“No.” The word felt torn from me, ripping up my throat. But what could I do? I was injured and alone and I wasn’t sure how many of the Ioph Carn behind me were still conscious. Philine took a loop of rope from a drawer and approached.

I was going to do this, wasn’t I? Let her tie me up, let her take me with them. Be their obedient pet. I felt the crushing weight of it as though I were already surrounded by four walls and a locked door.

Kaphra’s eyes widened. Before I could follow his gaze, a wall of water swept past me to slam into Kaphra and Philine. It hit them both at chest height. He lost his grip on both the sword and on Mephi. Not my water, not my attack. I splashed through it, reaching for my friend among the scattered furniture. “Mephi!” The beast righted himself much more quickly than Kaphra and Philine did, swimming and limping back to my side.

The water drew back like a wave leaving the shore. I shivered as it sucked at my legs, my clothes drying as the moisture left them.

I whirled and had to squint into the darkness to make out a silhouette against the wall of churning water.

Philine rose first, staring out the door, grasping for her daggers – now strewn across the floor. The one remaining lamp in the corner of the room flickered. Kaphra scrambled to his feet behind her, his gaze casting about wildly.

A cloaked figure emerged from the night, hands lifted, water on either side of them, a beast at their side. Fingers extended and the water rose higher. Another Alanga?

I could hear some of the Ioph Carn I’d cast aside getting up, regrouping.

The wound Kaphra had given me still burned, still sent little jolts of pain to the tips of my fingers. I grimaced and gripped my staff, trying to take a fighting stance. Mephi was in no better shape. He let out a low growl, though he put no weight on the foot beneath the injured shoulder.

Philine hesitated only a moment before baring her teeth and darting toward me. I lifted my staff, hoping I could somehow fend her off.

“You will not touch him!”

Water whipped out in all directions, lashing at Philine, and by the shouts behind me, at the other Ioph Carn. It whirled around me, a miniature typhoon inside Kaphra’s house. The storm needled my cheeks, blinding me. “Mephi?” I called out above the din.