Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Ivy
Even in the nook I’ve tucked myself into by the roof’s looming dormer, the icy night wind tugs at my cloak and bites the skin I can’t completely cover. I raise the fabric higher over my face to block out as much of the chill as possible.
Things have been awfully quiet, Julita remarks. Maybe you should get some sleep.
“We need to know where the scourge sorcerers are going and what they’re up to,” I whisper in reply. “I don’t want to stay in Pima any longer than we have to—we’re putting everyone else who’s working to resist the Order of the Wild in danger.”
Julita makes a noncommittal sound. She’s been a little quieter than usual since our encounter with her brother this afternoon.
I peer down into the street where I’ve seen a lot of Order activity in the past—where I overheard the conspirators talking about sending arms ahead with manpower to follow.
No one’s come by since I took up my post here an hour ago. The windows around me are dark. But I’m not quite ready to give up yet.
A sound like a snicker wavers up from somewhere to my right. My head snaps around, but I can’t make out the source of it.
A jolt of fear shoots through my chest. I need to be prepared—if they find me—
Gritting my teeth, I close my eyes against the momentary panic.
No one’s nearby. I’m going to find them.
And I need to stay calm and alert to do that.
When I scan the street again, there’s still no movement. Maybe the sound was just the wind moving across one of the buildings in a strange way.
I adjust my position to ease the stiffening of my muscles and speak in the barest whisper. “How are you doing? It was obviously a pretty big shock, seeing your brother like that.”
Julita shivers. Perhaps I should have guessed he was involved. I don’t know how he ended up collaborating with actual scourge sorcerers—he must have met this group before he ever left for school and used the trip as a cover to join them completely. Either that or it was a very unhappy accident.
Unhappy for us. I don’t get the impression Borys would see it as anything other than delightful.
“I’m sure it stirred up some bad memories,” I venture.
Oh, I’ve had to deal with all kinds of awful recollections since I first crossed paths with Wendos back at the college. I’m sorry I fell apart a little when he first turned up—there was so much going on at once… Now that I’m prepared, I can keep a better handle on my feelings.
I offer her a small smile. “And it means you can help us even more. You’ve got to know him pretty well, so you can help us prepare too.” I pause. “I assume he made some kind of dedication sacrifice to get a gift.”
He wouldn’t have any power for his attempts at scourge sorcery to enhance otherwise.
Julita lets out a pained hum. Yes. Not a large sacrifice, since he wanted other people to pay most of the price for his ambitions. He gave up both of his smallest toes. Walked funny for a few months before he totally got used to the small change in balance.
“What’s his gift?”
He was secretive about that. Always gave vague answers if anyone asked—and my parents weren’t the type to insist. Obviously they were entirely too permissive.
She sighs. I know he dedicated to Creaden like I did, so it probably has something to do with bossing people around. He did enjoy doing that even before he made his dedication.
I frown. “He never used his magic on you?”
Not that I was aware of. It could have been a subtle effect. It wouldn’t be anything all that showy for a couple of little toes. And once I got my gift and could force him to accept a “No,” we barely interacted regardless.
As horrifying as the circumstances that prompted her choice of gift were, I’m glad she had some defense.
With extra power from the sacrificial accomplices, who knows what Borys might be capable of? We don’t know what kind of magic we need to watch out for from him.
Of course, it couldn’t be clearer that we need to watch out for that asshole in every possible way regardless.
“We’ll stop him too,” I say quietly. “We stopped Wendos and Torstem, and we’ll keep getting in their way until their whole horrible conspiracy falls apart.”
Julita gives a huff. It shouldn’t all be on you. If King Konram could get his head on straight and his army doing their job… I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d run for cover, you know.
I grimace. “I’m not sure I’d really be safe anywhere I go. At least here I’m working toward getting a pardon. Is there anything else about—”
I cut off my whispered question at the scrape of footsteps beneath us.
Two cloaked figures have just stepped into view farther down the street. They murmur something to each other and push inside a nearby building.
After a moment, lantern light flickers in one of the windows.
Finally, I can take action.
I clamber down the side of the building I was perched on, using every stealthy trick I know, and peer across the street at the doorway the two arrivals vanished through. I’ll have to step into plain view to reach the shop.
Unless I use the magic trick I’ve already performed once with Rheave.
My heart no longer thumps quite so uneasily as I concentrate on the purpose I want my magic to fulfill. I’ve managed several spells like this—and at least one so much larger—and everything is still okay.
It could always have been okay, right from the start, if I’d known how to handle the demands of my broken soul properly.
I compel my power to wrap around me, fading my body from sight, while projecting the image of it on the rooftop I just left to balance out the effect. Then I slip across the street and tuck myself close to the glowing window.
Muffled voices filter through the glass. “…place isn’t worth the bother now anyway. We’ll set them right when it’s time.”
“It shouldn’t be long now. I’m taking the last bunch along the Coliz-ward road to join the march tomorrow.”
It’s a man and a woman, neither of them familiar. They drop into a lower tone that fades into a warble.
I dare to press my ear right against the glass, concentrating as hard as I can without losing my grip on my magic.
The words come back into focus. “…sure they can actually pull this off?”
“Great God willing. I’ve seen how well the magic works when the blessed ones contribute.”
The “blessed ones”? What does she mean by that?
The man must already know, because he doesn’t question the phrase. “I guess once we’re past the front lines, it’ll be smooth traveling most of the rest of the way. No one will be looking for us there.”
The woman lets out a raspy chuckle. “Exactly. We’re going to slip right past the king’s forces and hit him where he’s hiding before he has any clue we’re coming.”
My pulse lurches at her claim—and my control wavers ever so slightly. Enough that just for an instant, I lose my sense of where I’m aiming the consequences of my magic.
Some sort of image must appear in a less discreet spot, because a yelp of surprise sounds from a second floor farther down the street. The conspirators I’m spying on whirl around with a thump of their feet.
Shit. Ducking low, I dash past their building and on into the maze of alleys around this part of town.
As soon as I’ve left the open street behind, I yank all my magic back inside me. Sweat has broken out on the back of my neck.
Was that a cough right behind me? I dive around a corner and freeze there, listening.
No further sound reaches my ears. I swipe at my face, both chilled and flushed, and hustle onward.
The scourge sorcerers have come up with a plan even more awful than I could have guessed. And if we don’t get a move on, we’ll miss our chance to stop them.
It’s a good thing I didn’t opt to flee to Bryfeen, or there’d be no one to sound the alarm at all.
When I get closer to the Bright Bloom Café where we’ve been hiding since the early evening, I force myself to slow my pace so I don’t look odd to any night owls who happen to glance out their windows. I rap on the door in the pattern Voleska told us and dart inside the second it opens.
My men are leaning along the wall. Stavros and Rheave both sit up straighter at the sight of me, but Casimir and Alek drifted off with the late hour. At the tap of Voleska shutting the door behind me, Alek flinches and snaps back into wakefulness.
He’s let his hood drift back, and he doesn’t leap to retrieve it. In the past few hours, with their nonjudgmental reactions, he’s adjusted to the idea of the rebels seeing his scars.
I’d be more glad to see him relaxed about it if I wasn’t bearing such awful news.
Stavros takes in my expression with a brief twitch of his head. “You found out something.”
Casimir stirs awake at his voice. I swallow hard, waiting until he looks fully conscious before I report on what I heard.
“We need to head out,” I say quickly. “Now—I don’t know how much ground we need to make up when they might all be on horseback.
” I turn to Voleska, too many worries colliding in my head.
“You should try to pass on word to the king’s forces however you can—someone on the royal family’s side needs to know. ”
Rheave springs to his feet. “What happened?”
I drag in a breath. “I heard a couple of the Order members talking. They’re gathering a ‘march’ somewhere down the Coliz-ward road—the last bunch of conspirators from Pima are joining them tomorrow.
Apparently they’ve got enough magic between them to get past the army unnoticed…
and then they’re going to strike straight at the king when he isn’t expecting it. ”
Stavros curses under his breath.
Voleska’s eyes have widened. She glances around at us. “Do you know where that is? The royal family left Florian after the attack there, didn’t they?”
The former general grimaces. “I can make a fair guess, and I suppose we’ll be able to confirm it once we see what direction this ‘march’ heads in. What’s the most discreet route we can take to reach that road from here?”
As Voleska considers and offers a series of directions, Alek comes up beside me and takes my hand. “Are you all right? You look a little ill.”
I rub my face. “I’m fine. I’d imagine we could all use a little more sleep, but there isn’t time for that yet.”
Voleska motions to the rest of us. “Wait just a minute. We put together a few bags of supplies when we thought we might be sending you off to Bryfeen… When you decided not to take that route, I thought I’d make one for Rheave too.”
She aims a faintly apologetic smile at the daimon-man. “You’ll all need more than the clothes on your backs if you’re hiking across Silana.”
She slips through the inner door and returns with five packs. “There’s food and blankets and canteens—just the basics. It’s not really enough for a trip like this.”
“We’ll figure the rest out as we go,” Stavros says.
I grasp her arm. “Thank you. For everything. And please, pass on that warning if you can.”
She nods. “If we can manage to pass on word quickly enough, maybe they won’t even make it past the edge of the province.”
I glance around at my men. A silent sense of conviction passes between us.
We know what we have to do, and we’re going to make it happen together.
We shoulder our packs and rush out into the night.
By the time we’ve left Pima well behind us, my entire lower body is aching from hips to feet. My shoulders offer a periodic twinge under the pack’s straps for good measure.
Nothing shows on the road ahead of us except darkness. The moon is a thin crescent casting the faintest of glows on our surroundings.
The lack of light means it only takes a tiny bit of magic for me to thicken the shadows around us enough that we shouldn’t be spotted by sentries. We’ve already passed a couple of clusters of figures—most of them daimon, from what Rheave said—patrolling the lands just beyond the city.
Unfortunately, the extreme darkness also means that I’m only sure of where exactly the road is by noticing when I’ve suddenly stumbled off onto grass instead.
“Crossroads,” Alek points out, tapping his fingers lightly against a sign post I can only make out when I step closer. “I can’t read where the other route leads.”
Julita speaks up in my head after a long quiet. Given our course, that should be Lumya to the east and Dalo to the west.
As I relay her information, Stavros studies our surroundings with a discontented air. “We only have another hour or two before it gets light enough that we’ll need to seek better shelter. There hasn’t been any sign of campfires or torches.”
My gut twists, but I prod him forward. “Let’s keep going just a little longer. If we haven’t found the scourge sorcerers by daybreak, we’ll wait and follow that last bunch from Pima when they go to join them.”
Hopefully they won’t be traveling too fast or too far from here to meet up with the others.
“You’re going to need to rest soon, Ivy,” Casimir says gently as we tramp onward.
I shake my head. “I can push through until we know what we’re dealing with. I’ve missed nights before. This—”
I hesitate, taking in the faint tingle that’s just drifted over my skin.
My men freeze around me.
“What is it?” Alek asks in a faint whisper.
“Magic,” I murmur, and bring my finger to my lips to urge them silent.
They keep pace with me as I walk forward at a more cautious pace than before. The tingling sensation gradually thickens, as if I’m pressing into a fog of magical energy.
When the tingle starts to fade, I adjust direction, seeking out the most intense patches of it. My feet travel off the road and over the wilted winter grass.
Nothing around me looks as if it’s been altered by magic, but I keep walking.
Something is going on here. If I can just—
I take one more step, and a totally new scene swims into reality before me. I have to clamp my lips shut against a gasp.
Tensing, Stavros flicks his hand down his front in the gesture of the divinities.
We’re standing at the edge of what looks like a vast military camp. Starting just ten paces away, dozens of tents dot the field off to the side of the road. At least twenty supply wagons are parked in their midst. I glimpse equine bodies shifting restlessly near the far end of the camp area.
Guards stand around a few firepits, warming themselves while they watch for intruders. It’s only thanks to my magical concealment that they haven’t spotted us.
Rheave pitches his voice so low I can barely hear him even standing right in front of him. “There are a lot like me here. So many I don’t even need to see them to feel it.”
I swallow a slightly hysterical laugh. “The scourge sorcerers are sending an entire army to attack the royal family. And no one will have any clue unless they stumble right into their march.”
The only chance of stopping them might be the five of us.