Unguilded (39 page)

“Let’s try east,” Reo said. “Your mother should still be west of us.”

She nodded and followed his limping form.

A shout came from behind them. There, west, as Reo had said, were her mother and two guards. Arabella stopped and threw her hands forward. A ball of purple mage mist hurtled towards them. It brushed one of the guards as it passed, and he collapsed. The other guard continued running towards them, his sword drawn.

Reo stopped and turned, partially shielding Kara with his body. She waved the mage mist away, and it sped out into the sea.

“Swim or fight?” he said. “Your choice.”

She met his eyes. Even if they did fight, they still had to get off the island. There was no boat in sight, and based on the ramshackle huts they’d been traveling amongst, they were unlikely to find one.

“Swim,” she said and lifted her chin. He knew she didn’t know how to.

Reo nodded. “We’ll get as far away as we can.” He waved towards the ships in the distance. “We’ll head towards the ships.”

“That’s what we’ll do,” Kara said. They wouldn’t make it that far, of course. Reo was hurt, and the water was cold. No matter how good a swimmer he was, he’d had little sleep in the past few days, less food, and was wounded. But she’d rather die out in the sea than here at the hands of her mother.

Reo took her hand, and they ran off the edge of the island.

She hit the water feet first. The impact slowed her descent, but she almost inhaled at the cold. With arms flailing, she tried to move up, towards the bright light of the sun. Then she felt a tug at her waist. She twisted her head and saw Reo, one hand stuck into her rope belt, swimming upwards. They broke the surface, and Kara sucked in a deep breath.

“Gyda, that’s cold,” she said. She struggled to keep her head above water, but waves swept over her head every few seconds.

“Try to take deep, slow breaths,” Reo said.

She breathed in deeply, once, then again, until her breathing evened out. She followed Reo’s gaze to the shadow underneath the island.

“No boats,” he said. “At least not close enough to see.” He looked over at her. “It was a faint hope anyway. Out to sea we go.” He smiled sadly—they both knew they were swimming to their deaths.

“Show me how to swim.” She stared up at the lip of the island. They’d drifted a little further away from it, but she recognized the figure who stepped up to the edge. A purple ball of mage mist swept towards them.

“Reo, get behind me,” Kara said. She felt him grab one of her shoulders, and then the mist was there. She flung an arm out, and it sped off under the island. Kara would have slipped under the water then if Reo hadn’t held her up.

“Relax,” he said. “I’ll tow you, and you keep the spells away.” She nodded, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. He leaned back and drew her with him until she was almost on top of him. His first kick tangled in her legs, but then she figured out how to keep them near the surface and out of his way. Reo headed away from Mage Guild Island, out towards the distant ships, and Kara stared at the figure of her mother, standing at the edge of the island.

Five, seven, ten times, purple mage mist hurtled towards them, and each time Kara deflected it. They’d been in the water for almost an hour, and Kara could feel Reo faltering. His kicks weren’t as strong, and his breathing was more and more laboured. They were both shivering, and the only part of her that felt warm was where Reo held her against him. Kara’s teeth chattered as she swept aside yet another wave of mage mist.

“Someone’s coming for us,” Reo said. “Hold on.”

“What?” His words penetrated the numbness that had enveloped her. Someone was coming? She’d given up on that, had in fact forgotten that Reo was actually swimming towards something. Kara had forgotten everything except the need to keep her mother’s spells from them. “Who?”

“Seyoyans,” Reo gasped. This time his kick was stronger, as though his energy was renewed by hope.

“We’ll be safe?” Kara asked. She couldn’t believe that anyone was going to pluck them out of the sea, especially since they’d jumped from Mage Guild Island. She didn’t think even Seyoyans would dare to make enemies of a Mage.

“Not safe, exactly,” Reo replied. “They could still let us drown. Or they might hand us over to Mage Guild.”

She heard a shout, and she craned her head to look past Reo. A small boat was about two hundred feet away, and four men rowed, their backs to her. Another man sat in the prow, staring across the bay at them.

“Hello,” she called out in Seyoyan. “Help us, please.” She saw the look of surprise on the Seyoyan’s face, and then he pointed.

“Watch out,” he called, and she turned to find another wave of mage mist bearing down on them.

She waved her hand, and it spun towards Mage Guild Island. There was a shout of surprise behind her, and she turned to find the Seyoyan staring at her. He muttered to the rowers, and the boat surged towards them.

Kara kept her eyes on the shoreline in case her mother attacked again. Reo slipped one hand off her shoulder, and when she glanced around, he was holding onto the prow of the dory. She looked up into the bright blues eyes of the Seyoyan, and then Reo was pulling her towards the man’s waiting hands.

“Are any spells coming?” Reo asked.

She shook her head, and at the same time the Seyoyan said no. He hauled her into the boat. Shivering and dripping, she scrambled away in order to make room for Reo. He grunted and rolled into the bottom of the boat, clutching his thigh. A trickle of blood seeped from the wound where the broken arrow shaft protruded.

The Seyoyan gave a command, and the rowers started to turn the boat around.

“I must ask you to keep watch,” the Seyoyan said to Kara in perfect Tregellan. “It seems you have a talent that I myself do not.”

Kara nodded, almost too tired to speak, and then she shivered. The Seyoyan draped a blanket over her, and she knelt and peered towards Mage Guild Island. A mass of purple mage mist flowed slowly towards them. She didn’t wait for it to get closer; she pulled one cold hand out from beneath the blanket and waved it back towards the island.

“I would very much like to know how you do that,” the Seyoyan said. “But I know you are tired. Once we get you aboard our ship, we will sail to safety.” He too looked out towards the island. “I will warn the other ships as well. I suspect that the Mage responsible for these attacks will continue for some time.”

“Yes,” Reo said.

He shuffled up beside her and put an arm around her shoulder. She lifted the blanket, and Reo settled underneath.

“She’s very determined. Helping us will put you in danger.”

“What I have seen with my own eyes makes me believe that you are worth it,” the Seyoyan replied.

Kara peered towards Mage Guild Island. They were far enough away that she could no longer make out the figure that must still be standing at the edge. Purple mage mist sped their way twice more, but she easily deflected it. The mist seemed less dense, but was it because her mother was depleting her magic or was she sending different spells? Thankfully no other Mages joined in the attack. Had Valerio Valendi been her mother’s only ally? Would the Mage Guild leave them alone? No, she’d killed the Mage Secundus, the guild could not allow that to go unpunished.

ARABELLA CLUTCHED HER
fists to her side and watched as the small boat pulled into the shadow of a ship.
Seyoyans
. She’d need to talk to Rorik about this. The thieving foreigners could not be allowed to steal the girl and the Assassin away from her. Her eyes narrowed. Seyoyans were closer to Warrior Guild than any other—even the Merchants who sailed to their lands—could this ship have been waiting for them? Was this why they’d come south—away from any bridges or ferries?

“They’re gone,” she said to the guard still at her side. “I must return to the council. There is much for me to do.”

She looked towards the centre of Mage Guild Island. The sun sparkled on the now quiet bell tower. She wished Rorik had waited for her return before having them rung—now the news was known. The Secundus was dead, and no doubt her fellow council-members were already scheming. She had to get to Rorik now—had to make herself absolutely necessary to him.

She took a deep breath. Her magic was depleted, but she would have to find the energy to hurry. She rushed down the street, the guard trailing her. At a crossroad, she slowed.

Let them wait for her. She was the one who’d been trying to avenge Valerio’s death, she was the one who had been closest to him—she was the one who had been with Rorik when he received the terrible news of Valerio’s death. And she was the one with information about his killers. She would make them
all
wait for her—make them realize that nothing would happen until she was ready.

She calmed as the guard fell in behind her. It would have been better—so much better—if she’d been able to tell them that she’d avenged Valerio—that she’d killed his murderers. She smiled—and so she would.

She turned onto a lane that led towards the edge of the island. No one was around—every Guildsman had responded to the summons of the bell. After travelling a few minutes she felt some of her power returning. Just enough to allow her to suck the breath out of her companion. She let him fall—she’d blame his death on the girl and the Assassin—no one would know anything different.

Arabella tousled her hair and ripped her skirt before heading towards the centre of the island.

She’d arrive disheveled and alone—but victorious. The fugitives had managed to kill the guards, but she’d been able to force them to jump into the sea to try to escape her attack. She had waited until she was certain they’d drowned before returning to report to the council.

Once she was Secundus, she would have the political power to find the Seyoyan ship and take it apart.

THE DORY SLOWED
, and Kara peered over her shoulder. They were less than ten feet from the side of the ship.

A rope ladder was lowered, and the Seyoyan in the prow of the dory seized it. Kara grabbed the Seyoyan’s outstretched hand, and he pulled her over to the ladder. Reo was right behind her, steadying her as she gripped the rope rungs. She scrambled up, and the dark-skinned hands of Seyoyans helped her over the gunwale. She took a shaky step, then another, and then Reo was at her side again, pulling her into his warmth.

“I will take you to a cabin,” the Seyoyan said. “And I will have a healer look at your leg.”

Kara followed the Seyoyan through a small wooden door and down some steep steps, clutching at the thick rope railing as the ship pitched and rolled. The Seyoyan opened another small door and gestured for her to enter.

“In the cabinet, you will find dry clothes that should fit well enough,” the Seyoyan said. “Although they are not very fashionable.”

She plucked her bedraggled trousers and blouse. “They can’t be worse than what I have on.”

“Now we shall see to your friend,” the Seyoyan said.

Kara had a brief glimpse of Reo’s wan face before the door closed.

The room was small and quiet. A narrow bunk stretched across the far wall, a grey woolen blanket carefully folded and placed on one end of it. The only other piece of furniture was the cabinet. It was tucked along the wall to the left of the door, directly across from a small round window. She reached into the cabinet and pulled out a pair of soft black trousers, so worn in spots that the fabric showed grey, and a long green shirt that had been patched many times with neat, compact stitches.

With numb hands, she stripped off her wet clothes and tugged the black trousers on, threading the damp rope through the belt loops to keep them up. She sighed as the dry, green shirt slid over her damp skin.

Kara piled her wet clothes into the corner by the door and barefoot, padded over to the bunk. She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, tucked her feet under her, and leaned against the cabin wall.

She should be worried. Reo was gone, and these Seyoyans were strangers. For all the time she’d spent with Chal, she didn’t know very much about his people—their politics, their loyalties. All she really knew was that they had elaborate customs surrounding stealing—and that she was grateful that they’d agreed to help.

The Seyoyan had seen what she could do with mage mist, with magic—and he wanted to know more. Which meant that Chal hadn’t told them about her. Would they know of Reo? That he worked with a Seyoyan? Would they help him because of that history, or would they try to keep him from her so they could find out what else she could do?

She pulled the blanket tighter. She’d see Reo again—he’d taken his vow to save her very seriously. They’d have to kill him to keep him from her—which would not be easy—so she would see him.

And then what? If she asked, would they take her to Seyoya? Her mother would be glad to see the last of her, although Kara thought she’d rather see her daughter dead than gone. Did she want to go to Seyoya? It had been one of her mother’s suggestions—to live in another country and teach. Now that she could speak Seyoyan, she really
could
do that. But did she want to?

There was a sharp knock at the door.

“Kara, it’s me,” Reo called. “May I come in?”