Sapphire Crescent (29 page)

• • •

Emriana made a strangled cry and shook her head vehemently as she heard Denrick’s words suggesting that the wizard, Bartimus, might ensorcell her into, desiring the man. The thought horrified her, was more terrible to contemplate than the notion of being taken by force. The idea that her free will could be taken from her so that she would give Denrick what he wanted sent her spiraling down into a dark pit of despair.

Denrick noticed the girl’s reaction, and he smiled.

“What, don’t you think it would be better like that?” he asked Emriana. “At least you’d be fooled into looking forward to it,” he added, that wolfish grin growing more feral by the moment. He turned back to the diffident wizard. “Well? Can you do it?”

Bartimus nodded and replied, “I can, but these things are never guaranteed to work, and there are always unintended side-effects. I’m giving you these warnings so that you will be fully aware of them and not blame me later if it doesn’t all turn out as wonderfully and romantic as you’re envisioning right now. Furthermore, I have to say that—”

“Are you quite done?” Denrick asked, cutting off the babbling man. “I don’t want a full lecture on the details. I just want to know if you can do it or not.” The wizard simply nodded. “Good, then get on with it.”

Emriana sobbed and began to thrash in her bonds again, shaking her head violently back and forth, mmphing through the wad of cloth shoved back in her mouth, pleading with Denrick not to go through with his foul game. The young man simply gestured expectantly toward her while staring down the wizard.

Bartimus walked cautiously over to stand near Emriana, shoved his glasses farther up his nose, and said, “All right; we’ve got a couple of choices here. I think perhaps… yes, that should do nicely.”

Emriana whined plaintively at the man, trying to make him see her side of things, but Bartimus was effectively cowed by Denrick and he totally ignored her, other than to begin the casting.

That’s when Emriana began to rock her chair back and forth again. She had been moved farther away from Jaleene so that they couldn’t help one another escape again, and the handmaiden had been gagged, too. But Emriana wasn’t trying to reach her companion in the hopes of getting her knots untied. She simply wanted to tumble over, fall flat on her back, knock herself unconscious, perhaps. Anything was better than being magically charmed into crawling into bed with Denrick right at that moment.

The girl heaved her weight around, trying to increase the motion. As she got into a rhythm, Denrick came around and grabbed the chair, halting it. Emriana whimpered in absolute disconsolation. Then Denrick slapped her, once, hard enough to cause her to grunt again. He leered at her.

“All right,” Bartimus said, “I think I’m ready to begin. Are you sure you want to go through with this?”

Denrick stepped back from Emriana’s chair and replied, “Yes, use your magic to make her drawn irresistibly to me. I want her to desire me and take me willingly to her bed.”

Bartimus opened his mouth to begin, but he never got even the first words out, for both his and Denrick’s attention were suddenly drawn to something behind Emriana. They were looking in the direction of the doorway leading out to her patio.

The girl turned her head, straining to see behind her, but the chair’s angle and high back made it impossible.

“If you don’t shut your mouth right now”—it was Vambran—”I’ll plant this crossbow bolt right into the middle of it.”

Em closed her eyes in relief.

“Damn you!” Denrick cried as Bartimus stam-, mered, mumbled, and backed away. “How the hells did you get past the guards?”

Vambran advanced into the room and into Emriana’s view. She could see that he carried a crossbow, which he had leveled at Denrick’s chest.

“Hello, Em,” Vambran said, giving her a smile, though he never took his eyes off his target. “I came as soon as you called.”

Emriana gave her brother a steady stream of joyous, thankful, but incomprehensible gibberish through her gag, though she knew he understood the gist of it.

He made it, she thought, and not a moment too soon.

“Well,” Denrick snarled, glancing down at the girl. “You managed to do a little more than untie your hands while I was gone, I guess.” He backed away from Vambran, who was slowly closing the gap between the two of them. “And you managed to show up where you weren’t wanted all over again,” he said to the mercenary. “Just like the other night, when you had to go dashing in to save poor, pathetic Jithelle. You messed everything up!”

“And you’re a sad, spoiled little boy who never learned that the world and the people in it don’t belong to you just because you’re wealthy,” Vambran replied. “Now, you’re either going to drop down to the floor and plant your face on the tiles, or else I’m going to put this bolt right in your nose. Your choice. What’s it going to be?”

In response, Denrick grabbed Bartimus, who had edged over by the merchant’s son, and he thrust the wizard between himself and Vambran. Denrick gave Bartimus a good shove to send him careening in the direction of the mercenary then he took the opportunity to dart out the door.

Vambran cursed and stepped forward, apparently intending to chase the fleeing man, but the wizard hindered him just enough that it was obviously a fruitless exercise, and Vambran held up after only a couple more steps.

Instead, he turned back to the wizard and snarled, “Get over there and untie my sister, you lecherous little worm.”

Bowing and holding his hands up in front of his face, as though trying to ward off Vambran’s anger and the impending bolt that might be fired at him, Bartimus scurried over to where Emriana sat and went to work on the knots.

As soon as one hand was free, Emriana yanked the gag free of her mouth once more and drew in a deep, fresh breath.

“Oh, thank Waukeen you got here when you did!” she gushed, wanting to get up and hug her brother. She grew impatient with the wizard’s fumbling fingers and knocked his hands away.

“Go untie her,” she ordered Bartimus, pointing toward Jaleene.

The wizard nodded and ran over to comply, leaving Emriana to free herself. The girl finally managed to get the last of the bonds undone, and she leaped up and hugged her brother with every once of her strength. She didn’t want to let him go.

That’s when Jaleene screamed. Emriana released Vambran just in time to see a huge black hound materialize right in front of the chair where the handmaiden was still bound. The beast wasn’t quite there, but seemed instead to be made of shadows. Even so, its huge fangs and glowing red eyes were visible enough. The hound, a mastiff, growled low in its throat and reared back to lunge at the helpless Jaleene.

At the same time, Bartimus was waving his hands through the air and murmuring in a low voice. As Vambran reacted, raising his crossbow to fire at the wizard, a blue, shimmering curtain of light formed next to the pudgy man. The curtain parted to reveal a doorway, and Bartimus leaped through it, tile crossbow bolt glancing off his cloak. The doorway winked out.

Emriana stared, dumbfounded, as Vambran rushed forward, dragging his sword free of its scabbard in one smooth motion. Just as the shadow hound was about to bite Jaleene, Vambran got between them, slashing down with his blade.

The huge dog howled in pain and leaped away, landing in the corner. It turned to face Vambran, who was closing with it, his sword held defensively in front of himself. Warily, the two of them began to circle one another, the hound snapping and biting at the blade, Vambran feinting and thrusting back.

Emriana ran over to Jaleene, who was trembling. The girl began to work on the knots that still held the woman tightly. After several moments of frantic tugging, she managed to free her companion and pulled her out of the chair.

At that moment, Emriana turned to see her brother lunge at the hound again, drawing thick, black blood. In response, the dog opened its mouth wide and let out an ear-splitting bay that chilled the girl to the bone and made her want to flee right out into the night. She and Jaleene together ran to the opposite side of the room and cowered in the corner, watching Vambran combat this magical creature of shadow.

He didn’t seem fazed by the unearthly howl. He slashed down again, cutting a deep furrow into the dog’s shoulder, which caused the dog to turn and jump into the shadows, disappearing.

Emriana gasped.

“Gods, what is that thing?” she whispered as Vambran searched for the beast, poking and prodding at the spot where the dog last stood.

“I don’t know, but when I catch that wizard again, I’m going to thrash him,” her brother responded. “I shouldn’t have let my—”

Vambran’s words were choked off as he suddenly discovered the shadow dog again. The beast leaped out of the shadows where it had hidden and charged at him, knocking him down.

The lieutenant had to roll to the side to avoid having his throat ripped out by the shadow hound’s snapping jaws. He managed to swing his sword around and slice at the creature once more, sending a spray of black blood everywhere. The dog howled in pain and backed off.

Vambran managed to climb to his knees, but before he could stand, the shadow hound charged forward again. That time, though, the mercenary was ready, and when the dog leaped forward, Vambran had his

sword positioned perfectly to run it through. The creature gave one last, whimpering howl and sagged down. As it dropped to the floor of Emriana’s room, the dog vanished.

“Conjured creature,” Vambran explained. “The wizard brought it here with a summoning spell.” Then recognition lit in his eyes. “I’ll bet he was the one responsible for the leechwalker that jumped us in the warehouse.”

Emriana nodded mutely as she continued to stare, wide-eyed, at where the dog had vanished. The baying had unnerved her, and she couldn’t shake the sense of panic it had caused, even though she knew Vambran had dispatched it.

“Em,” Vambran said, walking over to his sister and pulling her up by one arm so she could stand. “Get dressed. We have to get to the rest of the family. It’s time to track down Denrick and pay him back for what he did to you.”

• • •

Kovrim’s voice was growing hoarse, but he dared not stop speaking. He had managed to gather perhaps fifteen or twenty guards around him, all of them except two listening in rapt attention to his speech. The two who’d managed to resist the enthralling influences of his magic had tried to get the priest to stop, first by shouting at him, then by charging forward. But to their surprise, both of the soldiers discovered that they just couldn’t bring themselves to attack the man who had enraptured all of their companions. Such was the magic that Kovrim had employed to keep himself protected.

Fortunately, the whole diversion had worked about as well as the priest had hoped. He could already see that the mercenaries had taken the house, and a squad of them was marching down the path toward where

he continued to orate on anything that came to mind. He was running out of energy, though. He prayed that the Sapphire Crescents would hurry.

Just about the time Kovrim’s voice was giving out, the squad of mercenaries reached the back side of the gathering of house guards. With a sigh of relief, Kovrim finally trailed off, ending the spell. The guards, realizing he was finished, blinked and began to get their bearings again, realizing just how captivated they had become in the priest’s mesmerizing words. As they remembered that they were supposed to be preventing intruders from gaining the grounds, more than a few of them grew agitated, and several of them readied their weapons.

It quickly became clear, though, that they had allowed themselves to be tricked, and they were outnumbered and unprepared to battle the mercenaries. The guards surrendered without a fight, making Kovrim’s smile even larger. As the Sapphire Crescents relieved guards of their weapons, the priest strolled past them toward Adyan, who had led the “attack” down the hill.

“Easiest engagement I’ve ever been a part of,” the sergeant drawled, giving Kovrim a grin and slap on the back. “We need you on the battlefield more often.”

“I was there in my younger days,” Kovrim informed the mercenary. “It was only after I grew too old and soft to put up with the hardships of the campaign trail that I retired and took up an administrative position within the temple.”

“Well, if you ever decide to un-retire, I’m sure Vambran would be able to find a gentle horse and a good use for you,” the sergeant replied in his easy accent.

Adyan ordered a small detail to mind the prisoners and he, Kovrim, and the rest of the troops moved back up the main path to the house, ready to rejoin the other half of the Sapphire Crescents.

Once they were together with the rest of the troops, the Crescents broke into smaller squads and prepared to move through the house room by room, not sure how strong the resistance would be, but clearly understanding that members of Vambran and Kovrim’s family were in potential danger inside. As the Crescents entered the house and fanned out, Kovrim realized for the first time that Xaphira was not with them. He worried for her briefly, but then the priest dismissed such thoughts. The woman had been able to take care of herself for quite a long time, and her skills were formidable, as she had already demonstrated several times in the past couple of days. She was lurking somewhere, ready to spring out when she was most needed, he decided.

The priest accompanied Adyan and two other mercenaries as they moved into the large dining room of the Matrell estate. One of the soldiers had a lantern, but otherwise, the room was dark, which Kovrim found disturbing. Normally, the servants would have lit lanterns and candles to brighten every room in the house, but thus far, the Crescents had found everything dark and silent. The priest was just about to suggest that they move on when a cry rose up from the kitchens, just through the next door, followed by the sounds of battle.

Weapons drawn, the mercenaries rushed through the portal. Kovrim was in the rear, but he saw that another group of Crescents had stumbled onto a contingent of house guards who were accompanying two other men moving through the kitchen, perhaps to sneak out the back way onto the grounds. The guards engaged the mercenaries, leaving their charges to retreat to safety.