Returning to Vos Talwyn now would be dangerous. But I have to speak to Kendara. Not only to warn her of the attack but to seek her aid. As the heir to Falcons Ridge, Saengo has the protection of her House. I have no such protection. Kendara knows me better than anyone, aside from Saengo. Surely she’ll help me, or at the very least, vouch for me? She answers to no one but the queen, who values Kendara’s counsel. There is no better person to speak on my behalf.

I press my palms against my eyelids, but I can’t block out the image of my reflection in the water. For a moment, with my eyes closed, I feel almost like I’m falling. My pulse races, my stomach climbs up my rib cage, and the sheer unknown of what awaits me now that my entire world has been upended fills my mouth with the sour taste of fear.

Saengo touches my shoulder. Emotions simmer through me at the contact, none strong enough for me to name. All too aware of her watching, I take several deep breaths, grounding myself with reason and strategy. Lying here feeling sorry for ourselves isn’t going to change anything. We need to keep moving before we’re discovered.

I stand and look around, trying to gauge where we might be. Tied to some low branches nearby are our drakes. Yandor is asleep.

“Yellow means lightwender,” Saengo murmurs.

I wring out the water in my sleeves. “What?”

“Your eyes,” she clarifies, dusting sand off her fingers as she stands.

I frown, because I don’t know what she wants me to say to that.

There are five Shamanic Callings: fire, water, earth, wind, and light. Within each Calling, a shaman can possess one of three possible crafts. The firewender who attacked us was a burner, a fire summoner. But firewenders can also be flame eaters, who can transform themselves into smoke and flame, or wyrmin, who can raise the temperature of objects or liquids. Powerful wyrmin can kill their opponents by making their blood boil or disarm them by melting their iron-forged weapons. I doubt we would have fared so well against one of those.

I’m unfamiliar with the three crafts within the Calling of Light. What knowledge I possess beyond the Company lessons was gained from Kendara’s books, and very few of them are about magic.

My satchel hangs from Yandor’s saddle, and I yank it open. I have only a second set of Company uniforms to change into, but it’ll do. Smoke-stained clothing with not a few scorch marks would make anyone we happen across immediately suspicious. Aside from her clothes, Saengo looks relatively clean. She must have washed while I was still out.