The Right Side of History (Schooled In Magic Book 22), Christopher Nuttall [books to read romance TXT] 📗

Aiden nodded. “Jair and the others voted against it,” she said. “Some of them would change their minds, if they thought Dater would agree, but...”

Emily met her eyes. “And can you force the council to consider the offer?”

“I don’t know,” Aiden said. “If Dater made the offer...”

Fuck, Emily thought. What comes first? The chicken or the egg?

She tugged on her hair. “Dater will not consider the offer unless you make it seriously,” she said, bluntly. “And you say the council will not consider the offer unless he makes it. How are we going to convince either side to climb down?”

“I...”

And then the wards jangled an alarm.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“OPEN UP!” THE DOOR BELOW RATTLED loudly. “Open up in the name of the people!”

Emily stood, reaching for her magic. She couldn’t be caught here. None of them could be caught here. And yet... the entire building was shaking as the soldiers - or whoever they were - started to batten down the door. She was surprised it hadn’t been smashed already. It wasn’t as if the wards could hold the intruders out for more than a few seconds. They weren’t designed to do anything but warn of unwelcome guests.

Aiden stared around the room, eyes wide. “Who betrayed us?”

The three men looked at each other. They didn’t know. There was no time to worry about it either. Emily cursed under her breath as she sensed a magician amongst the intruders, dispelling the wards one by one. She thought she could take him, but... she winced as Aiden caught her arm and yanked her towards a ladder. It led to a loft. She guessed there was no other way out.

“They’ll have troops on the ground,” People’s Voice said. “You go up. We’ll go down.”

Emily scrambled up the ladder, gritting her teeth as a splinter rammed into her palm. She didn’t dare leave any of her blood behind, either. She had no idea if the magician below could use her blood against her but even if he couldn’t attack her from a distance, he might be able to trace the blood back to her. Darkness enveloped them as they plunged into the loft and hurried to the next ladder. Below, she heard a crash, followed rapidly by a scream.

“You’re under arrest, in the name of the revolution,” a voice bellowed. “You’re under arrest!”

“They must have followed us,” Aiden breathed. “But how?”

“Not important right now,” Emily said. There was another crash from down below. She guessed someone had dropped the ladder to the floor. It wouldn’t slow the attackers for more than a few seconds, unless they were very lucky. “I...”

She froze as she heard footsteps on the roof above. Someone was up there... she could hear the person scrabbling at the hatch. It shuddered, but held firm. Emily heard Aiden curse as an axe crashed into the wood, smashing through the rooftop with ease. Someone shouted as they picked their way through the loft, heading towards the rear of the building. It wasn’t easy to move fast. The flooring was gone, leaving only a skeleton of wood in its wake. If she put her foot in the wrong place, she’d plunge right through and crash into someone’s apartment.

“I can’t be found here,” Aiden gasped. “I just can’t!”

“Yeah.” Emily tried desperately to think of a plan. The footsteps were above them. Either they were following them or there was a small army on the rooftops. Her lips quirked. The rebels had used the rooftops to escape more than once, just as she’d done in Zangaria. They knew all the tricks - and how to counter them, too. “I think...”

She reached out gingerly, trying to parse out the wards. They weren’t strong enough to zero in on her, but she didn’t dare try to teleport. There was too great a chance of having her atoms scattered across the world. Even if she succeeded... she shook her head. The risk was just too great. And yet...

A thought crossed her mind. “Do you trust me?”

Aiden glanced at her. “What sort of question is that?”

“I think I have an idea,” Emily said. Behind her, she heard the hatch being wrenched open. They’d have to fight or surrender and she didn’t dare do either. It would blow any hope of peace right out of the water. “But you have to trust me.”

“You kept my secret,” Aiden said. “I trust you.”

Emily took a moment to shape the spell, attuning it to the wards as carefully as possible. It wouldn’t be easy to fool them, but... as long as the wardmaster didn’t look too closely, it should work. She felt a pang of guilt, then cast the spell. Aiden’s body shrank, her mouth opening in horror an instant before it - and the rest of her - melted into a tiny stone on the ground. She wouldn’t enjoy the experience, Emily reflected as she cast a similar spell on herself, but at least she’d be relatively safe. Emily wasn’t going to have such an easy time of it.

A sense of timelessness enveloped her as her body shrank into a tiny stone. She forced herself to keep her thoughts active, to reach out passively with her mind and use senses that - technically - she no longer had. The sensation of being trapped warred with the grim awareness she’d done it to herself, her thoughts threatening to evaporate completely as she held the spell in place. Time itself no longer mattered... she understood, suddenly, why there were magicians who spent their lives in animal forms. There was a sense of innocence, of salvation, that came with being a dumb beast. But it also ran the risk of - one day - losing one’s self completely.

Her awareness held itself together, somehow, as boots crashed through the loft and dropped down the ladder to the floors below. The ground shook, time and time again, as doors were smashed and civilians yanked out to face revolutionary justice. Someone cried out in pain,