CHAPTER 39
The boat glided across the midnight-black water, propelled by the oars in Will’s and Lute’s hands. The river was silent except for the gentle whisper of the oar blades sliding under the surface. No wind troubled the night, and our sail drooped from the mast, secured by a line.
Above us, an endless sky glittered with alien, unfamiliar constellations. The world seemed huge, the river and the sky blending into one, and our boat with the lone lantern on the bow was just a speck of cosmic dust within it.
I stood at the stern, working the rudder. Steering the boat was a lot less complicated than I had expected. We’d been going upstream for a couple of hours now and I wasn’t even tired.
Sushi crouched by me. She had crawled into the boat before we cast off and perched by my feet. There had been a brief commotion, until I picked her up to assure everyone that we were on a petting basis, and she wouldn’t be biting any ankles.
Isadau sat on the nearest bench, wrapped in a cloak, her amber eyes swirling with starlight.
She was cycling magic, drawing it into her body and pushing it out, and it tugged on me with every shift.
Next to her, Clover looked over the water, deep in thought.
I’d pulled her away from my dress. I needed every pair of hands I could get, and Gort and Shana had to stay home.
Someone had to protect the house and Gort wouldn’t be able to move fast enough to help us anyway.
Gort really didn’t want to let me go. He told me it was ill-advised, then that it was stupid, and then he brought up Everard’s instructions, and I told him that Everard wasn’t here, and he owed me for Falcon Point. This was me collecting.
It wasn’t fair, but I had called in that favor, and now we were on the boat sailing to an almost certain death. I would survive it, but my death wasn’t the one that mattered. I’d dragged five people into this boat with me and I had to bring them home.
Sushi made a short trilling sound. Isadau smiled.
“Of course, you would have a pet stelka.”
“Why ‘of course’?”
“They are attracted to magic. That’s why they make their burrows in the cities. We, humans, burn with magic, and these little guys bask in our afterglow.”
“What about gold butterflies?” I asked.
“Ah. You’ve met Ciste. Is he still hanging out at the Garden?”
I nodded.
“His mother sold her body,” she said. “He grew up in a place a lot like the Garden.”
“What happened to it?”
“Nothing good,” she said. “Damaes tolerates his moonlighting, because Ciste is a gifted summoner. Did you see a swarm of glowing butterflies?”
“Yes. He summoned a sea monster and stelkas, too.”
She smiled. “Was it beautiful?”
“Very.”
“Ciste doesn’t summon illusions, only weapons. Everything he conjures is created for violence.”
Oh.
“Those beautiful golden butterflies feed on your blood. The more magic you have, the richer their feast. A larger swarm can turn a living being into a husk in moments.”
When they had swarmed me, I thought they were beautiful. They thought they’d spotted a Thanksgiving dinner.
“Do other mages know about the butterflies?”
“Some,” Isadau said. “Depending on how informed they are.”
Was that how Silveren had zeroed in on me? Was he a mage? I’d been thinking about Lute stopping in the middle of the street. Magic would be a logical explanation for that.
“Is that the island?” Kaiden stood up at the bow.
Ahead, the river widened. A small island, no more than a couple of acres in size, jutted from the water. It was free of trees and brush, just a wedge of grassy land rising about fifty feet at its highest point. One side ended in a drop, the other sloped to the water. A narrow shore ringed it.
“That’s it,” I confirmed.
The boat shot out into the open. The water in front of us was like polished volcanic glass with the entire universe reflected in it, and we sliced through it at top speed.
The island grew larger and larger.
Breathe. Breathe. This will be simple. Get in, grab what we need, get out before all hell breaks loose.
If we lingered even a second too long, it would cost us all our lives.
Isadau squinted at the hill. “A palisade cluster with a triple spiral. Simple and boring, but effective.”
“Can you crack it?”
“Yes.”
The island loomed in front of us. The brothers lifted the oars, and the boat softly bumped against the shore.
“Clover, the sacks,” I murmured.
She held out big canvas bags. I grabbed one, Lute and Will took one each, and Clover held on to two, one for herself and the other for Kaiden.
“We are not here for gold or jewels. We’re here for his contracts. Take scroll cases, loose scrolls, and papers. Don’t waste time reading them, just grab every document you see.”
We disembarked. The hill lay in front of us, the fat side of the wedge to our left, the sloping end to our right.
Isadau stepped onto the shore, took three measured steps forward, and raised her hand. A faint blue light pulsed from her fingers, dashed to the side and up, and melted into nothing, as a perfect transparent half sphere covering the hill flashed in response to her touch.
“Once I break it, you will have one hundred breaths,” she said.
Five minutes. That little?
“Damaes will never serve as someone’s guard dog,” Isadau said. “He won’t go after you, but he won’t spare you if you get in the way. I won’t spare you either. Don’t look to me for protection. Once I break this, we are even, and all debts are paid in full.”
I glanced at Kaiden. He pulled a small leather pouch out of his shirt and opened it. The moonlight glinted from an array of weird tools.
Isadau braided the fingers of her hands, her thumbs pointing straight up, and opened her mouth.
“Osor dor mi Damaes, da der englofrosos iti . . .”
She was right, I shouldn’t have been alive. When I’d cast the incantation, I’d struggled with every word. She was firing them out with barely any effort.
Power stirred around her. Green sparks flashed in the air.
“. . . da der englocreptesus si . . .”
The sparks flared into a bright beryl-green glow. It spun around Isadau in a tight spiral, dense and potent, her own personal cyclone of magic.
“. . . der odod sen grejos tro . . .”
The hill in front of us shuddered. The ground under my feet shook.
“. . . da yu or grolcin doafe mi . . .”
Pressure gripped me, squeezing my body.
“IRCES!”
A wall of fire and light sprang into existence in front of Isadau, constructed with translucent spiked columns.
The two columns directly in front of her slid into the ground, revealing the second wall, then the columns on their sides, and on and on.
The first wall sank into nothing, then the second, and finally the third.
The soil on the side of the hill melted, revealing a big double door, carved from gray stone and secured by a bar with a complex metal padlock.
“We are even.” Isadau walked away.
Kaiden sprinted to the door, pulling tools out of his leather satchel. Will followed, carrying the lantern with him. Kaiden looked into the keyhole, thrust a small tool into it, and wiggled it around.
“Good lock,” he murmured.
“Can you open it?”
“It’s a good lock, not great.” He stuck his tools into his mouth.
I paced along the shore. Every second counted.
Lute was looking up. I glanced in the direction of his gaze. Isadau had climbed the hill and stopped at the highest point, just before the drop.
“What is she doing?” Lute muttered.
“Waiting.”
A spark shot upward in the distance like a golden flare, fired ridiculously high.
Damn it.
The spark burst into a star.
“Kaiden!”
“Almost there.”
The star streaked across the sky toward us.
“Hurry!”
Kaiden twisted the tool inside the lock. The padlock popped open with an audible click. Kaiden pulled it free, and the double door swung open with a screech.
Will ducked inside, carrying the lantern, and I ran in behind him.
On the walls, lanterns ignited on their own, illuminating a small vault, a square cavern cut in the rock. Shelves lined the stone walls, filled with chests. Fuck. I was hoping for the papers to be in plain view.
I glanced at the doorway. The star was heading toward us, a painfully bright pinpoint of light.
I sprinted to the nearest chest and yanked it open. Gold. I slammed the lid and threw the next lid open. Scrolls in wooden cases. I tried to heave it up, but it was too heavy. Will grabbed the chest out of my hands and took off with it. Kaiden darted back and forth.
A dull roar rolled through the night, growing louder and louder. Damaes was coming.
I dug in the next chest. Spiky chestnut-looking nuts. No clue.
Next chest, gold.
Next, jewels.
Scrolls. I grabbed the chest—it had to weigh fifty pounds at least—and ran outside. At the boat, Will slid his own chest in place and took mine.
The star was almost on us. It twisted, growing longer, slimmer, twisting into a giant . . . lance. Oh shit.
“Leave it!” I screamed. “We have to go! Now! Now, now!”
Clover ran out, hauling a big sack. Kaiden was right behind her. I grabbed Clover’s sack and dropped it in. She climbed into the boat. Kaiden took a running start and vaulted over the edge.
Will grabbed me by the waist and lifted me into the boat.
Lute was still missing.
High above us, the lance streaked upward like a fighter jet at an air show. It was enormous, radiant with gold and white.
“Lute!” I howled.
Lute came running, dragging a huge chest. Behind him, the stone doors clanged shut and melted into the hill.
The lance turned, pointing down at Isadau standing on the apex.
Lute dropped the chest in and threw himself against the boat’s bow. The small vessel slid off the shore. He chased it, and Will grabbed him by the hand and pulled his brother in. They hit the oars.
The lance plunged down, roaring like a tornado. Flames burst from its point, and I didn’t know if it was air friction because it was solid, or magic spilling out.
Isadau watched it come.
I grabbed Sushi and wrapped my arms around her.