The Rogue

It doesn’t matter, she thought. They’re not magicians. They can’t stop me. She put a foot up on the sill of the window, then paused.

“Go on,” a voice whispered at her side. She turned to see that Anyi had shuffled along the beam to stand next to the window. “Cery says don’t forget to protect Enka and his second.”

Lilia nodded in gratitude, then drew magic and sent it out in two directions to surround Cery’s allies and Naki. She climbed up onto the sill, crouching to duck under the lintel, and stepped out.

The people outside didn’t notice her float to the ground, but Naki was looking around, having detected the shield around her as it bumped up against her own. Oh good, Lilia thought. She can protect herself. She let the shield drop. Something about Naki’s shield nagged at her, however. She began to walk toward the people, half hidden behind the three men who had investigated the warehouse.

“There’s another magician here,” Naki said in a warning tone.

At once all began to cast about, and spotted Lilia quickly. The three men parted, backing away in fear and uncertainty as Lilia passed between them.

“Naki,” Lilia said, then smiled. Her friend was staring at her in surprise. “It’s so good to see you. What trouble have you got yourself into this time?”

“Lilia.” Naki did not speak the name with hatred or accusation, to Lilia’s relief. But she didn’t speak it fondly, either. “Why are you here?”

“To help you.”

Naki sent a flash of light through her shield. “As you can tell, I don’t need your help.”

Lilia gazed at her friend and realised this was what had been nagging at her. She’s right. She doesn’t need my help. She has magic. Somehow she or someone else has removed the block. That’s what was so strange about her shield – she shouldn’t be able to raise one. And then the real meaning behind Naki’s words hit her.

Naki did not want to be rescued.

She’s quite happy working for a Thief. In fact, she probably disappeared deliberately. Unless …? Lilia did something risky then. She spoke with her mind, as softly as possible in the hope that nobody in the Guild would hear.

—Are you being blackmailed?

Naki laughed. “No, you slow-witted fool. This is what I planned all along: get away from the Guild and all their rules and suffocating judgement and be free to do whatever I want.”

Her stare was full of hatred now. Lilia felt a familiar wave of guilt, but she resisted the urge to look away. I did not kill her father, she told herself. She has no reason to hate me. But uncertainty remained. Naki clearly did not want to be rescued. What do I do now?

Naki was breaking the law – but she knew that. Pointing it out was not going to persuade her to return to the Guild. However, if she knew Skellin was after her she might. She’d need the protection of the Guild. Unless … what if Naki was happy to switch from one Thief employer to another? Lilia realised that she needed to take a different approach. One that appealed to Naki’s nature.

“Are you truly free?” Lilia asked. She looked at the fat Thief pointedly.

Naki smiled. Clearly she had expected this argument. “As free as I want to be. Freer than I’d be in the Guild.”

“But for how long?” Lilia asked. “There are people after you. Not the Guild. Powerful rogue magicians.”

“Great.” Naki shrugged. “Then we’ll have a drink and swap stories.”

“They’re not after conversation,” Lilia told her, annoyed at Naki’s refusal to see the danger. “They’ll force you to tell them what was in the book, then they’ll kill you.”

Naki frowned. “The book?” A piercing whistle rang out from the direction of the warehouse, and the girl glanced in that direction before turning back to Lilia. “Oh, you mean black magic? Really, do you think I’d teach them that?”

Something began to bang against the shield Lilia was holding around Cery’s allies. She glanced to the side to see that Cery’s Thief friend and his companion were trying to get out of the barrier. Then she noticed that the fat Thief and his men were moving away toward the fishing boat. Hoping that there was nobody left to harm Cery’s allies, she let the shield around them fall.

Naki was walking toward her. The shadows made her smile look like a crazed grin.

“You know …” She tilted her head to one side and her expression became thoughtful. “… if the price was right, working with the rogues might be tempting.”

She was a few steps away. Her stare was predatory and dangerous. Lilia found herself backing away and strengthening the shield around herself.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Oh, of course not. It wouldn’t be smart, would it? I’d be creating potential enemies as powerful as me.”

“As powerful as …” Lilia stopped backing away. “You did learn black magic that night!”

“No.” Naki’s beautiful mouth widened into an ugly, selfsatisfied smile. “I taught myself before we even met.”

She spread her fingers, and a bolt of magic clashed against Lilia’s shield. This was no cautious practice strike in Warrior classes. It was a blast that forced Lilia back, then to desperately draw forth more power than she’d ever needed to before to hold her shield up.

I ought to strike back. Lessons returned to her. A shield took more magic than a strike. If two combatants were equal in strength, the one who shielded more would fail first. But this is Naki. What if I hurt her? What if I kill her?

Clearly, Naki wasn’t having any of the same doubts. Her words echoed in Lilia’s mind. “I taught myself before we even met.” That meant Naki had known the instructions in the book would work. She had known she was ruining Lilia’s life. Lilia felt her heart shrivel away from the thought. Why would Naki do that? To share the crime with another? Which meant Lilia hadn’t been the only person in the house who knew black magic the night Lord Leiden had died.

But surely she wouldn’t kill her own father …

Who else could it have been? Suddenly Lilia had to know for sure – and the only way she could do that was to ensure Naki was captured, so that Black Magician Sonea could read her mind. Or me. I could read her mind.

The best chance she had at that was to fight back. Carefully. She’d never know the truth if Naki died. So she threw magic back at Naki. At first the strikes were meagre things compared to Naki’s, and the other girl laughed, but Lilia found she rapidly grew used to using this much power. Naki’s strikes were careless, which sent a trickle of fear through Lilia.

If she’s known black magic for so long, has she been strengthening herself? I haven’t used black magic once. I’m only as strong as I naturally am, and I’ve been levitating a lot …

That thought sent a rush of panic through Lilia. She pushed it aside as best she could. Though she could feel herself trembling, she managed to keep her strikes accurate and her shield steady. A part of her was amused to see that Naki, despite being best at the Warrior discipline, wasn’t bothering to do anything tricky or cunning, but her amusement fled as she realised this was because she didn’t have to. She wanted this over as soon as possible.

Abruptly, Lilia reached for power and found her strength depleted. She gasped with horror and disbelief as her shield faltered, and braced herself for the blow that would kill her. Naki gave a crow of triumph, but the strike did not come. To Lilia’s immense relief, the girl stopped striking and started toward her.

“You haven’t taken magic, have you?” Naki said, snaking a hand out and grabbing Lilia’s arm. She shook her head. “All this time you were free and you never took power. You always were stupid and gullible.” With a push, she turned Lilia around and twisted her arm behind her back. Pain shot through Lilia’s arm and shoulder.

“If you’re so smart, why are you working for a Thief?” Lilia replied. “Why isn’t he working for you?”