”LEANDER”

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As if a string had been cut, all of the rats who’d appeared from below began to move, squeak, and squeal in confusion. As I caught their mistress, they raced over the dead bodies to vanish back into the depths of the ship.

My mouth pinched into a thin line as whispers of “witch.” grew across the deck.

I could feel the shift in the air as the breeze caught those quiet words and pulled them closer to shore. It was too late to stop them. The empire would know what happened before we even had the chance to make landfall.

“I bound the Eidolon.”

My mind reeled at her words. What did she mean? It couldn’t be possible.

“Did you know?” Captain Smith asked, breaking me from my mental reverie. He limped over to me, glancing nervously at Daelyn’s unconscious form in my arms.

I hardly had any explanations to offer him. Instead, I placed my other hand against Daelyn’s cheek. Her skin had begun to form a cold sweat, and her breaths were unnaturally shallow. With practiced ease, I channeled my Magebinding into her body. The act itself had become natural over the past few weeks. The rhythm of her heart and the familiarity of her skin, but whatever plagued her now—I’d never seen its intensity before.

Beneath the surface of her skin was a magic that was burning out of control, without a master to contain it. An inferno of wild magic, and it was killing her.

It would not be an easy feat to contain its hunger, but if I didn’t try, she would die.

“I bound the Eidolon.” Her words echoed in my mind once more. I shook my head. This was not the time to dwell on half lucid words.

I turned to the captain. “We don’t have much time. Can you help me carry her?”

Captain Smith could see her sickly hue as clearly as I could. “Follow me.” He said gruffly, bending down and hoisting her right arm over his neck. To his crew he shouted, “She saved all of our lives. I will not tolerate another comment suggesting otherwise. I want the dead pirates tossed overboard. Take us to port!”

He led us into the captain’s quarters that opened up at the stern. Between the two of us, we were able to lay Daelyn down onto the bed.

“By the old gods...” The captain murmured, taking in the blood splatter covering her feet.

“Can you send the first mate down to her... cell?” I asked, struggling to split my attention between my magic and my thoughts. I had seen wild magic before, but never with anything as strong as what raged inside of her. She had used up more than she had the ability to give, and now, it took from elsewhere to fill its stores. “I have to know what happened.”

The captain nodded. “I’m sure we all would.” He paused, debating on whether or not to ask me again. “Did you know she was a mage?”

I shook my head. “No, and I’m not sure when she discovered it either. What she did is unlike anything I’ve seen before, and it was done without limitations.” At his confused expression, I explained. “All magic exacts a price, and every binding is to the soul. To channel, Magebound use their very essence to manifest magic. It must be used sparingly because the energies of the soul are not limitless.”

I began to channel my own essence into Daelyn. Not to monitor her, not to heal her, but to substitute her own. I flinched at the hunger that met it, instinctively wanting to pull away as her Magebinding latched onto mine like a leech. But it needed its debt paid.

“When used without caution, or reservation, magic can exact a toll that its host cannot afford. Killing them in the process.”

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His eyes widened, going back to my charge. “Is she... dying?”

“I’m not going to let her.” The fierceness that escaped was foreign even to my own ears. Emotions that had long been tampered and controlled found new strength in my resolve.

Captain Smith stepped back, and I realized that his sleeve was covered in blood. “I’m going to assess the damage. I’ll let you know what we find.” With a tired sigh, he turned away. “I expect that we’ll make port at Kearru before the end of the day. Best be prepared for it.”

The unspoken implications hung in the air. The empire’s spies would have heard the signal, and if they had already been listening, then they had already gleaned the fight. They’d be waiting for the crew of the Caerus to arrive.

“They can’t know about her.” The words came out like a snarl before I could stop myself. “They’ll take her to the emperor.”

“They’ll be looking for a witch.” The captain argued, sounding as tired as his years. “They have no reason to keep a Magebound.”

A painful tug pulled at my essence. Gritting my teeth, I offered the wild magic less. I wanted its hunger to become satiated, but I would not become its second victim in the process. It would eventually be sated and forced back into its cage.

“You saw what she did.” I said quietly. “And that was without training. Imagine the devastation she could bring onto a battlefield.” Imagine if it was no longer rats. “I can pay you. I can send for the funds once we’re well away from Kearru. Please, they cannot know.”

Captain Smith shook his head, marching back through the door. “She saved our lives, Lord Leander, but I can’t promise anything.”

By the time we weighed anchor, Daelyn still hadn’t regained consciousness. I didn’t need direct contact in order to use my Essencebinding, but the feel of her skin was a reassurance that she still lived. I squeezed her hand gently, regretting that whatever had led her to such an extreme was because I’d left her in the belly of the ship. All alone.

A quick knock on the door was immediately followed by the entrance of three men. One of the deck hands, followed by the first mate, and the cabin boy. Their curious looks grated on my nerves as they looked at where lay Daelyn prone on the bed.

I cleared my throat. “Do you plan on staring at her, or delivering news?” I snapped. Hunger and exhaustion were beginning to wear on me, and I was far from a point of being able to satiate either.

They averted their eyes.

The first mate took a step forward. “We were told to assist you in taking the lady off the ship.”

I glanced down at Daelyn. Her fever remained, even if its progress had been halted by my intervention.

She was in no condition to travel, and I had no way of knowing when that might change. “I’ll need a carriage to move her.”

The three of them looked at each other for a moment. “No carriage.” The deck hand said apologetically. “Not unless you can wait until tomorrow. There’s an inn—”

“No.” I interrupted, pinching the bridge of my nose as I thought. Every hour we stayed in Kearru risked Daelyn’s discovery. “What about a horse?”

The deck hand nodded. “We were asked to see if you wanted to leave the ship in a crate or if you preferred to walk. We’ve arranged a horse to meet you at the docks, to take you wherever you... intend to take her.”

“You’re not going to hurt her, are you?” The youngest, the cabin boy asked.

I shook my head, for the first time in years feeling the full weight of my conviction. “Everything I’ve ever done has been to try and save her.”

That seemed to satisfy the group as the largest of them, the first mate, cracked his knuckles and bent down to scoop her effortlessly off of the bed.

I needed to make a detour before departing the Caerus, and left Daelyn temporarily in their care to do so. My boots thudded against the wood planks as I raced down the steps to the other end of the ship, descending until I reached the hall that had consumed weeks of my life. The familiar stench of death reached my nose before the sight of it did. The door at the end of the hall had been smashed into pieces, and the culprits hadn’t made it out of the hall.

There wasn’t time to linger as I broke off of the hall and ran to the location of the LeMont trunks. They’d been riffled through, and half of the documents appeared crumpled or torn by the process. I wasn’t sure what all I’d need, or what all I was willing to let rot in Jasper’s gilded trunks. The proof of Daelyn’s identity seemed just as dangerous to take with us as it did to leave behind. With every second I spent below risking her condition, I took what could be shoved into the pockets of my coat and left the rest.

I met the three men who carried her outside the ship. The steed they’d found shifted on its feet in impatience, its tack already in place. I checked all the buckles and straps before climbing into the saddle. With the help of the others, Daelyn’s unconscious form was lifted onto the saddle in front of me.

I wrapped my arm firmly around her waist, keeping her in place as my hand brushed against the skin of her torso. The warmth of her skin had increased with her fever. The wild magic that burned within was still surprisingly strong, and the minutes I’d been gone had taken their toll. The breeze carried the sounds of hoofbeats to my ears. I nodded my thanks and spurred the horse into motion. With one hand on the reins, and the other channeling into Daelyn, I rode as quickly as stealth would allow.

You will not take her from me. I vowed in threat. She is not yours yet, Mallius.