DARKLIGHT

- 27 -

Kaces and I exchanged glances but did as we were told and followed Councilor Blaine into the hall. It was dim and empty, devoid of sound apart from the echo of our footfalls. Blaine lit the way with his symbol, and I hung on to my magic like a lifeline. The rush of nervous adrenaline easily made up for my tiredness.

Despite Blaine's warning, we made it outside without incident, emerging among the many smaller semispherical buildings surrounding the main Order dome. We weren't quite free yet, though. The Order's bounds stretched slightly beyond the buildings themselves, reaching the edge of the landing plaza that bordered them all. The gently rising moon lit our approach towards the edge of the Order.

Then, I saw a group of figures, cloaked in white, standing in front of the barrier. They nearly blended in with the glassy buildings making up the rest of Serkha City behind them, which reflected the moonlight with glistening intensity. Kaces pulled Councilor Blaine back and we stopped in our tracks. We were out in the open. I turned back toward the prison, scanning the landing plaza urgently with my magic dripping to the ground. There were more figures behind us. We were surrounded.

Councilor Vuhmal's voice echoed through the open air. The buildings ricocheting his voice between them, so it was impossible to tell where he was. "I don't think I'll ever know how you managed to escape notice for so long, whoever you are."

I called Anahid and transformed, glancing at Kaces until I got his attention. When he looked up at me, I nodded to the edge of the Order, gesturing to my front claws. He smirked and called Zephion. I began to rhythmically thump my tail on the ground. Gelistirme, I began.

Blaine's eyes shot around the darkness in vain. "Show yourself, Councilor. We're not playing this game." He had made his voice lower and rougher, reminding me of Kaces.

Vuhmal's pitying laugh resounded through the courtyard. He stopped suddenly. "Fine, have it your way. Hareket Burada Kohtar." We stared in horror as the landing plaza was filled with Order mages on all sides. Vuhmal appeared to our left in his flowing white Council robes, and he stepped farther into the light of Councilor Blaine's symbol. Even though all of us were disguised, he could probably guess who Kaces and I were, given that we were the only two Kireveans in all of Serkha.

We blended into the shadows behind Blaine somewhat, so despite our shifted forms, we weren't the center of his attention. Councilor Vuhmal had stopped a few yards away from us and was blankly staring at Councilor Blaine. "I could never have predicted that a simple prison guard was responsible for the disappearance of so many Kirevean prisoners," he eventually said, smiling maliciously.

A few of Vuhmal's mages lit their symbols, ready to attack, but Vuhmal called, "Hold your fire," and approached Blaine, suspicion crossing his face. "You do seem familiar," he murmured. "Have we met before?"

"I hope not," Blaine growled, "for your sake." He was still doing his best to disguise his voice, but it was an imperfect guise. He slid his foot back into a ready stance.

Something suddenly clicked for Vuhmal as he noticed Blaine's dragon symbol. He started to laugh again. "Your time is up, Lionel Blaine."

I thumped my tail one last time with an air of finality as Vuhmal and Blaine both called their arkaetres. A pure white phoenix appeared behind Vuhmal, and near us, a glittering white dragon similar to Zephion formed, poised defensively on all fours. Voimasirli, I incanted in my mind, finishing the spell. I looked back at Kaces, who seemed as pleased as Councilor Vuhmal, and we released the magic together.

The ground rattled under my feet as our magic shot ahead and ripped through the thin spell barrier behind the group of mages like tissue paper, collapsing it entirely. Until then, I hadn't noticed that the shield refracted our view of the city around us, as it was much more subtle than the physical shield around the conversion complex.

"Dad, Hareket, use it now!" Kaces screamed. "Valkon Buymada Korpime!" A huge, spherical wave of Dark magic erupted from his symbol and spread in all directions, temporarily blinding everyone. At the same time, Vuhmal's phoenix spat a beam of pearly fire at Blaine's dragon, and blinded by Kaces's spell, he couldn't move his left wing out of the way before it caught fire.

Blaine's arkaetre roared in pain, but the Councilor himself seemed to still be processing what had happened. He called his arkaetre back and stared at the ground, motionless. "Get them!" Vuhmal boomed, though the Light mages faltered, still wincing from Kaces's spell.

"Parcalanir Korte Palju," I chanted, hoping I'd remembered my spell suffixes right. A set of flat, overlapping shields formed in the air, and I manipulated them to shield the three of us as best I could. "Councilor Blaine, we need to go!" I yelled. Then I noticed that he was incanting a spell under his breath. He finally looked up, touching Kaces and me, and the scene vanished.