Armed & Magical

Chapter 20

Carnades was probably living his dream, and Mychael had to be in a living nightmare.

I told Tam what I knew about where the Nightshades were holding the spellsingers—and their eventual fate unless they were found.

“The Saghred is still in the citadel’s containment rooms,” I said. “They can’t sacrifice anyone if they don’t have anything to sacrifice them to.” This was supposed to make Tam feel marginally better. It didn’t.

“Can Carnades order Mychael to turn over the Saghred?” Phaelan asked.

“He can. But Mychael won’t do it.”

“Sounds like mutiny.”

It would be mutiny, though Carnades would probably prefer to call it treason. He could have Mychael locked up in one of his own containment rooms and pick a paladin who’d give him the Saghred, and anything else he wanted.

I couldn’t let myself think about Mychael right now. I had to get Piaras out of that embassy. One catastrophe at a time.

“Tam, I wish we could—”

Tam held up a hand. “I know. You’d help if you could. You have to get Piaras. I understand. I have to get my son back.” His dark eyes were hard and resolute. “Once Talon’s safe, I’m going after Rudra Muralin.” He grinned in a cold flash of fangs. “I have a busy night planned.”

Tam sounded like he was looking forward to it. I would have, too. I guess I’d have to settle for having left my teeth marks in Muralin’s ear.

Tam went to one of the racks against the wall and pulled off the sheet that was covering it. There were costumes zbeneath. We were in a prop room two levels below the stage. Tam selected two cloaks, one black and the other dark green. He tossed the black one to Phaelan and held the green cloak open for me. I stepped up to him and he swept the green velvet around me and I fastened the clasp.

“I won’t be going in alone,” he assured me. “I have men I can trust. They’re good in a fight.” He almost smiled. “And they’ll love the chance to get their hands on Nightshades and Khrynsani in one night.”

Phaelan opened a low door in the far wall. Beyond was a pitch-dark tunnel that Tam said emptied five blocks from Sirens, well away from the chaos that was probably still going on upstairs.

I held out my hand and stared at my palm. I’d seen lightglobes created, but I’d never done one myself. Since the Saghred had come into my life, I’d found all kinds of new things that I could do. Lightglobe making was small magic. It should be no problem.

After a few moments, a pinpoint of white light flickered to life from the center of my hand, beneath the skin. It was no larger than a firefly. It spun, weaving a trail of light until a globe, the size of my fist, hung suspended above my open hand, glowing steadily. It floated a few feet down the tunnel, then stopped, hovering, waiting for us. I felt a little thrill of accomplishment.

I looked up. Tam was gone.

Phaelan stepped into the tunnel. “We men aren’t good at good-byes.”

“I’ve strolled past the embassy a couple of times,” Phaelan said. Even at a whisper, his voice echoed off the tunnel walls.

I didn’t like tunnels. I liked it even less that I had never seen the elven embassy. Phaelan had scoped out the city soon after we’d docked. Pirate instincts, I guess. He’d been all around the outside of the embassy. I’d rather have a detailed floor plan of the inside, but I’d take what I could get.

Water dripped and ran in thin rivulets down the cracked walls. Cracks weren’t good. Last year, I’d taken a contract job for the Mermeia city watch. They needed my help in finding a smuggling ring’s hideout. In my search of one of Mermeia’s many tunnels, I opened an innocent-looking metal door and a canal’s worth of water just fell on me. Though the same water that fell on me made it easy to find William Lark’s smuggling ring. My opening that door caused a tunnel wall to collapse. The canal flooded the place and shot Bill and his gang out the Dock Street sewer tunnels like rats out of a hole. I don’t know how I managed to avoid the same fate. It was a sight my night-mares wouldn’t let me soon forget.

The only thing I wanted to know when I went into a tunnel was how soon I could get out.

“For a place that’s supposed to be a safe haven for elves, it didn’t look like it’d be safe for me,” Phaelan was saying. “Too many guards, and too many of those magical…” He wiggled his fingers in the air.

“Wards.” I sounded as drained as I felt. “They’re called wards, Phaelan.”

“Whatever. They were red, they were sizzling, and they were at every gate entrance. Like I said, not a friendly place, for elves or anyone else. I know I wouldn’t be welcome.”

“So you’re saying you’re not going to help me.”

“On the contrary. You know I love to go where I’m not welcome.” His grin was slow. “Our friend has been inside the embassy, but never through the front door. Better yet, he wants to help us.”

“Tanik Ozal.” My lack of enthusiasm was evident.

“The very friend.”

“Ozal is not our friend.”

Phaelan’s grin vanished, and I saw a glimpse of the Captain Benares who struck terror into the hearts of every merchant in the seven kingdoms. “Tanik would try to screw me over on a business deal, and I’d cheerfully do the same to him. It’s business; it’s expected. What happened to Piaras is personal; it’s family. Tanik will do everything he can to help. And he would never turn a brother pirate over to the law—and especially not to any stinking mage.”

I opted not to remind Phaelan that I was officially now a stinking mage.

I’d like to have shared his confidence, but it’d been my experience that with someone like Tanik Ozal, allegiances changed direction as often as the wind.

But Piaras was in the embassy. I needed information. Tanik had information.

So I’d roll the dice and take my chances.

The tunnel ended in someone’s storeroom. I assumed it was someone Tam trusted or did business with. I was glad they weren’t working tonight since we didn’t have Tam with us to do the introductions. The door at the back of the storeroom opened onto a narrow, and blessedly empty, side street. The street beyond wasn’t empty. It was one of Mid’s main thoroughfares. Great. Just great.

I stopped Phaelan with a hand on his arm. “Wait.”

“What for?”

“The streets are crowded, and chances are I’m now at the top of more than a few wanted lists. The two of us walking side by side to the harbor is going to look odd. I have an idea. I don’t like it, but it’s probably the safest way for us to attract as little attention as possible.”

“Dazzle me with your brilliance.”

“I’m shorter than you and smaller, and my cloak is very nice. Fortunately, it’s also got a deep hood. So it’s obvious that I’m a woman. It’s also obvious that you’re a man.”

“Thank you for noticing. Your point is?”

“Anyone looking for me is going to expect me to either be alone, or with you, my cousin. So I don’t think we should act like cousins.”

Phaelan’s grin was slow and wicked. “You’re a naughty girl.”

“I’m a girl whose not about to get recognized and arrested. To keep either from happening, I think that from here to the harbor, I’m officially your doxy for the evening.”

“I don’t do doxies.”

“Phaelan, you do anything female, attractive, and breathing. Just don’t let your hands get carried away while play-acting and I won’t have to stab you.”

“Deal.”

“Good.”

Phaelan put his arm around me and pulled me close to his side. It worked out well. My right hand was free, and so was Phaelan’s left. I was right-handed; Phaelan was a lefty. We’d have to separate to draw any substantial weapon. But if we ran into that much trouble, our charade was officially over anyway.

The nighttime streets of Mid were full of students, in groups and in pairs. The taverns and nightclubs were doing a brisk business. A door to one of the clubs opened to admit a young couple, and the sound of a spellsinger drifted out into the street. His voice was low, his song simple and beautiful. Phaelan tightened his grip on my waist and hurried me past.

“How far is the elven embassy from Tanik’s ship?” I asked.

Phaelan didn’t stop, but he did slow down. “That’s risky, cousin.”

“I thought ‘risk’ was your middle name.”

"It is. I mean it’s risky to let you anywhere near that embassy right now.”

“I’m not going to do anything.”

“I’ll believe that when I don’t see it.”

“I just want to be sure Piaras is there. No use breaking in if Balmorlan has already moved him.”

“Good point. So that means you’re not going to blast holes through the walls.”

“No blasting. You have my word.”

Phaelan smiled and it was warm, no trace of bravado. “You’re a Benares, Raine. Never forget that our word isn’t worth the air it’s spoken into unless we want it to be.”

Phaelan was right. The elven embassy’s wards were red and sizzling. And the place was a virtual fortress. The damned thing actually had battlements complete with armed and patrolling guards. Some of those guards had partners—nearly waist high, dark, sleek, and red eyed. Werehounds.

“Shit,” Phaelan whispered. “Those weren’t there last time.”

“They didn’t have Piaras inside last time. Taltek Balmorlan has his treasure; he doesn’t want anyone taking it away from him.”

Phaelan chuckled. “Stealing treasure is what we do best.”

No one was getting in there who didn’t belong, and no prisoner was getting out without some high-powered help.

I was high-powered help. Thanks to the boost the Saghred had given what I already had, all the brawn I needed was at my beck and call. But magical brawn was noisy. Stealth was called for, so I’d give my brain the first shot at it. No building was impenetrable, every ward had a weak spot, and werehounds could be drugged. I had done all of the above before.

We went around the side of the compound, keeping to the shadows until we found a cozy little alley across the street from the back entrance. Staff and lesser guards came in through the back; the people I didn’t want to see me went in through the front.

“Can you do your seeking thing through those?” Phaelan indicated the gate wards.

“I thought I’d just go over them.”

“I was going to suggest that.” His smile flashed in the dim light. “Great minds think alike.”

I didn’t have an object from Piaras to link with him, but I didn’t need anything to find him. He wasn’t related to me by blood, but that didn’t stop me from loving him like a brother. Family knew their own, no linking objects required.

I used my memories to create a vivid image of Piaras in my mind. Not the terrified and disbelieving Piaras from tonight. I relaxed and breathed deep, and tried to relax some more until I had an almost tangible image of the Piaras I knew and loved. Then I reached out, over the warded gates, through the stone of the embassy walls into the interior. The interior was blurred and indistinct, like looking through greasy glass. An upstairs room was thickly warded and bespelled. I knew Piaras was in that room. I couldn’t actually see him; the wards were too thick, but I knew he was there. Now all I had to do was get in, get him, and get us both out.

And Taltek Balmorlan better hope he wasn’t in my way when I did it.

I pulled back slowly, carefully going out the same way I’d gone in. Wards on buildings were generally for preventing physical entry or high-powered magic from getting through. Seeking wasn’t high-powered. More like a gnat flying through a fishnet. Nothing disturbed, no one would notice.

I squeezed my eyes shut and blinked a few times to clear them. Seeking through thick wards always made my eyes hurt.

“Well?” Phaelan asked.

“He’s in there. Balmorlan has him cocooned in wards and spells. And I’m sure one of them is to keep Piaras’s voice from knocking out every guard in the place.” I chuckled darkly. “Turn Balmorlan’s new weapon against him. I like it.”

“Sounds like a damned fine way to get us out of there.”

“First we need a damned fine way to get in.”

“Tanik’s done some arms smuggling for the elven ambassador. He knows the basements of that place. Let’s get ourselves down to the harbor and reap the benefits of Tanik’s expertise.”