The Unmage (22 page)

“Thank you,” Wuls said. He sat up, and the mage mist seemed to run off him onto the stones of the floor.

“You’re welcome,” Timo said. He flicked his hand, and the mist faded away. “Where’s Yash?”

“Next room,” Wuls said. He stood up, leaning heavily into the wall. “I haven’t heard anything from him since Mole was caught.” He stumbled through the door, Timo close behind him.

“You know Mole?” Timo asked. A quick wave and the mist that clung to the next door dissipated.

“He introduced himself,” Wuls said. “In Seyoyan.” He pulled open the door. “Yash,” he called out. He said more in Seyoyan and then launched himself into the room.

Timo followed to find Wuls sitting on his knees beside Yash, who was laid out on the floor covered in the same pink mage mist. He didn’t move even when Wuls leaned into him and spoke directly into his ear.

“Stand back,” Timo said. He bent down over Yash. “He’s breathing, but barely.”

Timo knelt beside the Seyoyan. This spell was more powerful than the one he’d removed from Wuls. He tentatively reached a finger towards the mist but snatched it away when it seemed to wind tighter. Yash’s shallow breathing became a wheeze, and Timo met Wuls’ worried gaze.

“Do it,” Wuls said. Then he closed his eyes.

Timo nodded and swept his hand over Yash,
pulling
at the spell as hard as he could. The pink mist lifted off Yash in one big sheet and flew towards Timo. He rocked back on his heels and fell over backwards when the mist struck him. Then it slowly sank into him.

“Yash.” Wuls leaned over his brother, cradling his face. Yash shuddered and then sucked in a breath. He opened his eyes and croaked something in Seyoyan. Wuls replied and gently touched Yash’s face.

“Thank you,” Wuls said to Timo. He held out a hand, helping Timo up from where he’d tumbled to the floor. “What happened to the magic?”

“I’m not sure,” Timo said. He flexed his hands and stared at them. Was there a tinge of pink to his mage mist? “I think I absorbed it.” Was that what Kara had done? Was that how she’d drained the Mages of their power? But she wasn’t a Mage—could she even absorb magic?

“Let’s get Mole and get out of here,” Timo said. He’d worry about what had happened later, when they were safe. Wuls helped Yash to his feet, and they followed Timo out to the main room.

“You got them, good,” Mole said. He still stood with his arm on Barra, but to Timo it now seemed more protective than threatening. The three Mages were tied together in the middle of the room.

“You won’t get far,” Inigo said. “The council initiated extensive patrols after Founders Day.”

“And this one,” Wuls toed Faron, “has his own traps laid out.” He turned to Timo. “That’s what caught us. We could see it coming but we couldn’t outrun it.” He looked over at Barra. “It was her magic though. Why isn’t she tied up with the rest of them?”

“She’s coming with us,” Mole said. His eyes narrowed, and he stared first at Wuls and then at Yash before settling on Timo.

“Barra,” Timo said as he took a step towards her. “Is that what you want? I couldn’t help you before, with my mother, but I—
we
—can help you now.”

“They’ll kill me if I stay, won’t they?” She looked up, searching his eyes. Timo nodded, and she sighed and straightened her shoulders. “Then I have no choice.”

“We can’t trust her,” Wuls said. “I say she stays.”

“I don’t know you,” Mole said. He leaned towards Wuls, and Timo would have sworn that Mole, as compact as he was, towered over the Seyoyan. “This is my mission. I say she comes.”

“Wuls.” Yash placed a hand on his brother’s arm. “This is not the time.”

Wuls shook Yash’s hand off but he stepped back to let Mole lead Barra out the door. Yash and Wuls followed, with Timo in the rear. Once out in the hallway, Timo shut the door and locked it with a spell.

He turned to face the others.

“We need to find a place to rest,” he said. “It’s day, and I, for one, need food and water.”

“I know a place,” Barra said. “It’s not far.”

“Good,” Timo said. “Let’s go.”

Barra, followed closely by Mole, headed off down the hallway. Timo gestured to Yash, who simply shrugged and looked at his brother. Wuls folded his arms over his chest and glared at Timo.

“I don’t trust her,” he stated.

“I do,” Timo said. “She didn’t do any of this by choice.” He looked down the hall, where Mole and Barra had stopped. “We don’t have time for this now. We have to go.”

“We’ll go our own way,” Wuls said. “We can avoid any magical traps by ourselves.”

“That’s your choice,” Timo replied. “But we know how well you’ve done up until now. If you don’t trust my judgment then trust Mole’s. He’s trained to know.”

“Mole,” Wuls spat. “He was right, we don’t know each other.”

“I thought you said he introduced himself to you?” Timo asked. He slapped Wuls’ shoulder. “Come on. Mole is the one who was coming for me—he was Reo’s Apprentice.” Timo ignored the look that passed between the Seyoyans and walked by them. He heard their footsteps following behind him long before he’d caught up to Mole and Barra.

BARRA SET A
fast pace, leading them along narrow, dark passageways to a corridor that ended at a tall wooden shelf.

“I’ll go first,” she said softly. “In case anyone’s there already.”

Mole placed a hand on her arm. “I’ll go with you.”

Barra nodded. She wedged her left hand between the shelf and the wall, easing the warped wood a few inches away from the stone. Mole reached across her and pulled. The base of the shelf swung out, and Barra squeezed through the hole in the wall and was swallowed by darkness. Timo wondered briefly why she didn’t use a mage light. Then Mole shrugged and winked at him and followed Barra.

“I don’t like this,” Wuls whispered after a few moments.

“You don’t like anything,” Timo said. He heard Yash stifle a laugh, and Wuls turned his glare away from Timo and onto his brother. “It’s Mole. They’ll be fine.”

“Of course we’ll be fine,” Mole said from the darkness. “Hurry up. It’s clear.”

Timo had to turn sideways in order to fit through. His shirt caught on the old wood of the shelf and ripped as he forced his way through. He felt his way forward, hearing the others staggering after him.

“Mole?” he called out in the dark.

“Go three steps forward and then one step left,” Mole said from behind. “I’ll close this up.”

A shadow was outlined in the wedge of light from the corridor. It dipped for a moment and then the light narrowed to a sliver before it disappeared. Timo threw his hand out in front of him, mauve mage mist showing him a narrow corridor that ran between rough stone walls. He shuffled forward until he saw the passageway jog to the left.

Yash leaned over his shoulder. “We can see too if you keep your hand up high.”

Timo nodded and raised his hand, trying to keep it high enough for the others to see as he snaked around the corner. After a few more steps, the narrow passage opened up. Barra knelt beside a pile of cloth, her hands fumbling with something. Then he had to squint against the glare of a lamp.

“Why not a mage light?” he asked as he stepped over to her.

“This is where I come to get away from magic.” She stood up but wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I keep it stocked with food and water. Just in case.”

“In case of what?” Timo’s question was lost in the noise of the others arriving.

Barra moved over to a small shelf along the wall and took a jug from it. She quickly lined up two battered metal cups and filled them. She handed one to a grateful Timo and the second one to Mole.

“In case she needs to stay out of the way for a few days,” Mole said.

“Why would she need that?”

Mole gave him a long look. “You of all people shouldn’t have to ask that,” he said. “You know what Mages are capable of.”

“Yes,” Timo replied. He did, so why was he so surprised that Barra needed a place where she felt safe? Because she’d always seemed so strong, that was why. He sipped his water. It was warm and had a slight metallic taste to it, but it was clean. His mother had always seemed strong too, and they’d killed her. He looked over at Barra. Her shoulders were slumped, and she seemed tired—too tired and dispirited for someone so young. This was what Mage Guild did to its young, he thought angrily. It drained them of hope and joy and forced them to do things they hated,
become people
they hated, just to survive.

He handed the cup back to Barra so she could refill it for one of the others. He’d been much the same as her until he’d met Kara, Santos, and Reo two years ago. Even
with
the knowledge that there was a better future for him, that there were people who cared about him, he’d continued to feel lost and alone and without hope.

“You’ll be safe once we get to Old Rillidi,” Timo said. Barra looked up at him, but her eyes were dull. “We all will, right, Mole?”

“Yes,” Mole said. He touched Barra’s shoulder, briefly. “Santos will be happy to have another Mage to train.”

“Santos?” Barra looked frightened. “Is he a Mage?”

“Yes,” Mole said. “Santos Nimali—he’s the true Mage Guild Primus.”

“I won’t work with anyone who’s Guild,” Barra hissed. “Keep him away from me.” She shrugged away from Mole and went to the back of the room.

Mole looked over at Timo, who shook his head sadly. “Let her be. She’s been through a lot.” He leaned closer to Mole and whispered, “Faron wouldn’t take her on as Journeyman unless she bedded him.”

Mole clenched his hands into fists before he turned towards the door.

“Where are you going?” Timo asked.

“To find some food,” Mole replied, his voice tight. “And to finish something.” He paused just before he pushed the door open. “I won’t be gone long.”

“Do you want me to make you invisible?” Timo asked.

“No,” Mole’s smile was grim. “I want him to see who kills him.”

TIMO WALKED OVER
to Yash, who, following Barra’s directions, was reaching up to the top shelf. He pulled a wrapped package down.

“Where’s Mole?” Wuls asked, coming to stand beside Timo.

“He went to find food.”

“And now we’re left with her?” Wuls gestured towards Barra. “I don’t trust her, and now the only reason Yash and I came with you has left.”

“He’ll be back,” Timo said.

“Sure,” Wuls said. “We only have your word that he was Reo’s Apprentice. He could be anyone, even an enemy.”

“He speaks Seyoyan.”

“Yes,” Wuls said. “But so do some of our enemies.”

“You’re free to leave any time you want to,” Timo said.

“Yes,” Wuls said. He glared at Timo and joined his brother who, with Barra, was unwrapping the package.

IT TURNED OUT
to be dried meat. Timo had never seen anything like it, but Barra said that one of the servants in her mother’s house had shown her how to dry and preserve the meat. It would keep in the waxed wrappings for years, she said. Preserving food with magic would have been much easier, Timo thought, but Barra seemed to have an aversion to using magic, especially in this room.

“Mole didn’t need to go look for food at all,” Wuls said. “That doesn’t sound like a real Assassin, leaving before he’s sure of the need.”

Timo ignored Wuls’ comment, instead concentrating on chewing the tough meat. They were all sitting with their backs to the wall, facing the door. There was only the one small lamp, and the two Seyoyans’ white braids glowed weirdly in the flickering light.

“If he returns with some fresh bread, I don’t care if he’s a real Assassin,” Yash said. “Although I think he is.” He looked over at his brother. “I’ve met one before.”

“Be quiet,” Wuls said. “Just because you’re two years older doesn’t mean you know everything.”

“I know more than you,” Yash replied.

Wuls looked ready to reply when Barra hushed them.

“Stop it,” she said. “Do you want to be found? This room is in a little used part of an estate but it doesn’t mean someone isn’t near enough to hear us.”

Wuls glared at Barra. “I don’t take orders from you.”

“That’s enough, Wuls,” Timo said. “You will be quiet.” He raised his hand, letting the Seyoyan see the mage mist that snaked around his fingers. “Or I’ll spell you quiet.”

“You won’t,” Wuls said. He shook off Yash’s hand and stared at Timo.

“I will,” Timo said. “This is not a game. If we’re found, they’ll kill us.” He looked around the room. “All of us. And you two,” he pointed at Yash and Wuls, “will not have an easy death. Did you even wonder why Faron was holding you?”

“He was going to ransom us,” Wuls said.

“No.” Timo turned to Barra. “There was no plan for ransom, was there?”

Barra took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Faron wanted to know what makes you able to see magic.” She looked at each of the Seyoyans before her gaze settled on Timo. “He thought that if he could understand it with the Seyoyans then when he finally caught you he’d be able to take that ability from you.”