Free Princess of Death (Three Provinces Book 1) by Renee Travis

packed enough food until we could restock in a city, proper.” Nam said as he handed me a cup filled with juice, and a plate that had fruit, grilled meat on a stick, a wedge of cheese and a slice of brown bread with butter. Magic made these things much easier with Stay-Cold, Stay-Fresh spells and Non-Rotting spells.
    Sitting across from me Nam began to eat. We stuffed our faces in silence and watched as the moon totally set. The fire would stay lit all night, until we put it out the next morning, which was a plus.
    I finished, whispered a Word and the plates and cups were clean. I stood and got Nam’s, putting them back into our bags. I fell into a deep sleep shortly after, exhausted.
    I awoke a few hours later choking on a spell. I gasped, reaching my hands up as I struggled to breathe. I could not see Nam across the fire. I had been stupid to forget to set the perimeter to go off if magic tried to make its way through. I had only thought about flesh and blood (or undead) threats.
    Rolling off my cot made a loud thud and I could see Nam now, he sat straight up, I could tell he was alert, but it wasn’t doing anything for me. I couldn’t get any air; my thoughts were becoming fuzzy as darkness set in around the corners of my eyesight. If he didn’t notice me soon I was going to die and I was not happy about it. My thoughts were so jumbled I couldn’t focus enough to project them to Nam.
    “Eshie!” Nam exclaimed, he darted to my side and placed a hand on my neck. His eyes closed and I could breathe. It was a nasty spell, but basic to break, it did need concentration, which while dying of lack of oxygen, is hard to manage.
    I sat up, eyes going to the darkness outside our camp. I could feel presences out there and I didn’t like it.  Then the alarm went off and they were on us, about six Kassaptu, all in various stages of dirty and scraggly looking.
    “ Magic Stealers.” Nam spat it like a dirty word and it was.
    I spun around and lifted my hands, shadows engulfed two of the magic bandits, they screamed as they were consumed by the wispy creatures. One of my nastier spells, but I was pretty pissed, they had tried to kill me after all.
    As one tried to grab me I gave a solid round kick to her stomach. I heard fighting behind me and knew Namtar was doing his best against the other three. I heard him mutter a Word and one began to scream. The girl I was fighting grabbed me, pushing me around and I saw that Nam had killed one of the Magic Stealers, the poor guy’s body covered in several debilitating diseases. The other two had backed off and looked frightened.
    She tried to shove me to the ground and go for her wand, yes, I said wand. Magic Bandits steal magic and store it in their wands. I swung around, using my hands to brace her and then my lips touched hers and she went very still. I began to suck her life force away slowly, and sensually. When she realized what was happening she began to struggle, by that point it was useless.
    “Stop Eshie, they’ve given up.” I heard Nam’s words and broke away from the girl. She looked to have aged at least five years and I felt refreshed and well rested.
    “You two, stand with her, if any of you make another move you will die.” My voice was devoid of any emotion and the girl looked at me with fear in her eyes.
    The three of them stood together, huddled. I do not think they had any idea who they were attacking.  In Salas most Kassaptu are born with magic and then a specific gift. Sometimes, however, people were born with the bare minimal of magic. Those usually did one of two things; dealt with it or became Magic Bandits . You could learn to steal magic. The problem was that stolen magic eventually returns to the owner and you have to find a new source.
    “Do you have any idea who I am?” I asked.
    “No. We were told you would be on this road and to attack, we were paid handsomely,” one of the men said.
    “I am Princess Ereshkigal of Death and Destruction!”