I looked up at him and the fear in my eyes must have been visible, because Caelan spoke softer then.
“We can’t stay here, we are sitting ducks in this house. We need to move now if we want to have any chance at getting you and your mother out of here safely.”
I nodded and stood up, taking my mother’s hands into my own.
“Mother? I am sorry for waking you, but we have to go for a little walk, all right?”
My mother opened her eyes, heavy with sleep, but started smiling the second she saw me. “You shouldn’t have come, darling, it’s too dangerous here.”
I smiled at her too and gave her the biggest of hugs. “I know, that’s why we are leaving. You are coming back withus. I won’t leave you here again.”
She looked around the room towards Caelan and the other sentinels.
“Looks like I don’t have a choice in the matter.” She sighed and got up.
We quickly packed a few supplies and some bits and pieces that I couldn’t leave behind, not knowing if I’d ever be back.
We were out the back door ten minutes later, two of the sentinels helping my mother walk. All we had to do was get to the abandoned temple and we’d be back on our way. We tried to avoid the busier streets out of fear that the Heralds might recognize me.
We had barely made it halfway when Caelan slowed, his hand lifting in warning.
Men stood ahead of us, dark shapes moving between houses, torchlight flickering across windows and garden walls. They searched methodically, peering inside as if they expected to find something hiding. Or someone.
We pressed back into the shadows, but there was no easy way around them. My mother sagged against me, her weight heavier now, her breath shallow.
“We cannot wait any longer. Your mother is weak and the sun is about to come up. Once the town awakens, we will be stuck here for another day and we can’t afford that,” Caelan summarized our blight.
He glanced at the others, all grim nods and clenched jaws.
“We walk past. If they approach, end it quickly. No noise.”
The words settled like ice in my stomach.
We stepped out, crossing the road to give the patrol a wide berth. Every footfall felt too loud. I held my breath as we edged closer to freedom—and turned the corner straightinto a line of Heralds.
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then the horns sounded.
The sentinels reacted instantly, forming a tight circle around my mother and me, steel flashing as they raised their weapons. The Heralds didn’t attack. They simply stood there, blades drawn, watching us, as if they were waiting for a signal.
I could see the temple across the field. So close it hurt.
“We need to split,” I whispered to Caelan. “Get my mother to the Pathways. I’ll distract them.”
Caelan shook his head. “I have clear orders to not leave anyone behind, least of all you, wordsmith” he said quietly.
More Heralds poured in, their presence closing around us like a net. Still no attack. Just waiting.
Then the night exploded.
A sharp crack split the air, followed by a wave of heat that washed over my skin. I spun just in time to see a tree to my right erupt into flame. Not a spark, not an accident, but an inferno. Fire climbed the trunk in a heartbeat, roaring skyward, its colors shifting unnaturally from red to blue to sickly green.
Magic.
Beside me, Caelan swore under his breath.
And that’s when I sawher. From the trunk of the burning tree a figure emerged.
