Carnag’s fingers closed too slowly, and Cole rushed toward the earthen shoulder. Upon contact, Cole pointed the sword at the nearest tree and kicked off, yelling the command again.
Speeding through the air, Cole watched for where he would land and prepared for his next jump. He’d never really tried stringing jumps together like this so rapidly. It took some of the jolt away from the landings. Or maybe that was the adrenalin.
Just before he landed, Carnag’s giant hand closed around him, snagging him in midflight and holding him tightly. Cole squirmed, but there was no give.
Carnag slapped Cole into the cage in her chest. The door clanged shut before Cole could react. Five legionnaires shared the cell with him, their uniforms torn and soiled. One of them helped Cole to his feet. There was also a woman, and a child of maybe eight years.
The door open again, and Twitch was flung inside as well. Jace came a moment later. They both looked stunned.
“Welcome to your home away from home,” one of the legionnaires said.
“You better hope it doesn’t trip again,” another added, rubbing the side of his forehead.
“Do you hear me, Cole?” Liam asked in his right ear. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Cole said softly. “We’re trapped, but not hurt.”
“Looks like she’s out to capture you rather than squash you,” Liam said. “I’m going to hang back for now.”
The back of the cage was the wood, stone, and dirt of Carnag. Thick metal bars composed one side and the front, including the hinged gate that allowed access. Cole went to the gate and tugged on it to no avail. He still had his Jumping Sword, but he wasn’t sure what good it would do behind bars.
When Carnag turned and started moving again, Cole clung to the bars to avoid falling. Creaking and swaying, Carnag stepped toward the tree that still held Mira. Carnag reached for the tree, and the branches unfolded.
“Flail, attack!” Mira cried. The Shaper’s Flail went for Carnag’s hand, whirling wildly to bash away clods of dirt, fragments of stone, and chunks of wood. After flinching away from the initial onslaught, Carnag snatched the flail out of the air, like a person grabbing a bug, and kept her hand tightly closed.
Mira used the diversion to shout the command word and leap to the ground. When Carnag rounded on her, Cole felt like he was looking down at his friend from high on the wall of a cliff. Carnag crouched to reach for her, making the cell tilt forward.
Cole wanted to close his eyes. If Carnag caught Mira, this was basically over! They were all getting captured too easily. It would be up to Liam.
Mira wasn’t pointing her sword to attempt another jump. She glared up at the giant stoically.
“No, Carnag!” Mira yelled. She put the tip of the Jumping Sword to her throat. “Back off, or I end us!”
Carnag stopped reaching. Cole wondered if Mira had planned to use this bluff, or if it had occurred to her out of desperation.
The giant stood up straight. “You really would,” Carnag said, mildly puzzled. From where Cole sat, the mounting echoes soaked in from all directions. “I feel your resolve.”
“You bet I will,” Mira called. “Better that I die than you rampage around Sambria, hurting my friends.”
“I haven’t killed,” Carnag said.
“I find that hard to believe,” Mira replied.
“I don’t kill,” Carnag repeated. “I collect.”
“Is that true?” Mira shouted.
“I haven’t seen it kill anyone,” one of the legionnaires in Cole’s cell called back.
“Me neither,” a woman answered from below, probably in the cage at the hip. “But it isn’t gentle.”
“I collect,” Carnag maintained.
“You can’t collect people,” Mira scolded. “That’s no way to act. We belong together. Come back to me.”
Carnag didn’t respond.
“Do you hear that?” Twitch asked.
“What?” Jace wondered.
“A faint voice,” Twitch said, moving toward the back of the cell.
“I’ve heard it too,” one of the legionnaires said. “Like it comes from inside this thing.”
Twitch leaned up against the back wall of the cell and placed his ear against a wooden beam. “Yeah,” he said. “It’s a woman. Her voice is muffled. I can’t understand her. But she’s talking a lot.”
Carnag crouched and knelt on one knee, giving Cole a closer view of Mira. She kept the point of her sword at her throat.
A tendril snaked forward from Carnag, slithering over the ground toward Mira. She watched it with wide eyes. “I’ll do it!” she warned.
“Talk first,” Carnag said, the words reverse-echoing strongly.
At the end of the tendril, the ground swelled up. A perfect duplicate of Mira emerged, wearing the same clothes, holding a matching sword. The tendril was lodged in the center of her back, tethering her to Carnag’s foot.
“Hello,” the fake Mira said.
“What is this?” Mira asked.
“We need to talk,” fake Mira said calmly, her voice just like Mira’s. Cole didn’t have to strain to hear. It seemed like Liam must be using the clay earpieces to help broadcast the discussion.
“You’re not me,” Mira accused. “You’re a semblance.”
“I’m not you,” fake Mira said. “I’m me. You can’t beat me. You’re the weak part. I could protect you.”
“You’re not anything!” Mira said angrily. “You’re phony! You’re made of stuff you found! Dirt and wood and junk!”
“I can be whatever I want,” fake Mira said. “Whatever I need to be. We all shape ourselves. I’m just better at it.”
“You were taken from me,” Mira said. “Shaped away from me. I don’t know how. Do you?”
A second tendril slithered forward. When it neared Mira, the ground bulged, and the tendril became attached to a man in fine clothes. “I did it,” he said.
“That isn’t funny!” Mira spat. “No more puppet shows. You’re not him! You’re not my father!”
Cole scowled down at the well-dressed semblance. From his current vantage point, it was hard to see all the details. But assuming the man had been shaped as accurately as the fake Mira, it was his first view of his enemy, the High King.
“Are you sure?” the false High Shaper said. “I’m close enough. This entity spent a great deal of time with me. Much more time than you did. And much more time than it spent with you.”