Page 49 of Pawns of Fate
“That’s why I said that I need you on this, Nicholas. Go save your brother.”
His father penned a short reply to York, then handed it to Syzman. The shadow mage produced a parchment covered in layers of scripted spell circles with an evil eye at the center.
“What will we do when you run out of teleportation scrolls?” Nicholas asked. Lyla was their only mage capable of producing them, and Syzman could use them, but only to teleport himself. None of the other mages had enough skill to even attempt using the scrolls. And from what Nicholas understood, it was tedious, slow, and demanding work to produce the scrolls; Lyla didn’t have dozens lying around.
Syzman shrugged. “I’ll save one so that I can teleport to Uddedin. I’m dying to see her in that bonnet again anyway.” He activated the scroll, and a large, green spell circle sprang to life around him, then flickered out of existence, taking Syzman with it.
Chapter 17
LYLA
The last time she traveled to Uddedin, Lyla assassinated a wealthy merchant who was causing problems for a client. It was part of why she didn’t pitch a fit when Nicholas and Syzman presented her with the ridiculous bonnet and gloves she was currently wearing. It didn’t hurt her to go unnoticed in this city.
She glanced over at Rose, digging through shelves of books with a smile on her face and a bounce in her step, and Ava, pretending also to enjoy spending time in the Uddedin library. The two noblewomen certainly hadn’t gone unnoticedsince their arrival in the city weeks ago. Citizens gawked at the women and their heavy, restrictive dresses everywhere they went. Lyla couldn’t help but side with the Ojoh on this. She missed the light, flexible material of the shadow mage uniforms and the breathable leather armor.
Still, the maid’s uniform wasn’t bad for storing knives. It had plenty of pockets. She’d worried about hiding her weapons when Nicholas had assigned her to this job. But that had proved irrelevant.
“Do you need any help, miss?” an Ojoh scholar, dressed in light robes and holding at least a dozen books, asked.
“No, I’m fine. Just helping my mistresses.” She motioned to Ava, then noticed that Rose had disappeared around yet another shelf of books. Lyla began the task of finding her. She didn’t like having either lady out of her sight, but especially not Rose.
“Lyla,” a faint male voice tugged on the back of her mind.
She focused on the flow of mana through her body, directing it to the rune that allowed for direct communication between shadow mages.
“Syzman, now isn’t a great time.” She turned around a shelf of encyclopedias, still not finding Rose.
“Well, when can you teleport here?”
Her stomach sank.“What? You can’t be serious.”
“You’re not giving me enough credit. I can think of at least half a dozen times I’ve been serious in just the last week.”
“Syzman.”Lyla turned another corner and found Rose happily perusing a stack of academic studies of magic. She should have guessed.
Lyla let out a sigh of relief.
“Why do you need me in the swamps?”
“Well, there are a few things you’ll want to see.” Lyla knew that he wouldn’t elaborate more than that while they talked using runes of the mage tower. It was impossible to know that no one else was listening. “And things have changed quite a bit. Nicholas is here because we encountered significantly more monsters than originally anticipated.”
“Marquess Sharp hasn’t sent both of his heirs out in ages!” Lyla tried to maintain a neutral tone, but it was hard with the telepathic link.
“Exactly. Things are going better with Nicholas here; he’s a far better strategist than York… which is why he wants to know how much you can help with communication.”
“I can teleport. I can’t be in two places at once.”
“I know. But I also know you’ve warded whatever accommodations the Ojoh have provided, or you wouldn’t have slept for this past month.”
“I don’t see your point.”
“Tell the girls not to leave the house for a few hours. Come and pay us a visit in the swamp. Then teleport back. Easy enough. Quick enough.”
“No. I’m not leaving Ava and Rose.”
“They’ll be fine. Have you even sensed the shadow mage Rose saw in the garden? And we still don’t know that they wanted Rose and not Nicholas.”
Lyla looked at the subject of their conversation, who had selected a particularly dull-looking tome about elemental magic and was now thumbing through it. Lyla had been doingher own research on Rose’s inherited aural abilities, and she was convinced of two things. First, Hector Robson’s greatest crime was denying his niece access to her own magic abilities. Second, somebody at the mage tower was interested in Rose, not Nicholas.
