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

  It hadn’t occurred to her that knocking herself out by saving their asses with her magic was one of them. She got the whole leaving-them-behind thing since the kids had lost their family, but using magic?

  Focus! Master Envermet’s admonition was like a slap in the face, and Marsh glanced toward the gap Aisha and Basil had created. Basil looked exhausted but pleased with himself, and Aisha was already heading through it to the cellblock.

  Henri and Izmay followed, Tamlin cloaking the small group with shadow as he and the youngers stayed with them.

  When they reached the wall, Aisha glanced at Basil. “You stop,” she told him. “Tired. Don’t fall down like Marsh.”

  Henri covered his mouth with his hand, his shoulders shaking as he glanced at Marsh. She rested her hand on her forehead and ducked her head.

  No more knocking myself out with magic, she thought.

  I’d appreciate it, Master Envermet noted.

  Me, too, Roeglin added.

  Everyone’s a critic, Marsh thought, watching Master Envermet.

  Sure enough, she was included when he addressed the youngers’ group. Henri, I need your group standing by to guide the prisoners to where the mules are and then back to last night’s camp. Tamlin, I need you to stay with Aisha and keep her with me in case we need her when we get inside.”

  Tamlin dipped his chin in a solemn nod and Aisha did the same, her small face mirroring him move for move. It would have made Marsh laugh if the situation hadn’t been so serious. Henri patted her shoulder and gave her a solemn wave.

  She moved her hand in acknowledgment, and Henri led the teens away.

  “How come she gets to stay?” Vi asked.

  “She has a job to do,” Henri told the girl, “and so do we.”

  He took them to the outside wall and signaled for them to crouch in the shadows at its base. “The prisoners’ll be looking for us when they leave. Vi, you and Basil will take the first lot back to the cave. Bearbritches or whatever he’s called will guide you.”

  The wolf lifted his head at the comment and then settled back beneath the bushes he’d chosen for his hiding place. Vi gave Henri an uncertain glance.

  “You’ll be fine,” he told her, then focused on the hole Aisha had made in the cellblock’s wall. The first prisoner came to the gap but froze when he saw the shadowy figures waiting there.

  “There are guides at the wall,” Master Envermet told the man. “When there are six of you, they will take you to a safe place...if you want to go.”

  That was all it took. The man stooped and hurried to the outer wall. Henri tapped him on the shoulder as he went past. “Over there,” he ordered, pointing at Vi and Basil. “They will be your guides. Don’t attack the wolves.”

  At the mention of wolves, the man’s eyes flew wide, and he scanned the night. Again, Bristlebear obliged by lifting his head, revealing his hiding place with the simple movement. The man gasped, and Vi patted his knee. “He won’t hurt you. He’s there to make sure we get back safely.”

  When the man settled back into a crouch, Henri turned back to the gap. Beside him, Izmay was scanning the night for any danger the wolves might miss.

  Inside the cell, Aisha laid a hand over the section of wall adjacent to the door’s hinge. The stone rippled under her fingers and covered the metal, sinking into it and around it and moving to cover a small section of the door as well.

  Master Envermet gestured to the adjacent walls, and she nodded. Tamlin gave them both a worried glance but said nothing. Aisha moved swiftly from one wall to the other, opening a narrow slit barely wide enough for a man to squeeze through.

  Master Envermet looked through each one and extended his invitation to the occupants. They did not need to be told twice, although one of them stopped before hurrying to the wall.

  “My wife and children,” he pleaded, and the shadow captain nodded.

  “We’ll find them.”

  “The guards don’t come until dawn,” the man added, “and our doors are only bolted.”

  He gestured to the hole Aisha had created. “This is the second exit I have seen. The other is the front door.”

  Master Envermet’s gaze sharpened. “Are there any guards stationed inside?”

  The man shook his head. “Not until the doors open in the morning.” He paused. “Please, I’ve been here for three days.”

  “We’ll find them,” Master Envermet repeated. “Now go.”

  The man went, and Master Envermet looked around. “We need to rethink this,” he said and showed them the images he’d skimmed from the man’s mind.

  The cellblock was more like an oversized stable or warehouse, with cells on two levels. Aisha was not going to have enough energy to go through every wall. The cell they were in was barely wide enough for them to stand two abreast and four deep, and it was typical of what they were going to find.

  The images Master Envermet had collected showed the doors were wooden, and all were secured with a single bolt—and that there were possibly hundreds of them.

  “We’re going to have to split up,” he told them, then looked down at Aisha and Tamlin. “Go back to Henri and tell him we need him, and Brigitte’s teams as well. We’re going to need everyone to free the prisoners, or we’re going to run out of time.”

  They were about to leave when Master Envermet called Aisha back. “I need you to open this door.”

  She looked from him to the door. “I’m tired.”

  He made a sympathetic face. “Just ask the stone to move away from the hinges.”

  She thought about it, and Marsh held her breath. If the child refused, their mercy mission was going to be unmercifully short. She breathed again when Aisha walked over to the door and did as the mage had asked.

  He and Roeglin pivoted the door enough to clear the frame and then pulled on it until the bolt slid from its socket. They set the door against the wall.

  “Now go get Henri and Brigitte,” the shadow captain instructed, and Aisha went.

  “Stay with your sister,” he ordered, catching sight of Tamlin, who’d remained behind.

  “Okay,” Tamlin replied and followed Aisha.

  “Change of plans,” Master Envermet told his team. “Release as many as you can and find Gustav. We don’t have a lot of time. Be alert for the guards.”

  “You could start a riot in here and they wouldn’t be the wiser,” Roeglin commented, and Master Envermet frowned.

  “It doesn’t feel right,” he noted. “I’m sure the prisoner missed something, but I don’t know what, so be careful and stay in pairs.”

  Marsh stuck with Roeglin, and they leapfrogged their way down the cells on the left as Master Envermet briefed the others. He was meant to signal the escaping prisoners through the open door, but the prisoners refused to go.

  “We’re not leaving anyone here,” one declared and opened the nearest door.

  “No one,” another agreed, taking another door.

  “My children are in here somewhere,” a woman told them, hurrying to another cell. “I’m not leaving without them.”

  “And mine,” an emerging man agreed. “I’ll help you look.”

  “My sister is here,” a boy Tamlin’s age informed them before he dashed away to start opening doors of his own. “I’ll be quick.”

  They cleared the aisles on the ground floor, finding lots of prisoners but nothing else. The farther they went, the more Marsh felt a sense of unease.

  At first, she put it down to an overactive imagination...or the fact they were in a cellblock full of escaping prisoners, which someone was bound to notice, but the farther they went, the worse the feeling grew.

  Nothing happened until they reached the second floor. She and Roeglin took the stairs as soon as they reached them.

  “By the Deeps, I hope we don’t leave anyone behind,” she worried.

  “We’ll do our best not to,” Roeglin assured her.

  “But we’re not perfect,” she fretted.

  “No, we�
�re not, but we’ll do our best.”

  They went for the first two doors on the landing, not registering how far apart they were until they’d pulled them open—which was when they discovered the guards. A whole roomful of them.

  “Deeps be damned!” Roeglin shouted, slamming the door closed and the bolt home, which was when he noticed the bolt was nothing more than a sliding handle with no bolt attached. “Sons of the Deep!”

  “Keep them in the doorway!” he shouted.

  “Got it!” Marsh called back, pulling her weapons from the air.

  One of the prisoners saw the situation and hesitated.

  “Get everybody out!” Marsh ordered and was mortified when he misunderstood what she wanted.

  Instead of racing back down to the lower levels and warning the prisoners below, he ran to the nearest locked door and slid the bolt back, releasing the prisoner inside. As he leapt for the next one, the prisoner emerged and caught sight of Marsh lunging through the door.

  That prisoner didn’t run either. Instead, she leapfrogged past the man who’d released her and opened the next cell.

  “Follow me, and I’ll find your parents!” she ordered, and the child inside scurried to the shadow of her skirts. It didn’t stay there for very long, though. Seeing what the adults were doing, it joined them in opening doors.

  Marsh would have thought they’d have taken notice of what had happened when she and Roeglin had opened the doors in front of them, but they didn’t seem to have connected the two mages fighting the guards with the potential for a similar disaster.

  By the Deeps, what a mess, Master Envermet commented. Can you get through the door?

  “Maybe,” Marsh replied, darting forward. Her sword forced the soldier in front of her to parry fast and step back. Done.

  She caught a flash of alarm, then Master Envermet was beside her.

  Where were you? she asked, parrying another savage thrust before jabbing forward.

  I thought you’d take longer. Can’t you do something to get rid of them faster? Like call lightning? Can you do that on the surface?

  Well, Deeps, yes, she could. Marsh kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner. Keep them off me.

  She kept her shield in front of her and hoped Roeglin had the sense to stay outside the door.

  Too late. The comment reached her as she touched the energy bubbling through the darkness around them. At first, she was worried that there would be no lightning inside a manmade structure, and then she realized the cellblock was just like any cavern beneath the ruins of the ancients.

  She’d called lightning in those plenty of times.

  I need you, she thought, her lips moving soundlessly as she pleaded with the lightning to hear her. Every man that intends us harm, I need... She stopped, remembering that not all these men were acting freely; some were acting to keep their families alive.

  Above them, the ceiling crackled with energy.

  “Master Envermet!”

  “I hear you,” he replied, and he meant he heard more than just his name.

  “Roeglin!”

  “Understood.”

  He was saying it through gritted teeth, and she caught a momentary flash of pride mingled with regret before he did what she’d hoped he and the shadow captain would do.

  We are here to bring down your masters! Roeglin sent. This is your last chance for mercy. Drop your weapons and stand against the back wall if you only want your families to be safe. We will spare you and free them. If you fight...

  One of the men laughed and darted in blade first.

  Marsh dropped a bolt of lightning on his head, burning through his skull. He fell at Roeglin’s feet, and the others looked around.

  We can save you, Roeglin reiterated. Help us free the prisoners.

  Help us or die! Master Envermet emphasized. Your families will go free. They would do better with you than without.

  “How do you know that?” one man cried, his blade wavering. “Do you know what we’ve done?”

  “We know why,” Master Envermet told him. “What comes next is up to you. You can choose to live and try to make up for what you’ve been made to do, or you can continue to fight for a lost cause you don’t believe in and die.”

  The guard’s blade dropped, and he was not alone. Only three kept fighting, and Marsh made short work of them.

  “What can we do?” one of the guards asked.

  “You can tell us how many more of you there are,” Marsh snapped.

  “None in this building. We were the only ones. As to how many...” He glanced at the others.

  They shrugged.

  “There are maybe another twenty on the walls, all coerced as we were.”

  “And twenty more in the Library,” a second added, “but some of those are mages. They open portals for the monsters.”

  “And this man?” Roeglin sent an image of Gustav to each of their minds, and they shook their heads.

  “He didn’t even make it to a cell. They took him directly to the Library,” their informant said. “They were very pleased to have him, but we don’t know why. Apart from several escape attempts, he was nothing special.”

  The statement made Marsh bristle, but she clamped down on her temper. The man took one look at her face and hurried to add more.

  “They won’t have taken him Below, yet. There’s still hope.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that no one who is taken Below ever returns,” the man replied, his face paling. “That’s all I know.”

  From the way he responded, there was more, but Marsh had no time to dig for it. “Help us protect the prisoners we’ve freed,” she ordered, “and then gather your families.”

  “How many are raiding for more?” Roeglin demanded, and the guards looked at each other and shrugged.

  “We don’t know,” their spokesman told him. “I know there are raiding teams out, but they’re not all based here. Their villages are spread throughout the region. It is the price...” His voice caught, and he stopped.

  “We understand,” Master Envermet replied. “Help us win our way to the Library, then gather your families in the town square.”

  The man paled but he nodded, and the others agreed. “Come with us.”

  Master Envermet’s eyes flared white, and Henri rumbled an oath somewhere below them. Aisha gave a shriek of dismay.

  “Aysh, hold my hand!” Tamlin cried, and the two children appeared outside the door moments later. An eyeblink after that, they were beside Marsh.

  “Tamlin...” she began, and he gave her a hard-faced stare.

  “You’re not leaving us again.”

  22

  A Visit to the Library

  Marsh cast a helpless glance at Master Envermet. He eyed the two children and shrugged.

  They’ll be fine, he told her, but his brow was furrowed with worry, and his mind was closed to her.

  Marsh swore she was going to improve enough to read him, and his lips quirked into the tiniest of smiles. Let’s get through this first, and then I will talk to Sulema on your behalf.

  Marsh didn’t know how that would turn out, given that the Grotto community leader didn’t seem to like her very much.

  You’d be surprised.

  Marsh guessed she probably would.

  Basil says it’s too early, Master Envermet informed her as he gestured for the guard to take them to the Library. He says no one is taken as soon as they arrive, not even the most powerful mages.

  How would he know? Marsh wondered, and Master Envermet shrugged.

  I’ll ask later.

  They made their way through the other prisoners, some of whom were locked in tearful reunions with children, parents, lovers, and friends. Obasi was drawing the Grotto residents together, moving among them and embracing family.

  Every prisoner scowled at the guards as they passed.

  “Henri, explain it to them,” Master Envermet instructed, and the big man sighed.

  “I can tr
y. Are you sure you don’t want...”

  Master Envermet snapped a glance at him that saw his words wither to silence.

  Henri stiffened to attention. “Yes, sir!”

  He beckoned to the nearest prisoners and drew them closer.

  “Uh-oh. Looks like Phantom Whispers is going to be the name of the day,” Roeglin murmured, referencing a child’s game they were all familiar with.

  “I’ll keep an eye on it,” Master Envermet told him, but Roeglin shook his head.

  “Your head is needed out here. Marsh can guide me while I make sure the right message gets out.”

  “Don’t put yourself on the ground,” Master Envermet warned him. “We’re not out of the woods yet.”

  “I promise,” Roeglin replied, casting a mischievous glance at Marsh.

  “Don’t say it,” she warned, and he smirked.

  To her relief, he didn’t add, “I’m not Marsh.” He just wrapped an arm around her shoulders and let his eyes drift to white.

  It was easy to tell when the message got out. A ripple of emotion passed through the prisoners, and they regarded the passing raiders with a mix of emotions ranging from pity to contempt. Most seemed conflicted, but none of them tried to take revenge.

  Henri, help Vi and the others find their parents. Make sure the prisoners in the outside village are freed, too.

  “Gotcha, captain,” the man replied and relayed the orders to Izmay and the children.

  Mention of the teens’ parents reminded Marsh that Tamlin and Aisha had had parents taken, too. She wondered if the raiders and the shadow monsters were the same thing, and if those taken by the different groups ended up in the same place.

  Roeglin gave her a look of concern. I hope so.

  Me, too, Marsh replied, not sure how she felt. She’d sworn she’d find their parents, but now that she was close...

  Yeah. Roeglin’s reply held the same emotional turmoil she felt.

  The two children trotted beside them, not saying a word.

  The guards slowed down when they reached the cellblock’s doors. Their spokesman looked at Master Envermet. “With your permission?”

  “Go ahead, Pasquale.” Master Envermet’s comment earned him a worried look, but Pasquale did as he was asked.