Trading into Darkness

by C. M. Simpson

  Her sigh drew the attention of the two guards, and they turned to regard her. Marsh looked right back and was unnerved when they exchanged secretive smiles and strolled away.

  “Do you think she knows?” one asked.

  The other shook his head.

  “Not a clue.”

  They kept walking, leaving Marsh to wonder what they were talking about. She resisted the urge to shout after them and concentrated on the tiles between her feet. There wasn’t much else she could do. She still couldn’t contact Roeglin, but she didn’t think she had tossed him out of her head again. This time, it was more like he hadn’t been there to begin with.

  Her boredom continued until mid-morning, when there was an outraged screech and yowl, followed by shouting. The sound had Marsh on her feet—and jerked back off them just as fast when Patrik grabbed the line joining them together and pulled her down. He caught her hands when she reached up to unclip the leash, stopping her before she could start.

  It wasn’t enough to keep her out of trouble, though.

  Four guards were on them in the blink of an eye. If Marsh hadn’t known any better, she would have said they’d been waiting for her reaction, and they took great satisfaction in adding another layer of bruises to her hide. That wasn’t the worst of it, though.

  Patrik also bore the consequences of her actions, and they were both left panting and bleeding at the end of the row.

  “Told you we’d hold you responsible for her actions.” Ardhur had come to stand just in front of them.

  Patrik spat blood and rolled himself into a sitting position.

  “Oui. You did.”

  Beyond tilting her head a fraction so she could see Ardhur’s boots, Marsh didn’t try to move. Truth be told, she didn’t think she could. Everything hurt, from her skin to her soul. All she wanted was to be back at Monsieur Gravine’s mansion, facing whatever disciplinary action was coming her way. It couldn’t be any worse than this.

  She worked at staying as still as she could, and decided she was okay right where she was. After all, she’d found Patrik, and she’d be willing to bet that the young man casting anxious glances from beside him was the Raph who had saved Eveline by dumping a pile of dirty washing on her head. He didn’t speak, however, just regarded his boss with brown eyes dark with concern.

  Ardhur, though, knelt beside Marsh and unclipped the rope linking her to the rest of the line.

  “I think it would be better if we did not give her the opportunity to cause you any more pain.”

  To Marsh’s surprise, Patrik disagreed.

  “I don’t think she’ll do that, again,” he said. “You can leave her with me.”

  Ardhur snorted and pivoted on his heels to look at the man.

  “I’ll meet you halfway,” he said. “I’ll leave her with you, but I’ll make sure she can’t cause any more trouble.”

  He paused, then pulled Marsh out of her ball, setting her on her side and then putting her hands under her head as though she was sleeping. With one hand on her shoulder, he called the stone, but, to Marsh’s surprise, he didn’t cover her head, stopping the stone once it had flowed over her legs and shoulders, trapping her hands to the floor.

  “Before I tuck you in for the night, there is something you need to see,” he told her and turned slightly to direct her attention toward the tunnel.

  As much as she didn’t want to, Marsh followed the turn and felt her heart sink with despair. Mordanlenoowar came into view, dangling upside down from a pole carried by four shadow mages. The big kat’s eyes blazed with azure fire, and her lips were lifted in an angry snarl.

  Marsh tried to go to the kat’s aid, but the stone locked her to the floor. Catching sight of the movement, Ardhur stared down at her, letting her watch as a cage was rolled into view. From the sound its wheels made on the tiled floor, it had been drawn from a chamber beyond the last line of prisoners. Marsh watched as the kat was loaded into it and saw her roll to her feet as soon as the poles were slid free of her bindings.

  I will get you out of there, she said, knowing her eyes flared green and not caring.

  Or I will free you from there, the kat replied, curling up on the floor of the cage.

  “As touching as this reunion is, I think you’ve seen enough,” Ardhur said, blocking the kat from view by crouching between them.

  Fear coiled through Marsh as the stone flowed from her shoulders to her neck and then over her head, but she refused to beg. He would let her out of the stone soon enough, and by then she would have a plan.

  18

  A Step Through the Dark

  Marchant didn’t have a plan. She’d lain for hours in what felt like a soundless, viewless coffin. Her mind had ranged from near panic to fatalistic calm. She couldn’t work out how to escape and was too tired to manage more than a brief attempt at turning to shadow.

  That was the easy part, but when it came to filtering herself through the narrow gaps that made up the holes for her mouth and nose, she froze. She could feel the stone squeezing around her, but couldn’t work out how to lose the shape she usually had in order to extricate herself from her prison’s confines.

  And she still couldn’t talk to the stone.

  She tried, but it was the same as when she tried to charge the glows. The stone wouldn’t speak to her, and the effort left her exhausted. When she was trembling with fatigue from the effort, Marsh let herself relax. She’d only meant to rest for a moment, but it was much later when she woke to the feeling of the stone slowly parting around her.

  Except that this time it was different.

  When Ardhur freed her in the morning, the stone flowed off her in the exact reverse of how it had flowed on. What she was experiencing now was more like the stone was being peeled away like clay from around a stone. Marsh came to with a gasp and a hand was clapped over her mouth, one finger gently tapping her lips in a request for silence.

  She would have nodded her understanding, but her head wasn’t free. She had the oddest sensation that a small pair of hands was pulling the stone away from her, less like clay and more like paper. What in all the Deeps was going on?

  When enough had been cleared to expose her shoulders, another much larger set of hands wormed their way under her arms and pulled.

  It wasn’t enough and she got caught in the folds of stone, muffling a cry of pain as it grated against her skin. The pulling ceased, and the small hands went back to peeling it away from her body. Only this time, they concentrated on her head, clearing the rock blocking her ears.

  Once that was done, the small hands reassuringly patted her back, hesitating when Marsh gasped with pain.

  “Gently,” came Patrik’s voice. “They beat her pretty badly.”

  “Typical,” Roeglin replied, keeping his own voice soft. Marsh couldn’t tell whether it was typical of her to need a beating or typical of the raiders to deliver one.

  Both, Roeglin said. Now go into shadow form.

  Shadow form? Okay.

  Marsh focused on blending with the darkness around them, willing her body to become one with the shadows yet separate from them. As she did so, Roeglin slipped his hands under her arms and pulled. This time, her body bent and flowed enough for her to slip free of the shell.

  “And back,” Roeglin said before turning to the person who’d freed her.

  “Marsh is hurt,” he said, pausing when the little girl gasped, but Aisha didn’t need any instruction.

  “I fix,” she said, and Marsh winced as she felt two small warm patches of pressure settle against the back of her armor.

  Before long, she felt much better and was able to stand up without wanting to cry out in pain. The sick feeling that had dogged her every move had faded, and she bent down to wrap her arms around the child.

  “Merci.”

  What she wanted to do was pick the little girl up and race her clear of the prisoners and their guards, but Aisha flashed her a smile, her teeth glinting in the dark.

  “Who next?” />
  We’re freeing the prisoners, Roeglin said, while the founder and his men keep the raiders busy.

  Which explained the sounds of battle coming from the other end of the ancient hall.

  “We have to get Mordan out of the cage.”

  “Me do.” and Aisha slipped out of Marsh’s grasp before she could stop her.

  “Wait!” she called, throttling her shout to a whisper as she caught sight of guards emerging from the far wall.

  She ducked, but they raced toward the battle without appearing to have heard or seen her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked around for Roeglin and saw him moving steadily down the line, unclipping neck lines and quietly rousing prisoners.

  Get the kat, then lead these guys down to the next junction. He flashed a map into her head. You know the one?

  Marsh did know the junction. It was the one she’d passed through not two days ago.

  Good. Get them there. Henri and Jakob will walk them clear.

  Without waiting for any more instructions, Marsh hurried after Aisha. When she got back to the mansion, she was going to strangle Roeglin. He had no right to put the child in this much danger.

  She snuck out after us. You and I are going to talk about the examples you set.

  This was her fault? But Marsh didn’t have time to be any more outraged than that. Aisha had reached the cage, her eyes flaring green as she talked to the kat.

  Marsh looked around for Scruffknuckled and the kits, but didn’t see them. Again, Roeglin was quick to answer.

  She left them behind under the covers so everyone thought she was still in bed. It gave her time to catch up with us... on the mule she’d “borrowed.”

  Little brat, Marsh thought, but Aisha made a small sound of frustration and caught Marsh’s eye.

  “I not talk to metal,” she said, sounding very much like she was sulking.

  “I’ll get it,” Marsh said, relieved when she saw that the raiders hadn’t bothered locking the door with more than a bolt.

  “Arrogant sons of the Dark,” she muttered, and heard Aisha gasp.

  “Dat’s rude.”

  “Oui,” Marsh told her, pulling the bolt clear and opening the door. “It really is.”

  Aisha giggled and raced around to meet the kat as she came out. Marsh swung her off the floor, and set her on Mordan’s back, ignoring the kat’s muffled grumble of protest.

  “Later,” she said. “For now, you need to get my cub to safety.”

  To her relief, Mordan seemed to understand what she wanted; the big kat turned and headed for the junction. Marsh was about to follow when she remembered Roeglin’s instructions and looked back at the prisoners he’d been freeing. They’d gathered a respectful distance from the cage, but now they moved toward her.

  Marsh gestured toward where the kat was carrying Aisha down the tunnel.

  “Follow the kat,” she said, searching their faces for the one she most wanted to return with.

  It took her a few minutes to find him, but when she did, she realized Patrik was moving in the wrong direction. She moved against the tide of men and women intent on following the kat and finally caught up to him.

  “I have to find the boys,” he said when he saw her. His eyes scanned the cavern. “I have to…”

  Marsh grabbed him by the arm.

  “We’re moving everyone back to the founder’s mansion. Everyone,” she emphasized, shaking his arm. “I’d hate for them to make it and you be recaptured.”

  “But I’m their father,” he said, gesturing helplessly at the people moving past them. “I’m supposed to be looking after them.”

  “Then get yourself to where they’ll be going.”

  “You don’t understand!”

  Marsh remembered how she’d felt when she’d seen Aisha in the tunnels and knew how she felt, now, letting the little girl lead a bunch of strangers up a tunnel to where her friends were supposed to be waiting.

  “I think I do,” she said, “and Fabrice will murder me if I let you get caught again.”

  She shook his arm again.

  “If they’re not there, I will find them. You are not the only ones I’ve promised to find. Please.”

  She was thinking of asking him not to make her drag him out of there but didn’t have to. Roeglin joined them.

  “That’s everyone,” he said, then scowled. “What are you still doing here? You’re supposed to be leading so Henri and Jakob don’t kill anyone.”

  “I’ve got Aisha doing that. I think they’ll recognize her and the kat.” She indicated the farmer at her side. “Patrik’s looking for his sons.”

  “Well, they aren’t behind me. I’ve cleared the cavern. They’ll be with the rest…” He paused and then shook his head. “Come on. We’ll sort out who we’ve got when we’ve got them to safety. We still have to get them past the Monetti place.”

  That got Patrik moving, although whether it was because of the danger of the raiders gaining reinforcements from Madame Monetti or because he hoped to find his children among the prisoners who’d headed back up the tunnel, Marsh didn’t know. As they started back, there was a shout from the other end of the cavern—the end where Roeglin had said Monsieur Gravine and his men were battling the raiders.

  Roeglin stopped, his eyes flashing silver, and Marsh pushed Patrik in the direction he needed to go.

  “Tell Henri and Jakob Marsh says go.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ve told them.” Roeglin had come out of his head in time to hear her instructions. He glanced back toward where the sounds of battle had ended, and from where they could hear the sound of running feet. He grabbed Marsh’s hand and ran back down the tunnel, Patrik keeping pace beside them.

  “What is it?” the farmer asked, and Roeglin glanced over his shoulder once more.

  “The raiders called for reinforcements. I’m going to need Aisha’s help to seal the tunnel.”

  “I’ll fetch her,” Marsh said, trying to pull her hand free of his. He didn’t let go, though, gripping more tightly to prevent her from leaving.

  “I’ve already called,” he said, and glanced at Patrik. “You’ll have to come with us.”

  To give him credit, the farmer did not argue; he merely came back to Roeglin.

  “What do I need to do?” he asked as the hoshkat arrived carrying Aisha on her back.

  They stepped aside at the rumble of mulish hoofbeats, and Monsieur Gravine and almost twenty riders swept past them. As soon as the last mule had vanished into the darkness, Roeglin began running.

  “We need to close the junction,” he cried. “We can’t stop what’s coming.”

  Marsh wanted to ask what exactly was coming, but she didn’t need to. She could already hear it.

  Clawed hands scraped over stone, and voices screeched in gibbering howls that sent tremors up and down Marsh’s spine before dancing over her skin like a thousand taloned fingers. Hoshkat and humans fled as one. No wonder the mules had been moving so fast!

  Although the junction wasn’t too far from them, by the time they’d reached it, the sound of hunting shadow monsters was too close for comfort.

  “Bring it down, Aysh!” Roeglin ordered, plucking the little girl from the hoshkat’s back and placing her at the edge of the tunnel opening.

  Marsh was relieved to see he didn’t take his arms from around the little girl’s waist. Seeing Aisha close her eyes, she stepped around them, pulling a sword and shield from the surrounding shadows and preparing to defend them if she had to. She heard Roeglin’s protest in her mind as she stepped into the tunnel on the other side of the arch.

  Don’t!

  Behind her, she heard the rumble and crack of rock and started to take a step back toward the opening, knowing she was going to be too slow.

  “Marsh!”

  Aisha’s shrill cry was followed by startled shouts from Patrik and Roeglin. Their cries were accompanied by the roar of falling rock and then Mordan was beside her, Aisha dangling from her jaws like a runaway kit.
r />   “Merde! You two are supposed to be on the other side of that!”

  “Bad Marsh!” Aisha started, but Roeglin had no time for arguments.

  Run! he shouted from the other side of the barrier, pushing the order through her mind with a mental shove for her to do exactly as he said. Marsh was bolting down the corridor before she was aware her legs could move that fast.

  Mordan ran beside her, a white-faced Aisha still in her mouth.

  Marsh took the child from the kat’s grip and turned her around to put her back on the kat’s shoulders. Now the little brat should have a chance.

  Run, Mordan! Get the cub to safety.

  Run with the shadows, Mordan told her, sharing the mental image of a shadowy Marsh running after her through the cavern.

  Marsh didn’t stop to argue. She sent an agreement through the link between them and focused on becoming one with the shadows.

  Mordan roared in her head and leapt away, and Marsh realized the kat could always have paced her as a shadow, except for when she’d transported herself through… the… shad…

  Marsh stopped.

  Mordan!

  She almost sobbed with relief when the kat skidded to a halt, circled, and came racing back.

  Come with me, Marsh told her burying her hand in the ruff of Mordan’s neck.

  The Deep help me, she thought, picturing the tunnel beyond the junction in her mind. She didn’t think it mattered what direction she was running in as long as she knew exactly where she wanted to be. She only hoped she could take the kat and the child with her.

  “Hold onto me,” she ordered Aisha, lifting her from the kat’s back and turning on the spot.

  If this didn’t work, she was coming right back here to defend them from the pursuing horde. All she could hope was that it wasn’t going to come to that; that the kat and child would be considered extensions of herself as she moved from human solidity to part-shadow.

  Run with me, Marsh commanded, showing the kat what she was doing.

  The hoshkat obeyed, running beside her, careful not to tear herself free of Marsh’s grip. As they leapt into the darkness, the shadow monsters screaming in their wake, Marsh focused on becoming one with the shadows and taking Aisha and the kat with her—and then she thought of a distinctive stalagmite and rock cluster she’d passed when she was Ardhur’s prisoner.