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

  It was a tight squeeze, but it did suffice. Marsh, Brigitte, and the children curled up in a corner with Mordan and the cubs, and their sleep was undisturbed. They awoke to a knock on the door and Master Envermet’s crisp response.

  “Hold!”

  Doesn’t the man ever sleep? Marsh thought, waking up enough to register the gleam of polished leather as he moved to answer the door.

  All around them, people stirred, sliding out of their bedrolls with soft groans as they rose to meet the day. Some left to visit the latrines, and others began packing their meager belongings back into their packs.

  Henri grabbed Brigitte, Izmay, and Xavier and approached Master Envermet. “We’ll saddle the mules.”

  “We won’t need them,” Master Envermet told him, but Henri shook his head.

  “It’s a long walk down,” he began but stopped when he saw the look on the shadow captain’s face.

  Master Envermet laid a hand on the big guard’s shoulder. “I have it covered,” he assured the man, and his quiet voice was full of such confidence that Marsh believed him.

  Henri was right, though. It was a long walk down, and while she was glad to have the mules for her return journey to the fortress, she was concerned. Some of the people traveling with them were exhausted.

  The journey had been hard enough without the constant attacks from the remnant, and the strain was beginning to show. On the up side, they weren’t differentiating between ex-guards and ex-prisoners anymore. They were treating each other with the same concern regardless.

  At least one good thing has come from the disaster, she thought.

  Master Envermet snorted, and she looked up to find him watching her. “You need to be on your way, Leclerc,” he told her and indicated the guards standing before him. “Henri was just saddling the mules.”

  The look he earned from the big man nearly made Marsh laugh. Apparently, it was one thing to be prepping the mules for Master Envermet and an entirely different thing to be getting them ready for her.

  Marsh forced her face to an appropriately serious expression. “Thank you, Henri,” she managed and started packing up her gear. The children assisted with the packing, while Master Envermet marshaled the travelers around them.

  By the time their gear was stowed, the shadow captain had guided the settlers out of the commons and into the courtyard beyond. There, to Marsh’s surprise, he had arrayed them in four neat rows.

  Henri and the others were tethering the mules to the hitching rail outside the stable when she and the children emerged.

  “It’s about time,” the big man greeted her, and Izmay slapped his shoulder.

  Marsh knew why he’d spoken to her this way when she’d first joined the group, but she couldn’t understand it now. They’d traveled together for weeks! Shouldn’t he be over it by now?

  “Captain Envermet!” Commander Galaye’s bellow ricocheted around the courtyard, and several of the nearby settlers gasped.

  Master Envermet lifted his head and caught the commander’s gaze over the intervening space.

  “Yes, Commander?”

  “What is the meaning of this?” His wild hand gestures took in the shining lines that had split the air in front of each of his four lines.

  “We’re expediting our journey,” the captain replied. “The Monastery has mages stationed at Ariella’s Grotto, and Mistress Sulema has granted permission for us to open a gate from one secure location to another.

  “One gate,” Commander Galaye stressed. He gestured emphatically at the four lines now forming into arches. “Not four gates.”

  “It’s easier to hold four smaller gates than one large one,” Master Envermet told him. “We’ll get everyone out of the fortress faster, and Mistress Sulema has people standing by. It wouldn’t do to keep them waiting.”

  “It wouldn’t?” Commander Galaye sputtered as if Master Envermet had offered him a grave insult instead of suggesting a courtesy. Marsh watched wide-eyed, wondering what the commander had against them.

  I changed his plans without asking for permission. Master Envermet’s reply was unrepentant. The settlers would have been able to make another two days of travel, but it’s better if they don’t need to. Mistress Sulema agrees.

  But you didn’t ask him,” Marsh concluded, and he feels as if he’s been slighted.

  I did not ask him if I could visit the toilets, either, Master Envermet told her, watching as the four gate outlines filled with darkness despite the early morning light. Marsh glanced across the courtyard and saw Commander Galaye watching, a scowl marring his face.

  I would be happier if you and the children were beyond the gates when I departed, Master Envermet told her, and I will advise Sulema that her commander needs watching.

  Marsh didn’t quite get what Master Envermet was trying to say, but she caught the undercurrent of concern in his voice and did as he suggested. Moving quietly to the rail, she lifted the reins of the nearest mule.

  “Mount up,” she murmured, looking at the children.

  Tamlin caught the tension in her voice and frowned, but he didn’t argue. Henri also heard it and scowled. For a moment, she thought the big man might cause a fuss, but he didn’t.

  With one more contemplative look at her, the ex-caravan-guard moved to his mule and lifted the reins over its head. Izmay and Brigitte followed his cue, and the four guards followed Marsh around the edge of the courtyard, leading their mules behind them.

  In the end, they had to walk past the doorway Commander Galaye had propped himself in.

  “Where are you going?” he asked, his eyes flicking from the steadily forming portals to Marsh and her team.

  March paused. “We have a mission to run,” she retorted shortly. “Master Envermet’s orders.”

  She was tempted to add, “if that’s okay with you,” but figured that might be inviting more trouble than she needed. Instead, she left it at that and pulled the mule forward. Across the courtyard from her, the gates finished forming, and Master Envermet spoke.

  “Walk into the portal in front of you and keep going when you reach the other side. There will be shadow mages and people from Ariella’s Grotto waiting for you. They will tell you where to wait. I will come through as soon as all of you have passed through safely.”

  Movement rippled through the lines as the settlers moved forward. People clasped hands or lifted children to their hips. Most raised their chins and gritted their teeth, their jaws firming as they stepped toward the gates.

  Marsh stopped to watch them pass, reaching out to touch the shadows to ensure they would hold. Not a single one trembled, and she wondered how the mages on the other side knew to form the portals when none had known before.

  Master Envermet’s laughter echoed softly through her mind. Sulema is a mind mage and my teacher. I asked her to help spread the knowledge so it would not be lost if we did not return. I hope you don’t mind.

  Marsh shook her head. She didn’t mind. She just hadn’t realized how loosely her head held its secrets.

  Master Envermet laughed again. I will teach you how to secure your mind, he promised. Just as soon as I return.

  It was the first he’d mentioned of returning, and it caught Marsh by surprise. He was coming back? To the surface?

  Yes. I have unfinished business here. He paused and then added, And we must be going. Neither of us has time for a long goodbye.

  He had a point, but Marsh felt unexpected sadness as she tugged the mule forward. She glanced back at the gates and saw that all bar one of them had closed. As she watched, Master Envermet stepped up to it, lifted his hand in her direction, and stepped through.

  “Bye.” Aisha’s voice was soft and almost shy.

  When Marsh glanced at her, the little girl was lowering her hand. She guessed the child had returned the shadow captain’s wave.

  “We have to get going.” Henri’s voice broke through her thoughts and Marsh realized she’d come to a halt to watch the shadow captain leave.

&
nbsp; She nodded and tugged on the mule again. This time she did not stop until she had walked through the fortress gates and stood amidst the ruins once more.

  “Are you going to ride, or would you prefer to lead the mule the whole way?” Henri’s tone was a mixture of sarcasm and exasperation, and Marsh started.

  The man had a point.

  She sighed and mounted the mule.

  Dan?

  The pack marks the way, the kat told her. The reasonless have been driven from the territory or killed. They will not trouble us. We must travel swiftly.

  Marsh wanted to know why the kat was so sure of that last, but she didn’t ask. The urgency in Mordan’s tone was enough.

  “Trouble?” Henri asked, catching her thoughtful look and coming alongside her.

  Marsh shrugged. “I don’t know, but Mordan says we have to hurry.”

  Henri looked at the kat. “Trouble at Briar’s Ridge?” he asked, and Mordan twitched her ears, her tail flicking once.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” Henri told her and frowned. “Do we need to ride in hard, or ride hard and then enter quietly?”

  At this, the kat cocked her head.

  “Well?” the big man demanded. “Don’t pretend you don’t understand me. I know better.”

  Mordan curled her lip and laid her ears against her skull.

  Henri raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes. He looked at Marsh. “You reason with her,” he told her. “We need an answer before we get there, so she’s got a couple of hours to figure it out. I promise we won’t ride too fast.”

  24

  Ghost Town

  Their precautions were for nothing, and it wouldn’t have mattered how fast they’d ridden to get to Briar’s Ridge. The raiders had already been and gone.

  They’d hit the town in the late afternoon. Marsh guessed they’d struck at around the same time as the remnant, or possibly the hyenas. It was hard to tell.

  They rode into a ghost town.

  Doors were off their hinges, window shutters dangled at odd angles above pools of shattered glass, and nothing moved.

  The wolves flowed down the street, their shaggy gray forms darting from house to house. At each one, they’d vanish briefly inside, only to reemerge, with Mordan relaying the result of their search.

  “Gone.” “Empty.” “No one.” “Fled.” “Hiding.”

  That last was accompanied by a startled yelp and a terrified shriek. Aisha had slid from her mule before Marsh could tell her otherwise, and Marsh didn’t bother trying to stop her. She followed the child’s lead, racing after her toward the sound of shattering pottery and clattering pans.

  The frantic scrabble of claws alerted her in time for her to step aside as one of the younger pack members came racing through the doorway. Bristlebear came to a halt beside her as Aisha slipped through the opening.

  The girl ducked low to avoid the clay mug that hurtled after the juvenile wolf and was gone from sight.

  “Hallo, the house!” Marsh called, sticking her head around the doorframe.

  Another mug sailed past.

  “Hey! We’re here to help!”

  “What? Help yourselves?” Whoever had holed up inside was all bluster now they thought they’d been discovered.

  “To what?” Marsh retorted, her back pressed to the wall on the other side of the door. “Looks like someone else has already been through and taken anything not nailed down. We’re looking to help the survivors.”

  There was a pause, and then the reply came, broken by a sob. “Can you get them back?”

  Marsh raised a hand and called the lightning to dance around it. “If we can.”

  The predators are gone, and you have found the only pack they left behind, Bristlebear informed her as the wolves returned from exploring the town.

  “You come out!” Aisha commanded from inside the room, and a broken laugh followed.

  “I’m coming. Can you help me?”

  Coming through the door as she listened, Marsh thought she recognized the voice, and then she caught sight of the man crawling out from beneath a table and pushing back the bench he’d tried to use as a barricade.

  “How did you fit in there?” she demanded, eyeing Rocko carefully as he uncoiled and stretched.

  “Incentive,” he muttered and walked around the table. There he paused and stooped to offer his hand to the woman who’d been hiding in the cabinet standing against the far wall.

  She emerged looking tousled and slightly sheepish, and recognition hit like lightning.

  “Joanna?” The sister’s name came rushing back to Marsh. “Marius’ sister?”

  At least the girl had the grace to blush. She fluttered her hand at the blacksmith. “I came to see Rocko. We...talked.”

  Uh-huh. “Talking” was one way to put it, but from the way the two looked at each other and their hands twined together, she doubted it was a very accurate description of their meeting. Her mind slid to Roeglin, but Rocko’s voice brought her back to the present.

  “We heard them coming down the street.” He gestured helplessly at the low bench. “I had Jo hide, then shoved a bench in front of it.”

  “How’d they miss you?” Marsh cocked her head, figuring the table wouldn’t have afforded much cover. Any self-respecting raider would have seen him and dragged him away.

  Rocko gestured at a curtain-draped wall behind a large wooden armchair. “I was over there. They didn’t look very hard.”

  He shivered. “I’d only just come out to get Jo when I heard you coming down the street.” He blushed. “I-I panicked.”

  Marsh snorted. He must have panicked a lot if he’d thought he’d remain unseen under the table. That still didn’t explain the mugs.

  She scowled and walked around the table for a better look. “Oh.”

  The cabinet stood partially open. Rocko had been pulling crockery from the cupboard next to the one Joanna had been hiding in. Marsh hoped it was his house, or someone was going to be after him for the cost of more than just a new set of drinking mugs.

  “It’s worse than that,” he told her, stepping back so she could get a better look.

  “Oh,” Marsh repeated, and understood why the raiders might not have looked too hard.

  The floor between the cabinet and the table was littered with broken shards of crockery. Cracked shelving was visible through the open cabinet door. If it wasn’t his house, Rocko had some explaining to do.

  “This place is yours?”

  It was Rocko’s turn to look sheepish. He gazed at his feet, blushing like a sunset.

  “I...uh, no. We were next door. When we heard them coming, we tried to make a break for it, but it was pretty obvious we weren’t going to make the edge of the village, so we ducked into the nearest house.”

  Marsh raised an eyebrow. “So, who’s house is it?”

  Joanna lifted her head, giving Marsh a wry grin. “I think we’ll both need to explain things to Master Olderman.”

  Marsh looked around. “And where is he?”

  Rocko shook his head. “He was down at the community hall when they came. He and his wife were among the first taken.”

  “I’m sorry we didn’t leave anyone,” Marsh offered, but the blacksmith shook his head.

  “It wouldn’t have done any good. There were too many. If I didn’t know any better, I’da said they waited until you’d cleared the town and then gave you a bit of extra time to be out of sight, but that would mean they were watching us.”

  Marsh cast a glance at the nearby ruins. She’d have asked how the wolves could have missed an observer, but it would have been easy. There were just too many nooks and crannies in which one could hide.

  And if they’d climbed high enough in one of the ruins...

  Yeah, she could see how there could be one, and here could still be one.

  Dan. The big kat glanced at her, walking into her head like it was her second home. Take Perdemor and Scruffknuckle, and ask Bristlebear if he has pack to spare. Look high,
no matter how old the scent is.

  The kat gave a growl of affirmation and leapt away. Bristlebear gave two sharp yips and a short howl that was followed by the skitter of claws. Marsh turned to Rocko.

  “If there’s an observer, they’ll find them.”

  The blacksmith nodded. Marsh looked around at the shadow mages and the small contingent of Grotto warriors who had followed her out of the fortress, Obasi at their head.

  “We need to take down some raiders.”

  Obasi stepped forward. He nodded a greeting to Rocko and turned to Marsh. “With permission, I would like to look into their minds and see what I can discover about their forces.”

  Marsh looked at the blacksmith. “He’s a mind mage. Can he see what you remember of the attack?”

  The blacksmith licked his lips, hesitating only momentarily before bobbing his head. “Take what you need.”

  He didn’t ask if it would hurt, but Marsh saw the unasked question when Obasi carried her into Rocko’s head.

  “No, and we will not look beyond these memories,” she reassured the man, managing to speak aloud as Obasi found what they’d come for.

  The night folded around them, startlement flashing through them as distant doors banged and people shouted in outrage, fear, and command. A woman shrieked denial, and a man cried out in pain. Children screamed in protest.

  And then they were running; Rocko grabbed Joanna’s hand and towed her out of the loft above the blacksmith’s forge and shop.

  They wasted no time looking out into the street, something Rocko now regretted, but for which Marsh was grateful. If he had, they’d have been captured, and there’d have been no clue as to what had happened—just an empty town.

  Together, they’d fled through the back door of the smith and into the narrow alley that ran behind. Rocko started for the edge of town, with every intention of making it to the camp where the children had stayed on their arrival at the town.

  It was an idea he soon abandoned, pulling Joanna into the shelter of the darkened rear yard of Master Olderman’s home.

  “The mayor won’t mind.” That whisper carried across time, bearing more weight now that they knew the mayor’s fate.