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  "Very well. I shall be on guard." Oresso took his stethian in both hands. "You do the same."

  "I've fought her before. She has bird wings in her tosh."

  "Eagle? Swan?"

  "Neither. I believe her tribal tosh is a crow."

  "Crow Tribe? Never heard of it."

  "There are more things hiding than visible to our eyes."

  "I'm beginning to agree with that." Oresso held his stethian before him. "Let us waste no more time."

  "As you say," said Edmath.

  They climbed the gentle ramp to the columned entrance of the public baths. An eerie sensation settled on Edmath's spine. The attendants waiting at the top of the steps motioned to them.

  "Leave your sandals here," she said.

  Edmath glanced at Oresso. The coral prince nodded. They unfastened their sandals and went on without them.

  "Your sashes and clothes," said the attendant at the inner archway, just inside the thick marble walls. "Leave them here."

  Edmath frowned.

  "We're on business."

  "No business is important enough to corrupt this place with dust and grime."

  "Do as she tells you," said Oresso to Edmath. He turned to the attendant. "We keep the tools."

  "That is irregular, my prince."

  "I'm aware. This will be an exception." Oresso flexed his many-ringed fingers, every digit carrying more than one striker.

  Edmath slipped on the few remaining rings from his pouch.

  "As you wish, my prince," said the attendant. "But I must insist."

  "The clothes can stay with you. That's fine."

  Edmath shook his head. He leaned close to Oresso.

  "We can't go into battle naked."

  "Was I not aware your tunic can turn spells aside?" Oresso hissed into his ear.

  "Of course not."

  "Then leave it."

  Edmath grimaced. Oresso started to disrobe. The attendant took each garment he handed to her. Edmath slipped off his sash, tunic, and trousers, face hot with embarrassment.

  "You may enter," said the attendant.

  Oresso nodded. He led the way into the bath chamber. Edmath hesitated by the entrance, peering around the corners in both directions. Men and women dotted the large central pool in clusters.

  The baths smelled of lavender, hints of saltwater, and soap.

  Edmath walked to the edge of the pool, trying to keep from shivering despite the steam wafting from the hot baths on the far side of the large central chamber. No privacy presented itself. His eyes moved as he tried to find Hyreki.

  He spotted her in the hot bath, surrounded by the buzz of gossiping noblewomen. Her wet hair conformed to her slim frame and her face possessed the same pretty angles as before, smooth of skin but old of eyes. She met his gaze, then motioned to her entourage. She pointed at Edmath.

  “She recognizes you,” said Oresso.

  The hair on the back of Edmath’s neck prickled.

  “Damn it,” he said. “We must catch her.”

  “As you say,” said Oresso. He shifted into his thorny coral tosh.

  Crouching, Oresso struck. He drew in magic alongside Edmath. With so much water, most plants could grow temporarily inside the baths, but Edmath lacked his seed and striker pouch to grow anything stably.

  “We must be swift,” he said.

  “I understand.” Oresso grew a length of coral from each leg, boosting his leap into a massive spring across the main bath. He hit the tiles cleanly on the other side, near Hyreki and her hangers-on.

  Edmath raced across one of the footbridges nearby, holding the magic from Oresso’s tear tight to his being.

  Someone shouted a warning.

  “Lady Denyal!” screamed one woman. “What is going on?”

  Hyreki climbed the steps out of the hot bath at a deliberate pace. She turned toward Oresso, eyes gleaming. Drops of water sparkled on her naked form. She pressed both palms together.

  “The High Prince of the Coral Tribe. To what do I owe this honor?”

  “You owe it to your plot to murder my fellow Saales,” said Oresso.

  “Then behold my wickedness.” Hyreki laughed. “My good prince, I know nothing of what you say.”

  Edmath caught up with Oresso.

  “Don’t lie again,” he said. “I was there, Hyreki of the Cloud.”

  “Of the cloud? What titles is that?” She smiled. “I prefer the address of Crow Muborque.”

  Black bird wings unfolded from her back. Her feet shifted into menacing talons. Her hair went darker.

  “So you show your tosh,” said Oresso, raising his stethian. But it will not save you.” He made a hand sign as three large men closed with them from either flank.

  Hyreki smirked.

  “Strike if you dare, but then I’m afraid you’ll never see the Squid Princess again.”

  Edmath gritted his teeth.

  “What?”

  “A bluff,” said Oresso, drawing in more magic, needing only his will to complete the spell.

  “But you hesitated.”

  Hyreki’s entourage emerged from the bath to join her. Most of them now wore coral toshes of their own. The men on either side of Edmath and Oresso shifted into their own toshes, all thickly muscled, though their forms varied between coral and fish. Hyreki flapped her wings, then turned her back on Edmath and Oresso.

  “Enjoy my friends,” she said and walked off.

  Edmath tensed for the fight, halfway to his first sign.

  “Traitors!” Oresso roared as he struck in fury. Spears of coral erupted from him, cutting bloody wounds into every foe they found, tosh or not. The bodyguards fell away, and the entourage scattered before him.

  Edmath leveled his stethian after Hyreki, on her way to the exit, and made the sign of the thorn. Lengths of razor-bladed vines shot from his stethian. One of the wounded guards lurched into their path. He toppled as they struck. Hyreki leapt into the air outside the building. Her wings carried her out of sight.

  “Curse it all,” Edmath murmured as the ends of his and Oresso’s stethians began to smoke.

  A bell rang in the distance as town guards approached. It took an hour to explain the situation to the unit leader, even with Oresso’s royal clout. Edmath’s teeth gritted as he dressed once more. When the guards let them go, he and Oresso went straight for the consular palace together.

  Chelka

  Chelka and Dortlain waited in the anteroom outside Juro’s audience chamber for Edmath.

  “I don’t need a bodyguard,” she said.

  “How about a friend then, good lady?”

  “It’s not like Ed to go haring off after something like this.”

  “Perhaps he’s worried this time.”

  “He must be.” Chelka sighed. "But he needs to be here before the meeting with Juro can go forward."

  "Juro isn't here either. This place is remarkably empty for midday."

  Chelka frowned at the ornate lamp on the far side of the room.

  "There are servants around. We saw guards on the way in."

  "Right of course. But if you don't mind, I would look around to see if anything odd is afoot."

  "I told you. I don't need a bodyguard. Go ahead."

  Dortlain rose and sauntered down the hall, then around a corner. His footsteps receded until fading completely. Chelka sat alone.

  She liked the right company, but time to herself had always been rare enough Chelka cherished it. She stood from the bench and walked over to the intricately-patterned glass lamp on the far side of the room. It sat on a stone plinth about at her eye-level, providing the only light in the anteroom.

  She circled the lamp and its stand. The light guttered despite a lack of airflow. She squinted, spotting small wisps of magical light rising from the fire burning within the glass.

  "Strange," she said.

  The fire went out, casting the room into darkness.

&nb
sp; Chelka drew a striker and tore the veil in the same motion. A little magic flowed forth, giving her light only a Saale could see by.

  A skittering of claws similar to Durine's many legs moved behind her. She whirled but found nothing.

  "Is there someone here?" she asked.

  Shadows clung to every corner. No one answered.

  "Dortlain?" she called.

  Soft footsteps came in reply.

  "Lady Benisar." His voice was distant.

  Magic from Chelka's tear flowed down the hallway, then turned a corner and flowed into a side passage. She followed the trail, drawing her stethian as she crept quietly along.

  Another scratch of legs announced movement around the corner. She prepared the sign of the star but drew in no magic just yet. She extended the stethian around the corner.

  A towering hideous shape lurked in the bathroom where the side passage led, curtain standing open. Unlike Durine or the other grafters, this creature appeared to be a single massive centipede taller than Chelka.

  "What are you?" she asked.

  The creature turned its upper body toward her. Mandibles and insectile head folded back, peeling away from the face of a girl with damp yellow hair. She smirked at Chelka.

  "Just a mage, like you."

  "Not like me. I never saw you strike."

  "Because I didn't.”

  "Muborque!"

  Chelka drew in magic from the stream illuminating the bathroom. She finished the sign of the star but the centipede was already skittering up one wall. Chelka's flames scorched the toilet hole but left the creature unscathed.

  She reached for more magic. It wasn't there. She turned to find the last of her tear's power draining into a single glittering knife-blade. The man, big and burly with thick dark hair, cut off her way out of the side passage.

  "My name is Santh," he said. "I don't believe we are acquainted."

  "You attacked my husband before."

  "Indeed."

  A cold sensation crept down Chelka's spine. If she didn't find a way to get more magic quickly, than either this man or the centipede woman would be too much.

  "Dortlain!" she called.

  This time he did not answer.

  "Enough of that," said a smooth voice. An older man in a brown robe stepped into view in the dim light of the magic contained within Santh's dagger. He threw back his hood, revealed a face consisting of mouth, scars, and a single blue eye.

  "My name is Kiniloth," he said. "Lady Benisar, you will come with us."

  "Don't make up my mind for me."

  Chelka struck the air. Santh's second dagger flashed into view.

  Before she could draw in any of the power, his weapon consumed it, dousing the light.

  The sound of a hundred legs came from behind Chelka. She spun, lashing out with her stethian. The weapon connected with the insect's thick midsection. The head, shoulders, and arms of the woman appeared from the monstrous thing's head. A blow cracked against Chelka's temple. She fell to the floor, world spinning.

  The last light went out.

  Edmath stormed into Juro Nane’s audience chamber, followed by Dortlain, and Oresso.

  The consul was on his feet, talking with Ninafi and Brosk. Kana stood to one side.

  "Consul Nane!" said Edmath.

  "Lord Benisar, what is going on? I expected you and Chelka earlier."

  Dortlain hung back as Edmath and Oresso approached Juro and the other two Saales.

  "She was here," said Dortlain. "Someone attacked, I sensed them but by the time I returned to the anteroom the good lady was gone."

  "An attack?" said Juro, "within my own walls?"

  "It appears that way, little brother," said Oresso. "Edmath and I were just at the baths searching for his old enemy. Not only was she present, but she has a number of royals under her sway. And she threatened Chelka singly."

  "Who is this woman?" asked Juro, eyes narrowing.

  "Hyreki Denyal, of the Crow Tribe."

  "Nonsense. There is no Crow Tribe in Zel or Roshi."

  Dortlain assumed his mouse tosh and waved his tail at Juro.

  The young consul's eyes widened.

  Edmath nodded.

  "More things exist than any of us know."

  "So this...Hyreki's minions took Chelka."

  "She is a mage and the servant of a likely more powerful mage. Her master is called Kiniloth." Edmath scowled for a moment. He managed to soften his expression before he turned to Kana. "Kana, what do you know of him?"

  "Little," said Kana. "I never saw him any more than you did, but his coin bought my services back then."

  "So, a master mage," said Juro. "A Saale? Or a Dawkun?"

  "Worse than either," said Brosk.

  "They're called Muborque," said Edmath.

  Juro shivered.

  "Mages are powerful enough without needing more kinds to worry about. What a hideous name at that."

  "Indeed," said Brosk.

  "Alas, my attention was elsewhere," said Juro. "Mutrari Sinnet of Roshi is close to the city with her army. We will be forced to defend against them tonight if they seek to cross the western river. I fear for my people.”

  "We can do better than that," said Brosk. "Ed, Consul Nane, Lady Daderon and I were discussing our best bet to negotiate before any blood is shed."

  "Please, not Lady Daderon," said Ninafi.

  Oresso arched an eyebrow.

  "Daderon? I don't believe we've met."

  "Meet later, if you may," said Edmath. "Right now, we must find Chelka."

  "When I said I knew little of Kiniloth, I didn't mean nothing," said Kana.

  "Speak, then," Edmath said, voice harsh in his ears.

  "Edmath, stay calm," said Brosk.

  Kana folded her arms.

  "Hyreki spoke of Kidar. She mentioned Kiniloth's fondness for the Tidal Palace."

  "But he can't be there now," said Oresso. "It would be too obvious."

  "Most certainly, it would be obvious," said Edmath. "However, back in Diar, Hyreki wanted both Chelka and I alive. That is Kinoloth's will."

  "They'd set trap for you?" said Juro. "For what cause?"

  "Mine and Chelka's research converged at the start of the summer," said Edmath. "Human intelligence invested in plants and biological fire."

  Brosk glanced at Kana, then at Oresso. Juro grimaced.

  "What did the two of you create?"

  "Nothing yet, but it could be extraordinarily powerful once realized."

  "A fire-controlling tree?" said Ninafi.

  "Think stranger," said Edmath. "An organism that will burn from within without being consumed, then spread its flames to great distances."

  "Creator-blessed," murmured Juro.

  Oresso grunted.

  "Is that possible? Infinite fire is beyond the curtain, Edmath."

  "No," said Edmath. "Only difficult and highly magic-dependent. A mage would be needed to fuel such a creature's physiology unless..."

  "Unless it carried magic within itself, like a Dawkun," said Brosk. "Don't tell me...Orpus Rakoi?"

  "Yes," said Edmath. "Of course, it was too vulnerable to bring here. I invested Lengbyoi with a hint of the knowledge on our way to Kidar, but it lacks the physiology to generate fire."

  "You should not keep such secrets, Ed," said Oresso. "What will it take to transform Lengbyoi into your flame organism?"

  "Time, and knowledge of fire magic," said Edmath. "I fear only plants will be capable of such abilities, due to their physiology and mystic structures." Edmath sighed. "Regardless, what we must do now is save Chelka. She is at the Tidal Palace and we must hurry."

  "I will negotiate with the Roshi," said Juro.

  "Edmath, I have to help him. It's why I was sent to Kidar," said Brosk.

  "I can go with you," said Ninafi.

  "As can I," said Kana.

  "And I, my dear employer, it is my honor." Dortlain bowed
his head.

  "I understand," said Edmath, lowering his gaze.

  Oresso slapped his shoulder.

  "Get your tree, Ed. We have to save her."

  Brosk

  Brosk stood on the bridge with the Zelian forces, facing Mutrari Sinnet’s army spread across the opposite bank of the river. Juro stepped forward beside him.

  “Are you ready for this, good consul?” asked Brosk.

  “With you at my back? Things won’t get any easier. I’m almost glad my brother isn’t here. He always makes me nervous.”

  “You don’t sound nervous now.”

  “He’s not here, is he?”

  “Indeed.”

  Mutrari’s party rode forward on riding foxes and stopped at the far end of the bridge.

  “Let us go, my good Saale,” said Juro.

  Brosk nodded.

  He prayed Edmath, Kana and the others would reach Chelka safely, then focused on the moment where he stood.

  Mutrari waved them closer from the back of her fox.

  Juro and Brosk went to meet them.

  The Tidal Palace loomed over Edmath and the others as they approached.

  “We don’t know how many allies Hyreki has in there,” said Ninafi.

  Oresso nodded.

  Edmath grimaced.

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  Lengbyoi loomed over them.

  "Surely they know we're here now, thanks to me."

  "Stealth is not an option." Dortlain whistled, hand on his sword.

  "We have to find Chelka first," said Edmath. "From there we can move to rescue her."

  "Right," said Kana, glancing at Lengbyoi. "Get me on the walls and I'll sneak inside to scout."

  Oresso pointed his stethian at the gate.

  "We'll need to distract any guards first, or they'll spot you on the branch."

  Dortlain smiled.

  "I can create such a distraction, good mage."

  Ninafi turned to Edmath and Oresso.

  "That leaves the three of us as our trump card."