Kingdom of Magicians

by Timothy L. Cerepaka

  Chapter Twenty

  After a few minutes of running, Keo eventually stumbled upon a large, crowded part of Carrk. The street was full of hundreds and hundreds of people, more than Keo had ever seen in one place in his life, all of them apparently here for the charity duel. There were even merchants on the sides of the streets trying to sell things to the people, but Keo ignored them because he had no interest in buying anything at the moment. Instead, he wanted to find out if the duel had started yet.

  So Keo walked up to one of the merchants—who seemed to be selling some kind of strange red fruit with a strong sweet scent that Keo had never seen before—and said, “Has the charity duel started yet?”

  The merchant looked at Keo and said, “Not yet, good sir, though it will start in five minutes. In the meantime, would you be interested in buying one of my—”

  “No thanks,” said Keo, turning and walking away from the merchant without even thinking about it.

  Keo pushed his way through the crowd of people, earning more than a few glares or annoyed looks for his rudeness, but Keo did not care. Despite his height, he could not view the duel from behind the crowd, so he was going to make sure he got a spot in the front of the crowd so he could see the duel.

  When Keo finally reached the front of the crowd, he found long red cord separating the crowd from the town square. The square itself was wide open and completely empty, which told Keo that the two Magician duelists, whoever they were, had apparently not yet arrived. He saw hundreds of people on all sides of the square, chatting away among each other, while a few men and women went around with boxes in their hands into which the spectators tossed in lems. From what Keo could tell, those people must have been the ones who collected the donations from the spectators. He dug his hands into his own pockets to donate, because he could see one of the men coming his way, but at that moment someone dashed out from the crowd and stopped in the exact center of the open square.

  It was a short man with long dark hair, wearing a nice-looking blue suit and the biggest and whitest set of teeth that Keo had ever seen on another human being. The man raised his hands, causing everyone to fall silent immediately, which Keo found impressive, because he did not think that one man could make so many people stop speaking at once.

  “Welcome, welcome, one and all, to the Tenth Annual Magician Charity Duel of Carrk!” the man said, his voice loud and booming despite his short statue. “My name is Yanar of the Voice and, as usual, I will be your announcer for this year's charity duel!”

  Although Yanar seemed nice enough, Keo found himself put off by the announcer's large mouth and self-congratulatory attitude. There was something about it that made Keo distrust the man, though he wasn't sure what.

  “I am extremely pleased to see so many people here today,” said Yanar, looking around at the assembled spectators. “We have people from Capitika, New Ora, Torgan, Freni, even from faraway and exotic places like Hasfar and its capital Ishver. I can guarantee to each and every one of you today that this duel will be the greatest one yet.”

  The crowd cheered when Yanar said that, and Keo joined them. He liked a good fight as much as anybody, and despite his reservations about Yanar's character, he saw no reason to doubt his word here.

  “And as always, please make sure to donate whatever you can to the Collectors who are going around the crowds collecting money for our poor and needy citizens,” Yanar continued. “Remember, how much you give to those who have less than you is the true measure of your greatness, whether you are a powerful king or a humble peasant.”

  A man holding a box—apparently one of the Collectors—came down the front of the crowd on the other side of the cord. A dozen hands deposited as many lems into the box, including Keo, who despite not having very much money of his own decided he could afford to give away at least one lem, even being aware of what Dlaine had warned him about the corruption in Carrk's government. Then he returned his attention to Yanar, who had continued speaking.

  “And now, to the main event,” said Yanar. “Our two duelists today, who are considered to be among the best duelists in the country today! Come on out and show yourselves to the generous people of this town and others!”

  A huge burst of fire exploded several feet away from Yanar, causing him to jump and everyone else in the crowd to stand back. Yet the fire lasted only for a second and soon went out all by itself, leaving a large man, built more like a mountain than a human being, standing in its place. The man's skin was as dark as coal, his head almost completely bald. He wore a simple red shirt with torn-off sleeves and towered over almost everyone else in the vicinity. Keo caught a brief whiff of smoke from the large man's body, which made Keo wonder if the Magician was a smoker or if it was due to his fiery entrance.

  Yanar, who looked taken aback by the Magician's entrance, recovered pretty quickly and, gesturing at the man, said, “Everyone, I am pleased to introduce Magician Kraggan of the Fire, known in magical dueling circles as the Ever Burning Flame. Aside from having won the Magical Dueling Championship last year, Kraggan is also a veteran of the wars with the Divinians and Restorationists, so he has already helped our great nation in ways that many have not.”

  Half of the crowd immediately cheered when they saw the Magician. Keo had never heard of Kraggan before, but he knew a warrior when he saw one. Kraggan had scars along his arms and seemed to be highly aware of his surroundings. For a moment, Keo thought Kraggan's eyes focused on Gildshine at his side, but then Kraggan looked away and Keo decided that the Magician had been looking at something else.

  “Magician Kraggan, I just wanted to say that it is a huge honor to have you competing in this year's charity duel,” said Yanar. “It is truly a reflection of your generous spirit.” He gestured at the crowd. “Any words for the crowd?”

  Kraggan looked out over the crowds. He seemed like a silent type to Keo, but then Kraggan held up one hand and shouted, in a deep voice, “Citizens of Carrk and visitors from other towns and lands! I promise to give you what you have come for, and so much more. I have always considered generosity toward the poor to be among the chiefest of virtues, and virtue should be rewarded, which I shall be glad to do by giving you the greatest duel that this town—that Lamaira itself—has ever seen!”

  Again, the crowd went wild, throwing up their hands and screaming. One of the women even shouted, “I love you, Kraggan!” while a man clearly shouted, “Kraggan's the best!”

  “Yes, yes, yes,” said Yanar, waving his hands at the crowd to calm them down. “Magician Kraggan is almost unmatched in his generosity, having promised to give half of his yearly earnings from the Magical Dueling Championship to our charity drive after this duel is over. Truly indeed, he is almost too great for this bleak world.”

  Wow, Keo thought, although he did not join the crowd in the third round of applause and cheering that erupted after Yanar's praise of the large Magician. He sounds like a pretty great guy. I wonder how well he fights, though.

  Again, Yanar waved at the crowd to silence them and then said, “And now, please get ready to applaud Magician Kraggan's opponent, Magician Maryal of the Wind!”

  Yanar pointed dramatically to his left, drawing the attention of the entire crowd, including Keo, to the spot he was pointing at. Keo expected this Magician Maryal, whoever she was, to make just as dramatic and flashy an entrance as Magician Kraggan, perhaps creating a large tornado to carry her down from the sky if her title was a hint to her magical powers.

  But nothing happened. The bit of street that Yanar pointed at remained empty and bare.

  At first, the crowd seemed content to wait for Magician Maryal's appearance, but as the seconds ticked by, more and more people began to fidget, and soon grumble. One man even shouted, “Hey! Where is she?”

  Yanar, who was now sweating, pulled out a handkerchief from his front chest pocket and, dabbing his forehead, said, “Ah, well, it appears that Magician Maryal is running a bit late today. But not to worry, I doubt it is anything too s
erious. I'm sure she'll be here any minute now.”

  Although Yanar's tone was apologetic and pacifying, more and more people in the crowd were looking around, grumbling, and shifting their weight impatiently. Even Kraggan folded his arms over his chest, tapped his foot against the street, and yawned. And there was still no sign of Maryal anywhere, which made Keo wonder if Maryal had decided to run away rather than face Kraggan in battle. Keo could understand that, because even he wasn't sure that he could beat a man as large and big as Kraggan.

  “So, er, uh …” Yanar looked around and then suddenly pointed at one of the Collectors, a man standing near Keo. “You! Go to Magician Maryal's inn and find out what she is doing. And do it quickly, because—”

  Yanar was interrupted by a gigantic gust of wind that tore through the area. Hats, papers, and leaves flew through the air as the powerful wind blew through the town square. Even Kraggan had to brace himself against it, because the wind was quite cold despite the hot sun above.

  As the wind blew, a large shadow passed by Keo overhead, causing him to look up in time to see a woman gliding on the wind with wings. Then he blinked and realized that the woman was actually gliding using her robes, which were spread out to catch the wind.

  By then, the rest of the crowd had noticed the woman and many people were pointing at her in surprise, likely because they had never seen a gliding woman before. The woman circled the crowd once before landing suddenly yet gracefully on the street, right where Yanar had been pointing mere moments ago. She then stood up and tossed off her robes, which fell into a pile behind her.

  The woman was probably older than Keo, with short blonde hair that was messy due to the wind from earlier. Unlike Kraggan, her green tunic had sleeves, but they were loose and open, most likely to help her catch the wind. Yet despite her dramatic entrance, she looked more than a bit tired, yawning as she stood up and rubbing her eyes like she had just awoken a couple of minutes ago.

  “Sorry I'm late,” said the woman. She yawned again. “I slept in and forgot to set my timer. I got here as quickly as I could.”

  Yanar—whose own hair had been blown messily about by the woman's wind—nonetheless recovered from the shock of seeing the woman and said, “That is fine, Magician Maryal. We are just glad to see that you are here for the benefit of Carrk's poor and needy.”

  Keo was not sure that that was exactly true, because Yanar's tone sounded annoyed and agitated, especially when he brushed his messy hair back. The crowd, too, seemed more annoyed than happy at her entrance, probably due to the fact that she had sent many of their possessions flying out of their arms or off their heads. Kraggan merely smirked, a sign that he didn't take Maryal very seriously as an opponent.

  “Anyway, for those of you who don't know her, this is Magician Maryal of the Wind,” said Yanar, gesturing at her. “Like Magician Kraggan, she, too, has several notable accomplishments under her belt like … like …”

  Yanar seemed to struggle to come up with any of Maryal's accomplishments for a moment before he snapped his fingers and said, “Oh, yes. Now I remember. Magician Maryal landed in fourth place in the Magician Duel Championship last year. And I believe she has a few fans around here somewhere who could probably tell us more about what she's done.”

  Keo looked around at the crowd, which had gone silent. Maryal looked rather embarrassed at her own lateness or maybe she was embarrassed at the icy coldness with which the crowd seemed to treat her. Considering how no one seemed to like her or know much about her, Keo wondered why Maryal had even been invited to the duel at all. He almost felt embarrassed for her, yet he said nothing because he knew even less about Maryal than most of the other people in the crowd did.

  Yanar must have sensed the awkwardness of the moment as well, because he then said, “Well, anyway, now that everyone has been introduced to these two great Magicians, let us get the duel started. Magician Kraggan, Magician Maryal, are you two ready? Do you remember the rules?”

  Kraggan nodded. “Of course. No killing, no harming any of the spectators, and keep all spells in the circle of the duel.”

  Maryal yawned again and said, “I'm ready if Kraggan is. Let's do this.”

  “Very well, then,” said Yanar. “As soon as I step out of the circle, the duel will commence. Prepare your spells and may the best Magician win!”

  With that, Yanar ran away from the two Magicians. Kraggan cracked his neck and his knuckles, while Maryal looked like she was still trying to wake up. If Keo believed in betting, he would have been willing to bet on Kraggan, mostly because of the man's obvious strength and skill as a combatant. Maryal gave off the aura of someone who didn't take fighting very seriously, though Keo recalled what Master Tiram had said about not underestimating others.

  Yanar ducked under the cord on the other side of the square, stood up, turned around, and said, “All right! Let the Tenth Annual Magician Charity Duel of Carrk begin!”

  As soon as those words left Yanar's mouth, Kraggan summoned two fireballs in his hands and hurled them both at Maryal. He did it so quickly that Maryal barely had time to respond. She raised her hands and unleashed a blast of cold air at the fire balls right before they struck her, instantly blowing them out, but as soon as her wind died off, Kraggan slammed his feet into the street. A line of glowing heat shot out from where his feet had hit the street, snaking toward Maryal, but the Magician jumped into the air right before the heat hit her. She jumped toward Kraggan and attempted to kick him in the head, but the larger Magician dodged it, causing Maryal to go sailing past him.

  Kraggan, however, grabbed the collar of her tunic as she sailed past him and hurled her away. Maryal crashed into the street and even rolled a few times before coming to a halt. The crowd erupted into cheers at that move, including Keo. He was not much of a Kraggan fan, but even he could recognize a good fighting move when he saw it.

  Kraggan waved at the crowd as Maryal got back to her feet. Her clothes were covered in grime and dirt now, while her cheek had a small cut on it. Keo was impressed that Maryal could get back up again so soon after that attack, because it had looked like Kraggan had thrown her as hard as he could. Perhaps Maryal was stronger than she looked.

  “Do you want to give up now, Maryal?” said Kraggan, spreading his arms wide, a jeering smile on his lips. “Or do you want to keep fighting? It's your choice.”

  Maryal wiped some blood away from her chin. She looked far more awake now than before, but she still seemed tired, though that may have been because she had just been tossed about like a rag doll.

  She shook her head and said, “Sorry, Kraggan, but I didn't get to fourth place in the Magician Duel Championship by giving up after a few weak hits.”

  Kraggan laughed. “And neither did I win the Championship by fighting weak opponents who gave up after a light beating. I am pleased to see that you are far stronger than you look.” Kraggan's hands burst into flame. “Unfortunately for you, it takes more than endurance to beat me!”

  Kraggan raised his hands, like he was going to throw more fireballs at Maryal, but then Maryal waved her hands at him. Without warning, Kraggan's flames immediately went out, causing Kraggan to say, “What the—” before he suddenly grasped his throat and started choking.

  The crowd gasped, including Keo, but Maryal did not hesitate to run up to Kraggan and kick him in the stomach. Even though she was shorter and smaller than Kraggan, her blow was enough to knock him flat off his feet. The large Magician fell to the street on his back and he immediately stopped choking. Instead, he started gasping for breath and rapidly sitting up, coughing hard like he had been strangled by a giant.

  “What …” Kraggan gasped. “What was that?”

  Maryal smirked. “Fire needs oxygen to burn. Take away oxygen and you can't even light a match. So I took away your oxygen. For that matter, human beings can't live very long without air, either, so it worked out in two ways for me.”

  Keo had to admit that that was a clever move, and based on the impressed e
xpressions on the faces of many people in the crowd, he wasn't the only one who thought that.

  Still coughing and gasping, Kraggan got back to his feet. He looked far weaker now than he had even a minute ago and was eying Maryal like she was a real threat.

  “Very neat trick, Maryal, I will admit,” said Kraggan, his voice hoarse. “But not neat enough.”

  Kraggan lashed out with a punch, causing Maryal to jump backwards to avoid it. But then Kraggan stopped his own punch halfway through and swung one of his large legs at her instead. Maryal must not have seen that move coming, because she did not try to dodge it. Kraggan's leg struck Maryal in the side, the blow sending her flying. She landed on the street and rolled a few more times, but as before, she was back on her feet almost instantly. Even so, Keo could tell that Maryal was having a harder and harder time recovering from each hit and he doubted that Kraggan would need to land more than two more blows at most to take her down for good.

  “For I have some neat tricks of my own,” said Kraggan. He slammed his fists together. “Want to see them?”

  Kraggan slammed his fists into the street. A hand made out of rock shot out from the street and wrapped around Maryal's waist, causing her to yell in pain as it tightened its grip around her.

  “I can control rock as well,” said Kraggan with a smile. “And I know that that can't be stopped by taking away air.”

  Kraggan's smile vanished, however, when Maryal waved her arms at him and a powerful gust of wind struck him. It almost knocked him off his feet, but he managed to retain his balance, although his concentration must have slipped because Maryal managed to force the rock hand's fingers loose and launch herself into the air again. She landed in front of Kraggan and lashed out with a kick, but Kraggan dodged it and tried to punch her, which she ducked to avoid.

  Then, taking advantage of an opening Kraggan left, Maryal slammed her fists into his stomach. She also created a burst of wind that actually sent Kraggan flying through the air uncontrollably. He landed hard on the street and lay there for a moment, stunned, before he got back up to his feet again, a scowl on his face.

  “All right,” said Kraggan. He sounded almost out of breath now. “You've annoyed me more than enough now. Time to end this.”

  Kraggan snapped his fingers. A second later, a circle of intense flame appeared around Maryal, causing her to raise her arms, no doubt in order to summon a powerful wind in order to blow the fire away, but then Kraggan snapped the fingers of his other hand and a stone hand burst from the ground and wrapped so tightly around Maryal's waist that her gasp of pain was audible even over the roar of the flames.

  Keo immediately understood what Kraggan was trying to do. He was going to use the flame to increase the temperature around Maryal while using the stone hand to make it impossible for her to summon wind to blow it away and save herself. Likely Kraggan hoped that the high temperature would eventually either knock Maryal out or force her to give up once the temperature became too much for her to bear.

  Beside him, Keo heard one man mutter to his friend, “This is just what Kraggan did to win the Championship last year. He must really want to end this.”

  “Yeah, but didn't that move almost kill his opponent?” said the man's friend. “I heard that the smoke and heat nearly killed him because he couldn't speak and officially forfeit the match.”

  “I doubt that will happen here,” said the first man dismissively. “Kraggan isn't a murderer. Sure, he can be tough, but you have to be in order to be the Champion Duelist in this country.”

  Keo listened to the conversation with worry. He looked back at the scene of the duel. Barely visible through the intense flames, Maryal was still struggling to break free of the stone hand, but she was sweating up a storm and seemed to be having trouble breathing. Meanwhile, Kraggan was smirking and did not seem concerned that he might accidentally harm Maryal too much. As for Yanar, he was talking with an attractive-looking Hasfarian woman, apparently no longer paying attention to the charity duel.

  Keo bit his lower lip. If Kraggan keeps this up, he will definitely kill Maryal. Someone should stop him, but maybe it won't be necessary. Kraggan might just stop on his own or maybe Maryal will pull a trick out of her sleeve and save herself.

  But Keo knew that both possibilities were unlikely to happen. Kraggan seemed to have lost all sense of mercy now, probably due to his frustration at how long the duel had gone on, while Maryal was clearly too weak now to save herself. And none of the spectators looked likely to try to help her.

  But Dlaine told me that we're not supposed to get into any trouble here, Keo thought. We're just supposed to visit and then leave. Not get involved in conflicts that might delay our arrival in Capitika even more than we already have. It is probably illegal for someone to interrupt a charity duel, anyway.

  Yet Keo did not want to be the witness to a murder. So, deciding to handle whatever consequences awaited him, Keo ducked under the cord, ignoring some of the people in the crowd telling him to come back. He ran over to Kraggan, who didn't seem to notice Keo approaching him until Keo shouted, “Hey! Stop it! You're killing her.”

  Kraggan looked at Keo in confusion, though the fire circle and stone hand did not go away. “Who are you?”

  “It doesn't matter,” said Keo, shaking his head. He pointed at Maryal, who looked like she was about to lose consciousness any second. “You've clearly won. There's no reason to keep harming her like this. Let her go.”

  Kraggan raised an eyebrow. “And just why should I listen to you? You're not even a Magician. Yanar!” he suddenly shouted, looking over his shoulder at the announcer. He pointed at Keo. “Get this dumb kid out of here. He's getting in the way of my victory.”

  Yanar, however, did not seem to notice Kraggan or Keo, because he was still chatting with the attractive Hasfarian lady. Oddly, she seemed to be listening to him, which made Keo think that Yanar must have had experience in talking to the ladies.

  The people in the crowd, however, were starting to throw abuse at Keo, shouting things like, “Get out of there, you stupid kid!” and “You're messing with the battle, you idiot!” and “Stop trying to interrupt the duel! This is the best part!”

  But Keo stood his ground and looked Kraggan straight in the eye. “No. I'm not leaving until you stop hurting her. Maryal cannot fight you anymore. There's no point in torturing her anymore, since she clearly can't fight back.”

  Kraggan scowled. “Are you telling me, the Champion of the Magician Duel Championship and a veteran of the never-ending wars against the Divinians and Restorationists, what to do?”

  “I'm merely telling you that you are being excessively cruel toward her,” said Keo, folding his arms across his chest. “I don't care if you're a Champion or a veteran or whatever. You will kill her if you keep this up.”

  Kraggan looked like Keo had insulted his own mother. Nonetheless, he snapped his fingers again and the fire circle disappeared from around Maryal. She gasped for air and slumped forward on the stone hand, which then dropped her onto the street, where she lay still, although she merely appeared unconscious rather than dead.

  “Wait,” said Keo in surprise. “Did you actually listen to me?”

  Kraggan shook his head and raised his right hand, which suddenly burst into flame. “No. I simply dislike having my attention divided when I am going to teach a disrespectful kid like you a lesson.”

  Kraggan ran at Keo, his burning fist trailing fire and smoke as he ran. Keo drew Gildshine just in time to block Kraggan's attack.

  But Kraggan hit hard enough to drive Keo to his knees. Then Kraggan lashed out with a kick suddenly, striking Keo in the stomach and sending him flying. Keo landed hard on the street, stunned from the attack, but still holding Gildshine in his hands. The pain in his stomach from where Kraggan had struck was intense, like he had just been kicked by a giant.

  Nonetheless, Keo scrambled back to his feet as Kraggan approached, but before he could form an effective defense, something wet and sticky st
ruck the back of his head. Taken by surprise, Keo rubbed the back of his head and looked at his hand to see a red liquid on his fingers, which he realized was tomato juice. He looked over his shoulder in time to see that the spectators were preparing fruits and vegetables to throw at him. As soon as he saw that, they started hurling their fruits and vegetables at him while also hurling abuse at him.

  Keo dodged the flying food as best as he could, but there was so much of it that it was difficult to do. So Keo, in an attempt to get away from the angry spectators, ran toward Kraggan, who stopped and smiled at Keo's action.

  “Stupid kid,” said Kraggan, shaking his head. “But very well. Your running toward me makes this all the more easy for me to get you.”

  Keo prepared to slash Kraggan with Gildshine, but then the ground underneath Keo's feet shifted and he lost his balance and tripped. But Kraggan was right in front of him before he fell and punched Keo in the side of the face with his hot fist.

  The blow sent Keo staggering to the right, stars in his eyes, and he fell down next to Maryal, who had still not moved an inch from where she lay. All of Keo's senses were fuzzy and his jaw felt like it had broken into shards. He still held Gildshine, but it was not particularly useful when he barely understood which was up and which way was down.

  But Keo could hear and he heard Kraggan's bragging, the Magician saying, “Look and rejoice, citizens of Carrk and other towns and lands! Even when my duel is interrupted by this disrespectful kid, I am still able to deliver to him the thrashing he deserves! I am truly the Champion, no matter how you look at it!”

  The crowd went wild at Kraggan's words, although Keo was less than impressed. He shook his head, allowing his senses to return to normal, but he still did not trust himself to get up.

  Then he heard a voice nearby whisper, “Hey, kid, still conscious?”

  Keo looked to his right and saw Maryal was looking at him. She still looked awful, with sweat on her face and her clothes somewhat blackened from the flames, but she seemed fully conscious.

  “Yeah,” said Keo, keeping his voice to a whisper as well. “I'm sorry, but—”

  “Don't apologize,” Maryal cut him off. She nodded weakly at Kraggan, who was now showing off his massive muscles to his fans in the crowd. “We're going to take advantage of Kraggan's arrogance. Together, okay?”

  Keo blinked. “But isn't that against the rules?”

  “I stopped caring about the rules when Kraggan did,” said Maryal. “Now, get up and distract him. Act like Kraggan broke every bone in your body.”

  Keo grimaced at the pain that shot through his body when he tried to sit up. “Act?”

  “Just do it,” Maryal said.

  Even though he merely wanted to lie down and stay down, Keo decided to trust Maryal and do what she said. So he dragged himself up to his feet again, much more slowly than he would have liked, and grasped Gildshine in both hands.

  He didn't even need to say anything before Kraggan noticed him, smirked, and said, “Oh, look, everyone! The kid needs another lesson from the teacher. I admit to being impressed, because most people can't take that many hits from me and still stand. But this time, I'll make sure to knock you down so hard you won't even be able to sit up for a week.”

  Keo said nothing. He just wondered what Maryal was going to do and hoped that she would do it before Kraggan turned him into paste, because he was pretty certain that there was no way in hell he could even hope to beat the large Magician on his own. He could, perhaps, have used Gildshine's ability, but he didn't want to kill Kraggan, because he knew that that would probably cause the crowd to turn into a murderous mob.

  Kraggan ran toward Keo, a vicious grin on his lips, his fists trailing behind him. Keo still did not move. He didn't glance at Maryal, either, because he did not want Kraggan to suspect that they were working together.

  Right before Kraggan's fists could hit Keo, Maryal suddenly shouted, “Move!”

  Without question, Keo jumped backwards. A look of confusion spread across Kraggan's face briefly before a sudden gust of wind exploded from the ground and sent him flying straight up into the sky. He flew high and fast, almost too fast for Keo's eyes to follow. The crowd gasped, their heads following Kraggan's procession as he flew higher and higher into the sky.

  And then, when Kraggan reached the height of his launch, he fell like a rock. Kraggan screamed as he fell, but his scream was cut off when he slammed into the street. Kraggan's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he stopped moving, though the rising and falling of his chest told Keo that the Magician had somehow survived the attack.

  Surprised, Keo looked down at Maryal. She was pointing her hand at Kraggan, but still looked as weak as ever.

  “Wow,” said Keo, looking at Kraggan again and then back at Maryal. “You took him out.”

  Maryal shrugged. “He didn't see it coming. Always been a flaw of his.”

  As for the crowd, they were all staring in utter bafflement and silence at the unconscious Kraggan. Even Yanar had finally stopped flirting with the Hasfarian lady and was looking at Kraggan like he wasn't sure if his eyes were working correctly or not.

  “What …” Yanar seemed to struggle to find words. “Huh?”

  As soon as Yanar spoke, the crowd started yelling obscenities at Keo and Maryal, their loud voices merging together in a confusion cacophony, making it impossible for Keo to tell what they were saying, though he caught the gist of it. Much of the crowd surged against the cord, as if to avenge Kraggan, but the Enforcers at the front of the crowd pushed them back, shouting orders at the people not to attack Keo or Maryal. Even so, Keo could tell that it was only a matter of time before the crowds broke past the Enforcers and lynched both Maryal and him.

  Keo looked down at Maryal again and said, “I'm sorry, but—”

  “Don't apologize,” Maryal cut him off. “Just help me to my feet and help me get out of here. You can apologize later.”

  Keo bit his lip, but nodded and bent over to help Maryal to her feet. She was rather light, but she still had to lean against Keo in order to stand. Keo kept Gildshine out, even though he wasn't sure it would be of much use against the angry mobs that the Enforcers were trying to keep away.

  “How do we get out of here?” said Keo, looking around but not seeing any possible escape routes, because the mobs had the streets packed on all sides. “Fight our way through the crowds?”

  Maryal shook her head. “No. Even with my magic and your obvious fighting ability, there's no way we could get far before the crowds killed us.”

  “What about your flying ability from earlier?” said Keo, glancing at her robes, which were still lying on the street where she had dropped them earlier. “Can't we fly away?”

  Maryal again shook her head. “Not so simple. First, I need my robes to catch the winds, but even if I had them, I'd have to carry you, and I've never glided with another person before, much less a full-grown man carrying a heavy magical sword.”

  Keo looked at Maryal in surprise. “How did you know Gildshine is magical?”

  “I'm a Magician,” said Maryal simply. “Anyway, the truth is that I couldn't fly us out of here, and even if I could, we wouldn't be able to go very far and the crowd would follow us to wherever we landed. It would be foolish.”

  “Well, I'm just as out of ideas as you are,” said Keo. “So unless a miracle happens—”

  Without warning, Dlaine appeared out of nowhere right next to Keo, like he had formed into existence on his own. “Keo! What the hell are you doing?”

  “Dlaine?” said Keo, staring at his friend in shock. “Where did you come from? And how did you get past the crowds?”

  “Jola can teleport,” said Dlaine dismissively. “Anyway, let's get you two out of here before the brave Enforcers get trampled to death by the people they're sworn to protect. Grab on.”

  Without question, Keo and Maryal grabbed Dlaine's outstretched arm. A second later the hot, dusty square and screaming angry crowds vanished and Keo
found himself standing in a room that he had never been in before.

  ***