by Halie Fewkes
Ebby curled her knees up to her chest as a cold sense of loneliness crept through her. She didn’t know why it was there. She’d never liked Vack. Jalia, yes, maybe a little, but never Vack.
The escape began quietly below as the kids opened every cell door in the whole dungeon with their keys from Production. Ebby prepared to jump down to Prince Avalask’s hall, and realized with sudden fear that he wasn’t there. He had been! Less than an hour ago!
She checked the quarters where he sometimes slept, realizing in a panic that she had no idea where he’d gone, and she still couldn’t locate people.
Ebby wanted to cry in frustration, but since so much was at stake, she invented a way to find someone right on the spot. Being the artist she was, she tried to recreate Prince Avalask’s distinct presence in her mind. She used everything from the smell of smoke and ashes embedded in his clothes to the sense of authority and humor he carried with him. Then Ebby cast a wide and receptive net of open thoughts through the city, simultaneously feeling the joys, worries, and purpose of every soul in a three mile radius.
Ebby had to dim the overwhelming sea of thoughts as she looked for just one set. It was like looking for a red wildflower among rolling fields of orange. Except, this was much more beautiful. Every life below her was a brilliant spark, and when she looked at the city like this, it positively glittered.
Ebby was lucky Prince Avalask was even in the city, and she found him in the crypts where majestic, feminine beauty had been captured in glass and frozen in time. Prince Avalask was sitting on the glass base of a woman holding a fist and a falcon to the sky. Savaul leaned against the one statue wrought from gold while Gataan picked at his teeth with the tip of a knife. They had no idea what was happening beneath them.
Savaul rolled his eyes up to the vaulted ceiling as Prince Avalask argued, “Their idiot king crippled them by killing all their mages. If we don’t count the kids below us, they’ve probably got less than fifty left.”
“And that’s why we should kill those kids — so they only have fifty,” Savaul said.
“We’re not killing children. How many times do I have—”
“How many family members do we have to lose before you wage this war seriously? Don’t you miss our mother? Don’t you remember what they did to our sister?” Savaul turned his gaze up to the golden face of his sister, the one with whom he’d never speak again. Loneliness stung him the same way it ached in Ebby’s heart, and Ebby pulled her thoughts away to avoid empathizing.
“We don’t have to wage a war that’s over,” Prince Avalask said.
Savaul lowered his chin and said, “This is the greatest mistake we could ever make.” Now Prince Avalask flicked his eyes toward the ceiling in irritation, a gesture that caused Savaul to snarl at him. “And what, Avalask? You think they’re going to keep to themselves for the rest of time? You give them ten years, and those Dincaran and Dragonan kids will all be mages. They will decide this entire continent is rightfully theirs, again, and then we will be exactly back where we started. Give them time to train those kids unhindered, and they’ll destroy us.”
Prince Avalask just stared at his nails, waiting for the rant to end, and his disinterest rubbed a nerve with Savaul. “You know, I’m sure we’d all be docile if we could forget the past as quickly as you forgot Dreya.”
“Don’t drag my wife into this.” Prince Avalask brought no magic to his hands, but his angry words would be enough to terrify the wits out of anyone. “Don’t you ever talk about her.”
“We all cared about her, Avalask. I don’t relish the thought of killing children, but sometimes hard decisions have to be made so we don’t have to live like this anymore. What about our kids?”
“I’m tired of death,” Prince Avalask said, brushing his dark hair behind his shoulder. “You have no idea what it feels like, experiencing the fear of the victim you’re laying hands on. Even if we can only get ten years of peace, I’ll take it.”
“I can’t feel it like you can,” Savaul said, “but I can see fear in their eyes. And I know you like to think the worst of me, but I don’t enjoy that.”
Gataan got a particularly stubborn piece of food out of his teeth and chuckled as he held the knife point up to look. “The fear is my favorite part.”
Prince Avalask didn’t even acknowledge Gataan, but shot Savaul a glare of revulsion severe enough to declare a silent end to their argument. Then his mind began to wander, checking on cities and family members out of habit to make sure all was well.
Ice flooded into Ebby’s heart because she knew she needed to keep him distracted for five more minutes, and she was seconds away from failing. She would have been too frightened to move if not for Ratuan relying on her. But by the end of the day, she would be back with him, protected by Sir Avery while the Dragona celebrated her return. She would be brave.
Ebby knew she was the worst jumper on the face of the continent, but she focused on Prince Avalask, got a running start, and leapt into the air. The glass room disappeared and the entire world spun around her, spitting her out in the crypt with disorienting momentum.
Ebby didn’t have a hope of landing on her feet, but even worse, she slammed straight into Savaul as he leapt back with a startled yelp. He immediately grabbed her, and Ebby panicked at the feel of his hands. She thrashed and punched him twice in the ribs and once in the mouth before kicking his shins and jerking away, by which time Prince Avalask had grabbed her upper arms to yank her back anyway.
“What’s gotten into you?” Prince Avalask demanded as Savaul hunched forward breathlessly to grab the leg she’d kicked.
“I heard what you’re trying to do!” Ebby shouted at Savaul as he spit a mouthful of blood to the ground. “Those are my friends, and you don’t touch them!”
She could hear the shock in Prince Avalask’s voice as he asked his brother, “Did she break it?”
Savaul winced and nodded before shooting a livid glance at Ebby, startling her because she hadn’t realized she could break somebody’s leg. She squinted back as though she’d intended to hurt him, and she felt a sense of power she never had with Prince Avalask and Vack. She was stronger than Savaul.
“Nobody is touching your friends,” Prince Avalask said from behind her. “We’re sending them home.”
Ebby froze and turned around with wide eyes. “What?”
“They’re going home. We’re ending this war today, on a good note.”
Prince Avalask let go of her, and Ebby stood where she was, wary of Gataan watching her hungrily, and realizing why Savaul thought they were making the worst mistake of their lives.
“Today?” Ebby repeated, overwhelmed by sudden panic and indecision. She needed to tell Ratuan, but it was already too late. The escape was already in full effect.
“What’s wrong?” Prince Avalask asked. “I thought you’d be happy.”
“I am,” Ebby said a little too quickly. The lines of his brow deepened as he tried to analyze the situation, and Ebby clamped her mind shut until Prince Avalask glanced back at Savaul again.
“Let me see it,” he said, crouching as Savaul rolled up his dark pant leg. A deep purpling welt had developed where internal blood surrounded the wound. Prince Avalask set a hand against it and Ebby could feel he was letting his mind wander once more.
“I don’t...” Ebby stuttered, hating herself for not being able to think of a better distraction. “I don’t know if I want to go back.”
Ebby cringed as nobody said anything in response. It was a lie. She wasn’t actually considering staying. No. Never. Not her.
Prince Avalask shot Savaul an I-told-you-so glance, while Savaul’s expression looked more like dear shanking life, you have to be kidding me.
Gataan just looked like he was barely refraining from leaping at her, and as Ebby took a step away from him, his gaze followed her like hunter on prey.
Prince Avalask cleared his throat and asked, “What’s changed your mind?”
Ebby shrugged and folded
her arms tightly across her chest, wishing Ratuan could be here to help her lie convincingly. “Jalia’s always been nice to me, and I’ve learned so much here. And I don’t want to hurt Vack, and I don’t want Vack to hurt me, and...” her breaths became sharper as the real fear came to the tip of her tongue. Sir Avery. She’d seen him, and he was terrifying. She didn’t want to hug him or call him father.
“Ebby?” Prince Avalask stayed crouched at eye level, even though Savaul’s leg seemed all better. “Nothing would make me happier than for you to call this your home. If that’s what you want.” He looked pointedly at both Savaul and Gataan. “Could you leave us for a couple minutes?”
His brothers looked irritated beyond all measure, and before either of them could move, a sharp jab of panic stabbed through Ebby. Prince Avalask leapt to his feet as the same desperation tore into him, and Ebby threw her sight and senses out to a massive glass staircase where a high pitched wail echoed piercingly.
“HEEEEEEEEELLLLP!”
Jalia was sprinting up the black glass steps in sheer terror, and Prince Avalask leapt quickly from the crypts to investigate.
Ebby was suddenly alone with Savaul and Gataan, looking peeved and hungry, respectively.
Without hesitating to wonder about her abilities, Ebby jumped after the Epic and landed next to Jalia in a clumsy stumble, lucky to have her feet beneath her as she fell against the glass steps and sliced both her palms open with a shriek.
“He took Vack!” Jalia sobbed, grabbing Prince Avalask’s hands to stay up. In one expulsion of distress, she cried, “We were down exploring caves while we waited for Mir, and Sir Avery found us, grabbed him—”
“Where did they go?” Prince Avalask asked, his voice a cold stone.
Jalia shook her head frantically and gulped in air. “I don’t know.”
Prince Avalask turned to Ebby for only a second, but the fury in his eyes stopped time for her. He knew this was her fault.
She stood frozen as Prince Avalask jumped into the air.
Jalia sobbed and shuddered, holding a hand over her mouth. She took a steadying breath and asked Ebby, “Where’d they go?”
Ebby’s throat constricted and her hands began shaking as she swept the area in her mind, looking for any of the three Epics.
She should have known this would happen. No, she had known it was coming, and she’d told Ratuan exactly where to find him.
One of the kids who could communicate by thought shouted across the city to her, We’re meeting at the western surface entrance. Sir Avery’s there with the Dragona’s mages, and Ratuan’s almost there too.
Ebby’s knees partially collapsed, forcing her to lean against the wall. That was probably where Prince Avalask had gone too, if Sir Avery had Vack.
“Where did Sir Avery take him?” Jalia asked again, wiping her eyes to read Ebby even though she could barely speak. “You have to tell me he’s alright!”
“I… I didn’t mean for him to get hurt.” She tried to breathe, to shake the guilt from her soul.
“Are you saying you helped plan this?” Jalia demanded.
“No! I helped, but I didn’t know the plan. I didn’t know… they would…” She couldn’t bring herself to say kill Vack. And she couldn’t let it happen.
Ebby found Prince Avalask in a split second, then told Jalia, “I’ll fix this,” and leapt into the air.
Chapter Twenty Three
Allie
Archie grabbed our shoulders and jerked the three of us to a skidding stop in the autumn leaves, right before we reached the entrance to the Escali world and an entire ring of Human mages gathered around it.
“What?” I whispered frantically, seeing my sister among the tense, waiting group, along with Tarace, Jesse, Terry, Sir Avery, and two of the most dangerous Zhauri brothers — Kit and Iquis.
“They must be planning to meet the kids out here,” Archie said. “Come on, there’s another way in about half a mile north.”
I took two sharp, panting breaths to reacquaint my lungs with something other than pain, and then we took off again.
The three of us leapt quickly down between boulders and gnarled tree roots to enter the Escali caves further north, and bolted down toward the dungeons.
It was nowhere close to a straight shot. The tunnels twisted and corkscrewed into the earth, forking several times in directions that made me thankful I had Archie and Corliss.
“Whoa, stop,” I hissed as we came out on level ground and sped past a split in the cave. I screeched to a halt and turned around.
Three Escalis lay unmoving on the ground in a connecting room, two covered in purpled bruises and welts like they’d been beaten to death, and the third scorched and charred.
Corliss took a tentative step toward the closest and crouched to look for signs of life before turning back to gape in astonishment.
“They’re just kids,” Archie whispered. “How could they do this?”
I heard a whisper from further down the flat tunnel, sounding suspiciously like, “Shoot them.”
Archie whirled as I did, grabbing me as an arrow screamed through the air and stopped dead in front of my face, falling to the floor at his golden shimmer of a shield.
Lightning leapt into my hands, and Archie let me go as I threw my arms out to unleash on our attackers. My destruction crackled harmlessly into the wall as they dodged back from view, and I kept my hands out, antsy and ready for them to reappear.
“How could you?” The Escali’s distress echoed harshly around the cave walls. “Izfazara was always good to your kind!”
My heart plummeted. Izfazara couldn’t be dead.
But the other muttered, “Savaul will be king, and we’ll never have to deal with them again.”
Corliss was still in the room beside us and mouthed the words, Run on three.
She counted down on her fingers, one, two, then three, and bolted toward us as we spun to sprint back the way we’d come.
“We need to get back to the Tally caves,” Corliss said quickly. “Turn here!”
“What?” Archie exclaimed, eyes wide. “The Tally caves are back this way.”
“This is a shortcut,” Corliss said in haste, her eyes begging us to trust her. “I promise. Let’s go.”
Archie shot me a hesitant glance before taking off after her, as though I might have any clue where we were.
We tore through the tunnels, spotted only once more before we reached the Tally caves, but those who saw us decided we were worth pursuing as well.
“Oh shanking life,” I breathed as we ran past large, blackened scorch marks along the walls, probably from Emery.
“Whoa!” Corliss shouted, flinging her hand to the side, her power sweeping an arrow off its course at the last moment as those in pursuit caught up.
“Both of you go,” Archie said, shoving us ahead. “I’ll follow in the back.”
He threw an arm up to stop one more arrow, and Corliss and I took off toward the large marble doors, hopefully harboring our friends. There was one word written across the door, literally in blood, a Human word, but written with the Escali vowel for UH, with a curl above it that represented the sound R, and a slashed arc below for the sound N.
Corliss yanked the doors open, and slammed them closed once the three of us were inside.
“They’re already gone,” I said in a panic as Archie threw a metal bar through the door handles and somebody rammed a shoulder against them.
Archie and I had identical thoughts and dashed back to the fireplace, our only escape without trying to fight our way out.
“No,” Corliss said, glancing between us in desperation. “Come on. You know how I get with tight spaces.”
I nearly let out a bark of laughter, because given the circumstances, a close squeeze was the very least of our worries.
“We don’t have a choice,” I said as another loud crash startled us. “Closed doors are only temporary.”
“Come on, we’ll both be with you,” Archie said. “I
’ll go first. If I can make it through, you know you can too.”
I could not, for the life of me, understand why Corliss was eyeing the fireplace with greater fear than the banging doors behind us, but she seemed truly mortified.
“This won’t kill you. They will,” Archie said, pointing to the doors, then extending his palm to her.
Corliss reached hesitantly toward him before Archie grabbed her hand and just about dragged her back to the fireplace. He wedged himself into the crevice, and I heard him muttering encouragement before she finally pressed herself in after him.
A vicious smash against the doors shook my nerves before I followed.
“I shanking hate this,” Corliss said, taking a rattled breath in the dark space. “This is shanking stupid, and when we get out of here, we are all going on shanking diets.”
I snorted a laugh and followed it with a quick, “Sorry. I’m sorry. You’re doing great.”
Archie leapt down to the massive staircase below, and Corliss eagerly jumped after him.
I got my feet into position to drop through the floor, but stopped when I heard words below that weren’t from Corliss or Archie.
Archie asked, “Why does everybody think we killed him?”
I maneuvered low enough to see Archie and Corliss holding their hands up, away from their weapons. Three Escalis ascended the stairs from below, two with swords, and one with a double bladed staff.
Archie and Corliss slowly backed up the stairs as a long-faced Escali replied, “Savaul says Tallies betrayed Izfazara. Your kind introduced him to the kids, breaking the spell that protected him, and the kids used about twenty different powers to kill him. Have you any idea what fate awaits you now?”
“Why would we want to kill Izfazara?” Corliss asked, just as the Escalis walked beneath me. “He gave us a place to call home. Savaul is going to have us hunted to the corners of the continent.”
I rained lightning down on the three Escalis, watching them jerk in surprise to see me before they crumpled to the ground. I kept the stream up for a good five seconds longer than necessary because I didn’t want them getting back up for a long while.