Street Magic - By Tamora Pierce Page 0,6

brown-skinned youth who was their tesku, or leader, looked up from the tiles. He was the one who had told Briar that he looked and moved like a thief. His eyes were fixed on the lady, as if she were his sun. "He asked her how her magic made the stones light up, Lady," he repeated. "He wanted to know if she called on the power in the stones, or if she just put a charm on them."

The lady turned her large eyes on him and smiled. "You may approach me, Ikrum Fazhal," she said. The thin tesku crawled forward until she placed a gentle hand on his dark hair. "You were wise to report this to me. A Chammuran pahan is always useful, but a street child from Oldtown, new to her power, and that power with stones – such a pahan has, umm," she hummed, "unique possibilities. She would be grateful to those who took her in, would she not?

You need not answer," she added when Ikrum opened his mouth. "Tell my Vipers to watch for this child, and to bring her to me when she is found."

She lifted her hand from Ikrum's head; he promptly crawled back to join the other two. It had taken painful training, but now all the Vipers who were permitted into her presence knew exactly what her unspoken signals meant, and obeyed them.

"As for these others, the ones who assaulted our Sajiv – " The lady flipped her fingers at the third Viper, a lean, brown youth with tightly curled black hair.

"Camelguts," he muttered. His nose bled sluggishly: they had torn out his ring and garnet drop.

"Dreadful word," the lady said with disgust. "What is their strength?'

"Twenty-six boys and girls," Ikrum said promptly.

The lady inspected the patterns that had been drawn in henna on her palms. "Fewer than the Gate Lords," she murmured, naming the gang who controlled the streets between the Hajra Gate and Golden House, the ones whose colors were black and white. "Fewer, and poorer." She looked up at her guests. "They must learn respect for my Vipers. I have obtained enough weapons for you at last. Armsmaster Ubayid – " She raised a finger. An older man standing in the shadows by the gallery approached and bowed to her. "You will present my Vipers with weapons, those, those blackjacks. Instruct them in their proper use." Ubayid bowed to her again. To the boys the lady said, "Once you have taught the other Vipers the use of blackjacks, you will enter Camelgut" – she wrinkled her nose – "territory by stealth. Separate these upstarts from their gang one or two at a time. Take them coming and going from their homes, when they will not be with a group. Deal with them harshly, and leave them where they will be found. Try not to be seen. The less people know, the more they will fear. Am I understood?"

The Vipers nodded vigorously.

Once they were gone, the lady considered her next move. Until now she hadn't known how to give her pet gang confidence: the Gate Lords, who controlled the territory she and Ikrum wanted the Vipers to control, were too many, and too well equipped. Taking apart a smaller, poorer gang might serve her very well. Why had she not considered something like this before?

The city would learn respect for her gang, and learn it well. After all, disrespect to a Viper was disrespect to her, and that she would never permit.

Chapter Two

The house where Briar and Rosethorn currently lived was clean and bright, with potted plants everywhere. They set up a welcoming chorus to Briar, reaching for him. As always when he came in, he made the circuit of the first floor, greeting each in the front room, dining room, kitchen, and rear courtyard. If he forgot any one of them, the plants would droop until reassured of his affection.

Once they were calm, Briar sent his power through the house. Rosethorn wasn't on the second floor, where their workroom and bedrooms were. All he felt there was the magic embedded in the tools, plants, and medicines in the workroom, and the varying blazes that marked his miniature trees. Briar quested past that and found the banked, steady fire that was Rosethorn on the roof.

Like most Chammuri houses, this one had a staircase that led to the roof from the second floor. The other houses Briar had visited in Chammur were the same: it was as if the roofs were