The Golden Basilisk (The Lost Ancients Book 5)

by Marie Andreas

  A movement near the busted doorway caught my attention. Covey strode in growling at anyone who looked her way. While we’d been providing food and drink for Mackil and Rue, the pub had added a good dozen patrons. Like the over-nighters these were all solo drinkers, but unlike the original group, they were far livelier.

  They had enough wits about them to know to look away when a pissed-off trellian entered a bar.

  “Damn it, where have you been?” She paused to nod to Mackil and Rue, then glared back at Alric and I. “You’ve been gone for four hours.” She pulled back and looked at me, then shook her head and shot a second glare at Alric. She wasn’t a fan of magical glamours, and she knew where mine had come from.

  Alric nodded to Mackil. “I’ll find you later; we have a deal to discuss.” He tossed a few coins to the dwoller and we moved away.

  “We can’t have been here four hours. It’s barely been one.”

  Covey took ahold of both of us and pulled us out the busted door. I wouldn’t have called things sunny, but they were brighter than before. A lot brighter. Damn.

  “So the time veils aren’t anchored,” Alric said, but he was mostly muttering to himself. “And they aren’t just outside of town. This could making getting out a lot harder.”

  I’d never heard of a time veil, but seeing this loss in time we had, and the way it was used, it was pretty obvious. What type of place had random time lapses wandering around messing people up?

  “Flarinen and Kelm got captured.” Covey was to the point. She also didn’t let go of either of our arms as she pulled us through the street.

  “Captured? I thought the entire point of this place was that no one had the energy to do anything? And just so you know, we had no idea we were in there that long.” I felt like I had to defend myself on that score. Covey wasn’t a fan of pubs or drinking.

  “Padraig and Lorcan are narrowing that down. It appears to be more of a lethargy spell, then after it has established itself, it changes so the victim does not want to leave.” She finally decided we were moving along fast enough as she dropped our arms. “Flarinen found a group that had gotten past that and managed to piss them off.”

  That wasn’t too surprising.

  We walked past the alley for the stable and past most of the buildings on this end. This area was mostly ramshackle and abandoned houses. At one time Null had claimed a much larger population.

  About half of the houses had either no one living in them or no one who wanted to be noticed living in them. This entire town made Beccia look like the capital of the kingdom.

  Padraig was standing behind one of the buildings. He had his hood up but turned to give us a nod. His eyes widened slightly when he saw me, but he smiled. No one seemed shocked about Alric’s changes to me—except me.

  “Any change?” Covey asked as she pulled up her hood as well.

  I pulled mine up to join in. Alric had his up the moment we’d left the pub. Apparently hoods were a Null thing. They did fit with the atmosphere.

  “Nothing.” Padraig went back to watching the house across the way—a collection of houses, really. They might have been single houses put closely together when they were first built, but over the years or decades someone had cobbled them together into a massive and ugly fortress.

  “And we received a note,” he said and held a piece of battered and abused paper over his shoulder.

  I took it, as Alric was busy checking out the building. Knowing him, he’d probably already figured out thirty places he could break in.

  Crude writing, but the meaning was clear. They had our warriors and they would be slaughtered if we didn’t give them the artifacts.

  13

  “We know they’re in there?” Alric studied the building and his hand twitched toward his sword.

  “Yes, unfortunately. Covey and I have been here for about two hours now. We left Lorcan guarding the stable and he was to send you on to us when you checked in.” He glanced at both of us. “When you didn’t show up, Covey went to find you. I’ve seen Flarinen twice and Kelm once. They move them between the rooms. Both look battered but were walking on their own.”

  “Any sign of our mage friends?” Not that it would help really, we had no idea whose body Reginald was in, and Nivinal was a master of disguise. I looked at the crude note again. There was no way those two ego-maniacs would be involved with people this dumb.

  He shook his head. “Could have been, but I seriously doubt it. Besides, they have the artifacts already. No reason to grab our people even if they knew we were here. They’d be more likely to kill any of us they caught.”

  Covey threw back her cloak and I noticed she had her sword. I wasn’t used to her being armed. She could be a far more dangerous weapon on her own if she allowed herself to go berserk. But I wasn’t going to suggest it.

  “I’ll get them,” Alric said. He started to slip away, but Padraig blocked him.

  “You’re not on your own now. We need to work together on this.”

  “I can do it.” His voice sounded more like Carlon than Alric.

  Padraig stepped closer. “You haven’t even asked how many guards there are or the locations of our people.”

  Alric started to shove him away but stepped back instead. “I’m sorry, you’re right. This place is getting to me.”

  “And you’re tapping in a little too well to your Carlon persona.” I pushed back his hood. His jaw had been locked, but slowly relaxed.

  He let out a breath. “Like I said, it’s getting to me.” He nodded to Padraig. “I’m assuming you have a plan?”

  He gave a sideways grin. “I figured you would. There are fifteen guards I’ve seen and probably two or three more that I haven’t. Flarinen caused more trouble, so they have him in that battered room on the third floor, five guards inside, and one making the rounds who should be passing in sight within a few minutes. Kelm was moved down to that room with the window facing us.” He pointed out the areas and Alric watched them for a few moments. The guard made his round before vanishing behind the side of the building.

  I shook my head. “So they told us where to come to get our people? Didn’t they think we might try to fight to get them out?”

  “They didn’t tell us to come here. Lorcan was able to spell the paper to find them; but they don’t know we’re here. The drop point is a mile or so out of town.”

  “I have a plan,” Alric said and nodded to Padraig. “For all of us. Padraig, I know you can fight, but you’re also our strongest magic user and we’ll need someone to stay back. I think we agree that using magic openly wouldn’t be the best idea just in case the mages haven’t figured out we’re in town yet, but it might be our last hope if things go sideways. The three of us will go in, Taryn will distract as many of our guards as possible, Covey grabs Kelm, and I grab Flarinen.”

  That was way too simple of a plan for someone sneaky like Alric. But we didn’t have a lot of options.

  One problem. “How am I going to distract them?”

  Alric’s grin was all him and kind of scary. “Like this.”

  I felt nothing, but Covey and Padraig both gasped. I was terrified that I was dressed like a dancing girl, or worse. The inability to be affected by almost all glamours meant I couldn’t see it without help.

  “Do I want to know what I look like?”

  Padraig fished into his cloak, pulled out a scrying mirror the size of his hand, and muttered a spell over it. I reached for it, but he held it up. “It’s better to see the full impact.”

  “What did you do?” I realized I sounded like Garbage and that matched the way I felt. I looked like me, sort of.

  I was wearing skimpy armor, not anything any self-respecting knight would wear in a fight. It was designed for sex appeal, not protection. My sword was unglamoured but fit right in with the rest of the garish ensemble. I also had four familiar relics connected to the armor in chains around me.

  “Seriously?” I wasn’t sure which pissed me off more. Probably the
armor but if the sex appeal didn’t get their attention, the relics would.

  “Now, hear me out, all of you.” Alric raised his hand but kept his voice low. “There are rumors going around about the relics, there have been for years and there are more now. Before our unplanned trip to the elven enclave, I’d planned to go back to Beccia and track some of them down. One of the rumors is of a guardian deity from beyond our world.” He turned me slightly away from the others. “Notice how her skin shimmers? Otherworldly, yes?”

  Padraig laughed but turned his eyes back to the house. “You’re creating a myth to cover whatever happens with those relics down the line. And Taryn is at the center.”

  Covey shook her head and patted my shoulder. “Better you than me. But you do look…interesting.”

  “Taryn isn’t really the center, but she’ll be the figurehead for now. When we get back to civilization we can create the rest of the myth. Right now, this will work. Taryn walks slowly into their camp, taunting the guards. I’ve placed a low-level shield on her so they can’t hurt her. It won’t last long, but it should work for this. Then Covey and I get the knights back.”

  “And I use a spell to disguise it all after it’s done.” Padraig shook his head. “I know, no obvious magic, but we now have a cover for it. When you get out, Taryn will wave her hand, and a small concussion spell will take them down. We’re building a myth, might as well make it good.”

  I bit my tongue before saying that I could do the spell. Pretty much finesse wasn’t my strong point with spells and now that I knew what Alric was up to, I agreed this needed a lighter hand.

  I was still annoyed about the skimpy outfit though.

  A few more final touches to my persona, and to give time for Covey and Alric to go around the long way, and I started slowly walking out. The relics were all chained to my person, so I had nothing in my hands. It felt like some all-powerful and sexy deity really should have something to wave about, so I took out my sword.

  “Who dares call me forth?” Okay, Alric thought that looking like I did would be enough, but if they wanted a deity of some sort, I would give them one. “I have been summoned.”

  That did it. The guards hadn’t noticed me, to be honest not many were in the front, and the ones that were had been playing some sort of card game on top of a barrel.

  My yelling got their attention though.

  There were eight that I saw, which meant too many were still unseen.

  “What are you doing here? Your people are at the drop point.” A burly minotaur shoved his way forward. His size was impressive until I realized how much larger his gut was and that his mismatched armor only covered part of his torso.

  I wasn’t a huge fan of minotaurs, mostly a war-like and often dim race. But if he was their leader then he was who I’d deal with.

  “I know where the protectors are hidden; you can’t hide them from the guardian.” I figured this was a new myth and I could add to it as needed.

  By the time I finished speaking, the first two guards were upon me. The minotaur had pushed his way forward, but let his people do the fighting.

  The first person to reach me was a tall woman, almost as broad as the minotaur. She swung, but her eyes were on the relics, so her blow wasn’t as good as it should’ve been. Alric said he had a shield on me, but that blade was coming in regardless.

  I deflected the blade and swung around to strike a second guard coming up from the back. Both strikes were stopped by my sword, but if Alric’s shield had worked, I wouldn’t have had to fight back. I was glad I had some defensive sword training.

  Then I realized that all of the attackers were slowing down. I had more than enough time to strike back at five of them before the rest got much closer. Handy, if that’s what Alric’s spell was supposed to do. It would definitely help build the myth. Still disconcerting, since I was going to be surrounded by fifteen to twenty fighters eventually and there was no shield. Slow was good, but not getting through at all was better.

  I drew my dagger and worked on keeping as many of them away as possible. The minotaur had a huge two-handed sword, but was still holding back and didn’t seemed concerned about helping his crew.

  Not that I blamed him. I wouldn’t take someone who looked like me seriously either. Especially at fifteen to one odds. I really hoped Covey and Alric got out soon with our people. I heard fighting and yelling in the house, and two of my attackers paused to look back at their leader. He nodded and they ran back, still in slow time. I noticed their speed picked up the further they got away from me.

  Except then two of the remaining attackers, the woman and a short, one-eyed trellian, both moved in faster than before. Alric’s spell was losing ground and I hadn’t seen a signal of any sort that Flarinen and Kelm had been freed.

  I swung around and barely ducked in time to save my head. That was it. The yelling from the house was continuing, so obviously my friends were fighting. Alric’s slow-down spell was failing quickly and I was about to face a dozen trained fighters in normal time.

  I gave a final charge forward, going for the woman as the strongest aggressor, and trying to get all of them to fall back. Alric and Padraig would probably be pissed at what I was about to do, but I was out of options. I was not going to be killed wearing this horrible armor.

  The second I’d pushed the attackers back, I dropped to one knee and hit the ground with my sword. Then I let loose my ever-erratic push spell.

  This was about the only spell I had down well enough to do any damage. That still left a large margin for error. The first time I did it in a moment of panic; I’d flung a vile satyr out of a forest. He’d started it by trying to kill me and I’d reacted automatically. Since then Alric had helped work on my control. In theory.

  I meant to push them back enough to get some fighting room. Instead, they all went directly into the ground up to their necks.

  I honestly didn’t know who was more surprised, them or me. A few months ago, I’d buried an extremely unlamented ex-boyfriend-turned-hideous-monster while using this spell. But I’d been high on a cliff above him when I cast the spell. That the attackers before me went in the ground instead of away from me when we were only a few feet apart was definitely weird.

  Nevertheless, effective. None of them could move. Judging by the yelling and twisting about they were still alive. The minotaur and the woman fighter both looked like they wanted nothing more than to rip my head off.

  Behind the house I saw Covey and Alric leading Kelm and Flarinen toward the far alley.

  I raised my hand as if I was casting a spell but instead of a wave to knock them out coming from Padraig, a flood of black smoke covered the area. It was only knee high but considering so were all of their heads, it was effective.

  I bumped a head or two on the way out of the circle; but they all had bigger issues to deal with.

  Padraig was waiting for me, and the look on his face wasn’t good. “My spell shouldn’t have done that.” The stunned look told me he wasn’t used to his spells not working.

  “Mine shouldn’t have either, and Alric’s shield spell turned into a slowdown spell before it disappeared completely.” I looked at his side. “And your sword is gone.” It had been in his scabbard before I went in, but it hung empty now.

  He swore as he looked down. An intense look of concentration filled his face, but the sword didn’t come back. Mine was in my hand though.

  I held the sword close to my face. “You sticking around?” I shrugged and put it away then faced Padraig. “Can you un-glamour me? They weren’t knocked out and the yells seem to be getting more aggressive.” I didn’t want to be roaming around looking like this, especially if there was a gang of pissed-off fighters looking for this persona.

  Padraig clearly wanted to try again to get his sword back, but was also wise enough to know we didn’t have the time.

  His spell casting was far more dramatic than Alric’s. It had always been fluid; words and hand gestures flowed together into a spel
l. Not this time. He shook his head a few times as if there was a bee near it. Then tried again. A trail of sweat trickled down the left side of his face but finally he let out a breath.

  “Done,” he said then turned to lead us down a different direction than Covey had brought us. He changed alleys three times and I wasn’t certain but it felt like we were going backwards once or twice. Finally I recognized the alley the stable was in.

  Padraig knocked, and Leaf peered down from the knot hole in the door, then popped back in. At least the girls were back.

  The chains came off and Alric stuck his head out first, then pulled me in. Padraig scanned the alley then ducked in behind us.

  “We all made it, right?” The silence of our trip back was now catching up with me. My magic often misbehaved, but people like Alric and Padraig, two long-lived elves who’d grown up using it, should never have things go wrong. Alric had his sword, but he didn’t look happy.

  “Yes, but Flarinen and Kelm both were tortured.” Lorcan and Covey were bandaging a nasty cut on Flarinen’s sword arm.

  “I can fight.” Being rescued, even worse, by a common thief, as he thought of Alric, was probably upsetting him more than the damage they’d done.

  Alric was examining Kelm’s wounds but they looked mostly to be bruising. He didn’t say anything but at least he looked grateful and smiled at all of us briefly.

  “Anyone have a guess as to what happened out there? Alric’s protection spell downgraded to a slowing down spell, and I had to use a push spell. They ended up chin deep in the ground instead of going away, and Padraig’s spell turned into smoke.” I turned to him. “Unless you changed your plan of attack?”

  The scowl he wore even moved the scarred side of his face.

  “Not at all. Lorcan, my spell went sideways, and my sword vanished.” As he spoke I noticed it had come back, but I knew it hadn’t when we were at the door. “This area is messing with more than just the will to leave.”