“To befair,” she said, “this is all above me.I won’t pretend to know the faintesttwit about mage politics, nor your mentor himself.If you say he wouldn’t benefarious, then I’ll have to take your word.”She squeezed again.“But I knowmy business, love.All my life, I’ve had to watch for those who’d takeadvantage, those who’d cheat me of coin, giving me a sweet smile so I don’t seethem robbing me blind.I know how to spot when people lie.Because of that, I’mnow positive that someone’s been lying to you.How or why, I don’t know, butthat’s my conclusion, all the same.”
Isaac’smind raced in his head.Every thought made his heart flutter and twist.
“Whateverdeal is being arranged here,” Zaria said, “you’re getting the raw end of it.That’s the only way I can make sense of this.”
Hegazed out over the empty street, past murals of mythology and long vacanthomes, losing himself in memory.
Thecane.
Theshouting.
Thebooks and gifts and lessons.
Thewarm meals shared, the promises of a future.
“Isaac,”she said.“I trust you won’t get offended by this, but you don’t know how theworld works.If you want to live your fantasy of wanders and travel, then youneed to be mindful of those who’ll wish you harm.There’s bad sorts out there,and they won’t always look that way on first glance.Everyone’s got motives andmeanness to them—it’s just a matter of whether they’re showing it to you.”Shetook her hand off his shoulder.“Consider what I’ve said.That’s all I’masking.”
“It’snot—” Isaac took a deep breath.“This isn’t something I haven’t thought ofbefore.It’s not as if I could ask any of these things, but ...I’ve alwayssuspected, in some way—”
Anexplosion ripped through the street.
Theshockwave slapped him so hard, so suddenly, that he felt several puncturesreopen on his chest.Dust spurted in grid-like gusts from the knuckledpavement.They both stumbled back, ears ringing and organs quivering, barelyhearing the sound as it echoed and slammed further along the city.
“Oh,fuck,” Zaria said.“Not again.”
Anotherexplosion came.He saw a brief sliver of fire and smoke over the roofs ofseveral mausoleums before the next shockwave bowled him over, knocking himoff-balance.It felt like half his intestines had switched position.Next tothem, a library, buttressed with ulnas and radii, began to rock as several ofits support beams snapped at once, the ancient building quickly crumbling intoseveral skeletons of stone.
Isaacleaned on his knees, rubbing a hand across his bearded jaw.His teeth ached.Had he clenched them too hard?Through ringing ears, he heard the shockwave ofthe explosion bouncing rapidly off the walls of the titan’s body cavity,growing more chaotic with every reverberation.He felt nauseous and dizzy.
Zariaslapped him roughly on the back, seeming barely affected.
“That’sblack powder,” she said.“Soren’s down here.”
Oncethe echoes stopped bouncing through the necropolis, he began to hear the soundsof fighting.There were screams and shouts, a crackling fire, a dry tumble ofstone.He heard the dull thump of a grenade.Dirt rained from the ceiling.
“Soundslike a full charge,” Zaria said, clutching her poleaxe.“What in the name ofpeace and fuck does she think she’s doing?”
“That’snot the worst thing,” Isaac said.
“How’sthat?”
“Whatcould she be fighting down here?”
Zarialooked at him, the dust of an ancient city coating her mohawk.The sounds ofbattle grew louder.Buildings rattled with noise.He nodded.
Theyran through the street, toward the sound of war.
ChapterEleven
TheBlack Eye
It didnot take long to find the signs of conflict.
AsIsaac ran through the streets of a dead city, he saw footsteps caked throughthe dust and dirt, each of them depicting the paw print of a differentzoanthrope species.Soon after, he saw signs of tampering in the surroundingarchitecture—a broken door of a mausoleum, a shattered, eye-like window, marketstalls tipped over, apothecaries burst open, a few scattered jewels vomitingfrom the mouth of a skull-shaped house.Someone had been attempting to pilferthrough the ancient buildings.
Isaacwas so focused on the vandalism of the pirates that he almost slipped on asudden streak of ice, feeling his boots lose traction with the knuckledpavement.Zaria managed to catch him by the arm.When he regained his balance,he noticed the ice was shaped like a cone.It was not a natural accumulation.It had burst from a central point.He looked further on, and there was a bodyof a pirate lying in the street, most of his fur burned into a blackened char.Flames licked across the leather armor.
Elementalmagic.
