The Dovecote
My head felt heavy as I flicked my eyes open. The world tilted, unsteady, and for a moment confusion coiled inside me. I was on my bed.
"Dana," Kumbuye said as soon as he saw I was awake.
"W-what happened?" I croaked. Even speaking felt like dragging words through pain. My head throbbed too hard for anything more.
"Good thing you're up. We have to leave. Now." Corvessa's voice came from across the room.
Just then, I remembered I had collapsed on the stairs but I had no idea how I got to my room.
"Doya… where's Doya? I heard him… he called for me." My voice dropped to a whisper. I needed them to say they'd heard it too.
"You were probably hallucinating," Corvessa said. "The effect of the imbalance is getting worse."
"How long was I out?" I asked, glancing between them.
"Just a few minutes," Kumbuye muttered.
I looked toward the window. The sun had already set — darkness slipping quietly across the sky. My hand moved to my kirtle, feeling for the small scroll Ascend Kaelric had given me, to send to the West.
I pushed myself to my feet, steadying my balance, then reached for the urn on the bedside table.
"We have to wait until sunrise to send the message," I said, moving toward the window.
"What do we do until then?" Corvessa pressed. "We can't stay here."
"We find Doya…" I murmured, my gaze dropping to the urn in my hands.
"What's your plan for that?" she asked. "We don't even know where he is."
My fingers tightened around the urn. "A locator spell… Doya used one before."
Corvessa's expression didn't change. "And you know how to cast it?"
I swallowed. "No."
"Then it's useless," she said flatly.
My gaze flicked to her. "You don't know it either?"
She looked away. "Well, I don't know the spell off the top of my head. And if it's not done properly, it could go wrong."
"Can you veil-walk us out now?" Kumbuye asked. "I don't know how much longer I can take this strain."
I nodded, moving closer to him, and Corvessa stepped in beside us. I closed my eyes and reached for the Veil.
It should have opened easily but it didn't.
The first pull snapped back against me. I held their hands tighter, trying again, forcing my focus and shifting my strength, but it didn't hold for long before it snapped again.
My heart started to race, with this pounding in my ears, followed by severe headaches.
"The Veil is resisting," I forced out.
"Gods, we don't have time for this. Let's go." Kumbuye groaned.
"What about those guards? What if there are more of them?" I held him back.
"Then we fight them," Kumbuye snapped.
We stepped out of the room and moved quickly down the stairs to the second floor. The thudding we'd heard earlier came again, from one of the rooms on this level.
"They're in here," Corvessa muttered.
She turned slightly toward the corridor ahead.
"Corvessa, wait," I said, following after her and Kumbuye behind me.
By the time she got to the door, her hand reached for the handle, but the moment her skin made contact, she jerked back.
"Gods!" she snapped, clutching her hand.
She drew a sharp breath, forcing her powers outward. This time, she didn't reach for the handle. She released a focused burst of heat that melted the lock on the door.
With a hard grunt, she kicked the door inward and it tore off the hinges. As the wood split apart, there was a thin line of glowing blue salt packed beneath the floorboard under the door frame.
"What is that?"
Kumbuye crouched slightly, squinting his eyes.
"It's mage-salt," Corvessa responded. "It seals thresholds and keeps whatever is inside… inside."
"Corvessa?"
A strained voice came from inside the room. He moved closer to the threshold, just beyond the sealed line. Relief broke through the exhaustion evident in his face.
"Can it be broken?" I asked.
"Yes," Corvessa responded, still looking at the Bound trapped inside the room. "But it takes strength to do it, more than any of us has right now."
I took in a deep breath, steadying myself. My eyes felt heavy but I kept them open.
I stepped closer, dropping the urn on the floor and focusing on the glowing line.
"We will combine our powers," I said. "Guide me."
Corvessa looked at me sharply, then nodded.
She stepped in beside me, her hand hovering just above the glow.
"Don't force it," she murmured. "Follow the pattern."
I nodded, channeling what little strength I had left. The moment our powers met, the air tightened.
The salt flared and a sharp pressure pushed back against us.
"Hold it," her voice was hollow and rigid.
My vision blurred, the same draining force clawing at me again.
"Corvessa—"
"Hold it," she repeated.
I shifted, narrowing everything into a single point.
My strength buckled. For a second, I felt myself slipping but Kumbuye's grip on my shoulder snapped me back. I saw his other hand steady Corvessa.
We held and kept pushing until a thin crack split through the glowing line, then part of the salt went dark.
"Come on!" Corvessa strained, motioning sharply for the Bound to step out through the broken line.
The moment he came out, Corvessa collapsed to the ground.
My knees gave out, and my body trembled violently, barely holding together.
For a second, none of us moved, but urgency did not always wait for recovery.
"Corvessa," the Bound croaked. "What is going on?" He asked breathlessly.
"Now is not the time to discuss this, Soren," Corvessa hissed as she pushed herself to her feet. "I'll explain later. We have to move."
"What about the others?" Soren asked, his voice tightening.
Kumbuye kept one hand on my arm, glancing down the corridor. "We don't have time for this," he muttered. "If every door is sealed like this—"
"They are," Soren cut in, swallowing hard. "All of them. No one can cross. If you try… it just throws you back."
I forced myself upright, picking up the urn and steadying my breath. "Then breaking every threshold will drain us before we're halfway done."
Corvessa exhaled weakly, one hand braced against the wall. "We will come back for them, Soren. The balance is broken, we can't stay here."
Soren hesitated, his gaze drifting past us to the line of closed doors along the corridor. The faint glow of mage-salt flickered beneath each one. We moved past every last door and reached the stairs, descending quickly while keeping close to the shadows.
When we got to the ground floor, a couple of guards were stationed there. They looked and behaved just like the ones we saw on the fourth floor. Their heads tilted slightly upward, like they were listening to something we couldn't hear.
Kumbuye's grip on his dagger tightened. "They're also being controlled."
"We have to move quietly, stay close to the walls. They won't see us, but they react to sound," I whispered, turning to Soren.
We stayed close together, moving in a slow line — Kumbuye in front, then me, Soren behind me, and Corvessa behind Soren. Every step was careful and measured. The guards didn't move. For a moment, it felt like we might actually pass them.
Then a soft scrape broke the silence.
All of us froze. I turned just enough to see Soren's foot catch against a loose edge of stone. The sound was small, but in the silence, it carried.
All the guards' heads snapped toward us at once.
My breath caught. We didn't have the strength for this.
"Run!" I shouted.
The nearest guard lunged forward with a violent, jerking motion, but Kumbuye met him head-on, blocking the strike and driving him back with a sharp shove. Another guard came from the side, his movements were just as unnatural, and I forced myself forward despite the heaviness in my limbs, dragging one dagger free and slashing across his arm, then to his throat, but he didn't even react.
"Move!" Kumbuye barked. "I will hold them off."
Soren stumbled past me, Corvessa right behind him, while Kumbuye met the guards head-on, driving them back just long enough for us to break away. Then he tore free and followed.
We didn't stay to finish the fight. It wouldn't have mattered, they kept coming.
We ran out through the hall, past the last stretch of stone, and then the doors gave way and we burst into the open air. My body came alive instantly, like recovering from a sickness. I could finally breathe but we didn't slow.
"Dovecote," I forced out, already turning toward the far side of the courtyard.
We ran straight into the darkness, crossing the open space and slipping inside the dovecote. It was modest wooden shed with perches along its walls.
Kumbuye was right behind us and immediately he got in, he turned and shoved the doors shut, forcing them closed with more strength than the hinges deserved. The heavy wood slammed into place with a dull thud, sealing us in. For a moment, he kept his hand against it, listening, then finally stepped back.
No one spoke. We were too busy trying to catch our breaths.
The pressure that had been clawing at my chest since we entered the Sanctum eased. I drew in a deeper breath, steadier this time, and felt my strength return in small, fragile pieces.
Corvessa sank down against the wooden frame, her head tilting back as she exhaled. Soren leaned slightly, holding his knees and breathing raggedly, while Kumbuye stayed near the door, still catching his breath.
I let myself rest for a moment and dropped the urn onto the floor, my thoughts finally catching up to everything that had just happened.
The place was dark, so I took a sconce and summoned a small flame onto it. The light flickered weakly across the wooden beams and the bird cages stacked along the walls.
"We should be safe here for the night," Kumbuye muttered.
"What if the guards come here?" Soren asked, still uneasy.
"They won't… for some reason, they don't follow far," Kumbuye replied.
Soren frowned. "What exactly happened to them?"
"They're being controlled by the Black Stone," Corvessa murmured.
"Controlled how? What's going on?" he stammered.
"There's a siege," I said quietly, straightening as the words settled into place. "And the Forsaken are making a move. Darveth is the traitor."
Soren's eyes widened. "W-what about the other Ascend?"
"They're trapped inside the Sanctum," I answered. "Unresponsive too."
I turned away from them, moving toward the bird cages. The small scroll was still tucked inside my kirtle. By first light, I would send it out.
"So what now?" he asked again, quieter this time. "How do we save the Bound inside?"
I stopped.
Then looked back at him.
"Can you perform a locator spell?" I asked instead, ignoring his question.
He blinked. "Yes… but what do you need one for?"
"I need it to find Doya."
I stepped closer and picked up the urn from the floor, holding it out to him.
"Use this."
He let out a tired breath, his shoulders dropping as he looked at the urn. "Dana, I'm drained. A spell like that needs enough strength to push through. I don't have it."
"You can channel through us," I said, my gaze moving to Corvessa.
Corvessa's jaw tightened. She looked like she wanted to refuse, like she was about to say we were too weak for this. But she wanted to find him too, so instead, she came forward agreeing to it.
Soren nodded slowly. He collected the urn and placed it carefully on the ground between us.
"Give me your hands," he said.
I reached out, holding Soren's cold fingers with my left hand and Corvessa's with my right. Her palm was damp, and I felt her stiffen beside me.
"Close your eyes," Soren said quietly. "Don't resist what you feel. If you fight it, the link will break, and it will hurt more."
He began to cast the spell.
At first, I only felt a small pull, like wind brushing past my skin. Then it changed. It became rough and stronger. It felt like fire stabbing through my chest.
I gasped and almost opened my eyes, but I couldn't. All I could see was a blur of light behind my eyelids. Soren was pulling from both of us. I felt my strength leave me, the little I had left slipping away through my arms.
Corvessa made a sharp sound beside me. Her grip tightened so hard it hurt, like she was holding on just to stay steady.
The urn started to shake on the floor.
It took a while before he finished the spell.
And the urn pulsed rhythmically.
"It's done."
Soren broke the connection, moving backward and collapsing on his knees.
I felt a sense of relief within me, finally we could find him.
We all stayed on the floor in silence and exhaustion. We had no food. No water. No rest.
The night outside remained quiet. The only sound in the room was the flickering torch, the restless churn of the birds, and our ragged breaths.
Hours dragged on painfully slowly until morning came.
---
Faint light crept in through the narrow bars on the side.
I pushed myself up slowly, my body protesting with every movement. My mouth was dry. My strength was only slightly better than it had been the night before.
Soren was half asleep sitting near the urn. Kumbuye sat by the door with his head slouched forward. Corvessa stirred awake, blinking against the morning light before pushing herself upright.
I moved to the cage area, my fingers brushing over the wood as I searched for the right bird to carry the message. My right hand slipped inside my kirtle, retrieving the scroll, and I tied it securely to the leg of the bird I chose.
I reached for the latch and released the bird. It shot up at once, rising into the open sky.
I watched it go until it disappeared.
"Let's go find Doya."
The moment I spoke, Soren stirred, blinking hard as if pulling himself back from somewhere deep. Kumbuye's head snapped up too.
We were all drained. It was written on us, but time wasn't waiting for that.
I moved first, walking to the door and pushing it open.
My breath stopped and my eyes widened at what stood in front of us.
"Lysara?" I croaked.
"Brannoc…" Corvessa whispered behind me.
The Bound who had been trapped in their rooms — and even some Novitiates — stood right outside the dovecote.
All of them.
Their eyes were pale and empty. They didn't look like themselves anymore.
The Black Stone had reached them.