Hunted by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #3)(36)

I floated into the tunnel, then released the levitation spell and touched down softly onto the hard-packed dirt. A wave of exhaustion hit me – the levitation spell used a constant stream of energy – and I pressed my hand against the dirt wall to steady myself. In the murky shadows beyond the torchlight, I could make out several bodies propped upright against the wall with their legs stretched out in front of them, heads hanging in apathy. I frowned as I realized I didn’t see any chains or scent any magical wards holding them here, and wondered why they hadn’t escaped yet. They were all mages with more experience than I – surely they could have magicked their way out of here by now? And why hadn’t any of them noticed me?

Dirt shifted beneath my boots as I moved slowly toward them, and I raised a hand, conjuring a ball of fire for illumination. The sphere hovered inches from my palm, and as I held it high, it cast bluish-green light against the walls. The seven men stirred and moaned at the intrusion of light, and as I cast my gaze over their ornate but dirty robes I confirmed that they were, indeed, the delegates who’d accompanied Iannis on the dirigible. How different they looked now, from the proud officials who rarely gave me the time of day. I wrinkled my nose at the scent of vomit and other bodily excretions hanging in the air, and wished I’d brought something to tie around my face and block the smell.

One of them opened his eyes to stare at me, and I narrowed my own eyes at his blurry gaze and blown pupils that nearly eclipsed his grey-green eyes. “Wh-what do you want now?” he slurred, and my heart sank. No wonder the Resistance wasn’t worried about the mages escaping. They’d been pumped full of drugs.

Crouching down in front of him, I tamped down the flame in my hand so I wouldn’t continue to hurt his eyes. His dark brown hair was scraggly, his triangular jaw covered with a patchwork of stubble that told me growing a beard didn’t come easily to him. “I’m looking for the Chief Mage,” I said enunciating my words slowly and clearly. “Have you seen him?”

“’m not answering your questions.” Those grey-green eyes flashed with contempt, and the mage inched himself a little more upright while doing his best to look down at me from his long nose even though my head was above his. “I don’t…answer…to you.”

I nearly snorted. Typical mage attitude, always acting superior even in the face of death and starvation. Truthfully, it was admirable, but a little annoying since we were both on the same side. Taking a gamble, I dropped the illusion and allowed my true form to show.

The delegate’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull. “Y-you!”

“Shhh!” I clapped a hand over his mouth as the others stirred. “I remember you – you’re Bosal ar’Nuris, the Secretary of Education and Culture.” I tried to hide my shock at seeing him in such a state – I was used to seeing these mages striding briskly through the halls of the Palace, proud and aloof, not sitting here in their own excrement. “If you start yelling, you’ll bring the whole Resistance camp down here!” The delegate struggled beneath my hand for a moment, but he was too weak and disoriented from the drugs, so eventually he subsided and I released him.

The delegate tried to speak again, but the drugs proved to be too much of an impediment for coherent speech. On instinct, I touched my hand to his shoulder and pushed some magic into him, visualizing the drugs leaving his body and energy filling him. My stomach pitched with nausea, and I tightened my grip on his shoulder as another wave of tiredness washed through me.

Beneath my hand, I felt the delegate’s shoulders straighten. He sat up a little, some alertness returning to his eyes, and I let out a breath of relief. No, I hadn’t healed him, but maybe I’d helped him enough that he could talk to me now.

“You’re the…hybrid…” he slurred as he peered up at me through the darkness. “Lord Iannis’s apprentice. Did he…send you here to free us?”

“No, though of course I’ll do what I can. I came out here trying to find him. Why is he not with you?”

Bosal shrugged one shoulder. “Don’t…remember. None of us do. We were on the airship one moment…down here the next. No idea where Lord Iannis is. Hoped he’d escaped back to Solantha…but clearly hasn’t, since you’re here.” Disappointment rang in his thick voice, mirroring my own.

“Do you have any idea what the Resistance is planning?” I pressed, hoping to get something, anything out of the mage. “What was their purpose in taking down the airship?”

“Wanted…to stop us from attending the Convention.” The mage’s voice seemed to be getting a little stronger, and I wondered if the dose they’d given him was starting to fade. “Don’t know why, but they’re planning something.”

“Alright.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose with my free hand. A quick glance at my wristwatch told me my time was about up. “I’d better get back before someone misses me.”

“Wait.” The delegate’s hand shot out, wrapping around my wrist with surprising strength. “You’re not going…to leave us here, are you?”

“I would like to free you, Secretary,” I said with regret, “but can you even stand? Do you have a spell to rouse the others, and get up the mineshaft?”

His growl of frustration sounded more like shifter than mage. “If we could, we’d be gone already. Don’t know what that drug…they inject us with is, but it’s too effective…and we don’t get enough water. We need help.”