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In all my years in the Runturin, in Turin, I had never seen them. But now they were there. The snake guard was there. Things were so much closer to becoming a reality than I thought.
I had been so devoted on finding a way in, of using stealth and will to reach Queen Dalyah, to end her before she had a chance to fight back. But seeing that guard… knowing what would happen if she enacted that plan and how little time I had. How bad would it be if I ended him? If I took his time and used my fire to end them all? To face her.
She was ice, I was fire, there was no way she would walk away from that fight, no matter how strong people claim she is.
I was already walking toward the snake guard, the movement sending the two women into hysterics as I emerged from the shadows dressed head to toe in black, my gold blades glimmering at my side.
Faces turned as I charged through the crowd toward that high gate, toward the guard with the snake on his chest who was laughing at something, laughing as he cleaned the blood off his hands.
The crowd grew thicker the closer I moved, the yelling of the market everywhere as I attempted to shoulder my way through a cluster of sellers, hocking flowers and banners in the color of the Royal family and Spryv. They parted for me as the guard turned, already making his way back into the gate as a slip of pressure pulled against my hip.
I turned, but not fast enough. A boy was laughing victoriously, his smudge lined face looking back in glee as he weaved through the crowds better than I ever could, my belt on his hand.
The golden hilts of my blades cradled in his arms.
“Fuck.” The single word snapped like a whip as I turned, bolting after him. The crowd was near a wall as he weaved through it. Where they were a wall, I was a battering ram.
The boy’s laughs echoed back to me as I pushed and shoved my way through the sellers, leaving a wake of angry women and irate men behind as I raced after the boy who was now through the cluster of the market and was darting toward a darkened alley, steps away from disappearing into the maze that was this city.
If he made it there, I would lose him.
He took one look back, still laughing before he vanished. I barely saw him. I was looking at the seller near the side of the market who was tossing an apple in the air. I was looking at the bird landing on the high wall of the Runturin. I marked them both as I pulled my magic up, ice moving through me as my eyes slid into the white of death’s power. The boy had only barely darted into the dark when everything around me froze and then moved in reverse. Voices lulled into odd noises, as though words spoken backwards were pulled through a hollow cavern before reaching me. A wispy shadow of myself reversed, the people I had thrown to the ground righting themselves as though they were on strings. The boy raced in reverse and then, with a flick of my power I walked forward, everything moving with me as I pulled time in the other direction, the boy ran toward the shadows, still laughing at the shadow of me even as I followed right behind him, right into the shadows where no one would see me reemerge.
The shadows swallowed us as I watched the bird land, the apple hitting the height of its throw. With a sharp exhale, I released the hold on my power and everything snapped back into place. The angry and disgruntled shoppers looked around in confusion at where I had gone, the boy moving into a walk in supposed victory only to scream as I wrapped a hand around his shoulder.
“Those are mine, I believe,” I snarled, yanking my belt and my knives out of his hands before he came to his senses.
“But you… you were… I saw…” he stammered as he looked between me, the line where light met shadow, and the market he had seen me in. “How did you…?”
“How did I what?” I leaned down to sneer directly into his face as my magic slowly slid back into place, my eyes shifting back to their usual dual shade.
The boy had cost me too much of the reserves I had saved from Yersua and his man. Moving back and forth like that always cost me double. I had needed that for the Runturin, something that would have been worthless without my blades. I only had enough for maybe a half a day of a jump now.
It should still be enough.
“You were there, I saw you,” he said, finally recovering from his shock.
“You cost me, boy,” I snarled, shoving him into the wall as I placed my belt and my blades back where they belonged. “I ought to make you pay for that.”
His eyes widened in horror. He was still trying to figure out what happened, but that was enough to make him forget.
“Naw, sir, there ain’t be no need for that. You got ‘em back,” he gestured wildly as I moved closer, his eyes darting side to side as though deciding which way to run.
“Don’t worry, I don’t kill kids,” I snarled, leaning in. “But I will kill everyone you steal for, so you better hope I don’t see any of you or your kind again.”
The dark edge of each word rattled over the stone of the alley, even the shadows quivered in fear as the boy nodded his head and took off before I had another chance to stop him. I hadn’t tried, however, he would carry that message through every street. He would also carry what he had seen, or what he thought he had seen.
That part wasn’t good, but I would rather deal with that than kill the kid. I may be on even more of a deadline now, but that was one rule I would never break.
Tightening my belt, I turned back toward the market which seemed to have forgotten about the man running through them and his sudden disappearance. One step into the light however and I froze.
A rush of stars moved over my skin, the sensation a tug and a pull harder than anything I had ever felt before.
The rumbling pull was familiar. It was the same one that ran over my skin every time I had moved too close to a Fae. Although the strength of this one may have been telling me I was absolutely surrounded by the beasts.
It raced over my skin as though I was caught in a spider's web, the long strands of it tingling and pulling over my skin, telling me exactly where to follow. I turned, expecting one of the monsters to be right behind me with how strong it was, but there was nothing there, only the ash and silt covered walls of the alley.
The shimmering feeling gave a yank and I stumbled forward a step, still staring into the void as though a Fae would step forward. I had never felt it this strong.
