It flared up, bright as a thousand suns. Amber could feel the heat pouring from it as all of its energy was expended in one great burst. But would it be enough?
Amber looked back at the guards, feeling relief when she saw that all of them were in varying stages of blindness, their hands held to the eyes and screams of pain bringing even more guards.
"Amber, come on!" Beatta said.
The Halrana woman kicked at the fence, and Amber breathed a sigh of relief when Beatta swiftly opened up a small hole. It would be a tight fit, but surely they would be able to squeeze through?
Amber ran forward and pulled at the broken metal, scratching her hands bloody but enlarging the hole. "You go first," she said to Beatta.
Beatta wormed her way through the fence, and then it was Amber's turn. Beatta held out her hand for her friend, helping Amber get to her feet, and then they were both running.
"We're free!" Beatta turned and called to Amber, a broad smile on her face.
The ground fell away from Beatta's feet, and an expression of astonishment crossed her face as the woman vanished into the earth.
Amber suddenly teetered on the edge of a wide ditch, waving her arms to regain her balance and halt her momentum. She looked down, and Beatta looked up at her with eyes wide with pain.
The trap was lined with jagged wooden spikes, scores of them now piercing Beatta's body. Amber watched as Beatta coughed, blood spluttering from her mouth, and her friend died.
Amber felt the rough hands of the guards grab her wrists, forcing her to the ground. She tried to look away, but Beatta still stared up at her with unseeing eyes.
9
ELLA woke, and for the first moments of awareness could not remember where she was. Then it returned to her: the green of the trees, the confusion and the panic, Shani's scream, the figure in black coming out of the illusion.
She had been captured.
The covered wagon rocked and tilted, jolting and bumping as it moved along, and Ella winced. Her head still ached, and her mind was thick and slowed.
"Looks like you got knocked on the head pretty thoroughly," Shani's voice broke the silence. "All you've done is sleep."
"Where am I?"
Shani snorted. "What kind of a question is that? Let's see. You're in a dark wagon, so dark you can barely see. Your legs are tied, but your arms are free. Problem is, if you move too close to the edge of the wagon some kind of magic kicks in, and your vision goes black until you move back to the centre. You're somewhere. Does that answer your question?"
"How… long?"
As Ella's eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw Shani sitting cross-legged a couple of paces from her. The Petryan put a hand to her head. "This is the third time we've had this conversation. Last time, all right? This time, the answer is that it's now been about four days."
Ella rubbed the back of her head, pulling away and wincing as she felt the large bump on her skull. Her mind was clearing now, the fog lifting, being slowly replaced with anger.
"If it's any solace," Shani said, "this is now the longest conversation we've had."
"Has anyone spoken to us?"
"No." Shani shook her head. "Although I think someone's popped their head in a few times. We've been given food and drink." Ella could vaguely remember cold stew and brackish water. "And we've been taken outside to get some fresh air. They can make the dark cloud stay with you, you know. You can hear, but you can't see a thing."
"I know who it is," Ella said. "Or at least, I know who they represent."
"Who?" Shani said. "I need to know so I can add them to the long list of people I'm going to kill once we get out of here."
"What do you know about the Hazara Desert?"
Shani snorted again. "Ella, I'm Petryan. Our southern border is the Hazara Desert."
"Then you know about the tribes."
"Those barbarians? They steal from my people, the way a flea bites at a dog. They raid our trade caravans and butcher our villagers. Some men of the tribes travelled all the way to Altura and captured an enchantress and an elementalist? I don't think so, Ella."
Ella wondered if they would have been as bold if Bartolo had been with them. "I know it without a doubt, Shani."
"How?" the elementalist demanded.
"To start with, their lore. They can make illusions, impressions of light and sound that aren't actually there. Visions, like the mirages you see in the desert."
"I'll agree with you, that sounds like what's happened to us," Shani said. "I thought I was going mad for a moment there. What else?"
"And secondly, because I think I recognised the man who came out of the illusion and attacked me. His name is Jehral, and he serves one of their leaders, a prince named Ilathor Shanti, of Tarn Teharan."
"How do you know these people?" Shani pointed at Ella's chest. "How do you know so much about their lore? What interest do they have in you?"
"I know them because they held me prisoner for a time. We need to be careful, Shani, these men are ruthless."
"You haven't answered all of my questions."