Free All Spell Breaks Loose by Lisa Shearin

around.”
    “I’ve noticed that. I don’t want to be around me, either.”
    Tam clapped a hand on his son’s shoulder. “You’re going through with me.”
    “With?”
    “To make sure that magic of yours doesn’t spring an ill-timed leak.”
    Jash and Nath squeezed through the crack in the city wall without incident. The other goblins followed, including Prince Chigaru and Imala.
    Chigaru didn’t have any magic. Odd how the family who had ruled the goblins for the past two thousand years didn’t have a spark of magic to their names. A few could sling a respectable spell in a pinch, but for the most part, they were all nulls. Which said a hell of a lot about their otherskills—like terrifying their subjects. There had been coup attempts down through the centuries, but if one Mal’Salin went down, there was always another waiting in the wings.
    If our lives suddenly decided to turn ideal, Sathrik and Sarad Nukpana both would choke on a chicken bone, preferably at the same time, emptying the big chair and the space behind it for Chigaru and Tam.
    Carnades was next to go through the opening.
    The elf mage had slithered his way to one step away from being archmagus. Carnades was patient, waiting for the chance to make his move, be it in politics or getting his chains around my neck. He went through without a peep. Those magic-sapping manacles were downright handy.
    Tam and Talon went through together, with both of Tam’s hands on Talon’s shoulders. If the kid didn’t like it, he kept his opinion to himself. He knew what was waiting inside those walls. Staying on Mid and reporting to Vegard during a goblin invasion probably looked like sweet duty right about now. Mychael kept a hand on Piaras’s shoulder. He knew Piaras’s abilities, and that the kid could squelch his own magic, but now wasn’t the time to take chances. We’d be taking plenty of those later.
    It was my turn.
    I could swear I felt the air pressure drop as everyone took a deep breath and held it. Mychael and Tam remained on the other side of the opening, the torchlight showing me their expressionless faces. They knew as well as I did that Sarad Nukpana could have had something other than magic being picked up by those sensors. Magic was the only thing they could help me cover up, so taking the next couple of steps without setting off alarms throughout the city was all up to me.
    I tried to empty my mind, which shouldn’t have been that much of a challenge, and went with the breath-holding thing, too. As I stepped through, my heart decided to skip a couple of beats. That part wasn’t my idea, but I wasn’t opposed tothe sensors picking up a dead person if they noticed anything at all.
    Nothing.
    At least nothing I could hear. Everyone else was looking up and around like they expected Khrynsani to drop through the ceiling or jump through the walls. Neither happened, and my heart started beating double time again. I told myself it was just making up for stopping for a second there, not that I was scared out of my wits.
    Jash motioned for us to follow him. There were three directions open to us. Two appeared to go to the right and left of the opening, running against the city walls. We’d followed Jash into the one that went straight—and apparently deeper into the city. The rest of the Resistance fighters split into two groups and disappeared down the two tunnels running along the city walls.
    Nath drew close to Tam and Mychael. I was close enough to hear him. “The others will make their way to our other hideouts.”
    Tam exchanged a look with Mychael. “And we’re going where?” he asked.
    Nath gave his brother a genuine, warm smile. “Home.”
    I could see why a race that wasn’t that fond of sunlight would have
tunnels running under their city. Though if they got us from here to wherever and whatever Nath referred to as home, I had no problem with them. The problem I did have, had everything to do with the tunnels’ condition. The