Page 29 of The Malice of Moons and Mages (The Broken Bonds of Magic #1)

Twenty-Nine

Audr a

C risp wintry hints clutched the thin morning air. Raia glittered above. Audra almost tasted fresh snow drifting down from the higher elevations. These mountains suited her better than the desperate streets of Oxton or the greedy island of Callaway. Her ancestors were born and buried here, and even though she enjoyed warmer climates, there was a comfort here she found nowhere else.

The pack jostled against the back of her thighs, empty except for food and a small gourd of water. It was ten miles to the ruins, fourteen if she wanted to visit Pangol. Guilt would settle in her chest whether she did or not. That she and Ferin were the only survivors of that day had birthed a weight that hung upon her shoulders ever since. There should have been more than two scrawny children who scrambled away.

She tried not to think about it as she scampered over dusty deer trails. If she stayed focused, she could be home before the moons rose. There’d be an angry mage to contend with then, but she had already renewed her intent on hating him.

She paused at the peak of a hill, scanning the small valley below. The remaining monastery turret stood against the backdrop of yellowing dried grass and a bright, cloudless sky.

In the far distance, nestled within a dense patch of woods was a clearing trampled down and dark. She stared at it until her eyes watered. There wasn’t any point in going there, and not enough time to anyway.

The thread between her and Moon had crossed tender and neared painful. The tightness in her chest and limbs escalated with every passing mile as the bond attempted to turn her around, like a stretched spring waiting to recoil. At some point, the tautness might prevent her from taking another step. She hoped whatever discomfort she was experiencing was triple for him.

Whether or not he planned on killing her at the monastery had consumed her since the previous evening. He’d killed the anglers so casually and insisted it was for their mutual survival. Was that a lie too? She’d grown too accepting of him and should have kept her guard up. But her emotions were raw and muddled.

Never trust a mage was Zin’s general rule for everyone save her mother. Audra had always known that Zin and Lorah had been more than friends. The dragon still mourned her, as evidenced by the fact that she’d not left her territory since the night Pangol was slaughtered. Once, when Zin was drunk on rice wine, she’d said she would wait for the call. She had promises to keep. But she refused to answer further questions, which was why Audra was tasked with all the travels. Perhaps because they had the jade, everything could change, at least for her and Ferin. If he could protect himself, he and Audra could have their freedom. Yet, this would bring a new set of obligations they couldn't ignore, matters she’d successfully avoided contemplating for quite some time.

She held onto thin trees for stability, trying not to slip down the steep slope when her nose began to burn. Smoke wisped into the sky behind the monastery. She stumbled and slid to a stop. A horse’s neigh echoed toward her. Five figures moved between the stone buildings, covered in ill-matching clothes. Black armor peeked from beneath a colorful sleeve.

Audra scrambled behind a bush, though it would be impossible for them to see her from their angle.

That the Moons might have found them so quickly seemed impossible. Other than the fiasco with the argentava, they’d covered their tracks and made good time. But they’d been on foot, the loss of the horse had slowed them. They’d stopped to rest, whereas this group might not have had to.

Zin’s territory had been blocked from detection for decades. It was the reason she and Ferin had survived that night. No one entered Zin’s lands without permission. Moon would be safe for the moment—not that she cared.

Though the shared northern border was near, the Moon tribe hadn’t set foot in this area since the Starlings claimed it.

She considered turning back, but there were only a few soldiers, and their manners were relaxed. They weren’t expecting anyone. If there were Moon mages, they’d not have their full strength until the moonrise, and she had no magic to detect.

The vault sat at the base of the eastern tower, where the last mages had felled it as a final act. Nothing moved at that end, and it would be easy to skirt the perimeter.

It was foolish to consider it. Ridiculous to think she’d succeed. But she’d stolen the jade from a well-locked store and safe and, other than spending a night in jail, crawling through shit, and butchering her hair, had suffered no real consequences.

Unless she counted those events as leading to a potentially fatal bonding with a disagreeable Moon mage. No consequences at all.

Shit. Those scrolls might be her only hope.

Slipping through the tree line around the monastery added an hour to the journey and placed Starling directly behind Raia. The ring’s dark shadow chilled the air. Audra followed the toppled tower blocks from the trees to the base of where they’d fallen. Stubborn grass sprouted from the stone’s cracks while roots of saplings clawed their way through the leaf-littered ground.

So far, no guards circled this part of the building. Carefully avoiding the dried leaves, Audra scaled the six-foot remains of the crumbling tower’s base. She perched along the broken edge as a light breeze swirled dust into her face. Years of leaves and tree litter scattered atop rodent and deer bones clustered to one side, likely left by a liger who’d taken shelter here for a time. But the bones were old, undisturbed. The liger was long gone.

The hatch lay at the bottom of the interior wall that led underground. She never asked how Auntie had known where it was, but her knowledge of things was usually accurate. Zin’s connection to the outside world defied human reason, and Audra knew better than to question it. Dragons had their own ways and kept their own secrets. She hoped Ferin would be less secretive when he was well.

Digging through leaves and plying away broken stones, she listened for any movement and was satisfied with the quiet. Her heart picked up unexpectedly. A sharp tug knocked the breath from her lungs. Miles away, Moon yanked on their connection with a rankling tenacity.

His silvery yarn pulsed angrily behind her eyes. The smaller green thread was more interwoven now, intrinsic to the overall shape and strength of the spell. He pulled again. But when Audra resisted, his grip slackened. The green thread brightened as the silver one dimmed.

Let him wait. His mood didn’t matter and, given the circumstances, she was glad he hadn’t known she would come here. He would have stopped her, waiting to kill her until they reached the monastery. Asshole.

Audra dug through six inches of dirt, insect shells, and small bones when her fingers finally brushed solid wood. The familiar excitement of being where she wasn’t supposed to be and the possibility of taking what didn’t belong to her made her work faster.

After clearing a small section of the floor, she located a slightly wider space between the boards. When the tip of her dagger slid through without resistance, she pried at the planks. After a few minutes of sweat and silent but passionate cursing, Audra pulled up the hatch. She muffled a cough into her sleeve as a gust of stale air greeted her.

Ten stone stairs disappeared into darkness. Ignoring another of Moon’s tugs, she stepped down and followed the tunnel. The passage trailed beneath the ruins, and thin streams of dull light trickled in from above. The tunnel curved south then west again. Paths turned off, but she stayed on the main one until she reached the twelfth hall and veered left .

Muted voices drifted overhead, disappearing as quickly as they’d come. The lock, stiffened by disuse and time, gave way beneath her skill.

A dim all’ight cast eerie shadows across the scroll-lined shelves. After so many years, she was surprised to find it still barely flickering.

She gently pulled out a dozen scrolls, unrolling the wooden slips to glimpse the characters painted on the yellowing papyrus. Audra tried to be grateful for Zin’s sporadic and impatient tutelage on the ancient language. The little bit she could decipher helped her select eight scrolls that mentioned bonds. It would take more time and attention for her to clearly interpret them. Her gaze lingered on several other scrolls, but her bag could hold no more. The rest would have to wait.

The all’ight illuminated her return to the stairs and up into the slanting afternoon light. She extinguished the small flame with the turn of a key beneath its copper base and shoved it into her pack.

She scaled the broken wall and dropped silently to the ground, pausing before darting into the woods. She’d retrace her path, back the way she’d come.

Audra was ducking between low branches when Moon yanked again. His demand lashed painfully around her chest. Her reaction was instinctive. A flash of emerald magic whipped from her hand. It sliced through a tree, toppling it into a neighboring pine with a thunderous crash.

Her stunned gaze alternated between the carnage and her palm. There wasn’t time to ponder how she’d stolen Moon’s magic. Yells came from the monastery. Boots pounded over dried ground.

Audra ran and leaped over shrubs until her lungs burned.

The ground met her face mid leap, a searing pain snaked around her calf. The pack sailed from her shoulder and disappeared beneath a conifer’s lowest bough. She hoped it stayed hidden.

A middle-aged man with cheeks ruddy from exertion appeared behind her. His gray thread spun from a hand hidden beneath long black sleeves and tethered to her ankle. Two soldiers flanked him, swords drawn.

The mage panted. “What do we have here?” Another leash swept toward her, encircling her waist. Audra clawed at the dirt while he dragged her over the sharp ground toward him .

“Nori, stand down.” A thick man strode into view, hair shorn close to his head. His coloring was warmer than his peers, closer to Traq’s. He frowned in a way that indicated it might be his usual face.

“She took down a tree, Xiang,” Nori said. “Aren’t the Starlings supposed to be south this time of year?”

Xiang stared at her with a ghost of familiarity in his eyes. “She’s no Starling.” With one motion to the soldiers, they hauled her onto her feet. He moved close, examining her build and chopped hair. He pinched her chin, turning it one way, then the other before she jerked away. “Could I be so lucky?”

“Sir?” Nori asked.

Audra stayed quiet. She didn’t like either of their tones and offering a defense before they asked could lead to more questions.

“What are you doing here?” Xiang asked.

“Ch-checking the ruins,” she said. “I grew up near here and was heading back to Stonetown. I only?—”

“Where?” Xiang looked more interested than Audra liked. “What village?”

She pulled tears to her eyes and let her limbs soften. Actions that had worked in the past to develop sympathy and lay the foundation for underestimating her strong desire to escape. Sure enough, one soldier’s grip loosened slightly. But the man before her was unswayed, waiting patiently for her response.

“You wouldn’t have heard of it, only?—”

“Say it.”

She swallowed. “Pangol.”

Xiang chewed on the word. “Pangol. Do you know what it means?”

Her mouth dried beneath his dissecting gaze. “Dragon,” she whispered.

He turned brusquely away. “Bring her.”

Audra waited until the others turned their backs. Then she dropped from one soldier’s grasp and kicked the legs out from the other. She made ten paces before Nori’s magic smashed against her cheek.

Everything went dark.