Shai

Jistan put Shai, Qiara, and a couple other RDP mancers in charge of watching over the Zanteon prisoners. Shai’s job was to unmance the magic of every soldier once her power came back. Even though their hands were tied behind their backs to deter them from using magic, it was possible someone could break free, so Shai had to keep them magicless until reinforcements arrived to take them away.

One of the captured prisoners was the unmancer. She kept watching Shai whenever she walked by, but surprisingly, the woman didn’t have hatred in her eyes. She looked like she was studying the one who had the same power as her.

It vexed Shai that another unmancer had bested her in battle. She’d felt useless during the fight; the main reason she was here was to cast magic, and she hadn’t even been able to do that. This was why she needed weapon training.

While she waited to regain access to her mana, she stood next to Qiara.

“So,” Shai began, “I noticed something interesting you did when the fighting began.”

“What did I do?” Qiara asked, keeping a watchful eye on the prisoners before them.

“The first person you saved was Tivon.”

“That’s because he’s a biomancer. He doesn’t know how to fight. Jistan told us to protect the defenseless.”

“You were protecting Tivon before Jistan said that. You stayed by Tivon’s side almost the whole fight.”

Qiara’s eyes darted to where Tivon was helping a medimancer tend to a wounded soldier. As he went to a wagon to retrieve more bandages, he glanced over at Qiara and, when he caught her staring back, he instantly looked away, blushing.

Shai grinned. “I can’t believe it. Do you two like each other?”

Qiara stared at the ground, kicking at a pebble. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Shai was too amused to let it go. “At first I thought you were just flirting with him like you do any male, but you actually have genuine interest in Jistan’s advisor.”

Qiara blushed. “Shouldn’t you be focused on your own attraction? You know, to the prince?”

Shai only chuckled. “Fine, deflect all you want. I can see it on your face.”

Her friend rolled her eyes and went over to check the prisoners’ bindings, just to get away from the interrogation. Shai laughed some more.

When she felt magic running through her veins again, she immediately went to the enemy unmancer, more than ready to take away her power.

The blond woman glared up at Shai from where she sat on the grass, her hands and legs bound tight with rope. The woman was probably only a few years older than Shai, with freckles on her cheeks and fierce green eyes. Her thigh wound had been bandaged by a medimancer, but it was already soaked with blood.

As Shai raised her hand, the unmancer growled, “You don’t know anything about who you fight for, do you?” She had a foreign accent, probably from the northern part of Zanteos.

Shai clenched her teeth. “I don’t want to hear anything from someone who participated in an ambush to kill me and my friends.”

“Sometimes casualties are worth it in the fight for something better.”

Shai scoffed. “Fighting for the emperor of your country is better?”

The unmancer looked away into the distance. “He’s not my emperor.”

“What does that mean? You’re from Zanteos, aren’t you? You’re wearing their uniform.”

The woman looked up at her again. “And what about you? Are you honored to fight for Emperor Akeil?” She spat out the last two words with contempt.

“No. Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m not here to serve Emperor Akeil.”

“That RDP sigil on your robe says otherwise. Unless you’re here for the prince.”

Shai didn’t know why she was giving this enemy the time of day. She closed her hand into a fist, taking away the unmancer’s ability to unmance any magic herself. The woman frowned, and Shai smirked before starting to walk to the next enemy soldier.

“There’s something about your prince you should know,” the unmancer called to Shai’s back. “Something he should probably know too.”

Shai halted, then looked over her shoulder. “You think I’d trust anything coming from your mouth?”

“Of course not. But would you trust the word of someone who used to work for Emperor Akeil?”

Shai paused, staring up at the sky. She should just walk away…

But she turned back to the unmancer. “What are you talking about?”

The woman looked pleased at having caught Shai’s attention. “I’m talking about the man who was head of the RDP before Prince Jistan.”

“How would you know anything about what goes on in this country when you’re a foreigner?”

“I was born here. In the capital.”

This startled Shai. “I’ve never heard of another unmancer in Valizea. What’s your name?”

“Bekka Stoneman. I doubt you’ve heard of me. I left Casland over ten years ago.”

“And how did you come to fight for a different country?”

“Just because I wear a Zanteon sigil doesn’t mean I belong to their army. No more than yours means you belong with the RDP.”

“You speak as though you know me.”

“You used to belong to The Cliq, right? Or maybe you still do.” Bekka grinned.

Shai stepped back, suddenly having difficulty breathing, “How-how do you know that?”

The unmancer’s grin was smug now. “Oh, I don’t know if I should divulge all my secrets to you, when you’re—”

Shai yanked Nahya from her belt and squatted down, pressing the blade against Bekka’s throat. “Tell me what you know.” She kept her gaze steady and lethal. If Bekka knew she was from The Cliq, the woman probably thought Shai would slit her throat without a second thought. Bekka had no way of knowing Shai had never murdered before.

Her bluff worked; Bekka swallowed hard and said, “I don’t know much, alright? But I know a bit. I have a friend in The Cliq.”

“Who?”

“I’m not giving away their identity. It’s not important anyway. Just know that I’m part of a group working to stop Emperor Akeil’s quest for more power.”

Shai lowered Nahya, slowly coming to an understanding. “You know what Jistan is after?”

“I only know he’s going to Zanteos to retrieve a powerful object. But you can’t let him give it to the emperor.”

“Oh.” Shai lowered her voice. “You want me to give it to Madame Kalyssah too, don’t you?”

“I don’t care what you do with the object. Just don’t let Emperor Akeil get his hands on it.”

Shai sighed. “You may not have to worry about that.” She remembered Edmun and the fact that he was watching her. He must’ve been the one who sent her that warning about the ambush, and if it wasn’t for that, Jistan might not have stopped that first onslaught of magical attacks. Where was Ed, anyway? Of course, he wouldn’t risk being seen, and Shai hadn’t had a moment alone all day.

She focused on Bekka again. “Go back to what you were saying about the former head of the RDP. What happened to him?”

“He was forced to flee. Emperor Akeil was going to have him executed.”

“Why?”

Bekka winced as she shifted her injured leg. “He knows something the emperor doesn’t want getting out. Last I heard, he was in a village in Zanteos. He may be the key to stopping Emperor Akeil’s conquest.”

Shai remembered what Leiam said about the emperor wanting to extend his territory into other countries. “What’s his name?”

“Dario Abongwa. When you go to Zanteos, check for him in the town of Aisaa. That’s the last place my sources confirmed him to be. I would approach him myself, but it needs to be someone close to Prince Jistan, like you. If you find Dario, say the words, ‘Inverted Insurgent’.”

“‘Inverted Insurgent?’ What’s that? And what sources? Who do you really work for?”

Before the enemy unmancer could respond, Qiara stalked over.

“Shai, is this soldier harassing you?” Qiara glared at Bekka, a hand on her hip. “I can shock her into unconsciousness.”

“No, it’s fine. I took away her magic.” Shai’s mind was still reeling over what Bekka had said. The unmancer gave her a knowing look.

Shai didn’t get a chance to ask her anything else because Qiara stayed close by. So Shai went to finish her task of unmancing all the other enemy soldiers.

She shouldn’t even give Bekka’s words a second thought. They could be lies. Or the unmancer could be trying to weave suspicion and doubt into Shai’s mind to cause problems with Jistan and the RDP. Bekka was the enemy, so she couldn’t be trusted.

But she knew so much, about the quest and The Cliq and Shai’s involvement. Shai should’ve killed Bekka to keep her from telling anyone the truth about still belonging to The Cliq. Shai would have to start killing eventually. It was only a matter of time now that she was with the RDP. She’d already had to fight for her life today, four days into being an RDP soldier.

But Bekka would probably never get a chance to talk to Jistan about Shai, so killing her was moot. Shai could put off cold-blooded murder for another day.