“First let’s deal with him.” Gram pointed his sword. I kept my eyes locked on his as I pulled in py. “Swenn’s offering two dalions for your head if you’re killed without being linked back to him, and here you are outside of the castle, against orders. I’d say it’s likely you attacked us when we were here on business. We wanted to take you back but you refused.” He glanced over his shoulder. “What do you men say?”
Just as they began to agree with him, I encircled Gram’s sword with py as carefully as I could, not wanting to tip him off. With a strong tug, I ripped it out of his hand. The room went silent as the sword crashed into the wall behind me. Gram gawked while the rest drew their short swords, gripping their hilts tightly. Henry didn’t pull his from his sheath, simply observed from the side for now.
I told them, “If you leave now, we’ll pretend we never saw each other.”
“Kill him,” Gram muttered calmly, as if telling his men to squash a bug.
They glanced at each other, waiting for someone to go first. The room was barely big enough for the six of us. I didn’t see how more than one at a time could engage me without risking cutting each other. Gram stepped back.
“Go!” Now there was some urgency in his voice, possibly embarrassment as well.
“He doesn’t have a weapon,” said the man closest to the door. “Easy kill.”
Still, none of them moved. If they only knew how frightened I was. I couldn’t keep this pyforial energy gathered forever. If they were too scared to attack me, then it was time to go before they found bravery. I edged toward the window, keeping my eyes on them. They crept closer.
“Stay back.” To my surprise, they actually stopped. I risked a quick look behind me to throw open the window.
I heard them coming and spun around. Two at once, both charging. My arms shot out, a cluster of py obeying my will and hurling one of them into the second. I jumped onto the bed to dodge the thrust of another’s sword, then rolled as he stabbed his weapon through the mattress. I threw him off the bed with py. He crashed into the two just getting up.
Henry had a hand on the hilt of his weapon, glancing between us frantically. I risked going for the window once more. They charged, all of them this time.
It was easy to take out their knees with py. The first two fell and the third tripped over them, leaving only Gram, weaponless. I couldn’t get enough py ready in time. He tackled me. The moment we hit the ground, he had his arm cocked to strike me but I threw him off with py.
A bunch of incoming limbs and swords crowded my view before I could get up. I formed the py into a sheet long enough to stop the three of them. Seeing it too late, their chests and faces hit first, two of them bouncing off and falling on their backs. The one left edged the barrier closer with his shoulder as I pushed back against him and grunted.
I threw my hands out and the energy overpowered him. By the time I was back on my feet, the other two had jumped up. I grabbed the tip of one’s sword with py and pulled downward as I’d practiced with Jaymes. His wrist twisted until he yelped and let go. The other lumbered toward me with his weapon above his head.
Still in control of the other’s sword, I pulled it straight into the left ass cheek of the one charging. I didn’t have enough force to drive it in deep, but it was still enough to stop him as he screamed and dropped his weapon to grab his ass.
I took hold of his dropped blade with py, lifting it slightly off the ground, its handle dragging. I waved my hand above it, the sword mimicking my motion and dancing like a snake about to strike, daring anyone to get close.
Pulling the sword from his ass to wield, the man closest to me limped backward. Gram grabbed the weapon from his hand and pushed him out of the way. Three of them, only two with swords, shuffled about, their eyes on my dancing blade between us.
Gram twitched his head at Big Henry. “Stupid coward. Kill him.”
Henry didn’t move.
Someone gently opened the door. It creaked as we all turned. A young man I’d never seen before stepped in, became startled, and drew a sword. Effie and Steffen were behind him. She snatched the wand from her belt, while he already wielded a dagger.
“Who are you?” Gram asked.
“Who are you?” the young man I didn’t know retorted.
“I’m Gram, an officer in the king’s army.”
“It’s the group from Ovira,” one of his men said.
Everyone shifted uncomfortably, none lowering their weapons.
“Alex…” Effie spoke quietly. “I don’t see Terren.”
The young man I assumed to be Alex pointed at me. “Are you Neeko?”
“Yes.”
“What’s going on?” he demanded.
“This is none of your concern,” Gram said. “You’re interfering with orders.”
“It looks like you’re about to kill our pyforial mage,” Alex argued. “What kind of order is that?”
“I was going to win,” I teased, happily realizing my fear had vanished the moment the battle began.
“He’s not yours,” Gram countered.
“If you don’t want to tell me whose orders you’re following,” Alex shot back, “then answer this instead. What’s going to happen when we tell your king what we’ve seen in here?”
I liked this Alex from Ovira. He had pull.
“We’re just defending ourselves.”
“Doesn’t look like that to me,” Effie argued.
“I agree,” Alex added.
“You three teenagers would be foolish to fight,” Gram warned.
“Oh, now you’re going to kill us as well?” Alex was indignant. “Then your king really will have your heads when ours declares war.” He let them consider his words for a moment. “Your only choice is to leave.”
By the looks on their faces, they seemed to know he was right. I finally let my dancing sword drop, admittedly with some reluctance. Alex, Effie, and Steffen stepped aside. Swenn’s men grabbed their weapons and walked out begrudgingly, one limping with a bloody ass.
Gram stopped in the doorway. “You’d better figure out what you’ve just done before you come to the castle again.”
Alex straightened, showing he was taller than the man ten years his elder. “Save your threats for your mistresses.”
Gram scowled but left without another word. Alex closed the door behind him.
“All right, Neeko,” Effie said. “What did you do to make those nice men want to kill you?”
“Wait, Eff.” Alex put his hand on her back. The intimacy of his touch indicated these two were together. Alex looked at Henry. “You’re not with them?”
Henry whistled two low notes.
“That means no,” I told them. “He can’t speak. He didn’t fight with them, though he’s not with me, either.”
“Who is he, then?” Alex asked.
“Henry works for the master of coin, the same man who sent the four who just left. He watches me day and night, but not for protection. Whatever we say in front of him will get back to Swenn.”
“I don’t understand,” Alex said. “Why is your master of coin sending people to kill you?”
“And where’s Terren?” Effie asked.
But Steffen asked another question before I could answer any of them. “Are we in danger here?”
“I don’t think so, but your leader could be. He has a young woman with him by the name of Kayren. Those men came here to kill her on Swenn’s orders. She knows something about him, and I need to find out what that is. Terren didn’t say where he was taking her because Henry would hear. Do any of you know where he would go?”
“Yes,” Steffen said. He walked up to Henry, appearing like a child as he glanced up at the giant. “Would you mind leaving? I don’t want Swenn knowing where we are if he’d send people to kill a woman just because she knows something about him.”
Henry’s mouth scrunched.
“He’s not going to leave unless I do,” I said. “But I need to speak with Kayren.”
“Then we’ll make him leave.” Alex aimed his sword.
Henry withdrew his monstrous weapon from its sheath, the metal singing. We all stepped back.
“Think about what it would mean to your kingdom to fight us,” Alex said. “You may have orders from the master of coin, but the king won’t overlook this reaction.”
Henry gave his sword a swing, showing us he would stay and fight.
Alex cautiously glanced at me. “Neeko, what do you say?”
As much as Henry annoyed me, I couldn’t kill him, even if it was brought on by his own stupidity.
“Ah, let the stubborn lout live,” I muttered. “I’ll deal with the repercussions.”
“Then follow me.” Alex put away his weapon and led us out.
The people of Norret looked at us with querulous eyes, probably wary of four teenagers in a group, one with a long sword, another with a wand. Big Henry followed us, certainly a curious scene as he was twice our age. It made me wonder exactly how old the rest of them were. They looked a bit older than me.
“We’re all eighteen,” Alex answered after I asked. “And you?”
“Sixteen,” I admitted somewhat bashfully.
Because we turned the heads of many we walked by, I felt too conspicuous. It would be easy for Gram and his men to keep track of us. We watched for them but saw no signs of being followed.
“What happened to singing Shara?” Effie asked.
“She’s at the castle. They still haven’t decided what role she’ll take in—”
“I think I figured out what Gram meant,” Steffen interrupted, as if he didn’t realize I was speaking. “Terren’s not going to like it. This could change everything.”
“What do you mean?” Alex asked.
“Gram had orders from Swenn to kill an innocent woman. Neeko clearly stopped that from happening with Terren’s help, and then we saved Neeko.”
“I wouldn’t say
saved
, exactly.”
Steffen ignored me. “It’s clear that King Quince isn’t aware of Swenn’s plan. This makes us a threat to the master of coin, perhaps just as much of a threat as this woman with Terren. Gram’s exact words were, ‘You’d better figure out what you’ve just done before you come to the castle again.’ He was warning us. If we go into the castle, they’ll do something to us. Or so he wants us to think.”
“Swenn takes threats very seriously,” I informed them. “I feel responsible, so it pains me to say this: I don’t think you have to be in the castle to be in danger.”
“Charlotte’s in there with him and his idiots,” Effie nearly whispered.
“Terren will know what to do,” Alex said.
CHAPTER TEN
Kayren jumped at the sight of us. Terren took her shoulders and said something, and the tension eased out of her supple body.
He’d taken her out of the city and into the bucolic hills lining Norret’s western edge. A circle of boulders served as protection from searching eyes. We huddled together, each of us shaking Kayren’s hand and giving our names. I was the last. Henry duly stayed back.
I quickly told Terren about Gram, then turned to Kayren. “Do you already know what happened to Eizle?”
“I believe so.” She pressed her lips together. “When I got to Norret I heard a pyforial mage attacked the king. It was him, wasn’t it?”
“It was, but he was there to kill Swenn. The king just happened to be with Swenn when Eizle attacked.”
“I saw what happened,” Effie said. “It looked like he wanted to kill the king.”
Kayren answered before I could. “That wouldn’t make sense.”
“He was there to kill only Swenn,” I assured Effie. I turned to Kayren. “I need to know what happened to Eizle to make him throw away his life for a chance at killing his brother.” Urgency pressed on me. “Is that why you’ve come so far north? You know something?”
“I do,” she said. “But that’s not the reason I came here. I found out Eizle had broken out of prison during the attack on Cessri, and I figured he would go to Glaine to look for his brother. The last time we’d spoken about Swenn he was on his way to the capital.”
“He’s the master of coin now,” I said.
“Truly?”
“Yes, and he wants you dead.”
This didn’t surprise her. “I’d spit on his grave if I could.” She plopped down on a smooth rock, then took a moment to survey us. “I’ll gladly tell you what he did to Eizle, but hearing it will put you in just as much danger.”
Terren crouched before her. “There’s nothing you could tell us that could make this situation any worse.”
“Are we safe here?” Steffen asked the group.
“Safe as we can be until we know more,” Terren answered. “Go ahead, Kayren.”
She took a breath. “Neeko, do they know what you can do?”
“Yes.”
“And they aren’t scared of you?”
“Pyforial energy shouldn’t be outlawed,” Effie said.
Kayren smiled. “Then this might be the first time I can tell this story without it leading to an argument about pyforial mages.”
By the time Eizle turned fifteen, she said, he was what some people would call dangerously powerful with pyforial energy. He realized the risk, making a constant effort to refrain from its use, but he always found himself drawn back to the energy.
Kayren told us that her father had owned a tavern where she worked as a server and Eizle as a cook. The last time I’d seen Eizle was when we were eight. To find out he could cook made me eager to hear what else he did.
The tavern became known more for its food than its ale, Kayren said. Eizle hid his talent with py from her for months, but it was just a matter of time before she caught him using it in the kitchen. She knew him well enough by then to realize he wouldn’t hurt anyone with the illegal energy, and she saw how useful it was for cooking. He could move hot food out of the oven or a pan. He could stir a pot from across the room. He could lift anything heavy with ease.
“Then Swenn came in one evening,” she grumbled. “Eizle hadn’t seen him for a year.”
Kayren told us she was excited to meet Eizle’s brother at first, complaining to Eizle that he’d never even mentioned he had one. There were two men with Swenn along with a woman who seemed reluctant to be there. It didn’t take Kayren long to realize that the three men were a small band of thieves and the woman’s spirit had been broken long ago, for she never spoke or looked up.
Eizle told Kayren not to serve them, knowing his brother would harass her. Eizle took the food and ale to the table instead. Kayren never heard their first conversation, and Eizle never told her what Swenn said, but it was over quick. Eizle stomped back into the kitchen.