by Juliet Kemp
“I thought you needed ingredients to do sorcery,” Jonas said, inanely, the first thing that came to mind.
“You do,” Cato said, sitting back down again, cross-legged. “At least for now. And I generally find them helpful. They provide a focus, and a certain amount of energy, or power, or what-have-you. But – well, in an emergency, yes?” He took a deep breath. “Takes it out of you, though.” And, indeed, he did look a trifle worn, beneath his mask of casual unconcern.
“What happened?” Jonas asked.
Had the flicker had anything to do with the magic? With the pigeons? He almost opened his mouth to tell Cato about the flicker, then thought better of it.
“We-ll,” Cato drawled. “At a guess, I’d say that you did some magic. Perhaps slightly more magic than we had quite intended. I did say that Beckett might still be quite fond of you.”
“Fond of me? To send all those birds here?”
“You asked for birds, no? Birds were sent.” Cato beamed at him. “Now, Jonas, do tell me. Just how annoyed were you – at me, perhaps? People often are annoyed at me, I have noticed this in the past – when you did that? I’m thinking, perhaps, very annoyed.”
Jonas looked at him, sitting cross-legged in the middle of his rumpled bed, feathers still drifting down around him, the bedcover and the floor of the room spattered with bird-shit. There was an expression of polite inquiry on his face.
Jonas started to laugh. Cato’s lips twitched, and then he was laughing too.
“Don’t worry,” Jonas choked through his laughter. “I’m sure I’ll be able to get annoyed again.”
“Happy to help,” Cato said, and cackled once more.
k k
Tait stared down the side of the mountain, and shivered. They really didn’t like heights; which made joining an expedition through a mountain a bloody stupid idea, except that none of the other options had been any better.
It was cold, and Tait’s feet had been wet inside their ageing boots for days now. In an ideal world, they’d have bought good-quality new boots, maybe with sheepskin lining, before they started out on this trip. In an ideal world, they wouldn’t have been in quite the hurry that they had been. In an ideal world, they would never have decided to train as a sorcerer and they would still be living happily in Ameten. Somewhere warm. With a fire, and a nice stack of books to read in front of it.
Below them, here in this very non-ideal world, the rest of the expedition were strung out along the absurdly narrow path that wound its way sinuously down the mountainside, snaking between boulders and stunted gnarled mountain trees. Captain Anna had directed Tait to keep to the rear, on the grounds both that Tait was slower than anyone else, and that Tait’s job was to be prepared to perform sorcery at a moment’s notice should something require it. Which Tait strenuously hoped it would not.
Bracken, just behind Tait’s shoulder, made a huffing noise, indicative of his wish for Tait to get a bloody move on. Bracken’s job was to protect Tait should they need to do sorcery, and also to get Tait down the mountainside safely without freezing up at any point along the terrifying path. Bracken quite clearly thought that Tait should have mentioned a fear of heights when persuading Captain Anna to take them on for the journey. Captain Anna most likely thought the same, even if she hadn’t said it. Though Bracken had become less visibly irritated after the expedition was attacked by a dragon-bear – only a small one, but still big enough to have ripped them all to pieces – and Tait had opened a vein and translocated it straight across a ravine, to roar at them, baffled, from the other side.
Dragon-bears didn’t worry Tait. Well, that wasn’t wholly true. Tait had no desire to be ripped to pieces either. But the dragon-bear, in itself, hadn’t been Tait’s main concern right then. Tait’s main concern had been not attracting spirit attention that they really, really didn’t want. Which was why they’d risked bleeding out rather than do what any other Teren sorcerer would have done and summon a spirit. It was well worth the cost of a pint of so of blood and several stitches afterwards courtesy of the expedition medic not to become visible on the spirit plane. Happily, everyone else on the expedition was from Marek and knew sod all about Teren sorcery, so no one asked awkward questions.
And once Tait got down this damn mountain and into the swamps at its foot, they would be nearly at Marek, and once they got to Marek, they would be able to avoid spirit attention altogether. Or that was the theory. Maybe they could even work out how to be a sorcerer again safely…
It was a thought warming enough to get them moving down the absurd goat-track of a path.
“’Bout time,” Bracken muttered under his breath, stomping down behind Tait.
Bracken was shorter than Tait but about twice Tait’s weight, which surely should have meant he would find the narrow paths harder going, but apparently it didn’t work that way; Bracken seemed to have endless endurance and no fear at all. And he was carrying a significantly heavier pack, too, containing a share of the money and trading goods that the expedition was bringing back for its sponsor, House Fereno, one of Marek’s ruling Thirteen Houses. Captain Anna seemed to think quite highly of House Fereno, and in particular of whoever had organised this expedition. Personally, Tait couldn’t give a shit about Marek politics. What Tait cared about was that Marek only had the one spirit, and didn’t let any others in. And that meant Tait would be safe.
Hopefully.
“How much longer?” Tait asked Bracken, as the path widened out enough for them to walk side by side.
A certain amount of shouting was drifting up from below them. Tait looked down to see the rest of the expedition gathered by the side of a stream – well, a waterfall – that cut across the path. It looked like they were trying to bridge it. Great. Crossing a slippery tree-trunk across a raging torrent was exactly what this day needed.
“’Til camp? Think Captain wanted to get right out of the mountains,” Bracken said. He nodded downhill. “See them trees down there? Reckon that’ll be where we camp tonight.”
As far as Tait could see, the land kept on going downhill beyond the forested bit that Bracken indicated. They said as much.
“Nah, but, that’s not mountains, right? That’s just hills.”
“Right,” Tait said doubtfully, peering downhill again, then wishing they hadn’t.
“Much easier going,” Bracken said, obviously trying to sound reassuring.
A shower of stones slid out under Tait’s foot and bounced down the rocky mountainside, and they flailed, before Bracken grabbed their shoulder and steadied them.
“Proper paths, not stony like this,” Bracken added, as Tait regained their balance and tried to pretend it hadn’t happened.
“Well,” Tait said. “Good. And then, how long after that to Marek?”
Bracken made a thoughtful tch noise in the back of his throat. “Well now. Camp tonight. Another day to the river. Quicker, in the hills. Maybe a day and a half on the boats through the delta. Nice and easy, with the current. No trouble at all. So not tomorrow, nor yet the next day, but midday of the day after, should be.” He nodded, happy with his assessment. “And I’ll be glad enough to get home, and with a nice healthy lump of cash for our efforts, too.” He grinned cheerfully at Tait, and clapped them on the back. “And not eaten by dragon-bears either, eh?”
Tait did their best to grin back at him. On the path below, the rest of the expedition had crossed the waterfall, had their packs back on, and were heading onwards down the mountain, leaving a single person by the bridge to wait for Tait and Bracken. Two and a half more days. And then Tait could stop looking over their shoulder. Hopefully.
Of course, what they were going to do in Marek was another matter, but Tait could work that out once they were no longer at risk of being pulled apart by an angry demon. For now, the prospect of reaching Marek was enough to get them heading down towards the bridge with a glad heart. Well. Glad-ish.
TWO
Someone was calling Jonas’ name from the upper balcony of
the Dog’s Tail. He looked up to see Asa waving down at him.
“I have a seat,” they called, then held up a nearly-empty glass. “Get us a beer?”
Waiting at the bar, Jonas’ glance fell on the charms hung over the barrels to keep the beer sweet; he still found that strange to look at. The Salinas dockside pub he’d been in last night with Tam wouldn’t have dreamt of having anything of the sort; but then, their beer wasn’t the best anyway. Their berith was nicer, and he’d bought Tam one, so as to try it, but that was too expensive to drink all evening. That pub hadn’t been this crowded; the docks were empty of Salinas ships at the moment, and the Mareker dock-workers not so inclined to spend money on drink while they had less work.
He paid for two mugs of beer, then made his way up the stairs and through the crowded upper room. The pub was on a street corner, and once he was out on the balcony he could see down towards the river, a little sliver of water just visible at the end of the street between the closely-packed houses. Lemon-bark torches burnt on the corners of the railings to ward off the mosquitos; Asa had assured him that the season for them was nearly over. You didn’t get them out at sea, either, nor yet in Salina, but Marek was surrounded by swamp. He’d never been here at this time of year before.
He put the beer glasses down, slid onto the bench beside Asa, and leaned into them a little before backing away again. Salinas didn’t go in for physical affection in public, but Marekers did, and he was trying to make allowance for Asa’s preferences.
“Good day?” Asa asked him. The low sun shone off their smooth brown cheekbone as they turned towards him. They’d untied their red messenger’s armband; Jonas could see it peeking out of their shirt pocket.
Jonas shrugged a shoulder. “Morning running messages. With Cato in the afternoon.”
“How was it?”
Jonas really didn’t want to talk about it. He shrugged again. “Fine.” I summoned half the pigeons in the city. It’s possible that I need to get annoyed to do magic. I had a flicker. Asa didn’t know about his flickers. “Just, you know. Fine.”
“Trade secrets, eh?” Asa said. “Fair enough. Well, I got a whole series of runs through the merchants’ quarter.” They sounded deeply satisfied. “Right along Guildstreet, three in a row, then back to some jeweller at the foot of Marekhill, and she tipped me very generously indeed. I’ll get the next round in.”
“I’d appreciate it,” Jonas said a bit ruefully. Working with Cato was really cutting down his time for paid work.
“Weirdest thing happened, though,” Asa said. “I was coming along Guildstreet, second message of the run, and all of a sudden every pigeon in the street just up and took off, all at once. Strangest thing I ever saw. Nothing to account for it – just this huge cloud of pigeons, all flying over the river. Towards the squats, far as I could tell.”
“Goodness,” Jonas said, feeling very self-conscious, and hoping that his surprise sounded convincing. “How peculiar. What happened after that?”
Asa shook their head. “Just as suddenly as they started up, they all just stopped again. They didn’t just stop flying, I don’t mean. But it was like they’d all had an idea, and then the idea disappeared, and they all flew off their separate ways.” They laughed. “Strange birds.”
“I suppose they just forgot what they were doing,” Jonas said. “Not the brightest, are they?”
“No indeed, but I wonder what set it off? The only time I’ve seen anything like was once when someone was flying a hawk in Marek Square, and every bird in the place took off and away. But I didn’t see a hawk this time.”
“A mystery,” Jonas said, and changed the subject as quickly as he decently could.
Asa, as promised, went to fetch the next round. Leaning back into the corner of the rail behind him, Jonas started to wonder if he could, reasonably, share with Asa some of what he was doing. It wasn’t fair, surely, to expect him to keep silence and speak only to Cato. But then again, Asa was right – all trades had their secrets. It wouldn’t do for him to tell Asa something that Cato would think he should have kept quiet.
In any case, it wasn’t the sorcery he really wanted to talk about. He could talk to Cato about sorcery. If he really wanted to, even, he could find Reb and talk to her – though he’d been avoiding her. And he’d have to admit to the whole business of learning sorcery from Cato. He was a little surprised that she hadn’t come chasing him down, after she’d seen him apparently performing sorcery in the embassy, but perhaps she had enough on her plate.
Either way. It wasn’t the sorcery. It was the flickers. He wanted to be able to tell Asa about his flickers. And he never did that. He’d told Urso, when he’d just thought Urso was a trader with an interest in magic, before he’d discovered that the man was, illicitly, a sorcerer himself. He remembered the relief of that moment, of mentioning it and of Urso’s reaction – interested, fascinated, but not in any way disapproving. And then, on the other side, he remembered telling his mother. The sinking feeling when she’d flinched and turned away from him, told him to deal with this problem. By which she meant: get rid of it.
That difference was why he’d listened to Urso, more fool him. Urso hadn’t told him to get rid of it, hadn’t flinched from him. Urso had just accepted the truth of it. Granted, then Urso had moved straight on to trying to use Jonas for his own purposes, and Jonas had been an idiot to allow that to happen, but still.
He wasn’t sure what had happened to Urso, after the embassy. He’d been arrested, Jonas thought, but he’d not heard anything of a trial. Maybe sorcerers didn’t get trials.
His mother would be even more upset by the sorcery than she had been by the flickers. Like everyone else at home. He could walk away from the sorcery, though, if he wanted to. He’d never wanted to be a sorcerer. He barely even believed in it. But Cato said that the flickers and the sorcery were the same thing, and… and he didn’t want the flickers, either, but Cato had said “It’s yours, and you can learn to use it,” and…
Jonas sighed, and rubbed at his eyes. He didn’t want the flickers or the sorcery, but that didn’t stop both of them from tugging at him in some deep part of his soul. He’d have to get rid of them eventually, if he wanted to go home. When he wanted to go home. But surely that would be easier if he understood more first. Then he could get rid of it with an easy mind.
But how was he to understand his flickers without anyone to talk to? Cato was interested, and unlike Urso, he didn’t seem to have his own purposes in mind, but with Cato one could never be sure.
And in any case, he couldn’t say anything to Cato of how he felt about them. Theirs wasn’t that sort of relationship. And he sorely felt the need of someone to have that conversation with. It was absurd, really; he’d gotten through his entire childhood holding it secret. He was used to it. And yet somehow, now there was someone else who knew, it felt almost impossible to continue.
Asa wasn’t Salinas; didn’t have that automatic distrust and dislike of anything remotely magical. Asa wasn’t bothered about him apprenticing to Cato. Surely, that meant he could tell them about the flickers? If they were just a form of magic?
Maybe they weren’t. Reb, when he’d asked her, months ago, without mentioning that he was asking about himself, had never heard of such a thing. Cato was convinced that they were a form of magic, but hadn’t any idea beyond that. Marek magic was supposed to be all about the cityangel, and Beckett had told Jonas that the flickers were not of Beckett’s doing. Could they really be magic of a different kind?
“You’re quiet tonight,” Asa observed, sitting down next to him and startling him badly. He hadn’t been paying attention. That wasn’t a great habit, round here, though the Dog’s Tail itself was safe enough. “What’s on your mind?”
Jonas looked into Asa’s warm dark eyes. Surely Asa would be fine with the flickers.
But… what if they weren’t? What if those warm dark eyes would turn cold and doubtful; would turn away from him the way his mother had?
; “Oh, nothing much,” he said, and felt his insides shrivel slightly. “Hey, you haven’t caught me up on the gossip yet.”
“Well then,” Asa said, laughing. “So, Tam, right…”
Maybe tomorrow he could tell Asa about it. Or the day after, even. Maybe when he understood it himself a little more. And once he understood it, he could decide what he was going to do with himself.
k k
Cato was lying flat on his bed, staring at the ceiling as the reflected red of the sunset gradually dimmed, when he heard the knock on the door. Well; less of a knock, more of a highly irritated pounding. He glanced over at the clock that Marcia had given him. Reb was exactly when he’d expected her.
The pounding intensified, and he smirked up at the ceiling.
“Do come in,” he called.
“You want me just to take them down?” Reb demanded from outside the door.
Cato considered it – it wasn’t like they didn’t both already know that Reb could take his wards down if she wanted to, and it might as well be her that did the work – but he suspected that she was annoyed enough to make a deliberate mess, and that meant more hassle putting them back up again.
“One moment.”
He rolled over to take a pinch from the pot of wards-mixture under the bed, and threw it towards the door, focusing his attention onto it and muttering a couple of words. A pleasurable shiver ran down his spine, and the wards around the door sparked then disappeared into – the spirit-world, Cato supposed, though his theory on these things was shaky. He’d like to ask Beckett some questions, except for the bit where that would involve talking to Beckett. Cato’s magic might depend on the cityangel, but he was just as happy for that to happen from a distance. Beckett saw too much.
Reb barged the door open and Cato smirked over at her from his prone position. Her short brown curls were untidy, and her skin shone with sweat. It had been too warm today to be storming around Marek at Reb’s customary speed.
