As the doors swung open, the shadow captain gestured to the guards. “Lead the way.”
They didn’t hesitate but trotted out...and not a single one of them tried to warn the men on the wall.
“I’ll get them to come down,” Pasquale offered.
“What are they watching for?”
“Sometimes there’s a raiding party coming in unexpected,” Pasquale began, “but mostly it’s remnant.”
“How many of them are likely to try to stop us if they know what’s going on?”
From the look on Pasquale’s face, he didn’t know. Master Envermet nodded. “Leave them on the wall. You can guard against them, see your families, or fight beside us. Whatever you choose, I expect to find you all in the town square in the morning.”
Some of the men turned immediately for the cottages clustered around the center of the town. Others drew closer to the core group of Master Envermet and his team. Pasquale glanced nervously at the walls.
“Someone has to tell them everything’s okay.”
Master Envermet’s eyes flared white and then gleamed blue. “Take someone you trust and do what you need to.”
Pasquale swallowed hard and looked around. Before he had a chance to speak, one of the other men stepped forward. “I’ll go.”
This time, Master Envermet’s eyes remained blue, but Marsh noticed that Roeglin kept his face turned to the ground. After what looked like a moment’s hesitation, Master Envermet nodded.
Pasquale watched him as though he cared what the shadow captain was about to say far more than he wanted to show.
“I have no objection to Wilhelm going with you,” Master Envermet told him, and Pasquale’s shoulders sagged in relief.
Marsh wondered what that was all about, and Roeglin told her.
Wilhelm was the one who noticed Gustav’s uniform and drew Kearick’s attention to it. Neither of them was prepared for what came next.
From the memories he shared, what came next had consisted of Kearick putting a sword through Gustav’s foot and then sending a runner to bring two of the Library “brutes” to collect him.
Brutes, Marsh noted, and Roeglin shared the way they made Pasquale feel. The way the whole situation made him feel. Oh, that’s not good.
No.
As the queasiness faded, they turned to watch the guard pair trotting to the main gate.
So, we trust them, Marsh mused.
We trust them, Master Envermet confirmed. They believe they have a lot to make up for.
Marsh couldn’t dispute that. She thought they had a lot to make up for, too.
What would you do to keep Aisha and Tamlin safe? Master Envermet’s mental tone was mild, but the question gave her pause.
I don’t know.
And Roeglin? There was a slight smile in those words, but Marsh’s heart lurched. Exactly. Now, focus.
They’d reached the stairs leading up to the front of the building the guards and prisoners thought of as the Library, the one they were all terrified of being taken to. Marsh reached out, trying to sense how many waited for them beyond its heavy wooden doors.
“No time,” Master Envermet grated, raising a shield of darkness before him.
Marsh, Roeglin, and Obasi did the same, but no attack came. Master Envermet gestured two of the ex-raider guards to the door. “Can you open it?”
They tried, but the doors did not budge. They looked at the mage and shook their heads.
“They’ve barred it on the other side.”
Aisha stepped forward. “I’ll do it.”
She regarded Master Envermet with a steady gaze until he nodded. Tamlin went with her as she moved to one side of the doors and laid her hands on the stone. “Watch this.”
“This” ended up being the wall shifting away from the doors and leaving a gap wide enough for two men to run through. Tamlin wrapped his arms around her and pulled her around the wall’s edge as several crossbow bolts whirred through the space she’d been occupying.
“Sons of the murderous Deep!” Marsh exclaimed and she bolted forward, blocking the opening before her with a shield she’d drawn from the dark.
Someone snatched her arm, but she twisted out of their grasp. It did not matter who or how many stood beyond the doors. They were all going to die.
“Marsh!” Roeglin’s cry had a note of panic in it, and she felt him start after her.
Master Envermet’s was the voice of reason, but it wasn’t directed at her. “Give her a minute.”
Marsh was pretty sure Roeglin wasn’t listening, but she didn’t care. No one who attacked a child deserved to live. It didn’t matter how coerced they’d been. She got through the door, feeling the impact as half a dozen crossbow bolts slammed into the shield.
“You’d dare!” she snarled, keeping the block of darkness before her as she raised her free hand.
The glow of a dozen lamps lit the book-lined space she’d seen when Kearick had fled, and she recognized the “brutes” who’d come for Gustav. They were part of a line of men standing twenty feet from the door. Behind them stood the mages Pasquale said staffed the library and carried out the “testing.”
As curious as she was to see what that consisted of, Marsh didn’t intend to let any of them live to explain it. She reached for the lightning simmering in the air around her. Calling it from the dark recesses of the vaulted ceiling was a simple matter.
“Come!” she commanded it. “Destroy those not with me.”
And only those in this room, Master Envermet prompted.
Yes, please only those in that room. There are some out here who are with you, even if they don’t know it yet.
Roeglin’s words made sense, and Marsh repeated them to the lightning, twisting her hand to narrow the area the storm would affect. Energy sparked and crackled overhead, and several of the mages looked up. The man standing behind them bolted for the nearest exit.
Marsh frowned. Until he’d moved, she hadn’t noticed him. Now that she did, she recognized his spindly frame and long face.
“Salazar!” she cried and pulled her upraised hand down as though it grasped the lightning and drew it to the floor.
They didn’t all follow him, drawing her attention to the other doors at the back and sides of the room. Taking their cue from him, several of the others broke and ran.
There was a massive CRACK! and spears of darkness rained down on mages and brutes alike. Some made it to shelter, but most died in the initial onslaught. Marsh searched for survivors, stretching her hand above her head once more.
She startled when someone grabbed her from behind, wrapping their hand around her wrist and pulling her arm down. The magic broke and the lightning scattered, returning to the shadows. Marsh could still feel it, though.
Warm breath on her ear carried Roeglin’s voice. “We’ve got the rest.”
As he spoke, he pulled her aside, and the guards and shadow guards poured past. Marsh shrugged at his hold, and he released her.
“Salazar’s here,” she told him and began running for the exit the seeker had taken.
“And Kearick?”
“Don’t know.”
Roeglin cursed, but he didn’t try to stop her. Instead, he pulled a sword from the darkness and ran beside her. The guards had gone after everyone, but none of them had seen Salazar leave.
All around them, battles raged. Obasi had cornered a brute and the mage trying to hide behind him. Jakob slid in beside the young warrior in time to block the bolt the mage fired. As Marsh passed, Obasi took down the brute, and Jakob put a javelin through the mage’s eye.
Marsh had almost reached the corridor Salazar had taken when the shadows thrummed and the air shuddered.
“A la putain,” she swore, slowing down to seek its source. Dan!
She received the impression the kat was coming but taking pains to stay out of sight.
These humans do not know I am pride. Mordan was right. The kat had not been with her when she entered the cells or during the f
ight within, and she was not with her now. I kept watch.
Marsh wasn’t sure what that entailed, but she didn’t have time to think. As she stepped past one of the men felled by the lightning, he groaned. Roeglin drove a spear through his chest.
He had a crossbow, the mage told her as though that explained it all—and it did. There would be no mercy for those who’d fired on Aisha.
Exactly. His reply was accompanied by a wave of approval from Mordan.
The kat’s arrival garnered startled shouts as she bounded through the door, but no one fired on her. They were all too busy with the foes they’d found, although several had ended their battles, and were now turning toward the shimmering line of darkness forming at one end of the hall.
It stretched to the height of the nearest bookcases, almost touching the ceiling, the magic being cast by two mages at either end.
“Putain!” Henri swore, followed by the sound of his sword ripping through flesh. A scream accompanied the sound, and Marsh heard the thump and clatter of a man falling. The smell of death and blood hung heavily in the air.
The kat is a FRIEND! Master Envermet’s shout echoed through their heads, and Marsh didn’t know how many others besides. She glanced up in time to see Mordan bounce sideways to avoid a sword stroke.
The ex-raider who’d swung dropped the blade in fright. “I’m sorry!”
“Don’t be sorry,” Gerry shouted, glancing at him. “Get that mage!”
Gerry’s instruction was accompanied by the clash of his parry as the brute he was facing tried to take advantage of his distraction. The guard swung around and then dived to the floor as one of the mages who’d been fast enough to reach shelter fired at him.
The bolt missed and embedded itself in a bookcase on the opposite side of the room, and the guard grabbed his sword and rolled to his feet. The mage fumbled, trying to load the bow, then dropped the weapon and ran.
In the meantime, the line had become a split, and one of each pair of mages had dropped to one knee and was preparing to fire on the kat.
“Mordan!” Marsh shouted, but the kat had already changed course.
The direct line of her charge had become a zig-zag flight across the atrium toward the cover of the bookcases. Marsh’s cry drew the attention of the closest crossbowman, and he swung the weapon toward her, his eyes widening as she charged.
23
Shadow Monsters and Salazar
Marsh’s attack carried her into a hastily raised wall of shadow. She hit it hard and bounced off it, losing her shield and weapon as she went. The wall disappeared, and the mage fired.
Roeglin slammed his shield down in front of her in time to stop the arrow from finding her chest and turned toward the enemy mage with a snarl. He grinned as the wall reappeared.
“Sons of the Deep!”
Roeglin hauled Marsh to her feet, dragging her back as he did so. When she was upright again, she pulled another sword and shield from the shadow and was distracted by movement at the center of the atrium. Henri ran forward, slapping the ex-raider guards to get their attention as he passed.
The slap also served to break their horrified fascination at the portal opening before them.
“Weapons up!” he roared as the first gibbering shriek cut the air. “They’re coming!”
“What is coming?” one man quavered, peering at the portal.
“Shadow monsters!” Zeb called, keeping a wary eye on the gate as he wiped his blade on the robes of his dead opponent.
“What?”
“Like remnant,” Jakob yelled, and the raiders looked at each other and formed a solid line behind Henri. They knew what remnant were.
Zeb and Gerry trotted over to flank him, and Master Envermet glanced at the wall again.
“Keep her safe,” he ordered, and Marsh knew he’d seen Tamlin and Aisha sneaking inside. They’d been followed by three slightly taller figures, all of whom had vanished behind the same row of bookcases, carefully avoiding the bodies as they went.
None of them replied, and Marsh couldn’t spare them any more attention. The shadow wall had dissipated, and the mage with the crossbow fired again.
Marsh blocked it with her buckler and started forward when the wall didn’t reappear. The mage hurled his weapon at them, dragging a shield and sword from the dark and stepping forward to block their path to his colleague.
“They do have shadow mages...” one of the raiders murmured from behind Henri.
“Where’d they get those from?” another responded.
Marsh wanted to know the same thing. She hoped Roeglin and Master Envermet weren’t too busy to remember to look for the answers in their opponents’ heads.
It’s not as easy as you think, Roeglin answered.
Then get started. I can deal with these guys.
I don’t think so, Roeglin replied and slid forward to engage the man before them. Deal with his partner.
As if she needed to be told. Marsh tried to call the lightning, but it crackled just beyond her reach. Shadows slid between her demand and the energy she sought, denying her access.
Someone’s blocking me, she snarled, glancing around for some clue as to where the interfering shadow mage was hiding.
I’m a little busy right now, Roeglin answered.
Marsh just bet he was. She tried to pull a javelin from the black but the shadows wouldn’t respond, so she threw her sword instead, only to have it dissipate before it reached her target. A rival power tugged at her shield.
“I am going to find you and kill you,” Marsh declared as the first shadow monster charged out of the portal. The creature ignored the sound of her voice, its eyes fixed on the shadow mages and guards arrayed before it.
To give them credit, none of the ex-raiders broke and ran, although their faces said they were having doubts about staying. Henri, Jakob, and Master Envermet had no such regrets, and neither did Obasi, Gerry, Zeb, Izmay, or Brigitte. They banged their swords against their shields, doing their best to keep the monsters’ attention.
Marsh wondered where Mordan was. She’d lost sight of the kat when she’d had to refocus on the mages.
Hunting. The answer was short, but Marsh caught a glimpse of the two mages securing the other end of the portal. One was totally focused on keeping the way open for the shadow monsters, but the other was warily scanning the dark, sword and shield at the ready.
He was looking in the wrong direction, but Mordan hesitated. She sensed a presence nearby. A trap? Marsh caught her breath, trying to see what Mordan could not.
Hunt your own prey! The kat kicked her out of her head, and Marsh discovered she’d halted and Roeglin had engaged the mage.
Get the other one! he ordered, trying to get his opponent to move out of the way.
The pair had set themselves up well, with the one holding the portal open standing between two bookcases. Marsh noticed the bookcases were part of a row and that a walkway ran behind them. She scanned the length of them, looking for another way around.
It was hard leaving Roeglin on his own as she backtracked along them, but she did. The longer the mage stayed, the more monsters he’d let through, and there were enough of those already. Marsh jogged to the end of the row and glanced quickly around the corner.
Her caution paid off. A flicker of movement was all the warning she had as a blade lashed out, but she was able to pull her head back in time and reverse a few paces to come wide of the corner. This time, when she pulled her sword and shield from the shadows, there was no resistance.
The mage who had been hiding at the end of the bookcases was waiting to strike again. He lifted his head and smiled grimly when he saw her coming around out of range.
“Nicely played,” he told her, and stepped back into an alcove, where he vanished from sight.
Marsh ran forward, lashing out at the empty space in the hope he was still there, but her blade met no resistance until it clanged against the wall. She struck again, and the weapon vibrated in her hand. A third strike
confirmed that the alcove really was devoid of life.
She wasted no more time, but turned the corner and sprinted to where the mage was drawing the portal wider while his partner kept Roeglin at bay. Seeing she had a clear shot, Marsh released her sword and drew a dart from the darkness at the wall’s edge.
Her shot flew true, piercing the mage’s robes and meeting flesh. The mage gasped, and Marsh called a sword to her hand as she closed the distance between them.
It wasn’t needed, but she finished the thrust she’d started, catching him in the chest as he fell. The sound of his body hitting the floor drew his partner’s attention, and Roeglin showed no mercy. His blade took the man in the side of the throat, and he joined his colleague in death.
The portal shuddered, and there was a startled cry from the other side of it. A man screamed and hit the floor, his cry cut short in a gargle as another man cried out in shock. Outrage laced his shout, but it died, too.
The portal snapped shut. Shadow monsters caught partway through were cut in half, their pieces forever separated by whatever distance lay between the Library and their home. The ones already in the building howled in consternation but continued their attack.
Master Envermet and Henri fought back to back, while Gerry, Zeb, Izmay, and Brigitte had formed a cluster and were taking on all comers. Obasi had teamed up with Jakob, and the two of them were working around a ring of four raiders so that the men weren’t overwhelmed.
“Go! Find Salazar!” Master Envermet called, signaling for Marsh and Roeglin to continue their pursuit.
Marsh wondered how he knew but not for long. The shadow captain was a faint presence in her head, his link barely tangible until she thought about it. He’d seen her memory of the fleeing seeker.
He cannot be allowed to escape.
Marsh turned and ran, Roeglin at her side, and Mordan swift to catch up. She passed the end of the bookcases and raced into the corridor that led from the atrium to a large set of double doors. She was surprised when Aisha and Tamlin emerged from behind the bookcases running at right angles to it.
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 136