Content warning for this chapter: non-graphic descriptions of violence, mentions of blood, deaths of very minor characters

Namaari leaned against the wall of the alleyway, her eyes darting around the busy marketplace. The square was filled with vendors selling food, handmade crafts, and art pieces that had been brought in from the surrounding villages. Every stall was decorated with paper lanterns that filled the market with a soft glow in the growing darkness. People were crowded into every inch of free space between the stalls, making it difficult to move without running into someone and filling the air with an almost deafening chatter.

Closing her eyes, Namaari took a deep breath that carried the smells of leather, spices, and cooking fires. She pressed her body against the wall of the alleyway, trying to use the cold stone to ground herself amidst the chaos. She had spent the last hour chasing after Raya and her friends, hanging behind the group until she had ducked into an alley to gather herself.

After a few more slow breaths, she opened her eyes again, letting her gaze flit between the people filling the marketplace. For a split second, her eyes landed on Tri, the guard who had been assigned to watch her tonight. He met her gaze briefly, giving her a solemn nod before melting back into the crowd. Namaari frowned and bit down on her lower lip as she went back to scanning the throngs of people. She couldn't see her now, but she knew there was another guard, Diep, sticking close to Raya tonight as well.

Laughter, loud and sharp, rang through the square, bringing Namaari's attention back to where Raya and her friends were standing at a nearby stall. Tong and Noi were laughing, watching Raya and Boun as they slurped from bowls of pho as fast as they could. Boun stopped, slamming his bowl on the counter and holding a nose as a noddle poked out of his nostril. Raya set her bowl down to slap Boun on the back as he coughed, still laughing heartily.

A smile hovered on Namaari's face as she watched the four of them. Then Raya looked up and met her eyes and Namaari tried to widen her smile, but it turned into more of a grimace. She dropped her gaze to the ground, biting the inside of her cheek and hunching her shoulders.

Namaari kept her eyes down and almost started in surprise when Noi walked into her view a few seconds later. She froze, staring at Noi as she waddled closer. Once she was within reach, Noi grabbed Namaari's pants near her knee, tugging gently on the cloth until Namaari knelt down in front of her. Giving Namaari a crooked grin, Noi held out a bowl with two pieces of butsi cradled inside.

"One for me," Noi said, pointing to herself. Then she pointed at Namaari. "One for you."

Namaari raised her hand toward the bowl, then hesitated. Noi pushed the dish toward her again and Namaari took the food, smiling tentatively as she popped the piece of butsi in her mouth.

Noi ate her piece as well, then set the bowl on the ground and raised her arms into the air. "Up." She huffed when Namaari only gave her a confused look, holding her arms higher as her hands grasped at the air. "Up!"

"Up? You want…oh!" Namaari grabbed Noi under her arms, spinning her around before settling her on her shoulders. She stood up slowly, then rocked forward onto her toes, bouncing slightly. Noi giggled, gripping Namaari's forehead to stay upright.

Boun appeared next to her and grabbed one of Namaari's hands, pulling her into the crowd. He led her through the maze of people as he babbled at her excitedly and pointed out all the foods he wanted to try next. Raya and Tong fell into step beside her, Raya nudging her shoulder gently while Tong gave her an approving nod. Boun yanked on Namaari's arm again as he rapidly changed directions and she could feel Noi's sticky fingers getting crumbs in her hair, but she couldn't stop the grin that broke across her face.

At the next stall, as Boun eagerly sampled some fried dumplings, a stranger from the crowd stopped next to Raya, jostling her roughly. Namaari went rigid and from the corner of her eye, she saw Diep emerge from the crowd, her hand on the hilt of the sword at her side. The stranger didn't seem to notice, exchanging pleasantries with the vendor and taking a bowl of dumplings before moving back into the crowd. Namaari let out a shaky breath, trying to get herself to relax as her heart beat wildly in her chest. In her peripheral vision, she saw Diep fade back into the mass of people surrounding them.

Raya reached out to touch Namaari's shoulder, squeezing it gently as she gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm okay. It was just an accident."

Namaari nodded, forcing herself to breathe deeply as she tried to focus on the plate the vendor had set in front of her. She grabbed the pair of chopsticks that had been laid out for her, lifting a dumpling in the air for Noi to grab. Noi took it eagerly, cramming it into her mouth and dropping even more crumbs in Namaari's hair.

A moment later, Boun gasped, seizing Raya's arm and shaking her roughly. "Raya!"

Raya tensed, her entire body on alert. "What? What is it?"

Boun pulled Raya down so he could whisper loudly in her ear. "I overheard someone saying that there's a stall here that makes…better congee than my family."

Raya relaxed, a grin spreading across her face as she tried her best to look indignant. "What? That's outrageous! Where are they?"

Boun started to pull Raya away from the group, pointing to a stall on the other side of the square. "You need to help me retaliate!"

Raya laughed as Boun dragged her into the crowd. "By 'retaliate,' do you mean 'eat all of their congee so no one else can try it?'"

Namaari smiled as she watched the two of them disappear into the mess of festival goers, doing her best to ignore the worry squirming in her stomach. She reached up to take Noi from her shoulders, turning to hand her to Tong. "She's very cute, but way too heavy to keep up here for long."

Tong chuckled, holding Noi against his chest with her head resting on his shoulder. "I think it's all the congee Boun's mother has been feeding her."

"That would explain it," Namaari said, rolling her neck and shoulders until they popped. She turned her eyes back to their surroundings, her gaze skipping through the crowd past a figure in dark robes that stood about ten feet from them.

She tensed, her eyes darting back to the figure to see they had been joined by two others dressed in the same manner. They wore midnight-blue robes with masks of the same material, hiding every part of their faces except their eyes. On the left breast of their robes was the stitched image of the Dragon Gem with a purple flame in its center.

Namaari was still frozen in place, the noise of the crowd around them drowned out by her heartbeat pounding in her ears. She pushed away from the stall's counter to drop into a combat stance, her training taking over as her mind fumbled to keep up. A moment later, Tri appeared next to her with his sword already drawn. Tong stood on her other side, angling his body so Noi was facing away from the figures. The people around them glanced nervously at Tri's sword, a murmur of worry traveling through them. One of the robed figures drew a knife from their belt and the crowd's energy started to become frantic.

Namaari took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she summoned her magic around her. The people surrounding them drew back as much as they could with the crush of bodies around them, leaving a clear path between Namaari, Tri, Tong and the robed figures. It felt like the world around them slowed, holding its breath as it waited. It reminded Namaari of a childhood trip to the coast, when she had watched from a distance as a tsunami rolled in. The water had drawn back, much farther than it usually did a low tide. The surface of the ocean had been unnaturally calm and even the wind seemed to quiet as the world waited for the inevitable chaos. Then the wave had crashed into the shore, beating and ripping and crushing and tearing everything in its path.

The figure with the knife charged forward and Namaari moved to meet him. She easily deflected his blow, pulling his arm to the side and twisting it sharply. Her attacker cried out, releasing his knife and sending it skidding across the stones. A sharp blow to the head sent him staggering backwards and another took him down. Tri and Tong engaged the other two figures, quickly dispatching them as well. As the bodies of their assailants hit the ground, someone screamed, breaking the spell that had held everyone in place. The crowd began to roll and surge around them like a wave, surrounding them with panicked shouts and flailing bodies.

Namaari planted her feet firmly, gritting her teeth as a villager ran into her shoulder. "We need to find Raya," she yelled, fighting to make herself heard over the chaos. "And make sure these people don't hurt anyone else."

She pushed forward into the crowd, hoping Tri and Tong would follow her even if they hadn't heard her. Her eyes searched the people desperately scrambling for safety, looking for any more robed figures or any sign of Raya. The blade of another knife appeared from the crowd next to her, pulled back to strike, but the wielder's arm suddenly went limp. Their bodies dropped to the ground next to their weapon, revealing Raya standing behind them with her fists raised and her shield shimmering around her. She hurried to Namaari's side, falling into step beside her as they continued to push through the crowd.

"We should head for the palace," Raya shouted, still barely loud enough for Namaari to hear. "It'll be easier to defend ourselves and there are fewer civilians. Where are Tong and Noi?"

Namaari glanced behind her, cursing when she couldn't see either of their friends. "They were with me a second ago, and so was Tri. Where are Boun and Diep?"

Raya shook her head. "I don't know. They were with me before everyone started to panic."

Namaari opened her mouth to respond but was cut off as two more attackers emerged from the crowd around them. They were armed with clubs, but their strikes were clumsy, and they fell after only a brief struggle.

Once their assailants were dealt with, Namaari froze, exhaling sharply as she felt the magic around her waiver. Her jaw clenched as panic started to rise in her chest, breathing heavily through her nose. She felt Raya's hand slip into hers and forced herself to focus on her face.

"We're okay," Raya said, wrapping her other hand around Namaari's and squeezing it tightly. "We can do this. We can keep our shield up long enough to find our friends and get to the palace." She pushed forward again, but had to let go of Namaari's hand when a group of villagers all but crashed into them a moment later.

They were attacked by four more assailants as they moved through the market square, but their shield gave them the advantage they needed to repel them. The crowd was starting to thin now, with many of the festival goers having fled the streets by this point. Tri and Diep broke free from a small group of people and took up places behind Raya and Namaari, their swords raised and alert for any other attacks. Namaari noticed with a sinking feeling in her stomach that both of their weapons were bloodied.

As they rounded the corner of the street that led to the palace, Tri screamed in pain, his sword clattering to the ground. There was a sickening thud as his body hit the cobblestones, followed by the buzzing of crossbow bolts through the air. Namaari glanced back in time to see Diep collapse with a bolt buried several inches in her chest. Raya swore loudly, ducking as two more bolts bounced off her shield. She ran over to a cart that had been abandoned near the entrance of an alleyway. Namaari quickly moved to help her, tipping the cart on its side and dragging it in front of the mouth of the alley. Once the cart was blocking the entrance of the alley, Namaari leaned over with her hands on her thighs, gasping for breath as Raya slumped against the wall of the adjacent house. "Are you hurt?" Namaari asked, still panting heavily.

Raya shook her head, wiping sweat from her brow. "No, they haven't been able to get through our shield. But there are so many of them. They'll overpower us or wear us out eventually."

Namaari clamped her mouth shut, forcing down a wave of nausea as she remembered the blood staining Diep's chest. "Or kill more innocent people. They don't seem to care who they hurt as long as they get to us."

Raya reached out to squeeze her shoulder, giving her a sorrowful look. "I think our best chance is to get to the palace, but this alley is a dead end, so I'm not—" She stopped as a door swung open further down the alley. They both tensed, their tired muscles trembling as they braced themselves for whoever was about to come into view.

A second later, Atitāya appeared in the doorway and Namaari almost collapsed as her body went weak with relief. Atitāya immediately waved them over, holding open the door so they could slip inside the building. It seemed to be a warehouse with a high ceiling and dozens of crates and urns stacked in neat rows. Once they were inside, Atitāya slid a bolt across the door. She turned to face them, her eyes quickly looking them over for injuries. "Are you hurt?" She waited until they both shook their heads, then motioned for them to follow as she began to weave through the stacks of containers.

Namaari hurried after her, struggling to catch her breath enough to speak. "We were trying to get to the palace," she managed to gasp. "Are the people who attacked us with Spirit?"

"Yes," Atitāya said without looking back. "Getting to the palace isn't possible anymore. There's a dozen of them blocking the gate and you two are in no shape to fight through them."

Namaari felt panic rising in her chest. "Then my mother—"

"Is safe," Atitāya said, gesturing downward with one of her hands. Opening a door at the far end of the room, she ushered them through another alley and into a second warehouse. She bolted the door behind them again before heading towards the back of the room. "Chief Virana is with the royal guard but asked me to come find you."

The adrenaline of the fight was starting to wear off, leaving Namaari's brain struggling to keep up with what was happening. "Then we have to get back to her," she said slowly.

Atitāya shook her head, still keeping her eyes forward. "No. The longer you linger in the city, the more likely it is that Spirit will turn on the people here. We're leaving. That's the only way I can keep both you two and the rest of the city safe. We'll return once things have calmed down and make a plan to strike back at Spirit."

The image of Tri and Diep lying with their blood pooling on the ground flashed in Namaari's mind. She swallowed thickly, pushing down the bile rising in her throat, and followed Atitāya without another word.