The Scofflaw Magician (The Artifactor Book 3) Read online

  “Y-you,” she stuttered out, torn between shock and anger. “Why would you do such a thing?!”

  Her temper flared to match the other girl’s. “Princess Farah, every child I took to them didn’t have a family, were abandoned to scrape by on the streets, and were younger than ten years old.” She met her look for look, nearly snarling the words. “Those children have been abandoned by humanity like trash thrown out on the streets. You dare to judge me when I took them to a place where I knew they would be loved and looked after?”

  Farah flinched back at her anger, but held her ground. “You are sure of this?”

  “I made sure, trust me. Getting a child back from the Fae is quite the tricky matter and I didn’t want to do it more than once.” She ticked the points off on her fingers. “The child must be without living family, without any magical influence on them, and younger than ten years old. At this moment, the Fae have taken in a little over a dozen children. I’m responsible for bringing ten of them, the last of which I delivered three days ago. There are no Sa Kaon children in there.”

  Farah’s shoulders slumped as if Sevana had just dumped the weight of the world onto her. “You are a reputable Artifactor. I must believe you. But if she isn’t here, then where in the world could she be?”

  Sevana inclined her head toward the soldiers still hacking at the woods. “Call them off. Then back up and tell me the story from the beginning.”

  Farah raised her head, expression cautiously hopeful. Wetting dry lips she asked hoarsely, “Will you aid me?”

  “I’m not sure if I can or not until I hear the story. But this I do know. You don’t want to complicate matters by starting a war with the Fae. Call them off, Princess, and send them home. Whatever is going on here can’t be solved by might of arms.”

  Farah nodded slowly and turned to the officer at her elbow. “See it done. I wish to consult with this woman. Perhaps she will know more than our own magicians.”

  The commander didn’t look sold on this idea. “Princess Farah, with all due respect, what makes you trust in this woman’s skills?”

  “She snuck magical portals inside the palace without even one person suspecting she had done so. For years,” Farah explained with a wry smile. “Her magical abilities are better than the court magicians. If she says she is willing to help, then I certainly want her to do so. Call them off, Commander Roga.”

  Someone had drilled manners into the princess. Farah saw her properly seated inside of the command tent at the table, a cup of tea before her—which she sorely needed after her rude awakening—before taking her own seat. For a command tent, it certainly had some nice trappings. Someone had even put carpets down. Then again, this did belong to a princess, so perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised by this.

  Lurking in the shadows of the tent stood a man that had to be the royal bodyguard. He was dark skinned, almost black, shaved head, and he emitted danger without needing to twitch a muscle. Judging from the few scars Sevana could see lurking underneath his prim uniform, he had seen hard battles, and she had no doubt that he had earned his position, not simply inherited it. She also had no doubt that she would not want to tangle with him in a dark alley somewhere. He’d win.

  Bodyguards as good as him preferred to not be noticed until the occasion called for it, so after that one look at him, she pretended he was just a shadow in the corner. Looking back at the princess, she gestured with her hand in an inviting wave. “So, let’s hear the story.”

  Farah, now that Sevana was paying closer attention, had dark circles under her eyes and an underlying weariness in her posture. She did not look like a woman that had slept well in the past few days. “There is unfortunately not much known at this time. My sister, who is five, went to play with friends in the courtyard at the front of the palace. She does so regularly. But that day she didn’t come back when the evening bell rang, as she always does. We sent people to summon her but they couldn’t find her. We started to truly search and discovered that it wasn’t just her missing—four other people in the city had also disappeared without a trace. We turned the country upside down for three days and couldn’t find a single trace of them. The court magicians said it must have been done magically somehow, a spiriting away. The magical ability required to do so would have to be quite formidable to get past the shields and wards protecting her.”

  Not necessarily. As Sevana had learned with Bel, those shields and wards had a lot of holes if you were determined and creative enough to find them.

  “Then we thought about the rumors of the Fae gathering children from all over the world, and…” Farah shrugged helplessly. “It seemed the perfect theory at the time.”

  Alright, so, she saw how things had come to this. With an enemy and a direction, the princess had called together an army (or her father had) and come straight here to get the little girl. “A reckless assumption to make, as it stands.”

  Farah leaned forward, voice hoarse with urgency. “What do you think?”

  “I think I need more information before I start rattling off theories,” she responded promptly. “I need to examine the scene of her disappearance at the very least.”

  Farah didn’t look happy that Sevana didn’t have an instant answer, but she did seem relieved she was willing to take on the job. “Then you’ll aid me?”

  “I will. But first, we have a situation here to deal with.” Sevana paused long enough to drain the rest of her tea before giving a respective bow. “Thank you for the hospitality.”

  The princess blinked, not expecting the formality, but responded automatically, “It was a pleasure to have such a guest.”

  Formalities out of the way, she stood and gestured for Farah to follow. “We need to make amends to the Fae, and quickly, before they get angry. Right now they’re just confused and unhappy and I would rather it not escalate.”

  The full weight of the situation must have sunk in as she looked a little nervous. “And what do you suggest I do to make amends?”

  “I wish I could tell you. But even though I’ve been neighbors and business partners with the Fae for many years, I can’t begin to predict how they’ll react. They are the epitome of an enigma.” Blowing out a breath, she gestured toward the army with a wipe circle of the arm. “First step, send them home.” Farah looked ready to instinctively protest but bit it back. “Princess, if your sister’s disappearance is truly magical in nature—and I am inclined to agree judging from your description—then these men are not going to be of help to you. In fact, they’re dead weight.”

  Commander Roga choked at that, face flushing. The bodyguard was smiling though, so at least one person in the princess’s party saw sense.

  “Commander Roga, take them home to Zuria,” Farah ordered after a moment of deliberation.

  “Your highness!” Roga protested.

  “Take them home,” Farah repeated firmly. “I came here with an army to save my sister. If the army cannot help then I do not want them here causing trouble on foreign soil. You are ordered to gather the troops and march immediately for the south. We will likely beat you there as I have every intention of taking the Artifactor home so that she can examine things with her own eyes. I will explain to my father.”

  Roga looked only partially satisfied by this assurance. Apparently it was a smirch on a man’s honor to go off a-warring and not actually fight anybody? Sa Kaon culture was so strange. Well, regardless, they were going. To Farah she said, “Stay here for the moment. I’m going to see if Lorien will come out and speak with me.”

  “Lorien?” she repeated.

  “The Fae that requested my intervention,” she explained briefly, already striding for the ‘front lines.’ Grydon tagged at her heels like a faithful shadow. He moved so quietly some days she forgot she had a tagalong. Which, of course, meant that she tripped over him fairly often.

  It took some pushing and shoving to get past the soldiers and all of their axes. They had this light in their eye as if they really wanted to keep hac
king away at the trees. Of course, it had probably come down to a matter of pride now. The fact that a bunch of mere trees had kept them from advancing had to rankle on an instinctive level. She ignored their surly attitudes and kept walking, having to pick a path over the cut and strewn branches until she actually reached the edge of the woods.

  “Lorien!” she called out.

  Per his usual trick, he seemed to melt out of thin air, which made everyone behind her jump and curse in surprise. Used to this, she just waited for him to cross to her.

  “Sevana,” he greeted with a slight smile and the quick of an eyebrow. “It’s impressive how quickly you talked sense into them. We should have sent you ahead hours ago.”

  “Yes, well, I wasn’t exactly awake hours ago so I’m not sure how well that would have worked.” Shaking this off, she explained forthrightly, “Their attack here is a huge misunderstanding. The Sa Kaon princess was kidnapped from her home recently and the nature of her disappearance smacks of being done by a very powerful magician. They’d heard rumors of the Fae taking in children from all over the world, and—”

  Lorien looked offended. “We’d never take another parent’s child from them.”

  “Well, I know that, and you know that, but they didn’t until I explained it to them. Rumors are notorious for mixing things up and giving things an evil slant, you know that. Anyway, the princess in charge here is very apologetic for the whole mess and wants to make amends before leaving.”

  “She must plant trees to replace the ones damaged,” Lorien replied immediately.

  From the way he rattled out a reply, he must have been thinking about this while she was in the camp. Still, the mildness of the punishment surprised her. She would have expected something…more. “Is that all?”

  “We will forgive the rashness of their actions in sympathy. We do not understand human ways, but if one of ours had been taken without any sign, we would likely respond in a similar manner.”

  Yes, and didn’t that image send chills straight up her spine. “Well, I am sure they will be grateful for your understanding. I’ll relay the message.”

  He studied her for a moment before venturing, “You will lend your aid to them to recover her?”

  “I will,” she assured him dryly. “I’d rather do that than have an army making a mess in my backyard.”

  Satisfied, he gave her a half bow. “We thank you for your interference in this matter.” Without another word, he turned and disappeared back into thin air—she was dying to figure out that trick—and as he did so, the trees groaned and sighed around her. As she watched, the branches untangled from each other and they regained their usual bearing. In mere moments, the forest almost looked untouched. Well, aside from the kindling now littering the forest floor.

  Sevana blew out a covert breath of relief. That had gone much better than she’d dared hope for. She turned around and headed back toward Farah, making a mental list as she moved. She’d give her the message, and probably some precise orders on what needed to be done to satisfy the Fae, and then she’d go back to Big and pack. She had a feeling that she would be leaving for Sa Kao this afternoon, if not sooner.

  Farah’s eyes were a trifle wide, so she had somehow found a high enough perch to watch Sevana talk with Lorien. Sevana trusted that little show had been enough to demonstrate just how powerful the Fae were. “Princess, the Fae are willing to let this go if you plant trees to replace the ones that were chopped down. I’d leave a crew of a hundred men behind to do the job. I’d also leave behind men that you trust explicitly. They cannot, under any circumstances, venture into those woods. Even being on the border and planting trees is dangerous. The Fae might have given them permission to stay here and work, but the other races living here have not, and some of them find men to be particularly tasty.”

  The princess swallowed hard and regained her composure with obvious effort. “I understand. Will you grant them what protection you can while they are here?”

  “They are welcome to stay in my mountain while we’re gone. I’ll have my mountain lion watch over them as well. He’s quite accustomed to the dangers here and no one in Noppers Woods chooses to mess with him. Between the two, they should be able to safeguard your men.”

  Commander Roga, standing at the princess’s elbow, repeatedly uncertainly, “A mountain lion?”

  Sevana quirked a brow at him but moved on. “I need to pack, send a message to my business partner, and the like, but in an hour I’ll be ready to leave. If this matter is as urgent as I think, it’d be best to travel quickly. We’ll go by clock portal.”

  “I cannot bring much with me through a clock portal,” Farah stated, although the nuance was questioning.

  “You can’t,” Sevana confirmed. “And not many people. So cut the fat, princess, and bring only the essentials. You have one hour to do so and meet me at the mountain. Grydon?”

  The wolf turned his head up to look at her.

  “Escort her to me when she’s ready to come,” Sevana instructed.

  Grydon gave a soft huff, indicating he understood.

  Farah studied the wolf for a long moment. “Just how intelligent is he?”

  “He’s smarter than most humans.”

  The princess’s expression made it clear she made a mental note on that point. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’ll have to take my bodyguard with me, though.”

  “One extra person is fine. Not two.” Mostly because Sevana wasn’t interested in transporting a whole entourage through the portal, not because she couldn’t do it. “Pack quickly, Princess.” That said, she turned on her heel and went to her skimmer, starting it up and kicking quickly up into the air.

  This day had not gone as she had planned, and the foreseeable future didn’t look at all predictable either. Sevana realized that she had a broad smile on her face and didn’t even try to hide it as she flew back to Big.

  She just loved a good challenge.

  Sevana activated the clock portal that would connect with the Sa Kaon palace’s main foyer, running through a mental checklist as she did. She’d instructed Big to take care of the soldiers, sent a note off to Morgan, packed a bag of clothes and such for herself, and another bag of every searching and diagnostic tool she could cram in. Baby was already watching the soldiers, happy to have things to stalk and look after while she was gone. The cat was easily amused.

  Grydon escorted Farah and her bodyguard directly to the clock room, tail swishing in self-satisfaction of a job well done. That didn’t stop him from pushing his nose into her hand, looking for acknowledgement. She gave him a good scratch behind the ears.

  “Princess,” she greeted, glad to see the girl only had a single bag on her shoulders, and the bodyguard was carrying two. The girl was proving to be sensible, or at least, good at following directions. “Bodyguard, what is your name?”

  “Xald,” he responded, voice deeper than she’d suspected it would be. “A pleasure, Artifactor.”

  “Xald, I’m assuming that you’ll want to go through the clock first?”

  The man gave her a dry smile. “Yes.”

  Bodyguards were picky about that sort of thing. They wanted to scope out the area first for dangers, even if they were on their way home. “That’s fine. Since neither of you have done this before, I’ll explain. You want to step straight through, as if you were going through a doorway. Do NOT jostle the clock pendulum as you do so. I have it encased for a reason. And don’t dawdle.”

  Neither of them asked any questions or looked confused. Satisfied, she set the pendulum in motion, turning the clock to the correct time for Zuriat. When it was ready, she opened the glass door and waved Xald through. He stepped in with all of the caution of a man that was experiencing something for the first time. But he didn’t dawdle.

  Sevana sent Farah in next, as she had to close the door properly behind her. Grydon followed at the princess’s heels, without waiting for any directions, leaving Sevana to toss her own packs through before maneuve
ring around and closing the door on her side. With it securely shut, she stepped all the way out and into the Sa Kaon palace foyer.

  Sa Kaons had an intense love of all things gold and white. The white she could understand, as most of the country was of a desert sort of climate, but the gold was blinding under all of the sunlight. She had to blink several times and put her back to the floor-to-ceiling windows before her eyes could adjust.

  She’d seen the place once, years ago, and it hadn’t changed. Impressive marble columns standing like silent sentinels lined the hallways, the white tile floor stretching in every direction, windows open to let light and air through. It was immaculate and beautiful, if one overlooked all of the gold edging. Right now, the place was also thronging with soldiers, magicians of every type, and information tradesman. The arrival of the princess and an Artifactor wasn’t even noticed in the crowd until one of the soldiers recognized her and stopped dead, dropping instantly to a knee.

  “Princess Farah! We did not expect your return.”

  “I didn’t either, an hour ago,” the princess confessed, attempting to reassure him. “I’m afraid that I hurried off in the wrong direction. My sister is not there. But I’ve brought back an Artifactor that has agreed to help.”

  The soldier’s eyes darted to Sevana with open curiosity and the beginnings of hope. “I will escort you to your father.”

  “No need, tell me where he is.”

  “The small court.”

  Farah’s mouth tightened in dismay. “I understand. Good work.”

  “Ha!” Bouncing back to his feet, he gave her a bow before hurrying on.

  Sevana shrugged both packs on, gesturing Grydon to stay at heel. “I take it that his presence in the small court is a bad sign.”

  “He only goes there when he’s about to do something drastic and wants to talk it over with his advisors first.”