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Dragon Bridge was not far.
Pilgrim’s Road ran between the Bone Grove and Temple District. Among the black pagodas, more priestesses chanted, their voices overlaying the usual bustle.
I cut through the Grove, the familiar bones clicked in the breeze. Spirits drifted thick as fog between the stems, the winding paths unusually empty. The threat of rain hung in the air but it would normally not have been enough to dissuade the pilgrims.
Then on the outskirts of the Bone Grove, near our mother’s tree, enough Spirits to light the night all floated in the same direction I was running.
A chill shook my body as warm raindrops fell.
The first midnight bell rang.
I sprinted, throwing my magic out.
Like a blanket had been ripped away, I felt Lumi before me.
Rejoining the road on the other side of the Grove, lanterns shone through the night. My feet pounded across the ancient cobbles.
The last bell rang. Midnight. The people usually filling the street were replaced by Spirits.
Between one step and the next, Lumi’s familiar presence turned colder than the mountain wind. My magic flinched away like it had in the tunnels.
An obsidian sheathed mind stood next to her.
Too late.
I no longer noticed my surroundings.
My feetslipped on the wet stones, and I slid down the muddy bank. I had reached the Distal, the arm of the Taliell already rising as the rain increased.
The trees stopped and Spirits congregated. Their eerie light, familiar and strange, lit the scene, and I knew Dimitri had not come alone. Guards stood at the arch of the stone bridge surrounded by death.
The group trapped on the bridge were outnumbered and outmatched, for among the Spirits white-robed figures closed in. As I watched, one of Dimitri’s guards fell at the Spirits’ touch.
Was this because we found the tunnels? Did Ealhswip no longer need the crown prince? Had the thought of the royals and rebels allying against her pushed her hand?
Another fell.
Was Lumi hindering or helping? Had she run?
I could no longer feel her. Panic and rage locked my legs. Ealhswip took our mother. Took everyone. Clutching my refusal to accept that thought, I moved again, despite my magic screaming to stay away. At least I did not see any undead.
I passed under the bridge and climbed the ancient pillars covered in slippery moss and algae. Luckily it was not high.
Someone screamed, the high-pitched terror cutting through my magic.
I scrambled over the railing where lovers traditionally met to whisper prayers to the Wishmaker.
Dimitri and three men stood back-to-back on the bridge. None noticed me as I landed behind them. It was impossible to distinguish more than white-robed shapes approaching through the Spirits and rain.
Unnatural wind and a man whose hands were coated in flames kept them back.
For now.
Dread filled the air.
The two fallen—a man and a woman—had been dragged behind the lines. Their eyes were wide open, the man whimpered though I could not see any wounds. The woman was already gone. Death never had dignity, but this was something else.
At least she was not Lumi.
