Don’t you remember? Roeglin asked, and nudged the memory of the druid explaining familiars.
“They can be bigger and more intelligent than others of their kind.” The words echoed through Marsh’s head, and she studied Mordan with fresh eyes.
There was no doubting the kat was intelligent, but more intelligent? She thought back to her first meeting and realized that Mordan’s mental communication had become more complex—a bit like Aisha’s.
Marsh frowned. In fact, the pair of them had advanced in leaps and bounds. She wondered if it was connected. It would be the way the kat seemed to sass the humans riding with her.
She really is being sarcastic, she observed.
I’ll bear that in mind the next time she flicks her tail at me. Master Envermet sounded both amused and disgusted.
Mordan gave a series of chuffs and released her cub. She suddenly looked very pleased with herself.
“You’ll be laughing on the other side of your furry face if you can’t follow orders,” Master Envermet told the kat, “because now I know you can understand me.”
The kat gave Marsh a sour look then nuzzled Perdemor. Marsh rested her head on top of Aisha’s, glad to have her adopted daughter in her arms. The last few days had seemed an eternity.
As she held her, Marsh had another thought. “Did you say Gustav was in the town?”
The child’s sharp nod dislodged her chin and pointed. “That way. Yes.”
“And Tamlin went to get him?” Alarm colored Marsh’s tones.
Aisha shook her head, her small voice sad when she replied. “No. Tams had to see if the bad man was gone. We not go ‘til then.”
“Smart boy,” Master Envermet approved.
Aisha brightened. “He’s not in trouble?”
Master Envermet smiled as he shook his head. “Oh, no, you and he are still in a lot of trouble.”
“I made him come,” the child admitted. “He say wait.”
They all looked at her in surprise. “He did?”
Aisha’s face took on a stubborn cast, and she nodded. “He did. I sneaked out.”
“You did?” The look on Master Envermet’s face startled a laugh out of Marsh and he glared at her. “It’s not funny, Shadow Master!”
That only made Marsh laugh even more, but no one else joined her. It took her a moment to get herself under control. “Sorry, Captain, but your face.”
He gave her a sour look that matched Mordan’s and Marsh sobered. Seeing she was back under control, he turned and glared at Aisha. “You, young lady—
“Apprentice,” Aisha corrected, and his eyes widened before narrowing again.
“Apprentice...are in a lot of trouble.”
“But no Tams,” Aisha insisted.
“He should have brought you back.”
“He tried. I made him come.” An element of smugness crept into her voice. “He not let me go by myself.”
“I...” Master Envermet sighed. “No, I guess he wouldn’t.”
He stared at the child, and Marsh didn’t know if he was angry, relieved, or disgusted. He pointed a finger at Aisha. “Trouble!”
Aisha gave a happy wiggle. “Yup.”
“Now,” Master Envermet continued, “This bad man. When did he arrive?”
“This morning,” Aisha promptly replied. “We saw him.”
“And when did you arrive?”
“Night. The bad man camped that way.” She pointed at where the mules were stabled.
“Ah.”
Marsh had to agree with Master Envermet. It made her wonder how Salazar had missed them.
“We heard him come and put out fire,” Aisha told her and revealed that the connection between them was still active. Marsh wondered why she hadn’t noticed.
You need teaching, Master Envermet told her, and she was weirded out that he knew more mental magic than she did.
Roeglin woke the ability I already had, the shadow captain explained, and there were others along the way who helped me understand it.
Apart from those in Ariella’s Grotto, Marsh couldn’t work out who he might mean, and when she tried to see it inside his head, she found the door to that memory firmly closed. He gave her a quiet smile.
Another time, apprentice.
Aisha gave them each a curious look. Finally, she decided on Marsh. “You not apprentice?”
“I am as a mind mage,” Marsh told her.
“Oh.”
As the child settled in her lap, Marsh decided she’d try again. “Did you say Gustav was in the town?”
Aisha nodded. “Yes. All the people are in the town. Tams is sure.”
Oh, Tams was, was he? Marsh glanced at Master Envermet and Roeglin.
“We’ll discuss it with the rest of them in the morning,” Master Envermet told her, and then added, “if Tams gets back safely tonight.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Marsh asked, feeling Aisha tense in her lap.
“Then we go in and find him.” Master Envermet sounded very sure of that fact, and Aisha relaxed.
Across the fire, Brigitte smiled. Roeglin pulled a waterskin out of his pack and a small saucepan.
“Will these help?” he asked, holding them up, and Brigitte nodded.
“I don’t have the makings for a stew,” she said, “but I have some sweet chai mix.”
“Just as long as it isn’t ferb chai,” Marsh warned, and Brigitte’s teeth flashed white.
“I have that too, but not for tonight.”
Roeglin settled the pot at the edge of the fire, and Master Envermet brought more wood. Marsh noticed that he kept the flames low and that he brought large pieces that would burn low and produce coals.
Marsh yawned, the day slowly catching up and combining with the fire’s warmth to make her sleepy. Neither was enough, however, for her to be able to sleep until Tamlin returned. Just thinking of the boy in the town with Salazar was enough to give her the shivers.
And thinking of Salazar reminded her of Kearick. She might have last seen her old boss vanishing into the depths of a library beyond a raider’s portal, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have some way of contacting the man.
Salazar had always followed Kearick, and the two had worked in close partnership. Where Salazar went, Kearick had surely sanctioned.
Are you sure of that? Roeglin asked, and she jumped.
“No,” she admitted, “but it’s something I have to keep in mind.”
He settled beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“He’ll be back,” he said, and Marsh didn’t think he meant either Salazar or Kearick.
“I hope so.”
6
The Stalkers
Marsh lifted Aisha onto her shoulder. The little girl was a dead weight in her arms, but she still mumbled a soft protest, and Marsh sighed.
“I’m going to put her to bed,” she said, softly, as if that would make a difference to the outcome.
Roeglin smirked.
“Good luck with that,” Master Envermet told her, and she pulled a face.
On the other side of the fire, Mordan nudged her kit, and Perdemor woke with a sleepy mew. The mew woke Scruffknuckle, and the pup lifted his head. Catching sight of Marsh heading for the low opening under the bush with Aisha in her arms, he got slowly to his feet.
To Marsh’s surprise, the pup didn’t try to barge past her but followed her carefully to the child’s sleeping place. He nudged the blanket back so Marsh could slide the child inside, and then he dragged it back up over the little girl’s shoulders and flopped down on top of it.
Marsh stifled a laugh. The pup had just trapped Aisha in the blanket, and the look on his face said he knew it. As she crouched there, Perdemor brushed past her and stretched out on Aisha’s other side.
Marsh smiled at them. “Thanks, guys,” she whispered. “You look after her, okay?”
They both settled their heads on the blankets beside their tiny charge and sighed, and Marsh backed slowly away. She was consc
ious of two sets of gleaming eyes watching her intently from the dark...and she was glad it wasn’t three.
Aisha didn’t stir.
“She out?” Roeglin wanted to know when Marsh returned.
“She is, and Perdemor and Scruffknuckle are sleeping guard.”
“They are?”
“They’ve pinned her under her blankets. She’ll be furious if she wakes up and finds out.”
Roeglin chuckled. “Good.”
Brigitte smiled, too, then her expression grew serious. “Tell me you’re not going after him tonight.”
Marsh glanced at the sky. The sun was gone, and the darkness had replaced the soft gray light of evening. The stars were out in full force, but the moon was yet to be seen. “We could...”
Master Envermet’s response was immediate. “No. We wait.”
Marsh looked at Roeglin. “But he could...”
Roeglin’s face was sympathetic. “Let’s give it a bit more time.”
Marsh stood up and turned toward the entrance, almost bumping into Henri as he walked through the gap.
“Take one more step and I’ll sit on you,” he told her, blocking her path.
He looked at Master Envermet. “I’m on first watch if you need me. The rest are turning in. Call us if you need us.”
He paused. “Latrines are to the left of the stables, near the mullock heap.”
“Thank you, Henri,” Master Envermet replied. “Much appreciated.”
Henri looked back at Marsh. “Don’t you have a fire to sit beside?”
Marsh glared at him, but he stared back, unfazed.
“Fine,” she said with a sigh and turned away. After a couple of steps, she turned back, only to find Henri hadn’t moved and that Izmay had joined him.
“I will sit on you to keep you here,” he told her.
“And I’ll help him,” Izmay added, quirking an eyebrow.
Marsh wanted to scream at the pair of them, but she turned around and returned to the fire, settling beside Roeglin. She didn’t move when she heard the shuffle of feet as they moved out of the entrance.
When she heard them walking around the edge of the children’s campsite, she lifted her head—and that was when Mordan struck. The big kat came and stood beside her. Marsh tilted her head to look at her, and Mordan slapped a paw against her chest and pushed her over before grabbing her by the front of her tunic and dragging her back from the fire.
“Hey!” Marsh protested, and Mordan plonked her down.
Marsh breathed a sigh of relief and went to sit up, only to have Mordan lie across her chest, pinning her to the ground. “Dan!”
She pushed against the kat’s shoulder, trying to twist out from under her, but the kat was too heavy.
“Dan! You’re squashing me.”
The kat dipped her muzzle and licked Marsh’s cheek.
Marsh pushed her away. “No! I don’t want your love. I want you to let me up.”
Startled laughter came from the entry, and she twisted her head. Tamlin tipped his head to the side to meet her gaze. “Hi, Marsh.”
He held up the basket in his hand. “I think I brought enough back for all of us. It was meant to last Aysh and me a week, but you guys have enough rations to spare, don’t you?”
Marsh sighed and pushed at Mordan again. “Come on, Dan. I don’t need to go anywhere now.”
The big kat stayed exactly where she was.
Marsh shoved her again. “Dan!”
The kat gave a grumbling growl and stood up, returning to her place beside the rocky wall. Marsh took a few deep breaths to restore the air in her lungs, then pushed herself upright. Tamlin gave another chuckle and looked around the fire.
His smile faded when he saw Master Envermet and Brigitte. “Wow. You brought everyone.”
Master Envermet snorted. “No, everyone was worried about you and your sister, so they invited themselves. We figured you’d need some help rescuing Captain Moldrane.”
Tams’ shoulders sagged. “Phew.”
“What?”
“For a moment, I thought you were going to try to drag us back without going after the captain.” He cast the shadow guard a defiant stare. “Because that wouldn’t have worked.”
Master Envermet looked momentarily shocked, then he raised his eyebrows and fixed the boy with a curious stare. “Care to tell me why?”
“Well, you can’t watch us all the time,” he said, “and I can be just as stubborn as Aisha...and we’re not leaving Gustav where he is. No way. Not in a million years.”
That was said with such certainty that Master Envermet’s eyebrows lifted another notch.
“Tell me you didn’t steal that,” Master Envermet said, indicating the basket, and Tams rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t steal it. I left some trade tokens for it. I probably left too many, but I didn’t want to underpay. That’s not the way to make friends.”
“Did you find Gustav?” Roeglin asked.
Tamlin ignored the question and stepped closer to the fire. He passed the basket to Brigitte. “Does this help?”
She peeked inside and smiled. “That’s wonderful, Tams. Thank you.”
He smiled, then turned back to Roeglin.
“There’s a large campground on the other side under the cliffs. I think the only people who use it for camping are the raiders because there are cages all along the fence line and the main camp is in the center. It’s like they’re using the prisoners as a living wall.”
He shivered. “They’ve got a big set of kitchens close to the town and a roster for the townsfolk to follow. I don’t think they give people much choice. No one seems to want to give them any trouble, but I didn’t get a chance to find out what they thought of them. It might be like it was in the caverns, you know?”
Marsh nodded. “We know. What else did you notice?”
“Well, there were the storerooms...” He was about to go on when Roeglin raised his hand, his voice echoing in their heads. We are not alone.
Master Envermet’s response was immediate. How many?
Two...no, three. They followed Tamlin.
Not assassins? Marsh recalled that Idris had siblings and that while they’d killed two, they didn’t know how many more there were.
Roeglin shook his head. No. These I can feel clearly, and their thoughts aren’t shielded.
Do you know what they want?
To see where the boy camps, Roeglin told him, fading into the shadows, but we can ask them why ourselves.
7
New Friends
Marsh stood, drew a sword from the shadows, and stepped into the nearest patch of shadow. Footsteps scuffed in the darkness beyond the fire, and Master Envermet came to his feet, drawing his sword as he stood.
“Show yourselves,” he commanded.
For a moment, there was no reply, then three men stepped cautiously into view. Two carried crossbows but dangled them carefully by their sides. The third stepped in front of them, dropping his hand to the hilt of his sword.
“We mean you no harm,” he said, stumbling over his words in his hurry to explain. “None. See?”
He indicated the men on either side of them. “We could have shot you without you knowing we were there, but we didn’t. We only came to check on the boy.”
He looked at the two figures near the fire and the hoshkat crouched to one side. “I thought there were more of you.”
“There are,” Marsh said from behind them and one of the men started, dropping his crossbow to the ground and raising his hands.
“No harm,” he gabbled. “We mean you no harm!”
Panic caused his voice to rise, and he paled. Beside him, the other crossbowman lowered his bow to the ground and very slowly straightened, raising his hands as he did so.
Master Envermet watched as Roeglin and Marsh swept the weapons away with their feet, then pulled the men’s swords from their scabbards and dropped them with the bows. Their leader just raised his hands and waited while Marsh took his
sword, the axe strapped to his back, and the dagger that hung over his other hip.
“You don’t carry a bow?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“Can’t shoot straight, Miss,” he answered. “More of a menace with one than without. I look after the hunters.”
“Not doing a very good job of it,” she noted, and he swallowed.
“They’re still alive,” he told her, “and that’s because I told them to keep their bows down and not loaded.”
The man had a point, and Marsh conceded it. “You did well.”
“Why don’t you come join us?” Master Envermet suggested, and they crossed unsteadily to settle by the fire.
Mordan watched their every step, her body tense and still, her gaze unwavering. They didn’t take their eyes off her.
“She won’t eat you,” Marsh assured them, “unless you try to harm us.”
“No harm intended,” the leader hastily assured them. “Name’s Rocko. I’m the town’s blacksmith...or I was until the raiders came.”
Brigitte handed them each a sandwich containing cheese and slices of apple. “I trust Tamlin left enough to cover the cost.”
Rocko nodded, his weathered gaze going to the boy. “He did.”
He reached for his pouch and Marsh and Roeglin tensed, but the man didn’t notice. He fished around in his pouch and pulled two tokens clear. “That’s the other reason we came. He paid too much. Only right he should get his change.”
He held out the coins, and Tams cast a nervous glance at Master Envermet. The shadow captain nodded, and the boy stepped forward to accept the tokens before stepping back out of reach. Mordan licked the man’s ear, and he jumped.
None of them had noticed the kat approach.
“Dan!” Marsh scolded and the kat returned to her resting place, flopping back down with a huffing laugh.
“Did she... Did she just laugh at me?” Rocko stammered.
“She has terrible manners,” Marsh told him, then drew her brows together in a scowl.
“Why did you really come?” Master Envermet asked, his tone mild.
Rocko made an abortive gesture toward Tams, then caught the gaze of the taller of the archers. The man sighed and nodded. “Tell them.”
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 123
