Armed & Magical

Chapter 23

I swore I’d never punch, knee, or kick a man in the balls ever again—if I lived through the next few seconds.

I couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t move—at least not out of the fetal position I was in—and chances were good that I was going to throw up.

Piaras was headed for the open door and wards.

“Raine,” I croaked. “Me.”

Piaras stopped, looked, then stared in disbelief, his eyes huge.

“Raine, I’m so sorry… I didn’t know it was you. I didn’t mean to… Are you hurt badly?” His words tripped over each other in a rush to get out of his mouth. His feet did the same getting to me.

I suddenly became aware that I still hurt, but not in quite the same way as before. I took my hands from where they’d been clutched between my legs. They were my hands, not Ratharil’s. My body, not his. My dangly bits were gone. My eyes went as wide as Piaras’s.

I’d lost Ratharil’s glamour.

Oh no.

Rance was going to come to; Captain Whoever would be back anytime; and Balmorlan would be here within the hour.

Breathe deep, Raine. Calm down.

I could breathe, but calm was not going to happen. Fine. Nerves could be productive.

Piaras helped me up.

Captain Rance was lying motionless just outside the door. Guess who was about to become my second glamour subject of the evening.

I reached in my pocket for Tanik’s kid’s pendant and gave it to Piaras. “When I tell you to, put this on,” I told him. “It’ll make you invisible for fifteen minutes.”

I went to the door and peered out into the hall. It was empty, and better yet, I didn’t hear boot steps indicating the impending arrival of coffee and trouble.

“Come on, let’s—”

“They said I murdered the archmagus,” Piaras said hoarsely.

I looked back over my shoulder. Piaras was still standing in the middle of the cell, the pendant dangling loosely from his hand. He looked like he was about to be sick.

Any nerves I had gave way to cold rage. “Who said that?”

“Inquisitor Balmorlan and the ambassador.”

“They lied,” I snarled. “You didn’t kill anyone.”

Hope flared in Piaras’s dark eyes. “He’s alive?”

“We don’t know yet.” Best to tell the truth. “Regardless, it wasn’t your fault. Your song was used to cover up the real attack.”

Piaras stood there, absorbing what I’d just said. I could see his anger building. “They tried to force me to sign a confession. Admitting that I’d done it with your help.” His voice had taken on a steely edge. “Balmorlan said you were on the catwalk above me with a goblin spellsinger. I knew he was lying, but I didn’t know what had really happened.”

“That goblin attacked Justinius, not you. I was trying to stop him.”

Taltek Balmorlan had just joined Rudra Muralin on my personal shit list.

I looked back down the hall. Still empty. “Let’s get out of here first, talk later.”

We carefully stepped past the wards and out of the cell. I stared down at Rance, quickly memorizing every detail, internalizing his appearance. I pushed outward with a touch of power. I looked down.

And I was still me.

Oh crap.

Personal pep talk time. Just relax, Raine. You and Piaras are perfectly safe; no one wants to lock both of you up or use and abuse you for the rest of your lives; the Saghred’s not going to eat your soul or drive you crazy. Everything’s good; everything’s fine.

I tried again. No dice.

“Dammit!”

Sometimes nerves weren’t so productive.

If you ignored his clenched jaw, Piaras looked surprisingly calm. “It’s not going to work, is it?”

I rolled Rance over, started stripping him of his weapons and giving them to Piaras. “Doesn’t look like it. We’ll just do it the old-fashioned way. I talked my way into this place. If I have to, I’ll blast our way out. You wouldn’t happen to know any quick and really dirty spellsongs, would you?”

His slow grin told me he did and that he’d welcome the chance to use them.

“Are these sleepsongs or slam-people-into-walls songs?” I asked.

Piaras’s grin broadened. “Dealer’s choice.”

I was glad to see that grin and the resolve growing behind it. I smiled up at him. “Phaelan’s been teaching you cards, hasn’t he?”

Piaras tucked the last dagger into his belt. “And most times now I win.”

And I thought I had corrupted the innocent.

I gave him the blackjack. “Put on the pendant, and let’s see if at least that works.”

Piaras slipped the chain over his head and vanished along with all of his new lethal toys.

I nodded in approval. “Okay, this could work nicely.”

“What could work?”

Piaras’s voice coming from Piaras’s invisible body. Creepy.

“We’ve only got fifteen minutes—or less if that pendant craps out on us,” I told him. “Listen up.”

Everything was right where Tanik Ozal’s embassy blueprints said it’d be, including the narrow service stairwell Piaras and I were now in. I’d told him my plan, but the reality of any plan was that it was subject to change at any time for better or worse.

My plan had just lost most of its options. There were several exits we could have taken from the embassy, but those were for Captain Ratharil strolling out of the embassy with his new invisible friend—not for Raine Benares, elven public enemy number one.

We were moving fast. Any moment, that captain would return with coffee and find Rance, or Rance would come to and sound the alarm himself. Our minutes were numbered. So I was nothing short of stunned when we reached the first floor without running into anyone. There was a definite advantage to after-midnight jailbreaks. I’d have to remember that. According to the blueprints, we had to cross an open office area at the back of the embassy, as well as the main corridor, to reach the entrance to the basements and the tunnel that was our final goal.

That tunnel led to the harbor and freedom.

“Piaras?” I whispered.

Silence.

“Piaras!”

“I’m right here.”

“Why didn’t you answer me?”

“You told me not to talk.”

Couldn’t fault his logic. “We need to cross—”

Sirens wailed and lightglobes set into the walls flashed red. Prison break discovered.

I swore. “Take my hand. I can’t see you and we can’t get separated.”

He did and we ran.

Shouts and the pounding of booted feet joined the sirens. One voice bellowed over the chaos.

“Lockdown! Lockdown!”

The sirens went ominously silent, though the red lights continued to flash. Then I saw them, descending from the top of every hall opening and doorway. Gate wards. Glowing green and nasty. They looked like the bars of a jail cell, except these bars made sure magic users stayed put.

We ducked under one gate ward and ran faster.

“One to go,” I panted.

It was on the other side of an open office area. It was going to be close, too close.

“We can’t make it holding hands,” came Piaras’s voice from beside me. “Let me go.”

He was right. I didn’t like it, but I did it.

I dove under the ward and it hissed when it reached the marble, leaving black scorch marks on the floor.

“Piaras?” I whispered.

The sharp point of a blade pressed into the back of my neck. I froze. I was still on my belly. Two pairs of black boots stepped into my line of vision.

“Put your hands behind your back,” ordered a deep, male voice from above me. “Slowly.”

I couldn’t see the speaker, but both sets of boots were military issue. One of those boots planted itself in the middle of my back, knocking the air out of me, and pinning me to the floor like a bug.

“I said hands behind your back!”

I heard two sharp thumps of a blackjack, two grunts, and then two unconscious embassy guards were sharing the floor with me.

“It was the least I could do after punching you in the balls.” Piaras sounded pleased with himself.

I wanted to smack him. I wanted to hug him. I couldn’t see him, so I couldn’t do either one.

I got to my feet. “We’re almost there. Stay close.”

Set into the wall just ahead was a curved alcove with a bench. Cozy. According to the blueprints, that coziness came complete with its own concealed door. Tanik said the trigger looked like a knot in the wood. There it was. I pressed and a small section of the bench and wall opened into darkness. I might just have to start liking Tanik Ozal.

We went through and the wall clicked securely closed behind us.

“Will they look down here?” Piaras asked almost too softly to be heard.

“I don’t know, but let’s act like they will.”

I had to risk making a lightglobe. It was completely dark and a light would announce us to anyone lurking down here, but I’d take that over falling and breaking a leg.

I focused on my palm. A spark bloomed and wove itself into a sphere. I could see Piaras now. “Your fifteen minutes of invisibility must be up,” I told him.

Piaras looked down at himself. “That timed out right.”

“Yeah, it did. Take off the pendant and put it somewhere safe. You should be able to use it again in another hour. Hopefully you won’t need to.”

I smelled damp earth, wooden crates, and not much else. I shone the globe in an arc in front of us to get my bearings. I saw something on the floor and stopped.

Piaras saw what I saw and went for a dagger. I thought it was a good idea and joined him.

A dead elf was sprawled on the edge of the globe’s light. We moved closer. Oh yeah, he was definitely dead, and from the blood still pooling around him, he hadn’t been that way for long. He was lying on his side. I used the tip of my boot to roll him the rest of the way over. Piaras sucked in his breath.

I recognized him. He had been one of Banan Ryce’s boys. A Nightshade.

He’d literally been sliced to ribbons.

The first cut hadn’t killed him, and neither had the next dozen or so. I thought it was a safe assumption that the slit throat had done the trick. From the angle of the cuts, the blade had been razor sharp and curved. Someone liked to play with their prey first. I increased the globe’s glow. Farther down was another corpse.

The lightglobe would announce us to what was down here, if it hadn’t already. Dousing it would leave us fumbling in the dark; and the dark would just make the things that’d killed the Nightshades more comfortable while they killed us.

I exhaled. We’d probably be safer back in the embassy. Taltek Balmorlan was the lesser of the evil that was down here with us.

Playful, sadistic bastards with curved blades.

Khrynsani.