The morning following the Webhon Players' show promised a beautiful day. Beams of sunslight streamed in through Dinara's windows and an easy breeze rattled the chimes hanging in the door. Outside, the sky was cloudless, nothing obscuring the tandem trek of Calaidia's two suns across its blue and gold expanse. Unfortunately, Dinara was too hungover to enjoy it.
She rolled over to face Roman. He seemed soundly asleep, but without even opening his eyes, he murmured, "Go back to sleep."
Dinara's answering laugh turned quickly into a groan. "Ugh. I feel awful."
"You know what'll help with that? More sleep."
"It's too bright for sleep. Let's go get food. Something heavy — grease will help." When Roman kept quiet, Dinara added, "After that, we should do something fun."
Roman groaned and buried his face in his pillow. But after a moment's pause, unable to resist the curiosity, he lifted his head. "Like what?"
"Whatever we want."
"Hmm," Roman said. He stretched like a house cat then settled back into the mattress, pulling Dinara to him. "You know what's fun. Sleep."
Dinara squirmed out of his grip. "Since when have you been so into sleep, Mr. Late-to-Bed-Early-to-Rise?" she asked. "I'm finally free of Edith! We should celebrate."
"We celebrated plenty last night."
"Come on, Roman! It'll be spontaneous. An adventure." When Dinara kissed Roman, he leaned into it with a contented hum. "You love adventures, right?"
"I love adventures with you," he said. At Dinara's answering grin, he flushed and busied himself with flattening his hair. Between his usual tossing and turning and the current humidity his curls were all mussed, and Dinara said a quick thanks to Atiuh for the southern climate. She loved Roman like this, soft and unguarded and comfortable. "Do you have any ideas for this spontaneous adventure of yours?" he asked.
"We could take the demon masks from the costume trailer and go scare the rich folks in the upper market," Dinara said with an innocent smile.
Roman's answering laugh was so loud it made Dinara flinch. "Sorry," he said, lowering his voice again. "I wasn't expecting that."
"It was your idea, don't you remember?"
"I say a lot of things I don't remember," Roman said, "But that does sound like me. Wouldn't you get in trouble?"
"If Cahrn gets upset, we can tell him we were advertising the next show."
"Like he'd believe that."
"That's never stopped us before."
Roman considered her for a moment, a slow smile spreading across his face. "Alright. Let's do it."
Two hours later found them outside the costume trailer with full stomachs and open crates of costumes all around them. Explaining to the costumer why they'd needed the masks hadn't been easy, but they'd eventually convinced her to look the other way.
"This one could be good." Roman pulled something out of a crate, a flat wooden mask that depicted an open-mouthed, snarling face. He slipped the strap around the back of his head and waited for Dinara to look his way.
When she did, she only giggled. "It's sky blue, Roman. It's smiling."
"It's grimacing, not smiling!"
"Still. Hardly terrifying."
Roman's hands dropped from where he'd been holding them up like claws. The mask tipped to one side as he tilted his head. "Maybe if you weren't expecting it."
"Not really. This, though..." Dinara pulled on a devil's mask with a full draconic snout and shadows where the eyes should be. She took a step backward, into the path, so that Roman could see it from a distance. "This is terrifying."
Behind his mask, Roman pouted. "Fine. Yours is better. What's it supposed to be?"
"Belteta. It's from an old folk tale my village pashu used to tell. It's a benevolent creature, technically, but no one here needs to know th— oof!"
A heavy weight collided with Dinara, knocking her to the ground. For a moment, she was covered in an indistinguishable tangle of curls and lanky limbs, then the weight rolled off, cursing and apologizing as it did. It — she, for it was a girl a little younger than Dinara — sat up, pushing blonde hair out of her face as she did, but one look at Dinara's mask had her yelping in surprise and falling back on her ass again.
"It's only a costume," Roman said quickly. He stepped forward to offer her a hand up, lifting his own mask as he did. The girl looked up at him with wide eyes, her lips parting in surprise.
"Roman...Hallisey?" she asked.
"You know him? Roman, do you know her?" Dinara asked. The girl's tail, long ears, and orinian birthmarks didn't escape Dinara's notice.
Before Roman could answer, a whistle blew in the distance. The girl cast a fearful glance in its direction, Roman a suspicious one, then Roman turned to dig through the costume crates. In the meantime, Dinara pushed herself to her feet. "What's going on?" she asked.
Roman grabbed a helmet and passed it to the girl. "Wear this. Dinara, find a cloak that'll hide her tail."
The orinian cast a pitiable figure, barefoot and covered in dirt and scrapes. If it meant helping her, Dinara would bite back her curiosity. She hurried to help. Just as the girl pulled the helmet on and Dinara draped a stage cloak over her shoulders, four police officers on horseback turned onto the path.
When they saw the strange group assembled on the lawn, they slowed. "Have you seen an orinian girl come through here?" one called. "She was spotted at the fairground entrance, headed this way."
Roman, the only one without a mask, feigned surprise and pointed down toward the coast. "She ran that way."
The officers didn't hesitate before taking off again, but the orinian waited until they were out of sight to breathe a relieved sigh. Roman, beside her, watched them go, his expression dark. It smoothed when he turned back to Dinara and the girl. "Well, that should buy you some time. I'm Roman," he said, carefully, "And this is Dinara."
The girl looked between her two rescuers with wide eyes. "Maebhe Cairn."
"How did you know Roman's name?" Dinara asked. "Your accent — are you from Orean?"
"I was told to find him," Maebhe said, answering only the second question.
"By who?" Dinara tried.
"Um," Maebhe said, watching Roman out of the corner of her eye. When he met her gaze, she ducked her head. "Nobody, just some nutjob. Sorry, this was a bad idea. I shouldn't have come here."
She turned to leave without even a goodbye, but Roman caught her by the wrist. "Hang on! You're clearly in some sort of trouble. Maybe we can help. At the very least, you look exhausted. Let us get you some food and a change of clothes."
Maebhe hesitated at that, her arm falling to her side when Roman released her wrist. "What kind of food?"
"What do you want?" Dinara asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Anything with eggs and jam would be good," Maebhe said, visibly perking up at the thought, her long ears twitching upward. "I don't eat meat."
"I'm sure we can find something," Dinara said.
Keeping Maebhe's cloak and helmet, Dinara and Roman stuffed the remaining costumes back in their crates and coaxed Maebhe back to the trailer, where they got her breakfast, a bath, and a change of clothes. Given that she had nearly a foot on Dinara, they had to give her a set of Roman's.
Maehe skirted around them the whole time, giving them both — but especially Roman — wary looks. Finally, though, as she was perched on Dinara and Roman's mattress licking the jam off her fingers, she started to open up.
"Thanks for helping me back there," she said, "With those officers."
"What did you do? Why were they after you?" Dinara asked. She'd been patient all morning but was nearing her limit.
"Nothing! All I did was exist in their city!"
"You must've done something. Four officers wouldn't chase you like that for nothing."
"She entered Unity's capital city the same day Orean ostensibly abducted a King. The Gallontean Police have hurt people over much less," Roman answered his gaze far away.
"But she's just one girl! What do they think she's here for?"
"Espionage or sabotage," Roman said, ticking off possibilities on his fingers. "Protesting. Fighting. Abducting Magistrates. Causing trouble. Turning the people against Unity. It doesn't matter, Dinara. They hate her for who she is and will bend their facts to fit around that." He fixed Maebhe with a stern look. "But then, she's not just one girl. You didn't come to Gallontea alone, did you, Maebhe?"
Maebhe's eyes widened. She looked from Roman to Dinara, and all at once, broke down crying.
"Look what you did!" Dinara hissed at Roman. She hurried to kneel beside Maebhe. "Are you alright, sweetheart? Do you want to talk about it?"
Roman looked horrified. He knelt at Maebhe's other side.
"Sorry, sorry. Call be Maebhe," Maebhe said, wiping at her eyes. She took a steadying breath, and then she told them all about Kieran and Íde, about her escape and their capture, about how she'd spent the day since flitting from place to place, running from the police and trying to find a way onto the Island that wouldn't get her caught and killed.
"There's something I don't understand," Dinara said when she'd finished. "Who told you to find Roman? I don't know what he could possibly—,"
"I have an idea," Roman said darkly. His manner had completely transformed: he seemed sharper now, like a wolf with bared fangs or a blade eased out of a sheath. "I've seen Unity do things like this before. I think I can get you your family back."
"You have? You can?" Dinara asked. His quiet anger scared her. She'd never seen him like this before: he was a raised gun, a finger flirting with a trigger. He was the rumbles before a storm, and Unity a metal boat in the middle of a lake. Knowing she stood on shore didn't make Dinara feel any safer. "Roman, what about Unity?"
Roman paced the length of their small trailer, suddenly too small to hold the magnitude of him. "What about them?"
"Kono ta'hy leha, Roman," Dinara urged in a whisper, switching to her native language so Maebhe wouldn't understand. They'll kill you.
Roman made the switch as well, though his sheman was halting and messy. "They can only kill me if they catch me. They won't catch me."
"Be reasonable! You can't smuggle fugitives out of the capital city, Roman. It's treason. And that's if you can even get them off the island in the first place."
Roman shrugged, grinned. "Of all the times I committed treason, they only caught me once." He paused, frowned. "Was that right? The tense?"
"You want to ask me about tenses? What do you mean, 'of all the times I've committed treason'?"
"Dinara, I'm not asking you to join me, but I'm getting Maebhe out of here," Roman said, switching back to a language Maebhe could understand.
"You and I have some things to discuss when this is done," Dinara said. She made the switch too, then, and added, "But I'll help. I'll regret it if I don't."
Roman nodded, then turned to Maebhe. "Put that cloak back on. We're going to visit a friend of mine."
-
They took a cab north, out of the park and deeper into the city. While Roman stared out the window, lost in thoughts, Maebhe and Dinara made awkward, stilted small talk. Eventually, they passed into a quiet neighborhood full of tall, compact houses. It was much too close to Unity's island for any of their liking, Unity's clock tower looming above them out of the smog.
Maebhe sat forward on her elbows. "Where are we going?" she asked. Her face hid in the hood's shadows, but she sounded suspicious.
"I know a smuggler who lives near here. He'll help us get to the island, only..." Roman trailed off, wrinkling his nose.
"Only what?"
"Nothing. I hope neither of you have sensitive noses."
"What? Why?"
Roman shook his head, then knocked at the cab wall to get the driver to stop. He hopped out first, offering a hand to Maebhe and Dinara in turn. As the cab rolled off, they turned to a narrow brick house fitted neatly between two others of identical build. It was utterly remarkable from the outside. It could just as easily belong to a doctor or a merchant as a smuggler.
"If Ivey's not home, we'll break in and wait."
"Break in?" Dinara squeaked, checking Roman's face to see if he was joking. For once, she couldn't tell.
"He's not the type to mind."
The door knocked creaked in protest as Roman used it to knock twice. He paused, then knocked three more times. Within seconds, the door flew open to reveal a disheveled-looking man with an impossibly red beard and wild eyes. He looked like a large candle, with his white suit and flame-red locks that stuck up in every direction.
Roman opened his mouth to speak, but the man cut him off, saying, "Code's changed," then slamming the door. Roman glanced sheepishly at Maebhe and Dinara, then raised his hand to knock again. Before he could, the door opened, the same man still standing there. This time, a wide smile spread across his face, revealing two sharp sets of canines on each side. "Only joking, Aim! How've you been? Gods, you haven't aged a day!"
Roman stood at least a foot taller than the man, but that didn't stop him from dragging Roman into a hug. Roman squawked indignantly, struggled a moment, then gave in, his whole face scrunching as he wrinkled his nose.
"Roman?" Dinara asked.
"Roman?" the smuggler repeated, pulling away to study Roman. He looked Dinara up and down next, and when his gaze landed on Maebhe's cloaked form, a hot curiosity sparked in his eyes. "Come in, come in."
Dinara exchanged a glance with Maebhe before following Roman and the smuggler inside. She stopped in the doorway when she noticed the smell, finally realizing what Roman meant about sensitive noses. The house reeked like a piece of old cabbage stuck in a boar's teeth.
"This is..nice," Maebhe said, lowering her hood so she could better look around at the decorations — taxidermied animal heads, mounted butterflies, a whole wall of brass baubles and antique firearms.
The smuggler regarded Maebhe with even more interest now that her hood was down. "Ah," he said. "An orinian."
Maebhe pursed her lips. "Ah," she said, in a flatter version of the same tone, "A maranet."
The smuggler grinned, revealing the sharp teeth again. "Name's Ivey."
"This is Maebhe and Dinara," Roman said.
"I take it Ms. Maebhe needs out of the city? And here I'd hoped this was a social call."
"Sorry, not this time," Roman said, smiling, "But if you want to buy me and Di dinner when this is done, I wouldn't say no."
Dinara frowned at Roman, but Ivey didn't seem to notice. "You're the one that owes me," he said. "Maybe you don't remember, but you also promised me dinner last time, right before you fled the city with a swarm of cops—"
"Oh, why bring up the past?" Roman interrupted with a nervous laugh. "I'm sure there'll be no fleeing this time."
"Do you all need out?"
"Just Maebhe, but we do have a brief stop to make, first."
"No problem. Where to?"
"Unity prison," Roman said with a bright smile. "Don't suppose you want to come with?"
Ivey tried to laugh, but it died in his throat when he saw Dinara and Maebhe's expressions. "What, you're serious? Atiuh's name, Roman, of course I won't come with! Why would you go back there?"
Dinara watched the exchange with wide eyes. When she met Maebhe's eyes, the girl dropped her gaze. "Back?" Dinara asked.
"Maebhe's brother and his fiance were taken. I promised to help get them back."
"Are you sure you can?"
"You tell me. It's your smuggling route."
"No, Aim — Roman. What I mean is, are you sure you can?"
Some strong emotion flickered across Roman's face, there and gone too fast to decipher. "I'm sure."
"No one knows the place like you do, I guess." With a sigh, Ivey gestured for them to follow. He led them down a set of stairs to the back of the house, where he ushered them into an unfinished basement. A great hole had been dug in the ground there, a ladder leading down into the darkness. Ivey strode over to a closed and opened it to reveal several pairs of rubber work boots. "You're all going to want a pair of these."
"What're they for?" Maebhe asked, studying her pair through narrowed eyes, as if she could find the answer etched into it.
"They'll protect you from the sludge."
"Sludge?" Dinara asked.
"There's a maze of tunnels beneath the city. Some sewage drains, some old smuggling routes from before Unity got a grip on the city. It can be gross, but Ivey's figured out underground paths that'll get us in and out of the city without being seen. Ivey, can I borrow some weapons?"
"Not any of my nice guns," Ivey was quick to say. "But I may have a spare revolver."
"That'll do. Maebhe, I don't suppose you know how to work a gun?"
"I do, actually," Maebhe said, kicking off Roman's shoes and slipping into the boots instead. "Kieran taught me."
"Perfect." Finally, Roman turned to Dinara. "Are you coming with? You don't have to."
"I already told you I am," Dinara said.
"Good," Roman said, Dinara feeling a thrill go through her at the approval in his tone. There was always something about Roman that made her want to impress him, gain his approval, and whatever it was was a thousand times stronger now that she'd seen this new sign of him. He continued, "I'd give you a chance to stay as well, Maebhe, but I'll need your help identifying Kieran and Íde."
Maebhe only nodded. She kept shifting with nervous excitement, but she didn't seem afraid. Roman didn't, either. Dinara, on the other hand, had never been so frightened in her life. But more than that, she'd never been able to disappoint Roman.
Ivey returned with a pocket lantern and a revolver wrapped in a leather case. "It's cleaned and loaded," he said, passing Roman the gun first. Roman passed it to Maebhe. "You remember how to get to the island from here?"
"I'll never forget," Roman said, too solemn for the Roman Dinara knew. He looped the lantern around his wrist and started down the ladder without any fanfare. Dinara studied his profile, half-illuminated by the lantern's glow.
Maebhe and Dinara both leaned over the edge to watch him go and saw the faint glimmer of light hitting water far below.
"Shit, that stinks," Maebhe said, covering her nose.
"There's probably worse than shit down there," Dinara said.
It startled a laugh out of Maebhe. She gave Dinara's arm a playful punch that hurt more than she'd probably intended. "If I can handle Kieran after he takes his boots off, I can handle this," she said, making Dinara laugh in turn. "You can, too. After you?"
One at a time, they followed Roman down the ladder. When Dinara reached the bottom, wiping her hand on Roman’s jacket as a disguised caress, she found herself in a narrow tunnel. It wasn’t as dark as she expected— even without the lantern, they could have made their way. The water wasn’t as deep as it looked from above, either. A few inches at most.
"It gets wider when we get further in. We only have to go to the end of the street, then this opens up into one of the smuggling tunnels," Roman said to Maebhe. The two of them had to stoop to avoid hitting their heads. "Let’s go."
After a few minutes of silent walking, Dinara grumbled, "I think I’m going to be sick."
"If you throw up," Roman began, "Rest assured it probably won’t be the worst thing to have gone into this water."
"That doesn’t help."
Maebhe, unable to hear them from the back, called up, "So are we really about to break into the highest security building on the continent?"
"Do you want your family back?" Roman called back to her.
"Obviously."
"Then yes."
As Roman said, one tunnel flowed into another, this one wider and deeper. Dinara worried about it flooding her boots until Roman redirected them again, this time into a tunnel with a high ceiling but little water. There was no light here, beside that from the lantern.
"We’re under the bridge, now," Roman said quietly, so his words didn’t echo. "Deep underwater."
Dinara shuddered thinking of all the water and stone above their heads now, about how flimsy this little tunnel felt in comparison, about how easily it could collapse. If they died here, no one would know — Tabia, Cahrn, all of her friends. They would never know.
"How did they build this?" Maebhe asked, matching Roman’s whisper.
"Dragons and nympherai."
Maebhe gave a wistful sigh. "I didn’t get to talk to a single dragon on this trip. I was ready for it, too; I took draconic as an elective in school."
Distracting herself from the tunnel above, Dinara took Maebhe’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. "This must be so hard on you. I’m sure war isn’t as close as the papers would like us to believe."
Maebhe smiled at her, the expression soft in the gentle flickering of the light. Roman stayed silent ahead of them, pressing on.
"How does Ivey not get lost doing this?" Dinara asked him, after another minute of walking.
"He helped design these tunnels."
"But that must’ve been—"
"Hundreds of years ago, yes. Ivey’s mixed, but he’s maranet enough to live as long as one. They live even longer than some nympherai, you know. He knows these twists and turns better than he probably knows his own house. Quizzed me relentlessly when we were planning my escape so that I did, too. If you don’t know the way, it’s possible to wander for days and never find a way out. That’s why Ivey’s the only one who can pull off this job. It’s also why he’s never been caught."
"And he’s helped you escape Gallontea before?"
Roman hesitated, clearly trying to think of a way to avoid answering. Eventually, though, he gave up and sighed. "Yes."
"I didn’t even know you’d been here before. What did Ivey mean, when he asked if you could do this?"
"Oh, it’s nothing," Roman said. His laugh sounded hollow, echoing in the tunnels. More to himself than Dinara, he added, "It was a long time ago."
The tunnel started to climb gradually upward, and soon, Dinara could see hints of natural light peeking through the storm grates. The trio reached an antechamber with a series of darkened tunnels branching off it. Roman led them down one of the larger ones until they reached a dead end, a grate above letting pale light stream down in thin bars.
"This will take us right into the heart of the prison," he said, whispering again. "Are you ready?"
Thanks for reading!
This email is a part of Fractured Magic, a gothic fantasy webserial. At emrowene.com, you can find a character guide and gallery, a full list of content warnings, and other works by the author. Supporting the story on Patreon will give you early access to chapters plus character art and exclusive content.
It's great to see the characters start to link up.