I look between Kaelis and her. He looks as shocked as I am. He said my name, and not quietly, either. There is no denying who I am.
What’s the way out?
What do we do?
My mind races around those questions as magic begins to flare in me. There might be only one solution to this problem, and it doesn’tinvolve all—or even most—of us walking away from this alive. Turns out my plan from a few days ago to kill everyone to prevent witnesses was the right one after all.
“Take her,” Emilia commands to the Stellis.
Just as the men and women in plate begin to move, Kaelis says, “Stop,” with all the authority of a prince.
The Stellis halt, looking uncertainly between him and Emilia.
“Need I remind you that I operate under the sanction of King Naethor Oricalis himself?” she says loudly, her eyes affixed to Kaelis and me. Then, to drive the point home, Emilia reaches for a scroll attached to her hip by a wide belt. She reads from it, “Fortunately, the king predicted that an unfortunate situation such as this might arise.Anywho are found aiding the traitor in any capacity are to be considered traitors themselves, regardless of birth or name. Commoner, or crown prince, oranyonebetween.”
She rolls up the scroll with a triumphant flourish and returns it to her hip. The Stellis take one last look at one another and, deciding it’s good enough for them, continue.
“You will not touch her.” Kaelis steps around me. He regards them all in the same dispassionate way a storm regards the coast. “Consider this your last warning. Heed me, not Emilia, and I will grant you your lives. Take one more step, and you all will perish.”
One last pause. One more moment of hesitation, like the calm before the storm. A breath.
“How could you expect us to trust you after what you did in the Stone Citadel?” Emilia wears a wicked, knowing smile. “Get him, too. He’s a traitor to the crown.”
A Stellis reaches for his sword, and chaos is unleashed.
Kaelis and I move in near unison. He issued the threat, but I am fully prepared to back it up. My usual slew of cards fly from my deck, readying me. No sooner have I called upon the Seven of Wands than one of the flaming tongues explodes harmlessly, blocking a dagger thrown by one of the knights.
I head in an opposite direction from Kaelis, leaping and scramblingacross a boulder to a broken stair that hangs dangerously in midair. Stone crumbles under my boot as I jump, dodging an attack. I throw my weight as I grab a Stellis by the collar of his plate and twist. We both lose our balance, but I’ve swung around onto safer ground, and the Stellis? He trips midair, falling with a scream and a resounding, sickening, decisivethumpfar below.
I keep moving, up and up. Emilia is casting cards now, as are two other Stellis. I weave around the attacks as I emerge onto the surface.
Shit.
She came as prepared now as she did in the Stone Citadel. There are easily twenty more Stellis, half mounted, all armed.
Emilia must see the surprise and panic on my face because she lets out a low laugh. “You’re not going to be able to take us all on, as talented as you might be, Clara. Throw down your deck.”
“I’ll die before I let you take me.” I’m already thinking of the next several cards I’ll use. “And I know you’re ordered to take me in alive. So there’s no way I can lose.”
Her face twists, and she lets out a roar, pointing her sword in my direction. The Stellis take this as their command to charge.
The Ace of Coins disrupts the mounted units’ charge. The Five of Swords summons my own trusty blade. I move with the speed of the Eight of Wands. But she’s right, there are so many. Too many.
Emilia doesn’t even bother to join the fray. She watches with a delighted glint in her eyes.
“Are you letting them wear me down for you?” I shout, twisting my blade and narrowly dodging another. My lunge falls short, and I backtrack, reposting as I call upon the Four of Coins—small control of the weather for a short period of time. A gust takes two Stellis and their mounts off the ledge of the crater. Another is thrown off-balance. But I’m forced to dart away before I can finish the job as another closes in.
Where’s Kaelis?My breaths are ragged. He took on the brunt of the force, drawing them to him, but then I lost track. Fire and smoke blots the air. All I see are plated men and women, cards cast my way, magicblades that scream through the air for my blood.I can’t keep up with this for much longer.
Sweat trickles down my neck. I rip off my cloak as one of them grabs it. Another nearly slices my deck from my hip. But he gets close enough that I can lay my hand on his deck and use three of his cards to render him unconscious, saving my own.
Without warning, five of the remaining ten go rigid. They claw at their throats for one brief, wheezing breath. Then their eyes roll up into their heads and they fall, dead, before they can say or do anything more. That leaves five, plus Emilia.
“What…what was that?” Emilia whispers, horrified.
I didn’t do that.
“Powers that you cannot see and live to tell the tale.” Kaelis has emerged from the crater. I want to quip about how long it took, but who knows what he was dealing with down there.
