by Cayla Keenan
The trick to running game was not to rush. Jayin waited ten minutes before shrouding herself in a glamor. She reentered the common room in her disguise and spied Nel playing dice with some men at the corner table. Ravi was nowhere to be seen, which Jayin took as a good sign. She held her breath as she moved towards the door, certain that Nel would spot her at any moment, but he never looked up from the table. The cardsharps cheating him out of his money should thank her for leaving them with such an easy mark.
Jayin didn’t drop her glamor until she was well away from the inn. It wasn’t much by way of magic, but it made it easy to slip through the darkened streets without attracting attention.
“Stars,” Ravi said when Jayin released the magic at their rendezvous point. “Never seen you do that before,” he said, grinning. “Appear outta nowhere. I didn’t even hear you coming.”
“That’s the idea,” Jayin replied.
“I’ll look after the shop for you,” Ravi said. His smile dropped, replaced by a look too serious to be on such a young face. “Make sure none of the carrions mess with your stuff.”
“You’d better,” Jayin said, swallowing the lump in her throat. She wondered when she would see him again. If she would see him again. Somehow, Ravi had fit himself into her life, and all at once, Jayin realized that she would miss him.
“Here,” Ravi said, unslinging the pack off of his shoulders and handing it to her. “I don’t know where you’re going, but…” He trailed off, shrugging. Holding the backpack in one hand, Jayin swept Ravi into a tight, bone-crushing hug. Her skin tingled and burned where it came in contact with his, but she forced herself not to flinch as his energy threw itself against her shields.
“You take care of yourself, okay?” Jayin said, letting him go and bending down so that they were eye-to-eye. She didn’t have to lean that far. Even at thirteen, he was nearly as tall as she was. “Don’t get mixed up in the gangs. And if they give you any trouble, make sure they know you’re under my protection.”
Ravi nodded, sniffling a little. He swiped at his eyes and turned his face away so she couldn’t see the tears crowding on his lower lashes.
“You’re comin’ back, right?”
“Sooner than you think,” Jayin said, feeling her stomach twist a little. Maybe she would be back, but there was no way to be sure. Maerta would have people looking for her, and Jayin would have to put measures into play to make sure the Kingswitch wouldn’t cause Ravi any trouble. He was a smart kid, but there was no one in Aestos that matched the Kingswitch’s ruthlessness.
“Watch the skies,” Jayin said, invoking the old Pavaalian saying. It was a blessing, a prayer for protection.
“Catch the stars,” Ravi replied, and then he was gone, as quickly and completely as if by magic. Jayin didn’t watch him go. She was determined to make it to the city’s borders by nightfall. With any luck, Nel wouldn’t notice her absence until sunrise, and then he would be off on a merry chase, courtesy of Ravi.
Jayin didn’t waste any time. Maerta’s temper was legendary and, worse, the Kingswitch would be furious. Jayin shuddered to think of provoking his ire—again.
She’d known the risks of defecting. No one had ever dared to leave the court once they’d been chosen. There was no precedent, no one’s footsteps to follow. Jayin had no idea what would happen if she was ever caught, but she wasn’t going to stick around long enough to find out.
The streets were quiet in the merchant ring, and the few people Jayin passed walked by without so much as a glance in her direction. Her glamor was the same as before, encouraging eyes to slide over her as if she wasn’t there. She walked through the night, and just as the sun peeked over the horizon, Jayin found another ramshackle inn to hole up in until nightfall. Finally allowing the glamor to drop, Jayin fell onto the narrow bed and was asleep within seconds.
Chapter Five:
Maddix
Maddix was moving.
Wheels turned beneath him. Every dip and divot in the road rattled his bones and further aggravated his injuries. Slowly, Maddix sat, using the side of the cart to pull himself upright. The wound on his side throbbed painfully, and his shoulder had begun to burn.
“You’re awake,” Maddix’s companion, a mustachioed man named Kenna, said cheerfully. He and his family—his wife Duli and twin daughters, Je and Indra—were traveling to a pilgrimage site on the coast; the place where the first star was said to have fallen from the sky. According to the story, it was what led the original Aestosi to their land.
Thankfully, the pilgrims had no problem picking up a wounded man off the side of the road and providing him with transport out of the city. When Kenna and his family came upon him, Maddix claimed to be a shopkeeper run afoul of the carrion gangs, and like good holy folk, they offered him a lift beyond the walls.
The Guards hardly spared Maddix a second look when Kenna rode up to the gate in his covered wagon. Most everyone in the country swore by the sky and stars, but once the witches had come from their cursed homeland, the number of those who actually still worshiped the deities in the Above began to dwindle. No one even knew the names of the old gods anymore, if they ever had names. Now, pilgrims were met with rolled eyes and sideways glances.
“Good morning,” Maddix managed. He had patched himself up well enough that he didn’t bleed to death in the street, but the wounds still hurt like burning heaven. His side wasn’t infected, not yet at least, but his shoulder had stopped bleeding and begun to ooze yellow pus. The infection hadn’t spread yet, but Maddix wasn’t confident his luck would hold. His star had stopped shining for him two long years ago.
“We’ll be stopping soon to restock on supplies and get something to eat,” Kenna informed him. Maddix nodded, fighting to keep the panic off of his face. He had no idea if the Guard was looking for him outside of Pavaal, but there was no doubt his picture had been widely distributed.
Then again, Maddix and the boy on his wanted posters could’ve been strangers. His eyes were sunken, his skin sallow from two years underground. His cheekbones jutted out sharply, redrawing the planes of his face in harsh, unfamiliar lines. The one thing that remained was his overlong red-blonde hair.
Stars, he used to be so proud of it. Maddix felt a pang of disgust at the shallow idiot he had been. He used to keep his hair just over regulation length and treated it with all kinds of tonics. He spent hours getting the style just right and made a habit of running his hands through it when he knew girls were watching. Now it was so long and tangled that Maddix simply tied it back and was done with it.
They had been on the road for days, and no one had recognized him, but Maddix still couldn’t breathe easy. He kept an eye out for anyone lurking on the roads, anyone who looked at them for too long or seemed suspicious. The longer he evaded capture, the higher the bounty would be. Maddix didn’t want to think about what would happen if anyone saw him now. He was in no position to defend himself with a gaping chunk of his side missing and only one good arm. He could hardly walk, let alone fight off a bounty hunter.
Thankfully, none of the other shoppers looked twice as their odd little group shuffled around the market. Even so, Maddix made sure to keep his distance. His sickly pale complexion and oddly-colored hair were in stark contrast to Kenna and his family, whose dark skin and matching eyes spoke of the southernmost region of Aestos. It would be strange for them to be traveling together, pilgrims or not.
If he was spotted, Maddix didn’t want Kenna’s family getting caught in the crossfire. The girls were only eight and had seen even less of the world than he had. They were sweet and friendly, despite the stranger in their midst. Maddix supposed their religious upbringing lent itself to friendliness and limited fear of any injured passerby they might pick up off the side of the road. Je collected polished stones wherever they stopped and gave the prettiest ones to Maddix. Indra was quiet, happy to stand by her sister’s side and simply watch, but she braided Maddix’s hair when he stayed still enough to let her. They were good kids.<
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Maddix kept the four of them in his sight as he browsed textile stalls and the other assorted goods for sale. Part of him wondered if he shouldn’t simply steal their horse and be done with it, but he doubted he would get far on horseback with his wounds still unhealed. As much as he itched to run, his best hope was to sit tight and part ways with the family when they’d made it to the coast. He would find his own way from there.
They almost made it. A nondescript man approached Kenna as he paid for the supplies, and Maddix’s heart clenched, recognizing the stance of a lawman immediately. Sucking in a panicked breath, Maddix ducked his head, snatching a cap off of a garment stand and pulling it over his hair.
He needed to go. He needed to go now. There was no telling if the man was a Guard, local law enforcement, or a bounty hunter, but if there was one of them, surely more would follow.
“Maddix Kell.”
Maddix froze at the sound of his own name. He didn’t turn to see who had spoken, grabbing the closest thing he could find and hurling it behind him. He didn’t get far before rough hands grasped the collar of his coat, and he was shoved up against a wall. Maddix bit his lip to keep from crying out as his injured shoulder was pulled behind his back. Blood trickled onto his tongue.
“Stop drawing attention to yourself,” said a low voice, spinning Maddix so he could face his attacker. Maddix blinked, seeing Kenna’s face inches from his own. Gone was the smiling, fatherly pilgrim. He’d been replaced with a steely-eyed stranger.
“Bleeding skies,” Maddix swore, his voice choked under Kenna’s muscular forearm. “You’ve known the whole time, haven’t you?”
Slowly, Kenna nodded. Anger burned under Maddix’s skin. How could he be so stupid? He had thought himself so clever, running game on starry-eyed sky worshippers, but Kenna must have been seeking him out. Were those people even his family, or simply props for the ruse?
“What’s the play then?” Maddix demanded, trying to keep his voice from trembling. He failed, but only just. “Are you going to hand me over to the man back there? Ransom me to the king?” Maddix had no idea what his bounty was, but he would guess that it would keep whoever caught him rolling in coin for some time.
“Shut up and quit feeling sorry for yourself,” Kenna snapped. “I’m not taking you back to Pavaal.” He dragged his free hand down his face, looking more beleaguered than threatening. “Curse it all, I’m not authorized for this.”
“For what?” Maddix hissed. Kenna fixed him with a cool, even stare. Whatever moral dilemma he wrestled with, it was decided now.
“You’ve been looking for us. I was tasked with getting you out of the capitol in one piece.” Maddix’s heart stuttered in his chest. He couldn’t possibly mean—
Something that felt dangerously like hope shifted inside of him, and Maddix squashed it before it could take hold. Half of the Pit knew how desperate he had been to get information about the witchhunters. The Guard could have easily shared the information with anyone looking for him.
“Prove it,” Maddix growled.
Kenna rolled his eyes, slowly bringing his free hand up to tug at his collar. Maddix had never questioned why he buttoned his shirt up so high, but now he could see that it was to hide an enormous tattoo that marked Kenna’s skin in white ink. Maddix’s eyes followed the swirling design, something strange blooming in his gut. He had seen anti-magic sigils before, but nothing this intricate. It wasn’t simply meant for protection; it was a call to battle.
“You’re one of them,” Maddix breathed. Kenna nodded, slowly withdrawing his arm before a crash shattered the quiet.
“Time to go,” Kenna said, breaking into a sprint. Maddix followed without hesitation. His wounds screamed as a weight crashed into him from behind, and he wheezed as the air was driven from his lungs. Something tore in his injured shoulder as he threw up his hands to defend himself.
For a moment, the nondescript soldier was Mole, trying to bash his skull in as a sacrifice to the others who lived in the Undercity. For a moment, the sky above him disappeared, replaced by a stone ceiling Maddix had been sure would be the top of his tomb. Hands closed around his throat and despite his desperate attempts to escape, Maddix couldn’t buck off his attacker.
Then the man’s weight disappeared, and the market returned. Maddix rolled onto his uninjured side, gasping and spluttering like a fish.
“Get up,” Kenna shouted, hauling Maddix to his feet. He grunted with every step, but his movements were so driven by fear and adrenaline that he was able to shove the pain away.
The wagon was already moving by the time they reached it, with Duli and the twins inside. Kenna leaped aboard first and Maddix could barely keep up.
“Maddie!” Indra said in a rare burst of verbosity. Maddix grabbed her hand, managing to swing into the cart. “We’ve got you, Maddie.”
“Duck,” Je said, holding something thin and cylindrical in her hands. With practiced aim, she lobbed it over the side of the cart. It bounced twice on the ground and exploded in a plume of smoke and dust. The cloud was so thick it was almost a tangible thing, obscuring their escape from any pursuers.
“You’re witchhunters?” Maddix managed, looking back between the two sisters. “All of you?” They seemed awfully young to be handling any kind of explosives, especially with such ease.
“Top of our class,” Je said.
“That’s enough,” Kenna said sharply.
He needn’t have worried. Maddix could hardly hear anything besides his own heartbeat hammering against his eardrums. Gently, he pressed his hand to his side. His fingers came away crimson and tacky. He couldn’t feel his left arm anymore.
Maddix watched the blood drip slowly from his fingertips to his palm with a kind of detached interest. He must have ripped his messy, homemade stitches, but there was no pain. There should have been pain. Je and Indra gave him identical, wide-eyed stares, and for a split second, Maddix could swear that there was only one of them in the cart with him. Then the vision faded, and he could see their lips forming his name.
Words spilled all around him, not making it to his ears. He was a stone that split a stream, removed from the voices around him. The world pulsed in time with his heart, slowing with every labored beat. Everything seemed to fade, going quiet and still, and very slowly Maddix closed his eyes and let himself go too.
Chapter Six:
Jayin
Maddix Kell was dying.
Jayin woke with a start, her mind scrubbed clean save for that single thought. It took a moment before she recognized the bare room of the seedy inn she’d checked into at dawn. Travelling by day was too dangerous, and her glamors required less magic in the dark.
Then the pain set in. Jayin’s breath escaped with a hiss, her fingers flying to her throat as her lungs constricted. She couldn’t breathe, and her vision immediately began to blur. Her side was a pulsing mess of agony, and she was certain her heart wouldn’t be able to take the strain. It felt like she was being skewered through the ribs with a hot poker and her right arm had gone completely numb.
She barely had the presence of mind to try to block out the onslaught when the pain stopped as quickly as it had started. For what felt like ages, she could do nothing more than gasp in as many choked breaths as possible. Her wits returned slowly, and a single thought fixed itself in her mind:
Maddix Kell was dying.
Jayin had long since put her shields back up—she’d even built a few more for good measure—and her path had deviated from Kell’s days ago. There was no way she could have still been able to sense him.
And yet here she was, startled awake in the middle of the day by his pain. Unconsciously, Jayin followed the echoes of Kell’s energy, tracing his aura outside of her own body before yanking the magic back.
“Don’t be stupid,” she said aloud. Her voice sounded echoey and strange in the drafty room. She had been on the run for almost three days, trying to get as far away from Pavaal as possible without calling attention to herself.
Using her powers now would be like sending up a beacon for anyone watching.
Besides, she had no idea if she would even be able to track that far. She had no touchpoint, no place to start, and Jayin was almost afraid she would find him if she bothered to look. She had never come across someone with an aura as strong as Kell’s, but even so, she couldn’t bear to feel him die—to feel herself dying along with him.
Jayin tossed in the rickety, narrow bed, trying to shove him out of her mind. Kell was a monster, a murderer. Jayin had heard all the stories, and she had been part of the team looking for him before he just dropped out of the sky covered in the blood of his victims. But as she tried to fall back to sleep, all she could think of was his fear and desperation from back in the tunnels. Jayin had hunted plenty of murderers, and Kell simply did not compare.
Then again, she was out of practice. Throwing up another shield just in case, Jayin closed her eyes and forced all thoughts of him from her head. All but one: Maddix Kell was dying, and the tiniest part of her was sorry.
Chapter Seven:
Maddix
He couldn’t see. For a single, terrifying moment, Maddix was sure he was back in the Pit, but his eyes soon adjusted to the light creeping in from under the door. He wasn’t underground, thank the stars. Which begged the question as to where he actually was. The last thing Maddix could remember was passing out on Kenna’s cart.
Gingerly, Maddix pressed his good hand to his ribs, wincing as pain lanced up and down his side. Someone had cleaned and bandaged the wound, but it still felt like his ribs splintered anew every time he moved. His right arm was bound in a sling, and from what he could tell, the infection had been cut out.