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

  She ran a comb through her hair and looked at the shadow captain. “These people Henri and Izmay are going to greet. Do you need me?”

  He regarded her with shadowed eyes. “It would be good to have you able to relay the meeting’s results to Roeglin,” he answered. “Why?”

  Marsh indicated her filthy clothes. “I was hoping to get cleaned up.”

  He grunted and passed her her armor. “After,” he agreed, “and that’s only if Master Olderman thinks the town’s water supply can sustain that many of us washing at once. Otherwise, we’ll have to wait and see what the outpost at Ariella’s Reach has to offer.

  Ariella’s Reach? It took Marsh a moment to connect the name with the guard station Sulema had said her people were going to build near the sinkhole.

  Master Envermet interrupted her thoughts. “There is one other matter.”

  Marsh paused halfway into her armor. “Yes?”

  “The assassin,” Master Envermet explained. “You need to find him before he attacks again. So far, he’s been focused entirely on you, but I worry there’ll come a time when he’ll decide to hurt you through the ones you love. We need to ensure he doesn’t do that.”

  “You keep saying ‘he,’” Marsh replied. “What if the last assassin isn’t a ‘he’ but a ‘she?’ We were only told ‘siblings,’ and there was evidence that at least one of them had married. What if the last assassin is a sister or a wife? We still don’t know how many of them there are.”

  Master Envermet frowned. “We don’t know how many more there are?”

  “That’s right. We could be a long way from seeing the end of this.”

  “I will warn Roeglin.”

  “It’s likely he already knows.”

  “Given he was the one who suggested you find the assassin on your way home, I doubt it.”

  Marsh lifted her eyebrows. He had?

  Master Envermet caught the expression on her face. “He did.”

  “I’ll speak to him when I get back,” Marsh agreed.

  She pulled the last of her straps tight and turned to him. “Can you check me?”

  Master Envermet obliged. When he was done, he turned toward the door and offered his arm. “If you are ready?”

  Marsh sighed. The last thing she wanted was to meet yet another group of warriors and suffer yet another delay. She’d much rather have been taking her pack and setting out to get an afternoon’s start on the journey ahead.

  One look at the weary group sitting slumped around the tables in the dining hall made her understand why that was not going to happen.

  From the exhaustion on their faces, they’d ridden hard to reach Briar’s Ridge in the short time they had, and they needed to rest. As she and Master Envermet entered, the new arrivals lifted their heads and looked at them.

  No, not them, Marsh realized. Her.

  Marsh returned their gazes, and some sat straighter. Others continued to slouch, but they eyed her as though she had something important to say.

  Master Envermet?

  They know what you have sacrificed to be here.

  But you are in command.

  And they know I won’t release you until we reach Ariella’s Reach, Master Envermet replied.

  Looking at them, Marsh had no doubt they’d go if she demanded it. I’m not that special, she told him.

  He smiled and clapped her on the back. “Of course you are,” he told her out loud, and she blushed.

  “They need to rest,” she answered, and several of those around the table relaxed.

  Master Envermet patted her back, and they took the two empty chairs at one end of the table.

  “How was your journey?” the shadow captain asked.

  “The remnant have discovered the watchtower,” the caravan master replied.

  She was a stocky woman with tightly curled black hair. Dust filmed her clothes, although her face, neck, and hands were clean. As she spoke, several of Obasi’s warriors arrived carrying platters of food.

  The caravan master gave a brief, tight smile. “They said we should sit down before we fell down,” she explained as though embarrassed by the attention.

  “That, and you were making the place look untidy,” one of the warriors retorted.

  Marsh recognized him as Lioma’s second in command.

  Hiram, Marsh thought and was surprised when he turned toward her.

  You need something?

  Marsh flushed, her face heating. Désolé. I didn’t mean to call on you.

  He inclined his head in apology. “And I did not mean to intrude on your thoughts.”

  What did you do? Master Envermet slid into her head but didn’t bother to hide the white of his eyes.

  I thought his name. Marsh was grateful the shadow captain had kept their conversation private. I was only trying to recall it.

  Is this the first time you’ve reached out to another mind? Master Envermet wanted to know.

  And had them respond, Marsh admitted.

  She watched as Hiram made sure the caravaneers had enough to eat and drink, surprised again when she and Master Envermet were served. The warrior grinned.

  “We would not think of making them eat while you did not,” he told her. “It would not be right to make them uncomfortable.”

  Marsh raised her eyebrows. Oh, so she and Master Envermet were being fed so the others didn’t feel uncomfortable? She shrugged. She could live with that.

  “How many?” Master Envermet asked, and the caravan master regarded him with a steady gaze.

  “Up until a week ago, their numbers were getting close to a hundred. They’d come at dusk and keep us up until dawn, and then one evening, they were gone.”

  “Gone?”

  She nodded. “Until two nights ago, there were none, and now there might be a dozen at a time, but no more.”

  Marsh and Master Envermet exchanged glances.

  “What?” the caravan master demanded, and Master Envermet explained the remnant force they’d defeated.

  The caravan master nodded. “The timing is right,” she admitted and frowned. “But these mind bugs you mention? We haven’t thought to check for them. I’ll mind-speak Chaltuu and ask her to look out for them.”

  “Be careful,” Master Envermet warned, and related Gerry’s encounter.

  “Did he recover?” she asked.

  Marsh stilled. With all that had happened, she had not been able to check on the warrior and see how he was faring.

  “He is mending,” Master Envermet assured her, “but he will be returning to the Grotto until he is fully healed.”

  Marsh let go of the breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding. Gerry had not been her fault, but she felt guilty anyway. She’d been the one to discover it.

  They ate in silence for a moment, and Marsh studied the team. There were ten of them, which had seemed like overkill until the caravan master had mentioned the remnant. She could imagine the creatures dogging the journey’s every step.

  The caravan master pushed her plate away and frowned. “I don’t believe I introduced myself,” she said. “Dera is my name.”

  “Marsh,” Marsh replied.

  “Levi,” Master Envermet answered.

  They regarded each other for several long moments, then Dera spoke again.

  “What time can you be ready to depart in the morning?”

  “We are at your mercy,” Master Envermet told her. “Name the hour, and we will be there.”

  “An hour before dawn,” she promptly replied. “We might encounter some remnant, but we’ll get to the Reach by nightfall. That would be preferable to camping out or arriving later.”

  “We’ll be there,” Master Envermet assured her, and he pushed back his chair. “If you will excuse us. I will have my people prepare.”

  Dera inclined her head. “And mine need their rest,” she replied. “It has been a long journey.”

  Marsh rose with Master Envermet and followed him to where Henri, Izmay, and the others were waiting.
She had to admire the fact Brigitte had managed to get the two children to sit quietly at the table—then she spotted the size of the cookie Aisha was holding in her hands.

  The little girl greeted her by saluting her with the cookie and giving her a crumb-filled smile.

  “I hope you ate all your dinner,” Marsh commented sternly.

  Aisha nodded vigorously and took a large bite out of the cookie. Marsh might have doubted the child, but Tamlin was nodding.

  “Cookie that size?” the boy demanded. “What do you think?”

  Marsh might have taken offense, but there was a hollowness to the boy’s challenge that told her he was speaking more from habit than anything else.

  “I’m wondering where you hid yours,” Marsh retorted as she and Master Envermet settled at the table.

  20

  The Ambush

  They left Briar’s Ridge in the morning. The caravan didn’t have enough mules for everyone to ride, but they had enough so that the slowest and weakest didn’t have to walk. Aisha stoutly refused.

  “Nope,” she declared when Dera tried to usher her into a saddle. “I have Dan.”

  Dan? Marsh could see the question on the caravan master’s face. It was swallowed in brow-raised understanding when Aisha’s eyes flared green and the kat padded over to stand beside her.

  The kat ran her eyes over Dera’s figure as though she was unimpressed by what she saw, then deliberately bumped Aisha with her head, sliding alongside so the little girl could scramble onto her shoulders.

  “Well, then.” The caravan master looked from Aisha to Tamlin. “Looks like you’re all set.”

  She walked the line of travelers, her eye traveling over them, the mules, and the guards arrayed on either side. When she’d gone to the end and back, she signaled the caravan forward into the pre-dawn dark.

  The sun had just touched the horizon when the remnant attacked.

  The only warning they had was when Mordan lifted her head and Aisha slid rapidly from the kat’s back. Perdemor bounded out of the rubble with Scruffknuckle. Cub and pup moved in silence, stopping before Mordan.

  The three animals communed without sound, then Perdemor locked gazes with Aisha and Mordan moved to stand before Marsh. The kat lifted her head, and Marsh looked into her eyes.

  What she saw would have alarmed her if Master Envermet hadn’t already been in her head. The shadow captain slid along the link between them the moment he noticed Perdemor and Scruffknuckle’s arrival.

  Marsh didn’t care. As the kat shared what the youngsters had seen, she called a sword and buckler from the shadows. There were at least twenty remnant coming through the ruins and another ten waiting on either side of the road ahead.

  She resisted the urge to look for another way around. It was no good; she already knew the answer to that. They only knew one viable path through a section of fallen buildings, and that was the road.

  Mordan nudged her mind, and Marsh forced herself to focus. Perdemor and Scruffknuckle had outdone themselves. The pair had discovered the ambush party and circled behind it, observing how many there were and where they were placed.

  They’d gone wide to make it back to the caravan safely, and that had been when they’d stumbled across the war party. Watching their memories, Marsh didn’t have to wonder if the remnant were being controlled by mind bugs.

  She could see the lumps outlined under the ragged fall of their garments and caught a glimpse of one through a tear. This wasn’t a random attack.

  Once she had seen all there was to see, the kat broke contact and bounded away, taking Scruffknuckle and Perdemor with her.

  “They’re going to clear the left first,” Marsh told Master Envermet.

  He nodded, patting her on the shoulder as he turned away.

  Dera and Obasi were already moving through the guards, sending small groups in different directions. That puzzled Marsh.

  How were they going to protect the settlers if the guards were somewhere else?

  We need to find a hold point. Master Envermet’s explanation made perfect sense. We won’t be able to keep our people alive if we don’t.

  At the same time he was speaking to her, he was calling the shadow guards over.

  “We have remnant incoming,” he told them, keeping his voice low so it wouldn’t carry.

  Behind them, several of the closest travelers gasped, and Marsh heard soft murmurs as some comforted others. Master Envermet’s eyes flicked briefly toward the sound, but he continued with his briefing.

  “Dera wants us to protect the civilians and let her warriors take on the bulk of the remnant. I want you to do what you normally do.”

  His eyes rested on Marsh and then slid to her left. She looked down and discovered Tamlin had come to stand quietly beside her.

  “No lightning unless we really need it,” the shadow captain admonished, and Tamlin nodded as the first howls and hoots split the air.

  More gasps followed, and gear rattled as some of the civilians reached for weapons that weren’t there.

  “I wish I could do that,” came an anonymous mutter as the shadow guards pulled weapons from the morning dark.

  “Or that,” another voice added as Henri and Izmay set their blades alight.

  The settlers huddled together, but Marsh noticed that the ex-guards had moved to the outer edges of the group. She didn’t know what they thought they were going to do, but she had to admire the sentiment. It was a relief when Obasi appeared out of the rubble.

  “We’ve found a place,” he told them, surveying the settlers. “If we hurry, we can make it.”

  The settlers didn’t need to be told twice. They shuffled forward as Obasi turned away. Marsh and the shadow guards parted so they could take up positions of the edges of the group. If the remnant hit them before they reached Obasi’s hold point, they’d be all that stood between them.

  Fortunately, Obasi’s hold point wasn’t very far away. The impi had discovered a building with the first two floors still mostly intact and arrayed themselves around it.

  “There are two entrances,” Obasi told Master Envermet as the settlers began to file inside, Gerry and Brigitte going with them. “All you need to do is hold them.”

  Master Envermet surveyed the building. “Is there any way onto the second floor?”

  Obasi gave him a speculative look. “We haven’t had time to look,” he admitted.

  More howls shattered the pre-dawn air, and the first remnant broke through the rubble and bushes surrounding the building. The last of the settlers hurried into the shelter of the rooms.

  Izmay and Henri exchanged glances and followed.

  “You’ve got this entrance,” Izmay advised as she vanished inside.

  Tamlin nudged his sister. “Get back a bit, Aysh.”

  The little girl looked like she was going to argue and then dropped back to the door. “I can heal,” she declared, her tone daring them to disagree.

  “And block the door,” Tamlin added. “Don’t let any get past us.”

  Aisha nodded. “Don’t get killed,” she retorted.

  Marsh wanted to reiterate that, but the first remnant had reached them. She took the first vicious slash on her shield and thrust her blade into the remnant’s middle. Tamlin blocked another blow and parried a club that would have taken his head.

  The force of the blow would have knocked a normal weapon from his hand. As it was, the shadow blade was pushed back toward his head. Aisha gave an outraged cry, and stone encased its legs.

  “Aysh! I’ve got this!”

  “It nearly got you!”

  Marsh might have laughed if two remnant hadn’t stepped up to take the place of the one she’d felled. Again she blocked with her shield, but this time she was forced onto the defensive.

  “There’s too many,” Master Envermet grunted. “We need to hold them from inside the door.”

  “Aisha! Move back!” Tamlin ordered. “Let us through!”

  Aisha stepped out of the doorway.
>
  “Not what I meant!” her brother growled.

  “Apprentice, go inside,” Master Envermet ordered.

  Reluctantly, the child gave ground.

  “Tamlin,” Master Envermet began, and the boy reversed into the shelter. “Obasi.”

  One by one, they retreated, with Marsh and Master Envermet going last. The shadow captain called more shadow, forming a barrier between them and their opponents. For a moment, Marsh considered the idea of having the shadow mages forming mobile walls between them and the remnant on either side.

  She considered just how much energy that would take and quickly discarded the idea. Even if they had enough mages who were strong enough to sustain such a shield, they wouldn’t be able to hold it long enough for the caravan to reach its destination.

  “Exactly,” Master Envermet concurred once they were inside and the shield blocked the door. Across the room, Izmay and Brigitte had formed a similar shield, and the shadow guards were taking a breather.

  A moment later, Henri crouched beside them. “Not sure how long we can hold them, sir,” he reported, keeping his voice low.

  Master Envermet pressed his lips into a thin, straight line, his eyes darkening with concern. He ran his eyes over the settlers and then over his guards. When he came to Tamlin, he stopped.

  His mouth twitched, and he looked back at Marsh.

  “I need you on this doorway,” he told her. “We need the lightning.”

  Marsh nodded and moved to the door. Behind her, Master Envermet spoke again. “Tamlin, I want you on the door with Izmay and Brigitte.”

  Marsh glanced back at him, but Tamlin was already moving, and the shadow captain had turned to Obasi.

  “Warn your people that they need to get to cover.”

  The Grotto warrior’s eyes shaded white but soon returned to normal. “Dera says that’s impossible. They can’t break off.”

  Master Envermet looked at Marsh. “Can you have it target just the remnant?”

  Marsh nodded. “I can.”

  “I can try,” Tamlin answered before he could be asked. He gave Obasi an apologetic look. “I’ll do my best.”