It took three baths in the cold cave pools to get the smell of smoke out of her hair, but Rose managed to sneak back to her room in her brother's house without anyone noticing.

"What happened?" Robert asked, waking up as she entered the bedroom.  He was sprawled on the floor by the fireplace.

Rose opened her mouth and sobs came out.

She wasn't sure who was more surprised, her or him.  He poured her a large glass of wine and offered it to her.  She drank it in three long swallows.  Shaking, she grimaced as her stomach almost rejected it. Rose took deep breaths through her nose.

"Get some sleep.  It will be better in the morning," he said.

Rose shook her head.  No.  It was going to be so much worse. But she couldn't tell him.  Not yet.  She let him tuck her in and when he left, she cried herself to sleep.

She slept until well past noon and even then, her brother's maid had to help her get dressed and walked her out to the garden for lunch.  All the spell work she did yesterday had left her tired and weak.  All she wanted to do was sleep.

"All better then?" Robert asked when they were alone.

Rose eyed the tiny sandwiches and felt her stomach roil in protest. She settled on a strong cup of tea heavily laced with sugar and milk.

"I freed the mage," she said, her voice still hoarse from the smoke.

"That's what I sent you out for," he said.  She hated to burst the pride that had puffed up his chest.  He looked very much like the noble merchant her father had raised him to be.

"While I was on a runaway horse, he burned Divintry to the ground."

"What?" Robert's tea cup clattered to the table.  Good thing it was empty or it would have stained the fine linen cloth.

Draining her cup in a long grateful swallow, Rose let the hot liquid soothe her raspy throat. The sugar bolstered her a bit.  She poured herself another cup and said what had been haunting her all the way back from Divintry.

"That wasn't a traveling minstrel.  He had to have been a battle mage to have set so many fires, so many huge fires, in such a short time."

The most powerful mages were plucked out of the covens and conscripted into the army.  They were yoked and controlled by a handler who decided if the mage lived or died based on how he performed in battle. If they followed orders, they were given anything they wanted.  Well, anything but their freedom.  If they even showed a hint of resistance, the collar sent a lethal electric charge, killing the mage after a few minutes of agony.

"You're saying you set a rogue battle mage free?" Robert choked out.

"On your orders," Rose reminded him.

"My contact said that he was with the singers."

"He might have been travelling with them, but he wasn't an undocumented entertainer.  He's AWOL." Somehow, the mage had slipped his collar and escaped from the army.

"Shit." Robert said, jumping to his feet and pacing.  "What are we going to do?"

"I could track him," Rose said, reaching for a cookie.  This day called for chocolate and lots of it.

"No."  Robert shook his head.  "It's too dangerous.  Are you sure Divintry is gone?"

The cookies tasted like ash in her mouth.  She rinsed it down with more tea.  "There was a wall of flame I couldn't get my horse close enough to find an opening in the fire to help survivors."

He frowned. "Atalanta should have let you get up right to the fire."

Rose laughed without humor.  "Yeah, about that.  I wasn't on Atalanta.  She was safe in a pasture about a mile away.  I was on Bret's horse."

"Bret Wallace? What was he doing there?"

"Guarding the prisoner. The only thing I can think of is Bret was tracking the bounty on the escaped battle mage."

"Why put the mage in the pit, then?"

"To weaken him." Rose scowled. "But all it did was make him angry."

Robert rubbed his hand over his face.  "I need more information.  Come, let's get you back to the coven.  And make sure everyone sees you so there's not a single doubt that you were in Demerest last night."

“No, not the coven,” she wailed.  “I’m not due back there until tomorrow night.”

“If you were anyone else, Bret would have brought you straight back there.  You’ve had two days with us. That’s more than most mages get in a month.”

She clamped down on her protests.  After all, there were people who had just burned to death and even more people homeless. Still, she refused to give her brother a hug good-bye as he escorted her through the sterile white doors of the coven.

But when her brother left her alone with the coven guards, she regretted her petulance.  However, when she turned back to chase after him, the guards blocked her way. She wouldn’t be granted leave to see her family again for months.

Glaring at the guards, Rose knew better than to try and get around them.  They were heavily armored and wearing amulets that would deflect most spells. Also, the electric prod they carried was a pretty good deterrent as well, even if it made her feel like cattle.

Her small room was just as she left it.  The narrow bed was still unmade and books were scattered over her desk.  Unlike her bedroom at home, there wasn’t any room for anything other than those two pieces of furniture.  It was in the coven’s best interest to make her living area uncomfortable.  Then she’d be forced to spend her time in the luxurious libraries and classrooms where the mages were encouraged to write spells and copy them into scrolls for traveling merchants to sell. At best it was unpaid labor, but Rose thought of it more as a type of slavery.

Getting into her bed, she tried to get some rest.  Rose was still worn out from yesterday. Her thoughts kept returning to Bret and the hateful look on his face.  Had he recognized her?  They had been intimate in every way, a thin black mask covering her face shouldn’t have fooled the great bounty hunter for more than a few minutes.  Then again, he might have been groggy from the spell.  She tossed and turned and eventually drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, loud knocking on her door woke her up.  By the darkness of the room, she must have slept through dinner.

“What is it?” Rose asked, opening her door up a crack.  She blinked in surprise at the harried looking coven matron at her doorstep.

“We have an emergency ritual to perform.  We need you sky clad and ready in a half an hour.”

Half an hour?

“What’s wrong?”

Rituals were scheduled months in advance.  An emergency ritual that required her to be sky clad meant she had to be naked because they were performing sex magic. 

The matron pursed her lips and shook her head, but there were tears in her eyes.  “We need to set up fire proof wards over the town.”

Rose’s breath caught in her throat. “Fire protection. Is everything all right?” Did the battle mage follow her?

“Just be there.  And don’t you dare try and escape while we’re distracted.” The matron shook her finger at her.  Her piggy eyes were narrowed in anger. “Or I will empty the garrison to bring you back and let them do with you as they please.”

Mouth gaping in shock, Rose could only stare at her.

“Things are going to change around here,” the matron continued.  I’m tired of you making me look incompetent when you take advantage of my good nature. If you perform an inch below your capabilities tonight, I will chain you to the stocks in the courtyard for the guards’ pleasure.” The matron spat and turned on her heel and left.