The Study Series Bundle

by Maria V. Snyder

  “Was his mother a magician?”

  “She was considered to be a healer, but I don’t know if she healed with magic or with mundane remedies.”

  Valek drained the tub while I attempted to do something with my ruined hair. Some sections remained long, while others had been burnt to stubble.

  “Let me, love.” Valek removed the brush from my hands. He rummaged around the bath area until he found his razor. “Sorry, nothing else will work.”

  “How did you get so good with hair?”

  “Spent a season working undercover as Queen Jewel’s personal groomer. She had beautiful, thick hair.”

  “Wait, I thought all the Queen’s servants had to be women.”

  “Good thing no one thought to look up my skirt.” Valek grinned with impish delight as he cut my hair. Large chunks floated to the ground. I stared at them, trying to convince myself losing my hair didn’t matter. Especially not when I considered I wouldn’t need it in the fire world.

  After he finished, Valek said, “This will help with your disguise.”

  “My disguise?”

  “Everyone’s looking for you. If I disguise you as a man, you’ll be much harder to find. Although…” He studied my face. “I’ll use a little makeup. Being a man won’t draw unwanted attention unless they notice you don’t have any eyebrows.”

  I touched the ridge above my eyes with my fingertips, feeling smooth skin. I wondered if they would grow back. Again, I dismissed the notion. It wouldn’t matter in the end.

  “What should we do first? Try to find the tunnel to the Keep, if it even exists. Or go and rescue the Councilors’ families?” I asked.

  “We should—” Valek sniffed the air as if he smelled a dangerous scent. “Someone’s coming.”

  28

  HE SIGNALED ME TO WAIT and left without a sound. I grabbed my switchblade and crept through the living room. A murmur of voices filtered in from the kitchen. The door flew open as soon as I reached it. I brandished my knife at the hulking figure in the doorway.

  “What happened to your hair?” Ari demanded. “Are you all right?”

  Janco followed him in. “Look what happens when you sneak off without us!”

  “I’d hardly call being captured and taken to Sitia inside a box sneaking off,” I said.

  Janco cocked his head this way and that. “Aha! You look just like a prickle bush in MD-4. If we buried you up to your neck, we could—”

  “Janco.” Ari growled.

  “If you gentlemen are finished, I’d like to know why you disobeyed my orders,” Valek said.

  Janco smiled one of his predatory grins as if he had anticipated this question and already composed an answer. “We did not disobey any of your orders. You said to keep an eye on Yelena’s brother, the scary-looking big guy and the others. So we did.”

  Valek crossed his arms and waited.

  “But you didn’t specify what we should do if our charges came to Sitia,” Ari said.

  “How could they possibly escape the castle and get through the borders?” The expression on Valek’s face showed his extreme annoyance.

  Glee lit Janco’s eyes. “That’s a very good question. Ari, please tell our industrious leader how the Sitians escaped.”

  Ari shot his partner a nasty look, which didn’t affect Janco’s mood in the least. “They had some help,” Ari said.

  Again, Valek said nothing.

  Ari began to fidget, and I covered my mouth to keep from laughing. The big man resembled a ten-year-old boy who knew he was about to get into a lot of trouble. “We helped them.”

  “We?” Janco asked.

  “I did.” Ari sounded miserable. “Happy now?”

  “Yes.” Janco rubbed his hands together. “This is going to be good. Go on, Ari. Tell him why—although, I think they magiked him.” He waggled his fingers.

  “They didn’t use magic. They used common sense and logic.”

  Valek raised an eyebrow.

  “There’re strange things going on here,” Ari said. “If we don’t put it right, then it’ll spread like a disease and kill us all.”

  “Who told you this?” I asked.

  “Moon Man.”

  “Where are they now?” Valek asked.

  “Camped about a mile north of here,” Ari said.

  The drumming of horses reached us before Valek could comment. Through the window, I saw Kiki followed by Topaz, Garnet and Rusalka.

  “How did they find us?” Icy daggers hung from Valek’s voice.

  Janco seemed surprised. “They didn’t know where we were going. I told them to wait for us.”

  “Isn’t it frustrating when no one obeys your orders?” Valek asked.

  We went outside. Tauno rode on Kiki and she came straight to me. She bumped my chest with her nose. I opened my mind to her.

  Don’t go into fire again, she said.

  I didn’t reply. Instead, I scratched behind her ears as Tauno slid off her back. He greeted me with a cold look and returned to the others. Leif, Moon Man and Marrok lingered near their horses while they talked to Ari and Janco.

  From Leif’s various frowns and Tauno’s scorn, I knew they remained angry with me. I couldn’t blame them—I had acted badly. Liveliness lit Marrok’s face and I hoped Moon Man had been able to weave his mind back into a coherent whole.

  Everyone went inside, but I stayed behind, taking care of the horses as best as I could with half-burnt brushes and scorched hay. Part of the pasture’s fence had caught fire and collapsed. I stared at the gap, knowing the well-bred Sandseed horses didn’t need a fence and Onyx and Topaz would stay with them. However, I attempted to fix the broken section. And kept at it while the sun set and the night air turned frosty. Kept working even when the horses decided it was too cold in the open and left the pasture to find warmth under a copse of trees nearby.

  Valek arrived. I pounded on a post with a heavy rock. He halted my swing and removed the rock from my hand.

  “Come inside, love. We have plans to discuss.”

  Reluctance pulled at my feet as if I walked through thick, sticky mud.

  The living-room conversation died the moment I entered. Moon Man looked at me with sadness in his eyes and I wondered if he knew about my deal with the Fire Warper or if he was disappointed by my actions.

  A fire had been lit. I sat down next to it, warming my frozen and bleeding fingers, no longer afraid of the flames. The trapped souls within the fire twisted. Their pain and presence were clear and I wondered how I had been able to ignore them before.

  I averted my gaze. Everyone stared at me. Ari and Janco had gained their feet and held their bodies as if ready to spring into action.

  “Did I pass your test?” I asked. “By not diving into the flames.”

  “That’s not it,” Janco said. “You have a rather ugly bat clinging to your arm.”

  Sure enough, a hand-size bat peered at me from my upper left arm. His eyes glowed with intelligence; his claws dug into my sleeve. I offered a perch and he transferred his weight to the edge of my right hand. Carrying him outside, my efforts to release him failed. He didn’t want to leave. Settling on my shoulder, he seemed content so I returned inside.

  No one commented on my new friend. In fact, Leif regarded the bat with an intensely thoughtful expression.

  The others waited. A moment passed until I realized they waited for me to begin. To make the decisions. To set events into motion. Even after leaving them as prisoners of the Commander, they still looked to me. And this time, instead of backing down and pushing them away, I accepted the responsibility. Accepted the fact that they might be hurt or killed, and understood my life would be given in exchange for keeping the Fire Warper from returning.

  “Leif,” I said.

  He jumped as if bitten.

  “I want you and Moon Man to get into the Council Hall’s library and find everything you can about a tunnel into the Keep.” I explained Bain’s comments. “Moon Man can disguise himself as a Vermin a
nd hopefully you won’t be caught. Do not use magic at all from now on. It will only draw them to you.”

  Moon Man and Leif nodded.

  “Marrok?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Are you able to fight?”

  “Ready, willing and able, sir.”

  I paused, swallowing a sudden knot in my throat. By their determined expressions, I knew they were all willing. At least Valek’s smug smile was better than hearing him say, I told you so.

  “Good. Marrok and Tauno will accompany Valek and me. We’ll go south to rescue the hostages.”

  Ari cleared his throat as if he wanted to protest.

  “I haven’t forgotten about you two. I need you to go into the Citadel and help organize the resistance.”

  “Resistance?” Valek asked. “I hadn’t heard.”

  “I put an idea into a merchant’s head, and, I think if Ari and Janco disguised themselves as traders, they could move about the Citadel. Ari will have to dye his hair. Oh, and find a boy named Fisk. Tell him you’re my friend and he’ll help you make contacts.”

  “And when and where, Oh mighty Yelena, do we resist?” Janco asked.

  “At the Keep’s gates. As for when, I don’t know, but something will happen and you’ll know.”

  Janco and Ari exchanged a look. “Gotta love the confidence,” Janco said.

  “And when do we start, love?”

  “Everyone get a good night’s sleep and we’ll begin preparations in the morning. We’ll leave early. Do you have enough disguises for four of us or do we need to get supplies? Money?”

  Valek smiled. “You mean raid some laundry lines? Steal a couple purses? No. My safe houses are well stocked with all types of items.”

  Leif was the only one to be alarmed by his statement.

  The room erupted with the noise of multiple conversations. Plans were made and actions decided. Tauno’s unhappiness at being separated from Moon Man became apparent. He asked why we wanted him. I explained about needing a good scout.

  “What about Marrok?” he asked.

  “We need him just in case they’ve moved the captives. He can track them to the new location.” Also I wanted to talk to Marrok and find out why he had accused Leif and me of helping Ferde escape.

  The next morning, my group saddled the horses. Since we wouldn’t be crossing the Avibian Plains, Valek rode Onyx, Tauno sat on Garnet and Marrok rode Topaz. Valek had used his skills to transform us into members of the Krystal Clan. We wore the light gray tunics and dark woolen leggings that the clan preferred, which matched the short hooded capes and black knee-high boots.

  Before we left, Leif handed me a bunch of his herbs. “Since you can’t use your magic, you might want to have them. There are directions on how to use each one inside the packet.”

  “Leif, I’m—”

  “I know. Truthfully, I didn’t like the distrustful and mean person you became in Ixia. The fire brought my real sister back. So be careful, as I’d like to keep her around for a while.”

  “You take care, too. Don’t get caught. I wouldn’t want to tell Mother about it. She wouldn’t be pleased.”

  Leif looked at Ari and Janco. They fought over who would drive the wagon and who would guard. “Do they always argue?”

  I laughed. “It’s part of their appeal.”

  Leif sighed. “I’m amazed we made it to Sitia without being discovered.” He paused and considered. “I think I’m actually going to miss them.”

  “I always do.”

  We set a time and place for everyone to rendezvous, knowing the cottage would no longer be safe. I said goodbye to Leif and the others and we headed west, hoping to reach the Krystal Clan’s border by nightfall. We would follow the border south to the Stormdance lands. Then cross through Stormdance and Bloodgood before reaching Jewelrose’s border.

  Should anyone stop us on the road, we concocted a cover story. We were delivering samples of quartz to the Jewelrose Clan. Irys’s clan cut and polished gems and stones of all types. They designed and produced almost all the jewelry in Sitia.

  Disguised as a man, I used the name Ellion, and asked everyone to call me by that name.

  The day turned warm in the bright sunshine and we set a quick pace. Valek hoped the temperate weather would draw people onto the roads.

  “Why?” Tauno asked.

  “Then we will be one of many instead of the only ones,” Valek explained. They rode together and talked about how best to find the barn that held the Councilors’ family members.

  Kiki stayed beside Topaz. She had missed his company and I wondered if Cahil mourned the loss of his horse. They had been together since Cahil was young. My eyes rested on Garnet. I cringed when I imagined facing the Stable Master’s wrath. Garnet had been with us so long and I had lost the Avibian honey I had bought to appease the Stable Master. He would make me clean tack and scrub stalls for weeks. I snorted with amusement. I had found one positive thing about spending eternity with the Fire Warper: no mucking out.

  And no bat. My new friend hung from the edge of my hood. His weight rested comfortably in the small of my back. He seemed content to sleep away the daylight hours with me.

  Marrok remained quiet throughout the day, but I wanted to know what had happened to him at the Citadel.

  “Cahil tricked me,” he said when I asked. “I fell for his lies about remaining with Ferde to discover the extent of the Daviians’ operations. Applauded his plan to lure Ferde back to the Citadel. Commiserated over your ill-timed interference. He convinced me to confess and name you and Leif as accomplices. It would help him persuade the Council to attack Ixia. He promised…” Marrok paused, rubbing a hand along his right cheek. “After I confessed, he turned on me. A mistake I paid for…” He shuddered. “Am still paying for.”

  “Betrayals are brutal,” I agreed.

  Marrok looked at me in surprise. “Don’t you think leaving us in Ixia was a betrayal?”

  “No. That wasn’t my intention. I wanted to protect you and was honest with all of you from the start. I just wasn’t honest with myself. A mistake.”

  “You’re still paying for?” Marrok smiled. The gesture smoothed out the lines of worry and time on his rugged face, erasing years from his age.

  “Yes. It’s the problem with mistakes, they tend to linger. But once we’re done with the Vermin and Cahil, I will have paid for all my mistakes. In full.”

  Marrok gave me a questioning glance, but I didn’t want to elaborate. Instead, I asked, “Do you remember your rescue from the Citadel?”

  He grinned ruefully. “Sorry, no. At the time, I was in no condition to think. Moon Man is a wonder. I owe him my life.” He glanced around then lowered his voice. “Being here without him, I feel…fragile. And that’s hard for an old soldier to admit.”

  We rode the rest of the way in silence. Around midnight we set up camp. Funny how we automatically attended to the chores without discussion. Tauno hunted for rabbits and I cared for the horses. Valek searched for firewood and Marrok prepared the meal.

  “I’m used to soldiers’ rations on the road, so don’t expect this to taste like Leif’s,” Marrok said as he dished out his version of rabbit stew.

  The stew tasted a little bland but filled our stomachs. After dinner, we arranged our sleeping mats and set a watch schedule. I shared a blanket with Valek, wanting to be near him. I clutched him tight.

  “What’s the matter, love,” he whispered in my ear. “You’re rarely this quiet.”

  “Just worried about the Councilors’ families.”

  “I think we have things well in hand. Between my sleeping potion for the guards, your Curare for the Warpers and the element of surprise, we should rescue them in no time.”

  “But what if one of the captives is sick? Or dying? If I use my magic, I risk letting the Vermin know where I am and what I’ve been doing.”

  “Then you’ll have to decide what is more important—one person’s life or the success of the mission for Sitia’
s future. It’s pointless to worry. Instead, use your energy to decide how you would react to each contingency you can imagine. It’s more prudent to prepare for all possibilities than fret.”

  He was right. Eventually, I slept.

  Shadows haunted my sleep. They roamed the shadow world, lost and afraid. Whenever the bright heat would appear, they hid and waited for the hot hunter to dissipate. Each time, the hunter captured more of them in his net of fire. They didn’t understand why he came and they knew nothing about the bridge to the sky. They clung to this world, desiring revenge and justice. The shadows needed a guide to convince them to let go and to show them the way.

  “Ellion…Ellion…Yelena! Wake up.”

  I pushed the arm away, wanting to roll over. “Tired,” I mumbled.

  “Yes, we all are. But it’s your turn,” Valek said.

  I blinked. My eyelids would not stay open.

  “There’s a pot of tea on the fire.” When I failed to move, Valek pushed me off the mat and curled in my place under the covers. “Ahh. Still warm.”

  “You’re evil,” I said, but he feigned sleep.

  We had been on the road for the past four days, riding every minute we could to turn a seven-day journey into five days. And since Tauno had left before dinner to scout the area ahead, we had one less to guard the camp.

  My bat swooped over the rising heat of the fire. He’d been staying with me during the day and hunting food at night. I longed to fly with him, soaring over the ground.

  Tauno returned the next morning to report no signs of activity along our path to the Jewelrose border. “There is a good site to camp about two miles south of the border,” he said. “I will join you there.” He left.

  I wondered what had kept him awake. Unlike Tauno, I had had a few hours’ sleep last night. Perhaps I shouldn’t complain anymore.