by Lizzy Ford
What? She needed the key first. Or she would have to kidnap Henli and take him with her. By the looks of him, it would not be hard, if not for his force of several dozen men.
The tradesman turned away, satisfied he had cornered her. He pointed to a pallet near the trunks. “That area is yours,” he said. He motioned to Keni next, who leveled a look on her before disappearing out of the tent.
Sela sat down to plot. If she could not fight, and Tieran was disabled, who was there to help her? Another kingdom’s party, waiting to capture her without any concern about the magic that might tear Tieran apart?
In the end, she could think of one person who would always come to her aid – if she could alert him.
She stretched out on the pallet, worried about Tieran bleeding out in a cage.
Somehow, Sela slept. She awoke sometime before dawn to a quiet, dark tent. Henli’s snoring assured her he continued to slumber. She sensed no one else in the tent, and the world outside it was likewise quiet. Light from the bonfire seeped through the tent walls.
She sat and looked around. The Sorcerer had watched her on many occasions without her knowing it.
“Are you here?” she whispered into the darkness.
No answer.
“If you are, I will grant you a favor.”
She held her breath and waited.
“What would you do, if I weren’t watching?” His voice was faint. The Sorcerer materialized in front of her.
“Why are you always watching me at all?” she retorted.
“What do you want, mage?”
“For you to send a message.”
“In exchange for what?”
She considered. Having control over the fate of his navy and sea trade guaranteed he would answer her whenever she beckoned him.
“I will not pull your palace into the sea when I journey to your kingdom,” she said finally.
“How do you know my palace is near a sea at all?” he replied, annoyance in his tone.
“You’ve made no attempt to claim it’s not,” she reasoned. “If not the sea, some large body of water must be near, or you would have told me otherwise either time I made the threat.”
“You are wearing on my patience and good will.”
“And you claim to be desperate.”
The mirage vanished. She waited, uncertain if any man could be desperate enough to bargain with her when she offered so little. He reappeared, and she released the breath she was holding.
“Very well,” he said grudgingly. “But this is the last favor. I am not accustomed to being at anyone’s beck and call.”
Sela ignored him, not caring if he were offended. “I need for you to take a message to my father. Tell him where I am and that I need his help.”
“Your father. He could never reach you in time.”
“With the help of his wind mages, he might make it in two or three days. He’s my only hope.”
The mirage disappeared once more. She sensed he was not returning this time, if ever before he needed her.
The noble’s snoring stopped. She gazed into the darkness in his direction and tugged at the cuff around her forearm. Keni had the key, and she knew nothing of where he was in the camp. If she were to find him, how would she remove the key without him knowing?
Despair scattered her thoughts when she considered it was not possible to save herself or Tieran before her father reached her. He would always come. Of this, she had no doubt. He would move the ocean for her, but his greatest efforts would not matter, if she were to set foot in Masu first.
She tugged at the cuff. It was solid and radiated faint magic. The lock had disappeared once the key was removed, making it impossible to force open or pick.
Sela lay down once more, restless and worried. Just as she was about to drift off, a shout came from outside the tent.
Henli bolted to his feet. Sela sat up, listening. Yelling and movement came from outside the tent.
Keni flung open the tent door. “We must leave. Now!” he called.
“What is it?” Henli asked.
“Iliun. I told you we were too close to their kingdom!”
The tradesman muttered a curse. Keni dropped the tent’s entrance and disappeared. Sela climbed to her feet. While she hoped Lord Winlin was leading the attack, she doubted he had time to reach them. She had sent him as far from the beach where she and Tieran washed ashore as possible.
Which left his brother, Qinlin, who she cared for even less than the tradesman in the tent with her.
“Mage!” Henli snapped. “Awaken!”
“I heard,” she said. “I am ready to leave.”
The sound of him rustling around told her he had not yet adapted to life in the Inlands, where one had to be ready to fight or flee at a moment’s notice. She ventured to the tent’s opening, concerned about Tieran, and peered out.
Keni’s men were scrambling around the encampment, readying horses and preparing gear. Her eyes fell to Tieran. His cage was being loaded up onto a wagon. He appeared pale beneath his golden tan, and unsteady on his feet.
A lump rose in her throat. If he died, it was her fault. She had brought this fate upon him without knowing the price either of them would pay. She could not bear the idea he might die here, where she was helpless.
She found Keni with her eyes and studied him, seeking any kind of vulnerability that might give her an opportunity to grab the key. The soldier was on edge and moved with discipline and a sharpness she did not think she could outmaneuver. Doubting she could catch him off guard, she found herself back where she started: trying to figure out how to free Tieran and escape before they reached the channel.
Henli pushed her out of the tent. “What I would give for a servant,” he muttered, wrestling with his sword belt.
Sela shook her head. Early on in her life, she had been similar – unable to dress or bathe herself without the help of a servant or two. Karav had retrained her over their seasons together. He spoiled her in his own way without allowing her to fall into the typical pattern of the nobles.
After watching the coddled, oblivious tradesman struggle to fasten his belt, she sighed.
“You have it on wrong,” she said and reached out to take the ends of the belt. She pulled it free, untwisted it, and strung on the scabbard as Karav had taught her.
Henli eyed her. “I cannot bear these Inlands. How can the daughter of a prince survive here?”
She shrugged. She had thought the same when she first arrived, and up until Karav’s death. In fact, she was not certain what changed her mind.
Tieran. Perhaps it was not the Inlands she had accepted but the wild warrior who loved them.
She replaced the belt around the noble’s waist and fastened it. “Can you use a sword at all?” she asked.
“Not well enough to satisfy Keni,” he replied. “If someone nears me, I can stab him, but I don’t fight willingly.”
She hid a smile and stepped away.
Several men on horseback pounded to the south while the wagon with Tieran’s cage headed north.
“There is a lake to the northeast,” she said, thoughts on the underground channel. “Lord Qinlin’s army is much larger than this, but with a lake, I can wipe them out.”
“Why would I listen to you?”
“Because you have Tieran,” she replied softly. “He is more than my guardian. I would not risk his life.” The words were true, even if she had no intention of helping these people.
Henli was quiet for a moment before striding forward. He bellowed for Keni.
Sela remained where she was. The two exchanged words. Keni glanced towards her with a frown. Initially, he shook his head but by the end of the discussion, he stormed away unhappily. Sela understood this to mean the tradesman had won the discussion despite Keni’s accurate misgivings.
They were brought horses. Henli took her reins and started northeast, leading her away from the tent and bonfire.
Sela held back the gleeful shout she wanted t
o give knowing they were headed back towards Tieran’s land. Her excitement lasted until she began to realize she had no plan for reaching the catacombs, even if they passed within a horse length of the door. She could not risk Tieran being hurt worse by leaving on her own. If she escaped, it would have to be with the noble or the key.
She had a better chance facing Henli than his master-at-arms.
Fortunately, she experienced her first real piece of luck since entering the landlocked Inlands. A man on horseback barreled up the hill, passed her, and pulled his horse to a halt beside the tradesman.
“My lord!” he exclaimed. “Keni recommends fleeing quickly. He will join you when possible.”
Dozens of men bearing Iliu red spilled over the hills into the small valley in which Keni and his men awaited them. Unless he had a plan, Keni and his soldiers would quickly be overwhelmed.
Henli was observing the attack, concerned.
“You do not want to cross paths with Lord Qinlin,” Sela advised. “He leaves no one alive. He tried to murder his own brother, who traveled with me before.”
The tradesman glanced towards the warrior, who made no attempt to refute her exaggerated claim.
“Very well,” he said. He started forward, tugging her horse with him.
The wagon carting Tieran’s cage had already disappeared beyond the next hill. Flanked by two soldiers, Henli galloped forward, towing her away from the battle raging in the valley behind them.
Sela glanced over her shoulder several times, dreading the appearance of Lord Qinlin’s men more than she did journeying with the ignorant noble ahead of her. If what Lord Winlin had said of his brother were true, she did not want to risk falling under his control again.
They reached the next hill, circled it and slowed.
“My lord –” One of his Henli’s objected.
“Unless you know your way around the Inlands, we will wait!” the tradesman snapped. “I cannot tell north from west here!”
Sela coughed to cover her laugh.
The wagon bearing Tieran disappeared around another hill. Frustrated she was close to neither the key nor her guardian, she stared in the direction of Keni and the key. Too much time passed without any of Keni’s men cresting the hill. The sounds of battle reached them across the savannah, and her dread grew heavier.
“I know where we can hide,” she said at last. “It’s close to here.”
“I don’t trust you, mage.”
“Then as soon as we arrive, you can send one of your guards to tell Keni where we are,” she retorted. “It’s on our path, and it’s hidden. The Iliuns will never know where we are.”
Henli hesitated. His eyes were on the hill from the direction they had come.
A warrior in red appeared over the hill, followed by a second.
“If we ride now, we’ll reach it in time to hide,” Sela urged, aware she had a better chance with this man than Lord Qinlin. “My fate is tied to yours.” She lifted the arm with the cuff. “I have no reason to mislead you.”
Henli’s jaw was clenched, his focus on the riders headed towards them. “Very well. What direction?”
She pointed towards Tieran’s home and the hill concealing the catacombs.
The four of them bolted in the direction she indicated. Soon after, they were spotted by the men cresting the hill, who gave pursuit. They were far enough behind for hills to conceal Sela’s party, though not for long.
The group of trees beside Tieran’s burnt out village came into view a breath after she felt the stirring of the ocean in her blood. Sela sought out the sacred hill.
“There!” she cried, pointing. “Behind the hill!”
Her party changed course and circled the hill, slowing as they did so.
“There’s nothing here,” Henli said, anger in his voice.
Sela leapt off the horse and went to the door of the catacombs. Adrenaline raced through her, heightening the presence of water magic in her blood. She braced her legs against the hill and tugged at the door.
One of the warriors dismounted. He pushed her aside and wrenched the secret entrance to the catacombs open.
Henli slid off his horse, peering into the gaping hole uneasily.
Sela waited behind him. When he made no move to enter, she shoved him through the door. “This is our only chance!” she snapped, following him. “There is nowhere else within leagues of here to hide.”
Henli caught his balance and glared at her. He motioned to one of the men. “Take the message to Keni of where we are.”
The soldier bolted away.
Sela took the tradesman’s arm and tugged him with her.
“Where does this go?” he asked, resisting.
“Beneath the ground.” She said with a shrug. “I haven’t explored it all. But we’ll be safer the deeper we go.”
“Bring the horses in,” Henli ordered the remaining guard. He went with her, and she released him.
She ventured far enough for them to fit all three horses into the catacombs. After a moment, her eyes adjusted to the dim glow of moss.
The smell of the ocean was faint, and magic touched her blood.
“There’s no lock on this side,” the guard said.
“I doubt they were concerned about anyone escaping,” the tradesman answered, his eyes on the crypt beside him.
“Come away from the door,” Sela said and walked forward, down the sloping path. “We can search for an escape route.”
“Stay here,” Henli directed the guard. “Alert us if anyone discovers us.”
Sela walked with barely held impatience, senses outstretched and thoughts on the secret revealed by the Sorcerer from a distant land. Her step slowed when she crossed the path of the first water mage. If what the Sorcerer said was true, then perhaps it made sense for there to be water mages in the landlocked Inlands. Would ancient mages have heard the ocean beckoning them to this place? Was that why Tieran’s family had settled here hundreds, if not thousands, of seasons before?
Whenever she thought of her guardian, her throat tightened, and she wanted to run after him.
Sela cleared her mind of Tieran. If she did not discover the weak point in the fault, neither of them had a chance of living through the tumult in the Inlands. She recalled the story the lake had revealed to her, on the night Tieran bonded them, about there having been an ocean in the Inlands long ago.
It had to be talking about the same events the Sorcerer revealed, the convergence of the two islands.
Deep in thought, she did not know how far she had gone, until the dead end appeared in front of her.
“How do we escape?” Henli asked in annoyance.
“It cannot just end,” she said. Sela approached the wall and placed her palms against it as she had earlier.
There was water on the other side. A channel, the Sorcerer had called it. The shallow point between the two islands that had collided.
“How did you find this place?” the noble asked.
“This land and crypt belong to my guardian’s clan.” She focused on the cool magic. If she had any hope of accessing it, she needed the wall gone. “He’s the last in his line.”
“These Inlanders must be ancient people.” The noble was peering into one of the crypts.
She glanced at him and then back.
“What are you doing?” he asked, facing her.
“There’s a door here, a second way out in case they find us,” she lied. “I think it’s locked by ancient magic.”
“Older than the magic in your bond?”
Sela lifted her arm and pressed the metal to the wall. To her delight, the vibration she felt on the other side of the wall grew stronger, answering the magic in the cuff.
“Where is this door?” Henli pressed his hands to the wall and pushed.
“It’s there.” She closed her eyes and concentrated hard on connecting to the source of water beyond. Was the channel tiny, or far beneath the surface? Did it contain enough magic to help her?
A shout of warning came from the direction of the door.
“Hurry, mage,” Henli urged her. “I don’t have the skill Keni does with a sword. If they separate us, or slay me and take you, your guardian dies.”
Panic spiraled through her. Sela focused on the spark of magic in the cuff. It was unfamiliar to her, too ancient for her to know if it was elemental magic or magic of a different nature.
Come to me! She ordered the magic trickling through the wall. With no water on her side of the wall, she had no way of making her will known. She was too weak.
“I need their bones,” she said.
Henli was silent.
“Quickly! One bone from each of those five crypts!” She pointed.
He went.
She watched to make sure he went to the right tombs. The tradesman grimaced and picked up the bones with his hand covered by his tunic.
Had she ever been like this? Sela no longer had to wonder why Karav spent so much time training her not to act in the manner of other nobles.
“I’m sorry, Tieran,” she whispered, wincing at the thought of desecrating his ancestors.
Scowling in disgust, Henli returned with one bone from each of the first five water mages in Tieran’s line. The sound of a set of footsteps closing in on them made them both turn towards the wall again.
“I’m too wealthy to die here, mage,” Henli growled.
Sela gathered the bones in one arm and leaned her body against the cool stone wall, certain to touch the cuff to it as well. The magic remaining in the deceased water mages sparked within her, adding power to her feeble attempts to reach the water beyond the wall.
The wall vibrated.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say this wall is fortified by magic,” she grumbled. She considered briefly the idea the Sorcerer had tricked her before recalling how desperate he appeared to be. He would not lead her to her death when he wanted her to journey to his kingdom.
“Swiftly, mage!” Henli urged.
Sela closed her eyes and screamed internally, forcing what magic she possessed and drew off the bones and cuff out of her and through the stone wall to whatever waited on the other side with the only message she could muster. She released her breath, uncertain if she was successful.