our exchange with a mixture of bafflement and wariness. But on the other side of the gate stood three men in dark cloaks, the hoods pulled up over their heads. A cold finger of dread scraped down my spine when all three hoods turned toward us.
“Who are they?” I asked the guard.
Gone was his bluster, and if anything he went even more pale. “I don’t know. Never seen them before. They showed up this morning, after the group of Dansiians went back through the gate.”
My stomach clenched at his words. “How many men?” I asked urgently.
“What?”
“How many Dansiian men went through the gate? Was anyone hurt? Did it look like they had any prisoners?”
“Yes. There was a prisoner….” He trailed off suddenly, his eyes losing focus, going blank in that horrible, soulless way that made my blood turn to ice. “Are you seeking him? Is that who you have come for — the prisoner?”
There was no chance I was going to answer him. Rafe had been here, and I wasn’t about to wait to see what he’d commanded this man to do to us.
“Run!” I shouted at Eljin, grabbing my bow and an arrow. Yanking it over my head, I notched the arrow as I dashed toward the gate, with Eljin on my heels. I felt the draw of magic beside me as he lifted his hands. There was a thud behind us, but I didn’t turn back to see what he’d done. The two Antionese men guarding the gate lifted their weapons in alarm — one held a sword and the other another bow. I let my first arrow fly without breaking stride before the other man could even take aim. It went through his shooting arm, rendering him unable to fight, but it was not a life-threatening injury.
“Move out of the way,” I shouted, waving my free hand at both of them. “Don’t make me shoot again!”
“Halt!” The other guard shouted, but his voice wavered.
Eljin and I stopped, my bow pulled tight with another arrow. The three men wearing hoods stood still behind the gate, watching us approach. I felt the pull of magic again as Eljin lifted his hands once more. The uninjured guard dropped his sword to suddenly grasp at his neck, clawing at unseen fingers that choked the air out of him. The moment his eyes rolled up into his head, Eljin dropped his hand and the man fell to the side, unconscious but not dead. At least, I sincerely hoped not.
“What are they?” I murmured to Eljin, a spike of adrenaline and fear driving into my arms, legs, and belly.
“I think we’re about to find out.”
The gate began to grind open.
Eljin lifted his hands once more as the three men in robes moved forward, past the gate toward us. I heard movement behind us, and I glanced over my shoulder to see the first guard — the one whose eyes had gone blank — recovering from whatever Eljin had done to him and climbing to his feet.
A sudden sinking sense of desperation assailed me. And then Eljin grabbed me with one hand, pulling me in to his side, and the ground surrounding him began to shake violently. My arrow slipped when Eljin grabbed my arm, but I immediately renotched it. Quickly taking aim at the robed man on the left, I let it fly. But before the arrow reached its target, he lifted his hand and it disintegrated into ash.
Cold dread lodged in my chest when I saw that he wore the same strange glove made of metal and jewels that Iker had worn when I’d fought him.
He was a black sorcerer.
A ball of fire suddenly ignited above his upturned palm. We had no chance of surviving this. Before I could second-guess myself, I tore free of Eljin’s grip, lurching forward and throwing my arms out to keep from being flung to the ground by his earthquake.
“Alex!” Eljin shouted, but I ignored him, tossing my bow to the dirt. The ground suddenly grew still.
“Stop!” I yelled. “If you don’t hurt us, I will turn myself in to you.”
The man wielding the fire paused. I could see a hint of his face in the glow of the unearthly flames — a narrow nose and deep-set, dark eyes. “And who might you be?” His voice was cold and heavily accented. Though he didn’t yell, it carried to where I stood as clearly as if he were only a few feet away.
“Don’t do this!” Eljin’s hand closed