Page 36 of Songs of Retribution

"Mags." Janet dropped her crossed arms.

"I believe the girl. She needs our help, and I'll be damned if I send this poor creature out into the world to face that tyrant and not help anyway I can."

"You can watch," I said to Janet, "and tell her everything I did."

Janet ignored me. "She could kill you."

"She's not going to kill me." Mags turned towards me. "You ain't gonna kill me, are you?"

"No."

Janet scoffed, kicking her boot back against the plank wood wall. "Yes, very reassuring. If she kills you, I'm not going to miss you."

Mags walked closer to me. "Just promise me one thing. If you do kill me, compel her and make her miss me like hell."

I couldn't help a laugh. "You've got it."

"Excellent. Go ahead then."

I wanted to cry. I'd never have made it out of the palace if it wasn't for the help of others far braver than me, and now I had this woman submitting herself to my magic without so much as a tremble solely for my sake.

I hummed a note, and the magic curled through the air, swept through my zevar which amplified it, and shifted into her. She stilled and I sang. "Your life will be happy. I don't imagine you need my magic to influence you for that. You seem like a kind soul." Janet watched with a tense jaw which left me unsettled, but I pressed forward. "You won’t feel your bones aching in the rain anymore." I could feel them, the hot throb of discomfort. I wouldn't do anything medical beyond erasing the pain. That was mind work, which I knew, but I'd almost killed Sai attempting to compel his body. "Tell me what your favorite color is."

Mags and I went back and forth, me asking her trivial questions, my magic surging back through me. It still wasn't at the full level it should be. But it was enough to make me feel alive again.

When I released her from the magic, I made sure she'd remember it all then offered them the gold which Janet refused multiple times before accepting. As I turned to leave, Mag’s face softened. "Take care, child," she said. "May fate watch over you."

"Thank you," I said, gratitude surging through me as headily as the magic. "I won't forget this, ever. Thank you so much."

I pulled the door open, but Mags slammed it shut. My heart raced as I turned towards her, tapping into my magic.

“Do you hear that?” she asked.

I listened, and suddenly, beyond the farm’s quiet noises, the cows’ huffing sighs and dripping rooftops, I heard something that made my stomach ache. The thunder of hooves, hundreds of them.

“Soldiers,” I gasped.

Janet pressed a hand over her mouth. "You’ve used your magic,” she said to Mags. “They’ll know y’er a fairy.”

“She’s used her magic here.” Mags thumbed at me. “I’d say that’s the bigger issue.”

Terror crawled over me. These women had been good to me, and I’d brought doom on them. “No,” I said. I wouldn’t give in to fear or the black-and-white thinking. “I can tie you both up and use enough magic to cover your trace. It’s me they’re after. I can make it look like I broke into the house.”

Mags bit her lip and nodded. “You’ll need to damage a few things.” I grimaced, but it was true. I needed this to look authentic. “Just don’t go breaking the crockery, it’s expensive, mind?”

“Of course. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“Nae bother, child.” Janet seemed calm again now that we had a plan.

We moved rapidly, using rope Mags found to tie them both up, Mags rolling her eyes and directing me on how to fasten a proper knot. I sang so the fire flared and wind rushed around, disheveling the neatly arranged place, but not truly damaging anything. Before turning towards the door, I quietly placed another clutch of gold coins into a pot.

I offered Mags and Janet one last look of gratitude, then slipped out into the rain which had lessened and followed their directions past the lower fields. I could still hear the soldiers’ kelpies plowing towards me, and now I’d left a trace of magic for them to follow. Damn the bad luck.

I reached out to Sai, let him know my direction, and ran.

CHAPTERFOURTEEN

SAI

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