Page 19 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

Something was off. That was the only explanation. But she didn’t know what.

Niels moved a little, as if to push himself to his feet, but he hissed through his teeth and sat back down with a grimace.

“What?” Hallie asked. Lady Fely looked over at last.

Niels shook his head. “Fetch another roll of bandages from my pack, will you?”

Apparently his shoulder wasn’t fixed, either.

Shame and guilt warmed her face. Not only had she failed to heal his knee, she hadn’t even tried to help with his shoulder.

She glanced toward Lady Fely, asking the silent question; the woman merely nodded, allowing Hallie to crawl closer and help Niels untangle the pack strap from his unhurt shoulder.

Even after the chaos of the last day, the contents were still packed relatively neatly.

He’d brought rations, another pistol, a light wool shirt, and bandages.

She pulled out one roll and helped him work it around his injured arm, fingers fumbling as she tied it off.

She tried her best not to touch him any more than required.

He adjusted the sling a little as she sat back on her heels. He winced with the movement, but his face quickly calmed. He gave her a small smile. “Thanks. That’s a tad better. Ma would be impressed.”

His mother, the daughter of a sailor who’d retired to the mountains, was clever with knots. She helped the miners with all sorts of ropes and pulls when needed. And she would not be impressed with Hallie’s work here.

“How’s your Ma doing?” she asked, not sure what else to say. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to catch up with her.”

Not that she’d had the chance, as she hadn’t actually seen Mrs. Metzinger at all. That wasn’t entirely strange, since she’d rarely left her tent, but knowing his mother, it was odd that she hadn’t come to see Hallie.

Niels took a moment too long to answer.

An uneasy feeling began in her gut. “Niels?”

Niels’ jaw feathered, the shadows deeper in the flickering light from the floating fireball.

Unease sharpened to horror.

No.

“Nadia? Andre? Your pa?” she choked.

“I’m the only one.”

“During the attack? The first one?”

“Yes.”

His voice was so quiet, but in the stillness, the single word clanged like the University’s clock tower bells. His sister, Nadia, couldn’t have been older than ten.

Sweat immediately beaded across her forehead and hairline, heat gnawing at her insides as her power throbbed. She wobbled, pressing one hand against the stone floor to steady herself.

The Cerls would pay. She would do everything she could to find what she needed in Myrrai…then she would have her own vengeance.

“I am sorry for your loss,” Lady Fely said from the door. Hallie blinked, surprised—not that she’d been listening, but that she’d offered something other than hatred.

The woman smirked. Her beauty was evident even in the dim lighting with the dirt smudged on her cheek and her hair in a tangled braid. “While I am betrothed to the King, I am not of Cerulene.”

When neither Hallie nor Niels responded, she sighed. “I am of the Isles. They chose me because of my lineage.”

Hallie’s heartbeat ticked up at the information. The Isles were a Rubikan city-state. They’d been one of the supporters of the old queen during the civil war, if she remembered her history correctly. She quickly dampened her surprise.

She didn’t want to feel any sympathy for the woman who was helping her enemy. This could be Fely’s way of trying to lure her into complacency. She would work with them, but she wouldn’t allow herself to fall into their trap.

She would never trust them.

Niels grunted as he pushed himself to his feet. His grimace gave away how much effort it took. The light revealed a sheen on his face, but he stayed standing, though he hadn’t removed his hand from the wall.

“Do you know where we are?” he asked, as if the last conversation hadn’t even happened.

“Somewhere in Myrrai.” She hoped, anyway. It was unlikely to be anywhere else, right? She wanted to fish out her grandmother’s journal and try to work her magic again, but she didn’t want Fely to know what she could do. The journal might not even be useful here.

Pinpricks buzzed in Hallie’s chest, and she stuck her hand into her pocket to grab Kase’s goggles. The cool metal would soothe her sore fingertips; they still felt scalded, almost, like she’d set her hand on a hot stove.

Instead, rough fabric lining scratched the pads of her fingers.

Empty.

The goggles were gone.

“Where…?” She searched her pocket again. She searched the other. Nothing. She glanced at the floor around her. No goggles. She crawled to her pack and tore through it. Not there.

“Hal, what’s wrong?”

She stopped her frantic search, righting her satchel and pack from where she’d dumped out the contents from both.

“I can’t find Kase’s—my pilot’s goggles.

” She ran her hands among the scant items. She’d only had Frankenstein , her sketchpad, and a few pencils in her satchel.

The pack she’d picked up from her childhood home held a few of her mother’s old blouses and trousers, as the ones she’d brought with her had been destroyed in the Pass.

The goggles were nowhere. “They were in my pocket.”

Niels’ lips thinned, but he dropped his pack at her feet. “I don’t believe I have them, but you can look.”

Hallie shook her head. “No, I just dug through there for the bandages. I would have seen them.”

“These?” Fely said from her post near the doorway. “Nearly left them in the ruins. Figured they might be your Relic.”

Hallie cricked her neck looking over at the woman, who did in fact have the familiar goggles in her hands, undamaged except for a small crack in one of the lenses. Rubbing her sore neck, Hallie unsteadily pushed herself to her feet and retrieved them. “Thank you.”

Fely arched a dark brow. “In the beginning, it’s best if you hold your Relic while using your power.” She fished out a necklace from beneath her rugged blouse. “It’s probably why you couldn’t complete the healing, and why the Passage drained you so badly.”

Hallie clutched the goggles to her chest. The tightness in her chest loosening with each second that passed. She felt a little foolish to be so worked up over them, but she couldn’t help it. “Correa said something about them in Achilles, but he said my pocket watch was my Relic.”

“Do you have the watch?”

Hallie shook her head and retreated to where her belongings were still strewn about the cavern floor. “No, I lost it when…well, you know…the fort collapsed.”

Fely tapped her lips thoughtfully. “Was the watch valuable to you?”

Hallie nodded. “It was my brother’s.”

“Made of the holy metal?”

That phrase took Hallie aback. She’d only heard Yalvs use that specific terminology. If Fely had some sort of Essence power, she had to have some Yalven blood. She guessed it made sense, but something about that line of thinking irked her. She just couldn’t put a finger on what exactly.

“Yes,” she answered finally. “It was made out of Zuprium.”

“A Relic must be something crafted of the holy metal and have specific meaning to the wielder. However, it is unfortunate if the Relic was indeed the watch.” Fely played with the locket she’d unearthed from her blouse.

“But that may depend on the Essence power you possess.” She closed her fingers around the locket.

“This is the reason I am able to keep myself sane though I am but a vessel.”

Kneeling, Hallie finished repacking both her satchel and pack. She carefully laid the goggles in her pack, then thought better of it, untying her maiden belt and looping the goggles through it instead. She double-knotted the belt just to be safe.

“If you have lost your first relic, it might be difficult to replace it.” Fely rose to her feet. She peered into the corridor beyond. “I must ask the King, but we may very well be unable to teach you full control over your power without it.”

Hallie stood. “Then we’d best find what we need before it’s too late.”

She tried to inject as much confidence and nonchalance as she could into the words, but judging by the doubtful glance Niels gave her, she hadn’t succeeded. Hallie handed his pack to him before slinging her own onto her shoulder.

“We will wait for the King,” Fely said as Hallie approached.

“He’s been gone too long to just be checking the corridor,” Hallie protested. “He’s either continued on without us, or he’s encountered something dangerous. If we don’t catch up, he might not come back.”

Her point landed true. Unease flashed across Fely’s face. She hesitated only a moment before lurching to her feet, pistol in hand.

Hallie sucked in a breath, and Niels lunged forward like he intended to shield her; but Fely only waved impatiently with her other hand.

“Believe me, if I wanted to hurt you, this would not be my weapon of choice.” She ran her thumb over the grip.

“Besides, we’re allies, at least for now.

So killing you would be counterintuitive, would it not? ”

Hallie and Niels exchanged uncertain looks.

This might be their best chance to run, while Fely was alone. But even if they got away from their captors, Niels would never be able to outrun them; he couldn’t even walk without leaning on the wall.

She would have to dispose of them, then, if it came down to it. She’d unraveled the soldier in the cavern. Physically speaking, she could probably figure out how to do it again, but emotionally? That was different.

In any case, they couldn’t try it now. Not with her power mostly drained and Niels in so much pain. Plus, she had no idea how she’d get around Fely’s ability to neutralize her power.

So instead of planning an ill-advised escape, she distracted herself by inspecting the mural on the wall as they passed. Judging by the state of it—the paint peeling or faded, some of it worn all the way down to the stone—it had to be ancient.