Hunted by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #3)(77)

“Of course not,” Iannis said “We’ll use magic to distract the guards and then sneak in.”

Iannis used illusion magic to disguise us, swapping out our finery for dark, unassuming clothing and hooded cloaks that would hide our faces. The carriage came to a stop, and I stepped onto the cracked sidewalk and looked around while Iannis paid the driver and gave him instructions to wait until we returned. Sewage and brine laced the air, and many of the houses here sported peeling paint, rickety fencing, and dingy windows. Every third streetlamp or so was cracked, casting the neighborhood in more darkness than it perhaps deserved, and I couldn’t help but think that Lord Cedris had chosen a good location to hide the Minister. No one would think to look for him in a rundown neighborhood like this.

It took a bit of searching, but we found the house several blocks up, sitting in the middle of a wide, unkempt yard that prevented the other houses from cozying up to it. I picked out three guards total, two by the front porch and one by the rear, a dead giveaway in this poor area.

“They set wards set around the perimeter,” Iannis murmured as we studied the rear of the property from across the street. “Likely to prevent the Minister from leaving. I will need to disable them in order to get him out safely.”

I sighed. “Are you sure we can’t just knock the guards out?”

“Doing so will only alert Lord Cedris,” Iannis reminded me. “I’d like to keep him in the dark about this until after the vote.”

“Oh alright.” I huffed out a breath, crossing my arms over my chest. “We’ll do this your way.”

Iannis muttered a Word, and the streetlamp posted on the sidewalk outside the rear of the house flickered twice before plunging the street into darkness. The guard, who had been lounging against the two-story house’s faded siding, straightened up with a curse and fumbled for his flashlight. In the time it took for him to find it, Iannis and I darted across the street and up the back steps, our feet making no sound as we alighted on the porch.

The guard’s eyes widened, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Iannis held up a hand and the man stopped. His lips moved, but no sound came out, and I gathered that Iannis had frozen his vocal chords just like Fenris had done to me back when I’d been mouthing off to the Council.

“Vyagari,” Iannis whispered, and the guard’s eyes glazed over. “You will open the door and let us through, and you will not tell the other guards about this.” Power resonated in his voice, sending chills down my spine. “When we come out again, you will lock the door behind us and forget that we were here.”

The guard did as he was commanded without hesitation, stepping aside and holding the back door open for us. We stepped into the kitchen, and I grabbed hold of the knob and closed the door myself, making sure that it made no sound so that the guards out front wouldn’t hear anything.

“You have to teach me how to do that sometime,” I said under my breath.

“It’s not as easy as simply speaking a Word,” Iannis said dryly. “Suggestion magic requires many hours of practice to become even passably good.”

“Well I guess that’s why I keep you around,” I muttered as I passed him. There was little point in searching the entire house when I could follow my nose, which had quickly caught the stench of sickness and the underlying scent of a male. I traced the scent upstairs, and Iannis followed close behind me as I led him to a bedroom at the end of the second-story landing.

“By Magorah,” I muttered, clapping a hand over my mouth as the stench grew stronger. “Maybe you should wear a mask or something, Iannis.” I couldn’t catch human illnesses, but the sheer intensity of the smell made me wish I had something to cover my nose and mouth.

“I’m afraid these handkerchiefs will have to do,” Iannis said, producing two large ones from his sleeve. I took one from him and pressed the piece of silk to my nose, then sighed in relief. My sense of smell was too keen for it to block the stench, but it made the smell slightly more bearable.

With our handkerchiefs over our noses, Iannis pushed open the door, and we entered the sickroom quietly. The air was stuffy and hot, which wasn’t surprising because the two windows were tightly shut, the drapes closed so securely that not even a sliver of moonlight filtered into the space. My eyes could barely pick out the shapes of the furniture, so I focused on the large bed that dominated the rear half of the room and the occupant within it.

Raising my hand, I conjured a ball of flame to provide some illumination. The blue-green flames flickered in my hand, just bright enough to permeate the darkness, and I could clearly see the man who was bundled up in the bed. His long, yellow hair was plastered to his head with sweat, and angry red scabs marred his already sallow complexion. Dark circles rimmed his closed eyes, and he let out a reedy moan as we moved closer.

“Damnu air,” Iannis swore as he gently pulled back the blanket. The Minister’s pajama pants and shirt shielded me from the worst of it, but the open collar and exposed hands and feet showed that scabs had spread all over his body. “He has chicken pox.”

“Chicken pox?” I scowled, searching my memory for what little I knew about human disease. “Isn’t that something only children get?”

“Generally, yes. But if one hasn’t had it as a child, they can be infected later on in life, and the disease is often fatal to adults.” Iannis pressed his left hand against the Minister’s forehead, and the man groaned again. “It is also highly contagious in the early stages, and extremely resistant to magic healing.”