A FOOT SCUFFED nearby and she lifted her head from where she sat slumped against the wall.
“Kara.”
She looked up to see Dario Todaro staring down at her. He set the second mage light down on the ground and sat down beside her.
“I remember everything,” he said. “Thank you.”
“You might not be grateful if we can’t get out of here,” she said.
“A simple ‘you’re welcome’ is the appropriate response,” he replied. “If it’s going to happen, I’d rather die with my memories intact.”
“Of course.” She felt her cheeks heat with embarrassment. “I didn’t mean . . .” She stopped, because that was exactly what she’d meant—that being mad—dying mad—was better than dying sane. “Sorry, your madness was a curse—a form of punishment. Of course, you’d rather be sane if . . .” she trailed off, not wanting to put their possible fate into words.
“Let’s hope none of us dies,” Dario said. “How is it you think I can help?”
Kara met his eyes and smiled. “My mother was lucky to have you as a friend.” And didn’t deserve you, she thought. Instead she got to her feet and held out her hand for him to take.
“I will need you to try to create spells or at the very least collect magic that I will direct.”
“I CAN ALWAYS create mage lights,” Dario said. “It’s what has always given me—and others—hope that one day I could do real magic.”
“But mage lights are real magic,” Kara said.
They were leaning against one wall staring across at the one they wanted—needed—to tunnel through. Chal—he’d finally found out the Seyoyan’s name—had gone to the spring to see if he could somehow collect a few drops of water.
And both Kara and Chal, to his astonishment, could see magic—could see spells!
Even in the workroom, he’d heard rumours that such people existed, but he’d never fully believed it. Just as he’d never fully believed in Assassins. Yet apparently one was on the other side of this cave wall trying to dig them out. Or he had been until they’d heard the cave-in.
He could tell that Kara was afraid—Chal was too, but at times Kara’s fear and worry seemed to come off her in waves—that this Assassin had been caught in the cave-in.
“Mage lights are magic,” he agreed. “But it’s the simplest spell—one of the very first children are taught—so it’s not much.”
“You’re pale blue,” Kara said.
“What?” He was confused. “Pale blue? What does that mean?”
“The colour of your magic,” she said. “Your mage mist. It’s a pale blue colour. Like the sky.”
“Oh, interesting.” To be honest, since childhood, he hadn’t actually seen the sky very often. He’d spent most of his days in the workrooms—arriving when it was dark and leaving when it was dark. “Is that an unusual colour?”
“Not really. All Mages have their own colour,” she said. “That’s how I know Valerio Valendi cursed you. He also cursed Santos.”
“Santos. Do you mean Santos Nimali?” He only knew of one Santos—a few years ago he’d been the Mage Guild Primus. He’d visited the workroom once, although Dario hadn’t spoken to him.
“Yes, I helped him the same way I helped you,” she said matter-of-factly, as though she dealt with the most powerful Mages daily. And maybe she did?
“He has an estate on Old Rillidi,” Kara continued. “That’s where I live. He’ll welcome you, if you want to joins us.”
“I . . .” What did one say to that? “I’ll certainly consider it, but we need to get out of here first.” And he was starting to think that they might actually do it—that Kara might actually be able to do what she was planning on doing: taking his power and using it to tunnel through rock.
“All right,” she said. “I need you to collect all the magic you can.”
He tried to concentrate on drawing power to him, on feeling it fill him up with energy, but after a few moments of nothing, he shook his head.
“I’m sorry.”
“Why did you stop?” Kara asked.
“I didn’t think it was working. Was it?”
“Yes. The mage mist is so thick I can barely see your hands. You can’t feel it?”
“No, I didn’t think it was working.” He’d been told by everyone that he would feel the energy when he was collecting magic. Had they been wrong all this time? “Do you think I can do spells by myself?”
“Do you want to try?” Kara stood up and held out her hand. He grabbed it, and she helped him to his feet.
“Other than lights I’ve never been able to create spells,” he said. “So they stopped telling me how to do it. Do you know?”
“I think it’s about intent,” Kara said. “You need to think about what you intend to happen, then . . . I don’t know, throw the magic at it? What do you do when you create a mage light?”
“I think about the need for a light.” He smiled. He could do this. “Ready?” She nodded, and he focused on the wall in front of him; on making a passageway that would lead them outside. Then he tried to throw his magic at it.
“Get down!” Kara slammed into him just as air rushed past him and something smashed into the rock behind him. Dust and rock showered down on them.
“Did it work?” Chal burst into view and stopped. “Are you two all right?”
Dario gently rolled over; Kara was still partially wedged against him. He brushed dust off of them both and gingerly got to his feet. Chal bent down and helped Kara up.
“I think I need more practice,” he said. Then he grinned. “But I did it—I actually created a spell that blasted the rock!” He was a Mage—after all these years—he was truly a Mage.
“Next time I’ll be prepared to direct the spell,” Kara said and smiled back at him.
Suddenly he heard the sound of something hammering on rock.
“What—?”
“Shhh,” Kara said. “Be quiet.” She and Chal both rushed to the opposite wall and pressed their ears to it.
The banging came again, in a pattern that could only be manmade. Chal smiled and stepped back, searching the ground. He picked up a rock and pounded on the wall with it, then sat waiting, his ear pressed to the wall.
KARA HELD HER breath; was it Reo? Would there be a reply to Chal’s message, proving that Reo was alive?
She waited, not daring to breathe, not wanting to make a sound. There! Was that a reply? She stared at Chal. When a grin split his face, she closed her eyes as relief and happiness coursed through her.
“It’s Reo,” Chal said; he held up a hand as the tapping sounds continued. After a few moments, he stepped back from the wall, still smiling.
“They had a few injuries,” he said. “Some bruises and one black eye, but nothing worse. It’s taken them this long to clear out the debris and make sure the ceiling won’t collapse again. Reo was very relieved to find out that we’re alive.” He paused. “What do you want me to tell him to do? Should they continue?”
“Tell them to stand back and let us try to get out with magic,” Kara said. She looked over at Dario. “As long as you’re comfortable with that?”
“Yes, I think we can do it.”
She leaned in closer to Chal. “Tell Reo that if we’re not through the rock in a few hours we’ll need to rely on them to get us out.”
“All right.” He hammered out his message, pausing every few moments to listen to a reply.
“That’s done,” Chal said, stepping away from the wall. “Let’s hope this works: we have very little water left.” He held up the waterskin. “I was able to add a few drops from the spring but that’s all there is, so be careful with it.”
“All right.” Kara didn’t take the waterskin; she’d wait until she and Dario had a chance to try to use magic to make a way out; until she knew just how desperate their situation was.
She turned to the Mage. Mage mist wrapped round his balled fists. “You’ve already been collecting magic. Are you ready to try again?”
“Yes.”
Chal edged out of the way as Dario stepped up to the wall. He held his hands up, palms facing the wall.
“I’ll try to push it towards that wall,” he said.
“I’ll help.” Kara steeled herself for the force of magic as a cloud of mage mist flowed from Dario’s hands. But instead of hitting the wall and burrowing into it, it careened off it and slid along the ceiling.
“Down!” Kara said, but Chal was already dragging Dario to the ground. She reached up and shoved both hands into the mage mist, willing it to come to her, to respond to her demand. Slowly the mage mist started twining around her hands until all of the magic was spinning faster and faster above her head.
The magic sparked and flashed as it continued to collapse into a tighter and tighter ring around her hands. Slowly she lowered her arms and pointed the mist at the wall in front of her. With a mental heave, she thrust the mage mist towards the wall, willing it to dig into the earth.
There was a loud crack when the magic hit the wall. For a moment, the rock face seemed to buckle, and then the mage mist, still spinning, bit into it. Rocks and dirt were flung outward as the magic—it wasn’t a spell, exactly—continued to burrow into the wall, filling the cave with the sound of rock being torn apart.
Kara shielded her eyes to try to watch what was happening. There was now a hole in the wall and she could see wisps of mage mist streaming from it. But it wasn’t very big: just the diameter of the mage mist that had wrapped around her hands and not large enough for any of them to crawl through.
“Dario!” she called over the noise. “Gather more magic and come here!”
The Mage, dodging the rocks and dirt that were still spewing from the hole in the wall, staggered over to her. He lifted his hands: they were blanketed in mage mist and she gripped them.
“Think of a spell,” she said to him. “But don’t try to cast it.”
When Dario nodded that he was ready, Kara pulled the magic from him. When all of the power had transferred from his hands to hers, she stepped up to the wall.
With each hand about a foot on either side of the hole, she pushed against the wall, willing the magic into it.
And was blown back by a burst of energy. She slammed into Dario, who cushioned her as they were pushed into the wall behind them.
Dazed, she looked at the wall; the hole was wider—wide enough for them to crawl through, she hoped. Drained, she slumped down and covered her ears with her hands to wait until the magic had finished . . . doing what it was doing. Even if the opening wasn’t large enough to use to escape, right now she didn’t have the energy to do anything more.
WHEN THE SPELL stopped—or broke through or dissipated—the cavern went silent. Kara lifted her head off her chest. Had the magic run out of energy? Had it been blocked by something more solid than rock? Or had it broken through to where Reo and the sailors were and . . . ?
She scrambled to her feet and over to the wall. It hadn’t been a spell: it hadn’t had any real direction, other than when she’d pointed it at the wall. Had it burst through to Reo and the others and caught them all by surprise? Had they survived the cave-in only to be killed by runaway magic? By the magic she’d sent their way?
“Reo!” she yelled into the ragged tunnel. “Reo! Are you there? Are you all right?” she called when what she meant was were you alive.
There was no answer. She was about to crawl into the hole when Chal’s hand on her arm stopped her.
“We told them to stand back,” he said. “And they would have heard the sound of the magic tunnelling through rock. I doubt they were close.”
She met his eyes. He seemed so confident that she felt her panic drain away. “But what if they were too close?” she asked.
“They had Javan Losi,” Chal said. “He would have seen the magic and gotten them all out of the way.”
“Yes, you’re right.” Javan would have seen the magic. Her shoulders relaxed, and she took a step back to stand beside Dario, who was staring at the hole in the wall with a look of wonder on his face.
DARIO DIDN’T WANT to look away. He’d done magic; real magic, not simple mage lights. It hadn’t precisely been a spell, and he hadn’t directed it—but his power—his magic—had fuelled whatever Kara had done to drill through the rock wall. It was actually quite similar to the workroom, except there he never saw his power working: it was drained from him for use somewhere else. It was very different seeing how strong his magic was and what it could do.
And after a lifetime of feeling like a failure—of being a failure—he finally felt as though he’d lived up to his potential. If he never did anything magically significant again in his life, he would always have this moment, this feeling of success.
“What was that?” He dragged his gaze away from the wall to focus on Chal.
“Can you create a new mage light?” Chal asked. “And send it into the tunnel?”
“Yes, of course.” He tried not to grin at this simple request, but he was needed—his magic was needed—again. He created a small mage light and had it float just outside the entrance to the narrow tunnel. “Do you want it to go inside?”
“Let me get in first,” Chal said. “I’ll try to see if everything looks stable or if I think it’s collapsing.”
He climbed into the hole. It wasn’t wide enough for him to turn around but when Dario heard the other man’s muffled “now” he pushed the mage light into the opening. It sped across the Seyoyan’s shoulder and was lost to his sight.
“Do you want another one?” Dario asked. After being so proud of his magic, he was feeling a little deflated. He could create as many mage lights as they needed; what he couldn’t do was control them.
“Can you slow it down?” Kara asked him.
“I’ll try.” He created another mage light and let it hover overhead. Concentrating on making it move slowly, he herded it into the hole. It too sped past Chal and down the tunnel.
The Seyoyan backed out of the tunnel. By the time he was standing, he was covered in dust.
“From what I could see the tunnel seems sound,” he said. “And very straight. I think it’s safe to travel.”
“I’ll go first,” Kara said. “In case the magic got stuck in it somehow.”
“No,” Chal said. Then he sighed. “Yes, it’s the only thing that makes sense. But you won’t be able to let us know if anything’s happened to you.”
“Neither would you,” Dario said. He wondered if they expected him to go first: he’d be able to send a mage light back, but he wouldn’t be able to see any magic. And he certainly couldn’t do anything about any magic that he might encounter. “I can create another mage light that you can take with you.”
KARA SLID HER head into the opening and pushed with her legs until she was completely inside. Rather than have her try to carry or push a mage light ahead of her, Dario had fixed one to her shoulder right beside her ear. The light it cast illuminated the path ahead, except for the shadow of her head.
“I’ll have Reo message you,” she called over her shoulder, squinting at the glare of the light. Then she started forward, wriggling on her stomach and using her elbows to inch herself through the tunnel.
As Chal had said, the tunnel was straight. She could see a light at the other end but the tunnel was far longer than she’d expected. Men with pickaxes would have taken days—maybe weeks—to dig through all this rock.
“Hello?” Kara called. “Hello!” The light ahead of her flickered and grew stronger—a flame then, not a mage light—and she hurried towards it.
“Kara?”
“Reo.” She crawled another foot and then hands gripped her and she was pulled from the tunnel and into his arms.
“I was so worried,” she said as she collapsed against him. She sighed and looked over his shoulder. Torchlight cast shadows on half a dozen men who stood in a circle, staring at her.
“I take it you found the Mage responsible for all the magic on the island.”
Kara turned her head to see Javan Losi, hands on his hips, staring at her. Self-consciously she stepped out of Reo’s embrace.
“Yes,” she agreed. “A Mage by the name of Dario Todaro.” She looked back at Reo. “He was cursed by Valerio Valendi.”
“Valendi.” Reo scowled. “Still causing harm even after his death. And Chal is well? He didn’t say, and I worried that it was because he didn’t want to alarm us.”
“Yes,” Kara said. “He’s in good health. We all are. I told Chal we’d signal once I made it out safely.”
“I’ll do that now,” Reo said. He picked up a heavy-looking hammer and headed to one side of the tunnel opening. He hammered on the rock.
“I saw the mage mist as it came through,” Javan said, pulling her attention away from Reo. “Although we heard it before it got this far.”
“Chal said that you’d be here,” Kara said. “And that you’d make sure the magic didn’t hurt anyone. I . . .” she paused, “I didn’t have any way of making it stop once it dug through the rock, and I was worried that someone on this side would get hurt.”
“It was certainly strange,” Javan said. “Two separate spells broke through. Once free of the rock they stopped spinning so fast. Most spells dissipate when they’ve done what they were created to do but these seemed to almost merge together before settling on the ground and twisting out towards the mouth of the cave. I ran after them, but they were gone by the time I made it outside.”
“They weren’t spells,” Kara said.
Reo rejoined them. “Chal and the Mage are on their way,” he said. “What wasn’t a spell?”
“The magic that tunnelled through the rock,” Kara said. “Dario has magic but the only actual spell he can do is to create mage lights. I used his power to create the way out.”
“You did magic?” Reo asked.
“No, I—” Kara started and then stopped. How to explain what had happened? “I took his power—his magic—and aimed it at the cave wall. It works a little bit like how I deflect spells: except this was unfocussed power that somehow I made dig through the rock. And I drew the magic out of him. Chal calls what I do unmagic.”
“Unmagic—that’s new,” Reo said. “Ah, there’s Chal now.”
As soon as Chal had been pulled from the tunnel, Dario’s head poked out of it.
DARIO SQUINTED AS he was pulled out into the torchlight.
“Dario Todaro,” Kara said. “This is Reo Medina and Javan Losi.” She gestured to two men: a Tregellan and a Seyoyan.
“Thank you,” Dario said to them. “For your help. I think I’ve been here for a while.”
“Longer than me,” Chal said. “By at least two weeks. That’s when Javan saw the magic and sent for me.”
“I’ll do my best to clear all the magic away before we leave,” Kara said. “There could still be dangerous spells on the island.”
“Magic? Spells?” He’d done things to the whole island and not just the cave? “I hope I haven’t ruined anything on this island while I was . . .” How to explain that he’d been cursed? And how had he done magic?
“I told them you had been cursed,” Kara said. “I know you didn’t mean to cause any harm.”
“But I did?”
“No one lives here,” Chal said. “So there shouldn’t be any real consequences. And Kara said she’d take care of it.”
“Of course.” Kara Fonti, who had somehow used his magic to get them out of the cave, would remove any spells he’d created while he’d been mad. She was standing beside the man she’d introduced as Reo, looking at him the way he probably looked at her mother. And despite that, something about Reo made him shiver; the man felt dangerous.
“I’ve had enough of caves,” Chal said. “I hope it’s a sunny day.” He eyed him. “You coming outside, Dario?”
Chal headed off down a rocky trail, and Dario hurried to catch up to him.
“We didn’t have a chance to talk about how you came to be in the cave with me,” Dario said. They rounded a corner, and a gust of wind plucked at his hair. Up ahead the mouth of the cave was outlined in bright light. He shielded his eyes against the glare.
“Javan also sees magic,” Chal said. “He noticed magic—your magic—on this island and I was sent to investigate.” Chal stopped just inside the entrance. “I followed the mage mist into the cave and then . . . I was stuck inside with you.” He stepped out into sunlight and, eyes closed, lifted his face skyward.
Dario hesitated before he too stepped into the sun. It was warm on his skin and he took another deep breath. “There were always rumours about people who see magic, and now I know they were true. I’ve met three of you.”
“Two who see it and one who can do so much more,” Chal said. “But don’t tell Mage Guild.”
“I would never do that,” Dario replied. “And what about Reo Medina? Does he see magic too?”
“Reo?” Chal laughed. “See magic? No, he’s an Assassin—or was—my guess is that he’s here in case the threat was non-magical.” Chal shrugged. “And I doubt he wanted Kara to deal with this problem alone.”
“I did notice that he seems to be important to Kara.” Kara Fonti, who was remarkable and possessed extraordinarily dangerous abilities. Maybe it was a good thing that she knew an Assassin. Mage Guild would not like someone with her talents; not unless they could control her. And if she was an asset to some, she would be a threat to others: someone would try to kill her, eventually.
“It’s nice to be outside,” Kara said from behind him. “Isn’t it?”
“You can’t go back,” Dario said to her. “You can’t let Mage Guild have you.” Even his love—Arabella Fonti—would want to either use Kara or harm her, though she was her daughter.
“Mage Guild is not going to hurt me,” Kara said. “Not that they haven’t tried.”
“Kara’s not an easy target,” Chal said. “She killed Valerio Valendi and is still standing.”
“Chal, you know that was self-defence,” Kara said. “I didn’t want to—didn’t mean to—kill him.”
“But you did?” Dario tried to keep the fear from his voice but from the look Kara sent he knew he’d failed. Kara had said that Valerio Valendi was dead, not that she was the one who had killed him. “Everyone said that he was the most powerful Mage in all of Mage Guild.” And Arabella’s lover; and according to Kara, the Mage who had cursed him.
“Come on,” Kara said, stepping onto the path in front of them. “I desperately need to clean up and eat a hot meal.”
“I didn’t mean to offend her,” Dario said to Chal, who shrugged.
“It’s the truth,” the Seyoyan said. “So I doubt she was offended.” He turned and followed Kara along the trail.
Dario stared at their retreating backs. He was out of the cave and no longer cursed but what was he supposed to do? More slowly than the others, he started along the path. Valerio Valendi might be dead, but that didn’t mean he could safely return to Mage Guild. Or that he wanted to. But he had nowhere else to go.