The Ambassador’s Mission

Thick vegetation and a hollow, he thought with satisfaction. It’s perfect.

Turning to look for Tyvara, he saw her walking twenty or so strides away. He whistled, and when she looked up he beckoned. She headed over to him and pushed her way through the bushes. Stopping at the edge of the hole, she examined it with interest. She sniffed the air.

“Smells damp. You first.”

Lorkin drew magic, created a barrier in the shape of a disc, and stepped onto it. He lowered himself into the hole. The soil beneath the barrier was soft, and flattened as he reached the bottom. Removing the barrier, he felt himself start to sink further. The soil wasn’t just soft, but waterlogged. Muddy water welled up and into his shoes. One foot touched firm ground but the other kept going, and he threw out his arms and tried to step sideways to catch his balance.

But the mud held him firmly. He fell backwards and landed with a splash in a sticky, smelly mire.

The forest echoed with Tyvara’s laughter.

Looking up at her, Lorkin smiled ruefully. She has a great laugh, he thought. As if she doesn’t often laugh, but when she does she relishes it. He waited until she had stopped, then patted the mud beside him.

“Come on down. It’s damp, but much softer than those holes in the ground,” he told her.

She chuckled a little more, shook her head, then opened her mouth to speak. But something caught her attention. She looked up, then cursed quietly.

“You!” a voice called. “Come here.”

She did not look at Lorkin, but hissed words out between her teeth.

“Ashaki. He’s seen me. Stay hidden. Stay here.”

Then she walked away, disappearing through the bushes. Lorkin pushed himself up into a crouch. He listened carefully, and heard the tinkle of a horse’s harness somewhere behind him. Behind the fallen tree.

Moving to the mass of roots, he straightened and peered through them. A Sachakan man was standing beside a horse, staring at something below him. His clothing was not the decorated garb of an Ashaki, but it was well made and more practical for riding.

Then Lorkin saw the knife on the man’s belt. His mouth went dry.

“Get up,” the Ashaki said.

From the ground before him, Tyvara rose. Lorkin fought the urge to rush after her. She’s a magician. A black magician. She can look after herself. And probably more easily if she doesn’t have me to protect at the same time.

“What are you doing here?” the man demanded.

Her reply was meek and quiet.

“Where’s your water bottle? Your supplies?”

“I put them down. Now I can’t find them.”

The man regarded her thoughtfully. “Come here,” he said finally.

She took a step closer, her shoulders stooped. Lorkin felt his heart freeze as the man placed his hands either side of her head. I should stop this. He’ll learn who we are. But why would she let him read her mind? Surely once she knew what he intended she would have fought him off?

After a moment the man let her go.

“Seems you are as stupid as you say. Follow me. I’ll take you back to the road.”

As the man turned away to mount his horse, Tyvara glanced back at Lorkin and smiled. The triumph in her expression blew away his earlier alarm. He watched as she meekly followed the man away into the forest. When they were no longer in sight Lorkin turned and sat down on one of the thicker lower roots of the tree.

“Stay hidden. Stay here,” she said. I guess she means she’ll come back once the magician has led her to the road and gone on his way. He looked up at the position of the sunlight streaming between the trees and decided that, if she wasn’t back within what he estimated was an hour, he’d set out in search of her.

It was a long hour. Time dragged by. Sunbeams raked the undergrowth with excruciating slowness. As the mud dried, he scratched and brushed it off his skin and clothes. He tried to stop himself imagining what might happen to her, if the magician discovered who and what she was. He tried not to worry that the magician would find out he was here, come back for him and…

“Good to see you know how to follow orders,” a voice said behind him.

He whirled about to find her standing on top of the stump, smiling down at him. Heart pounding in his chest, he watched her step out into thin air and float down to hover in front of him.

“How did you do that?” he asked.

She frowned and glanced at the shimmering disc of magic just visible beneath her feet. “Same way you did.”

“Not levitation. Stopping him from reading your mind.”

“Ah. That.” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t you remember me telling you we have a way of making mind-readers see what we want them to see?”

He thought back to the first place they’d hidden, and of the other slave women. “Ah. Yes, I do. Some sort of blood gem, right?”

She smiled. “Might be. Might not be.”

Blood gem. Lorkin’s heart skipped. I could have used Mother’s ring while she was gone, but I forgot all about it! He’d been too concerned about Tyvara. He cursed under his breath.

“What is it?” she asked.

He shook his head. “What if it had been me he’d spotted? My mind he’d read?”