“What...”
“Congratulations. You’ve finally found what you’ve been seeking.” A woman stepped out of the woods, only her bright eyes visible from under a dark mask covering half her face.
Movement caught my eye and behind her I saw dozens of peris standing in the trees around us. I was reminded of the Citadel soldiers ambushing me when I was trying to cross the River.
Except instead of the tan-colored uniform of the Citadel soldiers, they were wearing black leggings and tunics, blending in with the dark. They reminded me of the fae who had taken me from the bazaar, tall, lithe, and clad in dark clothes, impossible to distinguish them from one another.
Rebels.
Kiyan struggled to stand and I still held up some of his weight. His body fought the poison, but his eyes were sharp and they homed in on the peris surrounding us.
“It’s a pity we will be taking it from you now.”
Hands grabbed at me, pinning me down as the rebels advanced on us. Kiyan shouted at them as I was wrenched away from him, his voice hoarse.
He used his magic to bring roots from the ground, bursting up like vines, but they weren’t as powerful as the ones earlier had been, looking more like saplings instead of thick banyan roots. They managed to trip a few of the fighters and grabbed at their legs, but his power was stilted.
We had been ambushed, and they had lain in wait for us to bring back Queen Azari’s golden crown and deliver it into their waiting arms.
I lurched against the arms that held me tight. Two cloaked figures, one thick and burly and the other one quite petite, held me despite my struggles. Finally, I stomped one of my feet against the smaller rebel, and she yelped in response, momentarily losing hold of me. Then I slammed my head backward, catching the other one square in the face. He yowled and I rolled forward, weaving my way through the soldiers and dodging the rebels that came after me.
I looked over my shoulder at Kiyan. His eyes were still glazed, but he held my gaze and nodded. I took that as permission.
I ran blindly through the forest, ignoring the shouts behind me. Something inside my chest lurched at the thought of leaving Kiyan behind, but I pushed it down deep, not allowing myself to focus on anything besides getting away with the crown.
But I couldn’t outrun fae rebels who had magic at the ready. A wall of earth rose up in front of me, and I slammed into it, momentarily stunned. I got back to my feet and ran in a different direction, but dark shadows in the forest curled around me, grabbing my arms and pulling me back. I whirled on my pursuers—a group of rebels had followed me, their magic, though limited, prevented me from going any farther.
I didn’t have anything to combat them with. My magic wasn’t for fighting but finding, and I had no use for that here.
“Where do you think you are going, human?” The woman from earlier stepped toward me, her arms raised. It must have been she controlling the dirt under my feet. “Running back to the palace? Not with what you’ve taken.”
I clung desperately to my pack, trying to think of a way out. After all this, I would lose the only thing that would help my family and give my people a fighting chance. The one opportunity I had to finish what my mother had started. Frustration rose in my blood, fueling my anger, my rage, my power.
I closed my eyes and channeled my magic.
For what, I didn’t know. A way out? A newfound possibility I could use my power for something other than searching through an archive and unlocking a door?
Find what I need.
The threads coiled around my head and the rebels looked up at them, stunned. Then they surrounded each fighter, winding over their bodies and circling them. Some of the rebels screamed and tried to combat the magic with their own. But when they saw that my threads weren’t really doing anything, they began to laugh.
“This is what you have? Some tricks with golden string?”
But my magic had given me something I didn’t expect. On each fighter, the threads pooled around a specific area of the body, collecting around ankles or shoulders or eyes. I wasn’t a fighter, but my power had given me an advantage in that.
Weaknesses.
I picked up a handful of dirt and tossed it into one fighter’s eyes where my magic had gathered. Then I kicked the left ankle of the rebel closest to me, glowing gold with my power, and he fell to the ground howling. I held a large rock and threw it sharply at one rebel’s shoulder, and he let out a gasp of pain.
Until the only one standing with me was the woman with the power to control the earth.
“Ah, I see the little librarian isn’t entirely useless. But still, you’ll need more than that.” She lunged for me, and I fell backward. She grabbed for my satchel, and I fought her, but she dug her knee into my stomach and all my breath whooshed out of me. She ripped it off my shoulder and jumped to her feet.
“Sorry, but the last peri who deserves this crown is Reza.”
A hiss of words punctuated the air, and her face turned white in the darkness. She whirled around and I sat up, looking at who stood in the distance.
It was the Viceroy, his arms raised. They may have incapacitated the Salt soldiers who had been waiting for us, but they couldn’t raise a hand against him.
