Page 6

KARL LET HIS magic fade, the glow immediately disappearing, and cast around frantically for somewhere to go.

The space was empty aside from the cross and lone occupant; no furniture or structures for Karl to hide behind.

The doorway he had seen from above was flush with the wall.

The only option Karl could see was a patch of shadow to the left of the steps, cast by the angle of the setting moon.

Karl scrambled there, ducking down and tucking his chin into his collar so his face and any exposed skin was concealed behind his dark clothes.

He tried to breathe shallowly, attempting to prevent any movement from giving him away or from them seeing his breath misting in the cool night air, and hoped whoever was approaching didn’t come down into the amphitheater.

In the dark and from high above, Karl thought he might be able to stay hidden, but the same wouldn’t be true from the floor where Karl was.

“Hey, stinky, you still alive?” The voice came from above, from what sounded like the top of the stairs, and was dripping with scorn and derision.

“Stiiinnnkkkeeee.” The catcall was like nails on a chalkboard, piercing and shrill and completely lacking in any trace of alarm that would indicate the speaker could see Karl.

Karl peeked at the man on the cross, who let his head flop against the wood as if he had tried and failed to look up at the speaker. Karl could have hugged him. Hopefully that would be enough to convince the guard to stay up there.

“Well, damn. Not dead yet. Never fear, stinky, I’ll be back to check on you again soon!” The tuneless whistling resumed, fading slowly as the guard continued onward.

Karl waited, trying to stem the rising sense of relief, listening hard for the guard until he was straining his ears to hear the whistle.

Only once he was certain the guard was gone, did he scramble back to his feet.

Magic sprang to his hands as he returned to his efforts on the man.

Flesh continued to reappear in the places it had melted until the white of bone was completely gone and skin regrew over muscle.

The puss and pustules shrank until they vanished, taking the worst of the stench with them.

Karl kept his magic flowing, searching until he was certain no trace of red magic remained anywhere in the man’s body.

A terrible mess still remained, even lines from upper thighs to neck slowly oozing blood from where scabs hadn’t yet been able to form. Karl had no ability to heal whip lashes, so unfortunately there wasn’t anything he could do to help with that, but at least he could finally cut the man down.

“Who are you?” the man asked as Karl pulled his belt knife free again and started sawing at the thick rope securing one of the man’s arms to the cross.

“Hopefully, a friend,” Karl replied. He paused in his sawing to hold out the back of his right hand, concentrating to focus his magic until the seal embedded there activated.

On most people, the pattern of the House of Etoval glowed green for military magic, but Karl’s red magic always overpowered it so the seal was an eerie red-brown in the darkness.

Still, it denoted who Karl was working for better than his saying it aloud.

Karl resumed sawing at the rope, finally freeing one arm. He started to walk around to the other side when the man waved his freed hand.

“Definitely a friend,” the man said, and a moment later a green seal in the same pattern of the House of Etoval appeared.

The green had an odd tone to it, likely for a similar reason to why Karl’s was a brownish-red, but Karl was too happy to see the seal to want to overthink it for the moment. “My name is Ama. Who are you?”

“Karl,” Karl replied, letting out a relieved breath at the knowledge he was busy rescuing the correct person. He didn’t know what he would have done if this man hadn’t been Ama. “I was sent to find you by some mutual friends,” he added as he started to work at freeing the other arm.

“Those mutual friends should have let me die. Yaroi is going to retaliate when they find out I’m gone, and it won’t be pretty.”

Karl grunted as the rope around the left hand finally cut through.

“I’m going to free your feet now, so hold on to something.

” He ducked down and carefully slid the knife between Ama’s ankles and the rope, then started sawing.

“The two people who organized my being here are both aware of the consequences, and I’m sure are already preparing to respond.

Besides, Yaroi might suspect they’re involved with whatever you were doing here or with your rescue, but unless they catch one of us, they won’t have any proof.

So let’s get out of here before the guard comes back. ”

The last rope finally broke and Ama let out a little whimper as his arms and abused back muscles suddenly had to take all of his weight. Karl jumped up and carefully gripped Ama under the arms, helping to lower him to the ground.

“Can you walk?” Karl asked, still holding on to Ama.

“Walk, yes,” Ama replied, breathing heavily between gritted teeth. “Bleeding everywhere and leaving a trail for them to follow is more of an issue right now.”

“You can wear my shirt,” Karl replied, already starting to shrug out of the sleeves, for the first time registering that Ama wasn’t wearing any clothes.

“The cloth should absorb the blood. I can get you more clothes and bandages at my hotel room.” He yanked the shirt over his head and handed it to Ama, who hissed in pain as he slowly pulled it on.

“Let’s go,” Ama said, leading the way to the stairs. At the top he paused, looking both ways for a long moment before moving as quickly as possible in the direction of the outer wall.

Karl stayed tight on Ama’s heels, following closely as they reached the spot where the wall tapered into the garden, open to the neighborhood next door.

“I don’t understand this configuration,” Karl muttered even as he looked around to see if there was any movement.

“It’s an illusion. The houses on the other side of the road are actually part of the guard complex. I’m shocked we haven’t seen any guards yet, to be honest. People shouldn’t be able to simply waltz past the edge of the wall without being spotted like this.”

Karl had an answer to that mystery, at least. “They’re probably hiding from the smell. I don’t know if you could smell what they did to you, but it really wasn’t pleasant. In fact, that’s an understatement. And I’m using my magic right now to keep that stench going to mask our scent trail.”

“Then let’s take advantage of it before they realize their lapse.

” Ama walked around the wall and onto the road, then started walking quickly along the road parallel to the wall until they reached a cross street.

Ama went left, away from the looming palace.

Every once in a while, Ama’s steps would hitch and he’d suck in a breath, so Karl tried to stay close in case Ama needed a hand.

They continued at their current awkward pace for a few long minutes, Karl glancing up at the darkened windows as they passed, hoping none of the watchers enforcing the curfew were nearby since he and Ama didn’t bother hiding in the shadows.

“Which hotel did they put you in?” Ama asked as he slowed, his voice soft so he didn’t wake anyone sleeping in the houses nearby.

“The Dancing Bell. Which is…” Karl glanced around and realized he was completely lost. “Somewhere. I actually need to get to a market near the hotel, where I can stop the rot stench.”

“I think I know the one you’re talking about,” Ama replied. “Come on.”

He resumed his fast pace, and Karl followed.

Ama randomly cut down alleyways and wove his way through the streets.

While nothing looked familiar to Karl, the palace was farther away every time he glanced in that direction.

Suddenly, Ama stopped at the end of yet another alleyway.

He looked around as Karl joined him, and Karl realized they had reached the exact market Karl had walked around about two hours earlier.

“This is it,” Karl said, grinning at Ama. “Now I just need to dissipate the rot stench while using it to cover up our real scents, and then we can head to my hotel room for the rest of the night.”

Before Ama could respond, an eerie howl rang out, echoing between the buildings and sending a shiver down Karl’s spine.

“They’ve realized I’m gone,” Ama said instead of whatever he had been about to say a moment earlier, glancing around with a frown.

“Look, are you planning to take a caravan out in the morning?” He waited only long enough for Karl to nod before continuing.

“Good. There’s one going into Toval—the one I was supposed to leave with if I hadn’t been caught.

They’ll still be waiting for me. In the morning, find that caravan.

I suspect it’s led by someone you’ll find familiar, so locating it shouldn’t be too hard.

Pretend you don’t know him, but make sure to contract with that caravan.

I promise I’ll find you outside the city tomorrow if you’re with them.

Now, get back to your hotel room. The streets will be crawling with guards in a few minutes.

” He nodded once, before turning and heading off, back into the depths of the city before Karl could voice any sort of protest.

Karl stared after Ama for a long moment, wishing he dared rush after Ama to bring him back, but a second eerie howl rang out, reminding Karl that time was limited.

He didn’t have time to argue with Ama, and Ama had seemed confident they would be able to meet up again.

All Karl could do at this point was trust him.

Instead, Karl wandered around the market a second time, letting the rotting scent fade as quickly as he dared as he shut off his magic.

He made sure to go over the spot where Ama left when the rot was still strong and cancelled the magic completely only once he was on the opposite side of the market.

A third eerie howl rang out as Karl finally left the market, the sound dogging his heels as he retraced his steps back to the hotel.

Thankfully, he didn’t see or hear any sign of the searchers being nearby.

He arrived at the hotel faster than he probably should have, throwing caution away in return for expediency, but it paid off when he reached the tree beneath the window he had left unlocked.

Climbing the tree, pushing open the window, and slithering into the empty room took mere seconds.

Once the window was firmly closed and locked behind him, Karl could finally afford to breathe.

Yes, his scent was all over that market, but the rot would do a lot to mask it.

Couple that with the fact that his scent was in no way associated with Ama’s, and that he had a solid alibi of being drugged and asleep, and Karl felt he had a fairly good chance at getting away with tonight’s activities.

Only time would tell, but first he needed to be back in his room to ensure his alibi held up.

Karl headed to the doorway, listening at the jamb for a good minute for any sign someone was waiting, before unlocking the door and heading into the, thankfully, unoccupied hall.

He relocked the door to number two and placed his feet carefully as he then crept to his own room.

Karl remembered the shoe being in the way a millisecond before he bounced the door off it; instead, opening the door just enough so he could slip through the narrow opening.

Locking the door behind him was the best feeling, almost better than realizing he had actually found Ama.

Karl stripped off his pants and dumped them on his bag, then went to the bed where he dug out his stinking clothes and added them to the pile.

He unrolled the used extra comforter and draped it over the edge of the bed as if he had kicked it off in his sleep.

Chores done, Karl crawled onto the mattress, curling up under the sheet and blanket.

He wanted to unpack everything that had just happened, and he knew worries over whether Ama had escaped their pursuers would be swirling through his head. Sleep would no doubt be hard coming. Karl closed his eyes, ready for a restless few hours, but was asleep moments later.