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

by C. M. Simpson

  What happened to the other prisoners? she wondered.

  I’ll find out, Roeglin replied but didn’t explain how.

  Gustav, however, had other ideas. “We’ll try to take one alive,” he snapped. “Find out later. Izmay, Roeglin, can you take us through?”

  “Mais oui,” Izmay told him, but Marsh could hear fatigue dragging at the edges of her words.

  Not your concern, Roeglin told her and Mordan grunted an assent.

  The risks the pride took for each other were their own choice. If the other female thought she was strong enough, Marsh did not have the right to deny her.

  Marsh opened her mouth to protest and then closed it again. She might not like it, but the kat had a point.

  Just do your part, Roeglin told her. Get Brigitte and the children out of here. He paused. Try to save Zeb and Gerry if you can.

  As if she wasn’t going to.

  The children are your first priority.

  Aisha would never forgive me.

  And they know what she can do. She can’t reach either of them.

  Looking at the life forces and then studying what the shadow threads brought her, Marsh saw what he meant. Aisha had been tied back to back with her brother, then the raiders had used thin bands of stone to pin them in place...or they might have. Tamlin was the only one still stuck down.

  They’d put Brigitte between the other guards and the children, and now Marsh saw what she’d initially missed in her scan. Zeb and Gerry’s life forces were fading. Aisha must have been beside herself.

  She exhausted herself trying to get to them, Roeglin told her. She’s okay, but she’ll be out for a while.

  Marsh felt a white-hot flare of anger. I will kill them all.

  Beside her, Mordan’s tail twitched in agitation. You can have whatever I leave.

  “Now, Roeglin.” Gustav’s order was soft but implacable. “Get us down there.”

  The Protector Captain’s presence lifted away from her, and Marsh glanced back just in time to see Roeglin take Gustav’s place. Before she could work out what he was doing, he’d knelt beside her and wrapped his arms around her.

  The kiss that followed was swift and unexpected. It was accompanied by the briefest of hugs and a world of regret, and then he followed Gustav and the others. Henri broke the mood. “Nice move, shadow mage.”

  “Don’t make me leave you halfway there.”

  Hearing the gruffness in Roeglin’s tone, Marsh half-turned. She was just in time to see him and Izmay take a firm grip on Gustav, Jakob, and Henri and take them into the nearest piece of shadow. She didn’t know what to say or do or...

  “Deeps dammit, Roeglin! Your timing is way off,” she muttered, and Mordan growled in soft agreement.

  It is time. Mating can wait for after the hunt. Before Marsh could respond to that, the kat rose to her feet and bounded into the shadows and out of sight.

  Marsh scrambled to follow, catching the kat’s destination from her mind and following her through. She arrived just as Mordan took down her second raider. A third one raised a crossbow, but not toward the kat.

  Marsh gave a shout of outrage and dived toward him. He kept his aim steady, but Marsh’s shout had been enough to warn Brigitte and Tamlin, and they’d obviously planned what they were going to do. Tamlin tilted one way, dragging Aisha over with him, and Brigitte tilted the other, shoving Zeb and Gerry over.

  The bolt meant for the middle of her back missed, and he did not have time to fire another. The last two raiders were already running. Marsh hit the one who had fired and drove a shadow spike through his head. Disentangling herself from his corpse, she bolted for the other two, only to be knocked aside by Mordan.

  Mine! The cubs!

  The cubs... Sons of the Deep, where were Perdemor and Scruffy? Marsh pivoted and raced back the other way, hoping she’d find the kit and pup safe and sound.

  The cubs, Mordan repeated, although the thought was accompanied by a growl and a scream. Another shriek followed and the remaining raider fled, gibbering in terror. Marsh ignored him.

  She ignored the possibility there might be others too. From the main ambush site, she heard the clash of weapons as Gustav and the others found their own targets, but she didn’t remember there being anyone else in her scans. Shadow’s Heart, she hoped she hadn’t missed anyone.

  Brigitte heard her coming and tried to turn so she could see her.

  “It’s okay. It’s just me.”

  “Save them,” Brigitte ordered. “Shield us and save them.”

  Shield them. Marsh kicked herself for not thinking of it. Gustav’s orders had been to grab the kids and run. Marsh sighed. Gustav was going to kill her, but how he’d expected her to get them free without Aisha’s help was beyond her.

  He didn’t see the stone bands. Roeglin’s contact was as unexpected as it was welcome, regardless of the news it bore.

  Marsh pulled a shield over herself, the guards, and the children, and pulled Brigitte upright.

  Are you hurt?

  If Brigitte was startled by the contact, she didn’t show it. “No, you warned me in time.”

  She flinched as Marsh cut the ropes holding her and then slapped her. “The boys need you more than I need my hands.”

  The slap was so unBrigittelike that Marsh gaped at her.

  Brigitte reached back and shook her. “The boys don’t have much time. I’ve got Tamlin.”

  So saying, she stretched past Marsh and took hold of the boy’s arm, pulling him back upright.

  “Please, Marsh,” he added. “You need to save them. Aysh...”

  He shrugged, but Marsh got it. She really did need to pull Zeb and Gerry back from the brink. Ripples spread out over the surface of the shield and a dull boom echoed around them.

  Tamlin scowled. “I’ve got the shield. You need to hurry.”

  How he knew, Marsh didn’t know, but the boy was right. She put the question aside as something she should ask him later and shifted over to the two unconscious guards. There was a lot of blood pooled beneath them, and their skins were clammy to the touch.

  When she scanned their life signs, she saw them fading—and faster than she’d like. Looking at them, it was pretty clear that choosing one to heal first would condemn the other. She settled onto her knees and placed the palm of one hand on each of them.

  There was only one way she could save them both...and she’d have to remember to have enough left over to get Aisha back on her feet, or she’d never be able to get them out of here. Who knew what they’d find when they dropped the shield?

  Marsh! Roeglin again, reminding her to concentrate.

  She closed her eyes, seeking the life forces in the cavern around her, feeling the heat of the light generated by the calla shrooms and brevilars, and touching the faint glow of a hidden cluster of golden gleams. It would be enough.

  Brigitte looked at her. “If you need any energy, you can borrow some of mine.”

  Marsh kept her eyes closed, but she nodded. “Merci.”

  There was enough without Brigitte’s help, she thought, but it was good to know.

  The dull booming echoed around her again and Tamlin spoke. “They can’t get in. Do your thing.”

  He sounded confident and just a little bit smug, so Marsh forced herself to focus on drawing the magic in and directing it into Zeb and Gerry. The first thing she needed was for the bleeding to stop. That took more time and power than she’d thought, and she decided to draw from a little farther out.

  There were more life forms moving past her. Some reminded her of Mordan but weren’t quite as powerful. They had energy to spare and Marsh took a little from each, directing it into the two shadow guards with orders to “fix what was broken” and “mend anything that needs it.”

  The skin beneath her palms grew warmer. Zeb gasped, sitting straighter and jerking away from her in panic.

  “Stay still!” Brigitte commanded, laying an arm around his shoulders. “It’s Marsh. Stay still.” She pushed him ge
ntly back into reach.

  Marsh looked at him and saw the panic slowly fade from his eyes. Brigitte took the knife from Marsh’s belt and cut his hands free. He twisted around. “Gerry?”

  Marsh laid her hand against his cheek. “Give him a moment.”

  It was hard to direct the healing while she was talking, but Zeb needed to hear her voice—and he needed to know that she’d pulled Gerry back from the brink. Only just, but that was something he didn’t need to know.

  Again the hollow booming rang out around her, and she scrambled to hold her concentration, dragging more energy from the world around her and accepting Brigitte’s offer of even more. When Gerry opened his eyes, his reaction was exactly the same as Zeb’s, except that he also pulled a sword from the shadow.

  Marsh blocked the strike and yanked the magic from his control, sending the shadows back to where they’d come from.

  “It’s me, dumbass,” she snapped.

  He flailed at her for a moment longer and then let his hands drop to his lap. “You could have said.”

  Ignoring the snark in his comment, Marsh rose into a half-crouch and walked around to where Aisha leaned against the center of her brother’s back. He tracked her anxiously, and she knelt where he could see her.

  “Is she all right?” he asked when she’d had time to study the little girl.

  Marsh nodded. Aisha’s life force was paler than she’d like, but she figured the child had almost drained herself dry trying to save her friends.

  And the kit and pup, Roeglin added, dropping into her head without warning.

  Marsh drew a sharp breath. Are they?

  Yeah, they’re fine. Henri is carrying the pup, and Izmay has Perdemor. Aisha encased them both in stone. I don’t know what she was going to do if she couldn’t get them out.

  He paused. How is she?

  Give me a bit.

  You want to drop the shield?

  Are they gone?

  No, I’m pulling you out into a ring of swords so the raiders can get rid of you really easily. What do you think?

  Marsh rolled her eyes. Since you asked so nicely.

  I’m sorry.

  She shrugged and concentrated on Aisha.

  Roeglin tried again. I was worried.

  Shut it, Ro. We’re fine.

  He fell silent, and the dull boom rang out again. Tamlin groaned.

  Marsh opened her eyes. “Drop the shield, Tams. It’s Roeglin.”

  “You hope,” the boy muttered, but he did as she asked.

  Marsh flinched as shapes moved past her.

  “Tabia’s people are here,” Roeglin told her, crouching beside her.

  She nodded, pulling more energy from around them and pouring it into Aisha.

  “Sons of the Deep!” Izmay’s curse was all the warning she got before Perdemor landed beside her, pushing his way under her arm and disrupting her concentration.

  From the way the kit butted at her arm, he wanted her to use some of his energy, but Marsh didn’t dare. Drawing as she was from the world around her, she knew the kit had very little energy to give. Instead of accepting his offer, she diverted some of the power she was drawing into him.

  Perdemor hissed, swiping at her with an oversized paw.

  “Since when did you get so big?” Marsh asked him as he knocked her off balance. “How am I supposed to help your mistress if you won’t let me near her?”

  Roeglin shuffled over and someone else crouched in his place. Before Marsh could ask who they were, someone else dragged her to her feet and set her to one side. “We’ve got this.”

  She fought to get back to Aisha’s side, only to have Roeglin step into her path.

  “Let me through, Ro.”

  He shook his head and wrapped his arms around her. She stiffened, then his lips touched her ear. “They took Gustav.”

  Marsh stilled, and he let her go.

  “They what?”

  They took Gustav.

  How?

  Roeglin showed her. The how had been simple: More had arrived, and Gustav had led the charge to hold them back. He’d hit the front rank just as Tabia’s people had hit the rear and Mina’s pride started clawing its way along their flanks. Gustav had tried fighting his way to the prisoners as the mages with them had opened another gate. He’d been overwhelmed and dragged through with them.

  “How many did we lose?”

  “Ten or so before Mordan took out the first mage. The second one couldn’t hold it.”

  Marsh didn’t have to ask what had happened after that. She looked around for the kat and Roeglin jerked his chin to indicate a rock formation at the edge of the trail. “Someone almost stood on her tail.”

  Marsh looked up and saw the kat sitting on a narrow shelf of rock overlooking them.

  Dan?

  The kat yawned and looked down at her, giving her tail a lazy twitch.

  18

  Shadow Gate

  Aisha drifted from exhaustion to sleep. She woke screaming the next morning and was not comforted until she saw Zeb and Gerry for herself. After that, she clung to them until Mordan picked her up by the scruff of her shirt collar.

  The kat growled at Marsh when she went to intervene, but she didn’t object when Marsh followed. Aisha dangled from Mordan’s mouth just like a kit would in the same circumstances, but she didn’t look happy.

  Her small arms were crossed, and her face was set in an angry frown. Marsh was almost grateful when Roeglin fell in beside her. They followed Mordan to where the kat deposited Aisha between the two sleeping forms of Perdemor and Scruffy.

  They weren’t sleeping for long.

  “Scruffy! Perdemor!”

  Kit and pup leapt to their feet, Perdemor with a hiss of outrage and Scruffknuckle with a yap of joy. It wasn’t long before the pair of them had knocked Aisha from her feet and were fussing over her as if they were the ones who’d encased her in the stone cyst.

  Mordan let out a long-suffering sigh and flopped down beside them using her bulk to keep them partially contained. Marsh felt the weight of Roeglin’s arm across her shoulders and realized she was leaning on him.

  She stiffened, then gave a sigh of her own and stayed where she was. He’d tensed as if ready to lift his arm but relaxed when she didn’t object. Marsh was just thinking she could get used to it when Henri whistled.

  “Well, look who woke up on the right side of the bed today...even if it wasn’t her own. Ow!”

  Glancing in the direction of his voice, Marsh saw Izmay had Henri by the ear and was leading him away.

  “Woman, you and I are going to have words!”

  “Yeah? Promises, promises.” Izmay sounded as if she were looking forward to the idea.

  Roeglin chuckled. “Those two!” Marsh caught herself smiling too, right up until Tamlin spoke from beside her.

  “I’m fine this morning. It’s so nice of you to ask...or you know, even notice I’m here.”

  Marsh glanced at him in surprise, but the kid was smirking as he watched his sister with her pets.

  Familiars. Roeglin corrected the thought, and Marsh nodded.

  “Familiars, then.”

  Tamlin sighed. “I don’t suppose we get to eat soon?”

  Kwame answered that question for him. “We’re eating on the move. You’d better still have something in your packs.”

  Roeglin unhooked his arm, and both he and Marsh turned to face the Protector captain. Brigitte was standing beside Kwame, but her eyes were on Aisha. Kwame followed her gaze.

  “She looks better.” He nodded at Mordan. “Good work, kat.”

  Mordan lifted her head and yawned.

  Kwame shook his head. “We move out inside the next half-turn.” He gestured at Aisha and the kit and pup. “Make sure they’re ready.”

  Tamlin answered before either Marsh or Roeglin had time. “Will do.” He turned away. “I’ll get our gear.”

  He was gone before any of them could reply, and Marsh shrugged. Kwame gave the boy a stern look
and walked away. Brigitte stayed, a small smile curving her lips.

  “Don’t go there,” Marsh told her and the shadow mistress’s smile grew wider.

  Three steps out, Kwame turned back and looked at Marsh. “You are needed.”

  She followed him, stepping away from Roeglin’s warmth with regret. With the number of druids in the cavern, how could she be needed?

  She found out not long after. The prisoners from the Grotto were in poor shape.

  “We need to get them back to Bisambe,” Tabia told them when they arrived, and she looked at Marsh like she had the answer.

  “Who’s Bisambe?”

  “Not who. Where.”

  Marsh sighed. “Fine. Where’s Bisambe.”

  Kwame explained, “It’s the first town we brought you to. Remember?”

  Marsh remembered. There’d been a cavern sealed off from the rest of the Grotto, one that had needed stone mages to open and close. It was also all the way over on the other side of the sinkhole, with an army of hostile raiders in between and on patrol.

  “How are we going to get them there?”

  “Not we, you,” Kwame told her. “The raiders aren’t the only ones who can open a shadow door.”

  Marsh’s knees went weak, and she stared at him. “You what?”

  “No. You what,” Tabia answered, moving forward and laying a hand on her shoulder. She looked at the prisoners sprawled along the trail. “We need you to do this.”

  Marsh shook her head. “I can’t. What you want is bigger than anything I’ve made before, and I couldn’t hold those open for more than a few heartbeats.”

  “What if you had help?” Izmay had obviously finished her “chat” with Henri and now appeared beside her.

  “How are you going to do that? None of you know how.”

  Izmay gave her a mocking smile, stepping into a nearby patch of shadow and reappearing on the other side of the line of ex-prisoners. Seeing she had Marsh’s attention, she stepped back into the shadows and reappeared beside her.

  “Yeah, and a few days ago, none of us knew how to do that either. We might not be able to figure it out for ourselves, but we can be taught.” She cocked her head. “Like the raider mages. I bet they learned that trick from somewhere and not on their own.”