Dyna huffed. “Don’t give me that. You almost died.”
And what would she think if she realized you were disappointed that you didn’t?The Madness asked. Zev hadn’t let himself think about it at the moment, but a part of him had felt robbed when Rawn broke the spell meant to end his life.
“Lord Norrlen?” Dyna turned to him.
He offered her a tired smile. “I am unscathed, my lady. All is well.”
Cassiel removed a knife from his boot and cut the rest of the tangled vines off Zev’s paws, then held out a hand to help Rawn to his feet. “Am I mistaken to say youbreathedfire?”
“I combined a wind and fire spell,” Rawn answered as he sheathed his sword. “It is the only offensive spell I have come to learn.”
“The most useful one, it would seem,” Zev said, his voice caught between growl and human as he shifted back on two legs. The thorns had peppered his body with gashes and punctures.
Cassiel handed him a pair of trousers. “I thought today was your last.”
“Aye, so did I,” Zev murmured, hugging Dyna when her expression broke. “But I’m fine.”
“You’re hurt.”
“This is nothing.” He nodded to the sorceress. “I think she’s worse off.”
Clutching her satchel, Dyna ran to her side. The sorceress lay motionless beneath the dead mage; her face covered under a damp curtain of silvery-white hair. Zev pushed the body off her.
“Look away, please,” Dyna said. “I need to examine her.”
They respectfully turned their backs and gave them some space. Rawn whistled at Fair to come to him, and they waited quietly to hear the verdict. Smoke rose from where the rain had put out scattered fires, and bodies riddled the destroyed field. Zev had never seen such power, let alone someone wielding spells outside of their Guild.
“Six,” Zev murmured as he counted the bodies. “Out of ten mages, she took down six.”
By the sigils on their arms, these mages were Enforcers. To kill as many as she had meant she was incredibly … dangerous.
Cassiel warily peered into the deep hole she had made in the earth. “Did she invoke the storm as well?”
“I would assume so,” Rawn said.
No clouds dotted the sky now, as if it had never rained at all.
“She’s unconscious, but she’s all right,” Dyna said after a few minutes. “You may turn around now.” The sorceress lay in the grass with her clothes set properly. Her hair stuck to her pale and sweaty face. Dyna gently brushed the white bangs from her forehead. “She spent a significant amount of Essence. She needs to recover.”
Zev nodded. He’d seen it happen in Dyna frequently when she used too much power.
“Why did they want her?” Cassiel asked. He glared at the dead mage with an arrow through his throat. “Aside from the foul intentions of that one.”
“They were not forthcoming with that information,” Rawn said. “They were under orders by the Archmage to capture her.”
Dyna shared a look with Zev. They knew why the mages wanted her, but how could they explain it? The practices of the Magos Empire were a secret kept from the rest of Urn.
“We need to find a place to camp,” she said, turning to the devastated field riddled with bodies. “Somewhere far from here.”
* * *
Taking the form of his wolf again, Zev searched for a safe place to camp. The fading scent of the mages was everywhere. He paused every so often to sniff the wet soil as Dyna and the others followed close behind. Rawn guided Fair along with the unconscious sorceress laying on the horse’s back while Cassiel flew overhead as a precaution to notify them of any further trouble.
When he reached a stream, he located the sorceress’s scent and followed it through the forest, but it quickly faded until there was no scent at all. Zev had to stop and sniff the air. He couldn’t smell the trees, the earth, or any of the normal scents that should be here. It threw off his senses and made his mind spin.
But there were small tracks in the mud that fit the size of a woman’s. She must have passed through here. He ambled onward into a small clearing encircled by tall shrubs. Among the greenery was a feeble black tent, closer to where the mage battle took place.
“You found shelter,” Dyna said.
