by Isabo Kelly
The rest… He’d worry about that some other time.
They compromised between getting back to the Sinnale quickly and the dangers of moving through Sorcerer territory in the day by leaving late in the afternoon. The information they’d both gathered proved true. The streets were deserted of everyone but servants and those kept their heads down, moving about their tasks hurriedly. Althir could practically feel the nervous tension in the air. Mina had been right, the servants were worried.
The battle probably wasn’t going well for the Sorcerers. The satisfaction that gave him was mitigated by the fact that Ulric had probably provided the battle plan. But he had no doubt the plan came out of information he’d provided. Even if Ulric ended up the celebrated hero and people still considered Althir a traitor, he’d know he’d done more to end the war for Mina’s people than his bloody brother.
Full darkness meant he and Mina could move faster through the streets, so when the gas lamps started to light, they increased their pace, circling around areas most frequently used by servants. The journey took them most of the night, but before dawn started to light the sky, they’d made their way unhindered to within hearing distance of the battle.
The sounds of the clashing, the cries of the wounded or dying, were faint echoes on the wind, but Althir heard them clearly enough. Even Mina, with her human hearing, caught the distant noise.
“Do we risk getting closer?” she murmured.
They stood on a dark side street, tucked into the shadows, her arm pressing against his as they spoke. The contact warmed him.
“We need to see what’s happening so we can plan a way through,” she said.
He agreed. But the sun would be coming up soon, making it infinitely harder to sneak through the chaos of the fighting.
“They’re only five, maybe six blocks in front of us. Do you know anywhere in the area we can post ourselves to watch without being spotted? Remember, the Sorcerers will be using rooftops to monitor the battle as well. Though some of them will be there as a projection only, not in reality.”
She pressed her lips together as she thought. While he’d spent months in this territory, he hadn’t been here to hide from anyone, so convenient places to remain unseen hadn’t been high on his list of information to collect. This was her specialty.
Finally, she nodded. “If we head parallel to the fight, about six blocks that way and two down is a building high enough to give us a vantage while still inside. Even if the Sorcerers are using it, they’ll be on the roof.”
“Dangerous,” he muttered.
“It’s all I can think of. Every other building in this area is too low. We either cross the breadth of the city, or we move to the very edge of the fighting. Even then, we’ll likely only see a few blocks around the immediate area. But it’s the best we can do.”
“Moving too far across the city will take time.” He flexed his fists. “Fine. We’ll check the building. If it’s being used as a strategic monitoring point for the enemy, we leave it and move farther south. I won’t risk you being discovered.” He looked down at the side of her face, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze.
“I’ll agree to that. But here…” She pulled one of her short swords from the scabbard at her hip. “Your arrows won’t help us in close combat.”
He’d left the human-made sword behind in the List chamber after their confrontation with the Sorcerer. The weapon had been damaged during his fight with the guards at any rate and wasn’t much use to him. He’d intended to get another sword off a dead body as they moved through the battle. Her offer, freely given, of a sword she now knew to be valuable, humbled him.
“Thank you.” His fingers brushed hers as he took the offered weapon and she glanced up, fleetingly. Her dark eyes were serious and fathomless in the faint glow from the nearest gas lamp. “I’ll return it once we’re safe,” he promised.
She nodded, her smile forced, and then she looked back at the empty street. “We need to move now. In case my people manage to push farther in and we get overrun by the fighting.”
She adjusted the straps of the backpack they’d found in her former home, a habit she’d fallen into as they traveled. The pack carried the List vessel. He’d wanted to take it himself, but she’d pointed out that he carried his weapons over his back. He wouldn’t be able to do that and carry the pack at the same time. Reluctantly, he let her take up the duty, but it rubbed him wrong that she was so vulnerable. She’d be the one to suffer if they were caught and she had the List in her possession.
“The pack is secure?” he asked because she was still fidgeting with the straps.
“It’s fine. I’m ready when you are.”
“Lead the way.”
She hurried through the lit cross street, and they ducked back down a dark side road. With the battle so close and the possibility of running into minions high, they moved more cautiously over the last few blocks. By the time they reached their destination, the sunrise had turned the eastern horizon pink.
Althir pressed her back against a wall out of sight and studied the six-story structure for a long time as the area grew lighter and lighter.
“Althir, we need to get inside soon,” she whispered, rising up on her toes to speak near his ear. “It’s getting too bright.”
He didn’t answer immediately but kept his focus on the building, on the rooftop, his senses stretched to hear any telltale noise of occupation. Finally, silently, he motioned her forward and they hurried in through the front door.
Once in, however, he held her back near the doorway, listening more intently for any sounds coming from inside. He could hear the battle better now, since they were closer to the center of the fighting, but he blocked out that noise as he concentrated on their immediate surroundings.
The main floor was a huge, open area that had probably once been either an indoor market or a storage area. Above their heads, a gallery walkway circled the main floor, making for a truncated second level. To his left, the stairs that led to the gallery, seemed to continue up into the darkness of the third floor.
Against her ear, he said, “Do you know this building? The upper floors?”
She nodded and turned to speak into his ear. He worked hard not to be distracted by the hot brush of her breath against his sensitive lobes.
“The stairs to the left lead all the way to the top floor. There’s another set at the back of this floor that will take us to the very top. The rest lead to the gallery and we’ll have to walk along it to reach a set of stairs going higher.”
He was reluctant to take the nearest set of stairs because anyone coming in and out of the building would take that more direct route. Even the stairs to the rear, with their direct path up, were too dangerous. “How open is the gallery? Will we be very exposed if we have to use it to get to a second stairway?”
“It’s pretty open, not a lot of nooks to hide in. If anyone is here and they stick to the direct stairs, though, they won’t likely see us.”
“The better option then.” He pointed to a stairway to their right, farther away than the one to their left. She nodded and they edged toward it, sticking close to the outer wall.
Once they reached the stairs, Althir went up first, sword in hand. Mina followed with her sword also drawn, watching their backs. The gallery was as she described, mainly an open walkway, though a handful of doors were visible. The doors were widely spaced, so unless they were right next to one, they wouldn’t provide much cover.
The wooden floor was fortunately silent underfoot, no telltale creaking, but if they weren’t careful, even light footsteps might be heard. And getting too close to the outer railing would make them visible to the first floor as well as from every point along the gallery.
He headed toward the nearest set of stairs going up, on alert to movement and noise. So far, the building sounded empty, but he didn’t trust that silence. When they made the stairs without incident, he heard Mina let out a soft breath. He wasn’t nearly as relieved. They had four
more floors to cover.
The third level consisted of corridors and closed doors, but the next set of stairs was closer and he hurried up, not trusting all those closed doors. The two floors above that were much the same. On the fifth, they had to walk almost to the back of the building before finding another stairwell. Althir’s nerves were stretched tight by the time they reached those stairs, and his ears were ringing from listening so hard.
For all the battles he’d been in, all the sneaking around he’d done trying to find proof the Sorcerers intended to invade Glengowyn, he’d never felt the tension quite this acutely. Having Mina at his back raised the risks beyond anything he’d had to face before. His every instinct screamed to get her out of this building and take her to the forest where she’d be safe.
But getting there wouldn’t be any easier than crossing through the battle. The knowledge didn’t help him relax.
On the top floor, a single corridor circled the building, with doors branching off toward the interior and exterior. They followed the route until they were at the side of the building facing the battle, and then, after much hesitation and listening at doors, they slipped inside a room that would give them a view of the fighting.
Once the door clicked closed behind them, Mina’s sigh was more loudly audible.
“Don’t relax yet,” he warned. “We could get cornered here if someone discovers us.”
“At least we’re not so exposed.” She took up a spot to one side of a window and studied the city beyond.
She’d been right. They were two stories higher than the highest nearby building. The view gave them a vantage over several blocks. The roof would have been better but also infinitely more exposed. Outside, the sun was high enough to fill the streets with light and morning shadows. Under that soft pink glow, he could see pockets of fighting in the streets below.
As he’d worried, the fighting was moving deeper into Sorcerer territory, the Sinnale pushing them back, forcing them to retreat. While that was good for the war effort, it meant they’d been dangerously close to getting caught up in the chaos before they were ready.
Mina, however, only saw the progress her people were making. “They’re much deeper than ever before,” she murmured, her tone filled with satisfaction. “They’re winning.”
“The Sorcerers are likely strained between the knowledge of the missing List and the heavy surge. I’d bet Ulric planned this.”
“Why?”
“Because attacking while we’re stealing their most valuable possession is strategically brilliant. Their attention is divided, their level of worry high, and after knowing them, I’d bet their infighting and arguing has grown worse. It’s hard to plan an effective defense under those conditions. Just the kind of thing Ulric would take advantage of.”
Mina glanced at him and her direct focus pulled his attention to her. She was looking at him with a strange expression.
“I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you speak of your brother without bitterness or resentment. Not even sarcasm.”
He scowled and turned back toward monitoring the streets. “Even I can give him his due,” he grumbled. “Sometimes. And if nothing else, the bastard is a brilliant tactician. That’s his magic.”
His scowl deepened when she chuckled.
“I think maybe you like Ulric more than you let on,” she said.
“I absolutely do not. Especially since he would have killed me.”
“Why did he threaten to kill you? You never said. Just because you were a traitor?”
He felt his skin heating at the memory, a mixture of anger, embarrassment and resentment. “I might have been…taunting him. About Layla. He deserved it. But I didn’t realize how he felt about her, or that he’d take me so seriously. Never has before.”
Althir felt her studying him but this time didn’t look at her. He’d admitted enough humiliations to her. He didn’t need to know what she thought of him for this one.
“My brother used to dig at me too,” she said quietly. “Used to infuriate me—just for the fun of it sometimes. We fought a lot before the war. And once or twice, I might have goaded him in front of a woman he’d fancied himself in love with. I wasn’t always a very nice little sister.”
Her admission surprised him and softened his mood. There was humor and regret in her tone. He knew a lot about that latter emotion.
“Brothers,” he snorted in disgust, a gesture that earned him a soft laugh.
They watched the fighting for hours, gauging its ebb and flow.
“The defenses seem to be holding where they are,” he murmured, rolling his shoulders to loosen muscles.
“Damn. If they could push the fighting farther this way, they might even move past us and we could slip into the ranks of our own army.”
He didn’t correct her assumption that the winning army was “theirs”, but he doubted the Sinnale would claim him so willingly. “That might have worked against us if the enemy decided to bring the fight inside this building.”
He’d observed several of the separate skirmishes moving inside as minion patrols tried to take cover from the exploding arrows being loosed on them. He watched the destruction arising from his cousin Nuala’s specially designed weapon, something only she could do, and felt a sense of familial pride he rarely experienced. But the shrapnel-carrying arrow bombs were another very dangerous impediment to them getting through enemy lines. Those arrows killed indiscriminately and at a distance. Everyone within the circumference of their landing spot ended up shredded.
“The new arrows are really helping us,” Mina murmured, her comment echoing his train of thought. “But they’re going to make it harder for us, aren’t they?”
He grunted. “Our best option will be to stick close to the buildings. If it weren’t for the Sorcerers, I’d suggest roof-hopping. We’d reach your people quicker and stay above the majority of the fighting.”
There were only a few fights that he could see taking place on the rooftops. There might be more of those farther back where the Sinnale archers were heavily clustered, but in their immediate vicinity, rooftop skirmishes were rare.
Unfortunately, he’d spotted at least four Sorcerers throughout the day, each from a rooftop vantage. Too many to risk a rooftop run.
“Are any of the Sorcerers we’re seeing the ones that aren’t really here?” Mina asked. “The ones sending their souls out? Can you tell at a distance?”
“I can’t tell. They can appear very real, even up close. We wouldn’t know the difference until we were right on top of them and then it’d be too late.”
“Damn.” She was quiet for a few minutes before saying, “Do you think they realize you had a part in the theft of the List?”
“Oh, I have no doubt they suspect me. Talliah was expecting me in the List chamber. She figured out what I was after first but wouldn’t have been the only one suspicious of why I’d returned to their territory.”
“So one of them seeing you, or one of the traitors spotting you, is likely to cause us even more trouble than if we were just random enemies.”
She wasn’t asking a question. They both knew his notoriety worked against them.
“I could always draw their attention away,” he muttered as he considered their options. “Take one route, purposefully draw them off, giving you a way through the lines with less difficulty.”
“No,” she said firmly. “That plan isn’t any better than the Glengowyn plan. Besides, if they catch you, they’ll torture you.”
“True.” But they would have done that even if he hadn’t stolen the List. He wasn’t sure why that was her objection.
“You know why the Sinnale need the List. They’ll make you tell them.”
Ah. “You’re afraid I’ll give under the torture.” For some reason, her very practical logic irritated the hell out of him. “Think I can’t keep my mouth shut, huh?”
“That’s not it. But under torture—”
He glared at her, stopping her in midsen
tence. “I’ll take my knowledge into the afterlife with me, Mina. No need to worry about that.”
“Althir, I didn’t mean…”
He turned away. “If we wait for a break in the skirmishes, while they’re still working out a way to beat the Sinnale back, I can distract them before the shrapnel arrows start falling again. That’ll give you an even better opportunity to slip through.”
To his surprise, she actually stomped her foot.
“No! You are not setting yourself up as a sacrifice. I won’t allow it. We stick together and get back to safety together.”
He didn’t look at her, but the venom in her voice eased a little of his irritation. Still… His plan would give her the best chance.
“Althir,” she growled. “If you try to do this anyway, I will follow you and stick to your side. Do you understand me? If they take you, they’ll take me too.”
“Mina, don’t be an idiot. This might be the only chance to get that List to your people.”
“We have other options. The sun will set in a few more hours. We’ll take our chances then. Fight our way through if we have to. Avoid the elves and Sorcerers as much as we can and stick to fighting the minions. We just have to make contact with the Sinnale army and we’ll be okay.”
He shook his head. “Not that simple. Not with an elf in tow.”
“You’re as notoriously well known to my people as you are to the Sorcerers. They’ll recognize you too. And I have no doubt the word has been spread that if I come through the ranks with you, I’m to be let past.”
“What if they think it’s a trick? That we’re actually disguised minions or under an elf glamour to look like…us?”