Page 46 of The Witch Queen

Krantz grins and gives her a nod. “Smart girl. As soon as I throw this match, we need to run to the main road,” Krantz says, letting the flame burn high. “If you run fast enough, youshouldmake it before it explodes.” His smile widens. “Bombs just like this one are being lit all over the district. Once we get everyone into the main square, we’ll start phase two of the attack.”

“But why are you using thayar to create bombs when you’re also trying to stealmorethayar? Isn’t that defeating the purpose of the whole mission?” Silene asks, expression shocked and confused.

Krantz bares his teeth, clearly disliking being questioned by her. “Not that it’s any of your business, but this bomb barely even uses one flower, and we’re going to stealhundreds of thousands.Now, are you all ready?” He doesn’t wait for a response, just throws the match onto the mound. We all run, and just as we reach the main street that runs through the middle of Arberly, chaos erupts around us.

Explosions sound from all directions. Shrieks and cries begin only a few moments later. Soon families and shop workers flood onto the main street, driven out of their homes and shops by the explosions. Their faces show confusion and fear. Dozens are injured from the explosions alone, blood dripping onto the street. A small child stands ahead of me, alone and screaming for her mother. I consider turning on the rebels and assisting the people, our plans to infiltrate the rebels be damned, but that won’t help them in the long run.

Rebels emerge from the alleys, armed with weapons and magic. They attack with no warning. Bodies drop to the ground all around me, and I’m frozen in place at the escalation of violence. From what we’ve learned, so far there have been very few casualties resulting from the rebel attacks. Today’s offensive is going to be a massacre.

Shaking all around us indicates there’s another bomb coming. It pulls me out of my trance, and I use aether to create an invisible shield of light around my friends and as many people around us as I can muster. This isn’t adistraction, like Krantz claimed—it’s a slaughter.

Fionn’s and Silene’s eyes widen in horror. They waste very little time, jumping into the fighting but using their magic to discreetly ensure weapons don’t hit their marks and blowing children out of harm’s way with gusts of wind. When a large male turns his sword on a mother and her two children hiding under a barrel, a gust of air conveniently rips the sword from his hand. More and more rebels arrive, looting stores, starting fires, and causing terror wherever they go. Before I can do anything to help, Krantz is urging me to follow him down an alley that hasn’t been bombed. I hesitate. It was one thing to go along with this plan when I thought the worst that could happen was property damage and a few injuries. This is so much more than that.

“Go,” Silene whispers, using her air magic to carry the murmur to my ears only. “With violence like this, Royal Guards will be here soon. We’ll do what we can until they arrive. Don’t let these bastards get a single stalk of thayar from that tower.” I lock eyes with her for only a moment before turning away, praying to whatever gods will listen that I can put a stop to this.

I follow Krantz down the alley, then over a retaining wall that brings us to a higher level of the city. We trek along a side road, and as we walk, other fae join our group every few blocks.

“Now would be a good time to hide us, Your Highness,” Krantz says, almost a demand. I tune into the aether surrounding me, flowing through the light of the bright day, then bend it around the group that’s now about a dozen strong. I keep us visible to one another, though that takes a larger amount of effort.

“I need to know where we’re going, Krantz,” I say. “I’ll need to drop the ability to show us to one another soon. Point me in the right direction, and I’ll make sure we’re all heading that way.” Krantz points to a tower only a few blocks up. I release the extra aether allowing our group to see each other, then focus my attention fully on the tower. It’s hard to concentrate with the screams I can still hear from the merchant district and my doubt that this was the right decision. Taking a deep breath, I tune out the noise, mind racing to come up with a plan for when we reach the refinery. I’ll need to see the storage space before I can hide any thayar from the rebels. Now that I’ve seen what they do with just a small supply of thayar, I’m even more determined to keep as much of it from them as I can. “To ensure I can hide us properly, I’ll need to go into the building first. I can’t hide this many people without knowing what the light will be like in there,” I whisper, praying he hasn’t been exposed to many light channelers to catch my lie. “But I should be able to keep you all hidden outside. It’ll only take me a few moments.”

Krantz doesn’t respond for a few beats, and I fear I’ve made a miscalculation. He looks skeptical, eyes searching, though he can’t see me. But he only says, “Okay, but be quick about it.”

When we reach the base of the tower, I briefly allow the group to see one another so that Krantz can signal to them to halt. I give him a nod before walking to the front doors. There are only two guards out front, who both seem glassy eyed with boredom. I kick a stone toward the rebels, then sneak inside when the guards turn their attention that way.

There are three more guards inside, though I thank the aether that they’re immersed in a game of Skran and don’t notice the door swinging open and closed. Krantz explained at the tavern that the supply room is on the first floor, to the right of the front door. I head that way now, finding the door blocked by another pair of guards.

Shit.

I don’t know how to get inside without them noticing. Thinking for a moment, an idea sparks. I release the aether around the rebels outside for just a fraction of a moment. Easily explained away as a distraction to the rebels, but hopefully enough to alert the guards of a strange sighting. I have to wait a few minutes before I hear another guard running toward us, shouting.

“The outside watch spotted something weird. They saw a group of a dozen fae, but then they disappeared,” he calls. The two guards closest to me look at one another, clearly skeptical. “Captain says he wants everyone to meet in the entryway to investigate,” the running guard says now that he’s reached the pair outside the storage room.

“Fine,” one says. They leave, and I thank the aether. Wasting no time, I slip into the storage room and find it filled with boxes that I’m extremely familiar with. The thayar is packed into the very crates we receive and often try to divert in Velmara. I make a quick study of the room, deciding to disguise all but the back wall, which has the fewest crates.

If I’m lucky, the rebels won’t even make it here.

I slip out and head back toward the entrance, where the guards are discussing what to do. Several don’t believe the outside guards saw anything, blaming it on a hangover or lack of sleep. I need them to decide to send for backup, to get more guards here, so I make a stupid decision. One that Silene would absolutely kill me for. I quickly release the magic hiding me, hoping it wasn’t long enough for them to make out my features.

It works. At least four of the guards point in my direction, including the Captain. “One of the air channelers—aerstep to the palace and get backup,” he orders, drawing a weapon. I quickly slink around them and out the front door while they’re still looking where they saw me.

When I reach the rebels, I whisper to Krantz. “I’m back. Are you and your team ready?”

“What the hell’s going on?” he growls. “The guards shouted they saw something, and they all went inside.”

“I created an illusion to get myself through the doors without them noticing. Now we can all get in without their attention.” Krantz seems to believe the lie. When we open the doors, a dozen guards now stand in the entryway, eyes and swords trained on the entrance. They see the doors open and shut.

“Fuck,” Krantz mutters.

The guards attack, though they don’t know where we are. They swing their swords blindly, injuring a few rebels, but not enough to slow the group down. Krantz, a powerful metal channeler, rips swords away from the guards. Fionn described a similar move when he saw Krantz during the initial attack.

“Magic it is, then,” the Captain roars. Suddenly, dozens of vines slither across the floor, finding a few of the rebels and pinning them in place. Guards retrieve their swords from the ground and stab into the areas where the vines appear to wrap around something. As soon as the fae are hit, I release the magic around them, knowing that otherwise the guards will continue to stab aimlessly rather than look for more of us to catch.

Krantz runs toward the storage room, and I’m forced to follow him along with a few other fae who have made it out of the initial attack. When Krantz opens the door, the Captain notices and sends half of the group toward us. The rebels get inside before the contingent of guards catches up, then bar the door by bending the metal handles and wrapping plants around the tangled mess. I step into a corner, focused on keeping the bulk of the supply hidden from view.

“This is all there is?” Krantz roars. The guards bang on the door, warning that more are coming, and we should surrender now.

“Did you expect more?” I ask.

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