The Sorcerous Spy

by Thomas K. Carpenter

  Without waiting for his cousin, Zayn turned sideways and squeezed through the crack. The rock scraped his back, but he made it through.

  While he was letting his eyes adjust, Keelan forced himself through the narrow entrance. Because he was broader in the chest, it took him a good minute and left his back bloody.

  Zayn was about to summon a magelight when Keelan handed him a flare. They sparked them to life, the red-orange tubes spitting light as they held them up.

  The cave was larger than Zayn expected. He'd thought it would stay narrow, or only go a few paces before turning into a crawlspace.

  "This cave has to come out somewhere else," said Keelan. "I feel a breeze."

  "Maybe he came out somewhere else, and couldn't find where he'd gone in," said Zayn.

  Judging by the look in Keelan's eyes, he was more afraid of finding out that his dad was alive than dead. Maybe it was easier to forget what he'd done to him if he wasn't around anymore.

  Zayn led the way, holding up the flare. The orangish light crept ahead as they moved through the cave. After widening again, the cave reduced down to a passageway. There was no sign of human travel, or that his uncle had come this way.

  They were about thirty feet past the entrance, when Zayn glanced back. He could no longer see the light from outside. Suddenly, the walls condensed around him. He wasn't necessarily afraid of the underground, but he wasn't a fan either.

  He took a deep breath, detecting faint molds, old rot, mineral water, and other musty cave smells. Dripping, from somewhere ahead, made patient steady time, while further in, the skittering of insects echoed softly.

  The passage opened up into a second large cave, at least fifty feet across, this one with multiple exits on the far side. A small pool waited on the left side, the source of the dripping.

  "Wow," said Zayn, examining the moist rocks that made up the ceiling. They were striated with color and oozing water. "This is pretty awesome."

  "It must not have been a weapon he was looking for," said Keelan. "This place seems too natural. I don't even need to check for faez to know this place is clean."

  "There were explosives back at Doc's. Maybe he thought it was a way to sneak into the Lady's place. Blow it up. I think we're still headed that way."

  Keelan sighed. "That would explain the breeze. But blowing up the plantation doesn't solve the poison problem."

  "Let's keep going. We'll check out those passages. If there's more cave, then we'll come back later when we can explore properly," said Zayn.

  They found the body around the next curve, lying against the stone wall as if he'd fallen asleep. Zayn recognized the light jacket at soon as he saw it.

  "Oh," said Keelan as he saw the body, the exclamation somewhere between pain and surprise.

  Zayn moved to examine it, but Keelan stayed back. He was holding his emotions between his teeth.

  "Go ahead," said Keelan, nodding. "I...I just need to take a moment."

  Though it'd only been seven years, the corpse looked desiccated as if he'd died fifty years ago. Except for his clothing, Zayn couldn't even tell it was his Uncle Jesse. Zayn saw no obvious signs of death.

  As Zayn edged closer, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand tall. His skin was a sea of electricity.

  Zayn spied a pouch on Jesse's side that looked like it held something square, maybe a notebook.

  "How did he die?" asked Keelan, who still hadn't moved.

  "I don't know," said Zayn. "He looks...drained."

  Zayn wasn't sure why he said that, but it seemed to fit what he was seeing, even if he didn't understand it. He leaned closer, thinking about digging into the pouch, but not wanting to touch it, or the body.

  "Zayn."

  "Yeah, I know," said Zayn. "I'm not touching him."

  "Not that." There was a real need in his voice, that at first Zayn confused for emotions about his father's corpse.

  He'd been so focused on the body, he hadn't been paying attention to what was around them. Keelan's eyes were white with concern. Behind them, where the exit led to the surface, were dozens of spiders, each the width of a coffee mug.

  "Are those...?" asked Zayn, seeing the critters creep across the stone on silent legs.

  "Not the Lady's. Something else, related maybe."

  "Time to leave."

  "Agreed," answered Keelan.

  The spiders had crept into the cave behind them, and more were coming as they watched from the smaller passages that left the cave in multiple directions like a labyrinth. The spiders moved with patient surety, flanking them on all sides.

  Zayn approached the spiders with his flare held high. One good blast of elemental fire and the path would be clear.

  "Get ready to move," said Zayn, holding his hand out.

  Right as Zayn summoned faez, Keelan said, "Wait! Don't!"

  But it was too late.

  Zayn splashed fire over the spiders, expecting them to roast in the flame and curl up onto their backs. Instead, the magical fire incited them into a frenzy. He swore the spiders that took a direct hit grew in size.

  "They're achaeranea magicaencia," said Keelan. "Magic eaters."

  As if a starting gun had sounded, the swarm of spiders came rushing forward. There weren't dozens, but hundreds now, flooding out from the back caves.

  "Magic eaters? How the hell do we get out?" asked Zayn.

  Keelan glanced to the corpse of his father, then back to the exit, which was blocked by hundreds of magic-eating spiders. "I don't think we do."

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Varna, June 2015

  Choices

  The overwhelming numbers of spiders turned Zayn into a statue and all the answers that came into his head involved magic, which would only make things worse. The dozen spiders that he'd hit with an elemental blast were as big as dinner plates, though moving lethargically as if the sudden growth had taxed their bodies.

  I wish I had the Tether, thought Zayn, but it'd been a one-shot item.

  It was hard to fathom that they'd stolen the Word of Annihilation from the Bastille, only to get taken down by an army of arachnids, but there was no way to get out without giving the spiders a chance to attack them.

  Zayn stomped a spider that got too close, then another, dancing backwards as more came skittering in. He kicked one back, soccer style, before knocking another away that had crawled up the wall.

  "To the water!" said Keelan.

  Following his cousin, Zayn took two big leaps over the spiders, barely missing slamming his head on the ceiling. They splashed into the water, which was calf deep. It was frigid, making his teeth chatter right away.

  The spiders came up to the edge of the water, surrounding them, but making no attempt to swim. A few spiders crawled up the walls and onto the ceiling, but the oozing wetness kept them at bay.

  "How do we get out?" asked Zayn.

  "I don't know," said Keelan. "I don't think we can make a run for it. There are more coming out from the back every second. There must be hundreds."

  A few of the larger spiders tested their legs in the pool.

  "I don't think the water will hold them back forever," said Zayn.

  He spun around, splashing as he moved, trying to keep an eye on all the spiders at once, afraid the ones behind him would launch an assault when he wasn't watching them.

  "I know what we're gonna do," said Keelan, his Alabama accent seeping through. "I'm gonna get out of the water, blast them a few times to get their attention, and lead them deeper into the cave. When I do, you go out the front, fast as you can."

  "No, Keelan. We're leaving together," said Zayn.

  "It has to be me," said Keelan. "I could barely squeeze past those rocks on the way in. They'd swarm me before I got out. Let me lure them away so at least you escape." He paused, emotions caught in his throat. "And maybe it's what was meant to be, me dying with my dad."

  "No, Keelan. Stop thinking that way."

  A small group of spiders pushed into
the water. Zayn splashed them back, but there were more of them who seemed ready to risk the pool.

  "Let me do this," said Keelan.

  An overwhelming frustration built up in Zayn, until he screamed at the top of his lungs.

  "You're not dying here. We're not dying here. We're going to get out, together," said Zayn, his hands shaking with the thought of losing Keelan.

  His cousin had a calm, serene expression, as if he'd accepted his death. "I want to do this. It'll be okay. You be ready. I don't know how far I'm gonna get, but I'll try and make it count. Tell everyone how much I love them. Neveah, the twins, Imani, my mom, your parents. I really wanted to try some of Neveah's food truck food."

  Zayn grabbed his cousin's arm before he could wade out of the pool. "I'm not letting you go."

  Keelan struggled against him, but Zayn held him tight. "We both can't make it. Let me do this for you. They need you to survive—it has to be me, I'm expendable."

  With tears in his eyes, Zayn threw his arms around Keelan and wrestled him into the pool as the spiders launched themselves into the water, drawn by the conflict.

  "You're not expendable," he whispered in Keelan's ear.

  Their struggle was interrupted by an ear-shattering blast. Zayn felt like he'd been kicked upside the head with sound. He staggered in the pool next to Keelan while magic-eating spiders floated towards them. Standing at the entrance to the cave was his father, Maceo, with a short-barreled shotgun in either hand. He pointed one at the carpet of spiders flowing towards him.

  "Hold your ears, boys," said Maceo.

  Zayn blocked his hearing the moment before his father pulled the trigger. Dozens of spiders shredded in the blast. Maceo fired again, and then another time, before quickly loading two more salt shells. Zayn recognized the guns from Doc's junkyard. The old man kept them to ward off thieves or critters without doing them serious harm.

  "Get ready to move," shouted Maceo, clearly deafened from the blasts.

  He fired two more times at the spiders, scattering those that hadn't been pulped by the salt shot.

  "Now!"

  Zayn leapt out of the water, scrambling towards the passage behind his father. He stepped on a few spiders along the way, knocking off others that leapt onto his leg.

  With his father firing salt shots, they backed into the first cave. The pinch point kept the spiders from assaulting en masse. While Keelan forced his way out the narrow exit, Zayn reloaded the shotguns.

  Once his cousin was out, Zayn and his father fled the cave. The three of them scrambled over the kudzu until they were a hundred yards away. Only then did they stop. His father was bent over at the waist, breathing heavily.

  "How did you know where to find us?" asked Zayn.

  Beads of sweat covered Maceo's forehead. He tossed the shotguns on a pile of leaves and pulled his shirt to his face to wipe away the wetness.

  Once he had collected himself, Maceo put his hands on his hips. He looked like he wasn't happy about what he was about to say, and he gave Keelan a good long glance before speaking.

  "Because I've known about that cave since your daddy died," said Maceo.

  Keelan's face bloomed with anger, but then he caught it and chewed on it until he shook it away.

  "You understand," said Maceo, forehead hunched with emotion. "Trust me, it wasn't easy leaving his body there. He was my best friend."

  "What was he looking for?" asked Zayn, keeping an eye out towards the cave in case the spiders didn't mind the daylight.

  "I don't know," said Maceo, who looked embarrassed that he had to admit that. "He never told me because he didn't want the Lady to have a reason to hurt me. I'm sorry, Keelan. I know this is hard for you, especially after what they did to your mom."

  "Why did you let him go?" asked Keelan, angrily.

  "That's a fair question," said Maceo, "but I don't think I could have stopped him. About a year before he died, something changed in him. He was bound and determined to make up for what he thought of as his flaws."

  A cold wind blew right through Zayn. He knew exactly what had happened. Keelan looked to him with understanding. They both knew. It was the day in the trailer, when they'd broken Jesse's award.

  Zayn could remember that day as if it were yesterday. It was one of those indelible moments that never left him.

  It's not Keelan's fault you gave up. You could do something, even now. It's never too late.

  The words he'd spoken to Uncle Jesse rose up from the past. Keelan had heard them too. But there was no recrimination from his cousin, only a shared understanding, even though they both knew that it'd been Zayn's words that had shamed Uncle Jesse into action.

  Maceo slapped his neck, breaking the silence. "Can we get out of here? These bugs are tearing me up."

  "I'm ready to go home," said Zayn, picking up a shotgun.

  Keelan grabbed the other shotgun. "Me too."

  They marched through the kudzu-strangled forest in silence, except for the occasional slap in defense against the insects that had come out for dusk. The sun melted against the horizon in brilliant oranges and pinks, a colorful ending to a difficult day.

  When at last they approached the Stack, which was lit up like a carnival with strings of lights stretched between the painted containers, they heard quiet conversation. Sela and Lydia were sitting in the courtyard with Doc and the twins, while Imani's laughter echoed into the trees. The smells of roast lamb reached them, eliciting a collective sigh of appreciation.

  Maceo collected the shotguns and set them against a tree. He clasped Zayn and his cousin by the shoulders.

  "Nobody else knows about that cave except the three of us. Let's keep it that way."

  Zayn nodded, along with his cousin.

  "Now let's go in, clean up, and have a nice dinner in celebration of Neveah's food truck."

  "You go ahead, Uncle Maceo," said Keelan. "I want to talk to Zayn for a second."

  Maceo studied them both, before nodding and heading towards the light. When he was out of earshot, Keelan turned to Zayn.

  "Thank you."

  "For what?"

  Keelan held his arms around his midsection. "At the trailer. You know when. I never realized it until now that he stopped hurting me after that day."

  "You're not mad at me?"

  "Mad? Why would I be mad?"

  "Because if I hadn't said that, he'd still be alive."

  "That's all on him, cuz," said Keelan, eyes rounded. "Not you. And he was trying to be better, make up for who he was, just like I am."

  "You're not your father," said Zayn.

  "I know," said Keelan softly, shaking his head. "But it's hard, because he was my father. You know, all these years, I've been mad at him for dying, but part of me was more worried that he was alive. I know this sounds terrible, but I'm glad it was the former, even though that means he can never make up for what he done."

  "Does it make a difference that he tried to fix what's happening in Varna?"

  A single shoulder shrug, followed by a contorted expression. "It helps, a little. Not enough probably. Some things you can never forgive, just hope to forget, and try again the next day." Keelan looked up. "I wish he'd found a weapon."

  "Me too."

  Keelan shot Zayn a wry smile. "Man, I'm hungry enough to eat an elephant. Let's go wash up."

  "Sounds good, I'm starving."

  Keelan chuckled under his breath. "You know what I want to do tomorrow? Something I haven't done in a long, long time."

  Zayn wracked his brain for the possibilities, but when nothing came, he said, "What?"

  "Take a swim in Doc's pond."

  They put their arms around each other as they strolled towards the light.

  ###

  Purchase the next book in The Reluctant Assassin Series, The Veiled Diplomat, on Amazon.

  If you can't wait for the next book, try the first book in the completed Hundred Hall series, Trials of Magic.

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  Special Thanks

  This past weekend I sat on a few panels at Archon 42 talking about indie pub and it made me realize how lucky I am to have a great support structure for my books. From the beta readers like Tina Rak, Patty Eversole, Carole Carpenter, and Christie Cassisa; to the excellent members of the Vanguard—my advanced reader team—who make sure the book is in a final polished state, members like Jess Churchill, Lana Turner, Alyssa Washburn, and Andie Alessandra Cáomhanach; to Rachel my first reader and content editor, Tamara Blaine my line and copyeditor, and Ravven my cover designer; and to most of all, to my readers, who I get to share my stories with. Thank you. Thank you, all.

  The Hundred Halls Appendix

  Glossary Terms

  Merlin Trials - The entrance exams to the Hundred Halls that can only be taken during the ages seventeen through nineteen. There are three stages to the trials.

  Faez - The raw stuff of magic. Faez is the energy that when shaped by spell or other means creates magical effects. Faez is dangerous to humans, but a tolerance can be built up over time if somehow protected. The patronage system of the Hundred Halls is the most common method.

  Patron - The founder of a hall within the Hundred Halls. The patron extends their magical protection to students, keeping them safe from faez madness, and teaching them a specific skill set within the magical world.

  Faez Madness - Prolonged use of faez without protection results in irreversible damage to the user's ability to understand and interact with reality.

  Invictus (person) - The Head Patron and founder of the Hundred Halls. Presumed dead around 2003. Known to have lived a very long life.

  Invictus (city) - The city of Invictus was founded by its namesake in 1836. The school that would later become the Hundred Halls was founded officially in 1867.

  Spire - The administrative center of the city of Invictus. The Merlin Trials are performed here.

  Second Year Contest - These games require cross-Hall teams to compete against each other for a grand prize.