“Perhaps your old servant will be more willing to take me to your vedalken masters,” Glissa gasped, pinching her legs together to hold Bruenna in place.
“You leave my mother out of this,” shouted Bruenna. “I won’t let you harm her.”
The human brought her hands up between her and Glissa. Glissa tried to grab the mage’s wrists to keep her from casting any more spells. The two women scrambled on the floor, but before she could get Bruenna’s arms secured, Glissa felt a strange tingling on the back of her neck. She threw herself off Bruenna and rolled into the corner of the room.
The wall erupted behind the human, showering the room with scraps of metal. Electricity danced across the remains of the tattered metal wall. A moment later a second bolt of lightning screamed through the hole and blasted the upturned table.
“Aerophuis!” shouted Glissa. “I knew you were in league with the vedalken. How did you call them here so quickly?”
“How did I call them?” demanded Bruenna. “Look what they did to my wall.” She scrambled to the other corner of the room and put her back up against the wall. “You must have brought them with you!”
“Your master’s assassins, come to help you defeat me,” snorted the elf. “Well, I’ve fought aerophuis before. They don’t scare me.”
“They scare the wind from me,” retorted Bruenna.
“Why would they attack you?” asked Glissa. “Aren’t you allied with the vedalken?”
“Allies? No. We’re little more than slaves.”
Glissa considered Bruenna for a moment. She didn’t know if she should trust the human at her word. The aerophuis made up Glissa’s mind for her. The tingle returned to the back of her neck.
“They’re coming in for another pass,” she shouted. “Come on.”
The elf scrambled to her feet and ran from the room, slicing through what was left of the table with her sword. She could hear Bruenna running behind her. Glissa dived to the ground in the front room just before the next impact. When she glanced down the hall, all she could see was smoke and lingering electricity where the corridor wall used to be.
Bruenna’s mother ran into the room, screaming. “They’re back, they’re back, they’re back! Why are they back?”
The human ruler ran to her mother and wrapped her arms around the older woman. “I don’t know, Mother. We must have displeased the Synod.”
Glissa stood and sheathed her sword. “It’s my fault,” she said. “They’re after me. If you’ll help me, maybe I can help you.”
Bruenna looked at her mother, then looked down the corridor at the wreckage. “That would be dangerous for me and for my people.”
“More dangerous than staying here?” retorted Glissa. She felt a familiar tingle. “Decide now. The aerophuis are returning.”
Bruenna and her mother shook in fear, but the young mage found the courage to reply. “Defeat the aerophuis and save my people. Then we’ll talk.”
“Fine.” Glissa ran for the front doors. “Once I’m outside, they should leave your house alone. I could use your help, though.”
The elf emerged into the blue dawn and ran down the steps. She felt rather than saw the human mage behind her. The pair sprinted toward the ring of shelters surrounding Bruenna’s home. Glissa heard the aerophuis roar over the house behind them.
“See if you can slow them down with that wind of yours,” she shouted as she ran.
“I’ll try.”
Glissa’s ears popped as the air pressure dropped suddenly behind her. She looked back and saw two aerophuis tumbling end over end backward toward Bruenna’s home.
“Well done!”
“You still haven’t defeated them,” shouted Bruenna.
“I have friends down by the docks. They’ll be able to help us if we can get there.”
The two women ran side by side through the town. People rushed back and forth looking for protection from the attacks. Some villagers called to Bruenna for help. Between strides she ordered them to return to their homes.
Lightning bolts flew behind them, but Bruenna’s spells kept them safe long enough to reach the docks. The elf banged the door open to the storage shed and ran inside, slamming it behind Bruenna.
“Slobad, Bosh,” she called. “Where are you? We need you. Now!”
Nobody was in the shed. One ship was missing. Glissa frantically searched the shed.
“I’ll go find them,” she said. “You stay here.”
Bruenna didn’t argue. Glissa opened the door and changed her mind about leaving. At least ten of the silver assassins were arrayed just over the docks. They hovered there, facing the door. She slammed the door shut.
“We have a small problem.”
CHAPTER 20
Glissa beckoned Bruenna to the door. “Aerophins,” she said. “Lots of them, and my friends are missing. We’re on our own.”
“Why didn’t you sense them?” asked Bruenna.
“I don’t know,” replied Glissa.
Bruenna paced back and forth, her eyebrows furrowed. “You can sense their mana buildup. They have to charge their attack before releasing the lightning. That’s why it takes so long between blasts. Someone’s figured out you can sense that, so the aerophins haven’t charged up yet.”
“Then why are they hovering out there?” asked Glissa. “They have us trapped in here. Why not attack?”
Both women stared at each other.
“Because they have us trapped in here,” said Glissa slowly.
Bruenna nodded. “They’re holding us here until something-or someone-else arrives.”
“We have to get away from here. Any suggestions?”
“Run,” said Bruenna.
“That’s your plan?”
“Look,” said Bruenna, “it will take the aerophins time to charge their attack. That gets us out the door. I’ll slow them down with a gust of wind, and we run.”
Glissa shook her head. “They’ll follow us wherever we run. Where do we go?”
“I don’t know,” the human mage answered. “Away from town. Into the mountains. Anywhere. Staying here is suicide and puts my people at risk.”
“Fine.” Glissa nodded. “You’re right. We’ll run into the mountains. That’s the most likely place to find my friends. Anyway, maybe I can destroy some of these beasts. I’ve done it before.”
“How did you do that?” asked Bruenna.
“I have no idea,” said Glissa as she moved back toward the door. “It just happened. You might have to die first, though. Ready?”
Bruenna walked to the door, crossed her arms in front of her, and nodded. Glissa pulled the door open, and the mage flung her arms wide. Glissa felt a blast of wind whip by her. The doorframe rattled from the force. Bruenna ran out the door, and the elf followed.
The aerophins scattered, tumbling in the sudden wind. Bruenna ran along the shore, Glissa beside her, glancing back to keep an eye on their pursuers. Two of the aerophins crashed into the sea. The quicksilver was thick and buoyant. The aerophins didn’t sink, but they couldn’t pull themselves free, either. Behind one of the aerophins a sleek neck broke the surface of the quicksilver with hardly a ripple. It looked like a giant serpent. Its head snaked five feet into the air and opened its jaws wide, revealing rows of shiny teeth, then slammed back into the sea, snapping its mouth shut around the tail of the silver creature. The predator disappeared under the surface.
As they cleared the dock area, Glissa heard screams from the village. Young children ran screaming through the streets while adults tried to catch and calm them down. A little boy ran right toward Glissa, crying, followed by a gray-haired man. “Riley, come back here! It’s not safe,” shouted the man.
“Get indoors!” shouted Glissa as she ran on. “Hurry.”
She doubled her pace. The man caught Riley at the shore just as the aerophins roared over their heads.
“We have to get away from town!” shouted Bruenna. “Then we’ll head toward the mountains.”
“There’s not much cover in the valley.”