The Sapphire Manticore (The Lost Ancients Book 4) Read online

  You could now see where the shield was around the enclave. A line in the dirt clearly cut through a normal looking path—something I was sure was invisible before. A wavering field arched up from the line on the ground, as if we were inside a giant soap bubble. A growing pink, orange, and red stain was spreading across it and climbing higher.

  Alric was still studying the marks on the wagon, but I pulled on his shirt. “What the hell is that? And please tell me that this is supposed to happen.”

  He spun around, most likely at the tone of increasing panic in my voice. The look on his handsome face did nothing to assuage that panic.

  “I’ve never seen that in my life. Flarinen?” he said without looking away from the spreading colors.

  I hadn’t noticed, but Flarinen was standing just to the side of the second wagon with the same look of concern on his face.

  “Never.”

  Alric was better at schooling his face and his took on an educator look, as if he was only curious, as he moved closer to the line marking the position of the shield.

  He held out one hand, not touching it, but clearly feeling for something. He pulled back with a look of disgust and unconsciously wiped his hand on the side on his pants.

  “Our fire starter, mist spellcaster, and attempted suicide killer. They cast a spell as we went through, anchoring it to him or herself as he threw himself after the last wagon. It didn’t breach the shield, but it’s done some harm to it.”

  “So, that red stuff?” I couldn’t look at it anymore, now that I had an idea what it was.

  “Yup, it’s what remains of the bastard who tried to kill us and breach the shield.” Alric watched the swirls climb above him.

  “That is a full shield, yes?” Harlan had come forward as well, but he and the rest were staying closer to the wagon.

  “Our shielding is the best known to any magic user. It will hold,” Flarinen said with pride, but there was a slight hesitation before that second sentence that made me nervous.

  Not to mention, we were again dealing with a very isolated people. Alric was a very powerful magic user from what I could tell, but he got his ass handed to him by both Glorinal and Jovan. Who knew how many other people out there were at that level and not on our side?

  Alric hadn’t responded at first, but shook his head. “I don’t think that is the sure thing it had been. The shield is having a problem absorbing our friend. Is Siabiane still in her study?”

  Had I not been watching Flarinen when Alric spoke I would have missed the twitch at the name.

  “Yes. She has gone underground yet again. In our time of need, the witch has once again hidden herself from us.” There was no way to miss the tone of his voice.

  Whoever she was, she was not someone thought of highly by our good knight captain.

  “She is doing what she needs to do,” Alric said. “Her ways are not ours.” Unlike Flarinen, Alric didn’t seem annoyed at whatever Siabiane had done, nor who she was in general.

  “A witch? Wouldn’t that be another term for magic user?” I’d not heard anyone call a magic user that, but it made sense.

  “Not in this case. Siabiane is an alchemist, magic user, and older than anyone knows—even her.”

  “She’s also not a full elf,” Flarinen said almost under his breath.

  That was interesting. A non-elf in a hidden elven enclave?

  “Considering she helped found our entire town, it would have been a little rude to kick her out.” Alric looked back to the shield. “And we’re going to need her on this too.”

  “So, if she’s not a full elf, what is she?” Covey asked as she stepped forward. Even though it had been less than two weeks since I’d last seen her, I had to fight the urge to run up and hug her. It had been a long ten days.

  Alric flashed a smile to Covey. After their iffy start, it was good they were friends now. “No one knows, and that’s part of the wonder of her. She looks like a little bit of most of the known races, but mostly appears elven. She might appreciate you trying to guess what she is. The elves gave up long ago.”

  “Now see here, I appreciate the assistance these people were able to render in getting us through the shield. However, that does not mean they are to be allowed free rein. They will need to report to the Council, just like the rest of you.” There was a silent, ‘prisoners’ at the end of that sentence that I was sure I wasn’t the only one who heard.

  “I am the only one the council wants; the rest are guests.” Alric moved away from the shield to glare at Flarinen.

  “Guests!” Garbage Blossom said as she and the entire fleet of twelve faeries buzzed forward. I noticed they were staying well out of reach of the knights.

  Flarinen’s eyes narrowed and he studied the faeries flying high above him. A few weeks ago, my three faeries had demonstrated that they could hear me if I thought really hard and included them specifically in my thoughts. When we were outside the shield, I had begun to trust Flarinen to leave the faeries alone, but now that we were inside, I was doubting him again.

  I pictured all three of my girls in my head. I wasn’t sure if the other nine had developed the skill yet, and they went wherever mine went anyway. I focused my thoughts on them. “Girls, I want you to fly away from here. Stay in the enclave, but stay away from anyone except Harlan, Covey, Alric, or myself. Or some witch named Siabiane.” I was hoping that anyone thought of so highly by Alric and so badly by Flarinen would be on the faeries’ side.

  Leaf was busy staring down at a handsome young knight and licking her lips. Crusty was dancing with one of the sarcophagus pieces that had almost ripped loose. Garbage looked right at me and nodded.

  A moment later she gave a shrill whistle and all the faeries flew up and away from us.

  Flarinen glared at me. “Get them back.”

  I did my best innocent shrug. “I can call for them, but if they found something more interesting, they won’t answer. Garbage! Leaf! Crusty! Come back!” At the same time that I yelled, I mentally told them to stick to my original plan, and not to respond to me unless I called their full names.

  “Those are the creatures’ names? Why did you pick those names?” The nosy knight was continuing his unhealthy trend.

  “Oh, I had nothing to do with their names. They came with them, and only answer to them when they feel like it.” I cocked my head. “They aren’t pets, you know.”

  Flarinen stewed; clearly annoyed that some of his prizes had gotten away. I wished I could do the same with Harlan, Covey, Orenda, and Tag. I’d let the elves keep Locksead.

  “We should make our way to the council center,” Flarinen said as if he’d never been questioned about any of our status. “My men and I can run, I suggest the rest of you ride in the wagons, such as they are.”

  As he spoke, Tag and Orenda helped Harlan take down the sarcophagus pieces. Harlan held a paw in the air an instant before Flarinen’s question could be asked.

  “Since we’re no longer in danger from the red fog spellcaster—” He pointed to the dissipating red swirl now a good forty feet above us and climbing. I had no idea how high the shields were, but obviously, pretty darn high. “I feel these are now more of a danger to the wagon than a help. They could shatter the windows after all.” He grabbed a loose piece when one of the knights made a move for it. “Our Alric was a bit incorrect. These were finds from a dig, but I traced them to a line of chatalings from the fifth dynasty. I would be more than happy to explain them all to you? They have a long and storied history.”

  The knight dropped his hand and took two steps backward, all the while shaking his head.

  I often wondered if Harlan was aware of his ability to bore people with his histories, I think I just got my answer. It was a weapon, expertly used.

  Flarinen nodded. “Fine. Remove them. Alric will ride in the first wagon. His lady,” Flarinen gave me an only slightly sarcastic bow, “will ride in the second. I wouldn’t advise any detours by either wagon.”

  Alric gave a slig
ht nod.

  “Captain, Hillison hurt his leg during the fire and I don’t know that he can make the run.” One of the knights—if I didn’t learn their names in ten days, it wasn’t going to happen now—came forward leading another knight.

  The injured knight was favoring his left leg and a smudge of smoke went from ankle to hip. Even worse, the smudge was still smoking.

  “Um, guys?” There wasn’t a lot of smoke, but we really shouldn’t be seeing any.

  Flarinen either didn’t hear me or was choosing to ignore me. “He will drive the second wagon, so there will be no confusion as to direction.”

  “Guys, there’s a problem.” I crept toward the knight, but I was focused on the thin puff of smoke, and not him. I must have looked deranged.

  “We will take the—”

  “Seriously! This knight is smoking!” I cut Flarinen off and spun the knight so his leg faced the rest of our crew. “Get out of your pants!”

  Flarinen was paying attention to me now, but it wasn’t the good kind. “My dear lady, I don’t know what you expect to accomplish by this.”

  The knight leading the injured one got a look. “She’s right, the marks are smoking. But they weren’t a minute ago.” He spun his friend around so he could drop his pants without facing us.

  “Mine as well!” The shout came from the back of the group.

  “Get both of them out of their pants and toss them somewhere.” I looked around but we were on a nondescript trail with nothing nearby to take a blast. If there was a blast. But I couldn’t imagine that our suicidal mage had anything good planned when he marked these two knights.

  “Can things go out of the shield at other times?” That might be our only chance.

  Flarinen shook his head. “They are cued for dawn. The idea being if our enemies attacked and got in we’d have a chance to get them before they could escape.”

  The smoking from the pile of fabric was getting worse, but at least it seemed to have only hit the outer layer of fabric. Both knights had on long underwear that was completely unmarked.

  “Taryn, dig a hole.” Alric ran to me holding both pieces of smoking fabric.

  “What?” I got a good look at his face. He wanted a Glorinal-style dig.

  Crap. I really wasn’t sure it would work, but whatever the chimera had done to me yesterday was still keeping me feeling charged. “I’ll try. Put them there.”

  Alric dropped them at the spot I pointed. They weren’t on fire yet, but the smoke was getting stronger.

  “Everyone back up, get as far as you can down the trail.” Alric motioned toward the gawkers. Good to know he had faith in me.

  My bad thoughts about Alric faded when he came back to stand by my side. “I’d offer to do it myself, but honestly, I’m not sure how you did it the last time. At this point I think only earth can stop this.”

  I had a bad feeling that he knew exactly what the spell was behind these smoking pants, and he was carefully not telling me. Someday I needed to point out that avoidance just made me suspect the worst.

  Instead, I concentrated on the spell. I wanted to push those smoking rags away from me, but not up. I needed to pull another Glorinal trick without the rags coming back as some smoking swamp monster from the middle of the earth.

  I got the spell hammered together. It felt like minutes, but looking around it was probably only seconds.

  The ground opened right under the clothes and sucked them in. This time I managed to close it up after them.

  My friends, Flarinen, and the rest of the knights were all a good ten wagon lengths away.

  “Maybe they were just smoking?” Even as I asked the question, I knew what Alric’s response would be.

  “Why would a mage threaten people with smoking garments? Clearly, I’ll need to have—”

  The ground exploding cut him off and knocked both of us off our feet.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  My spell was good and nothing came back out of the ground this time. Unfortunately, whatever spell was on those clothes had to go somewhere and the resulting explosion knocked down half a dozen trees and almost sent the horses running with the wagons. Luckily, Tag and Locksead grabbed them and calmed them down.

  I didn’t blame the horses at all—the ground was still rumbling.

  “Did our pants do that?” the first pant-less knight yelled. Needless to say, no one came any closer to us.

  Realizing that I was still on the ground, and that maybe I should get up, I rolled to my feet. Alric had already gotten to his, pretty much a second after we were knocked down, but didn’t answer the knight.

  Instead, he stalked closer to the murky shield, his head cocked as if listening for something. His sword was suddenly in his hand.

  I looked down, and there was my sword as well. It didn’t show up neatly in my hand, but on the ground next to me.

  I picked up my troublesome sword and glanced back toward Flarinen and the knights. Part of the reason they wanted to bring me in was this damn sword—it was only for elven nobility, or some such nonsense. None of them appeared to be concerned about my sword or me right now. All of them were arming themselves and moving toward the shield.

  The ground was still slightly rumbling, but unless it was just wishful thinking on my part, it did appear to be dying down. I shuddered to think what would have happened if that much force had been released above ground. Both of the knights would have been blown apart, but probably all of us as well. I wasn’t sure what it would take to bring down that shield, but I had to think an explosion that powerful wouldn’t have been good for it.

  The shield looked fine to me. Well, aside from the swirling red murkiness. And the fact that it appeared that an army of rakasa were charging toward us.

  “They shouldn’t even be able to see us or the shield,” Flarinen said as he and his men ran up, with my friends following close behind.

  “I’d say our attacking mage wasn’t planning on making it through the shield,” Covey said as she moved to the front with the knights. “They were counting on getting caught in it.”

  Alric nodded slowly. “And weakening it. That mage is now part of the shield. Their very being is contaminating it.”

  The rakasa moved forward. They didn’t seem as surprised at the situation as we were, but they also didn’t appear to be expecting the shield at all.

  The first ones at the shield threw themselves upon it and were gone in a flash of sparks. Thank goodness the red murkiness of the shield didn’t seem to add them. I really wasn’t happy about whatever bodily fluids were swirling about above us. I couldn’t handle it if more were added.

  After the first round, the shield only stopped them but didn’t kill them. There were some sparks, but it did little beyond singeing their hands. The creatures would pull back, shake their hands a bit, and then keep going.

  “They’re trying to crawl over it?” It took me a minute to realize they weren’t trying to rip through the shield. “Can’t they go underground and get to us that way?”

  “This is a full shield, yes? If so, they wouldn’t be able to go under the shield no matter how far they dug.” Orenda had been quiet up to this point, and I was impressed with how steady her voice sounded. She even appeared calm. I needed to learn her trick.

  “Yes, you will be safe.” The knight on the other side of her said.

  I knew Orenda could be snarky, but she’d also been demonstrating quite a bit of knight/elf worship lately. I was almost surprised at the look she gave him.

  “No, we won’t be.” She pointed to the air above her where the swirl of red was still creeping. “That is weakening your shield. And if those rakasa keep sucking at the shields’ power as they crawl across, they will bring it down.”

  From the look on his face, the knight had been trying to gain points with the new elf chick in town and he hadn’t counted on her actually knowing how things worked.

  She shook her head. “This was a test question on an exam in school. A way of potentially we
akening a class-ten shield with magic. First, compromise the integrity of it—and I’d say that mage getting caught in the shield itself did that. Then drain the power. Those rakasa can’t get in, but the longer they stay in contact, the more of a drain they make.”

  “She’s right,” Alric said as he looked away from staring down a pair of rakasa who hadn’t started climbing yet. “But I know it’s not something our schools taught.” He gave Orenda a smile. “I’d venture to say that her people can help us at least as much as we can help them.”

  Flarinen didn’t appear to be sure about Orenda. Finding out your people aren’t the only elves around was taking a while for him to adjust to.

  “We have to get them off of it. Orenda is right, they are draining power from it,” Alric said.

  “The girl has to touch it.” The voice was old and young at the same time. Even more disturbing, it came from all around us and no speaker was seen.

  I looked around to make sure I wasn’t hearing things. From everyone’s faces, we were all in the same boat.

  “Siabiane, show yourself,” Flarinen said. He didn’t snarl it, but there was definitely a snarling vibe behind it.

  “I’m not there, you daft knight.” The voice picked up some mirth, which made Flarinen start to go a bit red around the edges. “I have bigger issues. Right now the girl needs to touch the shield. It won’t stop that damn blood mage—we’ll have to work on him—but it will cause the rakasa to lose their grip.”

  “You want Orenda to touch the shield? Won’t it cause her harm?” Harlan dropped a protective arm around her and she let him.

  “Wrong girl, silly cat.” The laughter that followed would have been charming if it wasn’t coming from all around us. “Tree girl, but not tree girl, with the shiny secret sword. She must touch the shield. Keep sword in left hand, touch with right.”

  Crap. She meant me. “Won’t it fry me too?”

  “No, silly girl. It will change you, but life is change, so it is usually good.” Her voice had faded on the last few words, and then came back with a shout. “Do it now! You must!” She’d been so relaxed that whatever changed scared me into action. I ran forward and slammed my right hand against the shield.