The chase goes on, a crawling pace
But soon to be a hectic race.
Watchroads was the largest town in the Outlands, sprawling in orderly chaos on the eastern edge of the Arlen Plains. It had gained its name from four ancient but ornate wood and stone towers that stood in the centre. They had originally been used as watchtowers, but at some time in their history had been converted into windmills; each tower was topped with different coloured blades, though currently they hung still, with no breath of air to stir them to life. A wall had originally surrounded the town, but the population had grown so rapidly that this had become obsolete, and no one had gone to the trouble and expense of building a new one, so the town had simply crawled outwards in all directions across the plains.
The highway known as The Line cut straight through the middle of the town. Most commerce was along its length, with smaller streets branching off in a neat grid pattern. Though the main street was a noisy, boisterous mass of shopkeepers, animals, travellers and townsfolk, all either trying to get somewhere or sell something, the outlying districts were quiet and lazy, blazing in the heat of a sun that baked the flat country dry.
Ben slouched against the side of the cart, feeling as though pieces of him were silently melting onto the dusty road below, and there might be nothing left of him by the time they reached the town centre.
They had barely entered Watchroads, and their progress had ground to a halt.
The cart beside him was carrying vegetables; the stench of them wafted over to him, mingled with the smell of dust and horse excrement. To Ben's left, heading west, were several much fancier Sirinese wagons of polished wood and brightly painted designs, bearing expensive fabrics and smelling of exotic spices.
The mix of scents was a little nauseating, and the air was stifling hot and unbearable. The street was enclosed with colourful three-story buildings for its entire length, but the sun was directly overhead, and there was no shade.
“How far away is the Guard House?” he complained.
“’Bout three more blocks,” Flint replied.
Ben huffed in exasperation. “We could walk there faster than this!” Indeed, people were passing them on foot on either side.
Flint grunted. “Be my guest, but you’ll have to drag yer sister along with you.”
Ben sighed again, dropping his sweaty face into his hand. Everine was a problem that they hadn’t yet figured out how to deal with. If anyone caught sight of her infection, then panic would spread through this place faster than they could blink, and there would be real trouble. In order to keep her safe, they had to keep her hidden.
Currently, she was snuggled in between their camping equipment. Ben moved over to check on her condition, discreetly.
There was no change, as usual.
Ben went and sat at the back of the cart, resting his arms on the edge. Anxiety boiled in the queasy stew of his stomach.
He knew that Araynia had been practising magic, though she tried to hide it. He and Flint had given her space, refrained from commenting or questioning her, even when weird things happened, like their campfire exploding. They both recognised it as an important development. It meant that she had accepted the legacy she had been given, that she took it seriously, that she wanted to learn. She could have chosen to reject the Sword, to leave it behind, to leave Lord Arzath behind. To decide that she didn’t want anything to do with magic.
But she hadn’t, because she cared.
And now Everine’s fate was in her hands, and Hawk’s, too.
Ben lifted his gaze to the sky, which was pale blue and hazy, empty of everything but the sun. But was she capable of dealing with trigon? No one would know that until the noblewoman was reunited with the Sword of Healing.
He hoped that Lieutenant Raemint wasn’t far behind them.
Or Ferrian and Mekka.
He searched the sky for awhile, longing to see a White Dragon come sailing out of the blue, willing her to appear as though he had the magic to summon the Dragon and his sorcerer friend.
But nothing moved there: not even birds.
Sighing again, Ben dropped his head on to his arms. The farmer behind them was driving his cart with a huge, shaggy bison. The animal lifted its head to sniff at the boy, and Ben reached out a hand to pat its nose. Then his hand slipped away as his own cart started moving again, and Ben felt a surge of excitement, which lasted about five steps before they halted again.
He groaned.
At that moment, completely without warning, Lady Araynia hopped down off the cart and disappeared into the packed street.
Both Ben and Flint were so shocked that for a moment they simply stared at the spot where she had been sitting.
“What’s got into her, now?” Flint exclaimed.
Ben clambered hurriedly to the front of the cart, onto the driver’s seat, then jumped to the ground. “I’ll go after her. Meet you at the Guard House!”
Then he ran off.
He wedged his way between sweating, huffing animals and disgruntled travellers until he came to the side of the road. The street was lined with market stalls which narrowed the thoroughfare considerably and was the main cause of the slow pace, as traffic mingled with shoppers, much to everyone’s consternation. Ben leaped over some sacks of dried beans and found a clearway behind the stalls. Straight ahead, a slim figure with dark hair and cloak flying out sprinted away down the footpath.
Ben took chase.
“Araynia!” he cried, but his voice was swallowed in the babble of mayhem and she didn’t react, but kept on running. He tried to avoid bowling into people while keeping her in sight, but lost her as she rounded a corner.
He sprinted hard, apologising as he crashed into a woman shifting a crate of oranges, sending them flying everywhere, and made it to the side street.
This street was much less busy than the main road. He caught sight of the noblewoman racing ahead of him down the road on the opposite side, in the shadow of the buildings.
Someone was saying some unpleasant things behind him, but he didn’t have time to stop and help. Dodging the rolling oranges, he darted across the street and continued the chase.
To his relief, he found her stopped at the next corner, looking frantically around herself as though searching for something. He skidded to a halt in front of her, seizing her arm before she could slip away again. “Lady!” he panted. “What… what are you doing?!”
Her face was flushed and her eyes were wide and distant, as though oblivious to his presence. They gleamed with a faint blue light, and Ben realised she was using that Mind Vision thing again. He glanced around nervously, hoping that nobody else had noticed.
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“My pendant!” she gasped. “I saw it!”
“What?!” Ben straightened at once. “Which way?”
She looked around some more, then suddenly pointed. “There!” She bolted away again. Ben let her go, and raced after.
They pounded down the sunny street, then veered into another. Halfway down the laneway, Araynia came to a halt and sagged against a building, struggling for breath. She gestured for Ben to go on. “Go!” she gasped. “That way!” She pointed.
Ben took off.
We found the thief! His mind burned with excitement, as his boots hit the pavement, hard. He’s here, in this town! Somehow we caught up with him!
Ben didn’t know what he was going to do when he caught up to that fancy bandit, but he was determined not to let him get away again…
He turned a corner into another, wider street and emerged, panting, into a large square. A green space occupied the middle, lined with mature chestnut trees that overshadowed the dusty streets around them. The grass was patchy and drying in the sun, and studded with bright yellow dandelions.
There were not many people about, in stark contrast to the packed main road. Some way off to his right, two women stood chatting outside a house. To his left, outside an ancient-looking shop, shaded by the trees, an exhausted silver mare was being hitched to a post.
The horse was instantly recognisable, as was its rider, with his green cloak and flamboyant hat.
“Hey!” Ben was already running. “STOP! THIEF!!”
Looking up, a shock of recognition seized the man's well-groomed features. Abandoning his horse, he twirled away into the alley beside the shop.
Ben sprinted after.
No you DON’T, Ben thought furiously. You are NOT getting away, you--
He skidded to a halt so suddenly that he nearly tripped over.
The alleyway was not empty. Four treacherous-looking men clad in black leather and silver adornments lounged around on crates or against the walls. In the middle of the alley stood a very rotund woman in a scarlet coat, with whom the thief was exchanging hurried words. As Ben arrived at the mouth of the passage, everyone looked at him.
The thief shoved something into the pudgy, ring-encrusted hand of the woman – something that glittered blue in the shaded light of the alley – and Ben sucked in a sharp breath.
Araynia’s pendant!
The woman gestured with her head and the thief slipped past her. He spun and flashed Ben a white smile, tipped his feathered hat, then ran off.
The men and the woman stood between the boy and the rogue.
Ben’s heart hammered crazily in his chest. No, he thought in panic. No, they can’t be…!
They were all heavily armed, with a variety of weapons. Two short swords hung at the wide hips of the woman, beneath her coat.
She was smiling at him.
“Got any jewels for Jewels?” a young blond man to Ben’s right drawled, grinning.
“Jewels for Jewels,” an older man to the left repeated, in a rasping voice.
Ben stared back at them for a heartbeat. Then he turned to run.
Two more Bladeshifters stepped out behind him – a thickset man and a lean, well-muscled woman – blocking his escape.
Ohhh crap, he thought, stomach falling. This is not good…
He spun back around. “I don’t have anything!” he insisted, and pointed in the direction the thief had fled. “That man stole everything I own!”
They all just grinned at him.
Ben swallowed back the fear flooding through him, but refused to give in to it. There was no other way out of the alley; no doors, no windows, no sewer gratings, no ledges to grab hold of. Nothing but high stone walls with flaking plaster, and some scrappy posters.
“I mean it!” Ben went on, desperately. “That guy is loaded, and you’re just… letting him run away?!”
The Bladeshifters looked at each other, then back at Ben. They started to get up off their crates.
Ben backed away a step, then remembered the two at his back, who had now drawn their weapons.
“Dammit!” he burst out. “He’s got the Eliminator!”
That stopped them. They stared at each other again, this time in surprise. Their leader, Jewels, raised her studded eyebrows. She had two black lines tattooed down her face, which was thick with all manner of piercings. A treasure-vault’s worth of finery hung at her neck, and upon her wrists and fingers. Her dirty blonde hair was pulled up into a high ponytail, and her hands were on her hips.
She still held the pendant: Ben could see its silver chain dangling between her fingers.
“Well, boys and girls!” she exclaimed. “How exciting!” She regarded Ben, her smile even wider, revealing several gold teeth. “You a friend of Starshadow Flint?”
“Yes!” Ben glared at her. “And when he gets his crossbow back, you’re all going to see what he’s capable of!”
They all laughed.
The older man next to Ben let out a long whistle. “We know exactly what he did to Eltorian Nightwalker,” he growled. His rugged face was crossed with two scars in the shape of an X, giving him a permanent scowl, even when he was grinning.
“And Darkstar,” the blond man added, holding up his knife and examining it. “So that traitor Flint finally crawled out of his filthy hole on the hill…” He tossed his knife into the air and caught it deftly.
Far from intimidated, Jewels’ dark eyes were bright with glee. “What an… interesting day we are all having,” she said, “wouldn’t you agree?”
Ben made a rush for the red-coated woman. It was stupid, and he didn't think it through, but he wanted to act before the Bladeshifters did, and thought perhaps he could knock the pendant out of the woman’s grip, or wrestle it from her…
He greatly underestimated her reflexes. The second he was within striking distance, a gemstone-laden fist lashed out, smashing into his face.
Dazzling light exploded into his vision, and he was on the ground before he knew what had happened. Dimly, through the buzzing in his ears, he heard the Bladeshifters jeering and hooting, and knew, with certainty, that in moments he would be dead.
Lady Araynia arrived at the entrance to the alleyway in time to see Ben go down. A group of black-clad ruffians and a large woman dressed in red were gathered round him, bearing weapons and hollering with amusement.
Horror ripped through her, in a cold, burning wave.
“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” she screamed.
They all turned to look at her, becoming instantly silent, as though her words had stolen their breath.
A long moment passed, in which nobody moved.
A couple of the thugs lowered their blades, faces falling uncertainly. A woman with dark, spiky hair let out a piercing shriek.
“SORCERER!” she hollered, and fled off down the alley, like a rat.
The woman in red had gone pale, but there was fury in her eyes. She held up a thick arm and pointed at the noblewoman. A silver chain dangled from her fist.
Blue fire flashed through Araynia’s mind.
My pendant!!
“KILL HER!”
Araynia looked down at her hands, noticing belatedly that white light was streaming off her skin in waves, like mist.
Her magic had come alive… but she had no idea what to do with it…
Five armed men and the red woman were charging down the passage towards her.
Araynia’s only instinct was to flee.
So she did.
She ran across the street, heading for the trees lining the square. Her pursuers sounded close behind, gaining on her with every step, and she knew at once that she wasn’t going to make it. Her legs were already tired and burning from the hard running she had done…
They gave out on her in the middle of the grassy space, and she went to her knees in the dandelions.
Help me! she pleaded, in wild panic. HELP ME, LORD REQUAR!!
There was no response from the dead sorcerer.
She could hear the ragged breathing of the thugs, their howls of triumph… all the blood drained from her veins as she expected to feel the bite of a sword through her back at any second…
She squeezed her eyes closed in anguish, calling to her pendant with everything in her.
I can’t die here! I can’t die! PLEASE, HELP ME!
Her magic surged through her, like a storm unleashed.
And suddenly, all she could think of was the campfire exploding…
White light flooded over her, shocking in its intensity. It engulfed everything – the sounds of her attackers, her own frantic breathing – into mute nothing. But the light was not serene, it was a searing rush, and all of a sudden she was back in Lord Arzath’s Fatalis, being ripped to shreds, scorched to the bone, reduced to oblivion….
She screamed, without noise. Then the whiteness was rushing away from her, chased by black shadow, and her consciousness raced along with it, and was gone.
Gradually, Araynia came to the awareness that she was not dead. Someone was shaking her, and making a repetitive noise, which eventually formed out of the darkness into her name.
Her eyes opened, groggily.
Ben was crouched over her, looking worried. The right side of his face was bruised and streaked with blood from a cut at the corner of his eye, which was red and swollen.
“C’mon, we have to get out of here!” He started pulling her up, before she had fully come to.
Araynia looked around, dizzily. The grass behind where she lay was scorched black, as were the sides of a couple of trees. Small fires continued to flicker here and there, and smoke wafted across the square.
Three black-clad bodies lay on the ground a short distance away, their clothes smouldering, and their skin…
She felt as though she was about to throw up.
But the boy turned her aside, quickly. Reaching into his pocket, he took her hand and pressed something into it.
Araynia looked down.
A beautiful, bright blue sapphire glimmered back at her, nestled on its silver chain.
Tears of disbelief filled her eyes, and she gave Ben a look of gratitude.
The boy gave her a quick smile. “Can you walk?”
Araynia’s legs ached, and her stomach was querulous, but she nodded that she could, and they started hurrying across the square. A crowd of people had gathered beneath the trees, gasping and pointing, but were keeping their distance.
“The bodies…” Araynia swallowed. “Are they... are they dead?”
“They’re Bladeshifters,” the boy replied, his young face hard. “You did this town a favour.”
Araynia’s blood went cold with horror. “They’re people!”
“Some definition of ‘people’.” He glanced behind them. “They got what was coming to them.”
I killed them, she thought. Oh, gods…
“But everyone saw you do magic,” Ben went on. He was propelling her along at an uncomfortable pace, with a tight grip on her arm. “We’re in trouble, now.”