Flux

economically. That will be a display of power they will not soon forget. Furthermore, the kingdom to the south will surely hear of this, and any incipient challenges there will be abandoned.”
    “I won’t do this.”
    She pointed at Miner. “He gave his word. Can you imagine what I shall do to him if that word is not kept? And don’t think you can save him—this is my domain and we are very far indeed from water.”
    Ennek gave Miner a helpless, desperate look and Miner had to take a deep breath. “Don’t do it, En. Let her have me. It was my stupid choice, not yours.”
    “I’ll do something else,” Ennek said to Akilina. “Something where nobody’s harmed.”
    She stood and moved slightly toward him, regarding him carefully. “Well, I should very much like an heir. And the child of two wizards is bound to be—”
    “No! I won’t…breed with you.”
    “These are your options. I would be within my rights to demand two boons instead of one—after all, I did save two lives. But I suppose one could argue that the life of this slave is not worth so much, so I will let that go. But you must choose, Ennek, or he will pay. And how will that profit either of us?”
    Ennek’s face had gone red and his hands were balled into tight fists. Miner rose and stepped between them. “En, please. Don’t. It’s all right, it really is. You can go on, and—”
    A sudden wind swept through the room, making Akilina’s hair blow about wildly. When the wind reached Miner it wound its way into his nose and mouth like smoke and it filled his lungs so that he could no longer breathe. He gasped uselessly and collapsed to his knees. Ennek ran to his side and grabbed his shoulders. “Stop it!” Ennek shouted at the woman. “Stop hurting him!”
    “This is only a small taste of what I will do to him if you do not agree.”
    Miner wanted to beg Ennek not to listen to her, but of course he had no voice with which to beg, and he was beginning to feel dizzy, the room turning hazy and wavering.
    “Stop it!!” Ennek screamed again.
    And she did stop. The wind disappeared as suddenly as it had come, and Miner let in a great whooping breath that sounded like a sob. Ennek held him as Miner greedily gulped in oxygen.
    Akilina smiled at them smugly. “Just a small taste, Ennek.”
    “You’re a monster. Just like…. Just a bloody monster.”
    “I am a wizard, and that means I get what I wish. You are clearly too weak or too stupid to do the same. I daresay that was why you had to leave your home to begin with.” She stroked her chin thoughtfully. “I will give you until tomorrow morning to choose an alternative. That is more than fair of me. And if you do not choose, your slave will be punished.”
    Ennek looked into Miner’s face then, his eyes so filled with despair that Miner’s sore heart broke.

Chapter Eight
    h

    S he sent them up to the roof. She allowed them to take their packs with them, and she brought up a jug of water and a waste bucket and a bowl of cold rice and meat, but she took the ladder away so that the only method of escape was by leaping to the ground. They were high enough that jumping would almost certainly result in injury or even death when they hit the hard-packed earth. Of course, Ennek could probably have used his magic to help them escape, but what was the point? Akilina would only pursue them.
    So Miner spread out one of their blankets—the light stucco of the roof was uncomfortably hot—and Ennek peered at him with concern. “You’re going to get a sunburn again.”
    “That hardly matters.”
    “It does matter,” Ennek sighed. “It all matters.”
    Miner sat down on the blanket, his shoulders slumped. “I did this to you. All of it was—”
    “Enough! I made some choices that brought us here as well. I’d make the same choices again.”
    “How could you say that?”
    “You think I should have left you in Stasis instead? Or allowed that bastard to destroy the rest of my family, to dance me around like a puppet on strings?” Ennek sat beside him. “I’ll tell you something, though: I’m getting bloody tired of not being master of my own fate. For years I was too spineless to do anything but float uselessly about, and then I fell right into Thelius’s trap. I’ve never even thought about what I might want, let alone taken steps to get it.”
    In a very small voice, Miner asked, “What do you want?”
    “You! I want to have you at my side and I want to get rid of that