The Spirit Thief Part 6

The king sat up stiffly, and Eli handed him a tiny pot of ink and a pen nib attached to a stick, which he produced from somewhere in his pockets. "All you have to do now is write exactly what I say, and we'll take you home."

The king looked defiant for a half second and then he nodded glumly and began to copy Eli's demands word for word.

Josef was gone when Eli emerged ten minutes later, the king's letter rolled in a tight tube and ready to go. Nico, however, was where he had left her, arranging her newly acquired gold in s.h.i.+ning patterns across the scrubby gra.s.s.

"Don't worry," she said without looking up. "He's just gone to scout the meeting place."

"Why?" Eli said, laughing. "We haven't even told them where it is yet."

Nico shrugged. "He said you would say that, and he said to tell you that you can't make a.s.sumptions about anything." She paused thoughtfully. "He also said to tell you that if he does find any traps he's going to make sure you stand on them."

"Marvelous." Eli sighed. Why did swordsmen have to be so compet.i.tive about everything everything? "The good king was kind enough to write another note for us," he said, twirling the roll of paper in his hands. "I'm setting the trade-off for this evening, an hour before sunset. That should give them plenty of time to prepare, and us plenty of leeway should things go off course."

Nico turned back to her coins. "Do you expect things to go off course?"

Eli shrugged. "Does anything we do ever go as planned?"

Nico looked up at him and shrugged back.

"Anyway," Eli continued, holding up the note, "I'm going to find a bird to take this to the palace. If Josef gets back before I do, make sure to tell him that if his trap finding is as good as his card playing I'll gladly stand anywhere he tells me."

Nico's mouth twitched, and if Eli hadn't known better, he would have said she had just suppressed a laugh. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he turned and walked into the forest, whistling a falcon call.

An hour before the appointed time, Josef made everyone move out.

"You can't be serious," Eli said from his comfy spot in the gra.s.s.

Josef just shook his head and strapped another bandolier of throwing knives on top of his already impressive personal a.r.s.enal. "Last to a fight, first in the dirt," he said, hooking his short swords into place, one on each hip. When those were set, he grabbed his enormous iron sword from the log beside him and slung it over his shoulder. "Let's go."

He turned and walked out of the clearing, his heavy boots surprisingly quiet on the leaf-littered ground. Nico followed just behind him, moving over the fallen logs like a shadow. Eli lounged for a moment longer. Then, with a long sigh, he heaved himself up and went into the hut to get the king.

They walked single file through the forest. Josef went first, stalking through the tree shadows like a knife-covered jungle cat. Eli strolled a good distance behind him, leading the king by his rope like a puppy. Nico trailed at the back, her enormous coat pulled tight around her despite the warm afternoon, and her eyes glued to the thick undergrowth.

"You'll never get away with this, you know," King Henrith said, trying to keep some of his dignity as he stumbled after Eli. "As soon as I'm back with my own men, I'll put my entire army after you. You won't even reach the border."

"Splendid!" Eli said, ducking under a low branch. "At least things won't be boring. After this last week, an army on our heels sounds like a welcome vacation."

"Don't you understand?" the king sputtered, shaking his bound fists at the thief's back. "I'll have you drawn and quartered! I'll hang your innards up in the city square for birds to pick at, and what's left, I'll throw in the river for the fis.h.!.+"

"That doesn't sound very sanitary." Eli pressed his finger to his lips thoughtfully. "Still, it's the thought that counts." He looked over his shoulder, a heartfelt sunbeam of a smile lighting up his face. "I'm so happy we got to know each other like this. That's the best part about this business: You meet so many interesting people!"

The king turned purple with rage, but before he could think of a proper comeback, Eli came to an abrupt halt, causing the king to run face first into his back. A few feet ahead, Josef had stopped and was watching the trees, one hand hovering over the short sword at his hip.

They were at the edge of a small gap in the trees, not really a meadow but a rare sunny s.p.a.ce where bushes and wildflowers had taken root. The forest around them looked just like every other bit they'd spent the last twenty minutes walking through, a mix of midsized hardwoods and thick undergrowth. The only sounds were the cries of far-off birds and the wind rustling the leaves high above them.

"What is it?" Eli whispered, creeping toward the swordsman.

Josef stayed perfectly still, with his hands on his swords. "We're being followed."

As soon as he said it, a monster launched itself out of the undergrowth. It moved like mist over water, gray and cold and canine, with enormous teeth, which Josef managed to dodge barely a second before they would have sunk into his leg. He landed hard on his knees beside Eli, rolling to his feet as soon as he touched the ground, his short sword flas.h.i.+ng. Eli pulled the king and Nico close behind him, backing them into the center of the small clearing to give the swordsman room to maneuver. Josef crouched low beside them, both short swords out now, and readied himself for the creature's next charge.

However, the charge never came. As soon as they were all bunched together, the trap sprang.

CHAPTER 11.

The ground erupted at their feet, sprouting four enormous walls that grew ten feet before they could react. At first, the walls appeared to be made of dirt, but as soon as they reached their full height, the dirt s.h.i.+fted and became solid, slick stone, caging them in on all sides save for a tiny, open square of sky at the very top. Then, as suddenly as the walls had grown, they stopped, leaving the king and his kidnappers squashed together like fish in a square, stone barrel.

"Eli," Josef whispered. "Please tell me this is one of your spirits."

"No such luck," came a voice from above. A shadow fell over them, and the captives looked up to see a red-headed woman smirking down through the opening.

"Eli Monpress," she said, "I am Spiritualist Miranda Lyonette. You are hereby under arrest by order of the Rector Spiritualis, Etmon Banage, for the improper use of spirits, treason against the Spirit Court, and, most recently, the kidnapping of King Henrith of Mellinor. You will surrender your spirits and come quietly."

"Now wait a minute," Eli yelled up at her. "Treason against the Spirit Court? Don't you have to be a member of something to commit treason against it? I don't recall ever joining your little social club."

The woman arched her eyebrow. "The Spirit Court preserves the balance between human and spirit. When you used your abilities to ruin the reputation of all wizards by turning to a flamboyant life of crime, you committed treason against all spirits and the humans who care for them. Does that answer your question?"

"Not really," Eli said.

"Well, we'll have plenty of time to talk about it later," Miranda said, smirking. "Will you surrender the king and come quietly, or must I ask Durn here to march you all the way to the Spirit Court's door?"

The stone prison jerked several feet to the left, knocking its occupants in a pile on the dusty ground.

"You make a strong argument, Lady Miranda," Eli said, untangling himself from the king. "But I'm afraid there's a slight problem."

"Oh?" Miranda leaned forward.

"You see, we already had his royal dustiness here order his people to write a letter pledging thirty-five thousand gold toward my bounty. You know how the Council is; they never go back on something once it's been through the system, so you must agree it would be frightfully rude of me to just go off with you and forfeit all of Mellinor's money to the Spirit Court, especially considering the country's general aversion to pract.i.tioners of the magical arts."

"I fail to see how that is my concern, Mr. Monpress." Miranda waved her hand dismissively. "Why don't we wait and ask the Rector Spiritualis what he thinks?"

"Ah," Eli said. "That sounds lovely. Unfortunately, I must refuse. You see, I have a pressing prior obligation to take his highness home and pick up a rather disgusting amount of money."

"You might find that difficult, considering the circ.u.mstances," Miranda said, patting the wall below her. "I don't know how you charm your spirits, sir, but Durn here only answers to me, and he says you're coming with us."

"Really?" Eli rapped his knuckles against the hard stone. "Let's see if he won't have a change of heart. Nico, if you would?"

Nico nodded and stretched out her hand, pressing her long fingers delicately against the stone wall. For a moment, nothing happened. Then her eyes flashed under the shadow of her hat, and the wall beneath her fingers began to vanish. Not pull back, not crumble, but vanish, as if it had never been there to begin with.

After that, things happened very quickly. The stone walls of the prison collapsed with a thundering scream, falling over in an avalanche of rubble, including the wall Miranda had been so confidently perched on only seconds before. Suddenly without purchase, the female Spiritualist fell tumbling to the ground with a sickening thud.

The giant hound sprang forward with a terrifying roar, landing in a protective crouch above his motionless mistress. "Monster!" he roared, his patterns whirling through the thick cloud of dust and grit. "What did you do?"

"I'm sure we don't know what you're talking about," Eli said, dusting himself off. "We were the ones attacked by a mon-"

Gin didn't give the thief a chance to finish. He leaped forward, almost too fast to see, his claws going straight for Nico's throat. He would have struck true if Josef's blade hadn't been there. The swordsman parried the hound's swipe at the last second, but the impact took them both to the ground. Josef rolled and came up sword first. The hound pushed off the gra.s.s in a shower of dirt and wheeled around, narrowly dodging the swordsman's counterswipe with a well-timed leap.

"Stand aside, human," Gin snarled, his hackles bristling as he circled for another charge. "It's not you I want now. Rest a.s.sured, I'll eat you later for what you did to my mistress."

"Growl all you want, pup." Josef flipped his swords with a toothy grin, and pointed both tips at the ghosthound's nose. "I'm no wizard, so if you have something to tell me, you'll have to say it in a language I understand."

The ghosthound clawed the ground and launched forward, teeth snapping in readiness to crush the swordsman's skull, but before he had gone more than a few feet, something extraordinary happened. On either side of the charging hound, enormous roots burst out of the ground. They flew like spears, shooting out of the dirt and over the ghosthound in a tall arc. Then, with a whip crack, they slammed down hard, pinning the dog beneath them. Howling, Gin clawed and tore at the ground, foam flicking from his mouth as he fought to get free, but it was no use. The roots were young and strong, and, as much as he struggled, they would not let him go.

Josef stared in confusion for a moment and then glanced over at Eli, who looked to be in deep conversation with the stand of oaks on the far side of the clearing, and his face fell.

"Powers, Eli, did you have to?" He slammed his swords back into their sheaths. "Things were finally getting interesting."

Eli finished thanking the trees and turned to scowl at his companion. "Don't worry, I'm sure he'll still want to kill you later, but we don't have time for this right now. You were the one who said we should be early."

Josef grunted and turned away. "Nico," he called, "grab the king."

Nico nodded and reached down. The king s.h.i.+ed away from her with a terrified squeak. On her next grab, she didn't give him the chance to dodge. She took hold of his collar and dragged him up. Then, as easily as a thresher lifts a bag of chaff, she roped her arm around his middle and hoisted him onto her shoulders. She looked at Josef, who nodded, and they began to walk slowly in the direction they had been going before the disturbance.

Eli didn't follow immediately. Instead, he walked over to the struggling ghosthound and knelt just out of claw range, so that he was eye to enormous eye with the beast.

"I asked the trees to hold you until nightfall," he said, watching in amus.e.m.e.nt as the hound tried to snap at him. "You're no servant spirit, are you? I've never heard of a Spiritualist keeping a ghosthound in a ring, and no member of the Spirit Court would enslave a spirit against its will. So, I'm curious, why do you follow her? Did she save your life? Pull a thorn out of your paw?"

"Come a little closer," the hound growled, "and I'll tell you."

"Maybe later." Eli stood, brus.h.i.+ng the dirt off his knees. "I'm sure you'll be able to find us easily enough when you do get out, but I would suggest you look to your mistress first." He glanced over at the Spiritualist's crumpled body. "We humans are so fragile."

"Miranda is no weakling," Gin snapped. "She would not forgive me if I let you escape, especially now that we've seen the company you keep."

"Nico? Don't worry about her. We've got things well in hand on that count. Besides," he said, grinning, "she's our companion, as I suspect that Spiritualist is for you. Companions don't leave each other in the lurch."

He turned and started to jog after the others. "Think on what I said," he called over his shoulder.

Gin growled and snapped at the wizard's retreating back until he disappeared into the brush. When Eli was well out of sight, the hound flopped against the dirt, panting. The roots snickered above him, and he snarled menacingly, which just made them snicker harder. Gin laid his ears back and flicked an eye over at Miranda. She was still lying where she had fallen, crumpled on her stomach, face down in the dirt. She wasn't moving, but her shoulders rose and fell slightly, and that gave him hope. Gin watched her for a moment more and then, with a sigh, he began the long process of digging himself out.

Miranda woke up slowly, one muscle at a time. Everything hurt. There was dirt in her eyes and, she grimaced, her mouth. She coughed experimentally and immediately regretted it as the bruised muscles along her rib cage seized up in protest. She lay still for a moment, with her eyes clenched shut, concentrating on breathing without pain. The world was strangely still around her. She heard nothing except the normal sounds of the forest, crickets and frogs croaking in warm air and the evening wind in the trees high overhead. Gritting her teeth, she raised her hand and began wiping away the dirt. When she had cleaned as much as she could hope to, she cautiously opened her eyes.

Gin's face filled her vision and she jumped in surprise, waking a whole new round of aches. The ghosthound's eyes widened at her string of mumbled expletives, and he bent closer, his hot breath blowing more dirt into her face. She coughed again, wincing. Gin gave a low whimper and, to her great surprise, gently licked her face. Miranda couldn't stop her grimace as his wet tongue slipped over her cheek, but it helped with the caked-on dirt and she knew better than to complain over a rare show of affection.

"Thanks," she muttered.

The ghosthound flicked his ear and nudged his nose under her, helping her up.

"Thanks again," she said, sitting up slowly. Then she got her first good look at her companion, and her eyes went wide. "Powers, what happened to you?"

Gin was filthy. His front paws, muzzle, and stomach were black with dirt, and the rest of him was so covered with dust and debris she could barely see his patterns moving.

"The wizard trapped me," he said simply, "and I got out."

Miranda looked confused. "Trapped..."

Gin s.h.i.+fted to one side, and Miranda stared in amazement at what had been their neat, quiet, ambush-friendly clearing. It looked like a tree had exploded. Roots stuck out of the ground in every direction, some torn wide open, others in large knots. At the center was a deep ditch where the ground was furrowed with long claw marks. A Gin-sized pile of dirt rested against the trees to her left, and Miranda began to put the picture together.

"No wonder we both look like a dirt spirit decided to give us a hug," she said. "You never could learn to dig cleanly."

"Ghosthounds aren't made for digging," Gin growled.

Miranda shook her head and dug her fingers into the dirty fur at his neck, pulling herself slowly to her feet. "Any idea where the king is?"

"West somewhat." Gin flicked an ear in that direction. "They're waiting for something."

Using Gin as a prop, Miranda bent over with a wince and picked up a piece of her stone spirit off the ground. "I'm surprised Durn hasn't reformed himself," she said, clutching the stone to her chest. "That girl must have given him quite a scare."

"You know what she is, then?" Gin asked, surprised.

Miranda nodded. "What kind of Spiritualist would I be if I didn't know a demonseed when I saw one? Especially after it tried to eat one of my servants. This might be my first time actually meeting one, but Master Banage made absolutely sure we knew what to do if we did."

Gin crinkled his dirty nose. "And what is that?"

"Nothing," Miranda said, stepping away.

"What!" Gin roared. "I don't know what kind of demonseeds he's talking about, but the kind I know, the kind that just took a chunk out of Durn, those eat spirits like I eat pigs. 'Nothing,' " he snorted. "The next time I see her..." He snapped his teeth.

"Don't even think about it, mutt," Miranda said, hobbling slowly around the clearing, picking up Durn's broken pieces. "Demonseeds are League business. If we want to stay in the Spirit Court, we don't interfere with the League of Storms. Besides," she said smiling sadly, "it's not like a Spiritualist could do much against her. Like you said, demonseeds gain their strength by eating spirits. If I did decide to fight her, the only weapon I have is you lot, and I'm not risking my spirits like that."

"You think so little of us-"

"Quite the opposite," Miranda said, shaking her head. "I'm sure that, if you put your mind to it, you could make her fight full force to defend herself, but look at it this way: If the girl can still maintain her human form, the demonseed inside her must still be small. However, if we offered it the chance to devour a larger spirit, say, a certain hot-headed dog, it might be enough to awaken her demon, and then where would we be?"

Gin bared his teeth. "Say what you want, but if I see a chance, I'm taking it. Any demonseed, no matter how small, is a danger to all spirits. Even the sleepiest, stupidest of us will try to kill one when we see it. I'm surprised Eli can talk to spirits if they know she's around. You'd think they'd want nothing to do with him."

"He must be hiding her somehow." Miranda frowned, piling the last bits of Durn in a circle on the ground. "You didn't sense her until she took a bite out of Durn, and your nose is sharper than most." She shook her head. "A wizard thief who uses only small-time spirits to kidnap kings, but travels with a hidden demonseed strong enough to damage my spirits and a master swordsman fast enough to counter your bite. This whole mission is one big knot of curiosities." She stood and dusted off her hands. "But it doesn't really matter. Next time I find that thief, I'm not going to take chances. I'm just going to fry him from behind. We'll see how he wiggles out of that."

Point made, she spread her hands over the collected pile of rubble that had been one of her most powerful spirits and closed her eyes. Durn's ring, a square of dark, cloudy emerald set in a yellow-gold band that took up the whole bottom joint of her left thumb, began to glow dully as she forced her own spirit energy through the stone. The energy flowed freely through the orderly pattern of the gem, calling gently to Durn's core. She felt his answer, weak and frightened, but there. Miranda sent a wave of power in response, the pulses repeating the pledge she'd made when she first bonded him-the exchange of power for service, strength for obedience, the sacred promise between spirit and Spiritualist that neither would ever abuse the other. With each pulse, the ring vibrated gently and began to glow. The rocks at her feet shook in answer, and then, at last, rolled together, matching their cracked edges and reforming until Durn himself sat crouched in front of her, his black, s.h.i.+ny surface dented but whole, and looking as ashamed as stone allowed.

"Forgive me, mistress," he rattled. "I failed you."

"There is nothing to forgive," Miranda said gently, running her fingers over his jagged edges. "I sent you into danger neither of us could have foreseen. You did well in the job I a.s.signed you. Now it's time to come home."

Durn sighed against her skin, and then, with a sound like slag falling down a cliff, began to disintegrate. He broke first into small boulders, then gravel, and then dust that glowed silver in the afternoon sun as it drifted up into Miranda's open hands. She gathered him bit by bit into his ring, using her own spirit as a guide to fold him into the gem. When the last tendril of dust vanished, the emerald flashed faintly before dying out altogether as Miranda pushed him into a deep sleep.

"He'll recover," she said and sighed, twisting the ring over so the dark stone was against her palm. "But it'll be weeks before he's fit for anything except sleeping."

"It could have been worse," Gin offered, but she cut him off with a raised hand.

"I don't want to think about it. Let's focus on doing our job. Which way did they go?"

"This way." Gin stood up and turned with a swish of his tail, hopping over the remains of Eli's root trap.