Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 210715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1054(@200wpm)___ 843(@250wpm)___ 702(@300wpm)
Gort really didn’t want to let me go. He told me it was ill-advised, then that it was stupid, and then he brought up Everard’s instructions, and I told him that Everard wasn’t here, and he owed me for Falcon Point. This was me collecting.
It wasn’t fair, but I had called in that favor, and now we were on the boat sailing to an almost certain death. I would survive it, but my death wasn’t the one that mattered. I’d dragged five people into this boat with me and I had to bring them home.
Sushi made a short trilling sound. Isadau smiled.
“Of course, you would have a pet stelka.”
“Why ‘of course’?”
“They are attracted to magic. That’s why they make their burrows in the cities. We, humans, burn with magic, and these little guys bask in our afterglow.”
“What about gold butterflies?” I asked.
“Ah. You’ve met Ciste. Is he still hanging out at the Garden?”
I nodded.
“His mother sold her body,” she said. “He grew up in a place a lot like the Garden.”
“What happened to it?”
“Nothing good,” she said. “Damaes tolerates his moonlighting, because Ciste is a gifted summoner. Did you see a swarm of glowing butterflies?”
“Yes. He summoned a sea monster and stelkas, too.”
She smiled. “Was it beautiful?”
“Very.”
“Ciste doesn’t summon illusions, only weapons. Everything he conjures is created for violence.”
Oh.
“Those beautiful golden butterflies feed on your blood. The more magic you have, the richer their feast. A larger swarm can turn a living being into a husk in moments.”
When they had swarmed me, I thought they were beautiful. They thought they’d spotted a Thanksgiving dinner.
“Do other mages know about the butterflies?”
“Some,” Isadau said. “Depending on how informed they are.”
Was that how Silveren had zeroed in on me? Was he a mage? I’d been thinking about Lute stopping in the middle of the street. Magic would be a logical explanation for that.
“Is that the island?” Kaiden stood up at the bow.
Ahead, the river widened. A small island, no more than a couple of acres in size, jutted from the water. It was free of trees and brush, just a wedge of grassy land rising about fifty feet at its highest point. One side ended in a drop, the other sloped to the water. A narrow shore ringed it.
“That’s it,” I confirmed.
The boat shot out into the open. The water in front of us was like polished volcanic glass with the entire universe reflected in it, and we sliced through it at top speed.
The island grew larger and larger.
Breathe. Breathe. This will be simple. Get in, grab what we need, get out before all hell breaks loose.
If we lingered even a second too long, it would cost us all our lives.
Isadau squinted at the hill. “A palisade cluster with a triple spiral. Simple and boring, but effective.”
“Can you crack it?”
“Yes.”
The island loomed in front of us. The brothers lifted the oars, and the boat softly bumped against the shore.
“Clover, the sacks,” I murmured.
She held out big canvas bags. I grabbed one, Lute and Will took one each, and Clover held on to two, one for herself and the other for Kaiden.
“We are not here for gold or jewels. We’re here for his contracts. Take scroll cases, loose scrolls, and papers. Don’t waste time reading them, just grab every document you see.”
We disembarked. The hill lay in front of us, the fat side of the wedge to our left, the sloping end to our right.
Isadau stepped onto the shore, took three measured steps forward, and raised her hand. A faint blue light pulsed from her fingers, dashed to the side and up, and melted into nothing, as a perfect transparent half sphere covering the hill flashed in response to her touch.
“Once I break it, you will have one hundred breaths,” she said.
Five minutes. That little?
“Damaes will never serve as someone’s guard dog,” Isadau said. “He won’t go after you, but he won’t spare you if you get in the way. I won’t spare you either. Don’t look to me for protection. Once I break this, we are even, and all debts are paid in full.”
I glanced at Kaiden. He pulled a small leather pouch out of his shirt and opened it. The moonlight glinted from an array of weird tools.
Isadau braided the fingers of her hands, her thumbs pointing straight up, and opened her mouth.
“Osor dor mi Damaes, da der englofrosos iti . . .”
She was right, I shouldn’t have been alive. When I’d cast the incantation, I’d struggled with every word. She was firing them out with barely any effort.
Power stirred around her. Green sparks flashed in the air.
“. . . da der englocreptesus si . . .”
The sparks flared into a bright beryl-green glow. It spun around Isadau in a tight spiral, dense and potent, her own personal cyclone of magic.
“. . . der odod sen grejos tro . . .”