A/N: I forgot to put a disclaimer on one of my stories, and you know what? Nobody sued me! How do you like that? But I'd still like to say that any idiot who's read the Tamora Pierce books knows that these characters aren't mine, and I know it, so don't sue me!
Wait, a few of the characters are mine, such as Radinel the steward and Agisa (say that AG-iss-uh, kind of like Agatha).
The first night, I traveled until there wasn't enough light to see by. I dismounted, rubbing my sore behind. Spots deserved a treat, and I found a carrot for him in the pack of food the king had provided for my journey. I would be on my own once I got to fief Sinthya.
Once my horse was tied and my tent pitched, I collected some wood and made a fire with my Gift. Though the day had been pleasant, the temperature had begun to drop rapidly after sunset, and I was grateful for the fire's warmth. All in all, it was a rather pleasant night, spent relaxing in front of a fire and reading my information. In one of my last moments of comfort and safety, I tried not to think about the mission ahead.
All too soon, I had arrived at the border of fief Sinthya. I had traveled lightly, and had only two small bags to stash—under magical protections, naturally—in a hollow tree. I kept only the clothes I was wearing and the most vital of my mission papers.
"Here I go," I said to no one in particular as I shape-shifted into a hawk.
I'm not at all sure why, but it's always been easier for me to become a large, black hawk than any other type of animal. However, if some unseen magical force was going to make my project a little bit easier, who was I to argue?
As I flew high over the fief, I couldn't help but enjoy myself. The land was not the most beautiful; in fact, it was mostly swamp. But the trees were bedecked in green for summer and it was really a lovely day. Being a bird, I was free to express my joy with loud caws, which were answered by the local hawks. Not knowing enough about my winged friends to know whether they were welcoming me or attempting to drive me away, I smiled inwardly and fell silent.
Finally, I caught a glimpse of the Lord's residence. It was a rather imposing stone fortress, rising high above the marshy lands—not at all in tune with the terrain around it. I found an acceptable wooded copse to land in and did so, trying not to scratch myself on the abundant brambles.
The grove was thick, and I was quite confident that I was hidden from outside view. I changed back into human form, taking care to bring all my clothes and documents with me. Once transformed, I took out the paper that listed what papers I needed to procure, in order of expected difficulty. The two items at the top were letters of the lord's. Mages at the palace had verified that they had been burned, but from that distance, the spells needed to reassemble the papers were impossible, even with the strongest Gift. In fact, if I tried to work the spell from anywhere but the same fireplace where the documents had been burned, even the next room over, I ran a high risk of failure. As Jon had told me, that was a risk I could not take.
I should start with the hardest ones now, I thought, before my Gift runs low. After memorizing all the known information about the burned letters, I slipped the paper back into my pocket and began a strong invisibility spell. Lord Sinthya would doubtlessly have mages roaming his castle, and I could not take the chance of being seen.
Once properly invisible, I left the thicket and silently entered the castle through the kitchen door. One could usually find some talkative servants, and I needed to know when I could expect the lord's study to be occupied. It was fairly simple to assemble a story from the bits and pieces of information I gathered from the servants.
"Kal," one cook instructed her helper, "be a dear and run down to the mill for more cake flour?"
A young man walked into the kitchen and was immediately tossed an apron. "Get moving," an older man growled. "The little lady turns ten tonight, not next week!"
I realized that they must be talking about the lord's daughter. The two men walked away to the other side of the kitchen, and I turned my attention back to the first cook and her helper.
"Thank you," she said as the boy returned, panting and carrying a large sack of flour. Seemingly, he had run all the way from the mill. The woman continued to talk, half to him and half to herself. "I don't know what the poor girl will do if her daddy's not home in time for dinner," she said.
I grinned. So the lord was away from home! That solved more problems than I could imagine. Dodging cooks and helpers in the bustling kitchen, I found the door to the servants' dining hall. Choosing a post in the corner, I kept my ears open for conversations.
In only an hour, I learned from a young woman that her friend, named Agisa, was assigned the task of cleaning the study. But first, she had to clean the master bedroom in time for the lord's return. Just as Agisa's acquaintance finished detailing the other woman's schedule to an interested male companion, the woman herself came in and was greeted warmly by several people.
Calculating in my head, I gave Agisa half an hour to eat and an hour and a half to clean the bedroom, giving me two hours for this working. It would be close, but I knew it was possible if I encountered no setbacks.
Naturally, the second the thought crossed my mind a small man with an authoritative walk came into the servants' dining room and closed the door behind him.
Perfect, I thought. I can't open that without being seen, and it's the only way out of this room.
As luck would have it, the man (who would later be identified to me as the steward of Sinthya) had come to inform the servants of the fief's plans regarding Carthak. Before he spoke to the room at large, he singled out a few men and women and had a whispered conversation in the corner. I silently left my position for one within earshot of their little group.
"Master Radinel," one of the women asked, "are you positive it's safe to tell them? One of them might be a spy for the king—you know his spies reported to him about the Carthaki soldiers."
"Any one of the visitors to this fief could have told the king that he had Carthaki guards," the man known as Radinel said impatiently. "I trust these servants, and I want them on the lookout for spies like the ones who took the diamond mine papers!"
For a second I couldn't remember what he was talking about. Then I recalled reading a copy of an accounts sheet, which revealed secret diamond mines somewhere in all that swamp. Under normal circumstances, such assets would be reported to the king as soon as they were discovered, but Sinthya's accounts showed that the products of these mines had been sold directly to Carthak, without the Crown's knowledge.
The meeting of the servants lasted about half an hour. I didn't learn anything by listening to Master Radinel that had not been covered in my information. Feeling cheated out of a golden opportunity, I slipped out the door the second it was opened and walked as quickly as I could without making noise to the lord's study.
The study opened onto a small, isolated hallway. I was relieved to find it empty when I arrived. It was no trouble to slip into the study, and I used my Gift to lock the door using the normal lock, in case someone came near. Not only would I have plenty of time to cast an invisibility spell once I heard the key in the lock, but if I cast a spell on the door it would only draw the attention of any passing mage.
Once safe inside, I shed my spell with relief. It was a simple spell, but a tiring one. Instead, I turned my attention to the cold embers of the hearth. That would not do. I started a cheery fire and sat cross-legged next to the fireplace, leaning my back against the wall. I could sit up straight now, but who knew what shape I'd be in once this spell was over?
Reaching seep inside myself for my magic, I carefully detached my magical self from the flow of time. Once out of the current, I could navigate as I chose, and staying in the study, I let days slip by me until I was at the moment I needed. I stopped floating when I saw the lord get up from his desk with papers in hand. In a frozen moment, my magical essence crossed the room and looked at the documents. They were, indeed, the two items I had come here to retrieve.
Now came the difficult part. I let time pass a bit more until the papers had been completely consumed by the flames, setting up an invisibility spell between the fireplace and the desk in the meantime. Struggling to hold on to the spell that let me go where I pleased in time and the charm that would keep my next working hidden from view, I sent my magic into the ashes below the flames, calling for the most recent.
Slowly at first, then faster, the ashes of the materials most recently burned snaked their way out of the hearth and onto the stone floor. I settled my magical self next to them and began to reverse the burning. This was an extremely difficult task, and I worked as fast as I could without making mistakes.
Soon, what had once been a pile of ashes had become two slightly charred pieces of paper and several chunks of wood. I dropped the invisibility spell, hoping the lord would not notice when the wood suddenly appeared in front of the fireplace. While my magical spirit could do anything magically that my human self could, it was unable to perform any task requiring a body. This disadvantage was minimal compared to the benefit of the magical being's invisibility.
Magically towing the papers behind it, my spirit returned to my body and I opened my eyes. Soon afterwards the papers appeared in my hands. Tucking them into my pocket, I took note of the state of my Gift.
It might not be enough to hold an invisibility spell, I thought, worried, but I'm fairly certain I can get a shape-shift out of it.
Comforted, I pulled my tired body to its feet on the nearest piece of furniture. My shirt was soaked with sweat, and my hair was plastered to my neck. When I extinguished the hearth fire, it was as much for my own comfort as for the sake of hiding the remains of my presence.
But before I could begin to shift, I heard the click of a key in the latch. Glancing at my watch, I saw that I had correctly estimated the amount of time it would take a single maid to clean a bedroom, but the thought was little consolation to me now.
With my Gift nearly used up, it would take more time than I had to assume any form. Instead, I thought outside of the box, and sent my magic into the next room. I used a variant of the spell used by many mages, myself included, to hang up cloaks and fetch books. However, it was a bit trickier to move objects that I could not see. Taking a chance, I knocked down the first item I could reach, and it shattered with a satisfying crash. Even more pleasing was the sound of quick footsteps away from the door to the study and into the next room.
Using the time I had bought myself, I shape-shifted, this time into a sparrow. It took me a full minute and a half. Thankfully, Agisa was still cleaning up in the next room when I took flight out the window.
Now that's what I like! Magic and danger! Please review, and flames are entirely welcome. Of course, if you like it, that's even better.