Object Magic by M. Frost

Object Magic by M. Frost

—Refuge—

Elric rushed down the narrow alley towards the road by the river. The eerie red light of sunset penetrated the length of the street despite the canyon of buildings that hemmed it. Elric desperately looked for shadows, anything that could hide him.

They saw right through my cloaking spell, he thought.Such basic magic never had failed him before.

Trying to ignore the stitch in his side, he cut down a side lane that he knew would end at a gate in the riverwall. Elric expected it to be locked.

What he did not expect was that it was magelocked—bound once against mechanical disruption and twice against magical incursion.

Elric fought down a moment of panic as he sensed how close the men who hunted him were. The Southern Guild. They have to be.

Did they figure out what Dannae and I did to rescue Alika? To get her and Rana out of their territory?

That was the connection Elric needed. He thought of where the women had gone and the gift they had arranged for him. Pashtar bless them.

He pulled out the charm on its chain from around his neck. The circular red-gold shell glowed in the fading light.

The spell should work. I have no nefarious intent and mean the institution no harm.

Elric said the words to activate the set-spell in the token and felt the electric current as his body was pulled.

& & &

Dannae woke, naked, her body tangled in Rana’s arms. Colorful drapes over the bed shifted with a breeze in the pre-dawn. She stiffened, realizing she had spent the night at the brothel. I’m sure Vera’s going to hear about this.

Rana’s arms tightened around her. “Stay. We haven’t debriefed you.”

Alika touched the silver-blue shell Dannae wore around her neck. “Of course, you have a standing invitation and never have to leave.”

There was comfort in their embrace. There also was pain for what she had lost.

Dannae forced her mind away. She knew the spiral that thinking about dead lovers promised. “So debrief me.” She suggested, trying to pull her mind away from the pain.

Rana kissed the back of Dannae’s neck. “Pentra tells me the woman arrived in the night.”

Dannae knew the cloaked movement of clients also were a cover for the work they did to bring women to safety. Some women continued through the network of the Sisters. Others stayed, as Rana and Alika had done after she and Elric brought them back from Pilaat to guard them from a dispute between high-ranked drug traders in the Southern Guild.

Dannae also knew that many women who used the brothel’s services merely wanted care or counseling. There were jobs for anyone regardless of what she chose for herself.

Rana sees clients. Alika helps with operations.

Dannae enjoyed when Alika brushed and oiled her hair. I think this is what I was missing—the daily routine of love. It made her glad she had stayed the night, whatever Vera might say. She felt like she finally had a reason to live. Doing this. Helping people.

When they joined the woman, Alika introduced them using their cover names.

Gessina was muscular, her hair short and wiry. Dannae caught Rana’s look of appreciation.

They outlined the woman’s choices—to stay, to move on. What options were involved in moving on, what general locations they might offer.

Dannae noticed how Rana lingered on the descriptions of what it might mean to stay.

“Are you flirting with her?” Dannae accused mind-to-mind, enjoying the normalcy of routine attractions.

When Gessina chose to stay, Rana smiled.

& & &

Elric found himself in a dusky interior hall bounded by columns. Magelights hung overhead like stars.

The women’s brothel in Panuth Han was famed throughout the world. Even though men could not set foot inside, they came to view the magnificent carvings on the cliffs or bathe in the outdoor pools warmed by hot springs.

In contrast, it’s twin—the men’s brothel—was so secret you needed a magical key to find it. Elric hadn’t even been sure it existed—and certainly had not suspected the two institutions might be linked—until a stranger approached him bearing a message from Alika and Rana. The note simply read “Thank you.”

The man was a mage and kept their conversation private. “Don’t open the package here.” He passed Elric something small under the table. “Memorize these words.”

This entrance hall was different than he remembered, so Elric assumed the brothel had moved as it did from time to time. Three men stood between the columns—part concierge, part guard. One of them—an athletic man who looked like he was from Taraque—joined Elric in the hall.

“You are distressed.” The man mindsent.

I suppose running for your life is not the normal state in which men arrive.

“Is hiding one of the services you offer?” Elric asked.

In prior visits, he had discovered just how extraordinary the gift from Alika and Rana was. Most men who visited the brothel had day-chits, tokens that worked for one visit with payment arranged in advance. What Elric had was something different—a standing invitation. For many services, no payments were expected.

“Tell me.” The man requested.

“Do you know how I got this?” Elric indicated the shell. If the Southern Guild are operating so far outside their territory, my friends may not be safe even in Panuth Han.

“Each token carries its origin and history.” The man sent.

That makes it easier. Then he realized it probably also meant the man knew how many times Elric had visited.

He decided to be direct. “I think the Southern Guild are trying to kill me and it’s related to why Alika and Rana sent this. Can you alert them—”

“Yes, of course.” The man reassured him.

“Can you ask them to warn Willa too?” Elric used Dannae’s cover name, unsure if he was being targeted specifically or if they all might be at risk.

I did destroy a warehouse full of drugs in Pilaat. It was the warehouse and those Guildsmen, or us.

The man’s eyes became distant. Elric sensed the man was a mage and was communicating over quite a distance.

I guess he’s the guard, not the concierge.

Given that realization, Elric was surprised when the man led Elric into the brothel.

“The set-spell should not be traceable, but the Southern Guild have remarkable resources.” The man explained. “You will be kept safe.”

They passed the main pool to the private bathing chambers. When the man helped Elric out of his clothes, there was a strange look on his face.

“What?” Elric asked.

“Are these precious to you?”

Elric realized the man felt his clothes were beyond recovery. “I abandoned everything else I had. I’ve been on the run for days.”

“We will provide you a substitute.”

Elric put the only other thing he had of value—the pouch he wore with what little remained of his coin—into the box meant for such things, then put a magelock on it himself.

He was surprised when the man stepped into the bath with him.

“It’s okay. I just need to rest and hide for a while.” Elric explained.

“This is my choice.” The man pulled a sponge from a side table to work on Elric’s hands and arms, tsking softly when he reached the place near Elric’s shoulder where one of the men had tagged him with a knife.

“Unless you object?” The man continued.

Elric sank into his embrace, grateful for the care. “I don’t object.”

Then he felt the warmth of healing magic on his arm.

& & &

Dannae could see the early morning sun through the gate carved out of the rock face itself. Green-pink vines embraced the columns.

One of the women who served as concierge for this entrance caught her arm. “Rana says to wait.”

Dannae knew the brothel tended to use mindspeakers at the front of the house to speed communication. And call for aid should there be a disturbance.

Rana met her, Alika a few steps behind. “It’s Elric. He sent warning through the Brothers last night.”

Dannae worried. “What happened?” Alika could not mindspeak, so they tended to talk in her presence.

“He took refuge at the other house because people were hunting him. His guess is that the Southern Guild realized what we did.” Rana’s lips were tight as she looked away.

“Elric knew better than to enter their territory—” Dannae wondered how she could help him, given how Elric always had come for her. She thought of the moons after the mountain when he had been unwilling to leave her alone, how he had come with her to help her rescue Alika.

She felt a surge of guilt. Why was he back in Pilaat?

Rana interrupted. “He was in the Facing Cities.”

That was surprising. Dannae worried next the Southern Guild might have identified her and Elric, might know where Alika and Rana had gone. I need to tell Vera.

Rana caught Dannae’s hand as if she could read Dannae’s thoughts on her face. “Don’t risk going through Panuth Han. Take the back way.”

Dannae was confused as they led her through a series of doors that Dannae expected would be locked for most people but opened at Alika’s touch. The room beyond, so deep in the cliff that windows and a fireplace were not possible, was lit only by magelight.

“Lady Meena?” Dannae was surprised to find one of the adepts of the Path sipping tea and reading a book.

Meena looked startled too. “Dannae? What’s wrong?”

Rana explained the situation, then suggested. “We thought she should use the back door.”

When Meena simply waved away what was mere illusion of a carpet, Dannae understood. She hid the seals with magic.

Meena suggested privately. “Would you like to build the portal yourself?”

Dannae hesitated. The only time she ever had been part of the casting of one, she had stepped through the portal to see a mountain erupt in flames and feel her lover die.

Dannae guessed that Meena—likely Vera too—thought Dannae needed to face this magic to be able to move past that trauma.

She’s right—I’ve just been stuck in it. Elric tried to help me save Alika because he was worried about me.

She stepped onto the seals, resigned. Calling a portal was difficult—the work of adepts even with the aid of seals on both sides. Dannae was aware that Vera thought it was time. To take my oath to the Path, to ascend to adept.

To take my vows to be Scelli like Vera.

Given the unexpected comfort Dannae had found with Rana and Alika, she wasn’t at all sure she was ready to be celibate. Dannae was starting to resent her mentor’s intent that she join the priesthood that led the Path.

As Meena gestured, Dannae tried to focus on the task at hand.

Technically, she knew how to build a portal—the incantations, the theory. As she worked, lightning flashed from her fingers and a wind grew around her.  Meena helped her close the circle. Dannae felt stretched, then there was a snap. Within the ring of lightning was a curtain through which she could see the darkness of the underground room she knew.

Her heard thudded. The last time I was in that room, I was in shock.

After Dannae crossed, Meena’s mind touched hers, showed her the fastest way to ground the current of lightning through her feet to the seals.

Dannae jumped when magelight flared in the darkness.

“Harri, you should learn to ken where you are going before you step through.” Vera chided gently, but then she moved to embrace Dannae. “Nice work with the portal. Although I worry for the reason you came back this way. Meena did not tell me.”

“It’s Elric.”

& & &

After the bath, the man clothed them both in robes to navigate the corridors of the institution. They passed the room with the butterflies—men who looked like women, Elric had gone there once—and other rooms for men with more eclectic tastes.

“This is the back of the house.” The man explained as they reached a section distinct in architecture from the front. “It’s for special clients and our own use.”

Elric realized they had not exchanged names. “What should I call you?” He asked. With mages, names have power. I just want a use name.

“Call me Tiven.” The man said out loud.

“Edwin.” Elric supplied his cover.

Tiven kissed Elric’s wrist suggestively, one of the Taraqi traditions for foreplay.

Despite his exhaustion, Elric felt himself really respond—not just physically—but it was replaced with the usual wash of survivor’s guilt and regret.

I feel like I’ve been running ever since the mountain, but I haven’t been going anywhere.

When he hesitated, Tiven took his hand. “Are you worried they somehow might come for you? I will stay with you while you rest and defend you if there is a need.”

The relief Elric felt was unexpected.

Maybe I’ve spent so much time trying to be there for Dannae, I didn’t realize how much I needed someone there for me.

After Tiven set a defensive perimeter with magic, he pulled out oils, guided Elric to the bed and worked on his back. Slowly, Elric felt his tension ease.

He meant to stay awake.

The next days were hazy. Elric slept or made love to Tiven, who used magic in their joining in a way that Elric had not experienced before.

“That was—” Elric tried to tell the mage how amazing it was to be with him. He didn’t have the words so he just sent feeling.

“I enjoy your company as well.” Elric felt what that meant to the mage and blushed, but what really charmed him was how safe Tiven made him feel.

It was a new experience for Elric.

However illusory. He tried to tell himself. This is a brothel.

The mage had faint tattoos on his wrists, hard to see unless you were close. Elric touched them, then asked. “How did you come here?” He made it clear in his sending that it was fine if Tiven didn’t want to share.

“Like you, I was looking for a refuge. What I do helps keep us protected. In return, I can be who I am here without judgement.” Then Tiven laughed, a rich sound. “Besides, they pay me quite well.”

But Elric could tell from his mindvoice that he would stay even without that reward because he believed so deeply in what the institution represented. Hope.

Elric desperately wanted some hope.

“You could stay too, if you like.” Tiven offered.

“But I’m a Traveler—” Elric always intended to pledge himself to the Path once his Travels were done. It felt like a contract.

“So? You can stay here for your Travels then return to Panuth Han later.”

Elric was starting to really consider the offer when Tiven stiffened.

“What is it?” Elric worried.

“A mage with a day chit. I think he is searching for you.”

To Elric’s horror, Tiven suddenly dispelled the protections he had woven.

He started up, but Tiven held him.

“Pashtar take you—” Elric sent, angry as he struggled to escape his lover’s tightening arms. “Let me go!”

“Easy, handsome. The mage would have known something was being protected. You’re safer without the wards.”

Even though he could tell Tiven wasn’t lying, Elric was uncertain. Truth is strange. Sometimes what is not said is the lie.

“I already had your clothes burned, so he won’t track those, and no one can ken what is in the boxes.”

Then something moved in Elric and he realized he could sense the man hunting him too. He began to panic as he kenned how close the mage was.

He tried to slow his thumping heart. Could I portal? I’ve never done it.

Never done it successfully. He thought of what had led them to the mountain.

“Try to be more calm. He will sense—” His lover’s mindvoice tried to soothe, but then Tiven swore. “You’re bleeding again. How? I healed your injury.” There was true confusion from Tiven, replaced by shock and dismay.

Elric realized in the same moment what it meant. The blade that cut me—the mage must be using it to track me. No wonder I couldn’t lose them in the Facing Cities.

Tiven muttered several Jendarthi curses as he pulled them to their feet. He wrapped his arms around Elric, put his own wrists together at a right angle, then barked a word Elric didn’t recognize.

I didn’t know spells could be set in flesh like that. Elric belatedly understood the nature of the tattoos as there was a flash of lightning and their bodies were pulled.

They landed in a small cave. Elric could sense the seals immediately and was surprised because he never had kenned any in the brothel before.

Perhaps we aren’t in the brothel now.

Magelights illuminated sharp stalactites and stalagmites around the edges of the cave. Three men—Elric knew immediately they were adepts—stood near the seals. They wore red robes embroidered in actual gold thread to form protection glyphs. To Elric’s magesight, the protections resembled halos that surrounded the men.

Tiven released him. He seemed changed—Elric always had sensed his power, but now Tiven practically glowed. He hid that he’s an adept.

The three men and Tiven glanced back and forth—Elric assumed they were mindspeaking—then Tiven strode to a trunk in the corner to retrieve two charcoal robes.

Elric took the one Tiven handed him to cover his nakedness.

As two of the adepts in red moved to the seals to build a portal, Elric fell back. What’s happening?

Tiven came up behind Elric, wrapped his arms around him, then kissed his cheek. “I was going to send you to our Sisters, but it seems your Lady Vera wants you to come home.”

Something deep inside Elric relaxed, moved by more than just the invocation of Lady Vera. The phrasing, the context—

Tiven’s hand reached inside the top of Elric’s robe to pull out the token. The red shell glowed brightly for a moment.

Elric enjoyed object magic and had kenned the token when he first got it. He could tell that something in the spell had changed.

“What did you do?”

“The set-spell only works to come to us and to return to the place where you activated it. I have made it so that you can change its anchor for the return—just be sure to do that before you activate it again.”

The lightning ring was complete, opened to the seals held by the Path. Elric could see the shadows of the cave at his home school through the curtain of magic.

“Come back sometime, handsome.” Tiven sent just before Elric stepped through.

& & &

—Object Magic—

Vera scowled at the wound on Elric’s arm. The cut itself oozed and the area around it was swollen.

“What do you see?” She asked Dannae privately.

Her protégé’s cheeks were tight. “A red strand.”

“Harri, exactly. That is the tether between the wound and the knife.”

“Would you just tell me what you think?” Elric sounded irritable. Vera turned to him, as she had not known him to be short-tempered in any way.

“Does it hurt?” Dannae asked him.

“It didn’t hurt much at first, but it hurts a lot now.” He admitted.

“I expect they are doing that on purpose.” Vera tried to suppress her own anger.

Dannae and Elric were not the first Travelers to cross the drug traders, but this was the first time removing the Traveler from their territory had not de-escalated the conflict.

Vera gave them a stern look. “Why do you think they are after you? Leave nothing out.”

She did not like the look of guilt they exchanged.

“You know I was friends with Beretha and Alika before Beretha’s father married her to a drug trader in the Southern Guild, right?” Dannae started.

Vera knew what friends meant.

Sex and drugs. Typical of young Travelers. Novices in the Path were prone to experimentation and excess when given leave to see the world.

Dannae explained that Beretha and her husband Lucas had been targeted by one of his rivals in the Southen Guild who also had designs on Alika and Rana since they were part of his house.

“Mere thoroughness does not seem to warrant this.” Vera observed.

Then she turned her attention to Elric. His eyes shifted away from her.

What have they done?

When he admitted he had destroyed a warehouse, Vera blinked. “Harri, how and why?”

“They were holding Alika there.” Dannae explained. “The mages they had were more powerful than we were.”

That explains the why. She turned again to Elric. “How?”

He sighed. “I used the artifact I found in the League repository from—you know.”

Vera thought of the mountain that had exploded, how even the stone had burned.

The last student I couldn’t save.

She wasn’t about to lose another student.

Then Vera realized something else. With a body count and lost product, the Southern Guild are not going to stop.

& & &

Elric’s whole arm was vibrating. He tried to focus as they talked through the options—how Vera dismissed out of hand his suggestion they fake their deaths or Dannae’s offer to use the network of the Sisters to get them out of Panuth Han.

No way is Vera letting us go. She has Plans for us.

With the pain, Elric found it hard to concentrate.

“You’ve stayed alive this long, ishrae.” When Lady Vera touched his arm, the pain lessened. “Have faith in yourself.” He could tell that she thought his Travels had made him stronger.

Elric returned to his room and sank into his bed. His dreams were disturbed—images pounded in his head to match the drumbeat of throbbing in his arm.

The silver curtain of rain as men surprised him in the Facing Cities.

Tiven’s hands on his chest, calling sparks that made Elric shiver.

The curved Jendarthi knife stained with dried blood.

The feeling of being pulled as Tiven brought the tattoos on his wrists together.

Elric woke, drenched in sweat. When he put his hand to his bandaged arm, it came away bloody.

He stared at the blood on his fingers, thinking the patterns in the blood resembled the patterns of Tiven’s tattoos. Elric wasn’t sure if he was addled from a fever, but he played with the blood, painting it on his wrist.

Elric felt a pull.

Pashtar Bless. He stopped immediately, worried he inadvertently might be working blood magic.

But the tattoos—those were object magic.

Elric felt a sudden sense of possibility.

If object magic can be worked into flesh, then couldn’t I reverse this—use the wound to call the knife to me?

Shaking, Elric managed to work off his shirt and remove the bandage. He cleaned it up first so that he could see what he was doing, then he concentrated on the magic to set a cache as he would do to hide items.

My arm is the cache. I will call the knife to it. Only I have to convince the knife it came from this cache and now it has to return.

The work took over an hourglass. Elric painted glyphs on his arm using his own blood. He had to stop twice, overcome with nausea. By the end, he wanted to cry out.

I wonder if it hurt like this when Tiven got his tattoos.

Then his thoughts got more wild. When we cast magic on them, would objects cry out in pain if they could?

It was done, at least the setting of the cache. All that remained was for Elric to call the knife.

He felt a wave of fear, wondering if he could catch the blade. How much damage it could cause.

Feeling slightly ridiculous, he held a pillow to his arm. If I don’t retrieve it, the mage will hunt me until I’m dead. Elric told himself sternly.

For a second after he called the knife, he thought it hadn’t worked.

& & &

Vera had not wanted to use the tether to find the knife. Doing so would alert the mage who carried it.

We may be a peaceful order but that does not mean we are weak.

Vera turned to see Meena. “Did you get the location?”

The adept smiled. “The Sisters told me a mage entered Panuth Han this morning accompanied by two men.”

When Vera had rebuilt the school at Panuth Han, she found unexpected alliance with the Sisters and Brothers. They had sheltered many of the Path during the long years her order was persecuted by the League. Vera had been so grateful, she had sworn an oath to return the protection.

What she never had expected was to have their alliance grow to this point. So clever. Vera fingered the token Cojarin—one of the Brothers—had made for them. Vera activated the set-spell—the modified portal cast into the object—to reach the heart of Panuth Han.

Meena kept them cloaked. Traps were more fun with the element of surprise.

Vera used voiceless command to contain the first man outside the room. He stared at her out of the corner of his eyes as she moved to the door. His mouth worked but no sound emerged.

Meena always had been understated. She flicked her hands casually.

The door was reduced to ash.

I should remember to give the innkeeper reparations for this. Vera thought absently, admiring Meena’s raw power.

Meena had the other man down in seconds. Vera strode to the mage.

There was a knife glowing in the light of the fire. Vera kenned Elric’s blood on it.

I have you, you bastard. 

Vera recognized she could get a little proprietary and defensive when it came to her students.

When she saw the mage’s body suitably contorted with the binding spells she had used, Vera felt satisfied. Now to alert our friends in the city guard and our mages there who will keep this man contained as long as I will it.

Which might be quite a while.

Then her eyes fell on the table by the fire where the knife had been.

The blade was gone.

& & &

Dannae heard Elric cry out in her mind.

When she got to his room, there was blood everywhere, feathers stuck in it or drifting in the air. Gods—

It took Dannae a moment to process what had happened and that there had been a pillow involved. She sank down beside her friend, her hands shaking.

Elric was stretched on the floor like one dead and only the whites of his eyes moved. All she could feel from him was a force of unfiltered emotion.

Dannae looked away, prayed to all the gods she could remember, then pulled the knife out of Elric’s arm. She could feel a tug of magic as she did it, an almost physical snap.

He howled.

She put her hands on his arm, urging the bleeding to stop with her mind.

Elric was lighter-skinned for a Jendarthi, but with the blood loss, he looked practically Ithirian in his paleness.

Something anchored Dannae. She called a basin to her, pulled warmed water into it, summoned rags and bandages from where they were kept. She found the healed skin tender, but closed.

Elric made a small sound. She worried he might be passing out, so she tried to keep him focused on her.

“We have the knife.” She suggested. Offense was one of the options they had discussed.

His mindvoice was weak. “Can you cast it?”

She was not as good at object magic as he was, but she cast the tracing spell. Then she identified the contingencies—each place the knife had been—and removed them one-by-one until they had the full history of the knife’s travels.

Dannae was shocked.

“Not the Southern Guild.” Elric agreed.

Until now, the knife never had left the Facing Cities—not in all of its violent history.

A history that included a place Dannae knew well. A beautiful atrium with a pool where she once had joined with Beretha and Alika in the house of Beretha’s father—a merchant who traded in drugs.

A merchant who had died by this knife.

This is the Northern Guild.

& & &

—The Northern Guild—

The red-gold shell shone dully in his hand. Elric remembered to choose the anchor for the token before he activated it.

The entrance had changed again. Instead of a hall and columns, there was a plaza with a flat gray façade and fabricated blue-and-cloud sky on the ceiling. Elric paused for a moment, admiring the detail of the glamour, to wonder if Tiven had been part of the casting.

The concierge asked him what his pleasure was.

“I just came to get my pouch from the boxes.” He explained. The token requires that I come and then I go. So I came.

After he retrieved his pouch, Elric turned to see Tiven blocking the corridor to the plaza. The dark Taraqi was wearing a red robe the same as Elric had seen on the adepts guarding the seals. “You came back.”

Elric felt himself flush and tried not to smile that Tiven had come. “Just for this.” He held up the pouch.

Tiven crossed to his side, took the pouch from his hands, and placed it around Elric’s neck. Then he touched Elric’s arm where he had been wounded. “Your Lady Vera?”

“No, I took care of it.” Elric briefly explained what he had done. “You were my inspiration.” He touched the tattoos on his lover’s wrists.

The smile Tiven gave him seemed to light up the room. “So you are an Architect?”

It was the word mages used for those who were creative and talented enough to invent new spells.

Elric shook his head. “More like desperate.” Then he asked the question—the piece he had not been able to figure out. “How did the mage get in? Surely hunting me qualifies as nefarious intent.”

The tokens were charmed so they could not be activated if someone meant to move against the institution or anyone associated with it.

“We think he geased himself to forget his purpose for a time, then remember it after he arrived.”

Elric shuddered.

“We will be adding geas to the exclusions on the tokens.” Tivesh assured him, then asked. “What’s next for you?” Elric understood the invitation to stay had not changed.

“Lady Vera caught the mage, but it’s not done yet.”

Tiven touched his cheek tenderly. Elric felt the kiss to the tips of his fingers and wondered if that was magic too.

“You’ll come back, after?”

“If I can.” It was all Elric could promise.

Tiven kept his face well schooled but Elric caught the tiny knot at his brow.

We had what—two or three days and I was passed out for half of it? Elric reasoned with himself, but his heart beat faster nonetheless. Of course men at a brothel are trained to make you feel wanted.

Elric had walked in darkness since the mountain and feeling wanted was a glimmer of light.

When Elric returned to the plaza, he activated the token to take him to the anchor point he had chosen from the history the object carried.

He stepped into the lane by the riverwall in the Facing Cities. Slanting light through a break in the low clouds lit up the far buildings for a moment, then was gone.

& & &

Rana’s skin glowed in the light of the afternoon sun as they left the house of the Brothers in Pilaat. Dannae was impressed at the network she now recognized extended beyond the Sisters—a network that belatedly, she realized Rana and Alika had been using all along to move women.

As she followed Rana into the opulent district of the traders—with their fortified mansions—Dannae fumed. She hated Elric’s plan. Dangerous. Risky.

The same reason Rana wouldn’t let Alika come.

But Dannae was most concerned for Elric. She remembered the look on his face—pinched, determined—when he had left her, the way his long dark coat followed him like a shadow.

I got him into this mess. I can’t let him down.

I can’t lose him too.

Dannae frowned as she navigated puddles in the road that stank of fish. Since the Guilds were coordinated mainly by committee—rather than under a central authority—Rana suggested they meet a trader who had worked closely with Lucas.

“He knows me.” Rana explained. “As does his wife.” Dannae sensed the overtones to how they were acquainted.

The house was typical of the elite of Pilaat—a square facing an interior courtyard, with tall walls and guards outside. Dannae kenned substantial magical defenses as well.

“Those guards are new.” Rana observed. “Cenesh was not so nervous before.”

Dannae was uneasy while they waited in the open for Cenesh to consider if he would see them. One guard in particular kept eyeing Rana. Then a woman with curly brown hair came to the door.

“Rana, it’s really you.” The woman smiled and ushered them in.

“That’s his wife, Sina.” Rana explained as the woman led them toward the courtyard. Dannae noticed the way the woman cupped Rana’s back to guide her past the fountain in the courtyard into a study on the far side.

Dannae supposed Cenesh was handsome, with short black hair and skin so dark, he looked almost Taraqi. As they entered, he stood to embrace Rana, then gave Dannae a skeptical look. “You brought a mage?” Cenesh directed the question to Rana, disapproval in his voice.

“Play along.” Rana counseled Dannae privately, then spoke out loud. “I needed a mage to give you the information I want to share.”

“Information?”

“On who murdered Lucas and Beretha.” Rana explained.

“I already know. Nekantor, that greedy bastard. I can’t move against him.”

“There is someone involved you can move against, someone in the north.” Rana turned to Dannae, who pulled out the bell Elric had given her.

Dannae had not mindspoken anyone at this distance before, so she closed her eyes to help her concentrate while she reached for Elric. When she touched the metal of the object, it seemed to resonate.

She followed the echoes as if they were patterns from a stone thrown on a lake.

& & &

The house was crowded with overstuffed chairs and objects Elric assumed must be priceless. He was led through formal rooms with thick carpets to a garden patio. Underneath a potted palm tree, half its fronds gone brown with rot, a large man lounged.

“I didn’t expect you to make it this easy.” The man remarked, his black eyes squinting as he turned to inspect his visitor.

“I don’t intend this to be easy.” Elric replied, recognizing the man with the short gray beard from his research.

It was easy enough for us to figure out Hezian was the one who ordered Beretha and Lucas killed. Elric thought. The knife spent a lot of time here and Alika knew that Beretha’s father and Hezian hated each other.

Elric fingered the object he had enchanted. He had chosen a bell because of the way such objects resonated with sound, then had to invent a reason—an ornament on a jacket—to explain it. The next time I do this, I should pay more attention to costuming.

Assuming there is a next time.

Elric activated his bell, knowing Dannae already had activated hers. He knew what they were trying to do was a gamble, but he had come to the realization that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life—however short or long—running.

Hezian looked puzzled. “All right, I’ll give you this—why are you here?”

“You killed my friend.” Elric replied honestly.

“And you destroyed my warehouse,” Hezian retorted.

“How was I to know it was your warehouse? It was in Pilaat.”

The man laughed, a short, sharp sound. “I have interests there.”

“I thought it was owned by the Southern Guild.” Elric insisted.

Hezian waved his hand as if the answer was obvious.

“You have interests in the back yard of the Southern Guild?” Elric probed, thinking of the bell. He needed Hezian to make the link more clear.

Hezian shrugged.

“I get that you might take out Beretha’s father, your rival. But why her? Why Lucas? Didn’t you fear reprisal from the Southern Guild?”

“I did it to protect my private alliance with a different trader in the Southern Guild.” Hezian said softly.

“Who” Elric asked, wondering how much he could get the merchant to share.

“I grow tired of you.” Hezian said instead of answering.

Elric figured that was the most he was going to get and strained to reach Dannae. “Did it work?”

“It worked—Pashtar Bless, get out of there!”

Elric started to reach for the token hidden underneath his jacket, but the guards who had led him to Hezian forced his arms behind his back. He struggled but they were too strong for him.

“Not here. I don’t want blood on the carpet.” Hezian laughed and the sound was cruel.

& & &

Words rang through the bell. Dannae was impressed at how Elric had taken a communication spell—one typically cast onto water—and channeled it through the pair of bells.

Dannae watched the look of fury grow on the faces around her.

She had not expected this to work. She had expected that no one in the Southern Guild would care. Perhaps I underestimated Beretha. She always was good at making friends.

“Thank you. That was impressive magic.” Cenesh said after Dannae de-activated the link.

Rana touched his shoulder.

Unexpectedly, Cenesh caught her hand and asked her. “Are you okay?”

“I thought the Southern Guild was trying to kill me and Alika.” Rana replied. “It still might be true.”

Sina looked distraught. “Nek, maybe? Cen, what do you think?” She asked her husband.

Cen looked at Rana. “You and Alika?”

“Not just us. Willa here, Edwin on the other side. They saved us and they’ve been hunted too.”

The merchant’s look was pragmatic. “I’m not sure anyone can save Edwin.” Cenesh gestured to the bell. “If I know Hezian, your friend won’t make it out of his house. But I’ll do my best for the rest of you.”

Sina met Cen’s eyes and his voice grew darker. “I’ll take care of Hezian.”

“Do you think Nek will keep coming after us?” Rana asked, a note of vulnerability in her voice.

If Dannae had not been so worried for Elric, she would have been impressed by how good an actress Rana was.

“I’m not sure that what you shared with me changes anything. It’s still just my word against Nek. I have no actual proof of the involvement of the Northern Guild.”

Dannae handed Cenesh the bell. “This was charmed to record. Almost any mage should be able to retrieve what it carries.”

He looked thoughtful. “When I bring this to the Council, I can ask amnesty for those who procured it. The Council should agree to that—they’ve done similar things before—then Nek won’t be able to move against you.”

Dannae breathed a sigh of relief and caught a similar look on Rana’s face. Rana picked her target well. At least this part went according to plan.

But as she reached for Elric again, he didn’t respond. Her fear doubled. He was supposed to be back with the Brothers by now.

& & &

The guards did not take him far, just out a private back gate that led to small space of stones by the river.

How convenient. Elric imagined his own lifeless body cast into the water to float out to sea. The river moved past him, gray and brown, swollen by the rains.

He kept trying to free one or the other of his arms so he could reach the token, but the men weren’t taking any chances. Elric muttered incantations to try to even the odds, but he soon realized the men must be wearing counters to his magic. Every spell he cast rebounded or went nowhere.

I knew this was a possibility. Elric tried to be realistic.

Then, unexpectedly, he was furious. It’s not just that I don’t want to die. I deserve so much more.

The revelation gave him power he didn’t know he had. He pushed against the men so hard one of them was forced back. His left hand almost reached the token.

Then the other man took the pommel of his blade to Elric’s head. He fell against the large river stones, so dazed he couldn’t even move his arms.

The day was ending, the clouds had parted, and now the sky was turning red.

Then there was more red.

Elric was confused.

There was red and gold, whirling. The men who meant him harm were pulled away.

Elric blinked, his vision doubling from the blow.

“Hello handsome.”

There were arms around him, the uttering of a word—soft this time—and an electric current.

& & &

Vera watched Dannae and Rana leave the house of the high-ranked trader in the Southern Guild. Rana is clever—she’ll go far in the Sisterhood. A useful friend for Dannae to have.

Vera had been able to ken what happened in the house. The magic protections were strong, but Vera was able to use the token Rana carried to listen. After all, that’s what the tokens are for—information.

She had learned so much from the Sisters and the Brothers about how to be strategic in the world. So when she came to the outpost after Dannae and Rana used it to return to Panuth Han, Vera was of a mind to be strategic. She asked to go to the house of the Brothers instead of to the house of the Sisters.

When Cojarin did not meet her, and Bastin came instead, she worried for a moment.

“Is Elric—” Vera started.

She could not have split herself in two, but she could have sent Meena to shadow her pupil as she herself had done for Dannae. Instead Vera had bargained with the Brothers.

“We get a chance at him now. As you agreed.” Bastin sent her firmly.

Vera smiled, recognizing this meant Elric had survived. “I agreed.”

Elric will grow further with them, it’s obvious.

She was a teacher at heart—that meant she wanted her students to achieve nothing less than their full potential.

Even if it means some pain on their part or mine in letting go of the expected path.

& & &

Elric woke, disoriented. His head hurt a little and he didn’t recognize the marble ceiling.

“Easy, handsome. I healed you, but you took quite a blow. You’ll need a few days to finish recovering.”

Elric struggled up. “Tiven?”

The mage—wearing clothes this time—sat on the side of the bed and offered his hand. “I’d rather you call me Coji. Short for Cojarin.”

“Elric.” He took Coji’s hand.

“I know.” The mage smiled.

Of course he knew. Elric remembered the struggle by the river. “You saved me.”

Coji shrugged. “We can track the tokens anywhere they go, so I followed you. I was just looking out for my interests.”

Elric didn’t mind being one of Cojarin’s interests.Then he shifted. “I have something strange to ask you.”

Coji kissed his palms. “Ask.”

“Did it hurt when you got your tattoos?”

Coji laughed and Elric thought the sound was beautiful.

“Of course it did.”

Elric caught Coji’s face in his hands. “I mean really hurt.”

His lover sobered. “Yes, it really hurt.”

“Do you think that’s because we never cared about the object of our casting when we designed the spells?” Elric wasn’t sure himself why this felt so profound.

“See?” Coji offered. “You are an Architect at heart. How about this—if you want to try to make our skin spells less painful, then I’m willing to help you practice.”

Elric didn’t need to think about it. He pulled Coji to him. “I’d like that.”

“Can we agree that you are mine—or really ours, one of the Brothers—at least for a while?” Coji asked him.

“Yes.” Elric agreed.

& & &

—Epilogue—

Vera kicked off her boots that smelled faintly of the fishmarket in Pilaat.  “You did well.” She sent her protégé when she entered.

Dannae jerked, then turned to close the door. “Were you following me?”

Vera just wiggled her bare toes in front of the fire.

“What about Elric?” Dannae asked. “I haven’t been able to reach him.”

“I offered to the Brothers that I would not be opposed if someone kept an eye on him.” Vera closed her eyes. “Elric is fine. I think he is where he needs to be.”

Then she opened her eyes and teased. “Your first lesson as adept—”

“I’m not an adept yet.” Dannae protested.

Vera brushed off her protest. “The test is mere confirmation.”

Dannae looked down. “I’m not sure I’m ready—”

“Of course you are ready for the test and to take your oath to the Path.” Vera chided. “It’s fine if you are not yet ready for the other vows.”

That had been the point—to assure Dannae that she had time if she needed it.

Dannae looked both relieved and uneasy. Vera knew how she felt, but also knew that there was nothing she could do for Dannae’s discomfort.

Once she makes her decision to be Scelli, she will see.

Vera was relieved beyond belief that her gamble had worked. When Dannae and Elric split up, she had worried what it would mean that she chose Dannae.

That she always would choose Dannae. She will be Scelli and replace me to lead the school when my time is done. I have seen it.

Vera pulled a kettle from the fireplace to prepare tea for them both. For a moment, they sipped the hot drinks. This late in the night, even Panuth Han got chilly.

“Will Elric ever join the Path?” Dannae finally asked.

Vera was impressed with her mentee’s intuition. She shrugged. “If we could live forever, the answer would be yes. But if his decision comes before his path in life ends, I cannot see.”

“Is that—”

Vera laughed. “Good or bad? Harri, what do you think?”

Dannae shrugged. “When I stayed with Elric after I healed him, he talked about the Brothers. He seemed happier than I’d seen him since the mountain.”

Dannae was quiet after that. Vera understood why.

The mountain was hard for all of us.

When she broke the silence with Dannae, she did it with intent. “Isn’t that what we all want, ishrae? To be our complete selves and be happy in it?”

“Is that what you want for me?”

“My darling Dannae, a thousand times, yes.”

It was not possible to lie mind-to-mind. What was less well known was that it also was possible to share a truth so completely, there could be no room for doubt.

Vera had shared the truth she had carried for a long time.

Dannae studied her in perfect silence. Then she said yes.

* * * * THE END * * * *
Copyright M. Frost 2025