Erin Evans - The God Catcher

"Enchantments?" Dellicot asked.

"Not necessary. He's going to outgrow them in a few months anyway." Nazra gave her son a sly smile. "Unless you want something to help you dance better, dear heart."

"Mama!" Antoum groaned.

Nazra smiled. "Well dear, if you keep begging off your lessons, you might use a little help impressing the girls at your parties."

The strange woman snorted. All three looked up at her.

Under their gaze, she seemed to draw back like a threatened snake, and once more Nazra was glad to be between the woman and Antoum.

"Do you not like dancing either, goodwoman?" Nazra said lightly.

The woman squirmed in her seat. "Not that sort. But I do not think that is a good basis of finding a… a companion." She looked at Antoum. "I think you would find a girl you like better if you showed her your spells, little man. Then she'd know you were clever-and most times, clever is better than being a good dancer."

A shiver ran its icy feet up Nazra's back. She narrowed her eyes. "How did you know he studied magic?"

But instead of looking startled or embarrassed again, the woman got a faraway look.

"I have my wand," Antoum interrupted, holding it up as if this were the most obvious thing in the world. He looked up at the woman. "I'm supposed to be at lessons now. We're playing truant."

Nazra laughed. "Here is your lesson for today, my lad. Do not tattle on your mother." Antoum snickered into his hand. "Choose your color, Antoum, and we'll be off to your lessons in a song." She looked back at the woman, who watched Antoum forlornly. Whatever the woman's story was-poor, mad, friendless, lost-it was by the grace of the gods that they were not all in her place. The idea shook Nazra's calm core enough that she wanted more than anything to make it stop. She pulled the cobbler aside.

"Dellicot," Nazra said gently. "Give her some boots. Some of your samples. I'll pay for them. Add them to the bill."

"Are you sure?" Dellicot asked. "Far be it from me, but-"

"Please."

He glanced over her shoulder to where the woman stood. "All right."

"Thank you. Antoum," she called as she walked toward the door, "let's be off."

Still tying one boot he hopped toward her and the door, but he stopped to look up at the strange woman. "I hope you like Waterdeep," he said shyly.

The woman regarded him for a long, awkward moment before a small, uneven smile brightened her face. "Many thanks," she said. "Go learn your magic, wyrmling."

"Antoum," Nazra said. He nodded once at the woman and scurried out the door ahead of her. Once more she made eye contact with the strange woman, and a chill went through her.

"Saer," Jorik said under his breath. "Nazra, are you all right?"

Her eyes snapped up to her bodyguard's. "Yes. Fine." She walked back out into the street and took Antoum's hand in her own. Not for the first time she noticed how much larger his little hand had gotten, and how fragile those bones still were, safe in her palm.

"Mama?" Antoum said, as they walked down Mendever Street toward the House of Wonder. "That woman was different, wasn't she?"

"Not so different," Nazra said.

"Let's go," Nestrix said. "It's dark."

"The sun just went down. Be patient," Tennora said, not breaking her concentration. She threw another carvestar. Thwack! It sank solidly into the back of her door. She took up another.

"You said to wait until it was dark. It's dark," Nestrix said. Tennora threw the carvestar. Thwack! "You'll ruin your door," Nestrix said. "Let's just leave now, and you can practice throwing them at the antiquary."

Tennora ignored her. She didn't intend to throw the carvestars at anyone. It was a hobby. It was something to keep her mind off Master Halnian's decision, to keep her mind off the fact that she'd been robbed twice that day.

Thwack!

To keep her mind off the fact that she was planning to commit a burglary in less than an hour.

Her aim had improved over the last few hours, and though she still occasionally lost her grip and sent a blade flying into the wall or the floor or the bookshelves behind her, Tennora's confidence had improved as well.

If someone did try and harm her, they'd be sorry…

No, she thought, tugging the carvestars loose. No and no. They would wait until night was good and settled before breaking in. She had practiced with the lockpicks on her own door until the placement of the pins was as easy as slipping into a familiar handshake. She knew plenty about spotting wards and spells. They would sneak in, sneak out, and no one would know they'd been there until the next morning.

She glanced over at Nestrix-the woman was so overcome with nervous energy she practically vibrated. How Nestrix had spent her day, Tennora still didn't know. The dragon had been in the apartment when she left and again when she came home, but she'd gained a good deal of information on where they were heading. And some boots.

"They feel strange," she'd complained. "All the toes are touching."

"You're probably unused to them still. Perhaps you should leave them here-"

"No," Nestrix had said, admiring the shiny black leather. "You said I was noticeable in bare feet. I can't be noticeable when we take the mask, right? So I wear them." By the charmed look on her face, Tennora suspected it had more to do with the fact that Nestrix liked owning something again.

"Don't you need to read your spellbook?" Nestrix said.

"I told you," Tennora said. "I'm not a wizard."

"And I'm not a knight," Nestrix countered. "But that doesn't mean I won't pick up a damned sword if I need to. Leave the door alone for an hour and learn your spells."

Nestrix had a point. It was better to be prepared. Tennora thought of her spellbook, nestled on its own shelf beside her bed. She hadn't opened it since being expelled. As she went to retrieve it, her stomach twisted with unease.

What was she so nervous about? She knew the spells-most of them. She had been confident-reasonably confident-about casting them less than two days before. Master Halnian's decision didn't change that.

Even so, her stomach flipped as she pulled her spellbook down.

"I need a little time," she said. She sat at the table and opened the book. Most of it was blank pages-pages that would probably never be filled, Tennora thought grimly.

She started with a few cantrips-simple spells she learned when she first began attending the House of Wonder. A spell to make light seemed useful; a spell to transport something through the air doubly so. They were so ingrained in her memory that Tennora wondered if she could forget them if she tried.

"I should tell you something," Nestrix suddenly said.

Tennora kept her eyes on the page. "Hmmm?"

"I…" Nestrix started, then sighed heavily through her nose. "I wanted to tell you that… this is a good thing you're doing."

Tennora looked up from her book, puzzled. "I beg your pardon? Breaking into a shop is a good thing?"

"No-that part's… irrelevant." She seemed to collect her thoughts and said, "Helping… with this… is… that is, I… appreciate what you're doing."

Tennora smiled. "Do you mean, 'Thank you, Tennora, for helping me'?"

Nestrix scowled. "Yes. That. Although I could do it myself. I'd just rather not."

"You're welcome," Tennora said.

Tennora chose another spell, mentally going through the steps that would bring power along the broken paths of the Weave and into being as small bursts of acid. A trickier spell-when it worked, it knocked Tennora's thoughts so far off kilter that she couldn't find the path to casting it again. But it was powerful destruction magic.

She knew plenty of spells, of course, that could be used to hurt others-but to be honest, she had never had cause to use them for such a purpose. Dummies, targets, and the back of her door were one thing. A person was quite another.