Page 9 of Leviathan's Song
“Hey! That’s her! Grab her! That’s the tink with all the gems that Bones was after.” I stiffened, ducking my head as I tried to rein in my sudden panic.
Tink or tinker was a common name for an artificer, or someone who made small magical objects, among poorer populations. I whirled to face them, taking stock of the situation. There were lots of people around as witnesses, so they probably couldn’t actually drag me away right here. I cast out my magical feelers for Sidney but didn’t feel her nearby.
The men in front of me weren’t overly large, but looked wiry, like they were probably stronger than their size would indicate. The man closest to me had a similar sort of magic to my ability to feel out other’s magical abilities. The one catching up to him had averylow level of healing magic, almost unnoticeable. They were large enough physically to overpower me, but at least they didn’t have any magic they could use against me.
“Did you change your mind about coming for a chat, then?” the man in front asked, indicating toward the building behind him. The one behind him held a knife low, close to his body. I swallowed and took a step back, bumping into the vendor’s table and raising my hands slightly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, stalling. “I’m just here doing some shopping.” My voice shook slightly. The man’s eyes were calculating, and his lips twitched up as he reached back and pulled out his own knife, holding it low like his buddy to hide it from view in the broad daylight. Both of them had a windrose tattooed on the ring finger of their left hand.
“It’s such a lucky day that you came down to visit,” he said, flicking his knife toward the building behind him to indicate I should move that way.
The vendor behind me got involved, yelling at them to leave me alone and get away, that they had no right to harass his customers. The man in the back told him to shut up, that this was Phantom business and to stay out of it. I couldn’t take my eyes off the knife held by the man closest to me to see the vendor’s response.
A block of ice formed in my gut at his claim of “Phantom business”. A loosely organized separatist group who occasionally leaned toward anarchy, the Phantom Council had spread all over the Boundlands and had been cropping up sporadically in the Void. I’d never noticed any kind of gang presence in Golden Laurel and only knew about them from what I’d heard on the news or through the rumor mill.
Now they wanted to snatch me off the streets so I would supply them with weapons? My mind flickered to the riots they’d been behind two years ago, which had left New Gradstein littered with dead. I could just imagine some twenty-foot stone golem stomping through the streets along with the rioters.Over my dead body.
The rest of the milling crowd glanced our way when the vendor raised his voice, and a few even paused. They kept back from us, making no move to intervene. From the uneasy looks on their faces, the bystander-effect was running strong.
I focused on the ring on the third finger of my right hand, obsidian and silver, pushing all of my excess energy and adrenaline into it, ready to let loose if anyone touched me. It wouldn’t help me any if he stuck his knife in my guts, though.
When the man stepped around me and leaned forward, trying to herd me toward the alleyway, I tried to dart in the other direction, only to be blocked again. My heart was pounding in my ears, and the other man was blocking the only other way out but the alley.Please come back, Sidney,I begged internally. These men were so much bolder than we’d imagined.
“Help!” I shouted, trying futilely to attract attention. A crowd was gathering, though no one other than my elderly vendor-champion (who was still shouting at them from his stall) was making any move to help. I’d never been in a situation like this before, and I knew it was going downhill fast.
“Get away from her!”Sheer terror and the urge to flee struck like a tidal wave as enchantments rolled over me and entangled my mind.
Levi.
I noted peripherally that his enchantment was having the opposite effect than it normally did, pushing—shoving—away instead of drawing toward. I could only imagine what the enchantment felt like to someone without a ward against it, and it was certainly effective in startling my assailants.
As the man with the knife in front of me took a slight step back and turned to look at Levi, I took advantage of his distraction to duck around and run past him. I’d only managed to take the first step when he recovered and reached out with his free hand to grip my wrist. The charge I’d been holding in my ring released instantaneously, and I felt his fingers clench involuntarily before he released me and threw his arm back, shrieking as he fell on his backside.
Levi darted in between us, his arm held in front of me protectively, but I was already on the move. I scrambled back farther along the table just as I felt the clear open skies and beguiling updrafts of Sidney’s magic advancing at a furious pace.
Suddenly, she wasthere,airborne and almost completely sideways, knives clutched in both fists as she caught the second man in the shoulder with her boot, sending him to the ground. She stumbled as she landed, but immediately launched after the first man who’d tried to grab me when he stood and bolted away. The second man scrambled to his feet and lurched back down the alleyway they’d come from.
Everyone stared, frozen for a long minute, including Levi. His jaw was hanging a little loose as he stared off in the direction Sidney had run.
“Miss? Miss, are you okay?” The vendor’s quiet voice eventually snapped us out of our daze. I turned, working to find my voice. The entire ordeal had probably taken only thirty seconds.
“I’m fine, thank you,” I said, though it came out noticeably shaky.
Levi turned to look at me, his eyes still wide. “What did you do to that guy to knock him down?”
Guy? Oh.“I… the same thing I did to your quarter.”
“You shocked him?” he asked, still confused.
“Yeah. I dialed it up a bit.” He raised his eyebrow. “A lot,” I conceded.
Chapter 4
Sidney jogged backaround the corner toward us, and Levi stepped closer, moving to tuck me behind him. I touched his arm to reassure him, grateful for his presence. “She’s with me,” I murmured. He took a slight step away but left his arm in contact with my hand. His skin felt warm and soft, his arm muscular and sturdy.
Sidney stopped a few feet in front of me, panting, and doubled over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath. Her knuckles were reddened and smeared with spots of blood. She raised her head and squinted at me. “You alright? I heard you scream.”
“Areyouokay? Your hands are bloody.”
