Introduction
The moment the royal capital's drawbridge was lowered, before the academy bell could toll a second time, a crossbow's twang rang out first at the gates of the Sacred Candle Academy.
A court messenger collapsed on the stone steps, a red-waxed sealed letter rolling to Anya's feet.
She had just alighted from the northern carriage, her wooden chest still slung over her shoulder, when a second short bolt whizzed past her ear and embedded itself in the doorpost.