That was Likh’s reaction too.
Sounds promising. Be careful. Out of the corner of Fox’s eye, I spotted the emperor striding toward them, his face livid.
You better get out of my head, Tea. This isn’t going to be pretty.
But—
You’ve got more important things to do. Scram.
“Tea?” Likh waved a hand in front of my face. “Are you with us? Tea?”
“Um…I think the emperor isn’t happy about Fox and Inessa spending so much time together.”
“Why?”
“That’s a conversation for later.” Kalen took a step toward the shanty. Despite the city wards, I could feel waves upon waves of powerful energy, almost as strong as a seeking stone’s pull, emanating from the small, innocent-looking hovel. “Wait.” Khalad blocked his path. “Something’s wrong. Master’s not this careless. This is too much concentrated magic. It’s…overwhelming.”
“Stay back, Khalad.” Kalen approached the shack slowly, runes already half-formed. He pushed open the rotting wooden door with one foot. “Doesn’t look like anyone’s been here in a while.”
The hair on the back of my neck prickled. “Guys?”
“The Heartforger isn’t here, that’s for sure,” Likh said, peeking in.
“Guys?” I had little knowledge of how sewage systems worked, but surely canals didn’t froth and bubble like that. Surely still water didn’t swirl that way…
“I’ll go first,” Khalad said. “He might have left something behind.”
“Let’s not be hasty,” Kalen said. “Your master isn’t in the habit of laying traps for unwanted visitors by any chance?”
“No, he’s not—”
“Guys!” I drew out my sword. The canal behind us went goop, and something rose from that putrid pool. The stink alone was nearly enough to make me faint, but what staggered out was the stuff of nightmares. It was an emaciated figure, a cross between flesh and skeleton. Tattered strips were all that was left of its clothing, and stringy black hair puffed out around its empty skull. It was small, easily a child or a young woman, but there was nothing human about its face.
More monstrosities crawled out of the canal, decomposing corpses of either human or animal remains or a revolting hybrid of both. The dogs no longer howled, but their teeth were sharp and yellow in their cadaverous mouths. They sprang forward faster than their human counterparts.
I drew Compulsion and was once more confronted by a barrier that was becoming familiar to me. “Someone’s controlling them!”
One of the skeletal hounds leaped for me. I stepped aside and cleaved its head off as it passed, slamming the hilt of my sword against its legs. “Break as many bones as you can!” I ordered. “They’ll keep moving if you don’t!”
Kalen whipped out an arm, sending a group shattering against a nearby wall. Khalad froze as more dogs approached, but Likh planted himself between the forger and the corpses, weaving his own runes. Lightning lanced through a nearby skeleton, blasting it into pieces.
“No lightning, Likh!” Kalen lifted a few of the cadavers with Wind and clenched his fist. The undead were immediately crushed into powder.
“Sorry,” Likh squeaked, shifting to Ice and Water, freezing bones and limbs. Despite their strength, it was clear that Likh and Kalen were having a harder time creating runes because of the unseen wards in place, and they were tiring quicker.
“Cover me, Kalen!” I scried and cast my mind around me, trying to find the mind responsible. Fox’s presence spread over my consciousness, calm and comforting as he wordlessly added his will to mine.
I punched through the haze of Compulsion around the monsters and found my target—and recoiled instinctively in disgust. The thoughts I found were human enough: they belonged to a man in a small, dark room, wizened and bald and dressed in expensive robes. But his thoughts reeked of such depravity and greed and insanity that my reflex was to push him away, desperate for cleaner thoughts to breathe in.
He sensed my intrusion and attacked. I saw rivers of blood, of people torn to bits by wild animals as he basked in their blood, of him ripping through flesh with his own bare hands. I fought not to retch; I would rather wade into the sewage canal than into the depths of that grotesque mind.
But Fox had stronger willpower, and he took over, pushing past the horrifying images and burrowing deeper into the man’s mind. While the man gloated over my horror, he had left me an opening to sever his link with the corpses.
The backlash was terrifying. I could not feel the pain that lanced through the man when his bond was broken, but I could sense its intensity. Screaming, the man reeled back, and our connection was gone.
Likh and Kalen stood, bewildered, while discarded bone and decaying carcasses surrounded them. Kalen was quick to catch me as I staggered.
“There was a man,” I gasped out. Kalen’s arms felt good around me, and my shivering abated. “His mind was…repulsive. I think it’s the same person controlling the savul.”
“Is he still here?”
“No. I don’t think so. Fox hurt him.”
“The poor people,” Likh mourned, crouching down beside one of the remains. Bones and bits of hair were all that was left of it, along with scraps of bright-red clothing. “Khalad, are you OK?”
The forger was breathing hard, but not from fright. His eyes were a bright gray behind his glasses, and he was staring at Likh like he was seeing the other boy for the first time.
“That was amazing!” Khalad clasped his hands around the boy’s. “I’ve never seen anyone spin runes like that before. It’s like a performance at the darashi oyun!”
“What did he look like, Tea?” Kalen asked as Likh quickly went from worried to mortified.
“Bald but with a beard past his waist. It took Fox and me to get past his defenses—I certainly couldn’t do it on my own.”
“Sounds like Usij.”
“So he really isn’t at the Haitsa mountains?” Khalad asked.
“Never underestimate a Faceless. Usij’s the oldest of the three—and the most degenerate.”
“But why plant a trap here?” Khalad dropped Likh’s hands. “Wait!” Likh cried, but the forger had already entered the shack. With an uncharacteristic curse, Likh tore in after him.
Are they all gone? Fox asked.
Yeah. Thank you, I owe you one.
Glad to be of use while I’m stuck in the palace.
Has the emperor killed you yet?
She was amazing, Tea. Fox’s tone was admiring, and blips of memories popped into my head: Inessa with her hands on her hips, confronting the Daanorian emperor with I shall train with my personal guard whenever I wish and I am your fiancée and not your chattel! and also You cannot select me for my independence only to turn around and complain that I am being too independent! The emperor was not a skilled debater, unused to anyone disagreeing with him to his face; Shifang could only shake his head and stomp petulantly away.
Good for her. I was worried.
So was I when I saw what crawled out of those sewers. Why is Kalen—
Tell me the rest later. I pushed his thoughts out. I was in a good place, and I was not going to give him time to ruin it. “Thank you,” I mumbled into Kalen’s chest, not quite ready to move away.
“That was a pretty good swing. Guess you’re not as bad at sword fighting as I thought.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I’m so terrible at this. Two soldiers at a time is my limit.”
“They said you were too small to be a bone witch, too delicate looking to be a fighter. That Odalians and Kions weren’t of the same caliber as their Daanorian women.” His grip on me tightened. “I wanted to confront them. I wanted to tell them they were idiots who didn’t understand they were watching the strongest girl I’d ever known, a girl who had faced off against demons and creatures beyond their imagining and won. That they didn’t deserve to be in the same room with her, much less in the same fight.