Chapter 15: The warehouse

"It should be in the corner, behind the planks," Jasper told him. Koth walked over and retrieved a bag from behind the pile of planks. He had asked Jasper to have it prepared, as they didn't know how long they would have to stay in the warehouse.

"Here, there's a set of clothes you can change into. The nights can be chilly this time of year, and we can't light a fire," he told Irin. She took the bag and looked at him with a smile.

"Thank you. Usually, I would just use magic, but since that's out of the question, I appreciate you thinking ahead," she said.

"Sure, we'll be over there; you can change in peace," Koth said, feeling a little awkward about the praise. He took his brother and headed over to the far corner of the room. The two of them faced the wall to give Irin some privacy. It took all of Koth's willpower to keep facing the wall. Koth had been floored when Irin had walked out in her dress earlier in the evening. He had always found her beautiful, but in that dress, she had become radiant. Of course, he hadn't told her. He had enough trouble not being grumpy and an arsehole to her most days. That’s why their pretend fight had taken a toll on him; it felt too close to the truth.

"What's your next step once we know it's safe for you to travel?" his brother asked Koth.

"We need to figure out how to block the amulet's anti-magic properties. We can't risk travelling with this thing if neither Irin nor I can use our magic."

"She has her sword," Jasper said.

"She does, but I don't think we should rely on that," Koth said.

“Neither do I,” Irin said from just behind them. Koth forgot he was supposed to be looking at the wall and turned to face her. Fortunately, she was already dressed in her regular clothes. “We will have a target on our backs when we set out, and we can’t take it back to the Gahndas temple while it negates magic. That could leave the city defenceless against attacks.” The three of them fell silent, listening to the sounds of people running in the street outside; there were shouts, but Koth couldn’t make out what they were saying. He cursed under his breath; he couldn’t enhance his hearing with magic. The sound of the main door slamming open made all three of them freeze. Jasper silently walked to the other side of the room, waving at Koth and Irin to follow him. Jasper pointed at the two others and then at a narrow space between the planks and the wall. He had to be kidding, Koth thought. There was no way he would squeeze in there. Koth pushed Irin forward, and she slid into the gap without issue. She waved at him to join her; he held up a finger to let her know he was coming, or would try to at least. He turned towards his brother and raised an eyebrow. His brother pointed towards himself and then at an almost invisible space between a storage cabinet and the wall. Koth nodded. He had a better chance of fitting in between the planks and the wall. He took a deep breath, sucked in his stomach, bent his knees and tried to make himself smaller than he was. Again, this wouldn’t be an issue if he just had his magic. By a small miracle he managed to get almost all the way inside; the space opened up a little further in. Irin took hold of his cuff and tugged him further inside. They could hear the people rummaging around in the warehouse. Koth scooted closer to Irin and found himself standing pressed against her. He had a hard time focusing on the sound of the invaders as he felt her shift and place a hand on his chest to get into a more comfortable position. He felt an urge to put his hand on her waist to pull her closer. He heard the door to the back room opening, and he forced his focus back to the intruders.

“There’s no one inside here,” he heard one shout.

“Did you check, or did you just open the door? Mohind is crazy; we can’t be sloppy,” someone else responded. Koth swore at their diligence. Irin tugged on his tunic, indicating he should bend down. As he did, she leaned in; for a second Koth felt his heart stop as he thought she was about to kiss him. But she leaned closer and placed her lips close to his ear.

“Take this,” she whispered, so low that it was more a movement in the air than a whisper. Koth felt her hand move from his chest and then reappear at his hand. He felt the cold steel of a throwing knife in his palm. He smiled. After the first staged fight with Irin, the guards had stripped him of the two daggers he had taken with him.

“Thank you,” he whispered back. He adjusted his stance so he could look out of the gap, and freed his right arm to use the small knife if necessary. Someone kicked the planks; they rattled and Koth readied the knife.

“This is just bullshit. There's no one here, why do we have to go around doing things like this? Mohind can’t keep his own amulet safe and we have to turn the city upside down? What's to say if we find them, they won't use the amulet against us?” the man in front of the planks said, sounding upset.

“Shit, I hadn’t thought about that. Do you think they would?” The second person sounded like he was on the other side of the room.

“I’m thinking they didn’t steal it because they needed a new paperweight,” the first man said.

“Fuck, you’re right. Let's get out of here. I’m not risking being tortured to death because Mohind got googly eyes for a girl.” Koth heard the two men quickly walking out of the room, and a while later he heard the main door open and shut. He remained where he was. It could just be a trick; maybe they or their companions lay in wait.

“Is it safe?” Irin whispered after a while. Koth turned his head to look at her.

“I don’t know. Stay here and I’ll check,” he told her. As he shifted to make his way out of the opening, he felt Irin take his left hand to stop him.

“We can always wait a little longer,” she suggested.

“It’ll be fine. I’ll be right back,” he told her, continuing to squeeze himself out of the opening. When he was in the open room, he stood still, listening. His brother poked his head outside their hiding space, and when he saw Koth, he came out as well.

“Irin?” Jasper whispered.

“I told her to stay put. Let's check to see if they really are gone.” The two brothers moved as quietly as they could. Koth couldn’t hear anyone, and when they opened the door and looked out into the warehouse, it was deserted.

“It looks like they’ve left,” Jasper said. Koth grunted and went back inside the room.

“You can come out,” he told Irin, holding out his hand to help her out. Irin and Jasper sat down on two of the rickety chairs. Koth didn't trust them to hold his weight, so he opted for the floor.

“Now what?” Irin asked.

"Now we wait. My men will let us know when things calm down outside, then we can get you out of the city," Jasper told her.

"We need to figure out how to undo the magic block on the amulet. Not only will it affect our ability to defend ourselves, but it will be easy for others to discover if we have it. Just place any old wizard or magic wielder next to us and they will know," Koth said.

"Let's have a look at it," Irin said, and Jasper hauled it out and put it down on the table again. The three of them studied it, but Koth couldn't find anything that would help them.

"How big is the range of the anti-magic?" Irin asked. Both men shrugged. "Let's find out. I’ll start walking away, and when I feel my magic return, we'll have a rough estimate, at least," she told them.

"You stay here, I’ll go," Koth told her and got up. Irin gave him a look but didn't object. Koth started moving away from the amulet; he got out of the door and was almost halfway through the empty warehouse before he could feel his power return.

"Here," he called out, and the others looked at where he stood.

"That’s impressive, that has to be at least sixty-five feet," Jasper said.

"I don’t know what this gives us," Koth said.

"I don’t either, but at least we know more about it than we did five minutes ago," Irin said with a smile.

"That is true," Koth agreed. He walked back and felt the uneasy feeling of his magic draining away. Koth sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall. To his surprise, Irin joined him.

"You can sit around the table, I don’t mind," he told her.

"It’s okay, it’s nice to stretch out for a bit," she said.

Irin glanced over at Koth. He had been suspiciously nice to her since they got out of the casino. Not that she minded; not at all, she quite liked it. She tried to relax and think about their issue.

"Koth," she said.

"Yes."

"If you stood sixty-five feet away from something, could you cast a protective shield around it?" she asked.

"If I could see it," he said. "Oh."

"What?" Jasper asked.

"Irin had a brilliant idea. If I go just outside the range of the magic block and then use my magic to create a shield around the amulet, that might block the block," Koth explained, and Irin nodded.

"Oh."

"But to be extra safe, I could draw a rune circle on the floor, which you then put the amulet in. That way, the runes can enhance my magic, giving us a better chance of success," Koth told them.

"Should we try?" Irin asked.

"I don't see why not," Koth said, already standing up. He paused and reached out a hand to help Irin up. "I think I saw some chalk over here I can use." Koth hurriedly gathered the things he needed and walked out of the back room, followed by Irin and Jasper, who leaned against a wall to watch him work.

"I don't know when I've seen him this excited," Jasper said with a smile.

"I get it; he gets to try a new magical theory 'in the wild', if you like," Irin said. Jasper looked at her, and Irin felt almost as if he were studying her.

"What?" she asked.

"Why don't you stay here, Irin? Your reputation will be high enough after tonight to crown you queen of the city if you wish. I would make sure you had anything you ever wanted or needed. I think I could even give up other women if you asked, maybe," he said.