by Jane Glatt
With her eyes closed, Kara pressed her ear to the wall. Was that—? No, there was nothing, no sounds coming through the rock. Just the earth settling on this side.
Chal struck the wall again and paused, but there was still no reply.
“It doesn’t mean they were . . . caught in it,” Chal said.
“It doesn’t mean they weren’t,” she replied. And Reo would have been there—he would have been the first one to pick up a tool and start digging in the morning and the last one to put it down at night.
She stepped back from the wall, shaking her head. They’d need to try again later. She turned to find the Mage staring at her.
“Can you make a way out now?” Chal asked him. “You need to make an exit.”
The Mage backed away, cowering. “I can’t,” he said, “I never could. That’s why I was sent to the workroom: I have power but I could never direct it, never make it do what I wanted it to do.” He leaned against the opposite wall, his head bowed.
“You have to try!” Chal said. “You have to!”
“You’re saying that you’ve never been able to create spells?” Kara asked. It would explain his story about the workroom.
“Only mage lights,” the Mage replied, not meeting her eyes. “I’ve never been able to create any other spells worth anything.”
“But you did while you were mad,” Chal said. “You created a way in here—or filled in an existing passage. How can you do something while you’re cursed that you can’t normally do? We should have left him mad, then at least he’d be willing to try to help us get out of here.”
“You tried that,” Kara said gently. The Mage walked away from them, rounding the bend until he was out of sight. “For weeks, you tried that. And it didn’t work.” She sighed. She was tired and trying very hard to not worry about Reo, and she didn’t want to give in to the panic and anger that was gripping Chal. “We’ll figure something out,” she said to Chal. “Or they’ll start digging us out again soon.”
Sha sat down and stared at the rock wall in front of her. What was happening on the other side of the wall? Where was Reo? She closed her eyes, blinking back tears.
For all her thoughts about staying in Seyoya, she wasn’t running away, especially not from Reo. She was trying to give him time to realize that he did care for her—or give herself time to get used to living with the possibility that he never would.
But in no way did she plan on being away from Old Rillidi—or Reo—forever. And now with the thought that she might never see him again—that he might be dead—she knew she didn’t want to be away from him. Not even for a few months.
Why hadn’t she told him how she felt? Why had she thought it would be easier to simply leave instead of being honest with him?
The unnamed Mage was braver than she was. He readily admitted that he loved and that his love was not reciprocated. Did he wallow in self-pity? Did he distance himself from the one he loved? Did he run away from the pain of loving someone who didn’t love him back?
No. He did his best to help her get what she wanted, and then he cheered all of her accomplishments after that. And he cherished the time he’d had with her.
He was self-less in his love. Kara knew her mother would never understand, never appreciate that she was loved in this way; nor would she realize how much she didn’t deserve it.
But Reo did. Reo deserved to be happy, to get what he wanted out of life after not being allowed to hope for a life of his own. He had one now—at least he did if he was still alive—and he deserved to have a chance to live it.
Which meant that when they got out of this cave, she wouldn’t run away: she would fulfill her obligations to Warrior Guild and make sure that Reo remained free. And she would tell him how she felt and not expect anything in return. And she would be happy for him. Even if he found happiness with someone else.
Chal sighed and wandered away, taking the mage light with him. The other light still glowed from beyond the bend where the Mage was.
Kara stood against the wall, with her ear pressed to it. She should look in on the Mage—maybe try to remove the last curse—but she felt she needed to be here in case someone—in case Reo—tried to communicate with them. For as much as they were worried about those on the outside, they would be just as worried for them in here.
Chal came back and stared at her.
“It’s worse than we thought,” he said. He held up the waterskin. “The cave-in has cut off the stream and this is all the water we have left.”
Kara held the mage light up as she knelt and pushed the pile of rocks and stones aside. There was a damp spot, but water no longer trickled out from the crevice in the wall. She sat back on her heels.
“It may come back,” she said. “But it may not.” She ran a hand through her hair. They had water for a day, maybe, if they rationed it carefully. She looked over her shoulder at Chal, who was pacing the width of the cave.
“So that’s it,” Chal said. He sighed. He tore a strip off his shirt and handed it to her. “Leave this on the water. It might soak up a few drops. It might be enough to delay the inevitable for a day or so.”
Kara shoved the fabric into the dirt. It was better than giving up, but whatever moisture collected in the scrap of cloth wouldn’t save them.
She stood up and handed the mage light to Chal and headed down the passageway.
“Where are you going?” Chal called after her.
“To remove the final curse from the Mage,” she said. “He might be our only hope.”
“He can’t do magic,” Chal said from right behind her. The light he was holding made her shadow stretch out in front of her.
“I know. But he still has magic—he might be able to do something.” Or she might be able to direct his magic, if he could create even an unfocussed spell. She’d used Valerio Valendi’s magic against him, so she knew she could do it. And so she would, because she had to.
SOMEONE WAS SHAKING his shoulder.
“Wake up,” a woman said.
He squinted up at her. His love! No, it was her daughter. He sat up.
“What is it, Kara?”
“I need to remove the last curse, and I think it’s best if you stay awake while I do it.” She leaned over him, the Seyoyan hovering behind her with a mage light in his hand.
“All right.” Something had happened—had it? “The cave-in,” he said. “There was a cave-in—it happened when they tried to tunnel in from the other side.”
“Yes,” Kara replied. “And it’s diverted the stream. We’ll be out of water soon so we need to get out of here. For that, you must be able to do magic. Which means that I have to remove the curse.” She stared down at him so intently that he wanted to squirm away.
“But I can’t do spells,” he said. “It’s hopeless.” He couldn’t do magic. That was the bane of his life—that he couldn’t do magic. If he couldn’t make himself do magic in order to stay out of the workroom another desperate situation wasn’t going to change that. “I’ll fail again. Like I always do.”
“Not always.”
He hadn’t realized he’d spoken that out loud until she responded.
“You didn’t fail my mother, did you?” Kara asked. “You helped her, and now you’re going to help me.” She waved a hand over his head. “Tell me if anything hurts.”
He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate on what he was feeling. She was right—he hadn’t failed Arabella—he was the reason she’d escaped the fate of the workroom. Him. He smiled. He hadn’t thought of that, hadn’t realized that he’d been successful in that one thing.
“Ow.” A splitting headache sucked the breath from him. He lifted a hand to his head, but Kara brushed it away.
“Sorry,” she said. “I need to see. Does that feel better?”
“Yes,” he gasped. He still had a headache but it no longer felt like a vise was tightening around his head.
“All right. This might be bad.”
Pain stabbed his temple, and
a scream tore from his throat. He clutched his head and fell onto his side. He took a deep, shuddering breath—and then suddenly the pain was gone.
“Gyda that hurt!” He was weak, too weak to even lift his head, but he was alive. And he knew who he was. He lay there for a few moments before he opened his eyes.
“Dario Todaro,” he said.
“What was that?” Kara leaned over him, and he looked into her relieved eyes. “Did you say something?”
He smiled and she smiled back, tentatively.
“My name. Dario Todaro.” He closed his eyes. “I think it worked.” He was so tired. “Whatever you did, I think it worked.”
“HE’S ASLEEP,” KARA said as she straightened and stood up. “I’m not surprised. It happened with Santos sometimes. He’d fall asleep right after I removed a particularly nasty curse.”
“But he’s alive,” Chal said. “And I don’t see any more mage mist around him.”
“I’ve removed it all,” Kara agreed. She was thankful that he was alive—she hadn’t been certain but she’d thought the last spell she removed had been a killing spell. Well, she’d treated it as one, and the Mage had lived through the removal of it.
“And he knows his name,” she continued. “Dario Todaro. Hopefully he won’t sleep for very long and we can try to get out of here.”
“You have a plan,” Chal said as he led them away from where the Mage—Dario—was sleeping back to the wall they hoped to escape through.
“I have an idea for a plan,” Kara said. “And no way to know if it will work or not. Whatever spells Dario can create—or the magic he uses to try to create them—I hope to manipulate to . . . I don’t know, dig through the rock and make a tunnel.”
“You can do that?”
“I hope so.” She really had no idea if she could or not, but she couldn’t think of anything else. “I know I can redirect spells, so even if that’s all I can do, it should work.” It would work—there was no other choice. Not unless Dario could suddenly create a spell that saved them all.
“If anyone can, you can,” Chal said. He sat down with his back to the wall, and Kara joined him.
She appreciated his confidence when she wasn’t feeling quite so certain. She’d need to convince Dario that he, too, could do what was required.
She sighed. It was still quiet; digging had not resumed so either everyone was dead—her heart constricted at the thought of Reo being gone—or it was no longer safe to dig there.
She pushed down her fear for Reo’s safety—it wouldn’t help her—and instead stared at the wall in front of her.
“You said that you knew the exact spot where I came in?” she asked Chal, who had been pressing his ear against the wall.
Head bent, Chal paced along the wall. “Right here.” He pointed at a spot on the rock. “I made this mark just after you arrived.” He met her eyes and rolled his. “I’d been here long enough to know that everything looks the same after a few days.”
“All right.” Kara stared at the spot. “That’s where I’ll focus the magic. Once Dario wakes up.”
Chapter Seven
A FOOT SCUFFED nearby and she lifted her head from where she sat slumped against the wall.
“Kara.”
She looked up to see Dario Todaro staring down at her. He set the second mage light down on the ground and sat down beside her.
“I remember everything,” he said. “Thank you.”
“You might not be grateful if we can’t get out of here,” she said.
“A simple ‘you’re welcome’ is the appropriate response,” he replied. “If it’s going to happen, I’d rather die with my memories intact.”
“Of course.” She felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. “I didn’t mean . . .” She stopped, because that was exactly what she’d meant—that being mad—dying mad—was better than dying sane. “Sorry, your madness was a curse—a form of punishment. Of course, you’d rather be sane if . . .” she trailed off, not wanting to put their possible fate into words.
“Let’s hope none of us dies,” Dario said. “How is it you think I can help?”
Kara met his eyes and smiled. “My mother was lucky to have you as a friend.” And didn’t deserve you, she thought. Instead she got to her feet and held out her hand for him to take.
“I will need you to try to create spells or at the very least collect magic that I will direct.”
“I CAN ALWAYS create mage lights,” Dario said. “It’s what has always given me—and others—hope that one day I could do real magic.”
“But mage lights are real magic,” Kara said.
They were leaning against one wall staring across at the one they wanted—needed—to tunnel through. Chal—he’d finally found out the Seyoyan’s name—had gone to the spring to see if he could somehow collect a few drops of water.
And both Kara and Chal, to his astonishment, could see magic—could see spells!
Even in the workroom, he’d heard rumours that such people existed, but he’d never fully believed it. Just as he’d never fully believed in Assassins. Yet apparently one was on the other side of this cave wall trying to dig them out. Or he had been until they’d heard the cave-in.
He could tell that Kara was afraid—Chal was too, but at times Kara’s fear and worry seemed to come off her in waves—that this Assassin had been caught in the cave-in.
“Mage lights are magic,” he agreed. “But it’s the simplest spell—one of the very first children are taught—so it’s not much.”
“You’re pale blue,” Kara said.
“What?” He was confused. “Pale blue? What does that mean?”
“The colour of your magic,” she said. “Your mage mist. It’s a pale blue colour. Like the sky.”
“Oh, interesting.” To be honest, since childhood, he hadn’t actually seen the sky very often. He’d spent most of his days in the workrooms—arriving when it was dark and leaving when it was dark. “Is that an unusual colour?”
“Not really. All Mages have their own colour,” she said. “That’s how I know Valerio Valendi cursed you. He also cursed Santos.”
“Santos. Do you mean Santos Nimali?” He only knew of one Santos—a few years ago he’d been the Mage Guild Primus. He’d visited the workroom once, although Dario hadn’t spoken to him.
“Yes, I helped him the same way I helped you,” she said matter-of-factly, as though she dealt with the most powerful Mages daily. And maybe she did?
“He has an estate on Old Rillidi,” Kara continued. “That’s where I live. He’ll welcome you, if you want to joins us.”
“I . . .” What did one say to that? “I’ll certainly consider it, but we need to get out of here first.” And he was starting to think that they might actually do it—that Kara might actually be able to do what she was planning on doing: taking his power and using it to tunnel through rock.
“All right,” she said. “I need you to collect all the magic you can.”
He tried to concentrate on drawing power to him, on feeling it fill him up with energy, but after a few moments of nothing, he shook his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why did you stop?” Kara asked.
“I didn’t think it was working. Was it?”
“Yes. The mage mist is so thick I can barely see your hands. You can’t feel it?”
“No, I didn’t think it was working.” He’d been told by everyone that he would feel the energy when he was collecting magic. Had they been wrong all this time? “Do you think I can do spells by myself?”
“Do you want to try?” Kara stood up and held out her hand. He grabbed it, and she helped him to his feet.
“Other than lights I’ve never been able to create spells,” he said. “So they stopped telling me how to do it. Do you know?”
“I think it’s about intent,” Kara said. “You need to think about what you intend to happen, then . . . I don’t know, throw the magic at it? What do you do when you create a mage light?”
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“I think about the need for a light.” He smiled. He could do this. “Ready?” She nodded, and he focused on the wall in front of him; on making a passageway that would lead them outside. Then he tried to throw his magic at it.
“Get down!” Kara slammed into him just as air rushed past him and something smashed into the rock behind him. Dust and rock showered down on them.
“Did it work?” Chal burst into view and stopped. “Are you two all right?”
Dario gently rolled over; Kara was still partially wedged against him. He brushed dust off of them both and gingerly got to his feet. Chal bent down and helped Kara up.
“I think I need more practice,” he said. Then he grinned. “But I did it—I actually created a spell that blasted the rock!” He was a Mage—after all these years—he was truly a Mage.
“Next time I’ll be prepared to direct the spell,” Kara said and smiled back at him.
Suddenly he heard the sound of something hammering on rock.
“What—?”
“Shhh,” Kara said. “Be quiet.” She and Chal both rushed to the opposite wall and pressed their ears to it.
The banging came again, in a pattern that could only be manmade. Chal smiled and stepped back, searching the ground. He picked up a rock and pounded on the wall with it, then sat waiting, his ear pressed to the wall.
KARA HELD HER breath; was it Reo? Would there be a reply to Chal’s message, proving that Reo was alive?
She waited, not daring to breathe, not wanting to make a sound. There! Was that a reply? She stared at Chal. When a grin split his face, she closed her eyes as relief and happiness coursed through her.
“It’s Reo,” Chal said; he held up a hand as the tapping sounds continued. After a few moments, he stepped back from the wall, still smiling.
“They had a few injuries,” he said. “Some bruises and one black eye, but nothing worse. It’s taken them this long to clear out the debris and make sure the ceiling won’t collapse again. Reo was very relieved to find out that we’re alive.” He paused. “What do you want me to tell him to do? Should they continue?”