The spell stopped a few feet ahead of him, and he frowned. What was wrong with his magic? Why couldn’t he get a simple finder spell to work? Angrily he waved his hand to disperse the spell. He had to figure out what was happening, why his magic was failing him. He looked around at the very familiar corridors. He was in the hallways he’d travelled every day on his way to the library from Rorik’s estate.
These hallways, the library—even invisible they were not safe for him. But Barra’s hiding place was close. He could rest there and decide what to do next. There might even be some water and dried meat left.
He walked quickly, turning corners and passing through halls until he finally reached the door. He opened it just enough to squeeze through and gently pulled it shut. Mage mist lit the small space, and Timo squinted, trying to see through it before he realized that the mage mist was the wrong colour.
Someone grabbed his arms. He flung an attack spell, and the grip on him loosened. Rust-red mage mist swept over him and clamped his arms to his sides. His attacker held him tighter as Timo repelled the spell. But as soon as one spell was gone, another took its place. Muscled arms lifted him off the floor, and he was pinned between the wall and his attacker.
“Keep fighting me and I’ll be forced to hurt you,” a low voice said in his ear.
Timo ignored it—if he didn’t get away he’d be dead soon. He cast a spell and was out from his attacker’s arms, but another spell slammed into him, and he dropped painfully to the floor. His eyes fluttered closed just as a pair of slippered feet appeared beside his head.
Gyda his head hurt
. Timo felt rough flagstones beneath his cheek, and he grunted when his arms were yanked behind his back. The hands that clutched him stilled, holding his wrists in a painfully tight grip.
“Hurry,” said a voice. “Get the ropes on him.”
The pressure on his wrists worsened as rope was looped and cinched. He was dragged to a seated position. His head dropped to his chest in pain, and he sucked in a couple of ragged breaths before he opened his eyes.
A Mage stood in front of him, the one called Jinaro—a Mage who was powerful enough to sit on the council. A Mage who had
not
been affected by Kara at Founders Day.
“You are more than you seem,” the Mage said. He bent down and looked Timo in the eyes, and Timo knew that his invisibility spell was gone. “Only accomplished Mages even attempt relocating themselves.” He straightened and looked over Timo’s head. “I thought you said he had little power?”
“That’s what we were told, Master Mage.” It was Hestor.
Barra must have told him about this hiding spot. Timo was only grateful that Hestor hadn’t brought the council here earlier, when they were all here.
“Bring me a chair,” Jinaro said.
Something was dragged across the floor, and then Hestor came into his view. He placed a chair in front of Timo, and Jinaro sat down heavily.
“Still doing someone else’s bidding I see,” Timo said.
Hestor flushed and glared at him.
Timo looked up at the Mage Jinaro. “Inigo will kill me,” he said calmly. “And then my sister will destroy Mage Guild.”
“Your sister,” Jinaro said thoughtfully. “Remind me who that is?” He frowned and looked over at Hestor. “Inigo hasn’t been very forthcoming about why he wants you.”
“My sister is Kara Fonti,” Timo said. “The woman who drained everyone’s magic.”
“Hestor, is this true?” Jinaro asked sharply. “Don’t bother answering—I can see by your face that it is.” He turned back to Timo. “I dislike it when Inigo doesn’t tell me the truth.”
“He and his friends killed Faron,” Hestor said. “That part is true. I was there.”
“And our mistake was not killing you and Inigo while we had the chance,” Timo said. “It won’t matter. Once I’m dead none of you will last long.” He repelled the spells that surrounded him.
“Hold him,” Jinaro yelled.
Arms clamped around Timo so tight he struggled to breathe. A new spell wrapped itself around him, more rust-red mage mist.
Jinaro sat back in the chair. “It’s good that I brought along non-magical guards. Keep a tight hold on him.” He eyed Timo. “You must be very powerful if you can override one of my spells. Did Rorik know?”
Timo nodded. He wasn’t about to tell this Mage that he hadn’t overridden his spell—he’d eliminated it—and that it had taken very little effort. But he didn’t bother doing it again. Jinaro had obviously created triggers to let him know when something went wrong with his spell.
“Does Inigo know?” Jinaro’s gaze settled on Hestor, who shuffled nervously. “And don’t lie to me, or I’ll tie you up beside your friend.”
“I don’t think so,” Hestor said. “At least, he never warned me.”
“Politics,” Jinaro said. “I hate them. That’s why I wasn’t at Founders Day in the first place, and now Inigo has embroiled me knee deep in his burro shit.”
“Let me go,” Timo said. “I’ll leave Mage Guild Island, and no one will see me again. You’ll have to kill Hestor to keep him from saying anything to Inigo, though.”
“That would suit me,” Jinaro said. He smiled at Timo, and Hestor paled. “And I would if I thought I could.” He sighed. “No, I will have to hand you over to Inigo.” He looked past Timo to the guard who held him. “Now.”
Timo felt a damp cloth pushed in front of his nose, and the guard held his mouth closed. He held his breath for as long as he could, but finally he drew in one deep, sickly sweet, breath. His head sank to his chest.
KARA STOPPED AND
gripped Reo’s arm to let him know that something was wrong. She heard a muffled curse from Santos and turned to see him step back—he’d bumped into Reo. She would have found that amusing except that the finder spell was no longer moving forward. Instead, it had slowed to a crawl, and now, after a few minutes of that, it had completely reversed direction. She leaned over and spoke into Reo’s ear.
“The spell’s heading in the direction we just came from,” she said.
“All right,” he replied. “Timo must be on the move.”
They’d left Arabella’s apartments before true night had fallen. The risk of encountering anyone awake had been outweighed by the advantage of travelling before Timo stirred. Obviously he was moving now.
Kara retraced her steps. The finder spell picked up speed, and she hurried after it with Reo and Santos trailing her. She didn’t want to spend another day hiding out—she wanted to find Timo and leave before dawn.
A few corridors later the spell took a sharp right. Reo held her back when she would have followed it.
“Stop,” he whispered. “That leads to the heart of Mage Guild.”
Kara stared down the hall. She desperately wanted to follow the spell to Timo, no matter where he was, but they couldn’t simply charge in blindly. She sighed, and Reo relaxed his grip.
“We need to hide,” Reo said. “Until we can find out more and make a plan.”
It wasn’t much of a hiding place—a small vestibule that led to some stairs. They weren’t planning on being here long so Santos created a few spells to hide them and keep anyone away.
Kara thinned out the invisibility spells just enough that Reo and Santos could see through them.
“I’ll investigate,” Reo said.
“No,” Kara replied. “You can’t follow the finder spell. I’ll go.”
“Santos can make it visible enough for me to follow,” Reo said. “It’s a risk, but it’s our best option.”
“No,” Kara said.
“I’m going,” Reo said. “Please don’t argue. Why would Timo return to the centre of the island?”
“They don’t have him,” Kara said.
“They might,” Santos said. “And if they do, only Reo has the skills to free him.”
“But what if he comes across a Mage with power? He won’t be able to stop the magic.”
“I won’t have to,” Reo assured her. “They won’t know I’m there. If I feel they are a threat, I’ll eliminate them.”
“Kill them?” Kara asked.
“If I have to, yes,” Reo said. He met her gaze and held it for a few moments.
Finally, she looked away. “All right,” she said. She hated when he had to kill but she also knew he might have to in order to save Timo and keep them all safe. All she wanted was to live her life in peace on Old Rillidi, surrounded by family and friends. Why was that such a difficult and dangerous thing to make happen?
“Be careful,” she whispered to Reo. “I need you to come back.”
“I will,” Reo assured her, and she wasn’t sure which plea he was answering.
Reo and Santos spoke quietly for a few moments, and then Reo was gone. Kara slid down to sit on the floor, her back against the rough stone.
“He’ll be fine,” Santos said. He slowly lowered himself to the floor beside her. “He was doing this sort of thing, with less magical aid, long before he met you.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “But that was years ago. And even then he knew he wasn’t going to come back one time.”
Santos patted her knee. “It won’t be this time,” he said. “I promise.”
Kara leaned her head against the stone wall and closed her eyes to wait for Reo to return. She hoped Santos was right, that Reo would be fine, that Timo would be safe, but she felt helpless.
“HOLD HIM,” A
voice said.
Timo’s arms were wrenched so far behind his back that he grunted in pain.
“He’s waking up,” the voice continued. “Jinaro, another spell.”
Timo sucked in a breath, tasting the sickly sweetness of whatever they’d drugged him with. He was lying face down on some kind of mat. His left cheek was mashed against rough fabric, and he felt the weight of someone—the person who was pulling on his arms—on his back. He struggled to lift his head and open his eyes but his arms were wrenched again. He gasped in pain and dropped his head down.
“Don’t kill him,” the voice said. “At least not yet.”
He was almost too numb to care. At least if they killed him he wouldn’t hurt so much. Once he felt his way past the agony in his arms, his head pounded and his hip felt bruised where he lay on it. He couldn’t feel his fingers so he figured that the rope or whatever they’d tied him with was too tight. What did they care, they were planning on killing him anyway. He was surprised they hadn’t done it already, they’d been trying for so long.
“Lift him up,” the voice said. “He’s awake.”
Timo was roughly pulled up to a sitting position. His hair was grabbed from behind and his head yanked up off his chest. He was too tired to fight and simply let himself be handled. Footsteps came towards him and then stopped.
“Look at me,” the voice said.
Timo shrugged but kept his eyes closed. It didn’t matter to him who stood before him—they would kill him and his sister would make them pay.
His face was slapped so hard that his head snapped to the left and his eyes opened in response.
“You will obey me,” the voice said again.
Timo looked up. Inigo. He wasn’t surprised. He glanced past him and met Hestor’s gaze. At least the journeyman had the grace to look ashamed. Jinaro stood on the other side of Hestor. He was frowning, but he held a ball of mage mist, ready to cast a spell.
“Thought you didn’t want to be involved in the politics,” Timo said. His voice was weak, and his lips were cracked and dry. He wondered how long he’d been unconscious.
“I do what I must,” Jinaro said calmly.
Inigo’s eyes had narrowed at this exchange.
“Yes,” Inigo said. “They all do what they must, what I tell them.” He peered down at him, a small smile on his lips. “We have your friends,” he said, and Timo closed his eyes in pain. “The Seyoyans and the others.”
Timo waited for Inigo to continue, waited for him to say that they’d killed Mole, because he knew without a doubt that they’d have to. Mole wouldn’t let either himself or Barra be taken alive.
When Inigo didn’t continue, Timo opened his eyes and stared right into his.
“No, you don’t,” he stated.
Inigo’s eyes narrowed, just a little, and Timo knew it was the truth. They hadn’t found Mole and the others, they didn’t even know who Mole was. He started to laugh then, a painful choking sound. It took Inigo a few seconds to realize what it was—then he slapped Timo hard enough that his head snapped to the other side.
Timo tasted blood. At least there was moisture in his mouth. He started to giggle, and then he stopped. No sense making it easy for Inigo to beat him to death. He looked up at the Master Mage.
“You don’t even know who I was with, do you?”
“Two Seyoyans, the Assassin, and the Eska girl,” Inigo said. “She’s no concern of mine. She has little magic and even less sense.”
“She’s why Faron is dead,” Timo said, and was rewarded when Inigo flinched. “Thought you might want to know. Faron made her bed him, and my friend took exception to it.” Timo looked away and saw Hestor’s pale face. “I guess he should have killed all three of you.”
“The Assassin?” Inigo asked. “He said he was part of Kara Fonti’s delegation on Founders Day.”
Timo shrugged. “He’s likely gone now, but I don’t expect him to forget.” He looked up at Inigo and smiled. “Neither will my sister. I would think that they’d be formidable enemies.”