The Fading Dream_ Thorn of Breland - Keith Baker [77]
It seemed someone had forgotten to tell the woman.
Burdened by Drix, there was no way Thorn could bring Steel to bear before the stranger could unleash the power bound in her wand. “I’ve no time for this,” she snapped. “My companion is a Cannith heir in need of immediate medical assistance. Either help me or get out of my way, unless you’d like to explain things to his parents.”
There was a flicker of doubt in the woman’s eyes. She played a dangerous game, but every moment Thorn was drawing new cards. They were standing on an Orien circle, there could be no doubt about that—a circle that could be used by only a dragonmarked heir. The woman with the wand was dressed in a uniform; while Thorn didn’t recognize it, the matching studs on her wrists and the silver unicorn on her collar suggested rank and hierarchy. Whether she ran an Orien operation or something else, if this woman had a rank, there was surely someone above her, someone she wouldn’t want to upset.
Bluff it might be, but Drix was covered with drying blood and broken glass. Letting a prayer to Olladra pass through her thoughts, Thorn took a step forward. The sentry took a step back, tensing up, and let her wand fall out of line.
That one moment was all Thorn needed. Summoning all her strength, she tossed Drix directly into the other woman. Whatever the sentry might have expected, she wasn’t prepared for a flying tinker. She fell to the ground, Drix on top of her. Thorn was there before the other woman had caught her breath. She kicked the wand from the guardian’s hand and placed Steel against her throat.
Another interesting situation, Steel said.
“I want information,” Thorn snapped. Drix shifted to better pin the sentry to the ground. The action drove shards of glass deeper into his skin, blood smearing across the guard’s uniform, but he didn’t cry out. “Tell me what I want to know, and you’ll survive this. Struggle or lie—and I’ll know if you lie—and this blade goes through your throat. Do you understand?”
“I understand—” she began.
Then she was gone.
Drix struck the floor, and Thorn stumbled forward as her target simply disappeared. First eladrin, now Orien! Thorn cursed. The heirs of House Orien carried the Dragonmark of Passage. Channeled through a focus like the circle, the mark could transport its bearer across a continent, but an unaided heir could still use her mark to leap through space.
Fortunately, she couldn’t go far, and Thorn had a partner who could track teleportation.
The hallway! Steel told her. Just outside this chamber!
There was no time to explain to Drix. Thorn leaped over the tinker and bolted to the door, snatching the wand from the floor as she went. Luck was with her; the sentry was still catching her breath, drawing in air to raise the alarm. Thorn raised the woman’s wand and let her anger flow through it, unleashing the power bound within. The sentry stiffened but didn’t cry out; she didn’t make a sound as she tumbled to the floor.
How did you know it would paralyze her? Steel asked as Thorn sprinted down the hall. You might have unleashed a fireball in here.
“I didn’t know what it would do,” Thorn said. “But she was prepared to use it on me and in a small room. And it only seemed fair to let her suffer whatever she had planned for me.”
The Orien sentry had struck the floor hard, and she had cut open her scalp, but she was still conscious and completely limp, unable to move a muscle. There was no telling how long the effect would last, and Thorn smashed Steel into the side of her head. It wasn’t easy to tell if the blow had any effect, but her eyes seemed to lose focus. Good enough, Thorn thought. She dragged the woman back to the circle chamber. Drix was sitting on the floor, pulling pieces of bloodstained glass from his legs.
“Good catch,” he said.
“Aureon’s name! You’re lucky I don’t have time to slap you right