17

Fox looked on with amusement as I sat on the lid of my overflowing trunk, endeavoring to close it despite all evidence to the contrary. Sensing my irritation, the azi tossed and turned within the depths of my thoughts, strangely uneasy.

“There,” I grunted, finally latching the lid and allowing the servants to carry it out. “Perhaps Princess Inessa might decide to forgo the trunk and ship my whole closet to Daanoris instead. I must be bringing more than she is.”

“She’s bringing twice what you have.”

“How do you know that?”

“She and the empress haven’t stopped fighting about whether or not she should accompany us. I could hear them from the other end of the palace as clearly as I could hear everyone in between.”

Likh peered into the room. “Althy says we’re to leave at first light, with either a small legion of soldiers or, er, a dozen depending.”

“Depending on what?” I asked.

“On whether the princess or the empress wins the argument. Although it seems moot at this point. I am told a pigeon from Daanoris has just arrived. The emperor refused the delegation unless the princess comes with us.”

I groaned. “Perhaps my azi can swoop down and bully the emperor into helping us find the forger.”

“Tea!”

“I’m serious. If I had a choice, I’d stay here. I don’t want to leave Mykaela and Polaire.”

“I know. At least they’ll be well rested when they wake.”

I laughed. “Likh, you really do look on the bright side of every situation, don’t you?”

“I try. We need all the positivity we can.” Likh shifted. “Tea, are you close friends with Khalad? Do you know much about him?”

“As good a friendship as a bone witch and a Heartforger are capable of having. Why do you ask?”

Likh stared at a wall. “I didn’t know there was another option for male spellbinders beyond joining the Deathseekers.”

“Khalad is an exception. The Kion forger is the only remaining master of his trade, but he’s also extremely selective when it comes to apprentices.”

“And you give Khalad memories for his ingredients?”

“Yes. Asha replenish their own memories. Regular people can’t.”

“So I can give memories too?” Likh’s face was earnest and easy to read.

“Well, yes. Why are you—?”

Several things happened instantaneously. The azi reared up in alarm. Its wings spread, and all three heads hissed angrily, then the beast shot out of the lake it had been nesting in.

At the same time, there were shouts along the corridor, the sounds of running feet and frightened yelling. From the direction of the Kion city gates, I could see dark, heavy smoke rising into the air.

I felt the sudden flicker of a Compulsion rune, saw the surprise on a servant’s face before her expression turned blank. Wordlessly, she picked up a poker she had been using to tend the fireplace and raised it at Fox’s unprotected back.

A barrage of wind swept into the room, the Hurricane rune gleaming in Likh’s hands as the maid slammed into the door, knocking her out.

A sudden scream ripped through the air, and Fox was out the door in a flash.

“What’s going on?” Likh cried, alarmed, but I was already chasing after my brother into the royal chambers. Empress Alyx was on the floor, stunned. Princess Inessa stood before her with a sword in hand, eyes wide as the unfamiliar guard approached her, his own blade raised.

Fox took one look at the faint bruise marring the princess’s cheek and a growl rose from his throat. One broad stroke was all it took to send the soldier on his back, but I leaped forward before he could deliver the killing blow.

“No, Fox! He’s being compelled!” I forced my way into the fallen man’s mind, the azi giving me the strength I needed to fight through the barriers in my path, and commanded him to sleep. The man obeyed.

“Are you hurt?” Fox’s eyes were still blazing. I could taste his fear.

“We’re fine, just shaken up. What’s going on?” the princess asked.

“The city is under attack.”

“Someone’s compelling people!” I shouted. “We need to—”

I broke off and stumbled, my mind on fire. White-hot heat scorched my vision. All I could see was the strength of our wings as it kept us aloft in the wind, our three heads snapping at invisible attackers as we continued our inexorable trek to Kion. Danger, the shadows breathed. Danger, Master.

I could feel warmth and a pair of arms as someone carried me down the hallway, shouting, before setting me somewhere soft. A babble of voices washed over me, concerned and questioning. I heard brief snatches of conversation, swimming in and out of focus—

“—what’s wrong with Tea?”

“—collapsed. Not a coincidence—”

“—no demands that we surrender. Going too far, even for him—”

“—tried to attack Princess Inessa and the empress! Barricade the door!”

“—aren’t you allies? Would he go so far as to—”

“—betrayed—”

“—battering the gates. It will fall before long—”

“—battering the doors. They’ve gotten into the palace—”

“—must leave.” The empress’s voice broke through the fog. “This must be the duke’s doing.”

“What makes you think this is the duke’s doing?” Zoya asked. “We would have sensed if he were capable of magic.”

“It’s too much of a coincidence for there to be an attack so soon after your arrival. My scouts are reporting Odalian colors in the field. If this is not the duke’s doing, then someone is doing this with his approval. He’s after Khalad and Tea, we know that. Kance’s heartsglass too, I warrant.”

“No asha can pry his heart from me,” Inessa argued. “I’m going with them, Mother.”

“Surely Althy can think of some way—”

“I cannot,” Althy cut in, and something cool was pressed against my forehead. I heard hammering at the door, interspersed with sounds of fighting. “There are limits to what spellbinding can do, and matters of the heart stand high on that list. The princess is right. Where Prince Kance’s heartsglass goes, she must go along with it.”

“The azi,” I croaked, staring up at the ceiling.

“Tea?” Rahim’s voice drew close. “What is happening? Even my assistants I had to fight off—”

“The azi’s coming,” I gasped, my voice thick as sandpaper. I was seeing double, the throne room overlapping with my vision of the city of Kion on the horizon. “It’s going to—”

And then I felt it, the reason for the daeva’s anger. Underneath its wings, I saw the army, twice the size I knew Odalia’s army to be, spread out for miles around us.

And over half the army was visibly rotting. Strips of armor rusted on their bodies, and their faces were of those long since dead, decaying and desiccated. Those closest to the city gates threw themselves at the walls, heedless of broken bones and torn flesh.

“They’re dead!” I cried out. “All of them dead! It isn’t an army of soldiers at the city walls, Your Majesty. It’s an army of dead.”

“Impossible!” the empress said. “No one could summon that many—”

“Yes, they can,” Althy said with a grim smile. “The Puppet rune, wasn’t it? To do this successfully requires immense power.”

“Seeking stones.” Through the azi’s eyes, I saw soft globes of light wafting from among the corpses. “They brought seeking stones with them!”

“What’s a seeking stone?” Princess Inessa asked shakily.

“It amplifies an asha’s power,” Althy told her. “Whoever controls the corpses is channeling through them. Tea, how many do you see?”

I concentrated. “Seven.”

Althy grimaced. “A normal spellbinder would already be suffering from darkrot. No one can command seven stones at once and retain their sanity. Your Majesty, we must be prepared for the worst.”

“I am not leaving Kion and my people to these hordes of undead, Altaecia!”

I squeezed my eyes shut. To concentrate on two perspectives was draining, so I struggled to focus on the one where I could do some good. The azi purred when it felt me graze against its consciousness, opening its mind to allow me entrance. We headed straight for the undead horde amassing outside. They battered the city gates without mercy, and all three of the azi’s mouths opened.

The undead soldiers made no sound as they burned, consumed almost immediately by the blazing fireballs that slammed into them from overhead. We cawed in triumph and dove toward the city entrance. I saw the Ankyon soldiers manning the towers, fear etched upon their faces as death approached, the bravest of them shooting arrows at us in desperation.

I ignored their attacks and turned at the last minute, lashing out with our claws and ripping away most of the undead still hammering at the gates. I circled around and unleashed three more streams of deadly fire. The undead died again, lost in the inferno.

We next directed our ire at the pulses of magic amid the throng, at the seeking stones. I guided the azi through the air, using its winged body in place of my hand as it wove the Strangle rune in my stead. The rune shone large in the sky, and through the daeva’s eyes, I could see the telltale flickers of the seeking stones dotting the army below us. At my command, the daeva landed before one of the soldiers that carried a seeking stone, and the azi’s middle head snapped out to grab the glowing orb in its jaws before rising up again. I flew the daeva straight into the center of my rune, and the seeking stone exploded into oblivion. Again and again, we singled out the dead warriors, and soon, a greater part of the undead stopped, unmoving, until we put them out of their misery with more flames.

Dimly, I felt someone grab hold of my human body, attempting to shake its shoulders, and sensed someone pushing them away. “No!” Fox’s voice said, cold and clear in the confusion. “Let her be. She’s saving us.”

I swooped down and sprayed the men with fire until bonfires dotted the fields. We circled the city hungrily, awaiting more signs of movement, but nothing else stirred. The undead army lay smoldering. I sent my mind out, probing, but I was certain none of the seeking stones survived the onslaught.

A babble of voices erupted again, excited and joyful. I was more cautious, arrested by a sense of wrongness.

They are coming, the azi’s mind boomed, already reaching out to the horizon.

“It’s not over,” Fox said, voice brittle and bleak. “They are coming.”

It was not the dead that came in droves this time but the army of the living, in gleaming armor with polished swords, marching toward the city of Kion. From their flank streamed the flag of Odalia, flashing bright gold and red. Zoya might not be sure if the duke led this attack, but the presence of Odalian soldiers made a compelling argument for it.

“We need to leave now,” Kalen said, putting my own thoughts into words. “They will keep attacking Kion as long as we remain in the city. There is no more time, Your Majesty.”

“And what of Inessa?” Empress Alyx demanded.

“She will not be safe here. That is out of our hands. If the Faceless can infiltrate the palace, then she and Kance’s heartsglass will be safest by the Dark asha and the Heartforger’s side, wherever that may be.”

Mother and daughter looked at each other without speaking. Finally, the older woman reached out and hugged her daughter. “I should have let you make your own decisions,” she said roughly, unshed tears salting her voice. “Protect your betrothed’s heart, Inessa, and may the gods watch over you.”

Zoya spoke up, “I’d like to know how we are leaving the city, surrounded as we are.”

Wordlessly, Fox pointed toward the sky.

“Again?!”

“You can either stay or join us, Zoya. I won’t force you on the azi if you’re not comfortable with it,” I replied.

“You say, ‘comfortable.’ I say, ‘it’s a freaking flying three-headed dragon, you sod.’”

“I don’t think we have much choice, Zoya,” Shadi said gently.

The asha looked at her, squared her shoulders. “I did give my word, didn’t I? But you have every right to refuse, Shad.”

“I go where you go, Zoya. We promised each other.” The doe-eyed asha took Zoya’s hands in hers, and the normally abrasive girl blushed.

“I’m going,” Khalad said quietly.

“So am I,” Likh said immediately.

“I cannot.” Heads turned toward Althy. “Someone needs to stay and ensure the city remains protected after you are gone. Zahid and most of the Deathseekers are away from Kion, and among the other asha, I am the most qualified to take command. We cannot leave Ankyo open for the taking, Your Majesty. And I, for one, cannot leave Mykaela and Polaire alone.”

“But what about my daughter?”

“You will not find worthier people than them, Alyx. They have fought worse demons than I have and saved this city more times than you are aware of.” Althy smiled at us. “I trust them. Zoya, you know Daanorian, so I expect you to take charge.”

Zoya sighed. “I’m surrounded by heroes.”

I opened my eyes. “We need to get out of Kion. Tell them to open the gates for us and to keep as many men away from it as possible.”

“That will be difficult,” Althy murmured. “To leave the city defenses unmanned might provoke the soldiers to step up their attack.”

“They won’t,” I promised. “But whatever you do, don’t distract me. I want to keep my hold as tight as possible.”

Althy nodded. “May the Blade’s path guide your way, Tea. Protect the princess. I will do everything in my power to hold down the fort here.”

I clasped her hands. “Althy. Remember what I told you about the elder asha.”

“Tea…”

“Don’t let them near Polaire or Mykaela. Promise me.”

The asha looked troubled but nodded. “I swear it.”

“We will help them, Tea,” Rahim promised. “I am Tresean. It is in my blood to fight. And Chesh and all the rest—we will help protect the city with the empress and Altaecia until you come back. So you must come back!”

I tried to smile, but the daeva’s thoughts slammed back into mine. My stomach plummeted as it dove straight toward the center of the army, and I forced it back toward the sky without inflicting any casualties, though a trail of arrows followed in our wake. I goaded all three mouths into opening again, and the resulting fire raked across the regiments in front, a blazing line in the ground that prevented them from pushing forward.

I could feel Fox lifting me again, felt him run. I heard sounds of battle and the surge of magic as we fought our way out of the palace. And then I heard Chief close by, nickering, and Fox murmuring softly to the stallion.

I could see Deathseekers and asha engaging the soldiers. Capitalizing on the azi’s work, they summoned more Fire runes until a wall of flames faced the army. The Deathseeker Ostry was calling out orders, and at his command, sharp stalagmites burst from the ground, a natural defense against attackers.

I heard Inessa cry out from somewhere behind us, sensed Fox hesitating.

“Protect the princess, Fox,” Kalen’s voice drew closer. “I’ll stay with Tea.” I felt him take my brother’s place, pressing me against his chest as he took command of Chief. I leaned into his warmth.

I shifted tactics. The daeva made for the entrance of the city, landing with such force that the whole of Kion shuddered.

The Deathseekers had retreated, Ostry and Alsron yelling at their companions not to provoke the azi. We deliberately turned our backs on them, bayed thirstily at the Odalians to do their worst.

A fireball came out of nowhere straight toward us. My first instinct was to dodge it, but the human part of our mind was screaming, reminding me that the people behind me would be the first to suffer from that choice.

Daeva were immune to most forms of attack but not to pain, and the azi hissed as the fire licked at its skin. There are spellbinders in the Odalian army, Fox, I hissed, and he started. Send word to Althy to investigate the asha and Deathseekers in Ankyo. There may be more traitors hiding there.

In the distance, something flared.

A seeking stone! Another flare lit up among the soldiers and then another.

The men, once so hesitant to fight, went rigid, unnaturally silent. And then, as one, they shuffled forward.

Fox, tell the others to stay back!

The army picked up speed. I swept my mind out into the crowd, reaching for the stones—and encountered a barrier. The men kept running, swords falling uselessly from their hands. This was a suicide mission, a show of force. If the azi didn’t kill them, they would dash their brains out against the city walls.

I searched for the seeking stones a second time and encountered a Compulsion so great, my mind snapped back from the force. If I had not been inside the daeva’s mind, if the azi had not pushed away that corrupting magic, I could have easily been turned.

“Deathseekers, to me!” I heard Ostry yell. I felt another surge of magic as Shield runes popped up behind us, braced for impact.

The azi struggled, eager to defend itself, but I forced my full will on the beast, shouting at it to keep still, do not move, do not hurt them.

The Rot rune appeared under the soldiers’ feet a second before the ground disintegrated. The opposing army slid down the steep embankment as a large sinkhole opened beneath them, deep enough to make climbing out difficult.

“It’s Althy!” Zoya was awestruck. “She’s literally sweeping them off their feet!”

From within that strange barrier, I finally found cracks I could slip through amid the confusion and located the stones.

“Kalen!” Fox yelled. The Deathseeker and I had outpaced the others, mostly because of Chief. “Right field, by the flag bearer!”

Kalen scanned the army quickly and wove the air around us. Bursts of wind and fire spiraled out, directed toward the location Fox had shouted, and snatched the seeking stones with accuracy, leaving flames in their wake. Fox called out more locations, using my sight for his own, and Kalen stole them away, gathering them all in the air above us. I briefly shook myself free from the azi’s mind to weave the Strangle rune around them. The sound of the seeking stones shattering gave me immense satisfaction.

I could feel rage and consternation, and then the unseen mind was gone. The soldiers stumbled and fell to their knees, shaking their heads groggily. Many had collapsed, unconscious, but their lives were intact.

I could feel Fox and the others arriving at the city gates, Princess Inessa screaming at the Deathseekers to let them through. I opened the doors of my own mind to the azi, felt it snake its way in, closing around me like a fitted glove. Through the azi’s eyes, I saw Likh and Princess Inessa shrinking back and Zoya bravely standing her ground in front of Shadi despite the fear in her eyes. Alsron and Mavren tensed, but Ostry remained where he was, his mouth open as our three heads bowed to him. “Tea?” Those two syllables left his mouth in a near squeak.

I laughed; the azi rumbled. In this form, they looked strange, almost grotesque—as if it were them and not us who were the unnatural beasts.

Play, I told the azi, searching its memories and latching on to a vision of another city of stonework and marble, its ivory domes unmistakable. The azi cawed, and its wide wings lowered.

I felt the group scrambling up our back and a “Y’all really gonna climb up that?” from Mavren. We explored the fallen soldiers for any remnants of that powerful mind and found none. Deathseekers and asha were hard to surprise; after their initial amazement, they went to work, grabbing our trunks and tossing them up to my companions.

“Wouldn’t want you ladies naked in Daanoris!” Levi guffawed, always the quickest to find levity in any situation.

“Come back in one piece, you reckless loonies,” Ostry yelled at us.

We rose, Zoya leaving more invectives in our wake as we flew at breakneck speed. The city of Kion was soon gone, replaced by an endless landscape of trees and mountains.

The wind gave little opportunity for conversation, and it was all the others could do to cling to us as we flew. The land soon disappeared, and the crisp blue waters of the Swiftsea took its place.

It felt like eons had passed before I saw approaching land, the Haitsa mountains at a distance, though it must have only been an hour. The azi called out a warning as it descended, and we soon found ourselves standing in the kingdom of Daanoris, dirt and heat rising around us with the pearl roofs and spiral towers of its capital city, Santiang, only half a day’s ride away.