Simani lowered the sunglasses from her head, until they sat snugly on the bridge of her nose. “Well, that was quick.”

Ruban watched the black SUV drive off into the distance. Stealing a cigarette from Simani, he leaned against their smaller vehicle and inhaled deeply. “The suburban teams are getting better, now that the attacks on the outskirts have increased. The smaller gangs target these areas because they don’t want to confront the forces in Ragah. Doesn’t seem to be working out for them as well as it used to.”

They’d been summoned as backup by the local team in one of the northern towns. By the time they’d arrived, most of the assailants – both Aeriel and human – were dead. And the handful still breathing were too injured to fight. The Aeriel that the mafia was targeting had long fled the scene, relatively unharmed.

Helping with the cleanup was all that was left for Ruban and Simani to do.

She nodded, dropping her own cigarette to the ground before stubbing it out with her shoe. “If it weren’t for Sri and his school, I’d have applied for a transfer to the suburbs. These days, there’s more excitement in Rawaria and Ghorib than in Ragah. Hell, even Surai might be a step up–”

Her hand flicked to her belt and a sifkren flew past Ruban’s ear.

He whirled, blade at the ready, dropping immediately into a combative stance.

Framed by the setting sun, the approaching Aeriel looked as if it was on fire. It had dodged Simani’s sifkren, but had slowed its advance, remaining suspended in the air a few feet away.

Simani pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head, her feet apart and arms extended to fend off the oncoming attack. “Another one?” She hissed, adjusting her grip on the hilt of her sifblade. “Late to the party, do you think? Or has it been lurking somewhere in the vicinity all this time?”

“We’ll find out soon enough.” Ruban dashed straight at the Aeriel, weapons at the ready. Simani would circle around to the opposite side of the field, hemming their opponent in. He just had to keep the creature distracted while she made the detour.

It wasn’t until he was inches from the Aeriel – its cold, ethereal eyes boring into his – that recognition dawned on him.

Kaheen.

All thoughts of strategy fled his mind in a flurry of blades and feathers. All he knew was that this might be the only chance he’d ever have to get any information on Ashwin’s whereabouts. He couldn’t afford to lose it. He had to make her talk.

Ruban’s blade slashed across the Aeriel’s abdomen, eliciting a piercing screech. He pressed his advantage, forcing Kaheen backwards, her movements stilted and defensive.

Simani appeared behind the struggling Aeriel, her sifblade held aloft, ready to attack.

Ruban took another swipe at Kaheen, driving her back towards his partner. They had her exactly where they needed her to be. It was almost over.

Her movements unsure, Simani stared up at their airborne opponent. Moments later, she broke formation to insert herself between Ruban and Kaheen.

“What’re you doing?” he snarled.

“Just listen! She’s been trying to tell us something.” Simani spun, holding her sifblade to Kaheen’s throat. “She’s holding back. She hasn’t used a single energy shell yet. Haven’t you noticed that? Something’s not right about this.”

Ruban frowned, his ears ringing. She was right. Kaheen was either incapacitated or playing a game he didn’t know the rules of. He’d injured her gravely, but she wasn’t trying to strike back. Wasn’t doing anything more than defend herself halfheartedly.

He scanned her up and down, trying to spot an injury that could explain her inability to fight back. Her clothes, though bedraggled, were relatively intact. He couldn’t see any gashes or wounds that hadn’t been inflicted by him in the last few seconds.

“I can tell you where Shwaan is. How to find him.” Kaheen’s voice was soft, slightly unsteady. She folded her wings, lowering herself until her feet touched the ground. “Ashwin. That’s what you call him, isn’t it? I know you’ve been looking for him.”

“Of course you do!” Ruban snarled. Simani’s steadying hand on his chest was all that kept him from tackling the Aeriel. “We don’t doubt for half a second that Janak Nath has his spies within the IAW, perhaps even the Hunter Corps. And if he thinks we’ll walk straight into another one of his traps–”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“He doesn’t–” Her silver eyes flitted across the mutilated field. “Janak doesn’t know I’m here. At least, he doesn’t know why I came to find you. If he did, I’d be dead. But Shwaan–” she shook her head. “Ashwin…he said this was our only hope. I couldn’t go to Safaa, so I had to find you.”

“Us?” Simani repeated sharply.

Kaheen nodded. “You. Ruban and Simani. He said you’d come to find him, if you knew where he was. Or, at least, that you’d come for Janak…to arrest him and the rest of the Qawirsin.”

Ruban laughed. “And we should believe this spiel because?”

Simani lunged, pushing him out of the way just as an energy shell whizzed past. It detonated against a derelict shed near the edge of the field.

Her wings unfurling, Kaheen turned and retaliated, hurling a shell at the attacker.

The Aeriel tried to dodge it, but wasn’t entirely successful. Expressions of shock and fury flitted across its pale, angular face. It snarled and flew at Kaheen.

Ruban sprang to his feet, flinging a sifkren to slow the creature down. Simani charged, intercepting it before it could reach Kaheen.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Kaheen released another energy shell. It struck the Aeriel square in the chest, even as Simani buried her sifblade into its stomach.

Soon, the Aeriel lay dead between them. For less than a minute, light spilled from the various wounds on its body, before dimming into nothingness.

Ruban eyed Kaheen. “So, you weren’t incapable of using those shells, after all.”

“That Aeriel wasn’t expecting you to do that, was it?” Simani interjected. “It wasn’t expecting an attack. Not from you. I’m assuming it was one of the Qawirsin’s pet Aeriels.”

Kaheen nodded, fingers clawing at her neck as she shuffled backwards. “I thought – I thought I’d lost him.”

“He was tailing you?” Curiosity punctuated the wariness in Simani’s tone.

“Shwaan said he would. That Janak would send someone after me.” Kaheen’s nails dug further into the pale flesh of her throat. “I thought–”

“And that was the only one?” Ruban interrupted, crouching to examine the dead Aeriel. “What’s to say there aren’t more where this one came from?”

“There were only three of us at the castle this morning. Janak wouldn’t leave himself vulnerable by dispatching all the Aeriels at once. He always keeps at least one of us on hand, just in case.”

“Why should we believe any of this? What’s to say this isn’t all part of some elaborate ploy to lure us into a trap?” Simani eyed the dead Aeriel as Ruban rose to his feet, his inspection complete. “I wouldn’t put it past Janak Nath to sacrifice one of his minions for his own ends.”

Kaheen looked from Simani to Ruban, before reaching into her cloak to retrieve something small and glittery. With some reluctance, she uncurled her fingers and held the object out for them to see.

Ruban’s breath caught, heart hammering in his chest. Whatever Simani saw in his expression, it had her leaning in to more closely inspect the item on Kaheen’s palm.

Frayed and broken as it was, Ruban would have recognized that hairclip anywhere. The tattered feathers clung to the cracked plastic fastener by a strand of Hiya’s all-purpose glue – the familiar, citrus-y flavor of the adhesive still noticeable after all these months.

He reached out, ran his fingers lightly over the delicate, tarnished feathers. He was afraid the thing would fall apart at the slightest pressure.

“Where did you get this?” Simani demanded, watching Kaheen through narrowed eyes.

“Shwaan gave it to me.”

“Like hell he did!” Ruban snarled. “He’s been suffering the Qawirsin’s hospitality for how long, now? You think we’re unfamiliar with Janak Nath’s tactics? You think we don’t know what he’s capable of? Everything you got from Ashwin was obtained under torture. This clip is no exception. It proves nothing.”

“The clip? Perhaps not. I didn’t think it would.” Kaheen sighed. “It was a gift from Hiya, wasn’t it? She modeled it on the paper planes your ‘Ashwin’ taught her to make.” She held Ruban’s startled gaze, trying to convey some message he couldn’t decipher.

Simani’s hand flew to her mouth. “Of course. I thought it looked familiar. Hiya had it – or one just like it – back at the flat. The one she dropped under the fridge while playing with Sri and Ashwin the other day.”

“She made the clips with Ashwin’s feathers,” Ruban heard himself say. He felt dizzy, nauseated. He couldn’t take his eyes off Kaheen. “Gave one of them to him, kept the rest for herself.”

“How many were there?”

He shrugged. “Three or four.”

“That girl has enough Aeriel feathers in her possession to live in luxury for the next few decades, and she’s making DIY hairclips out of them?” Simani intoned blankly.

“I may have taken the clip from Shwaan by force.” Kaheen’s voice was steady, her gaze unwavering. Yet, Ruban sensed something oddly vulnerable in the way she spoke. As if her life depended on whether or not she could choose the right words. “But do you really believe Shwaan would endanger Hiya, put a target on her back, by revealing her existence to an enemy? Even under torture, he could easily have made up a story about how he got the hairclip. How would we ever know he was lying? It’s not as though he’s ever lacked for friends and lovers, mortal or otherwise.”

“So you’re saying he – Ashwin – gave you the clip as…what?” Simani frowned. “A token of trust?”

“As proof, I think. He told me to destroy it if I was captured before I could find you. He didn’t want Janak to get hold of the clip. But he seemed to think,” she looked away. “He seemed to think you’d come for him, help me rescue him, if only I could convince you I was on his side. That this wasn’t a trap. I couldn’t go to Safaa, so he said you’re our only hope–”

“Hope for what?” Ruban interrupted, unable to stop himself from taking a step forward. “Where is he? Is he – he’s alive? Unharmed?”

“Ruban,” Simani said, warningly.

He ignored her. “And why can you not go to Safaa?” He frowned. “You keep saying that. But she’s his sister. Wouldn’t he want her–”

“Ruban!” Simani repeated, gripping his shoulder in an attempt to push him back. “You believe her? She’s the one who helped Janak take Ashwin in the first place. She killed Dai; has tried to kill all of us more than once.”

“No. I don’t believe her.” He looked at his partner, held her gaze. “But I believe Ashwin. He wouldn’t have told her about Hiya – not under torture, not for his life – if he thought she was a threat. He gave her that hairclip of his own free will. He trusts her. So the least we can do is hear her out, see what she has to say.” He sighed, lifting Simani’s hand off his shoulder. “We owe him that much.”