19 19 Cole stared up at the woman through the netting. How should he answer? He hesitated, as did the others. She stopped right in front of him, glaring down.
“Don’t lie,” she said humorlessly. “I’ll know. Spit it out.”
“I’m Cole,” he said. “I’m not from here. The Outskirts, I mean. I came here to help my friends who got kidnapped, but I was taken as a slave and sold to the Sky Raiders. I was escaping from them with some friends.”
“You,” she said, approaching Twitch, “are not as you appear.”
Cole noticed that his wings were gone. Had that been his special item? Wings?
“I’m not,” Twitch said. “I’m from Elloweer. I was taken as a slave as well.”
“How did you revert to your true form?” she pressed.
“I have a ring,” he said.
“And you?” she asked Jace.
“Why do you care?” Jace replied.
“You’re all trespassers,” she barked. “I handle any intruders.”
“You have a name?” Jace asked.
“I have three—Judge, Jury, and Executioner. Answer me or perish. Who are you? Why did you come here?”
Jace gave a reluctant sigh. “I’ve been a slave since I can remember. I never knew my parents. I was sold to the Sky Raiders because my owners hated me. I was escaping with these guys.”
“Escaping into the cloudwall? Do you know nothing?”
“We were cornered,” Jace said.
She gave a single nod and walked to Mira. “And you?”
“You can probably guess by now,” Mira said.
“I cannot,” the woman said. “You are not as you appear. There is a potent shaping bound to you. Something I can’t readily identify. And I sense a degree of power in you as well.”
“Are you a shaper?”
A slight sneer curled her lip. “You’ve never met my equal.”
“I do a little shaping,” Mira said. “Maybe that’s what you’re sensing.”
“Evade my questions at your peril,” the woman said, snapping her fingers.
One of the stony giants stomped forward and raised a misshapen fist above Mira. The big rocky limb was large enough to flatten half of her with one blow.
Jace’s golden rope flashed out from his net, coiling around the woman’s throat. “Call it off,” he growled.
A young man swooshed into view, standing on a silver disk the size of a manhole cover. Not older than twenty, he had boyish features and mischievous eyes. He wore a fuzzy brown jacket and alligator-skin boots, and he held what looked like silver salt shakers in each hand. Knees slightly bent, he hovered perhaps ten feet off the ground, although the disk had no visible means of propulsion.
“That’s enough,” the young man said in a friendly tone. Pointing at the rope, it unraveled from the woman’s throat and fell limply to the grass. Chopping a hand toward the stone giant, it turned to cardboard and staggered back a few paces.
Glowering, the woman turned to the newcomer. “This is none of your affair.”
“I did make the fliers,” the young man corrected. “And I overheard the conversation.”
Jace kept flicking his wrist, but his golden rope didn’t respond any differently than an ordinary rope would. “What did you do to it?”
“I cut it off from you,” the young man said offhandedly. “Don’t worry. If we like you, I can set things right. It’s a pretty cool rendering. You got it from a sky castle?”
“You’re ruining the interrogation,” the woman seethed.
“Be honest, Asia,” the young man said. “The interrogation was getting messy.”
“I was about to sever the rope—”
“Which would have wrecked it,” the young man inserted.
“I had the situation under—”
“Asia, a simple thank you would—”
“What have I told you about using my name in front of outsiders?”
“Maybe it was your codename,” he said with a wink.
The young man on the disk glanced his way. “They can’t be all bad. This one even has a sense of humor—and that’s while lying in a net after nearly getting drawn into a terminal void.”
The muscles in her jaw clenching, Asia took a controlled breath. “Let me do my job.”
“What about our new captain of the guard?” he asked.
“I sent him to fetch reinforcements,” Asia said. “He’s all right for monitoring semblances, but these are our first living intruders in ages.”
The young man waved a hand at them. “They’re escaped slaves. It fits. It rings true.”
“We have to verify—”
“They’re obviously not the vanguard of a conquering army.”
“They could be spies.”
The young man paused. “True.”
“We have hundreds of legionnaires coming this way,” Asia said.
He cocked his head thoughtfully. “Also true.”
“We can’t risk exposure.”
The young man faced them. “I’m Liam. Are any of you spies? Answer out loud.”
“No,” Cole said.
The others said the same, their answers overlapping.
“What about you?” Liam casually asked Mira. “You really are linked to a very unusual shaping. What’s the story?”
“What is this?” Cole asked. “Good cop, bad cop?”
“What?” the young man exclaimed, leaning back and covering his eyes. “You know about good cop, bad cop! Who told you? Asia, he knows!”
Asia faced the young man imploringly. “Would you please just let me—”
“Pound them into the lawn?” the young man interrupted. He stopped, as if considering. “They might make decent fertilizer . . . but no, I think we’ve heard enough. We’ll let You Know Who be the final judge.”
“You want to bring possible spies before You Know Who?”
“If they’re spies, then we’ll turn them into fertilizer. No, better—we’ll make wishes and chuck them into the terminal void.”
“And if her peculiar shaping is letting the girl communicate beyond the cloudwall?” Asia pressed.
“Have you sensed transmissions from any of them?”
“The shaping has strange connections beyond her,” Asia said.
“Right, but no communication,” he said. “They’re not spies. If they are, he’ll figure it out, and we’ll punish them. I’ll take the blame.”
Asia sighed in defeat. “Why do I put up with you?”
“Because it isn’t your choice,” he said.
“You’ve got that right,” she huffed.
Liam faced Cole and his friends. “If you’ll hand over any weapons, renderings, or enhanced objects, I’ll untangle you from those nets.”
“What if we refuse?” Jace asked.
“Don’t worry,” Liam said. “If he likes you, you’ll get it all back. I don’t even want any of your . . . Well, I kind of want the rope, but I’ll get over it. Come on, let’s have the stuff. It’s getting late.”
He was right. Only the last traces of twilight remained in the sky above. Many stars were out now.
Cole was having trouble unsheathing his Jumping Sword. “This is sort of hard with the nets.”
“Valid point,” Liam agreed. “Promise you’ll be cool about it? Without the nets, if you try something, we’ll have to sick the grunts on you.” He pointed to the cardboard giant, and it turned back to wave-worn stone.
“We’ll behave,” Cole said.
“What about you, rope boy?” Liam asked.
“If you don’t mess with us, I won’t mess with you,” Jace pledged.
“I guess that’s fair. Promise? Double-dog promise?”
“I think that’s ‘double-dog dare you,’ ” Cole put in.
Liam looked at him in surprise. “You’re right. What’s a really strong promise?”
“ ‘Cross your heart and hope to die,’ ” Cole said.
“Oh, I like that,” Liam replied. Looking at Asia, he jerked his head toward Cole. “This one could be useful.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Do you all swear to be good?” Liam asked. “Cross your hearts and hope to die? I need verbal confirmation.”
They all agreed.
Liam waved a hand, and the nets blew free of them, becoming gaseous and quickly dispersing in the air.
Liam shrugged. “I’m not completely useless. Let’s have those items.”
Cole handed over his shawl, his bow, and his sword to Liam.
Twitch hesitated with his ring. “This means a lot to me.”
“I’ll take good care of it,” Liam assured him. “I wouldn’t even have a use for it. I’m not from Elloweer.”
Twitch handed it over. Jace gave up his inert rope. Mira surrendered her Jumping Sword.
Liam returned to Cole. “You still have something small.”
“I forgot,” Cole said, taking the jewel he had gotten in Parona from his pocket.
Liam held it up and scrutinized it. “Never mind. It’s not worth the trouble to keep it with me.” He handed it back. “You hold on to it. Or don’t. Either way, you won’t lose it.”
“Here he comes,” Asia said.
Cole looked beyond her to where a large warrior led a group of others in full armor across the lawn. Even though it was dim, Cole recognized the leader. “Lyrus?”
The big warrior increased his pace to a jog. “Cole? Is that you?”
Liam looked befuddled. “You two know each other?”
“We’ve met,” Cole said.
Lyrus hustled forward and gave Cole a small bow. “I am astonished. How did you come here?”
“Through the cloudwall,” Cole said.
“You know them?” Asia asked. “Are they Sky Raiders?”
“Salvagers, yes,” Lyrus said. “And Cole is a proven hero.”
“Anything suspicious about them?” Asia inquired.
Lyrus shook his head. “I have only met Cole and Mira, but I believe they have good characters. Cole helped me awaken to my true nature.”
“Why aren’t you dead?” Cole asked.
“I was resigned to my demise,” Lyrus said. “But I was rescued. They fully healed my injuries.”
“Lots of semblances slide into the terminal void,” Liam said. “We can lend a hand to only a small fraction of them. Our master sensed that Lyrus was unusually self-aware. We rescued him and decided he would be a good fit as captain of the guard.”
“Can we please take this reunion to the castle?” Asia begged.
Liam touched his forehead and gave a quick bow. “As you wish. Follow me!” Tilting on his disk, he took off at a speed none of them could possibly match. His flying insects buzzed after him, rapidly falling behind.
“Stay with me,” Asia grumbled. “Judgment has yet to be passed on you. We’re off to meet the master.”