Page 22 of A Blade of Lies and Spirits

“What?” Walker’s magic hovered, a dark swirl at the edge of my perception.

“His mind… something almost all gone, but it was there. Someone else, too, I’m not sure who.” Mind mages in the Guild, myself included by default, had to be licensed. I’d never done so. I didn’t want the trouble, so I kept what I could do quiet. The only magic that came to me easily was reading emotions. Those with that gift were called empaths.

“You have no right to use mind-magic on me!” Ellis yelled.

“Yes, there are two different compulsions that are unraveling, now that they were triggered.” Chance’s crisp voice cut across Walker’s. “One to seek, one to destroy, and interlinked to boot. Can’t tell who set them or when, but this wasn’t what they would have done independently. Though it played on what the subject was likely to do, given the opportunity."

So, these teens were assholes, but wouldn't have hurt the willow under normal circumstances. Something invaded them, encouraging them to do things they'd normally only imagine doing.

I didn't know how to feel about that.

“Would you explain that to the river, Alys?”

I tilted my head back, stared at Walker. “And what are we offering in exchange? Since it wants their lives?”

“Blood,” he said. “Blood for the willow’s roots. Best it will get.”

“Don’t think that’s going to happen,” said the bodyguard’s leader, a woman with close cropped hair and a stern expression. Even wrapped in the water, she emanated menace.

“It will. Why on earth did one of your charges even have a modified shrieker? That you let him discharge.”

“Orders.” Her jaw rippled as she stared at me.

Ignoring her, I offered an image to the river of blood trickling into the roots of the river. It countered with bloated bodies trapped among the roots. My head throbbed.

Beguiled. Coerced. Bound. I will find the roots, the source, and contain it so no other willow falls. I poured all my persuasiveness into the thought.

The wind sighed through the shrubbery, and the river rasped through exposed roots and branches. Finally, as I crouched next to the river, fingertips trailing in the water, it assented.

"Had the Compact not held, nothing would have saved the young idiots," I said.

“Who are you to say that to me, Celeste Vernier? I’ll have your job,” the older girl hissed.

“Please do.” I pulled a knife out. “Anyone need assistance bleeding? Glad to help.”

They started out barely giving a few drops of blood. But as the water in the balls that surrounded them rose in anger, they sliced harder and deeper. Eventually, the balls were pulled into the river, and teens and mercenaries alike covered their legs in arms in painful slices, turning the filthy water that surrounded them into red.

The river sighed, and the flood subsided. The water in the balls decreased, and then they were released. They were a sorry sight, the lot of them, muddy, wet and angry. Wardens arrived, tenderly herding the now protesting teenagers into the official vehicle for cleanup and first aid.

Chance remained as Kara was loaded with the others, facing the mercs with a faint sweet smile. Walker raised a brow, and the mercs retreated to their separate craft.

I reached Chance's side. “Why were you with them?”

“I was asked to be a guest lecturer on plant-based wards,” he answered.

I laughed, faint and low, as I stumbled back to where my grav lay. It seemed more crumpled than I remembered it. The engine didn’t engage either.

“Whose name did you sign it out under?” Walker asked. “Never mind,” he added, as I glanced sidelong at him.

Chance snorted.

“We’ll stay overnight in Silsprin and head out to your place in DC,” Walker said, and I nodded.

“I’ll be going, then.” Chance brushed a gloved hand against my shoulder.

I leaned into the touch, giving him the reassurance he sought. Otherwise, he would try to get me away from Walker. When Chance got the bit between his teeth, he didn’t always come to the correct conclusions. At least the touch asked, rather than demanded.

“Where are you staying?” I smiled at him.

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