Julianne almost choked. “Really? You saw him?”
“Yes.” Annie dabbed her mouth with a napkin. “Crazy as he was, he seemed to have a good heart. Well, most of one anyway. Not real useful around a farm, though.”
“Do you know where he went?” Julianne held her breath. If he was near, was it worth risking a trip into the town?
Annie regarded her shrewdly. “What’s your plan?”
Julianne turned to look at the old woman in the eye. “To destroy the New Dawn. If they’ve really taken people as slaves, they need to be held accountable. I will bring that reckoning if no one else can, or will.” She waited for the words to sink in before continuing. “I don’t know if I can do it alone, though. My strength relies on mind magic, and the New Dawn have found a way to block it somehow. I think—I hope—Artemis knows how to defeat them.”
“And why would he know that?” Annie’s voice held an edge to it. Julianne debated lying to the woman, but knew her conscience wouldn’t allow it.
“Because I think he taught them to do it.” Annie slumped as if knowing the words were coming. “Annie, I don’t know Artemis, but I know people who do. They all tell me he’s a good person, that he wouldn’t hurt a fly. They also said he can be easily distracted, and that he didn’t really understand people.”
Annie nodded. “Sounds about right. I never suspected the man of doing us wrong on purpose, but he’s a few loaves short of a bread basket, that one. He and little Lilly are the same. Odd, but still good people.” Annie’s face creased with sadness. “I hope he took the girl with him. Goddess knows she’d be safer off in the hills.”
With some prodding, Annie explained that Lilly was one of the village children. She was touched by the Goddess and had the skill to talk to animals and trees, but it had apparently addled her brain.
“They apprenticed her to me for a time, on account of my talent with the growing things,” she explained. “Girl was beyond me, though. Where I can tend a garden and make it flourish, Lilly had the gift of beast talking. Even the mountain cats would cuddle her like a doll, and the birds and squirrels followed her like a lady’s handmaidens.”
A druid? Danil sent to Julianne.
Perhaps. They both show signs of it, but neither have had teaching, so they won’t have all the skills. Ezekiel would be able to shed more light on it. Julianne sent the reply by reflex, then jolted upright, realizing what it meant.
“What is it, Jules?” Marcus asked from the other end of the table.
“Nothing. I just hadn’t noticed my magic was back.” She smiled self-consciously, wondering if her reaction had been that obvious, or if he’d been watching her.
“I think it makes sense to try find the old man first,” Marcus said, looking to Garrett for support.
“And if we canna find him, or he canna help?” the rearick asked. “Or if we scout the town, and realize the help he gave isn’t the sort we needed?”
Julianne leapt on his words. “That’s right. If we scout the town today, we’ll at least have an idea of what we’re up against. They might be able to block our magic, but we can block them, too. The attacks they’ve led don’t seem stronger than usual, it's just those bi—those damned shields. We’ll be safe, as long as we stay hidden and shielded.”
Marcus narrowed his eyes as Garrett frowned. “Lass, yer skating on thin ice here. Ye know we can’t shield, but ye also know we’re contracted to keep ye safe.”
“Perfect, then.” Julianne smiled widely. “Because following us into town would be incredibly dangerous, for you and for us. Looks like it’s settled: Bastian, Danil, and I will scout the town while the three of you stay back and help Annie. Well, except you, Marcus. You should rest.”
Marcus looked absolutely apoplectic at that. Before his frustration could bubble over, Julianne sent him a wave of calmness.
“I might not have magic, but I can tell what you’re doing,” he snapped.
“Good,” Julianne replied. “Because I wasn’t trying to hide it. You’ll need to pay the same attention if we end up taking this fight into town as a group.” She stood, gathered her plates, and left the room.
As she filled the kitchen sink with water from the heavy kettle, Annie came in. She waited until Julianne was done, then cleared her throat. She twisted her apron in her hands, an uncharacteristically nervous sign.
“I just wanted to say thank you. I don’t know what brought you all to these parts, but it sounds like you’re at least going to try save my people. It’s not much, this little village is on the edge of madness, but it’s all I got.”
Julianne took the old woman’s hand. “I will do my very best, Annie. I’d like to ask for your help, though.”
Within a few minutes, Julianne had delved through Annie’s mind. She’d learned the layout of the town, the streets, the people who lived there.
She knew the farms and the buildings, the stream that cut through the center, and the shortcuts and secrets only someone who’d spent a whole life here could possibly know. She learned the faces of Annie’s sons, her daughter-in-law and little Lilly, too, and left with a promise to let Annie know if she passed them on their scouting trip.
Leaving the old woman to regather her composure, Julianne went to find Danil and Bastian. The two had donned their traditional mystic robes and were pulling on their boots. “We leave soon. Bastian, can you see if there was any bread left over from breakfast? This will take us most of the day, and I don’t want any mistakes made out of hunger or fatigue.”
Once Bastian had left, Danil jumped in before Julianne could speak. “Are you sure we’re ready for this?”
Julianne shook her head. “No, but I don’t think waiting will make us any readier. It could make things worse, though. What if the New Dawn realize we’re here, and why? I want this fight to be on our terms. Not theirs.”
Danil nodded. “I’m not against the idea. Just making sure you’re sure.”
“Have I ever started something I wasn’t prepared to follow through with?”
Danil pushed an image to her, of Julianne sitting close to Marcus back at camp in the Madlands. She’d been checking on his wound. Julianne watched her own silhouette as she lifted her face perilously close to Marcus’s, her eyelashes lowered. When she looked at it from this perspective, it was downright seductive.
“Why, Julianne. That shade of red suits you awfully well,” Danil teased.
Julianne had, indeed, flushed a vibrant shade of red. “Glad to see you’re on board with the plan,” she said haughtily and flounced past him. Deep down, she was glad. If Danil could joke about her feelings for Marcus, it meant he didn’t hold it against her.
She almost tripped a step. Wait. Did I just admit I have feelings for him? Glad she’d been shielding Danil from her thoughts, Julianne held her head high and walked out to the stables.
Cloud Dancer nickered and nuzzled her hand. The friendly gesture made Julianne wonder if, just maybe, Bette had been right. “Sorry, girl,” Julianne said. “We’re going on foot today. Have to keep a low profile.”
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I’m ready, Bastian sent. Unless you need me to bring anything else?
A quick flurry of images accompanied the message, showing a couple of bread hunks wrapped in cloth and a skein of water. Julianne paled as the final image, of Bastian slipping the weapon Marcus had gifted him into his belt, crossed her vision.
Let’s go, she sent, projecting that message to Danil as well. She grabbed her walking staff, left leaning against the railing of Cloud’s stall, and went to meet them on the road.
“Remember,” she said. “We’re only going in for information. I don’t want to start a fight, not without the others to back us up.”
“So, we’ll be going back to start a fight later?” Bastian asked.
Danil snorted then leaned past Julianne to bump Bastian’s fist. Julianne raised her eyes to the heavens. “Give me strength.”
They walked on for a while, trekking through the long grass by the
side of the road. Though not strictly necessary, the little bit of camouflage would reduce the effort needed to avoid notice by a normal person.
If one of the New Dawn approached and was able to block them, the cover would hopefully give them time to hide. The robes served the same function. Though long seen as the uniform of the mystics and rumored to be a sign of their virtue or some rubbish, it was much simpler than that: a plain cloth was easier to ‘blend’ into a background than a brightly dressed person.
The rumble of a wagon made them all dive to one side. Julianne waved the others down, but sent her thoughts out towards it as it passed. A mystic, riding with a farmer. The mystic was shielded, but Julianne touched it with the gentlest of pressure. It yielded, though not enough to alert the stranger.
The wagon passed, and Julianne let out a breath.
He was shielded, but not well. No one I recognized, and I don’t think he had Temple training, not as weak as he was.
Did you touch the farmer’s mind? Danil’s sending was grim.
No, why?
It was like working with an opium addict or an alcoholic. He was fixated on his next high, but there was a lethargy there, too. Julianne, we have to free these people.
Weight settled on Julianne’s shoulders. He was right. No matter what, they couldn’t leave these people to a life of slavery, especially under the hand of one of their own.
Julianne brushed the grass seeds off her robe, and set back off down the road. Already alert to the sounds of passers-by, it didn’t take long for voices to catch her attention. The three mystics darted across the road and slowed, keeping a close eye out for anyone who might stop them.
The sounds came from a nearby orchard. The apple trees gave them enough coverage to slip closer, past the sluggish workers who probably wouldn’t have noticed them even without magic.
Danil, you and Bastian wait here. I don’t want us all caught in the same cage.
Danil frowned, but nodded. Julianne slipped between the trees, casting her mind wide to touch the nearby workers, then a group further afield. A short distance away, a cluster of minds congregated, emanating fear and pain. She scurried towards them.
“What the hell do you think this is? Do you think your masters, your gods will be happy with these takings?” The speaker was robed in blue and carried a staff much like her own. His, however, was topped with gold.
The fear increased, a desperate need to please, a terror of failing before a wrathful tyrant.
“Take them to the brewer. If nothing else, they’ll get us drunk.” He spat in the dirt and turned away.
Julianne pushed against the mind of the robed man before the crowd. His shield was stronger than the wagon drivers, and she debated trying to worm past it. Not worth the risk, she decided. He would probably notice the effort. She could make him forget her, but she wasn’t certain that someone rifling through his mind later wouldn’t notice her tampering.
Not knowing the extent of her enemy’s power frustrated her to no end. Without knowing how they’d made their shields so strong, she couldn’t know if that strength was reflected in other skills, like mind control, or if they even had skills Julianne hadn’t seen before.
Hannah, the girl from Arcadia who’d led the charge against Adrien, had been the first in a long time to exhibit a new type of magic. Was her power a precursor to a changing system of magic?
Shaking off the ominous thought, Julianne watched a group of men cart off a wagon stacked with barrels. In the field, one of the pickers had stopped to watch. His stillness caught her eye, but she wasn’t the only one to notice.
“No. No! Please, Holy Masters, please!” He winced, then writhed, dodging invisible blows. “Please, forgive me!”
The man screamed louder and Julianne’s eyes prickled with tears. She knew his pain was imagined, and she knew that later, she could undo it. Now, however, she was powerless. Unless…
She reached out, not to his torturer, but to the man himself. It didn’t take her long to find the intruder in his head. Ever so carefully, she slid a soft shield in place between his mind and the sensations projected into it.
Julianne diverted the illusion, giving it an ethereal quality that would buffer him from the pain. He stopped writhing and stood, tears running down his face, and wiped snot off his lip with the back of his sleeve.
He jerked as the foreign presence left his mind and Julianne quickly embedded two suggestions into his mind. First, she allowed him to see the illusion. This would alleviate the pain. He would feel it a little, but know it was false. This knowledge would protect him from the worst of it.
Less than a heartbeat later, she added the suggestion that if his torturers knew it no longer hurt, the repercussions would be terrible. The man barely blinked between the shift from agonizing pain, to relief and bewilderment, and then to a very convincing act that nothing had changed.
Julianne left his mind, satisfied his writhing screams would fool the guards, but that he was no longer suffering the pain.
Fatigue from the complicated spell made her legs weak and she slipped away, cursing her inability to help the others… yet. She was aware that she carried both Danil and Bastian in the back of her mind, and that they had seen everything she had.
You did a good thing, Danil sent.
Then why do I feel like I just left a field full of innocent people behind to suffer, while I walk away free?
Danil dropped his eyes when she returned, unwilling to meet her furious gaze. They continued down the road, this time taking less care than before.
The traffic around them increased. They first passed one villager headed into town, then another, and then a group of three. All carried packs of food or cloth, and one man dragged a small cart behind him with a table crammed into it. Each of them had a single-minded purpose: to take their gifts to their Masters.
Fields gave way to buildings and they left the main road, taking alleys and side-passages as they slipped closer to the town center. The town was larger than Julianne had expected, despite Annie’s mental images, but it was dirty and neglected.
Rubbish piled the streets and more than one house sported cracked windows. As they went, peeking in windows and ducking into doorways to avoid being seen, they picked up tiny clues.
The Masters had taken up residence in the mayor’s residence. He’d been the first sacrifice, the first who they’d been unable to completely cow. That gave Julianne hope. If their other skills were as strong as their shields, they should have been able to control the mayor, though with a reasonable effort. The more you pushed a person against their nature, the harder it was to control them.
Julianne learned that many of the townspeople had fled, and that those left still had the wits to miss them. She saw the methods used, a crude combination of mind control, softening of the will, and torture mixed with lavish heaping of reward for doing as the masters wished.
A cry sent a jolt of fear through Julianne. Had they been seen?
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“Find the brat! Search the houses!” Clomping feet ran through a nearby street, and Bastian grabbed Julianne’s hand.
We have to go, he sent, pulling her back.
She sank her teeth into her lip, then nodded. They knew where to attack, and had a good idea of who. They could come back at night and start their assault under cover of darkness.
They ran down an alley and bolted left, using the map in Julianne’s mind. Then, they reeled around as a cry sounded ahead. Turn after turn, they flitted down one street after another, only to be turned back by a searching guard or a blocked road.
The new occupants of the town didn’t seem to care much about the piles of rubbish that accumulated in corners or furniture and boxes dumped in the streets. Once, a cat darted out and they froze, then retreated down another path.
Stop, Julianne said. Forget running. We walk out.
Julianne dipped into a trance and projected an image of them that was almost correct. Instead of dusty white robes, though, they no
w wore the dark cloth of the New Dawn, embellished with the insignia of the rising sun.
Bastian looked down and shook his head, looking nervous. “Will they buy it?” he asked. “I don’t think I could pull this off on my own.”
Julianne winked. “You’re forgetting, I did this for months. Wearing a second skin is like… well, wearing a second skin to me.”
Even Danil looked doubtful, despite the crisp appearance of his robes. “You’re sure you can project this illusion to anyone we pass? What if we run into someone blocked like Donna was?”
“We haven’t seen anyone like that yet,” Julianne pointed out. “Besides, they’re looking for a child.”
As one, they stepped out of the shadows. Light bounced off the gold thread at their wrists and Julianne smiled. She had crafted the image well.
They set off, almost tumbling over a small girl as they rounded a corner. She sprinted away and shot over a wall. “Lilly!” Julianne hissed, too late. She'd recognized her from the images she'd read in Annie's mind.
A scream sounded and her blood went cold.
“Got the little witch!” The victorious cry echoed off the building around them as Julianne’s heart faltered.
The man cursed. A cat squealed furiously, then flew over the wall directly at Bastian. Both man and beast were equally surprised, though the cat was a lot more vocal about it. Julianne clapped a hand over Bastian’s mouth until he’d extricated the feral animal’s sharp claws from his robe. The animal bounded to the corner and looked back to give them a baleful hiss before disappearing.
The girl screamed again, this time a howl of anguish. “No! Temper! You hurt him, you hurt Temper! I hate—” Then she, too, fell silent.
“No…” Julianne flew to the wall and jumped.
Jules, no! Danil sent urgently.
She ignored him and hoisted herself up over the wall, just in time to see a fat, muttering member of the New Dawn stomp off with a small figure thrown over his shoulder. The tiny face was turned to one side and Julianne’s heart broke. She was so young.
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