Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (8 page)

Warner dropped into a deep bow beside me.

“Hello, warrior’s daughter,” Bixi said, completely ignoring Warner.

“Hello, guardian.”

“What earthly delight have you brought with you this time?”

Warner started coughing — no, choking — beside me.

I reached into my satchel, fished around, and pulled out a simple yet modern, yellow-papered Sirene chocolate bar. As far as I knew, this was the only bar that the newly established company produced out of Victoria, on Vancouver Island. It consisted of a tasting pair made from 72 percent Ecuador and 67 percent Madagascar cocoa. It was a new purchase I’d acquired downtown last weekend at Xoxolat — a mecca of earthly delights that carried a vast selection of single-origin chocolate bars from around the world. I hadn’t even tried a single square of the Sirene yet, and I’d really been looking forward to it. Normally, I tried to distract chocolate-questing dragons with cupcakes or cookies, but in my haste to get Warner sorted out I’d forgotten to pack a box.

Bixi came just short of snatching it out of my hand. “I enjoy your visits, alchemist,” she said. Then, pressing the bar to her nose and smelling it through its wrapper, she sauntered off in the direction she’d come. Her thin, gold-strapped sandals made no sound on the stone floor.

Dragons had a strong sense of smell and great taste in chocolate. Though regrettably, they never seemed to have any around.

Warner straightened as she left, and stared after her long after she’d gone.

“You’ve never met Bixi?” I asked.

“No.”

I wasn’t exceptionally skilled at math, but if the Jiaotu I knew was four hundred years old and Bixi was seven hundred, there should have been room in there for Warner to have crossed paths with the guardian of North Africa. Though I didn’t know how old Jiaotu had been before assuming the mantel of guardian of Northern Europe. I didn’t know how long Warner’s mother had been gone. The dragon had whispered ‘four hundred and fifty years’ when Kandy had told him what year it was.

In retrospect, I’d been pretty heartless telling Warner his mom was flat-out dead. That hadn’t been my intention, but …

“I’m sorry,” I said.
 

“What?”

“I’m sorry. All this must be confusing and sad —”

“It’s my job, alchemist.”

Right. Dragons and duty went hand in hand.

“Fine.” I shrugged. “I can mind my own business. I hang with an ancient vampire who doesn’t like to chat about his past.”

“If I was a vampire,” Warner said, somehow infusing his voice with utter loathing without actually sneering, “I wouldn’t want to talk about my despicable and devious life either.”

Right. Kett and Warner were so going to be bosom buddies. I’d almost forgotten how enlightened dragons were — not. I guess I’d been hanging out with the easygoing ones. Now that was a laugh.

Choosing to ignore Warner and get this party started before we ran into anyone who might try to kick my ass — which was a rather long list when I was in the nexus … or Europe — I slowly rotated to look at the nine doors surrounding me. They were all still closed, but I thought I might try Suanmi’s trick of simply calling to Pulou.

“Pulou? Treasure keeper? Ah … the alchemist attends you?”

Nothing happened.

“Err … Jade Godfrey paging Pulou the treasure keeper. Paging Pulou.”

“Irreverent behavior isn’t going to get you —” Warner began. Then the door carved with wolves and white-capped mountains clicked open a couple of inches. Golden portal magic spilled out from around its edges. Then it snapped shut.

“Northern Europe?” I mused.

Warner didn’t answer, but he did stare at the wolf-carved door for a long time. I wondered why he didn’t just walk through it and confirm that his mother had relinquished her guardian mantel. Except, of course, Europe was huge and he’d have no way of knowing — as far as I could tell — where Jiaotu was on the other side. Each door of the nexus could lead to many different portal exits, as long as you knew where you were going before you stepped into the golden magic.

Actually, now that I thought about it, I had no idea what special ability came with the guardianship of Northern Europe. What powers Jiaotu wielded beyond his dragon strength, agility, and invulnerability. I hadn’t stumbled across a guardian manual in the library yet. Or better still, a clearly outlined flow chart. Yeah, guardians were a cagey bunch about magic. But then, so were most Adepts. I opened my mouth to ask Warner, then quickly decided against it. I didn’t want to appear more ignorant than I probably already did. Plus, it was just plain rude to ask about an Adept’s magic.

I sat down in the center of the room, crossed my legs, and retrieved a second treasure from my satchel  — a 75 percent Madagascar raw chocolate bar from Raaka Chocolate in Brooklyn. Oh yes, lovely. This was also a new treat. I carefully opened the package, attempting to preserve the paper as I always did. Then I promptly ripped it, as I always did.

“We just wait?” Warner asked.

“Usually.”

The sentinel kept his back to me, standing with legs spread wide and arms crossed. Settling in for the long haul, I thought, and definitely setting down a no-chatting zone. Fine by me. I had new chocolate to savor, and I wasn’t keen on sharing with grumpy dragons.

Just as long as I didn’t start feeling sorry about Warner being way out of his own time
 
… and his dead mother …

“You want a piece?” I asked.

“No.”

Jerk.
 

I wasn’t going to ask a second time.

∞

Pulou didn’t make us wait long, though he seemed less jovial than usual. In fact, his welcoming smile disappeared and didn’t return the instant he assessed Warner. The sentinel had bowed as the guardian stepped through the portal from Northern Europe. I’d already curtsied too many times in the past couple of days, so I didn’t bother. I figured my deference from yesterday still stood.

“Treasure keeper,” I said. I stood and tucked the remains of my chocolate back in my bag.

Pulou nodded, though his gaze remained on Warner. Bowed head or not, something about the set of Warner’s shoulders screamed defiance. And oddly, I found I liked that about him.

“This is Warner, son of Jiaotu … well … the former Jiaotu. He says he’s the sentinel of the instruments …” I stumbled with the formal phrasing. “Oh, I don’t freaking know. He appeared in the alley behind my bakery last night in a blinding flash of ridiculously powerful magic, right after some shadow tried to grab me. He collapsed and I hauled his ass into the bakery to sleep the transportation spell off. He says he’s a sentinel, and he’s pissed you gave me the map.”

Warner shifted awkwardly after this less than proper introduction, but he didn’t look up. His hands were firmly clasped behind his back.

Pulou didn’t speak.

“Treasure keeper,” Warner finally said, eyes still cast down somewhere around Pulou’s feet.

“Sentinel,” Pulou said. “I do not know you, and have only heard of your kind. My predecessor put you on task?”

“Yes, guardian,” Warner answered. “In the mid-fifteen-hundreds by my best reckoning. Much time has passed.” He glanced at me.

I grinned, wickedly. Yeah, I imagined I was very different from women in the sixteenth century.

Pulou’s laugh felt quick and cursory. “The warrior’s daughter is unique, no matter what the time period. If she consents to your presence on her hunt, you are fortunate indeed.”

“So it is true?” Warner asked, looking Pulou fully in the face. “You have tasked a half-blood to hunt down the instruments of assassination?”

“Err …” I said, attempting to interrupt the power play that was brewing before swords were drawn and I got caught in the backlash. “No one mentioned the assassination part.”

They ignored me. Yeah, I saw that slight coming a mile away.

“The half-blood  — as you so arrogantly refer to her — wields remarkable magic.”

“Dragons —”

“The warrior’s daughter is not bound by that which binds us,” Pulou interrupted. “I have set the task. Do you question me further, sentinel?”

Warner didn’t answer right away. When he spoke, he did so like a man heavily editing himself — short and to the point, so as to not chance further words leaking out. “No, guardian.”

“That is best,” the treasure keeper said. “As far as I know, you are the last of your line. Unique, as Jade Godfrey is unique. I wouldn’t want to subdue you.”

Subdue you? That didn’t sound like a great option. Actually, I wasn’t too sure that wasn’t code for ‘kill you.’

I watched Pulou as he stared at Warner. The sentinel didn’t look away, but he also didn’t speak. The treasure keeper’s magic rose up and around his fur coat in a golden aura with a flood of spicy dragon magic — this with hints of black tea and heavy cream.

“Not only is Jade Godfrey the child of the warrior, she is also under the protection of the nine.” Pulou’s voice was a dead-low whisper I’d never heard from the guardian. He loved to laugh almost as much as my father.

Warner nodded once. “I would never —”

Pulou’s magic pressed toward the sentinel, who leaned into it with a grimace. He stood at least four inches taller than the treasure keeper, but Pulou easily had eight inches of width on him. I’d never seen a power play between dragons before. It was rather uncomfortable, for my dowser senses and my sense of individuality.

I wrapped my fingers through the wedding rings on my necklace in an attempt to draw on more of its shielding magic.

“We are contemporaries, yes?” Pulou asked. “Warner, son of Jiaotu-who-was, sentinel of the instruments of assassination.”

“No, guardian,” Warner said. His gaze remained locked to the treasure keeper’s, but his voice was strained.

“Why not?” Pulou’s voice was still pitched low. “Were we not born of an age?”

“I have no desire to challenge you or any guardian. I chose my task willingly, gladly …” Pain laced Warner’s words. He shifted toward me — involuntarily, I thought — but this caused Pulou’s magic to brush against me.

I cried out from the sudden scrambling of my brain. My eyes were momentarily unable to focus.

Pulou immediately dampened his magic. I swayed forward, as did Warner, at the loss of it.

“My apologies, alchemist,” Pulou murmured. “I forget how young you are.” He shifted his gaze to Warner once again. “We understand each other now.”

Warner nodded.

I really had no freaking idea what was going on, and now I had a splitting headache. “Someone needs to fill me in.”

“Unbeknownst to me, the sentinel was tasked by my predecessor to protect the instruments of assassination whenever they are sought,” Pulou said. “If there is no incursion, he sleeps, yes?”

Warner nodded. His shoulders were slumped wearily. Standing up to the intimidating magic of the treasure keeper was impressive but obviously draining.

“And the map, like, triggered him … ?” I asked, starting to put things together for myself.

Pulou looked to Warner for confirmation. The sentinel nodded.

“And the shadow that the alchemist mentioned?” Pulou asked. “Was it a demon scout?”

“I believe so,” Warner answered.

“Such beings shouldn’t be able to come through in any amount of force,” Pulou said. “Nor should they be any match for your knife, alchemist.”

Well, that was good to know, and nice to hear that Pulou had such confidence in my abilities. A little ego stroking was always welcomed and appreciated. Pair it with chocolate and you could get almost anywhere, anytime with me.

“And the instruments of assassination?” I asked.
 

“Have you unlocked the map?” Pulou asked instead of answering me.

“Not yet.”

“By the time my predecessor chose me as his successor, he was … ready to relinquish his mantel. My time with him was short. I didn’t even know of the tattoo until after I had taken his seat among the guardians. He kept journals spanning almost nine hundred years, as most guardians do. But, as I mentioned yesterday, the bulk of this knowledge was lost in a fire only a few years after I assumed the mantle of the treasure keeper.”

Warner made a pained noise.

Pulou acknowledged this with a curt nod. “If you had asked me yesterday if such a thing existed I would have said the instruments were a myth, dragon lore.”

“They’re not,” Warner said.

“As is made obvious by your presence, sentinel,” Pulou said gruffly. The treasure keeper really wasn’t a fan of Warner waltzing in and questioning his directives. “Have you laid eyes on the instruments? Do you know their form and function? Do you know the location of the items I seek?”

“No, guardian,” Warner answered, his tone edged with frustration. “Just that they are best left hidden, as your predecessor deemed.”

“I might not have absorbed his memories when I absorbed his powers, sentinel,” Pulou said. “But I can read what little survived the fire. The treasure keeper left what was untouchable where it lay. Not because he thought it was safer there, but because he had no means to reach it.” Pulou turned to deliberately look at me. “I do.”

Warner didn’t answer, though he did glance at me before he once again looked to the ground at Pulou’s feet.

“To whom do you owe your allegiance, Warner, son of Jiaotu-who-was?”

“You, guardian, and the nine.”

Pulou nodded, his amiable grin returning. “Your hunt is still afoot, Jade Godfrey,” he said. “Enjoy the chase. Luckily, Warner, sentinel of the instruments of assassination, will now be by your side if you so wish. I imagine you will find his experience with the shadow demons who apparently also seek this treasure valuable.”

“Yeah, some heads-up on that shadow demon part would have been cool.”

Pulou snorted. “For both of us. Unlock the map, alchemist. Find the instruments and bring them to me. Tread carefully, but quickly. I will inform the guardians of the sentinel’s return and his … insight.”
 

The treasure keeper turned and walked away. From the back, he totally looked like a grizzly bear, except with a shiny coat.

Pulou paused beneath the far archway, then turned to look at Warner. “I am sorry for the loss of your mother, sentinel. She was a strong, capable guardian to her final years. Wearing such power can be taxing on a dragon, but silver-tongued Jiaotu never faltered.”