The Dreamer's Curse (Book 2) Read online

  Sarsen nodded and put the Caller back in his pouch. “He says there’s another report in about a vendor selling not one, but three of them. They match your description perfectly, and what’s more, the story the vendor tells is that this comes from Chastain.”

  Her attention sharpened. No one before had told a story of how the piece came to the market or where it was originally found. But this person actually claimed Chastain, a remote village that most people in even Windamere wouldn’t recognize by name. “Where?”

  “Southeast quadrant, on the very last row.”

  She let out a groan. Of course it would be on the polar opposite side of where she stood now! Well, no help for it. She lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and started forward. “Let’s hope this is the person we’re really looking for.”

  With a great deal of shoving, calling ahead to clear the path, threats, and some judicious use of elbows, the guards managed to clear a path through the crowds. Sevana didn’t even bear the brunt of this path-blazing and she still felt a little knocked about by the time they reached the southeastern quadrant. Whatever de Luca paid these men, they deserved a raise.

  The last row didn’t have quite the crowd that the rest of the market did, not from a lack of good products—from what she could tell through glimpses—but simply because the customers coming in through the main gates hadn’t yet filtered down to this section. Given another hour or two, it would likely pick up. But right now it had some breathing room for anyone shopping in the area, and Sevana felt more than grateful for it. It was almost worth the battle to get here.

  All of the men around her stood taller than she, which blocked most of her view, so she turned and asked Sarsen, “Do you see them?”

  “Hmmm,” he said noncommittally as he scanned the area slowly. “Ah! There they are, all three of them lined up in a neat little row.”

  Three. That still puzzled her even after thinking about it on the walk over here. Why three? Wouldn’t it be more valuable if he played it off as just one to sell? Or was the forger going off the principle that quantity was better than quality?

  De Luca presented her to the vendor’s tent with a flourish, an anticipatory smile on his face. “I am Romano Rizzo Conti de Luca.”

  The vendor’s eyes flew wide and he immediately ducked into a bow, although it looked jerky, as if he wasn’t in the habit of doing so. “My lord! I am honored by your presence. The name’s Rabi.”

  Rabi, eh? He looked more Kindin than Belen to her eyes, somewhere between forty and fifty although it could be the scrawny build, rough skin, and bloodshot eyes that made him seem so. Her eyes didn’t linger on him long as the artifact copycats drew her eyes down to the scarred wooden table of wares. She picked one up and gave it a close scrutiny by lamplight. Hmmm? Interesting, this was a far better copy than the others. Lifting another, she compared them side by side and realized with a start that one of them was actually a closer replica to the original than the other. Almost as if with each forgery, the maker was getting better.

  Her eyes honed in on the vendor’s hands and clothes, looking for any evidence of the suspicion that had just lodged in her mind. It took her bare seconds to find it—specks of white and gray paint. Her mouth stretched into a feral, satisfied smile. Found you.

  With a slice of her hand, she knocked over all three pieces, sending them to the ground hard and fast enough that they broke on impact. The porcelain shattered in a tinkling of sound and made everyone jump back instinctively to avoid the shards. She didn’t. One hand flicked and caught the wand as it snapped out of its holster, and with the other she grabbed Rabi by his shirt and yanked him in close. “Where is it?”

  “M-my l-lady, I have no idea what I’ve done to offend—” he stammered out.

  She raised her wand and put it directly in his line of sight and growled out in a menacing voice, “Where is it. This is not a question, Rabi. I recognize these trinkets of yours for what they are—excellent forgeries. They bear such a close resemblance to the original, in fact, that it would be impossible to have made them without the original on hand to study. So, where is it?”

  The man’s breath stank to high heaven and his eyes rolled like a wild animal trying to figure out how to bolt.

  “Forgive the late introduction, goodman,” de Luca continued pleasantly, as if they were chatting over tea. “This is my close friend, Artifactor Sevana Warran.”

  Rabi let out a choked sound of pure fear.

  Her lips stretched even further, baring more teeth. He had every right to be afraid. After the weeks of pent-up frustration, followed by a wild goose chase that put her back in that fool’s sphere, she felt the need to pound on something until she felt better.

  “Do you understand now? I will curse you so that you will never have any peace, or rest, or sanity until the day you breathe your last unless you tell me where the original is.”

  “It’s h-h-here, right here,” he assured her brokenly, wiggling free and squirming until she finally released him. Then he fell to all fours and scrambled to a back corner, curtained off from view, although he appeared barely a second later with a very familiar black box in hand. When he shifted the curtain aside, however, she saw in openmouthed dismay that he had not made a simple three copies as she thought, but had a whole production line behind that curtain. From this viewpoint, she counted a good two dozen lined up on some upturned crates, all of them in various stages of completion.

  He hastily brought the box to her and set it on the table before scrambling backward again, anxious to put some distance between them although with the confines of the small tent he couldn’t manage more than four feet. Sevana tucked her wand under one arm and touched the behave box, springing it open. Huh? Strange, it shouldn’t open that easily. Turning the box slightly, she saw that it had been forced open on one side and so could no longer close properly. Ah, of course. They couldn’t magic it open so they used brute force, eh? Made sense.

  Lifting the lid, she took a good look inside before daring to lift the gadgick free. This time, she had no doubt it was the original before she even touched it. It still radiated a trace amount of magic even though it had been sealed away for so many days.

  Sarsen leaned over her shoulder for a better look. “That’s it.”

  “That’s it,” she agreed with a breath of relief. Eyes narrowing, she looked back up at Rabi. “Where did you get this?”

  “A-a strange man offered a trade for it,” he answered with nervous looks between her and the count. “He said it was too famous to trade in Windamere. I heard the story, knew what it was, so gave him a good deal. My lord count, I followed the tenets!” this last he said in a plaintive wail.

  De Luca spread his hands in an apologetic shrug. “He does have a point, my dear. A black market would cease to be altogether if he weren’t allowed to broker deals like this one.”

  Rationally, she understood that. But it was the culmination of having to work so hard to get this gadgick free, then have it stolen from her, and then have to come all this way to a place she hated and have to track it down again. “If you think I’m paying you for something that was stolen from me, you’re barmy,” she informed him tartly. In fact, just the idea that he would do so made her boiling mad. Putting the gadgick back in the box, she shoved it into Sarsen’s hands before ordering Rabi, “Kneel. Now.”

  Too scared to do anything else, he dropped to his knees and cowered. Sevana had no idea what expression she wore just then, but it must have been something as even de Luca, with his twisted mind, looked impressed. Ignoring her audience, she focused on the forger/vendor. “Let’s be clear on this, Rabi. It’s not the fact that you took on a stolen product that bothers me. This is, after all, a black market. I expected it to show up here.”

  He looked hopeful at her words and gave a ginger nod.

  “No, I’m angry with you for a different reason entirely.” Pointing her wand at the nearest section of gadgick wannabes, she blasted them into dust, making everyone jump.
“Do you know why I’m mad? No? Allow me to explain. I have spent the past four hours crisscrossing this mad labyrinth searching and being fooled by your fakes when it could have been prevented.”

  Just the thought ignited her anger all over again and she blasted another section of the pottery, making white dust fly everywhere. Rabi lost five years of his life and started shaking nervously, no doubt wondering when that wand would turn on him. “Your greed, your selfish desire to flood the market with dozens of these has already wasted hours of my valuable time—” BLAST! “—and would have wasted even more time if I had gotten here any later! I might very well have spent years tracking every one of these things down if I had been delayed by even a few days!” Blast!

  “B-but my lady Artifactor,” Rabi dared to argue even though his voice shook. “I didn’t steal it from you!”

  “I know that!” she snapped at him. “I’m just taking it out on you!”

  The count whispered behind her back, “Is she always this unreasonable when she’s angry?”

  “Always,” Sarsen whispered back. “But she’s worse when she’s sleep deprived. Be thankful that she slept on the way up here, or this section of the market would likely be in tatters.”

  With a last blast of the wand, she destroyed any trace of what was left of the fakes. She didn’t feel particularly satisfied by it, but her temper had cooled enough that she wasn’t tempted to blast Rabi too. With a huff, she turned on her heel and headed back for the skimmer. “We’re done here.”

  De Luca, laughing, lengthened his stride in order to catch up with her. “My love, you are simply dazzling when you’re angry!”

  She shot him a glare. “You’re paying for that.”

  “Of course,” he assured her as if he hadn’t been expecting anything different.

  “Sarsen, is that thing properly secured?” she asked, not slowing her speed any.

  “It is,” he assured her. “What now?”

  “We’re going directly to Jacen’s from here,” she said firmly.

  De Luca let out a squawk of protest. “No! You can’t just leave only hours after having arrived!”

  Her eyes cut to the side to regard him suspiciously. Why did he sound as if he had ulterior motives in saying that? Wait, what was she thinking? Of course he did! She never had any intention of staying the night at his mansion anyway, but after that, she felt particularly glad they’d found the gadgick on the first day of the search.

  “Romano, I don’t dare dawdle. The last time I waited for the morning before transporting that thing, it was stolen that night. With me being this close to a black market, the odds of it disappearing while I sleep are even worse. No, we’re leaving now and it’s going straight into the hands of someone I trust.”

  He gave her puppy eyes, silently imploring for her to stay. With complete ease, she ignored him.

  “And after that?” Sarsen asked. “Back to Chastain to finish up the job?”

  She nodded confirmation. “And after that I’m collecting a certain boy and going home.”

  Sky’s hand trembled in hers, his eyes wide as he looked all around. He might not have any magic in him, but he didn’t need it to see that he had stepped into an unworldly realm. The very air glowed, and the trees and plants grew in vibrant hues that no human saw naturally. Even the scent was different, as if a fine perfume had been sprayed through the forest.

  “Are you sure we should be here?” he whispered.

  “No, we really shouldn’t be,” she told him seriously. “Or at least, I shouldn’t be. We’ve been in Fae territory for some time now, and they don’t like outsiders coming this close. But because I have you in tow, they’re curious, and they’re letting me approach without warning me off.”

  He gulped nervously. “How’d you know?”

  “I can sense them.” They possessed a very different kind of magic, but to her senses, they were like lit beacons surrounding her on all sides. But she hadn’t lied to the kid—as long as she had no ill intent and she had a young child in tow, they would let her approach.

  It had been a week since her rather interesting trip to Belen and her retrieval of the gadgick. She and Sarsen had delivered it safely into Jacen’s eager hands, and with a sigh of relief to have that out of the way, went back to Chastain. After spending two days on cleanup, she had finally won free and clear of the job. Of course, that was when the real trouble began. Just remembering it gave her a headache.

  Decker—henceforth known as ‘the rat fink’—had led a campaign to give her an Illeyanic pup. Even though she’d explained multiple times that she had a grumpy old mountain lion that would not look favorably upon a puppy invading his territory, they’d insisted she take it anyway. Decker trotted out all sorts of reasons and assurances that convinced the whole village it was a splendid idea to where it made it impossible for her to refuse with either good or bad grace. Sky hadn’t helped matters either, as he had happily scooped up the puppy and cuddled with it while she argued.

  In the end, she’d given in, wondering how in the world she’d deal with Baby when she returned. Then, after all of that, the rat fink further embarrassed her by doing something he knew she wasn’t comfortable with.

  He had hugged her.

  With a mischievous smirk on his face he’d swooped in, grabbed her up in a tight bear hug that lifted her feet off the ground, and before she could hex him, put her down again and danced off. Of course, when he got by with it, the whole village seemed to find that a grand way to bid her farewell and they’d done it too.

  “Sevana?” Sky looked up at her askance. “Are you mad?”

  “I’m just remembering all that insane hugging I had to fight off to fly back here,” she grumbled.

  He cocked his head, still not following. “But aren’t you happy people like you?”

  “They didn’t hug me because they liked me, they did it to see me flustered and blushing.”

  He mulled that over for a second before he shook his head in disagreement. “Only people who really like you tease you.”

  The simple truth of that hit her strong enough to where she actually paused for a moment. Teasing, eh? Sevana was blunt and not really comfortable with demonstrative touchy-feely things, which usually isolated her from people. But if she viewed the teasing as a sign of being liked…well, who wouldn’t be happy about that? Smiling a little to herself, she shook her head and kept walking.

  They’d stayed in Big for a few days before coming out this morning for two very good reasons. The first was that Sevana was simply exhausted after traveling all over Mander in a simple three and a half weeks’ time and she just wanted to be home for a while, surrounded by familiar things. But she’d also been uncertain about leaving the still-unnamed puppy alone with Baby. Her cat had not been happy to see him. Granted, he was never happy after she was gone for any length of time as he preferred to have her nearby. But it was worse when he saw the puppy in tow.

  The first day he’d snarled and snapped and did his best to force the puppy out. Then, for some strange reason, she’d woken up this morning to find the puppy snuggled in against his side as they napped. She’d expected a truce to be worked out at some point, but this exceeded expectations. Not that she minded. If Baby took on the role of mentor, it meant she wouldn’t have to train the pup, which took a load off her shoulders.

  Still, she had a suspicion that Big had stepped in and worked things out while she wasn’t looking. The mountain did things like that. Big had a soft spot for anything young and vulnerable and liked to take them in. She and Baby were prime examples of that. He had been all in favor from the very beginning of taking the puppy in.

  Her young guest had been delighted to see the two getting along, of course, but he also understood when they stumbled across the scene that they had no further reason to delay their trip to the Fae. Sky, understandably, felt nervous about this whole adventure, but after everything he had seen in Big, it didn’t overwhelm him as much as she thought it would. In fact, mixed in
with the nervousness was a healthy dose of curiosity and anticipation. He kept up with her admirably as they hiked the very long trail deep into Fae territory.

  They took the same trail that she and Bel had traveled down so many months ago, stepping in and around ancient trees that dwarfed most houses. Finally they went around a bend and came to a small pond that looked very familiar. This was where she had stopped last time, and where a certain Fae man had met her. She stopped in the same spot again and called out in a clear voice, “Hello.”

  The same Fae that had taken Bel stepped out from a hidden doorway, the air shimmering, looking the same as he did back then. He wore a light blue coat today with white trousers underneath, but his feet still had no shoes on them, his blond hair tied off to hang over one shoulder. He looked cautiously optimistic as he approached them, his bare feet making no sound on the grass as he walked.

  “Artifactor. I did not expect to ever see you here again.”

  She smiled at him wryly. “I bet not. The boy you took last time grew into an adult and chose not to return. However, in the course of my latest job, I ran across this child. He fits your requirements, I believe. He’s without kith or kin, is young, and has no human magic on him. He desired to meet you and see if you are interested in adopting him.”

  The Fae seemed intrigued and he knelt on one knee to put himself eye level with Sky. “Young child, you wish to become Fae?”

  Sky licked his lips nervously. “Sevana’s told me about you, some. I don’t know about becoming Fae or not, but I want a family. Sir,” he added as an afterthought.

  The Fae’s eyes gentled into a soft smile. “That is reason enough, I think. That is the core of what we are—family. We are praised and feared as magicians, but in truth, all we truly do is live so that we are in sync with the world’s energies. You are nervous about changing?” he didn’t need an answer, as he seemed to know what Sky felt just then. “I was too, in the very beginning. But it’s not a frightening experience, or an unwanted one. Living here gives you a sense of completion that a human rarely finds.”