Memory's Wake Omnibus: The Complete Illustrated YA Fantasy Series (69 page)

“Still, we’ve not found any more clues regarding Providence. These darts are made to target human wizards, not the fae,” Eloryn said. She held the dart up to the light of the nearby window to examine it. “Do you think magnetized iron would be safe for fae?”

“Clueless. Why?”

“Because these are also engraved with runes, the same old type of magic that Providence used on you and on Thayl’s hand,” Eloryn said, placing the dart back in the box and closing it up. “I’m guessing this little gift came from her, trying to hasten the death of the Wizards’ Council so Thayl’s debt would come due.”

Memory rubbed her temples. “Makes sense. I just need to know what the hell Providence wanted.”

Eloryn looked around the room again. Thayl hadn’t been a well-organized man. Every surface and shelf was overcrowded and cluttered.
There must be more in here to help us, but where to start?

“You told me once I needed to be more inventive with my magic. I need to start experimenting some more, correct?” Eloryn said.

“And I will live vicariously through you as you do,” Memory agreed.

Eloryn nodded, and began speaking in the magic language.
“Reveal to me, anything of Providence. Anything of Thayl’s relationship to Providence. Make yourself seen.”

The box of darts on the desk gave a small rattle and then glowed a rich golden light. Beside it, three books down in a stack, a thin ledger book shimmered briefly too.

Memory pulled the book from the stack, letting the rest of the tower collapse behind it. “I was wrong. Sherlock’s got nothing on you.”

Eloryn tsked and carefully picked the fallen books back up. She loved any books too dearly to see them dumped onto the floor.

Both girls stood shoulder to shoulder as Memory began flicking through the loosely bound documents. They appeared to be letters, from someone who signed only with a rough X, outlining expenses to be paid and the development of missions they were undergoing for Thayl.

“And this is?” Memory asked.

“Maybe my behest failed.”

Memory stopped flicking, and started leafing back the pages. “No, I’d say you didn’t fail at all.” Memory pointed to a sketch of a long hooked tool.

“That’s the same thingamabob Roen brought up from the iron stash.”

“It’s a leatherworker’s awl,” Eloryn said. She took the ledger and began flicking ahead again. They soon found details of other iron items they’d seen in the depths of the castle. Eloryn skimmed the handwriting throughout, drawing in all the details she could.

“Thayl was hiring this person to collect iron for him. He even gave the hunter leads, told him to seek out wizards in hiding, or anyone seen as being powerful with magic. Thayl must have worked that part out when he first began hunting wizards. He also provided this hunter and his men with the spark-closing darts and… Oh.”

Eloryn put the letters down on the desk and stared straight ahead, trying to calm the shudders that racked her frame.

“What is it?” Memory asked.

Eloryn took a deep breath. “It mentions the hunter’s dragon. The last letter says the hunters were going to the mountains west of Maerranton following reports of a man seen there matching Alward’s appearance. They were the ones who chased us. Led by the man with the lion’s hair and scarred face. All this time I had believed I was the cause of our discovery, that it was my folly that brought the hunters to Alward and me.” Eloryn shook her head.

Memory put an arm over Eloryn’s shoulder and squeezed. “Why is it always the good people who blame themselves for what bad people do?”

Eloryn put an arm around her sister as well. After another deep breath, she felt lighter than she had for months. “So now we know they were hunting for iron as well as for wizards. And delivering it to Thayl, who hoarded the artifacts in the palace depths.”

“Not all of the iron down there was from him, though,” Memory said. “Will said the fae didn’t go there even before Thayl. Hundreds of years at least. But there’s the interesting thing. Even if Thayl didn’t put all the iron down near the lake, we know for sure he added to what was there, and that he was actively seeking more iron. He might have done exactly what I did, find a place the fae didn’t go in order to store more iron there. Even if he was using it to recharge his magic, he didn’t need so much, and yet he kept seeking more and more.” Like an unconscious action, Memory drew her own iron knife again. Her expression was chilling. “There’s only one other value in hoarding iron that I can think of.”

Eloryn looked at the knife in Memory’s hand, remembering the searing effect it had on a banshee’s skin. “Defense against the fae. But to want so much, it wouldn’t have been just for himself. There’s iron enough there to fight a battle.”

Memory looked grimly at her sister. “What if Thayl knew what Providence was? What if he had some idea of what she was going to ask of him to repay his debt? What if the iron was to prepare for that?”

Eloryn’s voice was quiet. “A war with the fae?”

Memory shrugged and pinched the bridge of her nose. “But if Providence is a fae, and presumably a dark fae, why would she want to make a human start a war? Why not just do it herself somehow?”

“You’ve said Hope was always trying to turn you against the unseelie fae.”

Memory muttered an interruption. “Not that I need much turning.”

Eloryn’s head tilted. “There is some great animosity between the seelie and unseelie courts. Perhaps Providence was actually a seelie fae, planning to have humankind and unseelie set at war?”

“Maybe? I don’t know. But why else? Unless for some reason Thayl thought he needed that much just to deal with Providence alone.” Memory threw her hands up in the air. “Thanks for nothing, Thayl’s room.”

Eloryn collected up the ledger and box of darts. “We know more now than we did before. These were important clues. We will work it out.”

Memory groaned. “Okay, okay. Trying to be optimistic. Will is still trying to get some more info about Providence from Mina and the sprites. He’s got her interested in it now. Says she’s keen to gossip about it, so we’ll see what there is when he comes back.”

“Roen and Peirs may find something also. I hope they will all be back soon.”

Memory smiled in a way that did not disguise her worry. Eloryn knew that her own expression must be a mirror image.

The heavy rain from earlier in the day had ceased, but had left the ground thick with mud that clung greedily to each footstep. Clouds still covered the sky and the moon glowed through the mist like an ominous ghost of the sun.

Roen and Peirs stood together just outside of the pool of light cast by a streetlamp. They chatted quietly and casually, observing the people around them, before moving on to their next location. For three nights they had done the same thing, loitering outside of taverns and inns, wandering through the pebbled streets until the early hours of the morning. During the days they sought out Peirs’s contacts and questioned people on the street for clues.

Peirs sighed and tilted his head, indicating to Roen it was time to move on. There were a few taverns around Caermaellan that the fae frequented, and they had been watching Myrddin’s Cup that evening.

“We’ll find something soon,” Roen said.

Peirs snorted wryly. “We better.”

They had the exact same exchange every time they moved on in their search. Roen could see the lines of stress etched around Peirs’s eyes and tight lips, as though every day they didn’t find the stolen children, Peirs felt another child die in his heart. Roen grabbed Peirs’s arm and pulled him to a stop.

“We will find them,” Roen said, putting every ounce of hope and sincerity into his words that he could.

Peirs shrugged, gazing up and down the street as though looking for answers. “Should we be doing this differently? Should I be sending guards to knock down every door in the city? I’m open to all suggestions.”

“If I learned anything in my time as a…” Roen still hesitated to say it, but forced the word though. “…thief, it’s that when seeking something precious, it’s often best to do it quietly.”

Peirs ran a hand through his hair. “I just can’t think straight. Don’t know if any decision I’m making is the right one.” He closed his roaming eyes for a moment then looked at Roen. “You know, I was probably the age you are now when Thayl first took the throne as he did. I was no noble, didn’t have much of a say in the whole affair, but it still made me angry. Angry enough to act. I never meant to be the leader of the resistance, but it sort of just happened.” Peirs sighed and his breath formed a cloud, hanging in the icy air between them. “It’s funny how we end up where we end up. Now a slip of a girl is our queen, and made me captain of her guard. I know some don’t believe in Memory, but I have from the start. I could see it right away, something special about her. By the fae, she’s still a child, but she sure is an extraordinary one. I’m just some nobody desperately terrified of letting her down.”

“I know you’ve made her proud so far. She thinks of you as family.”

“As she does every one of the children we still need to find.” Peirs hung his head, his face hidden in the shadow as he began walking again.

As Roen turned away to follow Peirs to their next tavern, he finally caught sight of their target. A pair of gaunts, tall and gangly, squelched through the mud toward the entrance of the inn. They walked boldly as though they had little care of being seen. The suits they wore were threadbare and grayed, the fabric of the pants shredded to the knees, but one had a new bright red handkerchief in its breast pocket that stood out like an open wound.

“There, see? What did I tell you?” Roen said, calling Peirs’s attention back.

Peirs blinked as though not believing it. “Now I guess we wait and see if they try to take someone.”

“Not at all.” Roen grinned. “Now, we track them.”

Roen quietly led Peirs across the street to where the gaunts had passed by, and pointed to their elongated footprints in the mud, each one a pool filled with murky water.

“We track them back to their origin from here,” he said. “Much better than trying to follow the gaunts themselves and having them flee or fight us.”

Peirs checked over his shoulder to where the gaunts had disappeared into the tavern. “What if these gaunts aren’t from the same group that’s taking people, or if they’ve come from somewhere different to where they take their victims?”

Roen nodded. “All right then. One of us will follow the tracks, and one of us will follow the gaunts.”

“I’m not as quiet as you for following after the unseelie beasts, but I probably have less chance of following their footprints well. That’s our best shot, since we haven’t tried it before. You track, I’ll trail.”

Peirs held out his hand and Roen shook it before they each headed their separate ways. Roen flicked up the hood of his long leather coat, and began tracking the creatures’ steps.

His thoughts quickly turned to Eloryn and how she was able to follow a path by turning invisible footprints into pure light. He hadn’t been back to the castle in days, but it felt like much longer since he’d seen her. He would have liked her to be by his side now, as he always would, but they needed to find a solution to stop Hayes. And he needed no magic to track the gaunts; it would be easy with the thick mud, as long as it didn’t rain again.

Roen moved quickly, his eye on the creatures’ marks, pausing only briefly when the path forked to spot the way to go. The gaunts had taken a circuitous route that led him under dank bridges and through empty parklands, until he reached the outskirts of the city where tight terraced housing made way for larger estates with mansions surrounded by vast walled in gardens.

The trail led to a building that sat on a small hill. It was hunched and crooked from disrepair. Weeping willows lined the property boundaries with draping leaves that whispered in the wind.

No one seemed to be around, and Roen crept closer to the house, ducking between overgrown blackberry brambles and tumbled stone walls.

A dozen steps from the front door, the movement of figures in the dark made Roen duck for cover behind a cracked marble fountain. A gaunt had appeared from around the other side of the house, heading to the entrance, dragging a dazed girl.

This is it then, the place they are bringing the stolen people.

Roen froze, listening.
Did someone just call my name?

The gaunt had disappeared into the house, taking the girl with him, and the door slammed closed.

“Roen!”

It was Peirs calling him. But Peirs was meant to be following the other two gaunts.

The other two gaunts…

Roen spun around in his crouched position. A bright flash of red moved in the dark in front of him- a bright handkerchief against tattered clothes. Two gaunts towered over him, the ones they had seen at the tavern.

As he had tracked the gaunts, the gaunts had tracked him.

One slashed its arm through the air, smacking Roen across the jaw and knocking him onto his back. Roen tasted blood on his tongue, salty and metallic.

Peirs ran up from behind them, still too far away. “Brand them! Brand them!”

I can’t.

Roen grabbed for the iron dagger he carried. The gaunt in front of him stretched its black maw wide and loosed a wailing cry. The cry was matched by others, more and more howling at the intruders.

Hands grasped Memory’s shoulders, shaking her roughly, waking her from sleep.

She struggled one eyelid open and saw Eloryn standing there. She looked so upset that Memory made an effort to shake herself awake. Will also waited next to Eloryn, looking equally concerned. Memory hadn’t seen him for a while. He must have just gotten back.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice croaky from sleep. She rubbed her eyes.

“It’s Peirs, he’s returned. But Roen hasn’t,” Eloryn said.

Memory was out of bed and getting dressed in a worried, half asleep blur. Clara rushed in soon after, in her bedclothes, and helped lace Memory into a thick leather corset, designed to provide light protection for fencing. Eloryn had dressed already, and Memory wondered how much magic was used to speed her into the practical dark colored riding outfit she wore.

When she’d done helping Memory dress, Clara brought Peirs in on Memory’s request.

“You found it then?” Memory asked while pulling long leather boots on.

Peirs bowed. He looked ashen. “We did.”

“What happened to Roen?”

“He was captured by the gaunts. They swarmed on him, too many for me to fight, so I fled, to bring help.” Peirs took a knee. “Forgive me, Your Majesty.”

“You did the right thing. If you’d both been taken you’d both be lost to us. At least we know where everyone is now.” Memory helped Peirs stand again then said to Clara, “Get Erec, tell him what’s going on.”

Clara finished winding her wild mass of bed-tangled red hair into a knot at the back of her head, then nodded and left, her white night gown fluttering behind her.

Memory collected her iron knife from under her pillow and strapped it into a custom sheath on her new belt. She also pulled out the hooked awl and pushed it into Will’s hands.

His hands didn’t close around it. “I can’t carry iron. The fae won’t be happy.”

“Things have changed. We know more about Providence. I want you carrying iron from now on. Please do that for me.”

Will took the awl.

Memory looked from him to Eloryn, who stood like a deep breathing statue beside them, then to Peirs. “Peirs, what happened? Where are the gaunts hiding out?”

“They are in an old building, one the locals say is haunted, and is avoided by most. It’s a human’s property, but disused. That’s why we hadn’t been able to find them in any fae territory. It was surprisingly easy to track them there, almost as though they wanted to be found. Roen and I were separated and I was too far back to help when they took him.”

Eloryn looked at Memory. “Could they be luring us in?”

“Does it even need to be said? But there’s only one thing to do with a trap, and that’s spring it. Besides, what else would we do? Leave Roen there? And all the other people they’ve taken? Shyeah right.”

Clara returned, along with Erec. She cleared her throat as way of announcement, then helped Memory slip on the leather jacket that matched her corset.

Erec gave his brother a look that seemed they were speaking silently together, then turned to address Memory. “You’ve found where the children have been taken?”

“We’re going now,” Memory said.

Erec cleared his throat. “If you intend to mount a rescue, Your Majesty, I have to advise against your personal involvement, or your sister’s.”

“You can advise my ass, Erec. I know it’s important for the queen to stay alive, but this is more important. Not just for Roen, but to find out who is behind all these kidnappings, and maybe even more. Doesn’t the king ride into battle alongside his army? Are you going to keep the two most powerful magical talents of Avall from assisting?”

Eloryn shot Memory a look.

I know, I know. No magic for me.

“I’m going,” Memory said.

Erec looked to Eloryn as though for support.

She shook her head at him. “As I am also going.”

“I’m afraid I’m with them, brother,” said Peirs.

“I’m with Mem,” said Will.

Clara stood beside Memory, her fingers on her lips. “I... I’m…”

Memory put a hand on her shoulder. “We need someone here to organize for incoming rescues, okay?”

Clara pouted her full lower lip. “I’m sorry that I’m not brave like you.”