ascent. My bridge touched the top of the city walls, which was fortunately wide enough to hold several horses, although it was a bit crowded. The scene that met my eyes as I cleared the final obstruction to my sight made my chest constrict. It was like a wall of flame. There were people of every possible age and occupation running, jostling each other, carrying children or bundles in their arms. Dozens of people were passing buckets of water from one to the other, fighting a losing battle with the fire.
I twisted in the saddle until I found Chatta. “Help me!” I ordered desperately. “I can’t find him in this mess!”
She nodded curt understanding, raising her wand and conjuring a large, round mirror. As she started scrying the city, I closed my eyes and focused more intently than I’d ever had in my life. Where was he? I started with the people directly in front of me and fanned out from there. With the aura of people came other signals—heavy collisions as buildings collapsed and sank roughly to the earth’s surface, rapid footsteps from thousands of people as they ran in every conceivable direction.
Where, where, where…he has to be here somewhere .
“That way!” Chatta abruptly cried, pointing off to the northeast. “He’s in what looks like the main market area.”
“Garth, let us down,” Xiaolang ordered. “We’ll help put out the flames.”
I took the ground I’d used to build the bridge to here and reshaped it into a new bridge that led to the street below. Miraculously, there was a small corner near the gatekeeper’s house that was free of people and gave us room to descend.
Night leapt onto the bridge without pause and handled the steep angle of the bridge at a dead run. I had to angle myself almost flat against his back to keep my balance, legs wrapped tight around his barrel and fingers knotted around his mane. When he landed, I was thrown forward, the horn lodged into my sternum with an unpleasant jolt. His hooves barely touched cobblestone when he spun and headed in the direction had Chatta pointed to. I grimly held on.
We didn’t make quick progress simply because of the people we had to dodge. Three different times Night barely avoided trampling some poor man. It wasn’t just the people, however, but also the fire we had to contend with. Buildings were succumbing to the fire as we passed them, slowly collapsing in on themselves and sending out errant sparks and support beams that toppled into our path. It made us cautious, nervy about entering new streets or getting close to any of the buildings. We were down to a slow canter and impatient with our progress.
Chatta cast quick shields that hovered over our heads, protecting us from anything falling. It didn’t do anything to deflect the errant sparks that singed our hair and clothes, or the thick soot that seemed to hover in the air. We were barely two streets away from the wall and I could already feel soot clinging to my skin and leaving an aftertaste in my mouth.
Time was clicking away in the back of my mind, and I was hyperaware that for every second more it took for us to get to him, the magician was causing just that much more destruction. Night lowered his head and started using it as a battering ram, forcing people to give way and let us through. Chatta stayed close on our heels, following the trail that Night was blazing.
We finally reached a main street that led directly to the market. I didn’t need Chatta’s mirror to see him now.
He was in front of me.
The whole street was lined with vendors’ stalls, small wooden constructions with colorful roofs and banners that were burning quickly before my eyes. Merchants were running everywhere with buckets in their hands, frantically trying to put the flames out. Night was forced to dodge in and around them, his abrupt turns so sharp that I nearly lost my seat several times. It didn’t stop me from getting a cursory look at the magician.
He was just walking along,
I twisted in the saddle until I found Chatta. “Help me!” I ordered desperately. “I can’t find him in this mess!”
She nodded curt understanding, raising her wand and conjuring a large, round mirror. As she started scrying the city, I closed my eyes and focused more intently than I’d ever had in my life. Where was he? I started with the people directly in front of me and fanned out from there. With the aura of people came other signals—heavy collisions as buildings collapsed and sank roughly to the earth’s surface, rapid footsteps from thousands of people as they ran in every conceivable direction.
Where, where, where…he has to be here somewhere .
“That way!” Chatta abruptly cried, pointing off to the northeast. “He’s in what looks like the main market area.”
“Garth, let us down,” Xiaolang ordered. “We’ll help put out the flames.”
I took the ground I’d used to build the bridge to here and reshaped it into a new bridge that led to the street below. Miraculously, there was a small corner near the gatekeeper’s house that was free of people and gave us room to descend.
Night leapt onto the bridge without pause and handled the steep angle of the bridge at a dead run. I had to angle myself almost flat against his back to keep my balance, legs wrapped tight around his barrel and fingers knotted around his mane. When he landed, I was thrown forward, the horn lodged into my sternum with an unpleasant jolt. His hooves barely touched cobblestone when he spun and headed in the direction had Chatta pointed to. I grimly held on.
We didn’t make quick progress simply because of the people we had to dodge. Three different times Night barely avoided trampling some poor man. It wasn’t just the people, however, but also the fire we had to contend with. Buildings were succumbing to the fire as we passed them, slowly collapsing in on themselves and sending out errant sparks and support beams that toppled into our path. It made us cautious, nervy about entering new streets or getting close to any of the buildings. We were down to a slow canter and impatient with our progress.
Chatta cast quick shields that hovered over our heads, protecting us from anything falling. It didn’t do anything to deflect the errant sparks that singed our hair and clothes, or the thick soot that seemed to hover in the air. We were barely two streets away from the wall and I could already feel soot clinging to my skin and leaving an aftertaste in my mouth.
Time was clicking away in the back of my mind, and I was hyperaware that for every second more it took for us to get to him, the magician was causing just that much more destruction. Night lowered his head and started using it as a battering ram, forcing people to give way and let us through. Chatta stayed close on our heels, following the trail that Night was blazing.
We finally reached a main street that led directly to the market. I didn’t need Chatta’s mirror to see him now.
He was in front of me.
The whole street was lined with vendors’ stalls, small wooden constructions with colorful roofs and banners that were burning quickly before my eyes. Merchants were running everywhere with buckets in their hands, frantically trying to put the flames out. Night was forced to dodge in and around them, his abrupt turns so sharp that I nearly lost my seat several times. It didn’t stop me from getting a cursory look at the magician.
He was just walking along,
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