Warrior's Dawn (Fire and Tears) (3 page)

What was he doing? He couldn’t even explain why he’d pushed her that way. He didn’t want to talk about the reason he’d joined with the traitor elves. Not to anyone. Certainly not to this human woman he barely knew. A woman he had no doubt wanted desperately to stick one of her two short swords into his back right about now.

He was an idiot.

With his back to her, he said, “The fortress where the List is located, its existence isn’t information they allow out of their territory. Most of the minions don’t even know it exists. Only a handful of the Sorcerers’ servants, a select guard and the Sorcerers themselves know where it is. Each Sorcerer maintains their own stronghold. The ‘public’ Citadel is for show and business. The List fortress is the site of their power. The place where they meet in secret and maintain their alliance.”

She was silent for a long time after he’d spit out what he’d started to tell her before getting sidetracked. Though he could usually wait out the silences of others, with Mina he found himself turning to face her, to see if he could read her expression.

She looked thoughtful. Her lips were pursed, her gaze turned inward. When she glanced up, the anger and pain he’d forced her to feel were no longer evident in her expression.

“‘Maintain their alliance’. What do you mean by that?”

He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as his shoulders relaxed, releasing some of his tension. “Do you honestly think so many powerful individuals would work together willingly? Without ever making a grab for all the power themselves? The Sorcerers are selfish and hungry. Each would happily destroy the others if it meant they could walk away with everything.”

“Yet they don’t.” She nodded slowly in understanding. “You know why, don’t you?”

“The List of Names.”

Her eyes narrowed. He could practically see her sharp mind ticking through the facts he’d just laid out for her, and he watched as comprehension dawned. Confirming what he’d suspected all along about Mina the spy. She was a very intelligent woman.

“They use the List as a…standoff, of sorts,” she said. “Is that right?”

“One human was given the job of writing down the names—given to him in secrecy—and another was given the job of guarding the List. The man who’d taken the names was killed so he couldn’t be tortured into revealing any of them. The woman who guards them was given a certain measure of power to protect her. Not enough to threaten the Sorcerers’ own power. But enough to keep them from bypassing her to steal the List.”

“Why would they allow her to know their names, though?”

“She doesn’t know. The List was locked away in a bespelled vessel by the original taker of the names.”

“Wait.” She raised a hand. “We not only have to get around this guardian, but we have to get through a spell to get at the List?”

“You didn’t expect this to be an easy mission, did you? That the Sorcerers would just leave something so valuable lying about?”

She scowled but rather than responding to his barb, she said, “So the Sorcerers use the List as a kind of insurance against betrayal. If one attempts to overpower the others, there’s some plan in place for that Sorcerer’s true name to be revealed?”

He clapped slowly in approval, the sound muffled by his thin leather gloves. “Just so. As you said, a standoff. A way to maintain the alliance. If one tries to betray the others, they risk losing something far more important to them than the power they might otherwise gain.”

“Their true names. Which can be used in magic against them. Spells to destroy them.”

“Oh more than just simple death spells. They could be turned into slaves if their true name gets into the wrong hands. A fate none of them covets.”

“How could the name get out if one of them attempted to overthrow the others? Couldn’t that one just kill the guardian, steal the vessel and make sure the others never got his name?”

He walked back to the wall, his earlier tension replaced by a strange need to be near her. “Outside of the guardian’s own powers to help prevent that, part of the spell placed on the vessel is tied with all of their blood. The betrayal of one triggers an element of the magic that then whispers that one’s name to the others. They would all know of both the betrayal and the betrayer’s true name before that Sorcerer could ever make a move. Quite elegant, really. The perfect stalemate.”

“I didn’t even know there was magic capable of what you’re describing.”

“It’s not common knowledge. And Sinnale had very few practitioners before the invasion. None since. Your people don’t know the half of what your enemy is capable of.”

He settled his hip against the wall, closer to her than he’d been before. She didn’t move away, too caught up in their conversation to notice he’d placed himself so near. The position gave him a chance to breathe in the very faint but deliciously sweet smell of her skin.

He hadn’t noticed her scent when she came to speak with him the day before in his cage. She’d kept herself too far away. Now, he was drawn by that elusive hint circling toward him on the chilled breeze. He wanted to nuzzle her neck to better capture and analyze the soft sweetness. But he had a feeling he’d end up with one of her swords in his gut if he tried. For some reason, that thought actually amused him, further lightening his earlier tension until he was almost cheerful.

“Do your people understand fully?” she asked. “You work with magic. You each have some to command.”

“Our magic is different. Of the earth and ourselves. Not ripped away from some unlucky sacrifice. Our magic doesn’t come from books and spells. It’s part of our essence, part of who we are in each life we live.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” she said, her chin pulled back as she stared up at him.

He allowed a very slight smile. “No. It doesn’t.” He nodded back toward the currently empty streets. “And we’ve moved away from our goal. If we enter there now, we’ll have to hide inside enemy territory. And we have a slightly different destination to reach than you assumed.”

“Are you willing to tell me where we’re going before we cross the border? I had planned for us taking at least two days to reach the Citadel. But now… You should have shared this information with me earlier.”

“The council didn’t need to know this much detail. I knew we’d have time to discuss it once inside Noman’s Land.”

“You have a very roundabout way of bringing it up. So…”

“So, the List fortress is located five city blocks behind the Citadel, at the very center of their territory. The building is nondescript, maintains no outward guards—though there are guards inside—and has a vaguely disused look about it. That part is thanks to some elf glamour.”

“The traitors help the Sorcerers disguise their true center of power? Isn’t that a risk for the Sorcerers?”

He rolled his eyes. “The others never bothered to find out what they were hiding with the glamour. They assumed the Sorcerers were testing their skills. Idiots.” He spit out the last through a half snarl.

“The same idiots you joined with willingly,” she pointed out. “What does that make you?”

“The biggest fool of them all,” he answered without hesitation. Her eyes narrowed, and he knew she’d ask more. Somehow with this woman he kept slipping into a topic he had no intention of discussing. To stave off her curiosity, he returned to their original topic. “Now then, our direction is still generally the same as before. But we’ll have to get past the Citadel. And it, along with the surrounding area, is heavily guarded and patrolled. Only partly for show.”

Her gaze turned inward again as she considered their options. He watched her thinking, unable to look away even if he’d wanted to. The play of concentration across her face, the way her brow creased and her full lips flattened into a line, continued to fascinate him, holding his attention more thoroughly even than the full bounty of her breasts or the sexy flare of her hips.

Finally, she said, “If we attempt to go too far out of our way to bypass the Citadel, this mission could take at least a week. The longer we’re in their territory, the better chance we have of being captured.”

“And there’s no way to circumvent the Citadel without running into minion patrols. Not unless we attempt to go outside the city limits and sneak back in. But they guard those well with spells as well as minions. I understand the edges of the city in their territory are even more heavily monitored now.”

“After the two elves who came to deliver those special arrows got through? But how would you know about their patrols if you’ve been in our prison?”

“Not all of you Sinnale are immune to my charms,” he said with a slight chuckle. In fact, very few humans could resist his particular talent when he really tried. But the king and queen had ensured the magic mixed into the bars of his cage provided some protection for the Sinnale. Fortunately, he’d always found a handsome face and a ready ear went a long way on their own. “Information is always available to someone willing to…chat.”

“One of my people told you the city limits were being more heavily monitored. Who?”

He shook his head. “Ah-ah. I could hardly betray that very kind person’s confidence by revealing they’d spoken with me.”

She narrowed her eyes as if she intended to say more so he held up a hand. “But back to the topic. Moving outside the city limits and then back in again won’t prevent us from encountering patrols and protection spells. Any attempt to get around the center of the minion movements will be a waste of time.”

She sighed. “I was afraid of that. Well, then. We take my original route, hide in the places I’d planned for. Once near the Citadel, we’ll have to gather information, watch patrol movements. This will still take at least an extra day or two. But not as long as a week. Unless you’re still not telling me something?”

“I can direct you to the List fortress, and I can lead you to the List of Names inside—if we make it that far. I haven’t kept a secret way to get there from you.”

“Fine. We’ll have to do what we can once we know more.”

He edged just a little closer, near enough his hand could easily brush against hers on the retaining wall. He resisted the urge to touch, knowing she’d pull away, but he couldn’t resist the need to hover closer to her heat.

“Are you still determined to cross the border tonight, then?” he asked.

“We don’t have time to waste. I planned for us going in tonight.”

“We’ll be to one of your hiding places before dawn? The patrols aren’t any larger or smaller during the day, but we’ll be easier to spot.”

“You forget I’ve done this before. You haven’t. I know what I’m doing. We’ll be well hidden before dawn.”

She stopped short of asking him to trust her. Which was good, as he didn’t trust anyone anymore. But he did believe she knew what she was doing. As she’d pointed out, she was still alive. That spoke well of her skills.

“Well, then,” he said, staring into the streets of a part of Sinnale he’d never expected to visit again.

He knew exactly what they were getting into, exactly what dangers lay ahead. Suicide. But he’d made his choice. And sneaking into enemy territory with Mina was infinitely more interesting than his endless days in a cage, reliving and reviling the circumstances that got him there.

He glanced at his companion. Yes, there were worse ways to spend time. “I’m ready whenever you are,” he said.

Chapter Three

Using the information on the border protection spells another spy had provided, Mina led Althir into enemy territory. Though she hadn’t bothered to tell Althir, her real reason for avoiding a delay was that the location of those spells changed frequently, and she didn’t want to get caught in one because she was working from outdated information.

Althir was right. Information was a very valuable commodity, and her life revolved around gathering it now. The risks she and the other spies took helped save lives.

Though if Althir was to be believed, not all of the facts they’d gathered were correct. The idea that the Sorcerers had allowed them some of those details made her stomach turn, made her feel like a puppet.

Once beyond the border, she kept to less-used roads but moved slowly and cautiously from point to point. The Sorcerers kept their part of the city brightly lit, which meant there were fewer shadows to hide in. But even with most of the gas lamps turned up, pockets of darkness and unlit alleyways gave them some cover as they made their way toward her first goal.

The building she intended to hide in during the daylight hours had once been a rival chocolatier’s shop—one of the few chocolate makers in Sinnale who could claim to be any kind of competition for her family. She knew the shop and its surroundings well. Its small size and uselessness in the war kept it from being frequented by minions. There were two rooms above the shop and kitchen where they could hide, giving them beds to rest in—a rare luxury in her line of work.

Each spy who entered Sorcerer territory had their own hiding places. And they never shared that information with the others. A way to avoid too much movement at those locations, but also, if one spy was captured, they wouldn’t be able to reveal the secrets of any of the others. So far, this practice had kept her safe and alive. The real danger arose when she came out of hiding to complete her missions. When she had to walk beside the enemy to collect information.