BLUE FIRE

THE HEALING WARS

JANICE HARDY

For Kristin and Donna, Because they said yes.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Acknowledgements

Other titles in this series

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Copyright

About the Publisher

Chapter One

Responsibility was overrated. Sure, it sounded good – take control of your own life, make your own choices – but that also meant you had to pay for your own mistakes. And if your life and choices hadn’t gone the way you’d planned, well, then your mistakes might reach deeper than your pockets could afford.

I hoped mine were deep enough for the mess I’d caused.

I watered the lake violets in the front sunroom. Just busy work, but I had to do something other than sit in the town house worrying while my friends were out risking their lives. I should have been out there with them, but I’d been recognised on our last rescue mission, and it wasn’t safe outside for me any more. Not that Geveg had been all that safe in the five years since the Baseeri invaded; but being hunted by the Duke, his soldiers, Geveg’s Governor-General, and who knew how many trackers added a whole new level of danger.

“Is Aylin back yet?” asked Tali, lurking in the doorway. Some girls hovered behind her, a few Takers we’d rescued last week but hadn’t managed to smuggle off the isles yet.

“No,” I said, “she’s still out looking.” So was Danello, but Tali always worried more about Aylin, which was silly. Aylin could take care of herself – Danello was the one with the street smarts of a hen.

“Is it bad that it’s taking so long?”

I hesitated. “I don’t know. It depends if the recruiters are snatching people off the street again.”

The Takers behind Tali paled and backed away. None had been grabbed by the Healers’ League’s new “recruiters”, but we all knew people who had been: pulled from their homes, dragged to the League, forced to heal – even if it killed us.

It was nine shades of wrong. The League used to invite only Takers with strong healing talents to become apprentices, those who had real futures as Healers. But now? You didn’t have a choice. The Duke demanded that any Taker with even a trace of healing ability had to serve at the League. The lucky ones were trained. The unlucky – they wound up in a small, windowless room somewhere, being experimented on.

The Duke of Baseer had his war to win, whatever the cost to us.

“I’m sure they’re fine. There’s nothing to worry about.”

I glanced at the Takers behind Tali, slipping away one by one to go cower in their rooms. It shouldn’t be this way. The Healers’ League was supposed to train Takers to heal and help. Becoming a Healer used to be something every Taker dreamed of, like Tali had. Like I had.

Now it was just a nightmare.

Tali hadn’t moved, and she had that little-sister-stubbornness look about her again. “Should we go look for her?”

If only I could. They had been gone an awfully long time. “You know we can’t leave the town house.”

“You can’t, but I can.”

“You can’t either. It was hard enough rescuing you from the League once. I’m not letting them get you again.”

She pouted, her brow wrinkling the way it always did when she was trying to decide if it was worth an argument or not.

“You can help Soek with lunch,” I offered. “You know how much he needs it.”

“He’s making that fish stew again,” she said. “Took me three days to get the smell out of my hair last time.”

“Maybe you can—”

“Nya, I can help with the Takers, you know I can.” She stared at me, defiance in her brown eyes, and tucked a curl behind an ear. She’d dyed her blonde hair red, like Aylin’s used to be, and it had put some fire into her as well.

“It’s just too dangerous right now,” I said more gently this time. “Can you please check on the others and make sure they’re OK? You know how scared they are. I’m fine here, really.”

Tali didn’t say anything, but the defiance was gone, replaced by concern. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Really? Because you don’t seem fine.”

“That’s ’cause someone keeps pestering me while I’m planning how to smuggle people off Geveg.” I meant it as a tease, but Tali folded her arms and frowned.

“You’re not planning, you’re watering lake violets and looking miserable.”

“I can do both.” I grinned, but she clearly wasn’t buying it.

“Nya, you don’t have to be miserable.”

My grin vanished. I’d earned my misery, but I’d paid the price for Tali’s life willingly, a life for a life. It shouldn’t be easy to toss that guilt overboard. Besides, everything here in Zertanik’s town house, was a constant reminder of what I’d done, who I’d killed. It didn’t matter that he didn’t need it any more, or that it made the perfect hiding place. There was some justice in selling off his stolen loot to help the very Takers he’d tried to hurt, but not enough to make it right.

I set down the watering can and sighed.

Tali came over and rested her head on my shoulder. She used to do the same thing when we were little and Mama had scolded me. “Well, you’re worrying over nothing,” Tali said, filling the silence when I didn’t say anything. “Barnikoff will hide them in his boat, same as always.”

“Someone saw me with him the last time. The Governor-General might be watching now.” Which meant there was one more person who might get into trouble because of me. I shoved my hands into my pockets.

Not nearly deep enough.

“They saw you?” she asked, worried now. “Who did? The League?”

“I’m not sure—”

The front door of the town house rattled. I jumped up and hurried into the foyer, my heart pounding. Please, please, please let them be OK. Tali followed, for once staying away from the door without me telling her to.

Aylin stepped inside and my chest loosened. A boy about twelve trailed behind her. He was pretty grimy, so he’d probably been hiding for a while. Skinny, too, and his face lit up at the smell of fish stew. My heart clenched again, but then Danello walked in, watching the street a little too cautiously as he shut the door.

“What happened?” I said, not as relieved as I should be now that they were back. “I was getting worried.”

“We were just extra careful on the way back,” Aylin said. She glanced at Tali, then looked at me in a way that clearly said she didn’t want to tell me what was wrong in front of Tali. So many things could be wrong, I didn’t even want to guess what it was this time. “But we found him.” She nudged the boy forward.

“Winvik,” Tali gasped, running over. He looked equally glad to see her. “I thought you’d left Geveg.”

“I tried, but I couldn’t get a boat to the marsh farms.”

“You know each other?” Aylin said.

Tali nodded. “Winvik was in my apprentice classes at the Healers’ League.”

“And the spire room?” I asked softly.

“Yes.” A flicker of fear crossed her face. So Winvik had also been forced by the League to heal until he carried so much pain he couldn’t move. No wonder he’d risked starvation to stay free.

“Welcome, then,” I said, smiling. Neither Aylin nor Danello smiled with me. Saints, it must really be bad then.

Footsteps thumped down the stairs and Takers peeked over the railings at us. We had four other Takers in the town house right now, people we’d saved who wouldn’t be experimented on by the Duke to see if they developed special “abilities” he could use for his own purpose. I hadn’t yet figured out what that purpose was, but that was part of our plan.

Step One: Rescue as many Takers as we could and keep them away from the Duke.

Step Two: Find out what the Duke wanted with them.

Step Three: Stop it.

Of course, steps two and three were turning out to be a lot harder than anticipated, but we were doing OK so far with step one. And truth be told, that was the one that mattered the most.

Danello cleared his throat.

“Tali,” I said, “why don’t you take Winvik to the kitchen for some of that stew and then show him to a room?”

She frowned for a heartbeat, like she knew I was trying to get rid of her. “Come on, it’s this way.”

Aylin watched them leave, then stepped closer. Danello did the same.

“What happened?” I asked.

“This.” Danello handed me a folded paper.

I unfolded it and my breath caught.

A poster, with my face on it and a five-thousand-oppa reward underneath.

Five thousand oppas?

Saints! For that much money I’d turn myself in.

THE SHIFTER MERLAINA OSKOV,

WANTED FOR MURDER

I bristled. It wasn’t murder. It had been an accident. . . Zertanik, rubbing his hands eagerly; the Luminary watching with untrusting eyes. Both offering me the lives of Tali and the others if I flashed the League’s pynvium Slab, released the pain it held so they could steal it and sell it to those in need.

I took a deep breath. No, that was a lie. It wasn’t an accident. I’d made the choice. Geveg had needed that Slab, the only pynvium left in the whole city. Without it, we wouldn’t have been able to heal anyone. Healers couldn’t deposit their pain in the metal, where it couldn’t hurt them. Zertanik had never cared about that – he’d been eager to take advantage of those who couldn’t afford real healing. The Luminary should have cared, though. He ran Geveg’s Healers’ League, so it was his responsibility to protect our Healers, not use them.

They were terrible men. I shouldn’t feel guilty about killing them.

I pictured red mist on the walls of the Luminary’s office, all that was left of him and Zertanik after the flash, disintegrated by the pain I’d released from the Slab. My guilt remained. I’d known it would kill us, and I’d done it anyway, to save Tali and the other apprentices.

I’d just honestly thought it would kill me, too.

“At least tey don’t know your real name,” Aylin said, but her voice trembled.

Danello nodded and cupped my cheek in his hand. “And you look different now, too.”

Like Tali, I’d cut my blonde curls short, but I’d dyed them brown. Aylin had dyed her hair Baseeri black, something I didn’t have the stomach to do. Danello had kept his blonde hair, since fewer people had seen him. They weren’t the best disguises, but not many at the League had gotten a good look at our faces. At least not the ones still alive.

“Maybe no one will recognise you,” Aylin said.

“Maybe.” I cursed myself for saying it. I was supposed to be done with maybes. But maybe you were never done with maybes.

“The posters are all over the city,” Aylin said, tossing her hat on the front table of carved wood with onyx inlays. Worth a fortune, perhaps enough to pay the bribes we’d need for passage to the mainland if we ran. Running would be harder now with the reward out there.

“Soldiers are putting them up,” added Danello. “A lot of people aren’t happy about it. We saw one of the shopkeeps tear it down right in front of the soldiers. He called you a hero.”

Hero and murderer, all in the same day.

“They nailed the poster up again and he ripped it down again.” Danello shook his head. “You should have seen him.”

“That’s when they beat him up,” Aylin said. “We got out of there fast after that.”

People I didn’t even know were getting hurt defending me. Some hero. No matter what I did, someone suffered.

“You OK?” Danello asked, taking my hand and rubbing his thumb across my knuckles.

“I didn’t expect this.”

“You knew the Duke was looking for you.”

“No, not that. The shopkeep. People sticking up for me.”

Aylin huffed. “You saved the lives of thirty Healers, stopped the Luminary from stealing Geveg’s pynvium, and basically spat in the Duke’s eye. Of course they’re going to stick up for you.”

“I’d be happier if they didn’t.” I had more responsibility than pockets already. I’d got everyone into this, so I had to protect them. Grannyma used to say, a life saved was a debt owed.

“Well, you’re a hero now, so get used to it.”

Or a murderer, depending on who you asked.

A heavy knock shook the front door.

“Are you expecting anyone?” Danello said in a low voice.

“Soldiers trying to arrest us?” I joked, though it didn’t sound at all funny. Danello motioned me to stay back. I ducked behind a doorway with Aylin while he peeked out the window.

“It’s the rent collector,” he whispered.

My stomach tightened. We’d paid for the whole month just last week.

“Maybe she’ll go away,” I said.

Another hard bang.

“Or maybe not,” said Aylin.

Danello held out both hands. “What should I do?”

More insistent banging. She’d start to draw attention if she kept it up. Soek left the kitchen, a dripping wooden spoon in his hand. He held it like a weapon, and with good cause. He’d been in the spire room with Tali too.

“I know you’re in there,” the rent collector shouted. “Open up and talk to me.”

For the love of Saint Saea, I didn’t need this today.

“Open it,” I said, stepping into the hall.

She didn’t wait to be invited in. Just marched right past Danello and over to me. “Rent’s due.”

“We already paid it.”

“It’s due again. And it’s gone up.”

I folded my arms and tried not to scream my frustration. A handful of jewellery had convinced her that Aylin, Tali and I were Zertanik’s daughters. She’d doubled the rent, probably planning to pocket the extra, but let us stay. She could throw us out if she wanted, and we had nowhere else to go. “How much?”

She grinned and handed me one of the reward posters. “Five thousand oppas.”

Chapter Two

I didn’t know whether to scream or shiver.

Danello scowled. “How could you turn her in? She’s Gevegian, same as you.”

“Look, I could have gone to the Governor-General and gotten the reward money from him. I didn’t. But I can’t let five thousand oppas pass me by.” She glanced around the town house, her eyes shimmering with greed. “None of this is yours anyway, so what do you care if I get some? We all win.”

Not if she took so much that it drew attention at the alley market. That was the only place in Geveg to sell stolen goods, and even though the soldiers were bribed to look the other way, if enough riches hit the market at once, people noticed, so they had to report it. We could both benefit if she didn’t get too greedy. She needed us to pose as tenants for the Baseeri owner. If he discovered Zertanik was dead, he’d claim everything in the town house for himself.

I looked at Danello, red-faced and shaking his head behind her.

“Can I offer you something in Verlattian teak?” I said, waving at the sitting-room furniture. If she wanted money so badly, let her haul it away.

“No, I think those blue crystal decanters are more my style. And maybe these statuettes?” She brushed past me and ran her fingers over the goldstone figures of the Seven Sisters. “These will cover it.”

And then some. “Help yourself.”

“A lot for one person to carry.”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m sure we can find you a pack of some kind to carry them. Aylin? Could you check upstairs, please?”

Aylin slapped the banister, muttering something about finding a bag big enough to stuff her head into, and disappeared.

The rent collector pursed her lips and looked around the room. “More than just the three of you living here now.”

I crossed my arms. “We have guests for dinner.”

“Oh, I’d say longer than dinner.” She leaned over and looked up the stairs. The Takers fled into their rooms. “What are you all doing here anyway?”

“Trying to survive, same as you.”

She nodded absently. “Nice place. Wish I could move in myself, but the Baseeri scum who owns it would get suspicious, and then all these trinkets would go to waste, eh?”

I kept my face still. She kept scanning the room, the walls, and I pictured her totalling up the oppas. The neighbours would also get suspicious if they saw her carrying out load after load of items. As Grannyma used to say, wealth can make the wise weak, and I doubted the rent collector was all that wise to begin with. She could ruin everything.

Aylin clomped down the stairs and threw a heavy canvas bag at her. “That should hold them.”

“Nothing to wrap them in?” She frowned. “What if they chip?”

“Goldstone doesn’t chip. That’s why it’s so valuable.”

Her eyes lit up. Saints, did she even know the value of what she was taking?

“Really? Anything else made of—”

“Are we paid up now?” I said, hands on my hips. I tried to look menacing, but I’d never been good at it. Danello was better, and Aylin could do scary as a croc when she wanted.

“Well,” she said slowly, her gaze again on the crystal decanters. “Just to be safe you might consider paying next month’s rent as well.”

“I think we’ve paid that already,” Tali said from the stairs. Everyone else stood behind her – all the Takers, even Danello’s family. His father looked pretty imposing glaring down at us.

“Maybe even three months,” he said. The rent collector would have to be a fool to miss the threat in his tone. Trouble was, she could threaten us right back, and her threats had a lot more teeth.

She knew it, too. She smirked at them, then carefully stuffed her treasure into the bag. “Oh, I think you’ll be gone by then, with nothing left for me. Why shouldn’t I get all I can now?”

“Because someone will notice,” I said. “And if we have to run, we’ll make sure the owner knows Zertanik moved out.”

She glared at me and tied the bag shut.

I smiled. “Why don’t you come by next week? A weekly visit is a lot safer for all of us.”

She hesitated, sizing me up and probably wondering if my emphasis on safer was a threat. If she believed the poster, I was a murderer.

“Fine.”

Danello yanked open the door and she jumped. She recovered fast and put her sneer back on her face.

“Next week works better for me anyway.”

She lumbered out, and Danello slammed the door behind her.

“That’s not right!” he said as I sank to the stairs. “She can’t just come in here and—”

“Yes, she can.” I knew how he felt, though. I’d seen the Baseeri do the same thing to my family’s home. Only they took it all. Saints! It wasn’t fair.

“We’d better sell off what we can now,” Tali said, sounding just like Mama. We’d heard her say a lot of things like that right before the war started. Might as well stock up on food. Jewels trade better out of the setting anyway. You’re safer at the League with your grannyma. “She’s never been upstairs, so she can’t take what she doesn’t know about.”

“We also need to look for a new place to live,” Aylin muttered.

“Who’s going to rent to us?” Danello said, not nearly as quiet. “And how will we find someplace large enough for everyone?”

Odds were we wouldn’t. “Maybe it’s time to leave Geveg.”

Shocked silence, but they couldn’t argue with the idea. There was a lot of money in the town house, enough to bribe a fisherman for passage off the isle, no matter how tempting the reward was.

“We could go to the marsh farms,” Danello said. “Da, doesn’t your friend need help?”

His father nodded. “He does. He’s barely keeping his farm running. Some money and extra hands would let him hold on to it and help us out.”

The Duke cared about Takers and pynvium, not sweet potatoes and sugar. I’d never done any farming before, but it sounded good. Honest work, fresh food, open fields with lots of places to run and hide if we had to. The soldiers probably wouldn’t look for us in the marsh farms either. Mama used to take Healers there every few months since the farmers didn’t have their own, and it always took her at least a week to visit them all.

“Should you ask him first?” I asked. “Showing up with fifteen people is a lot to put on a person on short notice.” And I didn’t want to abandon the town house until we knew we had somewhere to go.

“Might not be a bad idea. I haven’t spoken to him since we went into hiding. He may have lost the place by now.”

“How fast can you get there and back?” We’d need time to search the town house for as many valuables as we could carry anyway.

“A day or two. He’s not far from the marsh docks.”

Danello’s little sister, Halima, dashed over and hugged him.

“I won’t be gone long, don’t you worry,” his father began, then looked at Danello. “You OK to watch them?” Something in his tone made me think he meant more than just the family.

Danello nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on everyone.”

“Hold them safe. I’ll be home tomorrow night.”

“Be careful, Da.”

“I will.” He sounded strong but I caught the worry in his eyes.

Bahari glared at me like I was purposely sending his father away. Jovan nodded stoically as ever, while Halima just looked scared. Danello’s father hugged his family one more time, then went upstairs to pack a bag.

“What about the Takers?” Tali asked after a minute. “They’ll come with us.”

She shook her head. “I mean the ones we haven’t found yet. There are dozens more out there at least.”

“Tali, I can’t save everyone.”

“I know, but—”

“If we stay here, we risk everyone else getting caught.”

“Maybe we can get the word out that we’re leaving so more can come find us?”

“Someone besides the Takers will find out. The soldiers are actively looking for me now.”

She sighed and nodded. “I was just hoping to find a few more missing friends.”

“Me too. Maybe we’ll find some before we have to leave.” I turned to the group gathered on the stairs. “Everyone, go to your rooms and start searching for anything of value. Smaller is better since we’ll have to carry it, but if it’ll sell, grab it.”

“Who’s gonna sell it?” asked one of the less-trusting Takers we’d found. I couldn’t blame him. League guards had broken into his family’s home in the middle of the night looking for him. He’d barely gotten away.

“We’ll choose folks to go to the alley market first thing in the morning. If a bunch of us hit the vendors, it won’t be as obvious we’re selling off a lot at once and they won’t lower the prices on us. After, we’ll split up the oppas and make sure everyone has enough in case we get separated.”

This seemed to make everyone happy.

“A friend who repairs boats has been helping us smuggle people off the isle. He usually has several at a time he’s working on, so he’ll have enough space to get us all to the mainland.” Risky to use Barnikoff again if there was a chance he was being watched, but we could trust him. He had a good heart and no love for the Duke. “With a little luck, we’ll be able to leave tomorrow night soon as Danello’s father returns.”

Or a lot of luck. It wasn’t nearly as easy to get off the isle as I was making it out to be, but they didn’t need anything more to worry them.

“What happens if this farmer doesn’t want us there?” another Taker asked.

“We’ll find another farm. Let’s not worry about that right now. Once we get out of the city, we’ll have more time to figure out where to go without soldiers breathing down our necks.”

Aylin kept sneaking me looks, and she’d have her own set of questions as soon as she got me alone. So would Tali, no doubt.

The others though? A few looked unsure about this plan, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they grabbed their share of the money and ran. And Saints help me, a few less people to worry about suited me just fine.

But what if we weren’t welcome anywhere? Refugees from the Duke’s siege of Verlatta couldn’t be fleeing just to Geveg. The farms might be flooded with them. We might get there only to find there was no room for us.

Or worse, we might find the Duke cared about sweet potatoes after all and there was nowhere to run to.

“Can we keep any of this for ourselves?” Tali asked as we searched through the drawers in Zertanik’s study. She dangled a string of rose-coloured beads from her fingers.

“We need to sell as much as we can. We don’t know who we’ll have to bribe or how long it’ll take us to find work once we’re settled.”

“What if we can’t find a place?”

“We will. Hand me that knife, would you? This drawer is locked.”

Tali slipped the beads over her head and passed me the knife. “Half the drawers and cabinets in this place are locked. Zertanik didn’t trust people, did he?”

I jammed the knife into the lock. “He was a thief.”

“I guess that would do it.”

The lock popped and I pulled the drawer out. Stacked on the bottom were pages written in neat glyphs, like Papa used to write.

Those are funny letters, Papa. What do they do?

They help me teach the pynvium to hold pain, Nya-Pie.

Pynvium talks to you?

No, but it listens.

“Nya?” Tali touched my arm and I dropped the pages. They fluttered to the carpet. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. It’s just… nothing.” I grabbed for the pages before she saw them, but she snatched one first.

“Papa used to write like this.”

“I know.”

“Enchanter’s glyphs.”

It surprised me she even remembered. She’d been seven when he died, and he hadn’t done much enchanting in the year before that. Like everyone else in Geveg, he’d been busy fighting a losing war.

She stared at the pages, her eyes watering, then wiped away the tears. “Are they worth anything?”

“I don’t know. Depends on the enchantment, I guess.”

“They’re easy to carry, so we should try to sell them.” She collected the pages from the floor and smoothed them. “Are there more?”

“I didn’t look.”

She rooted around in the drawer and pulled out a thin pynvium plate the size of a book. Glyphs were carved into the metal with the same neat handwriting as the papers. Shiverfeet raced down my spine.

“Ooo, pretty.” She ran her fingers across the glyphs. “This is worth something for the pynvium alone. Look how blue the metal is. It has to be pure.” She handed it to me.

I jerked away. “That’s OK.”

“What’s wrong?” She stared at me funny, then looked at the pynvium. “It won’t bite.”

“I…” Didn’t want to touch it. Didn’t even want to be in the same room with it, and I couldn’t say why. “Put it back.”

“Put it back? Do you know how much this is worth?”

With the pynvium shortage going on, probably more than anything else in the town house. I still didn’t want it near me. “But it’s… wrong.”

She looked at me as if I’d lost my mind. The way I felt, maybe I had. “Fine, it’s gone,” she said. It thunked into the drawer and she shoved it closed.

I could feel it though, and I’d never been able to sense pynvium in my life. Hadn’t even sensed that one until I saw it. It didn’t feel like what Tali had described when she’d tried to teach me how to push pain into pynvium like a real Healer. No call, no hum, just a quiver at the bottom of my stomach.

It couldn’t be my shifting ability, either. Moving pain from person to person had nothing to do with those glyphs. But there was sure as spit something wrong.

“I’m going to go check the library,” I said, jumping to my feet.

“Nya!”

I ignored her, eager to get out of that room and away from the pynvium. I shut the library door and flopped into a chair big enough for me and Tali. The quiver faded, but my unease remained.

What was wrong with that pynvium? I’d never felt that way around the metal before.

A chest with a band of blue around the lid, carved with glyphs. Men from the Pynvium Consortium had brought it, and Papa had yelled at them. “You brought that here? To my home? You don’t even know what it does!”

I’d never seen Papa afraid of the glyphs before. Had they bothered him as well? I’d hidden, scared of the shouting and the way my stomach felt after looking at the chest. Grannyma had found me in the closet and put me to bed. She’d rocked and sung lullabies until I’d fallen asleep.

“Nya, you in here?” The door opened and Aylin stuck her head in.

“I’m here.”

She glanced at the books lining the shelves but didn’t pick up any this time. There were quite a few books missing, so she must have more than enough to read for a while. “We’ve got quite the pile of treasure building downstairs. I had them dump it all on the dining-room table.”

“Thanks.”

“You OK? You look queasy.”

“I’m fine.” I stood and put my palms over my belly. “Don’t think Soek’s fish stew liked me much, but it’ll pass.”

She nodded and rifled through a desk drawer. “Did you want to start going through it all or do you want me to handle it?”

“You can do it. You have a better eye for what sells.”

“Merchant’s daughter.” She grinned, but then looked sad. She always did when she talked about her mother. Not that Aylin ever said much. None of us talked about our families. “Oh, I don’t think everyone is turning over everything they find. I caught Kneg slipping a gold frame into his pocket.”

“That’s OK. We’ll have more than enough and I can’t blame them for wanting a little extra. Wouldn’t you swipe something?”

“Who says I haven’t?” She stuck her tongue out at me and twirled towards the door. “I’ll organise the goodies by value. We can bag them up and keep them in your room overnight.”

“Sounds good.”

Aylin shut the door as she left. I sighed and started going through the drawers and shelves, though there wasn’t much besides books. A few candlesticks might earn a good price, a vase that looked like water crystal, but otherwise—

My guts quivered, same as in the study. My hand froze over the bookshelf, then dropped away. More glyph-carved pynvium? But not just locked away in a drawer. This one was hidden behind the books.

Why lock one away and hide another?

I took a steadying breath and yanked out one of the books. Then another, and a third, until the shelf emptied and a small chest appeared. No blue band, thank the Saints, but a simple iron box with a lock on the front.

My stomach quivered again.

Just open it.

My hand wouldn’t move.

Take it.

I shoved the books back on to the shelf and raced from the room.

Chapter Three

The alley market wasn’t one of my favourite places, and not just because I’d never had anything to sell before. Everyone there was a thief – buying stolen goods, selling stolen goods, looking for stolen goods. You had to watch your pockets as well as your tongue, and if you slipped up at all, someone would rob you of something.

We’d decided six of us would go. Me, Danello, Aylin, Tali, Soek and Jovan. More would likely draw attention, fewer wouldn’t be able to carry or sell enough to keep us afloat very long. We’d sell in pairs to watch each other’s backs.

“Everyone remember how much to try and get?” I said a block from the alley. Aylin had done a good job estimating what our bundles were worth. Odds were we wouldn’t get all of it, but the closer we got, the better.

“I remember.” Jovan already had on his bluffing face. He’d surprised us all last night when we tested each other to see who could lie the best. Tali wasn’t nearly as good, but she had an uncanny way of making you want to give her what she asked for anyway. She called it her hungry puppy face and said she’d gotten many an extra dessert at the League with it.

I could believe it. And I’d have to remember that next time she tried to talk me into or out of anything.

“We’ll go in separately. Don’t look at each other, and once you’ve sold your goods, meet back here.”

Aylin frowned and shook her head. “Not here. Anyone following after we sell might jump us.” She looked around and pointed to the bakery. “That works. Buy something and linger inside.”

“If you see soldiers,” I added, “get out, but walk, don’t run.”

“Got it. Let’s go,” said Soek. He and Tali would follow Danello and me, with Aylin and Jovan last.

Danello grabbed my hand and we walked the last block to the alley market, keeping an eye out for soldiers and thieves. The market changed locations, but you could always find it in the poorest parts of Geveg. It wasn’t that different from the regular market squares, except no one had their wares on display and everyone conducted business in whispers. Today it was just off the docks.

Our bag was full of silverware and metalwork, so we walked up to a stall with a hammer-and-forge sign hanging off it.

“And what can I do for you today?” the merchant asked. She smiled, but her gaze weighed the bag like she could guess its worth on sight.

“My aunt left me her silver and it’s all ugly.” I pulled out a few pieces. “Figured I’d sell it off and buy something nice for myself.”

The merchant picked up a candlestick and turned it this way and that, a slight frown on her face like it wasn’t the pure silver we knew it was. “It is ugly.”

“You should see the forks.”

“You have the whole set? I know a woman who wants to get her mother-by-marriage an ugly gift.”

I slid the Verlattian teak box out of the bag. Her eyes widened just a bit.

“The box isn’t bad.”

It was better than not bad. The wood gleamed, the grain patterns rich and dark.

Aylin and Jovan passed us and went to a jeweller. Aylin had amazed us all last night with her tale of woe, about her beloved who died in the ferry accident and left her alone, and now she had to sell off all his gifts. How her mistress had given her a few trinkets to help ease her through this tragedy. She seemed exactly like a maid who’d stolen from her mistress’s jewel case.

The merchant ran her fingers along the wooden lid and lifted it. Silver sparkled in neat rows. “I’ll give you two hundred for the set.”

“The candlesticks alone are worth that.”

The corners of her mouth tightened for a heartbeat. “I’d say more like one hundred, maybe.”

I shrugged, feigned indifference. Inside it was hard to stay calm. Two hundred oppas was more money than I’d ever seen at once.

“Does your boy there ever talk?”

“Only when someone’s trying to steal the fish from our net.” Danello folded his muscled arms and glared at her.

For a moment I thought I saw a smile. “Lucky girl, you. Let’s see, I can probably do…” She inspected the pieces slowly, no doubt trying to decide how much she could cheat us.

“But it’s goldstone!” yelled a familiar voice. “It has to be worth more than that.”

I glanced down a few stalls and tried not to suck in a breath. The rent collector was arguing with a vendor, waving one of the statuettes in his face. I forced my gaze away and hoped she was too busy to notice any of us.

“Three hundred,” the merchant finished.

“It’s worth at least six.”

She shrugged. “You can always sell to the silversmith.” She didn’t take her hands off the box though.

“Give that Baseeri rat my aunt’s silver?” I turned and spat. “I don’t think so.”

The rent collector glanced my way, then snapped around. She looked from me to the silver on the table, her eyes narrowing as if I were selling off her property.

Behind her, Tali and Soek left the art vendor. Tali started grinning as soon as her back was turned, so she must have done well. Aylin and Jovan were still at the jeweller’s, but the jewels were being wrapped up so they had to be close to a deal.

“How about five then?” I said.

“You’d be robbing me at that price.”

The rent collector stalked over. Danello intercepted, keeping her a stride’s length away.

“What are you doing?” she said, pointing at me. “What are you selling? Are your little friends here?” She spun around. “There’s one! Where are the others?”

The merchant frowned and pulled her hands off the silverware box. “Perhaps now isn’t the best time.”

“Now is fine,” I said quickly. “Nothing to worry about.” Danello had the rent collector by the arms, but she wouldn’t stay quiet. “I could have turned you in and I didn’t! You owe me!”

My guts twisted. “Shall we split the difference and say four?”

The merchant’s attention was on the rent collector now, her brow furrowed as if she were thinking hard. Then she looked at me.

Please, Saint Saea, don’t let her recognise me.

Aylin had fluffed my curls so my head looked bigger than the poster, and lined my eyes and cheeks with powders to make me look older.

“Do I know you?”

“No.”

“Those are mine.” The rent collector surged past Danello and grabbed at the silver.

“They are not!” I snatched them away just in time, but the merchant was backing off, worry on her plump face. A crowd had gathered, some watching in boredom, others probably waiting to see if we’d start fighting and drop something.

“Don’t try to cheat me, Shifter, or you’ll be sorry!”

I gulped. The merchant gasped.

“You’re the girl from the posters!”

“Deal’s off.” I threw the silverware box into the air as Danello shoved the rent collector into the crowd. She fell, knocking over a few people, and money and silver hit the street. Cries of alarm and joy rose, and no one seemed to care about me any more.

I headed for the bakery, walking fast but not running. Soldiers patrolled these streets, and while the vendors paid them to walk past the alley market, they had no trouble stopping anyone who came out of it at a run. “Anyone following?”

“Don’t think so. The merchant wouldn’t leave her stall unattended. I don’t think the others heard the rent collector call you Shifter.”

I could only hope.

We ducked on to a porch and crouched down behind the railing. The bakery was across the street, but I didn’t want to go inside if we were being followed.

“Wait, someone just left the alley,” Danello said. “A boy, nineteen, maybe twenty. I think he’s looking for something.”

I peeked above the railing. Danello was mostly right, but the boy wasn’t just looking for something, he was looking out for something as well.

Angry shouts came from the alley market. A patrol came down the street, their steps hesitant as if they weren’t yet sure if they wanted to get involved. The boy dropped and tied his sandals, even though he had no sandals to tie.

“He’s hiding from the soldiers,” I whispered. “If he was after me, he wouldn’t do that.”

“What’s he looking for then?”

I held my breath as the soldiers walked closer to the kneeling boy. I recognised that tenseness, that fear, that desperate praying that they wouldn’t notice you.

A woman screamed and the soldiers ran for the alley, passing the boy by a few feet. He stayed down for a second more, then jumped up. He stood in the street, turning slowly, his face pale.

“Shifter?” he whisper-yelled. “Are you out here? I need your help. Please, we’re in trouble.”

I started to rise and Danello pulled me down. “You can’t risk it.”

“What if he’s a Taker?”

“What if he’s a trap?”

I looked again. “He’s too scared to be a trap.”

“Let me approach him then. You stay here.” He didn’t wait for an answer, just hopped up and walked over. The boy started and stepped back, but he steadied himself like he expected Danello to attack him. They spoke for a minute, then Danello scanned the street.

“It’s OK,” he called.

I came out of hiding.

“You were right,” Danello said. “His sister is trapped at the docks. Trackers are after her.”

“You have to save her, please,” the boy said. “I was in the alley trying to buy a weapon so I could attack the trackers and I heard that woman call you Shifter. The Takers, the ones who are hiding with us, were all talking about you. Some say you can help us.”

I’d never faced a tracker before. Guards and soldiers were one thing, but trackers were trained to hunt down Takers. We’d been far too lucky avoiding avoided them so far. I should have known that luck wouldn’t last.

“Where is she?” I asked against all better judgement. But turning your back on trouble only let it sneak up on you.

“On berth three. By the traps.”

Rows of traps littered berth three: fish traps, crab traps, duck traps, probably some mouse and rat traps. The whole place was one stinky maze.

“Which traps?”

He pushed both hands through his brown hair. “I… uh… I’m not sure. When we saw them, we started running.”

Running? No wonder she caught their attention.

“I think there were at least four of them,” he said. “Maybe more.”

Four trackers? Saea be merciful. “We’ll need help to get her,” I said. Danello hadn’t spoken, but he didn’t look any happier about it than I did. “Follow us.”

I headed into the bakery. The others were all there, looking worried. Tali had mango cream filling all over her mouth but didn’t seem to be enjoying it. Aylin shot me her oh-Nya-what-did-youdo-now? face. “What happened?”

“The rent collecter saw me and caused a fuss, but we got away. This boy’s sister is trapped on the docks. Trackers are after her.”

“What’s the plan?” Aylin asked.

“She’s on berth three. We’ll split up and look for her,” I said.

“We’ll signal if we find her,” Danello said. “Three caws, then two, like we practised.”

“Got it.” Tali nodded.

“No,” I said. “You’re going to the town house with Soek and Jovan.” All three started arguing and I waved my hands to quiet them. “Listen, the rent collector is probably going to tell the soldiers about me, so the town house isn’t safe any more. You three need to get everyone ready and head right to Barnikoff’s.” He’d be surprised when they showed up, but we didn’t have a choice. “It’s go now or get caught.”

Tali folded her arms. “I’m not leaving you.” Her eyes teared up and she leaned in closer. “If they catch you, we’ll be separated again. I’d rather be caught with you than all alone.”

I pictured Tali on her own, trying to find food, avoid soldiers. Stay alive. “OK, but you do exactly as I say and stay close.”

“I will.”

I turned to the others. “Let’s go.”

We left the bakery and hurried to the docks, the sun already beating down on our heads. Aylin and I headed into the maze while Danello and the boy followed the outside paths. A few paces ahead a lake gull squawked and took flight, its white feathers stark against the brown and green of the crab traps rising like cliffs around us. Lake gulls usually spooked at things they thought might eat them – and these days that meant people as often as crocodiles. I dropped and Aylin and Tali dropped with me, taking cover behind a drying rack.

Footsteps shuffled about thirty feet behind us. Slow, steady, cautious. Too heavy for a scared girl, but not heavy enough for a dock worker. Then another set of footsteps. Maybe these trackers were working in pairs – one flushed the prey and the other caught it.

I gestured at Aylin to sneak around and try to see who the footsteps belonged to. She nodded and crept along the stacks.

Footsteps again, then—

Polished boots and dark trousers stepped into view. A tracker! I heard a scraping sound, like a weapon being drawn.

“Come out, come out – we know you’re here,” a woman called, her voice cold, yet teasing.

My heart raced. I looked for Aylin, but she was no longer in the tight walkway. Tali’s eyes were wide, but she stayed low and silent.

I peeked between the traps for a better look at the woman. She turned a slow circle, her hand out in front of her. I tiptoed away from the tracker until I reached the end of the row and ducked behind a dock shed. If the trackers kept moving forward, I could—

Sniff.

I turned towards the sound, my feet ready to bolt the other way. The boy’s sister! She was about my age, but small as Tali. She’d wedged herself under a cleaning table at the edge of the dock about fifty feet away.

Waves sighed against the canal walls and hissed through the reeds growing along the boat-launching ramps. The tracker stood by the closest ramp, a blue-black pynvium rod in her hand. Much better than a sword. As long as she didn’t use it on anyone but me.

I turned to Tali and pointed to a dinghy leaning against a post.

She nodded.

A fake gull cried out – three caws, close. Aylin was probably on the other side of the sister. I cawed back twice. The tracker turned away and I darted across the row, slipping under the dinghy. Tali slipped in behind me a breath later.

The tracker moved away from the launching ramp, narrowing the distance between her and the girl. Danello slipped behind the tracker, darting across the row. The brother had to be there, though I didn’t see him. I hoped he didn’t do anything reckless to help his sister.

The tracker stiffened and turned as if she’d heard us.

I left Tali and moved closer, testing each footstep before settling my weight down on the bleached planks of the dock.

Movement under the cleaning table caught my eye. The sister leaned forward as if about to run, terror on her face. I shook my head and she sat back.

Creak.

I froze. The tracker snapped around and raised her pynvium weapon. She glanced at the traps and pulled a knife from her boot as well.

Creak.

The tracker followed the sound, her head cocked, her weapons ready.

The sister gasped, soft as a splash. I held up my hands and mouthed, stay. She nodded.

The tracker was right on the other side of the traps from me. She took another cautious step in her shiny black boots and then stopped.

She narrowed her eyes. She cocked her head again and stepped closer to the wall of crab traps separating us.

Had she sensed me?

Jeatar had warned me about that before he’d left Geveg. “The Duke will hire the best trackers to go after you. The ones who can sense a Taker like a Taker senses pynvium. The good ones can sense a Taker just by walking by.”

If she’d sensed us from this distance, she was really good.

“Come out, come out, little girl,” she called louder.

I held my breath. Light drops of sweat dotted her brow and upper lip. Was she scared? If so, maybe I could catch her off guard, give the others time to move in and the sister time to move out.

“I know you’re here,” the tracker called. She held up one hand, inches away from the traps hiding me, as if she could feel me behind the wood. “Is that you, Shifter?”

I swallowed my gasp. She had to be guessing. She couldn’t possibly know it was me.

“I’ll leave the girl alone if you show yourself. You’re a much better prize for the Duke than she is.”

The dock creaked again. Aylin or Danello? “You can’t evade me for long, Shifter,” the tracker said in that irritating singsong voice.

Maybe not, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t try.

“You can’t run,” she continued. “We have guards on every bridge off every isle. Soldiers at all the pole boat docks. If I don’t get you, one of my men will.”

Men? Since when did trackers hire others to help them?

I caught another glimpse of the tracker through the holes in the traps, then she was gone.

“Got you.”

Chapter Four

I gasped and spun. The tracker had a pynvium rod in her hand. She flicked her wrist and—

Whoomp.

Pain flashed from it, stinging my skin like blown sand. She gaped at me, shocked that I hadn’t collapsed to the ground screaming in pain. I guess they hadn’t figured out everything about me yet.

Something thumped against the traps around me. They clattered forward, spilling over the tracker like trash thrown from a window.

“Looks like I got you,” Aylin said, heaving an armful of nets at her.

“Vyand?” a man yelled.

“Her—” she began.

I dumped more nets over her and cawed three times. Two more caws answered right away. The tracker was quiet for only a moment, then started screaming and thrashing about.

“Tangle her up,” I said.

Aylin helped me truss her up in the nets like a chicken on All Saints’ Day. The tracker’s screams turned to angry squeals and curses.

The boy ran to his sister and dragged her out of the nook. Danello popped out from behind the traps. “More trackers are headed this way,” he said, pointing over his shoulder.

We left, staying low and moving as fast as we dared.

I slowed as we neared North-Dock Bridge, checking the crowded street for the guards the tracker claimed were on all the bridges. Dozens of haulers and day workers shuffled between the docks and the production district on the main isle, but none of them looked like guards.

We crossed the bridge slowly, moving with refugees and workers. On the other side of the bridge, I angled to the canal side of the street so we wouldn’t draw attention from some soldiers hassling a family of squatters.

“Danello, Aylin,” I said, “drop behind and check for anyone following.”

“Got it.”

Aylin vanished into the crowd, light on her feet as the wind, Danello less so, but he was getting better at it.

A refugee jostled me. I turned, glad for the excuse to look behind us. A block away, two men walked side by side. Their clothes said poor, but they didn’t glance at the soldiers or shy away when anyone walked close. Their dark hair was neatly trimmed and neither wore a beard. People that nondescript were usually the ones you had to watch out for. Danello and Aylin were about twenty feet behind them, walking on opposite sides of the street.

A burned smell drifted over the bridge as we crossed into what used to be a Baseeri-occupied neighbourhood. Most of it had been burned in the riots a few months ago, right after the old Luminary had claimed Geveg’s Healers were all dead. Well, that and me proving the Luminary had been lying and was really trying to steal the League’s pynvium. No one had been happy about that.

They’d gone mad, attacking the League, burning down Baseeri-owned shops and homes, giving the Governor-General an excuse to send in his soldiers and a legitimate reason to hurt us.

I looked at the Healers’ League, rising above the other buildings in the distance. The gaping hole where the Luminary’s office had been was a sharp reminder of why the trackers were after me.

What’s done is done and I can’t change it none.

“Nya?” Tali said, looking at me funny. “Why are we slowing down?”

“Sorry.” I picked up the pace again.

Three men rounded the corner in front of us, their gazes scanning the street. The tracker’s men? I turned around, heading back the way we’d come.

The tracker woman stepped out of an alley.

I froze. So did Aylin and Danello, now in front of me and on the other side of the tracker. Having her trapped between us didn’t make me feel any safer.

A plan, I need a plan.

The tracker smiled, but there was nothing friendly about her grin. She had a sword out this time and her knife in the other hand.

“Found you before lunch,” she said. “Stewwig owes me ten oppas.”

“You must have me confused with someone else,” I said, trying to hold her attention while Aylin and Danello crept up behind her.

“I don’t think so.”

Danello dived at the tracker, sending her flying forward and into a pain merchant’s window. The glass cracked, but didn’t break. Folks turned, their hands covering worried frowns.

“Run!” I yelled. Two of the three men closing on us blocked my way. Another was coming up behind them. Huge, with thick arms, his sleeves rolled up like a man who was there to do a hard day’s work.

I shoved Tali away from the approaching men. She stumbled a few steps then stopped, her expression waffling between fear and anger. The Taker and her brother fled for the canals.

“Tali, go,” I cried.

“Not without you!” She darted over and grabbed my hand, trying to pull me away. Aylin was running at us, her hand outstretched as if she planned to grab me too.

The tracker was on her feet again. She whipped out another pynvium rod and aimed it at Tali and Aylin.

Whoomp.

A strange tingle ran down my arm. Aylin screamed and collapsed to the street. Tali didn’t, but she should have.

We gaped at each other longer than was wise. She’d resisted the flash! She’d never done that before. I’d seen flashed pain hurt her. She wasn’t immune like I was. How had she done it?

Two of the tracker’s men tackled us. I dropped and landed hard on the street next to an unconscious Aylin. I grabbed her ankles and drew.

Tingling pain ran up my arm, not nearly as sharp as real pain would have been, and it wouldn’t last long. The tracker’s men grabbed me. I struggled to turn and grab their exposed flesh, but couldn’t reach them.

Danello leaped on the big man from behind. He spun and punched Danello in the face. Danello snapped back and went down.

I kicked the shins of one of the men holding me. He cried out and loosened his grip on my arm. I yanked hard, sliding my wrist out enough to get my hand on him.

I pushed.

He hissed and let go, shaking his arm like something had stung him. I reached for the man holding Tali a heartbeat before thick arms wrapped around my shoulders. I reached up, barely able to get my fingers on his forearm. I shifted the last of what I’d taken from Aylin into him. He grunted softly but didn’t let go.

Tali’s arms were pinned now, and another man was tying her hands. She tried to bite him and he slapped her.

“Hey!” I kicked out at him, but missed.

A few fishermen scowled and started forward, but the tracker stepped up and held something out.

“This is a legal bounty warrant on the Duke’s orders.” She smiled briefly, satisfied as a cat. “Any interference in this claim is punishable by conscription.”

That stopped the fishermen. They might risk prison to help me, but no one wanted to fight for the Duke. The crowd that had gathered grumbled and moved away.

“You’ve given us quite the chase,” she said.

“Who are you?” I asked, shaking as a soldier bound my hands with rope. Aylin and Danello lay on the street, softly moaning.

“Most call me Vyand.” She stepped forward and held the reward poster next to my face. “Good likeness, except for the hair. That was smart.” Vyand grinned at the big man. “Look at that, Stewwig, two Takers for the work of one. Not bad.”

“Let her go!”

Vyand stayed just out of kicking distance. “Merlaina Oskov,” she said, using the name I’d given to so many who now wanted me captured. “On the order of Duke Verraad, I hereby bind you for the murder of Luminary Duis Steek.”

She leaned in closer and whispered into my ear. “But we both know that’s not why he really wants you.”

Ropes bound my wrists together, same as Tali. Vyand had thrown us into a prisoner transport waiting in the rear courtyard of the Healers’ League. High stone walls and wrought-iron gates I recognised well fenced us in even more.

The courtyard gate clanged open and Vyand entered, followed by four armed men. Tali slid closer and grabbed my hand.

“Listen up,” Vyand called, walking over to us. “You have been extremely annoying. If you give me any more hassles, you’ll spend your nights in a box below decks, where it’s hot. Behave yourselves and you’ll get to sleep in a cage on deck, where it’s cool.”

She flicked a hand in the air. “Mount up.”

The cage dipped to one side as men climbed on to the driver’s bench. Seconds later the transport lurched forward and rolled on to Grand Canal Street. I frowned. Vyand was going to parade us through the streets, as if proving to Geveg that I was caught.

Crowds of Baseeri gathered and watched the transport pass. I’d never been booed before. Yelled at, spat on, beaten, yes – but not booed.

“Abomination!”

“Murderer!”

“I bet I’ve healed some of those people,” Tali muttered, dodging a rotten orange.

“Tali, about that. What did you do when Vyand flashed us?”

“Nothing.”

“You had to do something. The flash didn’t hurt you.”

“It burned a little, but that was it. Think I’m immune like you?”

“You weren’t before.”

She shrugged. “I was trying to get you to leave. I wasn’t thinking about anything but dragging you out of there.”

Wait… Dragging. She’d been touching me. I closed my eyes, pictured us standing there. I’d felt something just before Vyand flashed us. A tingle, like she was pulling something from me. What if it had been my flashing immunity? Did she borrow it?

“Put your hands over mine,” I said. “See if you can shift into me.”

“What? I can’t do that.”

“Just try.”

She put her hands over mine and…

“Nothing.”

“I didn’t feel a tingle this time either.” Maybe she hadn’t done anything. I could have blocked her from the pain, or the angle of the flash had missed her. Maybe I’d drawn it away just as it hit her.

“You have a plan to get us out of here, don’t you?” She looked at me, hope in her eyes. Her confidence was touching, but I wasn’t so sure I could live up to such faith. I had no idea how to get out of a locked prisoner transport. I couldn’t even escape in a city I knew as well as my own name.

“They can’t keep us in this cage forever. When Vyand opens the door, I’ll shift and we’ll run.”

She frowned. “That’s not one of your better plans.”

“It’s all I have right now.”

“OK. Tell me when you think of something else.”

“We’re going to get out of this,” I promised. She smiled, but I don’t think she believed me.

The taunts and thrown items stopped when we reached the rundown neighbourhood. People watched us go by, their expressions hard and cold, but for Vyand’s men, not for us. I could see the hopelessness, the defeat. That’s what the Duke had done to us: turned us into people who let our children be dragged through the city on display and hauled off to the very man who’d beaten us.

“Free the Takers!”

Danello? Shouts rang out all around us. Men with clubs and nets ran from the crowd. They swarmed over the main guard, catching him in a net before he could do more than turn. A half-dozen more ran for the horses. Aylin, Jovan, Bahari, Enzie. Even Winvik!

A high-pitched whinny split the air. The horses reared, front legs pawing as some fishermen tried to throw blankets over them. The driver was on the ground, unconscious. I caught a glimpse of Barnikoff swinging a stick at one of the soldiers.

“See? We don’t need a plan. We’re being rescued!”

The horses shrieked again, and one kicked out its rear legs. The cage shuddered as hooves cracked against the front. The horse kept thrashing, trying to throw off the man clinging to its harness. The cage rocked like a boat on rough water.

“Push harder!” Danello called above the noise.

I screamed as the cage toppled and dragged the horses to the ground. Tali tumbled over me, her knee smacking painfully hard against my head. The door screeched open and a man hauled her out. Another seized my arm and yanked me to my feet. He hurried me away from the cage.

“No, my friends are that way.” I tugged to return, but the man wouldn’t stop. Vyand’s men might have been surprised by the attack, but they hadn’t stayed that way long. More had appeared, surrounding the others with swords and pynvium rods. Danello backed away, shielding Tali and Aylin.

“Wait, please!”

The man kept leading me down the street.

Away from Danello and Tali.

Away from everyone.

Saints and sinners! This wasn’t a rescue. It was a kidnapping.

“Let go of me!” I couldn’t break free of the man’s grip. I pounded on his hand, but it was like smacking rock. I leaned over and bit his shoulder.

He gasped and let me go.

“I don’t think so,” said another man, coming up behind me before I could take a step. He grabbed my arms and half carried me down the street. There wasn’t a soul around.

They hauled me into a rundown boardinghouse half a block farther along the street. The first man opened a door on the ground floor and shoved me inside.

“We got her,” he said, shutting the door behind us.

“Good.”

I snapped around. A boy about twenty stood there, grinning like a cat.

“What’s going on?” I asked, though my guts knew only one reason why anyone would save me from a tracker and take me away from my friends.

“We’re earning a quick five thousand oppas.” He smiled and elbowed the man standing next to him. “See, Uncle? I told you this would work.”

Chapter Five

They wanted the bounty. Wanted it so much they’d kidnapped me from a tracker. A good plan, actually. Insane, but good.

“What about the girl in the transport with me?” I asked as they bound my hands.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” said Uncle, rubbing his shoulder. “She might even be free by now. Those men at the docks were pretty unhappy about a pair of Takers being arrested.”

The boy nodded. “Especially that one guy, right, Fieso? Blonde hair, tall. You should have heard him going on and on about you being a hero. He had the whole berth in an uproar.”

Danello. “Oh, yeah.” Fieso chuckled and shook his head like he couldn’t imagine anyone sticking their neck out for someone else. “Resik listened for a minute and started smiling.”

“That’s when I got the idea.” The boy, Resik I guess, winked and tapped his temple. “Let them do the risky work, and if they pulled it off, we’d grab you right out from under their noses.”

These people would see soldiers burning houses and use it as an excuse to steal what was left behind. My escape options were few. I had little pain to use, and outrunning them with my hands tied was unlikely. I couldn’t count on a rescue, and I wasn’t even sure the others had gotten away. Vyand might have captured them all.

“What are you going to do to me?” I asked.

“Kill you,” said Uncle, casual as you please.

“Head works as proof, right?” Fieso added. “We got a box anywhere? Heads are messy.”

My stomach threatened to make a mess right there. “You don’t have to do this.”

“You got five thousand oppas? We’ll turn you loose.”

“Wait! The posters don’t say anything about me being dead.” They paused. “The Duke wants me alive. Kill me and you’ll get nothing.”

Fieso frowned. “Nobody ever wants criminals alive.”

“The Duke does. He needs me.” For what I wasn’t quite sure, and I hoped they wouldn’t ask. Luckily, they didn’t strike me as the smartest fish in the lake. I didn’t want to be handed over to the Duke either, but it beat having my head chopped off. Hard to think up an escape plan without a head.

“I don’t think so.” Fieso picked up an axe I hadn’t noticed on the table.

Please, Saint Saea, no.

Resik held up a hand. “Hold on, what if she’s right?”

“Easier to carry a head to Baseer,” muttered Fieso.

“Not if it don’t get us nothing.” Uncle stared at Resik as if he could divine the future from the pattern of his freckles. After a long minute he walked over and sat on the table next to Fieso. “It’ll be harder to get her there, but the boy makes sense. Posters said nothing about killing, and they usually do. The carriage is big enough to take her.”

“Not big enough to hide her.”

“Resik,” Uncle said, waving him over. “Go fetch that trunk off the carriage. She oughta fit in there.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to let me walk?” I asked. “Not if you run.”

“What if I promise not to?”

“You know,” Fieso said to Uncle, “heads don’t talk so much.”

I shut up.

Resik laughed.

“Go get the trunk so we can get out of here.”

This was so not good. I casually studied the room, hoping something would inspire a perfect escape plan. One table, two thugs, three chairs, and four bedrolls. No windows. Just the one door. Uncle had already demonstrated his vicelike grip, and Fieso was bigger and wider, with so many scars he obviously didn’t mind getting a little bloody in a fight.

Uncle wasn’t paying attention to me. He had his head down, studying charts spread out on the table. From the glimpses I caught, they were maps. Fieso watched me the entire time, his face blank.

Fieso chuckled. If crocs could laugh, they’d sound exactly like that. “She’s a sly one. Look at her – planning her escape.”

“Was not,” I said.

“Oh, sure. I saw them pretty brown eyes looking around.”

“Can always blindfold her,” Uncle said without looking up from the maps.

Fieso slid off the table and walked to the bedrolls. “And gag her. Ten oppas says she’ll scream all the way to the traveller’s house if we don’t.”

Uncle nodded. “Yeah, fine.”

Fieso pulled some cloth strips out of one of the packs and came to me. I had no idea what the strips used to be, but they didn’t look clean or soft. The closer he got, the more I could smell them. Something sour.

“Please, don’t.”

“Look at that,” he said, tying a heavy knot in one of the strips. “Manners and sneakiness. Open.”

I shook my head. He grabbed my jaw, pressing his fingers into my cheeks. My mouth popped open and he shoved the knot into it, then tied the ends behind my head. I winced as he snagged some of my hair in the knot.

Fieso grinned and snapped the second cloth tight between his hands. Dirt sprang out and floated around my head. I held my breath so I wouldn’t sneeze.

“Might wanna close your eyes.” He stepped behind me. “This one’s a bit dusty.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as he tied the blindfold around my head. At least it made it easier to hold back the tears.

Heavy thuds, muffled voices. The first sounds I’d heard in close to an hour. I’d been counting the minutes, but lost my place at twenty-something when someone sneezed. I’d hoped it was Fieso, though it wasn’t much in the way of revenge.

The door opened and the thumps grew louder.

“What took you so long?” Uncle asked.

“It’s a trunk. It’s heavy,” Resik said, followed by a large bang. “And there’s lots of people out now, all yelling and throwing stuff. The streets are swamped.”

Hands seized my arm and yanked me to my feet, dragging me towards – I assumed – the trunk.

“Grab her,” Fieso said, and hands lifted my feet. I writhed but they just gripped me tighter. I reached out and found flesh, maybe an arm, and pushed my aching head into it. A man cried out and dropped me into something that smelled of fish stink and mould.

Something smacked me in the head as I tried to get up, and they all laughed.

“Stay,” Resik ordered as if I were a dog.

The lid thumped shut, and what little light came through the blindfold vanished. I could move my hands enough to reach up and pull off the blindfold, then yanked the gag out of my mouth. My mouth felt dry as a beach, but as soon as I heard crowds, I’d yell my lungs out.

One end of the trunk lifted and I knocked against the side. The other side rose a moment later and we were moving. Faint noises reached me after a few minutes, growing louder with every jostle. I rocked as the trunk rocked, banging into the sides as we went down the front steps. I’d never been one for lake sickness, but the heat and the swaying had my stomach flipping.

I listened, straining for sounds of people who might actually help if I started shouting. I prayed the others were safe and sound and heading for Barnikoff’s.

Voices yelled – commanding voices. Soldiers or guards for sure. “Settle down or you’ll be arrested,” said someone who had to be a guard.

“Help!” I kicked and pounded my fists on the sides of the trunk. “Help!”

The trunk dropped hard to the ground. I kept kicking and yelling, until a six-inch chunk of knife blade sliced through the top, cutting into my cheek. I jerked away and pressed a hand against it. After a heartbeat, the blade was yanked out.

“Next one goes through the side, where it’s heavy,” Fieso said through the hole. Most of me rested on that side, my back flat against the trunk. “I don’t want to risk the money, but heads don’t try to escape.”

I stayed quiet. And still, despite the sting in my cheek or the blood trickling down my neck. Smells from the tannery oozed through the cracks in the trunk, mixing unpleasantly with the fish and mould. The smell of fish got stronger. Horses whinnied, wood creaked, and waves swished around dock pilings.

We had to be at the traveller’s house on the docks, the only one with a stable. Unless you were military or very rich, horses and carriages weren’t allowed on the isles. That never stopped people from ferrying them over, though. Housekeeper Gilnari made a good living stabling both.

Once I was on their carriage and off the isle I was done for. I had to escape before they boarded the ferry.

Please, Saint Saea, do something. I’m out of ideas.

Voices drifted over, but nothing I could make out. Probably Uncle getting the carriage brought around and the horses ready.

“Let me help you with that,” someone called.

“No, I got it,” Fieso said, banging on the side of the trunk my back was pressed against. “You scream,” he muttered through the hole in the trunk, “and anyone who tries to help you dies.”

A minute later someone grunted and I was swaying. The trunk dipped sharply at one end and I crumpled on to my head. A sharp jerk and it righted again.

My heart and my hope sank. I had to be on the carriage now.

“Can she breathe in there?” The voice was muffled, but it sounded like Uncle.

“I gave her an airhole,” Fieso replied.

“Gonna need more than one.”

The carriage rocked, then the blade punched through the lid – two, three, four times – then again in the front. I flattened myself against the side.

“That enough?”

“Better make ’em wider.”

The blade returned, twisting in each hole until grape-size shafts of light shone through. “Happy now?”

“Yeah, she won’t bake to death. Won’t it get messy in there?”

“Not if we don’t feed her.”

I shivered, despite the growing heat in the trunk. It was four days, maybe five to Baseer by road. I’d gone three days without food before, but never longer. I’d known folks who had, so I could probably manage, but how long could I survive without water?

“Ferry’s boarding.”

“About time,” said Uncle. “Saints, my head is killing me. Wake me when we hit the mainland. I’m gonna nap.”

A door squeaked and shut, and the carriage lurched forward.

The shifted pain. How long before it thickened Uncle’s blood and wore out his body? It had taken only a day for Danello and his brothers to get pain sick after I’d shifted their father’s pain into them, but there had been a lot more of it. How soon until Uncle got sick?

How soon until he died?

Hope and guilt merged in a very uncomfortable knot in my guts. I’d killed him sure as if I’d stabbed him, only he didn’t know it. I didn’t see any of them going to a Healer. Maybe a pain merchant, but I doubted there’d be any of those along the way.

I shouldn’t feel guilty. He’d have killed me in a heartbeat. Cut off my head, just for money. Still, Healers didn’t take lives.

The crowd’s shouts echoed in my ears. Abomination! Murderer!

I wasn’t a Healer and I never would be. I had other paths: hero or murderer.

Saints forgive me, but I felt more like one than the other.

My stomach rolled with every sway, queasy again from the heat and closeness of the trunk. I focused on breathing – in, out, in, out – trying not to be sick. I didn’t think Fieso would open the trunk for any reason, no matter what noises I made or smells I emitted.

Reins cracked and the rocking got worse as the horses picked up speed. Getting to Baseer faster might help keep me alive, but it was a whole lot more uncomfortable. I banged off the sides, bruising my bruises and opening up the cut on my cheek again. Already every inch of me hurt. My arms and legs burned from being crumpled like dirty laundry, and I doubted my spine would ever straighten up again. At least I’d have some pain to shift when they did let me out.

And kill more people?

I swallowed the thought. They weren’t people, they were criminals – real murderers. It should have made a difference, but the knot in my guts didn’t go away. Maybe I could escape without shifting. I always had before, though I’d never been in this much trouble.

Hours later the light vanished from the holes in the trunk. The carriage slowed and stopped. Not long enough to be Baseer, so they must be stopping to camp.

Footsteps.

Someone fumbled with the latch and the lid lifted. Fresh air poured in and I gulped it like water. Night had fallen and stars speckled the sky over Resik’s shoulder.

“You move even a little bit,” he said, hovering over me with a knife, “and I’ll slam this lid down hard as I can.”

“I won’t.”

He dropped a water flask on to my lap.

“Thank you.” Sweat dripped into my eyes, but I didn’t wipe it away or go for the flask yet.

He shrugged. “Be a waste of money if you died on us.”

“Are you really this heartless?”

He seemed taken aback at that, his expression shocked, then guilty, then angry. “It’s business. Nothing personal.”

“Trade places with me and see if you still think so.”

“You’d do the same thing.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, you say that now, but try turning it down when it’s offered. Not so easy.”

I smiled, which seemed to unsettle him. “I’ve turned down more wealth than you’ll see in your entire life.”

“Then you’re an idiot.” He slammed the lid shut and relocked it.

I sighed, sucking down the water and treasuring the last of the fresh air before it grew stale again. Maybe I had been an idiot. Where would I be now if I’d really accepted Zertanik’s offer, emptied the League’s pynvium Slab, and helped him and the Luminary sell it? Would I be standing in Verlatta, showing them empty healing bricks of ill-gotten pynvium and demanding a fortune for them? Or living without worry in my own villa with Tali and Aylin?

Most likely I’d be dead or sharing a prison cell with both men. I had a feeling either was better than what the Duke had planned for me.

Chapter Six

The trunk opened again, maybe two days later, but I wasn’t sure. The sky was grey tinged in red this time. Sunset.

“What’s wrong with him?” Resik asked, looking both mad and scared.

“Wha?” I squeaked, my mouth too dry to talk.

“Uncle won’t wake up. I know you did this, so heal him.”

I said nothing.

“Tell me or you won’t get any more water.”

“Yo— won—” I coughed and my lips cracked.

Resik ran a hand through his hair and looked around. He yanked a much bigger water flask out of his pocket and dropped it on me. “Drink, then tell me.”

I sucked down the water, warm, but good. My head stopped pounding, but the rest of me still hurt. I handed Resik the flask. “You won’t get paid if I die.”

He groaned in frustration and walked away, leaving the lid open. I revelled in the cool, fresh air. Much too soon he was back.

“Heal him and I’ll let you out of the trunk. We’ll keep you inside the carriage with us.”

“If I heal him, it’ll kill me instead and you won’t get any money.”

He swore. “You’re lying.”

“You need pynvium to heal and you don’t have any.” Not that it would do me any good if he did, but he didn’t know that. “You can have five thousand oppas or your uncle’s life. Your choice.”

He banged his fist on the trunk and walked away again, muttering, pacing. Then he was back once more.

“You can shift it into someone else though, right? That’s why the Duke wants you so badly?” He glanced away and brushed a hand across his upper lip. “Someone like—”

Fieso yanked him away from the trunk. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing! Just giving her some water.”

“Stay away from her.”

“I will.”

“I mean it.”

“I heard you the first time.” Resik reached over and shut the lid, but not before I caught the hateful look he shot at Fieso.

The lid opened again and pale sunlight poured in. The air tasted damp and clean. The sword pointed at my face shone bright.

“You’re going to get up, get out of the trunk, and heal my uncle.” Resik kept his gaze on me, but it jerked, like he really wanted to look somewhere else.

“Where’s Fieso?”

“Don’t worry about him, just do what I said.”

I sat up, muscles burning and tingling as blood rushed into them. My head spun and I gulped in air until it steadied.

“Hurry up!”

“I’ve been folded in a trunk for days,” I said, gripping the side with my bound hands. “Moving isn’t easy.”

Standing would be even less so, though that worked to my advantage. I wouldn’t have to fake tumbling out of the trunk. I hauled myself to my feet and pitched over the side, the trunk toppling after me. I landed hard at Resik’s feet.

His bare feet.

I guess that’s how he’d sneaked away from Fieso.

I seized his ankle with both hands and pushed, sending all my aches and pains into him. He cried out and dropped on the trunk, cracking the side and breaking it into pieces. His legs no longer worked, and he ripped the lid off its hinge while struggling to get up.

My legs suddenly worked just fine again. I couldn’t shift hunger or thirst, so things were still a little swirly, but the pain was gone.

I grabbed the sword and braced it between my knees, blade edge up, and started sawing away at my binds.

“It hurts,” Resik moaned, curled into a ball.

I didn’t look at him, but it didn’t stop the guilt. He wanted to kill me, same as his uncle. Why should I care if either died?

I shoved prickly thought away as the ropes snapped free. We were stopped on the side of the road, with nothing but rolling fields as far as I could see. No canals to dive into, no alley to cut through, not even a tree to hide behind.

“Resik?” said Fieso.

I jumped. Faint smoke curled up into the sky on the other side of the carriage. A campfire. If they were camped, the carriage and driver’s bench were probably empty.

“You’d better not be messing with that girl again.”

I rose, sword out, and circled around the carriage. I glanced towards the driver’s bench and frowned. It was empty, but the horses grazed fifteen feet away, tethered to a post in the ground. So much for stealing the carriage. How hard were horses to ride? Maybe I could steal one of them. I didn’t see a bridle, though, just loose ropes around their necks.

“Resik? Answer me.”

Fieso was closer now, and the only thing between me and freedom. My hands shook and the sword tip quivered. I’d only get one chance to catch him by surprise. I kept all Danello’s fencing lessons firmly in my mind. Thrust, parry, lunge.

“Are you— ah, hell.” Metal scraped – a sword sliding out of a scabbard. “Where’d she go?”

Resik moaned and mumbled something I couldn’t catch.

I gripped the sword tighter and readied myself to lunge.

Fieso’s shadow appeared first, bending around the edge of the carriage, then—

Crack!

Sharp pain flared behind my knee and I toppled forward, dropping the sword. It fell point first into the grass and wobbled.

“Good hit,” Fieso said, yanking the sword out of the ground.

I rolled over. Another man stood behind me, a three-foot reed rod casually resting on his shoulder. The carriage driver?

“Tie her back up,” Fieso said.

“Me? I’m not touching her.”

“We can’t leave her loose.”

“Force her into the trunk again.”

“Can’t. Resik broke it, the idiot.”

“Fine.” The driver stomped off and rooted around in the carriage. He came out with a coiled length of rope. “If she does that shifty thing, I’m gonna make sure you feel it worse.”

Fieso stepped closer and put the blade against my throat. “You won’t do anything, will you?”

“No.” I lay motionless while the driver retied my hands.

“We’ll be in Baseer in a few hours. I’ll put her in the carriage and keep an eye on her till then.”

The driver shook himself as if the very idea gave him shiverfeet, but he opened the carriage anyway. Uncle was slumped inside, his face pale and sweaty. Fieso climbed into the carriage and shoved Uncle out. He moaned as he tumbled to the grass. Ashen skin, sunken eyes. I’d guess he didn’t have much longer.

“You should take him to a Healer.”

“Why? More reward for us.” Fieso turned to the driver again. “Get those horses. I’ll watch our girl.”

He frowned but did as ordered. Resik was probably still lying in the grass behind the carriage. For a heartbeat I wondered if anyone would stop and pick them up.

Fieso waved the sword at me and swung it towards the open carriage door. I climbed inside and sat. Fieso came in after, the sword never wavering.

“Now then,” Fieso said, leaning against the padded seat. “Let’s discuss the rules. You speak, I’ll kill you. You try to escape, I’ll kill you. You move at all, I’ll kill you. You do what I say, or I’ll kill you. Nod if you got it.”

I nodded.

“Good. Rules start now.”

I followed the rules all the way to Baseer. The landscape outside the window never changed, just green fields and farms stretching forever. I couldn’t even imagine how many people all those fields must feed.

The afternoon sun hovered over us by the time we reached the city walls. Golden stone disappeared into the distance, higher than most buildings in Geveg, maybe thirty or forty feet. Every few hundred yards, a tower loomed.

On the right, between the city and the river, was some kind of military fort. Rectangular, with a wide ditch around it. Barracks in neat rows. Armed soldiers posted around fortified walls, and towers at all four corners.

Was that the Duke’s army?

The carriage slowed at the gates, tall, with wide iron bars thick as my wrist. I saw at least five soldiers, but there were probably more.

One soldier walked up to the carriage door. She opened it, her hand on her sword. “Your business?”

“Delivering a prisoner for bounty.”

She looked at me and nodded. “Bring her out.”

Fieso slid down the seat and tugged on my rope. “Out.”

I got out, graceful as a frog.

“This way.” The soldier led us over to the guard station. Boards with reward posters nailed to them hung behind it. Faces of all kinds stared out at me, including my own.

“That’s her there,” Fieso said, pointing.

The soldier paused, then pulled the poster down. “Bring her to holding while I send someone for the magistrate.” She called over another soldier. They spoke briefly, casting glances at Fieso, then the second soldier waved us on.

“Follow me.”

“What about my carriage?” Fieso said.

“Tell your driver to ride on through. He’ll see the tether posts on the left.”

We stepped through the giant gate and into Baseer. My throat tightened, as if the air itself were poison.

Baseer. I’m in Baseer.

A square cage sat in the middle of a fenced pen. The soldier opened it and motioned me inside. I walked past her and plopped to the cool stone floor. Some welcome. Maybe it was a warning to all who came through the gates – obey the rules or pay the price.

“How long till I get my money?” Fieso asked. My money, not our money. Shame the driver didn’t hear that. I bet he’d be joining Resik and Uncle along the side of the road before nightfall.

“I don’t make the magistrate’s schedule,” the soldier said. She pointed to a bench not far from the cage. “Wait there.”

Fieso sat, and not long after, the driver took a place beside him. People, carts, and carriages walked and rolled past us, but not many looked my way. I guess with so many faces on the reward posters, prisoners in the cage weren’t unusual.

I sat quietly, my head hanging down as if I were too scared or weak to do anything else. Wasn’t far from the truth, but I could move my wrists a little. With luck, maybe I could slide a hand free. No clue what I’d do after that, but every mile walked started with a step.

“What’s taking them so long?” Fieso said after an hour. He jumped to his feet. “How hard is it to count out some coins and put them in a chest?”

I guess he’d never tried to count to five thousand before.

The driver didn’t seem as concerned. “They gotta find guards to leave with all that money. Baseeri thieves’ll just rob it if they get the chance.”

That was a surprise. With their dark hair, I’d assumed they were Baseeri.

“Hey,” Fieso called to the gate soldiers. The same woman as before looked up. “When’s he getting here?”

She shrugged.

“I hate these people.”

The sun was halfway to the horizon when a carriage rolled up. “About time,” Fieso muttered. The driver yawned and stayed on the bench.

The carriage door opened and an armoured man stepped out. Not the usual silver armour the soldiers in Geveg wore though. This was dark and looked heavier. Next, a woman appeared.

Vyand.

“You got my money?” Fieso called, his hands on his hips.

“Your money?” she said, a cat’s grin on her face. A second man in armour left the carriage. The two men on the driver’s bench climbed down as well. The soldier woman from the gate walked over, followed by the man she’d spoken to earlier.

I had a feeling nobody in that carriage worked for the magistrate, and my guts said the two soldiers at the gate were working for Vyand. Bribes paid better than bureaucrats.

Fieso dropped his arms and tensed. The driver finally realised something was up, because he got off the bench. Vyand strolled towards them, her armoured bodyguards in her wake.

“I have their money.” She pulled a pouch off her belt and tossed it to the woman soldier. She caught it in one hand and nodded once. “My thanks again.”

“Always a pleasure.”

Fieso’s hands clenched. “You trying to cheat me?”

“You stole my property and accuse me of cheating you?” Vyand tsked. “I’ll take my Shifter now.”

“I want my money first.”

“Sorry, it’s my money.”

Fieso dived at her, a knife suddenly in his hand. He sank it up to the hilt in her side and she cried out, fingers pressed against her stomach. Blood seeped through the cloth.

The driver drew his sword as Vyand’s men drew theirs. All except…

One of the armoured men dropped to one knee and placed both hands over Vyand’s wound. His eyes narrowed, his cheek twitched, then the colour returned to her cheeks. He pressed his bloody hand against his armour.

His blue armour. Pynvium blue.

Chapter Seven

Saints and sinners, a soldier-healer in pynvium armour! This is what the Duke was doing with his Healers? Training them to kill?

He’d turned Healers into weapons.

It was awful. It was… I shuddered. Terrifying. How could you kill a soldier who could heal their own wounds and push it into their armour? They’d be unstoppable.

Fieso and the driver were clearly the better fighters, but it didn’t seem to matter. Fieso’s knife slipped between the armour plates, drew blood and had to have pierced organs, but the soldier-healers just pushed the pain into the pynvium and kept fighting. They neither dodged nor danced, weren’t light on their feet like Fieso. They didn’t have to be.

The other men helped Vyand to her feet. She was pale but steady. All three stood back and watched the healer-soldiers, as did a few of the gate soldiers. Why were they fighting for Vyand? She couldn’t have hired them. The Duke would never give weapons like that to anyone. Was he helping Vyand? But why? Wasn’t paying her enough?

Did they know what they were? The other soldiers didn’t get the same reaction.

The driver screamed and went down. The soldier-healer ran him through, then smiled like he’d enjoyed doing it.

No one could stand against the Duke with an army like this. No one.

I wiggled my wrists harder, faster, trying to get out of there before the soldier-healers killed Fieso. Skin ripped, but the ropes stayed tight. I ground them against the stone floor, the edge of my sandal, anything that even looked like it might cut.

Fieso put up a good fight, but he wasn’t going to win. He tried to run, but the soldiers caught him and shoved him down. Vyand smiled, looking impressed, and whispered to the man next to her. He made notes in a small book I hadn’t seen before.

I gasped. Was this a test? Was the Duke letting Vyand borrow the soldiers to see how they’d do in a real fight? What kind of power did she have?

The soldier-healers advanced and finished Fieso off. He didn’t scream, just grunted in pain and collapsed. Vyand nodded, seemingly very pleased with the soldiers’ performance.

This was worse than the rows of pain-stuffed Takers in the Healers’ League. Worse than the riots, the fighting, even the random beatings. If the Duke turned those soldiers loose on Geveg, we wouldn’t survive. It wouldn’t be like Sorille. We would die not in fire but by the hands of those who should have been keeping us alive.

Vyand snapped her fingers and her men dragged the bodies away, behind the carriages where I couldn’t see. She walked over to me, plucking at her bloody uniform.

“Look at this. Ruined. Blood never comes out.” Not as flippant as she probably intended, and I caught the strain in her voice. Getting stabbed like that took time to get over, even if you were healed right away.

“Guess you’ll have to burn it.”

“You’re probably right.” She frowned and wiped her fingers on her trousers. “Now then, do we just pick up where we left off?”

“Where’s my sister?”

“Thinking over the most important decision of her life. A waste of time if she’s anything like you.”

“Where is she?”

“Do you really expect me to tell you?” She sighed. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

“Well, what about my friends? Did you capture them? Can you tell me that?”

She patted her glossy hair into place. “I really have no idea who you’re friends with. If they were part of that sloppy rescue attempt, then yes, I did.”

“Are they here?”

“Enough questions. Come now, out.” Vyand waved at the gate soldier and she unlocked the cage. The soldier-healers followed, keeping their hard gazes on me as if they’d welcome another fight. Saea willing, they’d be like every other Baseeri soldier I’d ever met and they’d want to intimidate me, shove me around a bit, get their pretty blue armour close enough to touch.

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