You have the heart of a scientist; you like proof before condemning people—and swords. It’s not a bad thing.
A compliment. A sure sign that Jaxi felt remorse over all of this—or knew there was worse news to come.
The rubble rose to chest-height in the doorway to the inner room. All of the lanterns had been extinguished, and the fire in the hearth must have been smothered, too, because Sardelle could not see anything. She conjured a globe of light and floated it in through the gap.
She glimpsed Apex’s eviscerated body, his face upward, his eyes unseeing. He was already dead with no chance of healing him. Tears welled in her eyes and regret formed a lump in her throat.
Groans drifted out from under a rubble pile in the back, and Sardelle forced herself to look away. She sent her senses outward, bracing herself for the further death she might discover. Intense feelings of pain washed over her from different sources. She realized with a start that she was on top of Kaika, who had been in the doorway when the ceiling had collapsed. The queen was… Sardelle swallowed. The queen was dead.
By the gods, Jaxi. Sardelle almost added that there was no way either of them would be able to show themselves in the city—or on the continent—again, but with dead or dying people all around her, that was too selfish a thought to share. Help me burn the rubble away, please. Be careful of those underneath it.
Got it. Cas is over by the hole in the floor, sitting down with her head in her hands.
While Sardelle was debating if she wanted to approach Cas, Jaxi started incinerating stone. Sardelle decided to work on that instead. She could sense that Kaika was alive, but that she was in pain and struggling to breathe. Sardelle backed up and started lifting rocks away with her mind. Oddly, her head did not throb as much as it had earlier.
Maybe because Kasandral is buried, Jaxi said. That ought to shut up his brutish glowing.
Focused on extracting Kaika, Sardelle did not respond. She almost jumped when she lifted away a rock, and an unexpected hand stretched up toward her. She hadn’t reached Kaika yet. It was one of the guards.
Aware of some of the distant shouts growing closer, and of bangs and thumps as people tried to clear away enough stone and debris to get to this level, Sardelle rushed to pull him out. He groaned, but his eyes did not open. That might be for the best. Surely, he would not be an ally here when he woke up.
Next, she reached Kaika. Her eyes were open, pain mingling with determination on her face. And grime. Sardelle had never seen someone so dirty outside of a boiler room.
As soon as her arms were free, Kaika pulled herself out. Fresh blood seeped from the bullet wound from the night before, and countless scratches and bumps marred the rest of her. Sardelle pulled carefully, not wanting to do more damage.
“What in all of the cursed realms happened?” Kaika whispered.
“Your bomb, I believe.”
“That only went off after everything fell apart. After Ahn started attacking you.” Kaika’s brow furrowed with confusion.
“It was the sword,” came a soft, emotion-choked voice from the doorway. Cas slumped against the frame. “It—I… Apex.” Tears welled in her eyes, as she glanced toward the hallway. She looked like a rabbit poised to flee—or a woman about to face the executioner’s axe.
Maybe that wasn’t entirely inaccurate. Ridge would not react well to this. Hells, Sardelle’s own emotions were such a tangle that she didn’t know how to react, either.
Get out of here, Jaxi advised. Figure it out later. People are coming. People who aren’t going to be happy about the queen’s death. I’ve moved or incinerated enough rubble that those who survived should be easy for them to retrieve.
“The queen,” Kaika said, pointedly not looking at Cas. “Did she make it out?”
“No,” Sardelle murmured.
Kaika smashed a fist against her thigh. “All of that, all of that—” she thrust her hand toward the rubble-filled room, thoughts of Apex at the top of her thoughts, “—and I didn’t even get the information I came for? We still don’t know where the king is?”
I actually did get that information while Kaika was pummeling the queen and asking, a more precise location than Therrik knew about. Jaxi shared the thought with Sardelle.
“He’s being held in a lighthouse on an island a hundred miles north of the city,” Sardelle said. “We’ll need a flier to get there.”
Kaika stared at her. “What? How long have you known?”
“Two seconds,” Sardelle hurried to say before Kaika could accuse her of not sharing earlier and keeping all of this from happening. “Jaxi took the information from the queen’s thoughts as you were questioning her.”
Kaika’s stare shifted downward, to the soulblade belted at Sardelle’s waist.
“All right then.” Kaika did not appear relieved or happy, just more determined than ever.
“One more pull, men,” came an order from the base of the nearby stairwell.
“Come on.” Kaika climbed to her feet and shambled toward the door. “There’s nothing left for us here.”
Despite her words, she paused in the doorway, casting a long look back toward the room before walking out.
Chapter 12
Cas disappeared soon after they escaped the castle, and Sardelle found herself riding through the dark countryside with Kaika, the world silent around them save for the clip-clop of the horseshoes. Dawn would arrive soon. Even though wisdom had suggested a swift retreat, Sardelle had gone hunting for Ridge after slipping out of the castle. Kaika had stuck to her side, knowing they needed a pilot—and a flier—to get to the king. But Ridge had been nowhere to be found. Three times, Sardelle had made Jaxi scour every aura in the army fort and the hangars atop the cliffs. Jaxi had promised she would have found him—she was familiar with his aura and had chatted to him often, after all—if he was anywhere within fifty miles. Sardelle had refused to believe his people had shot him and that she couldn’t sense his presence because he was dead. He was too important to the Iskandians. The army wouldn’t have shot him. Unless the queen had ordered it before stepping into that meeting, as some punishment for associating with sorcerers.
Sardelle closed her eyes—she had barely been seeing the road ahead, anyway. She hoped she had not made the wrong choice in leaving the city. Jaxi had said she’d sensed Tolemek and Duck back at Ridge’s mother’s house when she had been looking for Ridge. It seemed a logical meeting point, and Ridge would know to look for them there.
Kaika twisted in her saddle, frowning at the road behind them.
“Trouble?” Sardelle did not sense anyone riding up on them, but she had not been checking the farmhouses and fields to the sides of the road.
“She better not have gone back for that sword.”
“Cas?”
“Yes, Cas. Lieutenant Ahn. It’s bad enough if she’s hiding to avoid a court-martial, but if she tries to get that magic-cursed monster blade out of the rubble, I’ll blow her higher than she’s ever flown.”
Cas hadn’t looked back toward the sword when they had been leaving the room or sneaking out of the castle. Sardelle could be mistaken, but she believed whatever bond Kasandral had placed on her had been broken with Apex’s death. Maybe the sword itself had even felt contrite—if that was possible—over killing the wrong target.
You’re attributing a brain to that over-sharpened steel rod. It doesn’t have one.
It has… something. You admitted yourself that it’s more than we believed. And you’ve called it by name and given it a sex since the beginning.
Only because something that chooses to glow such a hideous shade of green has to be male.
That’s a lovely prejudice you have.
I seem to remember you having a similar thought about whoever designed Ridge’s hideous green plaid couch.
No, I said only a man would buy that couch. And I was right. Sardelle sighed wistfully. As strange as it seemed, she missed that couch. And she missed Ridge, too, even if less than twelve ho
urs had passed since they had been parted. She had grown used to having him nearby, being able to touch his mind, to take comfort in his solid presence. The emptiness was noticeable.
Maybe you can buy him another one when you find a new place to live. If you can find the designer who came up with that pattern. He’s probably been dead for a couple hundred years. Or maybe he was shot for crimes to the eyes.
Sardelle was not in the mood for jokes and could not muster a smile or a retort.
“You don’t think so?” Kaika asked.
It took a moment for Sardelle to remember their conversation. “That Cas went back for the sword? No. I doubt she’s hiding from the law, either.” She might want to hide from Ridge; she looked up to him, as all of his young pilots did, and he would not react well when he heard about this. “She shouldn’t be punished for what happened. She wasn’t in control.”
“Wasn’t in control? She tried to kill you. She did kill Apex.”
“I saw her trying to fight the sword’s influence even as she was attacking me,” Sardelle said.
“No officer in a military court is going to believe that, that the sword made her do it.”
Sardelle feared that might be a truth. Even if the queen and her Heartwood sisters had been leading this witch-hunt, from what Sardelle had seen, the majority of Iskandian subjects had never seen magic used, not real magic, and most did not believe it existed anymore, if it ever had. She had no idea if there had been any actual witnesses to Apex’s death, but more likely, she would be blamed for it, even if someone had seen Cas land the killing blow. Sardelle had a feeling she was going to be blamed for everything that had happened in that castle. And even though the queen had died, others in that organization had survived. Her heart grew heavier whenever she tried to imagine the future, because she doubted she could stay here, not if she didn’t want to be hunted day and night.
“I can’t believe you’re so calm and serene about everything,” Kaika said, slumping in her saddle.
Serene? Sardelle felt tired, depressed, and resigned. Definitely not serene.
“I didn’t really know Apex that well,” Kaika went on, facing forward again, “but I wouldn’t have minded knowing him better. He was bookish and oblivious but handsome. I figured I could have worked on the rest, if he’d ever given me indication…” She shrugged. “Well, he didn’t, and that’s his loss, but I still thought he was an all right fellow. Not sure how he got captured and taken to that meeting, but—” She shrugged again.
Captured? Oh, right. Kaika had not been there when Apex’s betrayal had been unearthed. Well, Sardelle would not speak of it. Perhaps Ridge would prefer that it not be remembered. That was what she would prefer. After all, what choice had Apex had, given that the queen herself had asked a favor of him? It must have been an impossible situation, one that meant betrayal no matter what he did.
“Cas wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t insisted we go to that meeting,” Kaika said. Earlier, her voice had been loud, rough, and agitated. Now it was so soft that Sardelle could barely hear it. “That sword wouldn’t have been there.”
Sardelle did not know what to say. That she had been blaming herself too? “I don’t think any of us made the best decisions tonight.”
“I never do. Nowon was the brains in our duo. He would have had some clever way to—” Kaika’s voice broke off into a muffled choking sound, an attempt not to cry. She looked away and rubbed her face. “I’ve always been the impulsive one. Too impulsive. Too stupid.”
“I doubt anyone who can make explosives from within her dungeon cell could be deemed stupid.”
“Fine, then ridiculously unwise. Is there a word for that?”
“Besides unwise?”
“Yeah.”
“Injudicious?”
“Sounds classy. I’ll take it.” Kaika rubbed her face again.
Sardelle did not have to see her face to know that tears streaked it. She was like Ridge, someone who used humor to cover up that she was hurting. Maybe it was a military trait, something about not being perceived as weak or vulnerable.
Sorceresses get to cry, because if anyone mocks them, they can incinerate buildings.
You speak from experience, Jaxi?
Maybe.
“Is it selfish that I’m wondering what’s going to happen to me now?” Kaika asked after a time. Her voice had grown steady again, but the dejected slump to her shoulders remained. “If I can’t find the king… and even if I can… I’ve been caught breaking into the castle, was responsible for the explosion that killed the queen, and oh, I’ve been AWOL for the last two weeks. If Nowon were here, he’d look at me like I was pathetic. He wouldn’t say it, because he never did, but his eyebrow would twitch ever so slightly, and I’d know.”
“If it helps, I’ll probably get blamed for most of what you played a part in,” Sardelle said. “Come up with a plausible excuse for your AWOL status, and you might retain your career.”
“I doubt it.”
“Your crimes are minor compared to being a sorceress.” Sardelle tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. After all, she’d just been praised as being serene. One couldn’t be serene and bitter, could one? Serenely bitter?
“Witch,” Kaika said.
“Pardon?”
“We call you people witches, remember? Sorceress sounds too noble. Or maybe it’s just harder to say.”
“Like injudicious?”
“Exactly.”
To Sardelle’s surprise, Kaika leaned over and punched her in the shoulder. It took her a moment to realize it had been a friendly comradely punch, rather than an attempt to unhorse her. Kaika even smiled—at least Sardelle thought it was a smile. The woman truly needed to be allowed into the washroom first when they reached the house.
“You’re all right,” Kaika said. “For a witch.”
Sardelle resisted the urge to correct the word. “Thank you.”
Aw, you made a friend.
Too bad I lost another one.
You didn’t know Apex that well, Jaxi said.
I was thinking of Cas, because I’m not sure she’ll be able to get over what she did and to work around Ridge again or to look me in the eye. Sardelle wondered how Cas’s relationship with Tolemek would be affected. He could probably understand the idea of unforeseen consequences due to the tools one chose to wield, but Cas might not realize that. I’m upset over Apex’s loss, too, especially since it will hurt Ridge.
Cas isn’t lost, especially if she left Kasandral behind. I do wonder if we should have taken him and thrown him into the deepest part of the harbor.
I got a welt just from touching the scabbard. Sardelle rubbed her finger at the memory. Earlier in the night, she had done her best to heal the cut she had received in the fight, but she had a feeling there would always be a scar there that no amount of magic could heal.
True. Just so long as that Therrik doesn’t end up with it again.
That would be fine if he put it in storage, or the family crypt, wherever it was he got it.
Maybe more of the castle will collapse before people can dig it out, and it will simply be left under a few tons of stone for all of eternity. Jaxi beamed contentedly.
I’m not sure we should pray for the further devastation of a one-thousand-year-old building that’s on the historic register.
I wasn’t praying, just smiling as I contemplated Kasandral’s entombment.
Dawn brought them to the house, where they were welcomed by a rooster crowing in the yard across the street and a foul-smelling bluish smoke wafting from the chimney.
“Tolemek must be at work already,” Sardelle said.
“Does he ever sleep?” Kaika stifled a yawn of her own.
“I don’t—”
A shriek came from within the house. Sardelle nearly fell off her horse. It had been a woman’s voice, not Tolemek’s.
“Who is that?” she asked, stretching out with her senses.
“Mrs. Zirkander?” Kaika guessed
.
“She’s supposed to be staying with a relative,” Sardelle said, even though she had already identified the people inside the house. Tolemek, Duck, and Ridge’s mom, along with at least a dozen cats, the caged birds, and some other small creatures that had not occupied the house previously. What had happened? Tolemek couldn’t have been here for more than a few hours.
“Does she know that?” Kaika dismounted, then waved for Sardelle to hand down her reins. “Go check. I’ll take care of the horses.”
“You’re either being generous, or you don’t want to deal with Ridge’s screaming mother.”
“You’re perceptive, as well as serene.” Kaika gave her a lazy salute and led the horses around to the back of the house.
Another shriek pierced the early morning quiet as Sardelle opened the front door and peeked inside.
“There are snakes everywhere,” Fern cried.
She was spinning around the living room, one hand over her mouth and one pointing. Several new cages and terrariums had been added to the collection of living creatures inhabiting the cottage. They housed snakes, giant spiders, and a venomous lizard Sardelle thought she recognized from Tolemek’s lab. At the least, one like it had occupied a terrarium the time she had visited.
Poor Duck stood in front of Fern, patting the air in a placating manner, a placating manner that clearly wasn’t placating.
“There are snakes in my house, young man. Snakes. And spiders. Poisonous spiders!”
Sardelle thought about pointing out that venomous was the more accurate adjective, but decided that would do little to calm the woman. Where was Tolemek, anyway? Hiding somewhere and leaving Duck to deal with Fern’s wrath?
“Yes, ma’am,” Duck said. “I know. I helped carry them in.”
“You helped?” Fern gaped at him.
“It’s just temporary, Mrs. Zirkander,” he said. “Until Tolemek can find a real lab again. Uhm, the colonel said you wouldn’t be back for a while…”
“I came to check on the cats. And to make my son food. But there’s that man, that strange man with all the hair, in my kitchen.” She flung her hand toward the door. “And the smells he’s making in there! Those fumes will kill my birds.” This time, she flung her hand toward the cages in the rafters.