Page 2 of Sanctuary of the Shadow
“I think it might be too late for warnings. There’s some kind of commotion at the front gate. I hear shouting.”
Harrow jumped up, dread coursing through her. “Let’s go!”
Both women hurried outside. In the open air, Harrow could hear distant, angry voices, and they ran toward the source of the noise. She hiked up her skirts and tried to match Malaikah’s rapid pace, but there was no keeping up with a panther Hybrid running at full speed.
Closer to the entrance, there were storage wagons, rolled up tents, and building supplies laid out to be set up. Beside the tall gates, the ticket booth was half built, its colorfully painted walls erected but the roof still missing. As Harrow passed the last wagon and finally caught up with Mal, she skidded to a halt. They faced the tall arch over the wrought-iron gates to the fairgrounds.
And the mob of angry humans that had gathered outside them.
About fifty people strong, the crowd seemed to be made up of average citizens of the town, not dressed in wealthy finery nor clad in the rags of the destitute. The men and women carried torches and weapons, and metallic clanging rang out as they struck them against the bars.
The padlock and chain wrapped between the gates suddenly seemed a pitiful defense. Especially because a large man in the front hacked at the length with a heavy axe.
“Elemental filth!” someone hollered as they noticed Harrow and Malaikah. In the bright morning sunshine, the enraged display felt decidedly incongruous. “Servants of the bitch Queens! Your kind aren’t welcome here!”
Harrow had no doubt they would break through if left to their own devices. The fury on their faces made clear their determination to inflict violence upon the Queen’s forsaken chosen ones.
Their hatred was as misguided as it was ignorant. Humans and Elementals alike had paid the price for the Queens’ endless feuding. Harrow knew better than anyone how high the cost of war could be.
“Go back where you came from!” another cried, and the clanging against the bars amplified in emphasis.
“Where do you want us to go?” Malaikah shouted back, ever the fearless one. She bared her sharp white canines. “We came from here the same as you did!”
To Harrow, she added, “I mean, really. Servants of the Queens? What kind of logic is that? In case these fools hadn’t noticed, the Queens don’t give a fuck about us anymore.”
Following an intuition, Harrow grabbed Mal’s hand and pulled her back behind the wagon for cover. “These people have no logic, Mal. Don’t try to reason with them. It’ll only enrage them.”
“Oh, I think they’re enraged enough already.”
As if to punctuate her point, a volley of stones launched over the gates, accompanied by more verbal abuse. All the while, the clanging of the axe striking the chain continued.
“Damn it.” Malaikah looked around the wagon and pointed. “Look. Oli is stuck in the ticket booth.”
Harrow leaned over and followed her finger. It took her a moment to see the fox Hybrid hiding in the corner inside the half-finished structure, but a glimmer of his bright red hair was just visible through the window.
“What in the Goddess’s name is he doing there?” Mal hissed. “Why doesn’t he run?”
The booth was against the fence and within striking distance of the humans if they reached through the bars. But it was inside the grounds, and the open doorway faced away from the mob, which meant Oli could escape if he moved quickly.
“They’re throwing stones.” Harrow ducked as one came flying over the wagon. She certainly wouldn’t be keen to run out of a safe hiding spot directly into the firing line of an enraged mob.
“He’s a fox,” Mal said. “He’s faster than all of them combined.”
“Maybe he’s too scared to run.” Hybrids were the physically strongest of all Elementals, but Oli wasn’t a fighter, and it seemed likely he’d simply frozen in fear.
“Oli’s in there!” someone called out, and Harrow glanced back. Behind another wagon, several of the circus laborers had gathered to watch the spectacle.
“Oli, run!” another called out.
“Shut up!” Mal hissed at them, but unfortunately, her warning came too late. Some of the humans heard and caught on to the location of their trapped comrade. Weapons were thrust through the bars, battering the sides of the booth. Others threw more stones. Oli paled and flattened himself against the wall as if trying to disappear.
As Harrow watched, the Water suddenly rose inside her, turbulent and insistent.
“Mal,” she bit out, fighting the sudden onslaught of her magic as it surged in response to the threat. “We have to get Oli out of there now.” She closed her eyes and took a breath, willing the Water to subside. Oli needed help, but she couldn’t afford to unleash her defenses, not here in the middle of the circus in front of a horde of humans.
Gaining a sliver of control, she opened her eyes again, preparing to run into the melee. She may not have been able to use her abilities, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to help.
Then she noticed the empty space beside her where Mal had been.
