The Alchemy of Chaos: A Novel of Maradaine (Maradaine Novels)

by Marshall Ryan Maresca

  He certainly couldn’t explain it to Phadre, who seemed more than overeager for getting to work.

  He had to risk a little magic, even though he had never done this trick with Kaiana before. He breathed in a tight draw of numina, grabbing words he barely even whispered, and blew them out across the several hundred yards right to Kaiana’s ear.

  “Can’t get away. What’s going on?”

  She almost dropped the lamp and looked around confused.

  “Just talk, I can hear you.” A similar trick would bring her words right to him.

  “I saw your cousin in the neighborhood. He confirmed that the Red Rabbits are going to deal.”

  “He just told you that?” Veranix glanced over to Delmin, who clearly realized that Veranix was doing something magical. His accusatory scowl spoke volumes.

  “In so many words. They’re getting a shipment of effitte tonight at the Trusted Friend.”

  “I don’t suppose you have a sense of exactly when.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “So,” Delmin said overly loudly. “Plenty of work for us to do tonight, right, Phadre?”

  “I think so, yes,” Phadre said. “Sorry in advance. We might even have to crash out in the professor’s laboratory. Though you might find that preferable to Almers.”

  “Veranix?” Kaiana whispered.

  “I can’t get away from this,” Veranix sent back to her. His gut twisted. “This is literally part of my Practicals exam.”

  Kaiana said nothing for a while, and he glanced over to the carriage house, trying not to stumble as they walked. She stood at the door, arms crossed. “I’ll think of something.”

  He took one last look before entering the tower, but she had gone inside with determination. He had a sinking feeling that she was about to do something really crazy.

  Chapter 6

  THE YELLOW DRESS would have to do. It was all Kaiana had to work with in this situation. Fortunately it was simple enough, lacking the prim complications that a fancier dress might have. It could never be like the dresses the barmaids at the Rose & Bush wore, of course—not that she would ever wear a dress like that.

  Right now she needed simple subtlety.

  There were only two things she could do: either scout the Red Rabbits herself, and whatever trouble that might land her in, or get Veranix out of the room he was in. The latter was the easier task, especially given the way that fourth-year mage was looking at her. Dressed and ready, she pulled out Veranix’s gear and staged it for him to get at quickly. She added a couple apples and some dried lamb to that. Saints knew he would probably need that.

  She took one last look in her tiny mirror, seeing a smudge on her face before she realized it was on the glass itself. She wasn’t going to manage any better right now, certainly not without looking like she was really trying to look better. She left the carriage house and made her way to Professor Alimen’s tower.

  Strictly speaking she was breaking the rules by going in the tower. Grounds staff were only supposed to enter buildings in which they had official business or residence. For Kaiana that meant little more than her carriage house and a few of the supply sheds. Out of fear of Master Jolen, Kaiana had followed those rules until recently. Ever since she had been credited with rescuing Professor Alimen from their abduction by the Blue Hand, Master Jolen had almost completely changed his attitude toward her. On campus there had been no acknowledgment that the Thorn had been a part of things, and the common impression had been that she was the unfortunate victim of a grudge against the professor.

  Master Jolen would no longer casually threaten her, as he used to. Now he was almost deferential. She had gained the professor’s favor. Perhaps Master Jolen feared being turned into a mouse or something.

  She wondered if the professor could even do such a thing.

  She had mainly taken advantage of her newfound liberty by going to the campus library or the bathhouse. The latter was quite important, for it allowed her to look like a civilized human being in her simple yellow dress.

  She could hear the boys in Alimen’s office before she was all the way up the stairs. They weren’t quite arguing, but their conversation was getting heated. From what she could tell, a mistake of some sort had been made, and they were going to have to repeat earlier work. While no one was quite assigning blame, there was an undercurrent that if one of them—Veranix was implying it was Delmin or the other one—hadn’t been careless, they wouldn’t have to redo everything they had done in the morning.

  That might make what she needed to do much harder, but it gave her an opportunity as well.

  By the time she reached the office, the boys had fully escalated, as they were apt to.

  “Do you think it’s easy for me to do this?” Veranix snapped at the other boy. “You are demanding precision action, and that takes a lot out of me.”

  “I know, I know!” the other boy said. “Look, there’s a lot of factors at play here, and I have to account for every single one. That means we’re going to have to repeat ourselves some. I’m sorry.”

  “By we, you mean me.”

  They hadn’t even noticed her in the doorframe yet.

  “Am I interrupting?”

  All three of them went quiet as they turned to her.

  “No, no, not at all,” said the boy she didn’t know. He was a magic student by his scarf, but he lacked the absurdly thin look that Veranix and Delmin had. He actually had some fleshiness to his face, which made the awkward smile he suddenly had plastered on his face seem all the more full. “Is there . . . something we can do for you?”

  “Me? No, not at all.” Kaiana walked over to the worktable, where several brass devices were set out. “I was just curious what this was all about.”

  “Kai?” Veranix looked completely befuddled. “We really have a lot to do here.”

  “I know that, Veranix,” she said. She turned and stared at him hard, speaking pointedly. “I’m very aware that you have quite a lot of things to take care of right now.”

  Delmin made a strange noise, like a mouse that just spotted a cat.

  “You all right?” the other boy asked.

  “Fine, fine,” Delmin said.

  “I’m being terribly rude,” Kaiana said, approaching the boy directly. Looking him straight in the eye, she extended her hand. “Kaiana Nell.”

  “Phadre Golmin,” he said, taking her hand. Firm grip, but she noticed a bit of tremble in his hand. “You aren’t a student, are you?”

  She gave him a bit of a smile. “My dress gave it away, didn’t it?”

  “She doesn’t need to be a student,” Veranix said. “She’s probably smarter than the three of us combined.”

  “How do I know you, then?” Phadre asked.

  “She’s on the grounds staff,” Veranix said. “Remember, we talked to her earlier?”

  “Yes, yes, of course,” Phadre said. “You have to forgive me, I’ve been . . . a little overwhelmed lately. I’m defending for my Letters.”

  “Oh, how exciting,” Kaiana said. She took a seat on one of the high stools by the workbench. “So all this is for your defense?”

  “Yes, I’ve opted for a presentation of theory,” Phadre said.

  “Really? I’m given to understand that’s the more challenging way to defend.”

  “How would you know that?” Delmin asked.

  “Because she pays attention,” Veranix said. He looked wary; he gave her the slightest of nods. He wanted to get out of here, go stop the Red Rabbits.

  “I’m a very good listener,” she said, aiming directly at Phadre. At the same time, she crossed her legs, letting her dress hitch up ever so slightly, now exposing her bare knee.

  Phadre took notice.

  So did Delmin and Veranix, but that didn’t matter.

  “Well,” Phadre stammered out, “I’ve b
een working on how external factors can affect the flow of numina. Do you know what that is?”

  “I’m not sure,” Kaiana said. She might as well have a little fun here. “Is that the ever-present flowing energy that fuels magic?”

  She counted the seconds until Phadre’s mouth closed. “Saints, she is smarter than us all.”

  “Told you,” Veranix said.

  “So, what in all the saints’ names were you boys nattering on about?”

  Veranix spoke. “We spent all morning calibrating these devices. And now we have to recalibrate them because someone seemed to forget that when he’ll actually be presenting his defense, one moon is going to be full, and the sun is going to be to the southwest because it’ll be two bells in the afternoon, and something else is probably wrong as well.”

  “And that matters?” Kaiana asked.

  “It’s actually quite critical,” Phadre said. “I thought the effects would be negligible, but when I was running tests myself this afternoon, it seems that time of day, especially, is going to be crucial.”

  “Well, you can’t fix that now,” Kaiana said. That seemed obvious, but it also gave her the opening she needed.

  “Why not?” Phadre asked. And then it appeared on his face. “Of course we couldn’t. We’d need to calibrate in the afternoon.”

  “Which means you’d have to do it tomorrow. And you boys have your theory exam in the morning, right? And the afternoon to work with Phadre?”

  “That’s right,” Veranix said.

  “I suppose,” Delmin added, clearly wary about where things were going.

  “And I would bet there’s work you can do without them, am I right?” Kaiana had him on the line now.

  “Well, I do need to finalize the speech of the presentation itself. I mean, I had hoped to hash those details with the elements of the presentation, but if we have to wait until tomorrow.”

  “Look at these two,” she said, grabbing Veranix’s face. “They look exhausted, don’t you think? One exam today, plus they were in the middle of two crazy pranks, which means they didn’t sleep well. Plus they have an exam in the morning.”

  Veranix did her the service of yawning, almost on cue.

  “She’s right, Phadre. Maybe we’re grinding to the rim on this and need to tackle it in the afternoon.”

  Phadre looked at her. “But why—”

  “Tell you what,” she said, talking over him. “These two should go and rest. Really. You, on the other hand, should work on your presentation. So you’re going to give it to me. As if I were the professors you’re defending against.”

  “I don’t know,” Phadre said. But she knew she almost had him. “I mean, this is very advanced theory I’m talking about here.”

  “True,” Veranix said. “But believe me, mate, the presentation is not just what you say, but how you say it. Poise. Eloquence. You want someone to help you with that? Kaiana is who you want.”

  “Really?” Phadre asked. He was almost there.

  “I can be here all night if you need it,” she said. She really hoped she wasn’t going to regret this, but if it got Veranix to that effitte deal, it was worth it.

  “Fine, you’re right. The calibration is a waste of time right now. Go on, boys. I’ll hash this out.”

  “You sure?” Veranix asked.

  “Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry, if Alimen gives grief I’ll make it clear it was my plan.”

  “I could stand a bit more study,” Delmin said.

  “Let’s go,” Veranix said. “Have a good night, you two.” At the door, he gave Kai a glance, mouthing “Thank you.”

  As he left, and Phadre starting talking about the nature of his defense, all she could think was that he damn well better thank her.

  Veranix split off from Delmin with a quick word and little argument. He ran from the tower to the carriage house, resisting the urge to strip off his uniform mid-stride. Once he was inside he tore himself out of his clothes as fast as he could without damaging them. Kaiana had secreted his Thorn outfit and gear right under the Spinner Run’s trapdoor, so he didn’t even have to go down for them. Plus she left him fruit and dried lamb.

  She really was too good for him.

  Dressed and ready, he double-checked his gear: bow, arrows, staff, and napranium-laced cloak and rope. Everything in place, strapped and belted and ready. Time to knock some Red Rabbits around, and whoever Fenmere was sending with the delivery. He had warned them, and if they didn’t heed it, they deserved what was coming. After the two pranks and the exam, he was more than ready to work out some aggression on their skulls.

  Shrouding himself with the cloak, he slipped out of the carriage house, across the lawn, and over the campus wall.

  Two ways to do this. One would be to just kick his way into the Trusted Friend and pound his way through every Red Rabbit until he got their effitte. Problem with that was he had no idea when the delivery was, beyond tonight. Or who was delivering it. Or how. They might have it already, or not get it until midnight. So that left the other way to do this: stake out the Trusted Friend, watch for the drop, and then make his move. Or wait until there were fewer people about.

  The streets were far from deserted at this hour, still early in the evening. The oil lamps on Carnation Street—the ones that hadn’t been broken—still burned strong. No real opportunity to skulk about, and even trying to slip across the rooftops would look strange. Staying shrouded for hours wouldn’t work. He needed a quiet place to watch from, where he could keep an eye on everything.

  Slipping into an alleyway, he scurried up the back ladders of one of the taller buildings—not that any of the buildings in Aventil were that tall—halfway between Bush and Waterpath. From up there he could see the Trusted Friend, the same two Rabbits from last night were minding the door, along with two more friends. So he had made an impression on them.

  He could also see all the way to Waterpath, so anyone coming in this way from Dentonhill would stand out. While the streets weren’t empty, they weren’t so crowded that he couldn’t note anyone out of place.

  Drawing his bow, he checked his aim. From here he could hit the door of the Trusted Friend. He couldn’t do a precision shot, one of his father’s real needle-threading tricks, but that was hardly necessary. He wasn’t looking to kill any Red Rabbits tonight, but if he did, he wouldn’t lose any sleep over it.

  Almost an hour into his watch, two guys caught his eye, coming in from Dentonhill. One of them looked a little familiar, maybe one of the goons he had tangled with in the fish cannery or the warehouse. Definitely one of Fenmere’s. The other one didn’t seem familiar at all. Maybe Bell wasn’t coming for this.

  One of them had a heavy leather case strapped over his shoulder.

  The two of them went straight to the Trusted Friend and started talking to the doormen.

  Veranix didn’t need more proof. He nocked an arrow, took aim, and fired, and did it again. Then he jumped from the roof and magicked his way to a soft landing.

  Screams confirmed he had hit his targets. When he touched the ground, he saw that one of Fenmere’s men was hit in the leg, the other in the back. That one was down face first, while the other—the one with the leather case—was trying to get back on his feet.

  Veranix came in, another arrow at the ready, while the Rabbits pulled out cudgels and knives.

  “Not so fast, gentles,” Veranix said. “I’ve no qualm with sending you to the sinners.”

  Fenmere’s man turned to Veranix. “I’m gonna tear you apart for that.”

  “Hardly,” Veranix said. With a whisper of magic he opened up the case and flipped it over. Vials of effitte came falling out on the street. That was all he needed to see. He sent the arrow into the man’s chest, dropping him.

  “Oy!” one of the doormen yelled into the Trusted Friend. “Thorn is busting it up!”

 
More Rabbits came out, including Sotch and Keckin, who looked like they were ready to eat glass. Veranix paid none of them mind, drawing in numina and releasing it as blue hot fire all over the vials. In moments the effitte was nothing but smolder.

  The Rabbits didn’t take another step forward.

  “So which of you are still in the effitte business?”

  Before any of them answered, there was a sound whistling through the air. Not unlike an arrow, which triggered Veranix’s instinct to jump back.

  A spinning blade came flying within an inch of his ear.

  Veranix drew another arrow and aimed in the direction that came from, toward Cantarell Square.

  “Sweet saints almighty,” he heard a Rabbit whisper, and Veranix couldn’t blame him.

  A woman was at the edge of the square, every other person giving her wide berth for good reason. Her attire was downright scandalous—high leather boots and what appeared to be a matching corset and short trousers, bright blue, with an absurd amount of bare skin showing. Her black hair was schoolboy short and her face was made up with dark eyelining.

  Veranix hadn’t seen a woman like that since he left the carnival.

  Her dress wasn’t even the most astonishing element. In each hand she spun a metal-bladed disc, while at the same time she spun two large metal hoops around her waist and hips. Despite the speed she was whipping them around her taut body, Veranix could see those hoops were also razor sharp.

  “Did I find the Thorn?” she asked. “Lucky, lucky Bluejay.”

  Chapter 7

  WHOEVER THIS BLUEJAY WAS, Veranix immediately decided she was not to be trifled with. She had already nearly taken his head off, so there was no need to question her intentions. He sent his arrow straight for the center of her chest.

  With an almost imperceptible shift of her stomach, the upper hoop leaped up her body and circled her chest, so the arrow bounced off of that instead of touching her.