Betrayed by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #5)(50)

“He’ll be very happy to learn you’re safe,” I told her, smiling back. I ruffled her hair, then gave her a gentle pat on the back. “I will make sure to tell him all about how I met you, and how brave you’ve been. Go on now.”

I gave her a gentle push in the direction of the carriage, and watched the mages load her up before getting inside. The carriage let out a shrill whistle as it lurched forward, and my heart jumped into my throat as we watched the children leave.

“Small world, isn’t it?” Rylan murmured, placing a hand on my shoulder as he came to stand beside me. “That you happened to have a connection to one of the children?”

“Yeah,” I said, glancing sideways at my cousin. His expression was serious, his yellow shifter eyes broody for once. “It makes me realize it’s not enough to ensure that Canalo is safe. We’re all part of the same country, and our actions affect one another more than we realize.”

Two more steam carriages rolled out of the gate, carrying prisoners, and we stepped back to give them a clear path. Iannis, Lord Logar, and the remaining mages returned via steamcar rather than walking up the long path back to the entrance. My heart began to thump a little faster as Iannis stepped out of the vehicle, a grave expression on his face as he locked eyes with me.

“It is time,” he said. “We’re going to demolish the compound now, and everything in it.”

“Don’t look so glum,” Lord Logar said cheerily as he came around one of the vehicles. He surveyed us all as he spoke. “The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get out of here and back to civilization. I don’t know about you, but I missed breakfast to get here so early, and intend to make up for it with a hearty lunch.”

“Yes, sir,” Elnos said, and the rest of us followed suit. Normally, I jumped at any talk of food, but at the moment, my gut churned at the very thought of eating anything. There were animals still down in the labs—mice, rats, and rabbits—that didn’t deserve to die. But Iannis had decided freeing them would be too risky, since an unknown number of these rodents carried deadly diseases, and Lord Logar had agreed.

As Iannis’s apprentice, I was enlisted to help prepare the spell—after all, it was a rare and dangerous one, a good opportunity to learn. There was an air of suppressed excitement about the Osero mages, who seemed eager to put in practice a technique they only knew from magic textbooks and history volumes. Even Elnos looked excited to participate, despite his melancholy about Noria.

My part in the spell was simple and yet complicated. Lord Logar pulled out pouches of black stones and had several of us place them in a grid-like pattern around and inside the entire complex of buildings. Each stone was smooth and polished, about the size of my palm, and had a rune carved into it. There were four different runes in total, and Iannis explained to me that each rune stood for a different element. Each time I pulled a stone from the pouch, I spoke a Word to activate it. The rune would glow a bright, otherworldly color, and I would place it on the ground before moving onto the next location.

It was eerie, walking so close to the corridors of the underground labs as I placed my stones. The place was empty of all human life, but even from outside, I could still scent decay and despair beneath the antiseptic, and my heart clenched at the thought of the animals yet inside. My boots echoed against the paved yard as I walked above the laboratories with their rows of steel tables laden with glass beakers and cruel-looking instruments. According to Fenris, some of those tables were equipped with leather straps, clearly meant to hold down the children they kept here as they were poked, prodded, and injected. Had they killed any before we arrived, in those experiments? It seemed all too likely. I was relieved that the surviving victims had been taken away. If I had been in their position, coming out of a nightmare of being tortured and experimented on, I would not have been able to gain any peace of mind until I was as far away from this place as possible.

The thought that the Resistance was responsible for such pain and cruelty was enough to set my blood boiling again. Burning down this compound wasn’t enough. I wanted the perpetrators to burn for eternity.

Rein it in, I warned myself as sparks of magic began to sizzle in the air around me. My power was close to the surface, ready to be unleashed at the slightest provocation, and I couldn’t afford to let that happen. I was in the spotlight now more than ever. Even though I knew Iannis would not allow anyone to harm or threaten me, neither of us needed the hassle that would ensue if I were perceived to be a danger to society.

The other mages and I finished placing the stones, then returned to the entrance of the compound. Iannis and Lord Logar had their heads bent together, discussing something, while the other mages were stationed at various points around the perimeter, clearly on standby.

“We’ve finished, Lord Logar,” Gillen, one of the mages who’d gone with me, said. “The stones have all been activated.”

“Excellent,” Lord Logar said. “Go and take your positions.”

The three mages rushed off, and I looked to Iannis. “Where am I supposed to go?”

“Stay back there with the others and observe,” Iannis told me. “The rest of the spell is too complicated for an apprentice to participate in. Besides, you should be able to use your sharp sight and excellent hearing to learn even at a distance,” he added mentally.

“All right.” I retreated to where the others were standing, folding my arms across my chest. The sun was halfway up the sky by now, shining bright rays over the green landscape as if it hadn’t gotten the memo that this was a day of destruction, not cheer.