Page 127 of Rhuyin

“No!” I yelled out. “They’ll be asked the same questions. If they pass, they come with us. If they don’t…” I let my voice trail off as I glanced at the bodies of the Mageia we’d had to kill.

He didn’t seem happy, but at least the fire fled from his palms and he departed down the tunnel without further argument.

There were actually only about thirty guards in the buildings and they now all stood in front of me. Most of the senior Legion Elusians lived near the headquarters and commuted back and forth daily. I realized to my surprise one of those within the cages was the Vestal for the Legion. I’d never had much to do with him. He was the one who handed out the assignments for Callings. I saw Elex’s eyes land on him, and I swear blue fire started leaping from my brother’s eyes.

Hel was quickly questioning the caged guards. He would give me either a nod or shake of his head as he got done with them and I either released them or slid them over to a separate cage. The ones who remained in the cages I secured so they couldn’t move and covered their eyes so that they couldn’t use their powers to try to Suppress us.

By the time we were done they were split with ten in cages and twenty headed into the tunnels. By that time predawn sun was beginning to lighten the eastern skies.

The Vestal was one of the last ones Hel spoke to. Hel looked at him, confused, and turned back to Elex.

“I can’t tell with him,” he said. “He might be okay, but I don’t know.”

I saw my brother’s eyes narrow but Elex finally nodded and turned toward Hel to say something. I felt Rhu’s rush of alarm as he raced forward, pushing me to the ground and past me, between Elex and the Vestal. My Bonded leaped into the air in front of my brother, a dagger suddenly sprouting from his shoulder as if by some magic trick. I spotted the Vestal, arm still outstretched.

“No!” I yelled, and I just… reacted.

The ground beneath the Legion shook with a mighty roar and the earth jerked up and down as my magic—exploded.

Chapter 38

Rhu

I woke in the dark. I felt like I was floating, but air seemed to be rushing by. Were those stars overhead?

“Am I dead?” I asked.

“Not yet, but if you ever pull that shit again, you might be,” I felt my Bonded speak, his face appearing above me.

I tried to sit up but a tearing pain in my shoulder halted my progress. I looked at the offending limb and realized I had a bandage wrapped around the hilt of a knife that was still stuck in my shoulder.

“Wha-” I started to reach toward the knife. It seemed like the most reasonable thing to do in this situation was to pull the knife out. I was pretty sure it wasn’tsupposedto be there.

“No,” Luke said, as if it were for the hundredth time. Maybe it was? I seemed to remember him saying it a lot. “You need to leave the knife alone until we get the ship out of range of the Towers and Hel can take a look at you. He’s barely conscious after all the power he’s been using trying to keep everyone alive.”

Towers? I could smell salt water and the slow vibration below us of the engines of theChrysalis. Suddenly it all came rushing back.

Towers. Alexandria. We were escaping from Alexandria.

I blinked sharply and tried to sit up. After a few minutes Luke gave up trying to keep me prone and helped me sit up.

“What—What happened?” I asked.

“Before or after you jumped in front of Elex and I, like an idiot?” Luke demanded.

“Awww….” I could see the worry in his eyes, but I could also see the pride that suffused his face as he looked at me.

“You did it,” I whispered.

“Wedid it,” he responded. “How did you know he was up to something?”

I shrugged.

“Maybe sense of smell isn’t as useless for truth telling as I thought,” I managed. “I smelled the—the rage, thelust, in him.” I said. “So I was keeping an eye on him. He just smelled—wrong, somehow. I didn’t see him slip the dagger out, but I-I think I smelled his intent.”

“It’s my fault. I didn’t even think,” my Bonded said, brushing a lock of hair behind my ear. “Vestals use weapons made of obsidian. I separated the guards from their metal weapons, but I didn’t think to check him for obsidian.”

“Why did he do it?” I asked. “Elex was about to let him join us.”