Of Dragon Warrens and Other Traps

by Shannon McGee

  She narrowed her eyes at me, cat-like. “You don’t think the heat has anything to do with your dizziness.”

  “I did at first,” I protested.

  She twirled a finger, prompting me to continue. “But?”

  “But, then it happened a second time, and sometimes I feel so strange. I wonder if what happened…back in Nophgrin…I wonder if it had some sort of lasting effect in how magic affects me,” I admitted.

  Aella looked away, and her frown deepened. “What makes you think that? Besides what you told me?”

  “Just a few things,” I said vaguely, not wanting to explain the buzzing that happened in my head when I had too much energy, or how sometimes I thought I saw magic when I never had before. The dizzy spells were bad enough. Add those two things in, and she would think I was mad or making it up. “Anyway, even if my dizzy spells were because of these specific people, which they might not have been, I don’t think those people did it on purpose. Why would they? I’m nothing to them.” I ate the grape leaf before continuing. “So, it’s none of my business what they’re doing. Right?”

  She quirked an eyebrow at me but seemed to decide against commenting on that. “You’re right. It could be that they were doing something magical and that you got sucked into it by accident.”

  “You think so?”

  She nodded. “It’s rare, but it does happen. Especially in a place like this, if mages don’t focus on keeping their magic contained, it can…soak the air? I’m not sure how to describe it, but it can make a person feel funny.”

  “Is that because there are so many of them?”

  “You’d have to ask Belinda or Ito the specifics, but I think so. Mages aren’t uncommon in Dabsqin. It’s a trade town after all, full of herbs and precious stones and knowledge. It’s like honey for flies.”

  “I wish Michael could see this place. He would love it here,” I murmured, gazing out at the crowd. Silence rang out between us as I realized what I had said. Aella reached out to take my hand, and I shook my head furtively. “I’m fine. I’m sorry.”

  “You miss him.”

  Yes, I missed him. It came in waves when I was least expecting it. It was like reaching for my flask on sheep watch and realizing I’d drank the last of it an hour ago. It was feeling that it was impossible for him to be dead while I was still alive, while knowing with absolute certainty that he was, in fact, dead.

  “I’m fine.”

  She dipped her head to look into my eyes. The concern there touched me, but still I couldn’t tell her what I was thinking. She seemed to understand that.

  “Ok. So, about those mages.”

  My shoulders eased. “Umm, yeah, I don’t know why they caught my eye. Maybe it’s that most mages we’ve seen, they’re like Ito and Belinda. They dress like normal people. These folks…”

  Aella spoke through a bite of flat-bread, and the tense atmosphere blew away, “Yeah, if they’re the two that I saw, they wreak of something fouler than the sewers we just sloshed through.”

  I perked up. “You really think so?” Perhaps I wasn’t going crazy!

  She grinned at me. “Did you catch who they were meeting with? You are technically right; it’s nothing for our noses to be stuck into, but if we’re right and they’re up to no good, the servants will trade my intelligence for some of their own.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t see her face. Normal height, long black hair bound up high, silk robes.” I tallied what I had seen on my fingers. When I saw Aella’s eyes widen with glee I held one finger out, forestalling her. “Don’t. I had the same thought, but she’s not the only Elyrian woman in the city.”

  “What color were the robes you saw her in?” Aella’s smile was fox-like. “I’ll bet you a copper coin that it’s the same as what we see the lady wearing this evening. Nobles are always getting involved in some secret thing or other.”

  I sighed, knowing it wouldn’t be of any use to try and dissuade her from this line of thought. “A dusky pink head-scarf and a silk robe that was pink as well, but with embroidery. I’m not betting you.”

  “Of course you’re not,” Aella said with an irritating grin, shoveling more food into her mouth.

  After we had finished eating, we strolled the streets, linked arm in arm. The healing had been thorough, but I didn’t want her straining herself, and I liked supporting her. I didn’t even mind how warm being pressed against her made me.

  We perused the booths in companionable silence, only speaking if one of us found something particularly interesting. On a whim, I bought a forest green tunic with the billowy sleeves and black embroideries of the southern fashion, as well as a sheer black scarf to go over my hair and protect my tender scalp.

  At a perfume shop I inhaled scents I’d never even dreamed existed. The glass bottles stood behind labels in Common, Elyrian, and Oshkanese; they listed items like “passionflower,” “amber” and “mango.” Between every sixth and seventh row was a tiny dish of hard coffee beans. A small sniff from that helped to clear my nose when the smells became too overwhelming.

  There was no sunflower, though I searched diligently for it. Instead I chose a vial in the smallest size behind a label that said “coconut.” The smell was sweet and rich, and I’d never owned something so extravagant in all my life. When I’d concluded my business, Aella bought me a reed basket filled with chunks of the fruit itself. We shared them, sitting on a low wall while we listened to a nearby sitar player weave brisk melodies.

  The sun marked the time as late afternoon, and Aella’s limp had grown more pronounced when we decided it was time to return to the inn. I had only a few coins left, anyway. After paying back Aedith, setting aside money for my guild dues, and my little shopping spree, I’d have to wait until we were paid again before I could buy anything else, even the sun balm, which had somehow not made it to the top of my priority list when faced with so many other shops.

  My head spun with everything that had happened since morning. I had fought a dragon. Well—I rolled my eyes at myself—I had been near people fighting dragons. I had received my first payment for work that had nothing to do with sheep. I had perfume dabbed behind my ear and a soft new tunic wrapped in papers under my arm. I had Aella beside me. I glanced at her slyly through lowered lashes.

  Being here in Dabsqin with her felt like stepping into some sort of paradise. Dragons and all. Even knowing that soon we’d be back in the sand with no baths didn’t dampen that feeling. With her at my side, I could handle anything.

  When we got back to the inn, Aella and I scooped up our packs and took our dusty travel clothes down to the inn’s laundry room. It was underground, hot and dark, lit by only a few torches. At its center was a heated pool, not unlike the outdoor washing pool in Nophgrin. Unlike that washing well, this pool wasn’t heated by a hot spring. It seemed to work in the same way as the bathing pools. Here in Dabsqin. The basin was surrounded by women with arms like columns and red shiny faces. They took our bundles from us, with over-the-top assurances that we were not to worry about our own laundering.

  “Can’t we help?” I tried to volunteer. The only person who had ever done my washing for me before was my mother.

  Their reply was a stern, “No.”

  “I could at least wait for them to be finished, so you don’t need to lug them up the stairs?” From the corner of my eye, I could see Aella grinning at me.

  “Out of the question,” was the unequivocal response that came from several women at once. Yes, they knew our faces and our rooms. Yes, the clothes would be returned there within the day. Out.

  To my own amusement, Aella didn’t even get a chance to impart her gossip. She was so tired that she only remembered after we had left the washroom, and I refused to let her turn back to attempt to trade tales with them. With only a little resentment she resigned herself to waiting to catch one of them off duty that evening. I could only hope that wouldn’t be until after she’d had a chance to debunk her own guesswork.

  Not long
after that, Aedith held a company meeting in her quarters. When we arrived, she was standing at the back of the room, which was already almost full of the company. She was the most well put together among them, dressed in a clean white cotton tunic that contrasted crisply with her tan skin. Her caramel curls were slicked and bound back in one heavy braid.

  “Tomorrow and the next are rest days,” she said.

  “It ought to be,” a few churlish voices said in response.

  She ignored them. “This will give us time to recuperate and the drakes time to relax back into their normal patterns. In two days, we’ll go back down into the sewer, and we’ll root out the original target. No mistakes. I want us out of here in the next week. That should be more than enough time to hunt down some youths and rest up again.”

  “What’s the hurry?” Cassandra asked, uncertainty in her voice.

  “We’ve another job. I was called to the earl’s home late this afternoon to sit in on a scrying session. Across the river and a few miles outside of the green land, a slew of small villages have been hit by the same set of bandits. A group of three women are making anyone with enough gold to rub together miserable.”

  “These are the mages we’ve been hearing about?” Ito’s voice was husky, his anticipation palpable.

  Aedith smiled at him. “That’s where the good news comes in. We’re to meet up with Hamash’s company. We should ferry across the river together. They spoke to Hamash before I arrived, but the earl says they’re en route for a manticore to the south of here, and they plan to join us afterward for this little tryst. Between our company and his, we’ll give these girls a run for their money.”

  This was met with jubilation. Even I couldn’t help grinning. I had missed Conner a great deal in the past few months, and I knew that Aella missed him too. Just to see another familiar face, and to speak the same language as someone would be nice.

  Dai began to outline what was known about the women we were to hunt next. “They’re all under thirty. The youngest is not yet twenty. They’re mages, without any proper training in the capital, but if the stories are to be believed, they don’t need it. Reports say that they cause things to shatter. Walls, pottery, the earth.” He looked to Ito. “I’m not sure what that is.”

  “It’s…” Ito seemed to be looking at me as he mulled over his explanation. He spoke slowly, as though thinking over what he was saying as he said it. “Everything in the world is made of tiny bits. Those bits carry energy. All mages can call on that energy and use it. It is always best to take the strength of things with scads of energy to spare, as they do here with the sun. Otherwise the item or creature will break or die. When a mage shatters something, as you described, they are either draining it or doing the opposite of that— forcing energy into it—to make these pieces move faster than they are meant to.”

  Dai nodded and continued. “They might be related. They have similar powers, similar complexions, but no one is certain. Their hair is colored differently—red, white, and black. They call themselves The King’s Snakes.”

  “Funny,” Tess muttered. “Do you think they cleared that name with His Highness?”

  “They’re not to be reasoned with.” Kaleb ignored her. “If you see one, you put her down. A knock to the head if you’re close, a shot in center mass if you’re the preferable far distance away.” That got a chuckle. “Pain takes away a mage’s concentration enough that all but the most experienced won’t be able to work against you with a crossbolt sticking out of them. That’s what we want.”

  I nodded grimly, along with the other mercenaries. If they were anything like Michael, a cross bolt would leave them totally at our mercy.

  Aedith took over the briefing again when there was a natural lull. “Orders are to bring them in alive, if possible. But remember, possible means if you can do so without too much unnecessary risk. I’d rather you survive than them, and we get paid either way. Ito, once they’ve been subdued, you, Pan, Sarah, and Ilana will bind them,” she named Seventh Company’s three battle mages. “After that, it’s just a matter of getting them to the capital for the Crown’s justice.”

  The capital was clear across the country from where we sat. This garnered more murmurs, which Aedith silenced by speaking over them. “Yes, this job is likely to take up the majority of the season. It pays like it does, anyway.”

  “What does that mean?” Tess asked eagerly.

  “It means we’re being paid for a season and a half’s work, and the earl has been given orders to pay us, as well as Hamash’s company, half of what’s due up front out of his own pocket. He’s to be reimbursed after we complete the task, and we’re to collect the rest at the capital.”

  This caused more mutters as the company shifted uneasily. I glanced around, not understanding the fuss. Wasn’t getting paid up front good? Plus, it seemed like a simple job. The adult battle mages of two companies were more than fit to take on three young women. Especially three young women who hadn’t had training at the university.

  “Orders from who?” Aella demanded. She stood with one hand gripping the doorframe. “Who has the push to order around the earl of the south? He has the most clout of anyone this side of the country, and no lord anywhere parts with as much coin as this will cost for some rankled villagers, not unless the problem comes traipsing into his home city, which they haven’t. We’d have heard about that.”

  Aedith’s smile didn’t reach her eyes. “The same two people who can make requests even we are hard pressed to refuse. Their Royal Majesties Queen Amane and King Lionel are sick of hearing about mage bandits, particularly ones with such a name. There is an ambassador touring the country. They want it dealt with on their own timeline, not the southern earl’s, which can run a little slow.”

  Not quite listening as Aedith fielded more questions, I twisted a braid around a few fingers. My thoughts were jumbled and more than a bit conflicted. Their majesties were more than capable of paying whatever price was asked of them, so at least I knew we weren’t being duped when it came to the money. This was a good thing, so why did it make me uneasy?

  From everything I had been taught, King Lionel was a champion of the people. He had proven that repeatedly since his reign began. In his term, he had almost completely wiped raiders from the mountains. Pirate scourge from across the Western Sea had fled under fire from his navy. Guards had been placed in every town with any population to speak of, and those men and women not only reduced crime within towns, but they also could defend remote towns and organize them in an emergency. He was a good king.

  He was so good a king that he couldn’t possibly know of his uncle’s sordid side projects. According to Aella, those projects included dabbling in necromancy. From my own experience, I knew they involved “gifting” common children with magic. If rogue mages were the king’s next target, the kingdom could only get safer. His uncle ought to have been his first target. This could be the beginning of the end of Master Noland’s dark dealings. So why didn’t I believe that was what was happening?

  Gnawing at my lower lip, I turned that thought over in my head. Perhaps it was the fact that he was turning his sights on these girls who were new and not his uncle, who had been steeped in nasty rumors for years. But was that a fair judgment? Nobles did not tend to attack other nobles because it was messy—too costly. When they did, it meant battles and wars where the common people suffered. It could have been that he wanted proof before making such a big move. These girls could give that proof to him.

  But to only punished the pawns. That was wrong too. Messy or not, I wanted Master Noland to be called to task for his hand in this new upcropping of common mages with university-level training first and foremost. Because it had to be him giving them that training. It was too familiar not to be. Hunting The King’s Snakes would amount only to us picking up his less-subtle apprentices. Meanwhile the rest of his numbers would continue to work on whatever he asked of them and continue to multiply.

  I squeezed my eyes shut in fr
ustration. That was pessimism. Perhaps we would be able to bring in these mages alive, and they could oust their benefactor, and that benefactor would then turn out to be Master Noland. Then the king would have no choice but to do something about his uncle. It could happen.

  At least it made sense to employ mercenaries to go after these quarries, so I didn’t need to suspect that. We were quicker than the regular army and more ideally placed. I just didn’t like that my mercenary company was the one the king and queen had hired, and I wished the king had begun this crusade before my brother had been indoctrinated into Master Noland’s following.

  Regardless of where this job led, Aedith was right. When the king and queen gave an order, it wasn’t something a person took lightly. I shook my head, forcing myself to focus on the conversation at hand. Aedith had named a head-spinning sum as our compensation.

  “It’s a lot of money,” Belinda hedged, “but there’s a reason we don’t become involved in the high nobles’ games—and regardless of what goes unsaid, that’s what these mage children are.”

  I leaned forward, eager to hear what the commander would say to that.

  “Trust me, this is the last job any of us want to take, but none of that is proven,” Dai said. “Do you suggest we tell the king we believe his court is playing a continent-wide game of chess? Should we bow and kindly excuse ourselves from playing?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying.”

  “So, what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that we hear more and more stories of common mages going rogue in this way, and it guts me to see these young children being used and discarded at the whim of some noble. We all saw what happened with Taryn’s brother.” I flinched at being directly mentioned, but to my relief the group’s attention remained primarily on Belinda and Dai. “I don’t want to go hunting for kids who are only where they are because of the people who are paying for us to hunt them! Doesn’t it make you sick?”