Page 86 of Truth's Blade

“It’s down?” He pulled his sword from the scabbard at his back, and she could see the hardness in his expression.

She nodded, for the first time confronting what was about to happen.

They were taking the battle to Marchant this time. And there was no mercy in Theo’s heart.

Or her own, come to that.

But they had both agreed it was better to take him alive, to get some idea of how many people he had taken through the years, and where they were.

The Commander could decide what happened to him after that.

“I hope he kept records,” she’d told Theo as they’d discussed it. “I’d trust that more than anything that comes out of his mouth.”

Now the time had come to find out.

She walked across the grass, Theo by her side, and nothing stopped them as they stepped over the boundary.

Marchant’s house stood dark and quiet, and they both stopped at the foot of three rickety stairs that led up to a small porch at the front of it.

Melodie studied it carefully. There was no sign of spell work anywhere, and finally she glanced at Theo and gave a nod.

Then they circled around to the right. They’d already decided it was best to know all the surprises before they went in.

There was nothing that she could see, though.

Maybe having too many magical traps was annoying to work around for Marchant. He had been running this operation for a long time by the looks of things, and had gotten away with it so far, and he was arrogant enough to think he was untouchable.

Theo had checked the windows, which were all closed, and the back door, and they’d gotten an idea of the size of the cottage and how many rooms it had.

Eventually, they decided to go through the back door, which had a single stone step up to it, rather than the creaky planks that waited for them at the front.

Theo tried the door, and it opened with a faint squeak under his hand.

He froze, and then slid through the narrow opening, and Melodie followed him.

There was no light, except what came in with them from the night sky, and they both stood in the kitchen, listening carefully.

The room smelled of toast and tea, with an underlying, greasy odor that made Melodie’s nose twitch.

Theo’s hand came back to grab hers, and he began to move through the small room into the passageway that ran the length of the house.

She could just make out the front door at the end of it, and there were two doors on either side, all closed.

Theo indicated he’d check the rooms to the left, and so she went right, quietly turning the knob. The room within was a bathroom by the smell of mold and water, and a vial of spell-worked powder lent a glow to the small space.

She could see it was some kind of healing mixture, and she slipped it into her pocket. No doubt Marchant used it to help him heal from his wounds, and she wasn’t going to let him have any more access to it.

She stepped out of the room, and Theo was waiting for her. He had left the door behind him open, and in the faint light from outside, she could see a couch and she smelled the ash and burned wood of a fire that had gone cold.

She moved down to the next door, in tangent with Theo, and then glanced behind her as she realized he was waiting for her to open her door, sword already half-raised. She swung it wide, looked inside, but it was empty of Marchant, although full of other things.

She stepped in, taking in the wink and glow of spelled items on shelves, and set in boxes on the floor and chair. Nothing was as bright as the paint set, but she had never seen anything as bright as that, except for the twine that had imprisoned Theo.

She heard a noise behind her, and spun around, but it was Theo stepping into the room.

“He isn’t in the bedroom, either,” he said, voice very low.

That seemed strange to her. Where else would he be but in this house? He was tired, sick, and injured, and she didn’t think there was any other place for him to go.

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