by AC Cobble
They scurried through the high, dewy grass. Ben frowned down at their feet then looked back to the first light. It was steadily moving closer.
“It won’t be long before they see these tracks.”
“We run?” asked Amelie.
Ben nodded.
Quickly, they made it to the dark building and slipped inside the unlocked door. It was one long open room. Half of it was entirely glass and filled with a stunning variety of plant life. The other half held sturdy tables covered in an array of objects Ben didn’t understand. There were liquid-filled brightly colored glass tubes, a profusion of massive leather-bound books, strange metallic devices, and other objects he wasn’t even sure how to classify. Some of them bubbled and hissed strangely.
Amelie plunged into the room and kept straight ahead, Ben scrambled to follow her. If they made it out of here alive, he was very curious to ask her what this place was.
Halfway through the room, Amelie paused and then darted to the wall to snatch two slim vials off a rack on a shelf. She yanked a cork stopper out of one, passed it to Ben and then opened her own vial.
“Cheers,” she whispered then downed the contents.
Ben drank his as well. It tasted like water. “What was that?” he asked.
“I’ll explain later.” She quickly turned again and rummaged through the shelves until she found a palm-sized wooden disc carved with strange symbols. She tucked it into her dress and nodded back to Ben. “Let’s move.”
The building was long, but there was a walkway down the center, so even in the dark, they were able to move fast. The door at the far end came into view and Ben saw reflected lights on the river through the wall of glass windows.
“Almost there,” he whispered excitedly.
“Not quite,” called a stern voice that sent shivers down Ben’s spine.
He and Amelie spun around and saw a plainly dressed, stern-faced woman standing in the center of the aisle they just walked down. Two armed guards stood behind her. One was wearing the dark grey of the Coalition and the other the emerald green of the Sanctuary. The men contemptuously hadn’t drawn their blades. Without a doubt, Ben knew the woman was a mage.
“Where do you think you are going, Initiate Amelie?” she continued in the same firm tone. “You know that at this stage of training it is forbidden to leave.”
Amelie gestured to the Coalition man. “I think you know why I am leaving.”
The woman smiled and stepped forward. “That is a fair point. It’s too bad it ends like this, you would have made a good mage.”
“Eldred…” Amelie started.
“That is Mistress Eldred, girl,” the woman corrected. The woman took another step forward.
Amelie looked to Ben. He placed a hand on his sword and his body tensed. He was willing to challenge the two guards, but he would be helpless against the mage.
Eldred took a final step closer and placed a hand on Amelie’s shoulder. “I am sorry about this. I truly am. You would have been one of the great ones, but it is politics, girl. It is bigger than any one of us. We must do what we must for the greater good.”
Amelie looked down and to her side, “I am sorry too.” She glanced back at Ben and said, “You shouldn’t have come here, Ben. But even if we wanted to, there’s no going back now.”
Ben met her eyes.
Amelie turned back to Eldred and swept her hand out over one of the sturdy tables, snatching up a heavy glass beaker full of steaming liquid. She maintained her momentum and spun with the glass, raising it up and crashing it straight into Eldred’s face. The mage’s head snapped back in a spray of glittering glass, white teeth, and bright red blood. Smoke boiled off Eldred’s skin where the liquid poured over her. She collapsed silently backward. Ben whipped out his sword and leapt over Eldred’s falling body before she even hit the ground.
The Coalition man was the first to react, reaching for his sword, but he was too late. Ben plowed into him, slapping the man’s hand away from his weapon and slashing his blade across the man’s throat. The man dropped to his knees, clawing futilely at his ruined neck. The Sanctuary guard stumbled backward, still fumbling to draw his blade and staring down at Eldred with wide eyes.
Ben paused for a heartbeat. He saw a streak of iridescent yellow light through the glass windows arc into the sky from the direction they came.
“They found our trail,” moaned Amelie.
Ben grimaced, darted forward, and pounded the hilt of his sword into the side of the Sanctuary man’s head. The man fell like a limp rag doll. “No reason to kill him if they’re already onto us,” Ben said with a frown.
“I understand,” replied Amelie before they both turned and ran for the door.
There was no pretense at sneaking now. It was a race to the riverbank where they could only hope Mathias was still waiting.
The sprint to the water took no more than one hundred heartbeats, but it felt like an eternity. Shouts were rising throughout the compound, and bright disks of white light began to rise high above from all sides. Ben wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but they seemed to start floating slowly toward them.
“Don’t get below one of those!” shouted Amelie.
Ben didn’t even want to think of what would happen if they did.
They flew down the pebble path he’d come in on. The lights drift closer, but Ben didn’t think anyone has seen them. Paces from the riverbank, his heart sank. Mathias and the boat were missing.
“Damn.” He stared out at the water.
“Are you sure this is the right place?” asked Amelie. “We’ve been running around a lot. Maybe you got turned around?”
He looked back. The park and buildings were exactly like he remembered. “This is the place,” he answered, teeming with frustration.
A swarm or lights were in the glass building they just left and he saw them begin to pour out the exit. The floating discs began to converge more quickly. They were out of time.
“Can you swim?” he asked out of desperation.
“How far?” she answered while kicking off her shoes.
“The far bank is half a league away.”
“I’ve never swam that far before,” she admitted nervously. “I saw the man from the Coalition. We killed him for sure, and maybe a mage. What choice do we have?”
Ben kicked off his boots, tore his shirt off his back, and looped his sword belt over his shoulder. He grabbed their shoes and other clothing and hurled it into the river before they both stepped off the bank and dove into the water.
The water was cold, but the current was lazy this close to the island. After a furious moment to get distance from shore, they settled into slow and steady strokes. Behind them, they heard angry shouts and bright lights bloomed along the riverbank to light it up like it was day. The clanging of the siren finally let off. The ensuing silence was eerie. Ben cringed and kept swimming.
Amelie’s strokes began to get sluggish before they were a quarter way across the channel. Ben started to worry she wouldn’t make it. He kicked with his feet to rise out of the water, scanning for nearby boats. There was one narrow sailing skiff rounding the north side of the island that might pass near them. It had a softly flickering lantern on the bow, so he could easily track it while they swam.
Whoever was on it, it couldn’t be worse than who they’d left. It was a long shot, getting spotted in these dark waters, or even making it close enough to the fast-moving boat, but they had to try something. They weren’t going to make the other side with how quickly Amelie was fading.
Amelie’s strokes continued to slow, but Ben encouraged her. “I see a boat coming our way. Keep going the way you are and we should be able to wave them down.”
Without looking up, a little burst of energy coursed through her and she kept swimming. A moment later, though, her pace fell off again. Her arms churned sluggishly through the water. Ben knew she had moments left before she started to sink. He’d try to help, but he knew she’d likely take him with
her as there was no way he could pull both of them through the current for long.
Ben bobbed up again to get a bead on the skiff and almost got run over by a little rowboat that he hadn’t seen.
“Ho there!” called a muffled but familiar voice.
Mathias reached over the side, and, with strong arms, hauled a sodden Amelie out of the water and rolled her into the bottom of his boat. Ben swam over and grabbed the side before Mathias pulled him in as well.
“Now, that is two drowned looking rats if I’ve ever seen them,” exclaimed the barkeep. Glee and excitement filled his voice.
Amelie lay wheezing at the bottom of the boat, too tired to talk.
Ben reached up and slapped a wet hand on Mathias’ arm. “I thought we were done.” He panted.
“Ah, I know that must have hurt when you saw I wasn’t there. I had to move, though. I could see the guards sweeping the bank and they would have spotted me easily.”
“I understand. I’m glad you stayed out here watching for us!”
They both paused as a sharp snap split the night air. Amelie sat up and all three of them watched a blaze of energy arc out from the Sanctuary and soar over the river.
“We need to get out of here. Now,” demanded an exhausted Amelie.
Mathias nodded and sat down to the oars, but none of them could take their eyes off the swirling red light as it crackled and popped closer. Several hundred paces away, it struck the deck of the sailing skiff Ben saw earlier. The red light exploded in flames and heat. Screams from the doomed vessel filled the night air, but were quickly choked off as the unnatural fire consumed the boat.
The oars dipped into the water and their tiny rowboat surged forward, cutting through the low chop of the river.
Several moments passed in silence. Mathias steadily rowed them further from the island. They watched behind his silhouetted figure as more crackling lights arced out from the Sanctuary and torched nearby ships.
Ben and Amelie could only watch in shock as the brutality of the Sanctuary was displayed in full force.
The disks of white light drifted out aimlessly over the water, but their rowboat was too small to be seen from the shore. Everything larger was already burning. After a long and tense half bell, Mathias had gotten them far enough away they could breathe a sigh of relief. They moved out of the river basin and upstream into the Venmoor River. The Sanctuary and the island disappeared around the bend.
“Where to?” croaked Ben.
“The only place that could be in more chaos than where you left,” answered Mathias grimly. “Lord Reinhold’s estate.”
Amelie slumped against Ben and laid her cheek against the bare skin of his chest. He wrapped his arms tight around her shivering body and sat back to watch the water glide past while Mathias rowed.
1
Better Be Running
Ben woke up. He was shirtless and his pants were damp. He ached from sleeping on a hard floor with no padding. He shifted and the chill autumn air slid over his bare skin, raising goose bumps and sending a shiver through his body.
He was lying in a small gazebo on the late Lord Reinhold’s estate. In the madness of the night before, it seemed just as good a hiding spot as anywhere else.
Ben sat up and saw Mathias was also awake. The barkeep was peering over a railing into a foggy, grey morning. Mist drifted by the gazebo. The entire world was silent. The moisture enfolded them in a tight embrace.
Ben didn’t like fog. He didn’t like the lack of visibility. After the past year, he preferred to see where he was going.
Mathias was relaxed, though. Watching him, the tension drained from Ben’s body. Mathias wouldn’t be sitting so calmly if he felt there was a threat lurking out of sight.
Rolling to his feet, Ben wrapped his arms around his bare skin. He had been lying back to back with Amelie on the floor of the gazebo and the warmth from her quickly vanished.
Mathias turned when Ben rose and nodded a good morning. Ben settled down next to the veteran. Stretching and rubbing his hands over his arms and shoulders to loosen up and keep warm, Ben nodded back.
“You think she’s going to be ready to move this morning?” Mathias whispered, glancing at Amelie’s sleeping form.
Ben shrugged. “She has to be.”
Together, they stared out into the gloom.
A bell later, Amelie began to stir underneath Mathias’ fleece-lined lambskin coat. She rolled over and saw Ben occupying the same position Mathias had when Ben woke.
“What’s happening?” she called in a low voice.
Ben smiled down at her. “Good morning to you too.”
She rolled her eyes and sat up.
“Mathias went back to the City,” Ben explained quietly.
Amelie’s eyes shot open.
“I don’t know if that is a good idea,” she protested. “The Sanctuary is going to be looking for us, looking hard. And if they find us, well, suffice to say I think we need to get away from the City as quickly as possible. If they catch him…” She left the rest unsaid.
Ben nodded. “He knows. We talked it over before he left. What else can we do? We threw half of our clothes into the river last night, and we have no food and no supplies. We need information before we start running in any direction.”
Ben stood and began to pace across the small space in the gazebo. “They won’t know Mathias was involved yet, we hope. He has the row boat and can tie up at one of the smaller docks, one where they won’t have guards. He can slip in, gather supplies, contact our friends, and be back out before the mages even hear his name.”
“They’ll know more than you think and quicker,” challenged Amelie. “We can’t stay here long.” She paused and then continued with a sigh, “But you’re right. We have to get supplies and learn what we are up against.”
“What do you think…” Ben swallowed nervously. “What do you think Meghan told them?”
Amelie sighed. “I don’t know. Everything?”
She shifted around on the wooden floor. “Meghan was growing distant over the last several months. The only thing she thought about was studying, learning faster, and progressing to the next step. Anything they’d ask, she would do. Anything they told her, she would believe.”
Ben frowned. “What kind of things?”
“Our instructors say the Sanctuary exists to serve the greater good,” responded Amelie. “It’s a compelling message, that we are part of something larger, something that is important. They suggest the more complicated history of the Sanctuary is because the mages were pursuing a worthwhile end, and it justified some questionable means. Maybe they really believe that, maybe they don’t. I can say for sure though, Meghan believed it. She really thought she would do great things. Not just for the Sanctuary, but for all of Alcott.”
Ben sat on the railing and kept listening.
“I think that is how the mages are able to accumulate so much power and never get challenged,” continued Amelie. “They say it’s to help everyone. It’s easier to believe that they want to help than it is to challenge them. They have a lot of power, more than any individual lord does.”
Amelie took a deep breath. “It’s intoxicating, the first taste of power, and Meghan is on track to become one of the most powerful women in Alcott. That is something I don’t think she ever imagined before. There are a lot of things people will overlook to achieve that. There are a lot of compromises along the way.”
“It’s just…” Ben struggled to find the words. “It’s just that the girl I grew up with, my sister, wouldn’t do something like that. She betrayed us! Meghan is kind, she is loyal. I wouldn’t have thought anything would make her turn her back on me.”
Amelie smiled sadly. “You are right, Ben. She is loyal, just not to us anymore.”
Early morning turned to mid-morning and the fog lifted. Ben and Amelie stayed huddled down in the gazebo, waiting. They were about two hundred long strides up from the river. The gazebo was perched under a rise in the manicure
d lawn. The rise blocked their view of Reinhold’s estate and their hope was that no one would be wandering the grounds on such a foggy, unpleasant morning. Also, before long, word of what happened outside of Arrath would get to Reinhold’s estate and the place would be in utter chaos.
Based on Ben’s description, Mathias surmised that the Coalition forces blockaded Arrath to prevent anyone spoiling the ambush. Once the battle was over, Lord Jason would let the people out, and they would find the bodies. The word would spread like wildfire. The disruption outside of the Sanctuary would be assumed to be part of it. Amelie thought the Sanctuary would encourage that guess, it made things nice and tidy for them.
Any confusion would help Ben and his friends. The bodies at Arrath and the events outside the Sanctuary would be the only thing anyone talked about within one hundred leagues of there. They hoped the distraction would allow them to slip away unnoticed.
Still, waiting wasn’t easy. They knew the Sanctuary and the Coalition would be out there looking for them.
“The Sanctuary will not stop until they find us,” Amelie explained in a hushed tone. “What I know about their magic would be enough. With what we know about their politics, they cannot let us go free. If we get to Whitehall and tell Argren they betrayed him, I-I don’t know what will happen, but it won’t be good. The ships last night were just a taste of what they are capable of. They would do anything to stop us. The guards, hunters, and mages…they will all be on our trail.”
Ben rubbed a hand through his hair and stared down at the river where he hoped Mathias would return soon.
“What do we do?” he asked. “Do we make for Whitehall? Issen?”
Amelie thought and answered slowly, “Issen is months away. By the time we made it, we could be too late to warn the Alliance. If they can’t find us soon, the Sanctuary and the Coalition will react long before I could make it home. I think Whitehall is the only option. My father and I joined Argren’s Alliance. We have to trust he will be faithful and help us.”
Ben nodded and placed a reassuring hand on Amelie’s shoulder.