Agents of Artifice: A Planeswalker Novel Read Online Free PDF

formed around and behind her, and three evil bolts shifted their aim to Kallist’s chest.
    Kallist felt his heart race and his palms grow clammy. And then, as though doused with a bucket of snow, he cooled. He felt calm, collected. He’d faced worse situations; hell, he’d subjected people to worse situations.
    “Bad, bad idea, Semner,” he said, his voice level. “I didn’t think even you were that stupid.”
    Curiosity warred with anger on the ugliest face in the room, and curiosity beat the stuffing out of it. Semner raised a hand, halting his men even as their fingers began to tighten on their triggers.
    “Meaning what, exactly?”
    “Favarial’s an awfully long way away,” Kallist told him. “That’s several days before you know for certain if I’m lying or not.”
    Semner ground his teeth. “Are you?”
    “No.” A smile. “As far as you know.”
    “Damn it, Rhoka …
    “And what if he’s left?” Kallist plunged on. “Obviously, you found me more easily than you could find him, or we wouldn’t be having this lovely heart-to-heart. He could be anywhere.” He might not even be on Ravnica anymore. Of course, Semner wouldn’t understand that. “We may not talk anymore, but I still know the man a lot better than you do. If I’m lying, or if he’s moved on, how do you plan to find him without me?”
    The grinding in Semner’s jaw grew to almost tectonic levels. But Kallist had him, and he knew it.
    “All right.” The mercenary finally relented. “You get to keep breathing.” He gestured toward the chair he himself had occupied a few moments before. “Tie her up. Make sure she’s secure.”
    “What?” Kallist scowled. “You just told your men to let her go.”
    “That was before you pointed out that I was being stupid,” Semner smirked. One of the thugs departed to locate more rope; Semner turned toward those remaining. “Errit, you and Rin stay here. Sleep in shifts; I want someone watching them at all times.
    “I may not be a mage,” he allowed, with a bitter glance at Kallist, “but I can hire people who are. Once we’ve reached Favarial, I’ll find a messenger who can send you word, let you know if he told us the truth.
    “And if he didn’t,” Semner added darkly, “your job will be to scar the woman up good.”
    Kallist snarled in frustration. He was not, however, the only one present to take issue with that plan.
    “Um, boss?” the one named Errit interjected, his voice uncertain. “You really want us to watch these two? For days? Just two of us?”
    “They’ll be tied up.”
    “But, uh… Didn’t you tell me they were witches? What if they put a hex on Rin, or turn me into a gobber, or something?”
    “Then you’ll have a better chance of attracting women!” Semner growled, though his expression had grown uncertain.
    “You’ll have to take us with you, Semner,” Liliana taunted. “All it takes is the right word, even the right look. There’s no way your goons can keep the both of us confined for days.”
    “The hell they can’t,” he snarled back, grinning suddenly. Liliana winked at Kallist, who had to struggle not to laugh out loud.
    “Gag them,” Semner ordered his men, “and find something to blindfold them. That should keep them from casting or aiming much of anything. And if not…”
    Slowly he turned to Liliana, looking her lasciviously up and down. She shuddered, her skin crawling as though he’d actually run his hands across her body. Kallist wished desperately for a knife, or even a piece of broken glass.
    “One of them makes even the slightest suspicious move,” Semner told Errit. “Cut something personal and irreplaceable off the other one. That should keep ‘em in line.”
    The door swung open and the other returned, a coil of rope slung over one shoulder. He dripped profusely as he crossed the floor, and the sounds through the open doorway suggested that the steady drizzle had become an honest downpour.
    “Food?” Errit asked