Magic Study - Study 2

We followed him through the Citadel. Cutting across back alleys and empty courtyards, I wondered if Valek followed us. The residents seemed intent on their chores and hardly noticed our passage.

Fisk stopped before we reached an open plaza. A large jade statue of a tortoise with intricate carvings on its shell occupied the middle of the square. The dark green turtle shot water out of its mouth and into a pool of water.

Pointing to a building on the opposite side of the plaza, Fisk said, “On the second floor lives a man with red lines on his hands. He’s new and no one knows him. He wears a cloak that hides his face. My brother has seen a young girl enter the building, carrying packages.”

I looked at Irys. Was this quarter searched with magic? I asked her with my mind.

Yes. But not by a Master.

She stretched out her awareness and my mind’s eye went with her. Our minds touched a young woman nursing a baby on the first floor. Her thoughts on getting the baby to nap after he’d eaten his fill. Another woman on the third floor worried about the possibility of rain. We could feel no one on the second floor, but Ferde’s magic matched Irys’s in strength and he would not be easy to detect.

I could push harder, but he would know we were here, Irys said. I will come back with some reinforcements.

Who?

Roze and Bain. Together we should be able to subdue him. And once he’s unconscious, he’ll be easier to transport to the Keep’s prison.

Why unconscious?

A magician is helpless when unconscious.

Sleeping? I asked in alarm.

No. Only if it’s a drugged sleep or you get knocked out.

What happens once he wakes? Won’t he be able to use his magic to escape?

The Keep’s prison cells contain a power loop. If a magician tries to use magic within the cell, the loop absorbs the magical power and directs it back into the cell’s defenses until the magician is exhausted.

Fisk, who had been staring at us in fascination, cleared his throat. “Do you think the one you seek is living here?”

“Could the young girl your brother saw be the one with the baby?” Irys asked Fisk.

He shook his head. “That’s Ruby. Sometimes she hires me to watch Jatee.”

I grinned. “You’re turning into quite the entrepreneur.”

“I bought my mother a new dress,” he said with pride.

Rain began to fall as we made our way back to the market. With a wave, Fisk joined his friends and disappeared. The market emptied as the vendors packed up their wares. One woman bumped into me in her haste to get out of the rain. She shouted an apology, but never slowed her pace. Rumbles of thunder echoed off the hard marble walls of the Citadel.

I’ll find Roze and Bain. You return to the Keep, Irys instructed.

But I want to be there when you search that building.

No. Stay at the Keep, Yelena. He wants you. And if something goes wrong and he threatens to hurt Opal, you know you’ll give yourself up. It’s too dangerous.

I wanted to argue. But Irys was right, and, if I followed her despite her instructions, she wouldn’t trust me again.

Irys headed toward the Council Hall to find Roze, who had an appointment with the Ixian Ambassador. A meeting I would have loved to eavesdrop on. The arrogant Master Magician against the powerful Commander.

The rain began to fall in sheets, soaking my cloak. When I tucked my cold, wet hands into the pockets, my fingers touched paper. I couldn’t remember putting anything there. I hadn’t worn my cloak since coming to Sitia, although, I had used it to sleep when we had camped on the Avibian Plains. Perhaps the paper contained a cryptic message from Story Weaver. I laughed; it seemed to be something he would enjoy doing, leaving a puzzling note in my cloak. However, the mystery would have to wait until I found some shelter from the rain.

My guards waited at the Keep’s entrance. They followed me as I headed toward my room. After they searched the interior, I invited them inside, but they declined, citing some military regulation.

After I started a roaring fire and hung up my sodden cloak, I extracted the paper. It was a message for me. My hands turned to ice as I read the words, and even the heat from the hearth couldn’t warm them up.

“What does the message say?” Valek asked, coming from the bedroom.

I had ceased to be amazed by his abilities. Dripping wet, he must have come in through the bedroom window past one of my guards.

He plucked the paper from my hand. “She had some rudimentary skills. Probably a pickpocket hired to give you this note. Did you get a good look at her face?”

I made the belated connection between the woman who had bumped into me in the market and the message. “No. Her hood covered most of her head.”

Valek shrugged, but his gaze pierced me after he scanned the note. “Interesting development.”

Yes, Valek would think this turn of events interesting. However, I found myself conflicted.

“Seems the killer is one step ahead of the magicians,” he said. “He knows they won’t exchange you for Opal. So he has taken matters into his own hands. How important is Opal’s life to you?”

Valek had, as usual, gotten to the heart of the matter. Ferde’s note specified a location and a new date for the exchange. Three nights before the full moon, which was four days from now. I guessed that he needed some time to get me ready for the Efe ritual. My skin crawled with dread and I forced horrible images of being raped and tortured from my mind.

I could tell Irys and the others. They would set a trap for Ferde. But they wouldn’t let me near the site, so the trap was bound to fail.

Or I wouldn’t tell Irys about the note and would go to the meeting site alone. Irys’s warnings of what would happen if Ferde absorbed my magic filtered through my mind. He would then be powerful enough to control Sitia.

Let Opal die to save Sitia? I had promised myself that I wouldn’t let that happen to her. And what would stop Ferde once Opal died from tricking another magician into giving him her soul? Nothing.

I would need to keep this new situation tucked deep beneath my surface thoughts. Irys had been true to her word to not pry into my mind, but with the fate of Sitia at stake, I wouldn’t be surprised if she broke her promise.

My gaze met Valek’s. Magic couldn’t detect him.

“Her life is important,” I said, answering his question. “But capturing the killer is vital.”

“What do you need, love?”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Valek and I made some initial plans for rescuing Opal. When he returned to the Ixian delegation, I felt a renewed sense of purpose. The next day I used my free time to practice controlling my magic and to do some physical training in preparation for my encounter with Ferde.

Irys, Roze and Bain had raided the apartment where, according to Fisk, the man with the red hands lived. The rooms were empty, and, by the mess that was scattered on the floor, the occupants had left in a hurry. Either someone had tipped him off, or he had felt the Masters’ approach. A dead end either way, which made Valek and my plans critical.

I also began demonstrating self-defense techniques to Zitora, finally keeping my side of our bargain to trade