Vela Heartwhisper's Arc

Chapter 6 of 25

Benbenek pulled his hand from Vela's. He stood and reached for the wall, where a rack held swords and armor. "Then we end this tonight," he said. He lifted a blade and turned to the warrior. "Sound the horn. Every guard to the wall." Vela caught his sleeve. "Wait. He wants you to charge out angry. That is how he wins." She had spied on men like this before. "He brings tools, not just a sword. He wants you off your walls and out in the open." The king stopped. His hand shook on the hilt. "He burned my fields once. I will not let him near my people again." A quieter voice cut in from the doorway. Lysander. He leaned against the frame, arms crossed, calm while everyone else was not. He had been Vela's secret ally since the night she showed him her rocket. Now he looked only at the king. "She's right," he said. "I scouted the wall. He set his gear on the flat rocks past the gate. Traps, wires, glowing vials. It's a trap dressed as a duel." Benbenek's grip loosened. "You saw this?" "I trade in secrets for a living," Lysander said. He shrugged, dry. "Old habit. Comes in handy." Vela stepped between the king and the door. "Send him no army. Send two of us. Lysander knows the ground. I know the man's face and his tricks." She held Benbenek's eyes. "Stay on your wall. Guard your people. Let us take his traps apart before he springs them." The king searched her face for a long moment. His jaw worked. Then he lowered the sword. "Go. But if you fall, I burn the forest to the ground to reach you." His voice cracked on the last word. He meant it. Vela and Lysander slipped out the gate. The flat rocks lay ahead, littered with weapons and glass tubes that glowed green and red. Dr. Malakai Severin stood among them. His white coat was smeared with dirt. His wild silver hair caught the moonlight, and his shimmering blade hung ready in his metal-wrapped hand. "The spy," he said, smiling at Vela. "And the king's little wanderer. He sent his pets instead of himself." He tilted his head. "Clever. But I only need one thing from that castle. His right hand." Lysander drew his sword. "You'll get a boot to the teeth." Vela did not draw. She raised her hands and stepped onto the rocks, slow, eyes on the wires at her feet. "You want him to run out here. He won't. You lose your ambush tonight." Severin's smile thinned. He lunged. Lysander met the blade with a clang. Vela dove low, yanked a vial free, and hurled it wide. It burst in a hiss of green smoke, blinding the scientist. He staggered back, coughing, then fled into the trees. The trap was broken. The king was safe on his wall. But Severin had named his true prize now, and he knew Vela stood between him and it.