She had always had her magic to depend on and to protect her. Now it was gone and Eira had never been more vulnerable. She had never given much thought before to how Commons might feel in a world of sorcerers. Now she wondered how they went about their entire existence feeling so exposed.
“Good luck, Ducot,” one of the two pirates said. He was human, wearing nothing but a vest. Black tattoos ringed the brown flesh of his arms and were painted across his exposed chest. “Looks like a mess back there.”
“You’ll soon learn that anywhere this one goes ends up a mess.” Ducot clasped Eira’s shoulder and gave a friendly shake. She broke free as subtly as possible. She was playing along for survival—her own and her friends’. Ducot wasn’t counted among her circle any longer.
“I give her three days.” A pale, lanky pirate smoothed back his brown hair, pulling it into a ponytail. A gap between his front teeth whistled slightly as he spoke.
“Three? You’re generous, Fen.” The other pirate chuckled.
Fen shrugged and started walking down the road. Ducot followed him, leaving Eira no other choice than to do the same. She tried to bring her exhausted mind back into focus. They were going back into a burning town overrun by Pillars, because Adela wanted her journals back. The same journals Eira had studied from when she had magic, which she no longer had. And Adela had come halfway across the known world to find Eira… The more she thought about it, the less sense it all made.
Eira shook her head. Her relationship with Adela could wait. The best thing she could do was focus on the present and let the rest be what it would be. One foot, then the next. She had to keep going for her friends. Once they were safe, she’d figure out if she still had the strength to continue searching for answers with Adela.
Men, women, and children continued to flee the burning town with soot-stained and tear-streaked faces. They were so focused on getting away that most of them didn’t pay Eira and the three pirates any mind. At most, their unlikely quartet were the recipients of a confused look or two. But the people were too worried about their own survival to have the will, or energy, to concern themselves with anyone else.
By the time the four of them reached the edge of Warich, the roads were mostly empty. Everyone who was going to escape had already made it out. Smoke was heavy in the air, beginning to sting Eira’s eyes.
Fen slowed to a stop and pulled a small, cracked watch from the pocket of his trousers. “She told me to give you two an hour.”
“Should be more than enough time,” Ducot said confidently.
“Assumingshedoesn’t give you trouble.” Fen nodded in Eira’s direction.
“She won’t,” Ducot spoke for her. Eira continued to stay silent. He glanced her way. “Come on, then.”
Eira followed him into the blood and chaos of Warich. The other two pirates went their own way, splitting up to take care of business unknown to Eira.
The town she’d come to know through her limited explorations with Alyss, Cullen, and Ducot was upended. Most of the smoke and flames were centered on the coliseum. But the explosion had sent burning debris throughout half of the town, starting fires across multiple buildings. More were catching fire; no sorcerers were staying to put out the flames. Cinder and ash filled the air. An eerie silence had settled on the town. There were no screams, no wailing. Other than the crackling of wood, and a distant clamor of some structure falling, the town was as silent as a grave.
So she was jolted when Ducot finally spoke.
“The fire and smoke are impacting my magic. I need you to be my eyes.”
“Why would you escort me if you couldn’t navigate?” Her tone was flat, dull.
He stopped. “Well, I couldn’tseethe state the town was in, could I?”
“Adela could.” Just the mention of the pirate queen had Eira’s head spinning. Adela was here and Eira was her prisoner.
“She trusts us to know what we can and can’t do.”
“Trust must be nice.” Eira folded her arms. Though she still continued looking around. The streets were still mostly empty…but every now and then she saw a curtain pulled aside in one of the houses. People locked up tight, riding out the storm that had descended on their formerly sleepy town. Praying the fires didn’t come for them.
“Would you have preferred me to tell you when we first met that I was practically raised by the pirate queen you resembled? That, oh yes, my loyalties really lay with her. I can imagine how wellthatmight have gone over.” Ducot’s milky eyes never met hers as he spoke.
“You deceived me.”
“I neglected to tell you something about myself that, frankly, had no relevance until this tournament’s beginnings,” he countered with a slight frown. “Adela had me working with the Shadows on Meru long before any of us even knew you existed.” Ducot glanced over his shoulder. “We can keep talking, but we should keep moving. You heard Fen, we only have an hour.”
“Until?”
“Until Adela decides we’re dead or too inept to be in her employ. Either way, she leaves without us.”
Taking my friends with her. Eira began walking again, assuming the lead. “What else did you lie to me about?”
“I never outright lied,” Ducot continued to protest.
Eira glared at him, but opted not to explain her expression. “You said you were raised by Adela? I thought your family was murdered on the edge of the Twilight Kingdom.”
