“No,” Master Envermet agreed. “He didn’t.”
“Which reminds me,” Liam continued. “If you come to our town, be careful. While most of us are against what is happening, there are some who are not. They’re smart and know they’re in the minority, so they keep their mouths shut and betray us when they can. If you come to town, the raiders will find out.”
Master Envermet glanced anxiously at Tamlin, but Liam shook his head. “Don’t you worry about that one. He was quick and careful. The only one who saw him was my own boy, and he only told me in private and away from my guests.”
Marsh breathed a sigh of relief, and Master Envermet relaxed slightly.
Liam continued, “I fetched Rocko and Marius in time to follow him from town, but it was hard work. He kept vanishing into one set of shadows and coming out of another. We came close to losing him several times.”
Tamlin stared at him, his face going white at the thought of what could have happened if the men hadn’t been friendly. Marsh decided she didn’t need to emphasize it later. The boy had pretty much made the jump all by himself.
I’ll remind him later, Roeglin said, if he shows signs of forgetting. That much terror will be easy to bring to the surface.
Marsh frowned, not sure it was a good idea, but she decided to leave it in Roeglin’s hands and trust his judgment. After all, it looked like he was going to be around a while. Another thought crossed her mind, and her frown deepened.
“If the raiders left so long ago, how would they know if we passed through?”
Liam shrugged. “We do not know. All we know is that there have been times when they have returned unexpectedly, usually when we need to do something out of their sight.”
“Do you know why?” Tamlin asked.
“Or who?” Master Envermet added.
Liam shook his head. “I wish we did, but on each occasion, it was when we set up a cover that involved a town activity that should have been considered normal for the season. The one thing we’re sure of is that it isn’t someone who knew the real plan or those involved, because the raiders didn’t know exactly where to strike.”
Rocko nodded. “They just arrived and blended with the crowds. They didn’t ask questions of anybody, but they were watching.”
“And they were everywhere,” Marius told them. “Back kitchens, stables, walking through people’s homes like they had every right.”
He shuddered. “If your boy hadn’t been watching the mouton that last time, we’d have been gone.”
Liam nodded, his eyes dark. “They nearly took him,” he said. “If I hadn’t been able to convince them he was terrified and we wouldn’t have a meal ready for them when they arrived, they would have.”
Judging by the looks on his friends’ faces, that came as news to them. Rocko laid a hand on Liam’s knee.
“That was too close,” he told the man. “You need to leave.”
Liam shook his head, but Marius broke in.
“You know you do. One more incident, no matter how small...” he gulped, “and they’ll take you all with no chance of escape. You know they will. You can’t let that happen.”
Liam shook his head. “But I can’t. For what I’ve done, I don’t deserve...”
Master Envermet’s voice cut through his anguish and self-loathing like a landslide. “I will speak for you. Sulema will expect you and your family inside the week.”
His eyes went white. “They will send riders within the next day if you can be ready.”
Rocko’s eyes lit up. “We could all escape,” he said. “Just vanish.”
Master Envermet smiled and looked at Marsh.
“You may not need to,” he told them, “but if what you say is true, then we need to ensure Liam and his family do not join the next shipment. From what you say, they may not have the time the rest of you do.”
Marius nodded. “You are right. One mistake, and they will be gone. Rocko and I, not so much.”
“Are you known as his friends?” Roeglin asked, and the three men shook their heads.
Rocko gave Liam a credible sneer. “This one? I only tolerate him because he bribes me with venison.” He jerked a thumb at Marius. “And this one brings me rabbits, or I wouldn’t be seen with either of them.”
Behind him, Roeglin nodded. The man spoke the truth.
Liam looked at the stars and then at Master Envermet. “We need to be getting back, or there will be questions.”
As he spoke, Mordan gave a series of coughing grunts at the gate and they jerked around. The kat stalked into the campsite and settled by the fire to clean her paws. Rocko looked past her and grinned.
“Well, well, well,” he said, looking at Liam and Marius. “Looks like you guys just caught yourself...”
He stared at the carcasses visible through the entryway and glanced at Marsh. “Two?”
She nodded. “You lucked out.”
His smile was full of gratitude as he got to his feet.
“With your leave?” he asked, addressing Master Envermet.
“Go in peace. You were never here.” He gave Liam a sharp glance. “Two days’ time. They will be accompanied by a man dressed as I am.”
Liam took a moment to study Master Envermet’s uniform and then nodded. “I will try to remember it.”
“They will know you,” Master Envermet promised him. “Be ready.”
The three men returned to the gateway and collected their weapons. The hunters hoisted the two deer onto their shoulders, and Rocko stomped into the dark ahead of them.
Master Envermet glanced at Roeglin. “Can we trust them?”
“They are all that they promised,” Roeglin assured them, “and they need our help.”
Across the fire from them, Mordan rose, stretching her forepaws in front of her and yawning before stalking out the entrance and into the night.
“Where’s she going?” Brigitte wondered, and Mordan sent the answer back.
“She’ll follow them into town and then come back,” Marsh relayed. She turned to Master Envermet and Roeglin. “Did either of you sense another mind mage in the town?”
They both shook their heads, and Roeglin added, “We weren’t looking for one, though, only for the number of active minds.”
He glanced at Master Envermet for confirmation, and the shadow captain nodded. “I could scan again, but I don’t want to alert them.”
“What if they are active now?” Marsh asked. She was really asking, what if they had somehow discovered Tamlin and were already reporting it?
Worse would be if they had discovered the rest of them and alerted the raiders. What if there was a punitive force already on their way, and the villagers were about to be punished?
Master Envermet understood. “That’s a risk we’ll have to take.”
He held up a hand when Marsh went to protest. “If there is a mind mage in the town, we’ll have to be prepared to find them in the morning.”
Marsh subsided, and he went on, “If you, Roeglin, and I go in ahead of the others, we can scan for a mind mage then. Chances are we won’t find one, particularly if they’re not shielding, or are shielding very well, but mornings are the most likely time for them to be making a report, so we might get lucky.”
He glanced at Roeglin and then caught Marsh’s eyes. “I’ll have the rest of the team ride in an hourglass after we leave. If there is a mind mage, they’re sure to become active then, and we’re going to have to move fast to stop them from getting an alert out.”
Marsh nodded. “And the other traitors?”
He frowned, so she explained, “Liam said news of extra activities got out and that he knew not all the townsfolk were on board.”
Master Envermet sighed. “We could try to deal with them all, but people don’t always act rationally when they’re under this kind of threat. Fear can make them do things they very much regret later.”
“You sound like you know it well.”
He gave her a quick, tight smile. “I’ve
seen a lot of people acting badly in these circumstances. Not everyone has the kind of courage Liam and his friends do. Some are only human. In my experience, very few are deliberately evil, just afraid.”
“It’s no excuse,” she snarled.
“We can’t execute them all.”
Marsh gave him a look that said they very much could, and he sighed. “You forget that some of these folk are loved by the very people they harm. By harming them, we risk replacing one threat with another and turning allies into foes.”
That gave her pause, and she subsided. She didn’t like it, but she could see it happening.
“Still, if we could warn Liam of those most likely to turn...”
“We would probably find he already suspects them and doesn’t want to admit what they are. That he is more ready to forgive than we are.”
“Then how do we keep them safe?”
“We warn him anyway and let him decide. In the end, it’s his risk to take.”
“It is ours, too.”
“Not if we remove the real threat.”
“You mean the raiders?”
“Who else?”
“So, we’re not just going to get Gustav back?”
“He’s the first. We retrieve him and the people of Ariella’s Grotto, preferably before they are taken to our enemy’s home, and get them to safety. Then, we return and destroy every last one of them.”
“What about the ones who are raiding to keep their families safe?”
He pursed his lips, and Marsh suppressed a smirk. It was a relief to see that even Master Envermet had difficulty with that question. Maybe he wasn’t as forgiving as he’d like to be.
He caught the thought and shook his head. “I truly don’t know, but even you grieved the loss of a life that could have been turned to good.”
Marsh blushed. “That was before they took my children and my friend.”
Master Envermet’s teeth flashed in amusement. “Interesting how our experiences change our points of view, isn’t it?”
His voice softened and Marsh caught a flash of memory, too quickly hidden for her to understand. His face hardened. “There are some things you do not need to know.”
“I’m coming too.” The tiny voice from the shelter’s entrance drew their attention, and they looked over in time to see Aisha emerge from under the bush.
“You’re supposed to be in bed,” Brigitte reproved.
“Not sleepy,” the child retorted. “Scruffy is heavy.”
Marsh supposed the pup was and wondered how Aisha had managed to move him.
The child caught that thought and smiled. “I poked him.”
“Uh-huh.” Marsh didn’t believe a word of it, and it showed.
Aisha rolled her eyes. “I talked to him.”
Realizing the link between them was wide open, Marsh looked. “Talked to him” had involved a combination of threats and a bribe Marsh wasn’t sure the little girl could fulfill.
“Can so, too.”
“A whole deer?”
“I’ll ask Dan.” She looked around the campsite. “Where is she?”
“Following our visitors.”
“They woke me up.”
Marsh didn’t see how, but she didn’t argue.
“I’ll come too,” the child repeated.
“No.”
Aisha stamped her foot. “I know good and bad. I’ll tell you. I’ll come too.”
Marsh opened her mouth to deny her, but Master Envermet interrupted.
“You and Tamlin are both coming with us. You will help us see if someone is going to do a bad thing, and Tamlin will keep you safe.”
“I will?” Tamlin asked, clearly annoyed at not being asked.
Master Envermet fixed him with a stern stare. “Yes, Apprentice, you will.”
Tamlin blushed and frowned, but Master Envermet wasn’t finished. He was about to say something more when they heard running footsteps and saw a lantern bobbing through the dark.
9
A Necessary Theater
They rose from around the fire and turned to face the man running toward them. He reached the entrance to the campsite and skidded to a halt, noting the shadow weapons in their hands.
“Liam!” Marsh was relieved when Mordan bounded up alongside the man but seemed more concerned for him than about him. The big kat looked at Marsh.
He fears for the cub.
The cub? Marsh wondered, and Liam began speaking.
He was out of breath and his speech was halting, but he got his message out as fast as he could.
“They...know about...the boy,” he panted. “Rocko sent word. Macey was waiting for him when we got back to the kitchens.”
His face twisted. “I didn’t know it was...Mace.” His voice cracked. “Of all...”
“That’s not important now. What’s important is what you want to do about it.”
“Rocko sent me back out to here. Said he’d seen a campfire, but that it could have been travelers. Sent me to check.”
“Good man,” Master Envermet observed, and Marsh wasn’t sure if he meant Liam or Rocko. Liam waved the compliment away.
“Said I could handle one small child if there was one.”
“Not small!” Aisha stamped her foot, and Tamlin snorted.
“He meant me.”
Aisha stared at him in surprise. “You’re not small either.”
Tamlin pulled her against his side and ruffled her hair. “I am to a grownup.”
Liam watched them, a small, sad smile playing over his lips. “I’m not sure if I was followed,” he warned them, “so I can’t stay long.”
Tamlin looked at Master Envermet. “What do you want to do?”
The shadow captain looked troubled, but he sighed. “This is one way to flush out any mind mages,” he observed, and Marsh scowled.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Master Envermet raised an eyebrow, and Marsh subsided. She was going to have to trust his judgment, and she didn’t like it. He turned to her.
“Knowing the kind of backup you can offer and the abilities he has, what would you do if he wasn’t your responsibility?”
Her shoulders slumped. “Deeps damn you.”
Tamlin started smirking, and Master Envermet looked at Liam. “Would he still be there in the morning?”
“Yes, and I’ll offer to give him a room with my boy. They’re about the same age.”
“You know you’re going to have to leave after this.”
“Yes, me and Rocko and Marius and our families. They’ll hit back pretty hard if you do what I think you will. If the three of us flee, they might spare the rest of the town.”
“Or they might not. I’ll speak to Sulema and see what she can arrange, but first—"
“I should go with him,” Tamlin broke in. “If they saw me, then they saw how much food I took, and they’ll want to know who else is out here.”
He looked at Aisha. “Can I borrow Scruffy?”
She gave him a suspicious look. “Why?”
“So I can say the food was for him.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s a lie!”
He nodded, his face solemn. “Yes, it is, but I want to keep you safe.”
She scowled at him, her face pinched with worry.
“Please, Aysh? Master Envermet and Roeglin and Marsh will come and rescue us, but I need to know you are safe.”
She regarded him with worried eyes and then nodded, but the scowl remained, and she pressed her lips together, sidling over to Brigitte. The shadow mistress draped an arm around the child and pulled her close.
“Scruff, go with Tams,” Aisha ordered, and the pup bounced over to the boy’s side.
Liam indicated the basket. “You got a pack as well?”
Tamlin nodded. “We can pretend I was camping alone, and you offered me somewhere to stay. Say I was scared of wolves or something, that you told me they’d eat my dog.”
Liam laughed. “That they might buy...and the
y wouldn’t want you suspecting what was going to happen next, so they might let you stay with me.”
“If they do,” Master Envermet told him, “it will mean they don’t suspect you of other things.”
“Or that they’ll be watching you to see if you do try to save him,” Roeglin added. “Be careful tonight. We will come for you if something goes wrong.”
Liam’s smile faded and he nodded.
“I’ll be right back,” Tamlin told them, disappearing under the bush. He reemerged moments later with a hastily stuffed backpack.
He stopped to hug Aisha as he passed. “Be good,” he told her, and she nodded, tears in her eyes.
“Don’t wanna be good,” she whispered, and he hugged her again.
“I know, but you can’t help them rescue me if they’re mad at you.”
She frowned as she thought about that, then nodded again. “’Kay.”
With Aisha settled, Tamlin turned to Master Envermet. “What do I do?”
“Act the lost child,” the shadow captain told him, “and use the shadows if you need to escape, but try to learn as much as you can...especially who the mind mage is, and which traitors we might need to deal with, as opposed to those you think we can leave.”
Tamlin nodded, and Liam’s eyes widened.
“Leave?” he asked, and Master Envermet gave him a solemn look.
“Some folk do stupid things when they’re scared, especially when their families are on the line. They’re not all like you.”
Liam gave a sigh, and some of the tension ran out of his shoulders. “I am glad you understand,” he said, confirming Master Envermet’s earlier guess that the man suspected who might be working against him. His face shifted.
“Judgment will catch up with us all,” he added, “and we all have to live with what we’ve done, even if we’ve done our best to walk the line between.”
Master Envermet reached over and grasped his shoulder. “I understand.” He gave Liam a gentle shake. “Don’t give up now. Walk that line a little longer, and we will get you free.”
Liam lifted his head and swallowed. Biting his lower lip, he met Master Envermet’s eye and nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
Trading Into Daylight (The Magic Below Paris Book 6) Page 6