“I’ve seen it happen before.”
“I just saw two sorcerers dead,” Matthew said. “I don’t know how many were there, but—”
“Probably three,” Jayna said softly.
Matthew nodded. “Three. What would happen if they got a hold of you?”
“They wouldn’t know—”
Jayna cut herself off before explaining too much to Matthew. As far as he knew, she was a part of the Society. She might not have her robes on, but would he know that distinction?
“You should get out of the city, Jayna. I don’t know what’s going on here, but it’s dangerous. Let someone else deal with it.”
Sorcerers were dead. Dark magic instigated the riots, she was certain of it, and she could still feel it building with the constricting of her ring. She knew she couldn’t leave it alone.
“You’re right,” she said, deciding she needed to placate Matthew. “I need to get out of here before something happens.”
He visibly relaxed. “Good. Now, I might be able to get you away from here, to a place you can be safe, but—”
“I don’t need your protection,” she said.
“Jayna, I know that—”
“I don’t need your protection, Matthew,” she repeated, more stridently this time.
He looked as if he wanted to argue before stepping back and shaking his head. “You know where to find me.”
“I know where you brought me, but I still don’t know what you were doing.”
“I can’t talk about it. But if you see anything burning that shouldn’t be, just stay away from it.”
He slipped away before she had a chance to ask what he meant.
Burning? Like when Rosal had used his enchanted bloodstone? Or was he talking about the smoke enchantments designed to look like the Ashara?
Jayna tried to chase after him, but she’d already lost him—and if Matthew wanted to disappear from her, she wasn’t going to be able to find him.
But he knew something.
The Toral ring constricted again, and Jayna turned her attention back to what she detected.
She raced forward, fighting through the crowd. She could still feel the dark magic around her, but that was it.
She ignored the fallen sorcerers.
They were probably beyond her ability to help, at least until the dular cleared.
But it wasn’t beyond her ability to explore—and try to stop—the dark sorcerer who was instigating things.
She opened herself up to the power of the Toral ring even more. The cold worked up to her shoulder and began to burn through her chest. She had learned to deal with most of that pain, but it was still powerful, still almost more than she could withstand. She tried to ignore the way the cold pressed in upon her, but it hurt.
Clenching her jaw, Jayna fought through it, suppressing the pain she felt.
The ring was even tighter now and she followed it, feeling its pressure.
That sense veered off from the crowd.
Jayna pushed through several dular, one of them looking in her direction, but she hurried forward before somebody realized that she had been a part of the last crowd. She made her way to a quiet side street with a row of homes, but the ring continued to squeeze, telling her she was heading in the right direction.
She slowed down.
She could still feel the pain from the ring, the way it squeezed and constricted, warning her there was something here, though she wasn’t sure where it was coming from.
Then it stopped—suddenly, and with no warning. Either the use of dark magic had abruptly abated, or something had happened to the dark sorcerer using it.
It reminded her of what she had experienced following the last riot in the city.
Jayna paused.
She released her hold on the power coming through the Toral ring, the pain retreating as she did, and breathed slowly, trying to determine whether there was anything more she might feel. But she couldn’t come up with anything.
There might be something here, but she wasn’t going to find it using her Toral connection.
What if she tried sorcery?
There were a few different tracking spells she might be able to use, but what would she track?
A heavy burst of power erupted back in the direction of the crowd, and Jayna froze, turning toward it.
That was sorcery—incredible sorcery.
She realized that the crowd had started to disperse. The moment the dark magic had faded, the crowd must have gone cold, its influence upon them fading as well.
What was the burst of power she had detected though?
The Society. It had to be. They were making their way here.
Jayna hurried back toward the street where she had seen the fallen sorcerers, lingering near the corner and watching as the crowd dispersed. The three sorcerers continued to lie motionless in their maroon robes.
Jayna darted forward and checked on them.
Two women and one man. One of the women was gone. Her eyes were glazed, and her head looked as if she had been struck, blood streaming from her scalp and pooling along the street. Jayna moved on, a need for practicality driving her to check the next sorcerer.
The other woman was breathing, though shallowly. She checked for a pulse, and found that it was weak.
Pressing her hand on the woman, she focused on what she already knew of healing, wishing she had focused more on that after having gotten the spellbooks from Char. She hadn’t really had the need to heal all that often, but she needed to now.
As she focused, pushing power down, she felt a trembling. She had to try to trace out a quick pattern and activate it, pushing her connection to sorcery through the woman until the spell triggered something within the woman and her own sorcery took hold. This would link the two and allow the woman’s natural abilities to take over, helping her to heal herself.
It was similar to a linking spell, but not quite the same. It wasn’t true healing, but it should buy the woman enough time until the others from the Society arrived.
The man was going to be more difficult. He had a puncture wound in his belly.
As she focused on him, she felt something coming toward her and she looked up.
A pair of dular were approaching.
“Back away,” Jayna said.
She twisted to face them, grabbing for an enchantment in her pocket that wouldn’t harm them. She found the wand she’d made instead.
“Are you with them?” one of the dular asked.
“Back away,” Jayna repeated.
One of the men surged forward, and Jayna raised her hand. She focused on the power within the wand and drew that through her, blasting him with a burst of pale vapor that sent him flying back across the street where he crashed into a nearby building. The other man looked at her, then darted away.
She looked at the wand—more useful than she’d expected—and tucked it back into her pocket.
She pressed her hand on the sorcerer and he moaned.
She traced a quick, circular healing pattern—a series of circles that, when joined together, might allow her to help him—but she wasn’t going to be able to link him to his own magic. There was the possibility that she could use her Toral power to help heal, but Jayna wasn’t even sure if that would be enough.
The only other option was to keep trying traditional sorcery.
She moved around him so that she had space. The street was wide enough for her to work, and she was left alone as the crowd cleared.