Promising Light (39 page)

“Right, because we trust you
enough to do that,” Sierra said, rolling her eyes.

“Which is why Grace should come
with me.” Matilda looked at Grace. “What do you think?”

“Well, I—” she began.

“I don’t like the idea of you two
going in there alone,” Dar said. “What if there are revealing
spells?”

Matilda gazed ahead. “We’ll go over
the walls.”

“That won’t protect you from
revealing spells.”

“So you’d rather all five of us go
in and be revealed? Come on, Dar—”

“Evan or I should go in since
we’re trained in combat.”

“Hey, I am, too,” Sierra
said.

“See?” Dar said to Matilda. “So
you two should stay out of the city, and we’ll go
through.”

On and on they bickered about who
would go in. After five minutes, Dar raised his voice. “Listen!
Either I’m going in to find Chad and Grace is staying out of the
city walls, or we’re all going in. But there’s no way in hell that
I’m letting her go in there without me.”

Grace’s cheeks turned pink. “Dar, I
can take care of myself—”

“That Cosa could have killed you,
and Adrian would have raped you! I’m not going to be separated from
you by a twenty foot wall.”

She glared at him, her face turning
even redder. The others were silent, and he knew he’d embarrassed
her, but he didn’t care. What mattered to him was keeping her
safe.

“Do what you want,” she snapped.
“I’m still going with Matilda to find Chad. Will that please you,
your Highness?”

He clenched his teeth. “We can go
in fifteen minute intervals. I’ll go first, then you two.” He
looked at Sierra and Evan. “What are you doing?”

Matilda threw her hands up. “Oh, so
we’re all pretty much doing whatever we want, regardless of safety
or logic.”

Evan and Sierra ignored her and
glanced at each other. “We’ll go first,” Evan said. “Then Dar, then
Matilda and Grace.”

Matilda huffed. “Then go. We’ve
wasted enough time as it is.”

“We’ll meet at the old well in an
hour,” Dar said.

“I don’t think an hour is enough,”
Matilda said. “I have no idea where Chad could be.”

“Why not?”

“You know him, he moves a
lot.”

That was true; Chad was as flighty
as a hummingbird. “Two hours,” Dar conceded. “If one of us doesn’t
show up, we’ll wait thirty minutes before breaking off into search
teams, okay?”

Sierra and Evan went first after
Evan changed to a blond man, leaving Dar, Matilda, and Grace in an
awkward silence.

“Do you have weapons?” Dar
asked.

Grace showed him her dagger, and
Matilda just nodded.

After fifteen minutes, Dar looked
at the two of them. “Be careful.”

Neither of them responded, but
Grace did meet his eyes and nod. He rode toward Shyra in the form
of an elderly man.

He got over the border easily, but
as he approached the city gates of Rahuda, he realized a queue was
growing at the gate. He pulled his horse into the queue behind
Sierra and Evan. Dar craned his neck to see what was taking so
long.

“What’s going on here?” Dar asked,
his voice hoarse.

Sierra looked over her shoulder.
“I’m not sure. Looks like they’re looking for someone.”

As they drew closer, Dar saw the
guards. He recognized one of them as Jared, the Cosa elder who
worked for the Protectors. His strawberry blond hair was streaked
with gray, and he was short with a broad chest. He was one of the
first ones to begin helping the Protectors; Dar’s parents only
talked about him when they were speaking of treachery and
disloyalty.

A man in a black cloak stood next
to him, and he held up a sketch drawing of Lady Grace. Dar swore
under his breath. Jared was strong enough to reveal both he and
Evan if he had reason to. He looked over his shoulder at the road
where he came from. He almost considered turning back, but he knew
Matilda would recognize Jared. She’d take Grace over the walls. Dar
looked up at the solid stone walls. They had to be thirty
feet.

He was about to turn back to warn
or help Grace and Matilda when he saw Sierra and Evan approaching
the gate. He urged his horse forward to fill the gap
left.

“Have you seen this woman?” the
man in the cloak asked in a bored voice. “Blonde hair, a noble. Her
name’s Lady Grace, and she’s been kidnapped.”

Sierra shook her head. “I’m afraid
not.”

“Hold on a moment,” Jared said. “I
sense Avialie magic.”

“What?” Sierra asked, furrowing
her brow.

Jared stepped forward, running his
hands over Sierra’s leg, whispering under his breath. He walked
toward Evan, and Dar held his breath. “It’s me,” Evan suddenly
said. Sierra whipped her head around to stare at him.

Jared moved forward, extending his
hands so they were inches from Evan’s leg. He nodded after a
moment. “Yes, he’s Avialie.”

The cloaked man was rustling around
in his bag. He pulled out a scroll. “What is your name?”

“This is my husband, and his name
is Marvel Rivovich,” Sierra said. “What is going on?”

“His name isn’t on the list,” the
cloaked man said slowly.

“Of course it isn’t, you idiot!”
Jared retorted. “Sir, we need you to step aside so we can question
you regarding the kidnapping of Lady Grace.”

“I had nothing to do with
kidnapping that girl,” Evan said, raising his voice. “I’ve been
tortured and held captive by Niculai Harst for two years. I
escaped, and I went to the manor in Belisha after my stay at the
castle. I’m completely innocent.”

Sierra stared at him as if he’d
lost his mind, and Dar was sure he had. Why was he drawing this
much attention to himself? He didn’t have a choice but to admit he
was an Avialie after Jared sensed him, but why not make up a
story?

“Marvel, what are you talking
about?” Sierra asked tightly.

“I’m not Marvel!” Evan shouted. He
drew his sword. “I’m Evan Avialie, and I refuse to be questioned!”
He brandished his sword, swinging it down within inches of Jared’s
face. Jared stared at him in anger, and the Protector drew his own
sword. Sierra’s horse backed up, knocking into Dar’s horse. A
carriage waited behind him the queue, and the driver watched the
scene with interest.

Dar clenched his teeth. Fleeing
from the scene at this point would look suspicious. If anything
happened to Grace and Matilda, Dar was going to have to take it out
on Evan. He loved his cousin, but he obviously wasn’t thinking at
all right now.

“Put the sword down!” the
Protector yelled.

“Let me through!” Evan
demanded.

“What are you doing?” Sierra
snapped. She half-glanced over her shoulder at Dar, then her eyes
widened as though she realized something. She turned back to Evan,
who was shouting at the Protector to let him through the gate.
After a moment of hesitation, she screamed at the Protector and
Jared. “Let us through! We aren’t criminals. You have no right to
do this!”

“No, ma’am, calm down,” the
Protector said.

“Where are your papers? How do I
know you’re Rahuda officials?” Sierra shouted.

Dar stared in horror as the din
rose and Jared left to get more guards. What were they doing? What
happened to staying out of sight? Suddenly, Dar realized they were
causing a distraction for him to get through.

He tried to raise his voice over
their shouts. “Stop it, Sierra!” They ignored him, and more guards
came out. He had to take the opportunity. He’d find Chad and come
back to help Sierra and Evan. He just hoped they could handle the
situation until he returned. There was an opening between Evan’s
horse and the gate, and Dar kicked his horse in the side. He fled
past. As he went through the gate, the air pushed down on him like
a weight. A revealing spell forced him back to his original form.
The Protector yelled after him, but Dar didn’t look behind to see
if anyone was following him.

His horse galloped through the
outskirts of Rahuda. Dar glanced over his shoulder as he grew
closer to the thick of the city. A guard on a horse was chasing
him.

Dar swore and turned ahead. He
recognized his surroundings and grinned. They used to run from Kale
Saven in this area all the time. He turned into an alley between a
bookshop and a house. The horse had to jump over a small wall at
the end, then Dar took him down another alley, rounding back to the
road he’d just been on. When he glanced back, he’d lost the guard.
He and the horse had moved down the second alley while the guard
was still in the first.

He went toward the middle of the
city, glancing over his shoulder every now and then. The guard
didn’t reappear.

Dar pulled up to a popular tavern
where Chad used to spend time. Inside, a few men recognized him and
nodded their heads. He went to the bartender, a man named Larry.
“Larry, have you seen Chad lately?”

“Dar, you shouldn’t be in here,”
Larry said. “There’s a warrant our for your arrest.”

Dar clenched his hand into fists.
“On what grounds?”

“Says you’re involved in a
kidnapping,” Larry said, his eyes wide. He glanced around the
tavern. “There’s a reward, so you might want to get
moving.”

“Have you seen Chad
lately?”

“He just left,” Larry
said.

“With who?”

Larry looked down guiltily and
cleared his throat. “Now, Dar, I didn’t think you still had
feelings for Miss Matilda…” he trailed off.

How had she gotten here so quickly?
He turned away from the bar and left the tavern quickly. As he was
untying his horse, two men came out of the tavern doors. “Dar,” the
tall, bulky one called. Kale Saven.

Dar decided to play dumb. “Do I
know you?”

He laughed with his short
companion. “Oh, that’s cute. You don’t remember me? You and your
friends stole apples from my yard all the time, even though you had
plenty.”

He was a farmer on the east side of
Rahuda and a ruthless boss, firing people for the smallest
infractions. In Rahuda, the presence of magical families wasn’t
hidden as well as it was in Renaul, where the Protectors ruled.
Kale hated the Avialies, and Dar was surprised he hadn’t joined the
Protectors yet. Or perhaps he had in the last year. His companion
was another worker at the farm; his name escaped Dar, but he was
just as fond of the Avialies, which was to say, not at
all.

“Good day, Kale,” Dar
said.

He was ready to mount his horse
when Kale shoved him in the shoulder. “Hold on just a second,” Kale
said. “You know you’ve got a warrant out for your
arrest.”

“Larry just told me,” Dar said,
reaching for his sword.

Kale suddenly punched him in the
nose. Dar stumbled back; he was about to punch Kale back when
Kale’s short companion grabbed Dar’s arms from behind. Dar’s
struggling made him lose his grip, but Kale kicked him hard in the
stomach. Dar fell to his knees, gasping for breath, and then Kale
kneed his face. Blood flowed from his nose, and they tied up his
wrists. “You know where you’re going, right?” Kale said with a
laugh.

Dar could guess.

* * *

They didn’t wait the full fifteen
minutes. Grace didn’t want to, and she was glad Matilda didn’t,
either. Once Matilda saw the Cosa at the gate, she told Grace they
needed to find another way into the city. They led their horses in
the woods, and Matilda made herself invisible, too. To be sure,
they tested it by walking up to the queue and talking to one of the
men. He ignored them. Grace couldn’t believe it.

After arguing for a few moments,
they decided to scale the wall. Matilda was sure the Cosa at the
gate, who she kept calling Jared, would be able to sense their
magic and there might even be a barrier that would reveal them.
Grace asked why the barrier wouldn’t reveal them when they went
over the wall, too, but she said they’d be farther away and it’d be
easier to run.

Their bags weighed down on their
backs as they climbed the brick wall. Matilda had tied some kind of
piece of Mahri metal to a line of rope, then threw it up onto the
wall until it latched onto one of the spikes. They tied the rope to
their waists; it dug into Grace’s sides, and she highly doubted its
reliability. She started to doubt the entire decision to find the
ancient texts as she searched for places to hold onto with her
hands and feet. She had to picture Vin and Amina, the elders, the
teenagers, the entire shape changing family dying out.

When they reached the top, the two
of them had to climb over a line of spikes. As Grace stepped over
one, she felt like the same feeling from Kaiden’s: like she was
being pushed on all sides by the wind.

Matilda grabbed her arm. “The
revealing. We’re going to need to go down fast.”

Grace looped the rope around
another spike, her heart pounding.

“Go, go!”