As a prince, my father wasn’t part of any discipline and was never expected to assist with the sort of commonplace compositions other mages regularly produced. But royal strength was meant for more than just prestige or status. Some compositions required so much strength and control that they could be completed only by the strongest of mages—and even then, a day in bed might be required to regain the energy expended on such an effort. Keeping my parents on hand allowed my aunt to sacrifice fewer of her own days. No monarch wanted to spend even a day weak and vulnerable in bed, their energy entirely depleted.
“If you need to consult with me on a matter, use one of these,” she said. “I have a trusted clerk standing ready at all times to receive your communication. And I will then reach out to you at the earliest opportunity. Or have your mother do so. Try to make sure you’re alone until you hear back from us.”
I nodded and carefully tucked the precious compositions away in my most secure pocket. These weren’t ones that I needed access to at a moment’s notice, and I wouldn’t risk losing or damaging them.
Now, as we bumped across the Kallorwegian road, I touched the outside of my robe, over the place where they hid. I would be careful not to use them frivolously, but it still felt reassuring to have the option.
“We can’t be far,” Bryony said, sliding closer to the window and attempting to peer out at the road ahead. “I thought I just saw a glimpse of the Academy.”
Sure enough, a lone house appeared outside the window, followed by another.
“This must be the nearby village.” I moved to the other window. “We should be there within minutes in that case.”
I caught a glimpse of a rider on a strong chestnut stallion. Captain Layna rode beside the carriage, escorting me back to the Academy as her final duty of the summer. But unlike the first time we had ridden this way together, she had brought only a single mage officer in support. I had spent the entire previous year at the Kallorwegian Academy without a single Ardannian guard, so the entourage that had accompanied me last year was deemed unnecessary.
I lowered the window and was about to call to her when her mount reared. Layna somehow stayed on his back while still keeping a hand free to thrust inside her robe. I didn’t have a chance to see what composition she was retrieving, however.
“Attack!” yelled another voice as Bryony scrambled away from her window, almost falling into my lap in her haste.
“Someone is attacking the carriage,” she gasped.
Chapter 5
I moved in the opposite direction, rushing toward the far window to try to catch a glimpse of what was happening. The carriage had come to a shuddering halt, but the view was too limited to tell why. I pushed open the door and jumped down. Bryony followed close behind, recovered from her initial shock.
I had expected to find us encircled by soldiers or perhaps brigands of some kind—although for either to attack a royal carriage was beyond shocking. I didn’t expect to be greeted with nothing at all. I spun in a circle, trying to find what had so unnerved my companions.
We were still in the midst of the village, but the streets were deserted, and everything was quiet—strangely so. But an unnatural stillness wouldn’t have made Layna’s horse rear or sent Bryony leaping away from the window.
“What happ—”
I didn’t get the chance to finish the question. A shadow moved between two of the houses followed immediately by a rush of power that surged in our direction. My hand dived for my most accessible pocket before I registered the feel of a bubble of power already around us. One of our two guards had long since shielded us.
I dropped my hand as the power that had been lobbed at us broke against the barrier of our shield. For a moment the shield held before dissolving, all sensation of power leaving the air around us.
Another shield sprang to life before I could even think about going for one of my own. It had most likely come from Layna, although my view of her was now blocked by the carriage.
Bryony grabbed at my arm. “What’s going on?”
I swallowed. “That was a powerful attack. It took out our shield.”
“What?” Bryony gasped.
“One of the guards released another one,” I reassured her quickly.
“Still,” she said uneasily. “Are we going to have enough?”
“I’m sure Layna is well supplied.” I tried to inject more confidence into my words than I felt. If someone was fool enough to attack a royal carriage, they would presumably have come with significant attack power. Who knew how long they had been preparing for this?
“There!” Bryony pointed to another building further up the street.
A man darted out onto the street, narrowing his eyes as he looked back at us. He didn’t wear a robe, or any other identifiable clothing, but he held a stack of parchment in his hands.
A clattering behind us made me whirl, but it was only our second guard, Lieutenant Beckett, climbing onto the roof of the carriage.
“In front,” he called. “And behind.”
My captain appeared, on foot now, her face grim.
“Who are they?” I asked. “What do they want?”
“You, I assume,” she said in a harsh voice. “I should have asked for more guards.”
I shook my head. “Who could guess something like this would happen? No one has dared attack a royal carriage in…” My voice trailed off as I tried to think if it had happened even once since the end of the war.
The man ahead of us ripped one of his compositions. A rolling bank of smoke appeared, racing down the street to engulf us.
Layna’s hands flashed, and a wind sprang up, sending the smoke writhing and twirling into eddies and streams as it was pushed back. But somewhere behind the darkness, flickers of red flame had appeared.
Thunder cracked overhead and rain began to fall, instantly drenching us. I tried to peer through the rain and smoke but could no longer see our attacker or even the buildings lining the street.
“Verene.” Bryony sounded nervous.
I glanced at her and saw her attention focused back down the road behind us. I remembered Beckett had said we had attackers on both sides and whirled to peer just as fruitlessly in that direction.
The sound of tearing parchment above our heads preceded a second wind which drove a funnel of clear air down the street. For a moment I got a hazy view of a second attacker, this one a woman.
“Can you feel her?” Bryony asked quietly.
For a moment I thought she was asking whether any power was rushing toward us. But as soon as I properly focused my senses, I understood her reference.
When my new abilities first appeared, the constant sensation of the energy of everyone around me had been overwhelming. But I had become so used to it now, that I barely noticed the energy of others. However, I had acquired enough subtlety for Bryony to teach me to recognize a particular marker—the slight difference in the energy of another energy mage.
“Are we shielded for energy?” she asked me.
I glanced back at Layna, still locked in battle with the man further up the street. “I don’t know.”
“Then do something,” she hissed, as the woman, who was once again disappearing within the smoke, tore a composition.