The Purloined Heart

I considered it, unwilling to admit to myself I’d already made up my mind. On one hand, trying to break into a magician’s home was a good way to get killed, or worse. On the other, two hundred and fifty crowns would go a very long way. I had some money stashed away in a safe place, but the life of an adventurer doesn’t offer many chances to save. And in truth, I didn’t want to leave a young girl in a slaver’s hands. The magical community shunned enslavers. It was just a shame they couldn’t be bothered to actually do anything about them.

“Very well,” I said after some haggling. “I’ll do it for half the reward money.”

Starlight looked relieved. I guess she’d been having trouble finding a magician to accompany her. It wouldn’t be easy to find a magician willing to burgle another magician, and most of those magicians would be reluctant to risk challenging a dark wizard on his home turf. I hope she wasn’t planning to try to cheat me of my reward, if I did as she wished and helped her save the girl. It would be the last thing she ever did, if so. She had so few protections against magic, I could strike her down with a wave of my hand.

“We need to move quickly,” she said. “When can you leave?”

“This place?” I stood, brushing down my tunic and trousers, and picking up my knapsack. I carried everything I owned with me. Travelling light was a lesson I’d learnt the hard way. “Now, if you want.”

Starlight smiled, then stood and led the way outside. I had to admire her movements as she walked. They spoke of very real experience; experience gained the hard way. She was attractive, no doubt about it, but she was attractive and alluring as a tiger. I knew better than to try my luck, not with someone like her. I’d already seen how she handled unwanted male attention.

“I have a horse,” Starlight said. “You can ride behind me?”

I nodded. I knew how to ride, of course, but I’ve never been particularly fond of horses, and I’d never bothered to purchase one for myself. If I needed to ride somewhere in a hurry, I’d rent a horse or simply travel by stagecoach.

Starlight, by contrast, looked like the kind of aristocratic girl who’d have grown up surrounded by horses, and who’d been put in the saddle almost as soon she could walk. I’d often thought those girls silly, but they did have their uses. A girl who’d consider washing dishes to be beneath her would have no qualms about mucking out a stable.

Starlight’s mount was a small warhorse, another sign she came from serious money. The beast eyed me sardonically, but made no objection as I scrambled up behind her. Starlight reined the horse out of the stable and onto the road, the beast picking up speed as we cantered north. I carefully kept my hands to myself, mentally considering what I’d need to break into a magician’s house. I hoped to hell the girl hadn’t been enslaved already, even if she hadn’t been sold on to her final buyer. A slave collar could be removed, but the former slave would never be quite the same afterward.

“You never said,” I said. “Who is she?”

“Lady Carolina Lacy,” Starlight said. “A daughter of Lord Lacy of Alluvia. Under the circumstances, her father has very limited choices.”

“And far too many enemies who’d pay good money for his enslaved daughter,” I said, trying not to shudder. “If it becomes public that she was enslaved…”

I scowled. It was worse than that. The Alluvian Revolution had shattered the established order, slaughtering most of the aristocrats and sending the remainder running for their lives. A handful had been smart enough to send their children and disposable wealth out of the country, and Carolina’s father might have been one of them, but even if he’d saved some money, he wouldn’t have the resources to hire more than a handful of adventurers to rescue his daughter. If word got out, it would be impossible to marry her to a foreign nobleman who might use his influence to assist her family.

Probably. One could overlook anything if the dowry was high enough, but Lord Lacy probably didn’t have enough money to convince someone to overlook that.

Poor girl.

We rode for hours, found an inn to spend the night, and then travelled onward. Starlight was a good conversationalist, I discovered, although she was reluctant to talk about herself. I’d have admired that in her if it didn’t make it harder to understand why she’d chosen the adventurer’s life. She was young and pretty, and clearly of good family; she could’ve been almost anything, and yet she’d chosen to be an adventurer. I supposed I couldn’t really hold it against her. I’d never been keen on talking about myself, either. Far too many people assumed I’d been expelled for being a dark wizard, not being scapegoated for another student’s behavior.

“This town is the nearest one to Lord Dragon’s territory,” Starlight said as we looked for another inn. “Do you need anything?”

“I should have everything I need here,” I said, tapping my bag. “If we need specialist tools, we can come back and purchase them.”