“She’ll be all right,” she assured Marsh. “I’ll ask one of Obasi’s people to check her, but I think she’s just overdone it.”
“That’s an understatement!” the strange druid added and dropped to her knees. The wolfpack pressed close as she wrapped her arms around Bristlebear’s neck and went on to greet the rest.
When she was done, she looked up at Marsh. “Thank you.”
She looked around, and her relief quickly turned to concern. “The others?”
“They’re being looked after,” Marsh told her shortly. “We’ve found some wagons to get them to Briar’s Ridge.”
At the mention of the town’s name, the woman stiffened, her face hardening in rejection. “No. I won’t allow it.”
Marsh cocked her head. “Why not?”
“It’s a raider town,” the woman snapped. “Surely, you know that?”
Marsh shook her head. “Not anymore. As far as we know, this was the last nest of raiders to be cleared.’
“The last?” The druid looked like she’d just been told all her dreams had come true, and she was having a hard time believing it.
“As far as we know,” Marsh reassured her. She held out a hand. “Can you walk?”
The woman nodded, taking her hand and squeezing it briefly. “Thanks to your child.”
“Not my child,” Marsh corrected her and fought the sudden rush of pain in her chest. “Obasi’s this way.”
While they had been speaking, Tamlin, Izmay, and Brigitte had been helping people out of the cells. Marsh ushered the druid after them.
“How many of you are there, anyway?”
“I think a hundred.”
“A hundred?” The sheer numbers startled Marsh. “Here?”
She thought about the small rooms they had passed and the utter squalor of the conditions. The druid gave a bitter laugh.
“Bar the ones who have died or were scheduled to die.”
Marsh swallowed. “Scheduled?”
The druid reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “You don’t want to know.”
She headed for the door. “You came just in time. Supplies were low.”
“But, scheduled?”
The druid gave an impatient sigh. “The old and those too weak to work and not fit for sale. The raiders treat us like cattle to be culled at will.”
Marsh’s stomach rolled. “That’s...”
“We are grateful to you for getting us out, especially if Briar’s Ridge is no longer a transport hub.”
“Why were you not taken to the Library?” Marsh asked, and the druid’s expression sobered.
“There are other ways Below,” she uttered darkly, “but the one here opens once a month, and it did not open at the scheduled time. The raiders here were waiting for the next.”
“When is that?”
“Tomorrow. It would be better if none of us was here then.”
Marsh looked at her, stopping to let the last captive be helped from the room ahead. When the way was cleared, they moved forward again.
“When you said, ‘scheduled to die,’ did you mean taken Below?”
The druid shrugged. “It’s the same thing.”
“And we reached you just in time?”
“I got careless. They discovered what I was and decided I had more value as a gift for those Below than a means for enriching their crops. The ones Below are hungry for anyone with magic.” The druid cocked her head. “You would be a prime candidate.”
Marsh gave her a feral smile. “We’ll test that theory in the morning.”
The druid was horrified. She reached out to grab Marsh’s arm. “You can’t.”
At the look on Marsh’s face, she let go.
“I can,” Marsh told her, “and I will, and then I’ll kill every last one of those who dares to come up from wherever this Below might be.”
“But how?”
Marsh shrugged and kept walking. “I don’t know. I need to speak to Obasi.”
“No,” Obasi said when she told him what she planned. “I won’t allow it.”
Marsh cocked her head and put a hand on one hip. “Pretty sure you’re not in charge here.”
Dark laughter rolled through her mind, and a foreign anticipation raised goosebumps on her skin.
Obasi paled and Marsh froze, her insides turning to ice. The warrior’s fist slamming into the side of her head was unexpected, and it dropped her to her knees.
Henri’s shout of outrage was met with drawn weapons as the impi’s warriors closed ranks around her.
“Let me explain,” Obasi began.
“Explain this!” Marsh heard the scrape of steel, then a grunt and the clatter of a dropped weapon, followed by a heavy thump. “Kat!”
Mordan growled, the threat in her voice unmistakable.
Dan?
You will go with the pack. The kat’s tone was final.
“Explain.” Izmay’s voice was cold. “And it had better be good, Obasi.”
Marsh tried to clear her head, but one of the warriors put her foot on her shoulder and knocked her onto her side. The time it took her to hit the stone was enough for Obasi to convey what he’d experienced in Marsh’s mind.
Izmay was disgusted. She pushed her way through the warriors to stand over Marsh. “You didn’t tell us you were being hunted?” She was beside herself. “I ought to kick your stubborn backside all the way back to the fort—and Roeglin.”
Marsh groaned. Roeglin would understand.
“We’ll see about that when I speak to him next,” Obasi assured her. “In the meantime, I’ll set a watch here to see what arrives, but you are coming with me.”
Marsh blinked at him. Her head was still ringing, and she couldn’t see straight. The man had a right hand on him like a hammer!
She shook her head and held up her hand, asking for assistance. Obasi looked down at her, and reluctantly helped her up. Marsh gave him a grateful smile, her eyes focusing on a patch of darkness in the rocks above.
She took a step forward and was gone.
“Dammit all to the Deeps!” Izmay shouted. “Next time, put her out cold.”
Marsh raised her eyebrows. Well, it was good to know who your friends were.
She caught a glimpse of Mordan’s intent as the kat circled the base of the rocks. It was easy to choose another patch of darkness on an empty ledge in a nearby ruin, but almost too much to step into it.
This time, she used the scout’s technique of blending with the shadow and waited.
We will find you, Obasi told her. Our minds are linked, remember?
You don’t have time, Marsh countered. You have people to get to safety, and I am just one.
What’s Roeglin going to say?
Roeglin isn’t here, and I need to see what comes from Below. Ask Bristlebear’s druid where the prisoners are taken when they are shipped Below.
“To the forecourt,” the druid whispered, her voice full of dread. “A portal opens. I... It’s like looking into the very pits of an ancient Hell.”
29
Changing Plans
Marsh woke to find a hand over her mouth and someone beside her.
“Shhh,” Tamlin whispered. “I’m not supposed to be here.”
“None of us are,” Izmay added, Henri glowering beside her.
“We are in very big trouble,” Brigitte told her solemnly, Aisha in her arms.
“Big trouble,” the little girl emphasized in a sotto voce whisper that sounded like a shout.
Marsh sat up, shuffling back against the wall and blinking at them. She was aware of having been terrified, of having to flee from something in her sleep, of laughter that seeped from the very cracks of the earth and haunted her hearing long after it had gone.
She’d watched as Obasi ordered the wagons and impi to leave and then waited long enough to regain her energy before shadow-stepping to the top of the wall surrounding the raiders’ stronghold.
We will speak of this. The warrior had been furious, and
Marsh had felt mildly guilty. She had no doubt she was in it but deep. She was equally certain this was something she had to do. Something she had to investigate if they were to have any hope of finding out who was behind the raiders.
“Obasi wants your hide.” Henri sounded like he enjoyed the prospect. “And Roeglin?”
Now the man sounded downright gleeful.
Marsh scowled at him. “What about Roeglin?”
Henri shrugged. “I don’t know. We kinda dropped back and let them go on without us.”
“And you call me irresponsible,” Marsh grumbled, scrambling to her feet. “How did you find me?”
Aisha smiled. “I woke up,” she said as if that explained it all.
“Uh-huh.” Marsh frowned at her, and the little girl’s smile widened. “I always know where you are.”
Marsh remembered other times Aisha had known where she was and smiled in return. “Yes, you do.”
She looked at the others. “Thank you.”
Movement on the wall behind him had her reaching for shadow, but Mordan’s gruff disapproval let her relax. Henri saw her looking past him and turned.
“Took your time, kat.”
Mordan gave him a disdainful look, and one of the kits hissed at him. Aisha scowled at them. “Where’s Scruffy?”
Marsh got the impression that the pup was better off with the wolves since he couldn’t climb. She hurried to the edge of the wall and looked over it.
Bristlebear looked up at her, disapproval clear in every line of his body.
“You’d better hope his mistress doesn’t get hurt,” Brigitte told her. “That is one unhappy puppy.”
“Yup,” Izmay agreed and faced Marsh. “When’s it due to open?”
Marsh was struggling to catch up. “His mistress?”
Izmay made an impatient gesture with her hand. “There. See? She refused to let us come alone. Obasi is really unimpressed with you.”
Marsh sighed. “Story of my life.”
She trotted along the wall and down one of the internal flights of stairs, waiting just inside the forecourt as the druid came to meet her. For a moment she thought about apologizing, but she decided not to.
After all, she wasn’t sorry. Instead, she asked, “Where?”
“There.” The woman pointed, and they pivoted to look. “It usually opens right in front of the entry hall. The raiders bring us out by the wall to watch. They don’t tell us who they’ve chosen, just pull us out as the portal opens and line us up in front of it. The land beyond is red. You can’t imagine.”
Marsh nodded, memories of dreams where she’d run through a landscape bathed in crimson light and scarlet shapes twisted and curled around her flickering. She gulped and stared at the spot the druid indicated.
“How long does it take?” she asked, pulling shadow armor around her body and drawing her usual sword and buckler from the dark.
The druid regarded her wide-eyed. “You’ll shine like a beacon, magicked up like that.”
Marsh gritted her teeth and kept the shadows around her and in hand. “Just tell me what comes out.”
The druid shivered. “Monsters,” she whispered. “Some are like beetles, others... They’re hard to describe. It’s like vines grow from their backs. The raiders drive the chosen prisoners forward, and those vines? Tentacles? They drag people in. We never see them clearly, but we catch glimpses of what’s waiting. And the sounds!”
She shuddered, her eyes wide as if she watched some distant, frightening scene. Finally, she shook her head and added, “Some try to run and are thrown through. I think there’s a quota.”
Marsh swallowed hard and nodded. “No one’s going through today,” she snapped, “and anything that comes out is going to die.”
“What?” Henri pretended shock. “You’re not going to take on an entirely new world on your own?”
Marsh scowled at him. “I need to see what’s coming for us.”
“How do you know it’s coming?” Izmay asked.
Marsh shrugged. “Well, we took out the raiders. Whoever’s on the other side needs the resources they were gathering. It stands to reason something’s coming.”
“You can’t be sure of that.”
“If it was your invasion, what would you do?” Marsh challenged, and Izmay sighed.
“Let’s try to take something alive then, okay?”
Marsh nodded. “At least one something.”
Henri glanced down at Mordan. “You got that, kat?” he asked. “We need at least one something alive. Think you can manage to handle that?”
Mordan gave him a dirty look and then sat on her haunches and washed her paw. The rest of them positioned themselves around the space where the portal was supposed to open and waited. The gray predawn light gave way to gold, and then the morning sun reached the top of the walls and spilled down into the forecourt.
The druid huffed out a sigh of relief. “They’re not coming.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they never come once the sun has risen,” the druid replied. “The land beyond the portal is always in twilight. It’s never bright. If they haven’t come by midday, they won’t come.”
“But how do you know?” Marsh demanded.
The druid regarded her with mild surprise. “Because that was when the raiders gave up the last time,” she said as if that was something Marsh should have known.
“Then we’ll wait until midday before heading for Briar’s,” Marsh retorted.
At midday, Henri squinted at the sun and gave Marsh a disgusted look. “That’s another dinner you owe me,” he told her, “for promising me a damned good fight and failing to deliver.”
Izmay gave an exaggerated sigh and hooked her arm through his. “Come on, dear. Let’s go find out what Obasi has in store for us.”
Tamlin patted Marsh on the arm. “I hid the mules over there.”
“Spoilsport,” Henri grumbled. “I was gonna make her think she had to walk.”
It was still nighttime by the time they rode into Briar’s Ridge.
Their approach was noted, and Obasi rode out to greet them. “The townsfolk have come to a decision,” he told her like she hadn’t been away.
Marsh began to worry. “And?” she asked as if it were any normal conversation.
“They need to stay.” He paused. “Most of the prisoners we just rescued also need to stay. The druid was right. They can’t face going into the caverns. The gardens weren’t the only place their labor was used.”
“Go on,” Marsh encouraged.
“Some will be accompanying us back to the Library, but most will be staying here. Sulema will send more supplies and any family of the current guard contingent. Winter is a long season to be separated in.”
Marsh nodded, feeling partly to blame for the problem. Obasi fixed her with a direct look and she stiffened. Here it comes.
“Roeglin says if you risk yourself like that again, he’ll do something stupid for you to remember him by. There’s a Below beneath the Library, you know.” Obasi watched her face as she heard the echo of the shadow mage’s voice in his tones.
Marsh gaped at him. “The portal didn’t open,” she managed after a moment of stunned silence. When she got back, she and Roeglin were going to have words! “And it was my mission. My call.”
Obasi snickered, and Henri slapped her shoulder as he rode past.
“Your face!” He chuckled.
The others followed him, and Obasi gave her a serious look.
“We roll out tomorrow. The druids say there aren’t many good days left.”
Marsh inclined her head. “Thank you, Obasi.”
He continued looking at her, and she sighed. “What?”
“Are you okay?”
Marsh studied his face to see if he was serious. He let her see his concern through the link she’d allowed between them, and she sighed.
“I miss Roeglin,” she told him, “and I want to go home.”
Tears threatened
and she ducked her head, firming her jaw and clamping down on the urge to cry before she lifted her face to meet his eyes. Obasi nodded.
“Tomorrow,” he promised, and then sighed. “But we’ll have a wagon with us, so it’s going to take us two days instead of one. I’m sorry.”
The news hit Marsh harder than she wanted to admit, but she shrugged.
“At least we’ll be closer than we are now.”
30
Heading Home
The caravan returning to the Library was larger than they’d planned. Of the hundred they’d rescued from the raiders’ fortress, only ten had opted to travel to the Library. None of the rest wanted to be anywhere near another place that could open to the Below.
Twenty wanted to remain in Briar’s Ridge, but even that place held too many memories for the others. They opted to travel to Ariella’s Reach and winter at the fortress or the waystation just inside the tunnel’s entrance. Out of those, some thought they could tolerate the sinkhole as long as they could see the open sky.
Obasi shared his memories of the scenery in the Grotto, and almost half of those going to the Reach opted to try the Grotto instead. The effort left the warrior fatigued, but relieved.
“Twenty on top of the townsfolk who wish to rebuild is not too great a burden,” he told Marsh, but he refused to reveal exactly how hard it would have been if all the rescues had demanded to stay at Briar’s Ridge.
Lioma came to bid them farewell, holding the bridles of the mules pulling the cart as the rescuees were loaded alongside the supplies and Obasi mounted.
“You’re not coming?” Marsh asked, surprised at this turn of events.
Lioma blushed and shot Obasi a grateful look. “I’ve been given command of the Briar’s Ridge cohort,” she explained. “Someone told Sulema I was up for the challenge.”
Obasi shrugged, his face heating at her words. He tilted his chin toward the impi leader who’d come with the extra warriors and druids. “I wasn’t the only one who put their faith in you.”
He cocked his head. “Besides, you’re not going to tell me you have doubts, are you?”
She shook her head. “I have good advisors,” she told him. “I’ll be fine.”
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 164