Thirty-two
31 0 1
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

The instant the doors came open, Olisai ducked past everyone and bolted inside. No one even tried to stop her.

Rob would have liked to follow, and knew his family felt the same, but it would ultimately be more helpful to Matt and Kisea to keep the interior of the half-ruined building from being mobbed by the curious and the over-eager who had no useful role to fulfil at the moment. With no orders from the Assembly and no idea what to do, the white-and-red-clad guards were perfectly willing to follow the instructions of someone who was a recognized authority figure and stopped to tell them what to do; Rob had them set up a perimeter, and, unasked, Chris and Alina and Jai spread out to make sure that it actually reached all the way around the building and that all the guards understood the same orders.

Sometimes, when his brother and sister and brother-in-law were around, it was almost as good as being able to be in multiple places at once.

Kian and Shon got through anyway, a combination of Shon knowing how to be his own voice of authority and the two of them invoking their responsibilities as Matt's personal guards.

Kallima, and Jori who was in her human form, and the mer-woman sorceress who had re-introduced herself as Matt's old friend Fala, waited with visible impatience while Rob's siblings rejoined them. The guards had enough sense to stay out of the way of the Jordans.

The wreckage was even more obvious from inside the Joint Assembly Hall. Rob wasn't at all sure it was ever going to be structurally sound again; they might well have to construct a whole new building.

And in the middle, on the floor, was a siren-blood woman with paprika-red hair straggling loose in damp tendrils from its previously-neat braid, a golden lifewitch cloak around her, all her attention on the figure curled up in front of her and using her crossed legs as a pillow, covered by a similar cloak.

Right then, Rob thought, nothing else in the world existed for either of them.

Alina started towards them, but Kian laid a hand on her arm.

“Let them be,” he said quietly.

“But...”

“She can help more than anyone else. More than I would have believed anything ever could.”

“It will be over much more quickly,” Shon seconded.

“There's an odd sort of symmetry, there,” Jai said. “He won't even know we're there at this point anyway. Let her do whatever she does, love.”

Alina sighed, watching her son, his fingers laced tightly through Kisea's on her leg, her other hand smoothing his hair gently. “I'm grateful for anything that makes it easier, but...”

But he was her son, and though Alina had never been the domestic maternal type, she loved Matt and Kian both with the protective ferocity of a wildcat with kittens.

“Let's see if we can find out what happened,” Rob suggested, catching his sister's hand and urging her towards the cluster in front of what had been the tiered seats of the Assembly. They were the only people still standing; a number of others were down and motionless.

Etanynne welcomed them over with a nod and a slightly shaky smile.

“The brief version,” she said, unasked, “is that no one is dead or likely to be, though I do not envy Zayn the headache he'll have when he wakes up from Parvynne's strike. Kisea defeated three telepaths without harming them, Baldwin and Honora mostly just kept everyone other than Matt and Kisea and Gossethien and Parvynne shielded, although Baldwin took down Idella who's telekinetic.”

“Trying to help him directly,” Honora said softly, “would only have hindered him.”

“And worrying about bystanders would have crippled him completely,” Jai sighed. “As proud as I am of him for caring about others, he does take it to extremes at times.”

“He moved several hundred people far enough away to put a thick stone wall between them and the battlefield,” Baldwin said. “That isn't extreme, it's impossible. Or should have been. But if he hadn't... well, the shields we had up were among the strongest I've ever built or needed to, and they barely held at the end. Anyone in this Hall at that time with any lesser shields would probably be dead as of then, if not badly injured or killed before that. Parvynne and Gossethien were using some very unpleasant types of magic.”

“They're both all right?” Kallima asked anxiously. “Matt and Kisea?”

“They're both fine,” Etanynne assured her. “Olisai and I checked them over and did what we could, and we can finish later, but there was nothing serious.” She sighed. “Now we get to try to pick up the pieces. I confess, it's a task that frightens me more than a little. Do you suppose we can find someone to send for food? I know Zayn will have to sleep it off, and I doubt we can wake Gossethien or Parvynne or the telepaths to get them to eat. I suppose we should see about having them moved to cells, for their own protection as much as ours. But Matt and Kisea need to eat something as soon as possible and it would be a very good idea for Honora and Baldwin to as well.”

“I'll go,” Fala said. “For the food, at least. I'm not sure there are enough guards to keep people out of here and move people to the cells.”

“Try asking Nitarai to rally the students to help,” Rob suggested. “I imagine she'll be able to suggest a few reliable classmates in particular.”

“A good idea, that,” Etanynne said.

Fala nodded. “I'll be back soon.”

* * *

There were people moving around them, and voices, some of them quite close by, but even with all her attention on Matt, Kisea recognized Kian and Shon, and left anything immediate to them. At some point, the motion and the proximity of other people faded considerably, down into quiet.

It might have been hours or days before it passed, or much less; her own fatigue made any attempt to judge futile.

She opened her eyes, and blinked at the room around them. No sunlight now, only twilight, the pale violet crescent of the smaller moon creeping into sight past the ruined ceiling, enhanced by sorcery to a comfortable level for those without alasir eyes.

Kian and Shon were on either side of them, watchful and patient.

Matt uncurled, but groaned. “Ow. No more magic duels. It's like getting thrown by a dozen horses and then trampled by them.”

“Show some gratitude,” Kian chided. “Kisea fought too and has been helping you instead of resting.”

“Thump me for real if I ever really forget, not just moaning.” He sat up partway, braced on one arm. “Still can't see,” he sighed, and used his other hand to find her by touch for a kiss. “You know I'm not complaining about you, right? And how much I appreciate it?”

“Yes, I know. And my fight was less extreme, I think. They wanted me to win. They were only fighting hoping I'd effectively destroy them and look bad.” She didn't think it was only exhaustion that drained much of her earlier anger of its force, not with the glimpse she'd had of them as terrified children hiding from the world. Truly forgiving them for the way they'd handled that fear wasn't quite so easy, but the fear itself she understood. “They were as afraid of me as I ever was of them.”

“You've never committed murder out of displaced fear,” Shon said flatly. “They are responsible for their own choices.”

“Alina!” Kian called.

“Oh gods, my mother.” Matt dropped back to his previous position, curled into a ball. “I'll be doing every possible chore for the rest of my natural life and she'll invent more. Or she'll make Rob put me on stable duty or something.”

“And put the stable-hands out of work?” Kian sounded amused. “He wouldn't allow that.”

The woman who joined them was perhaps Kallima's height, though more curvy. Her hair, other than the individual locks that were going white in streaks, was such a dark brown that in poor light it could probably pass for black, though she'd have to be a head taller before she could be taken even for an alasir-blood crossbreed rather than a human. Though she was, at a glance, dressed for the road, her trousers were a dark red and the leather of her bodice a warm light gold, an interesting reflection of House colours, and the materials were finer quality and in better condition than they really should be for rough use. A telepath crystal glittered in the hollow of her throat, and just below it rested the familiar rearing horse pendant.

She knelt beside Matt and, without a word, gathered him up for a fierce hug. She knew exactly how to work around his blindness, Kisea observed, hands guiding him subtly. Matt hugged her back, just as tightly.

The man who looked a lot like Lord Jordan sat down on the bare floor next to Kian, whom he resembled at least as strongly despite the tanned skin and silvering sun-bleached hair. He was dressed similarly, though with a short-sleeved wheat-gold tunic replacing the leather bodice—not quite a uniform, but enough to suggest one, especially with that Jordan necklace in sight. He handed Kisea an oval-shaped bread-roll, the same kind the kitchen produced in abundance for the students, stuffed liberally with cold sliced meat and vegetables and cheese. “Here, eat, there's plenty more. Lifewitch orders. Etanynne's concerned that you haven't been eating enough to compensate for recent conditions.”

Well, that was a tactful way to say, for being a highly stressed siren isolated with three sympathetic and accommodating alasir-blood, with the inevitable blood loss despite all attempts on their part to minimize it.

“My father Chris,” Kian said. “I think you met him and Alina once or twice, a long time ago.”

“Very briefly,” Kisea said. “Thanks.” She bit hungrily into the sandwich, and with the first mouthful, her overstressed body latched onto the idea of it as something to replace lost energy and demanded that she finish it as quickly as possible. She forced herself to eat it one bite at a time and chew each thoroughly; throwing up was bad enough any time, worse when already exhausted.

Alina finally let go, only to start scolding Matt for taking reckless chances without letting his family know so they could be there to help, and more along similar lines. Chris adroitly caught Matt's hand and give him a second sandwich, one that even at a glance had a much higher proportion of meat; Matt's occasional attempts at interjection between bites gained only commands from her to stop talking and eat, so he gave up and listened meekly.

“Please don't take it as ignoring you,” Chris said softly. “Just give her a moment.”

“Alina, of all people, complaining about risks that need to be taken and wanting to keep others out of it?” Kian muttered. “The pot calling the kettle black, there.”

“And she knows how near the misses she's had a time or two were,” Chris said. “Why do you think she's been so scared? Deciding to sneak off alone to confront a renegade controller, with the intention of keeping the rest of us out of harm's way, came within a hair's breadth of being the last mistake she ever made. We were all worried, but you two and Jori generally keep your heads no matter what Matt's doing, and I couldn't see any reason to think this was an exception.”

“It was a unique situation,” Kian said. “One in which even otherwise reckless behaviour would have been appropriate, if there was no other way.”

“That's exactly what I mean. Some things matter so much you do them no matter what, but doing them deliberately and aware of the risks is very different from charging in headlong. And please don't doubt how proud of the lot of you we are, regardless of how worried we've been.”

“This time,” Shon said quietly, “no matter how it looks, Matt did have a plan and did know exactly what he was doing.”

“I know. What we couldn't put together ourselves, Jori told us.”

“You left Jori as a hawk,” Kisea said to Kian, confused.

“She appears not to have stayed that way,” Kian said.

Maybe that would make sense once she was less tired.

Once Matt finished his sandwich, Chris intervened. “'Lina, let it go. It was a reasonable decision, and we've both made worse ones. Everyone's alive, and we have plenty to celebrate. Right now, maybe we should get these two to bed while there's still any hope of walking there, hm?”

That worked.

But they didn't have to walk the whole way. Jori joined them, in human form, while they were getting up—in some cases with assistance—and gave Kian an expectant look as she held out a hand; he closed his around it and said, “Horse.”

“Good idea,” Chris said. “You're a lot steadier on your feet than either of our heroes here.”

Once Shon helped her up behind Matt, Kisea reached around him to grope for the strap for support, pressed as close against his back as possible.

Jori picked her way delicately around wreckage and through the doors, which were high enough that they didn't need to duck, and back in the direction of the guest suites.

“We've got this,” she heard Kian say quietly. “After all, it's our job. There are a lot of very frightened and confused people around with no idea what to do now, and you could probably be more help here. You know where we'll be.”

She didn't hear the reply, but it was only Kian and Shon who caught up with them, and who helped them off Jori outside the guest quarters, and who made sure the two of them got safely to their own soft and welcoming bed.

1