sect in Sulania for their rituals. Apparently it distorts the senses for ordinary folk that take it, gives ’em weird visions the way gosha berries do. She said it alters the body’s flow of energies, whatever that means. I figure that’s good news for sneaking past wards. But she also said when mages take it, they can’t do magic while the effects last.”
“Magic is an act of will,” Kiran said. “Any drug that affects the mind’s ability to focus will interfere with active spellcasting.” He poked the vial again. To release barriers was also an act of will, even if sometimes driven by instinct. Everything he knew said a physical drug shouldn’t affect them...but then, he’d been wrong about the safety of drawing power by touch. “I think it’s safe, but I can’t be certain.”
“Why’d I know you’d say that?” Dev muttered, looking grim. “There’s a second part to this. I’m gonna fix up a hiding space for you within the driver’s box of the cart. You’ll be out of sight, but it won’t be soundproof. Which means you can’t make even the slightest noise.” He pulled out a second vial containing a dark, sludgy liquid.
“A large enough dose of yeleran leaf extract will put you in a deep sleep and slow your heart and breathing to the point a casual observer might think you dead. It’ll prevent you making any accidental noise, and it’ll make you doubly hard for the mage to detect.”
Kiran looked unhappily at the vial. He supposed he’d expected something of this nature, but it didn’t make the prospect any more appealing. The thought of being so completely helpless during the border crossing brought his fear of betrayal roaring back to life. Then again, perhaps he could ensure the hennanwort didn’t cause disaster—Ruslan couldn’t use the link if Kiran were so deeply unconscious. “Can you give me the hennanwort after I’m asleep?”
Dev shook his head. “That’s the thing—the herbalist said you’ve got to take the hennanwort first and wait for it to take effect before you can take the yeleran. Otherwise the hennanwort won’t get absorbed right.”
“There must be another way.” One in which he wouldn’t be so vulnerable.
Dev’s brows lowered. “You want to get through the border, or not? Trust me, I’m not thrilled about this either. But these drugs are the only way I know for a mage to pass that gate.”
After a long, silent struggle between competing fears, Kiran gave a reluctant nod. Though he’d had no more visions, the mental itch had swelled into a sharper, straining pull. The certainty of Ruslan’s triumph outweighed all other worries.
The sharp line between Dev’s brows eased. He pocketed the vials and thrust an armload of empty burlap sacks at Kiran. “Never mind that blindfold; better for us to pass the gate sooner than later, which means I need your help. I’m gonna work on the cart; you go somewhere out of sight of the clearing and fill these up with rocks. Any type, doesn’t matter, but aim for stones about the size of your fist.”
Kiran started off with the sacks, but called over his shoulder, “Why do we need rocks?”
“I’m playing prospector, so I need sacks of ore. Most ores don’t look like much until they’re refined, so those bastards at the gate won’t be able to tell the difference.”
The stony ground under the cinnabar pines yielded an abundance of loose rocks, but many were too large or too small to fit Dev’s criteria. Kiran scrambled about searching while a racket of hammering and sawing disturbed the cool morning air.
Sunlight slanted through the cinnabar trees to pool golden on the forest floor by the time Dev called for him to return. Kiran staggered back to the clearing with a laden sack gripped in his arms.
Sweat stained the back and sides of Dev’s shirt and piles of sawdust lay scattered on the matted pine needles, but when Kiran risked a quick glance at the cart, it looked no different. He said as much to Dev, diffidently.
“That’s kind of the idea,” Dev said. “No point in having a hidden compartment if it’s obvious. Here, take a quick look.” He handed Kiran up into the cart bed, and pointed at the boxy front section beneath the driver’s seat.
“Looks like a standard driver’s box, right?” Dev tapped the corner of a board sharply with his hammer. The back side of the driver’s box fell outward, revealing a dark rectangular space. “That’s where you’ll be.”
Dev pointed with the hammer at