The Sanctuary

By Ashley Abbiss

The Sanctuary is now home for Zahli. The execution of her cousin for treason and the disposal of the shop mean that the last details of her life outside have been wrapped up, and she is committed to staying and working towards her ambition of one day qualifying as a magus.

With nothing now to distract her, she throws herself into her studies, determined to learn all she can and make the very most of her magical power. Life is settling down into a nice routine of study and work.

Along with her studies, she also continues her training in combat skills, although the idea of fighting a war to drive the Ladrisians out of Wuntril still feels like more of a dream than reality.

But when the Ladrisians discover the location of the Sanctuary and move to attack it, she finds herself abruptly thrown right into the forefront of the defence. Suddenly, the war is all too real, and Zahli and the magi are fighting for their very existence.

The Sanctuary is the second and final instalment in the Order of the Red Cloak series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashley Abbiss
• Release date: Oct 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005530686

Ashley Abbiss

Hello there. I’m Ashley Abbiss. ‎I live and write in beautiful New Zealand, where I live with one large dog, who looks nothing ‎like Friend from my Daughters of Destiny books. She is, however, almost as intelligent and definitely as ‎opinionated, and if she can’t quite speak in the way Friend does to Niari, that doesn’t really ‎hold her back much!‎I write fantasy, mostly of the epic variety. Let me say right up front that if you’re looking for a quick read, you’re in the wrong place. But if you like a substantial, ‎satisfying story that you can really get your teeth into, stick with me. I may have something ‎you’ll enjoy. There’s no graphic sex in my books. If that’s what you want, you’ll have to look ‎elsewhere. There is violence, and there is swearing, though mostly of the ‘s/he swore’ variety, ‎nothing overly graphic or offensive. I also write about strong, independent female characters, ‎so if your taste runs to something more macho, or something more frilly and helpless, this may ‎not be the place for you. ‎I’ve always loved wandering in different worlds, be they fantasy or science fiction, although ‎lately I tend to prefer fantasy. The only proviso is that they have to be believable worlds, ‎worlds that feel real, that have depth and scope – and they must, absolutely must be fun to ‎visit. I read for escape and entertainment, and I don’t really want to escape from this world ‎into one even grimmer. Trouble, tension, and danger I can deal with, what sort of story would ‎there be without them? Where would Pern be without Thread, Frodo without Sauron, Harry ‎Potter without Voldemort? But there has to be hope, and there has to be a light touch. Happy ‎ever after does have a lot going for it, even if initially it’s only a very small light at the end of ‎a long, dark tunnel. My personal favourites include Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Anne ‎McCaffrey’s Pern series, and the fantasies of David Eddings, and lately, they’ve been joined ‎by J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and a few others. Of those, David Eddings was probably my ‎greatest inspiration.‎I began to wonder if I could create my own world, one just as believable and multi-layered as ‎theirs. Could I create a world with its own history, geography, social structure, deities, and all ‎the rest? One that hung together? That a reader could believe in? It became a challenge, one I ‎really wanted to see if I could meet. So I dusted off my writing skills, learned a few more, ‎cranked up the imagination, and got busy. I’d always been good at creative writing, but ‎though I’d made a few attempts to write after I left school, none of them came to anything. ‎That was until I started writing fantasy. Suddenly, I knew I’d come home. ‎I quickly discovered that I’m not the sort of writer who can plan a book (or a world!) before I ‎start. I just can’t do it. But I can create characters, and suddenly the characters took on a ‎reality of their own and took over the stories, often to the extent that they actually surprised ‎me. And the stories worked. Their world worked. Sometimes I had to go back and fix the ‎odd contradiction, but mostly it worked and was very natural and organic. Even though my ‎first attempts were pitiful, I knew I’d found where I belong. I persevered, I learned, I wrote. ‎I discovered that the characters are key for me. Once I get them right, they tell their own ‎story. I was away. There were dark days during which my stories became my refuge, my ‎characters my friends. And I kept writing. There were happy times when I didn’t need a ‎refuge, but my characters were still my friends, and they drew me inexorably back. I kept ‎writing. ‎And now, I hope my characters may become your friends too, my worlds ones where you also ‎like to walk; perhaps even your refuge from dark days. Come join me in a world where magic ‎is real and the gods are near, where beasts talk and men and women achieve things they never ‎dreamed they could. But most of all, come and have fun! ‎Happy reading.‎Ash.‎

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

I hit the ground, feeling Mindish’s spell fly through the air where my body had been a moment before. Without pause, I rolled and fired a spell back at her. But she’d already moved, and I missed.

I got my feet under me and launched away just as another spell cut a gouge in the ground where I’d just been lying. That was a bit too close for comfort. And I’d dropped my shield when I fell. I knew that because I could feel dislodged soil from her attack peppering my cheek.

Losing my shield in the excitement of battle was a very bad habit, and one I needed to address urgently if I wanted to live for very long. I quickly put the shield back where it belonged and bounced to my feet, ready to do battle again.

But I couldn’t see Mindish. I launched a spell behind me at random, hoping it might keep her busy for just that extra moment while I turned to locate her.

My aim had been true, as it turned out. As I completed my turn, she was just recovering from dodging my spell.

We both straightened up and faced each other, panting with exertion, eyes narrowed, every sense alert for the first hint that the other was about to make a move.

I saw her hand twitch and launched a spell just as she did. They collided in midair, showering both of us with blue, green and gold sparks from the resulting explosion.

I’d never seen what happened when two spells collided before, and I was momentarily distracted by the spectacle. That was nearly the death of me.

It was only the fact that Mindish didn’t seem to be able to learn how to launch a spell without making some kind of movement that saved me.

From the corner of my eye, I saw her lift her hand. I threw myself sideways just as something sizzled through the air above me.

Wow. Whatever that was, I was glad I hadn’t been there to meet it. It looked nasty. I was sure I could feel my hair crisping in the heat as I hit the ground and rolled away.

That wasn’t actually possible because of the shield I had up, but the fact that I felt that way even through the shield just showed how powerful the spell had been.

I bounced to my feet and launched a spell of my own at the place where I thought Mindish would be. Another fault with her technique was a tendency to dodge to the right.

I judged where the spell had come from and fired just a smidgen right. A shriek of fright told me I’d hit close, but apparently, not quite close enough because I had to dive for the ground again as another spell came my way.

I rolled again and fired from the ground, not waiting to get to my feet, grinning as Mindish’s lethal impact warning spell began to wail, indicating that I’d ‘killed’ her.

But the grin slid off my face as I began to clamber back to my feet and my own lethal impact warning sounded. It was Mindish’s turn to grin.

Rebound spell, she said smugly.

I felt distinctly grumpy as I clambered upright. She looked altogether too pleased with herself. A rebound spell was advanced magic and downright sneaky. She’d obviously been saving that one up to fool me with.

Great, so we killed each other, I said. So, who gets the points?

You share them, Dalin said from the sidelines. Which means that Mindish beats you by three points.

You beat me again? Damn, you’re getting really good at this combat stuff, I said as I accepted the hand Mindish extended to help me to my feet.

I’ve been practising hard since I decided to become a fighter, Mindish said. I can accept that I might die in battle at some point, but I absolutely refuse to die just because I didn’t work hard enough.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the indignant expression on her face. She’d cured my grumpiness, anyway.

You’re no slouch either, Zahli, Dalin said. Mindish only beat you by three points. I remember what your magic was like when you first came here. You’ve come ahead in leaps and bounds since then.

Well, I said modestly. I guess I’ve learned a few things. But I have to say, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d be training to fight the Ladrisians, with magic or any other way.

Yep, Mindish said, nodding sagely. It’s all got strange since you arrived.

You have to blame your mother for that bit of it, I said. She’s the one who started the Liberation Army. And that was long before I got here.

True, Mindish said. Anyway, if we’re all finished here, let’s go get something to eat. I’m famished after all that exercise.

Great idea, Dalin said.

The three of us walked off the practice fields and headed for the refectory.

Thanks for agreeing to referee, Dalin, Mindish said.

Honestly, I enjoyed it, Dalin said. I always enjoy watching you two work. I’m always bowled over by how far you’ve both come. You were so unsure of yourself until Zahli’s cousin threatened your life, and you killed her to save yourself, Mindish. But since then, you’ve never looked back.

Yeah, I can’t believe how innocent and soft I used to be, Mindish said. "Going on that trip changed my whole life. It wasn’t just almost being killed, it was seeing all the damage the Ladrisians had done, too.

"All those destroyed villages and shops, all those dispossessed people, all that misery. It just…I don’t know. Maybe it just made me hard. I was so angry. I’m still angry. There was no reason for all that.

"I mean, I can understand them taking out people who are actively fighting against them. That’s fair enough, and we’d do the same. But to kill old folks and kids, to burn down people’s homes and destroy their businesses and food supplies, there’s no excuse for that. That was sheer barbarism.

I remember looking at it all and thinking, ‘No more’. And I knew that I couldn’t live with myself if I sat back and let that sort of thing happen to my people and didn’t at least try to do something about it. Mindish barked a little self-conscious laugh. So, here we are.

It had been four months since we’d made that fateful trip back to Worveston. The trip had had two aims. We’d taken a couple of wagonloads of goods to help the people of the town out after the Ladrisian purge when they’d swept through the country murdering, looting and burning.

And we’d gone to execute the judgment of the Justicial Court on my cousin Eldra. Since the judgment had been death and Eldra was my only remaining family, it would have been a difficult journey for me anyway, even though she’d tried to have me killed.

But seeing first-hand the devastation the Ladrisian army had wrought on my hometown had been awful. Mindish was quite right. It had been a lifechanging experience for both of us.

Shortly before going on that trip, we’d both joined the Liberation Army, the army Mindish’s mother was raising to eventually rise up and force the Ladrisians out and free Wuntril.

For Mindish, the trip had cemented her decision to join a fighting unit and become a warrior. I hadn’t yet decided quite where I fitted in the organisation, but for me, too, my experience on that trip back to my old home had changed things.

I’d grown up an orphan because my parents had both been killed fighting the Ladrisians. Because of that, and because all the resistance movements I knew about were pretty ineffective and frequently caused more problems than they solved, I’d always held the firm belief that resistance was futile, that the Ladrisians were here to stay, and we just had to learn to live with them.

But then, my cousin Eldra had betrayed our local chapter of the Freedom Fighters to the Ladrisians, and part of her payment for that treachery was that the Hunter Unit sent to take care of them would kill me too.

My life had meant no more to the Ladrisians than a bargaining chip to pay a traitor. I think that realisation had been the start of my metamorphosis, but the trip back home, seeing what sort of devastation the Ladrisians had caused to perfectly innocent people had been the last straw.

Something had to be done about them. Obviously, keeping our heads down and doing as we were told was no protection. Purges were supposed to clean out rebels and crush resistance. But most of the people who’d been hurt, killed or dispossessed in this last purge had nothing at all to do with the resistance.

They were just ordinary people trying to survive as best they could. But that hadn’t stopped the Ladrisians from killing, raping and destroying the innocent along with the guilty. They didn’t care. We were Wuntrilian, and Wuntrilians, apparently, were fair game.

Someone had to do something, and if we all left it to those better suited, no one would ever do anything at all. So, almost despite myself, I was now a member of the Liberation Army and committed to the cause.

The Ladrisians must be driven out and our country restored to its former freedom, no matter the cost. It was the only way to be sure our people were able to live in safety and security.

I still could hardly believe that I was now affiliated with a rebel army, to be honest. When I stopped to think about it, it still felt kind of unreal, like something in a dream, perhaps.

But any time I thought about pulling out, the sight of all that destruction and the shocked and devastated faces of the people I’d seen, some of them people I’d known all my life, rose up to accuse me, and I couldn’t do it.

So, here we were, practising magical combat skills, readying ourselves to participate in a rebellion. Hopefully, with the expert magic of the magi behind the fighters, and Mindish’s mother Viscountess Eranda at the helm with her talent for organising, we stood a better chance this time.

I still didn’t find it a comfortable place to be, though, hence all the work put in to practise magical combat and other necessary skills. Fear is a great motivator.

And, as Mindish said, possibly being killed in the fighting was one thing. Being killed because I hadn’t worked hard enough was simply not acceptable.

Not that I was that far along yet. I’d been at the Sanctuary for something like five months by then, but I’d only been able to devote myself entirely to my studies for the last couple of months.

For the rest of that time, although I was aching to get started, things kept getting in the way. It seemed as though, almost every time I tried to attend a lesson, something would happen to stop me or to interrupt me if I actually made it into the classroom.

From Eldra’s trial and the need to give my evidence for that to a threat to this very Sanctuary, to being asked to teach a lesson on elemental magic myself, something always seemed to crop up. It had been most frustrating.

And then, just when I thought things were beginning to settle down and I’d actually been able to get to a few lessons and even get through them without interruption, the news had reached us of the purge I’ve just been talking about.

In the face of that devastation, since we were one of the few places in the country that were unaffected and also the only one that had magi-class magic available, it had been up to us to do what we could to help our people.

Classes had continued, but I didn’t get to attend any because I ended up in charge of a work group turning out sets of useful spells and their associated elements to be sent out to those in need.

That had become my full-time job. The task had consumed several weeks, both before and after the trip back home to deal with Eldra. Once again, I was missing classes. Although, this time, I wasn’t entirely missing out on my education.

A major feature of magi-class magic is magical stamina; the ability to do a lot of magic at one time, to be able to perform and perform, and perform again without a break and without exhausting oneself.

There are various techniques that we learn to help us conserve energy and that sort of thing, but what it largely boils down to is practice. Just as an athlete grows stronger and faster through practice and repetition, so do magicians.

And spending all day every day using my magic to create packs of spells and elements had given me plenty of practice. In that respect, I was doing quite well. It was just all the rest of it that I’d been missing.

CHAPTER TWO

So, for the last weeks, I’d been working really hard at catching up on what you might call the theory and technical side of things. Which wasn’t all about magic, I might add.

For instance, among the classes offered were ones in human anatomy. That, of course, fed straight into field medicine, which was becoming more and more essential to know as we got closer to the actual fighting.

Field medicine wasn’t all magic, either. Much more could be done with magic than the other way, of course, but our tutors recognised that there might well be occasions where using magic was dangerous, so we learnt how to do things the normal way as well. Then, we had both options available to us.

But right now, the three of us trooped into the refectory to see what was available to nibble on since it wasn’t one of the meal periods at that moment.

Lanna’s not cooking today, I said.

It was Sanctuary policy that everyone took a turn at every job. That was fair, and most of the time it worked well. Unfortunately, one area where it sometimes fell down was in the kitchen.

Some people just weren’t talented at food preparation, even using magic, and the results, shall we say, sometimes left something to be desired. Lanna was universally acclaimed as the best cook in the compound.

I don’t care, Mindish said irritably. I’m exhausted and I’m starving. As long as it’s edible, it’ll do me.

Dalin and I both laughed at her flash of temper. I wisely kept my mouth shut and any comments to myself.

Mindish had made some good progress in building up her magical stamina, but lately, she seemed to have hit a bit of a wall, and it really frustrated her. I didn’t have the same problem, which just rubbed it in.

Before coming here, I hadn’t really done magic on a regular basis. Not to anywhere near the extent that people did here, that was for sure. At home, I might use it three or four times a day. Here, they did absolutely everything by magic. From fighting a battle to making a cup of tea, it was all done by magic.

Magical stamina had never been an issue for me before coming to the Sanctuary because I simply didn’t do enough magic for it to matter. So, I’d been amazed to discover that I was one of those magicians who just naturally conserve energy.

I’m not sure how, actually. We just seem to work more economically or something. But the result is that we have less of a problem with magical stamina than other magicians training at magi level.

I’d only been at the Sanctuary for two days and hadn’t even started training the first time I outlasted Mindish. Admittedly, she wasn’t all that far ahead of me in the training, but I knew it had upset Mindish a little.

That probably had something to do with the fact that she not only didn’t last the distance but had actually fainted. She’d been embarrassed about that.

She hated the process of building up her ‘magical muscles’, and was a little envious as a result, I think. Usually, she was good about it, but when she was struggling, she tended to get snippy, and I really wasn’t in the mood just then.

Fortunately, the moment passed, helped along by the fact that there were some rather delicious-looking pastries available. We quickly grabbed drinks and a pastry each and found a seat. It was midmorning, and most people were at classes or work, so we had the place virtually to ourselves.

Oh, yum! Mindish moaned, struggling to catch the fruit filling that oozed out as she bit into her pastry. Just what I needed, something sweet and sticky.

I sipped my tea and absently watched Mindish lick the spilt filling off her fingers as the fight replayed in my mind. I was fairly sure I knew why she kept beating me. I just didn’t know what to do about it, and it was really starting to bug me.

When I first arrived at the Sanctuary and was invited to stay and learn, I’d sort of thought that it was just a matter of building up my magical stamina, my ‘magical muscles’ as my friend Gorda liked to say.

But I’d quickly discovered, there was a lot more to being a magus than just raw power or even magical muscle. If Mindish’s main problem was building up her stamina, mine was building my imagination.

I’d only been here a couple of days when the Ladrisians had come close to discovering this place and we’d had to shore up the magical wards that protected it. That had involved camping out, and as with almost everything else in this place, we created our shelters by magic.

I would never forget my shock when Mindish created her tent. It actually was a tent, but it was bright, glaring lime green with shocking pink trim and a live pink and green dragon sitting on the top of it.

And the inside, instead of containing the expected bedroll, had a double bed with an iron frame and a bright patchwork quilt, a couch, and even a bathtub! And, when I’d looked around at what others had created, that was one of the more conservative offerings.

After all, in a world of magic where you could create anything you could imagine, why would you settle for something ordinary? It was a concept that the magi grew up with. Even before their own magic developed, they watched their parents, relatives, and other adults using magic to do incredible things.

They’d never had to curb their imagination when it came to what was possible. For them, it all was. Even where it violated natural laws, magical laws took over and compensated.

In fact, for them, I’d noticed, there was always something of a competition to come up with the variation that was the most different, the wildest and the most out of the ordinary.

I hadn’t grown up that way, of course, and it really showed. I’d grown up with definite ideas about what was possible and what wasn’t, and it wasn’t easy to let those go, as I was discovering.

I was all tied up in the limitations. I couldn’t let my imagination soar as the native-born magi could. It got a bit embarrassing, actually. The magi put a great deal of store in originality, and they tended to laugh at anyone who was a bit pedestrian in their imaginings.

There was real pressure to be bigger, bolder, and zanier than everyone else, and I failed miserably. If Mindish got frustrated about her magical stamina, I felt continually humiliated by my lack of imagination.

Still, a bit of embarrassment was a good incentive to work hard and overcome the problem, I guess. And it wasn’t all the time. Day-to-day stuff was pretty standard. It was only when we came to something like camping out – or combat – that it mattered.

But that was, I was certain, a large part of why Mindish continually beat me in combat training. As I mentioned before, I found her a little predictable in some aspects of her physical technique, but she was continually surprising me with new spells that I couldn’t anticipate and therefore couldn’t counter, like the rebound one that had got me that morning.

Whereas even when I managed to come up with something new, it tended to be modelled on something I’d already done and was therefore predictable. And relatively easy to counter as a result.

It drove me crazy. I comforted myself by reminding myself that any real opponent wouldn’t know me and therefore wouldn’t be able to anticipate what I might do.

But that wasn’t really the point right then. I wanted to beat Mindish. Every time she beat me, it undermined my confidence a little bit more.

As I think I said before, I was still finding my place in the Liberation Army. I was happy to study combat, reasoning that knowing how to defend myself wasn’t going to be wasted whatever happened or whatever I ended up doing.

However, I wasn’t at all sure that a combat role was for me. And losing to Mindish almost every time we fought was doing little to reassure me on that point. But anyway.

Sorry, Dalin, I said. I was leagues away. What did you say?

I was just saying, I didn’t want to disrupt your concentration before the bout, but I’ve been asked to inform you that Count Alradan’s appeal was heard yesterday.

Oh, I said, putting my pastry down. I’d lost my appetite suddenly.

I fully understood why they took pains to keep victims informed of what was happening in the cases that concerned them, and overall, I agreed with the idea. It was just that, sometimes, it felt as though they just kept raking it all up again and I couldn’t put it behind me and forget about it.

When I first arrived at the Sanctuary, Count Alradan, a rather nasty, spoilt bully, had attacked me for no better reason than that he thought I was an elemental magician and couldn’t defend myself. He’d discovered he was wrong.

However, instead of giving up, he and one of his friends had later set out to rape me, presumably in revenge. That hadn’t worked out the way they thought, either. I’d managed to escape, and they’d been apprehended.

Since then, they’d spent some time in custody and some out on bail while their case, and then Alradan’s appeal, had been pending.

He'd been forbidden to come anywhere near me, but he’d still managed, quite successfully, to let me know that he fully expected to get off and I’d better look out when he was free.

The problem with that was that Alradan was the son of the Master, the powerful magus who ruled the Sanctuary. And the reason he was such a bully was that his mother spoiled him rotten and then pleaded his case with his father when there was trouble and normally managed to smooth things over and get him off.

Apparently, the Master had been busy saving the remaining remnant of the magi from the Ladrisians and so hadn’t been present for much of Alradan’s upbringing. His leniency when it came to his son was generally attributed to guilt.

I’d been assured that no amount of pleading on his mother’s part would be sufficient to excuse charges of this degree of gravity, but stranger things had happened. I’d believe it when I saw it.

The Sanctuary had become my home, but I might have to leave it yet. I swallowed against the sickness in my stomach.

The judgement was handed down this morning, Dalin said. The Count’s appeal has been dismissed. His conviction stands, and the sentence is two years in exile.

I struggled to draw in a breath. It felt suddenly as though there was no air in the room. Mindish leaned across and thumped me between the shoulder blades.

Thanks, I gasped as I managed to get some air at last.

Dalin was grinning at me. You had your doubts, I take it? he said.

Can you blame me? I said. Alradan seems to get away with anything he pleases. Even when they were breaking into my cottage, they weren’t being particularly quiet, as though they thought they had nothing to fear.

Well, his luck’s run out now, Dalin said grimly. A team of Justiciars will escort him through the wards this morning, and then they’ll be sealed against him. There’s no way he can get back in until his sentence is completed, so you’re quite safe.

I nodded. I wanted to thank him, but instead, I put my elbows on the table and my head in my hands and burst into tears. I couldn’t help it. Mindish created a handkerchief and handed it to me.

Thanks, I said. I’m sorry. I’m just so relieved.

Of course you are, Mindish said sympathetically. Believe me, I know exactly what a relief it is that my dear cousin won’t be around any longer. He’s nothing if not vengeful when he’s been crossed. If he’d managed to get off, you probably would have had to leave eventually. He’d have made your life sheer hell.

Well, no fear of that now, Dalin said. Two years of living on the outside, not being able to use magic except in private, and not having his mother there to help him get away with things, will be quite a shock for him. If there’s any hope for that young man, that should do it.

Do you think it will work? Mindish asked.

With Alradan? Dalin said. I don’t know. I have seen some people completely change their outlook after having to live as a commoner for a while and suddenly realising just how privileged they were before. But Alradan may be too far gone. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Are we absolutely sure it’s safe to turn him loose out there? I said as a horrible thought occurred to me. "I mean, how can you be sure he does as he’s supposed to? And can you stop him if he ignores the rules and carries on using magic whenever he pleases? He hasn’t exactly been noted for playing by the rules so far, has he?

Because it seems to me that that could be incredibly dangerous. This place is only safe because the Ladrisians don’t know about it. If someone like Alradan gives the game away, and the Ladrisians realise that there are definitely still magi around, we could all be in danger.

He’s not just turned loose, Zahli, Dalin said. "These are the worst criminals we’re talking about, and as you say, that would be completely stupid. These are people who don’t think the rules apply to them, which is exactly why they’re in the situation they’re in.

"They are supervised and monitored for exactly those reasons. People who are sentenced to exile know that monitoring spells are following their every move and that any breach of the rules will see them subjected to binding spells that will prevent them from being able to use magic at all.

In extreme cases, they can be brought back here to serve the remainder of their sentence in the cells. Plus, in either case, there are penalties added for non-compliance. Most prefer freedom with restricted use of magic to that.

I pity the poor person who gets landed with the job of supervising Alradan, Mindish said. I hope they get a bonus for having to put up with a brat like him.

I burst out laughing. Trust Mindish to come out with something like that. It wouldn’t be a laughing matter for the poor person saddled with the job, though. Alradan was a nasty piece of work.

Anyway, thanks for letting me know, I said to Dalin. I have to say, it’s a relief to know I won’t have to worry about him any longer.

CHAPTER THREE

Are we going to attend the next lesson? Mindish asked. Because if we are, we’d better eat up and get moving.

Not for me, Dalin said. I’ve got to go on duty. He shoved the last bite of his pastry in his mouth, drained his cup, and got to his feet.

Same time next week? he asked.

Definitely, I said.

Dalin nodded and walked out of the refectory, headed for the drawbridge. Dalin was a Justiciar, one of the men and women who formed the police force and court system in the Sanctuary. Like most official entities here, they had an office in the castle that stood in the lake, joined to the shore by a drawbridge.

The Justiciars policed the sanctuary and dealt with any crime that happened here, but they also investigated reported traitors and collaborators and, if it was deemed necessary, tried them and carried out the sentence.

It had been the Justiciars who’d recorded my evidence about my cousin Eldra’s treason when I first arrived here, along with that of Wodor, the gryf-wolf who’d brought me here, and sent investigators to find out more.

They’d then held a trial and handed down a judgment of death, and an execution squad had been sent to carry out the sentence. They didn’t though, as it happened. It was Mindish who had killed my cousin when she tried to take her hostage.

Wow, for a woman who used to spend her life running a shop and maybe spending an hour or two in the tavern with friends of an evening, a lot had happened to me just lately.

The very foundations of my life, my very identity, had been shaken. Months on, I was still trying to completely wrap my head around it and come to terms with it