“Is this some kind of game?” Harmony accused.
“I’m serious,” Mira insisted. “We need to hide. We should scatter. Don’t let him take our shaping!”
“Look,” Tessa said, pointing. “Owandell.”
All eyes followed her finger to the top of the castle wall, where a man in a brown monk’s robe strode purposefully, his cowl down to reveal his bald head and fleshy face. His eyes glared down intently at Mira.
“Who is he?” Cole asked.
“An adviser who worked for my father,” Mira said. “He led the men who captured us. I think he’s the threat.”
Men in black armor emerged from doors up on the wall and down in the courtyard. Without pause, they charged the nearest castle guards and started butchering them.
“Enforcers,” Cole said, recognizing their outfits from the attack in the ravine.
“They’re everywhere,” Jace said.
“Except up ahead,” Mira observed. “They’re herding us toward the practice yard.”
“What’s going on?” Ella asked, real horror behind her words.
Castle guards continued to die. After going down easy at first, they were fighting back, but the Enforcers were clearly more skilled.
“Traitors!” Owandell called from the wall, pointing a sword at Jace and Cole. “They mean to harm the royal family!”
“He’s the traitor,” Mira yelled back, stabbing a finger at Owandell. “He’s killing our guards!”
“Liar!” Owandell replied, face livid. “These intruders are your doing!”
“This way,” Harmony called, running toward the door to the practice yard.
“Do we go?” Cole asked, looking to Mira.
“It’s that or get killed,” Mira said. “I don’t see anyone who might be Honor.”
With guards falling on all sides, they ran across the rest of the courtyard to the door. Cole drew his Jumping Sword. Harmony and Ella ran faster than the rest and shepherded the others through the large doorway when they arrived. Once they were all through, Ella shoved the door shut and locked it with a pair of thick bolts.
Harmony glanced at Cole’s sword. “You’re sure of your allegiances?” she asked.
“I’m on your side,” Cole promised.
Harmony produced a short, sharp dagger. “This way.”
They ran along a wide corridor with an arched ceiling. Hefty torches burned in sconces. Their footfalls echoed off the bare walls. Another door awaited at the far end of the hall. Ella got there first and heaved it open.
A covered walkway surrounded the practice yard, separated from the bare expanse by a balustrade. Two figures battled each other out in the center of the yard, wearing leather armor and wielding wooden swords. The clacking of their simulated combat continued in spite of the intrusion.
“Nori, the castle is under attack!” Harmony cried.
The combatants stopped and turned.
“Very funny, Mom,” one of them said, practice sword resting on her shoulder. “I’m not coming to the festival.”
“Honor, our defenses are compromised,” Harmony called sternly. “Guardsmen are falling by the dozen.”
“You’re serious,” Honor said, taking off her helmet. Her short, sweaty hair was mashed to her head.
“What can I do?” asked her sparring partner.
“Start by finding a real sword, Galin,” Harmony suggested.
“Is it her?” Cole asked Mira quietly.
“I don’t think so,” Mira said. “She’s playing it too straight. I can’t imagine Honor going along with a charade like this.”
“Where should we go?” Ella asked.
“This way,” Galin said, running toward the far side of the practice yard.
The door he was heading for opened, and dark-clad soldiers emerged. Other doors to the practice yard burst open as well, admitting more Enforcers, most armed with swords, some with clubs or axes.
Distressed and flustered, Cole tried to harness his desperation by jabbing his Jumping Sword at a balcony and shouting, “Away!” The sword failed to pull him at all.
Stafford Pemberton emerged from one of the doors. A man of average height with hollow cheeks and a hint of gray in his dark hair, Cole recognized him, thanks to the fabricated version of the High King who had talked to Mira when they’d fought Carnag. Stafford raised both hands peacefully. “Please, everyone, stand down. This is all a terrible misunderstanding.”
The Enforcers held their ground. Already more than twenty of them had entered the practice yard.
“What’s going on, Stafford?” Harmony asked, the edge in her voice showing she did not believe him innocent.
“I apologize for the grandiose show of force,” Stafford said. “We have traitors in our midst.” He thrust a finger at Mira. “That is no member of our family. It’s an elaborate disguise! We have been betrayed. Owandell! Execute these spies immediately.”
The doors by which Cole and the others had entered the practice yard opened, and Owandell emerged, sword in hand. “Gladly,” he said. Several Enforcers followed him.
“How could that not be Mira?” Honor challenged, stepping forward. “Why bring all of these soldiers to apprehend three children?”
“Shaping is at work here,” Stafford said. “Stand down, Honor.”
Weapons ready, the Enforcers pressed closer to them, cutting off all escape. Honor glanced uncertainly at her mother.
“This is a bust,” Mira said. “Try Nori.”
Face grim, sword ready, Owandell paced toward them. Cole lunged at Nori, grabbed her wrist, and yelled, “Honor!”
Chapter 31
MR. BARRUM
It was night. Stars shone in the sky overhead. Cole, Jace, and Mira crouched in a wide field full of enormous weeds, facing a heavily weathered wooden fence that must have stood fifty feet high. Turning, Cole found that a discarded washing machine, bigger than a dump truck, blocked much of his view. An unseen light source beyond the washing machine brightened the yard. To one side of Cole grew a clump of waist-high dandelions. On the other was a snail shell almost the size of a soccer ball.
“I guess that wasn’t Honor,” Cole said. “One down, two to go.”
“Don’t talk about what we have left,” Jace said. “Let’s win it here. We’ve got this.” He paused, looking around. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know,” Mira said. “But I’ll take anywhere over that last place.”