Felitïa hadn’t thought about light. She should have planned this better. She really should turn around, rejoin the others, and plan this better.

Then again, as long as there was no light, it would be easier to remain unseen. And this had to be done now. She was sure of it.

She would have to feel her way forward, and that was yet another thing that would be more awkward with her fingers in their current state. She prodded with her elbow again to find the wall, and prodded with her feet to find the edge of each step. It was slow going, but eventually she reached the bottom.

It was still pitch black in the burial chamber of the ancient Ninifin ruler. How would she find the next secret door?

Felitïa.

The presence felt louder now. Closer.

Felitïa.

Perhaps she could follow it like a sound—the way she perceived it to sound anyway. She dismissed the Room first; it’s jumbled locations would be no help in this case. She had to do this blind.

Felitïa.

She stepped forward into the dark.

Felitïa.

Another step. And another. Each one slow and deliberate. She didn’t want to walk into a wall.

After several minutes, her foot hit something. A wall? She probed a bit. No. A step. The dais in the room’s centre? She stepped onto it, moved forward until her knee brushed against the sarcophagus.

Felitïa.

Was it in the sarcophagus? No, it was still too far away.

A sliver of flickering light appeared ahead of her along with a grinding noise. In the silent dark, the light was blinding and the sound deafening. The light expanded as the door where Fra-Atl had died ground open.

Felitïa cast her spell. The energy flowed through her in an unfamiliar way. It sent tingling through her stomach and thighs, then her knees and lower legs. Oddly, pain shot through her arms and hands, exacerbating the pain in her fingers. Her body protesting the unusual energy distribution, perhaps? But the spell worked.

She hoped.

It wasn’t as stable as she might have liked, and its demand on her energy reserves was much greater than she had experienced from this spell in a long time.

A Volg holding a torch stood in the now-open doorway. He stepped into the room, and the light spread out, providing dim illumination to most of the chamber. Two more Volgs with drawn swords followed him. They moved to the side and another entered. This one wore black robes and a heavy gold medallion in the shape of a goat’s skull.

The one who had been with Castroff at Lake Belone. The one Felitïa had spotted the last time she’d been in this chamber. Nibdenoff.

In his hands he held a tall wooden staff that looked short against his great height. It was hard to make out in the dim light, but the top the staff was carved in a design. Felitïa could make out wings and hollow eye sockets. The missing Staff of Sestin?

FELITÏA!

The staff was calling to her.

The Volg with the torch said something in the Volg language, and Nibdenoff replied. The Volg with the torch and the two armed Volgs spread out and moved farther into the room. All three were gazing from side to side and up and down as they moved. Did they suspect she was here?

FELITÏA!

Nibdenoff peered at the staff.

FELITÏA!

He sneered.

The staff was giving her presence away.

The torch-bearing Volg reached the edge of the dais and placed the torch in a holder there. He then drew his sword, still looking about.

Felitïa backed off the dais. Each step intensified the pain in her arms. Why the hell was that happening? When she next had a moment to practice, she would have to study the effects of this casting method and find a way to fix them.

If she didn’t die first.

The added pain was making maintaining the spell ever harder.

The other two Volgs moved past the dais and circled around. One of them looked up the stairs and called something back. Perhaps an all clear since he moved away from the stairs again?

Nibdenoff scowled and moved towards the dais. Behind him, another smaller figure came into view. The figure appeared human and followed the Volg across the chamber. But the figure’s head was too round, too perfectly spherical for a human head. And it glittered in the torch light.

It wasn’t a head at all, but a crystal ball, like the one Nibedenoff had carried at Lake Belone. But sitting atop a walking, headless body.

Dear gods. It was Fra-Atl.

The Volg stepped onto the dais and laid the staff on top of the sarcophagus. Fra-Atl stood beside him, and he placed his hand on the crystal ball. It began to glow much more brightly than the torchlight. Yellow energy crackled and danced across its surface.

This was impossible. Fra-Atl was dead.

Necromancy?

But necromancy was a lost discipline—lost to humans and Isyar, at any rate. Could the Volgs have retained knowledge of magic even the Isyar no longer retained?

Nibdenoff placed his other hand on the staff and crackling yellow energy flowed from the crystal ball over his body and to the staff.

The staff screamed.

Felitïa stumbled and struggled to hold on to the spell. Was it really screaming? No, not out loud. In her head. It was deafening, and threatened to tear away her concentration. She scrambled to move the Room’s walls into a tight circle around the staff’s presence, blocking it out. That was better, though she could still hear it faintly. And it was getting louder again.

She had to do something.

Only one thing came to mind. She would lose the hiding spell, but she was going to lose that anyway once her concentration broke. This way, she might accomplish something before dying.

The crackling energy was lighting the entire chamber like the sun now. The energy continued to flow from it, across the robed Volg, and into the staff. And the staff continued to scream louder in her head. The walls she’d put around its presence were beginning to crack.

Felitïa took a deep breath, tossed aside the spell, and ran for the dais and the staff. As she ran, she opened her mouth and screamed as loud as she could.

The three armed Volgs turned in her direction and Nibdenoff looked up. His hand clenched around the staff and he sneered.

At the last moment, Felitïa turned to the side and ran straight into Fra-Atl, knocking the old woman’s body over. The crystal ball crashed to the floor. It shattered and its light and energy vanished.

The staff stopped screaming.

Felitïa, however, only stopped screaming long enough to take a breath. She had no idea if she was loud enough for Zandrue and the others to hear, but she could hope.

“Will-Breaker,” Nibdenoff said.

Felitïa scrambled to her feet, accidentally putting pressure again on her broken fingers, but she was starting to get used to the pain now. At the very least, it was a reminder that she wasn’t dead yet.

One of the other Volgs leapt at her. Felitïa stopped screaming and put him to sleep. He crashed into the side of the dais. It woke him back up, but it slowed him down. As the second came at her, she did the same to him. He fell forward smashing his snout on the floor. The third was still too far away.

More sounds came from behind as more Volgs entered the room. Nibdenoff reached for the staff.

“I have the Child of the Volgs,” Felitïa said, her voice hoarse and rough.

Nibdenoff hesitated.

“I took him back from Fra-Ichtaca.”

“Then you will die,” the Volg said.

“Only I know where he is.”

The Volg shrugged. “Then we will find him again. You will still die.”

Metal clanging against stone sounded from the stairs. Nibdenoff turned to look in that direction just as Rudiger ran into the room, Nin-Akna close behind.

Felitïa ran forward and reached for the staff. She couldn’t grab hold of it, but she could knock if off the sarcophagus, out of the Volg’s reach. Nibdenoff turned on her, so she put him to sleep.

Except it didn’t work.

He grabbed her by the shoulder and something else grabbed her foot—the Volg that had collided with the side of the dais. An arrow then tore through that one’s neck and he released her foot.

Nibdenoff still had her shoulder—luckily, not the injured one, but his grip was painful enough anyway. He pulled her towards him, grabbed her other shoulder with his other hand. This time, the pain was excruciating. He was strong enough to rip her apart like a doll—she had no doubt of that—and she couldn’t stop him the way she’d stopped Agranim.

There was a dull thud and the Volg let go of her with a hiss. Felitïa kicked him, then rushed around to the other side of the sarcophagus where the staff lay. There was an arrow sticking out of Nibdenoff’s back between his wings. Across the room, by the stairs, Zandrue was firing arrows.

Rudiger and Nin-Akna were fighting back-to-back. A couple Volgs lay on the ground at their feet, but they were being surrounded by more.

“Carcraime!” Nibdenoff said as Zandrue fired another arrow at him. It thudded into his chest, but he still didn’t fall.

Felitïa bent over and fumbled for the staff. She tried to get a thumb under it, hook onto it that way. If she could somehow get it between her elbow or under her armpit, maybe she could hold onto it long enough to get it out of here.

“Felitïa! Look out!” a voice called—Corvinian’s.

Felitïa rolled aside, just as a Volg flew down at her. She put him to sleep and he crashed into the sarcophagus.

Her fingers and arms burned. Her feet and legs ached. She couldn’t keep this up for much longer.

But the room was bathed in light again—more than could be provided by the feeble torch. It was a blue light, and it gave everything in the room a dark, shadow-like quality. Felitïa peered around the sarcophagus to see Corvinian standing beside Zandrue. The boy was bathed in the familiar blue energy.

The energy shot out in streams across the room. It knocked aside the Volgs attacking Rudiger and Nin-Akna. It circled around the two humans and bent upwards to knock aside Volgs flying in the air. Another stream shot at the robed Volg who rushed around the sarcophagus and reached for the staff. Felitïa kicked at him, tried to trip him or knock him aside, but failed. With a single swipe of his arm, he smashed her into the side of the sarcophagus, knocking the breath from her.

The Volg wrapped his hands around the staff just as the blue energy hit him. It sent him sliding across the floor, but he kept his grip on the staff which began to glow with the yellow energy.

Felitïa struggled to stand, groaned with the pain that was her whole body.

All around the room, the blue energy was driving the Volgs back to the door they had come from—all except Nibdenoff. Both he and the staff were surrounded by the yellow energy now, and whenever it and the blue energy encountered each other, they both winked out.

Just like at Lake Belone.

“Felitïa! Come on!” Zandrue yelled.

Nibdenoff was standing back up. The blue energy from Corvinian intensified its assault. Several streams shot at the Volg, but the blue continued to vanish as soon as it hit the yellow.

“We have to get the staff!” Felitïa cried back.

“It’s too dangerous! We have to go now!”

Nin-Akna ran up to Felitïa and took her arm. “We go. That’s an order.”

Felitïa took another look at Nibdenoff, who was now striding towards Corvinian. She nodded. They had to get Corvinian out of here. She and Nin-Akna ran towards the stairs. They passed Rudiger, who followed after them.

At the stairs, Zandrue was already ushering Corvinian through the door. Meleng was waiting on the other side. “Go on, quickly,” he urged.

Corvinian ran up the stairs, followed by Zandrue, Nin-Akna, and Felitïa. Part way up, Felitïa paused and glanced back. She could only make out shadows in the fading light of Corvinian’s blue energy farther above, but the door was closed now, and Meleng appeared to be tracing designs onto it.

“Are you sure of this?” Rudiger, standing beside him, asked.

“Sort of.” Meleng finished what he was doing and both he and Rudiger darted up the stairs.

“Keep going!” Rudiger yelled at Felitïa.

She turned and continued running up the stairs.

When she reached the next level, Zandrue, Nin-Akna, and Corvinian were waiting in the hall. Corvinian’s blue energy had vanished, but there was still light from the torches they had procured earlier.

Rudiger and Meleng reached the hall. They paused there and Rudiger raised his hand for silence.

A moment later, Rudiger said, “I don’t hear anyone coming. Looks like your trick worked Meleng.”

There was a loud bang from below, the sound of crashing stone.

“Or maybe not,” Zandrue said.

“Well, it slowed them down a little,” Meleng said with a frown.

“Up the stairs!” Zandrue said.

They hurried up staircase after staircase, making their way to the top and the exit. The sounds of pursuit remained constant behind them. When they finally reached the top, they were all gasping for air, even Rudiger and Nin-Akna, who were the fittest amongst them. Poor Meleng was coated in dripping sweat and looked ready to fall over.

“Fra-Ichtaca’s gone!” Nin-Akna screeched. “I knew we should have killed her.”

“No time to worry about that now,” Zandrue said. “We need to keep going. The Volgs are still coming and very soon, they’re going to have a lot more space available to them.” She hurried out of the Temple. The others followed.

They began down the long, narrow stairs to the ground. There was no choice but to take things a little more slowly here, but Felitïa kept as quick a pace as she dared—quicker even. Her feet and legs still ached and her ankle was throbbing again.

There were people waiting at the bottom, but it took a moment for Felitïa to realise there were too many for it to just be Quilla and Fra-Tepeu. Had they found some of the other survivors?

No. There was no sign of Borisin, and most of the people were clothed like Palace guards and carrying spears. They had that jaguar with them, too.

“Zandrue—” Felitïa started.

“I know,” Zandrue said. “Keep going. We stand a better chance against Palace guards than those Volgs.”

“Let Rudiger and I take the lead,” Nin-Akna said.

Felitïa didn’t object as the two warriors moved in front of her and Zandrue.

They continued down the stairs. A moment later, Meleng called out, “Look!”

Several winged figures were gathering at the top of the pyramid, one of them carrying the staff and bathed in yellow energy. Two of the Volgs spread their wings and flew off the top. Two more followed.

“Shit,” Zandrue said. “Forget caution! Move!”

With a yell, Rudiger charged the last batch of steps, rushing straight for the line of spears pointed at him. He swung Slay and cut the tops off the spears in a single motion. He then fell backwards onto the steps, banging his head, but sliding down under the spear shafts that the Ninifin warriors tried to jab at him, despite their lack of blades.

Nin-Akna rushed between them, her own spear raised. Beside Felitïa, Zandrue nocked her bow and fired up at one of the Volgs above.

On the ground, the Ninifins were spreading out across the base of the stairs as they engaged Nin-Akna and Rudiger.

Felitïa stopped running forward. “Corvinian, stay with me.” There was no point moving any farther until there was a clear path. “You too, Meleng.” They both did as she asked. Zandrue went a few steps farther to get clearer shots with her bow. She had only a few arrows left in her quiver.

Felitïa wasn’t sure how many Volgs were flying above them now, but they did seem to be avoiding her. Maybe it was because Corvinian was glowing blue again. They were diving at Rudiger and Nin-Akna though, and this clearly startled the Palace guards, who cried out and moved back.

One of the Volgs swung at Nin-Akna, knocking her over. As the Volg landed and was about to bring his sword down into Nin-Akna’s chest, two of the Palace guards stabbed him with their spears.

Zandrue fired an arrow into the neck of a Volg that landed beside that one. “I get the impression that Fra-Ichtaca didn’t warn them about the Volgs, don’t you?” She grinned.

Nibdenoff leapt into the air and began flying down the stairs.

“Corvinian, behind me,” Felitïa said.

Zandrue rushed in front of them both and fired an arrow into the Volg’s head. When that didn’t slow him, she fired another, then tossed her bow aside and drew her sword. The yellow energy surrounding Nibdenoff shot out and swatted Zandrue aside. She flew off the steps into some plants on the tier to their side. She tumbled over the edge of the tier and out of sight. The energy then did the same to Meleng.

Nibdenoff landed in front of Felitïa.

The energy did not come for her.

Corvinian clutched at her legs, his blue energy sending a tingling sensation through her. The energy swept around her at Nibdenoff, but was negated by the yellow energy.

Nibdenoff sneered and shook the staff.

The sleep spell hadn’t worked on him earlier. Why? She probed the Room for his presence. It was dim and almost invisible. He had some sort of protection active. Could she find a way around it?

The Volg growled and reached for her with his free hand, but the energy wouldn’t let him. He tried again, but each time his hand almost touched her neck, the energy flared and his arm rebounded.

Felitïa smiled. She had no idea why this was happening, but she wasn’t about to ignore it. She knelt down. “Corvinian, put your arms around my neck.” The boy did as he was told and she wrapped her arms under his legs. She couldn’t get a firm grip because of her hands, but she hoped it would be enough. “Hang on tight.” She rose to her feet.

The Volg let go of the staff, letting it drop. As soon as he was no longer in contact with the staff, the yellow energy vanished. He reached for Felitïa, but Corvinian’s blue energy swatted him aside. She turned and ran down the stairs.

At the base of the pyramid, the Palace guards had joined the fight against the Volgs. As Felitïa tried to dart between the combatants, Nin-Akna led a group of guards in a charge against a line of Volgs, who flew into the air to avoid them.

Felitïa kept running. She didn’t have the strength or ability to help in the battle at the moment. She had to get Corvinian to safety before Nibdenoff came at him again. Corvinian’s blue energy created a path through the Volgs and warriors, but the tingling it was causing began to burn.

She nearly lost her hold on Corvinian several times, but she made it to the other side of the mêlée, to the edge of the first houses of the City. There were people outside the houses, watching.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I won’t hurt you.”

They continued to watch her and Corvinian, but didn’t move towards her.

She lowered herself so Corvinian could climb off. The burning sensation gone, she turned to look back at the battle. There were so many Volgs and only a few of them lay on the ground, while considerably more Palace guards were either dead or immobilised. Rudiger ran at a group of Volgs. He had a prominent limp, and as she watched, one of the Volgs hit his arm and he dropped Slay.

On the steps of the pyramid, a yellow light erupted again. Nibdenoff held the staff above his head and the energy shot out, over the battle and slammed into Corvinian. The boy screamed and fell over, his own blue energy crackling and spurting as it tried to fight back against the yellow.

Felitïa was about to rush to his side when two figures came into view, approaching her. One was the jaguar, and the other a woman in the uniform of the Queen’s Guard holding that big cat’s lead.

“Please, I’m not your enemy,” Felitïa said.

“Look, the demons!” a bystander said.

“This woman is in league with them,” the Queen’s Guard said. “She killed the Queen. She will kill all of us next.”

The people gasped and the one who had spoken backed away.

The Queen’s Guard pointed at Felitïa and dropped the jaguar’s lead. “Bahlam, kill.”

Felitïa sighed. In her current state, she would have to let it get a bit closer.

The jaguar crouched, then turned its head to the right at the sound of a whinny and a yell. It jumped back to its feet to reposition itself as Borisin came charging in, Ses-Izel on his back. The horse spun and kicked out with his rear legs. The jaguar hurtled several feet across the ground. It landed on its side, but jumped right back to its feet.

“Borisin says, you’re welcome,” Ses-Izel said.

“Yeah, thanks,” Felitïa said. She could have handled it, but there was no harm in letting Borisin have his moment of glory.

The jaguar pounced at Borisin, but Felitïa tilted her head, half closed her eyes, and the big cat flopped to the ground, purring softly in its sleep.

“Borisin says he could have handled it,” Ses-Izel said.

“Yeah, well, we have other things to worry about right now.” Felitïa turned to Corvinian, who was lying still on the ground. The yellow energy still crackled around him. The blue had completely vanished.

“We’ll help Rudiger and Nin-Akna,” Ses-Izel said, and she and Borisin galloped into the fray.

Felitïa knelt down and reached out to Corvinian. When her hand touched the yellow energy, it sparked and shoved her hand back. She was pretty sure the pain in her fingers increased as well, but she was at a point now where different levels of pain didn’t seem to have any meaning anymore. She reached forward again, and again it repelled her.

Why was it repelling her now and refusing to before?

There were yells from the direction Ses-Izel and Borisin had come from. Ses-Iktan ran past her, spear raised, leading a small group of people armed with a collection of spears, axes, and swords.

Jorvan flew overhead, straight for Nibdenoff. A funnel of air spun in front of him. But the yellow energy zapped out and negated the funnel of air. It slammed into the Isyar’s chest. Jorvan hurtled across the sky and out of sight.

Quilla ran up beside Felitïa. “Felitïa, are you all right?”

“No,” Felitïa answered, “but I’ll survive.”

Quilla knelt beside Corvinian. “What’s happening to him?” Her gaze followed the trail of the energy back to the Volg on the pyramid. “Why are they...? Is this...?”

Felitïa nodded. “It’s Corvinian.”

“We have to do something! We have to stop that Volg!”

“We’re trying.” Felitïa tried one more time to touch the energy around Corvinian. Again, it repelled her hand. It was something to do with the staff. She was sure of it. The distance between them, maybe?

Felitïa stood up and looked along the path of energy. The arrival of reinforcements had turned the tide of the battle a little, but not enough. The Volg numbers were still too great, and more were still arriving from the Temple.

Quilla came and stood beside her. “What are you doing?”

“Finding out how close I need to be before I can safely stand in the way of this energy stream.”

A hint of confusion came from Quilla, but it was drowned out by heavy fear.

“I’ll explain later,” Felitïa said, and began walking forward. Quilla walked with her.

When they were a little closer to the battle—close enough that some of the Volgs started to notice her—she stopped and reached for the beam of energy. Her hand rebounded again.

She headed forward again. Quilla clutched at Felitïa’s arm. “The glowing Volg. He looks familiar. Is that...?”

Felitïa nodded. “It’s Nibdenoff.”

Two Volgs disengaged from the battle and flew into the air. They angled themselves towards her. Could she get both of them fast enough? She had to let them get very close, she had so little energy left.

Felitïa prepared to cast the spell as Quilla tightened her grip on Felitïa’s arm.

And Felitïa felt alive like she had never before.

She could feel every breath of air she took move through her lungs and into her body. She felt her blood pump. She could distinguish between every yell, every swipe of a sword, jab of a spear, or flap of a wing. Every insect’s chirp, every purr from the still sleeping jaguar. Quilla’s heartbeat slowed to a calm pace and her shivering stopped.

And every remaining bit of magical energy in Felitïa flowed more freely. All she had to do was route it through Quilla and she could move it so easily to wherever she needed it. She only needed the tiniest drop to put the first Volg to sleep, and then the second.

Then she sent half of it out all at once, directing it in multiple directions. Volg after Volg fell asleep in the battle, fell over where they stood, or crashed to the ground from the sky. In the blink of an eye, they were all lying on the ground.

Except Nibdenoff on the Temple steps.

His presence was clearer in the Room now. The boundaries of his defences were visible around him. Little walls like the ones in her head. But so much feebler. They had cracks—the tiniest of cracks—and she directed the energy through them. Despite the distance, she felt his shock as she connected with his mind and he fell asleep. As he fell, he dropped the staff, and the yellow energy vanished.

Quilla gasped and let go of Felitïa’s hand.

And her senses returned to normal.

“What just happened?” Quilla stuttered.

“They called you the Catalyst, didn’t they?”

Quilla nodded.

“Now we know why.”

Most of the Volgs had woken up again after falling, but Rudiger, Nin-Akna, and the others were finishing them off. On the pyramid, Zandrue climbed back onto the steps and picked up the staff. She yelled something at Felitïa, but the distance was too great to hear.

Felitïa just waved towards Nibdenoff.

Zandrue yelled something again, but then seemed to get the idea. She pulled a rope out of her back and bent down beside the Volg. Just as she started to tie the Volg up, she stopped and jumped to her feet. She grabbed the staff again and ran down the steps.

Darkness surrounded Nibdenoff. Not the darkness of the night air, but something different. It was hard to tell from this distance, but it looked almost tangible, like it had a substance to it. And Nibdenoff just dissolved away into it. Then the darkness was gone and so was the Volg. Only the Temple steps and the night air remained.

“Felitïa,” Quilla said. “Corvinian.”

Felitïa turned. The boy was still lying on the ground, but the yellow energy was gone now. Some of the locals had approached him and were checking him over. They backed away as Felitïa approached. “I truly mean you no harm,” she said. “The Queen’s Guard was wrong. I did not kill the Queen, and I am not working with the Volgs. You saw. I was fighting them just like everyone else.”

Except they wouldn’t have seen what she did at the end. To them, it would have appeared like the Volgs just all fell over.

The people backed away, ducking into homes, or running off into the night.

Felitïa sat down beside Corvinian and Quilla sat beside her.

“I’m going to be seen as a villain now,” Felitïa said as she checked Corvinian. He was alive and breathing regularly. As best she could tell, he didn’t have any serious injuries, just a few bruises.

“Nonsense,” Quilla said. “They’re just scared. They’ll realise you saved them all eventually.”

Felitïa shook her head. “All they’ll remember is the death that has happened tonight. The death that Fra-Ichtaca has attributed to me.”

“Felitïa,” Quilla said after another moment. “Have you heard anything of Garet? I didn’t have a chance to ask the others. Fra-Chan was hurt and I tried to help her and Fra-Tepeu. The two of them are waiting in the woods with Acat and Kianto in case other survivors show up. I’m so scared.”

Felitïa closed her eyes. She had told Rudiger and Nin-Akna she wanted to be the one to do this, but now that the moment was here, terror and shock over Garet’s death took control. She didn’t want to do it.

“Felitïa?”

Felitïa.

That presence. The staff was calling to her.

So was Quilla.

“Felitïa, please.”

She opened her eyes and looked at Quilla. She couldn’t tell the difference anymore between her own terror and Quilla’s. Not that it mattered really. “Quilla, I’m...I...”

“Oh gods, no.”

“He didn’t make it.”

“No. Please no.”

“I don’t know the details as I wasn’t there, but he died in the attack on the Palace.”

Quilla sat there, shivering, and didn’t reply.

At her feet, Corvinian began to stir. “My head hurts.”

Quilla put her arms around him and hugged the startled boy to her chest. Then she began to sob.

Felitïa.

Felitïa stood up as Zandrue approached her with the staff. She held out her hands for it, but then remembered she didn’t have a way to hold it. She withdrew her hands. “I’ll take it later.” She used her arm to wipe tears from her face.

“We need to get out of here,” Zandrue said. “Before the Palace guards remember they were sent to arrest us. I’ve already sent Meleng to find where Jorvan fell. Hopefully, he’s okay. We should head to the woods north of the City. There are others waiting there.”

Felitïa nodded. She looked to Quilla, who looked away from her. A moment later, though, she nodded, let go of Corvinian, and wiped her face.

Corvinian jumped to his feet and rushed over to Felitïa. “Who is that crazy woman?”

“That’s Quilla, kid,” Zandrue said.

“Oh.” He peered at Quilla. “You’re not my mother.” Then he walked away, calling out to Rudiger.

Quilla burst into tears again.

Felitïa started to hold out a hand to Quilla, but stopped. Gods, not being able to use her hands was becoming a huge annoyance. “Give him time. He’s been through a lot. He’ll come round.”

Quilla wiped her face again, and stood up. Tears still streamed down her face. “Fine. Let’s go.” She walked off in the direction of the others, not looking at Felitïa.

Felitïa was about to call after her, but Zandrue shook her head. “She needs time too. She’s been through a lot just like the rest of us.”

Felitïa nodded. “You’re right.”

As they headed to the woods north of the City, Felitïa took one last look back at the Grand Temple and the Ninifin Palace.

A harbinger of devastation. That was what she was supposed to be.

An assassin of queens and a bringer of demons was how they would remember her. Fra-Ichtaca would see to that. Perhaps they should have killed the Voice of Frana like Nin-Akna had wanted. Would they be any better off? Who could say?

Whatever the case, it was time to get away from Ninifin. Before she caused any more harm.