by Logan Jacobs
The driver frowned. “No, I saw it, it was a puca,” he said, but there was a note of hesitation to his voice.
“We know it’s ugly, but it’s just a cat,” Lavinia said. She forced a smile. “We’re not stupid enough to travel with a puca.”
The driver stared for a moment longer, but either he didn’t know that pucas could shapeshift or our money was enough to convince him that he’d been mistaken because a moment later he waved me aboard as well.
Though she knew better than to push our luck and honored our host’s mandate not to talk, by the way that Aerin grinned at Lavinia, I knew the elf intended to tease her later about covering for the puca.
Lavinia made a point to ignore her, and after I pulled myself up into the back of the cart with the others and Merlin settled on my lap with a convincing purr, the driver flicked the reins, and we set off on the road to the city.
“We did it,” I said.
“Mmmm?” Lavinia muttered as she looked over to me.
“We are awesome,” I whispered so that the driver couldn’t hear us. “We killed the monster, saved the beautiful maiden, and got a bunch of treasure.”
“Yeah,” Lavinia chuckled, and a rare smile came to her sexy lips. “I guess we did.”
“We couldn’t have done it without you, Gabriel,” Aerin said.
“Agreed,” Maruk said as he tipped his head to me. “That magic with your sword was--”
“You think I’m beautiful?” Yvaine fixed her gray eyes on me and brushed a lock of dark hair from her face.
“Well, I--”
“Of course you do,” the noblewoman giggled. “Since I am. I’ve simply never had someone bold enough to say so to my face. Especially while in front of others. You are quite interesting, Gabri--”
“Hey!” the man driving the cart hissed over his shoulder. “No talking, or you’ll have to pay me more for the ride.”
“You got it,” I laughed, and then I leaned back in the cart, gave my friends a smile, and closed my eyes.
Damn, it felt good to win.
Chapter 13
It was around mid-morning when the shining spire of the Mage Academy tower and the high walls of Ovrista came into view on the horizon. Once again I was struck by the beauty of the city from a distance, but as we neared the gates with their guards, I remembered that I needed to be careful here. The wilderness had its own dangers, but at least out there I was free to use my power, and didn’t have to hide who and what I was.
There were two lines at the gates now, one for pedestrian travelers and one for those with carts or carriages. Our driver insisted that our ride was over and that we were to enter the city on our own, so we thanked him and disembarked to join the pedestrian line. I didn’t mind at first because that line seemed to be moving faster, but then I noticed that the guard stationed on our side was stopping nearly everyone, while the guard on the cart side was more inclined to wave people through without searching them.
I felt a coil of unease form in my gut. I had those books that I’d gotten from Allowen at the bottom of my pack, wrapped in a scrap of cloth. It wasn’t a great way to conceal them, but it was all I could really manage given the circumstances. I figured if they were discovered, I could claim that I was returning them to the Mage Academy to be destroyed. Lavinia had said that mages loyal to the Academy would do that.
Hopefully, I looked the part.
Yvaine went first, and since she had nothing but the clothes she wore, the guard let her pass. Aerin was next, and I tried not to let it worry me when the guard stopped her and demanded to look through her pack.
“Of course, good sir.” Aerin was all smiles as she complied. Unfortunately, as soon as the guard opened Aerin’s bag, the veritable trove of stolen gold and other assorted valuables that we had recovered from Merlin’s stash nearly spilled out onto the street, and the guard fixed Aerin with a suspicious look.
“Where’d you get all this?” he asked as he looked Aerin up and down.
The elf laughed nervously and was about to answer when, to my surprise, Yvaine stepped in.
“Pardon me,” she said, “I am Yvaine Estrella, Marchioness of Constello.” She paused to give the guard an opportunity to fawn over her, but when he simply raised his eyebrows, she went on quickly. “These... lovely people rescued me from the Diru Wilds after I was attacked by scoundrels. The gold is mine, you see.” She gave a little laugh. “I am not in the habit of carrying around my own belongings, after all. That’s what poor people are for.”
The guard gave Yvaine a long look, then slowly turned back, and silently appraised the rest of us. He had an especially hard stare for Merlin, but to my relief, the puca was still disguised as a cat.
“We’d be more than happy to answer any other questions you have,” Yvaine said sweetly, “but if you’re finished, we really must be going. I haven’t been able to maintain my twelve-step skincare regimen in weeks, and you can just imagine the effect that has had on my pores.”
“Oh, I can imagine,” the guard replied flatly. Then he blew out a long sigh through his nose and waved the rest of us ahead.
“Thanks for that,” I said to Yvaine once we were out of earshot of the guard. In truth, I was surprised that she’d helped us now that she no longer needed us.
She smiled at me and put a hand on my arm. “Oh, of course, dear. Dealing graciously with civil servants is one of the first lessons we learn as--”
“Thanks again for your help,” Aerin said quickly. “We don’t want to keep you since you should probably be getting back to your skincare regimen.”
Yvaine frowned and touched her cheek.
“Are you going to be okay from here?” I began. “You could come back to our place if you need somewhere to stay--”
Lavinia elbowed me in the ribs to cut me off.
I shot her a look, but Yvaine simply brushed off her dress and smiled at me again. “That’s so sweet of you to offer, but I have relatives here in Ovrista who will arrange for me to get back home. Besides, I would hate to impose, and I’m sure you all are quite wanting for space as it is. Still, perhaps our paths will cross again someday.” Then she leaned over and pressed a kiss to my cheek before she gave us a little wave goodbye and started off down the main street toward the wealthier districts in the city center.
“Even when she’s trying to be nice, she’s rude,” Lavinia muttered as she adjusted her pack on her shoulder.
“She did help us,” I countered.
“Yeah, well, we’d better get a move on,” Lavinia replied, unimpressed. She retrieved the vial of the Dovar-cu’s blood and handed it to Aerin. “Maruk and I will take our stuff back and start packing for the Delves. You two just worry about finding your contact and getting that map.”
Aerin took the vial and handed her pack over to the other woman, and I gave mine to Maruk with a grateful nod.
“We’ll meet you back at the Den when we’ve got it,” Aerin said, and then she and I split off and headed down the winding, narrow back streets toward the black market. Merlin darted ahead of us in pursuit of rats and other vermin, but every so often he would circle back to keep us in sight.
As we walked, it seemed that Aerin was unusually withdrawn, so I butted her gently on the shoulder.
“Everything alright?” I asked.
She looked startled, but then she put on a bright smile. “Yeah, just fine. I’m glad we’re finally getting the map.”
I couldn’t read auras, but I didn’t need to know that she was lying. Something was bothering her, but she didn’t want to talk about it, so instead, I just held out my hand.
Aerin took it, and her smile seemed more genuine as she did so. We walked on in comfortable silence through the grimy alleyways until we could hear the bustle of the black market from behind the abandoned buildings.
I reached up to Merlin to scratch him behind the ears, and he purred and butted my chin with his head. With the puca’s penchant for mischief, I didn’t think it would be wise to let him roam t
he market freely, so I wanted to keep him occupied with pets and scratches.
“How are we going to find Magdalena?” I asked. “She told us to meet her here, but didn’t mention a specific time or location.”
“She must have a shop around here or something,” Aerin replied. “Let’s look around.”
The black market looked more or less just as it had the first time Aerin and I had come. The small square was crowded with vendors and people shopping for all sorts of things, amazing and grotesque. While we searched for a sign of Magdalena, I kept my eye out for any vendors who were selling books or scrolls in the hope that one of them might have something I could use. It hadn’t occurred to me before, but this was an obvious place to look for illegal texts on magic. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything promising as we wound through the crowd, but I promised myself I’d come back here sometime later to check again.
Then I caught a flash of pale hair and heard the jingle of tiny bells and tugged on Aerin’s hand. Set up in a stall of her own, Magdalena sat behind a table draped in numerous colorful scarves, upon which she had placed a deck of cards and a few beaded charms. There was no one else outside her stall, so the elf woman saw us almost as soon as I saw her, and she stood and waved us over enthusiastically.
“It’s good to see you,” she said. “You’re right on time.”
I frowned. “Right on time? How did you know we’d be here now?”
“I dabble in divination as well as alchemy,” she answered with a bright smile. “You have the blood.” It wasn’t a question, but I supposed she had divined that our mission would be a success as well.
Aerin set the vial on the table by the cards, and Magdalena retrieved a map from a pouch at her waist and handed it over. Then the redhead elf unfolded the parchment, examined the map, and nodded. “Thanks.”
“Of course,” Magdalena replied. “Would you like a reading before you go?” She gestured to the stack of cards on her left. “Or maybe a charm for your... cat?”
“We’re kind of in a hurry,” Aerin answered before I could say anything. “Thanks again for the map.” She began to steer me back into the crowd with a hand on my arm when Magdalena called after us.
“Alright then, but you should know, you can follow the spiders,” she said cheerfully. “They know the way!”
“What?” I asked as I craned my neck back toward Magdalena’s stall, but Aerin pulled me quickly through the throng.
“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it,” she insisted.
“She said something about spiders... If she can tell the future, don’t you think she could help us?” I asked.
“She already did, she got us the map.” Aerin stopped and frowned as she ran a hand through her hair. “I know you don’t have magic where you’re from, so you don’t know, but even here, seers and soothsayers... they’re hacks. No one can actually tell the future, it’s just a scam.”
I couldn’t say I was entirely convinced. “She did know when we’d be here.”
“They all do that,” Aerin replied with a dismissive wave of her hand as her lips pursed into a sour expression. “They pretend they predicted something to impress you, and then the next thing you know, you’re out of coin, and all they told you was what you’re going to have for lunch in three days.”
I grinned. “Are you perhaps speaking from experience?”
“No!” Aerin said quickly as she flushed all the way to the tips of her pointy ears. “Look, everyone knows fortune tellers are fake, okay? We have our map and the chance at some real money with this Shadow Delves bounty. Let’s just focus on that.”
Merlin trilled, and I chuckled but decided not to press the issue as we left the black market behind and made our way back to the Magpie. When we got to the top of the stairs and the door to our apartment, we could hear Lavinia and Maruk arguing, and Aerin and I exchanged a nervous glance before we opened the door.
“If you hadn’t proposed that brilliant shortcut--” Maruk started, but Lavinia cut him off.
“Oh, so now this is my fault?” she shot back. “What about you getting captured by those dwarves? What are you, like five times their size?”
“Woah, guys, settle down,” I said as I walked between them. “What’s going on?”
Lavinia glowered and thrust out a folded bit of paper at me. “Ren left us a note,” she said bitterly. “The Stewards left for the Shadow Delves yesterday. We’re already behind.”
I frowned as I unfolded the paper and read over the short message Ren had left. “See you in the Shadow Delves, Foxes! Hope you can make it.”
I could almost imagine the smirk on his face, and a sour feeling formed in my gut. We had to win to save our guild, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t look forward to humiliating Ren as one of the perks of taking the bounty first.
“Perhaps if we had stuck to the roads--” Maruk began again testily, but I held up my hand.
“Hey, throwing around blame isn’t going to help anything,” I said firmly as I turned to him. “We already figured Ren and his guild would get a head start when they tried to screw us over with the maps. We have our own map now, we can still catch up, but if we want to win this, we’re going to have to work together.”
Maruk regarded me for a moment, then he shrugged a massive shoulder. “I suppose you’re right,” he admitted with some reluctance.
I turned to Lavinia, and she crossed her arms and looked away moodily.
“Yeah, sure,” she muttered.
“Alright,” I said. “How are we doing on packing? It’s still early, but we should leave as soon as we’re ready and make use of the daylight we have left.”
“We’re nearly finished,” Maruk reported. “We just need to get some more food, so I’ll go see if Nesta can spare anything.”
“Great.” I nodded, and he ducked through the door and disappeared down the stairs.
“I’ll bring some of the valuables we got from the necromancer and the dwarves,” Aerin said. “We can sell it on the road if we need the money.”
As she went over to her pack, Merlin leapt off my shoulder in a move to intercept her with an annoyed chatter.
Aerin shoved him away. “Relax, you, I’ll let you keep some of it.” She dug in the pack and pulled out the bird pin that I’d given the puca before and waved it in front of his eyes. The puca stared intently, his mouth parted slightly as he followed the motion of the shiny pin with his eyes. Then Aerin tossed it toward the heap of pillows and blankets in her corner of the room, and Merlin dove after it.
Maruk returned with provisions just as Aerin finished sorting out which of the loot we would sell in Ovrista’s market later and which we should take with us to barter while on the road. Lavinia and I had less to deal with for the trip, but I packed some fresh clothes and wrapped Allowen’s books up in a scrap of cloth before I returned them to my pack. When we got the chance, I would have to find a better way to conceal them, as well as a place to hide them here, but this would have to do for now.
When we were ready to set out again, I whistled to Merlin, and he poked his head up from the tangle of blankets beneath Aerin’s hammock and bounded over to me.
“Just pretend you’re a cat until we get out of the city, okay?” I told him, and he gave a convincing meow as he rubbed up against my leg.
Nesta was too busy with customers to see us off, but Aerin left her a note with a few coins to thank her for the food and let her know we’d be away, and then we stepped back out into the street and made our way, for the second time that day, to Ovrista’s main gate.
Chapter 14
I could still sense the tension between Lavinia and Maruk as we left the city behind and followed the roads north, and even Aerin seemed to share some of their anxiety. Despite knowing that Ren had a head start on us, I still felt good about our chances. If anything, I felt better since we had received Ren’s note. Obviously, he felt threatened enough by us that he thought he had to sabotage us with the maps and put us on edge with his taunts
. The Foxes had problems, sure, but we were a resourceful group and determined. I was confident in our ability to beat Ren at his own game.
It would also help that Ren’s guild didn’t know what I was capable of.
After a few hours, we stopped for some food and a short rest along the road. I decided to practice some more of my magic, since we had gotten far enough from the city, and I wasn’t in danger of being seen. I’d kept the dagger hilt since the battle with the Dovar-cu in my pack, so as I sat in the grass, I took it out to try to summon the mana blade again.
I focused on the place where the original metal blade had broken off and concentrated. As soon as I did, the mana within me responded, and magical power rushed through my veins and down my arm. I even thought I heard a low note begin to sound. I hadn’t noticed the tone before, but already using my power was becoming easier and more natural. Perhaps it was the result of getting stronger.
At once, a blade of blue light shot up from the hilt, and I smiled as I turned the dagger in my hand. Surprisingly, the balance of the dagger didn’t feel off the way it should have without the weight of a proper metal blade.
Lavinia noticed what I was doing and perked up. “Let’s test that out,” the white-haired woman said as she noticed what I was doing. She fished an apple out of her pack and tossed it to me.
I caught the apple and held it out before slicing through it with the blade. Just as with the Dovar-cu, there was no resistance, and the blade passed cleanly through the apple. Sticky juice leaked onto my hand as the two halves of the fruit fell apart in my palm.
Now Aerin and Maruk were watching me just as closely as Lavinia.
“Try something else,” Aerin said with interest as she scooted closer to me in the grass and held out a roll to me.
I handed the pieces of the apple to a waiting Merlin and grinned at the elf woman. “Are you just trying to trick me into cutting up your food for you?”
“We know it can cut bread, Aerin, and river monsters,” Lavinia said. “We have to do something more difficult...” She looked around at the immediate area with her hands on her hips, then bent down and picked up a stone.
