“No,” Mara said, her voice a mixture of strange emotions. “It cannot.”

His mother shook her head. “I will give you one last chance. Do not force my hand. I have come to you to negotiate. Are you turning me away? We will have no choice but to pursue and destroy you if you will not cooperate.”

He saw Mara’s form tense as if poised for immediate attack. But nothing else changed.

“I wish there were some deal that could be reached,” Mara replied. Odd thing for a kidnapper to say. “But there is nothing I can ask you for. You have nothing I need. It cannot be. My—” She tried to say something else but winced and cut herself short. Her hand moved briefly to rub her shoulder, then back to steady herself against the log.

“So be it, then,” his mother said. “You choose to bring the wrath of Akaria upon you. A fool’s choice—you will die before I let you hurt him.” With another blast of the wind, the figures in light were gone.

Aven blinked at the ferocity of her words. In a hall full of warriors, his mother often seemed to be a beacon of refinement. It was easy to lose sight of the powerful warrior queen she really was.

Mara stayed frozen for a moment, listening, the vanishing image putting her by no means at ease.

“Come.” She grabbed him by the shirt and rushing back toward the horses. “There are some ruins on the crest of the hill—let’s go. This isn’t over.”

Kres was happy to break into a gallop for once, and Miara was happy to oblige him. They dismounted when they reached what appeared to be the remains of a temple—elegant, tall, and tragically indefensible. She had dared to hope for some kind of fortification, but no such luck. They ventured inside on foot, bringing the horses with them. Ancient stone columns rose up, holding high stone halls and roofs intact, leaving a darkened shell with shafts of sunlight streaming in. Writing she didn’t recognize was etched into a white stone wall to their left.

“Tell me what it says,” she said.

“This is a temple of ancestors,” Aven replied, voice echoing. “A place to commune with generations before.”

Just her luck—she did not think past generations were cheering her on, certainly not on her mother’s side. Ah, well, it was better than an open plain. Perhaps there would be quarters for the priests and priestesses that would be more defensible than this shooting gallery.

A pebble tumbled across a rock somewhere behind them.

Someone, or some thing, was following them.

She held a finger to her lips to indicate silence. Of course, she couldn’t trust him, but she also needed every bit of energy for a potential fight. He seemed to want to learn magic more than he wanted to escape. Perhaps it was a ploy, but it was a chance she was willing to take.

She dropped the horses’ reins to leave them in place. She muffled the sound of her and Aven’s footsteps against the stone and drew him against the wall. She paused and scanned for any motion. Nothing. They slid along the wall toward the main altar of the temple.

Another sound of stone crumbling, tumbling against the rock.

She felt her heart start to pound now in spite of herself. Would it be mages? Warriors? How many? Something else? The queen herself was unlikely—or she wouldn’t have visited them via the light. She could have visited in person and attacked immediately. No, the queen was not that close. But she would not have approached if she hadn’t planned to make a move.

Visiting via the light meant the queen could be an air mage. But if she were, she would have also have attacked right away. Perhaps she was untrained or waiting for a certain moment, but most likely she wasn’t an air mage. Another air mage probably cast the light visit spell. That meant the queen was either a creature or an earth mage, and since the ground wasn’t shaking, Mara had a fairly good guess as to which.

What if it wasn’t anything, just a stray cat, and she was wasting energy on nothing? She could reach out and find out, but using her magic to search the area would reveal their presence to any pursuers. Was the sparrow nearby? Kres knew how to keep out of a creature mage’s view, but what about Cora? With the sparrow following them and their altercation with the queen so close behind, Akarian eyes had almost certainly followed them and knew their general location, if not their exact one. So perhaps location wasn’t much of a secret to be kept.

If she could simply get close or edge up alongside them, maybe she could sense their presence without alerting them to her own. If she found nothing there, knowing for sure would save her a lot of energy. If she discovered a mage, well, their pursuers were likely close enough to find her and Aven anyway.

She reached out slowly, cautiously, to feel for any sign of life.

The plan of attempting to remain hidden failed miserably. Her mind became aware of them at the exact instant they became aware of her. Wolves. And they were hunting her.

She didn’t need to hear their feet on the stone to know they were coming. She abandoned Aven and sprinted in the opposite direction, trying to buy herself at least a little time to call for help. To continue her mission, she’d have to survive this first.

She reached out around her for any creature to help her—but there was nothing. She found nothing. How could there be nothing alive anywhere close? Unless… there were creature mages behind this who had also called possible help away. How could it be?

She was nearly to the altar when the first wolf reached her, leaping on her from behind. She felt its claws dig into her shoulders as her body thudded into the stone floor. One claw in particular dug into the brand on her shoulder as the wolf closed his mouth over her neck, then yanked its paw away as if burned.

Please, wait— she started, unsure of how to stop the attack.

Release your prisoner, it insisted, tightening its bite.

I can’t!

Its teeth dug in deeper, breaking the skin slightly.

I can’t! I swear! I, too, am a prisoner.

Now the wolf seemed to hesitate. You are poisoned. You are sick. What is wrong with your shoulder?

Magic. I must do what others say. I am their prisoner. I am a slave. They made me capture him. She didn’t know if the wolf would understand the concept of a slave, but what else could she do but beg?

The man you hold is good. He does not deserve to be harmed. It is not the Balance. The wolf’s voice was stern.

I know, she answered back weakly. I know, she thought. Go ahead and kill me. It is the only way to set him free. Perhaps it would be for the best. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced herself.