by Logan Jacobs
We took a few more turns, all of which I was careful to map out in my mind, but we saw no one else until we came to a small door at the end of the hall where a guard waited. I could see at a glance that his armor was enchanted, and I could tell just as easily by the appearance of his mana that he was not a mage. He watched us closely from beneath his helmet as we passed, and I realized that he was the first non-mage I’d ever seen here in the tower. It would seem that even the archmages weren’t willing to trust magic in all circumstances.
In the next room, a tall mage with salt-and-pepper hair stood by with his hands clasped behind his back. He wore the gray robes of an archmage and a suspicious expression.
“You may return to your desk, Rory,” he said when we entered. “I’ll take them from here.”
The mage who had led us down here dipped his head in a nod. “Yes, sir, Professor Brennon,” he mumbled, and he slipped past us quickly, seemingly very eager to get back to his desk or perhaps just away from this Professor Brennon.
The older mage regarded us silently for another moment, then turned without a word and began to walk down to the end of the room. I exchanged a nervous glance with Aerin and Lena, and then we followed him.
He stopped before yet another door that shimmered with the signs of enchantments, and he recited something under his breath before he reached out to open the door. I strained to listen, but I could only catch a few of the words. Still, Brennon seemed to sense that I was trying to listen in because he glanced back at me with a frown before he turned the knob and opened the door.
The next room was sparse and dim, with exposed brick walls and a line of iron-barred cells along one side. Four more armored guards stood by inside, and they followed us with their eyes as we entered.
“She’s at the end,” Brennon said simply. “You have five minutes.”
Aerin, Lena, and I rushed forward to the last cell where Emeline was curled up with her chin on her knees. She looked up when she heard us approach and came up to the bars, her green eyes wide. I could see the shimmer of tears on her cheek in the low light and knew she’d been crying.
“Gabriel, Aerin, Lena, what are you doing here?” the panthera mage asked, her voice hoarse and urgent. “I don’t know what they told you, but I swear, I’m innocent.” Her look was intense, and she gripped the cell bars so hard, her knuckles turned white.
“We know,” I assured her. “We believe you, and we’re going to fix this.” Wary of being overheard by the attendant guard or Brennon, I lowered my voice. “We think you were framed, but we wanted to ask you if there was anyone you think might have done something like that.”
Emeline’s eyes went hard, and she cast a quick glance over to Brennon.
“It was Cuvier,” she whispered back. “I know it was. He’s always hated me.”
“Etienne told us you hadn’t gotten along with him,” Lena said quietly.
“That’s what he told you?” Emeline scoffed and shook her head. “Etienne has never taken me seriously. Cuvier despised me. He always singled me out in classes, and it was like he was just looking for excuses to give me detention. Anytime anything went wrong, he’d find some way to blame me, even when I had nothing to do with it.” Then she stopped and glanced over to the guards and Brennon again. “But… there’s something else.”
“What is it?” I asked.
Emeline’s eyes flicked down to the floor, as though even now she regretted bringing it up.
“He summoned me to his office, this one time, for detention,” she said, so quietly even I could barely hear her even though we were right next to each other. “I got there early because I knew he’d never let it go if I was even a second late and….”
“Emeline, we don’t have much time,” Aerin urged.
Emeline’s eyes flicked up to us, and her gaze was intense. “I saw him with a book and a knife,” the panthera mage said.
“You mean you saw him practicing blood magic?” I asked.
“That’s what it looked like.” Emeline nodded with a shiver. “I was scared, I turned to leave, and that’s when he saw me. I pretended I didn’t see anything, but he knew I had.” Her voice became fearful again. “I was never going to tell, I knew no one would ever believe me if I did.”
“We believe you,” I assured her. “We’ll find a way to expose him.”
Emeline just frowned and shook her head. “Cuvier is one of the most influential mages in Ovrista. I doubt anyone on the jury would challenge him no matter what you did. And… and I heard one of the guards say he’s trying to get my trial pushed forward to tomorrow. It’s already too late.”
“Don’t say that,” Lena urged.
Just then, Brennon swept forward. “Your time is up.”
“You said we had five minutes,” Aerin argued. “It hasn’t been that long!“
The mage’s stare was cold. “Your time is up,” he repeated. “If you insist on staying, it will have to be on the other side of the bars.”
I met Emeline’s eyes as we turned to go.
“We’ll fix this,” I vowed. “It’s not too late.”
Emeline looked as though she wanted to say something else, but Brennon stepped between us and ushered me forward.
I would keep my promise, we would find a way to prove that she was innocent, and that Cuvier was guilty.
Chapter 15
My mind raced on the way back through the corridors with their shimmering walls, through the tower lobby, and out into the quiet night. What Emeline had told us made me certain that Cuvier was the one who had framed her, and now he was trying to accelerate her trial to prevent anyone from discovering the truth before the sentence could be carried out. The questions that remained, then, were whether we would find a way to prove Emeline’s innocence and Cuvier’s guilt in time for the trial, and how we would be convincing enough to counter whatever sway Cuvier might hold over a jury.
We would need hard evidence, irrefutable proof that Cuvier was the one practicing blood magic, but finding that could take longer than Emeline had.
With those realizations, a new plan began to form in my mind, and by the time Aerin, Lena, and I reached the guild hall again, I was ready to present my proposal to the group. Lavinia, Maruk, Sulla, Urim, and Etienne were all still gathered around the dining room table, and they looked up when we entered the room.
“How is she?” Etienne asked as he rose halfway out of his seat. The panthera man’s voice was slightly strained as though he had been holding back tears.
“She’s scared,” Aerin answered. “They have her in a cell, and she heard that they might try to move her trial up to tomorrow.”
“Can they do that?” Maruk demanded with some of his normally repressed orcish anger. “This isn’t justice!“
“The Mage Academy has complete authority over mages’ affairs,” Etienne replied as he sank back into the chair. “They can do whatever they like, and we are powerless to stop them.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, and the others all turned to look at me. I took a deep breath before I continued. “It’s true, we probably can’t come up with the case to prove Emeline’s innocence by tomorrow, and I don’t think we should count on whatever lawyer they assigned to her to do so, either, but Maruk is right, this isn’t just. If the Mage Academy isn’t going to do this lawfully, we shouldn’t either.”
“What are you suggesting?” Aerin asked nervously.
“We need to break Emeline out tonight,” I said. “We’ll take her somewhere where she can hide out while we find evidence that Cuvier has been practicing blood magic.”
“What?” Etienne went pale.
“Emeline told us she saw him in his office one day,” I explained. “That’s why he wants to have her executed, so she can’t tell anyone about him.”
“Figures,” Lavinia said with a sneer. “Fucking mage assholes. Well, I think it’s a great plan, but how do we get her out?”
I glanced over to the pirate orcs. “No way is blocked for Sulla, rig
ht?”
The pirates grinned broadly around their tusks.
“I noticed some enchantments when they took us down there,” I whispered to Aerin, “and I think we can expect at least one mage to be standing by, and five other guards, maybe more. I can disable the enchantments and deal with the mage if you two hold off the guards. Of course, we’ll need to do this quietly so that we don’t end up alerting anyone else, but we’ll definitely have the element of surprise.”
“Gabriel, you can’t be serious!” Aerin hissed under her breath as she grabbed my arm. “You cannot go in there! Visiting Emeline was risky enough, and now you want to lead the mission to break her out? It’s like you’re trying to get yourself killed.”
“I’m the only one who can disable those enchantments,” I argued, “and I can cast illusions to get us in and out. I’ll wear the invisibility cloak the whole time, no one will even know I was there. The rest of you will have to stay here so that we have a solid alibi.”
“What?” This time it was Lavinia who objected. “I don’t want to sit around here, I want to help.”
“So do I,” Maruk put in, and next to him, Lena nodded.
“We all want to help Emeline,” the alchemist insisted.
“We can’t all go in there,” I argued. “It’ll attract too much attention, and it’ll be harder for me to keep an illusion up over all of us.”
“Maybe there’s something else we can do,” Lena said thoughtfully, and we all turned to look at the blonde elf.
“Everyone was really worried about that explosion with the pixies,” Lena continued as she twirled a blonde lock around one finger, “especially the mages. If they saw what looked like another one even closer to the city, don’t you think they’d send out everyone they could to investigate? We could go out to those empty fields in the north and set something off as a diversion while you smuggle Emeline out.”
“Not just one,” Lavinia said as excitement filled her voice. “Several, one after the other. We’ll lead them away from the city. Aerin, Maruk, and I can help. That’s four bombs, four distractions.”
“You saw how crowded it was today,” Aerin protested. “If we were to set off four bombs, the whole city would be out in the streets. Someone would see them before they even got back outside.”
“Hang on.” Lavina leaned her elbows on the table. “When we came into the city earlier with those two behind us,” she gestured to Sulla and Urim, “no one even looked our way. Stirring up a crowd as Lena said could be the best way to do this. Hide in plain sight. They’d just need to make sure no one sees them leaving the University Tower. That’s what the invisibility cloak and the illusions are for, right? Once they’re in the street, they could be any random citizens from any random building.”
Aerin still looked nervous.
“Okay, so say you manage to break in, get past the magical security and the guards, and get Emeline out,” she said, and her tone made it clear how doubtful she was that we could accomplish any part of that plan. “Then what?”
“We get her out of the city,” I answered. “We take her somewhere the mages won’t think to look for her.”
“Do you have somewhere in mind?” Aerin prompted.
“I thought we could take her to Yvaine’s,” I replied. “It’s close enough that we could get her there tonight and be back by morning, and we know we can trust Yvaine.”
“When she said we were always welcome to visit, I don’t think she meant we could use her place to harbor fugitives,” Aerin said with a frown. “What if she doesn’t believe Emeline is innocent?”
“Yvaine is a good person,” I said firmly. “We have to trust her… and we don’t really have a better option. They know we’re her friends, so this is the first place they’ll come looking, but if we don’t do something now, Emeline will be tried and executed tomorrow.”
The healer pressed her lips together, and I could see that she was trying to reconcile her reservations surrounding my plan with her understanding of the urgency that prompted it.
“You know there’s no other way, Aerin,” I said gently as I took her hand. “I know you’re worried, but we’ll be careful.”
Aerin held my gaze for a few long seconds, then, at last, she nodded.
“Alright,” she said, her voice quiet but resolute. “I’m with you. What do we need to do first?”
I walked over to the heap where we’d all dropped our packs when we’d come in, retrieved two identical maps of the city and surrounding farmlands and wilderness, and spread them out in the center of the table.
“We need to decide where you, Lavinia, Maruk, and Lena will be setting off the explosions,” I said as I traced my finger over the section of empty fields on the northeast side of the city walls. They would have been farmland, but the soil proved to be too acidic, and so nature had been left to its own devices.
“Here.” Lena selected four points a little over a mile away from the city wall where the edge of the surrounding forest grew closest. “We’ll be able to use the trees for cover when the mages come.”
“Good,” I said with a firm nod. “We’ll need to time this carefully, but we won’t have a way to signal each other discreetly if you’re so far out of the city.”
“What about the clock tower?” It was the first time Etienne had spoken since we’d told him about his sister. He looked around nervously when we all turned to him. “You can hear it for miles out, right? Count the chimes, and you’ll know when you need to set off your explosion.”
“Good idea,” I said with a grin. “Lena, how long do you think you’ll need to get your supplies set up and get everyone out there?”
“Half an hour to get everything together,” the alchemist answered after a moment’s thought, “then another half-hour travel time.”
“Alright, let’s leave a buffer in case you get delayed.” I moved to glance out the window where the clock tower outside the charter office was just visible over the neighboring rooftops. It was just after ten. “Let’s plan to start right at midnight. You four set off the explosions at five-minute intervals. Sulla, Urim, and I will enter the tower a few minutes before the first one, deal with the guards, get Emeline, and leave the city.”
“You can’t go through the main gate,” Etienne said suddenly. “It’ll be choked with guards if they don’t close it entirely, but there’s a drainage tunnel on the southern wall. That part of the city is at a slightly lower elevation than the rest, and it used to flood every spring until the tunnel was added in 907...” He trailed off when he saw that we were all staring at him.
“I studied architecture and city planning,” he said a little sheepishly. “Look, the tunnel will be covered by a grate, so you’ll have to break through it somehow in order to get out, but there won’t be anyone guarding it. If you follow Knight Street from the tower, it’ll take you right to it.”
“Great,” I said, still slightly surprised by Etienne’s detailed knowledge of the city’s layout. “Thanks.”
The panthera man gave me a wry smile. “You’re the one doing the dangerous work here to save Emeline. How else can I help?”
“You should meet us there, by the drainage tunnel,” I replied. “You can go with Emeline to Yvaine’s. I’m sure she’ll want you to be there, and you’ll be safer. If the mages already suspected you once, they’ll no doubt accuse you of helping her escape.”
“You don’t want me to help you fight?” Etienne asked.
Considering his hopeless attitude when Emeline had first been arrested, I was somewhat taken aback by Etienne’s willingness to be so directly involved now, especially given the risks involved. My surprise must have shown on my face because the panthera man’s ears flicked back against his head and he pressed his lips together.
“I do want to help if you’ll have me,” he said firmly. “I can’t help but feel as though this is in some way my fault. Emeline had told me she was afraid of Cuvier before, and she was always asking to leave the tower, but I thought she was
just being dramatic, wanting to pretend her life was some storybook adventure.” He sighed and passed his hand over his face. “I should have listened to her, and I want to make up for my negligence now if I can.”
“We’d be glad to have you,” I told him, “but you know what will happen if we get caught?”
Etienne nodded. “I know.”
I turned back to the map and selected a point not far from the farm where we had once returned a prized basilisk to a man who raised flocks of the creatures. The forest was dense there and would give us good cover, and it was far enough from the explosion site that we wouldn’t have to worry about being spotted by the investigation party. I marked it on both of the maps.
“We’ll all meet up here,” I explained. “Lena, Aerin, Lavinia, and Maruk, you all leave as soon as you set off your explosion, and stay off the roads and away from the houses. We’ll head straight there once we have Emeline.”
I leaned toward the window to check the time again. It was half-past ten. When I turned back to the others, their expressions were grim, and I set my jaw.
“Let’s do this.”
In less than half an hour, we were all ready to go. Lena had supplied Aerin, Lavinia, and Maruk with the materials for several bombs each, just to be safe, and given them written copies of the instructions on how to detonate them safely when the time came.
Etienne, Sulla, Urim, and I had our weapons concealed beneath our cloaks, and I had my own invisibility cloak at the ready. As we gathered by the door to leave, Aerin took my hand.
“Please be careful,” the elf said softly as she looked into my eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
I tilted her chin up and kissed her, and she hugged me tightly.
“I will,” I promised as we broke apart. “You be careful, too.”
“Don’t worry about us, we can handle our explosives,” Lavinia assured me, and she stepped in to kiss me as well.