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CHAPTER 17

Leap of Faith

ALIA

“ A Red and a werewolf. Never thought I’d see the day.”

Though his voice was familiar, I couldn’t place it. I chose not to speak. Until I recognized him, I sure as heck was not letting him recognize me. If someone in my tribe knew about this little side quest, all Sixth would break loose.

Shen dropped the dark mage. I winced. He could’ve done that a little gentler.

“Not talking, hmm? Traitor doesn’t wish to be found out, I see.”

“And what would you call yourself?” Shen asked, surprising me.

The Red barked out a laugh. “ Am I a traitor? Or am I under the orders of my mistress?” His voice was infused with confidence.

I tensed. Was it possible Grandma had sanctioned this? She was the one who told me never to trust a creature of magic. Taught me everything I knew about how to kill one. Why would she be working with kidnappers and mages?

“You don’t believe me? Why should you?—”

“Can I kill him now?” Shen asked.

The Red squawked in outrage. “I am working with the matriarch to provide a better world. She has told me of her plans and gave me leave to prepare the world for her reckoning?—”

“I’d prefer you didn’t just yet,” I whispered beneath my breath.

Shen sighed as if that was a substantial burden. “Then can I knock him unconscious? He talks too much.”

“ Hey—” Shen took a single step at the Red, who moved back. “Don’t you know what I am?” the Red hissed.

Shen took another step, mirrored by the Red. “Know. Do not care,” Shen said with a shrug.

The Red yelped when Shen blurred. The Red tripped over his own feet and went down, barely missing Shen’s claws. He rolled over his left shoulder in a reverse somersault and threw a glass bottle down. The odor of wolfbane filled the air. Shen sneezed and the Red barely avoided his grasping claws for the second time. The Red sprinted down the passageway, moving quite fast.

Shen continued sneezing. It was the sneeze of a kitten when it gets pollen in its nose.

I grabbed his tunic and drew him up the passageway, away from the bomb. His eyes were watering and he was still sneezing. “Here.” I drew two vials from beneath my hood. “Open your mouth.”

“Kind of— sneeze, sneeze, sneeze, —hard,” he panted.

“You can still sneeze while I stick these under your tongue.”

He opened his mouth and I stuck the drops under his tongue. He sneezed on my hand, but I didn’t mind.

“So— sneeze —rry,” he said.

“You know we need to hurry this up, right?” I said as his sneezes calmed.

“You— sneeze —were the one who insisted on saving the black mage’s life.”

“You aren’t wrong, but we’ve been…” I couldn’t figure out the word for it.

He straightened, wiping his nose. He looked a lot less dangerous when his eyes were red and watery and his nose was red as an Ambrose scar. “Enjoying ourselves while delaying the inevitable?”

A crooked grin crossed my face that he couldn’t see beneath my cowl. “Yeah. That. But soon there will be backup and I don’t fancy fighting our way out of this place.”

He nodded, and in that moment he went from playful to… I didn’t know what to call it. But it was as if the emotions, scant as they were, was sucked out of his very being.

“It has been fun, Little Red,” he said, sticking out his hand.

“Same here, Wolfie,” I said, shaking it.

A tiny smile crossed his face and then vanished as if it never happened.

He turned and the fun was gone. It was time to rescue a kidnapee.

Shen picked up the mage, and we ran. It was a race against time to get to the kidnapped person before the cavalry arrived. Shen sniffed the air. I squeaked when he grabbed the back of my tunic to drag us into an alcove while five mages raced past. A few had lightning twirling up their arms. Fun.

We continued up the passageway until he opened a door into a room with cobwebs and sheet-covered furniture. He laid the mage down on the bed and a poof of dust went up. He walked to the window.

“Are you going to do what I think you’re going to do?” I whispered.

He didn’t answer, but we both knew he was going to do exactly what I thought he was going to do.

“Stay here,” he said.

“Why?”

He paused. “Because I can climb faster and easier with my claws.”

“How do you know?”

He opened and closed his mouth. Then he sighed. “You may not like what I must do in that room.”

“Don’t leave me behind because darkness is knocking. That’s when you need help the most.”

He gave a quick nod and climbed out the window. I followed close behind him, carefully slipping out to the eaves and then hopping to the next one. He pointed to the next window over. I nodded. He hopped with the grace of a mountain goat to the last window. I leapt to the next window. It creaked beneath me, sending my heart fluttering in my chest. I leapt again before it gave.

I clung to the wall and tried to ignore the black void that lasted for at least three stories beneath me. A tiny squeal escaped me as the wood gave way beneath my feet and plunged me into darkness.

Shen grabbed my arm. “I have you.” He hauled me up to the window beside him.

“Thanks,” I said, my heart attempting to bruise my ribs.

“No need to mention it.”

He popped open the window and eased inside. Red splattered the wall as a gurgle came from his victim. The need cut off abruptly, making me wince.

I stepped in behind Shen, and there, tied to a silver chain nailed into the wall, was a black-eyed, blue-haired nymph.

I blinked and blinked again.

“Did you know?” I whispered.

Shen shook his head. The nymph curled against the wall away from us, his skin red and peeling. My heart ached for the little guy.

“How do you treat a nymph?” I whispered to myself.

“You were the one who knew what to do last time,” Shen replied.

“I was going off of instinct!”

“Then trust yourself. Your instincts are there for a reason.”

I speared him with a glare and huffed. He was right. I crouched down. “Hey there. We’re here to get you to safety, ok?”

The nymph hissed. Whelp, that instinct didn’t work.

Then I felt the need . His soul was crying for a connection to water. I offered the waterskin from my pouch. Though he guzzled it, the water wasn’t enough. He needed water that was connected to the earth.

“He needs water, but not this. Where is the closest passageway connected to the ocean?” I asked.

“The sewers.”

I nodded.

“Hey, I met one of your kind not too long ago. She had long, blue hair much like yours. She was deep in a cavern?—”

The nymph darted forward, reaching out and grasping my hand. Water curled like claws, piercing my skin. “You hurt?” he snarled, showing his teeth.

I kept very still, even as I felt blood dribble down from the punctures he’d created in my skin. “No, sweet one. I did not hurt her nor your siblings. They are safe.”

He blinked up at me, his eyes slowly reversing color to become the blue of his mother’s. “They ok?”

“They’re fine. But we won’t be if we don’t get you out of here.”

He nodded. I turned to Shen, who was already working on the chain. Unlike him and my brother, I couldn’t pick locks. Wasn’t one of my specialties.

We froze as footsteps creaked outside the door. Lamplight passed beneath the frame. “Anything?” a voice asked.

“They said there are two who’ve come for the product. So far, they’re still at large. Stay at your posts.”

“Yes, sir,” two voices said.

The footsteps retreated. I breathed out.

The door opened, allowing bright orange light to enter the room.

“Your evening meal—” The guard’s eyes widened as he saw us. “Intrud—” He cut off when Shen’s blade caught him in the throat. He went down, but there was another behind him.

“Get the nymph,” I said, running to the door. The other guard was there. He brought up a hand, sending lightning at me. I grabbed my cloak and wrapped it around myself, using it as a shield. Static shocked me a bit, but the cloak absorbed most of it.

Between strikes—even lightning users have limits—I dove forward, taking his feet out from under him. He went down with a yelp of pain as his ankle popped. I punched his throat, making him gasp for air so he couldn’t think about lighting me up like some sort of shish kebab. I rolled him over, snaking my arm around his neck, and it was nighty-night for the dude.

More footsteps pounded outside the door. I shut it and put a wobbly, wooden chair beneath the handle. It wouldn’t hold for long.

Shen had the nymph free and riding on his back as he darted out the window.

I followed him out, wondering too late how the heck I was going to get back across. Shen was using his claws to gouge out the pure rock face, but I wouldn’t be able to scale it before?—

The door crashed open at my back just as Shen reached the window eave.

“Jump!”

I jumped.