REWARD OF 100,000 GOLD PIECES
CAPTURE ALIVE
At Zev’s violent curse, she flinched away from him.
“I’m going with him to find Dyna.” He snatched his pack off the floor and scrambled around the room to gather Dyna’s scattered belongings. “Go to the port. We might have time to board a ship.”
“We must not separate.” Rawn shoved Cassiel’s pack and sword inside of his enchanted pack, and they vanished within. The movement was quick, but to Lucenna it was slow, time cruelly dragging as her mind spun. “We stay together and depart the city forthwith.”
“This is Tarn’s doing, isn’t it?” Zev growled.
Rawn nodded. “Now that he knows our names, who we are, and our abilities, he is attempting to impede us.”
The mention of this man briefly cleared Lucenna’s fog of panic. It wasn’t her father’s doing?
“Who is Tarn?” she asked, her shocked voice barely a whisper.
“That means bounty hunters will be coming for us.” Zev shouldered his pack, apparently not hearing her. “The city is rife with them. Is it too late to board a ship to Dwarf Shoe?”
“Most likely, but there is bound to be a merchant ship in the harbor that we can bribe for safe passage to a western port, but we must leave immediately.”
They had formed a plan without consulting her. She didn’t factor into their problems, let alone acknowledge her. They hadn’t even informed her who this adversary was.
“No one is going anywhere until I know who this man is,” she hissed. “Who is Tarn?”
Zev and Rawn glanced at each other, then at the page in her clenched fist. Lucenna’s Essence convulsed, sparked by her fear and anger. Her fingers sparked, and the sheet caught fire.
Rawn watched the ashes float to the floor by her boots. “Tarn is Von’s master, the man you defeated in Corron. He is pursuing Lady Dyna for her map.”
“You mean he sent those men to kidnap her?” Lucenna forced herself to take a deep breath. Otherwise, she feared she might destroy the room with the raging magic on the edge of manifesting. She had given little thought to why Von had gone after Dyna. “Why was this not mentioned before?”
Zev rubbed the back of his neck. “Dyna didn’t want to say anything that would discourage you from joining us.”
Lucenna shook her head, backing away from them. “Do you not know what this means? My father will see the bounty and know where I am. He will come for me.”
Rawn took her trembling hands. “We will leave the city as soon as we locate Lady Dyna.”
“No, I need to leave now.” Lucenna blasted him with a minor gust, knocking him into Zev.
She placed an invisibility spell on herself and ran out of the room. They shouted for her to wait. She sprinted down three flights of stairs, but Rawn and Zev were right behind her. Their keen hearing easily followed the sound of her footsteps. She reached the lobby, and it was now swarming with people. She weaved through the mass of bodies, making way for the entrance.
“Wait!” Zev called behind her.
She didn’t. This was the warning Lucien tried to give her. This was the news her father had received by courier.
She couldn’t search for the Druid now. Grief and anger swelled in her. No matter what she did, something always impeded her mission. Her mother’s face crossed her mind, and her vision blurred.
Lucenna busted out of the tavern’s double doors into the sunny street. The city was now teeming with morning activity as people went about their day. She skidded to a halt at the sight of a huge green orc jostling Cassiel in the air.
“I warned you if you made the lass cry again,” the orc growled.
“Please, Elric, I need to find her,” Cassiel said. “She cannot be alone in the city!”
At his alarmed tone, the orc let out a low growl and carefully set him down. “I told you to keep her close, divine one. Well, go on, then. Your wife headed towards the pier.”
Wife?
“Thank you.” Cassiel sprinted away.
