“We won’t mess it up,” she said. She’d make sure he checked it too. The more eyes on it, the better. This was too important for pride. “And we’ll get them out of there.”
Jade nodded, then strode out of the room. Cat winked at her as the door closed.
“This is a brilliant plan,” he said, as he stood. “All we have to do now is make it work.”
“And find someone we can get to carry the parchment into the building,” Emily reminded him, as they kissed. “That isn’t going to be easy.”
Cat laughed. “Compared to everything else? That, Emily, will be the easy part.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
THE PIECE OF PAPER WAS COVERED in notes.
Emily rubbed her eyes, trying to work out the ache as she stood and poured herself a cup of cold water. She knew she was good at working out magical equations, but the spellwork she’d sketched out was an order of magnitude more complex than anything she’d done at Whitehall. The basic idea was simple enough–and she thought she could cast most of the spells without setting off any alarms–but the execution was going to be very difficult.
And there’s not going to be any time to practice, she thought, sourly. She’d considered suggesting that they go somewhere well away from the city to experiment, but neither of the boys would have gone for it. They would have had a point, too. The gates were under increasing scrutiny in the wake of the riot. We’re only going to get one shot at this.
She paced the room for a long moment, feeling old. A single mistake would doom them, which meant that every last piece of spellwork had to be checked and checked again before it was slotted into place. And then she would have to test the spellware as much as she could without actually triggering the spell. She thought it would hold together, once they started to actually trigger the spell, but she didn’t know for sure. Too much power would be unleashed in too short a space of time for her to be certain.
And we have to get the chat parchments set up, she added, as she stopped beside the next table and looked down. Getting the parchment hadn’t been easy. It had always been expensive and, with the development of paper, supplies had dwindled drastically. We can’t afford a mistake with those either.
She sat down at the table and tested the latest set of parchments. The king’s spies–Jade had warned everyone, time and time again, that they couldn’t assume they’d weeded out all the spies–wouldn’t think there was anything odd in producing chat parchments for the Levellers, although they’d certainly want a word with the magicians doing it. Chat parchments offered enough of a tactical advantage, particularly for an underground group, to ensure that no one would consider that they might be used for something else. There was a risk in producing them, particularly without blood magic being used to bind the parchments to a single set of users, but it was one that had to be endured. They couldn’t risk meeting too many people.
It should work, she told herself. She didn’t fully understand the magic binding two sets of parchment together, but it was relatively simple. And wards can’t block them.
She felt a flicker of sour admiration for the magicians who’d improved on the original design, even though they’d nearly gotten her–and Caleb’s entire family–killed. It was a neat piece of work and quite tricky to reverse-engineer, although she had the advantage of knowing it was possible. The spells could be used to allow her to hack the wards from the inside, as long as one piece of parchment was inside the wards. She had yet to think of a way to get one piece inside the wards, but Jade was sure they could overcome that problem in time. It wasn’t easy to detect a piece of chat parchment. A guard might be tricked into carrying one inside the wards without ever knowing what he was doing.
Shaking her head, she stood and walked over to the small collection of bubbling cauldrons. Truth potions were quite forgiving, thankfully. It wasn’t hard to brew several cauldrons at once as long as she kept a careful eye on the time. The spies would have noticed the sudden demand for potions ingredients–and other magical supplies–but hopefully they’d be a little confused about what the Levellers were actually doing. Feeding truth potions to prospective new recruits was also something entirely understandable, if irritating to the king’s spymasters. They might not realize the enemy magicians were also up to something else.
She sighed as she turned and surveyed the room. She was no enchanter, trained in crafting magical tools, but she was the best they had. Jade and Cat knew a great deal about using tools to enhance their magic, and the dangers inherent in overusing wands and staffs; they simply didn’t know how to put them together. Wands were little more than wooden sticks, but even they had to be carved properly. Emily rather suspected that the wands she’d carved over the last few days simply wouldn’t last very long, no matter how carefully they were charged. The magic powering the spellwork would fade quite quickly.
They’ll give the Levellers a brief advantage, she thought, tiredly. And that will be enough to give the king a nasty surprise.
The iron ring lying on the furthest table looked harmless. She walked towards it, silently testing the obscurification wards. The iron ring might pass unnoticed, if a team of soldiers broke into the room, but she didn’t dare let a sorcerer get a good look at it. She’d rigged up a handful of diabolical surprises for anyone who tried, yet she was all too aware that discharging so much magic in a confined space would have dangerously unpredictable effects. If she hadn’t been so worried about her friends, or if there had been any other option, she wouldn’t have shared the secret with Jade and Cat. The batteries would change the world, when–if–the secret got out. They might even make necromancy practical.
And Lady Barb hated the whole concept, she thought, as she held her hand over the ring. The air felt hot, pregnant with possibility. Magic seemed to be warping the ring into something unearthly. She thought that the necromancers would be able to use their powers without going insane.
There was a knock on the door. Emily tensed, readying a spell. The Levellers swore blind that no one knew they owned the townhouse–it apparently belonged to a merchant who was extremely loyal to the crown–but she knew better than to take that for granted. Jade and Cat had discussed contingency plans with her, just in case. She’d have to grab the ring, set the wards to self-destruct and then teleport out. Better to burn down the building and destroy all her work than let the enemy have a clear look at what she’d been doing. It might give them ideas.
The door opened. She lifted her hand, ready to cast the spell, then sighed in relief as Cat stepped into the room. They hadn’t had as much time together as she would have liked over the last few days, but…she shook her head in annoyance. There were times when she wanted him, in all senses of the word, and times when she just wanted to pretend that their lovemaking had never happened. She hated feeling so conflicted. It would have been easier, she supposed, if he had wanted a long-term relationship.
“Emily.” Cat sounded genuinely concerned. “How are you?”
“Headachy,” Emily said. She had to smile at her own words. It wasn’t even an excuse! “My eyes are about to melt.”
“As long as your brains don’t start leaking out your ears,” Cat told her. He walked around the small collection of tables and inspected the papers on her desk. “Have you had a rest?”
“Not enough of one,” Emily said. In truth, she was going a little stir-crazy. She couldn’t understand how women in restrictive cultures managed to stay sane. She knew she had to say out of sight and work on the equations, but she still wanted to go outside. Being told she had to stay indoors permanently would have been intolerable. “You’ll have to check my work later.”