Chapter 45
After fleeing from the inn, they stepped back through another tear onto a small side street. Felix folded forward, the lingering ache from the Hollow Dark threatening to pull him down. His stomach churned, and he spat onto the street, relieved when it didn’t come out black.
Dusk was plunging quickly into night, and the air had a bite to it.
“Where do we find Gideon?” Marlow asked, her voice unsteady.
Felix straightened, swallowing hard against the rising nausea. “I don’t know,” he admitted.
“You don’t know? Are you kidding me, Felix?”
Quick footsteps echoed down the street, and he turned just in time to see August disappear around the corner. He swore under his breath and followed.
Only a handful of people were still out on the small side street, and all of them were in a hurry. A woman dashed into a narrow townhome and slammed the door behind her.
August hadn’t made it far. He sat on folded legs, shoulders hunched. Veil walking must have been more difficult now that he was sick.
Felix rounded him and cocked his head. “That certainly didn’t work out in your favor, did it now?”
August glared up from beneath heavy lids, and Felix flinched. His eyes were black as pitch from lid to lid, and the veins had crept up over his jawline like roots.
August muttered something he couldn’t make out, probably an insult, then folded forward again.
“Get up,” Felix said. Once the goons found the room empty, they’d likely search the rest of the inn. It would buy them time, but not much. They needed to get off the streets.
“Give me a damned minute,” August shot back.
Felix folded his arms, impatiently scanning their surroundings. An unnatural quiet had fallen over the city. It felt like a held breath, still and thick with tension.
Overlapping posters covered the wall of a building across the narrow street—various laws and ordinances printed in black type with elaborate borders.
Scattered among them were a handful of wanted notices with sketched faces.
Felix crossed to the wall, ignoring the rest to stare at the one with his likeness.
The reward had been bumped up to 200,000 caern.
“I’m a bit offended,” Marlow said as she joined him. “Your reward’s double mine.” She tore down her own poster, crumpled it, and dropped it at her feet.
Felix glanced over his shoulder to make sure August hadn’t moved, then he skimmed the other notices. The laws were endless. The registration wasn’t even the maddest of the lot.
Thaumic Elixir is restricted to Ministry use. Any citizens found with it in their possession will be executed immediately.
That explained the lack of elixir creatures. Not a bad solution. It was clearly working.
Any found wandering after dark will be sentenced to immediate imprisonment.
Extreme. But again, effective.
He tipped his head back to read the largest of the posters.
NOTICE TO ALL WIELDERS
Report weekly to the Ministry of Arcane Compliance. Failure to appear will result in immediate imprisonment.
Groups of over three wielders shall be deemed an insurrection. Offenders will be sentenced to immediate imprisonment.
Magic use of any kind is strictly prohibited. Wielders who disregard this law will be executed publicly.
Felix bristled, anger coming on like a wave. A ban on all magic. They couldn’t do that!
He reached for the edge of the paper, ready to tear it down, then froze at the last line.
Issued by Ciaran Ashcroft, High Commander of the Ministry of Arcane Compliance.
He went still, reading the line again. And again.
“That’s new,” Marlow said grimly.
Ashcroft had replaced the previous high commander. He was in charge of the entire ministry. That certainly complicated things.
Felix frowned, a thought pulling at him. “Tell me this, Mar,” he started, giving her a tilted look. “Ashcroft sent people to the inn, looking for us. Why?”
She shrugged. “Inns would be the first place I’d check. Stupid mistake on our part.”
“Fair, yeah. But how’d he know we were in Haverglen?”
She hesitated. Barely, but he caught it. “Any of the Watch could’ve told him.”
But the only Watch officer they’d run into was dead. There was only one person who’d clocked them. He, too, should’ve been dead.
Felix turned fully to her now, but she kept her eyes on the poster. “You didn’t kill the driver.”
“I knocked him out.”
“Oh, that’s just fucking grand.” Felix said, fighting to maintain his composure. “The whole thing’s gone sideways, all because you couldn’t stomach doing what I asked. One thing, Mar. I asked for one damned thing.”
Her brow furrowed as she faced him. “You never stop asking for things, Felix!”
He threw out a hand toward August. “The driver recognized him! What happens when Ashcroft tells the aesran he’s still alive?
She’ll rain down both hells on us to get him back, that’s what.
” Felix rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Forget finding Gideon. It’ll take too long. We need to get out of this town.”
He stormed back across the street, teeth clenched against the pain in his leg as the leather straps of his prosthetic dug into his raw skin. He didn’t want to think about the welts and blisters he’d have to deal with after this trip.
As he approached, August looked up. “I know where to find the man you’re looking for.”
Felix scoffed. “Do you, now? And how’s that?”
August scowled, his reply spat out like something bitter. “I asked my anchored friends.” An echo of Felix’s words from earlier. “Turns out, there’s only one Gideon in Haverglen worth talking about.” He climbed slowly to his feet. “Come on, then.”
Felix stood dumbfounded as August headed down the street away from them.
“Or stay there and get yourselves caught,” August called back. “I really don’t care.”
Felix spared Marlow a quick glance, and she responded with a shrug. Whether August was lying or not, Felix couldn’t let him out of his sight. So they both hurried after him.