Page 71 of Rogue Elves of Ardani

“Look, if you want good mages, you need to go to the Conclave. If you need some magic quickly, cheaply, and privately, you go to someone like Sarna.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “I’ll be honest. She’s not a great enchanter. But she’s damned good at finding things that don’t want to be found, and that’s all I need.”

A young woman emerged from a back room, stepping over a pile of junk in order to cross the threshold. She brightened when she saw Crow.

“Crow! It’s been a long time.” She was dark haired, and pale from lack of sunlight in a way that few Ardanians were, with the same northern look to her features that Toreg had. Round glasses were perched on her nose.

She suddenly noticed Vaara behind Crow. “Can I help you?”

“He’s with me,” Crow clarified.

The woman gave Crow a surprised glance. “Working with freelancers now?”

“This time, yes.”

She arched an eyebrow at his makeshift mask. “Well, then. Nice to meet you, mysterious stranger.”

Vaara didn’t move from his place near the door.

“I need to find someone,” Crow said.

Sarna grinned. “I knew you’d have something fun for me.” She waved a hand over her shoulder as she went into the back room. Crow followed her.

Vaara wasn’t certain he was supposed to follow. But there was a strange, faint glow coming from the doorway, and his curiosity grew too strong to resist.

He stopped in the doorway to the back room, stunned. The room was filled with more junk—but standing in a circle around the room were dozens of mirrors. Large ones, small ones, square ones, round ones, hanging crooked on walls or propped up on stands.

They were like the mirror in Patros’s house—reflecting images from somewhere else. Glimpses of different places and people flashed across their silver surfaces, never quite showing a complete scene. Perhaps they needed a mage to guide them in order to work.

He leaned closer to the one nearest him—a small handheld mirror sitting on a table. For a few seconds, he could see a blurry image of a dark-skinned human woman talking and laughing with a man across from her. As Vaara leaned in, she turned and looked directly at him, as if she’d sensed him watching.

“They can’t see you,” Sarna said, suddenly alarmingly close. Vaara froze, feeling her at his side as she looked over his shoulder. “They see nothing on our side of the mirror. Unless I want them to, of course.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her flash a smile. He ducked his head a little lower.

Sarna turned away to face Crow again, who was watching the mirrors from the middle of the room. “Who is it you’re looking for?”

Crow folded her arms. “My employer.”

Sarna raised an eyebrow. “You should count yourself lucky if you’ve finally misplaced him.”

“I know. But trust me, this time, I need him.”

“If you say so,” Sarna said. “I’ll need something that belongs to him. You know how it works.”

Crow handed over a dip pen. She must have taken it from Patros’s desk before they’d left the house.

Sarna accepted the pen and turned to her collection of mirrors. She watched each of them in turn, as if searching for something. “Give me a minute.”

She selected a mirror, based on criteria Vaara couldn’t guess at, and rested her hand on the side of its frame. The glass slowly fogged. The air prickled slightly with the energy of a powerful spell being cast.

Crow backed up a few steps to stand near Vaara.

He leaned over to murmur in her ear, “She’s the source of Patros’s enchanted things? Like the mirror?”

“Gods, no. He gets his enchantments from his contact at the Mages’ Conclave. This is where I come when I need something for my own purposes.” She took another step back, giving Sarna a wary look as flashing images cycled across the mirror’s surface. Vaara felt the magic in the room growing stronger. The ineffable scent of it soaked into him, both heavy and light, both oppressive and energizing.

“I would stand back, if I were you,” Crow said quietly. “There have been a few times where I, uh… got caught in the spillover.”

Vaara took another few steps backward. And a few seconds later, he was glad he did, because there was a large discharge of magic energy in the form of a lightning bolt that zapped across the room and burned a scorch mark into the wall beside him. The magic in the room dissipated.

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