Light streaming in through a small barred window of the wagon assaulted Benny's closed eyes. She threw an arm over her face and rolled from her side to her back. Radamar's arm was still around her, so she carefully adjusted it to a more comfortable position across her stomach.
Benny yawned and slowly opened her eyes. Juna sat against the wall beneath the window, a book of orcan poetry in his hands. He closed the book onto a wide blade of grass and whispered, “Why do you let him hold you like that?”
“He's my husband. I don't mind when he touches me.” Benny tilted her head to the side until her temple rested against Radamar's brow. “He's like me. We're both the type of people who need to be touched, almost crave it, and we've been deprived of physical contact for too long. It's not in a sexual or intimate way, just familiar and safe. It calms him. If I wasn't here, he'd likely have already become frustrated to the point of accidentally revealing himself as something other than what the Fae still think he is—a shy and silent Uldru who just happens to be masterful at polearm combat.”
Juna set the book aside and glanced at Mordegan, who quietly snored at the far end of the wagon. “It is sexual. I saw you two sneak behind the supply wagons so he could kneel to pleasure you.”
Benny shrugged within Radamar's embrace. “That's not the same kind of touch and what I do with him is none of your business.”
“It is if you are caught.” Juna scowled and tugged at his loose scarf. “They'll see he's an elf, and then all four of us are in trouble. You're reckless.”
“And you spent two hours yesterday trying to teach a teenage hedge warlock how to throw light bombs. Magic doesn't work that way. It's innate, and here on the surface there is a lot more than blue light and little magic. You can manipulate shadows or manifest blue light or command nature or a number of other specific things, but you can't combine them. One discipline per magic-skilled person, no more. Only thing that kid could have thrown is a shadow bolt, and the creation of a shadow bolt is nothing like creating light bombs. The only bomb a hedgelock can create is a suicidal shadow bomb, and he'd take out at least half the camp with him.” Benny yawned again. “Keep reading, Juna. I'm too tired to bother with waking.”
She slid away from Radamar, then rolled toward him. His eyes were open, but fatigued. He rubbed the tip of his nose across hers as she pulled the blanket over their heads and slipped an arm around him.
“Juna is loud,” Radamar whispered. “He's right. I need to keep my face covered at all times. I guess I took the goggles off in my sleep again.” His fingers worked their way through the tangled coils of her hair. “I don't think it will be too much longer. We must be nearly to the Azure border now.”
“Then maybe we can have some privacy,” Benny whispered.
Radamar drew a deep breath. “I know you're frustrated after so much time alone, but I don't think I can help you with that. I want to, not because I have any urges anymore but because I want you to feel pleasure, but I–”
“You're doing great.” Benny settled a gentle kiss on his lips and hugged him tighter. “We'll figure out what I can do for you once we aren't sharing a cage with my dad and his friend.”
“I don't want you to see what Ranalae did to me.”
“You've seen what she did to me.”
“That's different.” Radamar rested his forehead against hers. “I'm sorry, I'm not being dismissive. I'm just confused about who and what I am right now because everything feels different.”
“You're the father of my daughter. You know more about me than anyone else. I'm watching you climb out of the darkness of your previous life to become someone far better, and I love you for it,” Benny whispered.
“You do?” Radamar pulled his head away and looked at Benny with confusion in his dark eyes.
“Yeah, I do. I have no intent of pushing you away after our daughter is back with us. The three of us are a family. It's a small family and it will never number more than three, but it's ours and I want to make the most of it.”
“Is this the captivity speaking?” Radamar asked. Across the wagon, Mordegan loosed a loud snore, then mumbled an unintelligible stream of curses.
“No. This is me finally allowing myself to think about the future.”
The kiss Radamar gave her was full of lingering uncertainty. “I think you'll change your mind later, but thank you for giving me hope now. It has been a long time since I felt any.” Another kiss and he squeezed her tighter. “Thank you, Benny.”
“You finally called me Benny,” she said, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
“That's because I lo–”
The wagon jolted to a halt. A loud crash rattled the bars, followed by a great roar from the coaxi.
Benny threw the blanket off their heads and sat upright.
“Now what in the sarding globpiss...” Mordegan mumbled. He opened his eyes and stared at the window. “Sarding gods damned Fae.”
Juna stood on his toes to peek through the bars. “Elves.”
“Of course it's sarding elves. What the cocksnap else would it be?”
Juna turned around, then braced himself against the wall as the wagon lurched sideways. “What is a 'cocksnap'?”
Radamar shrugged and tucked his scarf into his hood. “I have no idea. I don't speak Mordeganish. It seems we've woken to another battle. Anyone happen to have a spare weapon?”
“They took them all from us,” Juna growled. “Benny taught me battle magic. You two will fight with your hands if it comes to it.”
Mordegan crept across the wagon and placed a knife in Radamar's hand. “Here. You might need this. Stole it from the camp cook's kit.”
“Do you have something for yourself?” Radamar asked.
Mordegan shook his head and laughed. “Nightshadow, I've been stockpiling stolen weapons since they took our good ones from us.” He raised his pant legs, revealing a rag-wrapped carving knife strapped to each calf. “Nothing good, unfortunately, and my armory's only got four dinky blades and a bent razor star, but you've gotta make do with what you can get.”
Radamar wrapped a torn strip of fabric around the knife blade and tucked it up his sleeve. It clicked against his binding shackle.
Without warning, he shoved Benny to the ground. An arrow sailed between the window bars, over their chests, and landed with a sharp twang a finger breadth from Radamar's hip. Thuds splattered the side of the wagon as arrows penetrated the wood. Screams and the stench of burning flesh drifted through the humid air.
“I think now would be a good time to magic us out of here, Benny-girl,” Mordegan said as he scurried to the locked door. “Patience is over. I don't know where we are, but it's close enough. Time to stop pretending these Fae have truly got us prisoner and run.”
Benny hoisted her rucksack onto her shoulders. She felt stronger now than she had before the Fae capture, but she knew she wouldn't be able to run as fast as the other three. “Where's your sword, Dad?”
“Armory wagon, I'm guessing.” He grabbed the wall as a boom cracked the wagon's axles. “Shit. Break it, Benny. Now.”
Blue light rose from Benny's hands. She bent into a lunge to brace herself against the shuddering of the wagon, then pushed her hands forward. Lightning exploded from her fingertips, splintering the wood wall and throwing the door into a trio of charging elves.
“You could've done that any time you wanted, couldn't you?” Mordegan asked as he flipped the handle of a small cleaver into his palm.
“Yep. Didn't see any reason until now. They were taking us where we needed to go.”
Blood spray arced across Benny's peripheral vision as she climbed out of the wagon. The three elves, already injured by the flying door, writhed beneath Cass's battle axe.
“Shit...” Mordegan muttered.
Cass wiped a streak of blood across the bridge of her nose and grinned at him. “Sarding mages. Tell you what, Mordy . . . we're on the edge of the Azure. You four have been useful and have earned your passage, so I'll let you
go. You've gotta fight your way out, though.”
Mordegan threw his cleaver past Cass's shoulder, striking an attacking elf between the eyes.
Cass stood on the elf's chest to rip out the cleaver, then tossed it at Mordegan's feet. “See, now I owe you for saving my life. Get the sard out of here, Mordegan. Good luck. And stay away from the cities if you know what's good for you.”
Arrows exploded as Juna and Benny simultaneously struck them with blue lightning. This was a new spell for Juna, but he handled it masterfully.
Benny crowded Radamar and Mordegan so they were caught between her and Juna. “Stay between us until we get you some proper weapons. Juna, remember that light shield spell I taught you? Now's a good time to toss it up.”
The world glowed a sickening shade of periwinkle as both mages conjured a protective shield. Arrows ricocheted off the bubble and planted in wagon walls and corpses.
“Left!” Mordegan shouted over a coaxi roar. Benny could see the animal’s hindquarters at the edge of a mangrove forest. It backed up one long, thundering step at a time. Something was attacking it but she couldn't see what. It had to be of significant size to cause that sort of retreat.
The mages pushed to the left and an armory wagon came into view. Half of it was on fire.
“Shit. Can you two magic that?” Mordegan asked. He grabbed Radamar's arm and yanked him downward as a spear clunked off the shield above his head. “Sorry, Nightshadow. Reflexes. You mages got a spell to put out fires?”
“I know of no such thing,” Juna said.
Benny leaned to the left. She opened a hole in the shield and threw out a lightning bolt to intercept a charging elf, then resealed the hole and kept moving toward the fire. “I can take care of this. Juna, hold the shield.”
She stepped out of the shield and into the raging battle. The bodies of maimed and dead elves and horses littered the path to the burning armory wagon. Benny only saw one Fae down, but his injuries didn't look to be fatal. At least at this point of the battle, it was clear the elves were on the losing side.
The coaxi's roar was answered by a louder, higher-pitched one. Benny avoided an arrow, then turned her head to see where the noise came from.
Black wings soared low over the mangroves.
Battle dragons.
Benny swirled her wrists, drawing up small, lightning-laced blue vortexes. What were Anthoran battle dragons doing this far south?
There was no time to think about it.
Benny braced herself, then threw the vortexes forward. They rippled and grew as they flew closer to the flames. She stopped them just short, then led them in a circular dance around the wagon. Fire was sucked into blue as they spun, and five laps found Benny looking upon a charred wagon smoking between a pair of fire tornadoes.
The blast of an elven war trumpet gave her a new target. She drew back her arms and the cyclones spun toward a line of archers. She didn't have time to watch the infernos find their mark. The weapons were her only priority.
The other three ran past her and into the only intact segment of the armory wagon. Juna dropped his shield, so Benny replaced it with one large enough to protect them during their search. She jabbed her fingers upward to vent the bubble before the smoke overwhelmed them.
“Nightshadow, here,” Mordegan said. He tossed Radamar's polearm to him, then crouched over a sword rack. “Shit. Can't find my shit.”
Juna held up a curved blade. “I'm taking this one.”
“That's a damned Fae dagger. Fits you like a shortsword.”
“I know. I like it.”
“Yeah, it's plenty sexy. Keep it.”
Radamar set a dagger with a leaf-shaped blade against Benny's hand. “I know you don't need it, but I think you should be armed.”
She nodded and accepted both the dagger and the scabbard. “I don't know how long my adrenaline will hold. Once it falls, so will I. We need to get out of this fight. Now.”
“Sard it all, I'm taking this beauty,” Mordegan said, holding up a double-bladed battle axe. “Let's go.”
Lightning cracking and blades clanging, they made their way through the storm of the battle. The ground was soft underfoot and the odor of bog water mingled with that of blood.
Just keep going, keep going. Benny threw up another shield to block Mordegan from an arrow volley. A single arrow made it through and plunged into the loam. Her strength was waning.
“Eat this.” Radamar popped something sweet and chewy into her mouth before spinning off to fend off a line of infantry.
Benny felt her strength rise with each chew. The dried fruit was the first thing she'd eaten since waking, and she was never able to summon her full power if she was hungry. Radamar knew this. In their previous life together, he'd often recognized her weakening before she did.
She raised her arms, scattering lightning above her head like the branches of a tree. She dropped her hands to the sides and the lightning rose, then arced downward into a dome. Everything it struck exploded. Elves and Fae alike screamed as shrapnel rained upon them.
“Shit, Benny. Now you've made both sides mad.” Mordegan spun a quick circle.
Benny shook her head and restored her protective shield. “Too many wagons and tents. See the other lightning bursts? Those aren't mine. They won't know this one came from me.”
Radamar stared into the distance, then adjusted his polearm. He wasn't as strong as he used to be, and the weight of the weapon was already wearing on him. “Follow me. I have an idea.”
“Is it gonna get us killed?” Mordegan asked.
“Maybe. See that cluster of fallen trees? There isn't anyone fighting in that direction right now. Run for it. Mages, keep your shield up, but no more lightning. If you have to fight, use a wall push or a weapon.”
“Why would you go and ask for something like that?”
“Because I don't want anyone chasing the blue magic. Now, run.”
Benny jumped over a broken shield and followed Radamar on his path toward the forest. Dragons shrieked, and she looked to the right to count them. Six. Six black battle dragons and their six armored riders swarmed the snapping coaxi. A ball of acidic saliva hissed through the air, and now there were five.
Radamar ducked between the branches of the fallen trees. He reached back to pull Benny into the shade while Mordegan and Juna found their own way into the hollow. He set his polearm to the side and yanked off his hood and goggles.
“What in the cockfestering hell are you doing?” Mordegan asked, panting.
Radamar angled his head toward the coaxi. “They're all fighting over there and in the camp. But look that way.” He pointed toward a ripple of green and bronze fabric between the trees. “Those are Agate Realm flags. The mire elf leadership is busy enjoying tea in the swamp while their underlings fight for them.”
“And?”
“And I'm a highborn elf. We're switching sides.”
“Damn it, Nightshadow. This isn't how war works.”
Radamar smirked as he pinned Benny's hair behind her ears. “It is when you're caught in the middle of a fight that doesn't belong to you. Benny, don't hide your ears. Mordegan, don't hide your face. You don't want them thinking you're an undersized Fae. Juna . . . considering your size, I don't think they'll mistake you for anything they don't like. You're dressed somewhat like a desert elf, so we'll go with that.”
Benny's heart thundered in time with stomping coaxi feet. Her strength was plummeting again. “I already gave more energy than I have. This is one time we don't need to keep fighting. All we have to do is run away.”
Mordegan sighed and tapped the handle of his axe against his palm. “All right, Nightshadow. We'll try it your way so maybe no one will chase us. I hope you've got a story to tell them.”
“I think I do.” Radamar nodded, then stood up and took Benny's hand. “I am traveling to the Azure Realm with my wife, my father-in-law, and my brother Ralandar. I had an older brother named Ralandar until recently, so if anyone happens to b
e familiar with my family it shouldn't be questioned. Benny knows my family tree so she can also answer any questions on the subject. I'll tell them the truth, that we were captured and escaped. We won't tell them we killed a couple dozen of their fighters. If they ask about our weapons, we also tell them the truth, that we stole them from the armory wagon during the chaos.”
“Yeah, that might work. You're smart, I'll give you that,” Mordegan said with a shrug. He shuddered as a shrieking dragon flew overhead. “Let's give it a go.”
Fae war drums beat a driving cadence as another battle dragon fell from the sky. Panicked elven archers ran by the copse to set up a new line of defense. They already knew they were on the losing side of this battle. The larger, stronger Fae outnumbered them two to one, and that disparity was growing larger with each elven squadron the Fae slaughtered.
“Stay with me, Benny.” Radamar held Benny's hand and led her toward the flags. The ground here squished beneath her feet as the loam transitioned to peat. The marshes of the Bacran Lower Southeast were a hostile refuge for predators and vermin even before the war arrived, and Benny hoped they would make it to the other side of the wetlands without being eaten or murdered.
Radamar was right about the elven leadership. They were crowded around a portable war table, sharing a pot of tea and a plate of scones. Their hands jumped to the jeweled hilts of their swords as they caught sight of the quartet emerging from the trees. Angry, dark eyes peered out from brown faces.
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