“Here! Oh, Deeps, you came. They’re almost here.”
“I know,” Marsh told him, pointing at the small crevice. “Henri, they’re going to come through there.”
“Now tell me something I don’t know,” the big man retorted, already heading for the crack.
Marsh caught sight of a familiar greenish-brown cloud seeping out of it and grabbed the person nearest, back-pedaling into the corridor to dump them on the floor. Gustav, we need ropes cut and evacuation.
She didn’t hear his answer, but the sound of boots on the ladder reassured he’d heard. She didn’t wait to greet whichever of the team was coming down but went back for another of the prisoners. Henri was still at the rear wall, stuffing something into the crack despite the cloud of mist that hung around his head.
“Seal it up,” Roeglin ordered, and Izmay answered.
“Tried. It’s passing through the shadows.”
“How?”
“Does it matter? Henri can’t hold his breath forever.”
“Get out of there, Henri.”
The warrior shook his head, and Marsh felt something brush past her.
“I got dis.”
“Aysh!”
But the child was gone. To Marsh’s relief, she stopped short of the spores and laid a hand on the wall closest her. Stone moved at her touch, creeping over the crack and cutting off the flow of jaundiced green. Henri stumbled back, and Izmay slapped a damp cloth over his nose and mouth.
“Don’t you dare. Not yet,” she urged, and Marsh held her breath.
With the spores clinging to his skin, Henri was still in danger of the poison getting into his system. From the look on the man’s face, he was starting to have trouble holding his breath.
“Don’t even,” Izmay growled and lifted a fresh cloth to his face. “Now!”
He reached up, covering her hand with his own and holding the cloth in place as he sucked air into his lungs.
“That was close,” Roeglin said just as Aisha growled with effort and frustration.
“Get them out of here!” the shadow mage ordered. “Aysh can’t hold them for much longer.”
She was holding them? Marsh stared at the child and then moved over to her side.
“You get them out of here. Aysh and I will follow as soon as you’re clear.”
With the stone blocking both the shadows and her ability to sense what lives and how many stood on the other side of the wall, Marsh focused on looking for the smallest crack that might indicate where Aisha couldn’t hold it.
Marsh?
At the child’s voice, Marsh followed their connection, finding the images that Aisha didn’t have the words to describe. She guessed even the precocious had their limits, but that wasn’t what concerned her right now.
There were half a dozen raiders on the other side of the wall, and they’d sent for more. Seeing them reminded Marsh that the shadows and her ability to sense life weren’t the only skills that could help her. She reached for them with her mind.
Who were they? And what were they doing here? What did they intend for the survivors?
One of them chuckled. “Well, hello, mind mage. I was wondering when you’d show up.”
Marsh jerked back just as the trap slammed shut. She stared at it from the outside and wondered why anyone would have something like that set up inside their heads.
“There are six of them,” she said, pulling back into her own mind. “How you doing, Aysh?”
“Last one,” Roeglin called, and Marsh heard the sound of someone being dragged away behind her.
“This would be easier if you cut the ropes first,” the person complained.
Judging from her tone, she’d seen more than a few years and had the temper of many older folk Marsh knew. Roeglin sighed.
“If I did that, grandmother, you’d still be sitting in the chamber when they came through.”
A throaty chuckle greeted that, followed by a gasp of outrage. “Young man! You put me down.”
“Sorry, no time.” Roeglin didn’t sound the least bit repentant.
Aisha gave a frustrated shriek, and Marsh didn’t bother asking her what was wrong. She just picked the child up and ran for the tunnel. Stone creaked behind her, and a crossbow clacked as it was fired. Marsh kept running, Aisha in front of her.
She passed Roeglin and didn’t stop to ask him why he was kneeling on the floor, facing the wrong way. There was no time...and Gustav was with him. Marsh carried Aisha up the ladder, passing the child to Izmay. Henri reached out and grabbed her just as she started to descend.
“Gustav’s orders,” the ex-caravan guard told her, hauling her out of the tunnel.
“You’re next,” Roeglin shouted, and Gustav came up the ladder like he’d kicked over a nest of shroom hornets.
As soon as he hit the surface, he leaned back into the tunnel. “Come on, boy!”
Marsh heard footsteps. They shuffled as if Roeglin was focusing on something else as he moved back toward the ladder. Sliding into his head, she saw that was exactly what he was doing—and that he wasn’t going to make it.
“I’ll hold it,” she said, focusing on the wall of shadow blocking the tunnel in front of him. “You climb.”
He didn’t stop to argue with her but backed up to the ladder and started climbing. The first she knew he was out was when he punched Henri in the shoulder. “What are you doing with my girlfriend?”
“I’m saving her Deeps-be-damned ass, you ungrateful Son,” Henri retorted, and then, of course, he had to take it one step too far. “You can’t shag her if she’s dead.”
“Give her here,” Roeglin said, and Henri shoved Marsh into his arms.
“Sure thing. Catch.”
“Hey!” Marsh had had about enough of being passed around like a sack of potatoes. “Don’t we have people to save?”
“Don’t worry, dear. This is much more entertaining.” It was the same creaky voice that had reprimanded Roeglin, but it grew more distant as it spoke, as though its owner was retreating as swiftly as their ancient legs could carry them.
“Save your breath for running, grammama.” That voice sounded familiar and more Marsh’s age.
“Obasi?”
We’ll wait for you here, he replied and sent her a picture of a small clearing surrounded by brevilars and blue buttons. I will show you the way.
Roeglin set her on her feet. “Thank you.”
She nodded and then slapped him. “Don’t ever do that again.”
“Do what?” he asked. She caught him flitting through the possible reasons she might be mad: his attack on Henri, leaving her behind in the chamber to support Aisha while he dragged Obasi’s grandmother to safety, staying behind to make sure she and Aisha got out safely. Oh. But that’s my job!
And she saw what he meant. It was his job to protect her and to protect the children. It was also his job to be the rear guard when his captain ordered it. Marsh thought fleetingly about speaking to Gustav about that, then decided she couldn’t. It was all their jobs to do as the captain ordered, regardless of how they felt.
Aisha stamped her foot, clearly not agreeing with this assessment, and Marsh held up a warning finger. The child subsided, her small face glowering as she crossed to where Marsh was standing, Scruffy and Perdemor flanking her once more.
“Get ready,” Gustav called, backing away from where the ground was sinking.
They followed his lead, taking cover behind the remains of the barn walls.
The raiders led by hurling small packets of spores, forcing them up and out from behind the piles of rubble. It might have been a disaster if the shadow mages hadn’t conjured shields of shadow to shelter them from the crossbow bolts and darts that followed.
The next attack was harder to counter.
Marsh was moving steadily back when the ground beneath her feet grew soft. She’d barely registered it when it gave way and she sank to her knees in softened stone, and then to her chest. Aisha gave a shriek of frustration as
Perdemor grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and dragged her away.
“NO! Perdemor! Noooo!” But the kit didn’t listen, and Marsh was grateful.
She was just starting to wonder where Mordan was when the big kat leapt clear of a stand of callas, coming in from behind their attackers to smash into one of the mages at the back. He went down, cannoning into his companions as the hoshkat leapt away.
The raiders clumped together, surrounding their fallen mage but ignoring him as he bled out at their feet. Marsh felt the stone begin to solidify and scrabbled frantically at the hard edge of the ground. It was barely within reach, but she got both hands on hard stone and dragged herself forward.
Her body floated up, and she kicked forward. She’d managed to get her elbows up onto solid earth and had almost pulled herself clear when the ground became solid, trapping her legs.
“Deeps dammit!”
I got you, Aisha said, and the stone softened around her thighs and calves.
Marsh scrambled hastily out of it and got to her feet. “Thanks,” she managed and sighted on the raiders.
They’d finally realized their companion was dead and had begun to advance to where they had seen Marsh and the others disappear. Their eyes scanned the shrooms as they tried to find out where they’d gone.
Marsh rewarded them by charging into the open, her shield held before her, dragging a sword into reality as she came. Mordan took advantage of the distraction she provided by making a second leap. This one brought her into their midst where she struck out with claws and teeth at everything around her.
She leg-swept some and sank her teeth into thighs, backs, and sword arms until they didn’t know which way to turn. Marsh thrust the sword through the exposed neck of the first raider she reached, relieved when Henri and Izmay waded in from the other side and Jakob made his presence known from the rear.
Gustav gave a roar and charged, knocking two back over the kat. Mordan pivoted her own length and tore out their throats in quick succession, and Gustav was grinning as he skewered a third with his blade. “Good work, kat.”
His was the last raider to fall, and they looked around for more. The battle had been short and sharp, and none of them were hurt. Marsh reached for Obasi. You said there were reinforcements coming?
His laughter echoed through her mind. You might be able to catch them if you run fast enough.
Which way did they go?
He showed her and she spun toward it, breaking into a run, the others racing after her. Mordan took the picture from her mind and shared it with Scruffknuckle and Perdemor.
“Wait for me!”
“I got you,” Tamlin called, answering his sister and letting the others know she wasn’t alone.
Marsh hesitated, but Roeglin intervened. He says to go on.
She caught the flash of thought that it was a good thing she hadn’t heard what else the boy had said. Do I want to know?
He’s not impressed with either of us but he’ll get over it.
He’ll make us both sorry, you mean.
Roeglin’s mental tone took on a hard edge. He can try. This is what we are, for now. Boy needs to accept that or...
Or what?
Or accept waiting at the monastery. He can’t have it both ways.
Marsh almost wished she had the same choice.
It’s too late for that.
I know. It didn’t stop her from wishing it could be different.
14
Living Shrooms
They caught the second group of raiders just before they reached the cavern’s edge. If Marsh hadn’t been scanning ahead as she ran, the raiders would have caught them. As it was, she and Mordan barely had enough time to break to the side before entering the ambush zone.
Roeglin caught the warning in her head and veered to the side, alerting the others to what was waiting. The raiders turned to face them, but Mordan smashed into one line, and Perdemor and Scruffy bounded into the second, wreaking havoc among the raiders and destroying the concentration of the two rock mages who’d been waiting to dissolve the floor beneath their feet.
Marsh didn’t stop to watch. She used Roeglin’s trick, hurling darts into the first raider to show his face. His crossbow dropped from nerveless fingers as the first dart buried itself in his chest, and the second split his skull. By then, she was close enough to slam her shield into his partner, hacking down with her blade.
She didn’t have it all her way, though. None of them did. Tamlin arrived in time to save Roeglin’s life by sliding a shield of darkness between the shadow mage and the blade that would have ended him, and Aisha had learned from their previous encounter.
A raider screamed in terror as he dropped throat-deep into the stone at his feet. Aisha made a sweeping motion with her hand, and his head rolled across the floor. Her blue eyes were solemn as she looked for the next one and Marsh wondered just how many years of nightmares she was about to suffer.
It’s a bit late for that now, Roeglin told her. You were the one who allowed them to come.
I didn’t exactly have a choice, she snarled, thrusting her sword hilt-deep into her next opponent. She didn’t bother trying to free it, just thanked the shadows and sent them back to where they’d come from. Drawing a second sword, she looked for the next target...only to find that there weren’t any.
“Aisha!” she called, running over to where the child was standing, looking down at the head. “You okay, Aysh?”
The little girl’s eyes were dark as she met Marsh’s eyes and raised her arms to be picked up. “He was a bad man?”
Marsh hugged her close, catching Brigitte’s eye across the clearing. “Yes, sweetie. He was a very bad man.”
“Good,” Aisha said, but she still wrapped her arms around Marsh and buried her face in her neck.
Marsh patted her back, holding her tight as she carried her away. Roeglin met her once the bodies were out of sight and pulled them both into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, and Marsh couldn’t tell which one of them he was apologizing to.
Tamlin came and stood nearby, and Roeglin snaked out an arm and pulled the boy into their hug. “Thanks, Tams.”
The boy wrapped his arms around them. When he replied, his voice was muffled. “Just don’t leave us behind again.”
Roeglin hugged him tighter. “No,” he agreed. “Who’d save my ass then?”
His words brought a choked laugh from the boy, and Aisha managed a sniffly giggle. Gustav cleared his throat. “We need to move.”
Marsh set Aisha back on her feet and was relieved when Perdemor and Scruffknuckle crowded around the little girl. Henri appeared as Brigitte moved in to lay a hand on Aisha’s shoulder and received a hug in return. He rolled his eyes. “You do know that having children on the battlefield is a dumb idea, don’t you?”
Aisha dropped him into half a foot of softened stone and stuck out her tongue. To Marsh’s relief, the girl remembered Henri was on their side and didn’t cut him off at the ankles. Zeb and Gerry snickered as they pulled him onto solid ground, but Gustav wasn’t impressed.
“Sulema said there’s a water source at the back of the cavern,” he told them and looked at Marsh. “What can our rescued farmers tell us about it?”
“That it’s lunchtime and the story’s better heard over a hot meal?” Marsh replied a short moment later.
Gustav frowned, but then shrugged. “Very well. Which way are they?”
The farmers had returned to the ruined village and salvaged food from the debris. They’d also gathered edibles along the way. The resulting stew was the best thing they’d had since leaving Shamka, and even Henri’s mood improved.
The story, such as it was, might not have been better for being told over a hot meal, but it was nonetheless.
“The shrooms move,” Obasi told them, his eyes wide. “I swear one followed me almost all the way home two cycles ago.”
“And recently?” Gustav was skeptical.
Obasi shook his head. “I haven�
�t been back. That one that followed me, I swear I saw it waiting on the village outskirts beside the swamp trail, and I didn’t want to risk it catching me when I wasn’t watching.”
His grandmother snorted and waved her spoon at him. “More like you finally listened to an old woman’s warnings about shroom fever.”
He ducked his head, his skin flushing a slightly darker shade. “That too, grammama.”
“Shroom fever?” Gustav asked, and the old woman turned to him.
“When you go, make sure you wear masks and keep your skins covered. It’s not the right season for the spores, but you still need to be careful. Stay out of the groves.”
She glared at Mordan and shook her head in the kat’s general direction. “And that goes for you kats too. The fungus isn’t picky about who it chooses for a host, and you don’t want to get sick.”
“Noted,” Gustav told her and looked at Obasi. “What do you plan to do next? We can escort you back to Shamka if you need us—”
Obasi shook his head. “No. You need to look at the water source,” he told the Protector captain. “You’ll never know if it’s suitable if you do not.”
“It isn’t, though, is it?” Marsh asked, and Obasi gave her a secretive smile.
“That is not for me to decide, and we will be safe if we stick to the cavern’s edge. We’ll make for Sulema’s Shelter.”
Their confusion must have shown, for he explained, “It is the first place you visited when you arrived. Sulema planned it as a fallback point long ago.”
“How long have the raiders been coming?” Marsh asked, and Obasi shook his head, his smile growing wider.
“It was not just for these raiders,” he told her. “There have been other dangers before them.”
“But there’s been no mention,” Gustav protested, his face troubled. His consternation was reflected on Roeglin’s face.
“You did not call for help.”
“You’ve had troubles of your own,” Obasi told him. “The Deeps Monastery cannot watch over all the caverns all the time.”
“That will change,” Gustav declared. “The Protectors will be there in the future.”
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 111