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

  “Thank you, Apprentice.”

  He listened while he ate, not relinquishing Aisha to anyone. “Let her sleep,” he told them when they offered to take her. “The Deeps know she’s worried enough. Besides,” he added, “this way I know exactly where she is.”

  That made Marsh laugh and she relaxed, quietly accepting the hot chocolate Tamlin brought her and sipping it as the boy settled down beside her.

  “We have a plan,” Master Envermet told them when he’d finished and Tamlin had cleared his plate. He sipped at the kaffee the boy brought and fixed the team with an apologetic stare. “I am very sorry, but Gustav will have to hold on just a little bit longer.”

  He caught Tamlin’s anxious glance toward his sister and nodded. “She knows, and she wasn’t happy, but apart from a couple of ‘no fairs,’ ‘means,’ and ‘dat rudes,’ she didn’t protest too much. Next time, remind me a war council is no place for a child with a vested interest—especially this one.”

  Marsh wanted to tell him that it was exactly the place for a small child with a vested interest—and in particular that one—but she bit her tongue and listened instead. By the end, she was disappointed in the Grotto’s leaders and in Master Envermet, but she understood, too. The only way they were going after Gustav anytime soon was to secure the cavern as fast as possible.

  Well, she could do that.

  And so can I, Roeglin agreed. We’ll get this done and then we’ll go, with or without their permission.

  They both kept their faces as straight as possible, not letting on just how upset they were at the council’s decision or his agreement. The security of the caverns had to come first. In their heads, they understood it. Their hearts had difficulty with what it cost, though.

  “Where does she sleep?” Master Envermet asked after he had briefed them on their part.

  Marsh, Brigitte, and Tamlin rose from their chairs.

  “Where are Perdemor and Scruffy?”

  Master Envermet grimaced. “They played hide and seek under the tables and someone nearly lost a shin, so Sulema had one of her druids convince the rabid pair to spend some time with Mordan.”

  He grimaced. “Kat was not impressed.”

  Marsh could imagine, but she also knew Mordan would keep the pair in line and mostly out of mischief. “Our room’s this way.”

  “Where are you going to sleep?” Master Envermet asked a short while later.

  He’d just tucked Aisha into her bed and watched the kit and pup rearrange themselves around her. As he’d turned to leave, he’d spotted Mordan stretched out on the other bottom bunk. The kat took up the entire space.

  Marsh sighed and eyed the bunk above Aisha. “There.”

  “But your blankets are under the kat.”

  Mordan cracked an eyelid, her blue gaze daring either of them to try to steal her blankets. Marsh sighed. “Well, it sucks to be me, then.”

  Master Envermet scowled thoughtfully. “I don’t suppose she’s open to reason?”

  Mordan lifted her head and hissed at him, and Marsh laughed. “I don’t know, but I don’t think she’s forgiven you for giving her babysitting duty.” The kat settled her head back down on her paws and closed her eyes with slow deliberation.

  “She’s sassing me.” Master Envermet sounded as though the possibility hadn’t occurred to him.

  “She’s had a long day killing raiders,” Marsh told him. “I’ll be fine. We’ll come to an agreement.”

  When he continued to hesitate, she added, “We always do.”

  He sighed and turned about. “Very well, then. I’ll leave you to your negotiations.”

  He got to the door and turned about. “She and Tamlin are staying here tomorrow.”

  He took a step and then stopped and looked back. “That was one of her ‘not fairs.’ It was followed by a ‘dat’s rude’ when I told her they were too young to be on a battlefield. She said, ‘are not.’ I said I was in charge and she said she was. She said you let her, and I said you weren’t in charge anymore, so she called me mean.”

  He looked put out and puzzled at the same time. “Why did you take her with you?”

  “It was the only way I could keep her safe,” Marsh told him, and his eyebrows lifted.

  “Do tell.”

  Marsh cocked an eyebrow of her own and put her hand on one hip, indicating Aisha and the two animals with her other hand. “She’d have followed, and I wouldn’t have known where she was. We kept her with our team, and we kept an eye on her.”

  “And they still got captured,” the captain pointed out.

  Marsh blushed and he smirked. “Your Aisha is quite the chatterbox. There was a roomful of elders ready to dispute your right to parent them, save that they had something more important to debate. Try to be the model parent for the next couple of days, okay?”

  Marsh nodded, her face burning with embarrassment. When he’d left, Brigitte pushed off the wall she’d leaned against and clambered up into her bunk. “Ouch! That was not subtle.”

  “As if subtle has ever worked on Marsh.” Roeglin stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room, making them both jump.

  He glanced around, looking very pleased to find himself in their room. “That’s a very handy skill,” he added, a smug expression on his face.

  “What in the Deeps are you doing in our room?” Brigitte demanded, and it was Roeglin’s turn to blush.

  “Uh, I wanted to see Marsh...”

  “To say goodnight,” he added when Brigitte giggled.

  The shadow mistress swung her legs over the edge of the bunk. “I can go if you like,” she offered, but Roeglin shook his head and Marsh held up her hand.

  “I need a walk anyway,” she said, and Brigitte waggled her eyebrows.

  “And are you coming back?”

  Marsh let her jaw drop, her face heating again. “I haven’t decided yet.” She gestured toward her bed, and Mordan gave an enormous yawn and stretched her legs, taking up more space than she had before. “But it’s not like I have a bed.”

  “Or blankets,” she added as the kat buried her nose in those very items.

  “You could share mine,” Roeglin suggested, and Brigitte snickered.

  “At least I’ll know where to send Aisha and Tamlin when they go looking for you in the morning.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Marsh protested, but the look on Brigitte’s face said she would...and was planning on it, in fact.

  Roeglin grabbed her arm and pulled her into the corridor.

  “I’ll see you in the morning,” Brigitte caroled after them, lying down and pulling her own bedding over her. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t.”

  Marsh leaned her forehead against Roeglin’s shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around her waist.

  “I don’t know what she finds so funny,” he grumbled. “It’s not like we’d be getting up to anything with Tamlin in the room.”

  Marsh stopped dead in her tracks and he hastened to correct himself. “I mean, not that I thought...that.”

  “You need to watch your feet around your mouth, Ro.”

  And wasn’t it just their luck that he’d said that when they were passing Henri’s room and that the big guy had been in residence to hear it. It was worse when Izmay started laughing.

  You need to maybe just not speak, Ro, Marsh told him mind to mind where no one could hear her.

  20

  Misperceptions

  They didn’t get up to anything, but Roeglin was right. She did sleep better with her back against his chest and his arms around her. Tamlin was not impressed.

  “You could at least have warned me,” he spat when he saw her in Roeglin’s bed the next morning. “You’re just lucky I slept through it.”

  “We didn’t,” Marsh protested and pushed the blankets and Roeglin’s arm off her. “See?”

  They’d gone to bed fully clothed, removing just their boots and stowing those side by side under the bed. Tamlin had closed his eyes, but his face looked as red as hers fe
lt. The situation became more complex when Aisha arrived.

  The child gave a squeal of delight and hugged her brother. “Marsh is going to have a baby!”

  Howls of laughter erupted in the corridor outside, and someone choked on the kaffee Marsh could smell. She glared at the two children and stalked over to the door, closing it against the suddenly curious faces on the other side.

  More laughter followed, then Master Envermet roared, “We have a quarter turn, people! Get your shroom-sodden asses ready for the battlefield. It’s supposed to be a sneak and peek, but anything could happen. I hear one cackle, giggle, or snort give away our position, and I will nail you to the wall myself. Now, move! Move! Move!”

  Roeglin groaned and climbed out of bed, straightening his uniform. Aisha bounced up and down in delight, and Tamlin rolled his eyes. “She’s not having a baby, Aysh.”

  He sounded much older and more tired than Marsh would have thought possible. Aysh stopped bouncing and regarded him with puzzlement. “Yes, she is. Maman said.”

  Her eyes filled with tears, and she wrapped her arms around Tamlin’s waist. “Master Ennermay say no!”

  “No what?” Tamlin asked.

  “We can’t go,” the child wailed, and Tamlin looked from Marsh to Roeglin and back again.

  Marsh turned away and sat beside Roeglin on the edge of the bed, passing him his boots and then pulling hers onto her feet. She’d managed to get one completely laced when the door opened and Master Envermet stuck his head into the room.

  He gave Marsh a stern look. “I see you found somewhere to sleep last night.”

  “Yes, sir,” she managed after giving him a startled look. Not seeing any amusement on his face, she went back to her boots.

  “Do you think you could have been a bit quieter?” he asked, and this time, Roeglin gave him a suspicious glance.

  Master Envermet’s face remained an impassive mask and Roeglin stood.

  “You should at least change your uniforms,” the captain told them. “I can escort Shadow Mage Leclerc and the younger Apprentice Danet back to their quarters so you and the older Apprentice Danet can change.”

  They were both staring at him now, and Marsh knew Roeglin was trying as hard as she was to peek into the shadow captain’s mind. She wondered if he was having as little luck. Some of her frustration must have shown in her face because Captain Envermet gave them a long, solemn look, followed by a short laugh.

  “Your faces.” He snickered. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen two innocent people look quite so guilty...or frustrated.”

  His snicker became a laugh as he realized his words could be taken two ways. He was still laughing when he walked out of the room, but he controlled it quickly enough. “Get your asses to the dining hall. We eat cold until we return.”

  After he had disappeared, Marsh stood up. She looked at the open door, then glanced uncertainly back at Roeglin. “Is he gone?”

  Roeglin stared at the door. “I can’t…”

  Master Envermet’s head appeared back around the doorframe. “Oh, and it’s rude to try to read your commanding officer’s mind. Don’t do it again.”

  His tone of voice was so mild that anyone overhearing him might have been forgiven for not recognizing the reprimand for what it was, but both Roeglin and Marsh could hear what else he said.

  I worked out how to shield, he told them, and how to tell when my mind wasn’t alone, and Mistress Sulema is helping me with the rest. Roeglin, you and I will discuss this when the Grotto is secure.

  His lips tightened into a thin smile, and he pulled his head back into the corridor. Both Marsh and Roeglin stared at the doorway, listening to his footsteps retreating down the corridor.

  “I am going to put bells on that man,” Marsh murmured, cautiously approaching the corridor.

  “I help,” Aisha told her and extended her hand.

  Marsh accepted her grip, and they left Roeglin and Tamlin’s room. Tamlin’s words still reached them, though. “Did you really just sleep last night, Roeglin?”

  Even to Marsh, the boy sounded slightly disappointed, and she didn’t wait to hear Roeglin’s answer. Aisha looked up at her, tugging on her hand. “I can come?”

  At least that one was easy.

  “What did Master Envermet say?”

  Aisha pouted. “He’s not the boss of me.”

  Marsh started to point out that Master Envermet was indeed the boss of her, but she didn’t want to fight with the child just before she headed out to infiltrate the heads of the raiders manning Ariella’s Grotto.

  Instead, she took a different approach. “Well, he actually is the boss of me. You don’t really want to get me into trouble, do you?”

  Aisha frowned, and Marsh wondered just how far out the jury was on that one. It was a relief when the little girl answered, even if her reply wasn’t comforting. “He no see me...”

  Marsh laughed, remembering Master Envermet’s newly revealed abilities. “He’d know, Aisha.”

  Her eyes widened. “Can he do mind magic?”

  Marsh met her gaze and gave her a solemn nod. “And he’s very, very good,” she whispered.

  “Better than Roeglin?” the little girl demanded, and Marsh nodded again.

  “I think he might be.”

  Aisha gasped. “Dat’s very, very bad.”

  Marsh bit back the urge to laugh. She supposed it really was quite bad, but not in the way Aisha meant. She left the child in Sulema’s care and wondered why the elder wanted to bother herself with a task that could have been passed on to someone with less responsibility.

  Because I can keep the little rascal busy, Sulema told her, reminding her that she and Roeglin weren’t the only ones who could walk through minds.

  They moved out shortly after, with Master Envermet taking two dozen of them through the wall. As soon as they hit the trail outside, he led them at a run toward Shamka, stopping well before he got there.

  “This is where we’ll return to if we get separated,” he told them. “I want each and every one of you to impress this area in your minds and mark it well. You will need to find it again.”

  He turned and gestured for Marsh and Roeglin to come forward. “Shadow Mages Leclerc and Leger are your liaisons. Shadow Mage Leclerc has found a way to step from one shadow to another, and Shadow Mage Leger is also a mind walker. He will show you what she does, and then you will try to do the same.”

  He looked at the gathered mages. “We will be traveling by shadow whenever we can. It will make us harder to trace and harder to catch. Am I understood?”

  The question was met by a soft chorus of “sir, yes sirs,” and Master Envermet stepped back directing their attention to Marsh and Roeglin.

  It took them an hour before the others had mastered the skill, and even then, there were some who needed the assistance of a more able colleague to succeed.

  “Not all of us have the same abilities,” Master Envermet soothed when one mage apologized for not being to shadow-step on his own. “There is no need to be sorry if you have done your best but the ability evades you.”

  When he was satisfied that they had come as far as they were able, Master Envermet turned to Marsh and Roeglin. “Have either of you ever been to the Grotto?”

  When they shook their heads, he continued. “Then we’ll get closer the old-fashioned way. We need to get close enough that you can hear what they say and see what they do, but you must do this without being discovered.”

  He scanned their faces to make sure his words had been understood. “I want no heroes today. No one dies. Do you hear me?”

  “Sir, yes, sir.”

  “Once Roeglin relays the path to the Grotto, you are to move out. Pay attention to the light on the sinkhole. When the vines reflect the sunset and the Surface light begins to dim, you are to return here. Understood?”

  This time their affirmation was softer, and many of them looked toward the rim of the sinkhole. Marsh noticed the coppery gleam of the dawn light reflectin
g from the leaves and hoped the others would understand that this is what the sunset would look like. From the way they studied it, many of them had never seen a sunset in their lives. She wondered that Master Envermet hadn’t thought of it.

  “Master Leclerc has a point.” Master Envermet’s voice surprised them all but he continued unperturbed. “When the leaves at the sinkhole edge next look like that, return here.”

  When they gave him their affirmative, he led them out. The light from the surface world shone directly overhead, and the shrooms gave way to straggly vegetation. As it grew brighter, Zeb, Gerry, and Izmay pulled thin bands of dark cloth from their waistbands and tied them over their eyes.

  Izmay sniffed, wiping tears away as she tied the band in place. Marsh looked at Henri and almost laughed at the look of concern on his face. It hadn’t taken long for the man to forget that some of his colleagues couldn’t adjust their vision so they could see by daylight.

  He moved his hand to catch her attention and pointed to his head.

  Marsh frowned and then shrugged. The man wanted her to look inside his head?

  She wasn’t sure that was a good invitation to accept but did it anyway. At least he hadn’t shouted his concerns out where the whole grotto could hear it. His mind was in turmoil when she reached it, but she caught what he wanted her to notice.

  Not many shadows out there, shadow mage.

  No, Henri, there aren’t.

  So how are you going to shadow step out in that?

  Marsh had to admit that the man had a point. She was going to nudge Roeglin when she realized he’d been in her head already. From the way he was looking at Master Envermet, the pair of them were already deep in conversation.

  Roeglin turned and sighed. “Marsh.”

  The captain has a plan.

  Given the look on Henri’s face, the big man had his doubts. Marsh ignored him, following Roeglin’s invitation into the captain’s head. For a moment she felt guilty, but she pushed the thought away.

  If the man had invited her presence, she was okay.

  Captain.