Page 50 of Invocation

“I’m hardly delicate.”

“Oh, Neiryn. Of course you are,” Kadaki replied.

“We’re here,” Aruna said suddenly.

They all looked up. Through the trees ahead, not fifty steps away, was a road.

They stopped on the edge, where dirt met grass. The forest continued on the other side. It was the very same stretch of road where Novikke and Aruna had met.

They all stood there in silence, struck by the realization that this was the end. They’d made it out. They were finally leaving Kuda Varai. It hardly seemed real.

It was the beginning of something new. None of them would be going back to the lives they’d had before—at least not right away.

But somehow, after everything that had happened, none of that seemed as dire as it had before. They’d fought off an army and saved an entire civilization. Novikke had summoned a damned goddess. Everything else seemed simple by comparison. If she could face all that, she could face anything. She could be anything.

She didn’t have to be just a courier. She didn’t even have to be a soldier.

She had become something else entirely, and she found she didn’t mind.

Kadaki cleared her throat. “I’m going back to Valtos to speak to Thala,” she said. “We’d agreed to meet there next month while we’re on leave. Hopefully the plan still stands, despite the... unexpected events of late.”

“Is that a good idea?” Novikke said.

She smiled. “She’s my best friend. We probably won’t be seeing each other for some time after this. I need to say goodbye.”

“And after that?”

She shrugged. “A mage can always find work.”

Novikke glanced up at Neiryn. He’d already made it clear that he wasn’t going back to Ysura just yet. He’d gotten rather attached to Kadaki.

“And you?” Kadaki asked her. “What will you do?”

Novikke scratched her head. She’d wanted to join the army for as long as she could remember. She’d never considered any other work. “I used to hunt sometimes, when I was a teenager, before I joined up.”

“You’re a skilled archer?”

“No,” she admitted. “But I’ll figure something out.”

Aruna looked as uncertain about it all as she felt.

Neiryn and Kadaki could go wherever they wanted with little trouble. There were many sun elves living in Ardani. Their nations had intermixed since long before the war. No one would look at them twice.

But Aruna didn’t have that luxury. She couldn’t bring him into a city. Someone would call the watch the moment they saw him.

Everyone was looking at Aruna. She could tell they were all thinking the same thing.

“We’ll be all right. I have a lot of experience living outside of cities,” Novikke said, giving him a hopeful smile.

Kadaki’s lips pressed into a thoughtful line. “I have something for you.” She reached into her pocket, then held out a ring. Novikke had seen her etching runes on it for the past few days.

“This is what you’ve been working on?” Novikke asked.

She nodded. “It’s, um... it’s a spell for altering one’s appearance. A glamour.” She handed it to Aruna, frowning a little. Aruna took it, but stared down at it with his eyebrows drawn in, like he didn’t particularly want to be holding it.

“I admit, I’m not the most practiced enchanter, and you won’t be able to use it for long without having to recharge it, but I thought it might help.”

Aruna finally looked up at her and nodded. “Thank you.”

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