the magic to form giant hands and wrench the wall away, but that might cause irreparable damage to the rest of the palace. Sora shuddered thinking of all the cracks she’d create, and how they’d spread, shattering the rest of Rose Palace because of the fractures.
Okay. No wrenching the wall.
What she needed was a clean break.
“A saw.”
Actually, several saws. The kind used to cut diamonds. Gods, please let my imagination be enough to guide the magic to do what I need it to do.
Sora looked for the emerald particles. She called for as many of them as possible, and they rushed in from all over, sparkling streaks through the sky and into the courtyard. She willed the magic into long, sharp, steady blades. She directed them to the top of the wall, one enormous green saw poised over the right side, the other on the left.
Cut, she thought.
They began to slide back and forth, slowly, as if sawing through wood, and spewing splinters as if they were sawing through wood as well. Except these splinters were made of crystal. Sharp crystal.
Sora leaped as far as she could and covered her head under the shower of needles. Stop! she commanded the saws.
They ceased their motion. But some of the particles started to dissipate as she lost control over them, because she was looking at the blood seeping into her uniform from the many places her skin had been pierced.
Deal with the wounds later, she told herself. They’re just splinters.
A hundred or so of them, but still. Just splinters.
Sora turned back to the saws and yelped as she saw them disintegrating back into the air, the particles wandering off because she wasn’t paying attention to them.
No! Back into formation.
The magic hesitated, as if momentarily confused. Then most of the particles began to drift back into the shape of their saws.
She exhaled.
All right. Cutting back and forth on crystal was dangerous. Perhaps she had to approach this more like chopping vegetables.
Slice straight down, she willed the magic.
At first, she couldn’t see anything happening. But then she noticed a thin line appear on either side of the wall where it was separating from the rest of the palace. Her green knives worked slowly but steadily.
The floor panel on the far side of the courtyard opened. Empress Aki stuck out her head. “Everything all right?”
“It is now,” Sora said. “You can come out from the tunnel, although you should probably stay on that side of the courtyard, just in case.”
Empress Aki and her Imperial Guards emerged. One of them noticed Sora was injured. “I’ll get her some bandages,” he said.
He returned a few minutes later and dressed her wounds. Sora breathed into his touch. It was actually helpful to have someone else with her, grounding her as she focused intensely on the saws.
She began again. The wall trembled, and the Ora crest glinted in the faint light of the impending sunrise.
The saws neared the bottom. Sora’s eyes began to cross; the concentration was taxing.
And then, the last, final slice.
She exhaled deeply and closed her eyes for a moment. Then she turned to Empress Aki. “Your Majesty, we have our magnifying glass.”
“Excellent. Can you get it down to the Citadel?”
Sora was tired, but she nodded. There would be time for rest later. “I’ll use magic to levitate it down the hill.”
Empress Aki looked up at the purpling sky to gauge the time. “You go on ahead. I just need to do one thing here at the palace. I want to go to Sola’s temple to pray.”
“But—”
“Don’t worry. I have some Imperial Guards with me, and I’ll leave by way of the secret tunnels again. You need to get to the Citadel, though. It’s imperative that you arrive before my brother’s army does, if you are to have them all in one place at the fortress gates to blind them.”
Sora didn’t like the idea of leaving the empress behind. But she was the sovereign, which meant Sora didn’t really have a choice. Besides, Empress Aki’s reasoning made sense, and she did have a contingent of Imperial Guards, the best warriors in the kingdom.
“All right, Your Majesty. Be safe. I’ll see you back at the Citadel soon.”
Chapter Sixty-Four
Fairy slipped into Bullfrog’s room the same way Broomstick had—through the window. She’d stopped by the dormitory to grab vials of wood-ear mushroom powder and swallow’s saliva, which could be combined to form an antidote to genka. Unfortunately, she didn’t have much wood ear; her old stash was in the satchel