“I was right,” Quell says, excitedly looking around. “This illusion doesn’t last very long—she must still be in the city! What if she left more clues?”

Darian pushes her way through the crowd as Quell begins searching the nearby ground, head tucked down. Oblivious, he nearly runs into a few merchants.

“I see you procured some important supplies,” Darian says as she makes it to my side, gaze flickering over my armful of bottles and scrolls.

“They’re not mine,” I object. “Quell…”

Darian is smiling faintly, and it takes me that long to realize she’s teasing. “He’s always been like that. Even in the midst of a crisis, he can’t turn down the opportunity to absorb more knowledge.” She sighs. “That curiosity is dangerous without situational awareness. It will get him in trouble.”

I watch him narrowly avoid running into a stationary food cart. “I can see that.”

“You’ve got your work cut out for you,” she adds, and though the smile is gone and her leadership mask fixed securely back in place, there’s still an undercurrent of amusement in her tone.

“Isn’t that your job?” I ask.

“Perhaps an achievable feat between the two of us.”

I crack a smile. “So did you find any information about the princess?”

She grimaces. “Yes, but I worry it doesn’t mean anything good. As the guard at the front gate said, there have been Moonfall soldiers who passed through here recently. They bought supplies in the market, both for people and steeds, which confirms my fear. If they’ve already left the city, and didn’t do so on foot, we might have missed our window to catch up. If that’s true…” She trails off with a shake of her head. “We should reconvene with Earnest and Xamireb and see if they’ve learned anything more.”

“I’m sure she’s alright,” I say. It’s clear how troubled the captain is over the princess’s kidnapping. “They wouldn’t hurt her if they intend to use her as a political pawn, right?”

Her expression darkens. “I am not certain what their aim is, in truth. The kidnapping still perplexes me. How did they slip past our lines, especially with three royal illusionists present who should have been able to detect any deception? Why did they separate the siblings immediately upon capture? Given they needed to fight their way out of our forces, surely it would have been to their advantage to stay in a larger, more defensible group—case in point, two of their captives were able to escape. Not to mention, Moonfall must understand this will mean war. There’d been tenuous talks of peace in recent years, and this move shatters all progress that was made.”

We follow after Quell as he continues to ping-pong his way through the street, still in search of more clues. Darian passes a bag to me, and I dump Quell’s supplies unceremoniously inside.

“An argument could be made that they are trying to leverage the princess against Duneshade by holding a royal heir hostage,” Darian continues, “but Princess Felicity and Prince Quell are second and third in line; just targeting Prince Constance would have been enough. Either this group is unaware that the abductions of the princes were unsuccessful, or they are continuing with the abduction in spite of that, and now are counting on the King and Queen’s sentimentality for their daughter to shield Moonfall from siege; a dangerous gamble. But what is their goal?”

“The Oasis?” I suggest, leaning on what little history I know about these kingdoms. “Maybe a trade offer: they return the princess if they’re allowed to claim the LifeSpring Oasis as Moonfall territory.”

Darian shakes her head. “Let’s say they do just that and make the trade. Once the princess is safe, there would be nothing to stop Duneshade from immediately turning around and attacking Moonfall. They’d lose all leverage by turning her over. But in keeping her, they incur the King and Queen’s wrath. There is no winning scenario for them.”

It’s my turn to shrug. “In the end, does it matter? Our objective remains the same.”

“True enough,” Darian says. “We’ll get her back. No matter what.”

“Oh!”

I glance back to the street, quickly locating Quell; his obliviously loud voice makes that easy. He’s stopped at a vendor a dozen feet ahead of us, head cocked like a raven who’s found something shiny. “That’s my sister’s necklace! Where did you get that? Who sold it to you?”

I catch a flash of motion back in the street. A man at a booth several tables down whips around, staring at Quell. I take in a dozen details in an instant: his pale complexion with a scar running down one cheek, his bulky clothes, as if covering armor, and his cloak, which has flapped open at his sudden movement, exposing the hilt of a sword at his waist. His gaze sweeps the market, meeting mine. We hold the look for three long seconds. I take a step forward. He spins and runs.

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“Crap.” I drop Quell’s bag of supplies and dive after him, pushing past shoppers as I charge down the street.

The Crimson Aegis surfaces in my mind. Hey! Why are we running? Is it for a fight? Is someone in need of violent subduing?

Hopefully not, I think. But, probably.

“Nye?” Darian calls. But I’m already dashing past Quell and into the crowd.

Check him, I tell Echo, trying to catch sight of the man again.

[Target is not within line of sight.]

I growl, trying to bob above the heads of the crowd. I just couldn’t be tall in this life either, could I? I continue down the street, zig-zagging around people as I try to catch more than a glimpse.

The crowd parts for the briefest moment and I’m given a snapshot of his fleeing form. Check!

[Check,] Echo says. [Level 27 human shadow mage. Umbral Blade.]

Gotcha. We can still catch them before they leave the city.

Well. Hopefully it’s not just me that’s doing the catching. I don’t think I’d stand a chance against a group of them on my own. Not without the Bloodlust powering me up—and I’m not about to let that happen in the middle of a city. At the reminder, I pull the faceguard Darian had given me up over my nose.

I glance behind to see Darian giving chase, but she’s lagging, slowed by Quell who she’s pulling along with her.

I consider falling back. If my Role Requirement kicks in, I don’t want to be too far away from Quell. But it only applies when he’s in danger, and with the captain right there, he should be fine. I need to keep up with the Umbral Blade; if I lose him, we might not get another chance.

Running is really not helped by the Aegis bouncing against my back and knocking into my legs. I grab it and pull it around onto my arm instead. Man, my left arm is going to get so buff after all this.

The soldier leaps through a side street, and I pivot and dash after. Shockingly, I’m gaining on him.

The passage opens onto another main street of the Coil, and people give shouts and scatter as the man shoves people out of his way. What can I do to slow or stop him from a distance? None of my or the shield’s abilities can lasso someone. Or could they? The Aegis has Blood Ward, if I don’t mind feeding it. And maybe I could use Hemic Hardening to make a rope of my own Attuned Blood to trip the man up. But how much blood would that use? Would I be weakening myself right before a fight? What if—

I follow the Umbral Blade around a corner and skid right into the middle of a fight.

Four Umbral Blades are locked in combat with Earnest and Xamireb. One of the Moonfall men is an arachnoid, while the rest are a mix of humans and dhampyrs. Earnest is in the front, spinning a spear that appears to be made of water, while Xamireb launches a dagger of light at their enemy. The struck soldier staggers back, then runs, screaming.

With Earnest in front, Xamireb tries to disengage, stepping toward the stables. There’s more Umbral Blades in there, but even as I look, it flashes with light.

Pain stabs through my skull, and I stumble to a stop, clapping my hands to my eyes. I blink rapidly, tears welling up, but a hole is burned through the center of my vision, a snapshot of the stables imprinted like an inverted shadow on my sight.

I whip my head from side to side, trying to see through my peripheral; all the other dhampyrs and arachnoids are similarly struggling.

“To me!” It’s a woman’s voice—one I haven’t heard before. “My soldiers! To—”

The voice cuts off. I start forward once more, my vision slowly starting to fade back in, but someone rushes past.

“Liz!” That was Darian, her voice scared and tight.

I try to hurry after, able to make out some sort of struggle taking place near the stables, but I trip and stumble on something in the road. Damn! This night vision can really bite.

…No pun intended.

The Aegis mentally prods me. What am I waiting for?! There is a battle ahead! We should be engaged with the enemy! Conquering anyone who stands against us! Fighting toward ultimate glory!

“I can’t fight what I can’t see,” I snap, turning my head to the side. From the corner of my vision, I make out a star drake as it bolts from the stable, and I throw myself out of the way a split second before it runs me over.

The shield scoffs. Pathetic mortal vision! The Crimson Aegis doesn’t need eyes to see, and it does just fine!

Shit, that’s right. Whenever I tap into the shield’s abilities, I’m able to see through it. I pull the Aegis around, planting it in front of me, and try again to see.

I feel my mind extend into the shield, and just like that, the street jumps into clarity. Darian is in the stable, mid-throw as she slams a Moonfall soldier into the wall. She grabs Poppy’s reins and leaps onto her back, kicking the lizard into action. It jumps into the street, racing to catch up with the first one that ran past. Darian glances at me as she races in my direction. I stand up, holding out a hand. She leans over and grabs it as she whips by. My shoulder screams as it’s nearly pulled from its socket, then she swings me up behind her onto the star drake.

“You got anything ranged?” she shouts over her shoulder as she spurs Poppy on.

The wind buffets the Crimson Aegis, yanking at my arm, and I mentally prompt it to shift to my back once more. I rapidly blink as my primary vision fades back in while I’m presented with a receding view through the Aegis of the fight still taking place at the stable.

Repel won’t work unless I take some hits, first. And I’m not skilled enough with my Attuned blood to try anything while racing across the desert on lizard-back.

The Blood Ward is the only option, though I’ve only ever used it in close combat.

“Maybe mid-range at best,” I say, leaning around Poppy and squinting ahead.

Darian grits her teeth. “We’re so close.”

The Coil’s city guards shout angrily as the Moonfall lizard ahead of us bursts through the city’s gates. We’re hot on their heels, and I can make out a fraction of a shouted threat as we race past as well. We did promise we wouldn’t cause a scene in the city. Oops.

But now we’re outside, and the sun is beating down on us in brutal, burning waves. I pull my goggles over my eyes; my vision is finally starting to return to normal, and I’m not eager to be blinded again.

Ahead of us, three figures are riding on the back of the star drake. Two are obviously Umbral Blades, but the third has her hands bound behind her back. I recognize her in an instant, because she looks so much like her brothers. Brown skin, a cloud of black hair—and most notably, a giant glowing arrow overhead, pointing emphatically back down at her. As I watch, the arrow morphs into the shape of words:

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!”

Darian chuckles darkly. “That’s Liz, alright.”