The beams of wood were icy to the touch, and perhaps it was her imagination, but the air seemed tinged blue from the chill. She leaned over Fairy’s body and nearly let out a cry.
Frost tipped her roommate’s dark lashes. That heart-shaped face, usually so lively, was deathly pale and unmoving, like a statue carved of marble. Her hair had taken on a sheen not caused by the gold of her disguise but from the slick layer of ice that coated each strand. Sora touched a trembling hand to Fairy’s cheek, afraid it would confirm there was nothing there but a corpse.
But despite the cold, Fairy’s skin was still soft. There was no blush to it, no warmth, but it wasn’t stiff like it would have been were she dead. Sora collapsed in relief on Fairy’s chest.
“I’m sorry I did this to you,” she whispered. “But you are so brave, and I’m proud of you. I’m proud of us. Just hang in there a little while longer. We’re going home tonight.”
She tucked a loose gold curl behind Fairy’s ear and brushed the frost away from her lashes.
Then Sora took a long, deep breath and focused on the emerald dust currently making snowflakes in the cart.
Stop, she commanded. Make her invisible instead.
The snow stopped falling. It began to lift Fairy lightly off the makeshift bed of uniforms. Then it began to absorb her. Sora watched as Fairy’s body turned sparkling green, invisible to the ordinary eye.
She directed the magic to carry Fairy out of the cart. It should have been an easy task, but Sora wasn’t just steering a barrel of oranges. Fairy was a live person, and if she bumped into anything, she would get hurt. Sora asked more magic to bundle itself around Fairy, like a protective blanket.
She waited for the pacing ryuu to pass. Then Sora slid out of the wagon, and Fairy’s levitating body followed.
A mere minute later, though, a ryuu behind her cried out, “The empress’s corpse is missing!”
Dammit.
The ryuu’s voice had been muffled—he must have been inside the cart itself—but in just a few seconds, the alarm would be raised.
Sora commanded the magic to tie itself like gags around the patrolling ryuu.
“Mmr rmph rroh!” The closest one tried to shout as he tore at his mouth.
Sora kicked him and slammed the heel of her hand into the back of his neck. He passed out immediately. She slid into the guard next to him, taking out his legs, and similarly knocked him unconscious.
The ten other ryuu on patrol came running, even though they couldn’t see her. They knew that the empress was being kidnapped, and they’d seen their fellow guards fall. That’s all they needed to dive into the fight headlong.
Sora drew her sword. She didn’t want to kill them if she could help it, because some of these were new recruits and could hopefully be uncharmed in the future, restored as taigas. But she also didn’t have the time to gently spare everyone. She needed to end this, quickly, before the rest of the camp woke up.
She had the benefit of invisibility, though. The ryuu had rushed to the spot where the other guards had fallen, but they didn’t know where to attack next.
Sora smashed the butt of her sword into the heads of four ryuu, one right after the other in rapid succession. They tumbled to the ground.
The remaining six ryuu pinpointed her location. They didn’t bother with fighting the invisible gags around their mouths anymore. Instead, they focused their efforts and surrounded Sora, drawing their blades. They began to rush forward, some swords held high, some low.
Another second, and Sora would be skewered half a dozen ways.
She called on the magic to buoy her, and she leaped into the air as the swords impaled the space she’d just occupied.
The warriors ran the blades straight through each other. For a horrified moment, they stood there, eyes wide as blood spilled from their bodies, soaking their uniforms. Then, with muffled cries, they toppled over.
Five of them had been new recruits from Paro Village, Kaede City, and Tiger’s Belly. Now they were just dead ryuu.
What have I done? Sora thought, landing on the ground beside them.
But this, as Prince Gin had pointed out, was the cost of war. No matter which side of right she was on, there would be inevitable wrongs.
Still, she staggered backward at the magnitude of what she’d done. She bumped into something and fell into the mud.
It was Fairy, her body still