Dowyr’s heart dropped into his stomach at the first sight of the body. He’d seen paintings and illustrations of the dead, but something about those always seemed unreal and distant. Out here, in the freezing cold and surrounded by soldiers, it was altogether different. Patches of snow were painted dark red around the body. The arrows that pierced it—no, him—had already been removed and cleaned. Here was a man, just a man, who once had a whole life ahead of him, probably with family and friends who loved him. Now he was gone forever, and it was almost certain they’d never learn what happened to him. Dowyr couldn’t see his face, buried in the snow as it was. A part of him wondered what it looked like, but he shuddered at the thought of turning him over to see.

  Weynon approached and stopped next to him to also stare at the body.

  “We should at least bury them,” Dowyr channeled.

  “No,” Weynon said with no hint of emotion. “The snow will bury them, then nature will take care of the rest when Spring comes.”

  Dowyr gaped at his friend, too stunned for words. Weynon didn’t seem to notice as he turned back to the Company. Dowyr’s stare followed him for a moment, then he looked back at the body one more time before going to find his horse. On the way back he spotted Elethe alone by her horse, crying inconsolably. He turned away, worried that the sight would end up with him in roughly the same state. Sirona was still helping some of the soldiers who’d been injured when knocked off their horses. There were amazingly no casualties on their side.

  He passed Garec and Donnan and overheard some of their conversation.

  “How did they ambush us like that?” Garec asked. “You said there was no one in sight.”

  Donnan hefted his shoulders with a deep frown. “I said I couldn’t tell if there was anyone but us. They must’ve had a Deadbeat.”

  That would have explained how they had ambushed them out of nowhere. Deadbeats, or Depression Emogicians, could conceal people from a Ghost’s astral projection sight as well as the channeling of Emogics. An essential Emogician for surprise attacks.

  Garec scanned the soldiers. “We’re alive, at least. I want you to bury them and get rid of any trace there was a fight here.”

  “Aye, I’m glad I can do that much. I didn’t see any escape but you should double-check with Boughton.”

  “Right. We’ll get a move on as soon as you’re done.”

  “Won’t take but a moment.”

  Donnan walked off and Garec caught Dowyr’s eye and approached, glancing around warily.

  “What did she see?” he asked.

  Jumper teleported her kids and a couple Kircans away, Dowyr signed.

  Garec gave a nod. “Well done. I’ll let my officers know what happened. With luck, this will all be over before any more cities get buried. Mount up, we need to get moving.”

  Dowyr hummed and continued on toward his horse. The beast seemed entirely oblivious to the battle’s aftermath. He wished he could have that same luxury. As he struggled to get on, it occurred to him that he needed to be careful not to use signs if Clarine was in sight, or at the very least move his mouth when talking to someone else. That would be annoying.

  More annoying than believing your children have been kidnapped? He winced at the thought.

  A Sunray flew overhead—Boughton, the Class 2.8 Happiness Emogician that led the platoon of archers which killed most of the fleeing Kircans—and landed next to Garec. Dowyr initially questioned why Garec didn’t just use someone like that to fly a small team of assassins straight into Kircany, but he realized that there could be a few different complications. Kircany would at least have Emogicians dedicated to detecting and stopping anything like that. A small Company of soldiers was probably the best way of going about it, especially considering Elethe. Anything too powerful coming at them could be fired right back, or Garec could cut off their channeling, or Donnan could bury them instantly.

  An hour later they were on the move. Elethe was too tired to help speed up the Company for the time being, so Garec kept them at a steady pace. Dowyr rode next to Weynon near the front of the column. Everyone was silent, a stark contrast to how they started out this morning.

  Dowyr made sure Clarine was out of sight before channeling to Weynon. “Are you okay?”

  Weynon shrugged. “I’m fine. You?”

  Dowyr stared ahead, unsure how to respond. “Didn’t the battle... bother you?”

  “They were the enemy, and we didn’t lose anyone. I’d rather we didn’t have to fight at all, but it’s our responsibility to deal with our enemies, and they attacked us first. Did the battle bother you? I can help with that.”

  Dowyr shook his head. “No, no… I’m fine. Just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  Weynon smiled. “Thanks. Maybe you should check on Elethe too.”

  Dowyr looked back to Elethe. She rode a short way from everyone else, though perhaps unaware of it. Her head was cast down, and her arms dangled while holding her horse’s reins as if she didn’t care where the beast went.

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  “Okay.”

  He let his horse fall back, but not all the way to Elethe. For some reason he couldn’t bring himself to talk to her. Well, it wasn’t like she would want to talk to him of all people after what happened. Who would? What could the ugly mute twerp do or say to make anything better? All he’d been good for so far was mentally kidnapping a young woman’s children.

  Why did I say I was a Booster? He thought, turning his eyes to his saddle’s pommel. It was easier to stare at that than meet anyone else’s gaze. I can’t pretend Heaven talks to me; Heaven’s not even real.

  He grumbled at himself for not thinking of something better, then gave a start as he realized Elethe had brought her horse right next to his and was looking straight at him. He shifted uneasily, only managing short glances at her.

  What? he signed, making a point not to channel, then quickly glanced around to make sure Clarine was nowhere in sight.

  Elethe spoke softly, only loud enough for him to hear. “You did something during the fight that makes you feel terrible. What was it?”

  I didn’t do anything. He was glad signs didn’t have the issue of tone of voice which sometimes gave away when someone was lying.

  “I know your thumb twitches when you’re lying.”

  Bloody Hell. She knew that too? Just how much did she know about him? He would’ve asked right then if he hadn’t thought she’d lie about it.

  I don’t want to talk about it, he signed, still not looking at her. What about you? What did you do during all that?

  Elethe grimaced and looked away. “Are you afraid of me?” she asked, almost too softly for him to hear.

  She didn’t look back at him to see an answer, but he didn’t give one. Instead, he leaned over and slapped her arm. It didn’t quite have the effect he wanted with her coat’s padding, yet it was enough to get her to glare at him.

  Wouldn’t do that if I was, he signed.

  Elethe rolled her eyes. “You’re still not channeling to say that.”

  “I’m tired, give me a break,” he channeled.

  In truth, he was afraid of her in a way. Elethe was perhaps the most powerful person on Earth. All she needed was a small handful of Class 1 Emogicians to become unstoppable, and that terrified him. But then, she was only a teenage girl a couple years older than him, and without someone else channeling, she couldn’t do much except sense others’ emotions. In that sense, she was only scary because she was a girl.

  He continued to channel at her and decided to finally ask about what had been bugging him for months. “If you want a real answer, tell me how much you learned about me when you first used Boredom back at the Academy.”

  As he channeled, he added telepathy to listen in on Elethe’s thoughts in case she tried to lie. Her answer immediately made itself clear to his mind.

  Everything.

  That made him cut his channeling, but then she answered with her voice.

  “Everything.”

  Dowyr stared at her in shock, half for telling the truth, and half for the answer itself. She had used his own Emogic against him, learned everything there was to know about him, and still hadn’t killed him?

  Snakes, she knows everything about me, he thought, his face reddening.

  He supposed she could always kill him later.

  “Sorry,” Elethe said. “I didn’t mean to. I was… tired. You don’t have to channel or give me an answer if you don’t want.”

  He snorted. “Don’t tell me what I don’t have to do. Yeah, I’m not afraid of you. You think I’d prank a Class 4 Empath as much as I have if I was?”

  She gave him an annoyed look. “I feel like you’ve done it so much precisely because I’m… what I am… and you know you can get away with it.”

  “Nah, you’re just the most fun to prank.”

  He thought he caught the briefest glimpse of a smile from her, but he could’ve just been seeing things. They rode on in silence for a time, and his mind drifted back to the battle. He was grateful he hadn’t seen all that much of it, but he never wanted to experience other people within shouting distance deliberately trying to kill him ever again.

  “How many Emogicians did they have?” he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

  Elethe shook her head. “I don’t know, there was so much going on at once. At least two. If I hadn’t been so exhausted from channeling, I might’ve felt their presence earlier.”

  “Donnan thought they had a Deadbeat, so it’s not your fault. At least we didn’t lose anyone.” Except Clarine’s fake children.

  Elethe narrowed her eyes at him. “That felt like a lie.”

  “What? I wasn’t l—”

  He noticed his Emogic surge into Elethe and rush back at him, and he barely managed to cut his channeling as it touched him. It was too late, however, as Elethe gasped in shock.

  “You made her see…?” Her eyes filled with understanding as she looked back at where Clarine would be, then narrowed again as they darted to Garec up ahead. “And he told you to…”

  A blaze of determination sparked in her eyes, and she kicked her horse forward.

  Dowyr made a strangled yelp and flung his arm at Elethe’s reins, seizing them and pulling her horse back. She shot him a dangerous look, which he answered with an exaggerated shaking of his head.

  “You can’t say or do anything,” he channeled.

  Elethe scowled. “Why not? I won’t let my uncle bully you and Clarine into doing this.”

  Dowyr gave her the most serious look he had probably ever given anyone in his life. “He didn’t bully me to do anything. I did this. It’s my burden, not yours. We need Clarine. If we lose her, we’ll probably die, and so would a lot of other people. I don’t want the lives of thousands of people on my conscience. I can deal with tricking one woman into thinking her kids are in danger. Besides, think of the happy ending: we kill the Tyrdens, end the war, Clarine gets to know her children were safe all along, and we all go home as heroes.”

  Elethe stared at him without expression, but her eyes began to glisten with tears. “I hate what this happy ending is making us do. Especially someone like you.”

  A shiver ran down Dowyr’s spine. Before today, he had never seriously thought of killing anyone. Some part of him had clung to the hope that someone else would put a stop to Royce and Roderick before the Company did. He still wanted to hope that could happen, but the reality of what they were doing had sunk in. Of what they had to do. He could taste bile rising in his throat and forced it down.

  It’s just me and Weynon, he thought. Me and…

  He took a deep breath and channeled, “Will you promise me something?”

  Elethe frowned. “What?”

  “If something goes wrong with all this, and we’re in danger… save Weynon. If you can.”

  She sniffed. “Chances are I could save you both.”

  He shook his head. “If for whatever reason you couldn’t, and you had to choose, pick Weynon. Promise.”

  She grimaced and looked away. “Alright. I promise.”

  He gave an appreciative nod. More than anything he wanted to make sure Weynon came out of this alive, and with Elethe knowing everything about him, he figured she would understand and agree. Not that he hoped such a scenario would ever come up.

  The rest of the day’s travels went with little else said. Elethe regained enough strength to channel Clarine’s Emogic to speed them along one more time, and by the day’s end, they were nearing the Parastenian town of Leife.