Five of the Green Hoods had accompanied us, including Keyelle and Esmon. We stayed off the paths, and when we heard horses pounding nearer, we crouched behind brush. A rider on a lovely white horse, much like the one the jinn had ridden, was heading the way we had come, followed by four more men. They carried magic lanterns, casting a soft light that caught the fair flax and copper tones of their hair but did not reach us. I hunched still lower.
“That’s Prince Tamin,” Esmon whispered. “They must be coming for Calden. I hope he’s had enough time to put distance between them. That means we have to hurry.”
“Do we have enough time?” Keyelle’s eyes gleamed wide in the moonlight.
“Yes, yes, let’s just go,” I said. I could hardly bear looking at the palace where Erris had grown up, knowing I might be so close to finding him. I crept forward, and the Green Hoods moved with me.
We hovered at the edge of the woods, taking stock of the situation. A guard roamed the side of the building, and perhaps more looked from the darker windows-we had no way of knowing. The guard paced, occasionally glancing up at the moon.
“How do we get past him?” I asked.
“A diversion?” Annalie said.
“Nothing that will attract too much attention,” Keyelle said.
“King Belin invited people from all over the realm to this feast,” Esmon said. “Do you think we could just pretend to be late-comers?”
“Not the way we look!” Keyelle said. “Glamours?”
Esmon shook his head. “No, they’ll be trained to see through them, or what sort of guards would they be?”
“I could divert him with my spirits,” Annalie said. “Diverting one man is easy. If there are more guards watching from the windows, then I can only give you that long. But I might be left behind, and I won’t be able to help you find Erris.”
I shut my eyes a moment, almost in prayer-begging my magic to become a beacon to Erris. Familiar frustration crawled over me-that I had to study magic on my own, that I had no teacher and few books, that even if I wanted to learn magic in a proper way I would be forbidden from practicing. I had to grope and claw my way through each technique, learning more often from desperation than proper instruction.
The first spell I had ever done had come with my breath. I had learned to move and summon heat and fire, even to warm Erris. I could so imagine how it felt to share my own warmth with him, the warmth of my life. I had touched him then. If only I could connect with him now.
If our hopes proved right, he was alive here. He would have his own warmth and life. Could I feel it? Could I find it?
“Nimira?” Annalie said. “Are you all right? What do you think?”
“I can’t feel him,” I said, feeling as frustrated and angry as the first day I tried to move flame. I kept thinking how the jinn had tracked Erris, and how jinn magic was supposed to come from fire. Of course, he was a jinn, and magic came easily to him, but it maddened me, how my own powers didn’t come to me.
The jinn. I had felt his magic once. Could I draw from it? Even if I could just sense him, maybe he would know where Erris was. It was terrifically risky, considering he was the same person we had come to fear, but I needed to take some action. I didn’t want to die, but we were here. Something had to be done.
I closed my eyes again, inhaled and exhaled, and reached for Ifra.
THE HALL OF OAK AND ASH, TELMIRRA
Belin pushed open the heavy carved doors.
“Your Majesty? Aren’t you wanted in the dining hall?” the guard said.
“Did my father pay you to ask him questions?” Belin snapped. “I need a moment to speak with my betrothed.” He pulled Violet into the dark room. Ifra followed. Just as before, the room was almost pitch-black with the thick branches of ancient trees blocking the scant light the windows might have provided, and the whispering of leaves was even thicker than the darkness.
“We have to hurry,” Belin said. “I don’t know if I can trust those guards anymore, and as he says, they’ll be wanting me to start the dancing soon enough.”
Violet suddenly clutched Ifra’s hand in the darkness. “What is this place?”
Ifra hoped Belin couldn’t see her hand clutching his. “The Hall of Oak and Ash,” Belin said.
“Can you hear them?” she said, her grip almost painfully tight.
“The trees?”
“Yes. They’re sick. I’ve never heard anything like that,” she said. “Oh no. Please, hurry, where is Erris?” She sounded almost frantic. “It’s awful. They want to die and they can’t die, and we can’t let them die.” She sniffed. “Won’t you let Ifra talk now?”
“Not yet,” Belin said, making Ifra feel almost as frantic as Violet. For a moment he’d almost forgotten about Belin lifting the wish, and he subconsciously assumed Belin had too, but apparently not.
“Jinn, can you make a light?” Belin said.
Ifra extracted his hand from Violet’s grip and summoned a flame, casting ghostly shadows along the massive trunks of the trees.
“Follow me.” Belin rushed to the throne, which was at the far end of the room, in front of two of the massive trees. He went around the back-Ifra and Violet following-to the farthest edge near the wall, and started prying up the flagstone to the underground passage. He was having trouble on his own, so Ifra quickly moved to assist with his free arm, the one that wasn’t holding the light.
Just as they moved the stone aside, Ifra had the sensation of someone touching him-or looking over his shoulder.
He turned to look at the shadows behind him, but wherever he turned, he felt the presence just behind him. It wasn’t a body, he realized, but the feather-light touch of a warm spirit. He prodded back.
Nimira. It was Nimira. She was tugging at him from somewhere nearby, with uncertain little magical tugs.
He didn’t know what to do. She could be in danger, wherever she was, but how would Belin react to her? Of course, Belin was freeing Erris, but Ifra still didn’t quite trust him. Even so, Belin was surely safer than Tamin.
Ifra exhaled sharply, making an alarmed noise to catch Belin’s attention. Belin was climbing into the catacombs. Ifra tapped his shoulder and then ran to the door, tracing Nimira’s spirit.
“Is it Tamin?” Belin was struggling out of the passageway again.
Belin’s question tugged at Ifra, demanding an answer, and yet, Belin hadn’t told him to speak, so Ifra had to leave the request unfulfilled. He ran out into the garden just as Nimira came through the side door that led to the forest, an expression of considerable alarm on her face.
Chapter 27
The moment I slipped through the garden gate, I was greeted by the sight of the jinn running up to me, and guards off to the left and right, posted at doors. I could have turned around and dashed back, but obviously I’d already been spotted, so instead I froze, praying Ifra was a friend now.
It was terribly hard to shake the image of him destroying Erris.
He put a finger to his lips and motioned with his hands. Was he asking me to be quiet? I was confused. He’d certainly had no trouble speaking the language before, but now he seemed tonguetied. He motioned for me to follow him, back to the door at my left, set in a wall covered in climbing vines.
“Who is that?” the guard demanded. “What’s going on?”
Ifra opened the door and shoved me into a dark room. He didn’t follow, just shut the door on me.
“Who’s there?” a man called. “Ifra?”
“He’s-he’s still outside.” I reached behind me, finding the door handle, but I didn’t think fleeing would do a bit of good.
“Ifra?” Now, that voice I recognized.
“Violet?”
“Nimira?” I saw a shadow flutter, and Violet threw her arms around me as if we’d been the best of friends. “Why didn’t Ifra come back in?”