CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
MY WORST MISTAKES WERE often made when I was most sure of myself.
From Ozora’s personal journal.
I raised my eyebrows and jerked my thumb at the darkened house. “That? Are you sure?” I doubted Fraser would be in such a parched place. A nereid wouldn’t last very long there. They’d run back to the sea before the dry land drained their numin, and I’d never seen Fraser go past the city walls.
Cleobah gave a tiny, satisfied smirk, and with a flare of her wings for emphasis said, “Sphinx. All the timestreams.”
“That tells me nothing,” I grumbled.
Scanning the area again confirmed it was deserted, but where we landed was a good distance from the house that Cleobah singled out.
There might well have been people in every home, watching us.
It was impossible to tell. The house looked deserted from where we were, dark and uninviting, but that didn’t mean it was, and the roof of a bigger structure loomed beyond the home.
I needed a closer look, and I sure wasn’t going to stroll on over.
Closing my eyes helped me focus, and I called a pool of swirling gold numin to my palm.
The rush of my energy answering my will steadied me as I whispered the eye-spy cantrip.
I pictured the conjuration in my mind, causing the glowing energy to quiver before forming into a tiny globe.
When I opened my eyes, the globe in my palm matched the one I’d visualized.
The familiar tingle became a spreading warmth running through me, my numinous energy flowing as I worked my craft.
I used this spell often, most recently searching for the sigils; it was a handy spell for scouting distances.
It had saved me more than once from walking into something I would have had a hard time getting out of but, the globe was visible to any onlooker, so I’d have to be cautious how I guided it.
The last words of the cantrip sculpted it into a glowing golden eye that floated in the air in front of me, blinking. My vision doubled as it linked with the spell, then stabilized. Cleobah hummed with approval. “Good choice.”
“I better not see him plowing someone.” Although the uneasy flutter in my gut said that wasn’t the case at all and my bitter snipe was just...
“Jealousy? What if he is?” Cleobah spoke my concern. Her gaze sharpened with curiosity.
“He can do who he wants. I don’t want to watch,” I hissed back, not wanting to talk about Fraser being with another woman. With a flick of my fingers, I sent the eye-spy zooming over to the house.
There was nothing to see in the two tiny rooms through the windows we faced.
I zipped the eye around the opposite side, and spotted a large picture window that glowed dim orange.
A covered porch stretched across the front of the house.
Nearby, a covered wagon and some horses were tied up next to a barn.
That many horses plus a wagon meant a lot of people were in the building.
Out there beyond the city walls, in a mostly abandoned rural area, it triggered uneasiness that clutched my belly tight in warning.
I sent the eye-spy to peek in the picture window of the house, making sure to keep it low and inconspicuous.
They had Fraser tied to a chair. Two men guarded doors on opposite walls.
Gordon Derryngton had Fraser balanced on the chair’s back legs with one fist clutched his braid.
He’d bent Fraser’s neck and back savagely but, the grimace on Fraser’s face was mostly rage.
His lips contorted into a snarl of defiance.
Where was the rest of the party? I saw three men plus Fraser, so why did they need so many horses plus a wagon?
I found them in the barn. Four other men sat around a scarred table, playing cards. A quick scout of the rest of the grounds showed they were the only ones outside. Gordon, Fraser, and the other two were the only ones in the house.
Cleobah danced with excitement when I told her what I’d seen, hopping back and forth from one forefoot to the other.
“Perfect. Knock those four out, then we’ll work on getting Fraser loose.”
“I can’t cast through an eye-spy,” I told her. “Besides, I already dismissed the spell.”
“You can’t?” Incredulity shattered her prior glee. Her feet stopped, and her eyes and mouth widened with shock. “Why not? You’re Adept.”
“No, I’m not. Not yet.” An Adept would’ve been able to cast at a distance, such as through an eye-spy, because they can cast multiple spells at once, and all the men would’ve already been asleep.
“I thought this would go differently.” Cleobah’s shocked expression froze me, her wide eyes stared at nothing for a moment before refocusing on me. A single tear escaped one lid but dried in the parched breeze before it tracked halfway down her cheek.
“You thought I was Adept?” I asked quietly. She looked like a kid who meant well, but burnt the breakfast they tried to cook and set the kitchen on fire, too. “Your little rescue scheme was based on me being Adept?” She nodded.
“I thought you’d be able to knock everyone out from here and simply untie him.
” Her lip quivered. “I didn’t have time to look ahead either.
By the time I saw he was caught... I just knew you’re Adept, and thought.
..” Her voice dwindled into nothing, and she wouldn’t look at me.
“I’m sorry, sometimes, reading the time streams, I get sort of muddled about when something’s happening.
Or if it’s happened. Yet.” She still wouldn’t meet my eye but her admission revealed something startling; she was fallible because of her youth.
“It must have taken a lot to admit that,” I said, softly. Besides, yelling wouldn’t do any good and would alert the men that we were there.
And we still had to free Fraser. I gritted my teeth, and dug into my belt pouch. Sorting through my collection of premade cantrips, potions, and amulets, I scrambled for anything like a plan.
First, I had to take out the men in the barn.
It didn’t take long before I found a smaller pouch holding vials of sleeping powder. When I pulled them out, Cleobah wrinkled her nose. “How can you use that? If you try to throw it on them, it’ll get on us, too, and nighty-night.”
“I know,” I said. “I’m working on it.” It took some effort, but I kept my voice placid. Getting mad would only frazzle both of us, so I swallowed my frustration, and channeled it in one direction: How to take out as many of them as possible and free Fraser.
All the spells I knew or had prepared required line of sight to cast, which meant the men would also see me. Something I wanted to avoid. I had four vials of powder. Two would put all the men in the barn into a deep sleep until the following afternoon.
“I need a way to get this on all of them at once.” I drummed my fingers against the vials and frowned at them, as if I might glare them into giving me an idea.
Hmmm.
“Let’s go over to that group of trees. It’s closer and will give us a better view.” I pointed to a clump of tall fruit trees clustered near the barn. “But before we do, give me a second.”
I pulled an invisibility amulet out of my pouch and triggered it.
Glittering numin burst forth from the carved wood and stone disc, spreading to encompass both of us in a glimmering cloud.
From within, the boundary of the invisibility cloak was discernable as a shining curtain but, any observers would see only dry fields under the stars.
Unseen, we made our way over to stand in the middle of the thick, clustered trunks.
The numin stored in the amulet wore out, and it shattered in my hand. I shook the broken pieces to the dirt and studied the barn. Light poured out between the thin wooden planks of the weathered structure, and the open doors and windows.
“They don’t seem worried about letting others know they’re here,” Cleobah whispered. I shook my head, but the open doors were promising.
“This might work,” I whispered back. I tucked two of the vials back in my belt pouch.
“What?” Cleobah swung her head to look at me.
I was already whispering the conjuring spell.
Similar to the eye-spy, a numinous globe manifested, but this one was a hollow sphere of force shielding.
It glowed with my golden energy and floated in front of me, perfectly round except at the very top, where a small circular opening waited.
“Hold your breath until I tell you,” I said.
“Why—” Cleobah shut up and clamped her lips fast enough when she saw me pull the stoppers off the vials, then tip and drop them both into the force globe.
I sealed it before any powder escaped, but just to be sure, I snapped one of my breeze amulets to release a quick breath of air.
If any sleeping powder drifted loose, that would whisk it away.
“Now I have to get it over them.” There was no way to avoid crossing the bare stretch between the trees and the barn.
I’d be visible to everyone. “Let’s hope no one’s looking out the window.
” The big picture window faced toward us.
I’d just have to risk it that no one inside looked out, since I’d used my last invisibility amulet to get us to the trees.
What I’d seen through the eye-spy, Gordon with Fraser, and the two guards looking bored, was slight encouragement.
It’s not that far. It’s not. The bare patch of dirt between the trees and the corner of the barn seemed to stretch the longer I looked at it.
I couldn’t hesitate or think about it, or I’d talk myself out of it.
“Wish me luck,” I whispered. Cleobah, lips pressed tight, simply blinked and rustled her feathers.
While I couldn’t cast anything else while holding the force globe, I could throw it like a ball, even maneuver it. I just had to see where I was throwing it. Which meant I’d have to step into the doorway to give it a toss.
Just walk to the barn. Walk to the barn. How hard can it be? No one was in sight.
I sucked in a deep breath and left the comforting shadows of the trees. A dozen steps, fifteen, and I reached the safety of the shadows at the corner of the barn.
In their depths, I froze, and stretched all my senses while I drew slow, soft, silent breaths. The wait to see if any took notice of my careful crossing from trees to shadows seemed to take forever.
I sent a silent prayer of gratitude to Oone, the goddess of luck.
There were no sounds but the night bird’s calls, and the sigh of the wind through the leaves.
True, the raucous laughter of the men in the barn rang out into the dark; the sounds of men unaware of a mage sneaking around outside.
However, relief was brief, I still had to deliver my package.
I peered between the planks while cradling the ball of sleeping powder and spotted all four still seated around the table. One passed a bottle of brown liquor to the man next to him, while another waved his hand. With great enthusiasm, he described his latest female conquest.
“Once I finished, I told her, ‘you said you had to leave, leave.’ Dumb bitch took a swing at me as she was crawling out of bed.” The rest of the men erupted into coarse laughter.
Stepping with care so as not to make a sound, I made my way across the front of the barn. The sad structure was in such poor shape, I had no trouble seeing the table they sat around was about ten feet from the doors. I wouldn’t even have to step that far into the doorway.
Cupping my hands under the orb holding the spilled sleeping powder, I pressed my back against the barn. The old wood still held some of the day’s warmth.
Just lean and throw. Lean and throw. Don’t think.
I leaned out past the frame, enough to see the men clustered around the table.
It was almost too simple to aim and lob the golden globe in a low arc, to guide it with a thread of numin.
Once it was over the table, I gave it a downward shove, then released the force globe.
An explosion of white powder burst upward and covered them all.
The men never had a chance. They jumped up when the globe aimed for the table, but it was too late. The sleeping powder sifted over them in a fine cloud. I ducked back behind the doorframe in case any of it wafted my way.
There were four loud, satisfying thuds as they crumpled. I guessed some hit the table on their way down, judging from the sounds of wood splintering. Super proud of myself, I was less cautious about heading back to the stand of trees.
I swung around the corner and slammed into the chest of one of the men from inside. He was easy enough to recognize; he was huge, and had a thick red beard.
Oniony odor swamped me, and I tried to scramble away from his sweaty shirt, coughing and gagging. He was faster; grabbed my arms only to give me a heavy shove as he hooked the back of my foot with his.
I went down hard. The breath chuffed out of my lungs in a whoosh when my back slammed against the hard-packed dirt. I gasped and fought to draw breath, and what little I got wheezed and didn’t sustain me. My vision swam.
He knelt at my side and grabbed my arm. Before I could react, he slapped my right wrist. The sizzle of whatever spell he laid on me burned.
I blacked out.