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

  “Just don’t break too much,” Joanna had replied as they’d slipped through the back door and into a narrow hallway leading to the kitchen.

  They’d avoided the pantry as one of the places most likely to be looted and somewhere where they’d surely be found. The sound of the house next door being invaded told them they were out of time, and Rocko had taken one look at the mayor’s china cabinet and pulled open the door.

  As Joanna had looked on in horror, he’d swept the crockery onto the floor and used his boot to break down the shelves.

  “Is this what you mean by not breaking too much?” she’d whispered, mortified.

  Rocko had swept the shards aside and pushed her toward the space. “Don’t argue. Just get inside.”

  “What about you?”

  “I’ve got somewhere, but I need to know you’re safe.”

  “Men!” Marsh smiled at that heartfelt sentiment, but breathed a sigh of relief in unison with the smith when the woman squeezed inside.

  She felt his heart-pounding fear as he slid the bench across the front of the cabinet, swept more crockery from the table, and then leapt for the curtain in the corner.

  No sooner had he ducked behind the chair and slid behind the curtain’s folds than the front door was kicked open. Her heart leapt into her mouth when she heard Joanna’s muffled gasp, and her muscles tensed with the smith’s as he prepared to go to the woman’s defense.

  “Idiot,” Obasi muttered, and part of Marsh was offended while the other part of her agreed wholeheartedly.

  Their reaction startled a laugh out of the big man. “Nice to know I’m not the only one who was torn.”

  Joanna slapped his shoulder, but they all settled as Rocko did his best to see who had come in without being seen himself. Marsh felt her fists curling at her sides as she recognized one of the raiders from the mayor’s memory of sending the raiders on their way.

  So, it had been the best decision, had it? Mordan echoed her snarl and promised a swift death. Marsh thought that was too good for the man, but the kat was firm in her opinion that it was best not to play with any prey.

  They did not have the luxury or the time, and it was too dangerous for the pack to indulge.

  For a moment, Marsh tasted blood and the sheer desire to hunt terrified prey through the ruins. It was quickly followed by regret that the time available did not allow for such things.

  Rocko shuddered, pulling her back to the present. “Remind me never to upset the kat.”

  Obasi lifted her out of the man’s head, depositing her firmly back in her own. Marsh caught a brief sense of exasperation and a grimace of understanding. “We will bring them down.”

  Dan, can you tell which way they went and how far ahead they are?

  You must ask Bristlebear. He awaits your contact, although he finds it easier to speak to the cub.

  Marsh didn’t have to ask which cub. Mordan had sent a clear picture of Aisha with that last comment. She sighed and signaled the little girl over.

  “Ask Bristlebear if he would track the raiders and tell us where they are, how many, and how far ahead they are.”

  Aisha’s eyes went very round and then took on an emerald hue. Moments later, the wolves’ answer came back in a series of soft yips and howls.

  “Bristlebear says the pack must go quietly, for the bad men know they have taken friends of the pack. He will tell me what they see.” She turned to Obasi. “He says you are the strongest and can relay the plan to the two-legged pack.”

  She cocked her head. “Is that true?”

  The Grotto warrior cracked a smile. “It is so. Can I link with you?”

  Aisha’s face lit up. “Yes! That would be fun.”

  She looked around, and Marsh got the impression she was looking for Mordan to ride. After a minute, Aisha realized the kat was unavailable and gave Obasi a beseeching look. “Can I ride your mule?”

  He nodded and held out his hand. “Yes.” He glanced at Brigitte. “If your teacher does not mind.”

  Brigitte waved them toward the mule. “I have no objections, but you must both teach me what you just did.”

  Aisha frowned. “You don’t know how?”

  Brigitte flashed her a feral smile. “Exactly,” she told the child. “Every teacher must be willing to be a student if it means they can learn to be better.”

  25

  Rescue Party

  And every teacher should deserve their student’s respect as much as this one does, Marsh thought, watching Brigitte go to war, Aisha by her side.

  The little girl’s eyes were solid black edged with burning green as she coated herself a moving wall of stone and kept Obasi in contact with the kat and the wolves. Brigitte stayed with her, but the shadow mistress’s usually red eyes were the color of pitch. Shadows glimmered in her hand, and the nearby darkness shot black darts into the nearest raiders.

  Marsh could feel Aisha’s intrigue and partial envy as the child saw some of her teacher’s skills with an element she hadn’t mastered.

  No fair and Oooh rattled through the girl’s mind, even as she raised a forearm and used a floating shield block to a raider’s strike.

  “Dan!” the child wailed as the kat swept her attacker’s legs out from under him and then tore out his throat.

  It is not good for a cub to have too many kills, Dan explained to Marsh, keeping the comment just between them. They begin to think they can conquer the world.

  Sadness edged her words, and Marsh caught a glimpse of the kat’s longing for her own cubs before it was tucked swiftly away. Mordan’s next two kills were swift and terrifying, as if the kat were trying to use the bloodshed to compensate for her loss.

  We’ll find them.

  A wave of sadness and disbelief was her only reply, and she stumbled, her eyes blurring at the depth of Mordan’s grief.

  We’ll find them, Obasi echoed, and a wolf howl followed in affirmation.

  The pack will assist. This pride will be complete.

  Shouts of agreement rolled through the battlefield, and Marsh felt the kat’s chagrin and mortification.

  That was not meant for sharing.

  Obasi was unrepentant. I know. I shared without permission. I will not ask forgiveness.

  This left Mordan baffled and upset, so the kat focused on taking out her outrage on every raider in reach. She attacked without thought for her own safety, a mother mourning the loss of her children, a storm of vengeance without any hope of self-preservation. It wrenched at Marsh’s soul.

  Obasi!

  I have her!

  And the warrior was true to his word. He leapt into battle alongside the hoshkat, deflecting attacks that would have dropped her and striking back to make sure those attacks weren’t repeated. Marsh felt the turmoil boiling through the Mordan’s mind and didn’t try to reason with her.

  She knew that feeling. It had been with her when she’d thought she’d lost Roeglin. When the children had been taken. When she’d found Gustav.

  Marsh! The mental cry was echoed by an all-too-real shout. “Marsh!”

  Tamlin came alongside her, slamming a shield between her and the next raider’s attack, even as she gutted the man or woman before her and turned to take down the next.

  “Marsh!”

  Marsh glanced across the battlefield and decided there were still too many raiders active, but it was the one who had raised her sword to a prisoner who proved too much.

  “Just the raiders!” Obasi shouted, his eyes gleaming white as his presence poured into her mind and over the battlefield.

  Shortly afterward, his voice was joined by a dozen others as Grotto warriors and shadow guards alike shouted the same plea. “Just the raiders. Only the raiders.”

  Marsh felt the lightning bend in her hands, but the presence moving it wasn’t trying to wrest it from her control—just redirecting it solely at the raiders.

  Well, she could live with that!

  “Take them all!” she snarled, then bent to the weight
of a dozen desperate minds. “Just the raiders. Leave nothing of them to remember!”

  Lightning roared, and the other presence uttered several phrases she didn’t think appropriate for someone so young. Tamlin laughed.

  “I learned them all from you.”

  That gave her pause, but his next question was tentative, almost pleading.

  “Can you tell the lightning it can rest now?”

  Please was a chorus of fear and admiration. Sobbing echoed through a space from which the sound of battle had fled. The scent of fear overlaid the stench of blood and spilled intestines.

  Merde, but Mordan could be Deeps-be-damned selective about what she shared!

  “There are no more raiders,” Tamlin added.

  No more, Aisha’s voice repeated, floating into her head like ointment over a wound.

  “Please, no more.” Obasi’s hand weighted her shoulder. “We are safe.”

  “We are safe,” Marsh told the lightning. “Thank you for your service. Be at peace.”

  “At peace,” Tamlin reiterated, adding his control to hers. “We are safe.”

  The lightning settled reluctantly, and Marsh leaned into Obasi’s hand.

  “That is some temper you have,” the warrior told her, and Marsh heard an all-too-familiar snort behind him.

  “You’re telling us,” Henri commented, and this time Izmay was in full agreement.

  “Yup, a terrible temper. The kat, too.”

  Mordan’s rumble of protest garnered scattered laughter, but Brigitte brought them back to the present.

  “We need to get these people back to town.”

  “I have asked Sulema to send reinforcements,” Obasi informed them.

  He searched the faces of the captives until he found Master Olderman. The mayor sported a black eye and a deeply bruised cheek, but he stood slowly as the warrior came toward him.

  “We can offer you shelter at Ariella’s Grotto if your people need it,” he told the man, and Master Olderman bowed his head.

  Gesturing to his people, he replied, “That is not a decision I can make on my own. Can you let us have some time to decide? A day, perhaps?”

  Obasi nodded. “I can give you two, but we must know so that we can either provision a guard force at Briar’s Ridge or prepare space for you in the Grotto. Either way, the choice is yours, and the aid comes with no debt attached.”

  The mayor’s jaw dropped, and for a moment, Marsh thought he might cry, but he closed his mouth, firmed his jaw, and nodded. “Your patience is appreciated.”

  He paused and then laid a hand on Obasi’s arm. “We know the way home,” he began, but Obasi shook his head.

  “That is not an option. As much as we want to pursue the raiders to their lair, we cannot do that until we know you are safe.” He glanced at Mordan and Marsh. “I am sorry.”

  “But we are going after them, aren’t we?” Marsh demanded, the kat’s penetrating gaze echoing her question.

  “Oh, yes,” Obasi reassured her.

  “And soon. Tomorrow. Before winter.”

  Again, Obasi replied positively. “Yes. Tomorrow, and before winter. We will not let them either strengthen or disappear in the cold. They will be ended before we are forced to return to our burrows and dens.”

  Marsh was sure that last was added for Mordan’s benefit, but she agreed. The raiders would not get one more season’s peace, and she needed to be back at the Library fortress and at Roeglin’s side before the season set in.

  Something told her that this battle was not over and that the space Below had to be dealt with—and quickly.

  It was a somber return to Briar’s Ridge, and much slower than either Marsh or Mordan desired. Even Bristlebear was impatient at the delay, and that was with the pack leader being in full agreement with the need to return the humans to their dens.

  It was nightfall by the time they got back, and Obasi insisted on settling them into the recently vacated community hall. “We can protect you better, here,” he told them and refused all arguments to the contrary.

  Rocko and Joanna joined them shortly after their arrival.

  The pair hadn’t been idle while they’d been away. They’d gathered supplies from every house, starting with the smithy, carefully bundling food, equipment, and personal possessions into family piles inside the community center.

  “We didn’t have time to bring the furniture or the crockery,” Rocko explained.

  “And we weren’t able to go through every home,” Joanna added, her admission bringing gasps of protest from the other townsfolk.

  “How dare you!”

  “What gave you the right?”

  The protests died as the mayor held up his hand.

  “My thanks to you both,” he told the blacksmith and Marius’s sister. He indicated the pile of belongings that had been gathered from his home. “I appreciate you bringing this down.”

  He stooped and began undoing a bundle marked as food. Turning to Obasi, he said, “I don’t have much to share, but what I have is yours.”

  His gesture was swiftly followed by others. “I have something here, too.”

  “And me.”

  “I have spare blankets.”

  “I am sorry we didn’t get more done,” Rocko apologized and was quickly hushed to silence.

  “You brought plenty for the night,” the mayor told him. “That is enough. Tomorrow, we will decide what to do next.”

  “And we will wait until the reinforcements from the Grotto get here,” Obasi added, drawing a growl of protest from Mordan and Marsh.

  The response was so closely timed that it drew laughter from the gathered townsfolk, but Aisha looked worried and laid a hand on Marsh’s knee while burying her other hand in the fur of the kat’s neck.

  Tamlin, too, laid an awkward arm around her waist, and Brigitte shuffled closer. Even Henri pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning on.

  “Don’t make me come over there.”

  Mordan hissed, and Bristlebear wove his way through the gathered townsfolk to stand in front of the big man. Henri’s look of surprised delight was almost enough to break the tension in and of itself.

  “See? Even the wolf agrees!”

  Bristlebear gave him a yellow-eyed look of disapproval and lifted his leg on the man’s boots, and that was enough for Marsh.

  She started to laugh.

  Even Mordan’s ears flicked forward, and the big kat curled her lip.

  “Oh! Hey!” Henri protested, shuffling back a step, but Bristlebear kept his gaze fixed on the kat until Mordan huffed out a sigh and sat up to groom her forepaw.

  Obasi breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Well, that’s settled then. We’ll stay here tonight and let you decide what you want to do next. The relief from Ariella’s Reach rode out this morning and will reach us sometime tomorrow. When they arrive, we’re going after the slavers, and they’ll help you with whatever you’ve chosen to do. Bien ça?”

  The mayor looked around at his people, catching their solemn nods as they moved to prepare for the night ahead.

  “Bien,” he confirmed. “Let us see what tomorrow brings.”

  “That’s another Deeps-be-damned set of boots you owe me,” Henri grumbled, but quietly, and with a wary eye on Bristlebear.

  Izmay covered her mouth with her hand, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Henri took one look at her and rolled his eyes.

  “Not you, too!”

  26

  Mind-Walking

  The warriors from Ariella’s Reach surprised them by arriving shortly after the sun rose. Their mules were snorting with the effort of a long jog, but not exhausted. Marsh was roused by Mordan launching herself from the bed.

  The kat didn’t use her as a take-off point, but the sudden loss of warmth alerted her that Mordan was gone. Marsh opened her eyes in time to see the big beast arc over her.

  She scrambled back, raising her arms before her in an attempt to ward the monster away as the kat reached
the floor on the other side. Mordan wasn’t amused.

  If I was a monster, you’d be prey, the kat told her tartly.

  Marsh scowled at her. If you were a monster, I wouldn’t have let you sleep on my bed to start with.

  Mordan did not dignify that with an answer but bounded for the door. Hurry. Our hunt begins!

  Our hunt? Oh, Deeps, no! Wait up! But Mordan didn’t wait, and Marsh hurriedly shoved the blanket aside and grabbed her boots. As much as she wanted to run after the kat, she’d never keep up with her barefoot.

  You need to toughen the pads of your feet, the kat told her.

  Marsh rolled her eyes. As if a kat would know.

  The response to that was a distinctive kat’s ass, and Marsh jerked the laces of her boot tight. Not what I needed!

  I agree, Obasi told her, and she wondered when she’d given him permission to look through her thoughts as if he were Captain Envermet.

  Strange that you should mention him.

  Oh, he didn’t.

  I’m afraid so. Obasi sounded troubled. He didn’t consult you?

  He Deeps-be-shagged-and-shaded DIDN’T!

  Obasi withdrew. I am very sorry for the intrusion.

  No, you’re not.

  He was back in an instant. Indeed I am. This level of intrusion is usually only undertaken by mutual consent.

  Well, someone needs to teach the good captain what that is, then. Marsh jerked the leg of her trousers down over the top of her boot.

  I am truly sorry. He started to withdraw again, but Marsh stopped him.

  Did he say why?

  Only that it was necessary to coordinate the troops and to keep you safe.

  Keep me safe?

  Yes. He was most adamant about that. Obasi hesitated and then added, And I would agree after yesterday.

  Yesterday, it was something Marsh would rather not think about, and her heart sank. For a moment, she’d let her emotions overtake her. No. I’m the one that’s sorry. Master Envermet has a point.

  There was a hopeful lift to Obasi’s voice when he replied. So I can stay?

  As long as you stay away from anything personal and give me room to think without interference.