by Halie Fewkes
“Archie?” I whispered, standing so he could see me.
He looked straight at me with a mix of confusion and shock, massive grey circles of exhaustion around his eyes.
“Allie? What are you doing here?”
Archie looked entirely torn, like he wasn’t sure if he should look relieved to see me, or if somebody was testing him with an illusion and he needed to pretend to hate me.
“I can hear you ten miles away when you whistle like that.” I held my hands far from my swords to show I meant no harm.
“How do I know it’s really you?” he asked.
“All darkness is only shadow,” I said, slipping a smile into the end.
He gave me a sigh of relief and said, “You don’t know how glad I am to see you.”
I abandoned caution to dash toward him, and when Archie threw his arms around me I melted into the warmth of him. “I didn’t know what to do when you turned on me,” he said. “Where did you go? Do you know if Ebby’s alright?”
“She’s fine,” I said. I felt a strong shudder run through him, so I held on just a little longer, taking in his warmth and the comforting hint of autumn spices. “I’ve seen her, and she’s alright.”
“Where is she?” he asked.
“I’m not sure. I only saw her for a short minute.”
“Where have you been?” he asked.
“Nowhere special. I just went—” I hesitated as Archie jerked, flinching back from me. “I was going to visit Tolnath Raka, but then I heard about the celebration in Glaria and came this way.”
I waited in anticipation for Archie to answer me, and I felt my heartrate increase as he said, “Oh. Nowhere else?”
Tolnath raka wasn’t a person, but a question in Escalira — Are you alright? And if Archie didn’t understand that, then the arms wrapped around my shoulders weren’t his, and I really had just stepped into a trap.
I felt the sudden urge to bolt away, but I also had a chance to clear his name by lingering. “I’m sorry I never told you what I was doing,” I said, taking a step back to meet his gaze. “I’ve known the Escalis for a very long time, and I just didn’t think you’d understand.”
He looked so normal, just… his eyes were one degree more studious than caring, like this was an interrogation. I knew for certain Sir Avery didn’t need deception to get what he wanted, and who else could do this to him, except maybe Iquis?
“I should go before anybody comes to check on you,” I said.
“Just stay with me a couple more minutes,” Archie said with a disarming smile. “We’ll be fine. Nobody knows I’m out here.”
The smile would have nearly fooled me, but then he set a hand on my arm. I couldn’t mistake it for a caring gesture because it was too tight. He was ready to grab and hold me.
I frantically deliberated. Was somebody trying to catch me, or were they just trying to get information?
I set a hand softly on Archie’s and played the game. “I’m sorry I betrayed you,” I said, letting remorse fill my words. “I just couldn’t let Prince Avalask’s son die. I know he’s an Escali, but he’s a kid first. I don’t think I deserve to be hated and hunted for sparing the life of a child.”
“You let our Epic go,” he said quietly.
“Oh wake up. You saw her jump, Archie. She was not whisked away by monsters. She made her own decision to grab Vack and leave.” I added a muttered, “About shanking time too.”
“You must have some idea where she’s gone,” Archie said.
I snorted a laugh. “You really think she consults me with those things?”
“Where were you when you saw her?” he asked, his second hand snaking up to join the first in a double handed grip.
My stomach made an uncomfortable flip, and I gasped, “Did you hear that?” whipping around to peer through the silent forest.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Archie replied as I jerked the other way.
I hadn’t heard anything either, but said, “No, I’m sure there’s something here.”
I twisted my arm to pull away, but his grip only tightened. I looked straight at Archie and said in my darkest voice, “Let go of me.”
Archie narrowed his blue eyes with a smirk, like I was being ridiculous. “Allie, there’s nothing out here.”
“Let. Go.” I tried to electrify my hands and eyes, but something in my brain rejected that Archie was a danger. So in the same way his shield no longer blocked me, my magic didn’t rush into my hands to shock him.
I glanced at his white knuckles and knew I couldn’t break his grip.
So I lunged forward and bit him instead.
Archie gasped as I sank my teeth into his bicep, clamping my jaw and shaking my head viciously.
With all my weight in my right heel, I stomped on his foot and made to dash away just as he grabbed a tangled handful of my hair and yanked me back.
I jerked around with a snarl and flung my full weight at him, crashing us both into the needled branches of a young sapling. Archie was still stronger than me, but this version of him wasn’t as fast. So while he used my hair as leverage to get an arm wrapped around my neck, I wrapped one of mine around his neck as well. I leapt from the ground to twist my legs around his waist, clinging like a sea-star in a rough tide as my whole face turned red. Archie struggled to stay on his feet and support both our weight while I had my right arm around his neck and used my left to punch him in the jaw, once, twice, three times —
Archie flung himself to the ground, turning so I would slam onto the dusty forest floor first. He landed on his side, on me, knocking me breathless though neither of us broke our tight embrace around the other’s neck. I brought a knee up and tried to twist for a groin shot, but Archie maneuvered to keep my legs pinned beneath his.
I was furious. I should have lightning in my hands right now, shanking life! What good was this power?
I writhed angrily beneath him, and he pried my arm off his neck, getting control of my wrists through the struggle. “Who are you?” I barked up at him, close enough to spit in his face. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“We’re waiting for the Zhauri,” he replied, glancing around us. My heart froze, but still no lightning in my hands.
“What’s the matter? Can’t get me back to Glaria by yourself?”
“Not the issue,” he replied, breathing hard, but sounding calm. “The Zhauri will convince you to tell us where Ebby is. Then we can head down to Glaria for the celebration. It sounds like you’re going to be an honored guest, actually.”
I flung myself to either side and struggled harder to free my limbs, but couldn’t. Where was my Archie?
“You think the Zhauri can break me? Make me tell them where Ebby is?” I sneered up at him, teeth bared, ready to bite the first piece of flesh in reach. “My mind’s as sharp as a razor-willow. Sir Avery can’t even get me to confess what I’ve eaten for breakfast.” I struggled again, then added, “And he’s the best mind mage on the continent.”
Archie looked down and considered me while every nerve in my head prayed, take the bait, take the bait. I just had to get him off me.
Whoever was controlling him bit the hook I’d cast. A vicious consciousness stabbed into my mind from every angle, like pokers straight from the fire, and I clamped my eyes closed, gritted my teeth tightly, and set a thunderstorm loose in my head, trying to shock the violating thoughts to death. The ensuing battle rivaled the assault on Dincara, just on a much smaller battle field. Sharp tendrils of control stabbed into every crevice that made me who I was, and I bit back at every one of them with a vicious will to fight.
My thunderous dreamscape was interrupted by something happening outside. My entire body was being moved, and I had to use every bit of my core will to split my focus. I waged a war of minds and lightning on one front, and on the other I focused on the feeling of being dragged up to my knees.
“Allie! Come on, don’t let him win.”
I couldn’t focus enough to see what was in f
ront of me, but I could feel Archie close, frantic.
He pulled me up to my feet and I stuttered, “He’s—”
Another flash of blinding agony constricted my words, so tight that I could feel my brain shrinking and getting weaker under the pressure as my knees collapsed. Archie was the only thing holding me up, and I could hear him, not another word of what he was saying, but I could hear him, and I pulled together another defensive front around my shrieking thoughts.
I couldn’t win here. There had to be something I could do in the real world.
I finally forced my eyes open and saw Archie at an uncomfortable angle, holding my left arm around his shoulders to keep me somewhat standing. He locked eyes with me and I gasped, “He’s got to be close.” Nobody could be this powerful from a distance. This mage made Sir Avery’s mind powers feel like parlor tricks.
I wanted Archie to drop me and find the attacker, and I think he understood, but a small corner of my mind gave way as I was distracted. It felt like a quarter of my thoughts had been deadened and numbed, and I was suddenly only three quarters as strong.
With all my focus, I built a mental wall around my remaining self and felt my body crumple to the ground on the outside.
The destruction tearing through my mind was suddenly dulled and then turned to a light tingle. I finally felt my legs again and regained awareness of the forest around me as I stumbled to my feet, hearing a scuffle further into the woods.
I staggered toward the commotion just as Archie threw a man back into a tree. Short with sparse sandy hair and two eyes that didn’t match in shape or size, it was Iquis.
My beautiful, sweet, deranged falcon dove down to claw the Zhauri’s eyes out, and Archie ran at me and grabbed my shoulders. “You have to get out of here!”
“Come with me,” I said, taking hold of his arm while he kept his feet planted.
“You know I want to,” he said, leaving a hand on my shoulder, using the other to push the hair back from my eyes, “but I’m the only reason Sir Avery isn’t killing you. I have to stay.” Iquis’ angry screams mixed with the screams of my angry bird.
“I’ll be alright, Allie. It’s better this way.” He dashed forward to place a hurried kiss on my cheek. “This isn’t goodbye. I’ll find you.”
Iquis threw Flak to the ground, and blinding pain raged through my head once more, ending the conversation.
I steeled my mind a second time and I stabbed back, unleashing more bolts of internal lightning. I bit down a scream before the assault ceased again, and I forced my watering eyes open. Archie had pulled Iquis’ own bow off his side and was dragging him to the ground in an attempt to strangle him with the string of it. Iquis had turned his attack back to Archie, who still managed to shout, “Get out of here!”
I stumbled to my feet and scrambled off into the trees, whipping my head around to see that Flak had disappeared. Nobody was pursuing me. The woods were empty of sounds and souls to make them.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I screamed at myself, filled to the brink with confused panic as the instincts that usually saved me shrieked for me to turn around. Archie was a part of me. I knew he wanted me to get myself to safety, but I absolutely wouldn’t be whole if something happened to him. I wasn’t safe if he was taking the wrath of the Zhauri for me, and I wanted to scream my frustration as indecision tore me in two different directions.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Allie
I had to escape, or I’d be tortured and probably given ten thousand years.
But I had to go back, because even though Archie said he’d be fine, he could very well end up with the same.
I skidded to a stop in the pine needles and turned around, sick with the thought of anything happening to him.
A grey snow-dog with black around the eyes stalked toward me with raised hackles, and I spotted the cloak of a large Zhauri brother behind it, the new one with the blond hair and thick beard, who apparently had Archie’s power. I pulled my short swords from my side and stood my ground, knowing his dog would chase me down if I tried to flee.
I flicked my gaze to either side, expecting to be surrounded by white cloaks, but this was the only one, and he set a hand on his dog’s neck with a quiet shushing.
“Dauer?” another man called through the trees. “Lakta zhur.”
“Zhur dana,” this one called back, watching me closely as I kept my blades up and ready.
He was no taller than me, and when he took a step, I countered with a skittish step back.
He smiled and said, “I told him I’d be there in a minute. It’s just you and me until one of us causes a problem.”
I stayed silent but for my hammering heart, taking another step back from him as he tried to close the space between us.
His dog left his side and began to stalk a circle around me. “I’ve heard about you,” he said, watching with amusement.
“Seems you have me at a disadvantage then,” I replied, ready to amuse him if that could buy me time. “You’re the Zhauri brother I know the least about.”
He set his hands playfully on his chest and said, “My brothers call me Dauer. I’m the youngest and newest member, the one who hasn’t quite acquired the taste for torture, you may be pleased to know.”
I narrowed my eyes and asked, “You sure you’re one of the Zhauri?”
“Pretty sure. Just don’t have the stomach for it yet. I’ve been told it becomes more enjoyable in time.”
I swallowed hard. “And what have you heard about me?”
“They say you’re the girl who can beat any man in a fight.”
“What of it?” I asked softly, hoping this was going where I suspected.
“Well, you’ve got me curious. I’ve never met a girl who could bring a drop of sweat to my brow.”
I peered behind him, knowing there were at least two more Zhauri brothers, not far from us. “It’s not a fair fight if your friends can hear us and run to save you.”
“They’re brothers,” he corrected. “Perhaps further into the trees then?” He gestured openly to the dense woods behind me. I held my breath, scarcely able to believe this luck. I could break his shield. I knew I could.
“What happens if I win?”
“You can go of course. I’ll be dead at that point.”
“And if you win?” I asked, already retreating back from where the other Zhauri could hear.
“Like I said, I’m not big on torture. So if I win, you’re agreeing to give me everything I want, including our little Epic’s location.”
I narrowed my eyes dangerously.
“Or I can leave you to my brothers back there,” he said, “and they will break you, I promise. It’s your choice.”
I turned around to walk with the most impressive display of confidence I’d ever faked. I looked frequently to either side, craning my head far enough to make sure Dauer wasn’t too close and that his dog had returned to his side.
My gift would work this time. I was in serious danger, and every bit of me knew it. It had to work.
I waited until I was absolutely positive the remaining Zhauri couldn’t hear us, and then I whipped around with hands full of destruction and shot a crackling bolt toward him.
His dog made a mad dash toward me as my lightning collided with a shield like Archie’s, shimmering blue rather than gold.
But it wasn’t breaking.
I shocked his dog before she leapt at me, and Dauer howled in outrage, throwing a shield in front of her as she yelped and crashed into the ground. He darted toward me, and I prepared for the fight of my life before realizing he was catching his dog, crouching to lower her instead of letting her crumple into a heap.
A hoarse, distressed scream echoed from my right, and I froze in terror, positive it was Archie’s.
Dauer leaned over to kiss his dog on the forehead before stepping over her.
“That’s my friend?” I pointed toward the next pained cry, frantic because I couldn’t run to him until I’d dealt with this on
e.
“Yes. I think you’re aware that my brothers don’t share my squeamish stomach.”
I shot another bolt of crackling destruction at Dauer, knocking him off balance before he regained his footing.
“You can’t do this!” I hissed. “My actions had nothing to do with him!”
“Maybe not, but he sure came in useful for finding you.”
My words turned into exasperation. “Why are you even here? I’m not worth your time!”
“You dear, sweet girl,” Dauer said, making the hair on my neck prickle furiously, “there’s a large bag of gold back at the Dragona that makes you worth our time. It would seem Ratuan took more than just lives on his way out of the Escali capital. So for several reasons now, you’re going to tell us where our little Epic is hiding, and then we’re to bring you to the celebration in Glaria.”
I blew air through my lips in a jeering laugh. “You think I know where she is?”
He raised one eyebrow and said, “I guess we’re about to find out, aren’t we?”
Dauer would have been taunting me if the tone of his voice wasn’t so... conversational. Playful, almost. Like we were old friends, and I posed him no danger.
I blasted him with my most powerful bolt of destruction yet, and he held his hands out to brace his shield. “I was thinking we might do this without magic!” he called over the explosive sounds of collision.
“I’m sure you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” I retorted, digging my toes into the earth as the sheer force of my lightning pushed me backward.
Dauer said, “Have it your way.”
He wound both hands back and flung each at me, one and two, like he was throwing invisible rocks.
Two solid brick walls slammed into me with a faint blue shimmer, one and two, and I found myself suddenly flat on my back, gazing at the sky above. He could throw his shanking shield.
The breath had been knocked from my lungs, and I gasped to get it back as I rolled strenuously back to my feet, my brain unseated and reeling. It was a miracle I didn’t have blood pouring from both nostrils.
“Alright, changed my mind,” I wheezed. “No magic. No need to… disadvantage you.”