Page 87 of Take No Prisoners
"They make formidable interrogators," Olivia said. "They don't need consent to hurt with an implement and then heal with a thought."
"That's terrifying," Niall said. "Martiz is leading Vadim's trial?"
"The council won't let him use torture, but being verbally interrogated by him is almost as bad."
Olivia shared story after story, some plausible, others outright ridiculous, about Martiz's bedside manner while they waited for Petri to finish making their breakfast. "But you didn't hear that from me," she said. "How did you learn healing magic?" Olivia asked Niall. "Last I knew, Martiz was feeding you a line of bullshit about how he couldn't go any slower."
"Grandmother taught me."
Olivia nodded. "She's free, then?"
He nodded. Before he could elaborate, Petri handed him a serving of vegetable stew in another delicious-smelling bread bowl. He nodded his thanks and turned back to Olivia. "Coryn was able to access her mind and speak through her mouth. As soon as we're finished here, Petri and I should—"
"Shh," Petri said. "Smell that?"
"Fire!" Olivia pointed. Thick smoke curled through the trees in the direction from which they'd come.
"The barracks," Petri said. "Thank the gods no one is there today." They dropped the wooden barricade over the food stand's open counter and started running toward Vadim's shack. Somehow, they'd still managed to grab two bowls of stew and ran without spilling them to kick the bottom of the door and shout for Klaus to wake up.
Klaus didn't answer.
"We need to get back to the ship," Olivia said. "From the water, we can get a better view of what's happening and sail to Horseshoe to warn the others."
"Fuck!" Petri dropped to their knees and deposited a bread bowl on the stoop. "Klaus, if you're in there, here's a bowl of stew for you."
Petri ran back to Olivia's side, and they rushed into the thick underbrush in the direction of the new docks to the west.
"I can't leave him," Niall said when they turned and motioned for him to follow. He and Klaus weren't exactly friends, not anymore, but leaving him for Coryn, or whoever had decided to burn the barracks, wasn't an option.
"Meet us at the docks," Olivia said.
Niall kicked at the door the same way Petri had. "Klaus? The beach is on fire! We need to go!"
He thought he heard someone stirring inside, but the sound of a twig snapping behind him caught his attention. Too late, he tried to turn and was shoved up against the side of the shack. The bread bowl in his hands smashed against the door and fell to the ground upside down. Thick brown gravy poured onto the cobblestone path.
"What do we have here?"
Another shove to his kidneys. Niall grunted as something cold snapped over his wrists. He reached for his elements in an attempt to free himself, hoping one of the eight would come to his call, but he was completely cut off from all of them. When he rubbed the material against his wrist, it felt like the rope they'd used to bind his grandmother.
The shack's door creaked open inches from where his cheek was pressed to the wall. "Niall?"
"Two for the price of one!" The person's raspy voice darkened to something malicious.
Klaus bent over and picked up the unbroken bowl of stew with a nonchalance Niall envied. "Fuck off, Brigham. I'd come willingly, if asked."
"You want me to believe Vadim is the only traitor in our midst?" Brigham I feel his power all over you. Not buying it for a second."
Klaus paled at that, but he still took a swig of stew from the bowl. Niall hadn't had a chance to taste his before it spilled at his feet.
Niall felt silly for losing his skirmish with Brigham, who was shorter than Klaus and almost as skinny. He had a mop of blond hair and small eyes set too far apart. He sneered at Klaus, but then his eyes shifted. "She's got a new death weaver, you know. Spooky bitch. Makes Vadim seem downright friendly."
Niall wanted to argue that Vadim was friendly, but that wouldn't do them any favors. He kept his mouth shut and tried to placate Brigham with a nod and a smile.
Instead of cuffs, Brigham tied Klaus's arms behind his back with a simple rope and looped that rope between Niall's hands before leading them both toward the beach. Niall tried to resist, but Klaus collided with his shoulder. "We'll get out of this," he whispered. "Trust me."
Niall didn't trust Klaus. That was the problem.
The brick face of the barracks still stood, but the thatched roof was gone, and the wooden supports were still smoldering.
