“I wish we could, but it’s no use,” she said.“The null field around the keep is so strong that any Emberborn trying to pass through the perimeter would collapse in pain and probably pass out.”
“Is there no way to counter the null field?”
“There is a potion I could make to get us past the null field, but I’m missing one ingredient, and there’s no way we could ever get any.”
“You mean this?”I said, pulling out the Emberbane.
Her jaw dropped, and her eyes grew to the size of saucers.“How did you get that?”
“It’s complicated.”
“Do you realize you could incinerate this whole block if you so much as dropped that?”
“I am aware,” I said emphatically.After all, I had almost died in an Emberbane fire twice now.
Mrs.Crowe’s expression turned to one of steely resolve.“Let’s make those bastards pay.”
With the door locked and a pot of water on the fire for tea, Mrs.Crowe and I sat at the table in her back room.
“Syra was my daughter, and I loved her dearly,” she told me.“Her father was Emberborn.He died trying to save her.But that bastard in the throne room stole her from us.He corrupted her.I always held out hope that she was still in there, and Tarnasau knew that and used it against me.He’s held her life over my head for years, made me do things I’m not proud of.”
“But now Syra is at peace at last,” I said.“And you’re free.”
“Her life was the last thing holding me back, hoping I could somehow save her.That’s the reason I came back here to our old shop, to see if I could find a way to reverse the corruption.But I failed.And now that she’s free, the only thing I want is vengeance.What’s your plan?”
I kept the details simple and didn’t mention the Order of Emberlight, but I thought she inferred most of what I didn’t say.I told her that I needed to rescue Elena and a man who was very special to me and that they would arrive by prison wagon with a company of Sentinels.
“I’m afraid they’re already here,” she said grimly.“A wagon came in this morning, just as you described.They went directly into the keep.”
My heart sank.I couldn’t get the image of alchemists experimenting on Elena and Darion out of my mind.But I took a deep breath and gritted my teeth.“Is there any way you can get me into the keep?”
“Yes, I think one of the king’s top alchemistsmightbe able to gain admittance,” she said with a smirk.“With my promising new apprentice in tow, of course.”
That caught me off guard.I had known Mrs.Crowe for years.Had she been working directly for the king all this time?If so, she had hidden it well—how much could I truly trust her?Then again, the way she’d reacted to the news of Syra’s death had not been an act.I truly believed she had been coerced into helping the Crown.It was a risk, but going into the keep alone would be suicide.
“I’m in.”
“Excellent,” she said.“Let’s make some potions.”
“Like old times,” I said.
Mrs.Crowe grunted.
We hovered over the fire, ground herbs in the mortar, and mixed reagents.She helped me craft all my usual potions, like my fire and smoke bombs, but she made a few suggestions for additions and changes that improved them significantly.
“Be careful with these,” she said as she handed me the vials.“They’ll have a bit more kick than you’re used to.”
With my Emberbane, she crafted several vials of a potion she called Embercloak.“Not only will this get us past the null field, but it will also diminish its effects, making you harder to track.And each vial requires only a drop of your Emberbane.”
I stashed two vials in my belt and downed a third in a single swig.The taste was bitter, but I quickly felt its effects rippling through my body.I let my Ember flow.I had never felt quite so connected to it.Everything was more visceral.My mind was sharper than ever, and my limbs begged for something to climb.Also, the oppressive null field that enveloped the entire town felt muted.
According to Mrs.Crowe, the effects would last no more than a couple of hours, and after that I’d have one hell of an Ember hangover, so speed was critical.
Mrs.Crowe also had another use for the Emberbane.She held up two vials, one purple and one green.
“For worst-case scenarios,” she said.“Separately, they are inert.But if you mix them, it sets off a delayed chemical reaction.In about fifteen minutes…boom.”She made an explosive gesture with her hands.“I call it my time-release bomb.Even this much can knock down an entire building.”She let out a long breath, a distant look in her eyes.“Syra helped me come up with this.”
Dressed in the robes of an alchemist’s apprentice and with my belt stocked to the hilt with potions, I left the shop with Mrs.Crowe at my side.She had donned her finest robes, complete with golden ribbons that signaled her station.As we walked down the street on the way to the keep, people turned to look at us, whispering.
