They reached the courtyard outside of the seven homes. The fountain still flowed, and the homes themselves were intact, other than the two that had been destroyed.
“Where is everybody?” she whispered.
“Ask your friend,” Eva suggested.
She focused on Char. The faint awareness of him was still there in the back of her mind—subtle, but she thought she could find it. She used power to pinpoint the connection, then released it.
“He’s not far from here,” she said.
Jayna trailed after that energy, following what she could feel, and recognized that there was something nearby. Shadows moved along the street, heading away from the courtyard, sneaking quickly.
Something in that movement struck her as familiar.
If she went in the opposite direction, she would reach Char, but she wondered if perhaps she should head toward the person she’d just sensed. Could it be Matthew? Jayna followed them and Eva stayed silent.
Jayna began to focus on a spell, beginning to build power. As she headed along the street, trailing after the figure, a burst of power slammed into her.
She was thrown off to the side, while Eva remained motionless.
Something looped around Eva, holding her hands at her side.
“Eva?”
“I’m unharmed,” she said.
Smoke started to swirl around Eva, and she stretched her hands off to the side, shattering whatever bindings had been lashed around her.
Jayna scrambled to her feet, reaching for the power of the dragon stone and creating a quick barrier around herself.
The attack had come from an alleyway.
Not Matthew. Not with that kind of power.
“Who do you think that was?” Jayna asked.
“Somebody who is about to find a different fate,” Eva said.
Anger filled her voice, and as she stared into the distance, Jayna worried about Eva getting upset—worried that if she was filled with rage like that, she might take a dangerous tactic. But at the same time, she understood Eva’s irritation.
“We should be careful,” Jayna said.
“You be careful. I was attacked,” Eva replied.
Jayna chuckled. “I was attacked as well. We both were.”
“No.” She started forward, smoke drifting off of her. It began to slide down the alleyway.
Jayna reached the entrance of the alley at the same time as a burst of light came streaking toward them.
Jayna barely had a moment to react.
She quickly solidified the barrier around them, trying to prevent power from striking them. She had no idea what this enchantment might be, what this power might be, but she could feel it coming toward her.
It reminded her somewhat of the streaking band of power that had come from Agnew, only this one was not nearly as focused, and when it struck her barrier, it didn’t wrap around in the same way. It merely fizzled out.
It did push her back a step though.
She gritted her teeth, stepping forward again, and she called upon more power, letting it flow through her, then released the barrier as she and Eva moved ahead.
“Sorcerer?” Eva asked.
“I don’t know. It didn’t feel quite like any sorcerer.”
More than that, if it had been a sorcerer, she would’ve expected to detect some twinge of energy, and there was nothing. If it was a sorcerer, then it was one who didn’t have much control, or much power.
She didn’t know how many sorcerers were in the city, though from what Char had said, they had begun to fortify the city following the last attack, which suggested to her that there were more present now than there were before.
“We should be—”
Another attack blasted, streaking toward them, and Jayna reacted, solidifying her magic ball barrier once again, blocking the next attack.
She didn’t want to lash out until she knew who was attacking. She didn’t think it was Char, and she had no interest in attacking a sorcerer unless she needed to, but she grew tired of getting assaulted by magic.
It had already been a long day, and this only made it even longer.
She focused on the alley, on the power she felt there, and remembered the last time she’d been blasted by a similar sort of magic.
And she’d been right when she’d first seen the figure moving.
Damn him.
“Careful,” she warned Eva. “I know who this is.”
Jayna traced her hand in a quick pattern then pushed outward, using a sweeping of magic that would almost blast through the enchantments, before withdrawing it. She didn’t need to do the same thing Agnew had done with all of the enchantments in the city. She didn’t need to incapacitate the dular—and whoever might be working with them.
“If you’re there, Matthew, step forward.” She called out into the darkness and waited.
It didn’t take long.
Matthew appeared out of the shadows. “How did you know it was me?”
“I can feel your enchantments,” Jayna said.
Matthew frowned. “What sort of recent Academy graduate has the ability to feel enchantments?”
Jayna glanced over to Eva. “Someone who is a little bit more than just a recent Academy graduate.” She looked in the distance. The power still exploded all around her. It came from the center of the city, though it echoed on the periphery. “What are you doing out here?”
“I told you to stay away from this,” Matthew said.
“You did. And I’m trying to get a sense of why you’ve gotten involved.”
“Jayna—”
Jayna darted forward, wrapping him in the power of the Toral ring. Matthew knew something, and with everything she’d gone through, and everything she still had to deal with, she was not about to take her time trying to understand it anymore.
“Matthew Veran. If you know something, you are going to tell me. I am here to stop this war.”
“You’re with the Society. You’re not here to stop war. You’re here to start it. I know everything about that. That’s why I was . . .”
“That’s why you were what?” Jayna asked.
“I can’t tell you,” Matthew said.
As she looked up at him, she pressed two fingers into his chest and began to let power flow from her fingers into him. It was merely a vibrational sort of energy, nothing more than that.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m not with the Society, Matthew. And the only reason I’m here now is so I can try to stop this war before it gets out of hand.”
“What do you mean, you’re not with the Society?”
He glanced from her to Eva, and Jayna poked him in the chest again, forcing his attention back to her. “Keep your eyes on me,” she snapped. “And I mean what I said. I’m not with the Society. I am here to ensure this stupid war doesn’t evolve into something worse. If you know something, then you need to share it with me. Now. Before it gets to be something it doesn’t need to be.”
“Jayna . . .”
“No. We’re going to talk. You’re going to provide me with what I need.”
“Listen. I was hired for a job. I did the job—”
“What was the job?”
“You know I can’t tell you about that.”
“I know who and what you are, Matthew. And I know you can tell me about the job. I know you will tell me about the job.” She jabbed him again, sending another vibrating pulse into his chest, and Matthew just watched her, his eyes narrowing. “We don’t have much time. This is getting out of hand, and if I can’t figure out how to stop it . . .” She glanced over to Eva. “It’s got to be about more than just the sorcerers and the dular,” Jayna said softly.