I leaned back and spoke to Jacques through the rising roar of the crowd. “You see our friends from the other night over there by the soldiers? They seem to be backing the soldiers up.”
Jacques followed my eyes and then nodded. “That makes sense. The miners don’t like the Governor because he turns a blind eye to them being fleeced in the taverns and in the gambling houses. Nobody likes the miners, because everyone knows what sadistic bastards they are to the poor captives. The people of Brightwater survive on the trade of goods from the mines, but that doesn’t mean they like the way the captives in the mines are treated. That group over there, they helped some trollmen try to steal a Brightwater family of Sensitives for the mines a month or so back. The Governor stopped it. I suspect that’s what this is about, and why Mohawk and his group look so damn pleased with themselves.”
“Why would the Arcanist be prepared to kill the Governor over something so small as that?”
Veronica spoke. “Trouble has been brewing in Brightwater for months over the treatment and enslavement of Elemental Sensitives. For the Arcanists, maintaining the status quo is the main priority. I think that’s why Maximillian wants to make an example out of Arnold for interfering with the work of the slavers.”
At this talk of slavers, I felt my heart beat faster. So, Mohawk and this Arcanist were in league with the slavers, were they? I suddenly became sure that me and my companions would break a few heads before much more time had passed.
“We have to do something,” said Amelia, “look!”
The Captain had pushed the terrified Governor onto his knees and was drawing a sword. The Arcanist stood back, glaring around at the crowd as if daring anyone to challenge his authority. Mohawk’s group stood nudging each other and snickering. The Captain began to raise his sword to carry out the death sentence on the Governor.
“I’d say that’s my cue to get involved,” I said wryly.
I took a deep breath and bellowed at the top of my lungs. “Arnold! Run!”
My shout broke the silence like a rock through thin ice. The Captain’s sword wavered, and he looked around to see who had shouted. The Governor, who had been kneeling with his eyes down, suddenly threw himself forward with more speed and agility than I would have given him credit for. I supposed the fear of imminent death would do that to a man. Hands still bound behind his back, Arnold tore across the square. He was heading straight toward us.
“Well, I’ve done it now!” I called to my companions as a cheer went up from the townsfolk. “Let’s go!”
I leaped into action, running forward to meet the Governor, followed by Amelia, Veronica, and Jacques. The assembled crowd surged forward after us. The Arcanist looked annoyed, but not concerned. He raised one gloved hand and pointed it at the Governor, just as Arnold was about to reach the safety of the crowd.
“Watch out!” shouted a voice I recognized. “He’s about to cast a spell!” I looked up to see Mistress Blossom sprinting through the crowd toward us.
A wave of green energy blasted from the Arcanist’s hand, turning into a wooden spear which hurtled forward, seeking out the Governor.
“Two can play at that game!” I shouted.
Instinct guided me. I pulled Mana from my pool and into my Ice rune. I flung out my hand and used my snowflake rune to freeze the ice molecules in the air. A sheet of ice leaped from my palm into the path of the speeding spear.
As the two spells collided in a spray of ice and wood, the Governor was pulled into the safety of the crowd of townsfolk. He vanished into their midst as all the townspeople formed up in a ragged group behind me and my companions.
“Enough of this!” I yelled to the Arcanist as I strode forward. “Arcanist Maximillian, stand down! This is no way to conduct justice!” Even I, with my simple farmer’s background, knew that this was not how death sentences were carried out in the Kingdom. Behind me, the crowd of townsfolk cheered again.
The Arcanist looked shocked for a moment, then he turned not to the Captain of the soldiers, but to Mohawk and his band. It was now clear that they not only supported him, they were actually ready to take orders from him. The Arcanist’s voice was chillingly emotionless, and as I heard his tone, I knew that there would be no reasoning with this man.
“Kill them all,” he said, and Mohawk grinned.
The Captain went pale, but Mohawk did not. As Mohawk and his gang of thugs raised their clubs and began to charge across the courtyard toward us with a roar, I glanced over my shoulder and caught a glimpse of the homely, pale face of Governor Arnold. Someone had freed his hands, and Mistress Blossom was leading him toward the tavern, accompanied by a few other women and the lad she had sent to find me. That was good. She would heal his hurts, and he would be safe in the tavern, unless this Arcanist and his thugs annihilated me and all my companions.
And that was certainly not going to happen.
“Hold off on using magic just yet,” I said to my women. “Only use it if you absolutely need it. We’ll need our Mana pools full if we have to fight Maximillian and his thugs.”
My women nodded their agreement, and the battle began in earnest.
I met Mohawk head on in the middle of the square, and Jacques, Amelia, Veronica, and many of the braver townsfolk charged, yelling behind me. My friends had drawn their swords, but I felt like treating myself to a bit of physical exercise, and most
