Page 147 of Mud

“Yes—that’s her, all right. I saw her on the Tree of Abundance. She has no magic. She’s the Mud,” said the first guy, standing in the middle.

The woman holding the light in her hand laughed. “How in the world did you even manage to get in the Roe?”

“Orsurvive?” the other guy wondered.

“Who gives a fuck,” said my buddy in the middle. “I wonder how we can make her fall to her death real quick. Nobody’s even gonna notice.”

“Easy. We can paralyze her first, and she’ll fall all on her own—on some invisible sharp wood or glass that just happens to be there on the ground,” said the woman and shrugged. “It counts.”

“Ye, ye, ye,” said the one in the middle. “First one’s mine, though. Like we agreed.”

“A deal’s a deal,” said his friend on the right with a nod.

“I’ll keep the lights on. Go ahead, fellas,” said the woman, leaning her shoulder against the wall, smiling, completely at ease.

And the two men stepped toward me.

“Stop,” I warned. “Iwillshoot you.” And I would. At this point I wouldn’t even hesitate.

“I could use a gun like that, actually. They look—” his friend started as they took yet another step closer to me.

So, I made good on my promise and shot a bullet at their feet.

They screamed. They jumped.

“If you come any closer, the next bullets are going through your skulls,” I spit, but I shouldn’t have bothered. I shouldn’t have wasted precious seconds with threats—I should have aimed for their foreheads the first time around. Because by the time I shot my gun again, they’d already called up shields, and my bullets were useless, shells falling to the ground as the men—and the woman—laughed.

No matter,I said to myself, putting the gun away for the moment. I still had my daggers and plenty of knives, and I knew how to get close and personal with these men.

So, with two of my biggest daggers in hand, I ran for them without hesitation.

Except I miscalculated the whole thing again because even though I had these long blades to fight with, they had something that I couldn’t even protect myself against—magic.

Whitefire magic slammed against my chest, coming from the woman who was still keeping a small light on in her free hand. Second-degree spell, but it was strong. I sawher face, eyes wide and smile vanished, as she whispered furiously, and her spell was no joke. She had a lot of magic, and her spell was meant to induce a lot of pain.

I felt it. I felt every little ounce of it when it picked me up and threw me against the concrete wall.

Bones cracked. I fell on the ground on my side, blood dripping from my nose, my body in so much agony so suddenly that all I could do was clench my muscles in hope for release.

Fuck me, that had been quick.

I was a damn fool to think I could hurt them with my weapons when they had magic and I didn’t. Now the three of them were coming closer, grinning, saying something I couldn’t really hear, and death was on the tip of my tongue. They were going to paralyze me—if the woman hadn’t already. I couldn’t really feel any part of my body yet, even though the worst of the pain had retreated—and they were going to make sure I fell on something sharp. They were going to make sure I died, and they were going to use my body to get their key.

Goddess, they were going to use my body for a fucking key. My ashes would forever remain here in this playground.

Until…

“What kind of a game are we playing here, friends?”

The men, the woman—and my heart—stood perfectly still for a moment.

The next second, they turned around toward the mouth of the alley where the voice had come from.

Hisvoice.

I closed my eyes and released a long breath and I finally unclenched my muscles.

Taland.I’d completely forgotten about Taland.

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