“You want us to do what?”
Turning slowly, I leveled a hard stare at Winston. “Has your magic affected your hearing?”
His brown eyes were wide with shock and fear. “N-no, but you…” Raising a trembling hand, he pointed towards the dark buildings on the other side of the road. “You want us to break into Trevor Gale’s stronghold. The guy is challenging Levi Arden for control of the city! Going anywhere near him right now sounds like a really terrible idea.”
There were no streetlamps in the dark alley we were hiding in, so only faint silvery moonlight illuminated the faces of the people around me. I studied the expression on Winston’s features as he cast a desperate look towards Mi-ri and Dennis, as if hoping they would agree with him. He looked genuinely terrified. That wasn’t really a surprise, though. Winston had always been a bit of a coward.
I shifted my gaze to Mi-ri and raised my eyebrows expectantly. “And you?”
She lifted her slim shoulders in a shrug. “I figured out what you wanted us to do the moment you specified the location.”
“And?”
“And nothing. My ashes would be floating down the River of Souls if you hadn’t spared my life all those years ago.” Her dark eyes were serious as she held my gaze. “So whenever you need my help, I will help you. Regardless of the danger.”
A satisfied smile ghosted across my lips. “Good answer.”
“I really hope you’re not opening that mouth to agree with Winston,” Audrey suddenly cut in.
Dennis, who looked like he had been about to speak, hesitated while flicking his gaze between me, Audrey, and Winston. “Uhm…”
“I would so hate to have to show you what I do to people who can’t keep their mouth shut and follow orders.”
A hint of panic flickered in his blue eyes. Dennis, of course, knew that he had already disobeyed us and ratted us out to Levi, but he wasn’t aware of the fact that we knew it too. Both Audrey and I flashed him a wolfish grin that made him swallow and edge a step back. His gaze darted towards the mouth of the alley, as if he was hoping that the King of Metal would come striding down it to save him right then.
When no metal mage miraculously appeared, Dennis returned his attention to the poisoner before him. He swallowed again and then cleared his throat. “No, I was just going to say that I’m ready when you are.”
Audrey shot him a knowing smile. “Good.”
“Alright, then let’s get this done,” I said, and jerked my chin towards the silent buildings on the other side of the deserted street. “Winston, get us through that wall. Mi-ri, Dennis, cover him.”
They all cast a quick glance up and down the road, as if to make sure that there really was no one else here, before they snuck forward.
While the three of them discussed angles and blast radius, Audrey moved over to stand next to me. For a while, she just watched the others get ready.
“If we’re wrong about this, it’s going to turn into one hell of a fight,” she said eventually.
“I know,” I replied.
“I’ve already instructed Dennis to make sure no one can see our faces if anything goes wrong, but I still don’t like the sheer number of uncertainties that this plan has.”
“Me neither. But we’ll figure it out. We managed kidnap a Binder from the heart of Eldar, didn’t we?”
“And then we lost him.”
“Insignificant details.”
She snorted.
However, before she could voice whatever retort she had loaded up, Winston spoke up.
“We’re ready.”
Audrey and I exchanged a glance before leaving the cover of the alley and moving towards where the three of them waited. I scanned the street again as we walked. It was at the back of Gale’s compound, and the reason we had picked it was because this particular section was made up of buildings with no windows or doors at all. Only solid stone walls that stretched halfway down the street.
Our long hours of scouting out the best location to enter had revealed that the guards in this first line of defense were stationed as close to the windows and doors as possible. That should in turn mean that this particular part, where there were no points of entry, wasn’t guarded. However, we didn’t know for certain since we couldn’t see into the building. But it was our best bet.
Winston held up a hand. “Wait there.”
We trailed to a halt a short distance from the wall. A moment later, Dennis and Mi-ri joined us. Winston glanced back over his shoulder to make sure that everyone was in position before he brushed his hands together. Then he drew in a deep breath and placed his palm flat on the stone wall.
A glittering web of thin strands in purple and orange spread across the stones while Winston hurried over to us as well. The colorful lines had barely reached halfway down to the ground when that whole section disappeared into a thick cloud of shadows that blocked out every shred of light. I glanced down at Dennis. Dark tendrils snaked around his wrists while he concentrated on keeping the bubble of shadows steady.
On our other side, Mi-ri had touched her palms together too. Another shield of magic wrapped around the twisting darkness. This one was so faint that it was almost difficult to see. Especially since the almost translucent wall had the same silvery color as the soft moonlight that filtered down between the buildings.
Ten seconds passed. Then the mass of twisting shadows bulged outwards in a few places before returning to its original shape.
“Alright,” Winston said. “You can release them now.”
The shadows and the silvery bubble around it faded into the night, allowing us to see the stone wall once more. A wide grin spread across my mouth as it came into view.
Where Winston’s glittering web had been was now a gaping hole. Broken bits of stone lay scattered on the ground before it, and dust still rained down from the top, but apart from that, there was nothing standing in our way.
This was the reason why I had decided to spare Winston and Mi-ri’s lives all those years ago. Their powers were not only rare, but also incredibly useful.
Winston was an explosion mage. He could place one of those glittering webs on any non-living surface and then decide when it would detonate. The explosion itself looked like fireworks going off. In fact, this was the same power that had been used on those fancy invitations to Lance’s ball back in Eldar. There had been so few explosion mages who had added their power to the Great Current in Eldar, so the only thing they could accomplish with that power was that little party trick. But a real explosion mage could set off massive fireworks that could reduce buildings to rubble.
The problem with blasting through a stone wall, though, was that it was very loud and would draw the attention of any guard within at least three blocks. Which was why we needed Mi-ri. That faint silver shield she put up was a sound barrier that muffled any noise inside it.
And that, combined with Dennis and his shadows that covered the light from the explosion and held in the stray rubble, would let us get through the walls undetected.
“Good job,” I said, and gave the three of them a nod as I strode past them and towards the hole. Audrey did the same. “Stay behind us.”
No one had come out to attack us yet, but I still kept my hands close together, ready to summon a force wall at any second, as I ducked down slightly to get through the opening.
Just as we had predicted, only an empty room met us on the other side. I quickly scanned it for potential threats, but apart from a few empty storage baskets, there was nothing in there. It was very dark, though. Since the only light came from the moon outside, I had to squint as I made my way across the dusty floor.
Glittering green light suddenly filled the room.
Glancing up, I found a shifting cloud of poison magic swirling above our heads. I looked back down to meet Audrey’s gaze and gave her an appreciative nod. She smirked back at me.
The soft shuffling of footsteps behind us informed me that the other three had entered the room as well. Without turning to look, I flicked my wrist at them. We had to hurry. The explosion might not have drawn attention, but if someone walked past that wall and saw the hole in it, we would be in trouble.
Audrey reached the door first, and let her magic fade out again before edging it open. For a few seconds, she just peered out. Then she drew back and gave us a nod to signal that it was clear.
Her dark riding outfit blended into the shadows as she pulled the door open wider and slipped through it. I followed her.
The doorway led to a dark corridor that continued towards the opposite side of the building. Since it would take us towards the inner wall, which we needed to get through as well, we started down it.
Faint silver shimmer appeared around us.
I looked back to see Mi-ri giving me a nod as if to confirm that she was indeed muffling our footsteps. On either side of her, the two guys were watching the hallway with a mix of fear and apprehension on their faces. But both of them at least followed her lead as they trailed me and Audrey.
The corridor ended with a sharp turn to the right, which would take us along the length of the building. I drummed my fingers against my thigh. Going that way was risky since it would eventually take us to a section where there were windows and doors to the outer street, and therefore also guards. What we needed was to get through this wall.
“Do you want me to blast through it?” Winston whispered.
“You can speak normally,” Mi-ri said before I could answer. “The barrier I put up around us blocks all sounds.”
“We don’t know what’s on the other side,” I said in response to Winston’s question. “I’d prefer to check the outside before we do that.”
“What about the window?” Dennis asked.
Twisting towards him, I frowned. “What window?”
He raised a hand and pointed down the corridor. We all turned in that direction and squinted towards the spot he was pointing at. In the dark, and from this angle, I could barely make out the slight change in the wall and I sure as hell couldn’t identify it as a window.
After another few seconds of intense staring, my eyes had adjusted enough that I could see the window now that I knew what I was looking for.
I turned back to Dennis and raised my eyebrows. Damn, that shadow mage had better night vision than most people.
He just shrugged as if it was no big deal.
“Alright, let’s go with the window,” I said before starting towards it.
Mi-ri kept her magic up while we all made our way down the hall.
When we reached it, I drew myself up along the wall before leaning forward and peering out.
Moonlight shone down on another dark and deserted street. I swept my gaze up and down it. It was almost identical to the one we had left behind, apart from the fact that the row of buildings opposite it actually had windows and doors on it this time. I let out a silent curse. We didn’t have time to stay here and watch them for guards that may or may not be posted inside that second ring.
“We can’t stay here too long,” Audrey said, echoing my thoughts.
I pulled back from the window. “Agreed.”
“Dennis.” She slid her gaze to the shadow mage. “Cover us from view.”
“You need to open the window first,” he replied.
“Wait,” Mi-ri said. Silver shimmer enveloped the wooden frame. Then she nodded. “Now.”
When the sound barrier was in place around the window, I reached out and edged it open. Since she had moved her magic to it, I couldn’t tell if it creaked or not, but it didn’t open all that easily. Once the glass was resting against the wall on the other side, Mi-ri called up another bubble that wrapped around us instead while Dennis covered the area outside the window with shadows.
Audrey moved up to the windowsill and braced her hands on the worn piece of wood. After hoisting herself up, she tried to get her leg up and over it. Amusement flickered through me and I had to clamp my teeth together to keep from laughing as she tried to navigate her limbs through the narrow space.
“You demonstrated several times last night just how flexible that body of yours really is,” I began, the smirk in my voice clearly audible. “How can you still be this bad at climbing through windows?”
When she finally got both her legs over the ledge, she paused for a couple of seconds before jumping down on the other side. The promise of revenge shone in her green eyes as she turned with predatory slowness and leveled a lethal stare at me.
A wicked smile spread across her lips.
“Careful with that tongue, darling. Or I might show you what I can do to your body.”
