Page 57 of Sun Elves of Ardani

Kadaki looked up to see Rhian parting the crowd, a small group of her own soldiers behind her. She had finally appeared, at just the moment Kadaki had least wanted to see her. Kadaki glanced over her shoulder when she heard heavy-booted feet approaching behind her. More soldiers were flanking her on all sides. Neiryn was watching her with a grim expression.

Rhian strode toward her, looking terrifyingly furious. A jet of flame erupted from her fist, sweeping the ground as she walked. Before that moment, Kadaki hadn’t known Rhian was capable of arousing this level of fear in her.

“Put. Him. Down,” Rhian said. “Now.”

Kadaki’s heart sank into her stomach. She knew what was coming next. She knew what happened to mages who dared to raise a hand to an elf.

She looked up at Caradoc. The magic holding him up had to be changed to pull him back down. In her weakened state, she was afraid she would let a piece of the magic slip and he’d fall to his death. “Fine. Give me a moment.”

“Now.”

Unwilling to rush and make a mistake, she went slowly. All the soldiers watched her as she carefully altered the spell and began pulling him back to the ground. Rhian’s lips were a tight, angry line, but she didn’t say anything.

The moment she set him down, as gently as if she were setting a baby down in a crib, they lunged at her. Multiple sets of hands grabbed at her arms. Someone fisted her hair and pulled her head back. A lot of people were talking at once. She thought she heard Neiryn’s voice somewhere, but she couldn’t make out any of what was said. The fire at Rhian’s fist disappeared, and she reached into the satchel at her side.

She withdrew a hinged circle of metal, large enough to fit around someone’s neck.

Chapter 16

Neiryn watched, frozen, as Rhian pulled the magic-suppressing collar from her bag. Kadaki stood still, stoic and unresisting, as Rhian closed it around her throat.

Kadaki sucked in a breath. For a few seconds, she didn’t move. Then her head fell forward and her body went limp. Passing out was not a normal reaction to being collared, but she’d been so weak already that the collar must have taken what little strength she had left.

The elves holding her, Felmai and Tanwyn, dropped her to the ground when her weight began to pull on them. Neiryn stared at them. Heat spread through his hands in reaction to his anger, and he had to stifle his body’s reflex to summon fire.

He was fairly certain it was the first time he had felt such anger toward any of Rhian’s other soldiers. He had been with this group for several weeks now, having traveled here all the way from Tal-Vreth. He did not know them well, but they were colleagues. He liked them as much as he did anyone.

And they just dropped her. They let her fall into the mud like she was trash. Because that was what she was to them. To them, she was just another Ardanian. Years ago, before he’d known her, he might have treated her the same way.

He shoved past them to kneel beside her. When he turned her over, her eyes were closed, her lips purplish. He touched her bare arm, and her skin was still very cold from the hail. At that moment, everything about her seemed very small and frail, and it made him all the more furious with the other soldiers.

He looked up at Rhian, not caring about the disapproving look she was giving him. “This is unnecessary.”

“She assaulted one of us.”

“She cleared the anomaly. Eliyr couldn’t have done it on his own. She has done a great service for the town and everyone here, including our people.”

“It doesn’t matter. She could have killed him. She’s lucky I’m not taking her straight back to Ysura for a trial.”

He felt a flicker of relief. “You’re not arresting her?”

“No. She’s too valuable. We can still make use of her here. But from now on, she’ll wear a collar when she’s not actively doing work for us.” Seeing his expression, she leaned closer and lowered her voice. “You can’t really be surprised. I told you it was only a matter of time before she did something like this. I could tell from the moment I met her that she was too willful to be controlled without a leash.”

He clenched his jaw to keep from arguing. He couldn’t challenge her here, in front of everyone. The chain of command must be respected. The image of perfect order must be preserved. That was what she would tell him later, if he questioned her now.

Caradoc rushed to his feet and pushed through the crowd toward Kadaki. Neiryn picked her up, giving Caradoc a warning look. Kadaki hung limply in his arms. She weighed surprisingly little. Her self-assured presence normally made her seem less diminutive than she actually was.

“I’m placing that mage under arrest,” Caradoc said, jabbing a finger at her.

“No, you’re not,” Rhian said calmly.

Caradoc glared at her. “Commander?”

“She’s relevant to our mission. I’ll take responsibility for her from here on out.”

“She’s the one who did this,” Caradoc said through gritted teeth, waving around them.

“The axis did this,” Eliyr cut in, to Neiryn’s surprise.“She’sthe one who helped me fix it.”

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