Page 38 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
“He’s been gone too long to just be checking the corridor,” Hallie protested. “He’s either continued on without us, or he’s encountered something dangerous. If we don’t catch up, he might not come back.”
Her point landed true. Unease flashed across Fely’s face. She hesitated only a moment before lurching to her feet, pistol in hand.
Hallie sucked in a breath, and Niels lunged forward like he intended to shield her; but Fely only waved impatiently with her other hand. “Believe me, if I wanted to hurt you, this would not be my weapon of choice.” She ran her thumb over the grip. “Besides, we’re allies, at least for now. So killing you would be counterintuitive, would it not?”
Hallie and Niels exchanged uncertain looks.
This might be their best chance to run, while Fely was alone. But even if they got away from their captors, Niels would never be able to outrun them; he couldn’t even walk without leaning on the wall.
She would have to dispose of them, then, if it came down to it. She’d unraveled the soldier in the cavern. Physicallyspeaking, she could probably figure out how to do it again, but emotionally? That was different.
In any case, they couldn’t try it now. Not with her power mostly drained and Niels in so much pain. Plus, she had no idea how she’d get around Fely’s ability to neutralize her power.
So instead of planning an ill-advised escape, she distracted herself by inspecting the mural on the wall as they passed. Judging by the state of it—the paint peeling or faded, some of it worn all the way down to the stone—it had to be ancient.
Five dark-haired people—Yalvs, she guessed—reached toward a brilliant sphere in the sky that likely represented the sun. Simple, but beautiful. It didn’t ring a bell as far as the Yalven legends and stories she knew, but as she’d discovered on her visit to Myrrai in the late autumn, what Jaydians knew about the Yalvs barely scratched the surface.
She edged closer, careful not to touch it. A flaw in the mural caught her eye: a divot in the heart of the sun, like a piece had fallen out.
She looked around as she drew out her sketchbook, but didn’t see anything that looked like it might fit inside.
“What are you doing?” Fely asked. She’d paused further down the hallway, Neils a few paces behind.
“Sketching a copy.” A rough one, but better than nothing. “Do you mind?”
When Fely shrugged, Hallie opened to a new page and jotted down a description of what she saw alongside a small, rough sketch. It was times like these she wished she had a flash portrait device. Her fingers were still clumsy, and drawing just felt wrong.
Fely stepped up beside her. “Many of our ancestors were quite gifted in the arts. The ability to create beauty out of the mundane was a prized quality in their culture.”
Hallie blinked. She, of course, knew that from being a Yalven scholar at the University, but she hadn’t expected it from Fely. “Were you also a scholar in the Isles?”
The woman shook her head. “Not formally, but my family has kept our traditions alive. We chose to stay in our ancestral home when many of our fellow countrymen fled to Tasava before the Passages closed.”
Excitement sparked. Hallie tightened her grip on her sketchbook.“I didn’t realize there were many people on our side of the world who would…”
The ground shook so hard that Hallie pitched forward into the wall. She turned just fast enough for her pack to catch the brunt of the impact, but her neck still strained with the quick motion.
It was over as quickly as it began. She rubbed her smarting neck as she turned to look at Niels; he was clutching his leg, but otherwise unscathed. “What was that?” he panted.
“I don’t know.” The fireball still floated like a ghost above them. It hadn’t been affected at all.
Fely was slowly pushing herself up from the ground. Blood trickled down her face from a vicious cut near her hairline; she swayed as soon as she found her feet, and Niels caught her with his good arm. He helped her sit back down, pain spiriting across his own features.
Now was her chance. She could leave Fely here, take Niels, and—
And they would probably run into Filip on the way out, and they’d lose the modicum of freedom he’d let them keep. All for nothing.
She hesitated only a bit longer before kneeling in front of Fely. “Let me see.”
Fely shakily wiped blood from her brow; even wounded, her features were striking. Some people had all the luck.
“It’s not deep,” Hallie observed. “Head wounds tend to bleed a lot regardless of the injury. But we should…” She looked to Niels. “Let’s wrap her head in that last roll of bandages.”
He slipped the pack off his shoulder and handed it off. Hallie fished out the roll tucked near the bottom and got to work.
Fely flinched, but allowed Hallie to help. “It’s nothing. We need to find the King.”
“That wasn’t a natural quake,” Niels said, eyes on the darkness beyond them. She didn’t ask how he knew.
