<div>


    <div>


    <h2 style="text-transform: uppercase"> </h2>


    <div>


    The tower bustled with activity as Lana ran. Rhinn soldiers had been plentiful on the lower floors, but now that she’d climbed a few, she encountered pyromancers, heat mages, and the occasional priest or traveler. They were all in the process of escaping. Purely on chance, she’d stumbled into a room filled to the brim with fire mages. They were lining up to enter through an open gateway.


    Their large numbers made her freeze, easily twenty of them. When they noticed her presence, the pyromancers launched waves, balls, streams of fire at her where she stood, gaping at the doorway.


    Mia hadn’t been among them. Confirming that was the only thing she’d had time for before fleeing their attacks. Though it irked her that the fire mages were escaping, there wasn''t anything she could do on her own. Besides, she had her own mission, finding that wind-scoured pyromancer who’d burned down her home in an attempt to assassinate her father. Her father lived through it, but numerous servants had died and, much to her fury, her beloved cat.


    She’d been too young to remember the cat in any real capacity, but the hurt still lingered in her chest. The hurt and the anger. Today, Lana focused on the anger.


    Sarien and Goslin were a comforting sight after she’d dispatched a couple of pyromancers who refused to give her any of the information she sought, but Lana decided to continue on her own. They had their own agenda, and she had hers.


    Three floors up, she found a fire mage on his own, an old man with more embroidery on his red robes than a Loftian debutante''s dress. Fear shone in the pyromancer’s eyes, and he attempted to escape. Lana landed on his back with a thud, shoving him to the floor with her on top of him.


    He flailed, and wouldn’t stop yelping, so she forced him onto his back.


    "Tell me your name, pyromancer."


    His eyes widened even further when she shoved a dagger made out of solid white light into his face, moving the point threateningly near his eye. "A-Archibald," he stammered.


    "You’re a director of some sort?"


    "Logistics!" he cried out. "I’m the Director of Logistics."


    Lana scowled. "What does that even mean?"


    The man began rambling a lengthy explanation, but Lana had neither the time nor the patience for it. "Never mind. Mia, where is she?"


    "M-Mia?"


    "A pyromancer. She was in Vinden eighteen years ago."


    "We have no member by that name."Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Lana scraped the point of the dagger over Archibald’s cheek, leaving behind a thin line of blood. "Of course, you do."


    The pyromancer whimpered and held up his hands. "We don’t! I would know. I’m in charge of keeping lists."


    "Lists?"


    "I have the names of every known pyromancer in Maydian. I have a list. In Fyrie."


    She sighed and said, "Of course it’s in Fyrie," before pulling back her hand, ready to plunge the dagger into the pyromancer’s throat.


    Archibald held up his hands again, more desperately this time. "Wait! I think I know who you’re looking for and where to find her!"


    "A memory jostled free in that bald skull of yours, did it?”


    He gave her a weak smile. "Let me live and I’ll tell you."


    "Tell me and I’ll consider it."


    "There is a pyromancer named Mialena. It stands to reason she might go by Mia in some situations?"


    "Go on."


    "She isn’t here."


    She held the dagger closer again, and Archibald winced and closed his eyes. "Wait, wait. I know where you can find her."


    A single bead of sweat dribbled down his bald head.


    "Where?" Lana asked.


    "She’s a noblewoman, that one," the fat man said, talking so fast each word almost caught up to the one before it. "Her family has an estate. Children, unless they’re dead by now, grandchildren, servants. The rhinn don’t know about it. She left when all this broke out. You have to believe me."


    "Any pets?"


    "What?"


    "Never mind. Where is this estate?"


    "I’d have to look up the name, but it’s on the coast, almost on the border to Vatnbloet."


    Lana grimaced. "Are there a lot of estates up there?"


    He shook his head violently, his eyes never leaving the tip of Lana’s dagger.


    "Goslin should know then," Lana mused.


    She stood and backed away. "Go on then, scram."


    "You’ll really let me go?" Archibald asked, wiping sweat from his brow with the ornate robes.


    "As long as you don’t attack anyone, sure. I promised, didn’t I? Just don’t let me see you again."


    Wade emerged at the other end of the corridor, looking a little singed. He eyed the fleeing pyromancer and raised an eyebrow at Lana. "You found her?"


    "Might have," Lana confirmed. "But she isn’t here."


    He nodded to himself. "Too bad."


    "You’re hurt?" Lana asked.


    He wore red, like the pyromancers, a tight-fitting shirt and trousers that belonged on someone much shorter. Pale skin showed where the sleeves ended, just below his elbows.


    Wade looked at the burns on the fabric. "Nothing too bad. One of them surprised me and it took a moment to blow the fire back in her face."


    Lana winced at the thought of having her face melted off by fire. "Want to team up in here?" she asked. "Your lightning might come in handy."


    "Can’t use it inside."


    "You can’t?" she asked.


    Wade pointed upwards. "Lightning strikes from above. Striking through the windows from outside was difficult enough."


    "Right."


    "What should we do in here now?" Wade asked. Voices rang out, followed by the sound of metal on metal. An explosion shook the tower.


    "That came from above," Lana said.


    "Want to go up?" Wade asked. "I’d love to see the view from the roof."


    "Let’s clear the way," she agreed.


    Mia, or Mialena, wasn’t in the tower. Still, Lana was at least one step closer. She now knew the woman’s full name and where to find her. With Sarien back, it would be a quick trip and then she’d have her revenge.


    The pyromancer would get her due.