The Unmage (20 page)

“Because I did,” Timo said. “I interfered with the spell and watched it kill Rorik. I was there, I know what I did.” Yash sat down across from Timo and stared at him. Timo shifted under his gaze, eventually asking, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I only know one person who can manipulate spells,” Yash said. “I met her years ago, when I was just a boy.” He grinned. “Her husband is a good friend of our uncle.”

“You know Kara?” Timo asked. “And Reo?”

Yash leaned back and continued to study him. “I’ve met them. How do you know them?”

“Kara is my sister,” Timo said. “Half-sister. We share a mother.”

Yash’s eyes widened. “So this mother you keep talking about is Arabella Fonti, Mage Guild Secundus?” Timo nodded. “You say she will not help you?”

“No,” Timo said. “She won’t. And the Guild Council blames me for Rorik’s death. That’s why I didn’t want to return to Mage Guild Island.”

“And yet you did,” Yash said. “Why?”

“I need your boat,” Timo said. “To get to Old Rillidi.”

Yash nodded. “Are you invited? They have very strong defenses.”

“I’m invited,” Timo said. “I was hoping a friend would come for me but I tried to help Rorik before he came back.”

“Who is this friend?”

“Reo’s former Apprentice,” Timo said. “An Assassin.”

“Ah,” Yash said. “For many years those Seyoyans who can see magic have worked with Assassins. Our uncle was such a one—he worked with Reo.”

“That’s how you met Kara,” Timo said, and Yash nodded.

“Kara Fonti is held in high esteem by my people.” Yash grinned. “It would help elevate my own standing to give aid to her brother. Much more than stealing a boat from a Mage would.”

WHEN HE HEARD
the soft knock on the door, Timo waved Yash and Wuls towards Rorik’s workroom. He opened the door to an anxious Barra Eska. She looked around briefly before stepping into the hallway. She jumped when the door closed and Timo became visible. He took a heavy basket from her and set it on the floor.

“There’s food for at least a few days,” she said. “It was all I could safely take.” She leaned against the door.

“Thank you,” Timo said. He frowned at the faint strand of pink mage mist that trailed from her left foot, under the door and out into the hallway. In the library he’d thought it lacked focus. Now he wasn’t so sure. “Are you all right?”

“I’m a little nervous,” she replied. “I’ll get in trouble if I’m caught.”

“But you feel well?” She nodded, and he continued. “We’ll be quick. Were you able to find out if anyone is searching for me?”

“I didn’t feel safe asking,” Barra said. “I can’t chance getting into trouble.”

Something about the way she’d answered him made Timo stare at her, but she looked away to avoid meeting his gaze.

“You’ve told them.”

Barra started to shake her head and then shrugged.

“Is that why you have magic trailing from you?” Timo asked. “Is that a spell to make sure they know where I am?”

“There’s no spell,” Barra said. “I told him you were here.”

“Who did you tell?”

“My new Master, Faron,” Barra said.

“Faron?” Timo sucked in a breath. “The whole council will know. Why?”

“Why?” Barra asked. “Why shouldn’t I? I’m his Journeyman, I need his trust in order to learn as much from him as I can. I told him when I first saw you—I said you were going to your mother’s.” She scowled. “But he didn’t find you there, and he was angry with me. He’ll find you now, though. He’s already on his way.”

Timo glared at her, but she looked away and settled against the door. “He knows that you can make yourself invisible so don’t think that will help you.”

“Yash!” Timo called. He felt some satisfaction when Barra paled. “We’ve been betrayed.”

Yash burst from the workroom, Wuls behind him.

“Shall we kill her?” Wuls asked.

Barra glanced around, fear in her eyes. She couldn’t see the Seyoyan but she heard his question. She shrank against the door.

“Too late for that,” Timo said. “We need to get out.”

Yash nodded, and he and Wuls headed for the door that led down to the dock. Yash pointed at Timo and then the other door. Timo nodded. Yash hadn’t wanted to say anything out loud, not when Barra would simply tell Faron, but he wanted Timo to use the Server corridors. Yash and Wuls slipped through the door and were gone.

“You can’t trust them, you know,” Timo said. “Not any of them. Faron will use you until he’s bled you dry, then he’ll discard you.” He paused. “I think he’s already stealing your magic.”

“It’s not like I have much of a choice,” Barra said, and Timo was shocked at the bitterness in her voice. “You ruined it for me with your mother. At least she wouldn’t have expected me to share her bed for the privilege of becoming a Journeyman. That’s right,” Barra said when he stared at her. “I had offers from two Mages and both were very clear that I was expected to do more than simply learn magic. At least Faron is young and handsome.” She spit on the floor. “Not like that pig Castio.”

“I’m sorry,” Timo said. “I had no idea.”

“Of course you didn’t,” she said. “You were too busy feeling sorry for yourself. Feeling cheated because you’d been denied access to some of the most boring records ever created.”

“That’s not . . .” Timo started. He paused when he heard noises from outside. He waved a hand and mage mist wrapped around Barra and held her tight against the door. Another spell reinforced the door and locked it tight. Finally, he spelled himself invisible and leaned towards Barra.

“You’re right,” he said. “I
was
busy—busy trying to stay alive. Why do you think I was always bruised and battered? You should ask your friend Hestor about that. And ask him why he tried to hire an Assassin to kill me.”

“That’s a lie!” Barra said. “He wouldn’t.”

“He did. You can check Warrior Guild’s records for proof. You can’t trust those Mages, Barra.” Then he ran for the door that led to the Server corridors.

TIMO SQUEEZED UNDER
the table and wedged himself against the wall, his head on his knees. He’d been travelling the hallways for hours now, looking for signs of the Seyoyans but he hadn’t come across them. Were they hiding somewhere, like him? He huddled at the back of the storage room, wondering what he should do next.

If Yash and Wuls had finally stolen a boat they were now far away from Mage Guild Island. Timo shook his head. No. Yash would do everything he could to take Timo with him when he left in order to gain standing with his fellow Seyoyans. Timo couldn’t say the same about Wuls—the younger brother was more intent on getting away. But he’d been imprisoned by Inigo, a Mage who Timo knew had no compassion.

His stomach rumbled, and he thought about the basket of food Barra had brought, the one he’d had to leave behind in Rorik’s quarters.

He sighed. No food, no water, no one he could trust. Maybe it was time to find his mother. Would she help him? Could she? If the whole council was aligned against her, she might not be able to. He thought about what Barra had said—that the offers to take her on as Journeyman had included bedding her mentor. Had his mother had to deal with that? Was that why she’d always been so cold, so distant with him? And was that why she had barely acknowledged Kara?

Arabella Fonti had been eighteen when she arrived on Mage Guild Island. She was virtually untrained at an age when most Mages with talent were midway through their Journeymen postings. She’d already had a child—Kara—and left her behind. Timo had never really wondered what it must have been like for his mother. Untrained and with no political ties, no Mage would have wanted her as their Apprentice. But she’d been beautiful and ambitious. She would have used any advantage she had in order to succeed, including bedding someone who could help her.

But Barra had wanted to avoid being forced to use her body to obtain a posting. No wonder she’d wanted Timo to talk to his mother. Unfortunately for Barra, he doubted Arabella Fonti would have sympathy for another woman’s struggle. She’d tried to hire an Assassin to kill her own daughter, for Gyda’s sake. And she had not softened in the years since.

Barra might blame him for ruining her reputation with his mother but there had never been a real chance that Arabella would have taken her on as Journeyman.

But would she help him now? Would Arabella Fonti use the powers she had as Secundus to help her son? He couldn’t be sure. Which left him with no friends, no allies, no one within Mage Guild whom he could trust.

He refreshed his spells and lay down on the dusty flagstone floor of the closet, no closer to knowing what he should do than when he’d entered the room. His stomach rumbled again, and he ignored it, pillowing his head on his hands. He stared at the far door until his eyes closed and he fell into an exhausted sleep.

KARA LEANED AGAINST
the kitchen wall and watched her son as he and Reo, their heads bent together, dug in the garden. Nando’s small hand plunged into the soil, and he laughed as he pulled up a clump of dirt.

“That’s a big one,” Reo said.

Nando held the wriggling worm up before he dropped it into a small bucket.

“I’ll catch a big fish,” the boy said, and Kara smiled.

It was early; the sun was just rising above the trees. For days, Nando had been pestering his father to take him fishing, and Reo had finally agreed. Kara sighed, and the smile slipped from her face.

Her children could never meet their grandmother because
she’d
killed her. She would have to tell them one day—just as she would have to tell Timo. Unlike when she’d killed Valerio Valendi, she’d known what turning the spell back would do. She’d meant to kill—she just hadn’t meant to kill Arabella Fonti.

She sighed again. Timo would probably despise her—she was responsible for the deaths of both his parents—but finding him was just as important to her now as it ever was. She would make sure he got to choose how he lived his life. If he chose to live it somewhere without her, well, that had always been a possibility. But he hadn’t lived years knowing his mother wanted him dead. And perhaps she’d saved him from that. If Arabella and Inigo had become Primus and Secundus, they would have used all of Mage Guild’s resources against Old Rillidi even if Timo was living here. So someone was going to die and she couldn’t be sad that it wasn’t those she loved. But she was angry that she’d been forced to kill.

There was nothing to be done about Mole, Reo had told her, not for another two days. They’d all agreed, including Mole, that no one was to try to track him down unless five days had passed without word from him. At that point, she, Reo, and Santos would go after him.

She watched as her son found another worm and giggled as he brushed his dirty hands on his trousers. Nando was the exact same age as Mole had been when she’d first met him, and the contrast between the two was startling.

Where Mole, quiet, solemn Mole, had never been comfortable in the light, at times Nando seemed like a child born of sunshine and smiles. Reo looked up and she met his gaze over the top of their son’s head. She smiled sadly and glanced away. Two more days before they would go after Mole and Timo. Two more days of pretending to live her life, pretending that part of her family wasn’t missing, that part of
her
wasn’t missing. Kara sighed and stared out past the garden to where the sun sparkled on the waters of the bay. Two more days and they would go. Because she knew that something had happened to Mole.

TIMO’S MOUTH FELT
dry and gritty. He licked his lips, moistening the cracked skin, as he opened the door and stared out into the empty hallway.

He’d lost track of time. He thought he’d slept for five or six hours—that it was now around midnight. He couldn’t be sure, but he couldn’t wait any longer. He had to find water and food.

While he’d slept, his subconscious had done what he couldn’t do awake. He was now certain that he could not approach his mother. Barra had sent Faron to Arabella Fonti’s quarters—he realized now that it was her dock he’d seen people on. Whether by choice or by force, his mother was helping Faron and the council. Which meant that she was aligned with Inigo, a Mage who wanted him dead. He could not trust his mother.

He watched the hallway for a few minutes before he eased out into it. He gently closed the door behind him and stood with his back flat against the wall. After a few moments of quiet, he readied a spell. He wasn’t leaving without the Seyoyans.

THE MAUVE FINDER
spell slowly trailed along the floor, moving ever closer to the centre of the island. A few corridors earlier, Timo had passed the hallway that led to his mother’s house. It was quiet, like the rest of the corridors he’d been travelling for the past hour.

Up ahead the mage mist slipped under a door, and Timo stopped in front of it. He placed his ear against the wood, hoping for some sense of what was on the other side but he didn’t hear anything. He took a step back. It was a door like many others that lined the hallway.