Nic and Eve planned to enter town this evening and rent a room at the Tourmaline Inn. Finding Vasko Cloud Mist’s extensive compound proved harder than I had expected. My inquiries were met with suspicion. Finally a servant employed by Vasko recognized my name and led me to the gate. Hidden by the rolling terrain east of the city, Vasko’s manor house had been built into the side of the Emerald Mountains. The tall spires overlooked a valley filled with buildings.
Vasko trusted no one with his rubies. According to the locals, the mine entrance was in the basement of his house and all the stones were sorted, sized and cut on-site before being sold.
As I waited at the gate, I noted the thick wall that surrounded the compound on all sides. The location and arrangement of the buildings suggested someone took care with their placement. An army would have trouble invading Vasko’s home. I guessed that was the point.
Pazia arrived. Genuine welcome shone on her face as she embraced me. Even though she was a few inches shorter than me, Pazia gave the impression of being taller. Her long hair had been pulled up and braided. The thick loop of hair resembled a crown on her head. Add in the way the guards deferred to her, she oozed royalty.
Pazia asked about my trip as she escorted me through her family’s grounds. The well-groomed walkways flowed past ornate gardens. Flowers burst from baskets and workers tended to the landscape. Nothing within sight suggested a mining operation.
“How are you really doing, Opal?” she asked, raising one thin eyebrow.
“I’m fine,” I assured her.
“Don’t lie to me. It’s quite an adjustment.”
And she was the only other person besides Devlen who had firsthand knowledge of just how much of an adjustment. I shrugged. “I’m still getting used to the idea.”
“I was stunned when we heard the news of your sacrifice. My father…”
Having no desire to hear about Vasko’s reaction, I stopped listening until she brought the topic to the discovery of the messengers.
She practically bounced. “It’s exciting, isn’t it?”
I decided to be honest. “It’s a little hard to believe.”
“I know. We ruined that diamond we tried in the glass before, remember? But black diamonds are incredible!”
Her enthusiasm seemed genuine. “How did you know what they were?” I asked.
“We didn’t at first. Our gemstone expert thought they were a hard black coal. But after multiple tests, the results matched diamonds in everything but color.”
“Where did you find them?”
“Deep. That’s all I know. Father is very secretive. The miners still think the black diamonds are coal.”
How convenient. “It’s bound to get out,” I said.
“Eventually,” she agreed.
Pazia didn’t appear upset by this. Either she didn’t think it through, or she wasn’t as greedy as her father. Because if the black diamonds were real, then every Emerald Mountains mine owner would be searching for their own vein. I tried another approach. “How did you decide to try one for the messengers?”
She glanced around. The footpath remained empty of workers. “Father’s still angry at me for losing my magic.” She held up a hand to me. “Don’t start. He’s been experimenting with different legal ideas to recover my powers. As part of his…quest, he wanted to see if the black diamonds could hold magic like the regular diamonds. And he found out they were better. The black ones can hold twice as much magic, but using it was…painful.”
“How so?”
She showed me her hands. Burn scars crisscrossed her palms and covered her fingertips. Ouch. Blood wouldn’t sear her skin. Perhaps they had discovered real diamonds. I viewed that possibility with mixed emotions. It meant I hadn’t found my blood at all, but it also implied my blood could still be in its original container.
“I tried gloves, but I couldn’t control the power,” Pazia said. “Then I remembered our experiment with the glass.”
“I’m surprised your father let you use the black diamonds. Alone they’re worth…”
“More gold than I can carry. And Father would have had heart failure if he knew I planned to encase one of his blacks in glass, so I didn’t tell him until after. It worked better than I had dreamed.”
“What type of glass did you use?”
“I’ll show you. My workshop is over here.”
The sweet scent of burning white coal reached me before I spotted the smoke curling from the chimney. Mounds of dirt and construction litter surrounded Pazia’s small glass factory. Unexpected, but not surprising, guards stood beside the entrance to the building.
She gestured to the men. “Thieves will be a concern once news about the messengers spreads.”
I paused in the threshold, soaking in the warmth and hum of the kiln. Pazia gave me a quick tour of her gleaming shop. Everything appeared to be in order. All the right tools hung within reach, the mixing room was stocked with the proper ingredients and the annealing ovens contained cooling projects.
But no diamonds. Black or otherwise.
She tsked at me when I asked. “You can’t just leave them lying around!” Pazia led me to a windowless office in the back. A safe had been built into the wall. She spun the dial with practiced ease, opening the thick door.
Magic poured from the safe. Pulling out a drawer, she set it on her desk. Then she hefted a couple of super messengers, stacking the blocks next to the drawer. I hesitated.
“Go on, Opal. I trust you.”
Being trustworthy hadn’t been my concern. It was the lumps of black that caused my reluctance. No vial of blood in sight. I guess I should be happy the super messengers were legitimate except I couldn’t produce the emotion.
When I reached for one of the diamonds, Pazia said, “Be careful, they’re charged. You’ll be okay as long as you don’t try to use the magic.”
I paused. “Who charged them?”
“One of my father’s people.”
Pushing through a thick layer of magic, I picked up a small black stone and held it up to the sunlight. It looked familiar, but as a gemstone, it failed to impress me. “Why doesn’t it glitter?”
“No sense polishing and faceting them if they’re going into the glass.”
I replaced the stone and grabbed one of the messengers. The power felt muted. “Can you send messages?” I asked her.
“Yes.” An inner excitement danced from her eyes.
“You can do more with them.” It wasn’t a question, but a heartrending realization.
“Can’t you?” she asked. “I so hoped they would help you, too.”
“No.” As usual, I felt the power, but couldn’t use it. “What else can you do?”
“It’s…odd. It’s like I have magic again, but instead of drawing from the power source through my…” She tapped her chest. “Through me, I draw on the cube. And when the power is gone, I take it back to my father and he has them charged again. My abilities from before remained the same. I can still light fires, move objects and read minds, but I have to be touching the glass.”
Another thought struck me. Even if I recovered my blood, no one would want my little glass animals when Pazia’s super messengers could do so much more. Except for the cost. “Has your father decided on a price?”
“No. But he plans to be…egalitarian about them. He’s going to give one to each Master Magician for free, and then anyone can purchase one. He’ll work out payment plans. If you think about it, you could buy one and then charge a fee for others to use. Once the messenger is paid for, you could make money. I’m sure businesses will capitalize on that.”
The possibilities were endless. The richest man in Sitia would be even richer. What would he do with all that gold? I’d purchased a number of things with mine, but besides the wedding, none of them touched the emptiness inside me. Devlen’s Story Weaver mumbo jumbo about it being filled had been wrong.
Pazia returned the messengers and drawer of diamonds to the safe.
Trying to see all angles, I thought if I did regain my powers, my animals would be much cheaper and they would compete with Vasko’s, especially if he had only a few super messengers. Would he steal my blood to keep that from happening?
I pointed to the safe. “Is that all the diamonds?”
“No. The vein is pretty thick.”
I considered. I’ve never seen a black diamond before. So why did they feel familiar? “Can I see the vein?”
“I’ll have to ask my uncle.”
We left the factory and searched for her uncle. He worked in a building that Pazia called the command center. She explained it was an old family joke that stuck.
Hans Cloud Mist stood up as soon as we entered his large office. His resemblance to his brother Vasko was uncanny, and I wondered if they were twins. Hans insisted he was not only the younger brother but also the smarter and better-looking one, as well.
Pazia rolled her eyes. “Just humor him. He thinks he’s funny.”
Hans pretended to be hurt, but his pout lasted less than a second. “Did Pazia show you her factory?” he asked me. “She’s quite proud of it.”
She blushed and quickly changed the subject, asking about a tour.
“You’ll have to get permission from Galen.” He glanced out the window. “He should be overseeing checks now.” She frowned.
“Another uncle?” I asked.
“No. My father’s right-hand man and I don’t need his permission.”
“Are you going to be her tour guide?” Hans asked.
Pazia shivered. “No.”
“And I don’t know where the vein is, so it’s Galen or nothing.”
She grumbled, but didn’t argue. I followed her from Hans’s office.
“Why can’t you take me?” I asked.
“I can’t stand being in the mines. I’m claustrophobic.” She stopped. “Are you?”
“Afraid of small spaces?”
She nodded. “And the dark?”
“No lanterns?”
“Plenty of light, but sometimes an errant wind blows them out. We pump air down into the shafts to keep it fresh.”
I thought of my various adventures, being hidden in a box under a pile of sand, swimming through a tunnel in a cave and spending a couple weeks chained in a dark cell. “I’m not claustrophobic.”
“Good.”
“Do you know the location of the vein?” I asked her.
“No. I think only Father and Galen do. They tend to get all paranoid when they make a new find. Both of them know every shaft below. I don’t even think there are any maps.” She shook her head and continued.
Pazia led me to the lowest level of the command center. Rumors about the main entrance to the mines hadn’t been too far off. Instead of being in the basement of his house, the doorway for the miners was deep under the command center.
I waited with Pazia as the day shift’s personnel streamed in from the large cavern. Under the keen gaze of another group, the workers stripped off their jumpers, stood under spouts of water and were searched before they donned clean clothes. The process reminded me of Wirral. Except they seemed more worried about what might be smuggled out of the mines than in. Mirrors lined the wall opposite the search area and I suspected they were two-way ones and observers lurked behind them.
When the last worker left, Pazia told me to wait while she slipped behind the mirrors. It didn’t take her long before she returned.
“Come on,” she said, almost running from the underground entrance. She finally slowed when we exited the building.
“I hope you’re not in trouble,” I said.
“Not at all. Galen just gives me the creeps. He practically lives in the mines. In fact, I haven’t seen him in seasons, which is fine by me. But when I do see him, he acts like he’s in charge.” She smoothed her skirt. “He gets away with that attitude because my father trusts him.”
“What does he do?”
“Whatever my father wants.” She took a breath. “I know I shouldn’t be so down on him. He’s dedicated to our family, and he was the one who found the black diamond vein. And Galen promised to find someone to give you a tour tomorrow.”
I accepted her offer to stay in their guesthouse, but convinced her to join me at the Tourmaline Inn for supper. Pazia made the proper appreciative noises over the large pink tourmaline the inn’s owner, Carleen, wore around her neck.
Carleen remembered me, but since I had paid in full before Janco and I had made our sudden departure, she welcomed me back. She led us to a nice table and served us each a heaping portion of beef pie. Pazia and I chatted about our days at the Keep.
“How is your brother doing?” I asked.
She crinkled her forehead. “Which one?”
“Walker. Do you have another brother at the Keep?”
“No. My older brother also attended, but he graduated the season before I started. I guess Walker’s doing okay. He hasn’t written to say otherwise. Have you met him?”
I smiled, thinking about his attack. “Briefly.”
“Don’t mind him. He’s a hothead like all the male members of my family. They get all high and mighty about honor and family and duty.”
“Your uncle Hans seemed nice,” I said.
“They’re all nice as long as you play their game. Once you cross them, look out. They think it’s a personal assault.”
“Does your older brother work here, as well?”
“Sort of. My father calls him his secret weapon. He sends him off on missions and to strong-arm the people who owe my father money.”
Interesting. He would have enough money to purchase my blood. As for motive, he could want revenge. “What type of missions?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. I never wanted to be involved in the family business, but…” Pazia drained her wine, then changed the subject. “So what’s new in the Keep’s glass shop?”
I filled her in on the new kiln and water system. As we talked, Nic and Eve entered the inn’s common room and flagged down Carleen. They rented a room and followed the innkeeper up the stairs. Eve had signaled me her room number, and after a few minutes I excused myself to meet up with them.
Nic bounced on the edge of the bed. “I think you have more pillows,” he said to Eve.
“She also has the best mattress in the house,” I said.
“It’s discrimination. All this pink is unfriendly to men.”
“At least she didn’t tell you to take a bath,” I offered, but he wrinkled his nose.
I tried to stifle a laugh. “She’s concerned about your health.”
“She’s concerned about her clean sheets,” Eve said.
He crossed his arms and continued to look sour. “Should I be listening for anything in particular at the bathhouse?”
“Good idea. I think there’s a bathhouse over by the miners’ village,” I said. “They’re basically barracks for the underground workers. Listen for any comments about black coal or black diamonds from the miners.”
“Do they know what’s going on?” Eve asked.
“They’re not supposed to, but…”
“It’s hard to keep something that big a secret,” Nic finished for me. “I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them smuggled a few stones out.”
“It would be difficult.” I explained about the search.
“But not impossible,” he said.
I recalled what I had been able to carry into Wirral with me. “You’re right. Nothing’s impossible.”
“We should make that our motto.” Nic surged to his feet.
“This is probably a waste of time,” I said. “So far, everything appears to be legitimate.”
“Nothing wrong with good news,” Eve said. “It would be refreshing.”
I felt a small twinge of guilt as I crept from the guesthouse. My actions were not exactly proper guest behavior. Oh well. A half-moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the buildings. Even at this late hour, armed guards patrolled the walkways and a dozen
guarded the main house.
Avoiding Vasko’s residence—I needed more training to slip past so many watchers—I sneaked into a couple of the utilitarian structures. Conveyor belts from underground brought up crushed rock, dumping it into piles. Workers shoveled the rock into screens and sifted the material. Others watched.
Interesting how all the sorting was done inside. Even the wagons filled with rejected material were taken to another building. I found a couple of open mine shafts, but they were too small to be anything but air vents and they had protective walls around them.
From my nighttime explorations, I couldn’t find another way into or out of the mines. Before stopping, I circled the command center. Guards had been stationed next to the two entrances, but no one bothered to watch the sides of the building. With no windows on the first two floors, there wasn’t a reason to be concerned. Unless the thief’s teacher happened to be Valek, who delighted in climbing up sheer walls. And most people didn’t bother to lock shutters on windows above the fourth floor.
I kicked off my boots, tied the laces together and looped them around my neck. Using fingers, toes and a mortar crumbler invented by Valek, I scaled the side of the building. Bypassing the third and fourth floors, I found an open window on the top level and entered a dark office.
I poked around the offices on the fifth floor, read a few papers by moonlight and worked my way down. All the offices looked the same, and I found nothing out of the ordinary. Even Vasko’s spacious work area held nothing incriminating.
After searching a few more rooms, I decided to exit the building through Vasko’s office on the third floor. Unlocking the shutters, I pushed them wide. The light from the moon pierced the darkness and shone on the desk. Metal glinted from under the wooden top. I pulled the chair back and ran a hand along the wood. Encountering a small lock, I crawled under and used my picks. A small panel clicked open.
Inside the hidden drawer were stacks of files. I brought them out into the moonlight and skimmed the papers. About three files down, I hit the jackpot.
(Glass #3) Spy Glass Page 28