“We would be smacking right into them if it wasn’t for you, wouldn’t we?” Kaika whispered after they hid in an alcove while a group of four marched past. Sardelle had cut out a gas lamp and deepened the shadows so they hadn’t been noticed. “I had balls of a time getting back to the dungeon without being seen.”
Two men’s voices drifted down from the top of the stairs, and Sardelle did not answer.
Jaxi, did they find those guards yet?
Not yet. I’ve been muffling their sounds. One has been banging on the door with his knee. The man who escorted you up almost has his hands free. Two officers are arguing in the hallway. They’re about to knock and go in to ask the queen if she dismissed the guards.
“We have to go,” Sardelle whispered. She wanted to explain herself, but there was no time.
Trusting the others would follow, she charged up the stairs. Before she reached the top, she battered the officers with wind and knocked them away from the door. As with before, she made a prison of compressed air to hold them, but only one was held utterly immobile. The other growled and batted at the air with his hands. Even though it should not have been effective, he created eddies, pushing against the current.
Dragon blood, Jaxi warned.
Is it the same man from the tower? Sardelle would have preferred to teach him rather than beat him down, but she doubted a recruiting speech would be well received.
I think so. He—
Kaika surged past Sardelle and hefted a rifle over her shoulder. Sardelle hadn’t seen her grab it, but she clubbed the man in the head while he was still struggling to defeat the magic. Afraid she would get in Kaika’s way, Sardelle focused on the second one. She forced him to his knees and waved to Cas to tie him.
Kaika had stomped her officer into the ground and was kneeling on his back, employing her twine. It was silly to think about now, but Sardelle lamented that the man would likely always consider her an enemy, and she would never get a chance to talk to him about magic. She would probably never get a chance to talk to anyone here about anything except execution orders for herself.
Sardelle helped Kaika and Cas drag the men into the room next door to where they had already stored other guards.
“You two go first.” Kaika waved at their cloaks. “Since I’m not dressed as a whatever, I’ll lurk and come in behind you if I can. Holler if you need help.” She waved a lumpy package, one of her handmade explosives.
“When does the one in the dungeon go off?” Sardelle asked.
“Soon. Might not want to loiter.”
Right. Sardelle adjusted her hood, pulling it low over her eyes, and tried the door. It wasn’t locked. Of course not—people had been guarding it, and cookies were on the way.
Sardelle walked into a room full of tables and rolls of… was that wrapping paper? Maybe it was craft paper. Voices drifted out from an open door that led to a second room in the back, with a crackling hearth and several occupied chairs visible through it.
“Looks like we’re late to the meeting,” Cas murmured. She was right behind Sardelle.
Sardelle eased closer, hoping to catch a few words before revealing herself. She would have preferred not to reveal herself at all, so she walked around one of the tables and hugged the shadows near the wall instead of approaching straight-on.
“He’s disappeared from the city,” someone was saying. “We don’t know where he went.”
“What does our spy say?”
Spy? Both of the speakers had been women. Sardelle was about to examine the room with her senses to get a further feel for the occupants, but a woman in a chair close to the door peered out. The queen. Shadows or not, she looked directly at Sardelle and Cas.
Don’t forget she has dragon blood too, Jaxi said.
I haven’t forgotten. Does she sense my power? Or yours?
Actually, I think she noticed that Kasandral strolled in.
Great. Sardelle lifted a hand in greeting, as if she had just arrived, and walked into the room. Shouldn’t that sword have a problem with her blood, the way it does with mine?
He should, yes.
None of the sixteen women seated inside had their hoods pulled up. Most of them had taken their cloaks off altogether and draped them over chairs. Sardelle felt conspicuous with her hood up, especially when every single woman turned to look at her. Every woman and one man. Apex was perched in a chair in the corner. Sardelle was so surprised to find him here that she couldn’t think of anything to say. Our spy. Was he truly? He looked miserable, plucking at the seam of his chair cushion, but he had clearly been invited to the meeting.
Behind her, Cas sucked in a sharp breath.
He’s here trying to get what Ridge asked for, Jaxi said, the king’s location.
You’re sure he’s not here telling them about Ridge?
No, he’s pretending to be their spy, but he’s not giving them anything important. He regrets the choice he made. He still hates Tolemek, but it stung him to lose Ridge’s respect, and he wishes he hadn’t been impetuous. He wants to make it up to Ridge.
All right. We’ll see if we can all get out of here.
“Good evening, sisters,” Sardelle said. Since nobody had stopped staring at her, she doubted she would get by with simply slipping into an empty chair. The queen was seated close to the doorway, so Kaika might be able to rush in and grab her if she had room. Sardelle took a couple of steps farther inside to make way. “Are we late?”
“Who are you?” the queen asked.
“Sai Forgolen,” Sardelle said.
The queen stood. “No, you’re not. Lower your hood.”
A boom came from the depths of the castle. The floor shuddered, and several women leaped to their feet. Apex stood, also, reaching for his waist, but he did not have any weapons belted there.
Without looking, Sardelle was aware of Kaika lunging into the room and grabbing the queen. Sardelle waved a hand toward the fire, throwing oxygen into the coals. The flames doubled in size with an audible fwoop. She cut off all of the lamps in the room.
Behind her, someone grunted. Flesh smacked flesh. Sardelle winced, imagining the queen receiving the same barrage of blows that the officer had. At least Kaika hadn’t blown up anything in the room yet.
“What did you do with King Angulus?” Kaika growled.
If the queen replied, Sardelle did not hear it.
“Witch!” someone cried.
“I prefer sorceress,” Sardelle muttered, raising her hands to keep the women back. Several were grabbing for short swords or daggers, and two lunged toward her. Sardelle formed a barrier through the center of the room, one that would keep everyone on the far side behind it. Only a couple of the women could reach her, and she glared at them, trying to dissuade them from doing so. She could feel Jaxi’s power pouring into her, making it easier than usual to maintain the barrier while concentrating on other tasks at the same time.
In the corner, Apex took a step toward her. She turned her glare on him. He lowered his hands, his body slumping.
Kaika cursed, and the queen stumbled back into Sardelle’s vision. She had produced a stiletto, the slender blade dripping blood. Sardelle channeled a pinpoint gust of wind at her. It struck the queen’s hand and knocked the weapon out of her grip. It flew away, landing in the side of one woman’s chair and sinking in to the hilt.
“Antyonla masahrati!” the queen cried.
Sardelle had no idea what she had said, but her skin crawled, and she knew right away that the words contained some power. Power over what, she could not guess, not until Apex yelled, “Look out!”
She didn’t know if the warning was for her or for the queen or someone else, but Jaxi yelled a similar warning inside her head. Sardelle leaped to the side. She was careful not to lower the barrier, lest the other women all be able to attack, but utter shock went through her at what she saw.
Cas had drawn Kasandral and held the giant glowing blade aloft over her shoulder. She wasn’t facing the queen. No, she had
Sardelle in her sights. Alarm and confusion twisted Cas’s face, but there was no confusion in her body. Without hesitating, she swept the blade toward Sardelle’s neck.
Sardelle threw herself into a backward roll, no longer worrying about the barrier. How could she? The blade swept through the air she had just left, nearly carving her head from her shoulders. She just avoided slamming against one of the chairs as she jumped to her feet, yanking out Jaxi.
Shouts came from all around her, but Sardelle had to concentrate on defending herself. Cas had already advanced, and she swept that giant blade around as if it were as light as a rapier. Jaxi flared to life, glowing red in contrast with Kasandral’s green, their mingled light driving all shadows from the room. Metal screeched as the blades met, motes of energy flying like sparks from a raging fire. Jaxi guided Sardelle’s hand, blocking with speed and agility Sardelle never could have claimed on her own. Cas’s skill and speed were uncanny, too, enhanced by her blade. Kasandral’s glow increased, as if it was hungry, as if it had craved this moment for all eternity.
Don’t get melodramatic on me, Jaxi said. Let me handle this. Make sure none of those women are trying to get to your back.
They’re too busy fleeing this— Sardelle winced as the blades came together in another clash, their energy burning her face like heat from a fire—chaos.
Jaxi did not reply. Most of the women were running out of the room, but Sardelle glimpsed the queen pulling something out of her pocket. Some vial? Something that would knock out Sardelle? Or kill her?
Sardelle thought about trying to fling another surge of wind at her, but with her entire body involved in the fight, in leaping chairs and maneuvering around tables, she struggled to concentrate on anything else. A couple of times, she spotted a tiny opening, a place where she might have darted in and stabbed Kasandral’s wielder, but that wielder was one of Ridge’s ace pilots and someone who Sardelle had been starting to think of as a friend before this sword appeared in their lives.
The queen lifted her arm to throw something. Sardelle did not know where Kaika had been—fresh blood streaking down her cheek promised someone had been troubling her—but she appeared in time to bowl into the queen. The two women toppled over a chair, upending it as they went down behind it.
The action distracted Sardelle—and maybe Jaxi, too—for Kasandral slipped past her defenses. Sardelle jumped away, but not before the glowing blade bit into the back of her hand. The fiery pain of a sun burned through her flesh, and she almost dropped her own blade.
Sorry, Jaxi said tersely.
She seemed to take the slip as a personal affront. She flared with crimson rage, and Sardelle found herself surging back into the fray. Her blade slashed toward Kasandral—and Cas—with such speed that Jaxi blurred, too fast to see. Sardelle had no idea how Cas blocked the assault, but she managed, each blow met with steel, the squeals of clashing metal so harsh that Sardelle’s ears hurt. Though not nearly as badly as her hand, which burned as if venom had been poured into her blood.
Apex had left his corner and had his hands out, as if he wanted to jump into Sardelle’s and Cas’s battle, to stop it somehow. Sardelle couldn’t object to the intent—if someone could disarm Cas, this would probably all be over, at least for the moment—but she worried he would simply get in the way.
A chair toppled behind Cas. Kaika and the queen? No, there was a man over there too. A guard. Someone must have heard all of this noise. More guards poured into the room. Kaika was pulled from the floor by her armpits. Something fell out of her shirt.
“Let me go,” Kaika snarled, fighting the men who held her. “You knocked my—that’s a bomb, you idiots. Get back, get back!”
They didn’t let her go; they didn’t even seem to hear her. Their only focus was to pull her away from the queen. Sardelle imagined the ceiling crashing down and crushing all of them. She wanted to flee the room, get the queen and everyone else out, but she couldn’t extricate herself from the sword fight. As Cas pressed her back, Kasandral’s assault relentless, Sardelle couldn’t even spare the thoughts to examine the bomb.
“Cas,” Sardelle yelled, hoping she could somehow get through to her. “We need to get out of here. Go out the door.”
Jaxi, can you do something about that package?
It’s just lying there, the powder inside half spilled out. I think a fuse would have had to be lit.
Kasandral kept slashing toward Sardelle, its fury somehow unleashed by those words the queen had chanted. Cas’s face remained contorted, the struggle written plainly on it. Sweat streamed from her temples and dripped from her chin. She didn’t want to kill Sardelle, but the sword would not relinquish its hold on her. And Sardelle had no idea how to break it, short of killing her.
A clank came from the other side of the room. Kaika had clobbered one of the guards, and he fell back, stumbling against a table that held a lantern. Time seemed to slow as the glass holder wobbled, tipped, and fell. It shattered, oil and flame spilling onto the powder on the floor.
If Sardelle had been given another half a second, she could have dropped a shield around the bomb and contained the explosion. But time did not wait for her. Flame burst from the powder and ignited the rest of the package.
Since Kasandral was still slashing toward her face, Sardelle could neither stop and stare, nor run and hide. With Jaxi in control, she kept blocking, parrying, and advancing and retreating, even though furniture was being hurled through the air. Men flew back, too, those who had been too close to the explosion. Light and heat seared the room, the flames from the hearth as nothing in comparison. Dust filled the air as stone tumbled down from the ceiling. Then a massive block crashed down behind Sardelle as she was defending a fresh onslaught from Kasandral.
She could not compensate in time, and her heel caught on the jagged stone. A booming snap came from the floor. The wooden boards sagged beneath her, further assaulting her balance. She flailed, and could feel Jaxi’s power trying to keep her upright, but more boards snapped before she could recover. The giant stone dropped through the floor to the level below, and Sardelle’s legs fell through the hole it left in its wake. She caught the crumbling rim under her armpits, but realized she would have to let go. Cas stood above her like an axe man. With one arm, Sardelle lifted Jaxi to block, even as her legs dangled in air underneath her, and all of her weight hung from her other arm.
Let go, Jaxi ordered as Cas’s blade plunged down toward her.
Sardelle couldn’t have resisted if she had tried. As she fell, she glimpsed movement behind Cas. Apex lunged in and grabbed her around the waist. Cas whirled toward him, that blade blazing more brightly than ever.
Sardelle fell below the level of the floor and did not see the rest. But she heard the scream of utter agony as she landed on a table ten feet below, pain slamming her back. Before she had gathered her wits, the table broke. She dropped through it, falling another three feet as broken wood scraped at her arms. Finally, she landed hard on a stone floor, the dark room strangely quiet after the chaos she had left. Or maybe it had grown quiet upstairs too. Dust and pebbles dribbled through the hole in the floor, but the sounds of fighting had stopped. So had the scream of pain.
Apex? she asked in her mind, not sure if the question was for Jaxi, not sure if she wanted an answer.
You don’t.
Shit.
I know.
Sardelle pushed herself to her feet. With Jaxi’s help, she could have jumped up, caught the rim of the floor above, and pulled herself back into that room, but she had visions of having her head cleaved off as she did so.
She dropped the sword, Jaxi said.
Good. Sardelle headed for the door, anyway. That blade had more magic in it than she had guessed. Maybe it had once slain enemy dragons and sorcerers, but she could not imagine how the Iskandians had used it centuries earlier without putting their own people at risk.
He didn’t attack the queen. It’s possible there is a way to teach him not to strike against allie
s.
Teach him? You told me the sword isn’t sentient.
No, he’s not. The magic wrapped up in the blade may allow commands to be imprinted, allies to be identified. Or it may simply be that you have less-diluted blood in your veins than the queen, so Kasandral chose you as his first target when he was roused.
Sardelle found a set of stairs and took them three at a time. Distant shouts came from other parts of the castle, but she did not hear boots thundering in the hallway above her yet. Occasionally, stone shifted and clattered to the floor. Maybe the soldiers were being warned to stay out until the rubble settled.
They’re blocked. That room isn’t the only one where there was a collapse. You may have a few minutes to escape without being noticed.
When Sardelle reached the top of the stairs, she saw what Jaxi meant. She had to crawl over waist-high rubble to travel down the hallway to the meeting room—what was left of the meeting room. The doors on the left side of the hall appeared undamaged, lucky for the guards they had stuffed in those rooms, but the right side was a mess. A broken beam lay across the hall, the jagged tip thrusting through the doorway of the meeting room. Sardelle debated asking Jaxi to incinerate it but decided to squeeze above it instead. With dust still sifting down from the ceiling, the area did not appear stable.
The ceiling in the outer room had dropped, crushing most of those tables. She hoped the guards who had been trying to pull Kaika out had escaped. She couldn’t bring herself to check beneath the rubble for bodies. People weren’t supposed to die, damn it. Why had she gone along with this? She should have foreseen that nothing good could come from directly confronting the queen.
You couldn’t have foreseen that your ally would try to kill you, Jaxi said.
No? Sardelle asked as she crawled across the rubble toward the inner door. Weak coughs came from inside that room. That sword has been giving me indications that it wanted me dead all along. I ignored them because there hadn’t been time to find a library and research it yet.