“What’re we gonna do about him?” Runeo looked over at the boy still slumped unconscious on the table. “The second he wakes up, he’ll alert the Haven.”

“Can you wipe just a few minutes of his memories?” Quenti asked, looking at Lili.

The tierren’s face was pale, and she shook her head. “Even on a good day, I wouldn’t have enough power to do that. There are few in Arbol who would. That’s why we couldn’t send Alara home before.”

“We’ll have to work fast then,” Alara said.

“I can jam the door,” Lili said, running a hand along where the wood frame met the cold stone of the walls. “It’ll at least buy us a little time.”

Alara nodded at this. “Okay.” She mentally ran through the passageways that led to the dungeon. “I’ll lead everyone again, but we’ll have to be careful. Once we get past the main floor, even magites would look suspicious.”

With that, the group slipped back into the hall, Lili taking up the rear. She paused for a moment as they left the room, hand in front of her. A small root broke through the packed dirt of the floor and curled in front of the closed door.

Alara turned and headed toward the councilrooms. There was a stairwell nearby that would hopefully lead them down to the dungeon level. If her hunch was correct, they wouldn’t have to pass by the councilmembers’ offices. The last thing she wanted was to walk by the room where Emaru was camped out. She would have to wait for a reunion once she had helped the others escape.

And hope to El’dyo Emaru never finds out what you did, her thought came unbidden.

Silently, Alara led their small band, ducking into the shadows as she sensed movement ahead of them every few minutes. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw the passage ahead, veering off from the hallways to the left. A long set of stairs led down.

Signaling, they turned into the passage and made their way down the winding staircase, the narrow walls pressing in on either side. Alara held her breath as they raced downward—there was nowhere to hide if a mage or councilguard came their way. But they made it to the bottom, where it opened into a wider hallway.

The torches down here were few and far between, casting wide shadows along the passage. The air was colder on this level, as if highlighting the absence of life. Alara sent out a thread of magia toward the dungeons. She felt Khuna’s energy in the distance. They were so close. As she pulled back, her excitement died, replaced with an anxious dread.

Two mages were headed toward them. Alara pulled the others back, and they ducked into the stairwell. Runeo’s eyebrows furrowed in concern, and she held up two fingers before pointing down the hall. She ducked around the corner to see if there was any place to hide. A few yards down was a door, but they wouldn’t have made it before the newcomers rounded the corner.

Still, if they stayed, even the most distracted mage or councilguard would notice the brightly dressed magites huddled together. And that was even assuming they weren’t planning on taking that stairwell.

Alara eyed the torch across the hall from them. She pulled at the thread of magia and directed it toward the flame. Taking a deep breath, she tried to pull at the fire to make it go out. The heat in her rose and the flame jolted. A spike of fear hit her as the flame shot up even higher.

A hand rested on Alara’s shoulder. She saw Quenti, who nodded back, solemn and supporting, even in silence. The bruya raised her hand, and a small bubbled of water formed above the torch. It fell into the flame and the torch went out with a small puff of smoke and steam.

A second later, footsteps rounded the corner down the hall. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she wondered if everyone else could hear it.

The mages were getting closer, and Alara could hear them talking. It was two women she didn’t recognize, but with a sickening lurch she heard one mage utter the words “update Senye Emaru.”

At least one guard was headed directly into the stairwell where they were hiding. Eyes wide, Alara turned to the others. She didn’t need to use words. It was clear they understood the conclusion she had just come to. They needed to get out of here and now.

Runeo motioned, and Alara looked at him, trying to understand. He motioned again and pushed around her, inching into the shadowed hallway.

She wondered for a moment if he planned to ambush the two guards before his hand moved and a rush of breeze emerge from his palm. A door down the hallway slammed shut.

“What the—”

The two guards bolted past them and down the hallway. The instant the two guards barged through the door, Runeo jumped out of the stairwell and led them running in the other direction. Alara tried to send out a thread of magia to see if there were others around, but she couldn’t focus her mind as they ran.

The group slowed as they turned the corner.

“This way.” Alara whispered. It was a few more turns before Alara came to a large, heavy door. She closed her eyes and stretched her consciousness out to touch the people beyond. She could still feel Khuna and a few others, neither moving nor sleeping. Another three were more active, pacing and moving within the room.

She turned back to the others and whispered, “Three guards, I think.”

“We can take them, easily,” Runeo said with a look that made Alara’s stomach twist.

“Remember. No killing.” Her voice was a sharp whisper.

He sneered at this. “Remember, I’m no monster. Besides, we wouldn’t want to harm your friends.”

“Not to mention it’ll be easier on all of us to not leave a trail of blood.”

“And you don’t think those councilguards out there will talk?” Runeo said.

“What’re you talking about?” Alara said, annoyed. Where had this come from?

“Don’t think I don’t know the true reason behind this. No, you don’t want anyone to die because killing anyone will make it that much harder to come crawling back after all of this. But even if that’s the case, do you really think the councilguards we take out won’t rat on you when it’s all over?”

The truth of it was a stone in her stomach that she refused to acknowledge. “I can deal with them after this. But if you want my help, we aren’t killing anyone. Agreed?”

The bruya’s jaw muscles twisted, but he gave a stiff nod. “Fine. But we’ll need to disable them before they can send out an envia,” Runeo said, looking at Lili. “Can you do it?”

Lili was pale, but nodded. “If you can distract them, I can.”

Runeo gave a grim nod. “No killing required, then.” He grabbed the dagger from his hip and readied himself to lunge into the prison cells, leaving Alara wondering how this wouldn’t end in bloodshed.

But then, she had an idea. She gripped his shoulder and pulled him back.

“Change out of your magite clothes.”

“What?”

“Put your bruya tunic back on.” She grabbed the pack that swung on her shoulder and shoved it into his hands. “Quickly.”

She watched the thoughts flicker across his face. His eyes were narrowed with suspicion, and she had to wonder if he thought this was some elaborate trick to get him arrested. But he conceded, taking the bag from her and shrugging off his blue tunic. Alara averted her eyes at the sight of his bare chest.

She turned back as he slipped the brown tunic over his head and fastened the flowered and woven belt around his waist. The blue magite pants stuck out from beneath the tunic, but it would have to do.

Alara signaled for Lili and Quenti to stand behind her, and she wrapped a small piece of rope around Runeo’s hands. He palmed the ends without tying them and gave her a nod.

After taking a deep breath, she swung the door open and shoulder her way through, tugging Runeo after her by his arm.

“Thank El’dyo, that was the longest walk ever.” She said with an over-the-top sigh. “This bruya would not shut up!”

Alara glanced around the room, taking in the scene. Her jaw clenched as she saw five councilguards looking at her in utter confusion. Three mages and two blameless—all of giving the duo a suspicious look. She was happy to see that while a few had placed hands on their weapons, none of had been drawn yet.

“Why is there a magite delivering us a prisoner?” One guard said, eyeing Runeo with disgust.

Alara stepped further into the room, leaving the door behind her open. She pushed Runeo into the center of the room.

“That is a brilliant question,” she said, having no idea what to say next. She tried to put on a large innocent smile, but the looks she was getting made it falter. Screw it. “Now!”

Runeo dropped the ropes that had been around his wrists and sent a wave of air crashing into three of the guards sitting along the wall. Lili and Quenti charged in behind them and Alara ran back to shut the door, not wanting the commotion to draw anyone else down to join the fray.

She turned back and saw Lili incapacitating her second guard with a touch of her hand as Quenti and Runeo fought with the other three. Alara swore under her breath. All three remaining guards were mages. She saw a simple wood club hanging on the wall and grabbed it. Coming up behind Runeo, who was struggling with two mages, Alara whirled the club around and drove the blunt end against one man’s heads. A crack echoed in the room, and she jumped back as the man crumpled. She held her breath until she saw the downed man’s chest move slightly. Runeo’s eyes widened for a moment, looking at her.

“Not bad for a magite,” he said with a smirk before returning to the other guard.

She didn’t like that coming from him, but didn’t let the thought linger. She had to help with that final councilguard, further ensuring the scuffle didn’t end in bloodshed.

It was another wind mage. He and Runeo danced around each other, dodging gusts of wind and jabs from their daggers. Alara shifted the club in her hands, hoping to help the bruya, but they were moving too fast for her to get a clear shot. She could only watch as they spun around each other, their feet making arches on the dirt floor as they circled. She thought back to her fight in the dark marketplace.

“Runeo, dirt floors!”

Runeo’s eyes widened as her comment registered. He didn’t hesitate, sweeping his hand and sending a flurry of dust at the man’s face. Alara used the moment of distraction to swing the club at the man’s knees. He fell with a loud grunt and Lili jumped forward, placing a hand on his head before his body went limp.

Alara’s small feeling of triumph cut short, yanked from her like air after a punch to the gut as she heard Quenti cry out. She turned to see the other girl holding her side as a blameless guard lunged forward with his blade.

She acted on only instinct. Sweeping forward, low to the ground, she picked up the fallen spear she had been fighting with earlier and threw it, bronze-tipped blade first, into the man’s chest. He twisted for a moment, blood smearing down his chest, and then he fell, unmoving.

Alara let out a small gasp as nausea roiled through her at the sight. The sight of death and failure. Her inability to stay loyal to her oaths. Her inability to protect her own people from herself.

El’dyo, what have I done?

“Quenti!”

The magite registered two things in the next second. The first was that Khuna had just spoken, her face gray as she pressed against the bars of a cell. The second was that Khuna’s attention was focused on the ground a few yards away.

Quenti lay crumpled on the ground, her curls falling in her face. But it was her hands that caught Alara’s attention. A thick stream of red blood seeped through the girl’s fingers as she clenched her side.