Reynard looked around, trying to find where the intruders had run off to. He could feel several auras moving around, but overall, the place was in complete chaos, full of too many shouts and sounds to hear much.
The spells of intruders created a lot of mist in the air and destroyed magical lanterns. There were still windows, but the sun outside was close to setting, and its light was dim and doused the hall in alarming oranges and reds.
The enemy magi were still in the hall, but if they wanted to keep low and blend with the crowds, they could do that easily.
Judging by the explosions, Marien was at least still alive and fighting. Reynard didn’t doubt her.
"Don’t panic, everyone!" Reynard shouted the famous words that never actually stopped anyone from panicking. "Stay calm and move to the exits!"
His voice only reached the closest civilians, but it seed to have helped. Next, Reynard helped to their feet a man thrown at him earlier by the blizzard, as well as a woman lying on the ground nearby.
Both were in a sorry state. The nobleman tried to mumble sothing about paying to be saved... Reynard didn’t listen, just directed them to the nearest exit from the hall.
He spent another minute helping more people. Just like panic spread akin to waves, so did Reynard’s small island of order, especially when he found a few surviving guards and gave them so life-strengthening potions to drink.
With the guards actually busy evacuating the people, the visibility in the hall beca better, and Reynard could walk without shoving people away at every turn.
He hurried toward Marien’s location and soon saw her aiming a Seeking Lightning at a magus hiding behind a raised wall of icicles. However, her spell was blasted mid-air by a volley of ice shards from another magus, after which both magi turned to run away.
Both of them looked battered, and their friends didn’t seem to be near. Not even lying on the floor.
"Agh! Don’t you dare run!" Marien shouted, starting a chase.
Reynard dashed after them, trying to intercept the pair, but they had noticed him as well. One of them had created a cloud of mist that hid them from sight for a mont.
Then both hid their auras, throwing Reynard off for a second. He raised his Golden Gun, still trying to aim... But when he caught the glimpse of the escaping magi, it was when they broke the nearest window and jumped outside.
Marien was close after them, despite the many obstacles on her way: from fallen chairs to fallen people. Like the two magi, she also didn’t watch what and who she was running over.
"Julia!" Reynard shouted. "Don’t chase them, you will just get into a trap!"
He could sense that the rest of the attackers were outside already. Either they gave up quickly, or they had already done what they ca to do.
Marien slowed down at the broken window and turned to Reynard before looking at the window again.
"Co on! They are weak, but it will be eight versus two if they don’t have any extra friends! Let them escape."
Marien jutted out her lip, then nodded.
"Fine! What... What a ss!"
"Yes." Reynard ran up to her and was glad to see the girl unhard. "Co on! The guards have barely begun to recover their wits, and there are dozens of people frozen or trampled. Since there’s nobody else who can do this, we must do our best to fix this."
"WE must? That’s the job for the guards of this place! I can’t believe the mayor didn’t have a single magus among them... They don’t even have enchanted armor—of course they don’t, it was all bought by the Orders!" Marien huffed. "Fine. But ONLY because the mayor is so incompetent. He will owe us!"
Reynard frowned.
"I don’t think this is just about the mayor... Anyway, let’s get moving."
But before he could start, there was a scream.
"The mayor! Mayor Matiliy is dead!"
***
’He isn’t, technically,’ Reynard thought, kneeling next to the man. ’Maybe.’
The mayor was lying in the sitting room, near a broken card table. There were holes in his pudgy body that didn’t match with continued life, and unlike in the case of any other victim today, those were made with purpose.
The attackers wanted the mayor dead, but when Reynard checked the man’s neck, he could still feel a pulse. Thankfully.
If there weren’t any pulse, then the city’s current situation would have suddenly beco ten tis more problematic.
A guard was hovering around in total ntal disarray until Marien caught him by the elbow and ordered him to help the other injured.
Reynard took off the Ring of Permafrost from his hand, put it on Matiliy’s hand, and activated the magic item.
’If this doesn’t work, at least I didn’t test it on myself or Marien,’ he thought.
In an instant, the mayor’s body was covered in ri. When Reynard touched the man, he was solid like a brick... A brick of frozen at.
There really wasn’t the slightest sign of life anymore, but Reynard could feel magic that was thrumming through the body and the Ring of Permafrost.
"Huh? Did you freeze him, love?" asked Marien, coming closer. "He... He IS dead, right?"
"I hope not. His injuries were severe, but I’m not a doctor to say how badly. Now, hopefully, he will LIVE to see a doctor. And the best healing concoction soone in this city can brew. Tsk. I must say, I hate to save people from self-inflicted injuries... But I feel sowhat guilty that he got into this state at all."
"What are you talking about?"
Reynard shook his head.
"Not here."
’When we asked her why she ca to this party, Alia said that she had a business with the mayor. But now she’s sohow not here at all. This can’t be a coincidence... What has she done?’
"Let’s do what we started going, my princess—organizing this ss. After this is done, maybe we will get so answers. And a reward from the mayor, if he gets to keep his life..."
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