Within the wagon, we unearthed Lucas, Maddy, Wyatt, Logan, and Ben from the chest.
We’d debated long and hard as to who would be out front and who would have to hide. If we ran into trouble, it made sense to have our best fighters free to move. I’d been a bit surprised to be included on that list.
While we were still under cover, Maddy started using her blocking talent. She folded me, Lucas, Talakai, and Matt into her projection, as Wyatt, Logan, and Ben took over from us setting up the booth. The switch wasn’t likely to be noticed, especially with everyone heavily cloaked against the weather.
The effort was assisted by Mari, who hovered on the edges, doing her best to look fierce. Her glower, combined with her size and bright-red skin, was creating the intended effect—she drew the attention off us.
The area immediately around her was clear of mercenaries. Wyatt, doing his best Dragon impersonation, stood with his cloak hood pulled up on the other side of the wagon. He wasn’t generating nearly the same degree of respect.
Emmanuel was granted it without even needing to glower. In part, it was his size. He rivaled Mari for height, but with his equine body, he took up significant real estate as he bustled around, setting up the booth. The wares within might not be all his, but the wagon was, so his efforts were practiced and efficient.
As they got the portable booth ready for business, mercenaries started lining up to peruse the goods.
And we slipped away down the alley.
Sebastian, we’re in,I sent. And on our way.
But there was no answer.
55
Sebastian
Anna called through the link, but I couldn’t reply. Which be concerning because I badly needed to tell her not to try to rescue me.
I be beyond rescuing. A situation that grew truer with every passing moment. I could no longer stand, so they’d dragged me into the courtyard and staked me against the cold stone.
I might have faded away altogether if it hadn’t been for the boost of energy when Anna and the Dragon joined. Despite my attempts to stifle our connection, the power had flowed through it to touch me. Enough to clear my mind, momentarily.
Her and the sarddingDragon.I be too far gone to feel more than the briefest surge of rage—not enough to fight what they did to me. I wasn’t alone on the floor. The injured Trantils, including those so laboriously stitched up, lay alongside me. Most be already dead.
The reason I be afraid to contact Anna be the three members of Isobel’s coven that bustled around them, gathering their blood in sealed vessels. Meanwhile, mercenaries moved Trantil mares from the barns toward the gateway.
Many balked at the scent of blood. Be any, in fact, pregnant? Knowing Isobel’s power and determination, it be likely. She’d woven her witchery around me three times. There be more than thirty mares that might be carrying my offspring.
The faintest trickle of humiliation burned through me, but I lacked the energy for anything more.
Isobel herself breezed into the courtyard and zeroed in on me. With her, be Galeran. When he bent over me, his expression be an unhealthy mix of anger and triumph.
“Well, Sebastian, here is where we say goodbye. At least with your death, you will contribute to the cause.”
“What cause? Half your army be deeceaseed.” The words came out garbled and barely decipherable, even by me.
His eyes gleamed a morbid red, and his face contorted. “Our mission is beyond the understanding of most,” he snarled.” We will suffer setbacks in our attempts to set things right. But we will persevere.”
“You be slaughteering entire populations,” I struggled to make my words, and intent, clear. “How does that seerve the greater good?”
“He does not have to justify himself to you,” Isobel snapped. “You are nothing. An impotent fool.”
The venom behind the statement no longer had the ability to hurt me. I peeled my lips back from my teeth, and said, “Betteer a fool than a monsteer.”
Galeran’s eyes flashed. “Many visionaries were called monsters by those who lacked the intellect to understand.”
“Is that the only reeasoning remaining to you?” My gaze moved past him—to Isobel. “So you be only bleeding the Trantils dry to feed your eevil magic?” I stopped breathing while I awaited the answer.
Isobel’s eyes bored into me. They glinted crimson in the light. “Your blood is no more valuable than any other animal’s. But those Bellatis injured in the battle—they are giving their lives to boost our power to do good.”
I closed my eyes. That be why she and Galeran be still here. They be harvesting my injured brethren to feed into Isobel’s power before they flee.
