Chapter 16 The Empty Chair
The morning meal feels wrong with Lyra's chair sitting empty between Suki and me.
I keep glancing at it while I eat, expecting her to appear with sleep-mussed hair and steal a bite from my plate. She always does that. Did that. Will do it again, once we bring her home.
Nella pushes porridge around her bowl without actually eating any of it.
Luca's shield leans against the wall behind him, close enough to grab.
Suki works through her food with the focused efficiency of someone fueling up for a long run.
Cali sits on the table itself, ignoring her fish to watch the rest of us.
"Stop looking at the chair." Cali's voice cuts through my thoughts. "It doesn't help."
"I'm not looking at it." I take another bite of porridge that tastes like nothing. "I'm eating breakfast."
Cali nudges the untouched bread toward me. "Then eat that too."
Luca sets down his spoon with a soft clink against the bowl. "We should go over the approach one more time."
"We've gone over it twice already." Nella's voice is flat, tired. "Northeast route, stay off the main road, Suki scouts ahead when we get close."
Luca holds his spoon over the bowl. "But the timing?"
"The timing depends on what Suki finds." I force myself to finish my porridge, swallowing past the tightness in my throat. "We adapt based on what's actually there, not what we think might be there."
The front door opens and Mira steps inside, her bag of bandages over one shoulder and Thea close behind. They've been checking on Maren and Dav since before dawn.
"Both recovering well." Mira sets her bag on the counter. "Maren's ankle will need another day of rest, but Dav is already walking without help."
"Thank you for staying with them." I push back from the table. "And for everything else."
Mira waves off my gratitude with the casual dismissiveness of someone who's heard it too many times to care. "Village patrol is already in position. Elder council knows the situation. If anything happens while you're gone, we handle it."
Thea hovers near the doorway, her expression tight with worry. "What if someone gets really hurt? Like, badly hurt?"
"Then I deal with it." Mira's voice is steady. "Same as I did before Gregori arrived, same as I'll do if he takes a day off. This isn't my first emergency."
I cross to Thea and rest a hand on her shoulder. "Mira knows what she's doing. So do you. I've seen you work."
Her cheeks flush, but she straightens. "I won't let you down."
"I know." I squeeze her shoulder gently. "Keep Royal Health running. We'll be back with Lyra before you know it."
Mira shoves my coat into my hands. "Go get her. We have this."
[DEPARTUREHome defense: Mira (home coordination), Thea (village response), village patrol activeMaren and Dav: Recovering, non-combatantLyra's chair: Still emptyGet moving.]
We gather our supplies and leave Cranstonia as the first real light of dawn touches the sky. The village streets are quiet, but I catch faces in windows watching us pass. Word has spread. Everyone knows where we're going and why.
The forest closes around us as we follow the northeast path. Suki takes point with her ears constantly moving, tracking sounds I can't hear. Nella walks with her boot flaps closed, saving her Earthtouch for when we need it. Luca keeps pace beside me, his repaired shield on his arm.
Cali rides on my shoulder, her weight familiar and grounding.
Cali shifts on my shoulder and catches a fold of my coat. "What are you going to say to her?"
I keep my eyes on the path. "I don't know yet."
Her claws loosen. "Start with hello. She likes you. It should go well."
I try to imagine it. Breaking through whatever holds her. Seeing her face. Hearing her voice say something sharp and wonderful.
The images blur together, but underneath them, one thing stays constant. The certainty that we're bringing her home.
The journey takes most of the morning. We stop twice to rest and check the map, confirming our route against Maren and Dav's descriptions. The terrain grows rougher as we approach the hills where the old mining operation sits.
By midday, we've reached a ridge overlooking the compound.
It looks exactly like they described. An abandoned mining office sits at the base of the hill, weathered boards and rusted hinges making it seem deserted. But fresh tracks mark the dirt outside, and smoke rises from somewhere behind the main building.
"Two guards at the entrance." Suki crouches beside me, her ears forward. "I can see movement inside through gaps in the boards, but can't count them from here."
I hold a branch aside for her view. "Can you get closer without being seen?"
She studies the terrain between us and the compound, calculating angles and cover. "There's a drainage ditch that runs along the east side. I can follow it most of the way, then use the old equipment shed for cover."
I move back to give her room. "Just observe and come back."
"I know how to scout." She's already moving before I finish speaking, her body low and fast as she slips down the ridge.
We wait. The sun crawls across the sky. The guards at the entrance shift their weight, exchange words I can't hear, settle back into boredom.
Nella has opened her boot flaps and pressed her bare feet against the earth, but she shakes her head when I look at her questioningly. "Too far. I can feel vibrations, but nothing clear."
Luca's hand keeps finding his shield strap, checking it obsessively. "How long has she been gone?"
"She's taking the hidden approach." I touch the cold charm at my chest. "She's fast. Give her time."
Cali's ears swivel toward the east. "She's coming back. Moving quickly."
A moment later, Suki appears at the edge of the ridge, breathing hard but uninjured. Her expression is tight with urgency.
Suki crouches beside me. "Lyra's alive." My hand clamps around the root beside my knee.
There it is, the answer I've been afraid to ask for.
"I saw her near the central building. Hands bound, but she was walking on her own.
They were moving her toward a larger structure at the back of the compound. "
I lean toward Suki. "You're sure it was her?"
"Dark hair, bow height, the way she holds her shoulders when she's angry." Suki's ears flatten. "It was her. And she's been busy."
I loosen my grip on the root. "What do you mean?"
Suki points toward the yard. "Water barrels near the guard station have been damaged. One of them was leaking badly, like someone punched a hole in it from inside. And I saw a prisoner being moved whose restraints looked loose. Not broken, just not tied properly anymore."
Lyra. Fighting from the inside, making whatever trouble she can manage with her hands bound. That's so perfectly her that my chest aches.
I pull the map between us. "What about the guards? How many?"
"Six that I could see. Two at the entrance, four more moving between buildings." Suki's voice drops. "But something's changed. They're rushing. When I first arrived, the guards were bored. Now they're shouting orders, dragging prisoners out of cells."
"The deadline." Luca's face goes pale. "Matteo said the next dawn, but what if he moved it up?"
"That's exactly what it looks like." Suki meets my eyes. "Whatever they're planning to do to those prisoners, I think they're doing it now."
No more time for careful approaches. No more time for observation and planning.
"Nella, we need your Earthtouch once we're close enough." I check the ward-breaker in my pocket, feeling its weight. "Suki, you lead us to the best approach. Luca, stay close to me. Cali?"
"I know what I'm doing." She jumps from my shoulder and lands silently. "Stay with the team. Cause problems when problems are useful."
We move down the ridge, following Suki's path toward the compound. The drainage ditch provides cover for most of the approach, keeping us below the sight lines of the guards at the entrance. The equipment shed looms ahead, rusted metal and rotting wood.
Close enough now. Nella opens her boot flaps and presses her feet to the earth.
"Two people standing about eight meters ahead, around that corner." Her voice is distant, focused. "And something else. A heaviness in the ground, like the earth itself is being pressed down."
"The suppression ward." Luca's voice tightens. "I remember that feeling."
I can sense it too, now that we're close. A wrongness in the air, a pressure that makes my magic want to recoil. The outer boundary of whatever field they've constructed around this place.
"The ward has to be anchored somewhere." I scan the visible structures, looking for anything that might serve as a focus point. "They can't maintain something this size without a physical anchor."
Suki points toward a metal post near the entrance, covered in rust but with something that glints at its base. "There. See that shimmer? It wasn't there when I scouted before."
A ward anchor. If I can reach it, I can use the focus to break the outer suppression field. But the two guards Nella detected are between us and that post.
"I need to get to that anchor." I pull the ward-breaker from my pocket. "The focus only works on direct contact. I have to touch it."
"The guards will see you before you're halfway there." Luca shifts his grip on his shield. "Let me draw them away."
I hold his arm before he steps out. "They'll try to get around your shield."
"They'll try." His jaw sets. "My shield is repaired. I can take a few hits."
"We go together." I look at each of them in turn. "Nella warns us of movement. Suki flanks if there's an opening. Luca blocks what he can. I reach the anchor."
"And me?" Cali's tail swishes.
I make room for her beside me. "You cause problems."
She shows her teeth in something that's almost a smile. "Finally, a job I'm qualified for."
I keep my hand on the focus. Suki has seen Lyra alive. Now we have to reach her.