Just how many raiders did Madame Monetti have holed up in her mansion, anyway?
She tweaked the threads, wanting a closer look at their faces, and gave a shaky sigh of relief. She’d seen their leader before, but not at the head of a group of raiders. She’d seen him leading the charge against the raiders at the farm, coming in behind Monsieur Gravine to take out the raiders trying to beat their way into the barn.
The man beside him had helped the farmer and his family out of the shadows at the back of their house and been the first to lay a hand on Mordan’s head in friendship. The woman beside him had been one of the guards to greet her when she’d first arrived at the mansion.
Marsh slowly rose from behind the rocks, signaling Roeglin to do the same, and calling the hoshkat to her side.
“Friends,” she said, walking forward.
Mordan stuck close to her side, dividing her attention between Marsh and the road ahead. If Marsh hadn’t known any better, she would have thought the big kat was nervous.
“Stay close,” Roeglin told Patrik. “We’re about to meet some Protectors. They’ll help us.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” came a voice on the path behind them, and they whirled to face it.
At first, the woman’s shape was an indistinct outline, but as they turned, it became clearer, the outline firming into flesh. The first thing Marsh noticed was the crossbow aimed at the center of her chest. The second was the way the woman released the tension on the string and lowered it.
They stood, staring at one another for a long moment, and then the woman smiled.
“I was hoping we’d meet you. Monsieur Gravine said we should look for you on the path.”
He had?
“The raiders summoned shadow monsters to cover their trail. We blocked the tunnel to make sure they did not follow.”
The woman’s smile faded.
“That is good to know. Monsieur Gravine said the raiders got away with some of the prisoners. We’re going after them.”
As she spoke, Marsh heard the sound of hoofs on the trail behind them. Turning slightly, she saw the riders the shadows had shown her. Roeglin followed her look.
“Captain Orelia,” he said. “I am glad to see you.”
“And I you,” the man boomed, sliding from his mule and coming to greet Roeglin with outstretched arms. “I thought we’d lost you.”
“Did you get them all away?”
The man’s face darkened.
“It’s as Petrine says; the raiders escaped with some of their catch.” His eyes shifted to Patrik. “At least they have one less than we thought.”
As if on cue, Patrik closed the distance between them.
“Tell me,” he said. “There were two boys. They were with me in the field when the raiders came. One would have been sixteen, the other twelve. They would have asked for me…”
His voice trailed off as the captain shook his head.
“There were several youngsters, but they were all claimed by their parents. I’m sorry. You’re not the only parent to be missing children. It’s why we’re going back.”
As he spoke the last sentence, he turned back to the mule and swung into the saddle.
“Monsieur Gravine says we must hurry.”
He turned his attention to Roeglin, leaving Patrik to stare at him in disbelief.
“What did you say about shadow monsters?”
“They must have released a score or more into the tunnel behind us.” Roeglin gestured toward Aisha. “The girl brought down the entrance and blocked them out. I don’t know how you’re going to get through.”
The captain gathered his reins and glanced over his shoulder.
“A contingent of rock wizards arrived while you were out chasing your gi—” He caught sight of Marsh and cleared his throat. “Trainee! We brought two of them with us, along with a half-dozen of your shadow-mage friends.”
Roeglin looked past him, but the mules were lined up two abreast, and he soon returned his attention to the captain.
After a moment’s silence, the captain continued. “We’ll go after them hard to try to get everyone back,” he said, digging his mule in the ribs and starting forward, “and we’ll take out the shadow monsters on the way.”
Marsh remembered the chorus of howling noise that had assaulted her ears back in the tunnels and hoped Roeglin’s estimate of a score or more was still accurate.
Don’t worry, he assured her. I can see your memory. It’s close.
Marsh could only hope it was close enough to not get the patrol killed.
Give me a little credit.
But he didn’t say it out loud, taking Patrik by the arm instead and leading him to the side of the path.
Mordan followed the movement, eyed the mounted squad, and moved off the trail too, taking herself behind a clump of rocks despite Aisha’s protests that she couldn’t see. Marsh followed them and stood in front of the rocks, hoping her scent so close to the kat’s would help calm the mules. She glanced back at the scout who had confronted them on the trail and saw the woman shift back into shadow and vanish into the dark.
As the captain drew alongside them, Patrik darted out onto the path, frightening the mule and causing it to shy. The captain gave a startled yell, cursing as he brought the animal back under control. Roeglin hurried after Patrik, trying to grab his arm, but Patrik shook him off.
“I’m coming too,” he said. “They’re my sons. My responsibility.”
Steadying the mule beneath him, the captain shook his head.
“I’m sorry, but no. You’re not equipped and not armed.”
“I can borrow a sword. I know how to fight.”
The captain dug his heels into the side of his mule, nudging the animal past Patrik.
“No,” he said.
“You can’t stop me following you,” he said, shaking Roeglin’s hand loose, and turning to walk alongside the mule.
The captain ignored him, apparently content to have the farmer walk beside him. Patrik did not notice when the scout slipped out of the shadows behind him, but he crumpled beneath the blow from her staff. The captain drew the mule to a halt and glanced back at Roeglin.
“Will you be able to manage him?”
Roeglin looked from the fallen man to the captain and shrugged.
“We have help coming.”
Marsh did her best to keep her expression neutral. Help? That was the first she’d heard of it, but she nodded when the captain glanced her way, watching as the scout melted into the dark. After giving the pair of them a very doubtful look, the captain shrugged.
“As long as you’re sure you can manage,” he said.
They both nodded, and Marsh noticed that Roeglin’s face was a blank as hers.
The captain frowned but nudged his mule into a walk and then a trot.
“Safe wanderings,” he said, not looking back, and the double column of soldiers trotted by.
Marsh caught sight of the rock wizards as they passed, and the darkly garbed shadow mages, but neither group acknowledged them, and she didn’t recognize anyone among them.
20
In Search of Madame Monetti
Marchant waited until the last of the soldiers and mages had passed them and continued out of sight down the tunnel before she turned to Roeglin.
“We have help coming?” she asked as Mordan crept out from behind her pile of rocks.
Aisha slid from the big kat’s back.
“Do they have cookies?”
Roeglin sighed and bent down to haul Patrik’s unconscious body over his shoulders.
“Not really, and no,” he said, answering both questions.
“It’s bad to lie,” Aisha scolded and started walking the way they’d been going when they met the patrol.
Marsh walked after her, tilting her head and raising her eyebrows at the shadow mage as she passed.
“You hear that, Master Ro? It’s bad to lie.” She didn’t wait for him to respond, but kept walking, listenin
g for his footsteps as she went. Her mind worked furiously over what the captain had told them: the raiders had gotten away with some of their captives. The younger ones, people’s children…
It made her sick, and she forced her mind to think back over what she’d seen in the muddled events of their escape. She remembered the shadow-mage shadows she’d seen sliding along the wall when she’d been getting Patrik and the kat free. At the time, she’d thought they’d been going to join the battle, but now she realized they’d been going for the prisoners held closest to the walls—the children that had been separated from their parents, presumably as a means of keeping the grownups under control.
A lump formed in her throat, and she glanced over her shoulder in the direction the riders had gone. People’s children, their families…and she’d promised Patrik that they’d gotten them all, that his children had gone ahead—
“Don’t beat yourself up over it,” Roeglin told her, clearly reading her thoughts, and answering them aloud. “You’re the reason we got any of them back at all.”
Like that was supposed to make her feel any better. She’d just been lucky things had gone so very wrong when she’d gone to confront Madame Monetti.
“That’s one way of looking at it,” Roeglin snarked, but he didn’t sound very happy about it.
Marsh waited for him to have another go at her about being stupid and boneheaded, but he surprised her with a short bark of laughter.
“I wouldn’t dare,” he told her, and shot a look at where Mordan was walking beside Aisha. “I don’t want to get eaten.”
Marchant’s cheeks colored. That had been a private thought, one borne of frustration that he was both right and very, very wrong.
“No wrong about it, trainee, and when we get back to the mansion, the founder and I are going to talk to you about consequences.”
And this day just kept getting better...but he had reminded her that he could speak to the founder.
“I don’t suppose you could have a little chat to him about helping us so that meeting can happen faster,” she snapped. “The suspense is killing me.”
Behind her, she heard Roeglin take a breath as though he was going to tell her how boneheaded that idea was as well, but he didn’t.
Instead, there was silence, then he spoke. “Done.”
She stopped. “Really?”
“Really, and thank you; I should have thought of that before.”
Yes, he should, but she wasn’t going to rub it in.
“Uh huh.” Marsh sighed. It wasn’t her fault that he was dumb enough to go looking inside her head.
“And there you go, calling your master dumb again.”
“That was the first time…” Marsh protested, hoping it was true since she couldn’t remember if she had or hadn’t called him that before.
He snickered.
“Keep walking. They’re not far off.”
“Do they have cookies?” Clearly, Aisha had been listening to a lot more than she appeared to be. Marsh made a note to be very careful what she discussed when the child was around.
Noted.
At least Roeglin was paying attention to the important things, as well as stuff he’d be better off keeping his nose out of. There was nothing to say after that. Aisha insisted on walking, even though Mordan stayed right beside her.
“I walk,” she said when Marsh asked her if she wanted to ride. “Kitty tired.”
The kitty gave a brief yawn and lashed her tail in what Marsh took to be frustration. She wasn’t the only one worried about the little girl’s well-being, even if it wouldn’t hurt the child to walk.
“They’re here,” Roeglin called as Mordan grumbled out a warning.
The big kat wasn’t alarmed, though. She tensed, then sniffed the air and relaxed, padding forward until Marsh picked out the heat and shapes of a group of people moving toward them. This time she didn’t bother tweaking the shadow threads; Tamlin’s shout of recognition was enough.
The boy raced out of the gloom ahead, and Aisha ran to meet him. Marsh recognized Brigitte’s familiar form as the female journeyman followed him.
“Cookies!” Aisha cried, catching sight of her, and Roeglin and Marsh echoed Tamlin’s embarrassed groan.
“No cookies for you,” Brigitte snapped back, but Aisha remained undaunted, flinging her arms around the shadow mage’s waist.
“I love you, Jurman Brij.”
Marsh had to smother a smile as the woman knelt and hugged the child back.
“I love you, too, Apprentice Brat.”
Aisha giggled and grabbed Brigitte’s hand, turning to offer her free hand to her brother.
“I crashed a wall,” she told them as Brigitte led them to the edge of the path and proved that there were indeed cookies, and that some of them were Aisha’s.
Marchant glanced at Roeglin, and he moved up beside her, one hand keeping Patrik steady as the leader of the group stepped forward.
“Master Leger?” he asked, continuing as he shifted his gaze to Marsh. “Trainee Leclerc?”
“Oui,” they answered in chorus, and Marsh glanced at Roeglin, directing the man’s attention that way. He indicated Gustav, who had hurried forward to greet them. “Captain Moldrane will escort your charges back to the manse, but the founder respectfully requests that you accompany me in the arrest of Madame Monetti.”
“Do you have a spare mule?” Roeglin asked, indicating Patrik’s unconscious form.
Gustav stepped forward, signaling for one of his men to take Patrik from Roeglin’s shoulder.
“Let me guess—he’s got family with the ones who got away and insisted on trying to tag along with Orelia’s squad.”
“Oui.”
“We’ll keep an eye on him.”
“It’s Patrik, Fabrice’s husband,” Marsh said, and Roeglin turned to stare at her.
She shrugged.
“It didn’t come up before.”
Gustav looked from one to the other of them.
“Monsieur Gravine wants to see you once you get back.”
“We’ll be there.”
Roeglin answered for both of them and Marsh gave a cursory nod, her eyes tracking to where Tamlin, Aisha, and Brigitte were sitting together, talking animatedly. The desire to go over and join them was like a physical ache in her chest, but the sudden weight of Roeglin’s hand on her shoulder shook it away.
“Let’s go, Trainee.”
She waved, catching Brigitte’s eye but following Roeglin before either of the children looked her way. Seconds later, she was dragged to a halt as two sets of arms wrapped around her.
“Bye, Marsh.” Tamlin’s farewell was gruff, and he held his sister’s hand so Marsh could go.
“Bye,” Aisha echoed as her brother pulled her gently away,
Marsh managed a shaky smile.
“Bye,” she said. “I’ll see you when I get back.”
It was a good thing Tamlin led Aisha back toward Brigitte because Marsh didn’t think she’d have been able to. What surprised her was when Tamlin left Aisha with the journeyman and came racing back across to her.
“Bri…the journeyman said to give you these,” he told her, pressing two large cookies into her hands.
He didn’t wait for a reply but raced away, leaving Marsh to stare after him as he scooped his sister into his arms and started to move back along the trail, Brigitte by his side. The suddenness of his return and the abruptness of his departure had left her stunned.
“Trainee,” Roeglin said, but his command was softened by a compassion that matched the sadness forming an unwieldy lump in Marsh’s throat.
She tried to shake it off as the squad split into two groups, Gustav leading Tamlin and Aisha back toward the Founder’s home and Roeglin following the other teams’ leader to the pillars marking the turnoff to Madame Monetti’s mansion. Marsh fell in beside him, forcing herself to focus on the terrain around them as she handed him one of the cookies.
She remembered how the shadow mages
had come out of the dark behind her and searched for them now. Swallowing the sadness at leaving the children behind again, Marsh drew a long, slow breath and then let it out. She needed to be ready for anything.
The cookie was gone by the time they crossed the strange expanse of white rock fringed by partial white pillars. Marsh took another breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she requested to see what stood in the shadow. She wanted to see the things that were one with the shadow yet stood apart from them. She wanted to see what life forces beat along the shadow threads.
Laying a hand on Roeglin’s shoulder so she wouldn’t be left behind, Marchant opened her eyes and scanned the cavern around them. Heat and light met her gaze and the shadows spoke too, showing her what and who lay in wait around them. Men and women had blended with the shadows, standing next to the pillars or crouching beneath the sheltering caps of half-grown callas.
Marsh frowned. Even two days ago, she couldn’t recall there being callas, and the shrooms didn’t grow that fast, not that she’d ever heard. It was a puzzle for another day, however, as she dragged a dart from the shadows and flung it at the mage standing near the pillar closest the path leading to Monetti’s front door.
Roeglin had done his usual thing in pulling the images from her mind and mirrored her movement by casting a second dart and taking out the mage next to her target. He must have been doing something else too because the squad leader shouted an alarm.
“Incoming!”
Incoming? Well, Marsh guessed he could call it that, because she could sense the shadows trembling. She knew that somewhere a mage was opening a gate and calling in shadow monsters. Even as she thought it, it occurred to her that they could be opening a gate for another reason.
Madame Monetti might be looking for a way to escape.
“We need to get to the door!”
She and Roeglin turned to the path leading to the mansion’s entrance, and Marsh realized they were surrounded.
“Sorry,” she said, wishing she’d thought to use her powers before.
“Just do something about it!” Roeglin snarled, stepping away from her as he pulled twin blades from the air.
Magic Below Paris Complete Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 8): Trading Into Shadow, Trading Into Darkness, Trading Close to Light, Trading By Firelight, Trading by Shroomlight, plus 3 more Page 44