Ari appeared from the woods. He carried a screaming Star over his right shoulder. Her ankles had been manacled along with her wrists. They were fastened behind her back. Janco had his fingers in his ears.
“Should have brought a gag,” Janco said when they reached Valek and Hildred.
“Where do you want her?” Ari asked.
Valek pointed to a tree trunk. “Secure her there for tonight.”
Janco took the bottle of White Fright from his pocket. “She seemed really concerned that this didn’t break.” He pretended to fumble it and Star stopped yelling.
“Huh. Should have thought of that before. Here.” He handed it to Valek.
In the morning, Valek squirted four doses of White Fright onto the ground, before giving Star her dose. “Your actions have consequences. No more sleeping in a tent. You’ll spend every night secured outside unless we’re at one of the manor houses or garrisons. Then you’ll spend all your free time in a jail cell.”
“How long?” she asked.
“Until I say so.”
* * *
Testing the defenses of Rasmussen’s manor house and garrison turned out to be a fun challenge. The team learned what worked and what didn’t. They uncovered each of their strengths and weaknesses. Maren even learned the fine art of being a fake damsel-in-distress from Janco. They performed better together than he’d expected.
On the way north to MD-8, Valek gave Star another opportunity to escape, and she took it. Ari and Janco had orders to let her go further this time before capturing her.
They brought her back in the morning.
Valek dumped six doses onto the ground. “I don’t know if this is going to last.” He clucked his tongue. “All that effort to train you. What a waste of my time.”
After that, Star stopped trying to escape. Either due to the punishments or because they were getting further and further away from Castletown.
His team spent the rest of the heating season and thirty-five days of the hot season testing defenses. It was equal parts exhilarating, exhausting, thrilling, boring, invigorating, and tedious.
MD-5 had been their last stop, and General Ute continued to impress the Commander. Overall, he was pleased with the results of the tour and energized despite the three-long months of travel.
Everyone whooped when they spotted the odd-shaped castle in the distance. Valek almost wept with joy when he reached his own bed. He face-planted and didn’t move for twelve hours.
Three days later, he had the guards bring Star to his office in the afternoon. She’d been staying in the holding cells between tastings.
“Sit down, Star,” he said.
She sat and glared at him, which she’d been doing ever since her third failed escape attempt. He’d made her sweat the last week of their trip, by scraping the bottom of the bottle for her antidote. Not that there had been any real danger of running out. White Fright was brewed from a common weed that grew throughout Ixia.
“You’re getting your freedom back. If you try to escape again, you will become a permanent resident of the holding cells. Understand?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You’re dismissed.”
She slammed the door when she left. Valek was curious what she’d try to do next. Hildred and Inrick would keep an eye on her.
He remembered Yelena’s attempts. She’d picked the locks of his office to find his stash of White Fright. And she’d spent hours in the castle’s library, seeking a book that might have the recipe for the antidote. Those had been in the early days. When Fourth Magician Irys Jewelrose offered to help her escape to Sitia, Yelena had refused. She had wanted to protect the Commander and stop Brazell and Mogkan at the cost of her own freedom.
He longed to breath in her scent. To have a conversation about something trivial, like what side of the bed she preferred to sleep on. Or her favorite season.
Yearning burned in his heart. But then it increased to a painful intensity and spread. Valek held out his arms. Had a magician set his clothes on fire? Sweat collected and dripped. An invisible force yanked on his heart. He pressed his hands over his sternum, but the pressure remained.
A cloud of bright light formed on the other side of his desk. It hovered in midair. The force pulled him to his feet and reeled him toward the center of the swirl. He squinted. Something inside…no, someone… “Yelena?”
Panic creased her face, and her green eyes were wide with fear. “Help,” she cried.
