As soon as Chancellor Quill and Lance and the rest of their people had disappeared beyond the ridge, Audrey released the grip on her magic and let the glittering green mist around Jessica’s head fade out. The water mage sucked in a deep breath.
Her long blond hair fell down to cover her face as she bent forward and coughed before drawing in another rattling breath. Still on her knees, she curled her fingers in the thick green grass as if bracing herself while she tried to recover from Audrey’s magic. I glanced over at my poison mage. She just shrugged.
The move made the red and purple light ripple in her shining black hair. I shifted my gaze to the sun dipping lower towards the horizon. We would lose the light soon. Finding Grant’s hidden exit would be impossible in the dark, and camping out here in the open was out of the question, so we had to finish this up quickly.
“How big is Quill’s army?” I demanded.
For a couple of seconds, Jessica only continued focusing on her breathing. Then she at last raised her head and looked up at us. Based on the tight set of her mouth, she was angry. Or at least trying to look angry. But then she cast a quick glance over her shoulder towards where Lance had disappeared, and dread flooded her eyes instead.
“How many?” I pushed.
“You…” she began as she met my gaze once more, but she had to pause and clear her throat before trying again. “You promised to let me go.”
“Yes, we did. But we said nothing of the state you’d be in.”
Her eyes widened, and she cast another panicked look over her shoulder.
By all hell, she wouldn’t have survived a single day as a dark mage. When she was with her friends, she seemed confident enough, but now she just looked terrified. Didn’t she know that even if you were hopelessly outclassed, you were supposed to fake power and confidence? It was the first thing any dark mage learned. And those who didn’t, died. But then again, I supposed that she had never had to face any real dangers before now.
“Don’t make me ask again,” I said.
“I don’t know,” she blurted out. Shaking her head, she stared up at me, her blue eyes still wide with fear. “I don’t know how many.”
Blowing out a long exhale, I touched my palms together and called up a force blade.
Jessica flinched and tried to scoot backwards on her knees, but before she could, I leveled the half-translucent gray sword at her throat. It wasn’t close enough to actually cut her, but I knew that she would at least be feeling the vibrations pulsing against her skin.
“I don’t!” she protested, raising her hands in a pleading gesture. “I don’t know how many. I swear, it’s the truth.”
She sounded sincere, so I was pretty sure that she was telling the truth. I glanced over at Audrey. Her head was tilted slightly to the side, and she had crossed her arms while she studied the water mage before us. Then she slid her gaze to me and nodded, confirming that she also believed her.
“Alright,” I said, shifting my attention back to Jessica. “Then where’s the rest of the army?”
Confusion flickered across her features. “What do you mean?”
Since I didn’t want to give away any of our potential plans, I had to phrase my questions carefully. Quill would no doubt interrogate her afterwards, so even if Jessica didn’t pick up on anything I said right now, the Chancellor might.
“There has to be others,” I said. “Apart from the ones surrounding the mansion.”
“Oh.” She sounded almost relieved. Raising a hand, she hooked a lock of straight blond hair behind her ear. “Yes, there are some patrols moving around the grasslands too.”
Which meant that everyone else was here. That was good at least. Having to fight a battle on several fronts would have been difficult for us considering how few people we had on our side.
“And Quill’s plan is to… what?” I asked. “Starve us out?”
“I… I don’t know. I think so.” When we only continued watching her, she went on. “I mean, the first plan was to attack the mansion. But those woodlands around it are… strange.”
Thank hell for Harvey Grant and his clever use of emotion magic and desire for privacy. Otherwise, this war would have already been over by the time we got back from Malgrave.
I slid my gaze to Audrey. Interrogating Jessica was a two-way street. Anything we asked about would be reported back to Quill, which meant that the information we received might become useless by the end of the day anyway. And it might allow him to start plotting countermeasures.
Audrey heaved a soft sigh, as if she had come to the same conclusion. Then she met my gaze and lifted her shoulders in a casual shrug.
I supposed that was as much as we would be able to get out of Jessica without risking our own plans.
We could have interrogated her more thoroughly and then just killed her afterwards, of course. But she didn’t seem to know all that much about Quill’s schemes anyway, and the violent response we would get from Lance if we did that wasn’t worth it. Until Levi showed up with his people, we had to play this carefully.
“Why are you here?” Audrey asked while I let my force blade fade out.
Annoyance rippled across Jessica’s features as she glared up at her. “Because you took me hostage.”
A cold and dangerous smile that made Jessica flinch curled Audrey’s lips. “I’d be careful with that tongue, if I were you.”
Jessica opened her mouth as if to say something while casting another panicked look at the empty grasslands around her, but then she just closed it again.
“Why are you here?” Audrey repeated. “In this war?”
“Because…” Her pale brows furrowed slightly, and she trailed off. “Well… Because it’s… the right thing to do, I guess.”
“Are you asking me or telling me?”
“I…” Uncertainty danced in her eyes. “Well, Chancellor Quill said that it was the best way to once and for all deal with the threat you pose.”
“I know what Quill thinks. What do you think?”
The uncertainty suddenly disappeared from her eyes, and she raised her chin in a defiant move. “I think what you’re doing is despicable. Killing people is wrong.”
Audrey let out a short humorless laugh. “We weren’t killing anyone in Eldar. But guess what? Now that you’ve started a war against us, people will definitely die.”
“I…” She opened and closed her mouth a few times as if trying to figure out what to say. “It was the only way to stop you.”
“To stop us from doing what? Choosing how we want to live our lives?”
“From hoarding magic.”
“So instead, you forcibly rip it from our souls against our will?”
“I…” Scrunching up her brows, she opened and closed her mouth once more.
Audrey pinched the bridge of her nose for a few seconds before casting a glance at the red and purple streaks that lined the heavens. “We’re losing the light. Callan?”
I shook my head in silent reply that I didn’t have any other questions for Jessica either.
“Alright.” Audrey twitched her fingers at the water mage. “Stand up.”
A hint of wariness blew across Jessica’s face, but she slowly climbed to her feet. She was quite tall. About half a head taller than Audrey. But because of the power and authority pulsing from Audrey’s whole being, Jessica looked like a frightened child in front of her.
Audrey jerked her chin. “Go.”
Jessica hesitated. Remaining where she was, she glanced around as if checking to see if this was some kind of test.
“You’re free to leave,” Audrey said.
She shifted wary blue eyes back to the poison mage. “Just like that?”
“Just like that.”
For another few seconds, the blond water mage only stared at us in silence. Then she slowly took a step backwards.
She paused.
When nothing happened, she took a few more steps. We remained where we were, only studying her as she edged away. Did she think that we were toying with her? That we were letting her walk a short distance before we hunted her down again or something? Though, to be fair, that did sound like something I would have done to Audrey back when we were still trying to kill each other.
Once Jessica had reached a spot that most people would assume was out of our range, she whirled around and sprinted across the thick green grass. Neither one of us made any move to follow. Instead, we turned towards the grove behind us.
The tree trunks looked like they were coated in liquid fire. It wouldn’t be long before that colorful light disappeared completely.
And before it did, we had a secret tunnel to find.
