Chapter 8
Iarrived at the Palace with just enough time to grab a quick lunch before heading down to the Mages Guild. I walked into the large, open lobby that served as the reception and hub of the Guild, but stopped short at the sight of the Chief Mage standing there, talking with Director Chen.
Because the universe hates me sometimes, both of them turned to look at me just as I stuffed the last bite of my sandwich into my mouth. My insides squirmed at the thought of beautiful, perfect Director Chen staring at me while my cheeks were puffed up like a chipmunk’s, and I swallowed hastily.
“Miss Baine.” Something that looked suspiciously like amusement flickered in Iannis’s eyes, but it was gone too quickly for me to call him out on it. “I see that you’ve managed to be on time for once.”
“Yes, well I’m trying to act like a real grown up now.”
“I’m glad you made it,” Director Chen said smoothly, oblivious to the sarcasm in my voice. “I was actually going to request you join me in my office today, as I am backlogged and could use your assistance. The Secretary of Agricultural Magic tells me you’re quite good with paperwork.”
Oh for Magorah’s sake! The last thing I needed was to gain a reputation for being a good admin.
The Mages Guild would never give me any other job!
I tried to think of something to say that could get me out of this – I wasn’t really thrilled about having to spend the afternoon with Director Chen – but I was saved from having to answer as a courier rushed into the room.
“Lord Iannis,” he gasped, his round cheeks red with exertion – he was a gangly teenager, around Noria’s age. “There’s an emergency at the Firegate Bridge!”
“What kind of emergency?” Iannis demanded.
“Some kind of magical attack from the Resistance! They’ve sent a message saying they’re going to destroy the bridge!” the courier held up a sheet of paper.
Ice rippled through me at the mention of the Resistance. Was my cousin Rylan involved? He was a member, and I’d recently heard that the Resistance had been engaging in stunts that had resulted in civilian casualties. I sincerely hoped he wasn’t part of such a terrible act.
Iannis snatched the paper from the courier, his violet eyes scanning the words. His mouth tightened. “I will take care of this.”
“Sir,” Director Chen protested. “You don’t need to put yourself at risk –”
“This is my city, and the bridge is an important landmark. I won’t leave this up to anyone else.”
“I'm coming with you.”
The Chief Mage turned toward me, annoyance sparking in his eyes. “You need to stay here –”
“I’m your apprentice,” I insisted, standing my ground.
I wouldn’t outright defy him, not in front of all these people, but I wasn’t going to give in on this easily.
“I’m supposed to assist you, and this sounds like something you could use help with.
Please,” I added, softening my tone a little. “Let me come with you.”
The ‘please’ seemed do the trick – some of the annoyance in Iannis’s expression lessened. “Fine. But we need to hurry.”
“Speed’s one thing I’m good at.” I winked, then reached for the beast within me.
A glowing white light enveloped my body, and I shifted from the form of a young woman to that of a black panther.
In the past, I would have had to strip my clothes off to do this, but after seeing Fenris shift back and forth without losing his clothes, I got him to get me a copy of the charm he used so I could do it myself.
By the time the glow faded from my vision, Iannis was already gone, likely to fetch a horse.
Rather than try to find him, I raced back to the front lobby and out the doors, headed for the bridge myself.
I was a lot faster than a horse – jaguars could reach up to sixty-five miles per hour at top speed, and while I couldn’t run the whole way to the bridge at that pace, I could still beat Iannis there.
It took me about ten minutes to get to the Firegate Bridge, and to my alarm, it was packed with civilians.
Carriages and steamcars rolled forward in their respective lanes, while people strolled along the walkways as if they didn’t have a care in the world.
By Magorah, but why wasn’t anyone warning these people?
“GET OFF THE brIDGE!” I mentally shouted at the few shifters I saw, knowing that would be more effective than standing here and shouting in human form. “THE RESISTANCE IS GOING TO DESTROY THE brIDGE! YOU NEED TO GET OFF!”
The shifters glanced around in alarm, clearly wondering where the voice was coming from.
A few of them turned and saw me, and I repeated the warning.
Instantly they turned around and began running for the end of the bridge.
Voices rose in alarm, the humans asking what was going on, and one of the shifters repeated my warning.
Soon the pedestrians were sprinting en masse towards land, their eyes wide with hysteria, and the vehicles began moving at a faster pace too.
Unfortunately, this resulted in a lot of horn-honking as the steamcars tried to get ahead, and I heard a crunch as a large, grey car smashed into the back of a black one. Meanwhile, pedestrians were trampling over each other in their efforts to clear the bridge.
“Stop knocking each other over!” I shouted, hoping the shifters would listen. But panic had taken over, and nobody seemed to be listening.
The sound of hooves clattering on the sidewalk drew my attention from the crowds, and I turned my head to see the Chief Mage galloping toward me, his long hair and robes streaming out behind him.
His eyes were trained on the bridge, and his expression was so fierce I forgot the danger for a moment, struck by how warrior-like he looked.
His eyes shifted toward me, and he drew his horse to a stop. The animal, a beautiful palomino, snorted and pawed the ground, and I put some distance between us before he stomped on my paws.
“I see you’ve evacuated the Bridge,” he said tightly, noting the mass hysteria.
I winced. “Is there anything you can do about this?” I didn’t know how to get these people to behave.
“Yes,” Iannis said. He pressed a hand to his throat and muttered a Word, then shouted, “Fai’grynal!”
A wave of magic swept across the bridge, and everybody froze. Literally. The people stopped mid-run, and the cars all rolled to a halt. My ears rang from the force of Iannis’s shout – he’d magically amplified his voice so that everyone could hear him.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he called, “I know you are all frightened, but you need to exit the bridge in an orderly fashion!” Many of the shifters and humans glared at him, but since they were frozen there was little else they could do.
“I’m going to unfreeze you now, and you are all going to move to the exit at a brisk, but controlled pace.
Anyone out of line will be frozen again, and left stuck on the bridge. ”
Well that’s one way to do it, I thought as I watched eyes widen with panic. Iannis spoke another word, unfreezing the citizens. Many of them fell over, but they quickly dusted themselves off and began moving forward.
“Thanks,” I said, relief coursing through me as I saw that the civilians were no longer trying to kill each other in their haste to escape. I filed away the Words Iannis used, in case I had to stop a mass riot or something in the future. Unlikely, but with the way my life was going you never knew.
“Did the message from the Resistance say when this attack was supposed to take place?”
“No.” Iannis scowled. “They were not quite that helpful.” His gaze turned back toward the bridge. “I can tell that magic was used here recently – the protective wards that are normally active around the bridge have been deactivated. I’ll need to cast a spell to determine what was else was done.”
“No need,” I told him, lifting my nose to scent the air. I peeled back my upper lip so I could make full use of the scent gland hidden beneath there – my olfactory senses were ten times stronger as a panther. “I can already tell where the source is coming from.”
Without waiting for an answer, I raced up the walkway, following the strange scent that I’d caught from the moment I’d arrived at the bridge – a combination of magic and sulfur.
The scent grew stronger as I approached the first of the two red towers from which the bridge was suspended, and my senses told me that whatever the spell was, it had been cast here.
“What is it?” the Chief Mage demanded, having followed me on his horse. “Did you find something?”
“I think it’s under the bridge.”
“Mac soith!” Iannis swore, and I blinked at the unfamiliar language, guessing it was his homeland tongue.
From what I understood, Iannis was originally from Manuc, an island country on the opposite side of the sea from the East Coast. A faint whisper of a musical accent was always in his voice, but I’d never heard him speak anything other than English and Loranian before now.
“Don’t worry. I can get under there.” Nervous energy crackled through me at the idea of getting so close to the bomb, but I had no idea how much time was left before the thing went off. We couldn’t afford to wait for someone else to get here – I was going to have to take the risk.