They all froze, then looked toward the shriek.
“Marsh! How far?” Master Envermet demanded, and she asked the shadows to show her where the shadow monsters were.
And the wolves, she added. Show me both.
The shadow strands obliged, and her skin went cold. She set Aisha on her feet.
“Fix?” the girl asked, her face brightening.
“You fix it later!” Marsh told her. “Right now, run!”
Master Envermet started dragging the mule toward the raiders’ camp. “Roeglin said they were clear. We might be able to hold them off there.”
Marsh remembered the way he’d gone still earlier and realized Roeglin had spoken to him just before the whole business with the mule had occurred. She looked around for Brigitte and Tamlin and saw them running ahead.
“We heard,” Tamlin told her, looking back. He saw the mule and his sister’s much happier face. “You fixed.”
“Not yet,” Marsh replied, thinking about the dust-covered mule.
The animal might be up and moving, but he wasn’t “fixed,” not yet.
Another howl cut the air, and the gibbering shrieks of shadow monsters grew nearer.
Behind her, Master Envermet was talking to Roeglin. “Tell me there’s only one way in.”
Marsh remembered the wolves at Stroker’s Stack. If there was only one way in, they might stand a chance.
14
The Raiders and the Remnant
They reached the raiders’ camp with the screams of shadow monsters growing louder around them. It sounded as if the creatures had split into two groups. Henri wasn’t impressed when they arrived with only one mule.
“You didn’t think to bring the rest?”
“They scattered,” Master Envermet snapped before Marsh could think of a reply, “and this one was too poisoned to join them.”
“Poisoned?” Henri took a step away from the creature.
“Will he fit inside?” Master Envermet asked as Roeglin emerged from the hollow the raiders had disappeared into to sleep.
The shadow mage shook his head.
“Damn.” Master Envermet looped the reins over the mule’s neck, tying them to the saddle in hopes they wouldn’t snag on any trees or bushes. Moving along the animal’s side, he slapped him hard on the rump, sending him skittering farther down the path.
“No!” Aisha shrieked, and Master Envermet fixed her with a stern gaze.
“If we stop them here, we will be able to find him,” he told her.
“That’s if we stop them here,” Henri echoed darkly, staring up the trail.
He drew his sword and signaled for Marsh and Aisha to get into the shelter.
“Everyone inside!” Master Envermet ordered. “We’ll hold them at the door.”
Roeglin shook his head. “I checked. There’s another entrance at the back, and part of the roof is open to the sky. They can climb across the rubble and drop in through it. We’re better off trying to hold them here, where we’ve got the walls to slow them down.”
Master Envermet eyed the stretch of semi-smooth rock rising above them. “Can they get on top of it?”
“Not this section. Not as far as I can tell.”
As he spoke, the first wolf broke out the end of the path. Marsh tucked Aisha at the foot of the wall. “Stay there,” she commanded the child. “Don’t make me come rescue you.”
The little girl nodded solemnly. “I’ll hide in the rock.”
“Good girl,” Tamlin told her, and she gave him a pleading look.
“You hide in shadow?”
He was about to refuse her when he caught Marsh’s eye. He sighed. “I’ll hide in shadow. Promise. Now, go.”
Aisha stepped back against the rocky wall, and the stone flowed aside to give her space. Marsh couldn’t help the cold uncertainty she felt when the child pulled the stone over herself and the rock wall smoothed to hide her. She didn’t understand how the girl could survive.
She’ll be fine, Master Envermet assured her, but you need to focus.
We can’t outrun them?
Even without Aisha and Tamlin, no, we can’t. They’re coming too fast.
Marsh looked at the door, wondering how to stop the monsters from coming up behind them.
“They’re not that smart,” Henri commented when he saw what she was looking at.
“Don’t bet on it,” Master Envermet told him, and frowned. “Aisha, can you close the door?”
They heard no reply, but the stone above the doorway melted and slid like candle wax to seal the hole.
“Why couldn’t we do that with the gap in the other side?” Henri asked.
Roeglin answered, not taking his eyes off the dark, “Too big, and there was no time.”
The wolf took one look at the number of swords facing it and slunk back into the bushes.
“Do you think it’s gone?” Gerry asked.
“No,” Jakob replied. “It was probably hoping for an attack of opportunity, and now it’ll wait for the shadow monsters to take us down so it and the pack can feed on what’s left.”
Gerry wrinkled his nose. “Nice.”
“You asked.”
Before Gerry could reply, the shadow monsters erupted out of the shadows in front of them. They came bounding over the rubble and screaming down the path. Some erupted out of the bushes the wolf had disappeared into, their faces contorted as they charged.
“Those aren’t shadow monsters!” Obasi exclaimed.
“Same thing except for the surface,” Gerry told him.
Henri grinned. “Easier to kill.”
He lashed out at the first one to close, gutting it so its intestines spilled and it slipped on them. Henri caught the next attack on his buckler and used the hilt of his sword to smash it between is eyes.
Beside him, Izmay pulled shadow darts out of nothing and flung them at the remnant coming after. As they closed, she drew a spear, driving it through a third one’s chest. The impact of it hitting the blade jolted her back a step, and she braced the haft on the wall behind her.
Its momentum carried it halfway along the haft before it stopped. Izmay released the weapon back to the night and pulled two blades in its stead. She pivoted to the right and thrust with one blade while parrying with the other.
The remnant screamed at the loss of its hand but fell silent when she slashed the other blade sideways and down. Izmay let the killing blade go and pulled another to replace it. Two more remnant came to fill the gap.
Henri spun a blade toward one, slicing deep into its shoulder and chest and having to slam a foot into its chest to kick it free. “Sure would be nice to be able to let one sword go and grab another,” he complained.
Izmay laughed. “Who says you can’t?”
“Never done it before,” Henri told her.
“Never tried,” she retorted.
“Never had reason to,” he snapped back, thrusting his blade between the ribs of his opponent. It stumbled back, ripping the weapon from his hands as it fell.
“How about now?” Izmay challenged.
“How about I just take your spare, and you teach me later.”
“Deal!”
On the other side of the clearing, Obasi fought beside Jakob. The Grotto warrior used a sword of shadow, and the ex-caravan guard had set his blade alight. While Obasi fended off one attack with his shield, Jakob brought his blade down in a series of savage cuts across the head and shoulders of the remnant attacking him. Flesh crisped and burned beneath its touch, and the remnant howled with pain.
It stumbled back, batting at its ragged clothing. When Jakob lunged after it, it turned and ran, slamming into one of its pack. They both fell to the ground, shrieking as they clawed to get away from each other and the flames.
Obasi dropped his blade and hauled Jakob out of reach as another remnant lunged for him. Blocking its attack with his shield, the Grotto warrior let go of Jakob, called another blade from the shadow, and thrust it through the remnant’s che
st.
Meanwhile, the fire Jakob had lit spread, enveloping the two entangled remnant until their screams intensified. The horrible sound cut off abruptly when Master Envermet sent darts through their heads.
Beside him, Brigitte used a lance to push back the remnant that tried to take advantage of his distraction, and Gerry and Zeb closed the gap beside her, taking out more remnant trying to push past.
From behind the front line of warriors, Marsh surveyed the battlefield. The rubble around them limited the approaches the remnant could take, but they were still outnumbered two to one. She wondered where the wolves had gone.
As she did, an arrow came whistling in. It arced over the lines of remnant and sailing straight for Master Envermet. Marsh thrust out a hand, conjuring a shield between the shadow captain and the incoming attack.
That first arrow was followed by a second, then a third. A small cloud followed.
“Sons of the Deep!” Roeglin swore. “That can’t be shadow monsters!”
Marsh had to agree. “See what you can discover.”
He gave her a startled glance, then let go of the spear he’d been using to stab between Master Envermet and Brigitte. Neither of them looked back as he sank to the base of the stone wall behind Marsh.
“I’ve got this,” she assured him and he nodded, his eyes going white an instant later.
Marsh sensed movement at her side and glanced down to see Tamlin stepping in front of the shadow mage.
“You’re going to upset Aisha.”
“She’ll be more upset if I let either of you get hurt,” he snapped back, and a second shield appeared to ward off the next flight of arrows.
Before Marsh could think of a reply to that, Roeglin began to speak.
“There are almost a dozen of them. Warriors. Runners.” His eyes snapped open. “Those devious Deeps-spawned sons! They’re using the remnant for cover!”
Marsh blocked another flight of arrows and frowned at the remnant pressing around them. “I don’t see how we can stop them.”
“I’ll help!” came a small, determined voice, and Marsh had to fight to keep her focus on the sky and the incoming arrows.
Tamlin lost his concentration. “Aysh! You promised!”
“You did, too,” the child snarled back. “Bad Tams!”
“Get down, the pair of you!” Roeglin ordered and stepped in front of Tamlin. “Aisha, what are you going to do?”
A secretive smile touched the edge of her reply. “I called the wolves.”
Marsh’s face paled. “We don’t want the wolves to come,” she whispered, conjuring a shield farther back and trying to work out where the arrows were coming from.
“They come!” the child declared, as determined as ever, and Tamlin groaned.
“But, Aysh, what if they eat us?”
“Don’t be silly! Wolves help us, not eat us!”
“How do you know?”
“Scruffy said so.”
As if to prove her point, a frightened scream sounded from behind the remnant. The cry drew the attention of the remnant toward the back of the attack, and several turned away.
“They’re going after the injured,” Roeglin murmured, and Marsh almost felt sorry for the raider who had cried out.
Another scream followed the first, and more remnant peeled away. An arrow wobbled into the sky as if the man firing it had been distracted at the last moment. Marsh almost dropped her shield, but couldn’t be sure if the raiders had been close together or scattered.
Scattered, Roeglin confirmed.
As if to prove his point, another scream split the night, followed by the clatter of a dropped weapon and the snarls of wolves.
Jakob gutted another of the attacking remnant, and Henri and Izmay dropped two more. Gerry and Zeb rammed their spears into the closest remnant’s chests, and those behind them followed. Another scream rang out.
More remnant dropped away, and the team killed as many as they could. Marsh wanted to call the lightning down, but she was tired...and Scruffy and the kats were out there. While she knew she could direct the lightning in the caverns, she wasn’t as sure here.
And working it out was not something she wanted to do when she didn’t know how much control she had left.
No, Roeglin agreed, and it isn’t necessary.
“The wolves are chasing the monsters,” Aisha declared with childish satisfaction.
A roar and screams filled the night.
“And Dan. Dan chases the monsters, too,” the child added.
“And Perdy and Scruffy,” she amended moments later when more hunting calls followed. “All gone soon.”
The complacent acceptance of the remnant’s and raiders’ demises made Marsh shiver, and she wondered if the little girl would have nightmares. It seemed like a lot of death for her to be near.
It was your idea to bring her with you. Master Envermet’s reminder was an unwelcome interruption.
It was not my idea to bring her out here. They did that on their own, Marsh retorted, and he laughed.
“But you were going to before they left on their own.”
Marsh’s face burnt. That much was true. She had been going to bring them on the hunt for Gustav and Kearick, if only because she had promised not to leave them behind again.
With the remnant gone, the guards looked into the dark, their bodies tense as they waited for the next attack. Master Envermet turned to Roeglin.
“Are we clear?”
The shadow mage frowned and settled back to the ground. Aisha crowded close to him and laid her hand on his shoulder, while Tamlin stood on his other side and looked out into the night. What either of the children thought they could do if he was attacked, Marsh didn’t know...and she prayed she would never find out.
She waited for Roeglin to reply, but he didn’t. He knelt, head bowed, silent, and Marsh resisted the urge to slide along the link between them and see what he was doing
Master Envermet shot her a sharp glance but she ignored him, focusing instead on the shadows around them. Now that the screams and shouts had died away, there was more movement at the edge of the campsite.
Marsh looked at Aisha.
“Are you sure the wolves aren’t going to eat us?”
15
Lupine Liaisons
At Marsh’s words, the team backed away from the shadows, moving close to the campfire as the wolves stalked out of the rubble. None of the guards relinquished their swords, and Jakob kept his blade well and truly aflame.
“No!” Aisha shrieked and would have charged forward if her brother hadn’t grabbed her as she tried to go past. “Let me go.”
The lead wolf jerked its head up and growled.
Marsh felt the hairs stand up on her arms and hurried to reassure it. “She’s fine. We’re not hurting her.”
“Are so, too!” the little girl shouted, and Marsh rolled her eyes.
“Not helping, Aysh!”
“Don’t wanna help. Wanna say hello!”
Marsh turned on her, pushing her face close to Aisha’s and snarling, “Stop!”
Aisha flinched, and Tamlin stared at Marsh with wide eyes.
“Wow, that was—”
“Don’t say it,” Marsh growled. “Not another word.”
Roeglin snickered. “Your eyes look like emerald fire,” he told her, and his own eyes flashed white.
Marsh felt him slide into her head, a wave of calm spreading out from his presence, and her fur smoothed. Fur?
Roeglin started to laugh, and irritation spiked through her.
Who was this male who thought he could tell Marsh what to do?
Dan? Marsh asked, seeing the kat’s influence for what it was.
The cub was being unruly. Now that she’d recognized the big kat’s presence, Marsh realized Mordan’s annoyance had spilled into her reaction. She needed to understand.
Understand what? Marsh thought but did not say.
That there are ways to greet pride.
Pride?
Mordan rumbled her discontent and leapt from the top of the wall to land in front of the team. Captain Envermet’s quick parry knocked Henri’s blade aside before it struck the kat and she looked over her shoulder, wrinkling her lips in a silent snarl.
Henri’s cheeks reddened and he ducked his head. “Sorry, kat.”
She flicked her tail at him and looked past Master Envermet to Marsh. You are needed.
Marsh raised her eyebrows. She was?
Rolling her shoulders in a shrug, she gave Master Envermet an apologetic look. He made a small gesture, indicating she should go forward.
“No faaii—” Aisha wailed, her cry abruptly cut off as Tamlin put his hand over her mouth.
The wolf leader had been joined by four more members of its pack, and Marsh swallowed a frisson of fear as she noted their size. They were larger than she remembered the wolves of Downslopes being.
Despite this, she made herself step up beside Mordan. The wolf’s head came up to her waist, but Marsh didn’t have much time to think about it. Mordan gave her a mental nudge.
Marsh started. What?
You are standing above him. It is not polite.
Marsh sighed and lowered herself to her knees. There was a hiss of indrawn breath behind her, and Master Envermet’s disapproving presence was in her head.
Marsh could see why. Kneeling, her head was at Mordan’s shoulder, and just below the wolf leader’s jaws. There was no way she would avoid him if he chose to attack.
That’s a good way to lose your face, Roeglin murmured, and Marsh scowled.
The wolf cocked its head.
Marsh lifted her gaze enough to catch the edge of his eyes, and he focused abruptly. It was an effort for her not to look away. The kat approved.
We are his equals, she told Marsh, her claim almost arrogant in itself.
If it weren’t true, it might have been.
The wolf’s mind welcomed her. Wolf scent surrounded her, accompanied by images of the large iron-gray wolf who led the Downslopes pack.
“Ironshades,” Marsh murmured, and the wolfpack leader yipped agreement.
Ironshades was the name the humans had given his brother. Their territories ran cheek by jowl and they shared the responsibility of keeping the remnant and other threats low.
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 129