The Unmage (16 page)

Timo knew these paths too—he’d used them often enough when trying to evade traps set for him. He’d never been to Inigo’s home but he knew it was around this corner.

Yash hurried forward, fast enough that Timo had to run to keep up. He grabbed Yash’s cloak, pulling him to a stop.

“We have to be careful,” Timo hissed.

“My brother is in here,” Yash said. He tugged his cloak, dislodging Timo’s hand.

“And this is where Inigo lives,” Timo said. “I thought he would be kept in the council jail. If your brother is here then this must not be Council business.” What could Inigo want with a Seyoyan? Was he keeping this a secret from council? “Inigo is very powerful. And dangerous.”

“Which is probably why he stole my brother,” Yash said. “And it makes stealing him back even more notable.” He grinned, and Timo sucked in his breath.

“Is this a game to you?” he asked. “Because Inigo will kill us if he finds us here.”

“He won’t find us,” Yash assured him. “We’re invisible. Besides, he hasn’t killed my brother. Come on.” Yash turned and trotted down the hall.

“He’ll kill all of us if he finds you with me,” Timo said quietly, but he followed Yash just the same. He’d given his word to help him and he would. As soon as they were off this Island he’d have Yash take him to Old Rillidi. Then he’d never set foot on Mage Guild Island again.

“He’s in here,” Yash said. He had stopped at a door that writhed with magic. Gold mage mist—the colour of Inigo’s spells—washed over the door while pale blue mist swirled around the edges.

Yash leaned up close to the door, careful not to touch the mage mist. He whispered loudly in a language Timo assumed was Seyoyan. He heard a faint response from the other side of the door, and Yash relaxed.

“You see,” he said. “My brother is fine. Now you can open this door.”

“I’m not sure I can,” Timo said. He crept up to it and looked at the mage mist. “It’s pretty heavily spelled.”

“You can see it too?” Yash asked. “But you have magic yourself—I have seen you cast spells.”

“Yes,” Timo replied absently. He was studying the magic, trying to determine if it was dangerous or not. He stepped away. It
felt
like a simple spell to keep the door locked. He poked at the mage mist and it swirled away from his hand. “But I don’t need a spell for this.” Concentrating, he waved his hand at the mist. Slowly at first, and then more quickly it started to fade. In a few moments the mist was completely gone.

“That looked like a spell to me,” Yash said. He grabbed the door handle and tugged. The door opened, and he flashed Timo a smile before he ducked through it.

Timo followed more slowly. After all these years pretending that he couldn’t see magic, he felt exposed, vulnerable, now that someone knew what he could do. But Yash could see magic too, he told himself, his secret would be safe. He hoped. He followed the sounds of foreign whispers to find Yash standing beside a thick wooden door. The Seyoyan grabbed the handle and rattled the door.

“It’s locked,” Yash said when Timo joined him. “But there’s no magic. Can you get it open?”

“Yes,” Timo said. “Tell your brother to stand back.”

Yash leaned into the door and spoke. There was a muffled response and then he turned and nodded to Timo before stepping away. Timo raised his right hand towards the door and concentrated. A puff of mauve mage mist enveloped the door and then the doorway was empty. The door settled against the adjoining wall with a soft thunk.

There was a blur as a figure rushed out and into Yash’s arms.

“Wuls,” Yash said. He embraced a Seyoyan boy a little younger than Timo. They exchanged a few words in Seyoyan, and then Yash turned to Timo.

“Thank you,” Yash said. “This is my brother. Wuls, we owe Timo a great debt.”

“Yes,” Wuls agreed in accented Tregellan. “We will strive to repay you.”

“We need to get off this island first,” Timo said. Now that Yash’s brother was free, he was nervous. Inigo would be at the Founders Day celebration but Apprentices and lesser Mages didn’t always attend. Someone could come at any moment.

“You’re right,” Yash said and grinned. “But I have never had any trouble getting away before.” He headed over to the door to the hall, Wuls trailing him. “Let’s go.”

“Yes,” Timo said. He trotted out into the hall, following Yash and Wuls.

THE QUIET WAS
pronounced after the thunderous noise of a moment ago. The only sound Kara heard was her own laboured breathing. Her mother was dead. She didn’t mourn her, not exactly, but she was angry.

Inigo crawled to his feet, his face red with rage.

“Do not move,” Santos said. He lifted his hand, and grass green mage mist flowed up over his head. A ball of mage light coalesced and then drifted a few feet higher. Pale faces in the crowd stared up at it, bathed in the white light.

“Proof that I still have my power,” Santos said. He took a step towards Inigo. “And it was always greater than yours. Now, where is Arabella’s son Timo?”

“I don’t know,” Inigo said. “That useless brat killed Rorik.”

“No,” Kara said. They
thought
Timo had escaped off the island, but if there was even the smallest chance that Inigo had captured him, she needed to know. She took a step towards him and smiled when he shrank away from her. “I think you killed him.”

“There’s no proof of that,” Inigo declared.

“No,” Kara replied. “But there might be an eye witness—my brother. You wouldn’t have believed him, but my mother might have.” She leaned closer. “And I know you’d cursed him in the past. Two years ago I undid a spell that was the exact same shade as your magic.”

“Which is nonsense,” Inigo said. “Not proof.”

“Your Journeyman tried to contract an Assassin to kill Timo Valendi,” Reo said.

“I didn’t . . .” a man standing behind Inigo said. He tried to move away but in seconds Reo had a grip on his tunic and had brought Hestor’s face up to his.

“It probably wasn’t your idea,” Reo said, staring at the now ashen Hestor. Reo glanced over his shoulder at Inigo. “And it’s not against Guild Law. Inigo has experience with Assassins, don’t you?” Inigo glared at him, and Reo laughed. He let go of Hestor’s tunic and pushed him away.

“Warrior Guild Primus Rualla asked me to inform you that Warrior Guild rejects your request for a contract.”

“Why would he have you deliver this message?” A blond Mage sidled towards Inigo. “Who are you?”

“Why don’t you ask Inigo?” Reo asked. “He and I go back quite a few years.”

“You can’t say anything,” Inigo hissed. “It’s in your contract.”

“Yes,” Reo agreed. “My Assassin’s contract.” He looked around the room. “Although I’m not Guild anymore. But Inigo does have a habit of getting rid of people.”

“I don’t care,” the blond man said flatly.

“You probably should,” Santos said. “It might be you next.” Santos surveyed the room and stared at someone across the hall. “Or you, Jinaro. I don’t expect Inigo has become overly dependent on you for anything.” Santos turned back to Inigo.

“What’s the brat to you anyway, old man,” the blond said with a smirk. “Valerio Valendi may have been your Apprentice but if his actions are anything to go by, he hated you.”

Kara took a calm step towards the blond man. “He’s my brother,” she said.

“If I knew anything I wouldn’t tell you.” He started to sneer but Reo’s hand closed on his neck and his breath was cut off.

“I advise you to cooperate,” Reo said. He looked over his shoulder and met Kara’s eyes. “Do you want me to kill him?”

For a moment Kara was sure she wanted this man dead. He may not have Timo now but she had no doubt that he’d added to her brother’s misery. She met the gaze of the man Reo held. He wasn’t sneering now.

“No,” Kara said finally. Reo let go, and the Mage dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.

“We need to question Inigo,” Reo said calmly.

“Yes,” Santos agreed. “Then the Journeyman.” He waved a hand and mage mist flew out in all directions. All the doors to the room slammed shut, and the mist settled at the edge of the hall, slowly circling the outer walls.

A few people rushed into the mist only to find themselves a few steps away. She smiled. A relocation spell—it was how Santos had protected Old Rillidi for years.

“Inigo first,” Santos said.

Reo grabbed the Mage and dragged him over to Santos. Kara watched the crowd. There were a few huddles of people and some furtive glances sent their way, but no one moved toward them.

She glanced behind her. A thread of grass green mage mist wrapped around Inigo’s head, and the Master Mage started to choke.

“What did you do to Timo after Rorik died?” Santos said.

“Nothing,” Inigo said.

The mage mist tightened, and Inigo fell to his knees.

“I swear. We looked for him but couldn’t find him.” Inigo’s face twisted in hate. “No doubt that bitch he had for a mother helped him. She was always trying to protect him, though he has such a small talent.”

Kara laughed, she couldn’t help it. “You have no idea what Timo’s talents are.” Santos nodded—Inigo was telling the truth. He didn’t know here Timo was. “And you forget that Arabella was my mother too.”

This time it was Inigo who laughed. “It’s not like she ever wanted you. She was willing to work with me to kill all of you!”

Kara nodded. It confirmed what they’d thought: her mother and Inigo had been planning something. “Nevertheless she
was
my mother. What were you two planning?”

Because of Santos’ spell he’d be forced to tell her the truth. Inigo’s eyes bulged with the effort to try to keep from speaking. He sputtered a few times, and when he would have rolled to the floor, Reo dragged him up to his knees.

“To get Santos’ approval,” Inigo said. “For her and I to be Primus and Secundus.”

“Why?” Reo asked.

“So there would be no questions about our right to rule.” He glared at Santos. “The great Santos Nimali could still gain support on council. We needed his approval.”

“And then what?” Reo asked quietly.

Inigo shut his mouth and closed his eyes tight, straining to not answer.

“Then what?” Reo repeated. He pulled Inigo up off his feet. “What were you planning to do once Santos had approved you?”

“We were going to kill you!” Inigo spat. “All of you! Arabella said there was no way to kill you when you were on Old Rillidi. That’s why she lied about her brat being here.”

Reo dropped him to the floor, and Inigo started to laugh. “It was her idea—that bitch. Get you here and kill you all. But she didn’t know,” he dragged himself to his knees, “that I was going to kill her in a week, maybe a month. She had to die. She was in the way.”

“Of what,” Santos said. “What was she in the way of?”

“Of me becoming Primus,” Inigo said. “Of me having the power I deserve.”

“Yet you are not Primus—
I
am,” Santos said. He nodded at Reo. “Bring the Journeyman.”

Kara faced Inigo. She was aware of Reo, striding through the crowd in search of Hestor Galina, but she kept her eyes on Inigo.

“What are you looking at?” the Mage said.

Santos’ spell was fading, and Kara waved it away. “My mother’s killer,” she said angrily. “I deflected your spell but
you’re
the one who put her in its path. You
planned
on killing her.”

She reached towards him, and he flinched away. But she wasn’t trying to touch him, she was searching for his magic. She could feel a tiny kernel still within him. Was it left over from when she’d drained all the Mages in the room or had he replenished it already? The clammers had little magic, and it renewed itself slowly, but was that because she didn’t dig deep enough to root it all out?

Kara pulled at the magic buried inside Inigo with all her strength. A tiny thread answered her, and slowly, slowly it spooled out of him. She swept her hand out, and the mage mist writhed on the floor between them. Inigo gave a strangled cry and toppled over. He reached his hand to his head, his breathing laboured.

“What have you done to him?” Hestor asked when Reo pushed him forward. “Is he dead?”

“No,” Kara replied absently. She was concentrating on Inigo’s prone form, searching for even the faintest spark of magic. She straightened up and looked first at Reo and then at Santos. “But his magic might be. At the very least it will be a long time before he has any power, and it may never return, at least not completely.”

Santos’ eyebrows went up but he didn’t say anything.

“Let’s see if this one knows where Timo is,” Reo said. He pulled Hestor’s arms together behind his back and spun him to face Santos.

This time when she turned to watch the crowd there was fear in the faces of some of the Mages. She balled her hands into fists—Reo would probably chastise her later—but she’d been angry. Even though Arabella had been planning on killing them all, Kara hated that
she’d
had a part in her mother’s death. And she’d wanted Inigo to pay for that. And now he would.