Unguilded (24 page)

“I know her, of course,” Rorik replied. “Quite lovely, although she is only a minor talent. She’s from a non-mage lineage—her brother is Warrior Guild. She’s often part of negotiations with them.”

“She’s a spy?” Arabella asked, surprised.

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” Rorik replied. “But she was Warrior Guild until she was twelve so she knows many who are currently rising to power. I had not known about her and Castio.”

He seemed sincere, but Arabella didn’t know Rorik well enough to recognize if he was lying. She met his gaze, and he did not look away. “I have a spy of my own—in her household,” she said, watching Rorik. His pupils dilated.
This
was news to him.

“I see,” he said and nodded. “Castio spends much time there, does he?”

“So I hear,” she replied. “It intrigued me. In my home villa we all live as families but here—Castio is the first Master Mage I know who does that.”

“It is unusual,” Rorik agreed. “But not forbidden. The Primus before me lived with a wife.”

“Did he? I hadn’t heard that.” She hadn’t heard much about Primus Nimali. No one wanted to talk about him. At least not to her. “What happened to her? When he died.” As with Council Members, the Primus was appointed for life—Rorik was Primus so Nimali must be dead.

“She died,” Rorik said. “Some say she was assassinated.”

“What do you say?”

Rorik sighed and leaned back in his chair. “It doesn’t matter what I say,” he said. “She is dead, and I am Primus. Now, I appreciate your company, but I have work to do.”

“Yes, of course,” Arabella said.

As she made her way to her own home, she wondered about the courage of a woman who became the wife of a Primus. If she truly had been assassinated, it was not a surprising end. Without political power of her own, the wife of a Primus would be the target of his enemies. And a Primus—even one who seemed as benign as Rorik—had enemies.

Only Mages with the most magical skill and power rose to become Primus—they succumbed to their enemies otherwise. A Mage who became Primus would have spent a lifetime protecting themselves from attacks—physical or magical. But a wife—especially one who was a minor talent like Castio’s Etta and perhaps Nimali’s wife—would be vulnerable. She had Noula looking for such vulnerabilities, after all.

She would have to learn more about defensive spells—to ward her rooms from eavesdroppers and to keep her safe. She may not be as attached to Valerio as a wife was, but she was carrying his child and she was his ally. Once that was known, his enemies would become her enemies.

“
HOW DOES IT
work?”

“Like this. Watch out!”

Water splashed close by.

“You’re wasting it.”

Pilo said that. Kara rolled onto her side and opened her eyes. Pilo and Sidra were frowning at Mole as he leaned on the handle of the pump.

“Stop it,” Pilo said and swatted at Mole. “Stop wasting the water.”

“We’ve got lots,” Mole said. He leaned over to watch the water gush from the pump spout into the basin below it.

“How do you know?” Sidra asked quietly.

“That’s right,” Pilo said. “How do you know? You don’t know where it comes from, so how can you know that there’s lots?”

“Huh,” Mole said. He pumped again, and water overflowed the basin and spilled onto the dusty floor below. “Shouldn’t it go somewhere?”

“Pull the rope underneath,” Kara called.

Mole looked over at her, and she pointed underneath the basin. He peered under the basin and yanked on the rope. Just like at Mika and Allon’s, a wooden plug came out of the basin and the water flowed into a trough and out through the wall.

“How’d you know about that?” Vook asked. He was sitting cross-legged with his back towards the window.

Kara looked past him at the grey morning sky.

“I’ve seen one before,” she replied. “But it was fed by a river, not by magic.”

“Magic,” Pilo said. “Is this magic? Is that why only I could see the cabin last night?”

“I think so,” Kara said. She’d hoped that the cabin was spelled to remain hidden, but now that she knew it was, it caused other problems. Would she always have to lead them here?

“Then how did you find it?” Vook sat very still, suspicion in his eyes.

She couldn’t blame him. He’d been betrayed by just about everyone he’d ever trusted.

“I can see magic,” Kara said. “I’ve always been able to see it, I just never knew for sure what it was.”

“Who told you that?” Vook didn’t look any less uneasy.

“The mad mage.”

The other children all stared at her.

“He was sane when I talked to him,” Kara continued. “He told me that his madness comes and goes. But I saw and reacted to his magic. At least that’s what he said.” What he’d shouted at her as she’d run away, but she didn’t need to tell them that.

“Does he know you’re here?” Pilo asked. Her arms were crossed, and the scars on her face were deep red against her pale skin. “I’m not sure we’re better off here with the mad mage than we were with the clammers.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Sidra said. “The clammers were going to eat us. You said so yourself.”

“The mad mage doesn’t know I’m still here,” Kara said. At least she hoped he didn’t. What if he’d put some kind of alarm spell on the place? But if he had it would have been triggered a few days ago, giving the mad mage, Santos Nimali, plenty of time to come and investigate. She scnned the small room. Nothing had been disturbed, other than by her small group.

“He won’t hurt me,” Kara said. “He’s not mad at all, he’s been spelled. And he wants my help because I might be able to undo some of the spells.”

“You would help a Mage?” Mole asked. “Why?”

“’Cause then he’d owe her,” Vook said. “Maybe enough to let us all stay here.”

“Yes,” Kara agreed. “Although I can’t trust him completely.”

Vook nodded when she said that, and seemed to relax.

“I need to find out more about him. How often the madness strikes him, where he goes, and what he does when he’s mad.” She paused and ran her hand through her hair. Did she so badly long to feel safe that she’d put them all at risk here? “But if he does find us, it’s me he wants. And he can’t hurt me, at least not with magic.”

“That’s how you got us away from the clammers,” Pilo said. “By the tree with the feathers. There was magic there, you said.”

“Yes,” Kara replied. “I kept the spell away from us. But the clammers couldn’t see it. One tried a spell—she barely even affected the magic under that tree.”

“Clammers have magic?” Vook asked. “Harb never said.”

“I don’t think Harb knew,” Kara said. “The women used it on Harb and Lowel, a little.” Her voice turned grim. “And they used it on the collars.”

Sidra’s hand went to her neck and then quickly dropped down to her side. “That’s why we couldn’t untie them, no matter how hard we tried.”

“Probably,” Kara said. She got to her feet. “Who’s hungry? There’s a garden out back and some oranges we need to pick before the birds get them.”

IT WAS LATE
afternoon by the time they were finished in the garden.

Mole had clambered up the orange and apple trees and tossed the fruit down to Sidra and Pilo, while Vook and Kara dug up carrots and potatoes for supper.

Kara thought longingly of the peppers and grapes she’d seen in the garden behind the manor house. She shook her head—she might as well wish for what they’d left behind at the docks—the manor garden was just as far out of their reach. Besides, they should be grateful for what they did have. It was so much more than she had hoped to find when they’d started the search for a new home.

Only Kara and Pilo could actually see the cabin. Perhaps Pilo had some Mage blood in her, like the clammers, but no one mentioned the possibility. Kara didn’t want to drive off the mage mist—the spells—that kept the cabin hidden, so they marked a path with stones for the other three. It led them to the corner of the cabin—once they touched it they could make their way to the door.

When the path was laid out, Vook set off to collect firewood, and soon a small pile was stacked just inside the door.

They sorted through the furniture in the back room and hauled what they wanted into the main room. A wooden crate tucked under the bed held bedding and some pots, as well as a real kettle. Mole and Sidra had never seen one before, so Vook started a fire in the hearth and settled the kettle near the flames. The kettle’s whistle delighted the younger children, but it reminded Kara of Villa Larona and her father’s house.

Kara had served tea to her father and Noula every evening, and Noula had never tired of finding fault. The tea was too cold, it had steeped too long, it hadn’t steeped long enough, the milk was sour. Rarely was there a night when Kara didn’t have to do something twice in order to appease her father’s not-quite wife. It would take some time before the whistle of a kettle brought her any sense of comfort, let alone the joy it gave Sidra and Mole.

They didn’t have any actual tea, of course, but each of them took a mug of steaming water and sat at the table, just like any real family. There were only four chairs so Kara pulled up the small bench. It put her head at Mole’s height, and he laughed. It was such an unusual sound for Mole, though her half-brother Osten had always been giggling at something or other.

“This is much nicer than the boat,” Sidra said. “It’s clean and there are no drafts.”

“And there are no clammers,” Mole said. “I hate clammers.”

“They won’t come this far, will they?” Pilo asked. “If they have magic, they might be able to see the cabin.”

“They won’t come this far,” Vook replied. “I overheard the women talking. They’re terrified of the mad mage.”

“They
should
be,” Kara said. “If Santos Nimali knew they had magic, then Mage Guild might find out.”

“Would they care?” Pilo asked. “Mage Guild?”

“Yes.” Kara stared out the window. The afternoon shadows were lengthening as the sun drifted lower in the sky. “When I ran away from the guild, they tried to find me.” She faced the others. “I saw the spell they sent. Later, when I was traveling with Mika, we went to visit an old friend of his. He was dead—covered in that same mage mist—the spell that had been sent after me.”

“It killed him?” Vook asked. “Why?”

“Because he wasn’t just an old man living in the mountains.” Kara went to the kitchen where she’d left her pack and pulled out the journal. “I got this book from his house.” She placed the book on the table and sat back down. “And he had other books, almost thirty. A man doesn’t collect so many books unless he can read.”

“Only Mage Guild teaches their own to read,” Pilo said. “You think he was Mage Guild, like you.”

“Yes,” Kara said. “I think that’s why the spell killed him. Mage Guild controls all magic, and those who wield it. If the clammers have magic, Mage Guild will either find and control them, or kill them.” She looked down at her hands. “From what I saw, I doubt they’d be easily controlled.”

“I’ll tell Mage Guild myself,” Mole said. “I want them all dead!”

“Mole, don’t say that!” Kara said.

“Why not? It’s true.” Mole crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.

Kara looked into his belligerent face and sighed. Where was the laughing little boy from a few minutes ago?

“Because that makes you as bad as them,” she said. “Besides, you don’t ever want to meddle in Mage Guild business.” She should take her own advice, she thought. Undoing the spells on Santos Nimali would be meddling in Mage Guild business, wouldn’t it?

“I don’t want Lowel dead,” Sidra said quietly. “Lowel was always nice to me, before the clammers.”

“Too late,” Pilo said. “By now both Harb and Lowel are either slaves or dead.”

“Would they eat them?” Mole asked. “They would have eaten me.”

“No they wouldn’t have,” Vook said. “They eat food, the same as us.”

“We may never know their fate,” Kara said. She hoped they still were alive, but Harb had brought this on himself. Thank Gyda she’d been able to get the rest of them out. If she’d come even a couple of hours later,
all
of the clammers would have been at the docks, and there would have been no chance of rescue.

“Come on, let’s finish getting that other room sorted out,” Kara said. “I’d like to sleep in a real bed tonight.”

THE BED WAS
crowded with all five of them sprawled in it. Kara didn’t actually get much sleep that first night. Mole, unused to sleeping in such comfort and security, fidgeted. He woke up Kara about every hour so she could confirm that they were still safe. But in a week they were all, even Mole, sleeping soundly.

Kara kept everyone close to the cabin that first week. The weather had turned, and rain lashed at the windows for three solid days. The stack of wood that was inside the door grew. It took hours for it to dry out enough to burn, but there was such a damp chill in the air that they kept the fire going all day.