by Sara Kincaid
Chapter Thirty-two
Rina
It was easy enough to follow the line of servants into the glowing hall and easier still to blend in with the row of guards who stood at various intervals around the perimeter of the room. The room was filled to the brim with people all dressed in red. No one would notice two more soldiers in the mix.
Reluctantly, Rina and Eldon pulled back their hoods since the rest of the soldiers had done the same upon entering the room. She’d also rubbed the gold paint from her face and glanced at Eldon. He gave her an approving nod and the two Burgan warriors turned to face the room.
The rune glowed hotly beneath her sleeve and Rina touched it for reassurance as she took in the sea of Kaldarians around them. “He’s here.”
“Where?” Eldon’s voice was a hissing whisper in her ear. When she shrugged, he added, “How do you know?”
Rina didn’t want to explain about the rune. Somehow it seemed very personal, this ancient ritual they’d enacted with only Nia’s watching eyes upon them.
Then, she spotted him at a table in the corner. His body angled slightly away from the hall his chair parallel to the side wall. Regent Opher had given the Mystics black tunics with silver bears embroidered on the cuffs and gray boots with large silver buckles, so the Burgans were harder to spot. But there was no mistaking his profile. The way his head turned, it was clear that he knew she was near.
“There.” Rina indicated the table in the corner. She and Eldon had entered through a side servant’s door on the opposite side of the room. They were separated by an ocean of red. The silver spark lights shivered on the wall as a draft passed through the room.
Eldon finally spotted the group. “I see them. What now? There’s too many people in here. We’d never make it out alive.”
Rina chewed her lip, taking in the guards around the room, Regent Opher’s red cape cast carelessly around his right shoulder as he gestured energetically to someone from the head table. “You’re right. But we can follow them when they leave the feast.”
“At least they’re being treated well.”
Rina snorted. “It’s better than a cell, I’ll agree. But he committed a crime and Burga will see that he pays for it.”
They lapsed into silence, watching and waiting. Rina drummed her fingers on the stark wall, her eyes on Eli. He ate with the learned manners of someone who’d been lifted up from his original station. His hands were light and nimble, a necessary quality in someone who worked with small machines as he’d been trained to do in his youth, as he picked up a utensil and lifted his glass. His deep brown hair had been recently brushed, though the front fell, awkwardly over his left brow.
The feast lasted late into the night and by the time the Mystics were beckoned by their guards, the eldest of them were stumbling with exhaustion. Rina watched the guards lead Eli and the other Mystics of Burga to a door on the other side of the room. “Come on!” She grabbed Eldon’s arm and shoved off the wall. “They’re taking them out another way.”
They stumbled through the crowd as people stood, gathering their things, dodging chairs and weary Kaldarians. “Hurry! Or we’re going to lose them,” she muttered over her shoulder. Eldon was on her heels, murmuring apologies as he slithered past people.
After angling around a series of tables, they moved to the perimeter, nodding to other guards as they passed. The din around the room increased as people shuffled in the other direction toward the main entrance of the hall and the guards went into action, shifting in front of the side doors and urging people to take their leave.
The door the Mystics had been led through was already closed, but no guards stood in front of it. Eldon and Rina stepped through quickly and closed it behind them. Footsteps echoed down the hall and faded away as their quarry disappeared. The hall turned out to be a wide sitting room with several exits. “Blast,” Eldon muttered. “Which way?”
Rina hesitated for just a moment, but her heart quelled at the thought of losing track of Eli again. She glanced down at her wrist and walked to the center of the room before turning in a slow circle. The glow faded as she turned, and then brightened as she faced the final doorway. “This way.” Rina pointed down the narrow, dark hall. Eli stood still, his mouth open as if he were about to speak and then thought better of it. Instead, he stepped forward, leading the way across the bare floor.
The solid stones sent their footsteps echoing off the walls. Rina slowed to a walk, though her heart hammered in her chest. “Where are they taking them?”
“I don’t think we’re heading to a dungeon. Did you see that table? Heaped with food. There’s no way they’re being treated like prisoners.” Eldon’s stomach growled loudly.
“There’ll be time enough for food later.”
“You’re a slave driver.” He turned, grinning at her. In all the years they’d known each other, Rina had never seen Eldon’s sense of humor. Perhaps, she thought, fear brought it out now. They’d completed dozens of missions together, but none so precarious as this. Behind enemy lines. Infiltrating the castle of a Regent not known for his level-headedness. No contingency or backup to speak of.
Rina resisted the urge to laugh, but she rewarded Eldon with a small quirk of the corners of her mouth. “We’ll see what kind of status they have when we try to leave.” If they were prevented from leaving, they were still prisoners, food or not. She would get them all out, of that she was sure.
Between their words, Rina caught the echo of returning footsteps. “Quick!” She motioned to a heavy door to their right and they stood like sentries on either side of it, hands on their swords.
“There’s no way this is going to work,” Eldon quipped.
“Shut it! What other option do we have?”
The footsteps grew louder and finally they could make out the distinct shuffle of weary soldiers. They appeared in the shadows, their red uniforms dark as heart’s blood, their boots black and scuffed. The pair eyed them as they approached. The guard farthest from them on the right had closely cropped dark hair and bulging shoulders. He was wider than Raze and nearly as tall. His red tunic clung tightly to his round stomach and pinched at the seams along his biceps. His nose was round and flat like a button in the middle of his face and he wore a scowl.
His partner was the one shuffling his feet, his boots scuffed and the soles worn in odd places because of his peculiar gait. Rina glanced up and recognized Kain, the young man who’d let them in from the ship’s storage dock. He perked up slightly when he saw them. Eldon, too, recognized their weak link into the castle. “Ho there, Kain.” He saluted, eyes twinkling. Rina noted the strained look on his face and the way his hand tightened around his sheathed weapon.
“Completed your patrol?” The young man seemed pleased to recognize a friend. The large guard who accompanied him eyed them idly.
“Aye. And reassigned. No rest for the weary, am I right?” Eldon slapped his thigh good-naturedly.
“Indeed.” Kain nodded vigorously, eager to be accepted by his fellow soldiers.
The big man scratched his head and tilted his head to the side. “Reassigned by who?”
Rina remained silent, but her eyes slid across the door to Eldon who pursed his lips beneath his ample beard. “By the Regent, of course.”
The soldier narrowed his eyes. “When?”
Rina tensed but Eldon didn’t miss a beat. “Oh, just a short while ago. After the celebration finished.”
“Say, you didn’t mention that you were Regent Opher’s personal guards,” Kain continued, oblivious to the rising tension around him. The sleeves of his uniform were bunched around his elbows and he’d rolled his pant legs up around his ankles. His orange hair stood up like a flame on top of his head and framed a face filled with freckles.
“It’s because they’re not, Kain. Aren’t you paying attention?” The big man swore handsomely and drew his sword in a flourish an
d then Kain’s from his own scabbard. Teeth bared, he took off, barreling toward them on surprisingly swift feet. Rina and Eldon paused for just a moment before jumping apart, drawing their own weapons.
The big oaf was like a windmill, equally skilled with both hands, driving first at Eldon and then at Rina. Eldon stepped between Rina and the Kaldarian soldier, short sword in his right hand while his left reached to his boot to grab the knife hidden there.
Rina turned on Kain and with a few short thrusts of her sword, she backed him against the wall. She felt sorry for the young man and held the point of her sword to his throat.
Eldon wasn’t so lucky. His opponent matched him thrust for thrust, twirling the sword in his right hand and then jabbing it at Eldon’s shoulder. The Aviator narrowly avoided the attack, sending the sword over his head in a desperate parry. Eldon was a good fighter, but he excelled at a distance, like the rest of the Aviators. Rina winced as the Kaldarian came forward again, leading this time with the smaller sword that had belonged to Kain.
Eldon slammed the butt of his knife against the Kaldarian’s weak hand and he let go of the smaller sword with a yelp. But that did little to stop the longsword. Eldon scuttled back, tripping on his own feet. The longsword cut a large hunk out of his arm, splattering blood along the wall and floor. Prone on the ground, Eldon tightened his grip on his weapons, a grimace creasing his features as he fought to keep hold of the knife in his left hand. Blood dripped down his arm, flooding over the hilt of the knife and working its way between his fingers.
The soldier swiped down again and Eldon reached up to block. The knife slipped from his hand as the two weapons met with the clang of steel. The sword’s momentum was slowed only somewhat before Eldon lost his weapon and it continued downard, slicing through his side. With a roar of pain, Eldon leapt up and thrust the sword into the Kaldarian’s abdomen. The big man stumbled forward with a guttural cry before slumping to the floor on top of Eldon.
Panting heavily, Eldon heaved the heavy body off of him and rolled to his feet with a groan, gripping his side with his uninjured hand until blood leaked through his fingers. With her weapon still trained on Kain, Rina eyed Eldon’s wound warily. “Well? Are we going? They’ll be along any minute, I wager.”
Eldon’s wounds worried her, but she knew he was right. They couldn’t stop yet. She turned back to Kain, his red hair like a flame in the dank hallway. “Take us to the Mystics. Now.” Her eyes blazed with fury and he dared not anger her further.
Chapter Thirty-three
Eli
The glowing warmth of the rune on Eli’s arm escalated. Rina was close. Perhaps somewhere inside the palace itself. But all he could do was pace. Gaela and Rhett’s words echoed in his mind. Could the people who’d succumbed to the sleeping sickness be revived with manna? That same sap that had given the Mystics their power was their best chance at saving their people, for surely the sickness itself would only continue to spread.
The other Mystics lounged around the room. Eira dozed in the corner, her eyes closed and fluttering, Moriyo beside her. Zaid stretched out, a book held between his palms. Their room held several beds and a small window that looked out on a steep drop down to the palace grounds. Rina was coming. But where would they go when she got here?
Moriyo eyed Eli’s arm which he still covered with his palm. “You don’t think your teacher knows what ways you’ve used the spark outside your tutelage?”
Embarrassed, Eli faltered. “Master, I-.”
Moriyo held up a withered hand. “What concerns me is not the spark rune you’ve drawn. Instead, it is your growing sympathy for this tyrant, our kidnapper.” He leaned back on the plush sofa, his thin body like a reed against the red damask, his cheeks darkening to a shade not far from that of the sofa. “The question is, when are you going to make up your mind? Because NightWind is almost here.”
Rina would not have hesitated. Jump or die. That was the choice she was given that fateful night when he handed her the wings he had so carefully crafted. It was the black and white way she lived her life as a soldier. He turned from the door and stared hard at the stark mountain wall. “Master, we are all Mantineans. These people are our people, too. It is our sacred duty to protect them.”
Moriyo’s mouth rounded, as if he were about to speak when a loud crack resonated throughout the room and the door swung violently open on its hinges. The time for talking was over.
Sword drawn and teeth bared, Rina trudged into the room, her free arm wrapped tightly around Eldon who stumbled in her grip, clutching his left forearm. Rina slammed the door behind her with her foot, her eyes never leaving the small Kaldarian soldier. “Kain,” she snarled. “Sit on the ground with your hands underneath you.” The soldier complied immediately, his eyes round with fear.
Rina half dragged Eldon to one of the nearby beds and heaved him on top of it before wiping sticky blood from her hands. Finally, she looked around the room, noting the four Mystics. “Masters,” she greeted them softly, the glare of battle and desperation slowly leaving her eyes. Her body softened and her sword arm went limp. She sheathed the weapon in her belt, but kept her hand close to it. When her gaze fell on Eli, she jumped as if poked by a needle, no doubt reliving the last conversation the two of them had before the battles, before the kidnapping. “I come by order of Regent Arayna to take you back to Burga.”
“We are glad to see you, NightWind.” Master Moriyo stood then and grasped her hands gratefully. “I see you’ve had some trouble getting here.” He nodded in Eldon’s direction. “Please allow me to see to him with Master Eira’s help.”
“Yes. By all means, Master. But please be quick. We have to move.” Rina eyed Eldon with concern but left him in the care of the Mystics.
Eli tumbled forward and grasped Rina’s hand, the sleeves of his tunic coming unrolled and billowing down over his wrists. “Rina! You’re safe.”
Her lips quirked and she looked down at their entwined fingers, the scar on her face muddied with grime. “Well enough.” Then, she studied his face. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. We have been kept comfortably here in spite of how we came to this place.” He waited patiently, noting how her mind clicked through their situation. Silence grew like weeds between them and almost shyly Eli looked deep into Rina’s eyes. There, he saw both the dam and raging river.
She softened momentarily, but her gaze did not leave his own. “We will talk. But first we must get out of here.” And then she was all soldier again. Aviatrix. “They’ll know we’re here by now. They’ll see that huge lunk in the hallway. Master Moriyo, are you all fit to travel?”
“Aye, Aviatrix. We are at your command.” The old man was a curled husk, but at the hint of their escape, his demeanor came alive, his spine straightening.
Rina eyed the solitary window in the room. “How do you feel about air travel, Master Moriyo?”
A slow smile spilled across the old Mystic’s face. “I’m an awfully old man to be having his first flight.”
Rina nodded, pleased. “How’s it coming, IceRider? Do you think you can fly?”
The Aviator sat up slowly, his side bound tightly with torn strips of sheets from the bed. “A short way. But how are we going to get these guys out?”
“We’re going to carry them hopefully with an extra boost from our powerful stowaways.” She raised an eyebrow. “They used to power airships after all.”
Chapter Thirty-four
Rina
A tingling thrill inched its way along Rina’s spine as her wings opened. They’d found the Mystics. Eldon had reattached her wings and she had done the same for him. All that was left was to escape. The large window in the hallway would allow them to fit through with ease. Rina stood near the sill of the great window and allowed Master Moriyo to circle her, making adjustments to Eli’s beautiful creation. To balance the weight, Eli and Moriyo would fly with Rina. Zaid and Eira would fly with Eldon.
She grasped Eli’s hand warmly. But as they approached the open window, she felt him let go. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes wide. “What are you doing?”
“Jump or die, right?”
“Yes. Now is the time for jump or die. We jump or stay here and die when the guards come.”
“It doesn’t have to be those two options, Rina. We have to help these people. Not just the Kaldarians, but all of the Mantineans. Did you hear? About the sleeping sickness?”
“You’re putting us all in danger, Eli. I lost soldiers on our journey here to rescue you. And now you’re going to turn away? To help Opher?” Her eyes blazed and the hand he’d held a moment ago tingled at the memory of his touch.
He knew the time was short. But he had to make her see reason. As a follower of Nia, he knew that it was right. “Have you seen them?”
“People with the sleeping sickness? Yes, Eli, I have. The Brotherhood who fixed my wings cares for them. But Opher wants to squander the spark to power a blasted airship! An entire ship! There’s a better way.”
He grasped her hand then. “Yes of course there’s a better way.”
“We will help them.” Her thumb caressed the back of his hand. “But for now can we please get out of this godforsaken palace? I’ve had my fill of Kaldarians and Eldon has, too. Let’s get home and then figure out our next move.”
The thought of home, of Mt. Yama and the small apartment above the mechanic’s shop they shared filled Eli with warmth, even in spite of their earlier disagreement. She cared for him deeply. He knew that. Perhaps that could be enough.
