by Jake Kerr
“Yes. We must go. The army will be here soon. It may already be too late.” Arkady looked back down the gravel road that led to the warehouse complex.
I looked down at Mister Ali again. His eyes were closed, and through a tear in his robe I could see his chain armor. The image struck me so hard I fell to my knees.
I finally understood him.
He hid it from nearly everyone, but he had committed his life to protecting others—my grandfather, magical creatures, me, and… Naomi. He had never chose the path that would help himself, only the one that would help others.
I started to sob and couldn’t stop. Arkady pulled on my arm. “Tommy, there will be time to mourn later. I will hide us with an illusion, but we must go. We don’t know if they will have someone with the Eye.
And with the mention of someone with Mister Ali’s talent to see through illusion I felt myself just go numb. I pushed away Arkady’s assistance and stumbled forward, using the cane to support me.
We passed troops and vehicles rushing toward the warehouse complex. I didn’t know which illusion hid us, and I didn’t care. I didn’t know where we were going, and I didn’t care about that either. At some point we stopped, and Arkady led us to a shed behind a large house.
“We’ll rest here. We can decide on our next move tomorrow.”
As Arkady looked around for something for us to sleep on, Naomi walked over and touched my arm. I looked up at her face. Her eyes were drawn and bloodshot. She looked exhausted. I was going to tell her to rest after casting so many spells, but she pressed her finger against my lips and shook her head.
“I’m so sorry, Tommy.” She threw her arms around my neck and started to sob into my shoulder. I held her, feeling her body shake with each sob. “I’m sorry. So sorry,” she whispered over and over. I didn’t know what to say, so I just held her.
Eventually she pulled back and turned away from me, saying nothing else. She ignored the various rugs and tarps that Arkady was laying out for us to sleep on and curled up on the cement in the corner.
15
TEARS IN THE MORNING SHADOWS
I woke up with the clarity of knowing. Mister Ali wouldn’t be watching over me. He wouldn’t be asleep nearby. I felt empty inside. I opened to the subdued lighting of the sun bleeding in from cracks in the shed door and Arkady and Naomi sitting on the floor whispering. As I glanced at them, the lines from the shadows looked like streaks of tears on their faces.
They both were eating what looked like bread and apples. I watched them, frozen by the normalcy of the scene. I was broken inside, and felt like I didn’t belong with them.
Naomi glanced at me and must have noticed my eyes were open. “Tommy! Are you okay?” Naomi said, concern on her face. Her hair was tucked behind her ears, and she looked like she hadn’t slept well.
“Kind of numb.” She nodded as I stood up, stretched, and then walked over and sat on an upside down pail. Arkady held an apple out to me. I accepted it and took a bite.
“I will destroy them, Tommy. I promise you, I will.” Naomi swallowed hard and formed the Hammer of Jamshid spell in her palm.
I took a deep breath. I wanted nothing more than to seek vengeance on the Germans, but we didn’t have the Coat and we didn’t know where to find it. We seemed powerless to do anything at that point.
Arkady spoke up. “We have two problems. The Archmage is deep in hiding, and the Germans are aware of our presence and apparently want us dead.”
“Yeah. I guess vengeance will have to wait.” Naomi didn’t say anything. “How did the Germans find us, anyway?” I asked.
“We were just discussing that,” Naomi said. “They obviously knew we had powerful magicians on the ship. They may have been unable to attack us at sea, but they got glimpses of us during our journey. It’s not surprising that they knew we were coming to St. Petersburg.”
“Knowing powerful magicians were coming to St. Petersburg, they sent people to track us down.” Arkady violently ripped a piece of bread apart. “Bragging about us being powerful magicians! I can’t believe I alerted them to us, saying the exact wrong thing to the exact wrong person at the bar. I led us right into a trap!” Arkady handed me the shredded bread.
“It’s not your fault, Arkady. How could you know? We had so few options and it was our only lead.” Naomi spoke while I ate. None of us mentioned Mister Ali, which was a blessing as I didn’t want to think about it, but at the same time it also seemed wrong. We lost a friend and important ally. Shouldn’t we be mourning him?
“Regardless, we have no options now.” Arkady lowered his head. I thought over the past week, and a plan formed in my mind.
“What about the man you talked to at the bar? The one that led you to our ambush. Do you think he is still there? He may assume that we have fled. We could grab him and see if we could get information out of him.”
Naomi’s face lit up. “Oh, I can get information out of him.” She opened her palm and a spell filled the space. It was then that I noticed that she hadn’t cast a single spell since I had woken. “Do you think he’s still there?” We both looked at Arkady, who shrugged.
“It’s possible. He seemed to be a regular. He is probably a German spy, and that is his base of operations.”
“Can we return to the hotel? Are we safe there?”
Arkady nodded. “I believe so. At least I believe our money makes us safe there.”
“Got it,” I replied. “So how do we grab the man without drawing attention to ourselves?’
“I have an idea,” Naomi said. The spell in her hand crackled loudly.
After a long walk through a series of alleys and neighborhoods, we took hailed a taxi back to the hotel. We still had plenty of money, which was the one thing that Cain didn’t seem to begrudge our mission. Naomi did her best to disguise us with illusions. The beards and rough hair seemed fine to me, but Naomi cursed every time she looked at us. “I wish I had Cain’s talent for detail,” she said.
“Nonsense,” Arkady replied. “You are more powerful than he is already, and he has practiced for decades.”
“Argh. I give up!” Naomi shook her head. “We’ll just have to deal with it when the illusions dissipate. I can’t move and maintain three illusions with so much detail at the same time.” As we continued onward, I heard her mutter, “I guess I’ll just blow up anyone that causes trouble.”
The illusions were gone by the time we hailed a taxi. The driver seemed innocent enough, although I could see Naomi staring at him, flexing her fingers while she did. Arkady did all the talking, and we had little trouble navigating the various checkpoints. At one of them a soldier pointed at us and asked a question. Arkady replied, and the soldier smiled. He nodded and pointed at us again, saying something in Russian. Arkady looked over his shoulder and whispered, “Kiss each other.”
I was about to object when I felt Naomi’s right hand touch my cheek and then her left hand pull my head to hers. She kissed me lightly on the lips, then turned toward the guard and blew him a kiss. The guard laughed and waved us on, but I barely noticed. All I could think about was how soft Naomi’s lips were, how nice it felt to kiss them, and how I swore that I felt a shock when she touched me and then another one when our lips touched. More than anything I was thinking how confused I was. She was my friend. I shouldn’t like kissing her, especially a kiss that was clearly an illusion to get us past a checkpoint.
“He wanted to interview you both, but I told him that he didn’t want to interrupt a young couple on the morning after their wedding. He mentioned that you two looked too miserable to be newlyweds.” Arkady looked embarrassed. “I figured a kiss was the only way to prove him wrong.”
“It was a good idea,” I said, hoping the confidence in my voice covered the nervousness in my heart. I could picture Naomi wanting to wipe her mouth with her sleeve but being too polite to do so.
“It wasn’t entirely disgusting,” Naomi replied.
“No?” I asked, at that point pretty sure the co
nfidence in my voice was gone.
Naomi turned away and replied, “Still disgusting, though.” I waited for her to give me a playful nudge with her arm or to add something signifying that she was just kidding, but all she did was stare out the window.
We arrived at the hotel and Arkady once again checked us in. The manager said something and Arkady snapped at him. The manager didn’t say anything else and handed over three keys. As we walked up the stairs to our room, Arkady explained what had happened.
“He asked where the fourth member of our group was. I told him it was none of his business.” The reminder of Mister Ali filled the stairway with gloom, and we were all silent during the rest of the walk to our rooms.
Arkady and I had single rooms that shared a door between them, while Naomi’s room was across the hall. We gathered in my room, Arkady taking a chair, while Naomi and I sat on the edge of the bed.
I looked at Naomi. “I think Arkady should check and see if our German spy is still around. Then we can trap him tomorrow.”
“No way,” Naomi replied. “If he sees Arkady we’ll never get another chance. I want to get him tonight.” I could see Naomi clenching and unclenching her teeth. “I will get him tonight.” She stared at me, as if daring me to cross her. “I have a plan.” I looked at Arkady, but he just shrugged.
I liked Naomi’s plan, but it did seem dangerous. Naomi was going to cast an implicit illusion, making it seem to the spy that the room was full of Russian military and that they were there to escort him away for questioning. No one else would see the illusion, so it would appear that the man was just walking out with Arkady.
Arkady declared that the plan seemed sound. Naomi would sit in the corner and focus on the illusion, while Arkady would cover himself in the illusion of being a Russian colonel. He would be the one to escort the spy out.
“Are you ready?” I asked Arkady. “You’re doing an implicit illusion, too. Are you sure about it?” I didn’t want to question Arkady’s abilities, but Naomi had told me how difficult the implicit illusions were. I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t concerned.
Arkady nodded. “I’m not Naomi, but I’m still a master.” I couldn’t help but be amazed at how things had changed. When Naomi and I first came to England, she was insulted and sent to work on domestic magic. Now everyone treated her with the utmost respect. It made me happy.
“How about you?” I asked Naomi.
Arkady jumped in before Naomi could answer. “Yes. Do you have the energy for this illusion?” Naomi stared daggers at him. “The illusion alone would be impossible if we were talking about anyone else, and even then I would think you would need to be thoroughly rested.”
“I already have the forms worked out.” Naomi continued to glare at Arkady. “You just get him outside.”
Arkady nodded. “Get some rest. We’ll leave in a few hours.”
“Fine,” Naomi replied. She stood up and walked to her room, not saying anything else.
“She is a very angry young woman, Tommy,” Arkady said, shaking his head.
“She watched her mother die. She just watched Mister Ali die. And she almost died at the hands of an Ifrit,” I answered. “I think some anger is justified.”
Arkady’s eyes went wide. “An Ifrit? How did she survive an Ifrit?”
“I saved her.” Arkady glanced at the staff and then at me, nodding. “It’s one of the reasons she’s angry,” I added with a frown.
Arkady laughed and stood up. “Women. They are the same no matter where you come from.” He started toward his room. “Get some rest yourself, Tommy. A bed is better than concrete.”
I closed the door behind him. I badly wanted to help, but I was relegated to keeping an eye out and not getting in the way. I was to stay out of danger.
The thought made me think of Mister Ali. He looked out for me. He protected me. He warned me of danger. But he was gone, and now I had to look out for myself, and with a staff that no longer worked, I felt powerless to do so.
16
ILLUSIONS IN THE BAR
The next morning I was lying in bed using the staff to create images on the ceiling as I waited for Naomi. A sharp knock made me jump, and I rushed over to the door. I opened it to find Naomi with her hair pulled back in a pony tail, something I had only seen her do once before—the moment in her castle when she came to talk to me in my room. It highlighted her face, especially her cheekbones.
“It’s time,” she said, smiling. When she smiled, her dimples made an appearance, and it changed her entire look from hard and serious to light and beautiful.
“Sometimes I think you’re only happy when you’re causing trouble,” I said, matching her smile.
“That’s not true,” she replied, as I moved out of the way and let her into the room. “I’m only happy when I’m doing magic,” she added over her shoulder. “And this is going to be some really challenging magic.” She knocked on the door that connected my room to Arkady’s. “Time to go.”
Arkady opened the door. I had never seen him so focused. He said something in Russian but then quickly added, “I’m sorry. Just concentrating. I’m ready.”
I led the two magicians down the stairs and outside. We had paid a driver to take us to the bar and then wait for us for the return trip. Leningrad was entirely consumed with preparing for war. Troops were everywhere, and order in the face of impending violence was paramount. In such circumstances often the only way for practical business to take place was to bribe people to look the other way so that you could operate outside the tight controls. That’s what we did for transportation.
The driver was a bearded jolly man, who happily took our money and spoke in a torrent of Russian to Arkady. “He doesn’t want to know anything,” Arkady noted. Despite his desire, the driver kept up a steady conversation with Arkady during the whole trip, waving with his arms at traffic stops and laughing heartily at even the most succinct reply.
When we finally stepped out of the car a block from the bar, I turned to Arkady. “What was that all about?”
“He knows we’re up to something, so he trusts us and decided to spend the trip complaining about the Soviets.” Arkady shrugged. “At least it made me feel better about trusting him.”
We walked slowly toward the bar. I was nervous as we passed a few groups of young men, but they paid us no mind. I had a thick coat with a wide collar that I pulled up around my face. Everyone near the bar seemed secretive. I glanced over at Naomi. She looked like she was in a trance, her eyes nearly motionless as they stared ahead. Her hands made barely perceptible movements that were so complicated that they didn’t look quite real.
Arkady was just as focused. When we got to the front door, Naomi whispered, “Take my arm and lead me in, Tommy. Please don’t let anything hit my hands. Then go to a safe corner.” I took her arm and opened the door, ushering her through. She continued to stare straight ahead, as if she wasn’t even aware of the physical world around her. I guided her in and held the door for Arkady.
The bar was dimly lit, with booths around the back and right walls. The rest was full of bar tables with stools. A long wooden bar ran the length of the left wall, with two bartenders behind it. The room was full of men of various ages, all of them rough-looking, with grim, weathered faces.
There weren’t any free seats, so I stood to the left of the bar, close enough to look like I belonged, but far enough out of the way that no one would bother me. Naomi crouched in the middle of the room, making a series of movements. It was like watching a ballerina who is forced to dance a complicated ballet without moving her feet. Despite the fact that she was lightly clothed in the cold weather, no one paid any attention to her. Tapping the staff on the floor out of nervousness, I wondered if she was camouflaged by some illusion.
Arkady walked up to a large man and grabbed him by the shoulder. The man turned around with scowl on his face. He looked at Arkady and his eyes went wide. Arkady said something and pointed in Naomi’s direction. The man then looke
d back at Arkady, nodded, and stood up.
I was excited at how well things were going. The man was going to walk right out of the bar and follow us to the car without so much as an objection. The spy was about five feet from Naomi when he sprinted ahead, knocking directly into her and sending her sprawling on the ground.
I had only one chance. I ran over and intercepted him just as he reached the door. I swung the cane with all the force I could muster and brought it down on the back of his head. He stumbled forward and instead of opening the door slammed into it. He slid to the ground dazed but still conscious.
It was a mess inside the bar. Men were gathering around Naomi, who was slowly getting up. Arkady was fighting through men to help her, and as he did so men were pushing him away. One started to yell at him in Russian and pulled his arm back, as if to punch him.
“Arkady, bring her this way!” I held up the staff and filled the room with a blinding light. It did not affect Naomi and Arkady, but everyone else was shielding their eyes. “Hurry!”
Arkady lifted Naomi, who was unsteady in his arms, and helped her over to the door. “Take the spy,” I said. “I’ll help her.” I put my arms around Naomi, and as I helped her stand I was shocked. She was extremely thin and light, mere skin and bones, even lighter than when I held her on the ship.
Arkady grabbed the groggy spy and pushed him through the door. “I can handle myself,” Naomi said through clenched teeth. She tossed her hand back, and there was a crash. I glanced backward, and the room looked like a giant bowling ball had rolled through, with men and tables tossed all over the floor.
Naomi pushed on the door and stumbled. I put my arm around her again. “No more magic. You’re too weak.” I walked out to the street, where Arkady was dragging the man toward the car. Naomi pulled herself from my arms and marched forward.
She ran in front of Arkady, stopping him in his tracks. “Do you see this?” Naomi held up her right hand, and a deep red ball appeared. Unlike much of her magic, this didn’t glow or crackle with energy. It hovered above her hand.
