“And Tamlin and Aisha,” the shadow captain added, pulling the thought from her mind.
He let her see the injuries the four of them had sustained, and Marsh shuddered. The captain was right. They’d have been no good to anyone, and a liability to the team. Fortunately, he also let her see that the rest of the team had needed to rest also.
They might not have been as badly injured, but they’d been fatigued and below their best. Master Envermet wanted everyone at the top of their game when he took the raiders on. She was only glad there’d only been nine raiders and no more. The fight had been close enough as it was.
Relief smoothed some of the nausea away, and then the next thought hit.
“Did we get them all?”
Tension flowed over the light link Master Envermet had established. “What do you mean?”
“I mean...” Marsh wracked her brains, trying to work out where the rogue thought had come from. It came as they picked their way along a narrow section of trail. “Deeps be damned.”
“Do tell.”
Marsh ignored the impatient overtones in Master Envermet’s voice and explained, “In the tunnels, when we attacked them, they sent runners out. Sort of messengers to warn the raiders ahead. The one who tried to protect the villagers was terrified they’d send word and his family would be killed.”
“Scan ahead!” Master Envermet commanded. “If they sent them, they might still be in range.”
Somehow Marsh doubted it, but she obeyed anyway. They needed to know what, and who, might lie ahead. Again, she sensed only the usual life forms of the area: the small, furry long-eared things termed “rabbits,” something like a wolf with reddish fur and a brushy tail, a small herd of deer...
“No humans.” She looked at Roeglin. “Could you try?”
He nodded, his eyes going white as he looked for human minds farther out. Master Envermet kept them moving, but Marsh could sense the man’s tension as he waited.
“They’re there,” Roeglin told them, pointing farther west across the ruined city. “They had to stop and rest.”
“Well, at least we know they’re human,” Henri muttered, and Jakob snickered.
“Are they on foot?” Master Envermet demanded, and Roeglin was silent a moment longer.
“I sense no mules,” he said, and the shadow captain kicked his mount into a trot.
“We need to run them down.”
They jolted forward, Marsh both searching for the lives ahead and asking the air to show her where the fleeing raiders were. The strands lay silent until the mules started to flag, and Master Envermet turned to Roeglin in consternation.
“How far ahead did you say they were?”
Roeglin flushed. “They were at the end of my range.”
“And that is?”
“In the cavern, it is limited by the rocks and tunnels or the kind of connection I have with the person I’m trying to find. Out here?” He shrugged.
Master Envermet gave him a look of pure disgust and tapped the sides of his mule again. When they’d gone a mile, he walked the mule until it had rested before urging it back to a trot. They alternated between the two paces until the sun rode high, then called a break for lunch.
Marsh dragged a shroom roll from her pack, drawing on the strands of air around her. Roeglin’s talk of ranges gave her pause, and she wondered what her range might be...and if it faced similar constraints.
She pulled on the air around her. Out here, the strands connecting things might be invisible, but they were there. With no cavern walls to divide the air into pockets, just how far could she sense?
Taking a bite from her roll, Marsh asked them to show here where the raiders were. Perhaps she’d have more luck than Roeglin. Shadow magic was different, wasn’t it?
When none of them responded, she started to think maybe it wasn’t as different as she’d hoped. It wasn’t until she was back in the saddle that one of the strands gave a faint thrum.
The challenge was for her to stay aware of her surroundings while she saw what lay at the end of them. She caught fleeting images of the raiders getting up from where they’d stopped to rest.
They broke into a tired run, holding the pace for ten strides before dropping into a walk. This they also held for ten strides before jolting back into the faster pace. There was no sign of the mules, as Roeglin had sensed.
She thought about telling him, but he signaled them into a trot and she lost her connection to the strand. It was dusk before Roeglin glanced at Master Envermet, and the shadow captain called a halt.
“They’re camping,” he told them, and the team breathed a sigh of relief.
Mordan, Scruffknuckle, and Perdemor stepped out of the rocks and rubble at the edge of the path, the big kat cocking her head in Marsh’s direction.
Master Envermet glanced at her. “What did she say?”
“She and the cubs will go close and watch the prey,” Marsh replied, and the kat blinked and turned away, pup and kit following.
“Very good,” Master Envermet said as if his permission would change a damn thing the kat was doing.
Marsh decided not to point it out to him, glad of the break as the captain considered what they were going to do next.
“Roeglin, can you sense the raiders with the prisoners?”
The question caught Marsh by surprise, but it made sense. If the main body of raiders had a two-day start, they might not be that far ahead, although...
Roeglin shook his head. “These were only a day ahead of us,” he replied. “The others are three, maybe four.” He frowned. “I think there might be a smaller group between these and the main party, but I can’t tell how big.”
“Gustav’s group is moving more slowly,” Master Envermet stated. “We might catch them.”
Roeglin nodded. “Yes, but they are still too far ahead for me to sense them...and now we know we have others in between.”
“What about sensing Gustav? Don’t you have some kind of connection with him?”
Roeglin closed his eyes, and they waited. The shadow guards shifted in their saddles, scanning the rubble and ruins around them. As the sun set, Izmay, Gerry, and Zeb removing the gauzy strips of cloth that protected their eyes from its glare.
“We need to camp soon,” Henri observed as dusk slipped into twilight.
“We’ll take their camp,” Master Envermet told him and glanced at the mind mage. “Roeglin?”
“He is past them, but the connection is very faint. I can’t tell how far.”
“Then we take the runners and camp for the night,” Master Envermet decided, just as a distant howl drifted through the evening.
13
Assassin Interruptus
Marsh tightened the reins as the mule danced beneath her, its long ears flicking. The guards exchanged glances, and Henri looked at Master Envermet.
“It had better be a very secure campsite,” the shadow captain said and glanced at Marsh. “Can the kat give us a layout?”
Marsh reached along the link to Mordan and found the kat watching the four men at the fire. She shared the images without being nudged, and Marsh felt the shadow captain slide into her mind to study them.
“They seem very relaxed,” he observed as another howl drifted down, closer this time. The raiders didn’t even look up. “I wonder what they know that we don’t”
They watched the raiders until three of them retired through the entry to another brush-covered ruin.
“How big was this city?” Marsh wondered, realizing they’d been moving between the remains of crumbled buildings ever since they’d reached the surface.
“How big did it look from Kerrenin’s Ledge?” Roeglin asked, and she remembered thinking the Devastation reached the horizon.
“It doesn’t matter how big it is,” Master Envermet growled. “What matters is the very small section we find ourselves in right now.”
The shadow captain slid down from his mule. “We’ll go the rest of the way on foot,” he said, look
ing at the area around them.
Marsh looked around, too. The gray light was fading, but as she surveyed her surroundings, she realized she could see as well here as she could in the caverns, and she had seen something.
A frisson of unease ran over her, sending chills radiating through her body. She swung out of the saddle just as the kat screeched a warning in her head.
Mordan made no audible sound, but the cry had Marsh diving for the nearest pile of rubble. A small sack flew through the air, and the rest of the team scattered. The mules propped, but Henri and Jakob had kept hold of their reins, and the rest of the mules followed them.
Marsh’s mount bucked and kicked as the sack landed on its back and burst into a grayish-green haze.
“Sons of—” Roeglin began, but Master Envermet’s command cut through their minds.
Silence. He followed it with Marsh?
Kat warned me in time. She scanned the area from which the bag had come and reached through the dark, trying to sense a life force. There was one. It was faint for something so close, but the way it was masked was familiar. Assassin!
Master Envermet must have passed that along because Henri snorted. “Troublemaker.”
His soft comment was followed by the sound of a fist meeting flesh and his subdued grumble of pain.
He’s there, Master Envermet told them, sending the assassin’s location to the team and keeping them updated.
Marsh wondered how he did it, given she could barely sense the man with her life sense, and that Roeglin seemed as blind as she was. She tugged on the shadow strands around her, but even though some gave the fleeting impression of movement, none gave her an image.
How is he doing that? she wondered, but the location began to move as the assassin worked his way farther back in the ruins and then around them.
Roeglin, Henri, Jakob, Izmay, Gerry, Zeb, get the raiders. Marsh and I will deal with the assassin. Brigitte, keep the... Master Envermet sighed, and Marsh realized Tamlin and Aisha had already disappeared.
I’ll find them, the shadow mistress promised, then to Marsh, Don’t get yourself killed until they get back.
Very funny, Marsh thought and turned her attention back to where Master Envermet showed the assassin was moving.
It looked like he was ignoring the shadow captain completely and heading straight for her. Well, as directly as any indirect route could be.
Don’t let him hit you with whatever he threw, Master Envermet’s warning drew her attention back to the mule.
It was standing where she’d left it and shaking all over. Marsh took two quick steps toward it.
Don’t! Master Envermet’s command jolted through her mind, laced with enough compulsion to freeze her progress. It’s a contact poison. Someone is very annoyed with you.
Given she’d probably seen the death of two of the assassin’s kin, Marsh understood why. Idris had siblings... The warning echoed through her mind as she stepped back into the shadows.
Behind her, there was a solid thump as the mule hit the ground. Marsh’s heart clenched as she heard its hooves scrape. It kicked and groaned with pain, its breathing labored. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she pulled a shadow blade from the air.
The assassin leapt, and she barely caught his movement in time to avoid the tip of his blade. Master Envermet’s scan had been way off. The shadow captain cursed, and the assassin laughed.
“Magic comes in many forms.” He chuckled, feinting and then lashing out again. He reached for one of the small sacks hanging from his belt, and Marsh whipped her blade forward. He knocked it aside, but his fingers fumbled at the cord.
“That’s not going to help you.” He smiled and raised his hand to flick his fingers toward her.
Marsh caught a dark stain on their tips and threw herself back, twisting to bring her blade around as she avoided the scatter of droplets that flew toward her. The move left her side open and exposed, and she was forced to turn her attack into a dive away from his descending blade.
A crossbow bolt whirred through the air above her, and she knew Master Envermet had reacquired his target. In the distance, a kat roared, and men screamed. Henri’s shout carried on the night air.
Marsh wondered if Brigitte had found the children.
As she did, another howl reached her, this one much closer than the last. Idris’ sibling bared his teeth. “Looks like your death won’t be wasted. The pack needs to eat.”
Marsh rolled to her feet, coming up to face him as he freed one of the pouches from its moorings. Given what she’d seen it do to the mule, Marsh knew she couldn’t afford to be hit by it. Somehow, she doubted Aisha’s healing skill would save her, but she knew the little girl would kill herself trying.
That couldn’t be allowed. Marsh drove in closer, smashing the assassin’s sword away with her buckler as she tried to skewer the arm with the pouch. He whipped it back and she missed, his blade keeping her busy as he cocked his wrist.
Knowing she wasn’t going to be able to stop him with either her blade or her shield, and since she had no time to get into his head, Marsh did the only thing she could think of. She called the lightning.
A single bolt, a small localized storm, a spear of power-edged black, she asked the shadows for them all. They poured out of the nothing of the sky, lancing into the assassin’s skull, his back, and the arm holding the deadly sack.
His eyes flew wide, and his blade dropped from nerveless fingers. The sack plummeted toward the ground beside him, and Marsh watched it fall. She caught the barest glimpse of a heavy body coming from the side and then it hit her, taking her off her feet and carrying her away from the falling assassin.
Damned fool! Master Envermet didn’t sound happy, but his mental voice was enough to stop her from trying to gut him with the dagger she’d called out of the dark.
He set her down shortly after, placing both hands on her shoulders to hold her still as he inspected her face. “Did you get anything on you?”
Marsh remembered the droplets flying toward her and looked down at her side. There were several light marks on her armor, but nothing more. Master Envermet followed her gaze and scowled.
“You are very, very lucky,” he told her, his eyes drifting to the prone form of the mule.
He opened his mouth to say more and then suddenly stilled. Marsh looked down at herself, relieved to not to see a single speck of powder. She stared at the mule, recognizing death in its stillness.
“Aysh is going to be devastated,” she murmured as the bushes rustled by the side of the trail. A small voice cried out in horror, and Master Envermet’s eyes few wide.
“Don’t let her touch it!” he shouted, his warning echoed by a mental command. Aysh! STOP!
The child burst out of the foliage, running for the mule. The shadow captain’s command stopped her only momentarily, but it was enough time for her brother to wrap his arms around her and lift her off the ground and away.
“I’ll fix him!” the girl screamed. “I fix! I fix!”
Tamlin carried her over to where Marsh was standing and thrust her into the shadow mage’s arms. “You fix her!” he ordered, not letting his sister go until Marsh had wrapped the girl tightly in her embrace.
Master Envermet raised his eyebrows and looked at the boy. “Leave what’s on the mule. It’s not safe to touch it.”
Tamlin glared at Marsh. “Lucky she kept her pack on, then.”
He stomped over to where Brigitte was coming around a rock at the side of the path.
“Don’t touch the mule. It’s been poisoned,” he told her shortly, and Brigitte stared at him.
“Tams...”
“Give me a minute.”
The shadow mistress sighed and glanced at Marsh and Aisha.
“I’ll fix him!” the child insisted, squirming to get out of her arms. Marsh looked down at her face.
“He’s dead, Aish.”
“No!” The little girl punched her, and then she punched her again. “No! No! No! He’s not dea
d!”
“Yes, dead,” Marsh insisted, sharing the image of the mule falling over.
“Not dead,” Aisha argued, showing Marsh an image of the mule lying as still as stone on the path.
Just when Marsh was about to point out that the mule was the very epitome of dead, she saw his nostrils flare, and moisture trickled out of his mouth. Clear liquid, like he was drooling in his sleep.
“Not dead,” Aisha told her, trying to wriggle out of her arms. “Sleeping.”
Marsh looked at Master Envermet and the shadow captain sighed, then rolled his eyes. “Deeps’ ass!”
“Don’t move,” he added, touching Aisha on the shoulder. “I will fix him.”
The child stared at him, her blue eyes wide. “You can’t.”
“No insubordination, Apprentice. You stay right here, or there will be no more cookies for you...ever!”
Aisha’s eyes got wider. “No cookies?”
“Ever!” Master Envermet repeated. “So stay there.”
Aisha turned her gaze to Marsh. “Cookies?”
“Not now,” Marsh told her. “Let Master Envermet look at the mule.”
“He won’t fix him,” Aisha grumbled. “I will.”
“Not right now, you won’t,” Marsh told her as Master Envermet stopped to tie a cloth around his nose and mouth.
Another howl drifted down around them, this one much closer than the last. Master Envermet hesitated, glancing toward it, then he crossed to the mule and knelt beside him. Pulling another cloth from his pouch, he tipped his water canteen over it and then began wiping carefully around the mule’s nose and mouth.
Part way through, he snorted and tried to lift his head. Master Envermet murmured softly to him, moving to rest a knee on his neck and keep his head in place. He turned the cloth around, applied more water, and kept wiping.
By the time he was done, the mule had sneezed three more times and was fighting to get his head free. Master Envermet let him up, holding his reins as he rolled to his knees and then pulled his feet under himself.
Another howl reached them, followed by an all-too-familiar shriek.
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 128
