Page 120 of Sonnets and Serpents
Before he had the chance to feel any victory, Kerem’s voice came from behind.
“Bikmayak kalamak.”
Silas spun, taking a blind swing at the professor he expected to be directly behind him, but Kerem was out of reach, crouching with his hand on the ground. The rock directly beneath Silas melted into a liquid, muddy sand, sinking him up to his knees, then thighs. He grabbed for the wall but couldn’t find purchase. With the movement, he sank up to his waist.
“At least fight with your own magic!” he spat.
“The magic you’re so familiar with?” Kerem shook his head, the angles of his face dancing with shadows from the lantern on the ground beside him. He cradled the Artifact against his chest, like a child to protect. “Can you picture it now—the kind of power afforded to a person with magic ofanytype? I can even create compositions by myself. I’ve no need for research partners any longer, and perhaps that’s for the best. Mazhar’s betrayal caught me off guard even more than yours. He started with vision but lost it halfway.”
Apparently Silas hadn’t given the short-tempered Fluid Caster enough credit for his conscience. It may have kicked in late, but it was more than Kerem showed.
“Hypocritical ofyouto talk about betrayal,” Silas said bitterly.
“In what way did I betray you?” Kerem’s eyes flashed. “I believedin you, mentored you, made it possible for you to remain at the university. I wanted you involved in all my greatest achievements, because I’ve always seen you as ...”
The unspoken hung between them, and Silas halted his struggle against the quicksand.
“You can still stop,” he found himself saying.Begging. “You can stop this. Please.”
Kerem looked away. Quietly, he asked, “What could I do instead? Stand aside and watch the corruption grow? I can’t, Silas. I tried.”
He stood, curling his fingers more tightly around the Artifact, any sign of compassion gone.
“I need your venom. At least I can promise I’ll use it to save the country you love.”
Scales flickered across Silas’s skin, but he remained himself, too exhausted to complete a transformation. Pain lanced his skull at the attempt, and for a moment, he couldn’t even open his eyes.
But in the dark, a faint impression came to his mind.
Find Silas.
Slowly, he blinked. Kerem had taken a few steps toward him, but the man faltered, looking down.
A familiar python slithered between the professor’s legs. Tulip reached the edge of the quicksand and tested it with her tongue, then glided forward like the strangest sailboat. She curled protectively around Silas’s waist, pulsing with a contentment he could feel, like she’d accomplished an important mission.
She distracted them both from the second familiar visitor.
With both hands, Eliza slammed a dagger into Kerem’s back, dropping the professor to his knees with a scream of pain. He released the Artifact to clutch his shoulder, grasping for a hilt he couldn’t reach, and Eliza rushed forward to grab Silas’s wrists, trying to yank him free.
Realms, she was gorgeous. Haloed with frizzy hair and scowling with determination, a better saving angel than any portrayed in art or statue.
“Pull!” she shouted, shaking him from his stupor.
Silas did, almost pulling Eliza into the muddy pit along withhim. But contact with Tulip had given him a new surge of magic, so he transformed into a snake and then back so quickly he left the princess blinking.
Frantically, he looked for the Artifact that had fallen close to Kerem.
The professor saw his attention and lunged at the same moment Silas did.
Kerem was closer, but Silas was faster. Desperation could do that to a person. His fingers closed around the box just as Kerem’s hand clamped over his. They wrestled, but Kerem’s injury weakened his grip, and Silas managed to wrench away.
Kerem rose to follow but collapsed again with an agonized grunt.
Silas hesitated, his eyes on the dagger hilt protruding from his mentor’s back.
“Gravmak!” Eliza ordered.Outrun the strike.
She seized his hand, and he ran with her, just as they’d run from the kuveti.
