After three or four hundred paces we left the road by mutual consent and began to thread our way through the forest. The trees were spaced apart, and low bushes and saplings grew in the gaps. The elves moved silently, and I tried to follow in their footsteps to avoid stepping on twigs or branches. A few strands of smoke filtered through the undergrowth.

  A grendak pushed its way through the trees. Its eyes were rolling in distress, and it gave a low moan. An arrow jutted from its left flank, and it dragged its hind leg. Blood seeped from the wound and trickled on the ground. When it saw us, it chattered in fear and turned away to vanish downhill into the forest.

  A hundred paces further brought us to a more open area that led back to the road. Through gaps in the bushes, I could see the outline of several wagons and people moving up and down the road. I motioned the others to me.

  “I’m going to veil us,” I said. “Stay within three paces of me at all times.”

  “A veil can’t hide us all,” muttered one. I thought his name was Re.

  “This one will.” I called up my spell, extended the diameter to cover the group, and then waved them on with me. We crept up to the verge and halted to take in the situation.

  The area swarmed with collared. Most were of slight build and wore simple clothes of open weave. They were armed with daggers; a few had swords or axes. Wagons were scattered at angles on the trail; two were burning, and no one was making any effort to control the flames. Bodies lay around the largest wagon, forming a windrow where the defenders had made a futile, last stand. Some corpses were in civilian clothing, while others wore green and tan uniforms. Ten or twenty paces distant were a group of prisoners with their hands bound behind their backs.

  Amongst the prisoners were Chani and her Blade Rondal. Rondal’s face was bruised, and he was bleeding from a wound on his right shoulder. Chani was slumped against him, her head lolling to one side. He was speaking to her, but she seemed not to hear him. The other captives were a mixture of wagoners and what I assumed to be elven warriors.

  I pitched my voice to a low murmur. “I need to get closer to the captives. At least one is a Mage. We’re going to need her.”

  Leila was staring at me. “What are you intending?”

  “We can’t leave them here.”

  “They are under guard. No one is going to kill them now.”

  “No, they’ll do worse.” I pointed at one of the attackers, who was rooting through a wagon. “See that collar around the neck? Once that goes on, the person wearing it dies. Their soul vanishes. And something alien and dark puppets the body.” I indicated the captives. “I’m betting that the raiders are waiting for another shipment of collars. And when that happens, those prisoners will be done for.”

  “What can we do? We are four and one Mage. There must be twenty of them.”

  “I’ve counted twenty-four so far. I can take down perhaps half of those quickly. I am going to need you to act as my Blades when I face the remainder.”

  “Are you mad? An Archmage could not achieve that.”

  “Leila,” I held her gaze, “if this group expands by collaring more Mages, they will cut through the lands east of here like a theranaq through a herd of grendak. And that includes your people. We have no choice.”

  There was silence as the elves considered me. Leila and Goran looked at each other, and he shrugged and nodded.

  “Very well,” she said. “May the Goddess hold us in her regard.”

  We slipped along the verge and came even with the huddled prisoners. I led us onto the road and into the midst of the captives, ensuring that the veil did not mask anyone outside of our group. Two collared came up the road carrying a large sack that clanked and began to walk past our position. I heard one of the elves take a deep breath. The veil held, and the attackers ignored us.

  Chani pulled herself to a sitting position and mumbled. She cleared her throat and called out in a weak voice.

  “Coral. Help us.”

  One of the pair had been Coral. Now her eyes were a deep black, and her silver collar glistened around her neck as she paced by.

  “Coral, it’s Chani. Why won’t you answer me?”

  The creature did not break stride and continued to a nearby wagon. It lifted the sack and began to stack swords and spears into the cargo bed. When it had finished, it headed back to the far wagons. Chani’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell against Rondal. I made my way to the pair and gripped Rondal’s shoulder.

  “Not a sound,” I said. “No movement.”

  He nodded fractionally.

  “What happened to Chani?”

  “They threw something at us,” he said. He was trying not to move his lips. “Balls, linked by wires. They wrapped around her and she just—stopped.”

  I looked down and saw a complex mesh of metal bands securing Chani’s hands. I touched one of the cables and yanked my hand back as an icy sensation ran up my arm, as if I had plunged my hand into a freezing lake. I swore quietly to myself and switched to magesight: this showed a network of writhing red fibres emanating from the bands and coursing into Chani’s arms. I followed them to her core, which was dull and flaccid.

  I created a thin shield suitable for cutting and brought its edge down to one of the metal bands. My construct shuddered and fragmented; the bands remained intact.

  “Goren,” I whispered, “do you have a knife that will cut these?”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  He leaned over and frowned. “Knife won’t do.” He reached into a thigh pocket and pulled out an object that looked like a clipper. “We use these for the kamchari’s claws. Let’s see—” He positioned the jaws over a strand and squeezed down. There was a snap and the band retracted. “—got it.” He quickly severed the remaining pieces. As the last fell to the ground, Chani gave a groan, and her eyes opened. She took a deep breath, and I placed a hand over her mouth.

  “Quiet!”

  She struggled briefly and then nodded. I removed my hand.

  “Are there any other Mages held prisoner?”

  She looked around. “Vana, over there.”

  I glanced at Goren. “Can you cut her loose as well? Don’t let her call out. And Goren—” he looked at me, already moving, “—be careful, and slow. I can’t veil you from over here.”

  One of the elves was already releasing Rondal. I healed his shoulder and pushed him lightly.

  “Start freeing the others. Quietly.”

  In less than a quarter trek, the captives were free. I had them stay in their original positions. By the grace of the Goddess, none of the collared had come by to check on them yet. That would not last. I squirmed over to one of the warriors.

  “Who is your senior officer?”

  “Dead.” He jerked his head over his right shoulder, “Sergeant Ailse is the next in line.”

  “Right.” I made my way to the Sergeant. “I’m Mage Circe. We are going to break out of here.”

  He shook his head. “That will be next to impossible. We were overcome when we were at full strength with three combat Mages from Vandoran. Now—” he looked around, “—we’re down a Mage, who appears to have gone over the enemy, and have lost at least a third of our force.”

  “The Mage was turned. She is no longer human. I will take her—it—out. Then I’ll concentrate on any remaining Mages and their Blades. I need you to organize your men to handle the rest of the collared.” I looked at him. “Sergeant Ailse, you and your soldiers have two choices: you can fight, or you can become one of the collared.”

  He sighed. “You are very…persuasive, my Lady. We’ll need our arms.”

  “In that wagon.” I pointed. “Start equipping your men.”

  “They will see us and attack.”

  “Well,” I said, “that’s the idea.”

  I gathered the two surviving Mages and their Blades.

  “I’m Circe. And you are?”

  “Vana.” She looked me over. “I saw you duel Lady Katrina.”

  I grunted noncommittally. “Well, Vana and Chani, how much do you think you have left in your pools?”

  Chani shook her head. “Not much. Whatever that…thing was, it drained me. Perhaps two spells worth.”

  Vana nodded in agreement.

  “Right.” I thought for a moment. “Make them count, then. Once I’ve taken out their Mages and a portion of their warriors, I want you to pick off the closest targets to our flanks. Chani—” I pointed, “take the right side. Vana, you go left. Questions?”

  “Will we know when to start?”

  “Count on it.”

  The collared reacted quickly. There was none of the uncertainty or hesitation that I might have expected from a human or elven troop. Instead, they formed a wedge of fighters and began marching up the road in perfect silence, with Coral in the lead. A second Mage followed her, slightly behind and to her right. I let the opposition come within a hundred paces, at which point Coral began to form a fireball.

  My own spell was already prepared. I released it and fed in a bolus of mana as it tracked on Coral. It struck her in the neck and bloomed with an eye-watering flash. She was thrown to the side, clothes and hair burning. The accompanying Mage toppled to the ground; as she pulled herself upright, my second fireball intersected with her face. She fell once more and was still.

  The collared broke into a run and headed towards me and the centre of our line. My third spell was a linear construction that spanned the width of the road and surged forward at chest height. It struck the attackers and hissed like a snake as it sliced into their bodies. The leading rank stumbled and fell, bearing deep burns across their chests. The rear struggled to climb over their dying companions.

  I saw Vana and Chani release their fireballs and down three other collared. Then their Blades moved in front to engage the survivors. The elves were releasing arrows and dropping the increasingly disorganized remnants. I picked off four more targets in rapid succession, and the spearmen moved in.

  In a few moments, there were no more opponents.

  Sergeant Ailse sent triads comprising elves armed with bow, spear, and sword down the road to search for any holdouts. There were none. He left pickets in both directions, and the rest of us clustered around the wagons in a rough circle. The other elves began to police up the bodies. I had warned them about the collars, and they moved the corpses without touching the necks.

  “Leila, do you want to take your group back to the wagons?”

  “Yes. The others must be worried.” She was staring at me. “Who are you?”

  “Pardon?”

  She leaned forward. “‘Oh, Leila, I can heal a little.’ ‘Oh, Leila, I have some experience in combat’.” Her voice was rising. “I served in the Queen’s army. I was Blade to Archmage Syndra when we faced down the Orcs at Nah’Dvora. And I have never seen your like.”

  There was silence around the ring of elves. Sergeant Ailse spoke.

  “She is Meld’Eldali?. They spoke of her at the capital.”

  “What do you mean?” Leila was staring at both of us.

  “We don’t have time for this,” I said. “Chani, how did you encounter the collared?”

  “Ah…”

  “Oh.” I repeated the question in Tariba.

  “We—” she swallowed, and choked back tears, “—the Mages from the Academy—five of us—we were told to investigate the village of Tai’Tsa. It’s just up the road, maybe four or five stads. To the north, there’s a junction, and—” Her voice was trembling.

  “Deep breath.”

  “Right.” She shuddered, and continued, “We went to the village. But no one there was alive. The adults were all gone and—” she began to sob.

  Vana picked up the tale. “The children were dead. And the old ones. Killed where they slept, so far as we could tell.” She stared at the ground. “One of the Blades was a tracker. He led us to the west for a stad or two, and we saw a group of villagers.” She tilted her head towards the diminishing pile of bodies. “Them. We tried to speak with them, but—”

  “—they said nothing. Just attacked.”

  “Yes. So, we retreated, fighting all the way. They were terrible. They did not speak. They did not cry out when we struck them. We fled back to our wagons. And we might have escaped, but they started throwing those ball and wire things—”

  “Bolos,” I said.

  “Is that what they’re called? Anyway, as soon as they wrapped around—” she looked like she would be sick, “—our magic…just vanished. And then they chose Coral, and put one of those collar things on her, and—she was gone. She was so cold—”

  “She died. The thing that took her place was not Coral.”

  “Oh, Goddess. May she walk the Arc in peace.”

  “One last question. How many villagers were there?”

  Chani and Vana looked at each other. “I think,” said Vana, “that at the briefing, we were told over sixty. Mainly adults.”

  I shook my head. “Together we took down at most thirty. So where are the rest? And what are they up to?”

  After the evening meal I walked down the line of our combined caravan. Ailre had guards on either side and had pushed pickets out to a half stad from the wagons. On the tailgate of one vehicle I found Chani and Rondal; he had his arms around her as she sobbed soundlessly. I scuffed my feet and she looked up, face puffy and red.

  “S…sorry,” she said. “I’m not doing very well.”

  “None of us are.” I sat beside them on the boards. “We lost people we cared about. We fought something that should not be allowed to exist. If you were untouched by all this, I would worry about you.”

  “That’s not what I mean.” Her shoulders started to shake. “I was so scared. I thought I was a combat Mage. But I’m nothing like you. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I hate this.”

  “We were all frightened, Chani. Anyone who is not afraid in a battle is out of their mind. It’s what keeps us safe. I hate it, too.” I looked at the couple. “Depend on your Blade. He’s here to support you; not only during the fight, but afterwards as well.”

  She nodded, and leaned further into Rondal.

  “Where is your Blade, Circe?”

  “I don’t know.” I rose and continued down the line of wagons, an emptiness in my chest.

  The next day our caravan rolled into Kai’Tach. And an elven noble was waiting for us at the gates.