“We’ll try our best.” Ducot glanced to Alyss. “I’ll go ahead. Keep up.”
“You can count on me.” Alyss hesitated as Ducot shifted into his mole form, her weight only half on the step she’d been about to take. Turning on her heel, she crossed the gap between her and Eira in almost a lunge.
Eira’s arms wrapped around her friend’s shoulders, clutching Alyss’s tightly. They shared a shaky breath and exhaled all their fear. Eira’s knuckles were white, nails digging arcs into her palms so she didn’t leave bruises on Alyss’s back from clinging to her so tightly.
“You can count on me,” Alyss repeated, just for her. “No matter what happens?—”
“I don’t want your goodbyes,” Eira cut her off and pulled away, holding Alyss at arm’s length to look her in the eyes. “I’ll see you on the other side. I have to get a copy of that book.”
“You’ll get the first one off the presses.” One step backward, then another. Alyss turned. And followed Ducot back up the pathway.
Eira allowed herself one more second. In a blink, she was back in the Tower—Alyss running off ahead, always the one to get more jobs for the clinic.Take me with you, the girl that Eira had been whispered under her breath, begging for a chance to shine.
This was the opportunity she’d been asking for all those years ago. It wasn’t a job. It was her destiny.
Eira returned her focus to the here and now, casting off the shadows of her past.
“All right, then. Let’s go.” Eira grabbed for Cullen’s hand again, weaving an illusion over their shoulders. Olivin made his own concealment.
They navigated up, Cullen sensing for the presence of any individual. Fortunately, there weren’t many Pillars and those that were around seemed more preoccupied with preparing forthe impending attack. More than once she heard mentions of the flash beads, but saw no signs of Alyss or Ducot.
Eira tried to wring the worry from her heart. It’d do them no good and, if anything, the distraction would put her, Olivin, and Cullen at risk.
They glided through passageways that ringed the inside of the wall—not unlike the corridors within the coliseum. Finally, they reached a guardroom occupied by two Pillars.
“There’s a battalion coming within the hour,” one of them said shortly after the three of them arrived. “Sending them to the wharf. Our champion will lead the attack.”
That meant Ulvarth would be moving from the Archives. She cursed her luck. Hopefully she was able to find him along the way to Yonlin.
Waiting was the longest hour of Eira’s life. It might have only been ten or twenty minutes, in actuality. But it felt like an hour. Every second rolled on like the sweat down the back of her neck—her whole body tense with the exertion of not even breathing too loudly.
The gate opened for rows on rows of marching Swords of Light. It was their only chance. But it meant navigating around easily fifty men and women who were all armed and ready to kill them the heartbeat they were discovered.
The center of Eira’s chest burned as she dredged forth even more power. The risk of someone sensing her was one she’d have to take. They side-stepped through the opening, where the two gatemen were watching the battalion march through. Backs sliding against the wall, they made their way down the corridor.
The last of the Swords of Light were near. The gate would be closed after. Eira stared up at the portcullis, willing it to stay openjust…
…a little bit…
The last of the armored men and women passed them.
…longer.
Two steps and they were out of the tunnel that connected one side of the thick barricade with the other. Eira kept their backs against the wall as she started for one of the nearby buildings. The homes on this side of the wall were much the same as the last and, with any luck, they’d be able to be out of any potential sightline and slip into the obscurity of the tightly packed city.
The moment they crossed into an empty side street, a building between them and the wall, she stopped to catch her breath. It was a momentary reprieve and then they were off again. The sky was a glowing amber and there wasn’t time to waste.
The distance between the second and third wall was less than between the first and second and they found themselves before an open but well-guarded gate. Knights formed a living barricade, shoulder to shoulder; there wasn’t any way of slipping through. Even with her illusion, there’d be a brush of fabric, or a faint breeze that followed their movements.
Unless they couldn’t feel that brush or breeze.
Keeping her grip on Cullen and Olivin, Eira shifted the focus of some of her power. Still maintaining the illusion over them for the benefit of the Pillars that patrolled the ramparts, Eira turned her attentions on the line of soldiers. They went deathly still. Underneath their helmets, their barely visible lips were blue.
She navigated around her frozen barricade of men, strolling to the other side of the final wall. Just as the sun was cresting the horizon, they stepped into the great courtyard that stretched before the Archives. It was illuminated by a roaring fire that encircled the entire compound—Ulvarth’s new Flame of Yargen.
They’d only made it halfway across when an explosion threatened to tear apart half the city.
38
