The Scofflaw Magician (The Artifactor Book 3) (2 page)

“One of them
has requested that I come and inquire as to why you’re trying to beat down
their front door,” she answered dryly. “I’m assuming you have a very good
reason.”

“We do,” Farah
responded grimly. A trace of worry entered her voice as she said, “We’re here
searching for my little sister.”

And that
related to picking a fight with the Fae…how? Sevana folded her arms over her
chest and settled in a little. She sensed a story brewing. “Alright, princess,
this looks like it’ll take a few minutes to explain. While you explain things
to me, tell them to hold off.”

Farah opened
her mouth on an instinctive protest. “But we’re steadily losing time already
trying to hack through—”

“You won’t get
through,” she interrupted firmly. Farah reeled back as if she had slapped her.
“I don’t know what you’ve been told, but you are battling the Fae on their own
territory. Only a fool does that and expects to have anything to show for it.
Listen to me.
You have started a fight you cannot win
.”

An aged officer
standing at her back—who she would lay odds was actually the commander of this
army—cleared his throat. “Artifactor, we have over six thousand experienced
soldiers with us.”

“And every
single one of them is useless.” She shook her head in pity for the fools. “This
is not some magical creature that you can defeat through sheer brute force. The
Fae are
the
most feared creature in the known world. Even dragons choose
not to mess with them. If there is a hierarchy to the magical world, they are
the royal family, alright? They control the elements around you, everything
from air to mountains.” She pointed to the wooden barrier keeping the soldiers
out. “That is their non-aggressive way of getting rid of you because they’re
not in the mood to fight.”

The princess
looked outright disturbed at this information. Her hands clenched into fists at
her sides and the stare she directed at the woods was a mixture of helpless
rage and bleak understanding. “Then will you help me? They have my sister.”

They…what? She
cocked her head in puzzlement. “No they don’t.”

The princess
stared back at her blankly. “Yes they do.”

“No they
don’t,” Sevana repeated, more assuredly.

“They’ve been
taking children from all over the world and claiming them as their own!” Farah
shot back, temper flaring. “And this time they took my sister!”

“No they
haven’t, and no, they didn’t,” she riposted. “Princess,
I
am the one
that has been bringing them children.” She felt like laughing when Farah’s jaw
dropped and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Trust me, the Fae do not
leave their home unless it’s a very, very serious matter. I have brought to
them every child the Fae has adopted. I know exactly who they have in there.
Not one child belonged to any family.”

“Y-you,” she
stuttered out, torn between shock and anger. “Why would you do such a thing?!”

Her temper
flared to match the other girl’s. “Princess Farah, every child I took to them
didn’t have a family, were abandoned to scrape by on the streets, and were
younger than ten years old.” She met her look for look, nearly snarling the
words. “Those children have been abandoned by humanity like trash thrown out on
the streets. You dare to judge me when I took them to a place where I knew they
would be loved and looked after?”

Farah flinched
back at her anger, but held her ground. “You are sure of this?”

“I made sure,
trust me. Getting a child back from the Fae is quite the tricky matter and I
didn’t want to do it more than once.” She ticked the points off on her fingers.
“The child must be without living family, without any magical influence on
them, and younger than ten years old. At this moment, the Fae have taken in a
little over a dozen children. I’m responsible for bringing ten of them, the
last of which I delivered three days ago. There are no Sa Kaon children in
there.”

Farah’s
shoulders slumped as if Sevana had just dumped the weight of the world onto her.
“You are a reputable Artifactor. I must believe you. But if she isn’t here,
then where in the world could she be?”

Sevana inclined
her head toward the soldiers still hacking at the woods. “Call them off. Then
back up and tell me the story from the beginning.”

Farah raised
her head, expression cautiously hopeful. Wetting dry lips she asked hoarsely,
“Will you aid me?”

“I’m not sure
if I can or not until I hear the story. But this I
do
know. You don’t
want to complicate matters by starting a war with the Fae. Call them off, Princess,
and send them home. Whatever is going on here can’t be solved by might of
arms.”

Farah nodded
slowly and turned to the officer at her elbow. “See it done. I wish to consult
with this woman. Perhaps she will know more than our own magicians.”

The commander
didn’t look sold on this idea. “Princess Farah, with all due respect, what
makes you trust in this woman’s skills?”

“She snuck
magical portals inside the palace without even one person suspecting she had
done so. For
years
,” Farah explained with a wry smile. “Her magical
abilities are better than the court magicians. If she says she is willing to
help, then I certainly want her to do so. Call them off, Commander Roga.”

Someone had
drilled manners into the princess. Farah saw her properly seated inside of the
command tent at the table, a cup of tea before her—which she sorely needed
after her rude awakening—before taking her own seat. For a command tent, it
certainly had some nice trappings. Someone had even put carpets down. Then
again, this did belong to a princess, so perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised by
this.

Lurking in the
shadows of the tent stood a man that had to be the royal bodyguard. He was dark
skinned, almost black, shaved head, and he emitted danger without needing to
twitch a muscle. Judging from the few scars Sevana could see lurking underneath
his prim uniform, he had seen hard battles, and she had no doubt that he had
earned his position, not simply inherited it. She also had no doubt that she
would not want to tangle with him in a dark alley somewhere. He’d win.

Bodyguards as
good as him preferred to not be noticed until the occasion called for it, so
after that one look at him, she pretended he was just a shadow in the corner.
Looking back at the princess, she gestured with her hand in an inviting wave.
“So, let’s hear the story.”

Farah, now that
Sevana was paying closer attention, had dark circles under her eyes and an
underlying weariness in her posture. She did not look like a woman that had
slept well in the past few days. “There is unfortunately not much known at this
time. My sister, who is five, went to play with friends in the courtyard at the
front of the palace. She does so regularly. But that day she didn’t come back
when the evening bell rang, as she always does. We sent people to summon her
but they couldn’t find her. We started to truly search and discovered that it
wasn’t just her missing—four other people in the city had also disappeared
without a trace. We turned the country upside down for three days and couldn’t
find a single trace of them. The court magicians said it must have been done
magically somehow, a spiriting away. The magical ability required to do so
would have to be quite formidable to get past the shields and wards protecting
her.”

Not
necessarily. As Sevana had learned with Bel, those shields and wards had a lot
of holes if you were determined and creative enough to find them.

“Then we
thought about the rumors of the Fae gathering children from all over the world,
and…” Farah shrugged helplessly. “It seemed the perfect theory at the time.”

Alright, so,
she saw how things had come to this. With an enemy and a direction, the princess
had called together an army (or her father had) and come straight here to get
the little girl. “A reckless assumption to make, as it stands.”

Farah leaned
forward, voice hoarse with urgency. “What do you think?”

“I think I need
more information before I start rattling off theories,” she responded promptly.
“I need to examine the scene of her disappearance at the very least.”

Farah didn’t
look happy that Sevana didn’t have an instant answer, but she did seem relieved
she was willing to take on the job. “Then you’ll aid me?”

“I will. But
first, we have a situation here to deal with.” Sevana paused long enough to
drain the rest of her tea before giving a respective bow. “Thank you for the
hospitality.”

The princess
blinked, not expecting the formality, but responded automatically, “It was a
pleasure to have such a guest.”

Formalities out
of the way, she stood and gestured for Farah to follow. “We need to make amends
to the Fae, and quickly, before they get angry. Right now they’re just confused
and unhappy and I would rather it not escalate.”

The full weight
of the situation must have sunk in as she looked a little nervous. “And what do
you suggest I do to make amends?”

“I wish I could
tell you. But even though I’ve been neighbors and business partners with the
Fae for many years, I can’t begin to predict how they’ll react. They are the
epitome of an enigma.” Blowing out a breath, she gestured toward the army with
a wipe circle of the arm. “First step, send them home.” Farah looked ready to
instinctively protest but bit it back. “Princess, if your sister’s
disappearance is truly magical in nature—and I am inclined to agree judging
from your description—then these men are not going to be of help to you. In
fact, they’re dead weight.”

Commander Roga
choked at that, face flushing. The bodyguard was smiling though, so at least
one person in the princess’s party saw sense.

“Commander
Roga, take them home to Zuria,” Farah ordered after a moment of deliberation.

“Your
highness!” Roga protested.

“Take them
home,” Farah repeated firmly. “I came here with an army to save my sister. If
the army cannot help then I do not want them here causing trouble on foreign
soil. You are ordered to gather the troops and march immediately for the south.
We will likely beat you there as I have every intention of taking the
Artifactor home so that she can examine things with her own eyes. I will
explain to my father.”

Roga looked
only partially satisfied by this assurance. Apparently it was a smirch on a
man’s honor to go off a-warring and not actually fight anybody? Sa Kaon culture
was so strange. Well, regardless, they were going. To Farah she said, “Stay
here for the moment. I’m going to see if Lorien will come out and speak with
me.”

“Lorien?” she repeated.

“The Fae that
requested my intervention,” she explained briefly, already striding for the
‘front lines.’ Grydon tagged at her heels like a faithful shadow. He moved so
quietly some days she forgot she had a tagalong. Which, of course, meant that she
tripped over him fairly often.

It took some
pushing and shoving to get past the soldiers and all of their axes. They had
this light in their eye as if they really wanted to keep hacking away at the
trees. Of course, it had probably come down to a matter of pride now. The fact
that a bunch of mere trees had kept them from advancing had to rankle on an
instinctive level. She ignored their surly attitudes and kept walking, having
to pick a path over the cut and strewn branches until she actually reached the
edge of the woods.

“Lorien!” she
called out.

Per his usual
trick, he seemed to melt out of thin air, which made everyone behind her jump
and curse in surprise. Used to this, she just waited for him to cross to her.

“Sevana,” he
greeted with a slight smile and the quick of an eyebrow. “It’s impressive how
quickly you talked sense into them. We should have sent you ahead hours ago.”

“Yes, well, I
wasn’t exactly awake hours ago so I’m not sure how well that would have
worked.” Shaking this off, she explained forthrightly, “Their attack here is a
huge misunderstanding. The Sa Kaon princess was kidnapped from her home
recently and the nature of her disappearance smacks of being done by a very
powerful magician. They’d heard rumors of the Fae taking in children from all
over the world, and—”

Lorien looked
offended. “We’d never take another parent’s child from them.”

“Well, I know
that, and you know that, but they didn’t until I explained it to them. Rumors
are notorious for mixing things up and giving things an evil slant, you know
that. Anyway, the princess in charge here is very apologetic for the whole mess
and wants to make amends before leaving.”

“She must plant
trees to replace the ones damaged,” Lorien replied immediately.

From the way he
rattled out a reply, he must have been thinking about this while she was in the
camp. Still, the mildness of the punishment surprised her. She would have
expected something…more. “Is that all?”

“We will
forgive the rashness of their actions in sympathy. We do not understand human
ways, but if one of ours had been taken without any sign, we would likely
respond in a similar manner.”

Yes, and didn’t
that image send chills straight up her spine. “Well, I am sure they will be
grateful for your understanding. I’ll relay the message.”

He studied her
for a moment before venturing, “You will lend your aid to them to recover her?”

“I will,” she
assured him dryly. “I’d rather do that than have an army making a mess in my
backyard.”

Satisfied, he
gave her a half bow. “We thank you for your interference in this matter.”
Without another word, he turned and disappeared back into thin air—she was
dying to figure out that trick—and as he did so, the trees groaned and sighed
around her. As she watched, the branches untangled from each other and they
regained their usual bearing. In mere moments, the forest almost looked
untouched. Well, aside from the kindling now littering the forest floor.

Sevana blew out
a covert breath of relief. That had gone
much
better than she’d dared
hope for. She turned around and headed back toward Farah, making a mental list
as she moved. She’d give her the message, and probably some precise orders on
what needed to be done to satisfy the Fae, and then she’d go back to Big and
pack. She had a feeling that she would be leaving for Sa Kao this afternoon, if
not sooner.

Farah’s eyes
were a trifle wide, so she had somehow found a high enough perch to watch
Sevana talk with Lorien. Sevana trusted that little show had been enough to
demonstrate just how powerful the Fae were. “Princess, the Fae are willing to
let this go if you plant trees to replace the ones that were chopped down. I’d
leave a crew of a hundred men behind to do the job. I’d also leave behind men
that you trust explicitly. They cannot, under any circumstances, venture into
those woods. Even being on the border and planting trees is dangerous. The Fae
might have given them permission to stay here and work, but the other races
living here have not, and some of them find men to be particularly tasty.”

The princess
swallowed hard and regained her composure with obvious effort. “I understand.
Will you grant them what protection you can while they are here?”

“They are
welcome to stay in my mountain while we’re gone. I’ll have my mountain lion
watch over them as well. He’s quite accustomed to the dangers here and no one
in Noppers Woods chooses to mess with him. Between the two, they should be able
to safeguard your men.”

Commander Roga,
standing at the princess’s elbow, repeatedly uncertainly, “A mountain lion?”

Sevana quirked
a brow at him but moved on. “I need to pack, send a message to my business
partner, and the like, but in an hour I’ll be ready to leave. If this matter is
as urgent as I think, it’d be best to travel quickly. We’ll go by clock
portal.”

“I cannot bring
much with me through a clock portal,” Farah stated, although the nuance was
questioning.

“You can’t,”
Sevana confirmed. “And not many people. So cut the fat, princess, and bring
only the essentials. You have one hour to do so and meet me at the mountain.
Grydon?”

The wolf turned
his head up to look at her.

“Escort her to
me when she’s ready to come,” Sevana instructed.

Grydon gave a
soft huff, indicating he understood.

Farah studied
the wolf for a long moment. “Just how intelligent is he?”

“He’s smarter
than most humans.”

The princess’s
expression made it clear she made a mental note on that point. “I’ll be there
as soon as I can. I’ll have to take my bodyguard with me, though.”

“One extra
person is fine. Not two.” Mostly because Sevana wasn’t interested in
transporting a whole entourage through the portal, not because she couldn’t do
it. “Pack quickly, Princess.” That said, she turned on her heel and went to her
skimmer, starting it up and kicking quickly up into the air.

This day had
not gone as she had planned, and the foreseeable future didn’t look at all
predictable either. Sevana realized that she had a broad smile on her face and
didn’t even try to hide it as she flew back to Big.

She just
loved
a good challenge.