At the edge of the camp, shortly past where the shields came down, stood a ghostly figure.In daylight, it would have been all but invisible, even assuming it could withstand the day.But the landscape now looked like night.
Which might explain why it had emerged from the spirit world to show itself against the boiling purple energy of the shields, where it was just possible for me to make out the large, elegant shape...of a leopard.
No, I thought, my blood freezing.No, it couldn’t be!But there was just no doubt about it.The creature even held my eyes for a beat before turning and vanishing back through the shield, which didn’t impede it in the slightest.
My old sparring partner’s face appeared in my field of vision, as if wondering what had me so riveted.He looked in the direction I was staring, but didn’t see anything of interest.Except for more leaping Weres, which had him sighing and shaking his head, before looking back at me.
“Are you going to slide out of the chair?”
“No,” I managed to say.
“Good.It’s easier to talk this way.”
Maybe for him.I was thick-tongued with the remains of the paralytic and even more with sheer terror.It was suddenly hard to concentrate on anything except the overriding thought screaming through my brain: I had students here.
I could not have students here.
The mage sat in the chair opposite me, wearing an all-black outfit with boots covered in desert dust.But his nondescript face lacked the snarling ferocity of the clans below.If anything, it was vaguely pleasant.
“Hard day?”he asked, an eyebrow rising as he took in my bare, dirty feet and the tattered remains of the caftan.
“Not yet,” I managed to croak.
“Well, it’s still early.”
I wanted to snap back a response, but didn’t.I also didn’t ask what the hell was going on, what he wanted, or anything else.I couldn’t think, but I had to!
You’re a war mage, I thought desperately.
Remember your training!
But instead, my mouth was doing its own thing while I wrestled with rising panic.“Is that a glamourie?”
The question seemed to surprise him, too.“This?”he made a circular motion with one finger that encompassed the mousy brown bangs, unshaven chin, and mud-colored eyes.“No.I was born this way.It’s rather helpful in my line of work to go unnoticed.”
“But there’s no scent on you, either.No magic.No...anything.”It was obvious up here, with all the energy being tossed about.He should have been melting into it, magically speaking, a creature in his element.But instead, he was silhouetted against the wards like a cardboard cutout, a black hole against all that leaping color.
It was the same void I’d noticed at the grocery store, where Caleb and I had gotten exactly nothing from every detection spell we’d tried.And subconsciously, on the two times I’d met him face to face.Not the presence of something, but the absence.
I blinked as a few things came together.Someone could hide themselves magically a hundred different ways, everything from blending into the scenery to literal invisibility, although the latter often failed when you moved.But on a dark night or in a darker tunnel, the rippling effect could go unnoticed.
But not thescent.
Not with a pack of furious Weres after you.Especially not a pack led by Ulmer.And yet the mage had disappeared not once but twice, and the second time, my counterpart had been so near the surface that she’d practically taken over.
Yet we hadn’t smelled a thing.
He gave a small smile, watching me puzzle it out.“It’s a talent.”
“Yeah, I always heard the Black Circle collects those with rare gifts.And now you’re trying to make more.”
“Like you these days,” he countered.“It seems we have much in common.”
“Except I’m kind of unclear on something,” I said, training finally taking over despite everything.Get him talking, form a rapport, make a deal.And do it fast before my students did something crazy and got themselves killed!
“And what is that?”he asked pleasantly.
“You kidnapped Sebastian.To try to force me to trade the potion for him—”
