“Bien,” Marsh told her and turned back to Master Envermet. “We need to find the key. We can’t leave them here.”
“Can’t leave the mules here, either,” Henri added, opening the curtains and peering into the sleeping space behind them.
The key fit the chest tucked under the bed.
“Gotcha, you sonuvabitch.”
He pulled the chest out and lifted the lid, the scrape echoing through both rooms. Master Envermet went to see what he’d found. “It’s a shame we can’t kill him again.”
His voice was still calm, but it was colder somehow, anger threading through it as though he had caught hold of his outrage and refused to let it go.
“Those poor kids.” Izmay’s voice was full of horror. “We can’t...”
A soft rustle reached Marsh’s ears, and Roeglin lifted his head.
Quiet, he sent and they listened, ears straining. Outside birds whistled, and leaves shivered, but the sound they heard was neither. It was movement, not from outside where part of the wolf pack waited, but from the cell, whose only occupants should still have been sleeping.
Marsh shifted slightly, becoming one with the shadows and drifting over to the door. The room beyond no longer held two people. A third figure had appeared and was bending over them, reaching for their chains.
Pulling a blade from the darkness, Marsh slipped through the door.
17
Unexpected Additions
Something alerted the figure as Marsh moved toward it. It turned, dropping the chain and raising both hands.
Marsh realized this was no assassin, but a boy just a few years younger than herself—a very frightened teen.
“Please...” he begged. “Don’t hurt me.”
He stumbled back, reaching for the wall, then stopped, eyes brimming with tears and wide with terror. Roeglin stepped into the room behind Marsh.
“We won’t hurt you,” he soothed, reaching out to draw Marsh into his mind.
Put the sword away, he instructed, and Marsh let the weapon dissipate.
Now that she was in Roeglin’s head, she could see the grip he had on the boy’s mind...and why.
“You got them out?” she asked, and the youngster’s eyes shifted.
“Basil?” she asked, snagging the name as Roeglin dug it out.
The boy flinched.
“How do you know?” he whispered, and Roeglin opened his eyes. “Oh.”
His shoulders sagged in defeat. “Please don’t make us go back. You can say you never found us...”
“We’re not raiders,” Marsh told him, her words abrupt with distaste, “but we can’t just leave you here. It’s not safe.”
“I heard what you said. If you make us go with you, we’ll be captured again. It’ll be just like handing us over.”
“No, it won’t.”
“You can’t know that. Just let us go.”
“We can’t do that.”
“Don’t you have any mercy?”
Marsh laid a hand on his shoulder, and he trembled.
“We will not let them have you. Understand?”
His eyes said he was still afraid, but he nodded when Roeglin released him and then stayed put, his eyes darting from Roeglin and Marsh to the two sleeping figures on the floor.
“You shouldn’t go near them either,” he told them, “and we can’t afford to. They...”
His face paled, and he twisted his hands together.
“We know,” Henri interrupted from the door. “We know what they do. We know the price they’ll pay for your return, and what it’ll cost you.”
Marsh turned as he lifted a piece of parchment.
“Like the mages said, we’re not letting them have you.”
He stepped aside as Master Envermet looked inside. “But you are coming with us,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument.
The boy cast another glance at the two sleeping on the floor. “Are they okay?” he whispered.
“Yes, but we don’t know how long they’ll sleep, and we’re looking for the key.” Master Envermet indicated the chains.
The kid lifted his head. “Don’t need one.”
He didn’t stop to explain but turned back to the chains. This time, he knelt beside one of the sleepers.
“Who are they to you?” Marsh asked, and his shoulders tensed.
“My brother and sister.” His voice choked, and he hunched in on himself. “I promised...”
“And you nearly failed,” Roeglin reminded him.
The kid flinched; Marsh thought the mind mage was being a bit harsh. Roeglin held up a hand, and they edged closer to see what the boy was doing. The chain links parted beneath his hands, and he set them aside.
Roeglin persisted. “They nearly caught you.”
The kid nodded and went to work on the next chain. “If the remnant hadn’t started howling like they’d caught something, I’d have been found.”
The remnant? Marsh wondered. So it hadn’t been the assassin who’d been chasing him.
“The raiders discovered I was gone before I was clear of the wall. I had to wait for them to go out ahead of me before I could get out of the town. They had some kind of mind mage with them.” He glanced at Roeglin. “No offense.”
Roeglin shook his head. “None taken. Mages are human, too. Not all of us are nice.”
“You can say that again,” the boy grumbled as he undid the next shackle.
The sleeper twitched her foot, and he patted her ankle. “Sshh, Vi. Sshh. I’m here.”
Vi gave a soft sigh and turned onto her side, nestling beneath the blanket. Basil watched her settle and relaxed. “She’s horrible when she wakes up.”
As if his words were a signal, the girl gave a start and sat up, yanking her feet out of his reach and scrambling to stand. “Goddammit, Baz! Where in all the rutting...” Her voice petered out as she realized where they were and that they were not alone.
“No...” she moaned, backing up, then noticed their younger brother at her feet and stopped.
Her face grew hard, and she stepped in front of him. “You can’t have them,” she snarled, dropping into a fighting stance.
Where does one so young learn that particular position? Master Envermet pondered, laying a hand on Marsh’s shoulder and moving her aside.
“We’re not here to take them,” he told her. “We are not raiders.”
She remained tense, then suddenly darted forward and lashed out at the shadow captain with her foot. “You stay out of my rutting head, you...you arschloch!”
Master Envermet caught her foot and released it. “That is not nice language for a young lady.”
She barked a bitter laugh. “You should hear my ma when she gets going.”
Master Envermet’s eyebrows rose. “Well,” he managed, “I guess you had to learn it somewhere.”
“Don’t you worry, mister. The raiders taught us plenty.” She’d returned to her original position, but she hadn’t relaxed. “Who the fuck are you, anyway.”
Master Envermet frowned. “Young lady, if I hear one more cuss word out of your mouth, I am going to put you over my knee.”
“You and whose fucking army?” was followed by a startled yelp as the shadow captain lunged forward and seized her wrist. Seconds later, he’d dropped to one knee and had her bent over it, after which he quickly released her, pushing her back to her brothers.
“I don’t need an army,” he told her, and Marsh caught regret that he’d had to follow through on his threat—and the absolute certainty that there would have been more trouble if he hadn’t.
Behind the girl, Basil sputtered with laughter. “Serves you right, Vi. Now, calm down. They’re going to help us.”
His voice sounded sure, but his face pleaded for that to be true.
“They’re not going to touch us!” the girl declared, and Basil looked worried.
“Until you made them prove a point, they hadn’t,” he told her. “Trust you to pick a fight with a mage.”
“A mind mage,” Vi spat, making the term sound like a curse.
“A shadow mage,” Master Envermet corrected her, his voice mild, and both teens looked at him.
Marsh obliged their curiosity by drawing a blade and a buckler from the edges of the room. Around her, the other mages did the same. The girl’s eyes widened. She leaned over to her brother.
“The raiders don’t have any of those.”
“That’s good to know,” Master Envermet told her, “but they do have one of my men, and I want him back.”
The girl gasped and fixed her eyes on something beyond Marsh. The smell of hoshkat reached Marsh just as Mordan did. She laid a hand on the big kat’s neck. “Stop scaring everyone!”
Vi’s eyes shifted from the kat to Marsh’s face. “You’re a druid?”
Marsh shook her head. “Not really. I can just talk to the kat.”
“Amongst other things,” Roeglin murmured as the child on the floor woke with a startled shout.
Vi was on her knees beside him. “It’s okay, Jens. They won’t hurt us.”
Well, at least they’ve finally worked that out. In Marsh’s head, Master Envermet sounded relieved. Out loud, he said, “No, but you are coming with us until we can get you to safety.”
Basil looked at his siblings. “They need to rescue someone.”
“But that means going back...” Vi whispered, and Basil swallowed.
“I know.”
“Ma won’t be happy.”
“I know.” Basil shot her a pleading look. “We can help.”
“I nev—” Master Envermet began, but the girl glared at him.
“If you think you’re getting into town without our help AND without getting caught,” she began, “you’ve got another think coming.”
Henri gave an exaggerated sigh. “I’m finding some food.”
“And some kaffee,” Izmay added, following him out.
Marsh said nothing. She studied the three youngsters standing defiantly before them. The girl had long, light-brown hair, fair skin, and green eyes. Her older brother was dark-haired, brown-eyed, and as tall as Roeglin. The youngest brother was almost as tall as his sister, with fair hair and hazel eyes.
Marsh saw him studying the adults in front of him, and ice formed around his fist. Before she had a chance to warn anyone, Basil grabbed the kid’s wrist.
“Easy, Jens. They’re friends.”
“They don’t look friendly,” the kid snapped back.
“They haven’t killed us yet,” Basil told him, “and Vi did her thing and everything.”
Jens’ eyes widened. “She did?” He looked up at his brother. “Did they wake her up?”
From the hushed tone of awe, waking Vi was only done by the bravest or most foolhardy of souls, adults notwithstanding. The kid looked from one older sibling to the other. “So, are we going with them?”
Vi gave Master Envermet a snarky look. “They’re not giving us a choice.”
“I could leave you here,” he replied, making it sound like an offer, then added, “With the kat to keep you out of mischief.”
Vi’s lip curled with scorn. “She wouldn’t be enough.”
Master Envermet had an answer for that, too. “No, and that’s why I’d be asking the wolf pack to help.”
“The wolf pack?” Vi looked almost frightened by the thought.
“You can come and meet them if you like. I’ll get Aisha to introduce you.”
The little girl appeared as if summoned by magic. “Hi.”
“You talk to wolves?” Vi sounded like she didn’t believe it.
“Uh-huh.” Aisha gave a happy wiggle. “You want to say hello?”
It was one of the child’s more coherent sentences, and Marsh eyed her thoughtfully. Her speech really was improving.
She’s growing up, Master Envermet told her, sounding like he’d invented the child himself. Marsh didn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer.
Vi looked from the little girl to the adults. “You let a four—
“Five!” Aisha corrected. “No, six!”
Vi scowled. “A six-year-old go with you?”
“She’s mine,” Marsh told her. “I’ve adopted her and her brother. They go where I do.”
She couldn’t stop the look of defiance she shot Master Envermet, but he kept his expression bland. None of the children could hear the response he made in her head.
Really?
Sorry.
“So,” Aisha challenged. “You want to say hello?”
Vi shrugged, then stepped forward and held out her hand for the child to take. Her brothers followed, but Basil stopped when he reached Master Envermet. “There are a few things you need to know about the town.”
The shadow captain nodded, and the boy continued. “This man of yours. When would he have arrived?”
“Yesterday or today,” Master Envermet replied, and the boy relaxed a little.
“Then he still has some time.”
“What do you mean?”
Izmay returned before he could reply. “We can discuss this over kaffee.”
Master Envermet cocked his head and gestured toward the door. “Come and meet the rest of my team.”
18
Of Assassins and Mules
Master Envermet led them out to the main living area and then through. His brow creased as he noticed that Izmay and Henri were the only ones there.
“We sent the others outside,” Izmay explained, catching his look. “There’s not enough room in here, and it’s well-hidden. There’s a garden out near the stable entrance.”
There was a stable entrance? Marsh caught the question on Master Envermet’s face. Izmay laughed, then grew serious. “This is a really good set-up. It makes me wonder how many more of these the Idris family have set up.”
She glanced at Basil. “If we hadn’t found them, these kids would have disappeared completely.”
She didn’t add that they would have been dead and no one would have been the wiser, and she didn’t say what would have happened to the mules trapped in their stables.
“Maybe they have a redundancy system,” Master Envermet suggested. “Some way of checking in on each other.”
It wasn’t an entirely stupid idea. When she thought about it, Marsh realized there had to have been some way for the rest of the family to have discovered Idris had died and that she was responsible.
“Are they mind mages?” she mused, and Master Envermet froze.
“They have abilities that are similar, and their shielding is exceptional,” he replied, “but mind mages? That is not something I had considered.”
“What do you mean?” Marsh asked, remembering that Roeglin’d had difficulty trying to locate the assassins, the way their life forces were masked.
Master Envermet caught the direction of her thoughts and frowned.
“Some multiples—twins and triplets—are linked in a way that alerts the others when they are hurt, or sick or injured. When they die...” His face turned bleak, and he took a breath. “When they die, their siblings feel that death.”
He paused as though considering whether to continue. When he did, the words felt personal and the pain all too real. “Sometimes they catch a glimpse of what their brother or sister sees in their last few moments.”
His face twisted, and he abruptly turned away. “The rest is something for another time.”
Like how you can find them? Marsh thought but kept the question at bay.
Master Envermet’s reply came as a surprise, reminding her he was still in her head. Yes.
It made her wonder who he’d lost.
A brother. The reply was short, the pain of that loss still clear. Without the shadow master, I’d have been lost.
Marsh saw when he pushed that thought away and forced himself to pay attention to Basil. The boy had been watching their exchange with curious eyes.
“You’re both mind mages?”
Marsh shook her head. “I am only an apprentic
e mind mage.”
He frowned. “But you’re a shadow mage, too.”
“Yes,” she answered brightly, following Master Envermet to the door. “I’m a shadow mage, too.”
“And a druid.” The boy was nothing if not persistent.
“Not really.”
“But the kat answers to you.” He paused. “What kind of kat is that, anyway? It’s not a leopard or a cougar.”
“No,” Marsh replied. She hadn’t heard of either of those. Maybe they were local to the Devastation. She decided to stick to the question rather than ask. “Mordan is a hoshkat. They’re fierce hunters in the caverns.”
“I haven’t seen one before.”
Master Envermet walked out and took an abrupt right, stepping through a narrow gap between the old tree and the house wall. A narrow trail lay concealed there, and they followed it along the wall to a sturdy wooden gate.
It had been painted the same color as the wall, and vines stretched over it from the stones. The vines grew up and over a metal framework, concealing it and providing dappled shade for the hidden space beyond.
Looking up, Marsh noted how a lattice of wires guided the vines’ growth, so the garden was concealed from any overlook. Mirrors caught the sun and shone it into the darker parts of the garden, or they would have if someone hadn’t covered them with linen.
“Too bright,” Henri told her, catching up with a tray of cups and seeing her studying the dulled glow of the nearest mirror. “I like seeing Izmay’s eyes.”
It was sweet enough to set her teeth on edge.
The garden was full of orderly plantings and centered around an open cobblestone circle surrounded by low benches. The guards were seated on the benches, relaxing for the first time since their journey had begun.
Izmay slapped the big man on the shoulder. “Be honest, Henri. The Deeps-be-damned thing caught you full in the face when you first came through and you lost your temper.”
“I didn’t lose my temper.” Henri indicated the mirror. “See? It’s still in one piece. No temper involved.”
Trading Into Daylight (The Magic Below Paris Book 6) Page 13