One of the men stepped forward, and Marsh saw he was wearing the gray-blue shirt and dark pants favored by the raiders.
“We’ve come for the boy,” he said, addressing Liam and ignoring Tamlin altogether.
How? Marsh wanted to know.
Liam doesn’t know either, Master Envermet told them. Roeglin?
The mind mage isn’t one of them, Roeglin told them.
Find him! Master Envermet’s response was fierce.
Marsh’s body tensed as she watched the drama being played out before them...and Tamlin was doing a good job of keeping it dramatic.
The boy backed away from Liam, then turned as if he hadn’t noticed the raiders blocking the way behind them. When he did, he backed up to the man he’d come to town with and grabbed his arm. “I don’t want to go with them,” he protested.
Liam looked torn. “I don’t know if we have a choice,” he told the boy, and the raider shook his head.
“No. We’ve been sent to take him to Headquarters. He’s coming with us.”
He held out a hand, and Tamlin slid around Liam’s back. “I don’t want to go with them,” he wailed, clinging to the townsman’s shirt. “You said I could stay with you! You promised.”
The raider made a grab for him, and he avoided it. Only Roeglin’s hand on her forearm kept Marsh in place.
Tamlin slipped into Liam’s shadow and began to fade, only to drop to his knees.
Sons of the Deeps! Roeglin exclaimed. I’ve found him!
Show me! Master Envermet demanded as Marsh stared, horrified by what was happening before her. The pair of them disappeared without her.
Roeglin!
Help Tamlin!
Well, that she could do.
“Don’t let them take me,” Tamlin begged, trying to sink into the shadow so he could step to safety.
Again, he failed to vanish, and, again, the raider lunged toward him. Liam stood statue-still, not getting out of the raider’s way but not appearing to help the boy, either. It was the closest he could bring himself to betraying the child, even though the kid’s friends had instructed him to do so.
It tore his heart, and he was close to breaking and fighting for the boy’s freedom when a small voice screamed in outrage and Aisha ducked through the line of raiders behind them. She raced toward the raider who was trying to grab Tamlin around Liam’s body.
“You let my brother go!” she shrieked, and stones lifted from the road around her.
“Let. Him. Go!” she screamed, throwing a tantrum like only a six-year-old could.
The stones she’d raised from the pavement flew at the raider, striking him in the chest and head.
Aisha flung herself at the man, putting her shoulder against his leg and pushing him back with all the strength she could muster. At the same time, she flailed at him with her fists.
He stumbled back, laughing at the ferocity of the tiny being pummeling him and lifting her by the scruff of her neck and her shirt collar. “What in all the hells do we have here?”
Liam stared at the girl as if he’d never seen her before. “I really don’t know,” he answered, looking as confused as before. He twisted to look at Tamlin. “You said nothing about a sister.”
“Not your business!” the boy snapped, coming to stand in front of the raider. “You put her down.”
“And what are you going to do if I don’t?” The man sneered, then glanced at Liam. “It’s not like he’s going to do anything to help you.”
Tamlin gave Liam a scornful look. “He doesn’t have to. I can take care of you on my own.”
He raised his hand as though calling a dart to his hand…and crumpled to the ground with a yelp of pain. Marsh rose out of the shadows just as Aisha pulled another rock from the ground. This one was as big as the man’s head.
10
Raiders Revealed
Two of the raiders turned as Marsh charged forward, pulling sword and buckler from the shadows as she went. Aisha focused on the rock, even as she lashed out at the raider with her foot. The man laughed and shook her.
“The boss is going to have a field day with you,” he gloated, shaking her again.
Behind him, the rock crashed to the ground, startling him as it landed. He pivoted and stared at it, shaking the child again. “Why, you little shit!”
Aisha glared at him and lashed out again with her foot. “That’s rude!”
He threw her toward another of the raiders. “Here! Hold this, but don’t let her concentrate.”
Aisha tried to twist out of reach of the grabbing hands, but one of the raiders managed to get hold of her. Holding her tight, he knelt, pressing her hard against the ground.
Aisha’s form flickered as though she was trying to disappear into the rocks and stones beneath her, but none of them were large enough to accommodate her tiny form, and she couldn’t. While she was focused on that, the raider bound her hands and feet behind her back, then slipped a blindfold over her face.
“Let’s see you do anything when you can’t see!” he challenged and Aisha shrieked with frustration.
He pulled a piece of cloth from his pouch. “And while we’re at it,” he added, “we’ll put a stop to that noise, too.”
“Please do.” Another of the raiders groaned and pulled the pack off his back. “D’you reckon she’d fit?”
In the meantime, Tamlin had pulled Liam’s sword from its scabbard. “Get him, Scruff!” he ordered, pointing at the man trying to stuff Aisha into a pack.
The pup didn’t need to be told twice. With a ferocious snarl, he leapt forward as a brown and green blur yowled out from behind the house, something larger bounding in its wake. The raider holding the backpack dropped it.
He stumbled back, but Scruffknuckle snapped at his boots as Perdemor lunged and struck him in the chest. Mordan didn’t bother with the man. She scooped Aisha and the pack up in her jaws and carried her into the shadows on the other side of the street.
Marsh hoped no one else tried for the child when the kat reappeared moments later, her mouth empty. There was no way the kat had set the little girl free in that short span.
Tamlin, meanwhile, was in trouble. While he’d driven the raider back with his first wild swing, the man had recovered and drawn a blade of his own.
“The boss would prefer it if you arrived unharmed,” the man said, “but he’ll understand if you do not.”
“Sure, he will.” Tamlin sneered, taking another two-handed swipe at the man.
The raider parried the blow and counterattacked with his fist. He caught the kid out of position and landed a solid hit on the side of Tamlin’s head. The boy dropped to his knees, and the blade fell from his hands.
As he reached for it, the raider brought his boot down on the boy’s wrist. There was a sickening crunch, and the boy cried out in pain. The raider dropped to one knee beside him and lifted his boot, wrapping a hand around the injured wrist.
Tamlin cried out again, his form wavering as he tried to fade to shadow and failed. The raider lost no time in securing the boy’s hands and dragging him to his feet. Liam backpedaled away from the fight, not sure what to do, as Marsh took on two raiders, blocking the attack from one as she lashed out at the other.
The sky crackled overhead, but there wasn’t a cloud to be seen.
Worried for his own children, Liam turned and bolted for home. As soon as he was out of sight, his mind calmed, and he altered course. He was exhausted, but he figured he’d run the distance once, and he could do it again.
Maybe Marsh and the children stood a chance if he could let their friends know they were in trouble. Worry of what the raiders would do to him and his family if they found out lanced through him, but he pushed it aside. It was bad enough that he’d done nothing to defend the boy!
He couldn’t stand aside and do nothing else. Without giving it another thought, he ran for the hill and the makeshift corral where the travelers had camped. As he did so, he hoped the raiders hadn’t thought to check the ar
ea themselves.
Back in the street, Marsh saw him leave and breathed a sigh of relief. Although the man was clearly torn, she’d needed him not to join the fight and to get out of the way. When he’d bolted into the shadows, he’d made the situation a whole lot less complex.
She wished she had the ability to call the others for help, or that she could let Roeglin and Master Envermet know how much she needed them, but they were busy trying to catch the mind mage before he could bring any more raiders to the town. If that happened, they might find themselves joining Gustav rather than rescuing him.
She parried another blow, blocked a third with her shield, and wondered if she could call lightning from an unshadowed sky.
It’s nighttime, Marsh! Roeglin’s voice snapped through her head like a welcome light.
It was nighttime! That meant the entire sky was made of shadow. She asked for a single bolt of lightning.
When none came, she asked again, wondering where it was. The sky overhead quivered. Her two opponents closed, and she sidestepped between them, blocking another attack with her buckler and parrying one with her sword.
See? she told the lightning. Shadow blades come from the night. So can you.
The sky burned.
Just one bolt, she pleaded. On the enemy I face.
There was a loud crack, then the smell of burning air and seared flesh. The man in front of her jolted like he’d been hit in the back by a blade, but he hadn’t. As he fell, the hole in the crown of his head and the smell of cooked flesh showed the lightning had answered her call.
His companion fell also, and Marsh pivoted to stare.
Forked lightning, was Roeglin’s commentary. Most impressive.
Where are you? Marsh asked, wondering how he knew what she’d done.
I can see through your eyes when you’re this unshielded. Deeps-be-damned scary, but impressive. With that, he was gone.
Marsh caught the flash of movement as the third raider came at her, sword upraised. She prepared to block with the shield and run her blade through his chest, but the chance never came. The sound of hooves rumbling over the cobbles interrupted them, and three darts slammed into him.
One shattered his skull, and the other two drove deeply into his chest. They dissipated shortly after, but the damage was done, and the shocked look on his face froze there in death.
Marsh looked for the other raiders and was in time to see Tamlin being hauled toward the nearest front door. She wondered if they’d open it for the raider, but didn’t wait to find out. The boy was hanging as limp as a sack of shrooms from the raider’s hands.
The other raiders were hard-pressed by the lightning-fast attacks of the kit and the pup, but they were mostly focused on the kat stalking them. Two were moving back to where their leader stood with his prisoner, and two more were taking wild swipes at the creatures harrying them.
A fifth and sixth lay in pools of blood in the street. Marsh noted the crushed head of one and the missing throat of the other and knew Mordan and the youngsters had two more kills to their credit. It made her sad, but she was grateful.
She ran forward, shouting to draw some of the attention off Scruffy and Perdemor. She succeeded in drawing glances from all of them, then promptly lost their attention as the Shadow Guards swept by on their mules.
Some of the raiders tried to run, and others turned to face the charge. They all fell beneath the blades and hastily thrown darts of the riders. Mordan pounced as the mules swept past, taking out one raider who’d gone down but had not been killed.
His body fell limply from her jaws, then she leapt toward the man who held Tamlin. The door had opened to his furious pounding, but it slammed closed again at the sight of the kat charging toward it.
“You will pay for that!” he screamed, dropping Tamlin and raising his sword as he turned to face the oncoming beast.
He fell before Mordan could reach him, two shadow darts shattering his armor and pinning him to the door. Mordan slid to a halt and then stood over Tamlin’s still body, roaring her defiance to the night.
The door cracked open behind her and she spun, snarling. There was a startled yelp from beyond it, and the sound of someone scrambling away. A crash followed, then the sound of shattering ceramics and frightened oaths.
The kat cocked her head, then nudged the door. It swung open and she lifted her head to look inside, her tail swishing idly. A glance over her shoulder showed her that all the raiders were dead.
She had the boy, and the girl was safe. The kat rumbled with worry. The girl was still tied, but she could not leave the boy. It was concerning. She reached across her link to the pup and the kit. Both were making sure the raiders were dead.
Still rumbling, Dan touched Marsh’s mind, reminding her of the child’s plight.
She’s going to be so mad at you, Marsh replied.
The kat gave the equivalent of a mental shrug. She had the boy to think of. He could not be left unprotected, given he was the one the raiders had come for...and speaking of which...
Mordan lifted her head and snuffed the air, searching for any sign of others, and wondering where the two males who thought they led the pride had gone.
As she searched for them, Master Envermet and Roeglin were crouched on either side of an upstairs door. The house overlooked the street in which the battle had taken place, and the room would have offered a perfect view of the fight.
They’d used the sounds of battle to cover the noise of their entrance, and they’d used the mind mage’s focus on keeping Tamlin’s abilities subdued to stalk the edges of his mind. What they found there had tested Roeglin’s strictures on killing.
He wondered if he could call lightning in the man’s mind, then remembered it would be a bad idea while he was in there. Master Envermet nudged him and slowly shook his head. Roeglin stifled a sigh.
They slid out of the mage’s mind, keeping just enough awareness to know which room he was hiding in.
11
Battles of the Mind
Master Envermet looked at Roeglin, and the younger mage stood back from the door. You ready?
At the shadow captain’s question, Roeglin nodded, and his eyes turned white.
Now, he stood at the edge of Macey’s mind. The man was still unaware of his presence, but he was no longer focused on Tamlin. He was focusing his energy on a large mirror to one side of the room. Roeglin had to stop him before he could activate it, and Master Envermet had to open the door.
They’d both tried to turn the handle, using the cover of rumbling hoofbeats to hide the sound, but the door was firmly locked, and the key was in Macey’s pocket...on a string...attached to his belt.
Roeglin cursed their luck, and they decided on a more direct approach—not that they had much choice. They needed to get to the mage before he brought more raiders to the town, and that was what he was preparing to do.
Roeglin slid into his mind and prepared to stop him. Master Envermet used a fist of shadow to smash the door off its hinges. It opened with a thunderous crash, sending shards of wood flying and shattering the stone around it.
At the sound of the intrusion, the man turned. Roeglin rode his mind and knew when he decided to alert his masters rather than try to run. He sent a jolt of energy through the man’s head that disrupted the start of his spell.
The response was instantaneous.
Scarlet vine-like tendrils dropped down around Roeglin’s mental presence, some seeking to encircle him and others trying to stab him.
Master Envermet! he shouted, shielding himself in armor made from the shadows in Macey’s mind. The tentacles slammed into it and bounced off, but they came back. Now Roeglin wished he did know how to call the lightning into someone’s mind.
He tried to keep watch on Macey as he fought to break free of the tendrils that held him. When the mage tried to activate the mirror a second time, Roeglin sent out another pulse. A tentacle smashed through the armor shrouding his body, piercing his leg and hooking deep into
the flesh.
Roeglin screamed, his outer shell dropping to the floor as agony flooded through him. In any other situation, the pain would have been enough to jolt him out of Macey’s mind, but this time he was stuck fast.
The tentacles surrounding him held him firmly, refusing to let go.
Roeglin felt his shield crack and pulled more shadow to it, trying desperately to work out how Marsh called the lightning. He needed to...
Marsh! Roeglin thrashed against the red coils tightening around him. If it weren’t for the armor he’d called to surround himself, they’d have crushed the mental breath out of him—and he didn’t want to think of where that would have left his mental presence, given he couldn’t make his way back into his own body.
Another tentacle shattered the armor and slammed into his side.
By the Deep’s dark ass, I can’t leave you on your own for a second! Marsh’s shout of outrage was accompanied by a roar and Master Envermet’s exclamation of surprise, but Roeglin barely heard them over his own cry.
Dan! Get the— Never mind...
Roeglin flinched as blades sliced through the tendrils holding him—blades and teeth since Mordan was doing her best to tear them apart. Master Envermet had gone after Macey and driven a shadow blade into the center of the man’s mind.
The mirror flickered, and the connection died before it opened.
Roeglin didn’t see much more because Marsh yanked red tentacles away from his body, and Mordan grabbed him with her mouth and leapt back along the connection he’d made. Roeglin wondered that it was still there.
He was rapidly fading when the kat brought him back to his own skull and set him gently down. Marsh followed shortly afterward, and Master Envermet stepped lightly in and then back out. Roeglin swore he heard the sound of breaking glass followed by splintering wood.
Marsh’s voice intruded. “Your turn, Aisha.”
Roeglin became aware of warmth spreading over his side and leg while Marsh’s mental presence sat beside him, soothing ravaged pain centers as the child healed him. Sometime during the process, the kat left.
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 126