They were all intricately detailed, a measure of the strength the girl had pushed into them. With enchantments like this, the dular responsible could often demonstrate their strength simply by the definition within the patterns they used. The patterns on these were intricate enough, and complicated enough, that Jayna couldn’t help but be impressed by them.
“I made a few new ones.”
Jayna ran her finger over the largest of the enchantments. They were all shaped like round marbles and most had a crystalline appearance, reminding her a bit of bloodstone. If she had gotten a hold of bloodstone . . .
They didn’t feel quite like that though.
“I see that. And it looks like you made a few that are quite a bit more powerful than the ones I got last time.”
She grinned at Jayna. “A little bit.”
“A little bit?”
“Well, they’re a bit more potent than anything I’ve made before.” The girl grinned. “I was hoping I might run into you again.”
“You made these for me?”
The girl shrugged. “Well, after what happened at the market the last time, I saw what you did.” She leaned forward, lowering her voice. “And I heard about what happened in the city later.”
“I don’t know if I would put too much value into that,” Jayna said.
“You might not, but others of us do.” She shrugged. “We appreciate everything you did.” She grabbed another fistful of enchantments from her box and handed them to Jayna. “If these come in handy, then you can come back and get more.”
“If these come in handy, I might just put you on the payroll.”
The girl frowned. “What does that mean?”
Jayna waved her hand. “Probably nothing. Anyway. Thank you.”
“If they’re useful, just make sure others know.”
“You might need to be careful. You might have to get a bigger booth.”
The girl grinned.
Jayna stuffed the enchantments into her pocket, then headed along the market.
Most of the faces there were familiar to her. They had all been here before, and as she meandered through, she nodded to some of them before moving on to others. As she neared the edge of the market, the ring started constricting; this time, she paused and focused on her connection to the ring.
Normally, it was easy enough for her to latch on to that connection and feel the power flowing into it, but it felt almost as if something was trying to hide from her with the constriction. There was something out there, though Jayna couldn’t latch on to it the way she wanted to—needed to.
That energy flowed out and nearby, near enough that she knew she could call on it, but she worried it wasn’t going to be potent enough to counter it. Jayna pushed outward with even more energy from the ring, letting it slide out and then beyond. As she focused on the ring, she could feel something else.
In the distance, she caught sight of something moving.
Not just moving—she could see it gliding.
Jayna hurried toward it.
The Toral ring had connected to it, almost as if the ring were guiding her as well. There was some energy within it, some power, and she could feel the connection, the way that power attempted to pull on her.
The sound of the market became more muted. Jayna slipped along the street. She was in a residential area, and the street narrowed here. There was a bit of energy here. Something unsettling.
It took her a moment to realize why.
Sorcery.
Jayna slowed and traced a quick pattern, a tracing spell, which she could use to follow the energy in the air. She hesitated for a moment, moving along the street, using the energy she could now track to guide her.
A swirl of smoke in the distance caught her attention, moving in an unusual manner.
Most of the buildings had chimneys that spewed smoke, though rarely in the daytime. The city was humid enough, and often hot enough, that such fires were not typically needed. At nighttime, the fire burned some of the humidity off, and the heat allowed people to sleep a little more comfortably, even though they might be warmer than they would prefer.
In the daytime, however, Jayna was not accustomed to seeing smoke or fire or anything quite like this. She slowed, moving along the street more carefully. The tracking spell guided her forward and Jayna followed it.
Worry crept in.
What was the smoke?
The farther she went, the more obscured the street became, the layer of smoke covering everything. Having spent time around Eva, Jayna recognized this kind of smoke, but it didn’t strike her as something Eva had done.
Every so often, her ring would pulse, though the pulsing had grown increasingly diminished, which left her wondering what had accounted for the change.
She caught a fleeting image of a woman with bright-red hair who disappeared down the street. Jayna considered pursuing her, but changed her mind when she noticed a body dressed in dark robes. As she approached, she noticed they didn’t move.
As she neared, the constriction around the Toral ring intensified. It was dark magic she’d been feeling—and not just dark magic, but a sorcerer.
Someone had killed a dark sorcerer.
She looked down at them to see if she recognized anything, but other than a plain jacket and pants under the robe, she saw nothing. Then she turned the body and noticed a necklace.
A marker hung around his neck.
A crescent moon. Stars. She knew this marker. It was the Order of Norej.
Who killed him?
Smoke spilled around her, then the body ignited in flame, burning faster than Jayna could react to put it out.
There would be no evidence of the dark sorcerer—or the Order.
The smoke wasn’t Eva’s. She had gone to see what Topher needed. But if it wasn’t Eva, who had attacked this sorcerer?
5
After leaving the location where the sorcerer had been, Jayna made her way back home, slowing as she neared it and looking along the street, checking for any signs of movement but not finding any. The street itself was empty. It was one of the benefits of this home. It was on a narrow street, and at night, it was reasonably well-lit. In the time she’d been here, Jayna had never detected any magic along the street, which she considered an advantage. More than that, the neighbors kept to themselves.
Jayna paused for a moment. Before going inside, there was something she wanted to do, and she preferred to do it outside, though it probably didn’t matter.
She needed to try to reach Ceran.
She should have done that as soon as she had found the fallen sorcerer. He might already know what was taking place, but if there was a downed dark sorcerer, and it wasn’t because of her, then she needed to know who else might be out in the city targeting them.
Despite the smoke, she still didn’t think it was Eva.
Which meant she didn’t have an answer. Someone had to be there, and someone had to be instigating things. Maybe it wasn’t all tied together the way she wanted it to be. Things weren’t always so neat and tidy.
She pushed power out through the Toral ring and waited, though she thought the frequency with which she’d been using power today should have already sent a strong enough signal that something had happened. She didn’t call to Ceran that much, but when she did, he too often ignored her, or simply couldn’t answer when she needed him.