Vaela reached back and grabbed Adyr’s hand, keeping an eye on the priest and priestess. “They’re probably just local clergy.” Adyr squeezed her hand tight and Vaela pulled them away from the market. Local or not, better to get out now. They walked through the street and Vaela waved her stick to the various alleys. “Which way’s the brothel?”

Adyr frowned and looked between them. Vaela’s heart sank. She couldn’t tell, either. All those twists and turns while they sprinted here–nothing looked familiar. She glanced back. The clergy pushed through the crowd, edging towards them. It wasn’t coincidence. They were looking right at her and Adyr.

Vaela swallowed hard and pulled Adyr towards the nearest alley. “Come on, we’ve got to go.” They broke into a jog, Vaela’s stick swinging back and forth, Adyr clutching the blanket to her chest. Shouts rose from behind and several more priests and priestesses filtered out of the market and sped towards them. This was bad.

Vaela raced through the alleys, turning at random, while Adyr ran beside her. They’d never make it to the brothel like this, but who cared? Vaela’s lungs burned as the air grated through her chest. Just lose the priests–then worry about finding the others.

They cut around a corner and Vaela skidded to a stop. Adyr almost crashed into her. The buildings boxed them in down an alley that didn’t open back up into the street. A dead end. Vaela swore and spun. Three priests and two priestesses sprinted towards them. As they neared, they fanned out, cutting off their escape out of the alley. Vaela exchanged a look with Adyr. They’d have to fight.

Two of the priests drew swords. The sounds of the blades sliding from their sheathes sent chills down Vaela’s spine. No shield, no weapons. She had her stick and vials. Adyr had nothing, except the blanket. Vaela blinked a bead of sweat out of her eyes and extended her stick out to Adyr. “Take it.”

Adyr’s gaze broke from the encroaching clergy. “What?”

Vaela thrust the stick at Adyr. “Take it!” She’d promised her she would. If they ever ran into trouble that Adyr could use her stick. She fumbled a vial of Hermit’s blood out of the belt. “W-we have to fight.”

The priests neared to only twenty paces away. The unarmed ones hung back, still fanned out to cover both sides. Vaela shoved the stick into Adyr’s hands. They didn’t have time.

Adyr dropped the blanket and accepted the stick. Ice crept down its length, encasing it in a hardened sheath. It extended beyond the end and tapered into a sharp tip. Vaela popped the cork from the vial and swallowed the blood in a single gulp. Shadow coursed through her in a wave of Power.

Please. Please don’t slip away.

She reached for the Shadow and it squirmed in her mind’s grasp. So powerful. So defiant.

But if she didn’t tame it, she might die. Adyr might die.

One of the priests at the back of the group stepped between the armed men. Vaela and Adyr both gasped.

Gerad. The priest Kaverlna had burned. So they had followed them from Xufont. How did they find them?

His chest heaved with the exertion of running after them, a pained wheezing filling the silence between them. His face was ashen and set with grim determination. He raised his hands, palm upward. “HE will not tolerate wayward Blood.” He turned and looked at Adyr. “You will return to the Heart, priestess.”

Adyr drew back and lowered the Ice Spear. Vaela let the Shadow slip away, back into the recesses of her body. They were after Adyr? And not her?

Adyr glanced at Vaela, her face pinched with fear. She swallowed and looked at Gerad. “And if I come back… will you leave her be?”

No! Vaela reached for Adyr, but she stepped to the side.

Gerad clasped his hands and bowed his head. “We have no orders to capture her. Nor will we harm her.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Vaela flung the empty vial at his feet and it shattered on the ground. Shards of glass and blood flecked the street. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”

Adyr extended Vaela’s stick back to her. “I’ll go.”

Vaela swatted the stick aside and prowled up to Gerad. The other priests raised their swords, but he held up a hand and they stopped. Vaela walked between them until she was face-to-face with Gerad. Heavily scarred skin crept up the base of his neck out of his robe. Shadow swirled within her, but her anger called even louder. “Leave her alone.”

Adyr’s steps tapped from behind her. “Vaela. Go back.” Vaela spun, her fists clenched at her sides. Adyr’s hand trailed over her arm, fingers cresting over the covered scars. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

So what should she do? Walk away–let them drag Adyr back to Kaverlna? And who knew what they would do to her. Maybe kill her for her betrayal. Maybe just continuing slicing into her flesh until all that was left was a mass of scars and broken spirit.

No.

She wouldn’t walk away.

She’d run.

Vaela spun and slammed her palm into Gerad’s chest. He cried out and doubled over, hands flying to the ruined skin hidden beneath his robes. Vaela jumped back and ripped whatever Shadow she could from within her. Precious little gathered in her grasp, but she shoved it out anyway. A Shade sprung between her hands in a black arc, shielding her face from view. She ducked and leapt back in a crouch. Two blades sliced through the Darkness where her head had just been. She spun and grabbed Adyr’s arm. “RUN!”

The Shadow evaporated away, fully revealing them. Vaela and Adyr sprinted to the right, skirting as far around one of the armed priests as possible. The two priestesses closed and one grabbed Vaela’s arm. The Ice Spear slashed from the side and opened up a gash in the woman’s cheek. She screamed and released Vaela, hand flying to her face. The nearest priest closed the distance and Adyr shoved Vaela out of the way. His blade darted forward and she parried it with the Spear. Ice chipped off of the wood and Adyr countered. The tip tore into the man’s arm, releasing a spurt of blood.

Too late. Too many.

Vaela backed away with Adyr. The other armed priest joined his bleeding comrade. Gerad and the priestesses closed in around them.

They’d never make it out.

Gerad shoved to the front, one hand still holding his chest. He spat at Vaela’s feet. “Take them. Take them both.”

Vaela dug inward, wrestling the Shadow within. It was like a python–hard to grasp, powerfully writhing. The priests closed in, one blade pointed at Adyr, the other at Vaela.

Adyr stepped forward, partially in front of Vaela, and raised the stick. “Don’t touch her.” Anger twisted through the words, a tightness Vaela hadn’t heard from her before.

A woman’s voice pierced the alley from behind the clergy. “Release them.” The tone was curt, an air of authority cutting through it. Someone who was used to being obeyed.

Vaela peered past the priests. A woman approached the group. She appeared to be in her forties, brown hair drawn back in a loose bun, beige tunic and pants sashed with a rope at her waist. Despite her command, she carried no weapon.

Gerad turned his face to the side and chopped the air. “Leave us. This is Church business.”

The woman strode forward, not slowing as she neared the priestess at the back of the group. The priestess reached for her arm. Her cry rang out from the ground before Vaela could register what happened. One second, the priestess had tried to grab the woman, the next she was on the ground.

The priest pointing the sword at Vaela snorted and spun. Gerad and the other priestess slid back, out of range of the sword, as the armed priest faced the woman. He raised the tip of the sword towards her neck. “Mind your own business.”

She didn’t slow as she stepped into range. He growled and thrust the sword at her head. It slid past the woman’s cheek as she tilted her head and body out of the way while stepping forward. She dipped down and shifted to the other side in a large step. The sword cut the air above her–a too-slow reaction to her encroachment. The priest brought the blade back towards her, but she caught his arm and twisted. His body followed suit, folding in response to his locked elbow, and he doubled over. Her hand blurred and he dropped to his knees, releasing the sword. Both his hands clutched his throat, his mouth open but soundless.

The woman caught the sword before it hit the ground and slid towards the other guard. He spun away from Adyr, slashing towards the woman. The flat of her blade reached his temple first and cracked into his skull. His head jerked the other way and his body collapsed to the street.

Vaela’s blood swished through her ears. The Shadow once again slithered away and she made no attempt to hold it. The woman had barely put any effort into disarming the two priests. And more than that–the way she moved. It was similar to Jace and Hermit. So smooth, so fast.

Gerad and the remaining priestess retreated away from the entrance of the alley. He flung out an arm and slapped her shoulder. She closed her eyes and a Horn Blared from her body. She Blasted the Note three times. Shouting from further in the city responded to the Sound.

More priests. They had to leave.

Vaela’s feet felt frozen and she peered at the woman who’d disarmed the priests. Up close, she seemed even more unremarkable. Light brown eyes the color of honey, a wiry frame, just slightly taller than Vaela. Nothing that hinted at her prowess. “Who are you?”

The woman’s gaze drifted to the Mark on Vaela’s arm, then back up. She smiled, lines crinkling around her eyes, and a warmth radiating onto Vaela. “I am the All-Seeing Eye, Champion. Now”–she turned down the street to the right–“follow me.”