The stone was still slick from the recent rain, but hopping the wall wouldn’t be a problem. It was everything beyond that could present problems.

The sun was starting to disappear beneath the treetops and the light was dimming. Zandrue would have preferred to wait until it was fully dark, but there was no way of knowing how much time she had before Tadstaime returned and discovered she was gone. The more time she had without an active pursuit against her, the better.

A messenger had arrived a couple hours ago, summoning Tadstaime—or rather, Ses-Xipil—to the City. There was an attack under way on the Palace. The message contained few details, but Tadstaime had taken off immediately.

“It must be something to do with that Will-Breaker,” Tadstaime had said. “I warned Fra-Ichtaca of this, but would she listen? That woman is brilliant in some ways, but unbelievably stupid in others. I’ll deal with this Will-Breaker once and for all. Stay here. To launch an attack, she must have followers. They may try to attack the villas while we are distracted in the City. I’m putting you in charge of security. The guards already know to listen to you. If anyone tries an attack, kill them.”

“You have my word,” Zandrue had said.

As soon as the old woman was gone, Zandrue sprang into action—just not in the way Tadstaime had expected. She changed out of the yellow Tadstaime had been having her wear recently, into darker, duller colours better for sneaking about in. She retrieved her bow and sword, as well as more sleep powder from Tadstaime’s poison collection. As an afterthought, she also snatched three pieces of albekt. She gave a few orders to the guard captain to remain alert and then took off.

Even on foot, it was a quick trip to Fra-Ichtaca’s villa. Of course, the weather chose that time to rain and she was drenched through when she got there. She wouldn’t have minded if it had kept raining. A good downpour obscured vision and made it easier to move about—Fra-Ichtaca’s villa was likely on alert, too. But of course, it stopped just as she got there, and the clouds began to part.

She took out a piece of albekt, popped it in her mouth, and let it sit on her tongue to savour the flavour. Then she vaulted over the short wall and dashed to a small copse of trees. She had chosen the location to hop the wall specifically for this. Nowhere along the perimeter were there any trees or large plants directly against the wall, but this spot provided the best opportunity to avoid early discovery.

Once at the trees, she took a moment to string her bow while chewing and swallowing the candy. She pulled an arrow from her quiver and held onto it, ready to use it if necessary.

There were many guards wandering the grounds, most near the main house—more than she remembered seeing last time. There was no doubt they were on alert.

Her first priority was to locate Corvinian. There was no guarantee he’d be in the same building as last time. It was possible that was the building he was held in all the time, or it could just be a place where he had his schooling. His tan indicated he was allowed at least some time in the sun. Whatever the case, she’d try there first. If he wasn’t there, he was likely in the main building.

That would be the tough one.

As soon as there were no guards looking in the right direction, she dashed to the next cover of vegetation. Again and again, she darted from tree to tree, avoiding guards and servants. She passed the pavilion and then made her way around to the smaller buildings to the side of the main one—past the kitchen, grain silo, and tool shed. She stayed away from the servants’ building again and made her way round to the back of the house she had seen Corvinian in.

She edged up to the side of the window and peered in. The interior was dark and there was no sign of any people.

Oh well. So much for any hope of this being easy.

She returned to the front, waited for some guards to pass, then backtracked to the main house.

Assuming the main house kept to typical Ninifin style, there wouldn’t be a lot of rooms in it. Fra-Ichtaca might have her own private bedroom, and there might be one or two other rooms that were for just one or two people. The remaining rooms would be for either storage or expected to be used by several people at the same time, whether for sleeping, eating, or entertainment.

There wouldn’t be a lot of windows, either. As she approached it, she tried to remember where she had seen windows previously. There was one on the front of the building. Two on the back, and none on the side where she was currently. She had never gotten a good look at the remaining side. She’d try along the back first.

She positioned herself first by a tree that gave her a good view of the entire length of the back of the house. Like the wall around the villa, there were no trees or other tall vegetation growing up close. That meant to get to either of the windows, she would be exposed to anyone who came out the back door or along the path crossing the grounds behind the house.

She looked to the west. The light was getting dimmer and the orange glow of the setting sun was barely visible over the treetops. Could she risk waiting for full dark?

No. Even the tree she was at couldn’t hide her entirely from anyone looking directly at it. She needed to keep moving, so she might as well get a look in those windows if she could.

She waited until there were no guards in sight. Then she waited to see how long it was until guards came into sight again. Not long. She did it again, always making certain there was no one coming from behind her—the direction of the river—either.

It might just be possible to get to the closest window, take a very quick look inside, and then run for cover again. After that, she might be able to try the second window. All that was left was to try.

When the next break in the guards came, she dashed along the side of the house to the window. She glanced in and dashed for tree cover again. She couldn’t be bothered to think about what she’d seen until she had a least a little cover again.

A bedroom.

With no one inside.

Could it be Fra-Ichtaca’s? Had she given herself a private bedroom with a window? That didn’t fit with typical Ninifin patterns—especially for nobles.

Zandrue was starting to understand Tadstaime’s frustration with the Voice of Frana.

Still, she wasn’t one to pass up good fortune. She stashed her bow and quiver in the branches of the tree. They wouldn’t be any use inside the house and jumping through the window with them would be awkward. She just hoped no one spotted the items.

When the next gap in the guards came, she ran for the same window, grabbed hold of the ledge, pulled herself up and over. She rolled when she hit the floor, and sat against the side of the bed.

It had occurred to her as she ran for the window that it was possible someone could have come into the room in between looking in it and coming back again. Fortune had stayed on her side though.

Maybe not fortune.

If she was right and this was Fra-Ichtaca’s room, it was unlikely anyone would enter. Maybe a servant on cleaning duty, but the room look tidy already, so Zandrue hoped all the day’s tidying was already done.

The room even had a proper door rather than just a curtained opening.

She took out her second piece of albekt and tossed it in her mouth, savoured the intense sweetness for a few seconds, then chewed and swallowed it, and went over to the door.

There were voices on the other side of the door, though she couldn’t make out what anyone was saying. Scents weren’t close or strong enough to determine anything other than they were all human—which was hardly surprising.

She listened for a minute or so, until she could be certain there was no one on the immediate other side. Then she opened the door a crack. There was a short corridor with two further doors, one per side. The corridor led to a curtained archway, and the voices were coming from beyond there.

A shadow passed by the curtain, causing it to sway, and Zandrue shut the door. When no sound came towards it, she cracked it open again. The corridor was still empty, so she slipped through the door, and walked the few steps to the other doors. She opened the one to the right, slipped through, and closed it behind her.

She turned to see where she was. Another bedroom. This one had two beds, both occupied.

“Hello, Corvinian,” she said.

“Zandrue!” He was sitting in the bed to the right, angled towards the other bed, but his head turned to look at her. “Xtab, this is my friend, Zandrue. I told you about her. Zandrue, this is my best friend, Nin-Xtab.”

Sitting up in the other bed was the same young girl Zandrue had seen with Corvinian last time. She, too, was angled to face the other bed, but with her head turned to look at Zandrue. The two of them must have already been sitting up talking to each other.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Nin-Xtab said.

“How do you know?” Zandrue said. “I’m here, aren’t I? I must have been allowed in.”

“I think you snuck in.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because Cakulha told me you’d come to take him one day, and Mother would never allow that.”

“I’m glad to know you have such faith in me, Corvinian,” Zandrue said.

“I didn’t know it would be you specifically,” he said. “I just knew Meleng and Felitïa and the rest of you would never give up on me.”

“His name’s not Corvinian anymore,” Nin-Xtab said. “It’s Nin-Cakulha. He’s a noble and you shouldn’t speak to him with a common outsider’s name.”

Zandrue sat down on the end of Corvinian’s bed. “You’re a noble now, are you?”

“Not really,” Corvinian said. “But they did give me the new name.”

“He will be when I’m queen,” Nin-Xtab said. “I’m going to make him one.”

“Oh, and you’re going to be queen? Sounds like you both have bright futures. What would you say if I took Corvinian—I mean Nin-Cakulha—with me?”

Nin-Xtab shrugged. “I wouldn’t say anything. I’d scream until the guards came and killed you.”

“I see. And what if I told you that I work for Ses-Xipil, and I’m actually just taking him to the City so she and your mother can prepare him for a special ceremony?”

“I’d say you’re lying. Mother would have told me. She would have told Cakulha, too.”

“I know,” Corvinian said. “What if Xtab comes with us? Do you want to come with us, Xtab?”

“Then I can’t be queen.”

“There’s already a queen,” Zandrue said.

“Yes, but she won’t always be queen. I’ll be queen after.”

“Then you just have to make sure you come back in time for that,” Zandrue said.

“No,” the young girl declared. “I’m not leaving and neither is Cakulha.”

Zandrue slapped her thighs and stood up. “If that’s your wish, future Holiness, then I will honour it. I won’t take Nin-Cakulha. You’ll have to stay here, okay, Nin-Cakulha.”

Corvinian frowned. “Oh. I guess that’s okay. At least I’ll still get to see Xtab. But I thought—”

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine in the end. I’ll leave now, but before I go, I’ve got a little gift for you.” She took out her last piece of albekt.

“What is it?” Nin-Xtab asked.

“Candy. I only have one, though, so I need to cut it in half. I’ll just use your table for a moment.” She placed the candy on the table, positioning herself so that she was blocking both of them from seeing what she was doing. Then she drew her dagger and sliced it in half. Finally, she took the pouch of sleeping powder and sprinkled some over the piece for Nin-Xtab. She hoped the girl didn’t notice that Corvinian’s piece didn’t have the same “frosting” as hers.

“It’s called albekt.” She handed each of them their piece. “It’s a treat that Ses-Xipil makes.”

They each popped their piece in their mouth. After a moment, both of them pulled faces.

“Yuck!” Nin-Xtab said.

“You don’t like it?” Zandrue said.

“It’s too sweet! It’s gross!” the girl replied, trying to spit out the bits of the chewy candy now stuck to her teeth.

“She’s right, Zandrue,” Corvinian said. “It’s too sweet.”

“But I thought kids liked sweet things.” She had known they’d hate it. Tadstaime was right about one thing: Humans had no appreciation for sweets.

“Sure, but not this sweet,” Corvinian said. “Right, Xtab? Xtab? Is she okay?”

Zandrue rolled the unconscious girl over, laid her out, and threw the bed’s blanket over her. “She’s just sleeping. She’ll be fine.”

“You put something in the candy, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, sorry I had to use such awful candy. It’s all I had. It’s really old. That’s why it tasted so bad.” That sounded believable, didn’t it? “Come on, get dressed and let’s get out of here.”

Corvinian climbed off the bed and pulled on a tunic and some sandals to go with the pants he was already wearing. He then took Nin-Xtab’s hand. “Bye, Xtab. I hope we see each other again some day.” He let go of her hand and looked at Zandrue. “She really was my friend.”

“I understand,” Zandrue said. “If you really want to stay, I won’t force you to leave.”

He shook his head. “No. I like Xtab, but not her mother. The Volgs gave me to her after they caught me.”

“I know,” Zandrue said. “Ready?”

The door opened and a servant entered. “I have your evening meals,” she started, then stopped.

“Shit,” Zandrue said.

“Intruder!” the servant screamed.

“Behind me, Corvinian!” Zandrue drew her sword and held it out in front of her. “Move aside and you won’t get hurt.”

The servant did as she was told.

Zandrue stepped into the hall just as a man pushed the curtain aside. He wasn’t dressed in the uniform and armour of the guards, but he did carry an axe. He swung at her and Zandrue blocked the blow, twisted the sword into a downward arc as it contacted the shaft of the axe, and wrenched it out of his hands. He yelped. Not a warrior; probably a family member or visiting noble.

Zandrue didn’t want to hurt him, but he lunged at her with his bare hands. He practically landed on the point of her sword, she had to do so little.

She turned for the bedroom she’d entered by, taking a brief glance to make sure Corvinian was following her. A blue glow was forming around him.

She threw open the door and ran to the window. “Through!” She wasn’t sure it was safe to touch the boy while he was glowing, but he was going to have difficulty without help. Her hands tingled when she grabbed him to lift him up. Pins and needles shot up her arms as she shoved him through the window. Once she let go of him, her hands and arms returned to normal.

A guard ran into the room just as Zandrue dove through the window.

“She’s out back!” the guard yelled.

Zandrue grabbed Corvinian’s hand and ran with him back to the tree where she’d stored her bow. The tingling returned, but she paid it no mind. It didn’t seem to be doing any lasting harm.

His shorter legs made him a lot slower than her. She was dragging him during much of the run, and even then it took much longer than she would have liked. Warriors were running around the sides of the house. A thrown spear struck the ground in front of her.

She swung around it and reached the tree. Letting go of Corvinian, she jumped up to grab the lowest branch. She pulled herself onto it and retrieved the bow. She took an arrow and fired it at the nearest approaching guard. The man fell in a lump.

She jumped back down beside Corvinian. The glow around the boy was getting brighter and larger. She shot another arrow at the next guard, then took the boy’s hand again, and ran. Her hand burned this time, and after a few seconds, she couldn’t hold on any more.

They just needed to get over the wall and into the forest. They could lose pursuers there.

More guards appeared in front of them. These ones with bows.

“Shit! Down!”

Ignoring the burning sensation, she grabbed him and pulled him to the ground as the guards loosed their arrows.

The blue glow exploded out from Corvinian, pushing her hand and then her whole body away from him. As she rolled onto her back, the glow enveloped the arrows about to rain down on them—and disintegrated them. They vanished like they had never existed.

Corvinian jumped to his feet. “Come on!” He ran for the wall. The glow now extended several feet in every direction around him.

Zandrue jumped up and followed.

When they reached the wall, there were already two guards running along the outside towards them. They thrust their spears over the wall, but the ends vanished as they hit the blue glow.

“Can you get over?” Zandrue asked him. “I can’t help you in your current state.”

“I can do it,” he said.

She vaulted over and landed on her feet on the other side. He was a bit slower.

The guards, minus their spears, drew short blades and moved in towards Zandrue.

“Sonna?” one of them said.

The other stabbed at her, but she parried the blow. “Hey, Nin-Yuluk. How are you?”

The other lunged at her again, but she moved aside. His momentum took him too far forward, and she sliced him along his side. He stumbled back round. She parried an attack by Nin-Yuluk, then swung at the injured one again. He tried to block, but the force of her blow knocked his smaller weapon to the ground and shredded his hand. She swung down, cut him across the chest, and he collapsed.

Corvinian was just making it over the wall.

Zandrue spun back round to Nin-Yuluk.

“What are you doing?” he said.

Corvinian came closer, the blue glow stretching out between Zandrue and Nin-Yuluk.

“It’s all right, Corvinian. I’ve got this.”

“I can’t really control it,” the boy said, but the glow receded a couple paces.

She began to circle Nin-Yuluk, knocking aside each attack he made. She had the reach advantage at the moment, but his stance was slack and his lunges feeble. He wasn’t putting his all into it.

“I don’t understand,” he said.

“Look, I don’t mean you any harm,” Zandrue said. “It’s just business. You’ve got a choice. You can leave. I won’t stop you. Get out of here. Get as far away from Fra-Ichtaca as you can. Maybe one day, we’ll run into one another again, and we can get together like you wanted. Or we can finish this here. But only one of us will walk away, and that won’t be you.”

He continued to circle her for a moment. Then he stepped back and sheathed his dagger. He looked at her for a moment more, then turned and ran.

Zandrue breathed a sigh of relief. She kind of liked him.

“Zandrue!” Corvinian called.

More guards were coming over the wall. Corvinian’s glow was disintegrating their spears, but it was retracting away from touching the guards themselves.

“Into the forest!” Zandrue yelled. “Run!”

He ran.

She sheathed her sword and took her bow. As soon as Corvinian was past her, she fired an arrow into the chest of the first guard, and then another at the second. It only hit his arm.

Then she ran as well.

As they reached the trees, the glow around Corvinian spread farther out. It barrelled straight towards her. Her instinct was to drop, but the glow touched the ground as well.

She gritted her teeth, stopped running, and braced herself.

The glow split and went around her. The ground itself began to rumble.

She spun around to see the glow had rejoined on the other side of her. It was tearing up the ground, spraying dirt at the pursuing guards, partially burying them and building up another wall.

A moment later, the glow retracted.

“Okay, that was fucking awesome,” she said, running up to him.

“Yeah, fucking awesome!” Corvinian repeated.

She grimaced. “Maybe you shouldn’t use that language?”

“You did.”

Zandrue shrugged. “Fair point. Come on. They’re slowed down. Let’s not waste the advantage you’ve given us.”

His glow was fading, so she took his hand. Together, they ran into the woods.