Magic Below Paris Complete Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 8): Trading Into Shadow, Trading Into Darkness, Trading Close to Light, Trading By Firelight, Trading by Shroomlight, plus 3 more

by C. M. Simpson

  “Yeah. I hear you.”

  They’d followed Brigitte into a stairwell and descended another two flights before he spoke again.

  “Thanks, Marsh.”

  She resisted the urge to ruffle his hair.

  “No problem, kid.”

  He scowled.

  “I’m not a kid. I… I’m nearly eleven.”

  “Are not,” Aisha snapped. “Are so not!”

  Before an argument could break out, they reached the dining hall and forgot their quarrel, focusing instead on the food at the other end.

  Breakfast was simply a matter of choosing what they wanted and taking it back to their table. The dining hall was on the ground floor of the fortress, with arched and buttressed walls that were reassuringly solid on one side and stood open between a series of pillars on the other. Through the arches, Marsh saw a stone patio leading out into a garden lit by glows bright enough to allow plants from the surface to grow and thrive. Brigitte chose a seat near one of the arches.

  “We’ll sit here once we’ve got our food,” she said, indicating the garden. “The former Master of Stone helped us build this. He and a stranger from the northeast, a wanderer. They said it was important for those of us below to know there were people on the surface who would be there if we needed them. We had only to call.”

  She sighed and stared at the flourishing plants.

  “This was supposed to give us hope and encourage us to seek them out,” she continued. “But all it does is remind us of what was lost when the surface world went mad and our founders fled to the safety of the dark.”

  Her words carried sadness and maybe a touch of longing, and they were silent as they gazed across the portico to the garden’s brightness. It was a relief when Roeglin joined them.

  “Why so sad?” he asked when he saw their faces. “And why are you just standing there? Breakfast is waiting, and we have a long way to go today. Brigitte, why don’t you get the children started?”

  Marsh saw Tamlin take a breath to protest about being called a child—and noted when he caught Roeglin’s gaze and let the breath out without saying a word. The boy held out his hand to Aisha.

  “Fine. Come on, Aysh—and don’t let Scruff get loose this time.”

  This time? Marsh tried to remember when the pup had gotten loose before.

  Brigitte turned with them, and the three of them headed for the food. Roeglin waited until there were several tables between them before he leaned toward Marsh and began to speak.

  “Today we’re going to take a trip across the cavern to ask if the Master of Stone will assist in your and Aisha’s training. We’ll be away from the fortress for the night.”

  Marsh nodded, wondering why he couldn’t have told her that while the others were still there. Roeglin’s next words explained it.

  “There’s a good chance the rock mages will want to keep the girl with them, while most of Tamlin’s training will be conducted here. I need your help to convince the children it’s okay.” He glanced over to where Aisha was slipping a meat pastry to Scruffknuckle’s waiting mouth while Tamlin distracted the server. “Something tells me it’s not going to be easy.”

  “We’ll play it by ear,” Marsh told him, then lifted her chin toward Brigitte. “Does she know?”

  “She received her instructions last night while you were sleeping. I’m surprised you slept through it.”

  To be honest, so was Marsh.

  “I guess I was more tired than I thought.” She stared at where Brigitte was helping Tamlin juggle his breakfast and two cups of chocolate. “She’s an apprentice journeyman, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, who is she apprenticed to? I haven’t seen her master or mistress.”

  Roeglin frowned.

  “They’re out on the road, which is where she should be, too, but with all the shadow attacks, lately…” He shrugged. “It’s not safe for her to leave the fortress.”

  “And yet she’s going with us?”

  “On this journey, she’ll be fine. The rock mages know her well.”

  “But isn’t journeying the only way she’ll complete her apprenticeship?”

  “It is.” Brigitte sounded a little annoyed, which was understandable given that they’d been talking about her behind her back. “But being dead makes that hard as well.”

  She banged her plate down on the table.

  “What I need is someone willing to take the risk with me, and that’s not something my current journeyman is ever going to do. If either of you can come up with a solution to that one, let me know.”

  She sounded angry and sad, and Marsh couldn’t blame her. If her own reaction was anything to go by, the girl faced open hostility every day because of her coloring. When she added that to not being able to complete her apprenticeship, Marsh thought Brigitte had every reason to be angry…and sad. It was the kind of thing that would upset Marsh too.

  Before she could find anything to say to that, Brigitte sat and waved her and Roeglin toward the food.

  “Better go and get some food,” she told them and looked at Marsh. “I gather he’s told you what we’re doing today?”

  Marsh nodded and managed to force a smile.

  “Yes, and thank you. I’m sure Aisha will be excited to see other folks who can talk to rocks.”

  “Really?” Aisha squealed, looking at Brigitte. “More like me?”

  “More like you. They can help you.”

  “Help me talk to rocks?”

  “And more.”

  “Are they nice?”

  Marsh and Roeglin stood and headed over to select their breakfasts. Behind them, they could hear Tamlin joining in the conversation, working to reassure his sister that rock mages were very nice, but she’d better behave or they’d shut her in a cave forever. By the time Brigitte managed to calm Aisha down, Marsh and Roeglin had collected their food and returned.

  “You really have to stop teasing your sister,” Marsh told Tamlin. “Now eat your breakfasts before we decide to leave you both behind.”

  “But…” Aisha started, and Roeglin raised his hand and pointed to her half-full plate.

  “Eat,” he said, making it sound like she had no option.

  Tamlin didn’t wait to be told but focused on clearing his plate, glowering at the shadow mage as he did so.

  “You have to teach me how you do that,” Brigitte said, and Roeglin smiled.

  “Just watch,” he said. “You’ll get the hang of it.”

  Brigitte glared at him, but she lifted her cup of kaffee and didn’t say anything. They all hurried through breakfast, clearing their plates before leaving the hall. As she ate, Marsh found herself staring at the garden from the surface world, the gift of a stranger she’d never heard of or seen, and she wondered if she’d ever have the chance to see any of those plants beneath an open sky.

  The thought made her shiver until her mind adjusted to the idea of not having stone above her head, and then she wondered what it would be like—and just how many artifacts had survived the more volatile weather above ground. It was something she might look into once the threat to the caverns was over. Following Roeglin, Brigitte, and the children from the hall, she wondered if any of them would want to come with her, then she shook the thought away.

  First, she had to help remove the threat to the Four Settlements. After all, what use was exploring the surface world if she had no home to return to? She stowed the thought for another time and hurried down the corridor behind the rest.

  21

  The Hoshkat Returns

  Roeglin surprised them by stopping at the fortress’s storehouse.

  “I’ve brought them,” he called to the woman behind the counter, and Marsh found herself being assessed by a shrewd pair of steel-gray eyes that traveled from the top of her head down to her toes.

  The woman turned the same gaze onto Aisha and Tamlin and turned to Brigitte.

  “Do you know what disciplines they’ll be?” she asked, and the a
pprentice journeyman shook her head.

  The woman raised her eyebrows and turned to Roeglin.

  “I thought you said she was ready?”

  Roeglin shook his head.

  “No, I said she’d be ready once this journey was done and that you’d need to prepare.”

  “Excuse me?” Marsh exclaimed.

  Both Roeglin and the quartermaster ignored her. The woman made a soft harrumphing sound.

  “Well, at least you were right about the rest of it.”

  Her eyes returned to Marchant.

  “Except maybe that one. She’s a little taller than you guessed.”

  Marsh stared at them.

  She was? And he had? But before she could say anything, the quartermaster put her fingers to her lips and let loose with a shrill whistle. Running footsteps answered the summons, and three straw-haired youngsters appeared.

  “Ma’am?”

  Instead of answering, the woman handed them each a strip of paper. As soon as they’d received it, each one thanked her and disappeared at a run. The quartermaster flipped over a small sand-glass as they departed. Marsh was curious as to what she was doing, but the woman didn’t seem to be the kind who appreciated questions, so she stayed silent.

  If she had to guess, the youngsters were learning the business of stores, and the quartermaster was timing just how fast they could fill each order.

  Very fast, as it turned out—and Marsh’s guess on timing proved correct. When any of her assistants returned carrying a bulging pack, the quartermaster turned that apprentice’s hourglass onto its side, stopping the flow of sand. She tipped each each of their packs out onto the bench before her and checked off the pile of items against her list. Only once did she send one of her assistants back, and she tipped the hourglass up so the sand started flowing again as he bolted from the room.

  When he returned with the required item in hand, she stopped the glass once more and returned to checking off the list. By that time both of his compatriots had returned, something he noted with a dejected sigh.

  “Very good,” the quartermaster said, stowing the items back in their respective packs and handing the gear to Roeglin.

  As she did, Marsh’s pack caught her eye.

  “Pass that over,” she ordered, and Marsh shot a glance at Brigitte.

  “She’ll store it while you’re away,” the apprentice journeyman assured her. “You’ll be able to collect it when you get back.”

  Well, that made sense. Marsh handed over the pack, feeling a twinge of unease as she did so. If the quartermaster felt the extra weight she didn’t show it, just upended the pack onto the bench and made a note of the contents. Marsh breathed a sigh of relief when the woman didn’t open the carefully wrapped package containing the artifact.

  “Delivery?” she said, raising an eyebrow.

  “It’s nothing urgent,” Marsh told her. And it wasn’t, since the road was closed. “I’ll hang onto it until I can deliver it and then return the payment to my… To Kearick.”

  She had been about to call Kearick her master, but that would have been wrong. He wasn’t her master any longer—and might never be her master again if she didn’t get the roads open. Not only that, she was pretty sure she was going to have more important things to do than play delivery girl in the hopes of him organizing a seeker’s apprenticeship that probably wasn’t going to materialize. After all, Kearick had been promising to speak to a seeker for more than a year.

  If she was honest with herself, her ex-boss probably had no intention of ever doing so. Marchant was too useful as a courier and cheap, too, given he was taking her “training” out of her wages. She watched as the quartermaster carefully stowed her delivery back into the pack, surprised when the woman asked another question.

  “May I ask who it’s for?” she asked. “You know, in case you don’t return?”

  Well, that was grim.

  Marsh shook her head.

  “If I don’t return, there won’t be any point in making the delivery. Just send word to Kearick in Kerrenin’s Ledge that it’s here and waiting for pick-up. He’ll send someone he trusts.”

  “You work for Kearick?”

  From the look on the woman’s face that wasn’t a good career option, but Marsh didn’t let it bother her. Beggars couldn’t be choosers, after all. She shrugged.

  “I used to work for Kearick. With the roads down, I’ll be looking for another employer once my traineeship here is done.”

  The suspicion didn’t go away.

  “And when the roads are back up?”

  “I’ll make the delivery, return the payment, and hope I have another employer to return to by then.”

  At her reply, the woman relaxed, and the suspicion that had crept into her expression eased. She glanced at Roeglin.

  “You might help her with that,” she said, and Marsh got the impression it was more an order than a suggestion.

  Roeglin’s reply was equally solemn, a promise just as much to Marsh as it was to the quartermaster.

  “I will.”

  Marsh shook away the feeling that those words held another significance, shouldering her pack and adjusting the straps before moving to help Tamlin with his. The boy had already seen to his sister.

  As they finished speaking, two of her assistants disappeared through a door in the back, returning with packs for Roeglin and Brigitte. The quartermaster glanced at Scruffknuckle and then at Roeglin.

  “The stablemaster’s been working on a harness for the hund. He’ll be carrying his own food.”

  Marsh wondered if that was such a good idea, but kept her mouth shut. She didn’t think the woman had a sense of humor, even less when the joke questioned her competence. Still, she wasn’t so sure it was a good idea for the pup to be carrying his own supplies. Keeping the thought off her face was easy, especially when the quartermaster’s gray gaze swung toward her.

  It rested on her for a short moment, and Marsh realized the woman was checking her straps. When she said nothing, Marsh breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Thank you, Quartermaster,” Roeglin said, and moved toward the door.

  Brigitte took Aisha’s hand, Tamlin fell in beside his sister, and Marsh followed them. The quartermaster’s voice stopped her as she reached the exit.

  “Trainee Leclerc,” she said, “the monastery has its own seekers if that is where your path takes you.”

  Marsh froze, shooting a stunned look at the woman’s face and receiving a secretive smile in return. She didn’t elaborate though, shooing Marsh out with a gesture.

  “Don’t fall behind,” she advised. “Roeglin is a hard taskmaster.”

  He was? Marsh jerked her head around to see where Roeglin had gone and realized her companions hadn’t waited. Not sparing another glance for the woman behind the stores counter, she rushed out the door, hurrying in the direction she’d seen her friends take. It wasn’t long before she caught up with them, and she was very careful not to let them out of her sight again.

  It was quick work to fit Scruffknuckle’s harness, especially after Aisha had caught the pup’s gaze, her eyes flaring green as she talked him into standing still.

  “That’s a neat trick,” the stablemaster told her. “If you ever want to come help me with the mules…”

  Marsh watched Aisha’s face light up as the little girl turned to her brother.

  “I can help!”

  “Not right now, you can’t. You have rock mages to meet.”

  “Oh.” Aisha’s face fell, and the stablemaster sighed.

  “Some other time, then,” he suggested, and the little girl’s expression brightened.

  “Okay!”

  As they headed toward the gates, Marsh glanced back. The stablemaster was still smiling as he turned toward his office. It made her smile, too. Aisha’s happiness was infectious, much as her sadness would be if anything harmed her brother or the pup. Marsh swore not to let that happen. To never let that happen, and to bring the girl’s parents and othe
r siblings back.

  Sometimes the happiness of a child is even more important than delivering a package, especially when it gave those around her a reason to make the world a better place. Marsh took that thought and held it close. She was going to make a difference—not just to Aisha, but to the caverns. The raiders and their shadow monsters had to be stopped, no matter what it took.

  When they arrived at the gate, Henri, Lennie, Gustav, and Jakob were waiting. Their armor had been patched or replaced, and their weapons and harnesses gleamed with care.

  “Shadow Master says we’re to go with you,” Gustav told Roeglin, and Marsh stared.

  What about his duty to the cavern founder? It was a question that went unanswered as the shadow mage on the gate nodded his confirmation and Gustav and his guards formed up around them.

  “We’re to keep you safe on your journey to see the Stone Master, and we’re to bring you safely back. Shadow Master says the cavern might not be safe to travel with both raiders and a hoshkat on the loose.”

  Well, she couldn’t argue with him there, even if he had missed another danger. Raiders, hoshkats, and shadow monsters were all on the loose, and Marsh was glad they had more weapons protecting them than just her blade. It made stepping into the dark space between the gates much easier.

  “Is it much of a walk?” she asked, and Roeglin laughed.

  “Should take us most of a day,” he answered. Marsh heard Tamlin groan, but the shadow mage had no sympathy. “Strong young man like you shouldn’t have any trouble. Let’s get moving.”

  They set out as soon as the last gate opened, stepping into the caverns’ perpetual dark. Marsh found comfort in the soft luminescence of different fungi, shrooms, and mosses. She noted patches of glow worms on a distant wall and knew there was water nearby. She wondered how Fabrice and her children were settling in.

  She strode along, taking one step after another and wishing the quartermaster hadn’t been quite so generous with her stores. The weight soon became part of her, though. She followed the pace Roeglin set as he turned off the road leading to the fortress and took a smaller, less well-defined trail around the monastery’s side. As she walked, she let her eyes adjust to the cavern’s darkness, seeing the ripple and shimmer of heat around the fungal growth.