No one was ready to talk, that was clear enough.
Jess went off into the woods to track down their horses. Along the way she shook the water off a sapling and onto her face, scrubbing it with her hands.
There. That was a little better.
When she returned with horses in tow, the others sat waiting, still looking less than enthusiastic. Ander rose to help tie the horses, and Jaime offered Jess a peanut butter sandwich and a half-full canteen.
“We’ll need to stop for supplies today.” Carey absently stretched his arm, kneading the biceps. “We just ate most of the food, and we’ve got no grain—I just couldn’t pack it up without raising suspicions.” He glanced at them. “And we need to think about weapons.”
“Why?” Jaime looked startled, lowering what was left of her sandwich. “We’re using Dayna’s raw magic to disable them, aren’t we?”
“Not everyone in their new hideout will be a wizard,” Carey told her. “What if they’ve finally had success with their changespells? Renia said they were planning to create enhanced guards.”
Dayna winced. “I wish you hadn’t thought of that.”
“Better that he did,” Ander said. “And I’ve got my bow.”
Dayna reached for the gear at her side and pulled out a small pouch. “I’ve got a little something,” she said, and shook her head—though without any true regret. “You know, before I got here I never so much as stole change from a vending machine. But last year I stole spellstones to break Carey out of Sherra’s house arrest—and this week, I stole this.”
“What is it?” Jess asked through a mouthful of peanut butter, wondering what of importance would fit in the small pouch.
Dayna beamed in a way that made Jess a little wary. “Sherra’s concentrated mage lure antidote.”
They just looked at her, trying to make the leap of thought with the group affliction of not-quite-awake.
Dayna scowled. “Don’t you get it? This is full strength stuff, and it counteracts mage lure. Take a normal dose without healer support and you might just hurt a whole lot, lose a few brain cells. Take a concentrated overdose, and what do you think will happen?”
“I’m not sure,” Jaime admitted. “But I bet it’s dramatic.”
Dayna held the pouch up in offering. “It’s for the rest of you, in case you run into wizard trouble when I’m not around. There are some hollow darts in there, too, thanks to Katrie.”
“Then we need a way to deliver them,” Ander said. “Something that won’t take as much practice as my bow. I’m thinking about one of those handbows the landers use for sport hunting.”
“We can get one,” Carey agreed. “And don’t forget—it’s possible to get through a wizard’s physical shielding, especially with a puncturing weapon.”
“True,” Dayna conceded. “But it’s not likely—especially as strong as these people are—unless the wizard’s sending out a lot of offensive magic. That’ll weaken a shield, all right.”
Carey gave her a crooked and humorless grin. “I think we can count on offensive magic,” he said. “So that gives us a crossbow, a couple of knives we don’t want to get close enough to use, and the null wards I, mmmm, borrowed from Arlen.”
“Null wards?” Jaime scratched her arm, frowning at the bug bite there. “Dayna, isn’t there some little spell we can use for these things?”
“Sure,” Dayna said promptly. “And everyone will hear me use it, too—otherwise I would have kept us dry last night.” She let her words sink in, and added, “I’ve shielded us from magical searches, and that was the last spell I dare use—it won’t hold if I start tossing magic around.”
Jaime made a face at her, and Dayna made the face right back, and for a moment it felt like situation normal. Then Dayna turned to Jess and said, “Null wards make a sort of bubble that keeps magic from affecting anything outside them. I just hope these are industrial strength, Carey. These wizards are potent. And they’ll be pissed, too.”
“They’re war wards, stockpiled against border squabbles.”
Dayna nodded, surprise in with her satisfaction. “Yep, that counts as industrial strength. And they’ll make things a lot easier. We can pop the wizards into a warded room as soon as we catch them. If we stay together until we get them all, we should be safe.”
Ander frowned, running an affectionate hand along his bow. “If we’re inside, I won’t be much use.”
“Don’t forget me,” Katrie said, breaking her morning silence. With her short, strikingly blonde hair tousled and a smear of peanut butter at the corner of her mouth, she still managed to look more alert than the rest of them put together. She sat with her legs crossed and her back straight. “If you’re looking for close quarters weapons, I’m the best thing you’ve got. And I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I could help.”
“That’s true,” Ander said, though Jess thought it was a little grudging.
“Besides,” Katrie added, wiping at her cheek when Jess mimed doing so herself, “in my opinion, you don’t want much more in the way of weapons. Load yourself down with stuff you’re not familiar with, and it’s only going to get in your way in a pinch. Use what you have and know—Dayna’s magic. If I know Dayna, she wouldn’t be here unless it was a pretty potent weapon.”
Jaime tugged at a tiny sapling next to her knee, not looking at the rest of them. “Carey knows the area, and Ander’s got his bow... no one’s going to get their hands on Jess without magic, but me? I’m just good with horses... and scared to death of Willand.”
“Oh, shut up,” Dayna said. “We’ve got days between here and there, and I need someone to keep me in line.”
Jaime snorted, but a smile crept onto her face all the same. “Well,” she said, “If really just looks like I’ll be in the way once we get there, park me somewhere, okay? Katrie can make the call; hers is the best judgment for this kind of thing.”
Katrie looked surprised, but gratified. “I can teach you to use the handbow, Jaime.”
Jaime’s eyes widened slightly as she considered it, and a grim smile crept into place. “I like the sound of that.”
“Something else needs to be said.” Carey didn’t look directly at any of them, and Jess’s hand crept over to his. “There’s no getting around it—we’ve got days to travel, and I can’t ride as hard as the rest of you. I’m going to slow you down.”
“Don’t bet on that,” Dayna muttered. “Slow is fine with me. I need to be able to think of something besides saddle sores when I’m playing with raw magic.”
Carey gave her a small smile. “The longer we take to get there, the more chance they have to pick up on the signs we’re coming.”
“Like what?” Dayna demanded. “Sherra might figure out what we’re up to—Arlen, too, if he comes out of it. But they’re not going to broadcast it.”
Jess stood; she might not be good at strategy, but she knew when it was time to quit talking and get moving. “There will be more rain... and we need slickers.”
“Slickers sound good,” Jaime said, squinting up though the branches even as a fat drop plopped on her forehead.
“Then we go.” Jess pulled Carey’s saddle from the pile of gear. No, it wouldn’t be an easy trip for him... but she could help.
His unprotesting and rueful smile of gratitude said more to her than his previous words of protest—I decide what I can and cannot do—ever could.
~~~~~
Jaime practiced the handbow every chance she got. She stayed out of the way as Dayna and Carey worked together to navigate; she helped Jess with the horse care. But riding at this pace took little of her attention, and left her too much time to think... and gave her too many reasons to practice.
Arlen. On the floor. In his workroom, that horrifyingly slack expression on his face. And Sherra’s expression when she saw him... her fear.
Stop it. He could be fine by now.
He was strong. He was powerful. And as she well knew, he had no little determination of his own.
<
br /> And there was Carey.
Pain had already etched its presence around his eyes, and Jaime sometimes caught glimpses of his expression when he thought no one watched, finding his mouth grim and his eyes hollow and empty—as if every effort went into making it through the next minute, or hour, or the day. He might make it to their destination... but no further. And once he got there, he’d need protection.
Practice. The handbow traveled over her bulging saddlebags; its pistol-grip bow was small and stout, and Jaime struggled with the spanner to cock it. But the weapon had power, and Jaime’s accuracy improved dramatically from her first efforts.
When she thought of Arlen, and saw the image of his body sprawled across the stone floor, she practiced. When the thought of Willand started a trickle of fear between her shoulders, she practiced. When she felt like a tag-along to the rest of them...
Oh, yes. She practiced.
They’d been on the road for four days, ever heading northeast, when Dayna pulled up to let the mid-morning heat settled in silence around them. Jaime’s horse heaved a big sigh, and she gave him a pat. They’d traveled a little too quickly for both horse and human, and the wear showed on them all.
“We’re as close as I can get before I start guessing,” Dayna said. “Their shield is stronger, and it’s muddying the trace.”
“So we blunder around?” Ander said, not looking happy about it.
“Not necessarily.” Dayna gestured down the road. “I might be able to feel something once we get into inside the shield. Or I could throw a little raw magic around, see if that upsets them enough to let a little signature leak out.”
“Then they’ll know we’re here,” Carey said, his face set in adamant disagreement.
“Well, that’s true,” Dayna said. “They will hear me, no matter how slight the magic. But do you want to just blunder?”
“There are other ways,” Katrie said, nodding at the terrain—thick woods rising from oak to pines, rugged ground, narrowing road. “If they have any sort of physical presence in the area, they’ll leave signs. Think like someone who doesn’t want to be found, why don’t you. What better place than this?”
Carey rubbed his thigh, his expression thoughtful. “I’ve never been this way—no one’s really tried to tame this area—but the map is clear enough. We’re headed straight for a rocky mess of woods, with a gorge backing it up.”
“Maybe Dayna can feel something if we move in,” Katrie said, but she smiled tightly. “Or maybe we can find them my way.” She glanced at Carey. “No point in all of us making tracks. I can scout for us.”
“Not on my account,” Carey said, and Jaime thought discomfort gave his voice its snappish tone. Jess brought her horse up close to his, close enough to bump his knee. He gave her a rueful smile, and relaxed. “But Katrie has a good point. Given that we don’t want to use magic, and we don’t want to blunder, I think we should head to the gorge. We’ll find a place to hunker in, and Katrie can look around.”
“I’ll let you know if anything changes for me,” Dayna said by way of agreement, and made way for Carey to take them off the road and along the next game trail.
Carey, Jess, Dayna, Katrie, Jaime, and Ander. They fell into place on a single-width trail, leaving Jaime to stare at Katrie’s broad shoulders. When Katri’s back tensed, she saw it instantly—even before commotion broke out ahead. A shout... a demand... a strange voice—
Jaime pushed her horse to the edge of the trail and found Carey blocking the path of a man hovering on the decision to run. Lanky, unimpressive of stature and clearly hard-worked, he seemed no threat—but then, neither did Dayna. Or Willand.
And then Jess got a good look at the man, and gave a cry of anger—he bolted into the trees at the sight of her. Jess’s hands lifted on the reins... the mare did a little dance beneath her.
“No, Jess!” Jaime shouted, thinking of the rough terrain—of how fast the mare would go down. “The rocks—!”
Maybe Jess heard, or maybe she worked it out for herself. She flung herself to the ground, tossing her reins at Carey as she darted into the trees. Katrie, too, swung off her horse and joined the chase.
She would never catch up with Jess. And the man would never outrun her.
He tried. He sprinted into a frantic pace, his stride interrupted by the uneven footing, his arms windmilling—
Jess gained ground by the stride, her movement powerful, her feet hardly seeming to touch the ground. He dodged, a futile effort—she matched his steps for a heartbeat, waited for the right moment, and jammed her shoulder into his.
Down he went, bouncing off a tree in the process and still scrabbling to regain his feet—until he realized she stood over him—loomed over him. He cringed away, covering his head... giving up.
Jess held her ground, still poised to go for him—and then slowly eased back. She made a derisive noise, tossed her head... and walked away, leaving the man to Katrie as she reached them.
Katrie moved with easy strength, hauling the man to his feet and escorting him roughly back up the hill; Jess never looked back. She reached her horse and gathered her reins, mounting up to sit with her body language shouting disdain and hatred.
Who the Camolen Hells—?
But Jaime wasn’t the only one who wanted to know. The horses bunched up into an impossible knot on the trail and Katrie thrust the man into the middle of them. Scrapes bled through a tear in his shirt; his palms oozed, and his forehead dripped from a deeper cut, his eyes still dazed.
“And who in the lowest Hell are you?” Carey asked for them all, his tone deceptively conversational.
“Benlan,” Jess said. Her voice and face pronounced the man guilty.
“Renia talked about a Benlan,” Jaime said suddenly. “One of the wizards. Not one of the better ones.”
“So she did,” Carey said, and gave the man an unpleasant grin. “And he looks like a man on the run, doesn’t he?”
“Just like Renia,” Dayna said, a petite woman sitting a small horse and suddenly looking as dangerous as any of them. “But you can’t use your magic or the others will catch you, right? So that more or less leaves you at our mercy.”
“I know what to do with him,” Jess said, letting her mare move forward a step. Benlan tried to back up, but Katrie’s tightening grip stopped him, his flesh going white beneath her fingers.
“Bloody Hells,” he said, more desperation than perspicacity as he tried to jerk his arm out of Katrie’s grasp and failed. “What do you know of Renia?”
“Oh, let me introduce us,” Dayna said, far too sweetly to be sincere. “This is Carey—”
Under his breath, Benlan said, “Hells!”
“—and the nice lady holding on to you is Katrie. I’m Dayna, that’s Jaime, and way down at the end is Ander. And oh—the one who seems to have such an inexplicable hatred for you is Jess.”
“Guides-damned Hells!”
“So you’ve run away.” Carey gave the trail a speculative glance. “And now you’re going to turn around and walk right back in again.”
Benlan crossed his arms. “Not a chance.”
Jess’s mare moved forward another step.
“Now, now,” Dayna said. “Don’t hurt Benlan, Jess. We might get some use out of him.” She glanced at Jaime. “Did you know that on the other side of the Lorakans, there was a once a king named Benlan? He was assassinated; it was all mixed up with mage lure. “
“How’d you—?” Jaime asked, startled.
Dayna shrugged. “I had some time to read while I was recovering from the drug,” she said. She stared down at Benlan, and suddenly, she didn’t really look like that small woman sitting on a small horse, not anymore. She looked dangerous. “Jess isn’t the only one who has a grudge against you, you slimebag. Your mage lure killed a friend of mine. Your mage lure put me through hell. If Sherra hadn’t worked up an antidote...”
“The problem is,” Carey said, catching her drift, “if you take the antidote without a healer to guide
you through the reaction, you... well.” He shrugged. “You die.” He looked over his shoulder. “Which one of us has that antidote again?”
“What the Hells do you want with me?” Benlan crossed his arms, discovered it hurt, and stood awkwardly instead. “Do you really think I’m going to take you back there?” He snorted. “You’ll just die if I do. And so will I, if they catch me hanging around. You can damn well look somewhere else.”
“No.” Jess looked down at the man, her disdain for him still plainly expressed in her flared nostrils and tense mouth. “We’re looking at you.”
“It’s true,” said Carey. “We are.”
“So here’s the deal,” Dayna said. “You take us to your nasty friends, and we won’t leave you out here to die without mage lure. We won’t use those darts on you the next time we see you, and we’ll get you help with the mage lure. If not...” She shrugged again. “I imagine the withdrawal will be pretty nasty. You’ve been taking it a long time.”
“Renia bled from every orifice,” Jaime said, making her voice hard and uncaring. “And Rorke died in puddles of vomit and excrement.”
“The Hells you say,” Benlan snapped. “Willand killed Renia with a windstorm.”
“Jess saved her from that storm. She died in agony.” Dayna smiled prettily, her features as pixie as they’d ever been, her hair drawn back in a short ponytail, and her voice utterly convincing. “Believe it, Benlan. Or die.”
“She—” He started to protest, visibly staggered. “Oh, Guides-damn. Dayton said the withdrawal wasn’t that bad. He said—that bastard.” He dipped inside a pocket to withdraw a tiny vial, the contents of which made Dayna squint. “This is all I have. I thought it would be enough—that I could trickle it out. But if you’re telling the truth...”
The Changespell Saga Page 54