NO WAY OUT

Karigan sat up when the hut’s door burst open, fluttering the flame of the lard candle the Raiders had deigned to give them as a result of Megan’s incessant pestering. The guards threw a girl inside and slammed the door shut again. The girl fell to her knees retching, her sickness no doubt caused by the traveling device. Oddly, she was not a Green Rider, or at least she was not wearing a Green Rider uniform, but a dress and jacket fine enough for one to wear out on the town. When she climbed unsteadily to her feet and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, Karigan saw no brooch.

Megan, of course, was right there with her hands on her hips and demanded, “Who are you?”

The girl, wobbling slightly, peered into the gloom. “Green Riders? Fergal? Is that you?”

“Mel?” he said, rising to his feet.

“Mel?” Karigan echoed in disbelief. Her friend had matured into a tall young woman, no longer the coltish girl she remembered.

Mel gazed back at her, eyes squinted. “Karigan?”

It seemed time had wrought enough change in both of them that they did not recognize one another right off. Karigan rose and crossed the space between them and they started talking at the same time.

“What are you doing here?” Karigan asked, realizing belatedly it was a stupid question.

“Is that really you?” Mel asked. “I didn’t—you look—you are . . .”

“I know,” Karigan said. “I look like a one-eyed scarecrow who has seen a few too many seasons.” She plucked at her shaggy hair.

Mel did not argue, which only confirmed how awful she looked, but then Mel threw herself into Karigan’s arms.

“What is this place?” she asked when they parted. “Why are we here?”

“Who is this person?” Megan demanded again.

“Megan, this is Melry Exiter, our colonel’s daughter.”

Megan took a step back, looked Mel up and down. “I didn’t know she had a daughter.”

“Never talked about me, eh?” Mel asked. “Typical.”

“We hardly see the colonel.” Megan shrugged.

“Well, I know Mel,” Fergal said. Now she hugged him, too.

“You’re hurt,” she said.

“It’s nothing. Mender says I’ll be fine.”

There was another round of hugs, and Karigan assured herself that Mel was unharmed. Afterward they settled into a circle on straw the Raiders had supplied them, also at Megan’s insistence.

“We should tell you what we know,” Karigan said, “though it’s not much.”

When she finished, Mel said, “But I’m not a Green Rider. And what does a witch have to do with Green Riders, anyway? Are there even witches for real?”

“You are closely affiliated with the Green Riders,” Karigan said, “and there is always the chance it’s coincidence and they aren’t targeting Green Riders at all.” But as she said it, she knew it to be false. “Are witches real? I guess it depends on how you define ‘witch.’ Grandmother was a necromancer, but some might call her a witch, and some call the entities of lore in the Eastern Sea witches, but others may have worshipped them as goddesses at one time.”

“Traditional witches did simple magic,” Megan said. “They were versed in herb lore and healing, and would cast curses or create potions to make someone fall in love, for instance.” When Karigan looked at her in surprise, she said, “What? I used to hear all kinds of things in the milliner’s shop.” With a toss of her curls, she added, “And it’s said the witches died out during the Scourge.”

The Scourge had ravaged the lands of magic and magic-users after the Long War. It had been no plague, though, or at least not just a plague, but the organized extermination of magic and users of magic by people who feared, and thus hated, it after battling the sorcerous Mornhavon the Black for so long.

“Oh, the witches aren’t all gone,” Fergal said. “At least not along the coast of the eastern provinces. They call themselves witches, at any rate. Don’t know if they have real magic, though.”

They then asked Mel how she’d been taken.

“I was on my way to campus from dinner. With your father actually,” she said, gazing at Karigan.

Karigan was gratified to hear her father had both attended the funeral ceremonies for Lord Fiori, and spent time with Mel. She could only guess he’d made a special effort because of his relationship with Mel’s mother.

Mel explained the circumstances of her abduction. “It was very sudden,” she said. “The streets were busy and I got separated from your father, and then someone grabbed me from behind. Next thing I knew, I wasn’t in Selium anymore and then was thrown in here.”

They continued to discuss their predicament in low voices so they wouldn’t be overheard by their captors.

“I say that the next time a guard comes in we grab him and run for it,” Mel said with a surprising amount of enthusiasm, but when the Riders just stared at her, she said, “There are enough of us to overpower him.”

“And what about the guard who stands in the doorway with the crossbow?” Fergal asked.

“Or the others just outside?” Megan added.

“Besides,” Fergal said, “I’m not much good for fighting or running just yet.”

“So,” Mel said, “we sit here and do nothing?”

“No,” Karigan replied, “we develop a plan.” When they all gazed expectantly at her, she said, “We can’t just make a run for it. I’m not particularly fit, myself.”

“I could take both those guards with my fists,” Mel said.

Karigan knew Mel had been training with Arms Master Rendle, but that wouldn’t be enough. “As Megan pointed out, there are more Raiders we’d have to get through. We are also next to an encampment of Second Empire.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Also,” Karigan continued, “we don’t know exactly where we are, other than near the Wing Song Mountains.”

“Your abilities—”

“Lower your voice,” Karigan said sharply.

Mel looked stung by her rebuke.

“Show me magic,” Fergal said, “and I’ll puke on a guard or two.”

A smile flickered across Mel’s lips, just as Fergal must have intended.

“So what is the plan?” Megan asked. She twisted a length of hair around her finger as if to fix her tousled curls. They were not holding up well in captivity.

“Can you float your way out of here?” Karigan asked.

“Float?” Mel asked.

“I have no idea,” Megan said.

Karigan looked up at the hut’s roof. Might it be in enough disrepair that Megan could break through?

“Float?” Mel asked again.

“Want to give it a try?” Karigan asked Megan. “At least see if you can get through the roof?”

“I guess so. Could someone hold the candle high so I can have at least some light up there? It’s so dark.” She shivered.

Karigan climbed to her feet and held the candle aloft. The roof ridge was high up, as the roof had a steep pitch to cope with what must be heavy snowfalls. Megan didn’t bother to stand. She simply floated upward in a sitting position.

“Aeryc and Aeryon,” Mel whispered. “I haven’t seen anything like that before.” Having been raised around Riders, she knew all about their magical abilities and may have witnessed some in use, but the ability to float was one Karigan had never heard of before, either.

Up Megan rose, vanishing into the shadows beyond the rafters, beyond the light of their meager candle.

“Ow!” she exclaimed.

“Are you all right?” Karigan asked tersely.

“Bumped my head.”

They followed her best as they could as she scrabbled across the underside of the roof. At one point she sneezed forcefully. “Dusty,” she muttered. She paused at one of the holes, tugging at the sheathing.

Then to Karigan’s horror, the door opened. She lowered the candle. A guard stepped inside, and as always, a second one with a crossbow stood outside with the lantern at his feet.

“What is the noise?” the guard demanded. “What are you doing burning a good candle when you should be abed.”

“Get me a real bed and I’d be abed,” Fergal said.

Karigan was afraid Fergal was going to get himself beaten again for his insolence. She blew out the candle hoping that it would help conceal Megan, but the lantern still let in an awful lot of light. “We are going to bed.”

“Where’s the other one?” the guard asked. “The bossy girl—Curly?”

“Taking a piss,” Fergal replied. He pointed at a dark corner where they had hung a blanket to afford themselves a modicum of privacy when using the slops bucket.

The guard fetched the lantern and brought it inside as though he planned to go check that corner. Karigan caught her breath, but then Megan stepped into the light.

“All done,” she said brightly. “And it would be so much better if we could dump the slops bucket more than once a day. Especially with the new girl here.”

“Bossy.” The guard grunted and left, taking the light with him. Karigan silently thanked the gods that he hadn’t seemed to notice Megan had been almost ashen with dust and cobwebs.

Thunk!

“What was that?” Mel asked.

“I think it was Megan,” Fergal replied.

Karigan lowered herself to her hands and knees and felt around. As her night vision improved with the help of a little moonlight leaking through holes and cracks, she found Megan. Her face was clammy and she seemed to be unconscious.

“Is she all right?” Mel asked.

“Hard to say.”

Moments later Megan groaned. “I’m not waking up from a nightmare, am I. I’m still in this wretched hut.”

“You are,” Karigan said.

“It made me so weary, the floating,” she replied.

“You did well. Could you get through the roof?”

“The holes are too small and I couldn’t break through. Am I really bossy?”

“Rest up,” Karigan said. “We’ll find another way out. We should all rest.”

They retreated to their respective sleeping places. Mel curled up beside Karigan so they could share a blanket.

“I still have so many questions,” Mel whispered. “What happened up north? I know something did, but no one knows anything, and if they did, they weren’t telling me.”

Karigan fluffed the straw that served as her bedding. “Try to sleep. Tomorrow will be soon enough to talk.”

“Even Estral wouldn’t tell me.”

“Go to sleep.”

She lay on her stomach as Mel moved restlessly beside her. Soon Mel stilled, and her breathing became slow and even. Karigan tried to emulate her, but she felt Nyssa nearby, just beyond her vision, whip in hand.

You cannot escape, Greenie, the torturer whispered into her mind. You are doomed.

Karigan whimpered, tried to bury her head in her arms. Go away. You are not real.

I am more than you imagine, and I am not done with you.