The Edge of Shadow, page 29
part #5 of The Kin of Kings Series
“No, it’s fine.” It wouldn’t matter. She could steal an akorell stone when the time came to leave, then practice on her own.
Basen opened the portal. The students called out “clear” from each angle. Sanya went in first. She’d grown to like the sense of freedom of leaving the basement, even when Basen’s portal spat her out across the sand and gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. Alabell and Basen followed as Sanya got up and brushed herself off.
Alabell seemed too distracted by the blackened walls of the training grounds to realize she had sand stuck to her knees. Sanya wiped it off her.
“We can’t have people thinking we’ve been rolling around in the dirt. Let’s go. The longer it takes to find Juliana, the greater the chances we’ll be caught.”
“It’s hard to believe we’re back here that quickly.” Alabell took in a long breath as if the air was sweeter here. “I forgot how much I missed this place.”
“I’ll wait here,” Basen said. He had on the uniform of one of Ulric’s troops. It would buy him time if someone found him here, though he would probably have to kill whoever discovered him to keep from being caught.
“You lead,” Sanya told Alabell. “Go.”
“Right.” Alabell walked out of the training grounds with the small bag on her back swaying with each step.
It didn’t take long for them to realize that there was no one around any of the mage or psychic classrooms. In fact, from here the entire Academy seemed empty. They made their way north. Sanya had only a dagger in a holster on her leg, hidden by her pants, but she was still confident she could kill anyone who discovered them so long as it wasn’t a mage or an archer who got the jump.
There was no hidden way to the northern side of the campus, so they took the main road and soon came to Warrior’s Field. She and Alabell still saw no one.
“We have to figure out if the school has been deserted before we find ourselves stumbling into somewhere we can’t escape from,” Alabell said. “Let’s check on the gardens and the farms. If the animals are still alive, there must be people here tending to them. If not, the Academy is likely abandoned.”
Sanya followed her east. Alabell kept them as hidden as she could now, taking a route through the mage and psychic classrooms. Sanya smelled the animals before she saw them.
Alabell took them south before they came out onto any roads. She climbed on top of a psychic classroom and Sanya followed. They got down on their bellies and crawled to the edge to overlook the gardens and farms. Sanya could make out people working among the plants and animals sectioned off by fences as Alabell got the spyglass out of her bag and took a look.
“I recognize many of them,” she said. “They’re the same Academy staff from before. Hopefully that means Juliana is still alive and working in the kitchen.”
“Do you see anyone guarding them?” Sanya asked.
Alabell looked for a while. “Two men in Tenred uniforms.”
“Can we get around them?” The dining hall was all the way on the northern side of the campus, but it was large enough for Sanya to make out from here.
“Not without being seen but perhaps without being scrutinized.”
“You should leave the bag and spyglass here on the roof. They might search us.”
“I can explain the spyglass and bag better than you can explain your dagger.”
But Sanya couldn’t stand the thought of parting with her weapon. “Let’s wait here first and see what we can observe.”
“That’s a good idea. We should watch what they do during lunch. We might get lucky and spot Juliana.”
Sanya turned on her back and put her arm over her eyes to shield herself from the sun. “Tell me when you want me to take over.”
“Basen’s going to be worried when he doesn’t hear from us,” Alabell muttered.
“Is he stupid enough to come looking for us?”
“I don’t think so.”
Sanya fell asleep eventually. She awoke to Alabell rousing her. “I need a break.”
“What did you see?”
“People working, nothing else.”
Sanya took watch as Alabell took her turn napping. There was nothing of interest. Sanya soon grew bored, but she remained vigilant.
An hour passed. Sanya had tried every position imaginable to continue looking out over the ledge of the roof without sitting up, but she could no longer find any comfort. She was just about to wake Alabell, when she noticed movement to the east.
The two uniforms hurried toward the gate. The workers stopped to gawk as the soldiers got it open and a single man walked through. Alabell awoke and shifted to lie on her stomach beside Sanya.
“What’s happening?”
“I’m not sure.”
Basen’s voice asked from somewhere below, “Alabell is that you?”
“Yes.”
Sanya heard him climbing up the back of the building. As Alabell went to offer him help, Sanya kept watching ahead. The uniform of the third man was dirty as if he’d had a long trek to get here. Perhaps he’d been taken in for questioning by Ulric’s men controlling the Fjallejon Pathway. The other two men took him north across the farm as he removed a scroll from his bag.
“It seems like a messenger has come,” Sanya told Alabell and Basen as they went down on their stomachs beside her. “What are you doing here, Basen?”
“I feared something had happened, so I went looking for you. I couldn’t find you, so I started watching the workers. Then I heard your voices.”
“Is that Crea?” Alabell asked.
“Yes,” Sanya said. She’d come out of the dining hall to greet the messenger. “He’s handing her the scroll.”
“Have you seen my mother?” Basen asked.
“Not yet,” Alabell said. “We were going to wait until lunch to see what happens. She might leave the dining hall afterward, and that would be our best chance.”
Crea suddenly began to shout at the messenger. He backed up a step and lowered his head. Crea went on screaming at no one in particular. She threw down the scroll and kicked the fence of the farm, scaring the pigs and chickens in nearby pens.
“She must’ve just heard about the money you and Basen stole,” Alabell said.
Blood rushed to Sanya’s face. Unable to watch what she knew was coming, she handed Alabell the spyglass as Crea stormed toward the dining hall.
Basen shouldn’t be here for this.
Crea screamed something over her shoulder. The three uniforms ran to catch up.
“We’d better get closer,” Sanya said.
“God’s mercy,” Basen said, “she’s going for my mother, isn’t she?”
Alabell gasped.
“Yes.” Sanya climbed down the front of the building.
“They’ll see us,” Alabell warned, though she and Basen climbed down anyway.
“No one will notice until it’s too late.” They hurried down the road beside the garden.
Everyone had stopped work to stare as Crea pulled Juliana out of the back of the dining hall by her hair. Chains around her ankles forced her to take small steps to keep up. She fell several times, reaching up to grab Crea’s arms but stopping herself as if worried about further punishment.
One of the uniforms tried to console Crea as he put his hand on her back, but she elbowed him in the side and shrieked in fury. The Academy workers murmured to each other as they moved in haste toward Crea, but none did or said anything to the enraged Hiller.
Sanya stopped just behind the workers. She knelt to retrieve her dagger and hid it up her sleeve as best she could. More uniforms arrived, circling around Crea with worried expressions matching those of the Academy staff.
Crea walked over to the nearest uniform and grabbed the sword out of his sheath. Juliana started to back away as Crea stomped toward her with a rabid look.
“Hold her,” Crea demanded.
“She did nothing wrong,” a farmer objected.
“Anyone who says anything will be next after her. Hold her!” Crea pointed at two guards, who took Juliana by her thin arms. She struggled as they easily pushed her down to her knees.
“This is an overreaction, even for Crea,” Basen muttered as he looked panicked about what to do. “It doesn’t make sense. She wouldn’t kill my mother for our theft, would she?”
“Crea, don’t do this,” Juliana pleaded. “It won’t help anything.”
Crea didn’t slow as she plodded closer. “Juliana Hiller, you are to pay for the crimes of your son.”
Just as Sanya was about to ask Basen for the plan, he ran out from the crowd. “Ulric has urgent news, Crea!”
Glancing over, she appeared too preoccupied to recognize Basen in uniform, but she certainly would at any moment.
“What?”
“The capital is under attack! Ulric needs your troops now!”
Crea straightened as confusion twisted her face. “Why isn’t a wall guard with you?”
“They are slow and I’m fast. Hurry!”
“After I kill this woman for her son’s crimes.” She turned back to Juliana and brought back her arms.
Basen drew his wand. “Get out of the way!”
Crea looked over, unsure what to make of his order. Juliana seized her opportunity to twist out of the grasp of the confused men of Tenred. She stumbled away from them as Basen cast a fireball. It exploded into the dirt just in front of the group, sending Crea into a backward tumble.
Basen sprinted to his mother and lifted her over his shoulder before anyone could tell what was happening.
“It’s Basen!” Crea screamed. “And that’s Sanya with him! Don’t let her out.”
Sanya pained the three nearest uniforms and started after Crea with her dagger. But the Hiller ran the opposite way with eyes full of fear. That didn’t stop her from yelling, “You will die for what you’ve done!”
Sanya turned and fled, soon catching up to her party.
“What did you do?” Juliana asked.
“Just stole some money from the castle,” Basen answered. He began to slow as he huffed for breath. “We won’t make it.”
“Let me help.” Sanya grabbed Juliana by her legs as she, Basen, and Alabell ran sideways.
“Leave me,” Juliana said. “It’s the only way you’ll make it out.”
“We’ll kill them,” Sanya said as she stopped to face their pursuers. “There are only six.”
But as soon as she’d finished speaking, swordsmen and archers flooded out from the dining hall. Crea yelled for them to stop Sanya from leaving.
“We run!” Alabell shouted.
Sanya got her arms underneath Juliana’s rear this time. But even with the three of them carrying the woman, they couldn’t run as fast as they needed.
“Around the southern side of the psychic classrooms,” Alabell directed. “We might be able to lose them for long enough to get to a mage training ground.”
Alabell was right—Basen should be able to make a portal from any training ground. They ran between the buildings. Sanya kept out a constant net of psyche and soon felt the enemy closing in behind them.
The first to arrive was an archer, but they took a left at the next opening to block his view. A swordsman was next, jumping out in front to intercept them. Sanya sent him to the ground with psyche as they veered right to avoid his fallen body.
They didn’t get far before two more swordsmen and an archer confronted them. Alabell stopped while Basen tried to keep going, causing Juliana to fall. Sanya tried to floor the three enemies blocking their path, but she could only cause them to scream as exhaustion sapped most of her strength.
The archer lifted his bow through the pain, nocked an arrow, and shot. Alabell ducked as Basen seemed to be unaware, scooping up his mother. The arrow missed high as the swordsmen rushed toward them.
“They’re coming from behind and from the sides,” Sanya announced as she felt their presence with psyche.
Basen gave up trying to lift his mother, and she hobbled backward to escape the swordsmen about to run their blades through her and Alabell. She was about to back up into another enemy when Sanya flung open the window of the psychic classroom beside them.
“In here.” She pained the three swordsmen, this time severely enough to knock them down.
“Come on, Mother.” Basen took her hand. “Go, Alabell.”
Sanya felt an arrow zip over her shoulder as she was the last one in. She shut the window onto an enemy’s reaching hand. He screamed and fell back. Another reached in and grabbed Sanya by the wrist before she could get the window shut. She went for her dagger to stab him, only to realize she must’ve dropped it before helping to carry Juliana.
He screamed and convulsed as she pained him, and finally let go. The archer appeared next with no intention of coming in the window as he aimed his arrow.
“Get down,” Sanya yelled.
The arrow shattered the glass but missed its mark, leaving a crack in the wall near Alabell.
“Move, Sanya!” Basen called as he aimed his wand.
She dove out of the way as he shot. There was a thud as the archer yelped, heat coming back in through the window to brush over Sanya’s head.
“The far window!” Sanya announced as she felt someone moving toward it.
Basen shot just as the man got it open. The glass shattered as he screamed.
“Toward the middle!” Sanya called. But no one appeared.
“He’s moving to the far end,” she said. “Crawling below the windows.”
Basen held his wand ready. An archer popped up as if to shoot through the window. Basen shot first and broke it, but the archer had spun out of the way. He returned right away and was about to shoot when Sanya hit him with a spell of pain. He crumpled out of sight.
Although three windows were broken, the shards of glass remaining around the edges would keep anyone from getting through quickly. Every other wall was solid. The door to the classroom stood between the windows.
“They’re gathering around the edges,” Sanya whispered. “About ten of them.”
“How far to the nearest training grounds?” Basen asked.
“Not far,” Alabell said. “We could get there quickly if we could run.”
“How long would it take while going the speed my mother can walk?” Basen asked. “We could fight our way there.”
“Minutes.”
“I have no weapon,” Sanya reminded them. “And they have archers.”
“If you can pain them all—”
“We still might not make it,” Sanya interrupted Basen. “They could be gathering right now to stop our escape. There’s no way to know how many they have.”
“Break the chain,” Alabell said. She picked up a chair and gave it to Sanya. “You’re stronger than I am. Basen can watch the windows.”
Juliana’s face blanched as she stood against the far wall. She spread her feet as far as she could, a little longer than Sanya’s hand, and Sanya slammed one leg of the chair down onto the chain.
She heard Basen cast at someone and turned to see an archer spinning away from the window. The bowman tried to line up a shot after the fireball, but Sanya crippled him with pain. He fell forward into the shards of glass and got caught. Basen shot again and ended his screaming as he blew the archer away.
Sanya slammed the chair leg against the chain over and over, but it did nothing.
“I have an idea,” Alabell whispered. “Basen, stand at the front of the classroom and see if you can feel for a portal. Psychics duel each other up there.”
Basen watched the windows as he sidestepped over to put himself beside the lecturing podium. “Nothing.”
“We just need to find the right classroom. One where powerful psychics have battled frequently enough.”
“Which one would that be?” Basen asked.
“I don’t know.”
Sanya could feel the minds of at least twenty people now, though she couldn’t locate their exact locations through the walls. “We can’t make it to another classroom.”
Crea announced, “The building is surrounded, and every building around here is surrounded as well! You cannot escape!”
“Is it true?” Basen whispered.
“I don’t know,” Sanya said as her throat went dry. “She’s too far and there’s too much in the way.”
“We will let the rest of you walk out of here if Sanya comes out without resistance,” Crea continued.
The three of them glanced at Sanya with confusion. She couldn’t hide the dread any longer as she swallowed a lump.
“Sanya, what did you do?” Basen whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
Someone tossed in a pair of chains with open shackles.
“Sanya will put the shackles around her wrists and ankles and come out first,” Crea said. “The rest of you will be free to leave afterward. That’s the only way you will live.”
“Come closer and say that again,” Sanya called back. “Tell me exactly who’s going to live.”
There was a pause, then Crea’s voice rang out from just beside the last window. “If you come out shackled, then Basen, Juliana, and whoever that younger woman is will live. If you try to resist, all of you will die eventually.”
“You didn’t follow the plan,” Basen muttered to Sanya in anger.
“I did.”
“But you must’ve done something we hadn’t discussed!”
Crea yelled, “There is no other way out of this building alive!”
“The truth doesn’t matter,” Basen whispered in a lie as he watched the windows. “We’re going to have to fight our way out.”
“Basen…” Alabell paused as she stared into Sanya’s eyes. “We…we won’t make it.”
“She’s right. And this is my fault,” Sanya admitted.
There was a long moment of silence.
Sanya announced, “I’m going to put on the chains now!”
“Don’t,” Basen said. “Give me time to think.”
“There’s nothing to think about. I couldn’t stop myself, Basen. I knew right before I did it that this might happen, and I let myself do it anyway.” She put the shackles around her ankles. “Crea’s telling the truth. She’ll let the rest of you live.”
“Why, Sanya?” Basen asked, no doubt realizing by then what she had done.
