Then I put my finger over the vial and squeezed.
“Corin! What are you…oh.” She quieted, considering. “You handing me the box along with it?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s not ready for a summoning spell, and I might need the contents. But I want you to hold onto the vial and use it to track me if necessary.”
I stoppered the vial and handed it to her.
She frowned, shoving it in a pouch. “We could probably just track you using me, you know.”
I didn’t want to say that I still wasn’t sure that we were blood related. “You’ll probably get better range with my blood. Just find a Diviner if you don’t see me soon. And if you need to follow me, bring Derek and Keras. These guys are dangerous.” I leaned forward and whispered in her ears. “Servants of the Tyrant.”
Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”
I gave her an apologetic tip of my head.
“You shouldn’t go with them. We should fight.”
I shook my head. “Four adults, each of whom is at least Sunstone. Probably Citrine or Emerald. No. Most, if not all, of us would die even if all of us were coordinated. And we’re not. We’re a bunch of students.”
“Precautions?” Sera asked. “I’ll have Vanniv watch you from the sky.”
I nodded. “Roland can monitor me, too—”
“Time to go, kid!” One of the soldiers yelled.
“Keep the team intact. I’ll be back.”
“Let me go with you,” Sera grabbed my arm. “They’ll want me, too, if they know I’m your family.”
I shook my head. “No. Too much of a risk. If my blood dries up, you’re the best method for tracking me down. And there’s no reason to put us both in danger at the same time.”
I pulled free from her. “Gotta go, Sis.”
“…Sis?”
I shrugged a shoulder. “It works.”
I turned and walked off to join the soldiers.
Together, we marched into the woods.
I was already making my first move.
When I’d left Sera, I hadn’t just cut my finger.
I’d attached a strand of mana to the box, too. And I was going to keep making that strand longer as I walked.
I’d leave myself a trail that I could follow back to the others — or that they could follow to me, if they picked it up. Vanniv’s airborne surveillance would be more effective for that, but I wanted redundancies.
“So…mind telling me what this is about?”
The leader shook his head. “Not yet. You’re not in trouble, though. Don’t worry about failing out of your class. That’ll be taken care of.”
Hah, like that was what I was worried about.
“Thanks, that makes me feel a little better.”
Completely, blatantly untrue.
We kept walking.
What was I doing?
The soldiers looked relatively at-ease, but I couldn’t be.
If I had miscalculated, there was a reasonable chance that they were going to kill me out here. I had no chance of winning against four people of Sunstone level or higher. None.
Should I have taken Sera’s route and tried to rally everyone for a fight?
No, I told myself. That would have just gotten other people killed. And I need to know what these people want with me.
We walked for what felt like at least an hour.
They weren’t silent during that time. It was worse than that — they were casual. One of them — Michel, I got from context — talked about wanting to go see a new play that was coming out soon. She was one of the ones with a hand-mark.
Another, Woods, complained about his feet hurting.
Carter wanted Woods to read a book that she was excited about.
The leader, Thomas, wanted Michel to go drinking with him.
None of that was important.
I was studying little details when I could.
Michel isn’t wearing a glove. It took me a few minutes to get at an angle where I could take a look without appearing too obvious.
Guardian. Older generation mark, but I think it’s Citrine.
Woods doesn’t just have sore feet. He favors his right leg. He has an old injury. He’s wearing a glove, but from the way he talks, I think he’s a close combat fighter, too. He’s wearing a sword. The others have dueling canes.
Carter is the one with the shoulder mark. Can’t get a good look at it, or at her leg mark.
Thomas is breathing a little more heavily than the others. A cold, maybe. I don’t think I can do anything with that right now. Wait, hold on. He has a second mark on his back. Lungs, then.
That made him more dangerous, but at least it wasn’t another shoulder mark. I didn’t know what those did, but from what Keras had explained, anyone with one would be at least a Citrine or Emerald level threat.
I should have asked for more about what the followers of the Tyrant were capable of.
Now if I had to fight, I was going in virtually blind.
And that meant I wasn’t planning to fight at all.
I needed to find every possible alternative. Every means of escape.
The odds of that working narrowed further when we reached our destination. A cabin in the middle of the woods.
Thomas walked up and knocked on the door. A moment later, it opened, and I took a step back.
The young woman on the other side wasn’t wearing a military uniform. She had long blonde hair, perfectly styled, and wore a fire-red dress.
A casual look would have told me she was dressed for a ball, but a closer inspection of the dress showed that it consisted of threads with a faint metallic sheen. That’s Ironweave, or something like it. The same thing they use to make dueling tunics. She just dyed it red to make it look fancy.
Similarly, she was wearing several pieces of gaudy-looking jewelry, but they weren’t cosmetic. Well, most of the pieces weren’t.
Her necklace glowed with an Emerald-level enchantment, and the two overly-large crystals on the rings on her hands were essence crystals. High-density ones, at least Class 3 or 4. They were probably worth a fortune.
She had a second necklace — or something else — glowing green under the high collar of her dress. That was unusual, considering two enchanted items in the same location tended to interfere with each other. Having two powerful items in the same location was a strange risk. Maybe someone as powerful as she was had a workaround, though.
My conclusion? She was a tremendously dangerous person with a carefully cultivated appearance of indulgence.
And with that, I had a good idea of who I was talking to and how dangerous my situation had become.
“Corin Cadence.” Elora Theas gave me a charming smile, with just the slightest hint of her teeth showing. “I believe you wished to speak to me.”
I have made a terrible mistake.
I didn’t dare step forward, so I chose to bow instead. “Lady Theas. It’s a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.”
I hadn’t expected for it to be under these circumstances, but that was probably obvious.
Elora returned my bow. “The pleasure is mine. I believe it’s long past time we discussed some issues of mutual interest.” Elora stepped outside. The soldiers parted for her. “Would you like any refreshments? I have a bit of tea inside.”
I shook my head. “If you don’t mind, I’d prefer some answers.”
“Straight to business, then. You’re very much like your brother in that regard.”
My heart skipped a beat. “My…brother?”