– Prologue –

Beauty in Weakness

Dear Mother,

There is something I must tell you, and I am too afraid to say it. Not to mention I know that you would stop me. So . . . I am leaving you one final letter instead. I have decided to go. I cannot say if I will be back, so I will make no promises. Know that I love you more than all of Mani. But you know that this is more important than you or I, or even this silver shell we call home. And so, I must go. I must. I will see you again, whether in this world, in the other, or in the afterlife.

Goodbye

(Planet Mani—Nytaea

Mani’Tor 20, 984—Night Season)

Lynchazel gathered her strength and leapt the city wall. She clutched her precious bundle with her left arm, extending upward with her right, as the force of her jump carried her through the air. Her ascent slowed just as she came within reach of the stone battlement at the top of the wall, some thirty feet in the air. Her right arm grasped the stone and she pulled herself onto the wall. Movement in this world was absurdly easy.

Here she stopped, looking both directions. The stone walkway on top of the wall was only about four feet wide, just wide enough for two of these lightworld men to walk abreast.

Fortunately, there were none in sight at the moment.

Lynchazel turned, scanning the horizon behind her. Still no sight of Sol. She was pretty sure this was the third day she’d been on this world, and yet no dawn. The dark sky changed color and the auroras came and went, almost like a normal day cycle, but who could say when full daylight would be back?

Twenty-eight days, he said. Fourteen days of sun, fourteen days of night. A strange world, this Mani . . . the thought of living here made her shiver, despite her certainty that it was a far better home for her daughter.

Lynchazel turned back toward the city. Nytaea, he had called it. The land of her child’s ancestry. She scanned the alabaster buildings and watched the starlight play off of silver-plated rooftops. The white Nytaean Palace loomed high over the other buildings, at the center of the city. Weak though this world may be, she had to admit . . . it was quite beautiful.

She glanced down at the bundle in her arms, which she unwrapped gently—just enough to reveal the perfect face of her first and only daughter, named after herself.

“Lynchazel,” she said softly. “We’re here. Your new home.”

꧁꧂

– Exordium –

(From the Vault of Lyn of Nytaea, Mother Heiress

Hersta 11, 2336)

I am getting really sick of your world.

Not very impressed so far, between the harsh conditions, the whole thing where I got imprisoned almost immediately, and the terrible food. I mean . . . just atrocious. You’d think these Hellebes scientists could give me something slightly more palatable than mystery lab chow while I twiddle my thumbs and wait for them to decide how next to experiment on me.

Not to mention my friends are all dead now. They didn’t make it through the Gate, so I’m stuck here alone.

So yeah . . . not impressed. Can I go home now? Back to Mani?

I know, I know. You might think I deserve this, or that it’s necessary. I’m just a monster. Mother this, goddess that. I get it.

I also realize not all Hellebes are that bad. Look at Captain Zent—he was great. But he still left me here at the mercy of the Senate. I’m recording this in my Vault—being a Hellebes, whoever you are, you know all about Vaults—in order to leave a methodical account of the events that led me here. After all, I’m sure you haven’t heard the full story.

I was an orphan, and I came from a city called Nytaea where orphans were considered illegal citizens. Nytaea, gleaming city of alabaster and silver, was made by an order of magi long ago. Magi are Legaleians who wield the ‘Authority’ of the elements, that is to say they can control nature. Magic, you might say.

The Legaleians, of course, are the people who live on Mani. The Exiled. On Mani, there is no moon, and only one day passes per month. Two weeks of day, two weeks of night. There are few men there, believe it or not, as far more girls are born each year than boys. Sounds weird, I know, but . . . it gets weirder. But I won’t overload you—let’s just start from the beginning.

꧁꧂

– Chapter 1 –

The Fate of the Innocent

Silver has always been a part of Mani. Quite literally—the bones of this world are molded from pure silver. Not only is this metal plentiful, but it possesses many strange properties.

— From Secrets of Mani, by Sor the Lark

(Planet Mani—Nytaea

Fynle 26, 997—Sunrise)

It was the second day of dawn. Sol hung full above the horizon, casting pale orange light over the white city of Nytaea. The light filtered through the streets and played on the silver rooftops as Mandrie led us back to the orphanage. We could see the smoke from a street away.

Our orphanage was in flames as Kaen and I rounded the last street corner and caught sight of it. That old, beloved house where we grew up, the place I called home ever since I was a little girl . . . burning.

She was right, I thought numbly as I stumbled to a halt, struggling to grasp the scene before my eyes. Two stories tall, the quaint building was made of wood instead of the more usual white stone. By now, however, multiple walls were beginning to cave in. Standing in the front courtyard were some dozen ruffians. Their leader stooped in front of two women held by his henchmen: Lentha, our aging caretaker, and Phoebe, an older girl from the orphanage. Phoebe was thrashing around in her captor’s grip and spitting angry words at the thief leader, while Lentha just hung her head.

No one else was in sight, none of the children, and certainly no one else in the neighborhood. They wouldn’t want anything to do with such an event.

“Lyn! Kaen!” screamed Phoebe. “Hel—” She was cut off as the stubble-cheeked man holding her gave her a backhanded rap across the head.

“Hey!” I screamed. “Let them go!”

Kaen came up beside me and turned to say something to Mandrie. I was too focused on the horrifying scene to pay attention to his words.

The leader turned to look at me, and Lentha coughed up blood behind him. “Well, looky here—more of the brats!” he said through a gap-toothed grin, shaking a bag of jingling copper and gold coins. Lentha’s stash of money. “Your little friend here was trying to go back inside, but it’s a bit dangerous in there, so I had the boys restrain her. Ain’t that right, missy?”

I gritted my teeth and began to stalk toward them. I was strong; maybe Kaen and I could take them on. . . .

But then I saw the lead man do something strange, creating a flickering flame in his hand. My blood chilled, and I stopped in my tracks. So that was how they had burnt it so fast. Magic. . . .

“You . . . monsters,” I spat. I looked toward the flaming building and wiped tears from my eyes. There was no way any of the children were still alive in there.

Kaen put a hand on my shoulder and addressed the thieves. “Put them down right now and back off! We have the city watch right on our tails. They’ll be here any moment.” His voice cracked, but it was a commendable effort at sounding threatening.

The fire mage laughed. But before he could speak, one of his men pointed the other direction and all eyes looked to see the city watch approaching at a run. They shouted and began chasing the thieves, who scattered away. Someone must have seen the smoke and called for them.

The thieves cursed and dropped Phoebe and Lentha as they fled, and Phoebe immediately dashed to Lentha’s side, holding her gingerly. “Mum, Mum! Lentha! Stay with me.”

Kaen and I approached hastily and knelt down beside the grey-haired woman. Her face was beaten and bloodied, and she looked close to death. “Oh, Lentha . . .” I whispered.

Phoebe gazed at us with tear-stained eyes, her dull brown hair in tangles. Her hooked nose, one of her distinctive features, twitched as she tried to keep it from running. “They demanded money. When she wouldn’t give it, they . . . they . . .” She cut off, sobbing.

Lentha finally stirred, pulling back her greyed head to mumble something incoherent. I caught only the word “children.” And then her body went limp.

Just then, one of the last of the city watch came up to us, his bronze scale armor clinking with each step. “Sorry to run, but the mage soldiers will be here any minute to douse the fires, and they’ll give you any medical attention you need, too.”

He was off before we could protest, and we were left with our dead foster mother in the courtyard in front of the burning orphanage. Mage soldiers. . . . Lord Kalceron’s elite forces were the last thing I wanted to see. Lentha had always taught us to avoid mage soldiers, in fact all magi, whenever possible. I shivered and looked back toward the building, not saying anything. I wanted so badly to go and check, just to see if somehow, some way . . .

I made a move to get up and run for the orphanage, but Kaen grabbed my arm. His face, normally so strong and resolute, looked hollow in the flickering light of the flames. His dark curls were plastered to his forehead with sweat and ash. With trembling lips, he said, “Lyn, they’re dead. So is—so is Lentha.”

Phoebe lay wailing over Lentha’s body. I felt like doing just the same. My throat was raw and scratchy, bearing a lump that I couldn’t swallow down. But I didn’t pull out of Kaen’s grip.

Slowly, Mandrie approached. I looked to see her small eleven-year-old figure beside us, clutching one arm to the other across her stomach. “Kaen,” she whimpered, “Lyn, I’m scared. This is like a bad dream. I thought . . .”

I lurched to my feet and ran to embrace her, pulling the distraught girl to face away from the dead body of our caretaker. “I’m so sorry, Mandrie.”

From behind me, Kaen said, “We should be going.”

I nodded, turning to see two mage soldiers approaching from the street to the south. They were unmistakable in their ornately-graven silver armor, bearing blue capes and horsehair plumes: water mage soldiers. I had only ever caught glimpses as a child. Two more of the blue-cloaked men approached from behind them just as the first two ran up and began putting out the fires. The mage soldier in the far back locked eyes with me and nudged his companion, pointing and saying something. A chill ran down my spine, and my heart began to beat faster.

Kaen was leading Phoebe away, but I hissed at him to hurry and pulled Mandrie with me. “We have to go now!”

None of them questioned. We hurried back down the street we’d come from. Kaen looked back and whispered, “Everyone hide!” He pulled Mandrie and me down behind a wooden garbage bin. “How did they get here so fast? Are you sure they’re after us, Lyn?”

I nearly gagged at the putrid smell of the refuse in the container. Breath coming quickly, I peeked over the top and saw the water magi dousing the flames while more mage soldiers clad in red and gold capes—other divisions—prowled the scene. They would find us in no time. “They’re looking for something,” I whispered back, “And I think it’s us. Whatever they want, it won’t be good if they catch us. We have to go, or they will soon.”

Kaen looked out past the dumpster and swore. “More of them are coming. We’ll just have to make a break for it. Come on!”

Mandrie scrambled out first, running for the street corner while Phoebe and Kaen followed on her heels. I backed up, watched the soldiers coming closer and closer until . . .

They saw us. “You there, stop!” shouted one of the two. “You, with the white hair!”

The words sent a chill down my spine. I panicked and sprinted for the corner, where Kaen and Mandrie were. “Go, go!” I hissed to them, looking behind me to see the soldiers chasing us. I thought I saw a civilian or two staring at us from windows, but I was too focused on getting away from Lord Kalceron’s men. We weaved down side streets toward the worse section of town, following Kaen’s lead. I knew we’d be able to shake them there.

“Over here!” I said quickly, pointing down another alley. “Go! I’ll distract them. I’ll meet you up at the nearest hideout!”

Kaen reluctantly pulled Mandrie and Phoebe down the alley with him, while I scrambled up on a nearby box and leaped for the overhanging roof. Using my gift of inhuman strength, I pulled myself up. As the mage soldiers came through, I shouted down to them, “Hey! You’ll never catch us!”

One of the magi, a gold-caped woman, stopped and pointed as she looked up. “They’ve taken to the rooftops, captain!”

I ran in the direction of Kaen and my other friends, sprinting over the slate roof as fast as I could. I came to the edge of the first roof and took a flying leap, landing on the other side nimbly as a cat. The mage soldiers had rounded the street corner and were now firing firebolts and lightning my way, shouting for me to stop. I took off, leading them farther. I couldn’t tell if they were actually trying to hit me or simply intimidate me.

Gathering my energy, I bounded across the street to my left and scraped my way up the slope of the roof and over to the other side, sliding to dodge another firebolt. I braked, getting my feet beneath me as I slid, and then managed to leap once more across the street.

I landed with my feet on a windowsill and my fingers over the lip of the roof. The jerk of my weight brought a jolt of pain from my shoulders and elbows. Gritting my teeth, I forced my limbs to do the impossible as I leaped with my feet, pulled with my arms, and swung myself up and over the edge, landing in a crouch on the rooftop. Sometimes it paid to have inhuman strength. Someday I would find out why I possessed it, and very soon I would feel the tiring aftereffects of it.

The mage soldiers came out behind me from both directions now. Looking back, I made a split-second decision and dashed to my right, parallel to the street. I leaped from one housetop to the next, following the street, before swinging around to my left, following the slope of the roof. I followed the roofline in this direction, away from where I knew our closest hideout lay.

The mage soldiers were still on my tail, fortunately, although they had to be wondering by now why they were only chasing one of us. Had they split up? I stopped suddenly, stooping down to rip off a slate shingle from the roof below, then leaned back sharply as another firebolt sailed over my head, fired by one of the red-caped mage soldiers. I peeked over and chucked the heavy plate at my pursuers as they ran toward me. The shingle shattered, stalling them momentarily, and I began running again. It didn’t buy me any time in my escape from the magi; I was just trying to keep them preoccupied with me.

It was time to lose them.

I took a deep breath and leapt across the street. I ran straight up the slope of the roof, slid down the other side and vaulted across the street. Pedestrians below stared up in surprise, but I ignored them. I landed on the roof of a large shop, clambering up the side and traversing the complicated twists and turns of the roof before hopping onto the next building, and the next, and the next, down the street. Finally, as my breath began to come in gasps, I hopped off the last rooftop and fell five paces to the cobblestone street below, rolling and coming up running.

Confident that I had shaken the mage soldiers at last, I made my way as quickly and quietly as I could toward the hideout, conscious that half the city might have just seen my escape antics. I ducked my head whenever I passed by a person as I ran. I was beginning to feel the exertion, and sweat was breaking out on my forehead.

At last, I made it back to the run-down section of the city. I sought out the abandoned warehouse and let myself in the back door, glancing both ways first to make sure that no one was watching. It was an old building with worn, wooden siding, and the plain wooden furnishings inside were covered in dust and cobwebs. Kaen, Phoebe and Mandrie stood near the back, and looked up with relief as I entered.

Mandrie was the first to greet me. “Lyn! Oh, I’m so glad you made it back safely!” She ran up and threw her arms around me, burying her dark curls in my chest.

I patted her back as I caught my breath, ruffling her hair affectionately. “Of course. I wouldn’t let some measly mage soldiers catch me.”

“Were you followed here?” Kaen’s voice had a sharp edge to it.

I shook my head, gently pulling Mandrie off of me. “No, I threw them off a ways back. They could only chase me for so long.”

Phoebe looked skeptical. “And how do you know they won’t still find us here? How did you even get away from them?”

“I led them in the opposite direction by rooftop,” I explained. “Then I doubled back and came here.”

She nodded, satisfied, not asking how I was capable of performing such a feat. We all knew that I was agile and quick on my feet, but Kaen was the only one who knew that that extended to superhuman feats that no normal Legaleian—that is to say, no human—could perform.

Mandrie looked back at Kaen. “Brother, what do we do now? Where are we going to stay?”

“Right here for now,” he answered. “Although we have to make sure that our scent has been lost.” He glanced my way. “Lyn? You up for going back out with me to scout the area?”

I took a deep breath in, nodding slowly, and wiped my sweaty brow. “Yeah, I’m fine.” No sooner did I say this, however, than my knees buckled. I almost fell to the floor before Kaen caught me.

He grunted at my weight, muttering, “You don’t look fine. Phoebe, you ought to come instead.”

“Sure. Can’t trust you to watch your own back,” Phoebe replied, sharp-tongued as ever.

I nodded weakly. “Thanks. Mandrie, can I have some food?”

She scrambled up to fetch some from our meager supplies, bringing me back a piece of a hard loaf. “Here you go, Lynx!” She used her nickname for me, though her voice lacked its usual brightness.

I devoured the bread like a ravenous wolf, swallowing it in a few seconds. Almost immediately, it helped to replenish my energy. “I feel a little better now,” I said. “You two go, and I’ll stay and watch out for Mandrie.”

Phoebe grunted an assent. “Kaen, we should go and talk to your boss. Do you think he’d be willing to pay you for your work up until now?”

Kaen and I had been at work with a local construction crew when Mandrie came to get us. We had begged leave from the master builder, insisting that the occasion was urgent. Despite the general outlook toward orphans in the city, fostered by harsh laws made by our governor, Lerr Harcost was a fair man who asked few questions and paid anyone willing to work for him.

“I was just wondering that,” Kaen said with a sigh. “I don’t . . . I don’t think I can keep working for him if we’re going to be on the run for a while. We need to leave this section of town entirely, as soon as we can.”

I nodded. “You’re right. We can’t stay here. We can find work someplace else. Just make your way over to the worksite and see what he says.”

“All right then, we’ll see you two later,” he said as he pushed the door open and walked out, holding it open for Phoebe.

“And be careful,” Mandrie called.

Phoebe glanced back at us briefly and then let the door swing shut as they departed.

I looked over at Mandrie, smiling as warmly as I could. “It’s going to be all right. We’ll make it.”

She nodded slowly before seating herself with a thump on the floor, not bothering to smooth her skirts. “Oh, Lyn,” she murmured, hanging her head. “But it’s not all right. They’re all dead. They’re all gone. Lentha . . . Tommy . . . Fran . . .” Tears began to stream down her cheeks, and her little chest heaved with sobs.

“Mandrie . . . I’m sorry.” I stooped down beside her and stroked her mousy brown curls. They were just like Kaen’s, but, at only eleven years old, her hair was not as dark yet. “It will be all right.” She leaned onto me, and I held her while she cried, rocking back and forth. Try though I may to be strong for her, I could feel my own tears welling up behind my eyes as my lip trembled.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Why did this have to happen? Why?

– Chapter 2 –

Taken

The ancients write of silver being scarce. A precious metal cast into coins and used as currency. This has confused many scholars and is one of many secrets we still have yet to unravel. There are theories, of course. Some say that we, like the Wellspring, came from another world. Others claim Legaleian culture was simply different back then, or that, once upon a time, silver was not so easily accessible on Mani’s surface.

— From Secrets of Mani, by Sor the Lark

(Fynle 26, 997—Sunrise)

Kaen and Phoebe returned an hour later, bearing a pouch of coins and a sack of food purchased from the street market. “Here’s some food,” Kaen said with a sigh. “Master Harcost was very hesitant to give me our wages, but he eventually did.” He shook the coin bag, causing the copper inside to jingle. “This is all we have to go on for now.”

I nodded. “It will have to do.”

We stayed in the second story of the abandoned building that night, where we cleaned up a bit before setting up our sleeping arrangements. We kept one person on watch at all times. Tomorrow, we would move—it was too risky to stay in one place too long, lest the mage soldiers catch us.

The next day, the backstreets were abuzz with news of the big chase with the mage soldiers. Everywhere we went, people talked about it:

“Oh, they’ll catch them for sure.”

“I heard they’re part of the Underground.”

“They say it was one girl, with hair like the blazing Sun!”

With each passerby we came across, I grew more afraid of what they might say, or who might report us to the authorities. My friends gave me glances that varied between amused and annoyed. Were the mage soldiers still after me? And why? There was no way . . . no, only Kaen knew my secret. There was only my white hair, but surely that wasn’t enough to . . .

Wait. ‘You! With the white hair!’ I recalled the mage soldier from the day before who had said just that, and groaned inwardly as I realized Lord Kalceron may be after me specifically—that this might not just stem from his well-known hatred of orphans.

The streets were cluttered as we made our way down the lower Market District. Here, the once-great city of Nytaea was brightened up by storefronts and merchant stalls. Colorful ribbons, banners and other decorations festooned the timeless white of the aging stone buildings. They crisscrossed the streets not far above head level. Carts, horses and pedestrians passed by every second, hiding us in their midst. The hustle and bustle always made this part of the city seem so much more alive than other sectors, but it was hard to even think with all the noise. Varying scents from the food vendors’ stalls rose and fell as we passed them by.

Sol shone her usual brilliant white through the silver sky to the east, the last colors of dawn fading away at this point—being as it was the third day of the Sunlit Cycle, or Day Season. Each day, the white sun would rise higher and eventually set, and we would enter the Sunless Cycle, or Night Season, and then after another two weeks, it was back to the Sunlit Cycle. I know, it’s confusing.

Clouds rolling by cast long, flickering shadows of dawn upon the streets and the tall buildings. The peaked roofs around us felt like one more hedge of protection against those searching for us, but over them all to the north loomed the Nytaean Palace, gleaming white in the sunlight. Home of Lord Kalceron, governor of our city-state, along with much of the nobility. Nytaea, despite being only one of thirteen provinces of the Kystrean empire, had always been known as one of the greatest. Over all twelve kings—excuse me, governors—reigned a supreme Archlord, who I could only assume was eviler yet than Lord Kalceron.

We were heading to our next hideout. Hopefully, we could rest there for another while. We had made the hideouts over the years in case something along these lines ever happened, something that forced us from our home.

“Kaen,” I said as I kept pace just behind him, “What do you think those mage soldiers were after? I mean . . . they did point out my hair. . . .”

He said nothing for a moment, brushing past a couple of men as he walked. I mumbled a quick apology in his stead, as Phoebe and Mandrie followed behind. Then he answered, “I don’t want to believe that. Either way, I hope we don’t have to find out. Whatever it was, they were already on the lookout. We always knew we would have to move if anything happened to the orphanage, so . . . here we are, looking.”

He pointedly didn’t add, ‘And Lentha,’ I noticed.

Phoebe made a growling noise behind us, muttering something about “those pigs” most likely getting away after the arson. While I understood her frustration and anger, the best I could do was hope they had been caught by the city watch and brought to justice. It was out of our hands.

“Let’s just focus on getting to the shelter for now, all right?” I proposed. I couldn’t wait to be done with this city entirely. That was our plan. But it would take some planning, the right timing, and . . . well, probably a bit of luck.

We came to an intersection in the street ahead, and Kaen turned right, with the rest of us following after. Labeled “Farley Avenue,” this street was narrower and less crowded, and led away from the Market District. In a few minutes, we turned onto another street, and then turned down a few others until we were heading into the eastern slums. Here, we might be in for some trouble. But that was why I had my favorite knife belted onto my thigh beneath my skirt; just in case.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw someone following us thirty paces back. It was a woman. She wore a wide-brimmed hat and a non-descript grey cloak cinched at her breastbone with a brass pin. But underneath the cloak and hat I caught the glint of silver armor. On her wrists were silver cuffs, and on her legs she wore silver greaves and tall boots. A mage soldier, possibly an officer. And yet disguised.

“Kaen,” I hissed, “We’ve got a tail. A mage soldier, maybe a special one.”

“Just look straight ahead and keep walking,” he replied, not turning his head.

I felt my heartbeat quickening in my chest. We kept walking past the backstreet that led to our hideout, lest we show the mage our lair. She probably had backup waiting somewhere as well. I glanced furtively down the perpendicular streets and up at the buildings above, in an attempt to spot possible threats. I caught a few shadowy figures hiding, but they seemed to be the local no-goods curious about who we were.

“What’s our plan?” whispered Phoebe from beside me. “How do we shake this soldier?”

“I’m sure she has others around nearby,” I replied without turning my head. “I just wish I knew why she hasn’t come out and attacked us yet.”

“I don’t like it,” Kaen said. “We’re going to have to split up. Phoebe, you take Mandrie and hide out on the next left, while Lyn and I distract them. Make a break for it when you see a chance.”

Phoebe knew better than to protest with so little time left to act. “All right,” she muttered.

Kaen led the way down the alley to the left, and Mandrie and Phoebe hid themselves behind some crates outside an abandoned building while Kaen and I sprinted for the next small intersection, preparing to wait for the mage soldier to turn the corner—at which point we would bolt, as though we were only two of four escaping that way.

The woman came at us suddenly from the street to our left, rushing out of the dark with a blue, crackling energy in her hands. She rushed me, but I dodged nimbly out of the way just before she released the bolt of lightning. She skidded to a halt, surprised that I had been able to evade her magic. She then pulled out a thin, silver sword, the weapon of choice of Lord Kalceron’s mage soldiers, and turned to Kaen.

I rolled up the right side of my skirt and pulled my knife from its sheath with a small ssshk!

Seeing an opening, I leaped in with my knife and thrust at her neck. She saw it coming, however, and turned at the last moment, and my knife only grazed her shoulder.

The mage cried out in pain, twisting to slice at me with her sword. I ducked, and Kaen slashed with his own knife, which glanced off of her armor instead of sinking into her ribs. She sprang back, throwing out a stunning pulse that stopped Kaen in his tracks.

Now a second mage soldier, a red-caped man, jumped into the fray in front of the woman, shouting threats at us. He swung his sword at me in a horizontal sweep, but I leapt right over it and rushed him, throwing him back into the female mage and then closing in with my knife. I didn’t have any more fighting skills than Kaen, but I was quick and very strong.

The man dodged to the side and hurled a firebolt at me, but I leaned backward to evade it. The woman, already recovered, jolted me with lightning magic, stiffening my body and causing me to drop my knife. My teeth ached and my ears pounded with pain from the pulse.

I recovered within a few seconds, though, and dodged to the left, leaving my knife on the ground. I smashed the man in the head with my elbow instead, driven by every ounce of force I had, and he crumpled to the ground. I turned to the woman in time to see Kaen diving for her, only to have her bat the knife out of his hands with her sword.

I stole the opportunity, kicking the mage woman with all my might. My foot drove into her shoulder and sent her reeling to fall back-first onto the cobblestones.

“Thanks,” Kaen said.

I paid him no mind, leaping in one bound to where the woman lay struggling to catch her breath after the fall. I knelt, placing one knee directly on her sternum and pinning her right arm with one hand. I raised my other arm, making a fist. I wanted so badly to smash her face into a new one, but we had to know what it was that they wanted with us.

The woman glared up at me, still gasping for air, wincing in pain as I pressed my knee harder against her chest. Only now did I notice the gold highlights on her outfit, denoting her elemental specialty. With her hat off, I was able to see her face more clearly, and I was struck by how much it reminded me of a fox. Sly and vulpine. “So you are a monster,” she gasped, almost triumphantly.

“I just . . . I just want to know why you attacked us,” I said through heavy breaths. My heart was still beating like a racehorse, adrenaline rushing through my veins like wildfire. These effects were most likely due to the fight having awakened a buried energy that didn’t often make its way to the surface.

“I-I’ll admit,” the mage soldier sputtered through gritted teeth, “I didn’t think it would come to this.”

I hesitated, but I didn’t lower my fist.

“Lyn, you can’t trust her!” Kaen shouted from behind me.

I pressed down harder with my knee and raised my fist, clenching my fingers tighter, causing the woman to grunt in pain. “Stop,” she croaked, “Or your—friends—die.”

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