The Scofflaw Magician (The Artifactor Book 3)

Published by Raconteur House

Antioch, TN

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and
incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business
establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

THE SCOFFLAW MAGICIAN

Book Three of the Artifactor Series

A Raconteur House book/ published by arrangement with the
author

PRINTING HISTORY

Raconteur House mass-market edition/November 2015

Copyright © 2015 by Honor Raconteur

Cover Illustration by Honor Raconteur

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or
distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not
participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials in violation
of the author’s rights.

Purchase only authorized editions.

For information address:

Raconteur House

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www.raconteurhouse.com

Other books by Honor Raconteur
Published by Raconteur House

THE ADVENT MAGE CYCLE

Book One:
Jaunten
Book Two:
Magus
Book Three:
Advent
Book Four:
Balancer
Advent Mage Compendium
The Dragon’s Mage
The Lost Mage

Special Forces 01

The Midnight Quest

Kingslayer

THE ARTIFACTOR SERIES

The Child Prince
The Dreamer’s Curse
The Scofflaw Magician

DEEPWOODS SAGA

Deepwoods
Blackstone
Fallen Ward

KINGMAKERS

Arrows of Change
Arrows of Promise *

*Coming soon

Acknowledgements

To Ben, who can’t
understand why more fantasy books don’t have lizards in them.

Also to the fans who
couldn’t understand where the next Artifactor book was.

This book is for all
of you.

A special remembrance
to my brother, Jarrett, that I lost this year. He was my strategy expert,
enthusiast, and partner in crime. It was through his support and constant
enthusiasm that Raconteur House was even formed and continued to exist.

 I’m not quite sure
what I’ll do without him.

The greatest test of
courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.

-- Robert G.
Ingersoll

What in the
world was that clamor? It sounded like a battle was going on in her backyard.

Sevana, having
pulled an all-nighter to finish a project for a client, did not wake up quickly
or easily even after being unconscious for six hours. In fact, she probably
would have kept on sleeping if not for her Illeyanic wolf pup insistently
sticking his nose into her ribs. Blearily coming awake, she batted him away and
rose up onto one elbow. “I hear it, I hear it!”

Grydon let out
a yip and his tail started wagging, no doubt satisfied he’d finally gotten a
response from her. At six months old, he had grown considerably and he now had
enough body mass to him that when his tail wagged, the whole bed vibrated. He
jumped off the bed and went to the ground, then looked back at her with an
obvious,
Well, come on!

Unlike with
most dogs/wolves/pets of any sort, that signal did not mean he wanted to go
outside for personal business. The Illeyanic wolves were intelligent enough to
open most doors used by man and could find their way in and out of buildings as
they pleased. Even if that were not the case, Big would just open the door for
him if he needed it. So Sevana interpreted that body language to mean something
serious was happening outside, something that she needed to handle, and she
really had to get up. Now.

Groaning and
growling a few choice words, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and to
the cold stone floor. She hissed as her bare skin touched the icy coldness of
the floor, growled some more, but kept moving until she was fully dressed.
During this process, Grydon danced around in front of her bedroom door,
impatiently waiting for her to actually leave the room.

As she buttoned
up her vest, she realized that her first impression of a battlefield out behind
Big might actually be dead on instead of a simple metaphor. She could hear
trumpets sounding out long notes in hauntingly hollow tones, a great deal of
shouting, and the clamor of metal striking something solid. How completely
strange. What on earth would be the point of having a battle
here
? There
was no large human settlement on the western border of Windamere. In fact, no
large settlement of any kind could be found here except, perhaps, the Fae.
(Even after four months of regularly going in and out of their territory she
had no idea how big their village was.) But suggesting that a human army would
march against the Fae ranked right up there with trying to build a dam in a
typhoon in terms of ridiculousness. Aside from needing a very good reason to go
to war with the Fae in the first place, no human stood much of a chance against
them, no matter how many in number there were.

But the only
other possibility that came to her mind was that two of the other mythical
races that lived in Noppers Woods were battling it out, which made even
less
sense. Everyone had cohabited peacefully in the woods for the past several
centuries, and she had not seen any reason for tension. So what would cause
this flare-up?

Since her own
conjectures just confused her further, she snatched up sword and jacket and
headed straight for the front door. “Big, what’s going on?”

Visitor.
Front room
. Big sounded distinctly nervous.

That made her
pause in mid-step and look up at him in surprise. Big? Nervous? The only time
she’d seen that happen was when he’d found Baby as a cub and didn’t know what
to do with him. Being as indestructible as a, well, mountain, Big usually let
most incidents slide without too much concern. If
he
was worried, then
she should be outright panicked.

With that
thought in mind, she dove into her workroom for her magical pouch even as she
demanded, “Who?”

Fae
.

She fumbled and
dropped the pouch. Fae. She had a
Fae
in her mountain? “I now understand
why you’re nervous. Ah, why is he or she here?”

To speak
with you.

Her first
thought was that something must be wrong with one of the kids that she’d
brought to them, although what she couldn’t begin to imagine. But then again,
maybe it had something to do with all that racket in her backyard. The Fae
would not be tolerant of any antics so close to their territory. Gulping
nervously, she hastily scooped up the bag from the floor and belted it on even
as she spun on a heel and went for the front room.

The Fae stood
in the center of the room, idly staring upwards at the light charm she had
sticking to the ceiling. When she entered, he dropped his gaze and a look of
relief flashed over his face before he adopted his customary composure.
“Sevana.”

She let out a
breath, panic receding. “Lorien.” She had seen him many times over the past few
months. He was the one that typically accepted the children she brought, ever
since she’d handed Sky over to him. The other Fae were not interested in
forming human connections, but Lorien had proven to be an amiable business
partner, if not friend. “What is going on?” she asked for the second time that
morning. Well, it was closer to afternoon, but regardless.

“There is a
human army attempting to penetrate our borders and invade Noppers Woods,” he
answered succinctly.

Even though she
had harbored that wild speculation not minutes ago, she still stared at him
blankly, not quite able to wrap her mind around the idea. “Ah, why?”

“We hoped that
you would know their purpose.” He spread his hands palm up in a graceful shrug.
“They have made no declarations to us.”

Sevana rubbed
at the bridge of her nose. A human army of any nationality would not challenge
a Fae
nation
without a very good reason. Not to mention a suicidal
determination. “Tell me you haven’t met them in combat.”

“We have not,”
he assured her in bleak amusement. “We have asked the trees to be our guardians
and they have prevented their advance.”

How, she really
wanted to ask, but sensed this would not be the time. “You obviously came to me
for a reason. For help or information?”

“Intervention,”
he clarified. “We do not understand their motives nor know who we are dealing
with. But we trust your judgment concerning the world. We wish for you to go as
our ambassador and find out their purpose and what might appease them.”

In other words,
lucky day, the Fae weren’t really in the mood for a fight. Sevana blessed the
heavens for this mercy as if they
had
been in a feisty mood, the world
would be minus one army right about now. “I will go speak with them.”

He gave a half
bow of thanks. “Tell your mountain I meant no harm. We are agitated because of
the threat on our borders. They are too close to our children for peace of
mind. I may have acted…hastily.”

Lorien had
threatened her mountain? She glanced up at Big. Oh was she
ever
going to
get the full story on
that
later. “I will. For now, I will go to meet
the army. Um, how should I communicate with you once I have spoken with them?”

“I will be
nearby.”

And would
obviously come when he wished to and not a moment before. Right. Sevana
politely showed him out the front door before doubling back and grabbing a few
more wands and the mini-skimmer. She didn’t really need to fly for this short
of a distance, but she didn’t want to try and wade through soldiers either
until she reached their commanding officer. The mini-skimmer would attract
their attention, give her the perfect way to spot the right men in charge, and
save her some valuable time. As she moved, she asked Big, “Where is Baby?
Stalking the soldiers?”

Yes
.

Now that
figured. The cat loved free entertainment and an army at his door qualified as
that. She was lucky that he hadn’t yet started chasing them around for the fun
of it.

As she threw a
leg over the skimmer, Grydon attempted to climb up as well, although his paws
skidded a bit on the slick surface. She rolled her eyes, grabbed him around the
waist, and tugged him all the way on. Trying to argue with him into staying
here would do her no good, as she had learned from previous experience. In this
sort of tense atmosphere, the wolf would sense danger and he wouldn’t let her
out of his sight if he could help it. Once on top, he settled into the seat and
the anti-falling charms would prevent him from losing his perch. Satisfied, she
kicked the mini-skimmer up and into the air.

Fall had just started
to come across the land, but the air still felt warm and welcoming as she rose
into the sky. She didn’t go up very far, just enough to clear the tree line,
letting her ears tell her which direction to go. With the din the army raised,
a person would have to be blind and deaf to not be able to sense them. The
skimmer hummed as she drove it forward, sounding like an oversized hummingbird.

As soon as she
got free of the trees and past the edge of the woods, the stupid and foolish
humans came into view. Oh…mercy…not good. Sevana had hoped that because Lorien
didn’t have much experience with the world that he had misused the term
army
and that it would be a much smaller gathering of men. He hadn’t. There must
have been five thousand men arrayed in front of her, most of them lined up in
battle formations, the others already setting up a camp of sorts with white
tents being pitched and cookfires blazing. Just how long had they been at this
to already be this established?

Her eyes turned
toward the group near the edge of the woods and finally understood what Lorien
had meant by ‘the trees preventing their approach.’ The limbs and branches of
the trees had woven themselves together, like some giant hand weaving a basket
from nature, and the pattern was so dense that not even a mountain lion would
be able to squeeze through. (Although she’d lay odds Baby would try it later
just for the fun of the challenge.) The army hacked through the limbs, using
swords and axes to try and force their way through, but their progress was
marginal at best. They would get through one layer only to meet the next layer
directly behind it. They could be here for the next twenty years and not make
any significant progress.

They didn’t
look disheartened by this, though. If anything, they seemed more determined.

Curioser and
curioser. Shaking her head, she started looking for a man on a white horse. The
general always rode a white horse to make it easier for the men he commanded to
find him in the midst of battle. No one seemed to be mounted, though. Alright,
where would the command tent be? Or the standard bearer? Her eyes panned the
area again. From up here, she couldn’t see much of the uniforms, but that white
on tan made her think—in the next second her eyes caught sight of the royal
purple and yellow standard of the Sa Kao nation. Ahh, as she had suspected.

Well, where the
standard bearer was, the commander would be nearby. She came in closer in easy
stages because surprising an army of men with sharp, pointy objects was never a
good plan. Someone finally noticed her, pointing upwards and shouting, and the
word rippled and spread. By the time she had done a small circle around the
command tent, a small space had opened up for her to land, thereby solving her
dilemma of squashing people or not. She set to ground gently, disabling the
charms so that Grydon could climb down. As she slid off, she called out, “I am
Artifactor Sevana Warran! Who is the commanding officer here?”

From the throng
in front of her, someone pushed their way through, men melting quickly to
either side to give him passage. She expected a seasoned and aging general, but
what came forward was a young woman of fifteen or so. She wore the pure white
uniform of a ranking officer, gold sun embroidered on her breast, a white
turban wrapped around her head. Sevana didn’t need any of that to tell her who
this person was, however. With that sharp nose, tanned skin and dark eyes,
Sevana knew she had to be related directly to the Sa Kaon king somehow.

“Princess of Sa
Kao, you are far from home.”

She blinked.
“You know who I am?”

“No,” she
admitted. “But I’ve met your father on several occasions. You resemble him.”

Her head cocked
slightly, as if she hadn’t expected this, but she introduced herself instead of
asking questions. “I am Farah, Fourth Princess of Sa Kao and the commander of
this army.” Her voice sounded unnaturally controlled for so young a teenager,
making her words more weighty and serious. “Artifactor, why have you approached
me?”

“Well, for one
thing, you’re making a terrible mess in my backyard.” She jerked a thumb over
her shoulder to indicate Big. “I live in that mountain.”

Farah blinked,
eyes darting over her shoulder to see the area with new eyes. “I was unaware of
this.”

“Are you also
unaware that several different species live in these woods?”

“We have been
informed of three different species that live there,” she admitted frankly.
“But why is this your concern?”