Yasir smiled.

  ‘Next time, take the risk and wake me up, Yasir. We’ve been through this, accuse me of defiling one of your precious books.’

  ‘I was going to leave in ten minutes to get you.’

  Idris decided not to press it, and instead said, ‘dispatch men at once to investigate. I must go.’

  Putting on an expression of mild boredom, he left the reading room to go barge in on the Emperor of Lakasha.

  There were several people who knew he was involved with the network of spies, however only four people in the world knew Idris Mer Haidar was the Imperial Spymaster of Lakasha. One of those people was Yasir. The second was his Imperial Highness, Salamah Mer Bishar III, the third was the High Commander the Army, Kateb Mer Tufayl and the fourth... the fourth was new. The fourth was Amiri Mer Bishar, the fifth son of the Emperor and his second wife, Raniya Mer Nuria.

  ‘Ah, Idris, how nice to see you.’ Amiri smiled indulgently as he arrived, his tone saying there was no reason for Idris to be here.

  Idris bowed formally to the prince. Amiri’s attitude, unfortunately, had little to do with Idris’ public persona of a harmless, bored, young man. As head of the Imperial Shadow Mages, Amiri was of the opinion that Idris’ time had passed. It was an opinion that was shared by many, even by those who had no idea who the Imperial Spymaster was.

  Salamah, sat on his red and gold couch, weighed down by his jewel encrusted, gold threaded robes. The Emperor observed Idris quietly through dark eyes, waiting.

  Idris liked the emperor, which was unusual. He was a quiet man, and would often wait and let his officials, offspring, functionaries and hangers-on talk and bicker, while he observed. Idris could appreciate an intelligent, thoughtful man. Particularly one who cleared his schedule when Idris wanted a meeting.

  Idris and the Emperor had not been waiting long before Amiri appeared, without invitation. Idris was his competitor and far more experienced in this game. At the merest hint that Idris wanted to see his father, Amiri would appear. Salamah had been expecting this, and so had not yet opened the conversation. He was not a man who liked to repeat himself.

  ‘Idris.’ The Emperor said in his deep voice. ‘You have news.’

  Idris nodded curtly. ‘Forgive the intrusion, your Imperial Majesty, but it could not wait. A shadow mage attacked Yaquba Citadel last night. Unless Amiri’s shadow mages have gone rogue, this is most certainly the work of Mance-Jolune.’

  Amiri frowned at the dig but the Emperor merely nodded slowly and asked, ‘Amiri?’

  ‘Father! Of course not!’

  ‘It is a serious question, Amiri.’

  ‘No! All our shadow mages are where they belong, in Arcos!’

  ‘I have dispatched men to check on the situation in Yaquba, but we must expect the worst.’ Idris said.

  ‘Then Mance-Jolune has sent soldiers and spies to our shores, and attacked our valued friends, the Yaqubas.’ Salamah said calmly. Idris could only tell he was angry by the careful, slow way he enunciated the words. Few others would have noticed.

  Amiri was watching, angry and adrift, unable to add anything lest he be forced to admit he knew nothing of this.

  ‘You have done well to bring us this news.’ Salamah said. ‘Amiri, have Kateb summoned. We must prepare our response.’

  Amiri stood stiffly and left the room. He was back in moments.

  ‘We could despatch candles to Yaquba, your Imperial Majesty, though it is likely the shadow mage will be gone by then.’ Idris said.

  ‘Amiri, you must find out if the shadow mage is still in Lakasha, we have few enough candles as it is that I will not send them so far from Dartham and our Imperial City on pointless pursuit.’ Salamah said to his son.

  ‘Iskerashdo is protected by the pendants.’ Amiri said sulkily, ‘the candles could leave.’

  Salamah said nothing, as Idris knew he would not, and so he played the part expected of him, ‘the amulets work poorly on buildings and structures, Amiri, they are for people. The candles themselves are needed to protect Iskerashdo and the Imperial Palace.’

  Amiri knew this, but he did not respond well to pressure. His only response was a startled, embarrassed look.

  ‘Ready yourself, Amiri.’ Salamah said, a tone of warning in his voice. ‘Mance-Jolune has struck the first blow, and now we must respond. Kateb will leave tonight and begin the march into Dartham. You have promised your shadow mages will change the nature of war. Now is the time to prove it.’

  CHAPTER 23

  11 Maurth, 1353

  Hours later, Dorian was forced to stop. He slowly sank to the forest floor, laying Asmara on the ground beside him. She didn’t appear to notice. The night was being chased away by dawn, and the sky was a dull gray. He did not hear any sounds of pursuit.

  ‘We’ll rest for a moment.’ Dorian panted. ‘Then we’ll keep going, I don’t think they’re following us anymore.’

  He wasn’t even sure if there was anyone left to follow them. He dearly hoped there was no pursuit, he was too tired to fight and Asmara couldn’t even stand on her own. If they were attacked again she would be forced to use her shadow magic. Looking at her still body, he didn’t think she could survive using much more of it.

  ‘We’ll just have a little break, Asmara, then we’ll keep going. You know, you’re a lot heavier than you look.’

  She didn’t respond.

  With a tired sigh Dorian grabbed her under her arms and tried to lift her so she was sitting up. Her head lolled lifelessly, but her eyes were open.

  ‘Asmara, can you hear me?’

  Exhausted, but afraid to sleep and leave her alone, he propped her up against a tree. I could be worse, he thought, thinking of the skeletal mage lying in a castle corridor, she forced the mage to use all his energy to heal me, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to walk, much less carry Asmara...

  Asmara’s clothes were ripped and crusted with dried blood, and she was covered in bruises and scratches from their flight through the forest. Dorian thought he probably looked almost as bad. He frowned though as he noticed new cuts and scrapes on her.

  ‘Asmara, are you hurt? Do you feel anything?’

  He picked up one hand and waved it in front of her face.

  ‘Asmara? Hello?’

  He dropped her hand and pushed the heels of his hands into his eyes. For a moment he let himself feel his utter despair. Then he looked back up at Asmara and with more determination then he felt he said, ‘we’ll rest a little while, and then we’ll head back to the coast. Hopefully we’ll meet up with Bo and Julietta, but if not we’ll make our own way back to Mance-Jolune. I don’t want you using any more shadow magic, quite frankly, I’d rather fight more Lakashans than carry you all day.’

  Nothing.

  ‘Maybe after you’ve had a sleep you’ll feel like walking.’

  Silence. Looking at Asmara, Dorian felt completely alone. Unhappy, and wondering what he would find when he woke up, Dorian settled down to get some rest. He didn’t like it, but he simply couldn’t go on any further. Despite his worries and the little pebbles digging into his back, as soon as Dorian closed his eyes he fell into a deep sleep.

  When he awoke the sun was low above the horizon and he thought for a moment he had only slept a few hours, then he realized the sun was setting, not rising. It took a moment for him to remember where he was and what had happened. When he did, he sat up immediately and called, ‘Asmara?’

  He turned and saw her sitting against the tree where he had put her.

  ‘Asmara?’ he repeated, staring at her intently and hoping to find something to indicate she was actually there.

  He thought her eyes were focussing on him more than this morning, but then, in despair, he wondered if he was just deceiving himself.

  ‘Asmara?’ he sighed. ‘I’m starving. I’m going to make us something to eat, and then we’ll get going. Maybe I’ll find a stream and we’ll have a bath.’

  ‘Dor...ian...’

  Dorian’s head shot up. ‘Asmara?!’

  ‘Dorian...’

  Her voice was flat and slurred. Dorian couldn’t help thinking if dead people spoke, that was how they would sound. Still, he couldn’t contain his excitement. ‘Asmara! You can speak!’

  She didn’t say anything else but as he watched her face seemed to get some expression back. It almost looked like she was about to cry.

  ‘Asmara, we’re ok, we got out. I’m going to take you back to Mance-Jolune and everything’s going to be fine.’

  Tears started falling from her eyes.

  ‘Asmara, it’s going to be ok!’ he exclaimed, ‘you’re getting better!’ and he put an arm around her in a hug. ‘We’re both alive and we’re going to be fine.’

  ‘N-no...I...wo-won’t be...’

  ‘You will.’ he said firmly. ‘You’re back in your body, you’re talking, and you’re not going to use your shadow magic again.’

  ‘It-it does...doesn’t...fe-fe-feel like...my...body...’

  ‘It is. It is your body. See?’ and he held up one limp hand in front of her eyes. ‘This is your hand.’

  ‘It fe-feels like...a-a dead...thing...it’s dead...and I-I’m just...ma-making it...move.’

  Dorian swallowed, remembering all too clearly how the Lakashan guard had hacked at her body. ‘You fixed your body, Asmara. It’s not dead. I’m going to make some food and you’re going to eat it.’

  Seeing her crumpled, wet expression Dorian didn’t think he had convinced her. Dorian moved away from her and set about preparing something to eat from the supplies they had in their packs. He talked to her all the while, but she rarely responded. She stayed slumped against the tree, crying silently.

  It didn’t take him long to prepare some food as he didn’t use a fire. When he was done he brought the biscuits, dried meat and water flask over to her.

  ‘You know if you make me feed you I’m going to tease you about it for the rest of your life.’

  Her eyes flicked to his and for a moment it seemed like she was glaring at him. But it was only a moment and again he wondered if he was imagining emotions that weren’t there.

  ‘N-not hun-hungry...’

  ‘You must be, Asmara.’ he said firmly. ‘Because I’m starving. I’m going to eat my food. If you’re still not hungry when I’m finished, I’ll feed you anyway, alright?’

  As he wolfed down the meal he wondered if he was being too harsh on her. He didn’t know how to deal with a shadow mage in this situation, all he had to go on was what Asmara had told Blaise’s sister; you had to force them, because they weren’t capable of caring anymore.

  When it came time for Asmara to eat Dorian suddenly wondered whether she would actually be able to swallow, or whether she’d end up choking. Concerned, he started by giving her a tiny sip of water.

  ‘Can you drink?’

  ‘C-can’t...feel...’ she mumbled, water slipping down her chin. ‘C-can’t feel...any-anything...’

  ‘But you’re talking, so you must be able to use your throat.’

  ‘T-try...again.’ she said. ‘Maybe...’

  It took a few attempts, but eventually she was able to swallow. When she succeeded she actually smiled, and there seemed to be more emotion in her voice when she talked. Seeing how pleased she was at being able to do something so ludicrously simply Dorian felt another wave of despair wash over him.

  ‘Come on.’ Dorian said. ‘Let’s start walking. Maybe walking will help. If you think you’ll be able to eat, tell me and I’ll give you something.’

  Asmara’s control over the rest of her body was no better than last night, and Dorian had to do all the work to lift her and hold her up. Once they were both standing Asmara looked down at her legs, which gave Dorian a little flare of hope as she managed to move her neck.

  ‘T-those are...my...legsss....’ she said. ‘Those. A-are. M-my. Legs. Those are my legs.’

  ‘Yes,’ Dorian said. ‘Those are your legs.’

  ‘Those are my legs.’ she said, as if she was trying to convince herself. ‘Those are my legs.’

  Dorian waited as she stared at her legs and talked in an increasingly normal voice. After several minutes of nothing else happening though Dorian started walking, carefully half carrying half dragging Asmara along. Even though she didn’t manage to walk, or move her legs at all, Dorian was heartened by her increasing determination. She did this once, he told himself, she died before and used her shadow magic and she came back alright. She managed to survive all this time since then. She can do it again.

  They rested frequently. Now that Dorian no longer feared Lakashan pursuit he didn’t have it in him to carry her all through the woods for hours on end. Asmara asked for water when they rested, though Dorian still didn’t think she actually felt thirsty. She looked down at her body most of the time and Dorian thought he saw her hand twitch. After a few hours, she asked for food and managed to chew and swallow it on her own. By the end of the night she was talking normally and could move her head around, though occasionally her expression would slip into laxness again and Dorian, in alarm, would shake her and call her name.

  ‘I don’t know why I came back.’ Asmara suddenly said after they ate their dinner as the sun was rising.

  Dorian looked up from sweeping some pebbles away from where he would be sleeping.

  ‘I don’t...feel like myself when I use my shadow magic. It’s like I leave part of myself behind, and things that used to matter don’t mean anything at all anymore. I don’t think... I don’t feel like I have much control, so I don’t know what it is that brings me back and it’s scary.’

  Dorian let her talk and didn’t add that it had been pretty scary for him too.

  ‘It doesn’t feel like dying, when I use my shadow magic.’ she looked like she might cry again. ‘If it did I would come back and there’d be-be no problem, but it doesn’t feel that way at all, and I don’t want to die.’ she sniffed. ‘I don’t want to feel like my body isn’t my own, I don’t want to feel like I’m barely holding onto this lump of flesh and I might drift away if I don’t think about it all the time.’

  Dorian came over and put his arm around her. He didn’t know what to say to her, so he just sat with her. Eventually she said, ‘you should go to sleep, you’ve been pushing yourself hard.’

  ‘You should sleep too.’

  ‘I don’t need to.’

  ‘I think your body needs to sleep, Asmara.’

  ‘It’s day time, I can’t sleep during the day.’

  ‘Maybe we’ll just get a few hours sleep before starting again, and we’ll sleep properly tonight. Look, I’ll even let you sleep next to me.’

  She didn’t complain when he pulled and dragged her into a lying position and lay down next to her. As he looked at her he suddenly felt travelling at night would be better. As the day lightened it was becoming harder and harder to ignore the way the shadows clung to her, as if it was still nighttime where she was.

  CHAPTER 24

  12 Maurth, 1353

  ‘Maybe we should rest.’

  ‘N-no, I’m fine!’

  Bo stopped and looked back down the dirt road at Julietta, who was lagging behind.

  ‘I’m fine!’ she insisted again.

  ‘We aren’t being followed, Julietta, we don’t need to push ourselves so much.’

  ‘We’re out in the open, anyone could see us!’

  ‘Yes, so we shouldn’t draw attention to ourselves. Come, you’ve been using too much magic.’

  ‘I’m a sorceress, magic doesn’t tire me out!’ she declared, but she didn’t argue when he suggested again they stop for the night. It was well after dusk, and the night was dark and cool. No one else was on the road besides them.

  They walked a little further and then off the road into a lane between two fields. As they settled down Julietta asked, ‘how are your injuries?’

  ‘You healed them very nicely, though even if it didn’t tire you out Julietta, it certainly tired me out!’

  ‘I’ll check them anyway.’ she said firmly. She didn’t want a repeat of that night, fleeing from the castle, mages trying to pull down her veil of utter blackness, guards racing after them, and finally, after getting away, realizing how badly Bo was hurt. For a moment, she had thought he wouldn’t make it, and she would be all alone in Lakasha, Asmara and Dorian lost or dead somewhere in the castle.

  Even with her gloves, she wasn’t used to drawing magic so quickly and so continuously, and it was starting to affect her. She had no stores of her own to draw on, so she couldn’t stop either. It was as if the constant passage of magic through her was rubbing her raw, leaving her tired and aching. Something like magical blister, she thought to herself as she checked Bo’s bandages. What a horrible simile. After that first night Bo had been exhausted from being rapidly healed with magic. She’d had to keep pushing power into him to keep him walking, which was tough on her, and unpleasant for him.

  She finished checking his bandages and leant back, wrapping her arms around her knees. An ant crawled onto Julietta’s shoe. She was too tired to shake it off. It crawled up past her ankle and onto her sock and - she flicked it off.

  ‘I’m sure Dorian and Asmara are alright.’ Bo said.

  ‘I don’t understand what happened.’ she said quietly. She’s a shadow mage. She wondered if Asmara would have used her power to help Dorian. Had she escaped, leaving him there? Horrible images flashed through her mind of Dorian alone or dead in the forest or castle.

  Bo’s face was grim. ‘They must have known we were coming, somehow. But we can’t worry about that now. I don’t know what Asmara’s plans were for leaving Lakasha, but you and I will have to head into a town. I’m Lakashan, and I still speak the language so I should be able to get us passage back to Mance-Jolune.’

  ‘What about me?’

  ‘Young girls don’t usually arouse much suspicion, particularly when they’re as short as you.’ and he smiled at her, clearly baiting her.

  Julietta stared back coolly and said, ‘I am a highly gifted sorceress, Amjerbo, height has nothing to do with magical prowess.’