Aisha was horrified. “Perdemor!” She gave him a pleading look. “This is my papa. Pleeeease be nice.”
The kit twitched its ears and cocked his head.
“Please, Perdy...” Aisha sounded close to tears, and Marsh almost intervened.
“Wait,” Roeglin murmured, and she hesitated.
Perdemor slid her a look over his shoulder and twitched his tail in her direction.
Aisha gasped. “Perdy! That’s rude.”
The cub ignored her and walked toward her father’s shin. The man dropped a hand down where he could inspect it, and Perdemor sniffed cautiously before accepting a finger scratch under his chin.
As all the fingers came into play to scratch, the kit gave a rumbling purr.
“That is the biggest kitty I’ve ever seen,” Aisha’s father told her, and Aisha gave him a happy smile.
“His mama’s bigger.”
Her father shot Marsh a startled glance, and she shrugged. “It’s a long story,” she told him, and he nodded.
“You must tell me sometime,” he said, and she nodded.
Movement near her feet caught her eye, and she glanced down in time to see Tamlin come out from under the table. The children’s father stayed where he was, keeping an arm around Aisha but stretching one toward his son.
“Tams...”
The boy hesitated, his eyes darting around the space they were in. The question he wanted to ask was obvious. He refrained, though, and accepted his father’s hug before looking up to catch his eye.
“Where’s maman...and Alain?”
The happiness leached out of the man’s face and he knelt before the boy, moving his other arm to gather his children together. “They were taken,” he said simply, and tears glimmered in his eyes.
Tamlin froze, then cast a wild look at Marsh. “Can you find them?”
She swallowed hard, remembering the closeness she’d seen in the family when they’d been traveling to Ruin’s Hall.
“I will try,” she promised.
The look the man gave her said he had questions, and she hoped he’d hold them until later. She was having a hard enough time keeping her emotions under control as it was.
Tamlin caught her gaze and nodded, then turned back to his father. “She saved us,” he said simply, “and she wouldn’t leave us.”
His voice caught. “And she promised to find you and maman.”
His father smoothed a hand over the boy’s head. “She’s kept her promise, son. If your mother hadn’t been...” His voice caught and he looked at the ceiling, swallowing hard before finding the words. “She kept her promise, boy. You can’t ask for more than she’s done.”
Tamlin looked back at Marsh, and his expression said he Deeps-be-damned could ask more, and he was.
“I will do my best,” she repeated. “It’s all I can guarantee.”
He held her gaze for a second longer, then nodded, and Marsh breathed a sigh of relief. Roeglin hugged her, and she relaxed. Tamlin’s next question caught all of them off-guard.
“Where’s my sister?”
Instinctively, Marsh looked for Aisha, but the little girl was right beside him, and he had his hand on her shoulder. Tamlin looked at his other siblings, frowning. “I don’t have three brothers.”
His father laughed and turned the little boy in his arms.
“Sasha!” Tamlin exclaimed and hugged the child.
He was frowning when he looked up at his father. “What’s she doing dressed like a boy? And what did you do to her hair?”
The man gave Master Envermet a pleading look but struggled to answer the boy’s question anyway. “I had to hide her from the raiders...” he began, and Tamlin’s face darkened.
“I’ll kill them all,” he declared, and energy crackled across the ceiling and down the walls.
“She’s safe, Tams,” Marsh hurried to intervene. “We killed them. We killed them already.”
She reached out to touch the lightning waking in the room around them.
“That is one Deeps-spawned temper he’s got,” Roeglin murmured, and Tamlin snapped a glare in his direction.
“You’d be angry too, if it was your little sister!”
Roeglin’s eyes flared white. “I’m angry, and she isn’t my sister,” he shot back, and Tamlin froze.
Whatever Roeglin was doing, it was enough for Marsh to touch the lightning. “We are safe,’ she assured it. “You are not needed. The boy did not mean to call you. Peace. Return to the darkness. We will call you when we need you.”
“Peace,” she repeated, both surprised and relieved to hear Brigitte and Master Envermet repeating her words. She glanced at Roeglin and saw his eyes were still white, and that Tamlin was firmly caught in his gaze.
The standoff lasted for a few more moments before the lightning abruptly subsided and Tamlin relaxed.
“Thank you,” he said and Roeglin nodded, leaning more heavily on Marsh than he had before.
Marsh slipped an arm around Roeglin’s waist, and Tamlin’s eyes widened. The boy slipped out of his father’s arms and hurried over to the mind mage.
“I’m sorry.”
Roeglin managed a shaky smile. “Don’t be. You needed to know.”
Master Envermet scowled. “Apprentice, you and Shadow Mage Leclerc need to work on your control.”
“I said I was sorry!”
“That won’t help your control.” Master Envermet managed to sound reasonable and angry at the same time. “You will not call any lightning until you have been instructed on the how and proven you can control it. Am I understood?”
Tamlin closed his mouth on the next outburst and nodded. “Yes, Master Envermet.”
His father watched the exchange curiously. The shadow captain caught his look. “Let me explain,” he began and was interrupted by the sound of running footsteps.
One of the guards rounded the end of the bookcase closest to the entry, his look of worry melting into relief. “Oh, there you are. They’re waiting for you in the square.”
When Master Envermet didn’t immediately respond, he looked troubled. “You’re needed.”
He didn’t explain, but the shadow captain nodded. He looked at Tamlin’s father and extended his hand.
“Levi,” he said, “and you are?”
The man hesitated, then accepted his hand. “Alain...the senior.”
“May we talk later?”
Alain looked at his son and shifted to where Aisha stood with Scruffy on one side of her and Perdemor on the other. “I think we must.”
Master Envermet nodded and released his hand. “Stay with us.”
He glanced at his team, then led them out of the Library and into the glaring light of day.
26
A Rocky Road
The town square was crowded when they arrived. Their guide led them onto a wooden stage that had been erected at one end of it and then left them. Looking out over the people in front of it, Marsh saw they were gathered in distinct sections.
Those taken from the Grotto stood at the edge. Some had found the armory and now carried the weapons once used to subdue them. They looked grimly satisfied.
The ex-raider guards and their families were clustered between them and the other slaves. The men looked worried, and the women defiant. The ex-slaves seethed with anger, resentment, and curiosity.
All eyes watched as Master Envermet and the shadow mages took their places.
“We have removed those in charge in the Library,” Master Envermet told them, “but we cannot promise to protect you from any returning raiders.”
He raised his hand to still the murmuring that rose. Looking at the guards, he asked, “Are the gates still secure?”
“Yes, sir!” Xavier called, “But there are no men on the walls.”
He gestured around. “They’re all here.”
A low snarl coursed through the slaves, and the people of the Grotto moved restlessly, as though they would intervene. Again, Master Envermet raised his
hand, and the crowd stilled.
“By now, you will be aware that the ex-raiders among you were not here of their own free will.”
Murmurs of dissent rose to shouts of disagreement, and the shadow captain waited for them to die down.
“Let me show you,” he told them, and Roeglin gasped.
Marsh gasped, too, but she suspected it was for a totally different reason. Master Envermet turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, the emotions and images he shared taken from a dozen different minds.
Marsh recognized the feelings of Arlin, the raider who’d stood between his captives and his raider colleagues. She saw the thoughts that had run through his mind as he’d begged for judgment and felt the raw terror he had for his family’s safety because of his action. From somewhere in the midst of the raiders’ families, she heard a gasping sob, but the images moved on.
The next montage came from a different mind—Xavier’s. Marsh saw a little girl being healed and felt the desperate desire to protect the druid who’d risked his life to do it.
The images shifted again, and she heard a guard directing a brute’s attention to a corner as a young woman slipped over the wall. Fear rose for his family and followed him as the brute turned away.
Realizing what the shadow captain was doing, Marsh slid a glance toward him and saw his eyes shone white. Wondering where he got the strength, she looked at Roeglin. It did not surprise her to discover his eyes were also white, or that sweat sheened his skin. Remembering how he’d leaned on her after sharing whatever he had with Tamlin, she frowned.
If he was helping Captain Envermet, it wouldn’t be long before he collapsed. She wondered how many more incidents the shadow captain wanted to share.
The images ended with Liam’s tortured plea that the time for judgment come soon, no matter what the price. The crowd fell silent, then a woman’s voice rose from amidst the slaves.
“He saved my daughter...”
“And my son...”
“And you...” Marsh glanced at the accusatory tone and saw a woman pushing her way through the crowd toward Xavier.
He stood his ground, his eyes apprehensive.
“I...” he began as she reached him, flinching as she wrapped his arms around him.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice carrying to the crowd, “for keeping my Terry safe.”
“But...” he protested, and she released him to lay a finger against his lips.
“Ssshhh.”
“You’re surely not suggesting we forgive them!”
Before Master Envermet could reply, others turned to give an answer, their words lost in a jumble of voices. The protestor subsided.
“Fine, but when it all goes to Devastation and back, I’ll wield the blade.”
One of the guards turned to him. “And I will welcome it.”
The protestor’s mouth fell open and he snapped it shut, unsure of what to say.
Everyone fell silent as Roeglin dropped to his knees. Marsh sank down beside him, and he slipped his arm from around her shoulders. “I’ll be okay.”
“You need to sleep,” she murmured as Aisha’s cry of alarm split the air.
“Roeglin!” It was followed shortly after by shrieks of, “Put me down! Put me down! Put me down!” even as her father set her on her feet.
The crowd parted around the little girl as she raced for the stage, tearing past Terrence and an older woman heading in the same direction to reach him.
“I’ll fix it,” she told him, placing her hands on either side of his face. Her eyes glowed green before he could protest, and the crowd held its breath.
“Stop,” Roeglin muttered, then louder. “Aysh, stop. Gustav needs you.”
She pulled her hands from his face as though she’d been burned.
Her small voice rose in hope. “Gustav?”
Roeglin pushed to his feet. “Yes. We found him.”
“He ‘kay?”
“Kinda.”
Her voice rose again. “He’s not ‘kay?”
Roeglin knelt in front of her. “He will be okay.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“I see him?”
“Soon.”
“’Kay.”
Roeglin got back to his feet, and she slipped her hand into his. The crowd cheered, then subsided when Master Envermet raised his palm. Marsh wondered how the man was still standing, but the shadow master had more to say.
“Tomorrow morning, we are returning to the Four Caverns. Any who want to start over will be welcomed there, and we can provide you with escort and introductions. If you’re interested, be here, packed and ready to go, tomorrow morning.”
Murmurs rippled through his audience, and he waited for silence before adding, “You can bring only what you carry. We will be traveling as quickly as we can to the cavern entry, but there aren’t enough mules to go around. You’ll be walking. The choice is yours.”
This time when the whispers rose, he let them continue, watching as the crowd absorbed the news. When the questions came, he was ready.
“Who’s going to protect us from the remnant?”
“Marsh.”
At first, she thought he meant she’d be the one protecting them, but then she caught a flash of what he wanted. Mordan, I need you.
The kat came, causing a mixture of startled shouts and gasps of horror as she trotted out from between two buildings and leapt onto the stage to stand beside Marsh and roar a greeting.
“Showoff,” the shadow mage muttered.
“You’re telling us that that thing is going with us?” one of the women called from the crowd.
“Yes,” Master Envermet replied. “That is exactly what I am saying.”
“But what about the wolves?”
“They’ve granted us safe passage.”
“They’ve what?”
Master Envermet looked at Marsh and then at Aisha.
“They consider the druids among us to be pack. What we protect, they do, too.”
Marsh remembered asking Vi’s mother if she’d rather they’d left the children in the Devastation with the remnant and the wolves. That worthy was staring at the stage in surprise. Vi looked up at Marsh from beside her and smirked.
No doubt there’ll be a reckoning for that later, Marsh thought, and Roeglin slid his hand around her waist.
Don’t you have people to find? he asked, reminding her of the promises she’d made.
I do.
When Master Envermet stepped back, she stepped forward. The crowd threw curious looks in her direction.
“We have been chasing these raiders a long time,” she told them, “and I made some promises along the way. Could these people, if you’re here, please stay behind?”
The crowd stilled, and Marsh continued, “Claude Bisset, Aimery from Dimanche, the son of Monsieur Laberge of Dimanche.”
She paused, racking her brains for the next name. There had been so many. She remembered a distraught farmer being knocked out so he didn’t go into battle unarmed. “Sons of...Patrik Jeter...”
Mordan nudged her.
“And I need to know what happen to the hoshkits that were brought in, if anyone remembers.”
Silence followed, and Marsh felt obliged to fill it.
“Marius’s sister...” came to mind, followed by, “Henri’s brother. Arlin’s family.”
She stopped, and, again, silence greeted her.
“I’m sorry. That’s all I can remember.”
Master Envermet clapped his hands. “Meals will be taken together from now on,” he called. “If anyone has anything to add to the stores, please do. We’ll leave you to your preparations while we sleep. Terrence, Xavier, and Alain will settle any disputes.”
“We’re going to sleep?” Henri asked as the crowd began to disperse.
“We need to,” Master Envermet told him, “or we’ll never get them to safety.”
Marsh listened to the exchange as she sat on the edge of the
stage, watching the crowd and hoping some of those she’d named were present. Roeglin lowered himself beside her. “Do you think they’ll come?”
“Some of them have to be here,” she told him as a woman with pale blonde hair and hazel eyes came to stand before her. She had her arm wrapped around the shoulders of a girl around Vi’s age, and her hand held tight to a boy as old as Aisha.
“Arlin’s family,” she said by way of greeting before asking, “Is he okay?”
What she was really asking was if her husband still lived, and Marsh nodded. “He’s waiting for you at Ariella’s Grotto. The community there has given him a place. Do you wish to join him?”
“Do we have a choice?” the woman’s tone was bitter, but Marsh nodded again.
“You can choose what you want, but the offer is there.”
“We’ll come,” the girl snapped. “They let him live and gave him a place.” Her voice softened. “Maybe they’ll do the same for us.”
When her mother remained silent, she gave Marsh a pleading look. “Will we be safe there?”
“They could have killed him and chose to let him live. I don’t see why not.”
“Then we’ll come.” The look she shot her mother was part defiance and part plea. “Won’t we, maman?”
The woman nodded. “What time tomorrow?”
“At dawn.”
“We don’t have much.”
Marsh looked out over the people slowly leaving the square.
“I don’t think anyone does.”
The woman followed her gaze and gave another nod. “We’ll be here.”
She turned away, the children following, but she’d only gone a few steps when she stopped and looked back. “Thank you.”
As she moved away, a man with a shock of dark hair and the same vivid blue eyes as his daughter stepped up to take her place.
“Are Felicity and Claudette all right?” he asked.
“Yes, they’re waiting at the Ledge. You’re Claude Bisset?”
He nodded. “Is there anything else?”
Marsh shook her head. “No, I just wanted to make sure you were here.”
He frowned, then went to leave. “I’ll be in the stables if you need me. We’re going to want a way to carry supplies.” He frowned. “Who do I speak to to work that out?”
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 139