Enchanter's Echo (38 page)

Vin spouted orders to his men and then threw his words to Edmund. “You should have joined the army. We wear our rank on our uniforms. Much less painful.”

“Yes, but you’re a nobody when you’re naked in the shower. I’m the man everywhere I go.”

He took Aurora’s hand and marched toward the fissure, following another path of pain. She kept up for the most part, thanks to Vincent deflecting her footsteps over the snow. She stayed on its surface, not falling through like he was. Bull, Vincent, and Gregor kept pace beside them. Vincent’s stare felt like a weight against the brand, pressing its burn farther into his skull.

“Quit.”

“I can smell it.” Vin’s dark eyebrows pulled together at the base of his forehead, a mix of revulsion and concern.

“It smells like the bomb,” Aurora offered in a small, dazed voice.

“What bomb?” Gregor asked.

When she didn’t answer, Edmund spoke. “The park bomb. She was there.”

“And she survived? Goddess bless us,” Vin whispered, a heartfelt wish, a surprising one. Edmund was never sure how much Vin believed. Aurora didn’t react, as if she hadn’t registered anything. His girl wasn’t recovered enough for this.

“Speaking of bombs,” Vin continued, “according to the energy tracers, the bomb debris at the foot of the trash tower was from burned up fireworks charms mixed with an accelerant.”

“That was stupid. Most of those charms are too weak to explode a bag of trash much less a trash tower.”

“They were cheap ones, fairly small, and mass produced. It will be difficult to track down much more about them.”

A dead-end then. He’d thought they might have finally uncovered a clue.

They stomped in silence toward the fissure. The forest branches parted as they entered—Aurora, functioning on automatic and casting without thought.

They hiked in.

The damage to the bond was easy to sense, though its power felt odd. Edmund found it between two bare trees, one young and the other a towering giant. Except there was nothing there. He held up his hand for the others to stop and circled the two trees, once, twice. Nothing. Yet his mage sense told him something was wrong in this very spot.

“I can feel it.” Bull grimaced. “Rotting around us. Like swamp vibes beneath our feet. Stinks like fresh vibe shite.”

“Eloquent,” Gregor said. “A junkyard haiku. I like this man.”

“Maybe it’s underground,” Aurora whispered, huddling in her jacket and reaching up to clutch at her throat. Blasted hells, she was scared. “The sewer tunnels run right through here. We about fell over when the blasting was going on.”

Bull shook his head. “Can’t be. No one could go in the sewers. It’d be like swimming in junk vibes,” Bull offered.

“There’s a cave where the goblins live!”

Aurora spun around. She and Bull raced toward Lily automatically, though Aurora fell in the snow with her haste.

Edmund strode behind them and gripped her elbow to pull her up. He moved with calm purpose, not giving his brother or the captain a reason to suspect anything was amiss. He eyed the little girl from around Aurora’s shoulder, grateful to see Lily wore tall boots and leggings beneath her coat. That wasn’t a conversation he was ready to start. “You, young lady, are supposed to be inside.”

She threw herself on her back into the snow, moving her arms and legs apart and together. Her snow angel spread around her. “Uncle Bull said he’d build a snowman with me when he got back. But we can all build it. You, too, Uncle Monday. Please?”

“We’ll build it, but not right now. Your Uncle Bull is going to take you to Aurora’s house.”

“Is that your brother?” Lily, still lying in the snow, pointed at Vin. “He looks like you when you’re grumpy.” She sat up. “Like when you left.”

Remorse was the last thing his spirit wanted to handle, but it didn’t have a choice. He’d take back that grumpiness he’d piled on her if he could. “I’m sorry I was grumpy. And, yep. That’s my brother.”

“The goblins are grumpy, too.” Lily’s voice jumped as Bull stood her on her feet. Aurora brushed the snow off her, careful to keep her pants tucked into her boots.

“I’m not grumpy,” Vincent whispered as he stopped next to Edmund. When Edmund gave him a skeptical look, he continued. “Bronte doesn’t think so.”

“The goblins just moved in.” Lily’s face reflected its usual solemn lines, but she always had ideas to share. “It was a few days ago. They got bad gas and their energy is real slimy. It smells like vibe shite.”

“Lily!” Aurora’s surprise raised her voice high.

Beside him, Vin muffled a laugh.

“You shouldn’t say that.” Bull’s lips pulled to the side in a purse.

“Why not?” Lily asked. “You do.”

“Where do the goblins live?” Vincent crouched down, still far from Lily, but she approached him, likely just what Vin had intended. He eyed the forest in a constant scan of their surroundings. “Is it over there?” He pointed to the east, making it a guessing game.

Lily shook her head. “Over there.” She pointed in the opposite direction and set off toward it.

They formed an odd parade—two soldiers, two junkyard guards, an enchantress, and a girl on metal legs—hiking through a frigid, darkening forest. Lily halted near the river bank then turned to climb a steep hill. Two dozen paces up, a dark cave opened.

“Shh. They’re awake. One of their bellies exploded a few days ago when a fairy popped out. Goblins shouldn’t eat fairies.” Lily bent down, hands on knees.

Vincent crouched down at the edge of the cave next to her. “Did you see this happen?” He eyed the darkness.

“Heard it. Real loud. Puuuhhrrgggg. Explosion. Hope they didn’t eat Gwynnie.”

Edmund reached for Aurora on automatic, his hand around her arm. Her breath huffed out, a soft cry of distress. Helplessness threatened to grip him again.

Bull closed the distance on Aurora’s other side, his face slack with shock.

“Why would they eat Gwynnie?” Vincent asked. He didn’t even know who Gwyn was.

“She went in and didn’t come out. I told Grammy the goblins might have eaten her. I know these kinds of things ’cause I’m a goblin hunter. What’re you?”

“I’m in the army. I’m a general.”

“That’s what I want to be when I grow up.” Lily went on, oblivious to her impact. “I’m gonna be a general, too.”

Vin’s nostrils twitched. “Good plan. In the meantime, general this guy on home, all right?” He pointed at Bull. “Make sure he stays inside his house with you.”

Edmund looked at Bull and cast his words to the man’s ear.
Go. I’ve got Aurora. You take care of the others.

Lily crossed her arms with a frown and planted her feet. Her reluctance to leave was obvious.

Gregor rubbed his chin, a mock thoughtfulness on his face. “Lily, Bull looks kind of wily. Are you sure you can handle him?”

The little girl hadn’t yet noticed the tear traveling down Aurora’s face. Edmund leaned in and kissed it away.

Lily looked at Vincent. “I’ll prob’ly need handcuffs. You have some?”

“He does.” Aurora’s voice was flat, her face pale. “But they’re easy to remove, so you better just hold tight to Uncle Bull’s hand.”

Lily sighed. “Okay. Bye.”

Aurora didn’t watch them go, keeping her face turned away. “Gwyn?” Her lower lip trembled. She dropped her face in her hands. Heavy sobs shook her form. He wanted to pick her up and carry her away, but there was nowhere to go that their problems wouldn't follow.

As he stood at the cave’s entrance, the image of Gwyn’s lock of white blond hair escaping from her hood played through his memory. “Is she Noble?”

She nodded, sniffing between tears. “But she’s my friend.” She held out her hands. “She’s a trifling.”

He shook his head. Gwyn was a destruere. A weak one.

“How could she be the one?” Aurora asked. “She came to me. Her family was after her. She knew they’d never look for her here, but she couldn’t ask Rallis for asylum.” She sucked in a hard breath. “Oh, goddess. The fireworks charms. I gave them to her. Now what have I done?” She looked up at him, her eyes stricken with the betrayal.

He stroked her cheek. “She took advantage of your kind heart. I’m going to make a law against doing that,” he said softly. Could the fissure wait a day? Even a few hours? He wasn’t sure his girl could take another blow. But the pain inside him had only increased and the mages of his territory were hurting. With a hand under her chin, he gently lifted her face to his. “One step at a time, Ror. Let’s fix this fissure first. Then we’ll find her.” Hopefully in that order. They’d all feel stronger with this fissure repaired.

He focused on the cave’s opening. The fissure felt farther away than ever. The cave must travel far beneath the ground. He cast a mage light and sent it into the darkness. He held out his hand and Aurora stepped up to him.

Vincent stood. “I’m coming with you.”

“You can’t. The vow. Stay outside.”

“Stupid to go alone, Mundie.”

“He’s not alone.” Aurora said softly.

Vincent’s lips tightened. “This is like me walking into a mission with Bronte.”

Edmund saw through to the worry beneath. “Which you kind of did at one point.”

“And she almost…died.” Vincent stuttered over the word. “I don’t want that for you.”

“Do you throw a fit when all your men go on a mission?”

“They’re not my brother, who’s never had any training, or experience, or weapons!”

“I could destroy you without even flicking my finger. Besides, I’m a hell of a fighter. I’m glad we have that appointment set up so I can remind you.” He didn’t say goodbye, just tugged Aurora behind him and strode down the cave like it was the Rushes where the senate met and he was off to strike some deals. Only this time he was striking down a fissure. With each step, pain rattled through his skull. Damn Bull for choosing today to do this.

He silenced their footsteps, though if Gwyn was here, she’d see his mage light coming. But the light was necessary. Even mages couldn’t see in complete darkness.

The cave went from wide to narrow, descending farther with every step. Water leaked down the walls, leaving the rocky incline slippery. Fortunately, it wasn’t cold enough below ground to freeze, otherwise they would have been hard pressed to make progress.

The passage turned to the right, narrowing more. The current of energy hit him the moment he turned. He ground to a halt. His breath fled.

Aurora squeezed his hand. “This isn’t a fissure,” she whispered.

No, it wasn’t.

“What is this?” she asked. “It’s like the goddess’s power. It’s what I feel…sort of…when I commune. But this is too much. It’s hard to breathe.”

Energy waved over them, drowning them in power never meant for a mage to experience. He knew what this was. And there was no remedy for this. Terror gripped his new heart. He couldn’t fix this. No one could. A silent roar built inside him.

There was no point going farther. He needed to get her out of here…out of the territory. He pushed her gently back toward the entrance, his mind reeling at what they faced.

“What are you doing? We have to fix it.”

“We can’t. We have to get out. This isn’t a fissure in the bond. This is the goddess’s power…the mark’s power.” He knew because he’d been to the actual mark many times. Its center was in the woods behind Rallis Hall. “It’s leaking. Go.” No wonder everyone felt the affect of this. “There must be a tunnel from the mark on the other side of the cave wall. Gwyn must have figured out how to blow a hole in it.”

“Oh, good goddess. There is a tunnel from the mark. It travels right under the towers and into the forest. My father told me once.” She covered her face with her hands. “I told Gwyn.”

He held tight to his focus as his fury at Gwyn grew. “Merely ripping the bond wasn’t working. She’s gone for its power source.” He struggled to form the words around the roar growing inside him. “When the mark’s power drains away, the bond on the land will fade to nothing.”

“Oh, Edmund, this is my fault.”

“No, Ror. You didn’t do this. She did.” He cupped her face. “We need to leave.”

“As in leave the territory?” Her eyes spilled with tears, highlighted by the dim strength of his mage light. “You won’t. I know you won’t.”

“You’ll leave. With Lily and Merida. You get in your car, and you drive to Bradford Territory and, you keep going until you’re as far from here as you can get.” But it wouldn’t be enough. Nothing would be enough to save her. Desperation ripped its long talons into his gut.

“No.” She pushed his hands away and brushed past him, going deeper into the cave and the flood of energy. With no hope, he followed her. His vibes fled from his control the closer he went, swept away by the cascade of the mark’s energy.

Not much farther and the cave opened up to a small circular room. His mage light rose near the ceiling to illuminate the space. A hole, about the size of both his hands, had been punctured in the left side of the wall. A pile of rocks lay beneath it, along with hundreds of used stick charms. The energy of the goddess’s blessing on Rallis poured out with such force that it sounded like rushing water. His breath stuck in his lungs from the pressure. Forcing it out involved every chest muscle inside him. Edmund strained forward, his head pounding, his lungs heaving, weakness bearing down on him. He bent to pick up one of the short silver sticks. Fireworks charms. Amped up somehow, he was sure. Little good it did him to know now.

He dropped it to the floor and shuffled away from the hole, pressing his back against the far wall of the chamber. “Ror, there’s nothing you can do.”

She didn’t listen, walking up to it, moving easier than he did, almost normal. She held her hands before her, palms up, trying to block the invisible force, but there was no stopping it.

The pure power pressed against him, draining his strength. He closed his eyes, seeking stamina from somewhere inside him. He needed to get her out.

A high-pitched laugh sounded in front of him. He opened his eyes. Two steps and Gwyn had a shield. She reached her arm around Aurora’s throat. The black metal of a gun glinted in the mage light then disappeared behind Aurora’s neck, hidden from any spell.

He’d just missed his chance. He’d let go of her hand and the enemy had stepped into his place. The taunt of Gwyn’s laugh echoed through the chamber.