He was scowling again. “I think we’ve both apologized enough and you should let me out from under the wall.”
“You might be right about that,” Marsh told him, “but I’m not letting you out from under the wall.”
“Why not?”
Roeglin stepped to her side and Tamlin’s eyes widened. “Because I want to talk to you.”
The boy gave an experimental wriggle but couldn’t get free. Roeglin sat down beside Marsh.
“Alone,” he said, catching her eyes.
She looked away, glancing down at Tamlin. His eyes begged her not to leave, but Roeglin laid a hand on her knee. “I promise not to eat him.”
Marsh sighed. They probably had to do this sometime. “Why not now?” she muttered and raised her hands. “Fine.”
She glanced at Tamlin, mischief spiking through her. “You listen to your papa.”
She was sorry the instant she’d said it, but the words couldn’t be taken back.
“My what? Oh, Deeps, no! You get back here!” As if he had a hope in all the Deeps of her going anywhere near Roeglin after saying something like that.
Yeah. Thanks a lot, Marsh.
But Marsh didn’t want to talk to Roeglin either. She wanted to be somewhere else—anywhere else—right now. She sighted on a patch of shadow and ran for it.
11
The Invasion Force
Marsh didn’t return to the training grounds. She figured Gustav could have her hide all he wanted, but she needed a moment. Besides, he could always ask Sulema where she was. The leader of Ariella’s Grotto could probably find her no matter where in the cavern she went.
She bounded from shadow patch to shadow patch, not really looking where she was going until she found a place on top of a set of boulders. They were wedged against a stalagmite, the moisture dripping from the ceiling having long since cemented them together.
Marsh found a ledge and leaned against the stalagmite, staring out over the cavern but seeing nothing of it. What had she done?
She stared some more and came back to the question, trying to answer it. She’d told Tamlin he was family. That bit was fine. She’d also made it clear that Aisha was family...and that bit was fine too.
She’d called Roeglin “papa,” as in Tamlin’s papa. What had that been about? She liked Roeglin, but that much?
That thought made her stop for a minute, and she remembered the warmth of his lips against hers. Well, maybe. She let her gaze drift, taking in the stands of callas clumped in pools of silver-blue light, the warm gold of the brevilars, and the darkness between. What had she done?
That was a question not so easily answered, so she continued to stare out at the cavern, scanning the shrooms and toadies and then farther, catching glimpses of what looked like fields closer to the center of the cavern...the part that would be under the open sky.
She looked up, tracing the sinkhole’s edge with her eyes. The sun was up in the Surface world. She could see the warmth of its glow lighting the leaves of the vines draping the edges of the pit. It drove away the shadows, revealing hollows of stone that served as nesting places for birds, but not lighting the armored figures sliding over the lip.
Marsh froze. She blinked and looked again. This time there was no mistaking what she was seeing. A swarm of figures was sliding over the edge above her. The morning sun revealed them as man-shaped shadows clinging to sturdy ropes that hung the cavern’s height.
Marsh drew the shadows around her, trying to ensure that her shape wasn’t silhouetted against the lighter rock around her. When no shouts echoed across the cavern, she stood, watching the soldiers descend a little farther before sighting on a patch of shadow.
She stepped out of it and paused. Where did she go from here?
She’d run so fast, she hadn’t paid attention to where she was going and couldn’t think of a single landmark that would help her find the way back.
“Sons of the Deeps!” She glanced up to where she knew there was the sky and caught the fleeting movement of those descending. “Merde!”
She looked around. Roeglin?
There was no reply, so she looked around again...and still couldn’t pick a likely direction.
“Merde! Merde! Merde!” She really needed to be back in Shamka, back in the dining hall. “Merde!”
She looked back at the descending raiders. There were more of them coming over the ledge. “Shadow’s Heart!”
She didn’t know why they were coming over the edge, but she was glad they hadn’t done their usual trick of opening a portal in the cavern. Maybe she’d been right about them needing a mage who’d been to a place. Maybe they’d killed everyone who’d already been.
They could only hope, right?
She took a deep breath. Well, she’d been to Shamka. She knew the town square as well as any visiting raider mage. She could picture it in her mind’s eye. All she had to do was remember how to get there.
The memory of a sponge flying through a window between her and Hawk’s Ledge came to mind, and she balked. She hadn’t been strong enough to hold it.
“For very long.” She reminded herself. “You couldn’t hold it for long.”
It struck her that she didn’t need to hold a gate to Shamka for long, just long enough to step through it. How did it go again? Turning her back on the raiders so she could concentrate, Marsh faced toward the cavern’s edge.
It was hard resisting the urge to look around as she pictured the outline of a doorway in front of her and then drew on the shadows to create it. As she did, she pictured Shamka’s square, its smooth stone floor, the door to the dining hall...
That was where she wanted to go. She wanted to open the shadow door and step right through to there. Realizing the door was still closed, Marsh reached forward and opened it. It was a little tricky to keep the town square pictured in her mind, but she did—and it was there when the door swung wide.
She was both relieved and elated when it was, even if her mental picture wasn’t quite correct. She’d forgotten the people, and she certainly hadn’t thought to imagine Roeglin and Tams stepping out of the dining hall. She could even hear them.
“Where’d you think she went?”
Well, that was a question she could answer. Taking a deep breath and holding the door open, Marsh worked to keep the square in focus as she stepped forward. There was a moment of disorientation, and then her foot hit the stone cobbles and she stepped through.
She looked up as shouts rose from around her. The people at the edge of the square were drawing weapons and running in her direction. Marsh looked for Roeglin and watched him pull a spear from the shadow.
“Merde!” Marsh dove sideways, losing her grip on the shadows as Roeglin’s spear flew through the space she’d occupied. Roeglin!
There was an outraged roar and Mordan appeared, but Marsh wasn’t taking any chances. The only problem was she didn’t know what to do. If she’d just opened a door into a raider encampment, she’d be pulling weapons from the darkness and raining lightning down on everyone around her, but she hadn’t.
And she couldn’t.
She hit the ground and rolled, coming up onto her feet two feet from Gustav.
“Deep’s britches, girl!” he roared, throwing his sword to one side instead of finishing his swing. “Poutain!”
This last came out as a shout as Mordan slammed into his side, knocking him to the ground. The kat ignored his outrage, hitting the ground astride him and then leaping for Marsh. She twisted as she launched, giving one of those direction-defying twists most cats used to get where they needed to be.
“Dan!” Marsh shouted as the kat snagged her with her claws and pushed her to the ground. She hit hard and Mordan landed on top, one paw flattening her to the ground.
Somewhere in the background, Roeglin was yelling too. “Hold fire! Hold fire!”
And Tamlin was adding to the chaos. “Get back!”
Marsh felt the shadows vibrate, and then the ground shuddered beneath he
r. Roeglin’s awed murmur of “Shadow’s Heart, boy...” was not comforting.
Aisha’s scream of “Stop!” echoed through their heads as well as their ears.
Aysh?
Marsh! “Marsh, Marsh, Marsh,” the little girl cried, running into the kat and then worming her way beneath it.
And I thought you couldn’t hear me in your head.
“I don’t like it in the head,” the child whispered, and Mordan lifted her foot.
The kat also retracted her claws as if she’d only just thought to do it and Marsh gasped. Her world swam. The hoshkat stooped down to lick the side of her face, then took her paw away and stepped to one side.
Marsh lay still, willing the pain to subside. Aisha was not impressed.
“Dan! You bad kitty.”
Mordan raised her lip and huffed out a breath, but she stayed close. Aisha covered the holes left by her claws, pressing her small palms down in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Marsh stifled another gasp, and the little girl frowned down at her.
“You...you a dumbass!” she said, and a tear slid down her cheek.
Roeglin gave a startled laugh as he came to look down at her. He caught sight of the blood seeping out from between Aisha’s fingers and dropped down beside her. “Let me see, kiddo.”
“See what?” Tamlin asked, and Marsh heard him backing up so he could see. “Dan!”
This time the kat uttered a short growl that sounded anything but repentant.
“A putain a vous!” Tamlin told her and Marsh opened her mouth to tell him off.
She couldn’t though because Aisha lifted her hands and Roeglin whistled. “Kat must really like you.”
That dragged a choked laugh out of her, but she really wasn’t feeling well. Not far from where she lay, someone groaned, and Roeglin, Aisha, and Tamlin turned their heads toward it. Seeing Gustav, they all shrugged as a single unit, though, and looked back at her.
“I’m fine,” she told them, and three sets of eyebrows lifted as one. “What...”
“You need a healer,” Roeglin corrected.
“Dumbass,” Aisha repeated, looking very pleased with herself.
“And that’s enough out of you, young lady,” Roeglin scolded and Aisha pouted. He ignored her and turned to Tamlin. “You’ll need to drop that wall, boy.”
Tamlin made a dismissive gesture with one hand just as they heard leather and metal scraping awkwardly over stone.
“Deeps be damned, kat,” Gustav grumbled, and Marsh heard two unsteady steps. “That damned well hurt.”
“Dumbass,” Aisha muttered, but quietly, so Roeglin couldn’t hear her.
“Aysh,” he warned. She crossed her arms, but he hadn’t finished, “you need to stop the bleeding.”
Marsh gasped as the child slapped her hands back over the scratches and pushed down. Aisha heard her and looked concerned, but she didn’t let up. Gustav limped into her blurring field of vision.
“You okay?”
Marsh rolled her eyes. What in the Deeps did the man think? She was flat on her back, starting to see multiples and leaking blood. “I’m Son-of-the-Deeps fantastic,” she muttered and he frowned.
“And I’m Queen of the Shadows.”
“You’d look funny in a skirt.”
“Don’t you believe it, kid.” He looked away and raised his voice. “I need a healer!”
Marsh kept her eyes open long enough to watch a crowd gather and didn’t have the energy to be embarrassed. She’d had a very good reason for arriving unexpectedly, even if Roeglin didn’t believe her
Through a portal? A Deeps-be-damned portal?
“Uh-huh...” came out on a breath, and she tried to remember what she’d been trying to say. “Raiders.”
That got his attention. Show me.
So she did, bringing to mind the small army of figures rappelling over the sinkhole’s edge and into the cavern. “Shag the shrooms.” She sincerely hoped he didn’t.
Nice... But he was already turning away. “Gustav.”
Gustav picked Aisha up off Marsh’s chest so the healer had room to work. “Yes?”
“Look.”
Marsh watched the little girl and Protector captain look in the direction Roeglin pointed.
“A la putain,” they chorused, and Gustav gave the child a horrified glance. It was followed by a look at Marsh, and his voice echoed the words Roeglin spoke into her mind. “The examples you set.”
Aisha smirked, the little imp knowing exactly what she’d done, and the healer drew her blade. “Tell me the kat’s claws were cleaned.”
“Yesterday,” Tamlin replied, answering for her. “Marsh scrubbed her down after the battle.”
Marsh tried to remember if she’d cleaned Mordan’s claws, but it was enough for the healer...almost. “Bring the kat over here. I’d like to see her feet.”
“Sure,” Tamlin replied. “Dan!”
Mordan looked at him curiously and then wandered over the link into Marsh’s head.
Your paws, Dan. Marsh didn’t have the strength to say more, but the kat padded over anyway and lifted her paw.
“You’re lucky,” she said after inspecting it and letting it go. She patted the kat on the shoulder. “Good girl.”
The ‘good girl’ glared at her and hissed silently, but the healer was already calling energy from the shrooms just beyond the dining hall, her eyes flaring green. She laid the flat of her hand over the claw marks and Marsh breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a pleasant warmth as healing energy flowed into her shoulder.
Faint vibrations made themselves felt as muscle reknitted and skin rewove over the gap, and Marsh closed her eyes.
“Don’t go to sleep, Leclerc. We’re gonna need you for this,” Gustav told her.
She nodded just as the warmth flowing into her shoulder stopped, and the healer stood up. “That should do.”
Marsh sat up, rolling her shoulder, surprised not to feel any pain. Stiffness and a little tenderness, yes, but no pain. Not like moments before. Mordan looked up at her with anxious eyes. “It’s okay, girl. You were helping.”
She glanced at Roeglin, who looked more than a little sheepish. “You, too.”
“And me?” Tamlin asked. “Am I forgiven?”
“What did you do?”
He looked relieved. “Oh, that’s good then.”
Marsh frowned at him, replaying her arrival in her head. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember the boy doing anything. She turned as Gustav raised his voice behind her. “I’m fine, woman.”
The healer very much disagreed. “Stand still,” she commanded, and Gustav gave a frustrated sigh.
“There,” the healer told him a few heartbeats later. “Done.”
There was a small pause, followed by a very gruff, “Thank you, ma’am.”
Sulema stepped forward, her eyes on the distant shadows. “We cannot defeat that many.”
Gustav gave her a hard smile. “We don’t have to defeat them all at once,” he told her. “We just have to take them out a little at a time.”
“And what if more come?” Aasir demanded.
Gustav’s smiled hardened to determination. “We’ll need to make sure they can’t.”
“We’re not sealing the sinkhole,” Sulema told him. “We can’t.”
Gustav nodded. “I know, but we can make the terrain untenable.”
“Don’t they have mages to deal with that?”
Gustav’s smile returned. “That all depends,” he said. “I notice your people have a gift with the fungi. Do they have the same gift with plants?”
Sulema nodded. “But won’t the raiders have...”
“How many raiders have you seen who do anything outside the mind and rock and shadow?”
They fell silent, and Marsh was sure each and every one of them was doing exactly as she was...wracking their brains for an instance where they’d seen a raider mage do something else. None of them could.
Now it was Sulema’s turn to smile. “Leave it wit
h me.”
“You’ll have to work out how to get your people up there,” Gustav told her, and she nodded.
“We have that part covered.”
Gustav nodded. “How would you like us to assist?” he asked and he was talking about the force coming in through the cavern’s ceiling.
Sulema waved him toward Tabia and Kwame. “Speak to my Battle Leaders.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
Neither of them stopped to say more. Sulema looked around until her eyes fell on those she was looking for. “Amare, Desta, Jelani.” She pivoted a little farther. “Arjana, Boipelo, Kesia. Bring your people to the dining hall. We have defenses to plan.
Marsh followed Gustav over to Tabia and Kwame and then out to the training grounds. With their warriors gathered around, they began to discuss strategy, drawing battle plans in the dust.
12
Challenge and Compromise
The plan they came up with would work, but it was going to take time, and Marsh felt her heart sink. The campaign Gustav was describing would take months...and she didn’t know if the missing had that much time. She said nothing though, just helped them add finishing touches to what they had.
When it was done, the leaders exchanged looks and nodded.
“It’ll do for a start,” Tabia told them. “We can always change it if something comes up.”
“What about the other settlements?” one of the other warriors asked, and Tabia’s expression of resolve melted to one of sympathy. She looked at Gustav and Kwame. “We have to secure those first.”
This led to another round of planning and some reorganization, then they sat back again, studying the lines they’d drawn in the dirt.
“Will it do?” Gustav asked, and the two leaders nodded.
“If we start today,” Tabia replied.
“How long will it take to get ready?”
“A single turn of the hourglass to eat and grab our equipment,” Kwame told him, and the leaders of the other shields and spears began moving among their men. Kwame raised his voice. “Meet at the dining hall when you’re ready. We’ll eat and move straight out.”
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 Page 109
