Torn by Kaylin Lee

Author:Kaylin Lee [Lee, Kaylin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Weslan

The Common Quarter was wetter than the Procus Quarter. That was the first thing I noticed. Huge puddles took up whole sections of the footpath, and every time a fomecoach sped past, dirty rainwater from the street soaked us again.

Silas hadn’t spoken to me since we’d left the alley where we had met the three mage girls. Fine by me. I wasn’t exactly itching for more conversation with him anyway. He’d led us down side streets through the Procus Quarter and across the border into the Common Quarter, and now we were walking toward the site of this morning’s attack.

The commoners who roamed the street wore threadbare garments that more closely resembled Calla’s cleaning rags than the shirts and slacks we wore to the Mage Academy. They avoided us, leaving a wide buffer, making sure not to brush against us. The gold armbands spoke for themselves, didn’t they? We were clearly marked as mages—too rich to threaten, too dangerous to fight. We were pariahs here.

Did they envy us or hate us? Or were we simply too strange to merit a reaction? Perhaps it was just another sign that we didn’t belong and weren’t wanted here, never mind the fact that mages had been in Theros for a thousand years.

I was staring at a frail, elderly woman as she poked through the gutter, picking up what I assumed must be salvageable pieces of trash, when I ran into Silas’s back.

He shoved me away, and I stumbled.

“Watch it, Wes,” Argus said, grinning. “We’re here.”

The words sent off a wave of nervous energy in my limbs. Why had they wanted to come here, anyway?

Against my better judgment, I looked around at the scene, taking in the destruction.

We stood at the mouth of a narrow alley just outside a rope bearing the Quarter Guards’ insignia. The alley was lined on both sides by piles of rubble, with not a single upright, intact market stall in sight. Dust coated the visible cobblestones down the center of the alley, along with something dark. I peered closer.

Blood. The cobblestones were stained with blood.

My stomach twisted like I’d taken a punch to the gut. What a mess. I angled my head away from the scene in the market alley, took a deep breath, and tried to focus on the small patch of grass that served as a park across the street.

“What’s the matter, Wes?” Silas acknowledged me at last. “Too much for your delicate stomach? Think you’ll lose your fancy breakfast?”

I could have done without his attention. “Alright, you saw the market,” I said, eyeing Silas. “Feeling great now, huh? Too bad they already cared for the dead and wounded, or you could have gotten a real eyeful. Can we go? I thought you guys wanted to have fun.”

Silas’s answering smile was accompanied by a nod, as though he’d been satisfied by something I’d said. He nudged Argus before spinning around to face the alley without answering me.

What was that supposed to mean?

Argus searched my face, that sad smile of his appearing once again.

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