Maybe it’ll flare up again when the executioner tries to cut off your head.
A kind of dark hope lit in my chest at the thought. If my magic did come to life, I might be able to direct it long enough to make some kind of escape. And if not, maybe I could at least take a few of the slimy bastards with me before I died. Then I would truly be a martyr, just like the reporter guy said.
With that grim, yet oddly comforting thought clutched to my chest, I closed my eyes and waited for the sun to rise so they could come and take me away.
Chapter Five
An hour after the sun rose, I was clapped in irons and dragged upstairs to the Hall of Justice, which was located on the third floor of the Enforcer’s Guild. I’d been in this room, with its stark walls, soaring ceiling and cold, unforgiving benches a handful of times – it was where Enforcers were tried and convicted for their crimes, and it wasn’t used often.
Behind the judge’s bench stood Maronas Galling, the Captain of the Enforcer’s Guild, and on the floor, seated at the prosecutor’s bench, were Deputy Talcon and Director Chartis, the Chief Mage’s representative and head of the local chapter of the Mage’s Guild. The guards escorted me none-too-gently toward the defendant’s bench, but not before I saw Comenius and Noria seated in the gallery amongst the handful of people – mostly reporters – who’d chosen to attend. Comenius’s face was grave, whereas Noria’s heart was in her eyes, her hands twisting nervously in her lap as she watched me. I tried to give her an encouraging smile, but she only bit her lip, her eyes shimmering with fear.
Sighing, I turned away from my friends, knowing that looking at them would only make me more anxious. Instead, I glanced down at my shackles, and my heart plummeted at the sight of the shimmering runes carved into the iron. I’d seen such runes used once before on a mage, in order to restrain his magic.
So much for trying to take the executioner down with you.
Finally, the Captain stopped shuffling his papers around and looked down at me. He was a commanding figure, with close-cropped steel hair and a matching beard covering his square jaw. His broad shoulders looked as if they bore the weight of command well enough – which they had before he’d let the Main Crew turn everything to shit. Nevertheless, my heart sank at the look of disappointment that flickered briefly in his dark eyes before hardening.
As the moment passed he called the room to order, then turned toward the prosecutor’s bench. “Deputy Talcon, do you have the list of charges?”
“I do indeed,” Talcon said, rising from his seat. He was dressed in a neatly pressed dark suit, which made me feel inadequate since my hair was a rat’s nest and I was still dressed in yesterday’s clothes.
“Sunaya Baine has been called before this court today on the charges of possessing magic without a license, and of using magic without a license to kill a shifter. These charges are substantiated by witness statements.” I gritted my teeth at his smug tone.
“May I see the statements, please?”
“Of course.” Talcon handed a sheaf of papers to Captain Galling.
Captain Galling read the statements out loud. They were from Brin and Nila. My embarrassment was eclipsed by simmering rage that grew with every word. The bastards hadn’t bothered to show up on time to save those bunnies, but they didn’t have any problem burying me for doing so. Magorah help me, but did they have no sense of decency at all?
“Well?” Galling asked when he’d finished reading the statements. “Do you have anything to say in your defense, Miss Baine?”
I bit back the scathing remark I wanted to say and cleared my throat. “Yes, Captain.” My voice was surprisingly steady despite the adrenaline pumping through my veins. “I’d like to point out that I was wearing a protective amulet on my wrist during the attack. Its magic must have activated in response to the rhino shifter’s attempt to kill me. That is far more logical than the idea that I killed the rhino myself.”
“That’s a very good story,” Director Chartis drawled, drawing my attention toward him. His dark green eyes, which matched the robes he was wearing, assessed me lazily, almost as if he couldn’t be bothered with prosecuting me. Nevertheless, he somehow found the energy to press on. “But unfortunately it does not match the evidence. I tested the amulet myself yesterday, and it held no traces of recent magical residue.” He drew the amulet out of his sleeve, and I gritted my teeth as he dangled it tauntingly at me. “I’m afraid that means, in plain language, that it hasn’t been used recently.”
A murmur spread through the crowd and fear crackled through me like a live current. So much for my shitty cover story.
“Besides,” the Director continued, “the amount of magic required to disintegrate a rhino shifter would have reduced an amulet of this size and strength to ash. As you can all see, it’s quite intact.”
“Alright, settle down, settle down,” the Captain ordered the room. He looked down at me wearily. “I’m afraid that unless you have anything more to say in your defense, I’m going to have to convict you of using illegal magic.”
“The penalty of which,” the Director reminded the room, as if he needed to, “is death.”
The Captain hesitated. “I think under the circumstances we should be able to reduce it to hard labor in the mines, don’t you think? It was self-defense, after all.”
The Director shook his head. “Whether or not it was self-defense is completely irrelevant,” he said dispassionately. “The death penalty is mandatory in such cases, especially since the accused is too old to be trained. She cannot be allowed to run amuck with her magic unchecked.”
Rage boiled up inside me so fast I swore steam came out of my ears. How dare this man stand there and dismiss my life so casually, as if I were a rabid dog that needed to be put down! I opened my mouth to rip him a new one, but I was cut off by a voice in the back.
“Captain Galling, I would like permission to speak.”
The sound of rustling fabric filled the air as everyone, including me, turned around to see Comenius standing in the gallery, his jaw set, determination gleaming in his cornflower blue eyes. The Director and Talcon began to protest at the same time, but Captain Galling held up his hand for silence.
“Speak,” he commanded.
Comenius took a deep breath and squared his shoulders. “It is my belief that Miss Baine has committed an act of magic worthy of a mage, due to the fact that she is half-mage herself. Because of this, I believe that she should be allowed to appeal to the Chief Mage himself, rather than simply tried and executed in a courtroom that is strictly meant for Enforcers.”
It was a testament to the strength of my willpower that my jaw didn’t crash straight to the floor. Appeal to the Chief Mage? Was Comenius mad? The Chief Mage wasn’t just the ruler of Solantha – he governed the entire state of Canalo and was one of the most powerful mages in the Federation of Northia. Even if he could help me, I doubted he would have time – he barely ever emerged from his palace, busy with whatever matters of state and magic he was usually concerned with.
Maybe that’s the point. If the Chief Mage is so busy, it’ll be a while before he’s able to see me. Weeks, maybe even months. During that time I’m sure to find a way to escape.
“That’s ridiculous,” Talcon sputtered, his face growing red as he jumped to his feet. His fists clenched at his sides as he faced the Captain. “Sunaya is no more a mage than I am!”
“On the contrary,” the Director said, sounding somewhat reluctant, “she would have to be at least half-mage to have pulled off the display of power the reports suggest, whereas you are a full human, Deputy Talcon.”
I would have laughed at the murderous look Talcon shot Chartis, if the situation hadn’t been so dire. In any case, the Director was completely unruffled by Talcon’s outburst. It dawned on me that he might not actually care about the proceedings either way; he was just here to make sure the Chief Mage’s laws were enforced.
“What are you suggesting, then, Director Chartis?” Captain Galling
asked, his brow furrowing. “Should we execute Miss Baine, or allow her to appeal to the Chief Mage?”
The Director sighed, running a hand through his wavy dark hair as if the idea of being tasked with making an actual decision was just too bothersome. “You can certainly order her execution if you want,” he told the Captain. “But if the Chief Mage found out that he was circumvented by not allowing him to respond to an appeal, I imagine he would be most displeased.”
“Very well.” The Captain banged his gavel, and as he looked down at me I swore there was a twinkle in his eye. “We shall refer the matter to the Chief Mage for a final ruling. You are all dismissed.”
I wasn’t exactly dancing a happy jig when the guards escorted me back to my cell, but my heart did feel significantly lighter now that the Captain had granted me a reprieve. With the way bureaucratic red tape liked to pile up in this city, I was unlikely to get my audience with the Chief Mage for some time, maybe even a month if I was lucky. That was plenty of time for me to figure out how to escape, I thought as the cell door clanged shut behind me.
My best bet, of course, was to contact Rylan and have him get me out of here. He’d happily take me underground in an instant, and since he and the others had already proven successful at evading capture, I was relatively certain that I could, too.
The only drawback was that I would have to pledge myself to the Resistance, something I had been avoiding for as long as Rylan had been trying to recruit me because I was afraid of how they would view me if they found out I was half-mage. But since that cat was out of the bag, there was really nothing to lose now, was there?
Decided, I sat cross-legged atop my cot and waited for Comenius and Noria to come and visit me. We hadn’t had a chance to say more than two words to each other after my hearing, and I knew that they would be anxious to see me. It was only a matter of time before Noria wore the guards down with her insistence.
Sure enough, the door at the end of the hall opened several hours later, and I heard the telltale clop of the heavy uniform shoes the guards wore. But instead of three pairs of feet, as I’d expected, I heard four.
“Time to go, Baine.” Two sets of guards stopped outside my door, dressed in the blue and black uniform that marked all of Privacy Guards’ employees – a security firm that contracted out to a variety of government agencies and businesses, including the Enforcer’s Guild and the Mage’s Guild. The guard who spoke to me held up the same set of rune-protected cuffs from before, and a current of anxiety ran through me as I eyed them.
“Time to go?” I echoed as the cell door opened. I presented my hands and allowed the guards to cuff me – there was little point to fighting back at this stage. “Go where?” I had a feeling he wasn’t referring to the visitors’ room.
“To Solantha Palace, of course. The Chief Mage is expecting you.”
I reeled as the guards pulled me from the cell, two flanking me with their meaty hands clamped firmly around my upper arms, one leading the way, and the other bringing up the rear. Apparently no chances were being taken with me – the guards on either side of me were shifters, and the one up ahead smelled of burnt sugar, indicating that he was one of the low-level mages Privacy Guard employed for situations like this.
“Y-you’re taking me to the Chief Mage now?” I spluttered, digging my heels into the floor like a petulant child. Not that it did me any good as they marched me out into the main hall – the heels of my boots simply screeched against the scuffed tile, drawing the attention of every Enforcer in the hall.
“That’s right.” The mage guard leading the way spoke without turning his head.
“But that’s ridiculous,” I protested as they led me down the front steps and into a horse-drawn carriage waiting at the curb. My heart sank as I saw the Chief Mage’s personal emblem emblazoned on the side of the carriage, a large blue shield with a golden rune composed of a series of interconnected brush strokes – the traditional symbol for magic with a few embellishments added that I imagined were unique to the Chief Mage – painted into the center. “He doesn’t have time to see me now.”
“I wasn’t aware you were so in tune with the Chief Mage’s schedule.” The mage guard arched a brow at me as the two shifter guards escorted me into the cab, which had dark, cushioned seats and was large enough to seat six. I gritted my teeth as all four of them settled into the cab around me, resentment oozing from my pores as the mage guard rapped on the inner roof of the carriage, telling the driver to get moving. The carriage lurched into motion, but I didn’t budge since I was squeezed in between the two hulking shifter guards. I glared up at them both, but they didn’t even deign to look at me – they just stared straight ahead.
Guess a lowly shifter-hybrid like me didn’t merit their attention.
Biting back a sigh, I relaxed against the cushiony seats as much as I was able and settled in for the ride. Solantha Palace was located in the Mage’s Quarter, an affluent neighborhood located in the upper left quadrant of Solantha, a thirty-minute carriage drive from Rowanville. I’d been to the Mage’s Quarter a handful of times on Enforcer business, but I’d never had any cause to visit the Solantha Palace. It was the seat of power for the Mage’s Guild and the residence of the Chief Mage. The idea of stepping behind those magically reinforced castle walls and into the domain of the most powerful mage in Solantha was enough to make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck even on a good day.
As the carriage bumped and jostled over the city streets, I stared out the window and tried to recall what I knew of the Chief Mage. Admittedly, it wasn’t much. He’d only taken up the mantle a few years ago, and I’d been out of town during his inauguration ceremony so I didn’t even get the chance to see him. Dammit, but what was his name?
Iannis ar’Sannin.
Ah. I remembered now – he was from Manuc, a small country thousands of miles from here. I wasn’t sure why he’d come to the Northia Federation or how long he’d been here, but apparently he did the Federation Council some huge favor, which was why they’d appointed him as the Chief Mage of Canalo. There had been a lot of worried talk amongst all the races that he would change things for the worse, but so far the status quo seemed to have held. Since that effectively meant that my taxes still went to supporting a group of selfish mages that didn’t give a rat’s ass about my interests and were a breath away from executing me, I didn’t consider that a good thing.
The cityscape around us changed from small roads between cramped apartment buildings and shopping centers to wide, open streets lined with townhouses. Rows of strange trees with blue trunks and star-shaped flowers that sparkled in the sun drew my eye, but I only scowled at their magically engineered beauty. Similarly, the front lawns of the houses we passed were graced by multi-hued and strangely-shaped shrubbery not designed by Mother Nature. I shook my head at the sight of a poplar tree in another yard whose trunk had been dyed a brilliant fuchsia. Instead of blossoms, tiny golden bells hung from its branches, and as we passed the tree actually waved, sending a tinkling of bells through the air. Just another display of mages flaunting their superiority – except this time they were competing against each other instead of us lowly shifters and humans.
Eventually we passed through that neighborhood as well, and into an area where elegant houses and mansions butted up against the coastline, vying for the coveted view of Solantha Bay. I swallowed as I caught sight of Solantha Palace jutting above the others in the distance, and darted my eyes back to my lap, knowing soon enough I’d be seeing it up close and personal.
The journey ended all too soon, and as the guards pulled me from the carriage sweat broke out at the edges of my temples and in the palms of my hands. My eyes darted around, hardly able to appreciate the old, elegant décor of the neighboring houses around me, or the magnificent view of the Firegate Bridge that spanned the length of the bay in the distance. I was far more aware of the late afternoon sun beating against the top of my head, and the palace that loomed directly in front of me – a spraw
ling white stone edifice with red tile capping the roofs and turrets. The beauty of the ornate carvings in the stone and the sparkling glass windows were lost on me as I was marched through the meticulously trimmed gardens and up a wide stone staircase – all I saw was a monument to the absolute power and greed that had corrupted so many of the mages in this city, and it filled me with a simmering resentment that made me forget about my anxiety.
That resentment only grew as a servant dressed in blue and gold – the Chief Mage’s colors – opened the door to receive us, and the guards led me into a large, elegant foyer. The sun shining in through the large stained glass windows splashed colorful patterns on the wood-inlaid flooring, and tasteful oil paintings of landscapes hung from the walls. The décor was warmer than I expected – my mind had conjured stone and marble and crystal – but it still spoke of a lush extravagance that was undeserved, in my opinion.
There was a reception desk in the center, manned by an old mage, but we didn’t approach it. Another mage dressed in the grey robes of an apprentice was already descending the grand double staircase that curved around the foyer to greet us.
“Hello,” the young mage greeted me in a stiff voice. “My name is Elgarion ar’Manit. I am Director Chartis’s apprentice, and I’ve been sent to escort you to the audience chamber.” His dark eyes glittered with disdain as he took me in. “He will be pleased you’ve arrived so promptly.”
“I was actually thinking I may have arrived too soon,” I responded coolly, lifting my chin to look the mage in the eye. Just because I was quaking in my boots didn’t mean I had to let any of these people know I was intimidated. “Surely the Chief Mage has more important things to do than bother with someone as insignificant as me?”
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