by Lisa Shearin
I swore I’d never punch, knee, or kick a man in the balls ever again—if I lived through the next few seconds.
I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t move—at least not out of the fetal position I was in—and chances were good that I was going to throw up.
Piaras was headed for the open door and wards.
“Raine,” I croaked. “Me.”
Piaras stopped, looked, then stared in disbelief, his eyes huge.
“Raine, I’m so sorry… I didn’t know it was you. I didn’t mean to… Are you hurt badly?” His words tripped over each other in a rush to get out of his mouth. His feet did the same getting to me.
I suddenly became aware that I still hurt, but not in quite the same way as before. I took my hands from where they’d been clutched between my legs. They were my hands, not Ratharil’s. My body, not his. My dangly bits were gone. My eyes went as wide as Piaras’s.
I’d lost Ratharil’s glamour.
Oh no.
Rance was going to come to; Captain Whoever would be back anytime; and Balmorlan would be here within the hour.
Breathe deep, Raine. Calm down.
I could breathe, but calm was not going to happen. Fine. Nerves could be productive.
Piaras helped me up.
Captain Rance was lying motionless just outside the door. Guess who was about to become my second glamour subject of the evening.
I reached in my pocket for Tanik’s kid’s pendant and gave it to Piaras. “When I tell you to, put this on,” I told him. “It’ll make you invisible for fifteen minutes.”
I went to the door and peered out into the hall. It was empty, and better yet, I didn’t hear boot steps indicating the impending arrival of coffee and trouble.
“Come on, let’s—”
“They said I murdered the archmagus,” Piaras said hoarsely.
I looked back over my shoulder. Piaras was still standing in the middle of the cell, the pendant dangling loosely from his hand. He looked like he was about to be sick.
Any nerves I had gave way to cold rage. “Who said that?”
“Inquisitor Balmorlan and the ambassador.”
“They lied,” I snarled. “You didn’t kill anyone.”
Hope flared in Piaras’s dark eyes. “He’s alive?”
“We don’t know yet.” Best to tell the truth. “Regardless, it wasn’t your fault. Your song was used to cover up the real attack.”
Piaras stood there, absorbing what I’d just said. I could see his anger building. “They tried to force me to sign a confession. Admitting that I’d done it with your help.” His voice had taken on a steely edge. “Balmorlan said you were on the catwalk above me with a goblin spellsinger. I knew he was lying, but I didn’t know what had really happened.”
“That goblin attacked Justinius, not you. I was trying to stop him.”
Taltek Balmorlan had just joined Rudra Muralin on my personal shit list.
I looked back down the hall. Still empty. “Let’s get out of here first, talk later.”
We carefully stepped past the wards and out of the cell. I stared down at Rance, quickly memorizing every detail, internalizing his appearance. I pushed outward with a touch of power. I looked down.
And I was still me.
Oh crap.
Personal pep talk time. Just relax, Raine. You and Piaras are perfectly safe; no one wants to lock both of you up or use and abuse you for the rest of your lives; the Saghred’s not going to eat your soul or drive you crazy. Everything’s good; everything’s fine.
I tried again. No dice.
“Dammit!”
Sometimes nerves weren’t so productive.
If you ignored his clenched jaw, Piaras looked surprisingly calm. “It’s not going to work, is it?”
I rolled Rance over, started stripping him of his weapons and giving them to Piaras. “Doesn’t look like it. We’ll just do it the old-fashioned way. I talked my way into this place. If I have to, I’ll blast our way out. You wouldn’t happen to know any quick and really dirty spellsongs, would you?”
His slow grin told me he did and that he’d welcome the chance to use them.
“Are these sleepsongs or slam-people-into-walls songs?” I asked.
Piaras’s grin broadened. “Dealer’s choice.”
I was glad to see that grin and the resolve growing behind it. I smiled up at him. “Phaelan’s been teaching you cards, hasn’t he?”
Piaras tucked the last dagger into his belt. “And most times now I win.”
And I thought I had corrupted the innocent.
I gave him the blackjack. “Put on the pendant, and let’s see if at least that works.”
Piaras slipped the chain over his head and vanished along with all of his new lethal toys.
I nodded in approval. “Okay, this could work nicely.”
“What could work?”
Piaras’s voice coming from Piaras’s invisible body. Creepy.
“We’ve only got fifteen minutes—or less if that pendant craps out on us,” I told him. “Listen up.”
Everything was right where Tanik Ozal’s embassy blueprints said it’d be, including the narrow service stairwell Piaras and I were now in. I’d told him my plan, but the reality of any plan was that it was subject to change at any time for better or worse.
My plan had just lost most of its options. There were several exits we could have taken from the embassy, but those were for Captain Ratharil strolling out of the embassy with his new invisible friend—not for Raine Benares, elven public enemy number one.
We were moving fast. Any moment, that captain would return with coffee and find Rance, or Rance would come to and sound the alarm himself. Our minutes were numbered. So I was nothing short of stunned when we reached the first floor without running into anyone. There was a definite advantage to after-midnight jailbreaks. I’d have to remember that. According to the blueprints, we had to cross an open office area at the back of the embassy, as well as the main corridor, to reach the entrance to the basements and the tunnel that was our final goal.
That tunnel led to the harbor and freedom.
“Piaras?” I whispered.
Silence.
“Piaras!”
“I’m right here.”
“Why didn’t you answer me?”
“You told me not to talk.”
Couldn’t fault his logic. “We need to cross—”
Sirens wailed and lightglobes set into the walls flashed red. Prison break discovered.
I swore. “Take my hand. I can’t see you and we can’t get separated.”
He did and we ran.
Shouts and the pounding of booted feet joined the sirens. One voice bellowed over the chaos.
“Lockdown! Lockdown!”
The sirens went ominously silent, though the red lights continued to flash. Then I saw them, descending from the top of every hall opening and doorway. Gate wards. Glowing green and nasty. They looked like the bars of a jail cell, except these bars made sure magic users stayed put.
We ducked under one gate ward and ran faster.
“One to go,” I panted.
It was on the other side of an open office area. It was going to be close, too close.
“We can’t make it holding hands,” came Piaras’s voice from beside me. “Let me go.”
He was right. I didn’t like it, but I did it.
I dove under the ward and it hissed when it reached the marble, leaving black scorch marks on the floor.
“Piaras?” I whispered.
The sharp point of a blade pressed into the back of my neck. I froze. I was still on my belly. Two pairs of black boots stepped into my line of vision.
“Put your hands behind your back,” ordered a deep, male voice from above me. “Slowly.”
I couldn’t see the speaker, but both sets of boots were military issue. One of those boots planted itself in the middle of my back, knocking the air out of me, and pinning me to the floor like a bug.
“I said hands behind
your back!”
I heard two sharp thumps of a blackjack, two grunts, and then two unconscious embassy guards were sharing the floor with me.
“It was the least I could do after punching you in the balls.” Piaras sounded pleased with himself.
I wanted to smack him. I wanted to hug him. I couldn’t see him, so I couldn’t do either one.
I got to my feet. “We’re almost there. Stay close.”
Set into the wall just ahead was a curved alcove with a bench. Cozy. According to the blueprints, that coziness came complete with its own concealed door. Tanik said the trigger looked like a knot in the wood. There it was. I pressed and a small section of the bench and wall opened into darkness. I might just have to start liking Tanik Ozal.
We went through and the wall clicked securely closed behind us.
“Will they look down here?” Piaras asked almost too softly to be heard.
“I don’t know, but let’s act like they will.”
I had to risk making a lightglobe. It was completely dark and a light would announce us to anyone lurking down here, but I’d take that over falling and breaking a leg.
I focused on my palm. A spark bloomed and wove itself into a sphere. I could see Piaras now. “Your fifteen minutes of invisibility must be up,” I told him.
Piaras looked down at himself. “That timed out right.”
“Yeah, it did. Take off the pendant and put it somewhere safe. You should be able to use it again in another hour. Hopefully you won’t need to.”
I smelled damp earth, wooden crates, and not much else. I shone the globe in an arc in front of us to get my bearings. I saw something on the floor and stopped.
Piaras saw what I saw and went for a dagger. I thought it was a good idea and joined him.
A dead elf was sprawled on the edge of the globe’s light. We moved closer. Oh yeah, he was definitely dead, and from the blood still pooling around him, he hadn’t been that way for long. He was lying on his side. I used the tip of my boot to roll him the rest of the way over. Piaras sucked in his breath.
I recognized him. He had been one of Banan Ryce’s boys. A Nightshade.
He’d literally been sliced to ribbons.
The first cut hadn’t killed him, and neither had the next dozen or so. I thought it was a safe assumption that the slit throat had done the trick. From the angle of the cuts, the blade had been razor sharp and curved. Someone liked to play with their prey first. I increased the globe’s glow. Farther down was another corpse.
The lightglobe would announce us to what was down here, if it hadn’t already. Dousing it would leave us fumbling in the dark; and the dark would just make the things that’d killed the Nightshades more comfortable while they killed us.
I exhaled. We’d probably be safer back in the embassy. Taltek Balmorlan was the lesser of the evil that was down here with us.
Playful, sadistic bastards with curved blades.
Khrynsani.
Chapter 24
Piaras swallowed hard and stared at the body. He didn’t know what had killed the Nightshade, and I was going to tell him. He needed to know. From talking to Tanik, I knew there were two ways into, and out of, the embassy basements— through the embassy itself or through the harbor tunnel.
Khrynsani goblins certainly hadn’t strolled in through the front door of the elven embassy. That meant there was an undetermined number of Khrynsani between us and our only way out.
I had plenty of questions, no answers. One question rudely elbowed its way to the front of my mind. What the hell were Khrynsani doing under the elven embassy?
Piaras started to say or ask something.
I shook my head with the least motion possible. Piaras remained absolutely still, his dark eyes intent on shadows where there could be anything or nothing.
I dimmed the lightglobe and motioned for Piaras to follow me. There were two crates stacked on top of each other that would give us some cover but still let us see anything coming at us. Maybe. Goblins were fast, especially these goblins.
I stood on tiptoe, my lips next to his ear. “Khrynsani.” I said it in a whisper so light that I barely heard it.
Piaras’s only sign that he’d heard was a single nod. I was impressed. Though after being arrested, kidnapped, imprisoned, charged with murder, and interrogated, and escaping in the span of just a few hours, being told there were murderous goblins in the basement couldn’t come as that big of a shock.
Time for a brilliant plan, Raine. Problem was, the bad guys were sitting back with the good cards and a heaping pile of chips. We were stuck with a really crappy hand and were down to our last, lousy chip.
I was at the top of the Khrynsani’s most-wanted list, and worse yet, their boss wanted me alive. Rudra Muralin had used Piaras to attack Justinius, but I didn’t know if he had an interest in Piaras beyond that, though Muralin knew that gifted spellsingers like Piaras were rare and highly prized.
Highly prized for their voices—the sweet magic.
Oh hell.
I knew why the Nightshades were down here.
I knew why the Khrynsani were down here killing Nightshades.
I knew Piaras and I didn’t need to be anywhere near here.
Sarad Nukpana said Muralin had come to Mid to reclaim what my father had stolen from him. Muralin had no use for the pitiful efforts of a starved Saghred. He needed it at full power, and for that he needed sacrifices. And the Saghred liked nothing better than spellsingers. Banan Ryce and his Nightshades had been gathering spellsingers. Tonight they’d captured three more. What better place for the Nightshades to keep their growing collection than under the one building on the island that Mychael, his Guardians, and the city watch couldn’t legally search.
Banan Ryce had done the work; Rudra Muralin was moving in to reap the benefits. When the Nightshades had stormed the dressing rooms at Sirens, Muralin had said that once again elves were unknowingly doing his work for him.
Ugly didn’t begin to describe how bad this was going to get. Bloodbath sounded about right. Me, Piaras, and those spellsingers were going to be caught in the middle.
Piaras’s eyes were intent on my face, noting every change in my expression. I hadn’t bothered to keep what I was thinking from showing on my face.
“Tell me.” He kept his voice down, but his tone told me he wanted to know. Now.
Piaras knew about the first three spellsingers. He didn’t know who had been taken this evening—and that Katelyn Valerian was one of them.
“The spellsingers may be down here. I need to check.”
Tanik had told me the basic layout of what lay beneath the elven embassy. Piaras and I were in the main basement, directly beneath the embassy building. More than likely the dead Nightshades had been trying to get upstairs for help. They obviously hadn’t made it. If they had, Giles Keril would have been looking for a place to hide, not for his specs.
Beyond this room were storerooms of various sizes on several levels. Naturally, it wasn’t a straight shot from where we were to the tunnel. We had to go through some of those storerooms, and down three levels. Tanik hadn’t mentioned any rooms with prison cells. But from Piaras’s encounter tonight with elven government hospitality, I’d be willing to bet there was a prison block tucked away down here somewhere. A place where inquisitors wouldn’t have to worry about screams disturbing the nice bureaucrats upstairs.
I didn’t have Megan’s brush or Ailia’s locket with me, but I’d linked with both girls a few times. If they were close by, finding them shouldn’t be a problem.
“Keep watch,” I mouthed silently to Piaras.
He nodded.
Seeking was quiet. If Muralin or Ryce were down here, they wouldn’t hear what I was about to do.
I didn’t close my eyes, but stared instead at the side of the crate. I clasped my hands loosely together as if I actually held Megan’s hairbrush. I remembered the sharpness of the bristles against my bare palm, the cool smoothness of the silver, the feel of the in
tricate scrollwork.
I linked and I saw.
Khrynsani shamans had the spellsingers, and they were all in one cell. Katelyn was kneeling next to an unconscious Ronan Cayle, wrapping what looked like a strip of fabric from her gown to bind a nasty gash on the maestro’s head. Talon was pacing in feline fury. I had been able to hear the spellsingers before, but not now. Was Rudra Muralin using stronger wards? He’d been sacrificing spellsingers for a long time. If anyone knew how to protect himself from terrified spellsingers who knew they were going to die, it would be Muralin.
I couldn’t see Rudra Muralin.
That could be good—or that could be really bad. He had to be somewhere, and just because I couldn’t see him in that cell block didn’t mean he wasn’t down here.
And down here was dark. Really scary dark.
The spellsingers were somewhere below us. There was no doubt in my mind. The link pulled at me through the soles of my feet like weights attached to my ankles, dragging me down.
I didn’t want to go down; I wanted to get out. But no one had asked me what I wanted.
No one had asked those kids or Ronan what they wanted, either.
I unclasped my hands and broke the link. “All six spellsingers are down here.” I sounded about as enthused as I felt.
Piaras looked confused. “Six? I thought you said there were—”
“There were three; now there are six.” I really didn’t want to tell him, but he needed to know. “After you were arrested, three more were taken from Sirens: Talon Tandu, Maestro Cayle… and Katelyn.”
Piaras’s face drained of all color. It wasn’t from fear. It was all rage, cold and focused.
“Now the Khrynsani have taken them from the Nightshades,” I said. “A goblin named Rudra Muralin is their leader.” I didn’t mention that Muralin was ancient and psychotic. I was holding on to the slim hope that Piaras wouldn’t be finding that out. “He’s a shaman and a spellsinger. He used to wield the Saghred, and now he wants it back.” I paused. “He’s also the goblin who used your song against the archmagus.”
Piaras’s dark eyes narrowed. “What did you see?”
“The spellsingers are in one cell. Ronan is unconscious.”
It was my turn to watch the thoughts flow across Piaras’s face. Frustration put in an appearance several times. Piaras was realizing what I already knew only too well.
