"Bit too much to drink, you understand." Sedgewick shifted his hold on the wizard he and Feyla were still supporting as he attempted to explain to the ship hand why they were dragging an unconscious body onto a boat with them. "You know how those younglings are when they can finally hit the taverns."

The ship hand glared at them suspiciously, lingering over Feyla's obviously foreign features with distaste. Sedgewick fared slightly better although his auburn hair earned him a snort of disdain.

Sedgewick shifted his weight uncomfortably as the man in front of them continued to say nothing. Truth be told, they did look incredibly suspicious. The Northlands and Abreyla had a long history of conflict and both sides tended to treat any visitors as potential spies or saboteurs. Sedgewick was too pale to pass as a native Abreylian, but those unfamiliar with the remote mountain tribe he'd grown up in most likely assumed he was mixed. Feyla couldn't have looked more like an Abreylian if she tried and unfortunately, the man they were carrying—with his pale skin and dark hair—couldn't have looked more like a Northlander.

For not the first time that day, Sedgewick mentally cursed the bothersome burden Feyla had insisted on saving.

The ship hand's eyes flickered from Sedgewick's hair to the finely-woven--if plain--cut of his clothing. A gleam filled his eye and he spat into the nearby river before rolling back on his heels. "Not sure I should let yer on. Yer young friend sounds like o' trouble maker."

"I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement," Sedgewick replied, his tone short and clipped.

The ship hand wiped his mouth. "S'pose I could charge ye extra for the trouble."

Sedgewick's tightened shoulders uncoiled. The Northlands—where a bit of coin could open anything. Doors, mouths, or in this case, boat decks. "Shall I give it to the captain?"

"Jest hand it over 'ere," the man replied, his outstretched hand shaking with eagerness.

Sedgewick slipped the extra coins to the man who finally stepped aside and let them drag the wizard onto the dirty ship. Once they reached the cramped cabin he was "sharing" with the wizard, they slumped him off their shoulders onto the floor. Feyla flopped tiredly onto one of the two cots in the room, groaning as she went slack while Sedgewick shut and locked the door, blocking out the scent of rotting fish that had been assaulting his nose. Their accommodations were pathetic but this ship had been leaving the soonest. Sedgewick slid his small bag off his shoulder and removed his hat, flinging it onto the empty cot. Typically, he would have been pleased to have it back after leaving it at the inn during his hunt for Bilara, but now the sight of it only deepened the hollow pit in his chest. It used to make him feel something. That he was powerful, important, valuable. But now it felt like nothing more than a broken promise.

Sedgewick's mouth hardened as he glared at the wizard on the floor. The boy had worked under Bilara. He might know something.

"I need him woken up," he spoke gruffly.

Feyla lifted her head from the cot. Guilt hit him as he spotted her tired aqua eyes and her messy hair. They hadn't spoken beyond the essentials since they'd escaped especially not after Feyla had mistakenly thought he was going to...

Sedgewick shook his head and dragged the wizard over to the wall opposite the door, dropping him back down. He knelt and rubbed his back. Whatever Feyla had used to wake him up had also blocked out any pain or flare-ups, but it was beginning to wear off.

Feyla knelt next to him. "I need to finish checking you first."

Sedgewick sighed but nodded for her to proceed. It wasn't worth arguing over.

Feyla's hands went to his temples as a pink glow enveloped them.

His stomach clenched as if a vine of envy was growing around it. Centuries of summoning his magic equally effortlessly had now ended.

The pain in his back lessened and a tingling filled the back his head as Feyla finished patching him back together.

Not that it will matter much longer, he thought grimly. If those rumors that Hobrin mentioned keep circulating, I might as well be dead, considering they're now all true.

Feyla withdrew her hands quickly as if touching him caused her pain. Sedgewick grimaced and turned his attention back to their captive. "I need him awake."

"I was thinking the same. He looks like he could use something to eat," she answered, a shadow of concern brushing across her face as she touched the wizard's chin softly—almost tenderly—and checked him for injuries.

Jealousy hit him like a fireball. A vision of throwing that burden of a boy into the water flashed before his eyes. That would certainly wake him up. Why did that wizard get Feyla's concern while she could barely stand to touch him?

He hasn't hurt her, Sedgewick reminded himself bitterly. Or at least not yet, he thought, glancing over to their captive suspiciously. If he still had his magic, then Sedgewick could have handled this by himself and Feyla could have waited somewhere safer. But now, he was probably more at risk than Feyla. Useless again.

"He's here to be interrogated. Not babied like some stray dog."

Feyla's jaw clenched, and a new bite entered her voice. "You didn't even want to bring him along in the first place. I'm the one who knocked him out. He's my—"

"Prisoner?" Sedgewick finished bluntly.

She gave him a withering look. "Charge. As soon as we dock, he can go where he pleases."

"You'd let a wizard go free?" he asked incredulously.

Feyla inhaled sharply and glared at him sharper. "Sedgewick, look at him. He's practically a child! There's no way he's over his first century. What do you want to do? Turn him over to the Northlands' Magic Ministry?"

"No," he shot back quickly. Dealing with Darius was not something he was up to in his current state. They couldn't bring him back to Abreyla; the pass Beryn had granted him only allowed for the "extraction" of Bilara. And Abreyla didn't have any crimes they could charge him on, especially considering Feyla had incapacitated him before the boy had even struck a blow. Gates.

"Do as you please." Sedgewick waved her off and scowled at the floor, his every instinct as a mage screaming at him to drag the wizard to justice. But perhaps it was for the best. Mages had magic and he could hardly count himself as one of their ranks without it.

Feyla's mouth opened in a silent gasp, obviously shocked to see him cede to her so quickly. She recovered shortly and began preparing a syringe to wake him up. "Okay, well, we can ask him some questions but we're doing it my way."

Sedgewick nodded silently. He tied the wizard's arms with a bit of rope Feyla had and then gagged him using one of Feyla's cloth bandages. They would remove it once they were certain he wouldn't scream.

Feyla took a very small amount of what she'd used on Sedgewick previously and carefully poked it into his neck. At first, nothing happened, but then the wizard groaned and his eyes twitched. He blinked at them vaguely until his eyes widened with fear as he finally registered what was happening. He jerked against the rope, a light forming in his hands. Feyla flashed forward, hitting a pressure point in his chest. He shuddered and the light vanished as Feyla temporarily blocked his magic. The wizard's eyes jumped from Feyla to Sedgewick before finally landing on Sedgewick's hat on the cot. He began shaking with panic, making the rope dig into his wrist as he grunted against his gag.

"Shhh, shhh, it's okay," Feyla murmured comfortingly. "We're not going to hurt you. And if you promise to stay calm, I'll take that thing out of your mouth. Shake your head if you understand."

The young wizard stared at her in confusion before nodding his head warily.

Feyla gently removed the gag.

The wizard sucked in a breath.

Sedgewick's hand smacked over his mouth before he could scream. "None of that, now," he snapped, a warning in his voice.

Feyla caught the boy's gaze again, her face filled only with tenderness and the most sincere of concern. She brushed his limp, black hair out of his face as if she was comforting a frightened animal.

Sedgewick mirrored Feyla's gentle look with a murderous glare while fighting the sudden urge to grab the grubby young man by the hair and throw him out the door. He needed answers and Feyla's actions were hardly unexpected. His own reaction to them on the other hand...

"All we need are some answers. Help us and I promise you'll be free and safe," she said soothingly.

Whether it was Feyla's battle healer training, her natural charisma, or the fact that the man's choices consisted of listening to the pretty woman with the kind voice or dealing with her murderous-looking companion, Sedgewick didn't know. But regardless of the reasons, Feyla's "ask nicely" interrogating technique started working. The wizard forced himself to partially relax and Feyla nodded for Sedgewick to remove his hand.

"What do you want with me and how did I get here?" he snapped while struggling to sit up better.

"We are not the ones tied up. Keep your questions to yourself, wizard," Sedgewick shot back.

Said wizard glared at him, attempting to be intimidating but Sedgewick was unimpressed. A defenseless, baby-faced young man wasn't exactly skilled in the art of striking fear into someone. Especially not someone like himself.

Feyla scooted closer to their captive and gave Sedgewick a warning look. "Don't mind him," she said, gesturing to Sedgewick. "He's had a really bad day."

That's an impressive understatement, Sedgewick thought.

"All we want are a few answers," Feyla said soothingly.

"That makes three of us then," he replied coolly while still staring at them with suspicion.

Feyla launched into a short explanation of why she'd knocked him unconscious. "...So you see, I was going to leave you alone but we were afraid that Bilara might kill you for letting me get in."

"You should have left me. She wouldn't have done anything," he said. But his voice was filled with fake bravo instead of genuine confidence.

"She certainly had no qualms about killing your fellow 'pupil'," Sedgewick said.

The young man stilled. His eyes fell on Sedgewick before flicking away to Feyla, as if hoping she would deny his statement. Her eyes fell, telling him all he needed to know. Tears formed in the young man's eyes. He inhaled stiffly, stopping them from falling. "Are you sure she's dead?"

"Quite certain," Sedgewick answered quietly as any snarky remarks about how two blasts in the chest usually did it were temporary banished.

"Was it painless?"

"It was quick."

The wizard tightened, rage building in his underfed form. "If you hadn't shown up, nothing would have happened." Venom laced his words as he twisted against his ropes.

"Well, if you two hadn't been consorting with a known sorceress, it certainly wouldn't have."

"What do you know about anything, mage. You're going to be just as dead as she is in a couple of weeks."

"Both of you stop," Feyla ordered firmly. "What's your name?"

He glared at Sedgewick before spitting it out. "Vinius Velmar."

Feyla suddenly brightened. "See! I told you he looked like a 'Vin'!"

"You shouldn't have named him in the first place. If you name them, then you get attached to them and you have a big enough problem with that as it is—"

"Nice to know you find my name so amusing," Vin cut in.

Feyla paused, becoming once again sober. "That was insensitive of me. It's a good name. And...I'm sorry about your friend. Even if she did try to kill me. I can't imagine how it must feel..."

She and Sedgewick both glanced at each other as they remembered how close the situation had been to being reversed. Feyla looked away first but Sedgewick lingered as it sunk in how many times he could have lost her.

"I know you must be going through a lot of pain but we're hoping you could tell us about the curse Bilara was working on."

"The curse? Don't even bother. I snuck a look at her notes once and it might as well have been goblin scribbles. Far beyond my skill level."

"What about who she was consorting with?" Sedgewick cut in, a desperate quiver in his voice.

"Why should I tell you?"

"We saved your life!"

"You knocked me out, kidnapped me, and tied me up. Besides, you didn't save me. She did," he said, nodding to Feyla.

Sedgewick bristled but was cut off by Feyla. "Listen, Vinius. I don't know your story but I think I can assume quite a bit. Maybe I'm wrong but I have a feeling that you're nothing like the sorceress we found you with. We're not going to turn you over to the Magic Ministry. We're going to let you go. You can get far away from her and start over. Make a better life for yourself. I—I know some people who could help you. All I'm asking is that you answer one simple question; who was Bilara working with?"

Vin swallowed, the corners of his eyes still wet with unshed tears. He searched Feyla's face as if gauging her sincerity. "That's a promise?"

"Yes," Feyla answered without hesitation.

Finally, Vin's shoulders slumped in resignation. "Someone foreign. Sounded like you so probably Abreylian. They were communicating with scrying orbs. If they ever met, it was before me."

"Did you get a name?" Sedgewick asked as a desperate buzzing filled his chest.

Vin ignored Sedgewick and focused on Feyla. "It started with a... I don't know, an 'F'? Or maybe it was a 'B'..."

"Who was it?!" Sedgewick growled, slamming his fist into the wood floor.

"Please try and remember, Vinius," Feyla asked.

"I am trying," he muttered. "Trying, Try..."

Recognition flashed in his eyes. "Tyrinn!"

Zedeya woke to the sound of her cell door creaking open. A figure stepped into the room, his face shadowed by the lantern light behind him. He closed the door softly and stepped over to her cot in the corner. As he knelt beside Zedeya, she realized he was one of the mages that had accompanied Master Alverdyne.

"What do you want?" she asked, her mouth going dry. She looked away as if she was above him, above this cell.

"I want you to lie for me, Zedeya," Tyrinn said as he smiled.

***************************************************************************************

Author's Note:  Hello everyone!  Sorry this is so late in the day.  It ended up being a lot longer than normal. Let me know what you think!