The Mysterious Coin

by James E. Wisher

  His opponent wasn’t having it. He stayed so close Yaz couldn’t bring the tip of his spear to bear.

  If he wanted to get close, fine. Yaz feinted a second retreat.

  The thief sprang forward.

  Yaz reversed course and head-butted the thief in the face. His nose broke under Yaz’s forehead.

  The thief staggered, giving Yaz all the opening he needed to plunge the tip of his spear into the man’s chest.

  He turned to help Brigid just in time to see her crack her opponent in the side of the head with the butt of her spear. He went down and didn’t move.

  Yaz hurried over. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded, steadier than after their last battle. “Silas.”

  Yaz spun. Lightning flashed and crashed against a wall of stone. Auntie hurled spheres of stone that were blown away by gusts of wind before they could reach Silas. Looked like a standoff.

  “Should we help?” Brigid asked.

  Yaz looked around. One of the fallen crossbows lay on the edge of the trench. He snatched it up and pulled a bolt from the dead thief’s hip quiver. Taking careful aim, Yaz waited for Silas’s next attack.

  He didn’t have long to wait. A lightning bolt streaked out and slammed into the wall of stone. As if she was physically connected to it, Auntie flinched and closed her eyes.

  Yaz fired. His bolt struck home, burying itself to the fletchings in her neck. Auntie collapsed in a bleeding heap and her wall crumbled.

  Silas sagged, finished crossing the bridge, and sat hard on the stone floor. “I hate wizards duels.”

  “What can I do?” Yaz asked.

  “Is anyone still alive?” Silas asked.

  The thief Yaz stabbed in the hip still breathed, albeit weakly. “One.”

  Silas nodded. “Wicked, drain.”

  The familiar flew over and sank his pointy teeth into the wounded thief. Darkness surrounded the familiar and a tendril ran over to Silas who closed his eyes and opened his mouth. The tendril went down his throat.

  Master and familiar stayed connected until the thief ceased breathing. Silas stood and stretched. “That helped a bit. Though I don’t plan on fighting another duel for a few days. We need to hurry. I used so much power defeating Auntie that the paralysis spell I used on the guys in the cemetery wore off.”

  “I’m all for leaving,” Yaz said. “But who are we going to use for a guide?”

  All three of them looked across the trench at Uncle’s very still body. No way was he going to be any help. They were on their own.

  Chapter 13

  Yaz paced back toward the tunnel mouth where the thieves had to have come from. Silas had put a light spell on a dagger for him so he could see. Now the wizard was doing something with Auntie’s corpse. He didn’t know and didn’t ask what. Best to let Silas deal with the magic. Brigid went from body to body searching for anything valuable or better yet a map of the sewers. She’d volunteered to check the bodies which surprised him. She was also disposing of any weapons so the pursuers they expected couldn’t use them.

  Despite the others’ efforts, there was only one hope for escape as far as Yaz could see: following the thieves back to wherever they came from. Fifty yards from the ambush site the tunnel branched in four directions. Which way did they come from? There had to be some sort of clue. Yaz had tracked wolves across the valley, surely he could track five thieves through the sewer. There were scuff marks here and there, but nothing he felt sure enough to follow.

  He shrugged and turned right. At this point, one way was as good as another. He’d barely gone twenty steps when he found iron rungs hammered into the wall. At the top he could barely see a sliver of light. This had to be one of the old imperial access points. But where did it lead now?

  Only one way to find out. Yaz climbed the rungs and pushed on the ceiling near the light. It gave a little, but when he peered through the crack all he could see was a stone wall. Cursing gods, thieves, and anyone else he could think of, Yaz jammed the dagger into the gap and worked it around a quarter of the way. This time he could see a sliver of an empty room. He was in someone’s basement. If he could sneak out and get a bearing he’d know how to escape.

  Encouraged now, Yaz, worked the dagger all the way around the opening and pushed hard. The cover lifted up and he climbed out into the basement. It wasn’t as empty as he thought. Along one wall were shelves filled with preserved food. Yaz ignored the supplies and trotted over to a set of stairs leading to the first floor. He listened hard, but no sound came from above.

  With no other options, he climbed the steps and eased the door at the top open. Beyond lay a kitchen with, blessedly, a window. He took a deep breath and sighed. After the sewer, the scents of bread and bacon were a dream come true.

  Out the window, the city wall was visible and not that far away. He needed to go back to the intersection and take a left. On that bearing they’d be headed straight for the wall. Yaz grinned. Maybe they had a chance of escaping after all.

  “Someone down there?” A muffled voice from above asked.

  Not wanting to push his luck any further, Yaz retreated to the basement and down the iron ladder, pausing only long enough to replace the seal. Someone was bound to notice it now that he’d broken all the mortar holding it shut, but they’d be long gone before that became an issue.

  “Yaz!” Brigid’s frantic voice called for him from further up the tunnel.

  “What?”

  She poked her head around the bend. “There you are. Where did you go? My heart almost stopped.”

  “I’ve been trying to figure a way out of here. I know which way we need to go. Did you have any luck?”

  “Not really. I found a few silver scales and more knives than you can shake a stick at, but nothing useful. Silas finished setting his trap.”

  “Is that what he was doing?”

  She nodded. “He tried to explain it to me, but it was like a different language.”

  “Let’s get him and go,” Yaz said. “I’m thoroughly sick of being down here.”

  “Agreed.”

  Yaz and Brigid walked back to the bridge. Silas looked their way and raised an eyebrow.

  “I found the way,” Yaz said.

  “Excellent. I left a death bomb in Auntie’s corpse. The enforcers are on their way, so we should get moving too.”

  Yaz led the way down more disgusting tunnels, always careful to hold his bearing toward the wall as best he could. He figured they managed a quarter of a mile before coming to a dead end. The tunnel just ended at a blank stone wall. Yaz frowned and tapped the wall in hopes of finding a hollow space. Just as he turned around Silas flinched.

  “What?” Yaz asked.

  “The death bomb just went off. I don’t know how many I got, but any survivors will be on us soon enough.”

  Yaz swore then forced himself to calm down. He must have missed something. He started pacing and looked down at the trench. The waste water flowed away from the wall. Idiot! He’d been so intent on his direction he ignored the flow. The outlet must be down one of the side passages.

  “Come on!”

  Yaz hurried back the way he’d come, this time keeping careful watch on the flow. At the next intersection the sludge took a left. They followed as quickly as they safely could. At another intersection they turned left again and at the end of the tunnel was an opening through which sunlight flooded.

  Silas clapped him on the back and Brigid hugged him. The three of them rushed out into the fresh air. The city walls were about fifty paces behind them and about twenty feet above. The sewers exited from a rocky crag below the city in a dense growth of forest. All the nutrients probably helped the trees and shrubs grow so much. From this position it would be very hard for anyone patrolling the walls to spot them. There was no sign of the boy with their horses. Either he was late, or they emerged from the wrong exit.

  As if reading his mind, Silas pointed west. “Kid’s that way. I can sense the curse mark.”

 
Yaz frowned. The young thief must be hidden among the trees. Hopefully nothing else was.

  “Can you collapse this entrance so the enforcers can’t follow us?” Brigid asked.

  “Earth magic’s not my thing,” Silas said. “Let’s just get out of here before they show up.”

  That struck Yaz as an excellent idea. Silas led the way toward their hopefully waiting mounts. If Yaz never saw another sewer or thief, it would be too soon.

  Yaz didn’t have the words to describe how happy he was to be out of the city. It seemed like whenever they were around people they ended up in trouble. A few feet in front of him Silas froze. Yaz tensed and raised his spear.

  “What is it?” Yaz pitched his voice low.

  “The kid’s dead.”

  “How?” Brigid asked.

  Silas shook his head. “Can’t say. I only know he’s dead. The moment his heart stopped beating, my spell ended. The curse can’t kill him if he’s already dead.”

  “I can’t imagine there are many predators, either two or four legged, this close to the city.” Yaz looked around the silent forest for some clue and found nothing.

  “What are we going to do?” Brigid asked.

  “Unless we’re willing to give up our horses and supplies, there’s only one thing to do, track them down,” Yaz said. “Hopefully they’re still close to where the thief died.”

  Silas set out again, slower and more cautious this time. He pointed at the treetops and Wicked flew into the canopy. Maybe the little undead would spot something and let them know.

  Five minutes later Silas stopped again. Directly ahead of them in a clearing lay the body of the young thief. He was sprawled on the ground, the cause of death a very bloody slashed throat. No animal did that.

  “I smell a trap,” Yaz said.

  Silas nodded. “The enforcers. They’d have no trouble getting close to him. They’re probably watching the clearing right now waiting for us to come running in.”

  Wicked flew down a moment later and looked into Silas’s eyes. After a moment the wizard said, “Two of them survived my trap. They have swords and daggers, but no ranged weapons.”

  “If they’re skilled, daggers can be ranged weapons,” Yaz said. “How do you want to handle this?”

  “Magic is safest.” Silas gestured and Wicked flew off again. The wizard closed his eyes and murmured an incantation over and over again.

  In the forest there was a rustling in the bushes near the clearing. First one then another man in black stumbled out. They were shrouded in a dark aura. Their skin was pale and pasty, their eyes sunken in. The dark magic was literally sucking the life out of them.

  Brigid clutched him and buried her face in his shoulder. Yaz watched the thieves die in slow motion. It was enough to convince him that next time he should kill their prisoners cleanly. That kind of magic was no way to die.

  It took nearly two minutes for the thieves to finally collapse in a pile of gray ash. Silas blew out a breath and wiped sweat from his brow. “I hate that spell, but it works. What do you say we find the horses and get out of here?”

  Yaz thought that was a fine idea. He put his thumb and forefinger in his mouth and blew a piercing whistle. If Thunder was nearby, he’d come running, with any luck bringing the other horses with him. In the city the bells began to chime the hour. Now that they’d finally escaped Yaz found the sound oddly appealing.

  Chapter 14

  No updates had reached Leonidas either from the City of Bells or Blinder. He assumed that meant bad news since his subordinates would certainly rush to point out any successes. The lack of news meant he had to assume an investigation was underway. The information he had so far didn’t indicate any serious effort by the courts of either Rend or Carttoom, rather it appeared the work of a pair of busybodies poking their noses into his business. Hopefully they’d be crushed soon enough. At the very least they were no threat to his work.

  Still, best to get the next phase in motion. Leonidas pushed away from the desk in his office, stood, and stepped into the empty hall. The most high’s office was well off the main corridors which was one of the reasons he liked it so much. People seldom bothered him. Though he was willing to admit his reputation had as much to do with that as his location.

  Another advantage was how close the office was to his suite of rooms. It took less than a minute to make the walk. He paused outside the finely carved doors and touched two particular images, a dragon and a tower, which deactivated the wards Domina had woven into the entrance. Not that the magic would have harmed Leonidas. Even if he triggered the spells, his black ring would absorb the energy the same way it did any magic he encountered, unless he specifically commanded it not to.

  The dragon’s eyes flashed green indicating it was safe to enter. He pushed through into the main room. Domina sprawled across one of his lounge chairs. A long bare leg draped over the arm. She leaned her head back and looked at him upside down through a veil of black hair. Even knowing much of her beauty came from an illusion, the effect was still stunning.

  “Want to play?” she asked.

  Leonidas smiled and stroked her cheek. “Not right now. I need to contact Shade and get him going on part two of the plan.”

  She pouted. “Are you sending me with him?”

  Domina didn’t especially like Shade. In fact, as far as Leonidas could tell, she didn’t particularly like anyone besides him.

  “No, I’ll send Jax and Rondo along with two squads of Shadow Blades. It’s just a scouting mission. Once they locate the second tower, we’ll go in force to claim it.”

  Her expression brightened. “Do you wish me to make contact?”

  “Please.”

  Leonidas didn’t trust his important orders to pigeons. Not only would they most likely not survive a trip to the capital, anyone could read them before they were sent. That’s why he established two-way magical communications as quickly as he could acquire the necessary artifacts, in this case a pair of black-framed mirrors. One hung on the wall of his bedroom here and the other was installed in the central tower.

  Domina rolled off the couch, adjusted her short silk robe, and sauntered into the bedroom. Leonidas followed. She stepped in front of the mirror, raised her hands, spoke a brief incantation, and touched the mirror. Her finger sank into the surface up to the third knuckle. He shivered. No matter how many times he saw that it still gave him a chill.

  After half a minute she pulled her finger back and stepped aside. Now they just had to wait for someone to notice the connection had been established. It wouldn’t take long since the instant the link activated a magical shriek sounded nonstop on the other end until someone responded.

  As he predicted, less than a minute passed before Shade’s rumpled, squinting face appeared in the mirror. “Boss?”

  “Did I wake you, Shade?”

  “Yeah. What’s up?”

  “Show some respect!” Domina hissed.

  Leonidas only smiled. Shade’s respect came in a different form than his other cadre members. The assassin might talk to him like they were old drinking buddies, but when Leonidas gave him a task, there was no question about it getting done, no matter how many throats Shade had to cut. While Domina might complain, that was more than enough respect for Leonidas. In fact, sometimes he suspected Shade acted the way he did simply to annoy Domina.

  “Is Jax around?” Leonidas asked.

  “He’s lurking in the basement. Want me to get him?”

  “No, that’s fine. The time has come to move on the northwest tower. You have the map?” There was an exact duplicate of the map in Leonidas’s office at the tower, only that one held detailed measurements that should pinpoint the locations of all the towers.

  “Yeah, it’s on the table where you left it.”

  “Good. I want the three of you to confirm the tower’s location. Take two squads of the Shadow Blades and one of the secondary flying ships. Once you find it, secure a position nearby and contact me. Domina and I will jo
in you in gaining access.”

  “You think two squads is enough?” Shade asked.

  “If it’s not, fall back and we’ll make a new plan. Don’t take any foolish chances. You and Jax are too valuable to lose on a scouting mission.”

  Shade grinned. “What about Rondo?”

  “Rondo’s along in case you need bait.”

  Shade barked a laugh. “We’ll be in touch. Later, Boss.”

  In the mirror, Shade’s image wavered and vanished.

  “You shouldn’t encourage him,” Domina said.

  “Why? Shade is every bit as loyal as you or Jax. That flip exterior hides a core of steel. With ten individuals like Shade, I could rule the world. As it is, I’ll have to settle for dragons.”

  Rondo stood at the ship’s rail and watched the sea of green passing below them. He’d seen forests before, but never a forest like this. They’d been flying over it for nearly a day. If there was anything resembling civilization under the boughs, he had yet to see any sign. And the trees. Gods above, some of them were nearly as wide as the tower itself and twice as tall. How were they supposed to spot anything with that thick, evergreen canopy, not to mention the equally thick fog, obscuring everything?

  Maybe Umbra had some magic trick that would reveal the tower when they arrived. Rondo glanced back at the pilot’s station. Umbra stood at the control pedestal fully shrouded in his black cloak. Rondo still hadn’t seen the man’s face. Having to guide the ship during the day put the wizard in a foul mood and Shade admonished Rondo to keep his distance. That was advice Rondo fully intended to follow.

  The ship lurched and came to a full stop. Rondo barely had time to think before Shade came bounding up on deck followed a moment later by gray-clad mercenaries of the Shadow Blade company, all twenty of them. Apparently, they often worked for Lord Black. Shade had been busy during the trip divesting them of a chunk of their pay in the innumerable card games they played to pass the time. Rondo didn’t like to gamble, a habit he picked up from his parsimonious father. Shade, on the other hand, took everything with a smile, win or lose.