The Scofflaw Magician (The Artifactor Book 3)

by Honor Raconteur

  “It might be all well and fine for you to waltz back in here,” she informed the Fae tracker crossly, “but it is not for Kip. He doesn’t have the reflexes or magical ability to survive back here if he makes a wrong move. It’s stupid for you to be here. It’s suicidal for him to follow you. I don’t believe for one minute that you got in here by accident, as you clearly knew the route last time as you exited out of the correct tunnel. So whatever game you were playing? It ends right now. And gentlemen? I had to deactivate three traps to get to you and you will make that up to me later as it’s going to take several hours to replace them.”

  They both winced at that.

  Holstering her wands, she reached out, grabbed Morgan’s ear and proceeded to drag them both out of the dangerous area.

  There were yelps of pain and pleas to be released and she ignored all of it. Overriding everything they were saying, she growled, “I don’t know what’s gotten into you two, but if you must compete with each other, do it in the safe areas and don’t create more work for me in the process. Clear?”

  “Crystal,” Morgan assured her around a pained breath.

  “Perfectly,” Aran said with a wince. “Um, Sevana, my ears are particularly sensitive…”

  “Good,” she snarled and didn’t let go of either of them until they were level with her bedroom door. Only then did she give them one last, warning look, before letting go. Satisfied they were cowed, she swept into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her.

  Idiots.

  ~ ~ ~

  After that, they showed more sense. She saw several chess games, checkers, and one card game that involved penalty flicks to the forehead. The competitions had started out with much testosterone but it eventually steadied out into a friendlier vibe of two men killing time by ribbing each other. How and why this happened, she had no idea, but Sevana was grateful for it. She hated to think that some rash stupidity would lead them to being killed.

  For a straight two weeks, they were in a good routine of working, eating, sleeping, and finding ways to entertain each other. Sevana thought that the routine would hold right up until she came into the kitchen mid-afternoon, looking for a light snack. There, in front of her incredulous eyes, were all three men sitting around the table playing what had to be a drinking game. There were eight cups, all of them filled nearly to the brim, and the men had a song going that held a distinct rhythm. None of them were particularly good singers, but that wasn’t the point of the song. On a certain down beat, they’d pass the cup in their hand to the right and quickly reach for another one.

  As she watched with open mouth, Morgan missed the beat and the whole thing stopped.

  “Drink, drink!” Aran and Master encouraged, laughing.

  Making a face, Morgan tossed back the glass in his hand and drained the whole thing in three long gulps.

  Were they seriously drinking in the middle of the day? With an impending visit from a crafty, evil magician?!

  Master caught sight of her in the doorway and greeted, “Ah, sweetling! Come join us, it’s marvelous fun.”

  “You—you—argh!” She couldn’t think of a word strong enough to describe their idiocy in that moment. Turning sharply about, she stomped out of the room.

  “It’s not alcoholic!” Master called after her. “Don’t worry, we’re not getting drunk! I just mixed up some juices!”

  “Penalty juices,” Morgan gasped, sounding like he was almost choking. “What’s in here?”

  “Vinegar, lime, and pomegranates,” Master responded cheerfully. “Has a kick to it.”

  Sevana rolled her eyes heavenwards. Really, it would be safer for them to be drinking alcohol, in a way. Master’s concoctions had been known to kill lesser beings. She didn’t even trust the man to mix up juices or make tea without messing it up foully. Every man in that room was going to be sick as a dog later. Even Aran, with his Fae blood, would not be saved.

  The only sane place left in this mountain was her workroom. Perhaps she could talk with Milly again. The woman had become something of a confidant in this place filled with men. Entering the room, she found the mirror semi-lit, which meant that Milly was nearby. If she were off visiting her children, it would be dark enough to be almost reflective. “Milly?”

  The matron popped into being as if she were a ghost coming out of a wall. “Yes, dear.”

  “Why are men stupid?”

  “It’s in their genes,” Milly commiserated with a long face. “Just put up with them, it’s the only thing to do.”

  “If they poison themselves, I swear I will have no sympathy. They’ll have to crawl in here and find their own medicine.” Baby, of course, had followed her in and waited for her to sit before flopping down on top of her feet. Enjoying her foot warmer, she asked, “How is that new spell working out?”

  “Oh, this?” Milly held up a necklace she was wearing, a simple chain with unicorn hair weaved in with it. “It’s marvelous. I can see through anything that reflects.”

  Sevana blinked. “Anything anything?”

  “Anything,” Milly said firmly. “I’ve seen through ponds, glass windows, even a sword blade this morning from a guardsman. I don’t always know how to control where I’m looking so it sometimes takes me a while to figure out where I must be.”

  “That’s…strange.” Sevana’s head cocked, mind whirling with power levels and numbers. “That necklace Master made is only supposed to enable you to look through mirrors. Any mirror, granted, but it should be limited to mirrors.”

  “Things don’t follow quite the same rules here on this plane,” Milly explained with an indulgent smile. “I was pleasantly surprised that it did more, but at the same time, it wasn’t much of a surprise at all.”

  Fascinated, Sevana put her elbows on her knees and leaned in. “Really. I think I always assumed that the other planes were a reflection of this place and there wasn’t a lot of difference. Tell me more about this.”

  “Well, to start, gravity doesn’t really exist here. There’s not much of a pull. It was disconcerting at first, but now I can fly about at high speeds like I was bird or the like.” Milly’s expression lit up. “It’s marvelous, really. I can flit between my children’s houses all in a day, which I was never able to do before. In fact, it took me a full month to visit them all before!”

  Sevana was privately relieved that the woman was adjusting to her new state so well. “No gravity? I wonder why…but that’s interesting. What else?”

  “The colors of everything are different. Their shapes are the same, but the colors are more vibrant, almost as if—”

  In that moment, a horrendous cracking noise rocked the mountain. Baby lurched to his feet, back arched, hair standing on end as he snarled in warning. Startled, Sevana instinctively snatched up sword and the nearest wand to her. “Big, what was that?!”

  There was a loud groan of pain and then the mountain pleaded, RUN.

  It took only a moment for the realization to hit. Their prey had arrived and he had made quite the entrance doing so. Had he blown apart her front door? But if he’d come in that way, then odds were against him going into the tunnels and that would ruin their whole plan. She made a snap decision and grabbed the fake artifact that she and Master had made, then sprinted out the door.

  Which way had he gone? Which way should she go? From the kitchen, she could hear the men frantically scrambling her direction. Right, that would be best, she should regroup with them first and then try to figure it out. No way did she want to face this man on her own.

  The thought wasn’t even completed when she heard rough, ragged breathing off to her left. Baby snarled, tail lashing. Wand snapping up in a guard position, she whirled and found that her quarry had managed to corner her.

  He was ugly. Not physically so—he looked like an old man that had seen a rough life, but wasn’t decrepit or anything. Balding head with wisps of white hair as a fringe, bulbous nose, red skin, but a fit build to him and decent clothes on. He looked like an aging t
radesman. It was the magical core whirling up within him that gave lie to his appearance. It looked like he had cobbled together several magical cores, even from animals, and forced it to tie in with his own. It made her stomach revolt just looking at him. How could a human being live like that?

  Sevana had had second thoughts about facing this man alone even before he’d arrived, but now that she was looking at him she had absolutely no desire to fight him. She literally would not be able to guess what spells he could throw at her. Even her perfect plan now seemed highly flawed.

  The immediate trouble was, he was between her and the men, and that was not good. At all. It only left her one avenue to retreat through and only one means to survive.

  Raising her voice, she called out, “Grydon! Lead the men!”

  Baby stepped toward the tunnels, clearly understanding that he needed to stay and guide her without her having to spell it out for him. Bless the cat for being so quick on the uptake. Clutching the artifact to her chest, she drew the magician’s eyes to the blue carving in her hands, making it clear that she was the bait, and then dove for the tunnel opening on her right.

  He snarled and chased after her, firing off a quick spell that splashed harmlessly against Big’s walls.

  Sevana focused on Baby’s back, trusting in the tail that flickered against her stomach to lead her. She knew the cat was slowing his pace so that she could keep up and blessed her friend for not letting his hunting instincts kick in. She heard their prey yelp behind her as he sprang a trap and his footsteps falter as he slowed, becoming more cautious. Good, he was no longer breathing down her neck at that speed. It gave her some breathing room.

  Running ahead, Sevana prayed that the men would catch up from behind before her prey turned hunter and caught her instead.

  There was no lighting in the tunnels this far into Big. Part of that was because there was no need for them—only storage rooms existed back in here, or empty caverns that Sevana had never used. Besides, the main reason for the tunnels was to catch thieves, and why would she light up areas and give the thieves an easier view of the exit? Especially as they had been laying traps, any existing lighting had been removed as they didn’t want their quarry to have an easy time of it either.

  The problem was, Sevana hadn’t had the foresight to grab her night glasses before leaping into the tunnel. She was just as blind as the man who was chasing her, and her memory of where all the traps were became fuzzy at this point, as it was in a section that Master had laid. If she used any sort of lighting spell, she would become as bright as a beacon to the man behind her, and that would be beyond stupid of her to do. She was left scrambling in pitch darkness, in a dank place that smelled of mud and mold.

  This was becoming the definition of a Bad Day.

  The only guide she had was Baby, who used his tail against her arm to lead her, or if she fell behind, he would stop and look at her, letting her see his glowing eyes as a beacon.

  In this dark place, and with her blood thundering in her ears, Sevana lost all track of time. She heard someone catch up and engage the magician in a brief fight, but he’d escaped somehow and gotten back on her trail. Sevana was deathly afraid that the darkness was not as much of a deterrent to him as it was to her. With all of those animals mixed in with his magical core, his night vision might be much more superior to any human’s. As good as a Fae’s? Hopefully not, but she couldn’t discount it. He was making far better headway than she was.

  Sevana had to bite her bottom lip to resist asking Big where he was. The mountain spoke in sighs and whispers but, even so, you could hear him throughout the mountain. Broadcasting the man’s position would reveal her own just as well. She dared not ask Big anything.

  Worse, the traps were only semi working. Sevana had been counting every time she heard a trap go off and he was avoiding half of them easily. They had not been half as clever as they thought they were when she and Master had put the traps in.

  How he was avoiding Master and Aran, that was the real question. Both men were experienced in tracking down troublemakers like this and a Fae’s sight was amazing. How did he evade them and still stay on her trail?

  Whispering under her breath, she requested, “Big, give me a clear path. Where should I go?”

  The floor under her feet shifted and smoothed out into a slightly downward slope. With a hand on the wall to help her keep her balance, Sevana moved at a half-trot. Even that was too fast for her—it felt highly uncomfortable—but she had no choice if she were to stay ahead of the man.

  If she could just see him without exposing herself completely, she’d fight back. Ah, curse it, she shouldn’t have run. Right now, her odds would have been better if she’d stood her ground and fought until the boys had caught up with them.

  Behind her, there was a terrible explosion, the whole mountain rocking and trembling around her. Already feeling off-balance, this threw Sevana straight to the floor, and she hit with hands and knees, the artifact spinning out of her grasp in the process. Baby darted back to her, assuming a guard protection to protect her back. She put a hand on the cat’s back, more for reassurance, as she demanded, “Big, what was that?!”

  The mountain groaned and rolled again, shuddering in pain. Hurts.

  A terrible, icy sensation crawled up her spine. “Is he blasting new tunnels through you?”

  Hurts, the mountain whined pitifully.

  Never, in her wildest dreams, had she expected this. The man was bona fide insane. Who blasted into a mountain while still inside?! Was he trying to cave the whole mountain down on top of their heads? Big might be sentient, but even he had limited control over his own body. There wasn’t anything he could do about parts of him being broken and blasted away.

  Another explosion ripped through the mountain and Big gave another pained groan. Sevana swore, pushed herself to her feet, and started running as fast as she could. Forget finding the fake artifact, that wasn’t worth her trouble or time. She had to get out before Big became her tomb.

  Baby darted around her, once again becoming her guide, and she latched onto the cat’s tail to avoid losing him in this darkness. A blast ripped through the wall next to her and she flinched, instinctively crouching and throwing her arms up over her head in a shielding gesture. At least three large pieces of rock glanced off her forearms, making them smart, but she knew better than to stay there for more than a second. If he was blasting his way through, the man wasn’t far behind. Scrambling, she tried to find her footing but it was hard with all the debris littering the floor.

  “Baby?”

  The cat gave a petulant grumble, meaning he was bruised but not really hurt. Sevana put her heart back in her chest and tried to think instead of just react.

  Sevana yanked out a wand and activated the strongest shield charm she could. Doing so lit the area in a dull, yellow glow but there was no helping that. Sevana was convinced by this point that he could see just fine in the dark so keeping herself blinded like this wasn’t doing her any good anyway.

  In a split second, the charm took a direct hit, making her boots skid on the stone. Sevana whirled to face her attacker, putting her back to the wall, drawing her sword with her free hand. Baby stepped into the shadows and she let him go without drawing attention to his presence. No doubt he was going to try to attack the man from behind, or the side, and if he could pull it off it would make their chances for survival go up.

  From a man like this, she expected a terrible voice, something raspy or dominating. But he spoke in something like a rough whisper, as if his voice was rusty from disuse. “Where’s the tool, girl?”

  A slightly hysterical thought popped into her mind. Her bait had worked a little too well. “I dropped it back that way,” she responded honestly.

  He took two steps forward, entering the faint lighting of her ward more fully. There was no expression on his face. In fact, he made statues look emotive. He took no pleasure in hunting her down, nor did he find it an aggravation, it was simply a ne
cessity he had to get through. The idea that her death might be nothing to him more than a step in achieving a goal was bone-chilling. His eyes didn’t leave hers but she had the sense that he was searching back the direction she had come somehow. “Where?”

  “I don’t know.” She didn’t care, either. What she did care about was, where were her backups? At this point, it would be safer for her to somehow get out of Big and into the waiting arms of the Fae camping out back. They’d be able to handle this much better than she could. “You can always go look for it yourself.”

  With that question and answer session out of the way, he wasn’t interested in asking anything else. That became obvious when he lifted a second wand from an inside holster and shot off a spell.

  Sevana had been around magic long enough to read the strength of a spell in a split second, at least in general terms. She knew that what was coming her direction would be able to overpower her shield. So she dropped to the ground like a marionette with its strings cut, deactivating the spell as she did so, freeing it up so that she could return the attack.

  “ISE NE FOLE.”

  Ice shot forward, but he had expected an attack, and dodged. She barely grazed his chest and shoulder with it and it took a bare second for him to wipe off the vestiges. Sevana used that second to get behind a stack of rubble. It wouldn’t shield her from much, but it was better than standing around in the open.

  Baby chose that moment to leap in, harrying the man. The magician acted as if he knew Baby was somewhere nearby, as he was quick to dodge and counter, but even so his balance was thrown off. The spell he uttered didn’t touch the cat, and Baby was able to duck back into the blackness of the tunnel without even being grazed.

  Sevana used the distraction to put a quick spell on her sword. Then she raised that up and threw it at him.

  The sword flew with unerring accuracy, shining dully as it did so, cutting through the darkness. With their only source of light the brief flashes of magic, it was hard for him to see anything or keep his night vision. The sword found a target in his right shoulder, striking deep. Snarling a curse, he reached for the hilt and yanked it free before ducking behind a boulder so that he could no doubt cast a few healing charms on himself.