Chapter 16

“Why did the Rhea provinces never unite until now? Why did they provoke wars against one another? Why did they murder and slaughter each other for four millennia? How did one province fifty years ago conquer them all? Why is Rhea a consolidated empire now, when they should still be slaughtering each other? There is only one answer. The other provinces lost.”

—Professor Lori Havoc, Imperial Kinetics’ Academy

At midnight, the three of them met. The tree canopy hid the stars overhead.

Walking up to the boys sitting on a mossy boulder, Natali targeted Seff by walking up to him and delivering a quick slap.

Seff’s head jerked from the forceful slap, and he swung back at her. She expected it and backed up just as his hand whiffed by her lips.

Standing up, Reyn said, “Whoa, we haven’t even started talking yet. I’m sorry the guard was killed, Natali.”

“You should be,” Natali said. “He was running away.”

Seff countered, “I didn’t know that. I thought he was going to shoot us in the back.”

Reyn nodded and said, “He could have been running back to get his bow and shoot us, just like Seff said.”

“He was scared, Reyn,” Natali said, leaning against a nearby tree. Her voice carried the tone of tiredness and frustration. “Scared people don’t turn around and try to shoot a sorcerer. They run. Everyone runs if they’re scared.”

“How do you know?” Reyn said.

“My father’s a sorcerer.”

“Oh, I remember. Seff thought he was still chasing us, though. He only acted in defense.”

“It doesn’t matter now,” Natali said. “He’s dead. Forever. We need to change a few things before we kill half the town because Seff thinks he’s in danger.”

“I killed one guy,” Seff clarified, holding up one finger. “One guy.”

“And before that how many have you killed?” Natali said.

Seff stared blankly ahead for a while before Natali interrupted his revealing silence, “That many, huh?”

“Not that many,” Seff said.

Turning to Seff, Reyn cursed, “Well, how many have you killed?”

“A few. The rescue counted for,” Seff paused for a few seconds, “most of them.”

Natali didn’t believe Seff—his tone was wrong.

“So more than five, or ten, or twenty?” Natali said. “You’re a damned murderer! You’ll probably keep murdering innocent people unless we have rules. And my rule is that we don’t ever use our talent to blast, maim or otherwise kill anyone. I refuse to have people’s blood on my hands. You dolts seem to be ignorant of the fact that there are other ways to deal with people besides killing them.”

“I don’t think that’s fair,” Seff said.

“Fair to who? The innocent bystander that gets struck dead by a scared-boy-sorcerer?” Natali prodded, hoping to hurt Seff’s pride and ego. Natali needed to know how dangerous Seff was. In her eyes, Reyn was a puppy. However, Seff was something else entirely.

Seff laughed, “I don’t think I’ve been scared in a long while.”

“Then why’d you kill so many?” Natali asked.

“Revenge, survival, defense, to save Reyn from hanging, protection. I don’t want to kill anyone. I have nightmares. I see their faces. It follows me around and haunts me. I don’t want to kill anyone anymore.”

“That’s why you have a bounty on your head?” Natali asked.

“I have a bounty?”

“You didn’t hear?” Natali asked.

“No.”

Natali scoffed before she said, “The ad goes a bit like: ‘Looking for two boy black-eyed sorcerers. They are highly talented and murderous. They may be living or associated with a man who is a father of one of them. Reward: ten thousand silver sovereigns.’”

Reyn cursed.

Seff asked, “Only ten thousand?”

“That’s it, but that’s enough where if we keep using sorcery, we’re going to have bounty hunters combing the streets for two boys and listening for the sound of a lightning crack. They will find us, faster than you might think.”

Reyn cut in, “She has a point. We can’t draw too much attention, or they’ll know where we’ve gone.”

Seff shook his head, “The world is a big place with tons of people robbing and pillaging and using sorcery to do it. We could be at any of those places.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Reyn said, “But I don’t think there’s a reason for us to draw attention, unless we really need to get out of a jam.”

“Reyn is right,” Natali said. “We need to be more careful. No more killing. No more accidents. If we keep prancing about shooting lightning bolts and killing guards, the bounty on us will be too large for good assassins to pass up. And once that happens, we’re as good as dead.”

“That bounty of ten-thousand silver sovereigns may not be for us,” Seff said.

Reyn laughed, falling over onto the ground.

“Doesn’t sound like it to me,” Natali said.

“Hey, if they tried catching us, we’d be able to fight them off,” Seff shrugged.

Natali said, “Seff, the good assassins don’t fight you. They find you and tell the authorities where you are. The authorities come with an entire posse of talent. Ten sorcerers. Or twenty, thirty, forty. And, very simply, you die unless you’re able to fight them off, which no one can do. So, they surrender. Then, they are immobilized in a special underwater cell—a sorcerer’s jail—where they wait until they are used as fodder for high level arena matches. There, they can earn a pardon if they win in the arena. But, almost all of them die. When you are found, you will die, Seff.”

Reyn sat down, “They would really attack us with an entire group?”

Natali said, “Why attack you with less than a group if it only takes waking them up and leading them to where the criminal is? What is a single sorcerer going to do against fifteen shielded academy-trained sorcerers? That’s part of their civic duty. That’s why they’re paid the way they are: to protect, serve, and govern.”

“So, the assassins just find people?” Reyn asked.

“It depends,” Natali said. “Some like the risk of dying; others prefer not to risk their neck. Some are greedy; they don’t like sharing the bounty. In the end, it doesn’t matter. The good ones live a long time and retire, whereas sorcerers and kinetics who break the law oftentimes see themselves hanged if they’re unranked. Even then, sometimes, when a magistrate or governor or even mayor gets angry enough, they’ll just hand down a hanging sentence even if they’re ranked. Normally, the sorcerer or kinetic will resist, and they’ll have to behead them or just kill them with sorcery or telekinesis. I’m surprised you’re not dead yet. With a reward at ten thousand silver sovereigns, there is no telling how many assassins are on your trail.”

“You know a lot about this stuff,” Reyn said.

“My father is a sorcerer, and he’s very talkative at breakfast. At least, he was.”

“Well, we fled so we wouldn’t be caught. That’s why we’re up here,” Seff said, finally feeling good about his decision to move to the far north.

Natali said, “They might not find you, but if we keep doing what we are doing now, we are all going to die. We’re all in it together after that stunt at Goff’s.”

“So, we run away next time we are found looting?” Reyn asked.

Natali said, “Yes. We need to choose our targets carefully. Now, let’s think here. There are all types of places to rob. I’m thinking about places that would be exceptionally hard to find, crack open, or that are naturally guarded. Those would have fewer guards.”

“Vaults? Are there any around here?” Seff said.

“I don’t know,” Natali said.

“We could just go to the houses of all the wealthy people around here,” said Reyn.

“And get even more bounties on our head?” said Natali. “We would likely be stealing from well-connected people, sorcerers or not. Some of those guys really pull in the money. Some ship captains go into dangerous arctic waters and find some of the most amazing animals and pelts—even gemstones and rare ores. There are some warm islands up there that have some unique wildlife, and they trap them and bring them back for ranked, talented matches.”

“We could go after their money,” said Seff. “Plus, they don’t really know that many people onshore because they’re always at sea.”

“Ok, so we go after the homes or ships of wealthy captains,” said Reyn.

“What else?” asked Natali. “Anything with vaults that you two can melt, I think is fine. I’ll have to see if anything around here has something like what we’re looking for.”

“What about government buildings?” asked Seff.

“Those are tough,” said Natali. “They might contain some money, but we’d have to find out where they keep it. If we nabbed the payroll, then that’d be a great haul.”

“Then we could quit and have fun,” said Reyn.

“Quit?” Seff said. “We can’t just quit. Maybe move, but why quit? We have a great group going here.”

“I’m not moving, so you’d have to quit,” Natali said. “The pressure to catch us would be too high after a little longer. We already killed a guard and burned down a building. And before that, we already lifted a place of blank coins. Although I must say, that was an abysmal failure.”

“You’d have to move with us, Natali,” said Seff. “You’re part of the team.”

“I can’t.”

“Why can’t you?”

“Don’t be silly. You’re a pair of thieving, murdering boys. No, thank you. I’ll stay here and live a nice, boring life with my father.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to go without you after we finish with this area,” Seff said.

“I guess so,” said Natali.

“I’ll miss you Natali,” said Reyn.

“You’re not leaving yet, are you?” said Natali.

“No.”

Natali said, “Then save the goodbyes for later. I’m going home to sleep. I’m exhausted after slapping Seff and having this silly conversation. I’ll do some research. Can we agree not to kill or steal or otherwise hurt anyone or anything until I get some information on something we can loot?”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Seff said. “There might be assassins hunting us down. Maybe even half a dozen.”

“Ha ha,” Natali said sarcastically. “Seriously, do whatever. Just don’t get into trouble. I’ll see you guys soon—and I’ll see Reyn tomorrow at school. Good night.”

Natali walked back home.

Falahgo was there on the stairs again, waiting. Natali knew he might be, but she thought he’d be satisfied with their conversation from the previous night.

“So?” Falahgo asked.

“So, we talked, and everything is fine. And since we’re being so honest, why do you have to sell pictures to make money? And how much time do you have to get the money?”

“Uhm. We’re fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“I thought we were being honest with each other. I guess I’ll just go to bed.”

“Wait. I have three or four weeks. It’ll be close. I might be able to get the money or enough where they give me more time. So, your friends were nice to you?”

“They were very nice. They agreed to not make me upset, so I think it was an excellent meeting.”

“They don’t sound like nice friends. Are they talented?”

“Does it matter?” Natali asked.

“If they are, they could attack you.”

“One clearly likes me, and the other one wouldn’t risk attacking me with the other around. So, I’m perfectly safe as long as I’m with both.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about it. Everything is fine. I’m going to sleep.”

“Hold on there. I gave you a free pass yesterday, but tonight is different. You’re sneaking out at night to see these guys. I don’t like them already. You can’t tell me what you’re doing besides setting fires in fireplaces. And really, knowing you, I don’t think you’re setting fires in fireplaces. I went in your room and looked around. Your sandals were burnt, and coincidentally, an entire building burned down last night. And guess what? They found three sets of footprints leading out from the barn building and a giant gaping melted hole in an iron door. Should I go on?”

“Dad, I would never melt a hole in an iron door.”

“I bet you wouldn’t. But your friends would, I’m sure of it. Especially since you don’t want to tell me if they’re talented or not. But what you don’t know, is that that door was treated with an oil that reflects heat and makes it almost impossible for sorcerers to melt. That door should not have melted, so the kids you are hanging around could zap you dead in an instant. An instant, Natali.

“So, I want to know who—exactly who—these boys are, what they are, and what in hellfire you were doing breaking into a building?” her father asked.