Advent (Advent Mage Cycle)

by Honor Raconteur

  The boy’s face twisted up in a dubious expression. “Nreesce ain’t just a bedtime story?”

  “Do I look like a figment of your imagination?” Night snapped back.

  I decided to put this into terms the boy was probably familiar with. “Kid, nreesce have the same intelligence as any person. Worse, for you, that nreesce is trained to act as a warhorse as well. Do you really want to hold on to him?”

  The kid instantly dropped the reins. He might not understand nreesce very well, but being surrounded by the military like he was, he knew how dangerous a warhorse could be.

  “Good decision.”

  Night’s ears lay back in agitation. “The idea!” he grumbled darkly. “That someone could actually steal me.”

  Eagle bent an evil eye on the now empty-handed thief. “I suggest disappearing before I call for the military police.”

  He didn’t have to be told twice. The urchin disappeared into the crowd in an instant, untraceable.

  Now that the matter was settled the humorous side asserted itself. Struggling to hide a grin, I gave Night an arched look. “Do I need to hold your reins?”

  He gave me a venomous look. “Do and die.”

  “Now, Night, it’s a wise precaution.” I widened my eyes innocently. “After all, people up here aren’t as familiar with nreesce. We don’t want you to get stolen, do we?”

  He let loose a sound that was almost a growl. “So help me, I’m kicking the next person that tries to steal me.”

  “Do that,” Eagle encouraged him. “They might not believe you’re a nreesce, but we’re all familiar with warhorses up here. If you give yourself a reputation for being bad tempered no one will bother you.” He paused and rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. “Well, really, no one with any sense would try to nab an equipped horse. Not when it’s obvious he’s following someone.”

  Night gave an agitated shake of the reins. He still looked irritated.

  I rubbed at my lips, erasing a smile. Really, in the long history of the nreesce race, had anyone actually tried to steal a nreesce? This had to be one for the records. I made a mental note to tell Chatta about it later.

  The restaurant that Eagle led us to thankfully had outside seating. Like most good restaurants, the exterior didn’t look like much. It had that same blocky look as every other building in this city, with a few random, short green shrubs lurking near the front door. The place could have used a fresh coat of paint as well—preferably something not a garish pink. After that one peak inside, I felt perfectly happy to stay outside. Besides, trying to convince the owners to let a horse inside was never any fun. It was still a bit nippy, being very early spring, so no one else chose to sit at the outside tables. We had the area completely to ourselves. Eagle left us with orders to sit tight and eat while he went to inform everyone else that we had arrived.

  I ordered a lot of fruits and vegetables for Night, and something hot and spicy for me as I was beginning to feel the cold. Going from the very warm depths of the earth to this chilled wind without a transition was not exactly pleasant. Still, it was warmer up here than it was down in Chahir. Much warmer. I wasn’t looking forward to going back into my homeland.

  Lunch had just been set in front of me when I heard a hail from behind me.

  “Garth!”

  I twisted in my seat.

  “Aletha!” . I stood to exchange a hug with her, then regarded her at arm’s length. She looked better than she had four months ago—rested, at ease, and the uniform was sharp again instead of a little stained and worn. We had all looked a little threadbare and haggard four months ago. Actually, with her dark hair and pale skin, the black and red uniform suited her very well. “You look good.”

  “So do you,” she returned with a bright smile. “Did you grow?”

  “A whole inch,” I answered proudly.

  “I thought you looked a smidge taller,” she laughed. “Hello, Night.”

  Night bobbed his head at her. “Hi, Aletha. Where is everyone else?”

  “Just behind me.” She took a seat at the table. “They sent me ahead to order their food. Garth, Eagle told me to reassure you that Shad is coming with us. Our illustrious Captain won the argument that Shad, as a civilian, doesn’t have to stay if he doesn’t want to. Of course, that begged the question of why he was accompanying the Red Hand Team to begin with.”

  “I’m sure. And what was Shad’s response to that?”

  Aletha mimicked Shad’s voice nearly perfectly. “I’m merely a consultant on this venture, gentlemen.”

  “Good answer,” Night reflected as he munched on an apple. “Even true.”

  She nodded in agreement. “They couldn’t really argue. But Xiaolang is escorting Shad directly here just in case someone thinks up a new line of attack. Garth, were you planning to leave for Chahir directly from here?”

  “No, we need to go to Hain to pick up Chatta first. She was finishing up one last job for the Trasdee Evondit Orra as we left.” I swallowed a healthy spoonful of stew sighing at the pleasant flavor. “She swore that she’d be ready to go by the time I brought you guys back down.”

  “Good enough,” Aletha decided. “We don’t want to travel the earth path and go into Chahir that way anyway—why alert them that we’re back in the country?”

  Why indeed? Sneaking back in seemed a safer tactic to me.

  Aletha waved down the waitress and gave her a long list of food to be ordered. We wouldn’t be able to do this much longer—just sit down at a restaurant and order something to eat. I was really going to miss restaurants. Travel food lacked flavor.

  The rest of the team descended all at once, like an enthusiastic, black tidal wave. I stood and shook hands, clapped shoulders, and just said hello—Shad took the opportunity to steal the tie from my hair, which was annoying. With the wind, my hair kept blowing into my face. I had to drag it away from my eyes and mouth. I gave him an evil glare.

  “Shad, give it back.”

  “But I haven’t been able to torment you in four months!” he protested with a merry smile. “Let me enjoy the moment.”

  If he thinks he can outmaneuver an Earth Mage, he’s delusional. Without letting my expression change one whit, I turned the stones under his feet into quicksand. With a yelp, Shad immediately sank into the ground right up to his chin.

  “Garth!” he wailed in protest. “That’s not fighting fair!”

  “Sure it is. Magic is just one of the weapons in my arsenal.” I flashed my teeth at him in a slightly mocking smile. “You’re the idiot that picked a fight with me.”

  Our team mates merely laughed.

  “Xiaolang?” Shad appealed to the Captain with a pitiful no-one-loves-me expression.

  The Q’atalian just rolled his eyes. “Not five minutes, and they’re already back at it. This is going to be a long year.”

  “Entertaining, though,” Hazard pointed out jovially.

  Trapped as he was, Shad still didn’t give in, just pouted up me with an expression so forlorn that I almost felt guilty. Almost.

  Maneuvering the dirt around his right hand, I lifted my clip out from his grasp. It shot free of the ground and into my waiting hand.

  “Aren’t you going to let me out now?” Shad inquired in overly polite tones.

  “Why? I like you down there. You can’t cause mischief.”

  “Gaaarth!” he whined.

  I ignored him and everyone’s snickering, focusing on cleaning off my hair clip. Only when I had cleaned off the clip and put my hair back into place did I finally relent and release Shad from his earthly prison. I was even nice enough to clean Shad off, instead of leaving him mud encrusted from the chin down.

  The steaming and aromatic food arrived on large, oval-shaped platters. The team fell on the food as if they hadn’t eaten anything decent in weeks—which might be the case. I’ve heard a lot of war stories about military food. I wisely stayed silent until they had eaten their fill. Hungry people tend to be grumpy people.

  “W
here’s Chatta?” Xiaolang inquired as he polished off the last of his bread.

  “In Del Hain still,” I answered. “The Trasdee Evondit Orra gave her a last minute request to do before they would release her to go into Chahir. I thought to just come pick you up while waiting for her to finish the job.”

  “Saves time,” Xiaolang agreed. “I don’t want to travel all the way to Chahir from Del Hain by conventional methods, however. Take us fifty miles away from the border before you come up.”

  I considered this order as I toyed with my practically empty glass. “You think fifty miles is far enough away that the Star Order can’t detect us?”

  “I think we could actually come in closer,” Xiaolang disagreed, putting his elbows on the table and leaning forward slightly. “You said that the Star Order uses blood magic, correct?”

  I wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “Right. And?”

  “Even when we were a bare twenty-five miles away from them it took the Star Order three days to come after us. That suggests that whatever method they have of detecting magic, it’s either complicated to use, or it doesn’t extend very far. They didn’t do anything until after that night when Shad and Aletha went up against the pool’s defenses—which lit the sky up. On that flat plain, anyone within fifty miles could have seen it.”

  I hadn’t thought of that…but he was right. “You’re suggesting that they didn’t detect magic, but that they saw it.”

  “That makes a lot of sense,” Night mused at my elbow. He was staring at the Captain thoughtfully. “It does explain why Nuish was able to collect all of those magicians in one place without being discovered, doesn’t it?”

  “And he said that he didn’t see magic through the pool,” Xiaolang confirmed with a firm nod. “He just saw magic being used, that’s how he knew who to go rescue. I think we have more freedom to move around than we once imagined. But I also think that these Star Order Priests are like other magicians—they can either feel or see magic. The longest range I’ve ever heard of was yours, Garth. Can anyone best twenty miles?”

  “Not that I’ve heard,” I admitted with a shrug.

  Xiaolang didn’t look surprised at my answer. “I doubt a Star Order Priest can match the range of a Mage. They aren’t as powerful as you, just sneakier. But for precaution’s sake, I’m going to pretend they might be able to detect something twenty miles away. And for paranoia’s sake, I’m going to double that distance when at all possible.”

  Considering that we were going up a whole country…that was very wise. “Sounds good to me.”

  “Now,” Xiaolang stood up, slinging a bag over his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here before my commanders can catch me and throw another stumbling block in my way.”

  Chapter Five: Discovery

  Was he hunched over that book again?

  I shook my head. Barely two days out of Del’Hain and I swear I hadn’t seen Xiaolang’s face for more than five minutes. Fortunately, Hayate was intelligent enough to stay on the road without his rider’s guidance. Even now Xiaolang was paying absolutely no attention to his surroundings.

  I caught Eagle’s eye and jerked a thumb in Xiaolang’s direction. “The next time that he razzes you about always sticking your nose in a book, remind him of this moment.”

  “Oh, I intend to, don’t worry,” Eagle assured me with a feral smile. “In fact, I’ll never let him forget it.”

  I hadn’t expected anything different.

  “Garth, come here a moment!” Xiaolang called back to me.

  I heaved a sigh. And so it begins…. When I had explained to Xioalang about the index, his expression had resembled a goat with a new boot chew toy. When explained that the index lists the provinces each family lives in, I swear he began to dance in place. The end result being if we wanted a turn with the copy, we’d have to pry it from his cold dead fingers.

  Night lengthened his stride without my urging, catching up to Hayate before falling into step with the dragoo. Xiaolang leaned sideways, holding the book so that I could see it, his finger pointing to a particular spot on the page.

  “Does this name ring any bells for you?”

  I’ve been asked a lot of questions about that book before today but never that one. I frowned a little at the entry. Haikenen? That particular name didn’t sound familiar. However, the family name, “Hai” did. Where have I heard that before…? Ah!

  “Not that name. But the Hai family are renowned swordsmiths. Nothing can beat a Hai sword, not in quality of craftsmanship or in strength. I believe they’re based out of Shirlane, in Farless.”

  Xiaolang relaxed a bit, looking heartened. “Oh, good. Haikenen was from Shirlane as well, so apparently the family hasn’t moved out of that area. They were known to produce Fire Mages, which could explain why the family are such good swordsmiths.”

  I pulled up a mental map in my head. “If we push hard we could be there in about three days, I think.”

  “Yes, that matches my calculations as well.” Satisfied, he finally put the book away. “I do like having a destination like this.”

  “Even with the destination, I’m scanning the area as we move through it,” I informed him. Actually, I was doing that now, as we were barely ten miles from the border.

  “Oh certainly, please do. We never know when we’ll just stumble across someone.” His forehead wrinkled slightly in concern. “I just hope that if we do find a Fire Mage, he won’t be insane like Remcarparoden.”

  Me too.

  “Garth?”

  I looked down at Night, who had tilted his head slightly to look back at me. “Yes?”

  “You said that Farless was a neutral Province, didn’t you?”

  “That’s what Guin’s information said.” I shrugged. I wasn’t as sure about that analysis. Sometimes “neutral” just meant “too lazy to do anything about it until provoked.”

  “I was just wondering if I have to act like a normal horse while I’m there or not.”

  “It would probably be wise not to push the issue,” Xiaolang advised sympathetically. “We’ll have Didi lay low as well.”

  Night gave a long-suffering sigh.

  ~*~

  Chahir, no surprise, was still hanging onto winter by its fingernails. There were traces of snow in the shadows, under trees, and right next to buildings, giving evidence of a recent snowfall. It was only in areas that received sunlight most of the day that the ground was clear.

  Still, the chill air was a mute testimony that spring hadn’t arrived yet.

  The past three days of travel to Farless hadn’t exactly been pleasant. We all had on multiple layers of shirts, sweaters and thick jackets. At night, we huddled under blankets with untraceable heating charms, product of Chatta’s foresight. Even with the layers and the blankets, the nights proved to be less than pleasant. The night wind had a talent for penetrating every layer we were wrapped in. I think the only reason why Hayate kept moving, instead of huddling around a fire like he wanted to, was because maintaining a steady pace kept him warm.

  I continued searching the area around me as we moved, trying to find anyone with magical abilities. It wasn’t until the morning that we crossed the border to Farless Province that my efforts were finally rewarded. I could barely detect the person, as they were a good twenty miles further along the road, but there was no doubt in my mind. This person felt just like Remcarparoden.

  Fire Mage.

  “Xiaolang!” I called to the front of the group.

  Xiaolang lifted himself up in the saddle so that he could see over everyone’s heads. “Did you find someone?”

  “Yes. Twenty miles, straight ahead. He or she is a Fire Mage.”

  Chatta’s head snapped around. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive. The magic feels just like Remcarparoden’s.” And that was a feeling that I could never forget. That blazing, molten feel of magic felt like an inferno.

  “Excellent,” Xiaolang purred. “Let’s pick up the pace, people. I want to fin
d this kid before dark.”

  We went from a slow trot to a slightly faster one, matching Hayate’s speed. I kept my attention on our new Mage as we rode but it wasn’t until after a cold lunch—which was eaten in the saddle—that I was able to discern anything more. I could almost swear that the Mage was a boy, for one thing.

  And at that moment, his magic was being used.

  “Garth?” Chatta had a hand on my arm, catching my attention. “Is something wrong? You’re frowning.”

  “He’s using his magic,” I responded slowly.

  Her fingers tightened on my sleeve. “The Mage is?”

  “Yes. Not much is being used,” I hastily added before she jumped to any conclusions about burning cities. Our past experience linked Fire Mages with mass destruction, which couldn’t always be the case. History said that the Fire Mages were usually the most disciplined of all the Mages. “I’m not even sure if he’s doing it on purpose. His magic is definitely active right now, though.”

  Chatta still looked a little disturbed. I couldn’t blame her—I was a trifle disturbed myself. “How far away are we?”

  “Another eight miles, maybe?” It was hard to judge exact distance with just my magical sense.

  “I think we better speed up.” Chatta urged her mare into a brief sprint until she caught up with Xiaolang. I didn’t catch what she was saying, as the words weren’t loud enough to carry over the din of hoof beats, but I could hazard a guess. Xiaolang stiffened in alarm after the first sentence out of her mouth.

  I knew he was going to call me forward again to ask questions, so I silently urged Night to pick up the pace a bit. We’d barely caught up when Xiaolang turned to me and started firing off questions.

  “Are you sure? Is he under any danger of being discovered? Do you sense any Star Order Priests around?”

  I held up both hands, staving off this flood of questions. “Whoa, Xiaolang, slow down. In order, yes, I’m sure. I’m not sure if he’s in danger of being discovered or not, but I doubt it. It took me this long to realize that his magic was active—it’s such a miniscule amount that it would take a triangle to detect him. And no, I don’t sense any one of the Star Order around. If you’re asking for my opinion of how much danger the kid is in, I would say that we could reach him before anyone figures out what he is.” Probably. The chance of discovery was still there, of course.