Attack.
I spoke to it in my mind, more confident with controlling it now and the way I normally spoke to the plants and threads of life magic I commanded. It had been a long time since I’d felt so much power at my fingertips.
But unfortunately, I couldn’t stay and watch.
A row of Salt soldiers poured from the main hall in response to the shouts from the other guards. They tried to stab the dead thing with their sabers, crying out and pouring their Salt court magic into their weapons. I grinned, watching every single attack have no effect. How does one harm death?
Instead, the claws and wings of my creature wrapped themselves around their blades, pulling the weapons into itself. General Faisal was there, issuing panicked orders, shouting at each other. Amidst the din I smiled, as a dark, violent sense of justice seeped through my gut. It had been a long time since I’d heard the melody of a Salt soldier screaming.
A pity then, that I couldn’t listen to more of it.
My brisk steps took me out of the courtyard, heading toward the bridge and beyond it, the River.
But before I lost sight of the courtyard completely, a different kind of scream stopped me.
I whirled around at hearing the low, devastating cry of death.
A Salt soldier had tried to physically fight the creature without weapons, and the death beast had grabbed his arm.
And the soldier’s arm had begun to rot.
His black flesh dropped off his arms in clumps. His piercing cry filled the halls.
I couldn’t move. By manipulating the power of death, I’d been able to harm a Salt soldier with death magic. River Court magic couldn’t normally harm those from the Salt Court after the Viceroy had cursed us.
That was new.
Soldiers ran toward us from all directions, a silver river of armed Salt warriors flooding the halls, sabers raised. It was as if every soldier in the both the Palace and Charvellan City was here.
Likely because they hadn’t been attacked like this in over seven years.
But unfortunately, I couldn’t stay to watch. I knew that when I moved too far from the creature, I would lose control, and it would fall to lifeless animals and rotting plants.
But hopefully what I had done would be enough of a distraction to keep General Faisal busy for a few hours. My eyes sought him in the crowd, picking him out instantly. He stood in the mass of Salt soldiers, barking out orders.
Good. I was glad he was there to witness what was coming for him.
After I let go, and as soon as the creature slipped apart, General Faisal would likely take credit for bringing it down, as he had done for so many battles and massacres since Salt had invaded River.
I held a grim smile as I slipped from the palace and toward the woods.
One day, I’d be there to see his body rot, and I’d use his corpse as a weapon against his own masters.
Chapter 7
Empress Lorna VII, long may she reign, has led the charge on spreading the Empire’s interest across the five continents. Of particular wealth to the Empire has been the extensive fae (often known colloquially in Astola as the peri or peris) artifacts discovered in vaults throughout the human world, with a large portion of them found in Astola. Currently, Empress Lorna has the most substantial selection of ancient fae artifacts across the Empire held in her private museum.
—The History of Astolaby Henry Wiltshire
Yaseema
My feet scrambled underneath me, hitting nothing but open air. There was a gap between the corridor and the golden steps of the vault, one you couldn’t see with the naked eye because it blended into the darkness, and now I had tumbled into the abyss.
My arms pinwheeled, my hands grabbing for any purchase I could, knocking against the rough, sheer stone. I hooked onto an outcropping of rock and my body lurched, catching up with my arms and stopping its endless free fall. My scream resounded through the cavern as the abrupt stop wrenched my shoulders, a sickening pop joining it.
A wave of pain nearly overtook me, and I took a steadying breath. My spectacles were perched on the end of my nose and I shoved them back up, thankful they hadn’t fallen off my face. It was possible I could climb up this pit with one shoulder injured, but not without my ability to see anything.
Hesitantly, I peered down at what waited below me.
