Chapter Two No Good Deed #3
“Be still,” Reya said, retrieving what she needed from the narrow compartment on her belt.
She made easy work of the cuffs on the Sage’s ankles and wrists, rotating the internal bolts counterclockwise to disengage the latches.
The collar, however, had the most complicated lock she’d ever seen, the opening like a gear in a clock.
She withdrew two long metal picks—one flat and angled, the other curved and pointed.
She slid the flat pick in first, then the curved, listening carefully.
Her movements were subtle, practiced. “Did they solder this shut?” she muttered, keeping torque on the notch in the core as she tested each of the seven pins in the circle until she found which ones were binding, uncovering the sequence.
The core turned forty-five degrees, and she clicked her tongue in victory, but then the pins realigned with a snap. Reya jiggled the core in irritation.
She hadn’t done it wrong, she realized; it was because the pins were placed in a circle—they had simply dropped past the shear line into the next chamber.
Genius. Reya picked the lock a second time, and when the core turned the full ninety degrees with a click, the band fell away from the Sage’s neck, revealing a line of swollen red skin.
The hairs on Reya’s arms stood on end, and she jerked away as Stellene’s green marks flared brighter. A Sage’s unique marks were a physical manifestation of whatever magic they carried, much like their blood, which spilled in a rich shade of blue. The air around them seemed to thrum with energy.
Thunder rumbled faintly in the distance, and Reya blinked in confusion at the sky, then leaped back as Stellene retched between them.
The bile wasn’t much. They hadn’t fed her well, but it was enough to splatter on Reya’s favorite boots.
She scraped her soles on the ground, giving Stellene a moment to collect herself; meanwhile she set the chains and collar inside a box crate outside a nearby warehouse where she could come back to retrieve them.
When Stellene finally straightened, Reya could have sworn she was an inch taller.
The Sage cracked her neck. Reya waited for her nod before throwing her cloak back over them both and moving them into the street, keeping her eye out for more patrols.
Silent minutes passed before Reya halted them at a drain in the road.
“I hope you know how to swim,” Reya said, nodding to the rushing water below the iron grate. She tried not to breathe in the stench. “Because that’s your route.”
The Sage’s face wrinkled in disgust.
The lower third of Edris was protected by a towering stone wall over one hundred paces wide that followed the curve of the Sirene River.
Anyone with papers could enter or exit by way of three gates—Southgate, Westgate, and Eastgate—each of which had a bridge that was guarded day and night, making the capital, with the Etellinian Mountains at its back to the north, all but impenetrable.
Except for the sewers.
“Follow the tunnel straight out and into the Sirene River,” Reya explained, pointing along the path of the drain.
“Don’t make any turns, or you’ll never find your way out again.
Della and Dymis are both waxing tonight, and you glow, so stay close to the wall and hold your head under for as long as you can to keep out of sight of the patrols. The current will do most of the work.”
Reya knew every inch of this escape path. She had routed it years ago.
“The Sirene will spit you out into Rudrock Bay. In dock 17, there is an old fishing boat named the Concord. Take the pack of supplies buried beneath the ropes and nets. Dry off, change clothes. I’m shorter than you, but they should fit.
From there, look for any ship with a Delthian trading flag.
Find a place to hide in the cargo hold and get the hell off this continent.
There is sanctuary for magic-born in Delthia.
You’ll be safe there. Or as safe as it gets. Got all that?”
Stellene held Reya’s gaze as she gestured to the water below, as if in invitation. “You could be killed for this.”
“I’ll survive.” Reya took one of the plain daggers from her belt and closed Stellene’s pale fingers around the hilt. “I always do.”
“Halt!” a rough voice called.
Reya turned to see the patrol they’d passed earlier heading straight for them. “Get in,” she grunted, hefting up the sewer grate.
Stellene hesitated, glancing between Reya and the guards, the early warnings of a storm rumbling overhead. “I can help—”
“Now! I’ve got this!”
Their stares connected one last time.
“I never caught your name,” Stellene said.
Reya only smirked. I didn’t give it. The Sage shook her head with an amused huff and said, “I won’t forget this.
” With that, she jumped into the sewer with a splash.
Allowing herself a small, conquering smile, Reya dropped the grate, and it fell back into place with a clang.
“Raise your hands, and step back slowly!”
This night was never going to end.
Reya peered over her shoulder. Five men. Fully armored. All of whom had seen the Sage jump into the sewers. If they reported it, the docks would be closed, making it impossible for Stellene to leave the harbor, and all of this would have been for nothing.
Which meant they all had to die.
Reya drew her father’s sword, still smeared with the blood of the last man she killed. By the time the patrol reached her, her first target was already bleeding.