Auryn resisted the urge to cough.
The missive from Draevan Sol burned in her pocket. The Councilor’s handwriting had been precise and brief, requesting her presence in his Iliri laboratory at the earliest possible hour. No reason given for the summons. Either he wished to speak more on the data she'd presented at Council, or he wanted to address something unrelated.
Perhaps this concerned her Firestone proposal from some weeks past. The small rune-inscribed stones had begun as a personal experiment, a simple answer to the bitter cold that plagued the Commons during the Cycle of Ice. If the design could be replicated, the stones might be distributed throughout the Commons, warming homes that had never known reliable heat.
Surely that was why Draevan had summoned her here to the heart of industry within Krystopolis. To discuss mass production. Logistics.
Her steps slowed, eyes darting to the colossal black towers surrounding them, each one windowless, their doors marked with sigils pulsing in her Manasight. She wanted to linger, to look closer at the glyphwork etched into the marble, but Lu’ma’s hands signed briskly.
'Your Radiance, if we linger, we will be late to training with the Scarred One.'
Lu’ma’s sign for Zarrek brought a smile to Auryn’s face.
“Yes. This place makes me uneasy. Let us finish our business quickly and return.”
The smile was still on her lips when the air cracked behind them. Auryn whirled around. A portal opened wide. Not amber, like the Resh'Agar's sanctioned pathways but dark emerald.
Aethersteel on stone. Armor slamming into crystal. Runes screeching as their owners sang to them. Shadows falling faster than breath. Reskala poured out of a summoned portal, bearing down on them in full force.
Shock stopped her cold. She turned to Lu'ma, panicking, recalling all the conversations about her being in danger. Remembering the look of disgust on Sevrion's face when he'd look at her friend during Council.
"Lu'ma, run!"
As the first gauntlet seized her wrist, her body remembered how to retaliate before her mind did.
Don’t fight the grip. Use it.Kailorien’s voice echoed in her mind.
She dropped her weight, twisted with the drag, and the Reskala’s own force yanked him off balance. Her elbow slammed into his visor with a jolt that rattled bone. She didn’t feel the pain of it, panicking as one of them ripped Veilpiercer from her back.
Another closed from the side.
Never let them fix your line. Sideways. Always sideways.
She slipped left, pivot sharp as a blade, diving for the bow clattering across the marble. Fingers curled around its familiar weight. Her breath steadied. She stepped and the Weave answered her call. One blink gone, the next behind them. Veilstepping. Blinding white light coalescing into a quiver at her back. Arrow fired into greaves, another into a gauntleted wrist. Screams, steel falling. Not killing. Never killing.
Weakest joint is the wrist. Aim small, miss small.
She loosed again—true as breath.
Pretty little ember, break their throats. Spill their blood. Feel them die beneath your hands.
Her stomach clenched, but her shot swerved low, striking tendon instead of spine. She blurred, back at Lu’ma’s side. Her friend was fighting for her life, wielding two daggers, her limp forgotten in well-practiced, deadly motions. One Reskala raised his blade. Auryn's bow cracked against steel, shaft driven point-blank into armored knuckles before the blade could drop. The Reskala yelled, flinching back.
“Run!” she cried, ripping the key sigil bracelet from her wrist and thrusting it into Lu’ma’s hand. “Portal! Find him—GO!”
Fear is a blade they will hand you. Don’t take it.
The Reskala reformed, shields locking in brutal rhythm. They circled the two of them. Marched forward, step by step.
Lu'ma threw up a ward around them with one hand and summoned magefire with the other. A blaze of flame roared to life at the Reskala's feet.
“Shackles! Cut off her magic!"
Auryn’s chest locked. Shackles were for prisoners. For the condemned.For Purification.
Terror for Lu'ma split her thoughts and scattered them. She pushed against her friend's back. "Lu'ma, open the portal! Now!"
But the Attendant shook her head, eyes dark eyes determined. Fierce.
