Nereids are ocean dwelling water elementals. Their numin, their life force streams from their Mother Ocean, Anja, and all their magical energies depend on water. Some live on land, it’s true, but none live far from the sea.

From the personal journal of Ozora

Dean of Magics

The Bestiary

****

I raised my eyebrows and jerked my thumb at the darkened house. “That? Are you sure?” I doubted Fraser would be in such a parched place. A nereid wouldn’t last very long here. They’d run back to the sea before the dry land drained their numin and I’d never seen Fraser go past the city walls.

Cleobah gave her tiny, satisfied smirk. “Hey, it’s me.” Flaring her wings, she added the obvious. “Sphinx. All the time streams.”

“That tells me nothing.” I grumbled. She gave her wicked little laugh. I’d learned to interpret that half-smothered snicker as Cleobah’s amusement at things only she could see.

Scanning the area again confirmed it seemed deserted, but where we landed was a good hundred feet or more from the house that Cleobah indicated. There might well be people in every home watching us. It was impossible to tell.

The house looked deserted from this side, dark and uninviting, but that didn’t mean it was, and the roof of a bigger structure loomed beyond the home.

I needed a closer look, and I sure wasn’t going to stroll on over.

Closing my eyes, focusing on the spell I needed, I called a pool of swirling gold numin to my palm. Whispering the eye-spy cantrip and picturing the conjuration in my mind caused the glowing energy to quiver before forming into a tiny globe.

Familiar warmth ran through me, my numinous energy flowing as I worked my craft. I used this spell often. It was a handy way to scout places at a distance, and had saved me more than once from walking into something I’d have a hard time getting out of.

The last words of the cantrip sculpted the glowing sphere into an eye, golden like Cleobah’s. It floated in the air in front of me, blinking. My vision doubled as it linked with the spell, then stabilized. Cleobah hummed with pleasure. “Good choice.”

“I better not see him plowing someone.” Although the uneasy flutter in my gut said that wasn’t the case at all and my bitter snipe was just…

“Jealousy? What if he is?” Cleobah spoke my concern. Her gaze sharpened with curiosity.

“He can do who he wants. I don’t want to watch.” I hissed back, not wanting to talk about Fraser being with another woman. With a flick of my fingers, I sent the eye-spy zooming over to the house.

There was nothing in the two tiny rooms of the windows we faced. It zipped around the opposite side, revealing a large picture window that glowed dim orange. A covered porch stretched across the front of the house. Nearby, a large, covered wagon and some horses were tied up next to a barn.

Something was really wrong. That many horses plus a wagon meant a lot of people. Out here beyond the city walls, in a largely abandoned suburb. That uneasiness in my belly clutched tight in warning. I sent the eye-spy to peek in the picture window of the house.

They had Fraser tied to a chair. Two men guarded doors on opposite walls. Gordon Derryngton had Fraser balanced on the chair’s back legs, one fist clutching his braid and bending his neck and back savagely. The grimace on Fraser’s face was part pain, but mostly rage. His lips contorted into a snarl of defiance.

Where was the rest of the party? I saw four men plus Fraser, so why did they need six horses plus a wagon?

I found them in the barn. Four other men sat around a scarred table playing cards. A quick scout of the rest of the grounds showed they were the only ones outside. Gordon, Fraser and the other two were the only ones in the house.

I told Cleobah what I’d seen.

“Perfect, knock those four out, then we’ll work on getting Fraser loose.”

“I can’t cast through an eye-spy.” I told her. “Besides, I already dissipated the spell.”

“You can’t?” Incredulity lit her face. Her eyes widened and mouth dropped. “Why not? You’re Adept.”

“No, I’m not. Not yet.” An Adept would’ve been able to cast at a distance, and all the men would already be asleep. Adepts learn the advanced magics of attack and defense, as rulers and merchants often hire them to protect kingdoms and commerce.

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Journeyfolk don’t have the numin to cast major spells or multiple spells at once. I did, but until Cassyrra I’d been unable to find an Adept to take me on as apprentice or mage school that would accept me.

None of which was helpful right now.

“I thought this would go differently.” Cleobah’s shocked expression froze me. Her wide eyes seemed to stare at nothing for a moment before refocusing on me. A single tear formed in one of her eyes, dried by the parched breeze.

“You thought I was Adept?” I asked quietly. She looked like a kid who meant well, but burnt the breakfast they tried to cook you and set the kitchen on fire too. “Your little rescue scheme was based on me being Adept?”

“I thought you’d be able to knock everyone out from here and simply untie him.” Her lip quivered.

Yelling wouldn’t do any good and would only alert all those men that we were here.

Gritting my teeth, I bent and dug into my belt pouch. Sorting through my collection of pre-made cantrips, potions, and amulets, my brain scrambled for anything like a plan.

First, I had to take out the men in the barn.

My seeking hand clasped a smaller pouch holding vials of sleeping powder. When I pulled them out, Cleobah wrinkled her nose. “How can you use that? If you try to throw it on them, it’ll get on us too, and nighty-night.”

“I know.” I said. “I’m working on it.” It took some effort, but I kept my voice placid. Getting mad would only frazzle both of us, so I swallowed my frustration, channeling it in one direction. How to take out as many of them as possible and free Fraser.

All the spells I knew or had prepared required line of sight to cast. Which meant the men would also see me. Something I wanted to avoid.

I had four vials of powder. Two would put the all the men in the barn into a deep sleep until tomorrow afternoon.

“I need a way to get this on all of them at once.” I drummed my fingers against the vials and frowned at them, as if I might glare them into giving me an idea.

Hmmm.

“Let’s go over to that group of trees. It’s closer and will give us a better view.” I pointed to a clump of tall fruit trees clustered near the barn. “But before we do, give me a second.”

I pulled an invisibility amulet out of my pouch and triggered it. Glittering numin burst forth from the carved wood and stone disc, spreading to encompass both of us in a glimmering cloud. From within, I saw the boundaries of the invisibility shield, but any observers would see only dry fields under the stars. Unseen, we made our way over to stand in the middle of the thick, clustered trunks.

The numin stored in the amulet wore out and it shattered in my hand. I shook the broken pieces to the dirt and studied the barn.

The weathered structure glowed from within, light pouring out between the thin wooden planks and the open doors and windows.

“They don’t seem worried about letting others know they’re here.” Cleobah whispered. I shook my head, but the open doors were promising.

“This might work.” I whispered back. I tucked two of the vials back in my belt pouch.

“What?” Cleobah swung her head to look at me. I was already whispering the conjuring spell. Similar to the eye-spy, a numinous globe manifested, but this one was a hollow globe of force shielding. It glowed with my golden energy and floated in front of me. A perfect sphere except at the very top, where a small circular opening waited.

“Hold your breath until I tell you.” I said.

“Why—” Cleobah shut up and clamped her lips fast enough when she saw me pull the stoppers off the vials, then tip and drop them both into the force globe. I sealed it before any powder escaped, but just to be sure, I snapped one of my breeze amulets to release a quick breath of air. If any sleeping powder drifted loose, this would whisk it away.

“Now I have to get it over them.” There was no way to avoid crossing the bare stretch between the trees and the barn. I’d be visible to anyone. In my favor, none of the house windows faced this way, and the barn door pointed away from us.

It’s not that far. It’s not. I eyed the patch of bare dirt between the trees and the corner of the barn. I couldn’t hesitate or think about it or I’d talk myself out of it. “Wish me luck.”

I couldn’t cast anything else while holding the force globe, but I could throw it like a ball, even maneuver it. I just had to see where I was throwing it. Which meant I’d have to step into the doorway to give it a toss.

Just walk to the barn. Walk to the barn. How hard can it be? No one was in sight.

I sucked in a deep breath and left the comforting shadows of the trees. A dozen steps, fifteen, and I reached the safety of the shadows at the corner of the barn.

I froze in their depths, stretching all my senses while letting myself breathe, slow, soft, silent. Nothing but the night birds calling and the wind through the leaves.

And the raucous laughter of the men in the barn.

Peering between the planks while cradling the ball of sleeping powder, all four still sat around the table. One passed a bottle of brown liquor to the man next to him, while another waved his hand. With great enthusiasm, he described his latest female conquest.

“Once I finished I told her, ‘you said you had to leave, leave.’ Dumb bitch took a swing at me as she was crawling out of bed.” The rest of the men erupted into coarse laughter.

Stepping with care so as not to make a sound, I made my way across the front of the barn. The sad structure was in such poor shape I had no trouble seeing the table they sat around was about ten feet from the doors. I wouldn’t even have to step into the doorway.

Cupping my hands under the orb holding the spilled sleeping powder, I pressed my back against the barn. The old wood still held some of the day’s warmth.

Just lean and throw. Lean and throw. Don’t think. I leaned out past the frame, enough to see the men clustered around the table. I aimed and lobbed the golden globe in a low arc, guiding it with a thread of numin. Once it was over the table, I gave it a downward shove, then released the force globe.

An explosion of white powder burst upward and covered them all.

The men never had a chance. They jumped up when the globe dove for the table, but it was too late. The sleeping powder sifted over them in a fine cloud. I ducked back behind the door frame in case any of it wafted this way.

There were four loud, satisfying thuds as they crumpled. I guessed some hit the table on their way down, judging from the sounds of wood splintering. Super proud of myself, I was less cautious about heading back to the stand of trees.

I swung around the corner and slammed into the chest of the man from inside. The one Gordon sent out on an errand.

Oniony odor swamped me, and I tried to scramble away from his sweaty shirt, coughing and gagging. He was faster, grabbing my arms only to give me a heavy shove, hooking the back of my foot with his.

I went down hard. The breath chuffed out of my lungs in a whoosh when I slammed my back against the hard-packed dirt. What little breath I got wheezed and didn’t sustain me. My vision swam.

He knelt at my side and grabbed my arm. Before I could react, he slapped my right wrist. The sizzle of whatever spell he laid on me burned.

I blacked out.