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.”Both girls cast spells at once, directing them at the guards.One guard’s armor overloaded, sending him falling to the floor; the other kept coming, balefire crackling around him without touching his skin.For a long moment, Emily stared in disbelief before realizing that the guardsman was actually a magician in disguise.He lifted one hand and threw a powerful paralysis spell at the two girls.Emily parried it with an effort and threw back a blast of raw power.The magician would have no trouble deflecting it, but he’d be blinded for a handful of seconds.Emily lunged forward, sword in hand, and lashed out with a more focused spell she’d learned in Martial Magic.The magician’s wards failed, just for a long second, long enough for Emily to bury the sword in his chest.He let out a grunt and staggered backwards, toppling to the ground.Emily pulled the sword out and then beheaded him, just to be sure.There was no time for horror and revulsion at what she’d done.Emily turned and rejoined Alassa, leading her rapidly down the corridor towards the tunnel entrance.They rounded a corner and stopped dead.Seven heavily armed men and two magicians were standing in front of the tunnel, clearly ready to prevent anyone from escaping into the underground network.Alassa used a vile word and lashed out with her magic, but the two magicians deflected it from their companions.Emily caught Alassa and yanked her backwards as the magicians started throwing spells back at the girls.One of them struck Emily’s wards with something that almost knocked them down before they got out of range.Oddly, the guards didn’t seem interested in giving chase.They have to guard the tunnels, Emily thought, grimly.Can’t risk having King Randor or his family getting back to the castle.Alassa led the way through a pair of wooden doors and into a smaller chamber that was less ornate than the main hall, but built along the same general principle.The commoners had to sit here, Emily decided, as they ran through the middle of the hall and out towards the commoner exit.There would be guards outside by now, she knew, but if they failed to break out they might as well surrender…no, that couldn’t be risked.Alassa would probably be forced into marriage to one of the barons, assuming the barons were actually behind the plot; Emily herself would be executed.Unless Void came to the rescue…“Wait,” she said, before Alassa could run out of the building.“We need to disguise ourselves.”Alassa gave her a blank look, then nodded in understanding.Every girl at Whitehall–and at least half the boys–learned how to use glamors to change their appearance.Some were simple illusions, designed to hint at larger breasts or cleaner faces, others were suffused with tiny compulsion spells which insisted that no one should look too closely.It would be easy to place a more powerful version of the charm on themselves, but it was too likely that they would run into another disguised magician.He might well spot the glamor and then wonder what it was concealing.Emily recalled the first set of guards they’d encountered and carefully shaped the glamor spell, casting it over them both.As always, it felt faintly odd to be wearing a glamor of any kind; she hadn’t been able to understand why so many girls used them when they made their magic feel a little strange.But then, vanity had never been one of her vices.“You look like a hairy man,” Alassa said.She giggled, suddenly.“What do I look like?”Emily frowned.Was Alassa going into shock? The coup had to be the most shocking event in her life, even more shocking–and terrifying–than the moment Emily had almost killed her.She did know that people could fall into shock as soon as they had a moment to reflect; God knew she’d certainly felt that way after Void had snatched her out of Shadye’s clutches…and he had used a spell to keep her calm.“Like there’s two of you,” Emily said.She knew the glamor was there, so it seemed like an insubstantial shadow concealing the girl below.The guardsman was only an illusion, after all.She took a breath, then transfigured Alassa’s dress into something smaller, small enough that it wouldn’t break the glamor.“Remember you have to walk naturally, not run.The last thing we need is to attract attention.”She pushed the door open and stepped out into the bright sunlight, wincing as the light stabbed into her eyes [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]