“Tamza?” Maryam’s voice echoed across the hall where the Vaasarian Usefuls were still being kept.

It was cold in there, and the prisoners had made a sleeping area along the back of the hall, opposite the high square windows, where they could huddle together for warmth. Maryam sat up on her rags in one corner, and others stirred at the disturbance.

The moonlight filtered through the windows and Tamza squinted in the direction of the voice.

“Over here, Tamza.” Maryam waved. Tamza went to her and the woman next to Maryam shuffled so Tamza could sit next to the healer.

Maryam hugged her tight and whispered, “We thought you were dead.”

Tamza rested her head on the healer’s shoulder. “I’m still alive, but they killed Ursah-bear.”

“Why?”

“She killed Dabecki, and then eight more soldiers. They had her cub trapped.”

Maryam sighed. “Nothing but death.”

“I enchanted the King. I had the chance to kill him, but couldn’t do it. I thought I could influence him with my enchantment, but it’s not working and I don’t have the tools or the ideas of how to cause his death. He is cautious and suspicious of me, even though he is under my spell. I disobeyed him tonight and he sent me here. My enchantment is failing, I’ve run out of time.”

“We are all out of time, my dear.”

“What do you mean, Maryam?”

“You cannot see in this darkness, but there are only fifty of us left. The Fert king brought his workers along to learn skills off our people. Once those skills have been passed on, we are no longer useful. Leeching our knowledge and destroying us one by one. I am fortunate, my healing ability to knit flesh, bone and muscles back together cannot be replicated. I spend my days healing Fert soldiers and workers with cuts or worse, and my evenings healing Vaasarians who have been beaten by those same Fert soldiers. I’m exhausted. We are all exhausted.”

“So few of us left…” Tamza mumbled, shocked. “I should’ve killed Edgar many weeks ago… And then Burrington, and then Orpey. All of them, enchanted and dead.”

“And then what, Tamza?” Maryam asked sharply.

Tamza was startled by the hard tone and didn’t reply.

“And then what?” Maryam insisted.

Tamza hadn’t thought about what happened after their deaths. She wanted everything to return to how it was, for her bears to be safe, for her father to be alive again. It was a foolish dream. Meekly she replied, “I… I don’t know.”

“Vaasar will never be the same, Tamza. Vaasar is no more. The Parchaders are not coming, and even if they do – will any of us still be alive? Doubtful. Tomorrow night, we will be no more.”

“What?”

Maryam’s mouth came close to Tamza’s ear and barely audible she said, “I have permission to gather herbs from the palace gardens and from the edges of the woods to use in my healing. I have been gathering one plant in particular, and tending to it in the small workshop they have granted me. It is ready, and I have more than enough. I have been slowly smuggling it in.” She patted a roll of rags that was acting as her pillow. “I could’ve been at peace weeks ago, but I’ve been making enough for everyone. How could I go knowing these people, my people, remained behind in so much pain? So, tomorrow night, we poison ourselves. We’ve all agreed. You can join us, if you wish. If not, you will be the only Vaasarian left alive, now Dabecki is gone.”

“Poison…”

“Yes. We are miserable, we want to be with our kin again, with our Gods. Vaasar has fallen. It is no longer ours, we do not belong here.” Maryam’s voice was low, tired, dejected. It sounded old.

Tamza had no response. Maryam kissed her forehead, pulled some of her blanket over Tamza and fell back. The healer’s breath immediately settled into the steady pattern of sleep. Tamza sat up for a while, thinking, before laying down.

But sleep did not come so quickly to Tamza. Fifty Vaasarians left in Vaasar. Edgar will hunt my bears. The thought screamed at her noisily. Poison.

The next morning, Tamza had made a decision, her veins flooded with courage. Maryam woke as the dawn sun streamed through the windows and started to get dressed. Tamza beckoned her close.

“Maryam, I have an idea. If we could escape from here, we could make a new life, start a new community. Our ancestors were wanderers, we can be too.”

Maryam sighed. “We have had this conversation many times, Tamza. There is no way to escape. A few tried, and were slaughtered. They captured them, brought them here and slit their throats right there under the high windows for all of us to see. As a warning to us not to try that again.”

“I have a third ability, I can make a portal. Two doorways. I can’t explain it, but you step through one doorway, and come out the other.” Tamza clapped her hand and a tiny blue circle flashed to life on her palm.

Maryam frowned and hid it with her hand, glancing at the door.

Tamza placed the circle on the rags, clapped her hand again and a second doorway appeared. She put it a little distance from the first. Concentrating, she connected her energy to those two swirling masses and made them larger, about the size of an onion. She put her little finger through the dark centre of the first doorway, careful to avoid the sharp edges. The tip of her finger disappeared and came through the second doorway and poked Maryam’s knee. The healer gasped, and stared wide eyed up at Tamza.

Tamza removed her finger, clapped and both doorways dissolved. “I can make the circles larger. Large enough for me to climb through.”

“Large enough for all these prisoners to climb through?”

“Yes. But there is a risk, Maryam. I have never transported another person, only myself. And I do not know how far apart the doorways can be. I could place one here and one outside these walls, but the guards would find it. It glows bright like a star. For us to escape, we need one doorway to be outside of the town, otherwise we will just run straight into soldiers.”

“How will you do it?”

“I… I have an idea. I will leave one doorway here, keep it well hidden. When it is time, the circle will grow large enough to climb through. As soon as that happens you will all need to be ready to jump through, as fast as you can. I don’t know how long I can hold it open for.”

Maryam nodded. “If it fails, we will take the poison.”

“I… I pray to the Bear-God that it doesn’t fail.” Tamza swallowed hard, if it didn’t work she would be the one killing her kind. If they stepped into the portal and never reappeared… “I will need some poison.”

The door creaked open and the soldier shouted for Maryam. She indicated she was just finishing dressing. The soldier waited, staring at her. She leaned forward and whispered to Tamza.

“Take one packet from under there, mix the powder with water first. One packet is plenty for five people. It takes a few hours to take effect. There is also a stack of green leaves, eat one first before you touch the powder, it is an antidote to the poison. I gathered it in case anyone had second thoughts. Good luck, Tamza.” Maryam ran towards the soldier and out the door.

Tamza sat on the rags with her back against the wall, looking up at the small windows. She was alone in the hall, the other prisoners had been called to work. She had taken a packet of poison and one leaf and left a tiny doorway in its place. The blue circle was about the size of a radish and Tamza barely noticed it drawing from her energy reserves. I’ll be able to keep this open for hours. The effort will come when I need to enlarge it.

The sun’s shadows moved through the room as it passed across the windows. This was the longest time Edgar had allowed her out of his sight. She sat patiently. My enchantment won’t fail, he’ll call me.

Soon, prisoners started returning to the hall. Exhausted from the day’s work, they fell straight into sleep, or hungrily ate the food the soldiers had given them during the day, pulling it from pockets.

The door creaked open and a soldier shouted for Tamza. She jumped up and rushed to him.

“Bit eager, aren’t we?” the soldier chuckled as he led her back towards the King’s chambers. He patted her down, focusing too long on her breasts and between her legs, but not going anywhere near the top of her head, where she had secured the contraband with her headscarf. He opened the door and pushed her in with a smirk. “I’ve been waiting for my turn to guard the King just so I could frisk you, my pretty.”

Tamza looked at him for a long time, remembering his face. It was long and thin, one eyebrow higher than the other and he was missing his front teeth. He was one of the men who often sat at the King’s table for dinner. He wasn’t on the council, but he was a trusted soldier.

“Get ready, you’ll be dancing for the king tonight. It’s quite a feast. The reinforcements have arrived from Fertilian, and the King wants to celebrate.” With that he slammed the door in her face.

It’s time, Papa. It’s time for me to go on stage.