Echina nodded. “We have a plan.”
“How are you going to get in?” Flint asked. “Unless your friends can turn into birds, too?”
Some of Echina’s haughty expression faded into uncertainty. “We have a plan…and magic.”
“The city guards have crossbows,” Flint countered.
“Perhaps, but they don’t have hematite.” The mage’s smile held no warmth.
Milo’s blood ran cold at the thought of yet more bloodshed on the Whitewater City bridge. “There must be a way to get by them with magic, without hurting anyone.”
“I shall do what I must,” Echina replied. “And if I were you, Sentinel, I’d keep my focus where it belongs: here.”
They discussed a few more details, but no one wanted to linger. Flint had kept watch at the door to guard against any would-be eavesdroppers, but surely any moment, Foley would come by and demand to know what they were doing.
At last, Echina exhaled deeply and looked between Milo, Flint, and Mage Sadira. “Until later, then.”
Flint nodded. Milo offered a warrior’s salute. The mage rolled her eyes, and then, as quick as a breath, melted into the shape of a black crow. Milo stumbled backward in shock, tripping over the viol case; he would have fallen had Flint not caught his elbow. By the time he righted himself, Eris Echina was gone.
“Ea’s balls,” Flint breathed.
“Aye,” Milo replied, gaping at the open window. He couldn’t help a chuckle. When Flint looked at him, one brow raised, he smiled. “At least we know she really did turn into a bird that night we chased her down. I was afraid we might have imagined the whole thing.”
“I wish we had.”
A gust of wind swept through the room and Milo shivered. “Me too.” He looked at Mage Sadira, who rubbed the keys between her fingers. “Thank you.”
The Zhee mage’s fist closed around the keys. “You are well met,” she said. “But we still have much to overcome.”
Twenty-Six
Eris’ head spun as she cast her crow-body on the wind. Help from the hemies? Surely she was going mad. But she couldn’t deny that the young sentinels’ aid would be useful while their misplaced conviction remained strong. The boy spoke with courage, but no doubt he’d sing another song once the reality of his words came back to haunt him.
As Eris knew too well, liberty had a price.
By early afternoon, after some additional scouting along the main road, she reached her allies’ hiding place: a secluded patch of woods not far from the main gates of Whitewater City. The moment she shifted back to her human form, a wave of nausea overtook her again and the others descended upon her, a question on every tongue.
“Did you find Kalinda?”
“How about Drake?”
“Does anyone else want to leave?’
“How is the garrison? Are they still suffering from lack of hematite?”
Groaning, Eris held up one hand to silence them until she could find her voice. “No, Mar, I didn’t see Kali, but I know where she is.” She related what she’d learned, but when she reached the part about the hemie twins, Cai swore.
“And you trusted them?” he growled.
Eris leveled him with her coolest look. “I had little choice.”
“They’re our enemies. Or have you forgotten?”
This time she embraced her fury; too long had it been collared in favor of pragmatism. “Do you think I like the idea of working with sentinels? Do you think it pleases me to set aside all notions of decency and safety, and encourage those metal-blooded shits? Well? Answer me, Cai.”
His cheeks darkened and he dropped his gaze. “No.”
“Sentinels are monsters and murderers. And if I had my way, every one of them would suffer a slow and painful death for lack of their precious hematite. But right now, we have few options. Besides,” she added, taking a breath to calm her roiling stomach. “The younger ones are stupid and easy to rile, which may prove to be useful during our escape. You know how deluded they all are. You’ve all heard their insipid oath of service and sacrifice. What better end than defending one’s allies?”
Cai stared at her with wide eyes, but it was Adrie who spoke. “You mean to use the burnies as…fodder?”
Eris forced herself not to look at Ben or the two Assembly women. “I mean to keep my options open.”
“Ea’s tits, woman,” Rilla said, shaking her head. “You may look like a frip, but you’ve a heart of stone.”
“If you don’t like my methods, you’re free to leave.”
Rilla blanched and Brice held up her palms. “Settle down. No one’s leaving, yet. We’re on the same side. We all want the same thing. Right?”
Murmurs of assent ran through the others. For her part, Eris smoothed out her hair to distract herself, and then looked back at Cai. “In any case, we have a plan to remove the collars and get into and out of the bastion, which we didn’t before, so I’d say we’re better off than we were this morning.”
Marcen coughed into his hand. “Kali can do magic on hematite.”
“Kali has been imprisoned for days,” Eris replied, calmer now. “No doubt she’ll be too weak to manage any magic at all. Remember how tired she was after removing my collar?”
Adrie offered Eris a plate of rabbit and roasted vegetables. “Brice’s doing,” she said, nodding to the meat. “And don’t tell me you’re not hungry. You must keep up your strength.”
Eris had been about to protest the meal, for the scent of cooked onions made her stomach twist again, but Adrie was right. She could not afford weakness. Eris thanked the other mage and took a seat upon the steps of the Sufani wagon while her friends gathered around her. Except for Leal, who hung on the fringe of their group, scanning the forest.
“The garrison was nearly empty, eh?” Rilla was saying. “Good news for us.”
“The sentinels are in a bad way,” Eris said between bites of wild mushroom. “Many of them are sick or dead, and they have not yet received more hematite. But the burnies were convinced that the Circle would provide more, and soon.”
“Why hasn’t the Circle done so before now?” Ben asked.
“Who cares?” Cai replied. “What matters is that the hemies are weak.”
Eris picked at a piece of rabbit with her bare hands. “The Circle might be withholding hematite until–”
“Withholding hematite?” Cai interrupted, incredulous.
The others exchanged similar dubious glances. “Seems a bit counter-productive,” Brice said.
Back when Eris had been a girl living at her family home, her grandmother, one of the leading priestesses in Silverwood Province, had made certain proud insinuations. At the time, Eris had been too young to comprehend their meaning, but now she understood fully. And her bitter heart was glad of the hemies’ suffering.
“It’s more like blackmail,” Eris replied. “Don’t let anyone tell you the Circle is merciful.”
The rumbling of the White River was more noticeable this close to the city, and seemed especially loud in this moment. Leal stabbed the butt of her spear into the ground. “Well, the Circle has their prisoners now. We must not delay. While you’ve been in the city, I tried to find the rest of my people. Surely not all of them were captured.”
“Any luck?” Eris asked.
Leal’s grim expression was answer enough.
Brice nodded toward the other mages. “Davet and Izell have some experience with boats and ferries.”
Both mages squared their shoulders as they looked at Eris. “Don’t worry about the river,” Davet said. “We’ll sort it out. Izell’s from Pillau, and my Da used to run, ah, cargo between Whitewater City and Saskah, right on the border with Cander; I can handle a barge with the best of ‘em.”
“Aye, but can you steal several?” Eris asked. “We’ll at least need something quite large.”
Izell and Davet exchanged looks. “We’ll have to,” Izell replied. “Won’t we?”
Leal looked directly at Eris. “
Did you find another way into the city?”
“Not exactly.” By now the nausea had relented, thank the stars. Eris swallowed the rabbit, savoring the smoky taste from the cooking fire, and the tang of whatever spices Adrie had used. “But I did get an idea.”
*
“You’re mad,” Leal muttered from where she crouched with Eris behind a snow-dusted log beside the road. “Raving, frothing mad.”
Eris squinted into the falling dusk. “Yet here you are, anyway.”
The coach-and-four trundled down the road, still several minutes away from Eris and her friends’ hiding places. The renegades had chosen the site of their ambush well. The trees were thick here and the terrain was hilly, so that even with no leaves on any branches, they could remain hidden. Furthermore, the road curved around a bend ahead, so the main gates of Whitewater City, about three miles away, were well out of sight.
Leal plucked a single, black feather from Eris’ hair. “I had little choice.”
Some of Eris’ anticipation fled as she met the Sufani’s eyes. “You think I wouldn’t aid you if you didn’t join us?”
“That was our agreement, was it not?”
Heat crept to Eris’ cheeks and she looked back at the coach. In the dusk, the silver trim of the driver’s livery shone like moonlight. Eris swallowed hard. “I suppose. But you’re no prisoner, Leal. You are free to do as you wish.”
“You’re wrong about the first,” Leal replied, scanning up and down the narrow road. At Eris’ look she pressed a hand to her chest. “I am a prisoner in my flesh. Or so it feels that way, sometimes.” She frowned and shook her head. “They’re nearly upon us.”
The coach trundled closer. Along with a driver and four matching chestnut horses, two guards rode at the coach’s rear, and another rider sat postilion upon the left rear horse to offer further guidance to the team. Each member of the party wore the same livery: dark blue with silver trim, with a silver star and scrolls embroidered upon their chests. A thin layer of snow covered the coach, and mud splattered the wheels and lower half. The horses’ steps were heavy and slow, and even the guards sat with slumped shoulders. Evidently, it had been a long journey. Dark curtains covered the coach’s windows, but Eris guessed at least one or two servants would be inside, along with whoever this noble was.
Across the road, a mourning dove cooed into the twilight; although Eris could not make out Brice, Rilla, or the other mages, she recognized the call from their plans. Leal glanced at Eris, a question in her eyes. Eris nodded once. Leal lifted her own voice in a similar, answering cry, and then slipped out from behind the fallen log and onto the road. The others followed, with Eris coming last. Brice kept her bow ready while Leal and Rilla hefted their spears. No mage carried a weapon.
The postilion rider spotted them first, swearing and pulling up her mount. The coachman followed, withdrawing a short club as he shouted to the guards, who jerked upright and drew their weapons. “Nox’s frozen tits,” the coachman snarled. “Get out of our way.”
Eris stood between Leal and Rilla and spoke clearly into the dusk. “Who does this coach belong to?”
“None of your business, dreg,” one of the guards hissed, urging her mount forward, mace raised. Her chainmail glinted in the sun’s final rays and Eris noted the braided sash around her waist, marking her as the leader of this outfit. “You heard him: get out of our way.”
“Yes, I did hear your subordinate,” Eris said mildly. “But I asked a question first. Did you not hear me?”
One of the curtains drew back and the window slid to the side, revealing a young, wide-eyed girl who looked at the lead guard. “Captain, the mistress wants to know what’s going on.”
The guard captain shook her head. “Looks like some bandits. Not to worry: we’ll handle them.” The girl drew the curtain closed and the guard lifted her hand. “We don’t have time for this. Serla wanted to reach the city by nightfall. Take them out!”
“Now,” Leal called, lifting her spear. She jabbed at the lead guard’s horse without striking it, forcing the frightened creature backward. Rilla, Cai, and Marcen flung handfuls of cloud dust at the coach’s driver and the postilion rider, sending plumes of vivid yellow and purple powder into the air. The wind carried much of it away instantly, but the initial moment of confusion was successful. Both the coachman and the postilion driver coughed and swore, and the team of horses snorted and shifted in alarm. Leal and Rilla rushed forth, spears ready, while Cai and Marcen stood out of the guards’ reach. Both men’s eyes were closed in concentration, and the chill faded from the air as flames bloomed upon the branches they held – another distraction. Brice released an arrow at the driver, sending it into the wooden seat beside him with a thunk while the clatter of spears rose through the air.
With the retinue struggling to fight back and to regain control of their frightened mounts, Eris lifted her voice. “For Seren!”
The last four mages sprang from their hiding place and leaped for the dirt road about twenty paces ahead of the coach, slamming bare palms against the bare ground. Seconds passed, and then the road beneath them began to quake, until a great cracking sound rent the air. The earth crumbled down and away from the mages’ touch, revealing a chasm about as deep as the coach was tall, and wide enough to stretch across the entire road.
The coach horses scrambled backward in their traces while their drivers fought to control them. The guards’ horses—probably trained for chaotic situations—fared a little better, but their riders lost precious seconds to distraction. Leal and the others seized their opportunity and forced the guards from their mounts. When the wind dissipated the remaining cloud dust, Eris’ allies had the guards and drivers bound, kneeling, and surrounded.
The guard captain glared at Leal. “What do you want, moon-blooded scum?”
Leal looked at Eris, who nodded to the coach, where a pale face peeped out through the curtains. “What’s your mistress’ name?”
“What do you care?”
Leal shoved the tip of her spear point against the captain’s throat, which her armor had left exposed. Ben cleared his throat and said, “Please, answer the question.”
The guard captain swallowed. “Serla Kerenza Vellis.”
Vellis. Eris smiled at the familiar surname. The Vellis family were prominent second-tiers, with close ties to the upper echelons of the Circle. The Vellis name was almost as distinguished as Eris’ own. Her grandmother had been close friends with this woman’s mother. “Kindly fetch Serla Vellis,” Eris said to Cai. “I’d very much like to make her acquaintance.”
The bound guards cast nervous looks between Eris, the coach, and their leader, who now watched Eris with a mixture of curiosity and dread. “Who are you?” the captain asked again as Cai opened the coach door.
Eris ignored the guard as Cai poked his head into the coach. “All right, now,” Cai said. “No tricks, unless you’ve a burning desire to be a pile of cinders.”
Brice snorted a laugh. “Good one.” At Rilla’s look, she shrugged. “What? It was.”
A refined female voice shouted in reply. “This is outrageous! How dare you?”
Eris signaled to Davet, who went to help Cai bring out the passengers. Moments later, a terrified handmaid and a lady of middle years dressed in silk and wool traveling clothes tumbled out of the coach. The lady was spitting like a wet cat. “What business do you have stopping my retinue, dreg? We must reach the gates before nightfall…”
She froze when she saw her bound guards – and Eris. As Eris approached, Serla Vellis’ eyes narrowed and her gaze turned calculating. “I know your face.”
Eris smiled at the upper-tiered lady, who blanched. “Do you not remember me, serla? Think carefully. It’s been many years since we were last in each other’s company in Silverwood Province.”
Serla Vellis gaped at her, still uncomprehending. Sighing, Eris offered a slight bow at the waist; an approximation of a greeting from a higher tiered person to a lower tiered individual. “I sup
pose my grandmother, Inniss Nassor, would send her regards to you, but I have not seen or spoken to that woman in well over a decade.”
Vellis’ dark skin went ashen. “Eris Nassor. The mage.”
When was the last time she’d heard her full birthname spoken aloud? The closest she’d come recently was Kali’s nickname for her: Silver Girl. “I go by another name now, but you have the rest right.”
“What in Atal’s name do you want with me?”
Eris swept her hands over the coach-and-four. “Nothing. We have everything we need.”
The captain shifted in her bonds, but Adrie and Marcen lifted their hands and the guard flinched, looking away. Serla Vellis glared at her guard captain. “Why did you not dispatch them?”
“They’re mages, serla,” the guard cried.
“All the more reason to send them to their next lives,” Vellis shot back.
The captain shuddered. “But serla, look… The road!”
“Aye,” Leal said. “And you’ll be in worse shape if you resist.”
Serla Vellis stared at Eris with wide eyes. “You mean to kill us?”
Everyone looked at Eris, but she ignored all of them in favor of holding this second tier’s gaze as memory welled within her. She’d been so young when her parents had sent her away to live at Starwatch Bastion – at her grandmother’s insistence. How many other young mages had suffered the same fate? This woman and the Circle she so closely clung to were the root of so much evil in the world. How sweet it would be to end this dreg’s life.
“Secure them,” Eris said to Leal. “And ensure they cannot call for help. Do not fear, Kerenza. Someone will be along to fetch you soon.”
Or so she imagined. Eris didn’t care what happened to this dreg and her retinue, as long as they complied. Leal and the others began to bind the guards’ hands, but Ben shot Eris a beseeching look. “We can’t just leave them here.”
“We can’t take them with us,” Eris replied.
“What if they get away?” Cai said. “What if they run to the guards? Eris, we cannot let them live.”
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