“Respectfully, my king, weshouldn’tbe sending both of our royals off, either. Let meaccompanymy queen,” Laurence suggested, though he was still struggling to regain his composure.
“He’s right,” Matea sighed.“But it should be me and Aviva. Aviva found this place, and she has the mostzirilium, so maybeshe’llbe able to find a weak point easier than the rest of us could.”
“And why should it be her andyou?” Byn raised an eyebrow in question.
Matea looked at Laurence, whosecomplexionwas stillgreen. Then she looked backtoByn—to his temples, where his casual circlet usually sat.
Byn, having followed her gaze to both andgave the impression heunderstood, seemed to deflate slightly.
Mateadidn’teven need to utter a word to get her point across.
Byn’s hand found mine in the dark and squeezed, causing me to look over and meet his gaze. I focused on our emotions within me and tried to imagine wrapping my confidence in my assignment around his anxiety.
A small smile played on hislipsand I knew he could feel the difference, especially as his anxiety seemed to fadeever so slightly.
“Be careful,” Byn said to me for the second time tonight.“And remember you only have a couple hours until sunrise.”
I nodded once,steelingmyself as I stood from our place on the ground to take my place next to Matea.
Afterchecking onLaurence briefly, Matea and I began our trek around the wall.
***
“Maybe we should head back to where we saw that weird bug.”
“There’s got to be a weaker point than thatsomewhere,” I replied to my sister in a whisper.
We’dalready spent the better part of an hour—maybe two, for all I knew—creeping around the perimeter. We had to stop more often thanwe’dlikeddue to passing patrols, but progress had been made.
I had felt a small surge in myziriliumnear an iridescent beetlewe’dseen, but itdidn’tseem like enough of a surge to make use of the spot.
“But if we don’t find one, we’ve wasted all this time,” Matea argued.
“I understand the risks,Matty,” I teased, but Icouldn’thide the sharp edge in my voice that displayed how serious I knew the situation was.
We continued walking in silence.One of my hands made contact with the wall at all times, dodging the metal spikes that threatened to make me bleed every few steps.Fortunately, Icouldavoid them, thanks to my Northern ability to see better in the dark. Matea walked on my other side, doing her best to keep an eye out not only on the trees and mountain-scape surrounding us, but on the wall and in the sky above us.
A few times, we’d had to duck for cover when a patrolling soldier walked across the top of the wall, or flew overhead.
Each onewe’dseen had been armed as though they were ready for a battle to break out at any given moment.
Part of me didn’t doubt they were.
I focused intensely on the way myziriliumfelt within my veins with every step I took.
“I really think we should go back to—” Matea started, but was interrupted as I shushed her, coming to a pause.
Looking up at the wall, I realized we were standing below the largest watchtower built into the structure thatI’dseen thus far. With that, there were larger supports to ensure the watchtower would remain upright on the rocky, uneven terrain.
Which meant less room for the odd metal spikes that dotted the outside of the wall.
For whatever reason, that area with less metal sticking out of the wall seemed to make myziriliumsurge in strength. Itwasn’tlike my usual flow of power, but it alsowasn’tnothing.
“Here,” I breathed, ushering Matea over. That was when I realized the sky hadlightenedjust a shade or two.
Before she could take more than a step forward, we heard wing beats in the distance.
Then nearby.
