Leslie Moore - Griffin's Shadow

A figure approached, slipping furtively through the shadows. Magnes breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ashi!” Gran hissed. “We must hurry. Aruk-cho is waiting by the gate!”

“I’m sorry,” Ashinji whispered. “I couldn’t get away from Leeta. I had to go with her to…to her bed.”

“Ashi you didn’t…?” Magnes began, then stopped himself.

He owes me no explanations. He did whatever he had to.

The soft thud of hooves on sand signaled the arrival of Fadili with the horse.

“Let’s go!” Magnes bent down to reach under the wagon bed, his fingers questing for a tiny knob protruding from the undercarriage. He found what he sought and pressed. A panel popped loose and swung down, revealing a square opening cut into the wagon bottom.

“Is that you, Ashi?” a small voice whispered from inside.

Before he could answer, Gran gasped. “Someone is coming!” she exclaimed.

A light, bobbing and swinging, approached the wagon.

“Quick, Ashi! Get in now!” Magnes hissed, but Ashinji had already hoisted himself into the secret space. He reached down and pulled the panel shut with a snap.

“Magnes, act as if nothing is amiss. You have a reason for being out here,” Gran reminded him, her voice almost inaudible. “I will meet you at the gate.” She melted into the darkness as completely as if she, herself, were made of shadows.

Magnes walked to the front of the wagon to help Fadili harness the horse. The two of them worked in silence, each knowing the next few moments would prove decisive.

“Stop what you’re doing, healer and step away from the wagon!”

Magnes recognized the voice snapping orders from the dark. He and Fadili turned around as five figures moved with quick, purposeful strides to surround them.

His heart sank in dismay as he faced Corvin, Armina de Guera’s majordomo, and four armed men.

Magnes stood his ground.

“Good evening, Corvin,” he said.

Corvin swung the lantern up and caught Magnes in its glow. “I thought you and your assistant had left already.”

Magnes could not see the other man’s face, but he heard something in the majordomo’s voice that set off alarm bells in his mind.

“We were about to.” Magnes raised his hand to block the glare of the lantern. “Do you mind?” Corvin lowered the lantern, but his face remained hidden. Fadili shifted nervously at Magnes’ side.

Two of the burly guards flanking Corvin inched forward.

“Have you seen anyone out here?” the majordomo asked.

“Just you,” Magnes replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Don’t lie to me, healer!” Corvin spat. “I saw the tink slave come out here, and I saw him run toward this wagon!” He jabbed his finger in Magnes’ face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Magnes replied coolly. “My assistant and I haven’t seen or spoken to Ashinji since we left the fighters’ mess.”

The guards surged forward, swords drawn. Fadili cried out in alarm.

“It’s all right, Fadili!” Magnes shouted. “What the hell are you doing?” he yelled at Corvin.

“Shut up!” Corvin growled. “Move a muscle and I’ll have you both gutted like fish.” He motioned to the remaining guards. “Search the wagon,” he ordered. One man scrambled aboard the infirmary through the front while another threw open the rear doors and climbed in the back.

“You won’t find anything,” Magnes said softly.

Corvin stepped in close enough for Magnes to smell the aroma of garlic and wine on his breath.

“Do you know the penalty for aiding an escaped slave, healer?” the majordomo asked. Magnes remained silent. “I’ll tell you, though I’m sure you know already. You lose both your hands. Now, what good’s a healer with no hands, eh?”

Magnes shrugged. “That’s not anything I need worry about,” he replied. He shot a sideways glance at Fadili. The younger man’s eyes shone white with fear in the light cast by Corvin’s lamp.

“If I find the tink hiding in your wagon, you’ll know for sure what it’s like, and so will your boy, here.” He tilted his head toward the terrified Fadili. Magnes took a step backward and fetched up against the side of the wagon. Through the wood, he could feel the vibrations made by the two guards as they tossed the inside of the infirmary, and abruptly, his fear turned into anger. It took all his will to hold his fury to a simmer, for to allow it to boil over now would only invite disaster.

Magnes and Corvin stared at each other across a chasm of suspicion and anger. Intellectually, Magnus understood-sympathized even-with the other man. Corvin was sworn to the service of his mistress, obligated to obey and protect her from all things detrimental to her, including the theft of her property. Magnes respected the majordomo for his loyalty, but he would not let that stop him from doing what he needed to do.

Several tense moments passed, and then one of the guards poked his head out of the back of the wagon and reported, “Naught in ‘ere, sir.”

The other guard emerged from the front and dropped to the ground with a grunt. “Empty,” he confirmed.

“You see?” Magnes said. “It’s as I’ve said. We’ve not seen your lady’s pet since we left him in the fighters’ mess. Why don’t you go and look in the bed of that tall redhead-Leeta, I think her name is? When we left, she was practically riding him there at the table.”

Corvin lowered his head and spat on the sand. “Tell me now where the tink is and I won’t report you to the authorities,” he said quietly. Magnes thought he heard a note of desperation in the majordomo’s voice, causing him to wonder if the man feared some reprisal should he let Armina de Guera’s most prized slave escape.

“How many times must I say it? We don’t know where he is. Now, let us leave in peace.” Magnes took a deep breath and waited. For a single heartbeat, everyone stood perfectly still.

“Get them,” Corvin muttered and the guards pounced.

Fadili screamed. Instinctively, Magnes tried to shield the younger man with his own body, but without a weapon, against armed men in close quarters, he was helpless. A guardsman rapidly overwhelmed him, then crushed him to the ground, holding him down with the brutal pressure of boots upon neck and back.

“Don’t hurt my assistant!” Magnes gasped, struggling for air.

“ Tell me right now where the tink is or the boy dies!” Corvin screamed. Fadili’s terrified sobbing filled Magnes with sick dread .

If he dies because of me…

“Enough, Corvin! I’m here!”

Ashi, no! Magnes cried, but only in his mind, for sand filled his mouth and he could not speak.

“Let the healers go, Corvin,” Magnes heard Ashinji say. “They’re telling the truth. They had no idea I was here.”

“You’re a liar, tink,” Corvin sneered. “I saw you talking to them just before you disappeared. You’ll pay for this little escapade, I assure you, and don’t think the mistress’ll go easy on you just because she fancies you. Oh, no… that’d set a very bad precedent!”

“Let the healers go,” Ashinji repeated. Corvin laughed harshly in reply.

What transpired next Magnes felt, rather than saw. An explosion detonated close enough to pop his ears, yet he heard nothing. The pressure on his body lifted, and he scrambled to his feet, staring in astonishment. Corvin and all four guards lay sprawled, unmoving, on the ground. Beside the rear of the wagon, arms upraised like an avenging angel, stood Gran. Blue flames sputtered from her fingertips, then flickered out. Slowly, as if emerging from a trance, she let her arms fall to her sides.