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  Shara and the boy stopped with me. “Oh, you’re the soldier who stayed with Neeko, right?” Shara asked.

  “I am…” Callyn seemed to be waiting for Shara to say something about her killing my father, but Shara knew nothing of that. In fact, she’d assumed something happened between Callyn and me…something romantic. I could see it on her face again, a subtle smirk.

  “I thought you were still in Lanhine,” I said.

  “We left that morning.” Callyn’s leg no longer was wrapped, though there was a tear in the thigh of her pants. I could imagine her limping all of yesterday without a single complaint.

  She noticed the sword in its sheath on Shara’s belt. Callyn then looked over to me and tilted her head in question when she saw only a dagger. She looked ready to comment, but Shara spoke first.

  “We’re going to Glaine after stopping in Cessri. What are all of you doing here?”

  Callyn’s insensitive friend appeared. “He won’t do it,” she told Callyn, ignoring us. “The man is dumber than a sack of rocks.”

  Callyn’s face twitched in our direction. Her friend turned toward me. “You again? What do you want?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Could you get me some of that water they’re boiling?” Callyn asked her friend. She held out a water skin.

  Her friend’s eyes became slits as she took it. “Fine.” When she left, Callyn took a step toward us. If she was in pain from her injury, she hid it.

  “Go back to Lanhine.”

  “We can’t,” Shara said. “There’s nothing there for us.”

  “We need to get to Glaine in fourteen days,” I added. “We have redemption scrolls from that bright and pleasant claim inspector in your army.”

  Shara looked at me, incredulous. “Did you just make a joke?”

  Callyn wasn’t amused. “It’s not safe in Cessri. Enemy troops are all over Rhalon. Lanhine is now guarded, but we’re still moving troops into other cities that might be targeted.”

  “We need horses from Cessri,” I told her, “and I have friends and family there.” Well, one friend and one family member. She didn’t need to know that.

  Shara nodded as I spoke. “We need to go to Cessri. What was that other soldier annoyed about?” And she said I was inquisitive.

  “She’s been trying to get our commander to send out scouts, but he doesn’t want to take the time because he’s in a hurry to get to Cessri before our enemies.”

  “Why would they attack the city if no soldiers were there?” Shara asked.

  “Don’t know if they would for sure. We’re still trying to figure out what they were doing in Lanhine.” She paused and drew in a deep breath. “I suppose Glaine would be the safest city if you could get there. It’ll be the most guarded. But you must know how far and dangerous the trip will be?”

  Shara and I shared a glance. She looked back at Callyn, her eyes hard, determined. “When there’s nothing left to lose, risk no longer carries any weight.”

  “Boulder!” someone shouted.

  It felt like an earthquake. I spun in each direction until I spotted an enormous boulder tumbling down the hill.

  Soldiers shouted at each other to move. Shara squealed as the boulder hurtled into two of them who’d been too slow to get out of its way. It broke the surface of the lake with a crash. Arrows flew from the top of the hill, striking the men on either side of us.

  I grabbed Shara and pulled her toward the water. She clutched the boy’s hand. “That hurts!” he complained, but she ignored him.

  Near the water, I dropped to the ground to make myself a smaller target, pulling Shara down with me. I took a couple breaths to figure out what was happening. Hundreds of armored men came charging down the hill toward our soldiers. Arrows rained down with them, sailing over their heads and striking our troops.

  Our archers shot back, but there weren’t nearly as many arrows flying up the hill as down. Enemy swordsmen reached its base, and all arrows stopped. The collision of steel mixed with cries of battle to make one continuous sound of destruction. Callyn held out her wand. A blast of light came from its tip—a fireball shooting out and striking a foe in the chest just like what had happened to Jon, only this man wore armor. He fell but got up, now with his eyes set on Callyn.

  “Kill the fire mage!” he shouted.

  “What do we do?” Shara was panicked.

  “Let go!” the boy complained.

  “You have to stay with us, Tyree!” Shara insisted, but the stubborn boy used his other hand to pry off her fingers. My mind still hadn’t caught up to the situation when the boy started running north, right around men killing each other with swords.

  “Stop!” Shara shouted.

  He didn’t. She chased after him.

  “Wait!” I called.

  She didn’t. I started after her but stopped when I saw Callyn needed help. Three men were coming at her, with only one ally swordsman at her side. They ran past Shara and the boy without a glance, making me believe they weren’t in as much danger as Callyn.

  “Run, Neeko,” she urged through gritted teeth, “before they close in completely. Go that way.” She pointed south, the opposite way of Shara and the boy. “Now!” she screamed.

  I took a quick look. Enemies flooded down the hill, but there were far fewer of them than to the north. I might be able to make it even if they went after me.

  Instead, I focused on the three armored men charging toward Callyn. Our brave ally swordsman stepped forward and attacked the first of the three. In a blink, he was surrounded. An instant later he went down, his chest sliced open. One of the three stopped to drive his sword down through the man’s heart. The other two were nearly on top of Callyn when she shot another fireball.

  I couldn’t see what happened when it exploded against them, the heat forcing my eyes shut for a breath. When I looked again, one enemy didn’t seem to be getting up, but there were still two more who would reach Callyn before she had time to gather enough bastial energy for another fireball.

  My dagger was practically useless. I had maybe the span of three heartbeats before they would cut Callyn down. I aimed my hand and moved as much pyforial energy as I could between her and the two men. Then I focused my mind to expand the energy to the length of my outstretched arms. I only had time to make the floating cord as thick as a finger, but that would have to do. It skewed the appearance of the lake behind it, as if I were looking through warped glass. Yet the men didn’t notice.

  They ran straight into it. I held it strong, wrapping its ends around them. Their momentum was too strong for it to stop them, or perhaps I just wasn’t a powerful enough mage to keep it steady, but it did slow them as well as confuse them. They now trudged at Callyn at the speed of a jog. She fell trying to back away, confused as well.

  Py energy stuck to itself like glue with a little help from my mind; it wouldn’t come apart easily. I made the two ends of my cord find each other around the men’s backs, enclosing them completely. With just a moment to spare, I gathered more py energy to create another cord. I looped this one around the first with its other end in my hand, making the whole thing like a lasso.

  Pulling just as strongly with my mind as with my arms, I had enough strength to yank the men off their feet. They grunted in surprise as they fell.

  One of them spun his head around and found me. “Pyforial mage!” he shouted, pointing with his one arm that wasn’t caught in my nearly invisible lasso. “He’s a pyforial mage!”

  He continued to yell as I screamed at Callyn to shoot them. She did, but her fireball was only strong enough to quiet one of them.

  “Run, you idiot!” Callyn ordered me with more anger than I’d ever been told anything.

  “Where’s the mage?” another enemy demanded, sprinting toward us. He got no answer as Callyn shot the lassoed men once again.

  There were too many to the north—where Shara had gone. I turned and ran south. “You, stop!” a voice called. I figured it was the same man who’d
sprinted toward us asking about me. “Stop him. I think he’s a pyforial mage!”

  Soldiers not too busy killing my allies perked up and looked around. One found me and jumped in front of my only clear path. He aimed his sword. “Him?”

  “Yes!” I heard the man shout behind me.

  “Stop or die,” the one in front of me threatened.

  This time I was ready. I’d been gathering py the moment I started running. It was hard to control while maintaining my speed, so I focused on doing the simplest thing I could to get him out of my way. I encircled a rope of it around his ankle. He looked down and tried to cut it with his sword. It would’ve been easy, but I was too quick at pulling the energy toward me, taking his leg with it so that he fell. Even though it was all done with my mind, I’d reached out my hand and pulled to mimic the action. This always made py easier to manipulate. Unfortunately, it also alerted anyone who happened to be looking to what I’d done.

  More shouts rang out from behind me. “Stop him!”

  Two more men came at me from the front. They were far enough away that I had time to wrap py energy around their heads. With all the force I could manage, I squeezed it. Their heads slammed together. Both fell, one unconscious, the other dazed.

  Open land stretched before me, but I needed something to hide behind. I turned right and started up a slight incline. There were trees ahead, not a forest, but enough of them to provide cover if I created some distance. An archer was in the way. He raised his bow, an arrow already latched on the string.

  I tried to grab his weapon with a loop of py energy, but I missed. I couldn’t see the energy well enough to correct my mistake in time. My heart jumped as I realized this was it. I was going to die.

  “Don’t shoot him!” someone behind me yelled.

  The archer froze.

  “Not in the chest!” the same voice rang out. “Get him in the leg.”

  The archer lowered his aim. The delay gave me the opportunity to try again. By then I was closer, making it easier for me to aim the energy. I got a good hold on the weapon and jerked it to the side just as he released the string. The arrow flew by me. Someone screamed in agony. A quick glance behind me revealed the archer had shot his own man in the shoulder. I also noticed two other men catching up. I had to go faster.

  Without enough time to load another arrow, the archer dropped his bow and drew a dagger. I had my own dagger ready, but I knew nothing of fighting. So I threw it. A lucky toss, it struck the man in his thigh and stayed there as he fell with a shout. I ran past him.

  The trees were just ahead. I drew in py energy as I hustled. I could feel it trailing behind me like a cloak as I pulled in more and more. Reaching the start of the trees, I turned, ready to use it on my foes, but they stopped when I pushed out my hands.

  One fell to his knees and covered his face. The other turned sideways, lifting his shoulder to protect his neck. I held the energy, undecided how I would hurt them. Whatever these men had learned or heard about pyforial energy, they seemed terrified of it, as if I could slit their throats from ten yards out.

  A mage as skilled as me could choke a man with it, but it was no easy task. I’d have to get the cord of energy around their necks and focus hard to keep it tight enough to restrict air. Meanwhile, they could get their fingers around it and try to pry it off. These men could even cut it with their swords if they were desperate. The energy stuck to itself, but it couldn’t hold against a blade.

  I took the clump of energy before me and moved it toward the two swordsmen. They appeared blurry through the energy, like I was peering through heat waves. After one look right at it, they turned and ran.

  Exhaustion was catching up with me from all the manipulating of py. I gladly let go of my hold on the energy and ran into the trees. I looked over my shoulder to find the swordsmen had given up. They were rushing back to their comrades, who seemed to have won, for none of the men I saw standing wore black, the color of my king’s army.

  Shouting began soon after that. “Pyforial mage, we have your friend here…alive.”

  I cursed as I hurried farther up the hill. Gods, Shara. They’re going to kill her. The incline came around the lake, the trees on it growing closer together the higher I went, concealing me better.

  “Pyforial mage, we know you can hear us. Your friend will die if you don’t show yourself.”

  Out of breath, I figured I was high enough to peek without them seeing me. I moved to the edge of the land and looked out over the water.

  “What in the two hells?” I muttered as I leaned out from behind a tree and spotted a man in a blood-red robe standing at the other side of the lake. Even though he was a good twenty yards beneath me, I could still tell he was exceptionally tall. He had a thin staff painted red—to represent the god of fire, I realized. This man was a red priest. I’d heard of them from Eizle’s brother, Swenn. He’d told us they were the most powerful men of the south, able to cast fireballs the size of boulders. Holding nearly as much political sway as King Marteph, they practically controlled the army. They were disciples of the god of fire, Swenn told us. But he was a liar. I couldn’t take anything he said as fact.

  I looked for Shara but found no young woman with dark hair. Where was she? I lost my breath when I realized she wasn’t the friend the red priest referred to. Two men brought Callyn to the edge of the lake and pushed her down onto her knees. One had a firm grip on her hair. The red priest stood a head taller behind his two men, searching for me among the trees. I moved back out of sight, stunned, unsure what to do.

  “Pyforial mage, come out now!”

  “Don’t come out!” Callyn yelled. “They’ll kill me anyway. If you can still hear me, go now.”

  “We won’t kill her or you if you come out, but she’s about to die if you don’t.”

  “They’re coming into the forest for you,” Callyn warned me. “Leave now or—”

  A shriek. Was it hers? I looked out. The red priest was sliding a dagger across her throat. I couldn’t look away as blood burst out of her as if waiting to escape, her cry instantly muffled.

  I felt my teeth grit together hard enough to cause pain in my jaw. I cursed the red priest over and over as I took a moment to search for Shara once more. I looked among those standing, then the bodies. I didn’t see her.

  I heard the crunch of dried leaves. Men were coming for me. I moved as quickly and quietly as I could manage.

  Damn that priest. I wanted to make him suffer for what he’d done.

  It was a quick trip out of the tree cluster. I ran up and over the small hills. When I reached another patch of trees, I hid behind them just in case, peeking out for signs of my enemies.

  I quietly cursed the priest again and again, refusing to let go of my anger, for I knew a debilitating sadness was swelling up just beneath it.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I stayed there for an hour, catching my breath and letting my thoughts run wild. What did the red priest want with me? He and his men were enemies of King Quince’s army, which meant they must be loyal to King Marteph. I still knew hardly anything about this war. I should’ve asked Shara while I had the chance. Where was she now? I hope she’s all right. Damn, she has all our food.

  The sun had nearly set. I knew I’d better create some more distance between me and the enemy army before I thought about sleeping. My stomach grumbled, reminding me I still had to figure out what to do about food. A surge of anger ran through me as the image returned of Callyn’s throat being slit. I cursed the red priest and his men for the hundredth time in the last hour.

  Then pity hit me. The poor woman.

  The image of her death seemed to be linked to Jon’s body burning and me unsuccessfully trying to get him out of the fire. I wanted to sit and weep into my hands so that everything I needed to do would just disappear for a moment, but I didn’t let myself. So much death, and for what? What did King Marteph want from all of this? And what do they want with me?

  Clearly it was because
I was a pyforial mage, but what did that mean to them? Did they want me to teach them how to manipulate the energy? Did they want me to fight for them? Did they want to sacrifice me? I knew little about the south except that people there tended to be more religious than those of us in Rhalon and Arish. None of them would be hiding swords in graves.

  I was surprised how much I longed to see Shara again. I worried for her more than for myself.

  That night was torturous. Hunting turned out to be a waste of effort. In the frigid cold, I exhausted myself trying to make a fire, finally succeeding and nearly crying from joy, just for it to go out seconds later when a gust of wind blew through.

  Hungry and shivering, I wrapped myself in my blanket and tried to sleep, but I just couldn’t get warm enough. I’ll buy an extra blanket when I get to Cessri. The thought reminded me that I’d travelled away from the city for a few miles to make sure I wasn’t found. If the red priest had men looking for me, some certainly would be watching the main path to Cessri. It was the safest route there and the most direct. He probably had eyes on the same route going the opposite way to Lanhine.

  Perhaps I was just upsetting myself when there was no need. I probably wasn’t worth the trouble now that I’d escaped. I should be safe.

  I barely slept that night, maybe three hours in what felt like six hours of lying there. I was awakened from my longest rest by the sound of a bird singing some monotonous melody. I got up and rubbed my eyes. Thirteen days left.

  Now that the wind had stopped, I knew I could make a fire. I looked for game, convincing myself I could find signs of it by paying attention to the dirt. But when I finally found animal tracks, I couldn’t be sure which way they were going. None of the prints were clear enough to see a whole paw, which made me realize they were probably old and whatever made them was long gone.

  Worried that I could be hunting for a whole day without finding a thing, I decided I’d have better luck taking my chances on the path to Cessri. There would be other people there. I could buy food from them.