Thirty: Chimia

*It can't all be true.*

Vasha had brought me some soup and coffee and sat at my side as I ate.

"I didn't mean to overwhelm you," she hummed once I was almost through with my food. "But eventually I will need you to at least tell me your name. Duo is growing a bit suspicious. There are guards all over the city looking for the lost princess, and word is they're blaming us for it. As if we had power enough to stop a full-blown enchantress." The pretty girl heaved a great sigh and set my now empty mug down beside us. "If I were her, I'd run, too," she admitted quietly. "Here, no one has money. Many of us go days without food. Only the oldest of us have enough magic to be of any consequence. Lots of out-breeding with other species, you see. But we wake up every day with the ability to choose our path. The Princess does not."

"My name is Mel," I said. Vasha's eyes swiveled to me, but she showed no change in her features. "I am from the mortal realm. I came here to find my cousin Sauvius. I-I wasn't sure if he'd come here at all, but I had to try."

"Why would he come here?"

"A demon callled Aga. He was called to assist a human who summoned her. But she convinced him that she loved him and took him from us. My family thinks she's taken him to the underworld to kill him. F-for fun. But I didn't. I thought she wanted something more from him, and that this place was the obvious choice. Well, not here, but Echelon."

Vasha reached up to pat my greasy, tangled hair, and I winced, trying to remember that I was meant to be weak and injured. Doing my best not to bolt out of the door immediately. I could have--I could have just tried to run for it. But where there were people who could not leave a place, people were willing to smuggle them out, and my best shot at getting away without detection was by calling as little attention to myself as possible. I could only hope that's what I was doing, but I had no way of knowing how well my storytelling was going without using my magic to probe, and if I did that I was concerned that Vasha would be able to tell just how much of it I had and my identity would be compromised.

"I've not heard of either. How long have you been here?" she asked at length. "As in, were you walking these streets to find your cousin or to find the city's exit?"

"No, I was leaving," I answered, letting my grief for Fen well up inside my belly and push a big sob through my body. "I found her. He is gone."

Vasha and I cried together for a few minutes, and at some point even I believed my tragedy. It gave me a moment to properly mourn my friend's death, but it also appeared to earn me the trust of this mysterious woman, who, when we were done, abruptly left the room with no explanation. When she returned, it was with her brother, Duo, and another enchanter who looked strikingly familiar, though I could not place exactly where he came from. He was short, stout, with wiry brown hair and a long beard. His eyes were green just like Vasha's.

"This is her?" he asked quietly. Vasha nodded. With a gentle, soft smile the man approached my bedside.

"What's your name?" he asked me.

"M-mel," I answered. "My name is Mel."

"Alright, Mel. My name is Seft." He rolled up his sleeve to show me a mark just like Vasha's, only his was worn almost to nothing. The magic that was still in hers was no longer there. It was a scar and nothing more. "I can get you out of here and take you home if you like. Would you like that, Mel?"

"Yes," I breathed, cursing myself for being too eager. Seft didn't seem to notice whatsoever. His smile was steadfast and gentle. It made me feel a little too comfortable, and I recognized that he was using magic to put me at ease. Empathy was a low-level skill, but not necessarily one that required only a little power. If I was not so desperate, so weak, or so tired I might have realized it then and been able to make a better decision But like every other red flag in that room, I pushed it to the back of my brain, deadset on my goal of getting out of Echelon.

"Good choice. I will be leaving with a few others in about an hour. I can take you with me now, but there's a condition." I nodded, waiting for him to explain. "You will tip off the guards if you go with your powers intact. You have much more of it than the rest of us do. We will need to bond it--only temporarily. Just until we've left the city, and then we can release you."

"The rest of the caravan has agreed to the same to ensure no accidents," Vasha chimed in. "We'll do it with an amulet or some kind of token that will be in your possession so you can rest assured it can be undone no matter what."

I hesitated, my eyes flickering from one person to the next as my brain tried to wrap itself around what this would mean, truly. If my powers were bound, I was defenseless. Sure, having a token was some assurance, but not in total. If I was abandoned with nothing but my token, I would still need to find someone to undo the binding for me and I would have to find them with no magical resources. But a voice in the back of my mind whistled her appreciation for the challenge.

*You've conquered worse in harder conditions.*

"Th-that's fine, I'll do it." My resolve was steeled, and with it, my fate seemingly sealed.

"Good. Come along, then. We'll need to hurry so we can leave on time." I stood and followed Seft out. Vasha gave me an encouraging smile and squeezed my shoulder.

"Good luck, little Mel," she whispered.

Even Duo flashed what must have been his version of a smile at me on my way out. I felt encouraged. Supported. Even a little bit like a celebrity. Nothing like I had at The Palace. Once we were out of Vasha's brothel and in the street, Seft grabbed hold of my hand and began pulling me down the winding streets with exhilarating speed. When we stopped, we were even closer to the edge of the city. At the very edge of the horizon, I could see where Echelon's magic ended and the mortal realm's real weather touched the night sky. There were buildings behind us, shrouded in eternal night, and a sort of carriage in front of us. The back wasn't covered yet. Inside were two men, a girl, two women, and a young child hardly old enough to walk.

"Are you ready? It will be quick."

The warm brown sugar aura had disappeared. Instead, Seft seemed almost a caricature of evil before me as he handed me a pale pink stone and readied himself to do the spell, but it was too late for me to back down. I knew that my magic was going to resist, so I did my best to tamper it down as he began chanting. Instead, I channeled it into my soul tie. I knew that I could overload it, and it would merely confuse Mal, but I did not expect my heart to cry out for him. Tears came to my eyes, and I realized that I was desperate to speak with him, even after all Malfizan had done to me. I wanted him to know where I was. I wanted him to come to me, to convince me that I was being stupid.

But less than a second later, it was over. And I was nothing but flesh and bone, temporarily.

Seft gave me only a moment to recover before throwing me in the back of the carriage and began covering us all. I squeezed in between the two men, face-to-face with the young girl. She looked horrified. Remiss to continue to look into the face of what--according to Vasha--could only be oppression brought upon my own people by my own family, I glanced back toward Seft as he finished his work. In the dim light, I saw a tattoo behind his ear when he turned.

A tattoo I had seen before, centuries before.

The tattoo of the man who had helped my mother murder the only woman who had ever cared for me.

I cried out, but it was too late. The man beside me clapped a hand over my mouth and the woman with the baby held the frightened girl to her side, cursing me to stay quiet lest they all be killed. And I was--for there was nowhere for me to turn. I was utterly alone.