Chapter 8
Chapter
Eight
Fire. Screaming. Pain.
Chancellor Iprix Hagan was dead.
A sharp, stinging pain sliced through Erinna’s arm before she could comprehend the chaos that unfolded.
The force of it—the suddenness—brought her to her knees, tears welled in the corners of her eyes, and a ringing in her ears muted the sounds of mayhem. The threat of unconsciousness hazed her vision.
Through her disorientation, Erinna watched a few others fall to the ground around her. Arcanum. She was sure of it.
Battling the agony and mental fog, Erinna turned her attention to her arm. An unnatural five-star constellation inked in midnight decorated her skin. Erinna was not trained in the art of arcanum, but it didn’t take a mage to understand that signs like these always led to eventual misfortune.
Please be a bad dream, she mentally begged and grit her teeth through the sting. The symptoms reeked of arcanum. If it weren’t for the fallen strangers, she would think the academy had finally caught on to her and her father’s sordid operations.
Soon, the pain faded to a dull ache. The screams and clamor of people invaded Erinna’s senses once more. A man shouldered her and nearly trampled her into the ground in his haste to leave the square. Beside her, a mother and her two children were sprawled unconscious on the cobblestones.
A flash of black on the mother’s arm caught Erinna’s attention. A mark, similar to her own, save for the lack of a fifth star. She moved to the children; each bore the same constellation as their mother.
Fuck, Erinna cursed and pushed herself to her feet. She didn’t know that woman or her children, but they were all caught in the same spellwork. That worried her even more.
What connected her to a total stranger, and what exactly did the mark mean?
The shouts of soldiers and citizens broke through her thoughts. She didn’t have time to wonder what had befallen her and why. Thinking could come later.
Warmth from a raging fire caressed her cheeks, and smoke slithered up her nostrils.
The hangman’s platform was on fire. The flames burned so fast, so bright, not even the mages could keep them under control.
Erinna scrambled to her feet and blinked away the remaining fog.
If she stayed any longer, she’d be as good as dead.
Amidst the confusion, they left the young aberrant crumpled on the platform, paying her no mind as they took off after the pirate or tried to control the crowd.
There it was.
An opportunity.
Erinna took a step toward the gallows and hesitated. She could help the girl at a tremendous risk to herself and her family, or flee now and live with the never-ending guilt.
“Gods forgive me,” Erinna muttered and dove into the fray. She shoved through men and women who were scrambling to return home or pack up their wares and nearly tripped over devout worshipers of the Everdawn who’d taken to their knees in prayer.
Fools. All fools, she thought.
Erinna choked on smoke and ash as she approached the raised platform.
The heat reddened her skin and singed the hairs on her arms. The guards and mages were so focused on the fallen and the escaped pirate, they gave little mind to the aberrant, or to Erinna as she approached.
Again, Erinna prayed to any god that would hear her and grant her a blessing of luck.
Inez crouched near the edge and watched the flames grow in horror.
She was beaten, bruised, and malnourished with calluses and cuts painted across her bare feet and palms. Erinna extended her hand. “Come with me.”
Inez snapped her attention to Erinna but made no move toward her. Ash rested on her shoulders and was smeared in a line where the noose had been. The rope had burned, but the young woman didn’t appear hurt. It was as if the flames had been commanded to spare her any harm.
“Gather up the fallen! Find Atwater and kill on site!”
Erinna’s blood chilled at the sound of Captain Barker’s voice. When did he get here? If he saw her…
They had to leave. Now.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” Erinna promised.
Fire licked at her fingers and singed the hem of her clothes as Erinna grabbed the diviner’s wrist and pulled her into the throng of madness.
Inez wrapped her hand around Erinna’s forearm as tightly as she could, struggling to match her pace.
They darted past merchant stalls, most already in disarray as owners hurriedly packed their goods. Erinna spared no time and little thought as she swiped a pair of boots from a shoemaker before driving her and the diviner into the back alleys of the city.
They ran until their lungs burned with strain. The two barely made it to the outskirts of academy territory.
Flashes of blue and black in the distance caught her attention, the hum of arcanum like static in the air. If they stayed the course, they were sure to be spotted.
Erinna ducked into a narrow alley, barely large enough to hide them, and thanked those nights when her father forced her to memorize the city layouts. They made it just in time. Inez fell to the ground and clutched at her chest. She was in even poorer shape than Erinna first thought.
“This should help, but we can’t stay for long.” She placed the shoes in front of her. Inez’s hands shook with strain as she pulled them on.
This was a huge mistake. Erinna turned her back on the diviner to conceal the evident doubt across her face.
She peered around the corner and watched as mages and soldiers darted through the streets and moved through the crowd in planned efficiency. A few citizens protested as they rounded up the fallen. Guards and soldiers pushed them to the side while mages silenced the complaints.
They continued their search, moving into the nooks and crannies of the city. They would find them soon enough, if they stayed too long. Erinna cursed her misfortune.
“We have to go,” Inez rasped out and did her best to hobble back onto her feet. They needed to get away, move farther through the outskirts and put as much distance between them and the king’s men as they could. It would be a longer journey home but away from prying eyes.
If they made it closer to Market Square, they could hunker down with Madds and wait for it all to pass. They just had to stay out of sight until then.