Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg

Author:Charlie N. Holmberg [Holmberg, Charlie N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503935600
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2016-06-27T18:30:00+00:00

When Shah returns to the cave, he stands in the mouth and looks at his traps. He takes a long time doing this, making an effort to investigate each individual jaw.

His gaze rises to meet mine and he says, “What did you do?”

“I threw rocks,” I answer.

To my surprise, Shah laughs. He laughs hard, bending his knees and squeezing his ribs. His giggle is high pitched, yet also hearty and loud. He’s like this for a couple minutes, though despite all his laughter, I don’t see a single tear in his eyes, and I have no desire to join in the fun.

He trudges through the traps and unlatches me from my chain, though he doesn’t remove the metal cuff from my ankle. “Don’t be bad,” he says, hugging me to him as he fishes for something in his pocket. I cringe, wondering if it’s the knife he once used to cut my binds, and I have the thought to snatch it from his hand and throw it out the cave mouth. I don’t get the chance; that strange sickness of Shah’s magic assaults me, and I grit my teeth and shut my eyes to fight it.

The sensation punches me in the stomach, and when it’s over, I slide out of Shah’s arms and onto my knees, kneeling on rust-tinted earth. I perk up, forgetting the nausea, and run my fingers through the soil. We’re in the Platts—we must be. How close to Carmine have we come?

“Where are we?” I try.

Shah must be in a good mood, for he answers, “Umber.”

Umber. The city-state is east of Carmine by about a hundred or so miles. Franc was born in Umber.

Shah grasps the back of my neck and guides me forward toward the city, which rests in the valley between several small hills. Our feet leave tracks in the dirt until the road becomes bricked.

“How do you do it?” I ask, staring ahead. “Appear and disappear as you do? How did we get here?”

“No questions,” Shah says. “It’s mine. Mine.”

I lick my dry lips and focus on the city ahead of me. So many secrets. I wonder if Shah transports in a similar way to Fyel, but then again, Shah doesn’t have wings.

As we crest a hill, my breath hitches.

Umber is enormous.

I’m sure there are bigger city-states than this, but if Umber were a person, Carmine would fit into her palm. All the roads are bricked and uniform, connecting in an almost perfect grid, save where they curve to compensate for the hills, many of which boast windmills. Some of the buildings are four, even five stories tall. There are windmills on some of their roofs as well. And the people—there are so many people of all varieties in the street, along with wagons and carriages. I don’t see any farmland, save for a few plots on the farthest hills, detached from the bulk of the city.

Umber grows in size as we travel into it, its buildings rising up like well-watered sunflowers, the faces of its people becoming sharp and distinguishable.

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