I stood at the top of the castle, looking down at Evada’s small shape in the courtyard. Tomorrow we were going to head back to Yvanta. Our trip was coming to an end, and today I had to prove myself competent in wind magic. By jumping off the highest spire of the palace. Woohoo.

I was nervous for all the wrong reasons. It didn’t scare me I’d fail or that I’d get hurt or even that I’d die. Evada was there to catch me if I couldn’t catch myself, and if she wasn’t fast enough, I could use terra magic to minimize the damage.

It wasn’t even that—and I hated to admit it—I was scared of heights. I liked to have my feet firmly on the ground when possible. It wasn’t debilitating like some people, but when I got stuck in the tree, I was afraid my heart would give out.

No, I was nervous because Enri was on the ground watching. She had seen me at my worst, keeled over, sweaty, and out of breath when we first started training, but it felt different now. I was better than before, and it felt worse to fail when I had come so far. Especially in front of Enri.

I took a breath, centering myself. The time for doubts was about twenty stories ago, and there was only one way down. “No time like the present.” I stepped off the spire, plunging to the ground below.

I was supposed to float down to the ground with minimal adjusting and do some tricks if I could manage it. The part I was most worried about was my landing. I had rolled my ankles more times than I could count, and I wasn’t keen on what it would be like to do so from this height.

The sun was rising as I was falling and I squinted, the first rays of dawn turning the sky pink and orange. I could see more of the city than before, the sprawling grid system reaching on for miles. People were starting their days, getting ready to open their shops. There was a gaggle of kids that looked like they were on their way to school, walking out of the residential district.

I looked up to the sky, watching the stars begin to hide from the light of day, the two moons still showing their faint faces. I was weightless, taking in the light of day and the hum of life. For a moment, I forgot what I was worried about. I forgot about embarrassing or hurting myself. I forgot this was a test and forgot I needed to pass it. For a moment, it was just me, the sky, and the wind.

A wide smile crept across my face as I came closer to the ground, Enri and Evada’s faces getting clearer by the second. I didn’t know how long I’d been falling, but I knew I would be just fine.

I landed without incident, my ankles safe at last. I wanted to run to Enri; sweep her up in a hug. The euphoria of finally, finally, conquering the last hurdle was rushing through me and needed to be shared.

Instead, as I settled on the ground, I fell into a deep, dramatic bow. Evada laughed, clapping enough for both of them.

“That was perfect!” Evada said, beaming. “What was that finally clicked?”

“I don’t know. Something about being weightless knowing I would be okay in the end.”

“Well, whatever works best for you. I would give that a pass with flying colors. When we get back, Shippa will be ready for you.” She snorted at the face I made. “She’s not that bad to work with.”

“Does she get along with Iljana?”

“Yes,” Enri said. “But not for the reasons you may think. Iljana hates Earthlings, but Shippa doesn’t care about that. She seems to dislike the lack of respect you have for her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just because she’s older than me doesn’t mean she deserves respect. Doesn’t help that she was rude to me the first time we met.”

Enri laid a hand on my shoulder. “Good job, Kaiya. I’ll be in the library if you need me.”

“Be safe in there.”

She chuckled and walked away. Evada looked between us before saying, “That’s rough, man.”

“What is?”

“That.” She gestured to Enri’s retreating form, leaning on her staff. “You gotta tell her at some point.”

I pulled my leg up, the wind coming to aid me in floating cross legged in the air. “Are you trying to be my wingman right now?”

“No! I—Well, maybe a little. You just seem like the type to care a lot and it would suck if you got hurt because of it. Romantic attachments are always going to be hit or miss in hard times. Especially with someone like her.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I rotated until I was upside down, my hair starting to fall out of its neatly laid braid. I could do this all day.

“Enri is…” She paused, seemingly debating something, before shrugging. “Well, I suppose I can say this now, but Enri is in a bit is a situation with His Majesty. She’s loyal, of course, don’t get me wrong. But she’s originally from Fera and came to be his personal mage under… strenuous circumstances.”

“Strenuous?” I already knew about everything, of course, but I was curious to know what I could and couldn’t know. I flipped back around, settling my feet on the ground. “She seems fine to me.”

“Sure, but she’s on a bit of a short leash most of the time. Looking after you is part of what lengthened it in the first place, now that I think about it. Before you, she would hardly leave his side. I think she’s happier now because of it, but I can’t be sure. She’s hard for me to read, you know?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

These days Enri was easy for me to read, wearing her heart on her sleeve more often than not. It was very cute, but before that, I could hardly tell if she tolerated me, let alone liked me.

I nodded. “It’s rough going. Maybe I’ll tell her when we get back.”

“Yeah, it’d be awkward if she rejected you and then we had to spend a week in a confined space together. I don’t wanna deal with that.”

I laughed. “I would never put you through something so awkward. What I am going to do is dick around in town before we have to leave. No worries, I’m already packed.”

She shooed me away. “Be free, Kaiya. I’m gonna take a nap.”

Evada disappeared into the castle and made my way to town to sneak away to Sayla.

Sayla and I spent the better part of the week trying to come up with a plan to save the queen. We got the broad strokes of it down. First, Corek, Clecia, and Eumen would further endear themselves to the guards, hopefully rising in the ranks. The three of them were a mean team so it would be easy as long as they kept themselves together.

Second, I would train with Shippa during the day and combat train with Enri at night. Training with Evada every day helped me improve faster instead of it being every other day. While none of us were in a hurry to get the assassination attempt closer, the better I could control my magic, the better chances we had at fighting and winning.

Third, break Enri’s vow. It was easier said than done, but with all of the texts she had at her disposal right now, I was sure she could figure it out.

Lastly, we’d need to expose Zann to his court and people. The biggest problem was that we didn’t know exactly how to do that. This wasn’t like our world where we could just record him saying terrible shit and post it. In this world where magic ran rampant and mimicking was as simple as breathing for sorcerers, that meant little to nothing especially in a tech limited world like this one. We needed concrete proof and that was hard for us to figure out.

There was, of course, the unspoken step zero that was taking place now. Most of the shops in town were just normal businesses. There were three, however, that were under the crown’s direction as a front. Mostly, it was just ways for royals to sneak out undetected if necessary. It also meant that we could sneak back in without being noticed.

Aside from looking into breaking a vow, Enri had been hard at work gathering ingredients to make sure that all of us could communicate.

“It’s going to be painful,” she’d said. “It’s going to be limited in what you can do with it, but for non-sorcerers, this is the best we have. There is a set number of words you can use and the greater the distance, the stronger your connection to the person you’re contacting needs to be. You can use a personal item of theirs to strengthen the connection, but I don’t see how that’ll be feasible regularly.”

Enri had gotten Eumen, Clecia, and Corek out of the way in the dead of night when they weren’t needed. Sayla, against Morli and Tivna’s wishes, snuck back in to get hers done and, of course, they came with. I was the last to get mine done, knowing it would be harder for me to go unnoticed.

I still didn’t know who was following me. I recognized their footsteps and how the wind moved around them well enough that I could spot them any time, but they were never anywhere but the town. Shaking them was getting harder, and I was almost out of options, but then Sayla told us about the other entrances to the palace. For the last week, I spent my time going into the three establishments and just sitting for several hours and then reappearing on the streets and loitering around.

Now, as I made my way to Arikloth Bakery, I could feel them behind me. They hadn’t gotten sloppy, per se, more complacent. To them, I was going to do what I always did when I didn’t disappear from sight. This time, as I entered, I walked up to the counter and rang the bell twice.

Lydee appeared from behind the curtain, smiling. He was a nice man, despite his gruff appearance, and one hell of a baker. “Kaiya! Good to see you again. I thought you’d gone over to the competition.”

“Well, I’m obligated, as a tourist, to try everything at least once. But today I was thinking of having the queen’s favorite and I can’t get that anywhere else. Oh, and a slice of cake on the side.”

He raised an eyebrow and scanned the shop behind me. No one else had walked in; it was just the two of us. “Well, it’ll take a while for the queen’s favorite to get done, but I’ll get you that slice of cake.”

He stepped aside, and I followed him behind the counter. Through the kitchen and into a small office, he slid a dresser (placed carefully on a rug so as not to make noise) to the side and pulled up a trap door. “Watch your step,” he whispered. “And that slice of cake is on the house when you get back.”

“I appreciate that.” Looking down, there was no way to see where the bottom was, but I wasn’t concerned. I saluted Lydee and stepped over the edge, falling down. I heard his sharp gasp, then the trap door closing.

I don’t know how long I was in a freefall, but it didn’t feel like it was more than a few seconds before I felt the bottom approaching. A gust of wind buffeted my fall, and I settled on the ground. The walk back to the palace was quick. At least, it felt quick without the winding roads or guard check points. The trapdoor on the other side opened to a secret room in the library.

It looked like it was the queen’s personal workshop, with tables full of papers, books, and instruments. It was like Enri’s room, but bigger and better. Since Forana had ‘accidentally’ left the secret door to this place open two weeks ago, Enri had been having a much better time.

She was mixing something together in a bowl, muttering under her breath as light began to glow from it. It was a little off-putting seeing her use magic since she almost always looked like she was somewhere far off. Like her mind had gone on a road trip while her body stayed in place.

“Kai.”

I froze in place, suddenly remembering that Sayla warned me she would sound different. I just didn’t realize ‘different’ was synonymous with ‘eldritch’. Her voice seemed to overlap a thousand times, but it was still understandable. She sounded like she was miles away, but I could hear her clearly.

“I’m going to give you something for the pain first. Drink this.” She held out the bowl of glowing purple liquid and I threw it back before I could think too hard about it. Thankfully, it tasted like nothing. Most of what she did was lesser magic like minor healing and making mage lights. I never knew what the difference was, but I could feel the power rolling off her in waves. It was almost like she was a different person.

“Lay on the table.” I did as I was told, climbing up and lying down. There were still papers on the table, but she didn’t seem to mind as I laid face up. My body started to numb as she said, “I’m starting.”

There was a buzzing next to my ear, and I thought it sounded like a tattoo gun. Then there was a sharp, sudden pain that I struggled to comprehend. Then there was nothing.