“You’re worried they’re not just hiding in fear?” Layna asked. “You think the attackers might have dealt with them first?”
I gasped, the thought not having occurred to me.
“It’s a possibility.” Captain Vincent sounded genuinely concerned, and I warmed to him.
The lieutenant who had gone chasing off between the buildings reappeared, his breathing slightly labored. He stopped in front of us, saluting his captain.
“I’m afraid he got away, Sir. He was already running when we started the chase. We lost sight of him, and not even our compositions could pick up his track.” He frowned. “It was like he disappeared. He must have had some highly effective cloaking compositions to hide his path.”
“Did you see any of the people?” I asked. “The locals?”
“We’re here.” A grizzled, older man appeared, limping slightly as he exited a door of one of the larger buildings. “Sheltering out of sight.”
He bowed in our direction. “We would have helped, but we have no mages of our own. And most of our able-bodied are lending Zora a hand up at the Academy. She often has a few days’ extra work for locals like us, cleaning the place top to bottom in preparation for the return of the trainees.” He nodded respectfully at the white robes worn by Bryony and me.
Layna glanced at Captain Vincent, and he nodded his agreement. “That’s true enough. Although there would have been plenty still here—especially children and elderly.”
His earlier concern now made even more sense, but the villager in front of us didn’t look especially distressed.
“Those brigands sent an unnatural smoke straight up the center of the street shortly before you all arrived,” he said. “We knew well enough to get out of the way at that point.”
Layna regarded him with narrowed eyes. “Was it you who called the warning?”
He nodded. “Couldn’t bear to see innocent folk ambushed like that. Even if you was better equipped to defend yourself than us. We don’t want any trouble here. We’ve had trouble enough for several lifetimes being so close to the border.”
“You did the right thing,” Captain Vincent said. “You sent for me. I’m just sorry we couldn’t get here sooner. But there isn’t room at the Academy to be keeping horses for all of my guards. And when the request for help arrived, there was no mention of you, Your Highness.” He bowed slightly in my direction.
“We sent young Eamon off before the carriage arrived,” the village elder said. “We could tell they weren’t ordinary brigands from the start—never minding we don’t tend to get those out this way in the first place.”
“No, they certainly weren’t brigands,” Captain Vincent said in a hard voice. He straightened suddenly, calling out a barked order.
We all turned to follow his gaze in time to see his second lieutenant kneeling over a body lying flat on the ground. The young man in the gold robe looked across at his captain.
“We had nearly worn down his shield when he just collapsed.”
Bryony and I exchanged a glance. We had known there was an energy mage involved, one who could drain someone’s energy. Maybe if I’d been paying more attention, I would have felt when she drained her companion’s energy. But it hadn’t occurred to me to worry about such a thing, and I’d been distracted by the conversation.
“We lost all three of them, then,” Layna said, and I winced.
We were all alive, but if I hadn’t made so many mistakes, maybe we would have one or two of the attackers to question.
“I don’t suppose you recognized any of them?” Captain Vincent’s tone didn’t sound very hopeful.
Layna bristled. “Of course I didn’t. I hope you don’t mean to suggest you think those mages were Ardannian.”
“I’m just considering every possibility,” he said. “Which is my job. We’re near enough to the border.”
Layna relaxed slightly. “I suppose you’re right. But no, I didn’t recognize them. And we’ve had no hints of any threats against the princess the whole summer. I can’t imagine an Ardannian adversary would have waited for us to cross the border before attacking.”
The Kallorwegian captain nodded, accepting her words before asking his next question. “Do we even know they were mages?”
“That one isn’t marked at throat or wrists.” The lieutenant who had been examining the dead man joined us. “So he’s no sealed commonborn.”
“They were mighty familiar with their compositions,” Beckett added.
“And that one visibly responded a couple of times before my composition hit him.” Layna nodded at the body in the street. “I’d be willing to bet good gold he could feel power.”
Captain Vincent nodded again. “I’ll leave a couple of guards to interview the villagers, but I doubt we’ll learn anything of interest at this stage. And if our tracking compositions aren’t working, then I don’t have the men to perform a foot search of the entire region. Which means, for now at least, our focus must be on getting the princess safely behind the Academy walls.”
He turned to survey our carriage with a critical eye. “Is your vehicle still functional?”
Layna nodded. “They didn’t attack it directly.”
The carriage driver, having finally regained control of the horses, nodded his agreement. “She’ll get us there, right enough.”
I could see from the slight shake in his hands that he would be glad himself to be behind the Academy’s high walls as fast as possible.
“Very well then.” Captain Vincent turned to the village elder, but the man had already foreseen his request.
He waved forward a young girl and boy, each leading a saddled horse. They regarded us all with wide eyes, not speaking as they handed the reins to Captain Vincent.
The captain nodded his thanks and gestured for one of his lieutenants to join him. “We’ll ride beside you. It’s not far on horseback. The rest of my guards will follow on foot.”
Within moments, Bryony and I had been ushered back into the carriage, and we were moving once again.
“What just happened?” Bryony asked in an undertone as soon as we were alone. “I thought Darius said his father wouldn’t attack you again.”
“So did I.” I rubbed at the side of my head. “Maybe this attack wasn’t the king?”
My friend regarded me with wide eyes. “How many people are trying to kill you?”
“Too many, apparently.” I grimaced. “Did you feel how strange that energy was? It was like it was fighting me.”
Bryony rubbed both her arms. “It was awful. I never thought I’d experience taking someone’s energy like that, but I can see what Amalia was talking about.”
As soon as she mentioned our instructor’s name, I knew what had happened. I should have recognized it straight away, but there had been too much going on for me to think properly. Energy taken by force wasn’t like energy willingly given, as in the case of Bryony or Tyron’s compositions. The stolen energy strained to return to its rightful owner, eventually breaking free to do just that—unless its original owner was no longer alive.