Bastial Explosion (The Rhythm of Rivalry: Book 3) (20 page)

“Why, so you can kill them?” The man had his wand in hand and now raised it at Zoke and stepped forward.

“I’m your ally in this war,” Zoke tried, ready to jump the moment he noticed light coming from the wand.

The girl beside the man placed her palm on his forearm. “He’s telling the truth.”

A psychic, good.

The girl came forward. “I saw Effie earlier. She went that way with some man.”

“What did the man look like?” Zoke asked.

“He was kind of tall and muscular. His hair was brown and his eyes were blue. He was wearing a black coat.”

This time Zoke made a conscious decision to say it: “Thank you.” She really had helped, and he was in her debt.

It wasn’t long before he spotted the man that she’d described. He was pushing a wide wheelbarrow covered by a blanket. To his side was a woman, and they were rushing toward the southern gate, which surprisingly was open. Then Zoke noticed the dead Human above the gate. He was clad in armor, as he usually was, but a weapon must’ve gotten through. Zoke figured it was a knife. He probably had been surprised…just like Marie.

I’m going to kill you, Sawdar,
Zoke reminded himself.
I will not forget.

Zoke was about to shout at the man with the wheelbarrow, asking him where Effie was. But he stopped just as his mouth opened. The man must be a spy if he was leaving—
fleeing,
Zoke corrected himself.
The woman as well, and what did they do to Effie?

With no more houses between him and his new enemies, Zoke ran to close the distance before they turned and saw him. But both looked over their shoulders and spotted Zoke immediately.

He kept running, dearly hoping neither was a mage. Dread enclosed his heart when the girl pulled out a wand and aimed it at him.

Unaware if others were nearby, Zoke still decided it couldn’t hurt to shout, “Traitors! Spies!”

The woman’s wand lit up. Zoke jumped sideways and felt the heat as the fireball flew by, crackling loudly as it burned through the air and exploded into the dirt somewhere behind him.

Zoke’s shouting had worked. Two men with swords were running at the spies yelling, “They’re trying to flee!”

The male spy pulled an apparatus out of the wheelbarrow. It was shaped like a tube, thin and smaller than his arm. With a handle already drawn back, he aimed the tube at the two men running toward him and shoved the handle forward. A red liquid spewed out, some reaching the faces and arms of the oncoming warriors.

It didn’t seem to do anything to them, though. Just like Zoke, they were still pursuing the spies at a sprint. Being much closer than he, the two warriors reached their targets first, swinging their swords frantically as the man jumped away to dodge the attacks. When he let go of the wheelbarrow, it fell over. A small woman spilled out. It was Effie. Zoke was sure of it. She was either dead or unconscious.

The mage in front of him had her wand pointed at the two warriors now as she backed up. They were suddenly having trouble following the movements of the spies, slashing their weapons nowhere close.

It occurred to Zoke that they must’ve been disoriented from the red substance, whatever it was. Soon both had fallen, one to a fireball and the other to a dagger. Neither seemed to realize he was about to be attacked, for both were looking in the wrong direction.

Close enough now to the mage, Zoke jumped on top of her, driving his sword down through her shoulder as she screamed. He finished her quickly with another jab of his weapon, this one into her chest. But he heard breaking glass as he did so. Smoke surrounded him. It was gray and thick, the same as atop the Fjallejon Mountains.

Zoke knew then what he should’ve realized earlier. The remaining enemy was a chemist. Knowing Effie was already on the ground, Zoke didn’t worry about striking her as he indiscriminately swung his weapon from side to side, moving forward as he did so. Hoping he was going south, he knew he needed to hurry to outrun the spreading smoke.

Soon he was outside its reach and had a clear view of the open southern gate. Unable to see the chemist, Zoke ran through the gate and looked in each direction. His enemy was nowhere to be found.

He must still be in the smoke.

Before Zoke even turned around, the smoke had enveloped him once again. He quickly lost his sense of direction and became worried he would trample Effie if he ran. Keeping quiet so as not to alert the chemist of his presence, Zoke sheathed his sword and crawled, sticking to one direction.

Where is the bastard?
Zoke began to worry the chemist had run in a different direction, or maybe he’d waited before coming out the southern end of the smoke and now had fled through the gate.

Soon Zoke came across a body. He could tell it was a woman. Moving his arms frantically, he cleared enough smoke for a glimpse. It was Effie.

He figured the chemist was probably long gone and decided to get Effie somewhere safe so he could check her for injuries. He hoped her unconsciousness was just caused by some potion.

Why was he taking her with him? What was he going to do with her once he left the Academy?

With Effie over his shoulder, Zoke didn’t quite come out of the smoke on the correct side. He circled around to head west, checking for the chemist in each direction as he walked.

Effie was so light that Zoke knew he could carry for her miles if needed. It was an eerie thought that she could produce a fireball strong enough to kill another Human.

He was careful to avoid others in his path, unsure how they would take it if they saw him carrying an unconscious woman.

“Effie? Effie, can you hear me?” Zoke tried her name a few times as he jogged, but it was no use. He stopped and checked to see if she was breathing, relieved to find that she was.

Reela and Alex were back by the time Zoke got to their student house. Steffen was with them as well, and they all were running toward Zoke.

“Is she alright?” they asked at once.

“She’s unconscious. I’m not sure if she’s injured,” Zoke answered. “Where should I take her?”

“Put her inside on her bed,” Alex said. “We still don’t know if any spies are left. It’s too dangerous to transport her to the medical center. Steffen can take a look at her.”

“I don’t know what to do if I don’t know what’s wrong with her,” Steffen argued.

“But you can try to help,” Alex insisted.

They followed Zoke inside, where he let Effie down on her bed. Steffen looked at her head, brushing her hair out of the way as he checked for injury.

“She hasn’t been struck that I can see,” he said, opening her mouth next and practically sticking his nose inside of it. “There’s a faint aroma, but there’s no way to know what it is. Where did you find her, Zoke?”

“She was being taken out of the southern side of the Academy in a wheelbarrow by two spies, a male chemist and a female mage.”

Zoke went on to describe how he’d found her, telling them about the fight with the spies, providing physical descriptions of the man and woman.

“That sounds like Brady,” Reela said.

“You don’t sound surprised,” Alex commented with an arched eyebrow.

“I had a feeling,” Reela said, letting out a discouraged breath. “But there was something about the way he spoke with me that made me doubt myself. He seemed trustworthy.”

“Don’t all spies?” Alex said. “Don’t blame yourself. He fooled everyone.”

No longer leaning over Effie, Steffen turned to face everyone. “She’s going to be alright. There’s no poison that would knock her unconscious for this long without making her body show some signs of fever or distress. It must’ve been some sort of concoction to knock her out and keep her alive. We’ll ask her what happened when she wakes.”

“Any idea how long that’ll be?” Reela asked.

“I haven’t the faintest clue. It could be minutes from now or even a full day.”

“Zoke, will you and Steffen stay with her for now?” Alex asked. “I want to take Reela around campus with me to see what we can do about stopping all this fighting.”

“Yes,” Zoke said. “I’ll stay.”

With everyone safe, Zoke took in a long breath of air that sent a cool feeling into his lungs. But then a thought tightened his stomach with worry.

I’m going to have to tell Effie about Marie Fyremore.

Chapter 16:

STEFFEN

Although Steffen didn’t see Welson Kimard himself, it became common knowledge that the King had visited that evening with a retinue of warriors, mages, and psychics. The psychics had dispersed to take a death count and question the loyalty of those still alive—something that should’ve been done in the beginning of the year, everyone agreed now.

Effie still was unconscious when one of the King’s psychics came to the door. Steffen heard her try to open it before knocking and demanding, “Let me in immediately.”

Alex quickly unlatched the door and swung it open.

The psychic rushed inside but stopped at the sight of Zoke in the hall. Panic struck her, and soon she was lifting her palm toward the Krepp.

Reela jumped between them. “He’s Zoke! Surely you must’ve heard of the one Krepp ally we have?”

“Move and let me question him!”

Reela obeyed reluctantly. Zoke turned his shoulder inward and cringed, as if expecting pain.

“Do you fight for Kyrro, or do you fight for Tenred and the Krepps?”

“I fight for Kyrro,” Zoke answered confidently. “There is only one Krepp I care to save, and she’s sister to me. Well, and another Krepp by the name of Grayol.”

Steffen stepped forward. “He’s already fought for us and even saved my life by jumping in front of a fireball.”

The psychic lowered her palm and unraveled a scroll. She had them each state their names. When they were done, she asked, “And Effie Elegin?”

“She’s in her room,” Steffen said. “But she’s unconscious from some potion that a spy gave her.”

The psychic barged past Steffen to investigate, patting Effie’s cheek with one hand and using the other to touch her forehead for some psychic spell.

“What’s she doing?” Steffen whispered to Reela.

“Checking to see if Effie’s faking.”

Satisfied, the psychic left to check every other room, looking under the beds and in their wardrobes. In Cleve’s room, where Zoke had been taking residence, the psychic noticed something about the floorboards. She squatted and felt around.

“Whose room is this?” she asked.

“Cleve Polken’s,” Reela answered, sighing after, as if the mention of his name had evoked a deep sadness. “But he was sent to Goldram. Zoke’s been staying in this room in the meantime.”

The psychic stood to face Reela. “And what do you know about these floorboards?”

Reela’s lips bent into a taunting grin.

Steffen didn’t need to ask to understand the King’s psychic was trying to use her psyche on Reela…and she was failing miserably.

The psychic grumbled and turned to Steffen instead. “Do you know anything about these floorboards?”

Steffen didn’t see the harm in being honest, not that he would be able to lie to a psychic anyway. “Cleve hollowed out the floor around there when he moved in so he could hide his bow. It was part of what led to him being sent to Goldram. There’s nothing down there anymore.”

“I see,” the psychic said, scribbling something on her scroll. “A psychic will be back tomorrow morning to check on Effie. If she wakes before then, she needs to visit the medical center for an examination. Is this understood?”

Each of them nodded.

“Good. Lastly, if any of you had an encounter with a spy, please describe it to me and provide a name—or at least the name the spy gave to you.”

The psychic was looking at him, so Steffen went first, knowing Zoke and Reela had a tale of their own that would follow.

“I was meeting with Jack Rose during lunch. Someone broke his window and threw in a potion that began to produce noxious gas, but neither of us saw who did it. Chemist Master Jack was fearful someone was waiting for him outside the front door, so he took me through the back of the house and we climbed out his bedroom window.”

“You didn’t see any of the attackers?”

Steffen shook his head. “Once we were outside and realized what was happening, we ran to the northwestern edge of campus where we broke into the headmaster’s house to equip ourselves with weapons. By the time we came out, most of the spies had already struck their targets and escaped. Jack Rose and I stopped a few fights, but I don’t think we encountered anyone who was a spy, just scared students not knowing who to trust.”

Zoke went next, followed by Reela and then Alex.

When they were done, the psychic seemed satisfied and started to leave. Steffen couldn’t help but ask, “You questioned Zoke’s loyalty but not the rest of us. Why is that?”

“If I’d known he was the Krepp who’d gone with the rest of you and Terren Polken to the Slugari colony, I wouldn’t have questioned him, either. You all were investigated prior to your mission. There’s no reason to interrogate you after that, especially with what a success the mission was. Now I must be leaving. Please await further instructions from Terren. The bell will ring twice when it’s time to meet at Redfield.”