Roeglin, Henri, Jakob, Izmay, Gerry, Zeb, get the raiders. Marsh and I will deal with the assassin. Brigitte, keep the... Master Envermet sighed, and Marsh realized Tamlin and Aisha had already disappeared.
I’ll find them, the shadow mistress promised, then to Marsh, Don’t get yourself killed until they get back.
Very funny, Marsh thought and turned her attention back to where Master Envermet showed the assassin was moving.
It looked like he was ignoring the shadow captain completely and heading straight for her. Well, as directly as any indirect route could be.
Don’t let him hit you with whatever he threw, Master Envermet’s warning drew her attention back to the mule.
It was standing where she’d left it and shaking all over. Marsh took two quick steps toward it.
Don’t! Master Envermet’s command jolted through her mind, laced with enough compulsion to freeze her progress. It’s a contact poison. Someone is very annoyed with you.
Given she’d probably seen the death of two of the assassin’s kin, Marsh understood why. Idris had siblings... The warning echoed through her mind as she stepped back into the shadows.
Behind her, there was a solid thump as the mule hit the ground. Marsh’s heart clenched as she heard its hooves scrape. It kicked and groaned with pain, its breathing labored. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she pulled a shadow blade from the air.
The assassin leapt, and she barely caught his movement in time to avoid the tip of his blade. Master Envermet’s scan had been way off. The shadow captain cursed, and the assassin laughed.
“Magic comes in many forms.” He chuckled, feinting and then lashing out again. He reached for one of the small sacks hanging from his belt, and Marsh whipped her blade forward. He knocked it aside, but his fingers fumbled at the cord.
“That’s not going to help you.” He smiled and raised his hand to flick his fingers toward her.
Marsh caught a dark stain on their tips and threw herself back, twisting to bring her blade around as she avoided the scatter of droplets that flew toward her. The move left her side open and exposed, and she was forced to turn her attack into a dive away from his descending blade.
A crossbow bolt whirred through the air above her, and she knew Master Envermet had reacquired his target. In the distance, a kat roared, and men screamed. Henri’s shout carried on the night air.
Marsh wondered if Brigitte had found the children.
As she did, another howl reached her, this one much closer than the last. Idris’ sibling bared his teeth. “Looks like your death won’t be wasted. The pack needs to eat.”
Marsh rolled to her feet, coming up to face him as he freed one of the pouches from its moorings. Given what she’d seen it do to the mule, Marsh knew she couldn’t afford to be hit by it. Somehow, she doubted Aisha’s healing skill would save her, but she knew the little girl would kill herself trying.
That couldn’t be allowed. Marsh drove in closer, smashing the assassin’s sword away with her buckler as she tried to skewer the arm with the pouch. He whipped it back and she missed, his blade keeping her busy as he cocked his wrist.
Knowing she wasn’t going to be able to stop him with either her blade or her shield, and since she had no time to get into his head, Marsh did the only thing she could think of. She called the lightning.
A single bolt, a small localized storm, a spear of power-edged black, she asked the shadows for them all. They poured out of the nothing of the sky, lancing into the assassin’s skull, his back, and the arm holding the deadly sack.
His eyes flew wide, and his blade dropped from nerveless fingers. The sack plummeted toward the ground beside him, and Marsh watched it fall. She caught the barest glimpse of a heavy body coming from the side and then it hit her, taking her off her feet and carrying her away from the falling assassin.
Damned fool! Master Envermet didn’t sound happy, but his mental voice was enough to stop her from trying to gut him with the dagger she’d called out of the dark.
He set her down shortly after, placing both hands on her shoulders to hold her still as he inspected her face. “Did you get anything on you?”
Marsh remembered the droplets flying toward her and looked down at her side. There were several light marks on her armor, but nothing more. Master Envermet followed her gaze and scowled.
“You are very, very lucky,” he told her, his eyes drifting to the prone form of the mule.
He opened his mouth to say more and then suddenly stilled. Marsh looked down at herself, relieved to not to see a single speck of powder. She stared at the mule, recognizing death in its stillness.
“Aysh is going to be devastated,” she murmured as the bushes rustled by the side of the trail. A small voice cried out in horror, and Master Envermet’s eyes few wide.
“Don’t let her touch it!” he shouted, his warning echoed by a mental command. Aysh! STOP!
The child burst out of the foliage, running for the mule. The shadow captain’s command stopped her only momentarily, but it was enough time for her brother to wrap his arms around her and lift her off the ground and away.
“I’ll fix him!” the girl screamed. “I fix! I fix!”
Tamlin carried her over to where Marsh was standing and thrust her into the shadow mage’s arms. “You fix her!” he ordered, not letting his sister go until Marsh had wrapped the girl tightly in her embrace.
Master Envermet raised his eyebrows and looked at the boy. “Leave what’s on the mule. It’s not safe to touch it.”
Tamlin glared at Marsh. “Lucky she kept her pack on, then.”
He stomped over to where Brigitte was coming around a rock at the side of the path.
“Don’t touch the mule. It’s been poisoned,” he told her shortly, and Brigitte stared at him.
“Tams...”
“Give me a minute.”
The shadow mistress sighed and glanced at Marsh and Aisha.
“I’ll fix him!” the child insisted, squirming to get out of her arms. Marsh looked down at her face.
“He’s dead, Aish.”
“No!” The little girl punched her, and then she punched her again. “No! No! No! He’s not dead!”
“Yes, dead,” Marsh insisted, sharing the image of the mule falling over.
“Not dead,” Aisha argued, showing Marsh an image of the mule lying as still as stone on the path.
Just when Marsh was about to point out that the mule was the very epitome of dead, she saw his nostrils flare, and moisture trickled out of his mouth. Clear liquid, like he was drooling in his sleep.
“Not dead,” Aisha told her, trying to wriggle out of her arms. “Sleeping.”
Marsh looked at Master Envermet and the shadow captain sighed, then rolled his eyes. “Deeps’ ass!”
“Don’t move,” he added, touching Aisha on the shoulder. “I will fix him.”
The child stared at him, her blue eyes wide. “You can’t.”
“No insubordination, Apprentice. You stay right here, or there will be no more cookies for you...ever!”
Aisha’s eyes got wider. “No cookies?”
“Ever!” Master Envermet repeated. “So stay there.”
Aisha turned her gaze to Marsh. “Cookies?”
“Not now,” Marsh told her. “Let Master Envermet look at the mule.”
“He won’t fix him,” Aisha grumbled. “I will.”
“Not right now, you won’t,” Marsh told her as Master Envermet stopped to tie a cloth around his nose and mouth.
Another howl drifted down around them, this one much closer than the last. Master Envermet hesitated, glancing toward it, then he crossed to the mule and knelt beside him. Pulling another cloth from his pouch, he tipped his water canteen over it and then began wiping carefully around the mule’s nose and mouth.
Part way through, he snorted and tried to lift his head. Master Envermet murmured softly to him, moving to rest a knee on his neck and keep his head in place. He turned the cloth around, applied m
ore water, and kept wiping.
By the time he was done, the mule had sneezed three more times and was fighting to get his head free. Master Envermet let him up, holding his reins as he rolled to his knees and then pulled his feet under himself.
Another howl reached them, followed by an all-too-familiar shriek.
They all froze, then looked toward the shriek.
“Marsh! How far?” Master Envermet demanded, and she asked the shadows to show her where the shadow monsters were.
And the wolves, she added. Show me both.
The shadow strands obliged, and her skin went cold. She set Aisha on her feet.
“Fix?” the girl asked, her face brightening.
“You fix it later!” Marsh told her. “Right now, run!”
Master Envermet started dragging the mule toward the raiders’ camp. “Roeglin said they were clear. We might be able to hold them off there.”
Marsh remembered the way he’d gone still earlier and realized Roeglin had spoken to him just before the whole business with the mule had occurred. She looked around for Brigitte and Tamlin and saw them running ahead.
“We heard,” Tamlin told her, looking back. He saw the mule and his sister’s much happier face. “You fixed.”
“Not yet,” Marsh replied, thinking about the dust-covered mule.
The animal might be up and moving, but he wasn’t “fixed,” not yet.
Another howl cut the air, and the gibbering shrieks of shadow monsters grew nearer.
Behind her, Master Envermet was talking to Roeglin. “Tell me there’s only one way in.”
Marsh remembered the wolves at Stroker’s Stack. If there was only one way in, they might stand a chance.
14
The Raiders and the Remnant
They reached the raiders’ camp with the screams of shadow monsters growing louder around them. It sounded as if the creatures had split into two groups. Henri wasn’t impressed when they arrived with only one mule.
“You didn’t think to bring the rest?”
“They scattered,” Master Envermet snapped before Marsh could think of a reply, “and this one was too poisoned to join them.”
“Poisoned?” Henri took a step away from the creature.
“Will he fit inside?” Master Envermet asked as Roeglin emerged from the hollow the raiders had disappeared into to sleep.
The shadow mage shook his head.
“Damn.” Master Envermet looped the reins over the mule’s neck, tying them to the saddle in hopes they wouldn’t snag on any trees or bushes. Moving along the animal’s side, he slapped him hard on the rump, sending him skittering farther down the path.
“No!” Aisha shrieked, and Master Envermet fixed her with a stern gaze.
“If we stop them here, we will be able to find him,” he told her.
“That’s if we stop them here,” Henri echoed darkly, staring up the trail.
He drew his sword and signaled for Marsh and Aisha to get into the shelter.
“Everyone inside!” Master Envermet ordered. “We’ll hold them at the door.”
Roeglin shook his head. “I checked. There’s another entrance at the back, and part of the roof is open to the sky. They can climb across the rubble and drop in through it. We’re better off trying to hold them here, where we’ve got the walls to slow them down.”
Master Envermet eyed the stretch of semi-smooth rock rising above them. “Can they get on top of it?”
“Not this section. Not as far as I can tell.”
As he spoke, the first wolf broke out the end of the path. Marsh tucked Aisha at the foot of the wall. “Stay there,” she commanded the child. “Don’t make me come rescue you.”
The little girl nodded solemnly. “I’ll hide in the rock.”
“Good girl,” Tamlin told her, and she gave him a pleading look.
“You hide in shadow?”
He was about to refuse her when he caught Marsh’s eye. He sighed. “I’ll hide in shadow. Promise. Now, go.”
Aisha stepped back against the rocky wall, and the stone flowed aside to give her space. Marsh couldn’t help the cold uncertainty she felt when the child pulled the stone over herself and the rock wall smoothed to hide her. She didn’t understand how the girl could survive.
She’ll be fine, Master Envermet assured her, but you need to focus.
We can’t outrun them?
Even without Aisha and Tamlin, no, we can’t. They’re coming too fast.
Marsh looked at the door, wondering how to stop the monsters from coming up behind them.
“They’re not that smart,” Henri commented when he saw what she was looking at.
“Don’t bet on it,” Master Envermet told him, and frowned. “Aisha, can you close the door?”
They heard no reply, but the stone above the doorway melted and slid like candle wax to seal the hole.
“Why couldn’t we do that with the gap in the other side?” Henri asked.
Roeglin answered, not taking his eyes off the dark, “Too big, and there was no time.”
The wolf took one look at the number of swords facing it and slunk back into the bushes.
“Do you think it’s gone?” Gerry asked.
“No,” Jakob replied. “It was probably hoping for an attack of opportunity, and now it’ll wait for the shadow monsters to take us down so it and the pack can feed on what’s left.”
Gerry wrinkled his nose. “Nice.”
“You asked.”
Before Gerry could reply, the shadow monsters erupted out of the shadows in front of them. They came bounding over the rubble and screaming down the path. Some erupted out of the bushes the wolf had disappeared into, their faces contorted as they charged.
“Those aren’t shadow monsters!” Obasi exclaimed.
“Same thing except for the surface,” Gerry told him.
Henri grinned. “Easier to kill.”
He lashed out at the first one to close, gutting it so its intestines spilled and it slipped on them. Henri caught the next attack on his buckler and used the hilt of his sword to smash it between is eyes.
Beside him, Izmay pulled shadow darts out of nothing and flung them at the remnant coming after. As they closed, she drew a spear, driving it through a third one’s chest. The impact of it hitting the blade jolted her back a step, and she braced the haft on the wall behind her.
Its momentum carried it halfway along the haft before it stopped. Izmay released the weapon back to the night and pulled two blades in its stead. She pivoted to the right and thrust with one blade while parrying with the other.
The remnant screamed at the loss of its hand but fell silent when she slashed the other blade sideways and down. Izmay let the killing blade go and pulled another to replace it. Two more remnant came to fill the gap.
Henri spun a blade toward one, slicing deep into its shoulder and chest and having to slam a foot into its chest to kick it free. “Sure would be nice to be able to let one sword go and grab another,” he complained.
Izmay laughed. “Who says you can’t?”
“Never done it before,” Henri told her.
“Never tried,” she retorted.
“Never had reason to,” he snapped back, thrusting his blade between the ribs of his opponent. It stumbled back, ripping the weapon from his hands as it fell.
“How about now?” Izmay challenged.
“How about I just take your spare, and you teach me later.”
“Deal!”
On the other side of the clearing, Obasi fought beside Jakob. The Grotto warrior used a sword of shadow, and the ex-caravan guard had set his blade alight. While Obasi fended off one attack with his shield, Jakob brought his blade down in a series of savage cuts across the head and shoulders of the remnant attacking him. Flesh crisped and burned beneath its touch, and the remnant howled with pain.
It stumbled back, batting at its ragged clothing. When Jakob lunged after it, it turned and ran, slamming into one of its pack. They both fel
l to the ground, shrieking as they clawed to get away from each other and the flames.
Obasi dropped his blade and hauled Jakob out of reach as another remnant lunged for him. Blocking its attack with his shield, the Grotto warrior let go of Jakob, called another blade from the shadow, and thrust it through the remnant’s chest.
Meanwhile, the fire Jakob had lit spread, enveloping the two entangled remnant until their screams intensified. The horrible sound cut off abruptly when Master Envermet sent darts through their heads.
Beside him, Brigitte used a lance to push back the remnant that tried to take advantage of his distraction, and Gerry and Zeb closed the gap beside her, taking out more remnant trying to push past.
From behind the front line of warriors, Marsh surveyed the battlefield. The rubble around them limited the approaches the remnant could take, but they were still outnumbered two to one. She wondered where the wolves had gone.
As she did, an arrow came whistling in. It arced over the lines of remnant and sailing straight for Master Envermet. Marsh thrust out a hand, conjuring a shield between the shadow captain and the incoming attack.
That first arrow was followed by a second, then a third. A small cloud followed.
“Sons of the Deep!” Roeglin swore. “That can’t be shadow monsters!”
Marsh had to agree. “See what you can discover.”
He gave her a startled glance, then let go of the spear he’d been using to stab between Master Envermet and Brigitte. Neither of them looked back as he sank to the base of the stone wall behind Marsh.
“I’ve got this,” she assured him and he nodded, his eyes going white an instant later.
Marsh sensed movement at her side and glanced down to see Tamlin stepping in front of the shadow mage.
“You’re going to upset Aisha.”
“She’ll be more upset if I let either of you get hurt,” he snapped back, and a second shield appeared to ward off the next flight of arrows.
Before Marsh could think of a reply to that, Roeglin began to speak.
“There are almost a dozen of them. Warriors. Runners.” His eyes snapped open. “Those devious Deeps-spawned sons! They’re using the remnant for cover!”
Trading Into Daylight (The Magic Below Paris Book 6) Page 10