Frayed Ties (Ties, Book 1) | ✓

Chapter 12

The other Soldier, who had lighter hair pulled back in a ponytail and eyebrows with a talent for expressing her scorn, scoffed. "Yeah, I'm sure you won't tell anyone about this. Why the hell would we trust you?"

Danya's hands fisted at his sides. "Because you can't just kill him for no reason!"

She folded her arms over her chest. "I've got a whole list of reasons."

The smaller mage grabbed her arm and murmured something to her. The Soldier shook her head and grumbled something back as she gestured at them angrily. The other Soldier huddled in and joined the hushed conversation.

It was the short haired Soldier who ultimately stepped forward to address them. "Well, looks like we've got two options here for you. We can fight, which honestly I'm not too keen on because we've got Lynna here and I'd feel pretty bad if she got caught. Or... you two can surrender and come with us and our leader can decide what to do with you."

"Which might be kill us," Simon said.

"Well... maybe. But probably only you."

"Probably isn't good enough." Without breaking eye contact with the Soldier, Simon reached down, found Danya's wrist, and held on. "Whatever happens, I want his safety guaranteed."

"Well, thing is I can't guarantee anything when he's a fighty little bastard," she said. "No offense. I'm honestly impressed."

Danya dipped his head. His adrenaline fueled confidence was fading and all that was left in its place was cold dread. What he'd just done... there was no coming back from this.

Simon's hand was squeezing Danya's wrist too firmly now. "He won't give you any more trouble as long as you don't threaten him."

Danya turned to him, agast. "I won't let them hurt you!"

Simon pulled Danya closer and ducked his head to talk to him. "Do you actually stand any chance against them? I'm asking that genuinely, because at this point I honestly don't know."

Danya shook his head and cast his voice too low for the other mages to overhear. "I was mostly bluffing."

"Mm, mostly," Simon said. He may not have known where the exact line of Danya's abilities was meant to lay, but he definitely knew that had been well past it. That had been combat magic.

"If neither of you give us any trouble, then you'll probably both be safe," the short haired Soldier assured them. "I mean, that's not gonna be my decision to make, but I can't really see us executing someone."

Simon released Danya's wrist and raised his hands above his head in surrender. "That's good enough for me."

Reluctantly, Danya did the same.

The Soldiers came forward and patted the two of them down while the other mage hung back. Danya didn't have anything hidden on his person, but they took three knives from Simon.

Simon made a face as the long haired Soldier took the knife he kept tucked under his jacket. "Can I keep hold of one of those?"

"You're asking me, your captor, whether I'll let you have a knife?" She stared at him flatly. "No."

"Well, okay, yeah, that's fair. My name's Simon, by the way, and this is Danya."

"Uh huh."

The other mage had joined them now that they had been disarmed. "I'm Lynna. The grumpy one is Sharn," she pointed to the long haired Soldier, "and the one who's slightly less keen on killing you is Gaira."

"Nice to meet you," Simon said as he slowly buttoned his jacket back up. "Well, not nice, given the circumstances, but..."

"I think interesting is the word for it," Lynna offered. "Good, bad... I don't know yet. But interesting, definitely."