Two Pact guards pushed through the door and the tavern keeper pointed at Mer. The guards had their batons out. No swords or knives. And only two, a man and a woman. The tavern keeper hadn’t known who she was informing on, and that meant they had a chance.

Storm readied her magic as she pulled the flute from its pouch, hoping her practice earlier in the day had paid off.

“Stay close!” she told Mer as she grabbed a mindful of music out of the air and used it to fashion a slender battering ram of wind. “Just the doorway, please,” she muttered, and blew into the flute. The air in the room vibrated. Storm took a deep breath and shrilled a fierce note that grabbed the column of air and rammed it at the man and woman stalking towards them.

The air struck the guards with a heavy thudding noise and sent them flying. Storm grabbed Mer’s arm and pushed her towards the door. Too late, she saw another pair of guards waiting outside. One of them grabbed at Mer, but the tall girl kicked out and knocked her attacker off his feet. Storm fluted a blast of notes that sent the guards tumbling along the ground, shouting and hollering.

Just the guards, she noted. None of the bystanders or drunks. Even the inn sign overhead barely swayed in its brackets. Nice and precise. Storm turned to Mer with a satisfied grin. “Are you all right?”

Mer started to nod. Then she gazed over Storm’s shoulder, and her face froze. More guards! thought Storm. But she was wrong.

“Run!” shouted Mer. “The witch!” She gave Storm an almighty push that sent her spinning across the road. The flute flew out of her hand into the darkness.

Storm felt a searing flash of heat behind her. Something scorched her hair. The Fire-witch had found her again!

28

Storm was already moving, racing away on legs made fast by fear. Dodging, weaving, readying the fiercest magic she could rip from the air around her. She wouldn’t let the Fire-witch kill her, not without a fight!

She glimpsed a thin, red-robed figure standing in the middle of the square. Mer had vanished. At least now she knew the other girl had not been working with the Salamander’s child. The Fire-witch might have been trailing Mer for days, or even followed the guards here. The most likely explanation is that she had been keeping watch on Talon’s guest house and followed Storm herself to the tavern. It didn’t matter. Staying alive did! Another fireball screamed towards her, but Storm was already somewhere else.