A Crucible of Souls (Book One of the Sorcery Ascendant Sequence) (60 page)

“
Please, we shouldn’t argue. I need… we need to get to where I hid it.
”

“
Did you steal it?
”

“
What? No. I made it.
”

Senira scoffed disbelievingly.
“
Sure you did. Listen, if we don’t get to where the masters are as soon as possible we are in big trouble. I don’t intend to spend more time in a cell.
”

Voices echoed along the corridor from behind them, accompanied by heavy footfalls. A wall lit up as the steady glow from a sorcerous crafted globe approached.

“
Quick,
”
Caldan said.
“
This way.
”
He grabbed Senira and dragged her along. They rushed down the corridor and around a corner.

“
What if they were on our side?
”
whispered Senira.

“
We can’t take that chance, and I’m guessing the only people down here with a sorcerous light wouldn’t be. At least I know Master Simmon wouldn’t be so stupid.
”

Senira swallowed and glanced fleetingly over her shoulder, then looked at Caldan and nodded. Taking her hand, he edged along the hall until they came to another set of stairs. Here, they crept upwards one step at a time, pausing now and again to listen. No stray noises reached their ears, no coughing, no tread of boots.

They reached one end of a wide corridor paved with dark stone. Caldan recognized it as a main thoroughfare in one of the wings of the building taken up by the Sorcerers’ Guild. The gardens were only a short distance away, and he was confident once there the bushes and shrubs around the perimeter would hide them until he retrieved his belongings.

They headed off to the left and peeked around the corner in case someone was there. Again, their luck held as the hallway was empty. Ahead, a wide open doorway led out into the gardens. It was dark, which explained why there wasn’t anyone around. Probably hunkering down for the night to continue in the morning when light was better.

Next to him, Senira breathed heavily. She clutched his arm in a tight grip.

They passed into the garden and pressed against the wall, kneeling behind a bush. Caldan looked up at the night sky. Moonlight bathed the garden. He half-stood and looked around.

“
What are you looking for? We need to find somewhere safe.
”

“
I know. I need to retrieve my
crafting
. I threw it out my window.
”

Senira wrung her hands, eyes darting around the garden.
“
They could be anywhere.
”

“
It’ll be all right,
”
Caldan reassured her.
“
Follow me.
”

Senira sat there, eyes downcast, teeth worrying her bottom lip. She looked scared, anxious and sad at the same time. Caldan knew this was a traumatic experience for her. It wasn’t easy for him either.

Crouching low they traversed the wall surrounding the garden. The edge was darker than the middle, so they had good cover among the bushes and shrubs. His boots made hardly a sound as they trod on sodden leaves, which gave off a musty scent.

A cloud passed over the moon and the garden went dark. Lights shone from a few windows but far fewer than would normally be occupied at this time of the evening.

They scurried behind the bushes and he half-expected to hear the shout of a sentry spotting them and raising the alarm. His breath came in short gasps, and his hands were clammy with sweat. Remaining still for a few moments, he listened. Still nothing.

Caldan ran his hands along the ground, through the dead leaves, searching for the sack. By the ancestors, where was it? His hand bumped into something. Ah, there. He grabbed the sack, clutching at it greedily.

He rifled around inside then drew out his purse, which he stuffed in a pocket, his crafted wristband, which he slid onto his left forearm, his
trinket
which he slipped on a finger, and the bone ring on the chain, which he placed around his neck. Everything else he left in the sack. At the moment they were only components, a jumbled mess of metal rods and plates with a few semiprecious stones. He was glad he had managed to save these as well, though as they were they were useless to him. Perhaps, if they had time, he could complete the
crafting
.

The wristband gave him a degree of confidence, though from what he had seen and experienced of the invaders, they had their own
craftings
as well, and high quality ones, too.

Senira touched his arm.

“
I should have asked earlier, but what is it?
”

Caldan hesitated, for no reason he could fathom. There wasn’t any harm in telling her, and she deserved to know.
“
It’s a shield, like the ones the masters have.
”

Senira smiled and fixed her eyes on him, as if evaluating him in a new light. Caldan cleared his throat.

“
We should get going,
”
he said.

“
To where, though? Do we even know which areas might be safe?
”

“
I think the apprentices’ smith-crafting area would be a good place to hole up, and we could do some scouting from there. Plenty of rooms to hide in. And nothing much of value for the invaders to bother searching the place more than once. There’s water to drink, but finding food will be harder.
”

“
How are we going to find the masters and the other sorcerers who managed not to get caught?
”

“
I don’t know… yet. Let’s go before the moon comes out from behind the cloud. We can get to the smith-crafting area from here. There’s a door which opens onto the garden.
”

“
Which way is it?
”

“
This way.
”
Caldan pointed towards the door. It was a fair way away on the other side of the garden. He was glad the night had been still so far. They hadn’t heard sounds of fighting or much of anything since escaping the cells. He wondered if that was a good or bad sign.

He went first, pushing his way through the bushes, trying to make as little noise as possible. Branches scraped against their bodies and arms. Clear of the bushes, they moved from tree to tree across the lawn, pausing at each to listen.

Satisfied there was no one behind it, he pushed the door open. Except it didn’t budge. He cursed under his breath.

“
It’s locked, isn’t it?
”
said Senira.

“
Yes.
”
Caldan thought furiously. Could he open the door from the outside? There was no lock. It was likely barred from the inside. He doubted his
crafting
could open it.

“
Maybe I should hop in through that window there and open it from the other side,
”
suggested Senira.

“
What?
”
Caldan looked to where Senira pointed. An open window a few yards away.
“
That’s… a good idea,
”
he said.

Without waiting, Senira stuck her head through the opening.

“
A storeroom,
”
he heard her say.
“
Empty. Do you mind?
”
She lifted a foot and raised an eyebrow.

Caldan clasped both hands together and held them out for her to use. Senira stepped into the makeshift stirrup and dragged herself onto the window ledge, swung her legs inside and dropped out of sight. A few moments later, the door leading onto the garden opened and Caldan slipped inside.

The familiar forge room was empty. All the tools and materials were stowed in their proper places, tidied up for the night. It didn’t look like the place had been ransacked, and he doubted a workshop used by apprentices was high on the list of priorities for the invaders. Light from banked coals gave the room a soft orange glow.

They closed the door and re-barred it. Senira approached the forge and held her hands to the heat.

“
Stay here and get warm,
”
he said.
“
I’ll go and find some water.
”

“
Thank you,
”
said Senira, brushing hair from her face.
“
I could use a drink.
”

Caldan nodded and left her by the forge. He still carried his sack in one hand, reluctant to let it out of his grasp. He soon returned with two wooden jugs brimming with water after slaking his own thirst.

“
Here,
”
he said, offering Senira a jug, from which she drank deeply.

With a grin, he pulled a metal pot and a cotton bag from his sack. Senira frowned but didn’t say anything. Placing the pot next to the hot coals, he poured in water until it was full, then opened the cloth bag and threw in a handful of black leaves.

“
Tea?
”
asked Senira.

“
Yes. The master in charge here had it in his room. We can replace it later.
”

“
If he… if we get out of here.
”

“
Of course we will.
”

Senira sighed.

At a loss for what else to say, Caldan busied himself at a bench. From his sack he withdrew all the metal parts and the stones.

“
Oh! You’re hurt!
”
exclaimed Senira.
“
I didn’t see before.
”

Caldan followed her gaze to the tear in his pants, his thigh covered in dried blood. At a loss to explain, he lied.
“
It’s all right. One of the invaders did it. I bound it while I was in my cell. It wasn’t deep.
”

“
It certainly looks bad. Do you want me to take a look?
”

“
No,
”
he replied quickly.
“
It’s fine. It didn’t hamper me on our way here, did it?
”

“
Sorry. I feel like I’m useless. I need something to do.
”
Her gaze returned to the coals, hands extended.

Caldan looked around the room, thinking. He wanted to get to work on his jumble of metal and see if he could cobble together enough to get the
crafting
working, and they could use some paper and ink for emergencies.
“
I don’t think we should go too far from here. But we do need a few things, and it would go quicker if we both searched for them.
”

Senira looked at him brightly.
“
Of course. We need something for tonight— blankets, any food we can find, possibly a lantern or crafted globe.
”
She scratched her head.
“
And mugs to drink the tea from.
”

“
Ah… yes.
”
He hadn’t thought about tonight. His focus on his
crafting
had blinded him to the obvious.
“
You gather what you can and I’ll work on some
craftings
, in case we need them.
”

Senira left through a doorway and he heard her rattling around a storeroom. Abandoning the workbench, he went straight to the storeroom he knew held general supplies for sketching schematics. Rifling through the supplies, he took a stack of paper and ink and pens.

When he returned, there was a pile of rags lying next to the forge along with two metal cups. Senira was nowhere to be seen, but she had obviously been busy.

Sitting at the workbench, he laid out a sheet of paper and opened a bottle of ink. Taking one of the pens, he dipped it into the ink then paused. Where to start? With his experimentation in opening the cell lock, he knew he had stumbled upon a secret. Possibly one the Protectors would have revealed to him soon, but it was hard to say. Did they condone the use of destructive sorcery if it was for the greater good? Master Simmon had used it on a lock, but what was permissible and what wasn’t?

His biggest problem was Senira. He had a shield but she didn’t, which meant he needed to keep her out of any confrontations, if possible. There wasn’t time to make her one, and she probably couldn’t use one anyway. He guessed her talents didn’t run to complex sorcery, since he hadn’t heard of her before this.

So, he needed to protect them both. He stretched his neck and massaged his writing hand. Best to get to work, then. He started scribing.