The little silver orb traced a pathway through the air, streaking its way towards the heat of the fireplace. Hudd started to stand, yelling in glee. Inez and Joppa both stopped and watched, unsure as to what was about to happen but were sure it would be important, and Kaspar had a triumphant look that didn't last too long.

Because once the orb halted in midair, mere feet from the flames, it became much clearer that perhaps the plan hadn't quite worked out as intended.

While she was chained to the table in the dungeon, Medya had been glad of the appearance of the guard, though the disgust that she felt almost paralyzed her for a moment. Other than the sickening taste of the rag, her gag never bothered her otherwise. When Master Vasati taught her to be invisible so she could be unobtrusive, he also taught her to cast all her spells silently. It would be pointless for an invisible servant to have to babble out an incantation and spoil the image of a book or cauldron magically floating over to where it needed to be without the wizard doing anything. Which was obviously because Medya was doing it for him.

So, it was quite easy to take the guard and slam him into the ceiling over and over with her magic until he was unconscious. And then, perhaps, a few more times till his head was pulped for the insult of wanting to rape her. She then used the same magic to lift the keychain from his corpse, bringing it to her waiting hands and unlocking herself. A few minutes of stretching after being confined for so long helped, and then she was digging through her pack to find some spare clothes and racing up the stairs to find Inez. She may not be wanted by her queen, but she wasn't going to let her fail in her quest for the throne.

Inez wasn't hard to find. Having twenty armed women in the castle tends to make noise, and even more so when Joppa was screaming while his finger was being cut off. But Medya remained invisible, not bothering to stop Nahmia when she was sent off to the dungeon to find her. Her place was at Inez's side, and though her heart hurt every time she gazed at her, she wasn't leaving. She had to stifle a sob when she realized that the princess was wearing the pendant that she'd left for Katja to give her, but luckily there was enough noise from the crying Joppa to cover up the sound she'd made.

It did help her heart to see her treating Joppa the way she did though. She held out a tiny sliver of hope that perhaps she still had a chance with Inez, but she refused to let her heart be broken again. Instead, she wandered down the hall a bit, taking in the bare walls and rooms, wondering why such a magnificent palace was almost empty of furnishings. Up ahead, Medya saw Kaspar rush from a side passageway into a room near the end of the hall, and she loped silently along to find out what was in there. She was able to slip into the room and heard the conversation while down the hall the heavy boots of Inez's group came closer and closer.

               Medya waited, crouching in the corner, hands on her fire and acid wands in case a fight broke out. Listening to the conversations was interesting, but she moved closer to Kaspar when he inched over to Joppa to help him up, and then started whispering. Why would he want to have some sphere thrown into a fireplace? A burst of magical energy wouldn't do much unless there were active spells that could be dispelled, which seemed unlikely in this room. No, that little orb was going to do something else. But not if she grabbed it with her magic.

So she did.

               "No!" she heard Hudd scream from behind her. She didn't care, but it was a good sign that he was upset that whatever was supposed to happen, didn't.

               She flicked her finger and the orb returned, hovering in front of Kaspar's eyes as she slipped one of her wands away and drew her dagger instead. She could see Joppa's eyes trained on the sphere, with his jaw opened in amazement. From the corner of her eye, she could also see Inez, a soft smile on her face, as though she knew that Medya was nearby. It was a good guess, obviously. She let the glamour of invisibility drop and pricked the tip of her dagger into the bottom of Kaspar's jaw. "Drop the sword, or you're dead," she said politely. The sound of metal ringing on the floor told her he had complied. "Now, tell me about the sphere."

               "Medya!" she heard Inez's harsh whisper behind her, but she kept her gaze on Kaspar. Inez would have to wait.

               "Fuck you!" Kaspar snarled.

               She pressed a little with the dagger, forcing his head upwards till he was staring at the ceiling. "I will ask you one more time. If you don't give me the correct answer, I'll slice you just deep enough that you'll bleed out nice and slow. Don't for a second think anyone will do a single thing to stop it either."

               The fighting near the door was getting fierce, though the women were in the room and making the remaining guards come to them through the doorway and exacting a heavy price. The counselors in the room were either dead, wounded, or had already surrendered. Kaspar wasn't a fool, he was going to die right now without an answer, and as loyal as he was to the king, he wasn't willing to die for a doomed plan.

               "The sphere will switch the souls of whoever imprinted on it with whoever has its twin," he finally choked out.

               "So, if the king has the other, he would have switched souls into his son's body?" Medya confirmed.

               "Yes. He wanted to marry Inez while in his son's body," Kaspar admitted.

               "You sick fuck!" Joppa yelled out, rushing up to the dais at his father, and punching him in the jaw. Inez didn't even bother to try and stop him, Hudd more than deserved it.

               Inez was stunned at the audacity of the plan. Would it have worked if she hadn't met Medya first? It just might have, had Joppa been the one to rescue her. Her body shuddered in disgust at the thought.

               "That is some interesting magic. I don't like it," Medya snarled. Gripping the back of Kaspar's jaw with her nails, she made him cry out in pain, only to use her spell to drop the sphere into his mouth and force it down his throat as soon as it was open.

               Kaspar's face started to turn red as he clawed at his throat, and he stumbled towards the council table trying to breathe. "He's all yours," Medya told Inez, not daring to look into her eyes for fear of being lost.

               Inez wanted to grab Medya, to hold her and make sure she knew how much she loved her. But she needed to end the fighting first. Taking two long strides, she grabbed Kaspar by the shoulders and launched him over the table, where he tumbled over and landed in the fireplace. The pain of the fire caused his whole body to spasm, and the orb to finally be ejected from his throat, only to land among the coals while Kaspar rolled out of the flames.

               There was indeed a bust of magic, one that caught the attention of everyone in the room. Katja, being less experienced than her fellow guards near the door flinched, and a low cut sliced into her knee while she tried to stem the tide of attackers. She fell back, screaming while Noa pulled her away from the fighting, trying to use her belt as a tourniquet to stem the flow of blood. But it was a bad cut, almost through the entire leg. For Kaspar, the burst meant his consciousness was now on the throne, in the body of the old king, whose son was flailing away at him. The jaw of his new body was already broken, as were several ribs, and the prince wasn't slowing down.

               For King Hudd, it was a welcome relief from the beating, though the flames still licked at his exposed skin. He tried to stand, though he stumbled as he tripped over the body of Ilin, who lay dead on the floor. He finally got upright, only to be confronted by a smiling Inez. He pulled Kaspar's dagger with a grin, thrusting it into her ribs as she moved closer, her sword drawn back in fury.

               "Goodbye Hudd!" was the last thing he heard before her sword was shoved through the eye of Kaspar's body.

               Inez turned in triumph and pain, clutching the dagger in her bleeding side, until she saw Katja on the ground, the blood streaming from her knee and her lower leg hanging by a thread. Noa was tightening her belt, causing the blood to slow, and hopefully keep her alive. Thinking quickly, Inez stuck her sword into the coals of the fire, pulling the dagger out while she waited, and causing the blood to pour out faster. Once the sword was red hot, she raced over to Katja, hoping to cauterize the bleeding, but knowing that her leg would be gone, and the pain would be almost unbearable.

               Medya had turned herself invisible once Inez was dealing with Kaspar, hoping to slip out unnoticed so she could decide what to do next. But when she saw Katja fall, she stopped. Kneeling in the corner, she dug through her backpack, looking for the potion case she'd got from the wizard tower. She pulled it out and opened it, pulling out vial after vial until she found one of the many potions of healing she had in her case. But when she saw the extent of the damage to Katja's leg, she knew the potion wouldn't work, so she tucked them away again. She saw Inez coming with the hot sword, and she raced over, turning herself visible once more.

               "Don't! Don't do that to her!" she crouched over Katja, keeping the sword away from her. She opened the backpack again, and this time pulled out a jar. It was supposed to be for her tail, but Katja's leg was worth more to her than that. Opening it up, she scooped some of the grey paste into her fingers and smeared it over the bleeding stump. In seconds, the leg was slowly regrowing before their eyes, and Medya passed the jar over to Noa. "I think she'd prefer you rubbing he leg," she told the young redhead, who smiled gratefully and got to work. "Keep adding more and more paste as you go until it is all back."

               With tears in her eyes, Inez watched Medya give up her tail for the girl she called a daughter. Walking carefully around the girls, she reached out for Medya, who tensed up in her grasp. But Inez wasn't going to let her go, and she pulled the smaller woman into her arms, stifling the pain in her side. The fighting was done now, all of Hudd's guards having witnessed the prince presumably killing his father, and unsure of what the fallout would be.

As for Inez, she only cared about the woman in her arms, and never letting her go. She didn't know what it would take or what it would cost, but she was willing to give up her throne if she must, just to keep her. The last day, not having her around and fearing for her life, had driven home just how much she couldn't live without her.

               She just had to make sure Medya felt the same.