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

  “Ready.”

  Taking a deep breath, Marsh tried to picture the location Master Envermet had shown her. Beside her, she knew Tamlin and Brigitte were doing the same. Picturing the pit and the courtyard was difficult at first, despite the distinctive pink shade of the crystal that formed it. The task became abruptly easier with Aisha’s help.

  I’ve been practicing, the little girl explained, tweaking the picture in her head. Master Tok showed me.

  He did?

  Yes.

  How many more did the Shadow Master say were coming? Etk’k’s interruption almost jolted the picture from her mind.

  He didn’t, Marsh replied.

  Go ahead, Etk’k told her, coming to an abrupt decision. I will bring help from the nest.

  He didn’t wait for her to reply but ran back through the portal, Bristlebear and a half-dozen wolves on his heels.

  Bear will protect him, Aisha assured her, and he will come back very soon.

  Marsh hoped so. She also hoped the portal would remain open long enough for them to get back home, but she tried to keep that thought to herself. It was bad enough that Roeglin and Master Envermet walked her head whenever they felt like it, but for Aisha to be doing it, too?

  “So, are we going to do this?” Tamlin demanded, and Marsh nodded.

  Opening her eyes, she began drawing a doorway ahead of her. Beside her, Tamlin and Brigitte did the same. As they worked, Marsh could feel Aisha helping them keep their destination clear in their minds.

  The prisoners were walled in by the same substance as the portal, the crystal a deep rose shot through with milk. The glistening ground beneath them was the same color and smooth. Marsh wondered what Aisha’s magic would make of it.

  Slowly, three doors formed before them. As soon as they were solid, they floated into each other, merging into one larger opening. Aisha didn’t wait for them, or perhaps it was Mordan. Either way, kat and child had surged toward the opening and bounded through before Marsh had a chance to order them to stop.

  Tamlin followed. Marsh didn’t bother trying to call him back, but raced after him and hoped they’d opened the portal in the right place. She hoped, too, that the Ookens weren’t already there and waiting.

  “We have to hurry,” Master Envermet greeted her as soon as she and Brigitte stepped through.

  His greeting jolted Marsh’s concentration enough that she let go of the portal.

  “Merde!” Brigitte exclaimed, and the portal snapped shut.

  Marsh gave her a concerned look.

  “It’s okay. I let it go before it got too much,” the mage assured her, looking around. She’d scanned half the courtyard when she gasped and froze.

  Marsh followed her gaze and soon saw what she was looking for. Aisha.

  The little girl was kneeling on the dead red earth, her hands on the crumpled figure of a shadow mage. “There’s no life,” the little girl sobbed. “No life!”

  At first, Marsh didn’t know what she meant, and she recognized Roeglin and didn’t care. She bolted across the intervening distance and skidded to her knees beside Aisha.

  “What can I do?”

  “I need life to fix him,” Aisha cried, and slapped at the crystal beneath her. “This ground has no life!”

  Relief washed through Marsh as she heard the words and registered that Roeglin was still breathing, then she realized what Aisha had said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, there is no life. The land can’t help me fix him. This rock can’t help, either!” the child wailed.

  She stopped as Scruffknuckle nudged her with his nose, and then worked his head under one of her hands, whining anxiously.

  “Is ‘kay, Scruff?” Aisha asked, her small face pinched with worry. “He’s hurt a lot.”

  Mordan growled and came to stand beside the pup. Aisha looked at her, then she looked at the wolves who walked over to stand in front of her. Silvermoth gave an imperative yip.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Marsh asked, and Aisha lifted the hand Roeglin had wrapped across his middle. “Oh.”

  Her head spun, and her heart went into freefall. Master Envermet laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. “He saved my life.”

  As if that would be any comfort. Marsh managed a nod, resisting as Master Envermet drew her to her feet. “Give the girl some room.”

  It wasn’t a request, and his grip tightened until Marsh stood, relieved and terrified as the wolves crowded into the space she’d vacated.

  “Not too much, Aisha,” Master Envermet admonished, his voice audible both in Marsh’s ears and her mind. “Just get him on his feet. There are others who need you too.”

  “’Kay.”

  “Help me with the others,” Master Envermet instructed. “Just don’t do too much. Brigitte, we need you.”

  The shadow mistress had been hovering nearby, her eyes scanning the walls and the people around them.

  “We need to heal the shadow mages first,” she said, noting how many others shared the space with them.

  She looked around again. “Where are they?”

  “Where are who?” Master Envermet wanted to know.

  “The Ookens,” Brigitte replied, lowering her voice as though mentioning their name would summon them.

  “Look up,” Master Envermet told her. “Tell me what you see.”

  Marsh obeyed and registered the expanse of crystal above her head. “Is that a-a ceiling?”

  “Oui.”

  “So, we’re inside?”

  “Oui.”

  He kept moving as he talked, leading them over to where Henri and Izmay were crouched beside another familiar figure.

  “Tok!” Marsh exclaimed, recognizing his form. “Are you okay?”

  The mantid gave a soft chitter of amusement. I have been better.

  “I’ll have Aisha come,” Master Envermet reassured him.

  That would be for the best, I think,” the mantid wheezed. His antennae wove above his head. They reminded Marsh of a horse’s ears twitching. They will be returning soon.

  He turned to Marsh. Are you able to get us back to the portal?

  “I can,” Marsh told him. “I just need some help holding a gate big enough to fit us all through.”

  We should not leave any behind.

  “Done!” Aisha’s happy shout was followed by a groan from Roeglin. “No complaining!”

  “I wouldn’t dare,” the shadow mage replied. “Now, go help Tok.”

  Marsh wheeled toward the sound of his voice, and Master Envermet let go of her arm.

  “Get them ready,” he ordered as Marsh ran past him. He paused and then added, “Izmay, we’ll need you, Brigitte and Zeb. Henri, ask Aisha to show you how to borrow energy without taking too much. Brin, are you still with us?”

  The rock mage’s response was lost as Marsh found Roeglin’s arms. The hug was brief, and she choked back tears as she registered the remains of his armor and the fetid damp of the cloth beneath. “What did you do?”

  “I’ll have Master Envermet show you sometime. Apparently, it was spectacular, and I am twenty times the fool.”

  Marsh cast a surprised glance at the shadow captain. “He said that?”

  “He was really upset that I’d saved his life. Something about being more important to the Library than he will ever be or some stupidity like that.”

  Marsh wanted to argue that Master Envermet was right, but all she managed was a choked laugh. It was enough to have him on his feet, although the absence of any enemies had her worried.

  “Look up,” Roeglin advised. “There’s a reason they haven’t come yet.”

  Marsh glanced up as he asked, noting the solid pall of gray overhead for a second time. “Master Envermet showed me, but why aren’t they here? Where are the guards?”

  “It looks like they don’t think we can escape.”

  “And you don’t think they’re watching us?”

  “I don’t see how they could.”

  They wa
tch us. Tok’s mental voice sounded stronger. You do not have time for me to explain how.

  “How long will it take for them to come once we open the portal?”

  Not long, and they will come in numbers.

  “Then we’d better hurry,” Marsh finished, leading Roeglin back to the fallen mantid and slapping him on the shoulder. “Stay there. I’ll use you as a marker for the rest.”

  “Where do you want to open things?” Roeglin asked, stopping her short.

  Marsh looked around, taking note of where the largest concentrations of prisoners were. There were an awful lot of mantids, and some other hard-carapaced creatures she didn’t recognize.

  “Do they all want to come?” she asked, and Roeglin snorted.

  Tok’s response was amused and perplexed. Of course. You do not think they want to stay here, do you?

  Marsh blushed. In hindsight, it had been a stupid question.

  “Well, are they safe?” she asked. “Will they…” She searched for a way to ask what she wanted without being insulting.

  They will be grateful to be released and will not attack you, Tok told her, although they might not accept your hospitality when they reach the other side.

  “What? But why?” Marsh asked, remembering the world outside.

  This was their world, too. Sadness edged the mantid’s voice, and Mash remembered Aisha crying because the ground had no life for her to draw from.

  “It can’t all be dead!”

  Tok’s silence was almost an answer in itself. When he did answer, his mental touch was heavy with grief. There are some of us who hope it is otherwise, and many who would like to stay, but I am responsible for my people, and I cannot keep them alive on hope alone.

  Marsh didn’t know what to say to that, but she was saved from having to say anything by Master Envermet.

  “Shadow Mage Leclerc, we are ready.”

  24

  Exfiltration

  Marsh looked around the courtyard. She’d found her people, and they were now helping the other prisoners they’d been put with. Apprehension prickled through her. There were so many…

  They are almost here, Tok warned, interrupting her thoughts. I can feel their minds.

  Marsh nodded and looked at the mages to the left and right of her. They were only a few.

  “If everyone hurries, we can get them to the portal back to the Library. Make them understand they need to go through. They cannot wait.”

  Etk’k has not returned. Tok informed her. I am worried.

  “What if the portal is closed?”

  I can operate it from this side, Tok told her. That information was not locked as securely in the Ookens’ minds as it should have been.

  “Marsh?” Master Envermet prodded, and Marsh swallowed with a throat gone suddenly dry.

  She glanced at Tamlin and Roeglin, who were stationed on either side of her.

  We are ready, Roeglin confirmed.

  “Aisha?”

  The little girl was mounted on Mordan’s back and sat facing them. She nodded. “They are ready.”

  Marsh raised her hands and sketched the portal in front of her. Her actions acted as a signal for the rest, and they too began drawing on the shadow to open a way out of their prison. One by one, six more portals appeared in line with hers. Behind them, the Ookens’ captives moved uneasily.

  “Tok, tell them no one is to be left. We offer sanctuary to all who come in peace. We will make room for them.” As she spoke, Marsh completed her door, focusing on the area in front of the portal. The shadows writhed and coiled around its edges.

  “Please,” Marsh murmured, “stay with me a little longer. Keep the path clear between here and home. Please!”

  Her mind tingled with Tok’s order, but she wasn’t listening. Tamlin’s and Roeglin’s doors were merging with hers, and the shadows twisted at their control.

  Is it…just…me, or are these going to be hard to hold? Roeglin gritted out.

  “Steady,” Aisha admonished, and they smiled.

  She scowled at them. “No laughing matter,” she snapped, sounding so much like Master Envermet that Marsh almost laughed out loud.

  She was prevented by the presence of someone moving past her.

  Henri’s heavy hand fell on her shoulder. “You make sure you bring my Izmay home,” the soldier told her.

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “You bring her back, and I’ll strike two dinners off what you owe me.”

  “Five!” Marsh retorted, but he didn’t stop to argue, and she didn’t insist. The shadows were squirming under her control. “Oh…no…you…don’t.”

  She willed the portal to stay open, fighting for focus as more prisoners passed her. Some she recognized from the Library, and others from Tok’s nest, but there were more, and almost none of them were human.

  Of the ones who were, none of the faces were familiar.

  This is going to be one Deeps-spawned mess to sort, she thought and felt Roeglin’s agreement. She also felt his complete confidence that they’d succeed.

  As the passing prisoners grew fewer, Aisha scanned the area behind them.

  “Almost done,” she told Marsh. “Almost.”

  A terribly familiar screech broke the air, and Aisha’s eyes grew wide. “They’re here!”

  It took all of Marsh’s self-control not to turn around.

  “Master Envermet, tell them to hurry.”

  Ahead of Marsh, the ranks of the departing prisoners parted, and Etk’k raced through the portal. The mantid skidded to a halt facing her, his antennae dancing between relief and alarm. He raised his head and issued a shrill whistle that echoed around the courtyard.

  It set Marsh’s ears ringing, but it had the desired effect. The last of the prisoners hurried past her.

  “Is the portal open?” Marsh demanded.

  It was closed until Tok came, Etk’k told her. It was hard to get him to cross over before the last were free, but Henri convinced him his presence was needed for bloodshed to be avoided on the other side.

  “Henri?”

  He was most persuasive. The one called Jakob went with him. They will bring the druids and also mind mages from the Grotto, and they will find those who can organize shelter for those we bring with us.

  His eyes took in both sides of the arena.

  Although I do not know how they will manage it.

  “They will manage it,” Roeglin growled, his faith in Alain’s and Evan’s abilities coming through in his words.

  The mantid settled beside Aisha and waited as the prisoners passed to safety. It was not a long wait.

  That is the last of them, Etk’k informed them as Aisha shouted, “Done!”

  “Zeb!” Marsh ordered, “Go through and hold it from the other side.”

  “Oui!” echoed back to her, cutting through the boom of multiple doors, the slap of suckers on stone, and more screeching.

  Marsh felt the portal shiver as Zeb passed through it, and his control momentarily faded before strengthening again.

  More shadow mages are coming, Etk’k informed her. They will help.

  “They can’t!” Marsh gasped. “They mustn’t come through.”

  They are already here, on the other side, Etk’k stated. They refused to stay in their own world while you were in peril. They will return, but only with you.

  “Putain a moi!” Marsh swore, and Roeglin chuckled.

  “You’d better not disappoint them, then,” he said. “You don’t want them getting into even more trouble trying to come after you.”

  “They wouldn’t!”

  Master Envermet chuckled. “They very much would, and you know it. Who’s to cross next? We don’t have much time.”

  “Izmay and you,” Marsh responded, as Etk’k drew his swords.

  Hurry, the mantid told her, moving past her toward the screeches. I will not be able to hold them for long.

  “You won’t be able to hold them at all,” Marsh snapped. “You get your armored bac
kside right back there and wait for us on the other side.”

  I will compromise, the mantid told her. I will guard your back and return when you do.

  “Of all the stubborn, hard-shelled, Deep-spawned roaches in the world!”

  “Done!” Roeglin told the mantid. The portal dipped and bucked as Master Envermet and Izmay shifted their control to the other side. “Marsh! Who’s next?”

  “You and Brigitte.”

  Twin denials reached her, and she heard Etk’k’s whistle of warning. At the same time, Aisha slid off Mordan’s back. Marsh stared as the child pulled the stone from the courtyard’s floor and covered herself in a layer of flexible plates. A shield lifted out of the floor to float in front of her, and a spear appeared in her hand.

  “I will hold them,” she declared, heading for Etk’k at a run.

  “Change of plans!” Marsh shouted, thinking fast. “Roeglin, if I let go of the shadows, can you hold the gate?”

  “Can I what?” Roeglin asked, then gasped as Tamlin released his hold on the gate.

  Marsh had been expecting it and seized the shadows before they left the portal and broke their only path out of the courtyard.

  “Stay!” she commanded, sweat beading her upper lip as she grasped the suddenly freed darkness and bent it to her will. “Brigitte?”

  “I’ll help him.”

  “Roeglin?”

  “Almost there.”

  Marsh felt the shadows resist Roeglin’s call until she willed them into his care.

  “Trust him,” she whispered, willing them to obey Roeglin as they had obeyed her. “Do as he commands.”

  “Keep the portal open until we get them back, and then keep it open. We’ll all cross together!”

  “Got it!”

  “Hurry, Marsh!”

  “Aisha! Etk’k! Protect Roeglin and Brigitte! Tamlin, with me.”

  What are you doing? Roeglin demanded.

  “Leveling this place! Tamlin, we need the lightning!”

  She reached the place where the mantid stood, braced and ready to receive the Ooken attack force. Across the courtyard, the orange-furred horde was now scrambling across the walls, ceiling, and floor toward them.

  “Why do they do that?” she whispered, hearing the snap and crackle of their tentacles slamming into and releasing from the crystal surfaces as they moved.