A Muddle of Magic by Alexandra Rushe

Author:Alexandra Rushe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-09-17T18:23:03+00:00

Chapter 18

Revelations

Raine raced around the park in the grip of a sudden paroxysm, her body twitching like a puppet.

“Raine, come back,” Raven shouted.

“I can’t.” Her voice was thin with terror. “I can’t make them stop.”

She circled a tree and shot past a nurse with two young charges. The toddlers squealed and pointed.

“Blessed Bear, it’s her boots,” Tyra said. “They’ve run away with her.”

“Enchanted boots?” Mauric made the sign to ward off evil. “By Tro, trouble finds that girl wherever she goes. How the hell did she come by enchanted boots?”

“I don’t know,” Tyra said. “She said they were a gift.”

Raine stopped abruptly, teetering on her heels. Her body was jerked forward, as though pulled by an invisible string, and she took off for the gate.

“She’s headed out of the park,” Mauric said, his gaze on Raine’s distant figure. “Where’s she bound, you reckon?”

“Leechy Bottom,” Raven said. “She said she wanted to be in Leechy Bottom.”

“She can’t go wandering around the wharves alone,” Mauric said. “The place is full of drunks and cutthroats.”

“I know,” Raven said, taking off at a run.

Raven tried to catch Raine, but she was moving too fast. Feet hammering up and down, she darted in and out of flowerbeds and through bushes and leapt over a group of lads playing stakkers on the green. A guardsman on horseback paused to watch the boys bowl.

Raven ran up to him. “Give me your horse.”

The warrior blinked at him, his face slack with surprise. “What?”

“I said—never mind.” Raven grabbed the man by the hauberk and yanked him off the horse. The warrior landed on his back. Wheezing, he stared up at Raven and tried to suck air back into his deflated lungs.

Raven flung himself on the mount. “My pardon. Rowan’s business.”

Pressing his heels into the horse’s flanks, he galloped after Raine. The trail of confusion she’d left in her wake was easy to follow. A woman sat on the curb, packages scattered at her feet. Her hat, a towering creation of swirling cloth festooned with tiny bells, was twisted backward.

“Whoosh,” she mumbled, her plump cheeks quivering. “Whoosh, whoosh.”

Down the street, a shop keep was righting his cart.

“The girl,” Raven said, cantering up to him. “Which way did she go?”

The man bent to retrieve a round of cheese with shaking hands. “Toward the West Gate, Roark.”

“It’s as I thought,” Raven muttered. “She’s headed for the wharves.” He tossed the man a coin. “My thanks.”

He rode on and found more chaos at the West Gate. Baskets of fish and lobsters were spilled in the street and the outraged fishmonger was yelling at one of the guards. Raven galloped past them through the open gates and onto the sea road. He spotted Raine ahead. She was haring along at incredible speed, her feet churning up clouds of dust.

He urged the horse onward. Leechy Bottom was situated in Eely Cove, a stagnant backwater with a tumbledown pier and a ragged fleet of boats. The Bottom was a thoroughly disreputable place, a den of thieves, smugglers, and various forms of vice.

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