Their eyes met. But he didn’t come over, and she didn’t call out. Orren said something, drawing Lowe’s attention away again.
“You’re awake,” Anadae said from where she sat beside Calya.
Calya pushed herself up and was promptly swept into a hug.
“Ana…dae,” Calya grumbled, but without any bite. “You made it.”
“In time to save my little sister. Actually, you did a pretty good job of that on your own, from what the others have said.”
“I had help. Your ice thing worked,” she rasped, throat dry. “Instructions need some work, though.”
Anadae produced a waterskin. “I’ll keep that in mind. As for your other question, we got here at dawn. Froley’s courier found us yesterday, but the storm slowed us down.”
Calya nodded toward the glass bubble and the two mages still trapped inside. “What is that?”
“A conduit, of a sort. And a cage,” Ezzyn said, lip curling in disdain as he joined them. “A way to forcibly collect the arcane runoff from the Valley and feed it into the poison they made.”
“You mean they really did it?” Calya slowly stood up, glancing between her sister and her partner as she leaned against the wall. “They made a wellspring. Here?”
“No,” Ezzyn said, “only a poor imitation. One these fools don’t have an inkling of how to control, at that. As it feeds the poison, the corruption grows and does generate a significant amount of power, but it takes more than it gives, and what it does produce is more volatile than useful.”
Calya looked at her sister. “Help me.”
Anadae smiled. “It’s not a real wellspring, and the magic it makes, no one really knows how to use.”
“How long will the bubble last?”
Matthias joined them. “As long as it has magic to keep it stable.”
Calya glanced at Lowe, noting how he also kept looking her way, as if reassuring himself she was okay.
Anadae noticed her sister’s split focus. Before she could follow the direction of her look, Calya hurried to ask, “You’re leaving Treen and Aylton in?”
Matthias sighed and shook his head. “No, we won’t be like them. Your friends worked out an amendment to their healing tea that works for the poison here. Better. The blight isn’t as concentrated as what Rhell is dealing with. Once our team is recovered, we’ll work out a rotation until we can shut the orb down safely.”
“You can do that?”
“If we have enough people. But once ours started to get sick, we fell behind. When Avenor’s scam to get more grovetenders over here blew up, and then Song couldn’t steal the remedy from the university, the Coalition ran out of time to trick other mages with the same ruse.” Matthias spat on the ground. “They’d have preferred to run and let this break down. Let it get out.”
Calya watched Treen and Aylton as they floated silently within the bubble, the murky yellow mist curling around them. “So, you’ll do for them what they wouldn’t have done for you?” she said quietly.
Matthias frowned at the glass. At the people who had been colleagues only to turn oppressors. Captors. “They went in on their own. Avenor couldn’t have forced them, not both. He doesn’t have the strength,” he finally said, shaking his head. “They stepped up. It doesn’t change their hand in all this, but at the end, they went in rather than let it fail.”
“People are full of surprises when it matters,” Anadae said.
Tepid solace for those who’d had to deal with them before. Calya started to say as much, but when she opened her mouth, all that came out was a yawn.
“I’m taking you out of here,” Anadae announced.
“Not without my pet rock.” Calya nudged the leather bag with her foot. “I kind of?—”
“Sentinel Lowe mentioned it,” Anadae said. “I want Eunny to look at your hand.”
Ezzyn nodded at the bag. “Leave it for now. It’s not going anywhere. I won’t destroy it,” he added, though the comment was aimed more at Anadae than Calya.
Leaning against her sister, Calya started to limp away, every muscle protesting, but Lowe stopped her. He scooped her up with a gruff, “You shouldn’t stress your… ribs.”
“I’m perfectly capable of walking,” she protested. But not too much. His arms and chest were a refreshing change from the ground, even if it had been cushioned by his cloak. She’d take him over some clothes any day.
