Magic Underground: The Complete Collection (Magic Underground Anthologies Book 4)

by Melinda Kucsera

  “The Thirteen are our creators. Should we not serve them all?”

  “Yes, but as Amaskans, Anur comes first. He is Justice, and Elish would have us diverge from the path the Order has followed since before the split of Boahim into the Little Dozen Kingdoms. Many Amaskans aren’t willing to make such changes.”

  As her brother spoke, the muscles beneath his eyes twitched—a tell going back to childhood when he’d tell her parents half-truths about where he was going. Shara ran her hands across her bald head. What was he hiding? To him, she asked, “And what’s yer role in all this dissension? Don’t tell me ya ain’t involved, ’cause I know ya are.”

  He met her gaze again and this time, a fire burned in his eyes. A familiar fire, and a dangerous one. “I’ve not kept it a secret from you that I want to be Grand Master. If the Order decides they aren’t happy with Elish’s leadership, this can only be a good thing as far as my future’s concerned—”

  Shara gasped. “You’d see him removed to suit yer own needs? How’s that serve Justice?”

  “I’m not doing anything, not directly, that would add to the issue, but if someone asks my thoughts on Elish’s leadership, I’ll not lie to the Order, Shara. Neither should you.”

  “What do I have to do with this plan to upset the Order?”

  “It’s obvious our Grand Master doesn’t trust you. Like you said, you aren’t sent on any jobs without your older brother to watch over you. If Elish can’t trust his own family, who can he trust?”

  The way Bredych laid it out, it all made perfect sense. Too much sense if she thought about it long enough. What better way to overthrow the competition and take Elish’s place than a vote of no confidence?

  “As to why he doesn’t trust you, I don’t know, Shara. Maybe it’s all that business with the City of Tovias.”

  “That was ten years ago.”

  “Some people never forget.” Bredych shrugged and dug through his saddlebag for a blanket. “We should get some sleep. It’s been a long day traveling and we’ve a long day ahead of us on the morrow.”

  Shara stared at the town of Lachail while her brother stretched out across his blanket. She didn’t move when his eyes shut but waited to move until his gentle snores joined in with the crickets’ song.

  His saddlebag lay beside him, and she unbuckled the clasps on it with slow-moving fingers. While she watched him breathe, her fingers traveled across the bag’s contents until they touched the parchment’s rough edges near the side, and inch-by-inch, she pulled it from the bag’s grasp.

  A single circle marked the parchment, which she unfolded before the fire. There wasn’t much to the note—no details on the mark’s background or anything that would be helpful to anyone, should they find the scrap—but two lines gave Shara all the information she needed.

  Name—Eli.

  Staying at the Katalhum Inn.

  No physical description, but she’d get that from others at the inn. She folded the parchment and returned it to her brother’s saddlebag.

  Above her, a sliver of waning moon cast the barest light to the shadows. By the time her brother woke, there would be one less Tribor in the world.

  If some people won’t forget, I’ll have to make them forget.

  Eyes to the ground, Shara walked silently out of camp and towards the town below…

  Lachail was less a town and more a collection of buildings circling a clearing near one of Sadai’s few forests. The fact that it had an inn, let alone two, surprised Shara as she stood in the town’s center. Most of the evening’s action took place in the second inn, a large stone building to her right that towered over the other buildings. Beside it was a butcher, a baker, and a blacksmith, all of which were closed up tight in the evening hours.

  At first, Shara missed Katalhum Inn. So small a building, it was wedged between one non-descript building and another, but as she walked past, a burly man (likely the blacksmith) exited, spilling light across the pathway in front of her. She caught the door with her booted toe and pulled her cloak tighter about her face.

  Half-a-dozen people huddled into the room, more tavern than inn, and all but one glanced up from drink and conversation as she entered. A puffy-faced man stood behind the counter, a frown tugging his generous lips down toward his beard. “Can I help you?” he asked in a voice that offered little help.

  “Need a room.”

  His frown deepened. “Try the Ebitai. Plenty of rooms there.”

  “I need a room somewhere quiet. Somewhere not the Ebitai.”

  A chair scratched across the wooden floor as it moved, and the sixth figure who’d been tucked into the corner, stood and waved his hand in the innkeeper’s direction. Dressed in gray from head to toe, his easy smile felt wrong as Shara’s skin danced in response. “I’ll vouch for her,” the stranger said as he approached. “Seen her before at the Guild.”

  The innkeeper nodded and dug out a key from his waist pouch. “Last room on the right’s yours ’til the morning. Guild rules apply so no fighting here.”

  Which guild? Certainly not the Merchant’s Guild by the stains and tears in the customers’ clothin’. Shara nodded her thanks. Perhaps the Mercenary’s Guild?

  The stranger gestured for her to join him at his table, and Shara followed him, claiming the chair against the wall. He chuckled at this and turned his chair so it was beside hers. They both had a clear view of the inn, but better yet, the spot gave them the perfect view of the front door.

  Silence spread across the table as the innkeeper approached carrying two mugs of ale, which he set down in front of them before returning to the counter. Once out of earshot, the stranger took a sip of his mug and said, “I’m Eli. What brings you to Lachail?”

  Shara hid her smile in her mug as she followed his example. “Shara. Same as usual—lookin’ for work. And yerself?”

  “The same. Seems harder to find these days. Everyone expects the Royal Guard to help them, not that they’d ever set foot in Lachail.” Eli stared at her face as the candle light flickered, but her hood remained drawn, covering both her bald head and her tattoo.

  When he scratched the fresh stubble at his jaw, she studied him in return and caught the faintest outline of a circular tattoo beneath his hair. His head wasn’t bald, but sometimes Amaskans grew their hair out if working special jobs. Still, something about him made her stomach clench as she glanced about the inn.

  Of course, Bredych isn’t here. He’s sleepin’ on the hilltop where I left him. Dammit.

  “What kind of work can you do?” Eli asked after another sip of ale.

  Keeping the conversation light, she spoke under the assumption that those in the inn were mercs. “Mostly escortin’ merchants. Guardin’ them and their goods and such. Willin’ to fight a skirmish or two if the pay’s good. Anything like that up here?”

  “I’ve been waiting two weeks for something, as have we all,” he said as he gestured to the rest of the room. “Though I think the both of us are better suited to certain kinds of work. Better than guarding merchants, wouldn’t you say?”

  Shara forced herself to swallow. The note said our mark was Eli, but this one’s doin’ his best to shout out that he’s Amaskan. Is Eli our contact or our mark? She forced herself to spit the words out. “I don’t follow.”

  He rubbed his chin a second time, and then reached out to touch her cloak’s hood. His hand made it halfway before she caught it in her own. “See? You had no problems catching my hand. Half the fools in this room couldn’t catch a hammer if you threw them one.”

  “I would expect any mercenary worth their coin to have caught yer hand. Ain’t like ya were movin’ all that fast.”

  Eli’s laughter rang sharp to her ears as he smiled. She reached up to find her hood had fallen back a few inches and sighed. “Fine, let’s quit dancin’ around the room. Anur’s blessin’ this night,” she whispered.

  “I think you mean ‘Asti’s blessing.’”

  The phrase’s correction was a test, one E
li passed, and Shara almost relaxed, but something about the situation left her unsettled. “If you know that, then you know who I am.”

  “Of course. Amaskan. As am I.”

  While some Order members were stationed across Sadai, none were in Lachail. Shara glanced at the floor, where his long, tight breeches were tucked into boots. Without seeing his ankle, she had no proof of his identity. I should’ve listened to my brother. To Eli, she said, “I hadn’t realized Grand Master Bredych had anyone in town besides me.”

  He didn’t blink at the name. Instead, he shrugged his shoulders. “Who am I to question the whims of our Grand Master? I only know what I’m told, which was to wait for another who would give me the plan. I assume that’s you.”

  The inn’s door opened to a tall, hooded figure who ignored the innkeeper and scanned the group, his cold eyes settling on Shara.

  She’d know those stony eyes anywhere, especially when they were angry with her. Rather than alert Eli to something being wrong, she waved at her brother with a smile. “Malachi! Come join us!”

  He didn’t miss a step at hearing his dead name, though his right eye twitched as he claimed a seat with his back to the door. “I didn’t expect to find you here a day early,” said Bredych as he claimed a sip of her ale. “Please, introduce me to your friend.”

  Eli caught the innkeeper’s gaze and gestured for another drink. “I’m Eli,” he said as he held out his hand to Bredych.

  “He’s one of ours. Sent here to wait for us by Grand Master Bredych.”

  Her brother gripped Eli’s forearm before releasing it, his face unreadable. “Good! I take it you’ve arranged for a room?”

  Shara nodded and handed her brother the key. “Last door on the right.”

  When the ale arrived, Bredych took a lengthy sip while he watched Eli. His gaze rested on the hidden tattoo, then traveled to his feet before stopping on the nearby candle. “So, you were told to wait for us?”

  “I don’t know about us, but I was told to wait for another from the Order, yes. I assumed it was Shara here until you arrived. I didn’t realize they would be sending two. Exactly what’s your job that it requires two Amaskans?”

  She squeezed her mug between her fingers as her brother spoke. “There’s a mark in town. Some thief who tried to kill a Duke.”

  Close enough to the truth that I would fall for it, but will he?

  Eli frowned. “Tried? I take it the man failed?”

  “Indeed. The Duke lay in his gardens with his wife just this morning. The sun is an excellent soul healer.”

  Now it was Eli’s turn to grow quiet as he absorbed this information.

  “Problem is,” said Shara as she glanced around the room. “We need proof that he committed the attack. We have rumors but nothin’ more.”

  Eli whistled between his teeth. “No wonder you need my assistance.”

  “Indeed. Perhaps we should retire for the evening and start fresh in the morning. I don’t know about Shara, but I could use a little sleep before the day begins anew. I’m not used to traveling this far in a single day anymore.” Bredych stood and waited for Shara to follow his lead.

  For all that he puts the lack of trust on Elish, I’m fairly certain he doesn’t trust me either. The way he’s leadin’ me around by the nose like I’m brand new is downright insultin’.

  Eli caught the dynamic shift as well and the corner of his lips turned up. “What say we meet down here at first light? You can fill me in on the details,” he said, then nodded to them.

  Their mark left the room first, stopping at the second room down the inn’s only hallway. Once inside, Bredych motioned for her to follow him past the door and to their own at the hallway’s end. The room inside left much to be desired as a single straw bed lay against one wall and a single, lumpy chair rested against the other. No windows and one door left a single way in and out, something that was both a boon and a curse to an Amaskan.

  Bredych closed and locked the door behind her, then lowered himself into the sole chair. At first, he said nothing, and Shara seized the opportunity to remove her cloak and toss it over the straw mattress. She lowered herself down into a cross-legged position and waited.

  “Grand Master Elish won’t be happy to hear how you left your superior alone and asleep in the open while you attempted to…what exactly were you attempting to do?”

  Her cheeks grew warm, which she ignored as she took a calming breath. “I’d hoped to find our mark and deal with him before sunrise. I don’t need someone to hold my hand, ‘specially not my brother.”

  “This is why you’re sent with an escort. This right here. Name one task you’ve completed as your instructions dictated.”

  “If I’m to change the Order for the better, sometimes the rules have to be changed too. I know ya understand. You’ve been maneuverin’ yerself within the Order for that very reason. This ain’t the first time I’ve killed someone.”

  Her brother’s eyes narrowed. “Do you know who you’re killing?”

  “I assumed ya’d tell me, or Eli would.”

  Bredych dug in his bag and withdrew the paper she’d looked at earlier. “I take it you read this?” he asked, and when she nodded, he continued. “Eli isn’t our contact. The Order has no contacts in Lachail. Eli is our mark.”

  “He wears our tattoo, and he passed the greetin’ test.” The reality of what that meant smacked Shara in the face, and her dinner whirled around in her stomach. “I thought ya said he was Tribor? So, what, he’s both?”

  Her brother sighed. “Before you arrived at the Order, Eli was a new trainee, come to us from the Kingdom of Shad. When he passed his test and presented himself before the Council, he was rejected.”

  “Why? Did the Council change their—”

  Footfalls shuffled across the wood floor outside, and Shara froze. Her brother moved silently to the door and waited. Someone jiggled a key into a lock across the hall, and the door opened and closed, leaving the hallway silent. Bredych returned to the chair and said, “There was something…off about Eli. The Council felt it for lack of a better word, so they set him before a mystic. The moment the woman touched Eli’s head, she pulled her hand away as if she’d been burned by the evil of his thoughts and told us to check his ankles. That’s when we found the Tribor marking.”

  Shara’s hands trembled in her lap. I almost fell for it. Ten years in the Order, and I make a mistake like I’m fresh in training. Dammit. When she met her brother’s gaze, he nodded slowly. In one instance, she’d almost failed their task. “So how do we do this then? He ain’t Amaskan, no matter what tattoo he’s given himself. I assume that bit about the Duke bein’ alive was just a bunch-a-piss to throw him off?”

  “Since you think you can do this alone, you tell me.”

  “He knows who we are and probably why we’re here, so I say we do nothin’ tonight. He’d be expectin’ us.”

  “And tomorrow?” asked Bredych.

  “We feed him some details ’bout what we know ’bout this thief. String him along a bit, then kill’em when he’s convinced we’re here for someone else.”

  “Anything else?”

  Shara nodded. “We take turns keepin’ watch. If he thinks we’re after him, he might try and kill us first.”

  The corners of his mouth tilted up towards a smile, though he fought it. She’d gotten it right, or right enough that he was pleased, and she leaned back into bed. “Since ya got more sleep than me, ya get first watch.”

  “Not my fault you decided to sneak off,” said her brother, though he turned his chair to face the door.

  For all that she wished for sleep, her mind spun circles in the darkness as she puzzled over each mistake she’d made in the past day. When her eyes finally shut, a hand shook her shoulder, alerting her that it was her turn to take watch. Shara switched places with her brother, then stared at the door with her fingers prying open her eyelids.

  Thirteen, don’t let me fall asleep on watch.

  She widened he
r eyes and yawned as she watched the uneventful door. The knob moved a smidge, and she bolted upright. Moments ticked off in her head, and nothing more moved. When she reclaimed her seat, it squeaked, and the hairs rose across her arms. The doorknob remained still in the flickering candlelight.

  If I open the door, will Eli be standing there?

  Feet bare, she held her breath and approached the door. She pressed her ear against it, but heard nothing outside of a few snores from people in other rooms. In her mind’s eye, the door rushed open and slammed against her head, but in reality, it remained closed. Shara returned to the chair, her body flinching at every noise until pre-dawn blessed the sky with hints of light.

  Bredych and Shara waited downstairs for their “guest,” both wearing simple clothing rather than the black clothing they’d donned the day before. A bit of bread and fruit from the innkeeper sat before them, but neither did more than pick at it in an attempt to look appreciative.

  On the other hand, their guest strolled in and helped himself to a fig. “I don’t know about you two, but I find the beds here quite comfortable. Nowhere else do I sleep so deeply,” said Eli with a smile. “Did you two rest well?”

  Shara tensed her thigh to keep from kicking the man. Her brother’s leg tensed in reaction to hers, and he forced a smile across his face. “We did, though I admit to missing my bed at the Order.”

  Eli tilted his head toward the innkeeper, who disappeared through a door behind the counter. “There’s few awake this early, so we should be good to discuss the job.”

  “You seem to have a friendly relationship with the innkeeper,” said Bredych.

  “I’m surprised you don’t know, but this inn is a common meeting place for mercs, thieves, Amaskans, you name it. Juidre’s good at making himself scarce when asked…at least for a little coin that is. You owe me a half-penny.”

  The ease at which Eli chatted with them caused doubts to creep in. Maybe he’s pretendin’ to be Tribor rather than Amaskan. Maybe he has no idea of our purpose in town and has no interest in killin’ us. Not until he knows what we’re doin’ here.