Freelance Heroics (38 page)

“It highlights clues that’ll lead me to my target. It sorta outlines them in my vision, so I can pick them out easier.” Caspian reclaimed the patch. “I can also use samples from the creature—hair, blood, sweat, droppings, stuff like that—to zero in on its location.” He leaned down and plucked a long piece of golden hair off the ground. “For example, I can use this to zero in on whichever spellhound dropped it.”

Caspian gripped the hair in the same hand as the patch and invoked a spell. The patch glowed a gentle brown, and then jerked in his palm. He turned until the patch stopped twitching.

It was pointing at Gavi. Caspian shuffled from side to side, but the patch remained pointing at her. “Oh. I guess this one’s yours.”

Gavi’s face flushed. Mazik chuckled. “Only been here a few minutes and you’re already shedding, Gavs.”

She grabbed her ponytail and shot him a look. Caspian dropped the hair and sighed.

“I usually use this to track down lost hounds, but as you can see”—he waved at Gavi—“it’s a royal pain in the ass. Hard to find a hair for the right one.”

“So is that why you’re the one investigating General Ordwinn?” asked Gavi. She let go of her ponytail. “Because you can use your magick to look for clues?”

“Naw. Mostly it’s ’cause I’m pissed at the fucker for betraying us, or being stupid enough to not realize his wife was doing it.” Caspian’s face clouded again, with a youthful rage that Mazik was all too familiar with.

He’s like a younger me, only not as ruggedly handsome.
Mazik ran a hand through his hair, unknowingly shedding a few hairs himself.

Mazik went through everything they had learned. He tapped his chin.
I already don’t know where to go from here.
He thought for a while longer, then shrugged.
At least this’ll be more interesting than guard duty.
“Anything else we should know? Otherwise I guess we should go talk to this General Ordwinn.”

“Actually, hold on a second.” Caspian stepped away from the group. “Let me get Effami. She can tell you what happened better than I can.” He jogged over to the trainers. “Hey, Irdis! Where’s Effami?”

The trainer with the splinted leg pointed at the room straight ahead. “She’s in B, watching the dogs while she takes her break.”

“Wait here.” Caspian looped around the edge of the training area and disappeared.

Mazik kneeled and began beckoning to the dogs again. The young male from earlier looked his way. It looked like it was considering whether to defy its trainer again, but ended up staying put. Mazik managed to distract another puppy instead.

Caspian returned with a woman, and as soon as Mazik laid eyes on her, he knew there would be trouble.

Hyra Effami was nearly as tall as Mazik. She had long chestnut hair that fell to her shoulders, though from her left temple to her ear it had been twisted into a small braid and tied off with a ribbon—between her and Captain Sie, apparently braids were in fashion here. Hyra was all slender curves and legs that went on forever, and her face was dotted with freckles on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. She was dressed in sensible clothing, brown trousers and an off-white tunic with green trim, all of which was covered in shed spellhound fur. As she walked across the room, a closed book in one hand while she stifled a yawn with the other, it was like lightning had struck—but it hadn’t struck Mazik.

He glanced at his best friend. Raedren, who had been mostly silent since they got here, was standing up straighter, and his eyes were more alert. Mazik knew his friend’s type well enough to know that Hyra was it, at least physically. Now it depended on—

“I understand the three of you have come to help our village? Thank you so much for coming.” Hyra bowed to each of them, and then stifled another yawn. “Excuse me!” She held up the book. “I was reading on my break, and I got a little sleepy. Can I get you something to drink?”

Polite, courteous, likes to read. Yup, she’ll be trouble.
Mazik and Gavi exchanged a knowing glance.
But trouble can be good.

He arched an eyebrow at Gavi.

“I’ll take point,” she whispered. She returned Hyra’s bow. “Something to drink would be lovely.”

Hyra gestured for them to follow her. As soon as her back was turned, Mazik nudged Raedren in the side and waggled his eyebrows. Raedren resolutely ignored him.

Raedren was trying to act natural. Unfortunately, natural didn’t come naturally to him.

They had exchanged introductions, and were now sitting around a table in the room where female trainers and breeders slept when they stayed overnight. Since the table was small, Mazik and Gavi had elected to sit on a wooden chest along the wall.

Raedren cradled his cup of tea. He didn’t care much for tea, but he was grateful for the time it took to prepare, since it had let him collect his thoughts.

Hyra was beautiful, and exactly his type, as Mazik had so obnoxiously indicated. It was rare to meet a woman he could kiss without bending half over, and she was accomplished too, which he found attractive. And she had been reading before she came out. Another bonus.

Gavi set down her cup. “By the way, what book were you reading before?”

“Oh, this?” Hyra held up the book. She turned the book so everyone else could see the cover. “It’s called
Assassins and Lords
. Have you read it?”

“No, but Raedren might have. He’s always picking up new books in every town.”

“Oh?” Hyra’s eyes were sparkling. Raedren felt heat rising under his collar.

“Er, no. I haven’t read that one,” he said. “What’s it about?”

Hyra covered her mouth as she chuckled. “Pretty much what it says in the title. It’s a drama about four lords and five assassins, and how their schemes get all mixed up.” She clasped the book to her chest and leaned toward him. “By the way, do you have any books with you? I’d be happy to lend you this one, but what I’d really like to do is trade. It’s so hard to get books here. I have to wait for the Adāst to go out, and they don’t always find something new. Or even look.” She pouted.

“Who are the Adāst?” asked Gavi.

“Oh, sorry. You’ve met Knapp, correct? Anyone who regularly travels to the outside world is part of the Adāst.”

Gavi pulled out her notepad. “Adāst . . .”

“Uh, yeah. I have a few books.” Raedren lapsed into silence, then realized he should say something more. “They’re in my room. I can bring them here sometime, so you can see if there are any you haven’t read.”

“That would be great! I’d love to discuss a story with a fellow book lover. There are too few of us here.”

Raedren tried to smile. It felt like he had forgotten how. “That would be nice.”

Hyra gave him a dazzling smile, and then settled back. “So, what did the three of you want to ask?”

When Raedren didn’t say anything—his mind had gone blank—Mazik stepped in. “We wanted to know what happened the night this Rhea person attacked.”

“Ah.” Hyra’s shoulders sagged, and her upbeat disposition withered. Raedren wanted to reach out and comfort her, but he clamped down on that instinct.

“Well, I was asleep in this room when it started, but Velius and Doftenya were awake. They’re both breeders,” she added. “Apparently the door opened, and since I was asleep, they both asked who it was and if something was wrong. That’s when several outsiders rushed in with weapons drawn.”

Hyra gripped her teacup tighter. “Doftenya shouted a warning, which is what woke up me and An—she’s also a breeder, by the way. I was confused at first. I was still trying to untangle myself from my covers when the bell started ringing, and then Velius screamed.

“When I got to the doorway, Velius was already bleeding heavily. There were four or five of the masked people, and all sorts of mutated beasts, and Doftenya was standing over Velius, trying to hold them at bay. That’s when Rhea stepped around the corner and tried to grab me.” Hyra smiled thinly. “Fortunately, you don’t become the head trainer without being a decent caster. Doftenya, An, and I fought back, and we rushed to that chamber”—she pointed to the nearest room where the spellhounds slept—“and locked ourselves in. Pretty soon help arrived, and the enemy ran away.”

“Hm . . .” Mazik scratched his chin.

Raedren didn’t know what to say. Not that that was unusual, but it was especially frustrating now. “I’m sorry,” he said lamely.

But Hyra seemed to appreciate it, and thanked him. Then she shook herself, sitting up straighter. “I would be grateful if you could figure out what happened, and why.” She tried to smile. “For one, I’d like to sleep in my own bed again, instead of being here every night.”

Mazik bowed, his forehead nearly brushing his knees. “Have no fear. The three of us are experts in this kind of thing.”

Raedren bit back a retort at his friend’s optimistic assessment.

Hyra folded her hands on her lap. “Did you have any other questions for me?”

Gavi rubbed her arrowhead necklace, and exchanged a look with Mazik. He nodded. Gavi stood. “No, I don’t think so. We do need to check something real quick, though. Caspian, would you mind joining us in the main area?”

“Rae, you entertain our host,” said Mazik. “Maybe tell her about that book you were talking about the other day, or how you singlehandedly held off multiple orcks during that quest in Saffir. You know, whatever.”

“Oh?” Hyra turned to Raedren, and even to someone as socially awkward as him, her interest was clear. “I’d like to hear both.”

Raedren didn’t hear the others leave.

Mazik, Gavi, and Caspian gathered in the entrance hallway. As soon as they could no longer hear Raedren and Hyra, Gavi turned to Caspian. “This might sound strange, but is she single?”

“Effami?” He shrugged. “As far as I know. She’s not married, and I haven’t heard of her dating anyone recently. And there’s not exactly a surplus of guys in this town. Or women.” He scowled. “Why do you ask? Your friend interested in her?”

“Maybe, maybe.” Mazik glanced back at the wall between them and the others. “Has she ever been out of the village before?” Another thought struck Mazik. “Or have you, for that matter?”

“She has a few times, when there was an especially big order. Some clients like to meet with a trainer. I haven’t, but my herēst is coming up soon. Er—that’s when we take a trip to the outside world.” Caspian plucked at his green vest. “After we do our mandatory service, we go experience the world, and decide if we want to stay in the village or leave. Mine’s coming up soon.”

Mazik thought about this. “That’s a good idea. Makes sure people don’t get desperate to get out.”

“Uh, sure.” Caspian didn’t look like he had thought about it. “It’s just the rules.”

Gavi scanned her notes. “Were there any signs that Rhea might betray the village before this?”

“And not just your gut reaction,” interrupted Mazik. “Anything solid-ish.”

Caspian scratched his chin. “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but I always tried to avoid her. Never really liked her.”

Gavi twirled her pencil, lost in thought.

Mazik rapped Gavi on the head with his knuckles, soft enough to barely qualify as a tap. She looked up. “Seems to me we need to talk to this Ordwinn guy,” said Mazik. “Maybe we’ll figure out something. After we make sure we can get paid to do all of this, of course.”

“Of course.” Gavi appeared to think about it for several more seconds, then nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it.” She smiled slightly. “Should we leave Rae here? If she wants him to stay, that is.”

“But of course!” Mazik started for the room, then stopped. He dropped into a crouch and crowed at the puppies again.

Gavi leaned around the doorframe. “Hi, sorry to interrupt.”

Raedren and Hyra looked up. “Are you the one who’s trying to get better at magick?” asked Hyra.

Gavi paused. Raedren and Hyra were where they had left them, still sitting across the table from each other, though she could swear they had scooted closer together. Now the trainer’s excited eyes were focused on Gavi. She stepped more fully into the room. “Yes, that’s me.”

“She was telling me about how they train casters here,” said Raedren. “It sounded like it could help.”

“What do you mean?” Gavi approached the table.

“Do you know what keen training is?” asked Hyra.

Gavi shook her head.

“Keen training is when the student keens the teacher as they cast the same spell over and over again.” Hyra touched Raedren’s shoulder, and Gavi stifled a smile as Raedren tensed. “So if he was teaching me a spell, I would touch him like this and keen what’s going on inside as he casts. Not just once or twice, but repeatedly. It lets the student better learn all the different little movements of spellcasting.” She smiled. “Plus, it works with canines, who can’t talk.”

Gavi thought about it. “How long until the student tries the spell?”

“As long as necessary. With human students we’ll often have them keen for up to an hour before they make their first attempts.”

Gavi turned the idea around in her mind. She frowned. “That seems like it would work, but if it’s such a good way of teaching magick, how come more people don’t use it?”

“I’ve always wondered that myself,” admitted Hyra. “One of my predecessors, who came from outside, said it’s because people who train humans are paid to
teach
, whereas we don’t make any money unless we get results.”

Gavi rolled her pendant between her fingers, thinking. Her initial reaction was that it sounded too good to be true, but if it could help . . . Her heart sped up, but she resolutely pushed those feelings down. She wouldn’t get her hopes up.

“Hyra was going to teach me how to do it, so I could help you later on if you wanted,” offered Raedren.

“That sounds like an excellent idea!” said Mazik, who had come up from behind. “Caspian was going to take us to General Ordwinn so we can grill him. Why don’t you stay here so she can teach you while we’re gone? We’ll check in with Captain Sie and make sure we’ll still get paid if we help out with the investigation.”

Raedren glanced at Hyra. She smiled. “That’s fine with me.”

“Great!” Mazik clapped Raedren on the back, then leaned in and whispered. He should be telling Raedren what they had learned from Caspian. Raedren didn’t react as Mazik pulled away. “And make sure to pay attention to her lessons. If it works, you can teach me how to do it so we can both help Gavs.”