She smirked. “Still a brat, I see.”
Ollas whistled softly. “They’re bringing him out.”
A group emerged from one of the small dockside storage huts that had been used as a temporary holding cell. Rhellians flanked Brint on one side, while members of Orren’s Avenor Guard contingent strode on the other.
When he saw Calya and her friends, he stopped in front of them and took a few shuffling steps closer, intent not on Calya but Anadae. He ignored the prodding of the Rhellian behind him, raising his hands and clasping them together as he implored her. “Ana, it was never supposed to go this far. You know me, you have to believe that,” he said. “I-I fucked up, but I was never?—”
“Was that before or after you tried to put the blame on my sister? Before or after you tried to entrap her in your treason?” Anadae held up Calya’s branded palm, her voice hard.
Brint winced. “I panicked! I panicked, okay, but I wouldn’t have left her?—”
Anadae took a step closer. Tiny ice crystals gathered in the air around her, popping and re-forming with menacing crackles. “I warned you what would happen if you came after her. Consider yourself lucky the Sentinels need your testimony.”
Eunny nudged Calya. “I love it when my baby gets mad.”
Calya’s shoulders jerked with smothered laughter. “I’m never fighting my own battles again.”
“We’ve known each other forever, Ana,” Brint pleaded. “We cared for each other once. We were engaged. We were friends. That still means something to you, I know it does.”
Ezzyn joined them, coming to stand behind Anadae. He wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned back into his embrace, shivering as he pressed an open-mouthed kiss against the side of her neck.
Calya scoffed. “Pee on her leg while you’re at it, Sor’vahl, I don’t think your intent was clear enough.”
Anadae flicked her wrist. “You should’ve thought of that, Brint. Many times over.”
This time, he didn’t resist when a Guardsman propelled him on.
Lieutenant Orren approached Calya next. “We were only able to intercept the Coalition’s ship because of you. I’ll be sure my captain knows.”
“I appreciate that,” Calya said. “We got our answer in the end, Orren. About your loyalties. Though I am sorry it ended this way.”
“He made his choice.” Orren bowed. “If I can ever be of assistance to Helm Naval, I’m yours.”
Calya murmured her thanks, swatting at Eunny when the other woman tried to nudge her again.
“You are a menace.” Putting Anadae between them, Calya asked, “Does this mean we’re leaving soon, too?”
“Almost.” Anadae hooked her arm through Calya’s. “Come see what Zhen’s managed with that journal you saved. Plus, we still need to get your rock.”
The cavern had been transformed. It was almost… nice? The earth mages had done most of the work, opening holes in the upper parts of the walls and ceiling to let in light. Air mages kept the atmosphere less stagnant. The glass sphere was still in the crater, but even that looked less oppressive. Six mages occupied the sphere now, and though they still floated motionless, as Calya got closer she saw that furrows of dirt filled neat, sculpted rows tracing across the floor of the sphere. Small plants sprouted from the ground. Grassy clumps, their green blades edged in gold light, waved gently within the enclosure. Even the mist swirling within seemed friendlier, a warmer gold than murky yellow, and the creepy white splotches were replaced by motes of glowing light.
Zhenya and several other mages stood around the glass ball. She had a fine chisel and small hammer in her hands, carving a rune into the top of a ward embedded into the sphere’s surface. A familiar looking ward—one of Anadae and Ezzyn’s design. The Grae U mage from the dungeon held open the small, battered notebook from Brint’s office for Zhenya to use as reference as she carefully made her marks. Golden light glowed around her hands as she worked, and it lingered in the engraved lines even after she’d finished.
“You’re just in time,” she called out. “I’m about to apply the ink.”
Calya eyed the glass bubble, then glanced at Ezzyn, who’d entered alongside her and Anadae. “Truth. If this had popped, would it have been as bad as what’s happened in Rhell?”
His jaw worked, gaze going skyward as he mulled over an answer. It was Zhenya who spoke up.
“Probably not,” she said, “since Graelynd doesn’t have a wellspring. However it was made, the source poison has… it has an intrinsic purpose built into it. It wants to destroy a wellspring, and the fake one here wouldn’t satisfy that.”
“How can you tell?”
Zhenya indicated the small notebook Calya had recovered from Brint’s office. It was incomprehensible scribbles to her, but Zhenya handled it with reverence. “This talks about it. A little. I can’t actually read most of it, but once we get back to Sylveren, I’ve got some people to ask.”
“Super secret notes?” Calya asked.
“I think it’s from an Eyllic mage. From the time they figured out how to make their wellspring.”
