A Shadow Thief's Magic Read online

  Chapter 14

  He said softly, “It might be better to wait, deal with it later.”

  Katy looked at him, “Why? I’ll not have it in my kingdom.”

  He looked at Gabby, whose eyes widened slightly.

  Katy rolled her eyes, “She already knows, sort of. Why do you think I should wait?”

  Gabby just looked shocked.

  Katy looked over at her, “Did you think you could do anything in or near my camp without me finding out about it?”

  He frowned, “Okay… you’ll have to explain that. But my point is you have no authority, if you unseat the marquis with strength of magic, you’ll end up facing both the good and bad soldiers. Then what happens when we leave to get back to our mission, who do you leave in charge? Add to that word will get back to your uncle, and he’ll send troops to punish the whole village for sedition. You might stop a few girls from being raped, but in the long run a lot more will suffer and die.

  “Once you gain the throne, you can send a regiment of soldiers along with a replacement marquis. Hang the lecherous bastard, question all the troops here and hang the rapists among them as well, and have a good man… or woman in charge. A lot less people get hurt that way, and only the bad ones.”

  Katy said angrily, “And in the meantime, the women who are raped, and the families that lose their homes?”

  He winced.

  “Kat, you can’t save everyone. Not even when you’re the queen. You need to follow the path that will save the most. Sure, it will feel good in the short run to kill the bastard now, but then all the death and no doubt rapes that follow when the soldiers come in punitively will be on your head.”

  Gabby was fascinated with the exchanges, and also looked a little nervous.

  Erin joined in, “He’s right Katy, now explain about Gabby, and why you didn’t tell me.”

  Katy blushed, “Sorry, I just found out last night, I wasn’t sure what to do yet. She works for Aria, she’s a spy. I’m not positive, but I’m guessing her mission is to figure out if I’m truly Katherine, or some cheap knock off. So what are your orders Gabby? And how did you lie to me?”

  Gabby sighed, “Well fuck. Aria doesn’t trust Lianeth at all, she wanted me to join your little group and determine if you were really the princess or not. If you were, I was to help you surreptitiously, if you weren’t, I’d have turned you in to the soldiers at Ashbridge. So I didn’t lie, I had no intention of stealing or hurting you. I wasn’t supposed to let you know who I was either way.

  “The royal spies are only known to the king or queen, and the captain of the royal guard, no one else. You’d have been told of course, once you took the crown, but until then…”

  He frowned, “So how I caught you in the room, and the subsequent failed robbery, it was all a setup?”

  She grinned at him, “Yup, all cleverly orchestrated so I could join you, and to make any untruths the truth. All except you being naked that is, that was just benevolent providence.”

  He snorted, “So your story about being a thief?”

  She shrugged, “All true, but I wasn’t one for very long.”

  Katy asked, “So how did you wind up where you are now?”

  Gabby replied, “Did you know your father used to dress up as a commoner and go out in the city?”

  Katy shook her head, he noticed her focus had gone up a few notches.

  Gabby continued, “Well he did, and I tried to rob him. It didn’t work out too well. But he saw something in me, and not just what most men see. I’d led him on a merry chase with his guards, and he gave me a choice right there to work for him instead of going to jail. Not a guarantee, but I worked hard for it, your father was a good man. And yes, that does mean I believe you are who you say you are.”

  Katy asked softly, “So what will you do now?”

  Gabby shrugged, “I’ll let my mistress know what happened, and chances are she’ll ask me to stick around, if you want the help. Apparently I’m not as good as I thought I was though. I’m not sure she can do anything about your uncle, probably just bide her time and some subtle misdirection until you can clean house.”

  Katy smiled, “Good, so do we bypass the village? I think Daniel is right, I was letting my emotions get the better of me. I’ll have to wait before I can squash the bastard like a bug.”

  Gabby nodded, “We should bypass it if we can. At least one of us has to go in though, or do we have enough supplies for three more days. I know I was an extra mouth…”

  Erin looked thoughtful, “We do need supplies, but let’s circle around and send Daniel in. He should be the safest from the marquis and his ilk, and he’s the only one they don’t have a good description of.”

  He nodded, “I’ll be fine, Kat can watch my shadow, and if I run into trouble I can shadow travel out of there.”

  They went with that plan and left the road. It was slow going as they dodged patrols, but Katy was able to erase their trail, all they had to do was avoid visual contact. The soldiers wouldn’t be able to find them by cutting their trail because they didn’t leave one. When they got back to the road, they went another five miles, and then into the woods. There really wasn’t time before dark to pick up all the supplies, and they didn’t want to camp too close to the village.

  He could go back to the village in the morning get the supplies, and be back to the camp in time to move on around midmorning if it all goes to plan. He learned quickly that outgoing and fun was Gabby’s true personality, if anything now that they all knew what she was, she was even more flirtatious in her comments and actions toward him.

  He wasn’t quite sure though if she was just trying to get a reaction out of him, or if she really did find him attractive. But then, perhaps it was a little bit of both…

  He decided to be honest with himself. He probably would be paying her more attention and trying to get her into bed if he wasn’t so in love with Katy and already getting physical pleasure with two women, the second of which he cared a great deal about, even if she was a little crazy.

  Regardless, he was having fun with it.

  The next morning he rode back the five miles, the guards at the gate didn’t stop him, barely gave him a second look. It was sloppy, once again they were only alert on the eastern gate. The town itself had a bad vibe to it, the people didn’t look happy at all, and seemed to ignore the others around them. He didn’t see any actual abuses out in the open, but he had no doubt they were happening here. He was glad Katy was back at camp and not seeing this, she might have been tempted to change her mind.

  He went straight to the market. He’d watched Erin do it long enough to haggle like a local as he stuffed his saddlebags with food. They’d unpacked his other stuff back at the camp, since he was picking up food for four. It didn’t take too long, and he was headed back toward the western gate. He was almost there when he felt the aura of a sorcerer, he ignored it and kept his eyes straight ahead and blew out a breath of relief when he left the village’s walls.

  “Halt!”

  Fucking hell.

  He pulled up on the reigns, hoping he could talk his way out of whatever the problem was. He wasn’t that worried about himself really, but he didn’t want to run and show up at the camp with soldiers right behind him.

  He turned around and saw the soldier at the gate looking at him, so he walked his horse over.

  “Is there a problem?”

  The gate guard scowled and looked him over suspiciously, “What was your business here, you were barely in the village for a half hour.”

  “I just needed to pick up food,” he said in innocent surprise.

  The guard walked over and looked through his bags and grunted skeptically.

  “That’s a lot of food for one person.”

  He replied, “It’s for four, I’m a merchant and our wagon broke down about twenty miles from the village. Were getting it fixed, but it’s going to take a few days and we’re running low on food.”

  The guard shook his h
ead and walked away, waving his hand at him.

  He turned and made his way back to their camp feeling relieved, Kat definitely had a problem to deal with when she took over as ruler of this place. They were ready when he got back, mounted up, and waiting for him by the road. He described the conditions, and the guard’s suspicion, but no one was surprised by it. They’d be at Ashbridge in three days, which was about halfway to the crown city, and where they’d try and find blueprints of the castle.

  If that didn’t pan out, perhaps Gabby could help them there, she was a spy after all, she must have some idea.

  Katy brought her horse close to his, and pulled his arm. He leaned over and she gave him a scorching kiss in front of the others, which was out of character for her.

  “What was that about? Not that I’m complaining love.”

  Katy grinned, “I… might have been a little worried.”

  He winked, “Now you know how I felt when you and Erin went on a shopping trip.”

  She scowled, “That was different.”

  “How so?”

  She looked at him and said snootily, “Because I said so, and I’m in charge.”

  He grinned, “I see, and does the princess truly want to be tickled tonight mercilessly?”

  She faux gasped, “You wouldn’t dare.”

  He nodded in false regret, “Yes, and then I’ll take great liberties upon your royal personage.”

  She giggled, “That wasn’t much of a threat… I think I might like that tickle after all.”

  He winked, and she didn’t even blush at all. Katy had definitely changed, and he loved that she couldn’t get enough of him.

  Gabby said to Erin from about fifteen feet back just loud enough for us to hear, “Are they always like this?”

  Erin replied in mock disgust, “No, it seems to be getting worse since they started sharing a tent, it’s nauseating.”

  Gabby laughed, “I don’t know, it’s kind of sweet. Where did she find her true love anyway?”

  Erin snickered, “She used that crazy summoning spell, the one where the gods get involved.”

  Gabby nodded sagely and said in a deep wise voice, “Maybe it was the goddess of love that picked him out then.”

  Katy turned her head and frowned back at them.

  “Will you kill them if I ask nicely?”

  He laughed, “That would be a bad idea Kat.”

  She frowned, “Why is that?”

  He replied with a laugh in his voice, “Because Erin is the only one of us that can cook worth a damn.”

  They all laughed at that, and then settled down a bit. They kept things light for the rest of the day, bantering back and forth. It was a way to fight off their nerves mostly. They’d just left a village under siege behind them, and were approaching the only other city in Lendaran, where the duke was if not in on the ruse about Katy, at least a believer in it. Plus, their only contact, which they weren’t sure they could even trust, was the Duke’s daughter. It was no wonder they were nervous.

  That night after dinner Gabby asked Katy, “Do you mind if I take over his training one night? I’ve picked up a few tricks with shadows over the last ten years he might find useful. Plus, I’m curious to see what he’s thought up coming from a world without magic.”

  Katy nodded, “I don’t mind, with seven spheres I’m not very specialized, I’m sure you know a few things I don’t.”

  Gabby smiled and he found himself following her into the forest. He spent the first fifteen minutes showing her what he’d worked out for himself over the last six weeks or so. Gabby showed him how to turn his spy spell into a communication spell as a second stage if all was clear on the other end. Then she started to show him new stuff.

  Gabby said, “Travel through the shadow lands can impart the momentum if you add it to the spell. Let me show you what I mean.”

  He’d been wondering why she brought her bow, and she wielded it and grabbed an arrow. Then she pointed a great distance away, there was an oak that stood higher and thicker than the others, but there were brush and other trees obscuring it.

  She looked down at one of the shadows, and opened a spy window to the front of that tree.

  “Now, keep an eye on that window.”

  He watched as she pointed her bow in the general direction of that great oak, and he felt her magic as she called shadows to the arrow. When she release the arrow it disappeared after a few inches, and then he heard a thunk, and saw the arrow in the tree’s bark.

  She’d transported the arrow to right in front of the target, but kept the speed the arrow was moving from her bow the same.

  She grinned, “I don’t like killing, but it comes up in my line of work on occasion. This is what I prefer,” she pulled a dart out, “This has a sleeping draught on it, puts the target down for about four hours.”

  She surrounded it with shadows and then flicked it with her wrist, the dart disappeared and he watched the window this time as it appeared and stuck in the tree right above the arrow.

  She added, “Physical objects are harder to move through shadows, but the arrows and darts are so much lighter than a body, so it doesn’t cost all that much of your magic. Why don’t you give it a try with one of those throwing knives?”

  He’d been thinking about how to do it. He could already move objects, so all he had to do was add the transference of momentum. He pulled the knife and surrounded it with shadow, and threw it. It disappeared, and then sunk into the tree between her dart and arrow.

  She said softly, “Not bad, I can’t believe you’ve only done this a month.”

  He shrugged, “On my world they have what’s called martial arts. That is hand to hand fighting techniques, which focuses and disciplines the mind. When I arrived here I already had eight years of learning to meditate and clear my mind, to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else. I suppose that cut years off the learning curve.”

  She nodded, “That makes me feel a little better, since you were already half trained when you got here. It took me almost three months to create my first simple spell. There’s one more thing I want to show you, but let’s go get our stuff.”

  They walked through the trees to the large oak, and after they reclaimed their weapons, Gabby ran her hand across the broken bark and the bark looked perfect.

  “You have healing, umm life sphere?” he asked.

  She grinned, “No, nature. I can’t heal animals or humans, just plants, trees, flowers, that kind of thing. I can affect humans in other ways however.”

  He looked her over and teased, “Of that I have no doubt.”

  She laughed, “I meant with nature magic, but yeah, that too. Okay, one last thing then for tonight. Just as you pass momentum, you can remove or add it. Removing it actually takes no effort, the shadow lands will do that for you. It’s a terrible defense, but if you’re weaponless and desperate you can stop an arrow cold, or even a dagger. You don’t even have to move it; just use the hide version to pop it in the shadow lands for a quick second.

  “The useful part comes from adding momentum. With a thought you can pluck a knife from your side, and have it come out a hundred yards away at a decent speed to hit an enemy. But perhaps the most important application to this is a direct weapon. Shadows can’t really hurt anyone, you know you can’t transfer a part of a person, but what if you transfer a person and add momentum?

  “It’s not something you would need very often, as it takes a lot less magic to hurt someone with a dagger or arrow, or your long sword there. But you should practice if you get a chance. The harder you throw them the more magic it takes.”

  She smiled in a sultry teasing manner and looked him up and down, “It would have come in handy when you came out of that bath naked, especially if it hadn’t been me, but someone armored and ready to kill you. You could have grabbed me in shadows for instance, popped me into the shadow lands, and then spit me out across the room and into the wall, indirect weapon, but effective in a desperate moment.”
r />   He smiled at her alluring posture, “I’ll have to practice that.”

  She stalked forward a bit invading his personal space and said softly, “Do you find me unattractive Daniel? Or is there some social taboo on your world?”

  He swallowed and looked into her large doe eyes, “This world is a bit different that way. It’s not a common thing to… be with whoever you want until married. But no, you have a beautiful face, and a very sexy body, I just…”

  She took another half step forward, her breasts which had to be at least forty four double D brushed against his chest, “Just what? We’re friends now aren’t we, will you tell me about it?”

  He frowned trying to order his thoughts, it wasn’t easy with this aggressively seductive voluptuous beauty right in front of him. At this range, even as he looked into her eyes which were filled with desire, he had an amazing view of her mouthwatering cleavage. He took her hand and led her over to one of the larger trees, and sat on the ground. She allowed him to guide her to sit in front of him between his legs. This wasn’t much better, her curves were still painfully apparent, and her blue black hair was silky when he moved it out of the way, but at least he could think.

  He put his hands on her shoulders and started to massage them and the base of her neck lightly.

  “This is nice,” she said breathily.

  He smiled, “On my world the standards vary, sometimes we date one, others it can be more. I have known a lot of women, but… it never goes very far, relationship wise I mean, which was probably my fault. Anyway, when I got here I had the amazing gall to fall for a princess hard, and I care for Erin as well. It seems almost… too good to be true, do you understand?”

  She murmured softly, “I think so, so what does that have to do with us?”

  He started to massage the front of her shoulders, right above her breasts.

  “It doesn’t I suppose, but it almost feels like too much of a good thing. You’re an amazing woman. Witty, sexy as hell, and intelligent, not to mention you can take care of yourself.”

  She leaned back against him, her lower back pushing into his manhood. It also meant his hands dipped a bit lower, his fingertips teased the tops of her breasts as he massaged in circles, and now he had an even better view of her cleavage than before.