When she landed she grabbed the sphere, surprised to discover how light it was. With all her strength she hurled it toward the nearest doorway, then rolled. Daggers thudded into the grass. Coming out of her roll, she let out a gasp. With the object’s removal she felt her magic returning into her like floodwaters rushing through a broken dam. Feeling more alert, more whole, she bared her teeth and stretched out her hands toward the leaping assassin. Lightning shot from her fingers, crackling with energy. The hit halted him in midair, spinning his upper body backward. When he landed she struck him again, the electricity arcing about his body.
“Close your eyes!” Aurelia screamed at the children. Gregory would see nothing, what with his fists pressed against his face, but Aubrienna had been watching even as she cried. Praying her daughter would listen, Aurelia stood, summoning an invisible energy shield to block any more darts the assassins might throw. But the two men at the doors apparently had new tricks in mind.
A ball of fire burned through the air, aimed straight for Aurelia’s chest. It struck her shield and detonated, swirling outward in a thin line, consuming the nearby plants and blackening the vases. Aurelia managed to duck beneath the flames just in time, only to see the other assassin outstretch his hand. Twin glowing orbs arced out, veering over her cover and slamming through her shield with ease. She let out a cry as they struck her chest. The pain was intense, and she fell back to the ground. Writhing, she bit her tongue in an attempt to focus. The two orbs had caused no physical damage. They were just trying to keep her down long enough to finish her.
The bite to her tongue didn’t work, but hearing the two children crying did. The fools wanted a sorcerer’s duel? Then so be it. She’d faced an enraged Tessanna, stood toe-to-toe against the prophet. These assassins? They had picked the wrong target.
Shoving herself to her feet, she raised her hands and summoned the most powerful protection spells she knew. Fire and ice crashed against her shields, burning more plants and spreading frost along the ground, but nothing could penetrate. Aurelia’s fingers danced, and she allowed herself a smile.
“You want fire?” she asked. “Then have it.”
A great stream burst from her gathered palms, belching out as if from the belly of a dragon. It filled the doorway, easily overwhelming the man’s attempt at a magical shield. When it subsided, his body was but blackened ash. Turning to the other, she saw him fleeing.
“Not so fast,” she said through clenched teeth, summoning a swirling blue portal. Its location wasn’t far. Stepping through, she reemerged at the end of the hallway the final assassin had attempted to flee down. He skidded to a halt, his eyes widening behind his mask. Aurelia gave him no time to react. Unleashing all her fury, she tore bricks free from each side of the castle walls and then slammed them together. She heard the assassin’s bones snap, saw his skull crunch inward. His body dropped to the floor like a rag doll, and it was only then Aurelia felt she could breathe.
She ran back to the garden, pausing only momentarily at the door. Two guards lay slumped outside the entrance, thin darts protruding out from their necks. Aurelia passed them by, holding in a shudder. Checking the other exit, she found two more dead guards. The waste of life infuriated her as much as it frightened her with the implications.
“Mommy!”
Aurelia turned, felt her heart break upon seeing Aubrienna rush out from cover and run toward her. Her cheeks and neck were red, her face a mess of snot and tears. Aurelia scooped her into her arms, then went to Gregory. She set her daughter down, wrapped them both in her arms, and tried to calm them.
“Hold your ears now,” she said, pulling them closer to her chest. Turning her head toward one of the doors, she gathered magic into her voice.
“Guards!”
The sound must have echoed throughout half the castle, for within a minute, dozens came rushing in, cursing at the sight of their dead brethren.
“Take them to Harruq, and make sure they don’t leave his side,” she said to the man in charge. “I don’t care how disruptive they are, they don’t leave. Is that clear?”
“Understood,” the soldier said, scooping Gregory up into his arms. Another pulled off his mailed glove and offered a hand to Aubrienna.
“Mommy, don’t go,” she begged. She had started to calm down, but was only the slightest push away from breaking again.
“I’m sorry sweetie,” Aurelia said, kissing her forehead. “Go to daddy. Mommy has people she needs to see.”
She sniffled but managed to keep herself together. Aurelia felt guilt watching them go, but she shoved the feeling away. Now was not the time. As squads of soldiers spread out to scan the castle for any more intrusions, or at least discover how the assassins gained entrance in the first place, Aurelia opened a portal to her and Harruq’s room. From there she grabbed her staff, one of her few cherished possessions she still had from their flight from Veldaren. Leaping back through the portal into the garden, she approached the rainbow sphere that had given her so much trouble. The closer she stepped to it the more she felt her magic fading, until when it was at her feet she was powerless once more.
With a satisfying crack, she smashed it with the butt of her staff. The sphere broke easily, letting out a great puff of smoke and color as it did. Scooping up the surprisingly cool shards, she closed her eyes to create another portal. The masks the assassins wore were familiar, and that they wielded magic made them doubly rare. But there was one man she knew that matched both qualities, a man that might either be behind the attack, or know who was responsible.
Through the portal she stepped, still holding the shards. When she exited, she was on a distant street in the trade district of Mordeina. The men and women passing by turned to gawk, and for once Aurelia wished she might fit in a little better. No time for a disguise, though, so she hurried to the tavern she’d been told to go to if she ever sought to make contact. It wasn’t the tavern itself she needed, though, but the dark alley beside it. A child sat there on a crate, looking bored. His hair was disheveled, his face dirty, but there was something of an act to his appearance. The alertness of his eyes, the healthiness of his skin, belied the supposed starvation of a street rat.
“Hello,” Aurelia said to the boy.
“Don’t feel like talking,” was his response.
“I fear I’m not as wise as I thought,” she said, as instructed. “Might you help me?”
The boy stared at her, then gave a curt nod.
“Wait here.”
Aurelia stepped into the alley, holding her staff in one hand, the shards in the other. Several minutes passed, but at least she was out of clear sight of the traffic.
“Bored of your life in the castle?” asked a woman’s voice from above.
Aurelia glanced up to see Veliana peering down from the rooftop of the tavern, a smirk lighting up her lone good eye. She wore the colors of her new guild, dark gray shirt and cloak with black sleeves and pants. In her left hand she twirled a dagger, her fingers dancing.
“I’d prefer the boredom over today,” she said. “Where’s your guildmaster?”
“Right here,” Deathmask said, stepping out of the alley’s shadows, his arms crossed behind his back. His long dark hair curled down around his neck. A gray mask covered his mouth and nose, but his eyes were sparkling with humor. “Ah, Aurelia, how good it is to see you again. Your beauty is as stunning as ever. Such a shame you waste it on that oaf of a half-orc you call a husband.”
“I’m in no mood,” Aurelia said, tossing the shards at his feet. “Someone tried to kill me and my daughter, and Antonil’s son as well. I want to know why.”
Deathmask lifted an eyebrow.
“Interesting. And you think I have the answer why?”
“All three assassins wore masks similar to yours.”