The same flash of panic that had shot through me was mirrored in Callan’s eyes. I flicked my gaze between Lance, the men banging the alarm somewhere on the other side of the bushes, and the shouts and clamor that rose from the entrance to the parliament building.
“We need to run,” I announced.
“Agreed.”
Clenching his jaw, Callan crouched down and then hoisted Lance up so that he lay draped over his shoulder instead. The force mage staggered a little when he straightened again, but then wrapped his arm over Lance’s back to keep him steady. I knew how heavy Lance was, so I understood that running with him like that would not be easy.
“Are you sure you—”
“Just run, Audrey,” he cut me off, and jerked his chin towards the stairs.
I took off. My dress flapped around my legs as I hurried down the steps. It wasn’t exactly the choice of attire I would have picked for a sneaky escape, especially not since the gold shone every time we passed under an oil lamp, but there was no way for me to switch clothes until we reached the smuggler’s tunnel. We had already stashed our packs there last night, so I’d be able to change into something easier to ride in once we got there. When more shouting rose from atop the hill, I had to force myself not to amend that to if we got there.
Callan’s footsteps pounded against the stone steps behind me, twice as heavy now that he was carrying Lance on his shoulder. I cast a quick glance back at him. The unconscious Binder bounced up and down on Callan’s shoulder, but the force mage still managed to keep up.
Light pooled on the ground from the street lamps as we reached the bottom of the hill and stumbled out into the wide road beyond. I whipped my head from side to side. If anyone spotted us like this with a body slung over Callan’s shoulder, we would look incredibly suspicious. But if we reverted to the previous ruse of pretending to help a drunk friend, we wouldn’t be able to move as quickly.
“Speed or stealth?” I asked.
“Speed,” he pressed out after drawing a deep breath.
“Alright. I’ll make sure the road is clear.”
Only a strained grunt answered me as Callan shifted Lance into a better position.
Once he was done, he gave me a nod. I moved a few steps in front of him as we ran across the street and towards the cover of the houses beyond it.
Metallic clanking filled the night around us while constables yelled orders for all the curious citizens to stay inside their homes. I pressed myself up against the wall before glancing around the corner. Light from the oil lamps cast flickering shadows over the pale stone street, and a few trees rustled their leaves in the wind. I swept my gaze over the road again. Then I waved Callan forward.
Making sure to stay in the pools of darkness between the lamps, we snuck across another street and towards the city walls in the distance. My heart pattered against my ribs. I desperately wanted a distraction right now to draw the search away from us, but we were still too close to the parliament building to risk any unnecessary attention.
While fighting down the urge to just poison everything that moved, I kept my eyes flicking back and forth while we made our way through the darkness and towards the outskirts of the city.
Boots pounded against the street.
My heart leaped into my throat and I held up a hand to signal to Callan that he had to stop. After making sure that he had seen it, I slunk along the wall and peered around the next corner.
Five constables were running down the road, and they were heading in the direction of our cross street.
I whipped around and flicked my wrists at Callan while mouthing, “Go back!”
His chest was heaving with exertion and he looked like he would rather fight an entire battalion than undo one single step that he had already taken. Running up to him, I grabbed his free arm and pulled him towards the closest alley. Irritation flashed in his dark eyes, but he let me lead him towards the small opening between the houses.
The sound of running feet drew closer.
My pulse thrummed in my ears. Tightening my grip on Callan’s arm, I practically hauled him the final bit into the alley right as the thumping boots rounded the corner.
We had to get out of sight before they passed by this alleyway as well.
I sprinted to the other end of it while Callan continued staggering on behind me. The sound of voices reached me as I drew myself up by the wall and glanced into the next street.
Dread surged inside me.
Four more constables were heading this way.
Whirling back around, I made a shooing motion with my hands. Callan sucked in a deep breath and threw out a hand to brace himself against the building next to him. Lance’s limp legs swung in front of the force mage’s body as he tried to straighten again.
The thudding boots from the other side of the alley suddenly sounded far too close to us. I leaped towards Callan and Lance and shoved them flat against the wall before pressing myself into it as well. Blood pounded in my ears.
Please don’t look in here. Please don’t look in here.
The five constables ran past the alley mouth.
I held my breath.
Light glinted against their silver helmets as they passed, but none of them looked into this alley. Intense relief washed over me.
“Hey, who’s there?”
That relief died in my chest as I snapped my gaze towards the opposite side of the alley and found the other four constables staring straight at us. Fire bloomed in the leader’s palm before he sent it flying into the darkness.
The light glinted against the gold in my dress as it illuminated the whole alley.
“It’s Lance!” the leader snapped. “Sound the—”
But I had already slapped my palms together and hurled a cloud of poison at them. Glittering green magic shot through the air and hit him straight in the face, cutting off his shout and making his eyes bulge in shock.
The other three who were standing behind him had received an extra second before it reached them, and they managed to dive aside before it struck.
“They’re here!” someone bellowed from around the corner.
I sprinted towards them to cut them off right as shouts rose from behind me as well. Cheating a glance over my shoulder, I found the five constables who had run past us on the other side. Magic blinked to life in their hands as they skidded into the alley.
Callan let out a vicious curse and dumped Lance’s body on the ground before he whipped around to face them. Lightning crackled from that side of the street, but I couldn’t spare any more attention on it because the three constables on my side leaped out from behind the walls.
Throwing myself sideways, I narrowly managed to evade the fireball that had been aimed at my chest. It sped through the air and hit the wall next to me at an angle, sending flames and embers flying into the night.
My shoulder hit the opposite wall. I pushed myself off it and slammed my hands together right as a lightning strike crackled through the air. While throwing a massive cloud of poison at them, I dove forward and rolled across the dusty stones to escape the lightning bolt. My magic wasn’t suited for shielding, so I had to kill them before they could launch any more attacks.
Two of the constables hit the ground as my magic made contact, but the final one leaped sideways while shoving his hand forward.
A blast of wind hit me head on.
Air whooshed in my ears as I flew backwards. My flight came to an abrupt halt as I smacked into something hard and crashed down on the street. A muscular figure was visible above me.
“What the hell, Audrey,” Callan snapped as he straightened and hurled a force arc at the three remaining constables on his side at the same time as he raised a vibrating wall to block the fireball that my attacker had thrown at us.
Still hidden behind Callan’s legs, I pushed myself onto my knees and touched my palms together before shooting a thin line of poison magic down the throat of one of Callan’s opponents. Shock flashed on the survivors’ faces as they tried to figure out where it had come from. The moment of inattention allowed Callan to throw a half-translucent arc of force at them that cut the blond one’s head off.
While Callan slammed up another force wall to block my attacker’s lightning strike, I used the time he bought me to send another massive cloud at the guy. He blinked in surprise as his own attack struck the wall beside me, leaving a black scorch mark on the pale stone. But before he could recover, my poison magic hit him.
A thud rang out as he toppled backwards.
I sent a glittering green streak right up into the sky before sprinting towards the mouth of the alley.
“What the hell, Audrey!” Callan snapped again.
“Others will already have seen this battle so it doesn’t matter,” I called over my shoulder. “Wait here.”
There was only one constable left on Callan’s side now, so I knew that he would be able to kill him within the next few seconds. I had something to retrieve.
When I had glanced around the corner earlier, I had seen something made of metal glint in the light from the streetlamps. As I skidded around the corner, I desperately hoped that I had been right.
Victory sparkled inside me.
Hiking up my dress, I jumped the short wooden fence and landed in the small messy garden inside. Sunflowers ducked out of the way as I elbowed my way through them and grabbed the item that was leaning against the wall. With a firm grip on the handles, I raced out through the low wooden gate and darted back to where I had left Callan.
All nine constables were lying dead on the street. As I ran my eyes over them, I couldn’t help but think how much neater my side of the battle was. My attackers were lying there intact, almost as if they were sleeping, while Callan’s five opponents had been reduced to a bleeding heap with various limbs missing. Well, everyone except the one that I had so generously poisoned.
“We need to go,” Callan growled at me as I came into view. “That flare you sent up is going to draw everyone here.”
A deafening explosion cleaved the night.
Panicked screams and frantic banging on metal gongs followed it.
I grinned at the force mage. “I think they’re going to be otherwise occupied.”
The streak of green magic I had sent into the air had been the signal to start creating chaos on the other side of the city. Based on the noise from that blast, Henrick and his gang had really taken this assignment seriously. I wasn’t sure if it was due to the dozen people I had killed in his presence or the blood-soaked heart that Callan had deposited in the tattooed gang leader’s lap, but either way, I was pleased with the outcome.
“What are you doing with that?” Callan stabbed a hand towards me as I stopped right next to Lance’s body.
“We need a faster way to transport him.”
He looked between my face, the item before me, and the body that was slumped against the wall while disbelief blew across his face. “You can’t be serious.”
“Of course I am. Now, help me get him into it.”
