind one of the buildings. He waited until the streets were quiet, then attempted to slip out of the alley, but before he could emerge into the open a voice startled him.
“Stop right there.”
He turned to see Doria entering the alley from the opposite end. She leaned against the building beside her, arms crossed over her chest. Javid was sure her eyes showed a hint of red. It wasn’t as obvious as when Shea’s eyes turned, but something had changed in Doria. Why hadn’t he seen it before?
