The Core

  The demon struck at Gared, but his armor was strong, deflecting the blow as he got in close and buried his axe in the mimic’s side.

  “Mistress, look out!” Pawl pointed over her shoulder.

  Leesha was so occupied watching the battle she didn’t notice the squad of soldiers until they were almost upon her, charging with spears pointed at her breast. When she saw their faces, she knew something was wrong. She fumbled with her wand, scattering the men with an impact ward.

  Spears and shields clattered away as they fell, their uniforms melting into scaled armor as they grew claws and great sharp teeth.

  Mimics. Nearly a dozen of them. How had they gotten so close?

  “Mimics on the road!” Darsy lifted her own hora wand. “Protect the countess!” There was no flourish to her warding, the mimic wards tight and blocky, but they were strong, and the demons were held back.

  Gared’s personal guard were the first to answer the call. Cutters Leesha had known all her life. Samm Saw and Tomm Wedge, Linder Cutter, Evin and his great wolfhound Shadow. A dozen others, including Quiet Jonn. Hard men in warded armor who had killed corelings by the hundred.

  But these were no ordinary corelings. Shadow leapt on one of the mimics, five hundred pounds of tooth and claw, strong as a nightwolf. The demon caught the dog by the head, flinging it to the ground. Shadow yelped and lay still.

  Evin and Linder used the distraction to get in close, but the demon’s flesh turned thick and viscous, catching their axes and holding them fast as it slapped Evin away with a horned tentacle and lifted giant Linder like a doll, throwing him at Leesha.

  The armored man sailed through the mimic wards and smashed into Pestle’s legs. Leesha heard bones break as she was pitched from the saddle. Darsy screamed as she, too, lost her seat atop Mortar. Demons flowed around Darsy’s wards, but the remaining Cutters met them head-on.

  Samm could cut a wood demon’s head off with a few strokes of his great two-handed saw, but it was a slow weapon against a mimic. There was a seam in his armor at the elbow, and the demon’s talons found it, severing the limb as it knocked him across the road. Tom Wedge swung his heavy sledgehammer, but the demon flowed around the weapon, snatching one of his own spikes and thrusting it into the eyeslit of his helmet. His sons screamed and charged the creature.

  Leesha Drew power from her wand, recovering her strength as she got to her feet. She reached into a pouch at her waist, scattering warded klats that flashed and sparked, buffeting any demon that drew close to them. She drew impact and mimic wards, keeping the demons off balance, but there were too many of them, and her wand was already depleted.

  A mimic spotted a gap in the silver wards hanging in the air, growing wings that beat two powerful strokes, taking it over the protection to drop on Leesha from above.

  She fell back but could not bring her wand to bear in time. The demon would have had her, but there was a dissonant cry, and a great mattock swatted the mimic aside. Leesha watched numbly as Quiet Jonn charged past, driving his mattock home again and again.

  The mimic squealed, form losing cohesion, but then it snaked a tentacle around the giant man and yanked him from his feet. Leesha hit the demon with a mimic ward, but two others spotted the gap and were already above her.

  Kendall and Micha appeared, fiddle and song as one. Micha’s fingers were at her throat, manipulating the wards of her choker to amplify her voice to match the power of Kendall’s playing.

  The demons scattered briefly, but they were wise to the trick, taking earless forms that could withstand the brunt of the music’s power.

  Leesha cast about for Wonda, but the girl was working in tandem with Gared, her attention fixed on the mimic demon. Both she and Gared had lost their weapons, Wonda punching with knuckles painted with blackstem wards and Gared with his heavy warded gauntlets. When the demon struck at one, the other charged in. Leesha warded their armor personally, and the creature’s blows could find no purchase. Slowly, impossibly, they were pummeling the coreling to death.

  Not that it would save her, as three mimics rushed Leesha, sweeping talons to tear up the road, hitting her with great clumps of packed dirt and choking soil. She was not injured but, momentarily blinded, she couldn’t get her wand up in time as a tentacle wrapped around her. Immediately the demon grew wings and gave a great beat, attempting to carry her away.

  There was a blur of mist, and something struck the demon, knocking it from the sky. The tentacle holding her turned white, and a warded fist shattered it.

  “Ay, sorry we’re late.” Stela yanked the still-twitching tentacle from around Leesha and cast it aside. The demon attempted to regroup, but again there was a misting and Brother Franq appeared, smashing into the mimic and knocking it back. He drew a ward in the air, and lightning shocked through the creature.

  All around, her Warded Children appeared. Callen Cutter. Keet Inn. Jarit and her Sharum. The mimics were unprepared for the new assault and attempted to flee, but the Children gave them no avenue to escape, encircling the demons with mimic wards as they moved in for the kill.

  Stela offered a hand and Leesha took it, letting the girl pull her to her feet. “Hung back like you said, but it looked like you were in trouble.”

  “You did the right thing, dear,” Leesha said. “This was precisely why I asked you to follow us.”

  “Didn’t get the flamers until after they started the fire. Sorry about that.”

  “You kept it from getting worse,” Leesha said. “Thank you.”

  All along the road, the Hollowers were regaining the upper hand. Exhausted soldiers had night strength now from killing demons, and without the mimics, the other demons fell into disarray and were scattered.

  —

  Scouts found them the next morning.

  “Farmer’s Stump is gone,” Gared said. “Looks like some of the folk got out, but the town’s destroyed. Demons are massing at the Angiers River. We won’t make it through easy, or quick. They destroyed the bridge. We’ll need to find a crossing, and they’ll be waitin’ come sunset.”

  “Keep moving,” Leesha said. “Let them see you coming.”

  Gared looked at her. “No rippin’ way. I’m goin’ with ya.”

  “We already discussed this,” Leesha said.

  Gared shook his head. “You discussed it. I din’t say spit.”

  “I am not asking, General,” Leesha said. “It’s an order.”

  “Don’t care about that.” Gared balled his giant fist. “I took orders and left ya in Angiers and now Rojer’s dead. Give all the orders ya want, I’ll be corespawned before I let ya march into a nest of mind demons without my axe at yur back.”

  Leesha felt her throat tighten at the heartfelt words. For as long as she could remember, Gared Cutter had always been there to protect her. For all that he vexed her, the world felt a little safer when he was near.

  But now was not the time for it. “You’re not cut out for this one, Gared. Favah and I cast on this. Any men, and the mission will fail.”

  “Yur takin’ Pawl!” Gared cried.

  “He’s just a boy,” Leesha said, “and the one with contacts in the resistance. We need him to sneak us in, but a seven-foot-tall Cutter in wooden armor is going to be noticed. I need you here, leading the attack. I’m counting on you to smash in the gates before I get myself into too much trouble.”

  Wonda put a hand on Gared’s shoulder. “Ent nothin’ gonna happen to Mistress Leesha while I’m around, Gar.”

  Leesha could hear Gared’s teeth grind. “Better not, or there’ll be the Core to pay.”

  CHAPTER 37

  JESSA’S GIRLS

  334 AR

  For two days and nights, Leesha, Wonda, Kendall, and Pawl hiked cross-country through virgin woodland, resting only when exhaustion demanded it.

  All wore Cloaks of Unsight, but the protection was seldom needed. Demons grew scarce away from human settlements, and the ones they encountered were nudged away by Kendall’s music. When she loo
ked away from the girl, Leesha could pretend it was Rojer playing, and felt her friend watching over her on this last, desperate mission.

  —

  They made camp by a stream just south of Angiers. There was a small pool Leesha warmed with heat wards, that they might take it in turn to wash and put on fresh clothes to pass unnoticed in the city.

  “You go first, mistress,” Wonda said. “Won’t let anythin’ bother you.”

  Leesha didn’t protest, letting the hot water soak her aching muscles as she expressed milk into the pool. Miles to the south, Olive was suckling at Elona’s pap, and the thought brought a tear to her eye.

  The sun was coming up as Leesha put on a fresh dress in the Angierian style. Kendall wore the motley pattern Angierian Jongleurs favored, and Pawl dressed as a common street urchin. Wonda kept her armor on, covering the breastplate with an Angierian tabard.

  “This way,” Pawl said. “The rendezvous is just over the next hill.”

  They kept to the shelter of the woods as the city came in sight, and Leesha gaped to see her apprentice Roni leaning against a tree, chewing on an apple. It was only a few months since she’d last seen her, but Roni looked years older. Well beyond her eighteen summers, especially with the low neckline of her dress and powder on her face.

  “Mistress Leesha!” Roni kept her voice a harsh whisper, but she gave a little squeal and leapt into her arms, squeezing tightly. “Thank the Creator you’ve come.”

  “Gotten yourselves into a bit of trouble?” Leesha asked.

  “Night, that’s undersaid,” Roni agreed.

  Leesha reached out and tugged one of the carefully curled hairs framing Roni’s painted face. The hair straightened and then sprang obediently back into shape. “What’s all this?”

  “Ent it lovely, mistress?” Roni struck a pose and gave her hair a flick. “Jessa’s girls been showing us how to paint and preen.”

  Leesha turned to regard Pawl, who shrank under her glare. “Jessa? As in Weed Gatherer Jessa, who poisoned Duke Rhinebeck?”

  Pawl shifted his feet. “Her Grace expected you would take the news amiss.”

  Leesha crossed her arms. “So she had you keep it from me until we were committed.”

  “Her Grace was no more pleased than you, Countess,” Pawl said, “but the brothels were the only safe place to hide until we smuggle her out of the city.”

  “Mistress Jessa ent so bad,” Roni said. “She and Jizell have been taking good care of folk since the…changes.”

  Leesha blew out a breath. “I look forward to seeing her. Can you get us inside?”

  “Ay, mistress. There’s a few small gates—just big doors, really—with only a handful of guards.” Roni grinned. “Lonely men with nothing to do all day since the gates were shut. We bring them meals and give them someone to talk to.”

  Leesha nodded to Roni’s low neckline. “And while they’re talking…”

  Roni giggled. “We take turns slipping out the gate. The girls’ll open it a crack when they bring supper tonight, and I’ll sneak us back in.”

  “The guards won’t notice three extra women and a boy passing through?” Leesha asked.

  Roni reached into her cleavage, producing a tiny wooden box. “Smell.”

  Leesha opened the box, filled with soft red wax. It smelled of roses, but beneath…“Tampweed and skyflower. Another trick Jessa’s girls taught you?”

  Roni winked. “Sometimes talk ent enough. A few kisses with that on our lips and they’ll be seeing double.”

  Leesha wanted to disapprove, but she needed a way into the city, and Roni had always been boy-crazed. She seemed to think it no hardship to tease her way through the gate.

  “Well done, Roni,” she said instead, and a smile lit the girl’s face. “I’m proud of you.”

  The shadows grew long as they waited in a small stand of trees by the gate, giving Leesha ample time to worry over her plan. Would the sun set with them still outside the city? It was the first night of Waning, and like a spider at the center of a web, the mind demons might sense a tremor in the wardnet if the gate opened at night.

  She wondered where Gared and the others were—if they were all right. If her ruse worked and the minds did not realize she’d left her forces, all their attention would be focused on her friends.

  But then there was a heavy click, and the door opened just a few inches.

  “That’s my cue.” In a move that Leesha had seen Elona do countless times, Roni stuck a finger in her neckline, pulling down even as she used the heel of her hand to push her bosom up. She tugged the laces and tied a quick bow to hold things in place. “Wait here.”

  With that, she flitted off and slipped through the gate.

  The wait was interminable. Leesha watched the shadows and guessed it was no more than a quarter hour, but it felt like days. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest.

  At last, the gate opened wide enough to emit a familiar face. Mistress Jizell, Leesha’s former teacher, reached out a meaty arm, waving them toward the door. “Quickly now.”

  Hurriedly they filed through. Jizell locked the heavy door and pulled the warded steel gate shut. She locked that as well, shoving the key into her cleavage.

  A guard was passed out at the gatehouse table, Roni wiping the red from his lips. She took a half-empty mug of ale, spilled a bit on the table and his shirt, then arranged it into his hand. Through the next door Leesha could hear laughter.

  Leesha held out her arms to embrace her old teacher, but Jizell took a full platter of mugs off the table and shoved it at her instead. “We can hug when we’re safely away, girl.”

  Leesha took the tray reflexively, and while her hands were full, Jizell shamelessly reached in and adjusted Leesha’s bosom in much the same fashion as Roni. Leesha hadn’t expressed in hours, and didn’t need much propping to give a man an eyeful. “Walk out like you belong there and start serving.”

  Leesha looked over and saw Roni giving Kendall the same treatment. The young Jongleur’s scars made her cleavage too memorable, so they shortened her skirt and gave her hair a fluff. Pawl had already disappeared. Wonda stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

  Jizell pinched Leesha’s bottom, giving her no time to ponder the problem. She yelped in surprise as she was shoved through the door.

  Leesha quickstepped to regain her balance, putting on a wide smile as she swept into the guardroom. “Who’s thirsty?”

  There was a cheer from the men, some swaying a bit on their stools as Jessa’s girls, several of whom Leesha recognized, worked the room. In one corner, Leesha’s old apprentice Kadie was propping a guard who could barely stand against the wall while he drowsily attempted to paw at her.

  “Party got a little wild.” She winked. Leesha shook her head and started passing out full mugs and collecting empties.

  Jizell strode to the front of the room. “Got a surprise for you this evening, boys. She’s the prettiest Jongleur in Angiers, or I’m a coreling.”

  While all eyes were on Jizell, Kendall slipped from the gatehouse and sauntered up, all legs and hair. She did a backflip and put bow to string, playing a lively tune. The men gave a cheer.

  Wonda attempted to leave the gatehouse next, but the sergeant happened to turn his head and noticed her. “Ay!” He pointed a swaying finger.

  Leesha froze. She was behind the man with a heavy clay mug in her hand. She could…

  “Yur shift ent over for another half hour, Ames!” the sergeant bellowed. “Back in the gatehouse!”

  “Ay,” Wonda dropped her eyes and attempted to deepen her voice, hunching into her armor. “Yessir.” She scuttled back into the gatehouse.

  The sergeant grunted, returning his eyes to Leesha’s neckline. “Freakish, how corespawned tall that boy’s gettin’.”

  —

  They kept to the crowded market streets on the way to Jizell’s hospit. At a glance, it could have been a normal day as folk bustled about making final purchases and sales before curfew sounded. r />
  A closer look showed disheveled, fearful faces. Produce carts were half empty, the remainder poor specimens sold dear. Folk shifted nervously when Wooden Soldiers and Mountain Spears stomped past.

  They made it to the hospit just as the sun set. Jizell opened the door to her private staircase. “Hurry, now. The corelings will rise any moment, and we don’t want to be caught on the street when that happens.”

  Leesha heard a great din on the far side of the staircase wall. “I used to be able to count the number of full beds from the noise through this wall alone, but I’ve never heard it like this.”

  Jizell huffed. “Ent surprising. Got two to a bed, and folk on the floor between.”

  “Night,” Leesha said.

  “Lot of men were cored that first new moon,” Jizell said. “We know our business and didn’t lose many who made it this far, but we’ve had to be careful not to draw attention, especially at night. We wait for daylight and use magic in a dark room for the worst wounds. The rest are left to heal naturally. We’re running out of hora as it is.”

  She opened the door to her office and hurried them in, locking the door behind them. A woman rose from behind the desk, coming around to greet them.

  “Countess.” Like her girls, Jessa’s face was painted, her hair immaculate. She spread the skirts of her silk gown, dipping in a perfect curtsy. “What a pleasure—”

  Leesha gave her no chance to finish the sentence, punching the Weed Gatherer right in the nose.

  Every jaw in the room dropped. Leesha couldn’t blame them. She’d expected to find the woman there, and had no intention of striking her, but her anger had risen quick when she saw Jessa’s smug face.

  It’s the magic, she told herself. She had Drawn heavily of late, and knew how it enhanced the passions. But was it truly the magic? Leesha could not deny her satisfaction as Jessa’s bottom hit the floor hard.

  Jessa clutched her bloodied nose, words slurring. “Whad id da Core dib yud do thabt for?!”

  Thamos’ words came to her. There are times a leader must remain firm, even when they are in the wrong. Leesha hadn’t agreed at the time, but she saw the wisdom in it now. “That was for Bekka, who you nearly killed, and everyone else who paid the price for your scheming.”