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Neo’s feet found sand and they stood on the same beach they had just under four months prior. These days, they were bundled up in a few layers and the sun descended to their left, despite it being five-thirty in the afternoon.
Seneca took a step forward. “And just like last time, we’re standing out. Think they’ll notice?”
Neo unfastened his cloak and removed it. “Here, just get rid of your top layer.”
“No, I’m freezing as it is.”
“It’s the only way we can be incognito.”
She shot him a glare. “My hands?”
Neo paused. “Right. And they might—”
“Recognize you. Best thing we can do is find out where these armies are headed and steer clear. If I had to guess, they’d be trolling through the larger towns.”
“But according to the trade guy, they’re headed here fast.” Neo sighed. “This strikes me as alarming You realize how close we are to Tamuria.”
She looked back to the Strait. “Yeah, but even if they’ve ability, it’s not like they can fire-travel. They wouldn’t know where to land.”
“Unless they’ve been there before. Which isn’t likely. Let’s go.”
“Okay, we just need to get to Tamuria City. South of us. Sun will be to our right and when it descends...”
Neo smiled. “Venus will rise where the sun sets, so we have to keep it to our right.”
“Until midnight.”
They windsurfed, surfing on the air, to the outskirts of the town in which they’d stopped during their previous adventure. Within seconds, Seneca grabbed Neo and pulled him farther into the forested area just beyond the town.
“What’s wrong?”
Seneca pointed. “There. Ugh, I knew it. I felt sick the second we landed.”
Visible beyond the trees, lit torches formed a line and voices rang throughout the night.
Neo inched closer. “I can’t catch what they’re saying.”
Hand clutched on his cloak, Seneca followed. “Don’t get too close.”
“I just want to hear what’s going on.”
“Neo—”
“Sen, they’re not going to get us here. If anything, I’ll grab you and fire-travel somewhere else. It’s not like we don’t know the area.” Neo crept ahead and took refuge behind a bush.
Two soldiers paced ahead as the others kept their torches hovered over two people on their hands and knees.
The first soldier towered over the two prisoners. “So, King Irvin’s using you as spies for how long, now?”
The soldier’s voice was familiar.
The man on the ground shivered. “Please, Sire, I’ve not the slightest idea what you’re talking about. We’re tradesmen. Never spies on the House of Romanoff.”
More people gathered in the streets as if expecting a public lynching of some sort.
Seneca tightened her grip on Neo’s shoulder. “You don’t think they’re—”
“I do. They’re our people.”
The second soldier paced back and forth. “Just tell us your true business and confess your mistakes.”
Seneca gasped. “Zoldak.”
These were the same soldiers who tried to hold them up last time. Neo clenched his hand into a fist. “Kia’s men.”
The second man trembled. “Please, Sire, just let us go back to our families. We were just in town conducting business.”
Zoldak knelt next to the man. “Tell us your crime.” He turned to the growing crowd. “Tell all of us your crime.”
The first man shook his head. “We’re innocent men trying to make a living to put bread on the table!”
Zoldak looked to his comrade. “Well, Levine, what are you thinking? They speak the truth?”
Levine turned and nodded to another in front of the crowd. “Rook, what do you say?”
The mind-traveler, those with the ability to read minds, from before stepped forward and looked upon the two men. He turned and shook his head. “Guilty.”
The first man fought against the chains binding his hands. “You cannot be doing this!”
Zoldak pointed his Sword. “It’s too late.”
Seneca shook her head. “Maybe it’ll backfire?”
Neo guided her hand from his shoulder to his side and squeezed it. “It won’t unless these men possess ability.”
Levine grasped the man’s hair and forced his head back. “Open your mouth.”
The man struggled in Levine’s grasp while two soldiers ran forward and held the other man still.
Zoldak stuck the Sword in the man’s mouth. A fireball erupted and the man toppled over, headless.
Seneca held a hand to her mouth and backed away. “I’m going to be sick. Oh, my goodness—”
As she coughed and sputtered a few yards behind Neo, Zoldak led the soldiers around the second man. “This is your last chance.”
The man drew himself to full height in a seated position. “You’re going to have to kill me. Suppose you’d kill me, anyway, right?”
“Only after you confess to your crimes of being planted here by King Irvin. Which, and I’m sure King Ruslan will soon be getting to, qualifies as an act of war.”
Neo’s face fell. This is a false flag. He backed off to where Seneca now sat, head in her knees. “You okay?”
She groaned. “That’s going to be etched in my mind.”
He grabbed Seneca under the arms and pulled her up. “Turn around, they’re going to do the same to the other—”
Another fire-blast erupted.
Neo winced. “Let’s get out of here. Come on, quickly. Let’s get your parents, then we need to beeline for the shore again.”
“How? How’re we going to have time to do all this?”
“Because I can fire-travel all of us here in a heartbeat. Look, fire-travelers can travel up to two-hundred miles at a time as long as they know where they’re going.”
“Neo, that takes a lot of energy—”
“It’s the only way. Come on, we need to retrace our footsteps. From last time.”
“I was too hurt to remember.”
Neo pointed to Venus. “Just keep her to our right when heading south. And we should find a stream. I don’t need you to pass out on me after you just threw up.”