Page 128 of City of Snakes
Fire formed in my throat, and my legs burned.
“Stop!” I commanded. A rippling feeling shot from my mind, and suddenly Hurley froze.
I needed to start thinking of that first.
Finally catching up to him, I grabbed Hurley by the shoulder and spun him around to face me. He was lanky and had a boyish roundness to his cheeks.
“You...” I gasped for air. “You brought those men to attack me.”
“I didn’t know.” Tears streamed down this face. “I swear to the Sources. They told me they wouldn’t hurt you. They said they needed to deliver a message and that I’d make twenty coins.”
“They delivered a message, alright,” I grumbled as Elsedora’s footfall landed behind me. We were in the shade of the alley, with buildings stretched up above us.
“Sybilla, what the—”
“It’s okay,” I reassured her. “This is Hurley.”
“The groom boy? The one who—”
I interrupted her again. “Yes, yes. He’s harmless and potentiallyveryuseful to us.”
Hurley’s eyes widened. “I’ll do anything. I owe you whatever debt. Please, please don’t hurt me.”
“Hurt?” My brow scrunched, and I shook my head. “You listen. If I wanted to hurt you—I wouldn’t have let you run off and escape that night. Now, if I let you go, will youpromiseme not to run?” Holding his feet there was surprisingly fatiguing.
Hurley nodded through his tears.
I looked at Elsedora. “You’ll take him to Luz.”
She balked. “Luz? Why?”
“Because...he’s a Water-wielder. And if we bring him back to Umber House, then Krait will have his head.” I reached down and ruffled the boy’s brown waves. “And you wouldn’t be able to pay off your debt without a head, would you?”
“I can only do stupid tricks. I can’t do anything to help...” Hurley tried to deflect.
Elsedora cut in, “Water-wielders could once part oceans, wield rivers at their fingertips, and make rain fall even when it wasn’t due.” She seemed to be catching up now.
I added, “You could help us, Hurley. In fact—that is your punishment for nearly getting me killed. You owe your Queen a debt. I’d say that a comfortable life learning how to use your Source magic in Luz is a better punishment than the gallows. No?”
“Okay, yes, yes.” Hurley finally breathed out, wiping away his tears on a dirty sleeve. “Please don’t send me to the gallows.”
“Do you have family here?” Elsedora asked.
My heart clenched when he shook his head. The toes of his boots were broken through, his feet outgrowing them, and his clothing looked as though he hadn’t changed since he’d been working in Umber House.
I put one hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Promise me, then, when my advisors, Asterie and Fenris, teach you all they can—you will come back here. You bring the rains; you help this place remain habitable. Do you accept that duty?”
“Yes, my Queen.” Hurley nodded.
Elsedora eyed me. “I will take him to Luz before Krait catches wind of him. Head back to Umber House and get ready for the festival,” she said as she glanced up at the threatening sky. “What should I tell Asterie and Fen?”
“Tell them he is their ward until I return.”
Elsedora kept her promise and delivered Hurley to Fen and Asterie and then met me to get ready for the first rain festival. She’d brought a note back with her, which I set down on the desk in the bedchamber that I stillplatonicallyshared with Krait.
Sybilla,
At your request, we will teach young Hurley everything we can about wielding his Source power. I only ask that the next time you drop a child on our doorstep, you give us a bit of warning. And wash them first.
