The children conferred silently again and Asmara interrupted, ‘no shadow magic! You know it will hurt me, even if you don’t care for yourselves.’

  ‘We weren’t-’

  ‘What’s your name?’ Asmara leant forward and grabbed the hand of the boy who spoke. She shook his hand. ‘What is your name?’

  ‘I’m... I’m Ukrit.’

  Asmara finally got the rest to identify themselves. Bo glanced behind, trying to remember too. He could barely make out the children’s faces. He had no way of identifying the children except by size. The eldest seemed a few years younger than Muresh. The youngest was so small he might have been only six.

  ‘Tell me about yourself, Ukrit. Where do you want to go once we leave Lakasha? What do you want to do?’

  Bo turned his attention back to the road. It was hard to listen to Asmara’s desperate attempts to get the shadow mages to speak.

  ‘You must have something that is yours!’ Asmara cried in exasperation. ‘Some dream, some desire that is yours and not stolen from another’s memories-’

  ‘Not stolen-’

  ‘It is the same.’ Two voices answered. ‘Why do we need to do anything ourselves when we have lived the lives of so many others?’

  ‘It’s different!’ she said. ‘And it matters because otherwise you’ll die! There is something to you! You left Arcos. Tell me why, all of you, you’re all going to tell me why you left Arcos. No interrupting each other, I want five stories.’

  Bo couldn’t help a smile at Asmara’s determination.

  They travelled until the sun set. They made it across the mountains to the waystation on the other side.

  ‘Asmara, we should try and get some horses if we can.’ Bo said to her as he slowed the wagon. ‘It will get too warm for these mountains of fur as we go further north. Besides, they mark us as coming from Arcos, even if the children remain hidden.’

  Asmara kept a look out as Bo jumped off the wagon and headed into the waystation. He hadn’t planned on going on a world trip when he left Manus for Dartham. He had some money, but he was starting to run low. The rest of his funds were in a bank in Manus. He hoped someone would trade and he wouldn’t have to part with any more of his gold.

  His request wasn’t unusual and he was able to trade the oxen for two horses. He only needed to add an extra piece of silver to seal the deal.

  He headed back to the wagon and they set off again.

  ‘What do you kids want to name the horses?’ he called over his shoulder. ‘I’m sure you can come up with something better than Nameless.’

  It was a question that the children struggled with. Asmara pushed them and made suggestions, determined to get a name out of them.

  Eventually they said, ‘Lamisa and Muresh.’

  ‘Lamisa and Muresh! Much better than Nameless and... what would Dorian call horse number two? Nameless Two?’ Bo said.

  Asmara didn’t answer.

  When night fell they made camp off the side of the road. Asmara set up the camp while Bo took care of the horses. Over dinner Bo told wild stories, trying to draw a laugh out of the children. Even if he couldn’t get a laugh he wanted their attention.

  Ukrit finally said, ‘that didn’t happen.’

  ‘It did indeed. Eaten alive by a humoran!’

  ‘No, there’s no such thing.’

  ‘No such thing? How would you know? You’ve never left Arcos!’

  ‘Humorans live in the ground.’ One of the girls finally said. Lahela.

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘Everyone in Mance-Jolune knows that.’ Lahela replied. ‘They live in the ground. We don’t need to go to Sontmor to know.’

  ‘Yes, you’re just making it up!’ Ukrit said. Bo couldn’t see his face in the darkness, but his voice had a little more animation, was starting to sound more distinct.

  ‘Bo, I think Ukkie’s calling you a liar.’ Asmara said.

  ‘It sounds like it.’ he replied dolefully. ‘Julietta thought I was lying too. Well, everyone in Mance-Jolune is wrong. They live in the trees and poor Arnaud got eaten right up!’

  ‘He did not!’ Ukrit exclaimed, with something that almost sounded like a laugh.

  Bo and Asmara’s brief flare of hope was dashed when it came time to eat. Asmara was nearly reduced to force-feeding the children, who insisted they weren’t hungry, despite not knowing when they’d last eaten.

  Later, when the children were asleep, Asmara stood up and took a little stroll around the camp. Bo joined her, speaking softly.

  ‘They spoke at least.’

  ‘They’re really bad.’ she said heavily. ‘Really bad. They barely distinguish themselves from each other, they hardly know who they are - how could they? They’ve been losing themselves in other people before they knew who they were... Gabor... the six year old... he hasn’t spoken yet.’ she passed a hand over her eyes.

  Bo wasn’t used to seeing her so upset. The entire time he’d known she’d been hiding her fear of her shadow magic.

  ‘It would be better if they were separated.’ she said. ‘But Julietta and... they’re gone. We can’t give them a few to take. What’s the plan, Bo? How are we going to get out of Lakasha?’

  Bo had been thinking about this all day.

  ‘We could head for the boat Julietta and I used to get here.’ Bo said. ‘Hopefully Julietta and Dorian haven’t taken it. They might even be waiting for us there.’

  ‘How far away is it?’

  ‘Another three days or so.’

  ‘Right. We’ll do that and... ’ she looked towards the sleeping children.

  They were cuddled around the campfire, covered in blankets Asmara had carefully tucked around them. The ground was hard, the air was chilly even though it wasn’t snowing, and dinner had been plain and boring. They hadn’t complained once.

  ‘We got them out. We’ll do our best.’ he said. ‘That’s all we can do.’

  Asmara went to her pack and picked up her sword. ‘I need to practice. I don’t know how long of a head start Muresh was able to give us, but you and I need to be able to take care of any pursuers so they don’t have to.’

  Bo sat by the fire, watching Asmara carefully go through her routine. She stripped off her jacket and folded it neatly on her blanket. She started with stretches, the movements slow and careful. As she warmed up she began moving faster, swinging her sword to attack, leaping back to defend.

  Bo watched her quietly, a smile on his face.

  CHAPTER 93

  13 Jorlaff, 1353

  Julietta kept one eye on Dorian as she gathered the courage to speak. Since leaving Kurak yesterday they’d barely spoken. Dorian’s dark mood did not invite conversation.

  They’d stopped near the waystation late yesterday evening. If they kept up this pace Julietta thought they’d reach Farah’s town by the end of the day.

  Julietta glanced sideways at Dorian and finally asked, ‘where are we going?’

  Dorian was startled by the question. ‘Back home.’ he said.

  ‘How?’

  Dorian pondered the question. Julietta was interrupted from her observations by a dip in the road. The horse plodded on without worry, unconcerned by Julietta’s sudden wobble. She was not the strongest rider.

  The low hills surrounding the road were covered with grey and brown grasses and shrubs, with surprising dots of red and yellow. There were a few clumps of trees with dark green leaves. Julietta wanted to go inspect those grasses and see why they were such strange colours. She didn’t though. Instead she regained her balance and then looked back to Dorian.

  ‘Bo and I left our boat a few days north of here.’ she said. ‘We could head there and maybe wait for Bo and Asmara-’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Well if we-’

  ‘You can if you want. I don’t want to see her.’

  Julietta bit back a sigh, though she wasn’t really surprised. ‘Fine. I don’t think we should take the boat without them. You and I have magic, we can arrange something else. They might need it more than we do.’

  ‘I see you have something in mind.’

  ‘I think we should make our own boat. It’s too dangerous to try and hire a ship to take us across the sea, but if you give me a few days-’

  ‘You want to use magic to get across the Partagon Sea.’ Dorian said. ‘That’s a journey of over a week. That’s not a small voyage, Julietta, if anything goes wrong...’

  ‘Would you prefer to try and get on a Lakashan ship to Mance-Jolune in the middle of a war?’

  ‘Not really...’ Dorian muttered. ‘If you want to try this we need to go further north. The sea’s too wide down here, the journey would be nearly twice as long as up near Port Eliach.’

  Julietta decided not to comment on his lack of trust in her magical boat-building abilities. She was nervous about it too, but the alternative wasn’t much better. ‘Good idea. That’ll take us... around two weeks.’ By-passing the boat would save them perhaps half a day.

  ‘Yeah, so let’s hope nobody’s following us.’ he hesitated. ‘How long would it take you to make a boat?’

  ‘Three days at least.’

  ‘So... risk stopping close to Arcos so we can leave Lakasha now for a lengthy sea voyage, or spend longer in Lakasha... Either way, we only have enough supplies for a week, tops. We’ll need to buy more food.’

  ‘Do you think anyone’s following us?’ Julietta asked.

  ‘I don’t know. Let’s both keep an eye out. You remember how? I don’t know if anyone’s chasing us, but I don’t want to be surprised.’

  ‘I remember... you know, I can disguise us too so nobody notices us.’

  ‘Do it.’

  Julietta drew on the magic surrounding them and chanted under her breath. She wove the magic around them whispering, ‘don’t look here, you don’t know us, we’re not important, don’t look here...’ It was a similar spell to that cast on the boat.

  When she was done Julietta wondered whether anyone was following them. Surely there was little point in anyone following her and Dorian? We didn’t do anything, she thought, Asmara was the important one... maybe people were following Asmara and Bo. What had Asmara achieved in Arcos? Anything? It was hard not knowing. I could send a bird back to check on them.

  They reached Farah’s town not long before nightfall. Dorian didn’t want to stay, just in case anyone was chasing them. Farah was pleased to see them and they were able to buy more food.

  They’d arrived before nightfall and left just as the sun dipped below the horizon.

  They would have to stop soon. They wouldn’t get far at all from the town. Julietta thought about broaching the topic of stopping several times, but Dorian’s silence overwhelmed her. They had barely talked since deciding on their route. She glanced over at Dorian, unable to see his face beneath his hat. It was pulled down so low she wondered how he could see.

  She looked away and tried to think of something to say. I didn’t know shadow mages could learn languages using their magic... Linette never mentioned it. I wonder if she knows? Has she ever needed to speak other languages? Surely in Chelleska... what other skills could they learn that way? I wonder how long the effect lasts? Could it work the other way too? No...I don’t remember, or I don’t think I remember any of Linette’s memories so I doubt she could teach me anything that way.

  She glanced back over at Dorian. Shadow magic was probably not what he wanted to talk about.

  They stopped for the night once full dark fell. They made camp off the side of the road.

  ‘Since we’re not going to Sontmor this time I think we should split the cooking.’ she said as she looked through their packs. I’ll hide the smoke from the fire, so nobody sees us.

  She fiddled with her candle as she looked through the pack. I wonder if Linette or Guy would be able to contact us when we’re avoiding so many people... Asmara reached one of the shadow mages... did she convince them to stop?

  Slowly she pulled off her candle. She watched the amulet as it spun on its chain. It was a risk to take it off, but it was also a risk to keep wearing it. What if Linette or Guy needed to contact them and there was no one around? If Asmara failed, taking it off... but she didn’t really know anything of importance, did she? She didn’t know where Asmara or Bo were, or anything useful about the war.

  ‘Fine.’ Dorian said, snapping Julietta out of her thoughts. ‘Nameless Two you’ve had enough to eat, it’s Three’s turn.’ he said to the horses.

  Julietta watched him carefully until he finished with the horses and came over. Meanwhile, she put the candle in her pocket.

  ‘Nameless Two and Three?’ She asked, ‘You named our horses Nameless?’

  ‘I didn’t name the horses.’

  ‘You did, I heard you, Nameless Two and Nameless Three. Those are names!’

  ‘They’re not names.’ he insisted. ‘Animals don’t get names.’

  Julietta’s brows lowered. ‘Why not?’

  ‘I grew up on a farm. It was pointless to get attached to the animals. If you have to, you can name them.’

  ‘I don’t have to since you already have!’

  ‘Those aren’t names!’

  ‘Yes they are, you’re using them as names. Terrible names, but still names.’

  ‘Julietta, do you want me to cook or do you want me to argue with you? I’m not doing both.’ he snapped.

  Julietta subsided, muttering under her breath, ‘nameless two and nameless three... for someone who doesn’t get attached to animals, you were very picky about who the first nameless got sold to...’

  ‘What was that?’ Dorian looked up from the fire he’d started.

  ‘Nothing.’ Julietta replied, in a dignified tone. ‘I was merely thinking since we’ have at least two weeks of travel, it would be an excellent time to improve your grasp of magical theory.’

  Julietta had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the startled look on Dorian’s face.

  CHAPTER 94

  15 Jorlaff, 1353

  Amiri stood before his father, his head bowed.

  ‘They’re all gone, Father, all of our active shadow mages.’

  Idris waited a heartbeat, hiding a smile with great difficulty. This is going to make it a bit harder for Salamah to replace me! At least for a while, at any rate. Time enough to prove himself!

  ‘Your Majesty,’ Idris said, ‘my contacts tell me the Manunian shadow mages have stopped working as well.’

  Salamah frowned. ‘The messages in the city have not stopped, Idris, and the people still clamor for the war to end.’

  ‘If a shadow mage is doing that it is not on directions of the King of Mance.’ Though whatever they did to change people I imagine they haven’t undone it.

  Salamah stood and walked to the window and looked out over his city.

  ‘Father, what will we do?’ Amiri asked. ‘I can start again, but it will take years before-’

  ‘Start again,’ Salamah said. ‘And do a better job, Amiri. I heard the shadow mages left of their own free will. That cannot happen again.’

  ‘You.. you heard?’

  Idris kept his face blank. He didn’t like that one bit. I will have to manage that carefully... he imagined it was one of his spies... Salamah was already preparing to remove him. He thought briefly of Elira, the last time he had seen her. The night had been cloudy, but as if by fate, the clouds had parted to allow him to see her in the moonlight, whole and beautiful. She’d waited, her eyes searching and her hand pressed against her neck, as if she didn’t quite believe. Then Idris, from his hiding place, had sent a signal to the man he’d paid. And the wagon had moved off, into the night. He’d watched her disappear. She was leaving him, but he’d felt all the tension ease out of his body as she’d left. She was alive and whole. What power they have... He brought his mind back to the issue at hand. I wonder... did they get information about Arcos from me? He certainly knew a lot about the fortress. Amiri hadn’t told him, but it was his business to know everything about everything.

  ‘There will be better security.’ Amiri said. ‘I will do better.’

  Salamah sighed heavily. ‘Perhaps you do not have the right disposition...’

  ‘Father!’

  ‘You are dealing with creatures that can leave their body at will, remove themselves from pain and death and kill another without a touch.’

  And bring a person back to life... Idris wondered. Does that power have any limits? Yes, he thought, it kills the user, slowly, but surely.

  ‘But we kept them for-’

  ‘Force is the wrong way, Amiri, they require a subtler hand.’

  Amiri bowed low, though Salamah, who had turned, did not see it. ‘Yes, Father, I will consider what you said.’

  ‘Mance-Jolune has taken much from me, but in Dartham... we have the upper hand.’

  ‘Yes, Father, we can still-’

  ‘How long will that remain? Our victories in the last month were due to our shadow magic...’

  ‘But we have been winning-’

  ‘We are in the better position. Kateb is a skilled strategist, he knows how to lead an army without the aid of magic. We will see...’

  It is not over, Idris thought, I’m sure they hoped this would end it, but it is not over.

  ‘Perhaps,’ he brooded, ‘if we can rebuild our shadow magic capabilities before them...’

  ‘Perhaps my assassins can do the work of shadow mages, your Majesty.’ Idris said.

  Salamah turned and glanced at him. ‘I will think on it. Leave me now. Find out who made that spider...’

  Idris bowed and left, happier than he’d been in weeks. Elira was gone, safe and alive. Her family would have to suffer the pain he’d felt for but one day. It had troubled him greatly, but there was no way he could tell them without putting her in more danger. One day I will be able to ease their suffering... for now... Salamah is letting me know I can be replaced. Now that Amiri and the shadow mages are gone proving myself again will be a far simpler task. But not easy, no never easy.