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

  Tok flicked his antennae. You have not made it necessary. The attacks have not originated with you.

  “But I am the leader of this community. It’s my duty to protect my people, and I have failed her.

  Tok made a reproachful series of clicks. You have not failed her, the mantid corrected. Mind protection is a task for those capable of performing it, not for those whose desire is strong but whose capabilities are yet to be developed.

  “I…” Roeglin was at a momentary loss for words, but Master Envermet leaned forward.

  “I am here, now,” he declared sternly. “Surely…”

  Tok laid a long-fingered hand on his shoulder. His mental voice gentle as he interrupted. Neither of you is able to protect her mind. Nor are the mind mages from the nest known as the Grotto, and the enemy is growing more powerful. We fear the portal is opening.

  “Portal?” Master Envermet demanded, his voice forming a chorus with Marsh’s and Roeglin’s.

  Faces turned toward them from around the room.

  This is not the time or place to discuss it, but we fled through an open portal, and it was not one that stayed open always. It will open again, and our old foes will come hunting.

  “Your old foes?”

  A shudder ran through Tok’s form. This is a discussion for another time. Tomorrow, I think, once you have had sufficient sleep. In the meantime, I would like to leave my six most proficient guardians.

  “Granted,” Roeglin answered.

  Is mid-afternoon too soon to meet?

  As Roeglin agreed that mid-afternoon was an ideal time, Marsh tried to assimilate what she had just learned. There was a portal, and the enemy that pursued her through her dreams was beyond it. When it opened…

  She shuddered. Mid-afternoon was not too soon to meet. For Marsh, it wasn’t soon enough.

  13

  Forewarned

  Roeglin and Master Envermet spent the morning out at the college site. They were discussing it as they returned to the small dining room after lunch.

  “It won’t be ready before winter,” Roeglin was saying. “I’m sorry, but we need the druids if we’re to harvest that last crop before the first snows set in.”

  “Did they say when that would be?” Master Envermet asked.

  “The next four to six days, no later,” Roeglin replied. “It’s going to be close.”

  “And the tunnel the mantids want?”

  “There might be suitable sites on the route, but they won’t be ready, either. That, I’m afraid, is our next priority.”

  “As well as finding this portal Tok was talking about.” Master Envermet sighed. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, especially if we are to secure the Library.”

  “Yes. It makes me wish I hadn’t killed every raider who didn’t surrender.”

  Master Envermet shrugged. “You did what you needed to do, and the world is a safer place because of it. This is not something you could have foreseen.”

  Roeglin shook his head. “I saw what was below. I should have investigated sooner. It’s been a month and a half since we took the place.”

  “It’s been a month and a half of getting your people back on their feet and in a position where they can deal with the weather that’s coming. They need to eat if they’re to be of any use to you in defending their home.”

  “They need to feel safe, too.”

  “Are you telling me you can’t lock the ways beneath the Library?”

  “No. We could do that, or I could get one of the rock mages to seal it with stone. We could ignore those tunnels until next summer if we needed to.”

  “But the tunnels lead into the Devastation,” Master Envermet reminded him. “If you blocked the way into the church and Library, you wouldn’t know when something came through, or what it was or how many. It takes precedence.”

  “We should have gone in sooner.”

  “Don’t forget you had to wait for Marsh to return, and the children. They’re part of your core team.”

  Roeglin looked around, making sure the room was empty. He even looked under the tables to make sure Aisha hadn’t snuck in unseen. When he discovered they were alone, he continued, “I haven’t asked Marsh for a permanent partnership,” he admitted, “and I-I don’t know if I should.”

  Master Envermet regarded him with surprise. “Whyever not?”

  “Because of this. The town takes a lot of my time, and I’m often busy. I… It’s not fair to expect her to…”

  “To what?” Master Envermet asked, a small smile playing over his lips. “Accept your work the same way you accept hers? To be there as much as you’re able? To take time out of her day to see you, the same way you take time out of yours? I’m not sure what she’d be doing differently if you did make the partnership official.”

  Roeglin sat back in his seat and stared at him. “When you put it that way…”

  “You have an entire township of work to do,” he agreed, “but it shouldn’t stop you from finding a partner to run with. Ask Bristlebear how he manages his relationship with Silvermoth when he has an entire pack to oversee.”

  Roeglin opened his mouth to protest that it was different for animals, but Master Envermet wasn’t finished.

  “Or the Shadow Master how he manages to coordinate with the Rock Mistress.”

  Roeglin’s jaw dropped, and Master Envermet gave a small smile at his surprise.

  “That, I grant you, is new. My point is, you will find a way to manage to find time, and your feelings won’t stop just because something seems to be sensible or fair.”

  He paused. “Besides, don’t you think Marsh should have a say in whether she thinks you’re too much hard work to run beside?”

  Roeglin closed his mouth. Master Envermet had a point. He might not like it and asking Marsh what she thought might scare him twenty times Deeper, but what the shadow captain had raised made sense.

  He was about to thank the man when Marsh arrived with Tamlin and Aisha in tow. Master Envermet started smirking, and his blue eyes danced with mischief. Roeglin hoped he wouldn’t say anything to Marsh, at least not until he’d had a chance to.

  The smirk vanished. Not likely, the shadow captain informed him. That is the sort of thing no one should interfere with.

  On hearing it, Roeglin felt some of his tension ease. He watched Marsh tilt her head, listening as Aisha chattered about some game Scruffknuckle and Perdemor had played with Perdy’s siblings.

  “Dan was not impressed,” the little girl was saying. “Her tail did that thing, and her ears were right against her head. She was mad!”

  It sounded like the kits and pup had really upset the adult hosh, and that took some doing. Roeglin wondered what it had been, and if he’d be hearing about it from Obasi or Evan later. Usually when that much mischief occurred, one or another of his foremen knew of it and weren’t impressed.

  “Did they break anything?” he asked, and the little girl shut her mouth, her eyes going wide.

  “Nuh-uh,” she told him, and Marsh rolled her eyes.

  Roeglin sighed. “I’m going to be hearing about this later, aren’t I?”

  Aisha took a big breath, and Marsh nudged her.

  Roeglin made a show of burying his face in his hands. “I am. I know I am.”

  When he looked up, the little girl was smiling. “Maybe…”

  He groaned, but before he could say anything, the door opened again and Tok came through. He brought with him three other mantids. These moved to occupy the empty end of the room.

  I have brought the mages you will need for your academy, he informed them.

  Master Envermet studied the new arrivals, taking in the color of their carapaces and the blood-red markings and the lighter slashes of yellow. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, he told them, making sure everyone in the room could hear him.

  One of them cocked his head and made a soft churring noise.

  That is correct, K’tch, Tok replied. That one will be your student.


  The mantid’s eyes swiveled to focus on Master Envermet alone. When the shadow guard’s eyes turned white, Marsh knew the pair were having a student-teacher moment. She cast a glance at Roeglin, but the shadow mage’s attention was on Tok.

  “Can you explain the danger?” he asked, and Tok inclined his head.

  One eye remained on Roeglin and the other turned to K’tch. The other mantid flicked his antennae and settled back on his haunches, and Master Envermet’s eyes returned to their usual blue. The other two mantids remained silent.

  Your world does not exist alone in the galaxy, Tok explained, and there are others who deem it ripe for conquest. Those others are scattered, but there are some who would own more of them—and who have the ability to open a gate between them. That is what you are facing here.

  “An invading force?” Master Envermet asked, and Roeglin looked at Marsh.

  The enemy we fled from is an enemy of Death’s. It will seek to destroy your world in order to destroy her.

  “I don’t know who Death is,” Roeglin observed, “but if this enemy was going to destroy this world to attack her, why did you come here?”

  That is simple. When we fled, we had a limited choice of portals, and we chose this one.

  “Knowing it led to a world your enemy would want to destroy?”

  We chose it because it is a world that Death will fight to protect, and what she protects is safer than any other place in the universe, no matter who its enemies are. Of all the destinations a portal could lead, this was our best option for survival.

  “You couldn’t make it back to your own world?”

  Tok’s eyestalks sagged, and his antennae drooped. Sadness crept through his mental voice. Our world was not an option.

  Marsh wondered if it would ever become an option, and one of Tok’s eyestalks turned toward her.

  It was our world we fled. Again, sadness laced the mantid’s tones, and Marsh found herself at a loss as to what to say. Tok swiveled both eyestalks toward Roeglin and changed the subject. You had questions?

  “I did.” Roeglin gestured toward Aisha. “Are any of your mages capable of doing what Aisha does?”

  In what way? Tok asked.

  “Making other people do what she wants, whether they want to or not?”

  Tok’s eyes widened in amazement, and one eyestalk twisted to regard Aisha. The little girl was sitting up very straight and very, very still, her blue eyes innocently wide.

  When did you do that? he asked her, and she lost her look of mock-innocence, narrowing her eyes at Roeglin.

  Tamlin snickered, and Aisha turned her gaze on him. The boy laughed out loud.

  I do not understand your amusement, the mantid stated.

  Tamlin grinned at it. “It’s funny to watch her go from trying to act innocent to severely upset because she’s about to be found out and can’t do anything about it.”

  Aisha’s body gave a short, sharp jerk, and the boy yelped. He bent down.

  “Just because I told them why it was funny, it doesn’t mean you can kick me,” he grumbled, and Tok swiveled his other eye toward the child.

  Why are you angry? he asked.

  “Because it’s not nice to tell,” Aisha told him. “Telling on other people is bad.”

  Tamlin and Roeglin snickered, and Master Envermet smirked. Marsh just shook her head and watched the drama unfold.

  So is not answering a question when it is asked, the mantid pointed out.

  Aisha scowled at him.

  So, did you make others do as you wished? Tok asked.

  The child nodded.

  And did they want to? The mantid’s mind voice was gentle.

  “Dey were trying to run away,” Aisha told him. “Dey had to stay so Roeglin could talk to them. Dey attacked us. I made dem stop.”

  Marsh groaned. It was always a bad sign when Aisha resorted to baby talk. She said nothing, though, letting the mantid handle it. After all, he was her teacher in this.

  Was there any other way?

  “No. Dan was gonna eat them, and Perdy had his claws out. Dere was gonna be blood!”

  Blood? Is that bad?

  “Dey were not bad people,” Aisha argued. “They was just scared!”

  I see, and Marsh guessed the mantid really did see, given that he could mind-walk as easily as she breathed.

  That thought earned her an eye-twitch, but he didn’t take his attention off the child.

  So you made them do what? Tok asked.

  “I made them come back to where they could talk to Roeglin,” the child said and gave the shadow mage a pleading look. “I did.”

  Roeglin nodded and patted her shoulder comfortingly. “Yes, you did, and you had them all sit down so they wouldn’t get hurt.”

  By “them,” Tok observed curiously, how many do you mean?

  “She returned four young adults bent on escape to where we were waiting,” Roeglin told him. “Four!”

  And is that bad?

  “No, but it is unsettling,” Roeglin admitted. “None of us know how to instruct a student with that much power.”

  Can any of you do the same?

  “No,” Roeglin admitted, “and therein lies the problem. We can’t instruct her on etiquette or control if we don’t know how to control the ability ourselves—and humans take offense to being made to do things against their will.”

  My people do not approve of such things, either, Tok assured him, but, under the circumstances, I believe she acted appropriately.

  “Even in reading their minds without their permission?”

  You do as much when approaching a new group of humans, Tok reminded him, his mental voice gentle.

  Aisha gasped. “But…but you say that’s rude!”

  Roeglin groaned and shot the mantid a look, but Tok was unrepentant.

  “It’s a judgment call,” the shadow mage explained, as much for Aisha’s benefit as the mantid’s.

  Tok gave the curious chitter that was laughter for his kind.

  It seems a human would be best to teach a human child which factors should be noted, although I think your offspring has a strong grasp of them already.

  Aisha bounced in her chair, looking pleased with herself. Tok fixed her with a stern gaze, if that was how the tension in its eyestalks could be interpreted, and the child stilled.

  It is not considered polite to scan another’s mind without their permission, he admonished, except when you need to know that an unknown mind is not planning hostile actions. Am I understood?

  “’Kay.” Aisha gave the mantid a wide-eyed look.

  No, that does not include when you are playing a game with the other children, Tok added after a moment, and Aisha blushed scarlet.

  Tamlin chortled with glee. “Told you it was rude, Aysh!”

  She stuck out her tongue.

  Roeglin cleared his throat. “Now that that is clear, I have one more question.”

  Tok inclined his head. Ask.

  “Is the child strong enough to protect Marsh from whatever is hunting her in her sleep?”

  The mantids rustled in alarm, hind legs scraping protest against abdomens and center legs rasping briefly against their thoraxes. Tok held up a hand and they stilled, but all eyes were on Roeglin.

  Marsh waited, holding her breath as the mantid leader contemplated Roeglin’s question. After a minute, Tok blinked.

  At this time,” he stated, his mental voice solemn and firm, I detect no human with the capabilities required to protect Marsh’s mind, but…

  Again, he held up a hand, this time to still the ripple of movement that flowed through the humans.

  I am willing to test the humans who wield mental magic to see if there are any strong enough to undertake the training required to become a guardian.

  Aisha bounced in her seat and looked excitedly at Tamlin. Her brother frowned, his face pinched with worry.

  The mantid continued, I must warn you, however, that even among my people, the guardians are the elite of all
our mages, and that is among a race gifted with mental magic. I expect those qualities to be much harder to find among humans.

  It was not the news Marsh wanted to hear, and she eyed the mantids worriedly. If they were all that could protect her, what would happen when they were able to return home?

  By that stage, the being that threatens you will be gone, Tok told her kindly, and we would not leave you undefended.

  14

  Shadows from the Past

  The conversation turned to the training center for mages, with Obasi joining them partway through. He brought a handful of druids interested in teaching and explained that he would not be able to spare them all at once.

  Tok bowed his head in understanding, and Master Envermet smiled.

  “I brought more with me,” he reminded the Grotto warrior, “but we would appreciate it if there were classes for the warriors, too.”

  He glanced at Marsh. “I need Brigitte if she can be spared, and I’d like you to come to demonstrate how to draw weapons from the shadows. I’m sure there are more with the same ability.”

  “Two of the Arcadians have an affinity for fire magic,” Gustav told them after he’d been summoned, “and Jakob, Zeb, and I can do a little with flame.”

  His voice turned wistful. “We could always learn more, though. It might help us avoid setting the ruins alight.”

  He cast a teasing glance at Marsh, and she blushed. Tok drew the memory of when she’d set the cavern alight from her mind. Again, mantid laughter rippled through the room.

  After it died away, Roeglin turned the conversation to a more serious topic. “I need to know what it meant to be taken Below,” he decided, looking at the guard captain. “Gustav, I’m sorry, but you were here longest. Do you know what it means?”

  Gustav paled but shook his head. “I’m sorry, shadow mage, but I don’t. I do know that the worst of the guards looked forward to it and would taunt those selected with its coming. They weren’t done with me the first time people were taken Below after I’d arrived. They still had questions about where I’d come from.”