Grim-faced, Tibby appeared ready to follow him.
Syla scrambled down from the boulder but held up a hand.
“We don’t have much time,” Fel said.
“Aunt Tibby.” Syla faced her. “Back at the farm, you were able to get some of my memories from my mind.”
“With my magic, yes.” Tibby lifted her hand, showing the moon-mark on the back. “You could learn to do that too.”
Fel eyed her hand—bothof their hands—like the marks meant they were dangerous vipers, not to be trusted.
“Could you do it now?” Syla asked. “To get the location of the Harvest Island shielder from me?”
Would that work? It had been so many years since her father had taken Syla and her siblings to visit it, making sure they could find it in the future if need be. In quizzes she and her siblings had endured after that, she’d also had to point out the location on a map. But as far as actually finding a route up the volcano to its chamber today…
“I could try,” Tibby said, “but why? You’re coming with us.”
“Absolutely, you are,” Fel said sternly.
Syla smiled, relieved he still wanted to keep an eye on her after all the trouble being her bodyguard had caused him. “Those enforcers will be after me. They shouldn’t care about you two.”
Tibby lifted her marked hand, as if to say theywouldcare about her.
“We don’t even know if the temple leaders passed on that you’re kin and marked,” Syla said. “I’mcertainthe enforcers are mostly here for me. If you two go ahead, I’ll pretend to be stuck here when they catch up. I can buy time for you to find the shielder.”
Tibby hesitated, then nodded. “Logical.”
Syla stepped forward so they could share a link through their marks again.
Fel scowled. “I’ll stay with you, Your Highness. You’re my charge, and I’m duty-bound to protect you.”
“My aunt will need you to protect her.Andfigure out how to get the shielder from its resting place to the sea where the ship can reach it.” Syla worried about the logistics of that, but if anyone could figure out how to tote such a load with only two people, an engineer could.
“Sheis not my charge,” Fel said. “She doesn’t even like me.”
“Try being less surly when you’re together, and maybe that’ll change.” Syla nodded for her aunt to initiate the link.
Fel scowled at her. With surliness.
“I’ll stay with you and fight these men off,” Fel said, “and then we’ll all continue on together.”
Syla kept herself from pointing out that he hadn’t managed to defeat one rider, so taking on a squadron of a dozen enforcers wouldn’t be a good idea. That wasn’t a fair comparison since that rider was far from a normal human. Still, the odds were against Fel.Veryagainst him.
Meeting his eyes, Syla said, “Sergeant, I need you to go with Tibby and help her get the shielder home. That’s what thekingdomneeds. I’ll be fine. Nobody’s going to kill me.” She tried to sound confident about that. Shethoughtthat was true, that people wouldwant to find ways to use her rather than get rid of her, but how certain was she?
She wasn’t. Once they captured her, and she was confident Tibby and Fel had been granted enough time to disappear and find the shielder, Syla would try to escape.
Fel clenched his jaw at the notion but said, “I don’t have any choice, do I?”
“Are you still feeling bound?” Syla smiled sadly, not delighted to use his compulsion to make him obey her, but… shedidneed him to obey her, so maybe it had all been for the best.
“To do as you wish, yes.”
“Good. Protect Tibby.”
Magic was already trickling from Tibby’s hand, flowing into Syla, and, as before, she sensed her aunt’s presence in her mind. At first, Syla pictured the map her father had used to test her memory of the location. She envisioned the volcano and a spot on the west side far from the road. Then she thought about the route they’d taken to it when she’d been a girl, of picking a path through jumbled black rocks dotted with seagull nests and a few stunted trees growing here and there in places where dirt had settled over the centuries since the last eruption.
Still scowling, Fel climbed onto the boulder, taking the spot Syla had used. He knelt, hidden behind the pine, and looked at the road.
