Her body is illuminated, and she thrashes and then falls. I scream, making to catch her. She stops abruptly in mid-air and then slowly floats into my arms. I squeeze her tight, holding her to my chest.
‘Ris, you’ll crush her,’ Ryla says. ‘Give her some air.’
They prise me away from Biba, and she breathes, ragged and deep. She sits up and stares at the hearth.
‘Bright, bright,’ she whispers.
The flames dance and flicker pale blue.
‘What’s she doing?’ Salvacion asks, and I remember the fireplace at Narra’s inn, the day we arrived. How Biba’s confusion and fear had set the place ablaze for that one moment. I recall the strange afterglow surrounding Hanan, Sinigang, Biba, and Raina in the cavern.
‘Magic,’ I say quietly. ‘Something’s happening to her magic.’
A knock at the door. The door bulges on its hinges with the brute force. We all turn to each other.
‘I’ll handle this,’ Salvacion says, shrugging on her tattered Seaguardian jacket and feeling for her weapon at her hip.
‘Get under the bed and don’t make a sound,’ I whisper to Biba.
She’s terrified, but she obeys. The others keep their weapons close by.
When I can no longer see her little feet sticking out under the bed, I give the signal.
Salvacion opens the door, and the Seaguardians come swarming in. ‘What is the meaning of this?’ she asks, sizing them up.
Fetch whines and scrambles to hide under the sofa.
The Seaguardians look at her dishevelled uniform and narrow their eyes. ‘Did they do this to you?’
‘No,’ Salvacion insists. ‘I was caught in the storm, and these fine folk took me in. They helped me.’
The leader of the Seaguardians sniffs. ‘We have power of removal. All touched folk are to be taken at the queen’s request.’
I start back. ‘The queen? She’s alive?’
The Seaguardian narrows his eyes at me, and I know I’ve fucked up.
‘Thank Aistra. We heard there was an attempt on Our Majesty’s life – horrible business,’ Kopiro says, with a face that wouldn’t melt butter. ‘Have you found the culprits?’
He’s the least intimidating of us, and he knows it, folding into himself to seem smaller, plastering on that winning smile.
‘News travels fast, even in these backwaters,’ the Seaguardian snorts. ‘Your neighbours said they saw a shining light coming from this farmstead.’
Curse being in each other’s pockets in a small community. Saving their own skin, happy to point the finger. They’re doing what’s best by them. But it takes a certain softness and shielding by privilege to think the Seaguardians have your best interests at heart.
‘Shining light?’ Salvacion asks. ‘Perhaps they mistook the fire for something else?’
‘I think we can tell the difference between firelight and something... unnatural,’ one of the other Seaguardians spits.
‘Look, if there is anything untoward happening here, I can deal with it,’ Salvacion says, her tone commanding. She leans towards the Seaguardian who seems to be in charge. ‘These are simple farming folk. Don’t waste your time.’
The leading Seaguardian cocks his head, looking at the nest of blankets on the sofa and the Dodi doll. He raises an eyebrow.
‘Now don’t tell me this is yours.’ He laughs, sneering at Salvacion.
His attention continues beyond to the other room. The door to the bedroom is ajar, and underneath pours out a light, too blue to be candlelight and pulsing strangely. We rush towards it, but we’re powerless to stop the Seaguardians from entering the room and making towards the glow emanating from underneath the bed.
I throw myself in front of the lead Seaguardian, but he shoves me back onto the bed. He’s on his knees, grabbing Biba forcefully by the ankle. She bucks and kicks and spits and bites like something rabid.
