Vanya looked over at Soren, who only shrugged. “She’s right. You need someone impartial.”
It went without saying that Soren was not, though it could be argued the same could be said of Cybele. But that was a problem for later. Cybele and Yadvir stayed out in the hallway with them.
Taisiya was the last one inside the library, finally being let down by thepraetorialegionnaire who had carried her all this way. Her eyes reflected the starfire burning at the tips of Vanya’s fingers, the light fading when she bowed her head.
“Good hunting,” Taisiya said as the door closed between them.
Vanya turned away from the door and the sound of furniture being moved around within the room, finding Soren waiting for him a few feet away,praetorialegionnaires fanned out around them. Yadvir and Cybele stood pale-faced and determined nearby with Javier. Soren quirked an eyebrow at him. “Ready?”
Vanya nodded. “Lead the way.”
Soren headed into the dark, starfire that Vanya commanded reflecting off his poison short sword like a beacon.
Thirteen
HONOVI
The crystal on the map moved through Foxborough, and Honovi never took his foot off the gas pedal of the racing carriage. “Are they still heading north?”
“Yes,” Ksenia said, pitching her voice over the roar of the velocycles surrounding them.
“North is the rail station.”
“It’s no longer useable.”
“It’s still a way out.”
Whoever had Blaine would have to be desperate to consider leaving a city at night. The only night travel anyone did was by airship or steam train. One never touched the earth, and the other was enclosed and moved at rapid speed, capable of outrunning revenants. Motor carriages and trucks traveled in convoys but only in daylight hours.
They were closer to Blaine than they had been—at least a mile out, according to Ksenia’s map—and the Clockwork Brigade in Foxborough had been integral in keeping the peacekeepers and scattered Daijalan soldiers at bay. It helped that some of the peacekeepers sided with Ashion over Daijal, and internal strife was making it difficult for any real attempt to muster a solid pushback against the Ashion battalion.
The wardens were as good as any soldier—better, in some ways—and they had a few magicians in their ranks. When Ksenia gave the order for the wardens to split up, one of the magicians went with the group who were tasked with taking side streets to get ahead of the people who had Blaine. The one left behind came in handy when Honovi turned a corner and the racing carriagefinallylined up with the crystal—
—and they came up against immediate defensive fire.
The bullets ricocheted off the hexagonal shield the other magician had erected, the miniature shapes snapping together to form a barrier. The pale blue glow of magic sparked where bullets hit, but the warden never slowed her velocycle down. She drove forward, and Honovi could only follow.
Lore’s racing carriage overtook theirs, but she couldn’t take any shot through the warden’s shield. Honovi hit the brakes, steering their vehicle closer to the pavement. Some of the wardens had backtracked the way they’d come, disappearing down another street.
“Should I follow your people?” Honovi asked.
Ksenia snapped the map book closed. “No.”
She undid the safety belt and hopped out of the seat, striding to the rear, where a small trunk was located. She popped it open and pulled out a weapon with an overlarge barrel and a spring-actuated revolving-cylinder magazine. Honovi craned his head around and watched with a distant sort of disbelief and horror as Ksenia calmly fed what looked like six grenades into the chambers of the cylinder one by one.
“We hadgrenadesin our vehicle?” Honovi exclaimed. “What if we’d been hit?”
“I trusted you wouldn’t let us” was Ksenia’s calm response. “Besides, you fly with bombs.”
He couldn’t really argue that.
He did protest when Ksenia walked around the racing carriage and fit the stock against her shoulder, hands curled around the grip and base, finger resting against the trigger guard. “You can’t shoot them if they have Blaine.”
Ksenia never looked away from her target. “Your husband isn’t my target.”
Honovi swore as he scrambled out of the racing carriage, unholstering his pistol. “You don’t know where he is in that group.”
“This is how we find out.”
