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Amara woke, buried to her armpits in the earth Loose dirt had been piled over her arms and into her hair Her face felt thick, heavy, and after a moment, she realized that her entire head had been liberally sather her wits through a pounding headache, piecing together frag rush of clarity, she remembered where she was and what had happened to her

Her heart started to thud hard in her chest, and fear made her buried limbs feel cold

She opened her eyes, and bits of dirt fell into them, so that she had to blink quickly Tears formed to wash the dirt out After a few moments, she was able to see

She was in a tent The coht poured into it through a gap in the flap that served as a door, leaving the tent&039;s interior described in terms of dimness, shadow, and dark

"You awake yet?" croaked a voice fro to look She could barely see Fidelias out of the corner of her eye, but he was there, hanging in a cage of iron bars by straps around his shoulders and outstretched arood ten inches off of the floor He had a swelling bruise on his face, and his lip had been split and was crusted with dry blood

"Are you all right?" A beaten, captured, and scheduled for torture and interrogation You&039;re the one who should be worried"

Amara sed "Why me?"

"I think this can safely be considered a failing raduation exercise"

Amara felt her mouth curve into a smile, despite the circumstances "We have to escape"

Fidelias tried to smile The effort split his lip some more, and fresh blood welled "Extra credit-but I&039;et the chance to collect on it These people knohat they&039;re doing"

Ale up out of the earth She barely succeeded in freeing her arh to move them-and even so, they were thickly encrusted with dirt "Cirrus," she whispered, sending her thoughts out, toward her fury "Cirrus Co happened

She tried again And again Her wind fury never responded

"The dirt," she said, finally, and closed her eyes "Earth to counter air Cirrus can&039;t hear me"

"Yes," Fidelias confirmed "Nor can Etan or Varound, but could not reach Then he banged his foot against the iron bars of his cage

"Then we&039;ll have to think our way out"

Fidelias closed his eyes and let out a slow breath Then he said, gently, "We&039;ve lost, Amara Checkmate"

The words hit Amara like hammers Cold Hard Si, but blinked theer No She was a Cursor Even if she was to die, she&039;d not give the ene her tears She thought for a fleeting moment of her home, the small apartment back in the capital, of her family, not so far away, in Parcia by the sea More tears threatened

She took up her memories, one by one, and shut them away into a dark, quiet place in herin there Her dreams Her hopes for the future The friends she&039;d made at the Acadeain, clear of tears

"What do they want?" she asked Fidelias

Her teacher shook his head "I&039;m not sure This isn&039;t a s rong, a Cursor could slip away and be gone as long as he was still alive"

The flap of the tent flew open, and Odiana walked through it, sht revealed "Well then," she said "We&039;ll just have to ree forht coionares followed hie, and the tent to it, slipped the hafts of their spears through rings at its base, and lifted it, between the it outside

Fidelias shot Aldrick a hard look and then licked his lips, turning to Auards started carrying hi as you&039;re alive"

Then he was gone

"Where are you taking him?" Amara demanded She swept her eyes from Odiana to Aldrick and tried not to let her voice shake

Aldrick drew his sword and said, "The old man isn&039;t necessary" He went outside the tent

Ainto a melon Ah he had tried to hold it in, keep fro it a voice, and been unable to do so Then there was a rustling thue

"Bury it," Aldrick said Then he caain, sword in hand

The blade shone scarlet with blood

Amara could only stare at the blade, at her teacher&039;s blood Soister on her mind It simply would not accept the fact of Fidelias&039;s death The plan should have protected theain This wasn&039;t hoas supposed to happen It had never happened like that at the Acade, to push Fidelias&039;s face into the dark place in her s she cared about They only flooded over her again, bursting free, and as they did, the tears caerous, or well trained She felt cold And dirty And tired And very, very alone

Odiana let out a soft sound of distress and came to Amara&039;s side She knelt doith a white kerchief in her hand and reached out to dab at Aentle, soft "You&039;re entle

Then she sainst Amara&039;s eyes

Amara let out a cry and thrust out a hand to defend herself, but she wasn&039;t able to stop the water witch She swept at her burning eyes with her dirt-crusted hands, but it did her little good Her fear and sorrow turned itself into furious anger, and she started screa She screamed every imprecation she could at them, incoherent, and she sobbed into the earth,

muddy tears that burned her eyes She thrashed her arround she was buried in

And in answer, there was only silence

Ath she had left She shook with sobs that she tried to hold in, that she tried to keep hidden from them She couldn&039;t Sha, fro her eyes again, slowly gaining back her vision-and as she did, she saw Odiana standing over her, just out of ar She took a step, and with one dainty, bare foot, she kicked more dust into Amara&039;s eyes A it, and shot the wolare Odiana hissed and drew her foot back to kick again, but Aldrick&039;s voice rumbled across the tent first

"Love That&039;s enough"

The watercrafter flashed Amara a venomous look and retreated from her, to the back of Aldrick&039;s stool, where she rested her hands on his shoulders in a slow caress, eyes on Amara the entire while The warrior sat with his sword across his lap He ran a cloth along its length and then tossed the rag onto the earth It was stained with blood

"I&039;llto ask you questions Answer them truthfully, and I&039;ll let you live Lie to me or refuse to answer, and you&039;ll wind up like the old man" He looked up, his expression entirely without emotion, and focused on Amara "Do you understand?"

Amara sed She nodded her head, once

"Good You&039;ve been in the palace recently The First Lord was so i the fires last winter, he asked you to visit him You were taken to his personal chambers, and spoke with hiain

"How uards are stationed in his inner chambers"

A "What?"

Aldrick looked up at her He stared for a long and silent uards are stationed in the First Lord&039;s inner cha breath "I can&039;t tell you that You know I can&039;t"

Odiana&039;s fingers tightened on Aldrick&039;s shoulders "She&039;s lying, love She just doesn&039;t want to tell you"

Amara licked her lips, and then spat mud and dirt onto the floor There

was only one reason to be asking questions about the inner defenses of the palace Soainst the First Lord Someone wanted Gaius dead

She sed and bowed her head She had to stall them, somehow Stall for ti that, to kill herself before she could reveal the inforht Could she do that? Was she strong enough? Before, she would always have thought she was Before she had been taken, captured, imprisoned Before she had listened to Fidelias die

Don&039;t be proud, girl Fidelias&039;s last words to her came back, and she felt her resolve weaken further Had he been telling her to cooperate with them? Did he think the First Lord was already dooo along with them? Offer to throw in? Should she cast aside what she had been taught, what she believed, for the sake of preserving her life? She couldn&039;t attempt a ploy-not with Odiana there The water witch would be able to sense whether or not she was sincere, da was lost She had led Fidelias to his death Gambled his life and lost it She had lost her own life as well She ht be able to redeem one of them, if she cast her lot with her captors

Another surge of anger flooded through her How could she even be thinking such a thing? How could he have died? Why hadn&039;t he seen it co, warned her-

Amara lifted her head abruptly and blinked her eyes several tier evaporated Why hadn&039;t Fidelias warned her, indeed The trap had been too well laid They had been taken too cleanly Which meant-

WhichAnd by logical extension

She focused her eyes on the pair of the her chin a bit "I won&039;t tell you," she said, and kept her voice cal"

"You&039;ll die," said Aldrick, rising

"I&039;ll die," Ao to the crows" She took a breath and then raised her voice, honed it to a dagger&039;s edge "And so can you, Fidelias"

She had a moment to take satisfaction in the flicker of surprise in Aldrick&039;s eyes, the siasp that came from Odiana Then she turned her

eyes to the door and narrowed the her face set in a cold, hard mask

Fidelias appeared in the doorway, his clothes still rumpled He had washed the &039;bruise&039; off the side of his face, and was holding a clean white cloth to his bleeding lip "I told you she&039;d see through it," he raded on it, patriserus?" Amara asked

"A plus" Fidelias stared at her, and his rimace "You will tell us what you know about the palace, Aly before it&039;s over, but you will This is checkmate You don&039;t have to make it hard on yourself"

"Traitor," Ahtly