In ten minutes we were ready to go. At Xiaolang’s nod, I took us down onto the earth path, stifling a yawn as we went. Five hours of sleep was really not enough for my system, but I was determined to make it do. I promised myself that I would make up for it later.
I brought us up about a hundred paces away from the two youngsters. It was close enough that they couldn’t possibly outrun us, but not so close as to scare them out of their wits. I hoped.
When we surfaced, they both looked like they were in a state of shock, the young boy holding on to his larger companion’s arm in alarm.
“Wait, don’t be afraid!” Xiaolang called to them, hands splayed wide open to show that he was unarmed. “We don’t mean you any harm. Won’t you allow me to talk to you?”
They watched us warily, not responding for a long moment. I studied them both, taking them in from head to toe, the Mage especially.
He was huge!
Chahirans didn’t get big, as a rule, but this new Elemental Mage made Shield look like he was just average sized. I thought he was a nice looking young man, with even features, but then I’m a guy. We have a different standard for that sort of thing. Still, judging from the approving grins on Aletha and Chatta’s faces, they thought he was handsome indeed.
Standing very close next to him was a boy about nine or so, I think. His sandy hair was tangled and dirty, half-covering grey eyes. From under the hair that was falling in his face, he was watching us warily. He was holding on to one of his companion’s hands so tightly with both of his that his knuckles were white, and his body was practically fused to the Mage’s leg.
“Now this is interesting,” the Mage noted with awe in his voice to his younger companion. “Four of them glow…no, wait, I take that back, the horse is glowing to some extent too. Huh.”
The boy slowly nodded his head. “I see it.”
“As we see you,” Chatta responded with a particularly charming smile. She slid out of her saddle, coming around to where they could see her better. I followed her example, coming around slowly to stand by her side. “Now that we can see each other, let’s begin some proper introductions, shall we? I’m Chatta Delheart, a Witch from Hain.”
Both of them straightened abruptly, regarding her with more interest.
Chatta held out a hand, indicating in my direction. “This is Magus Rhebengarthen. He’s an Earth Mage, and originally from Tobadorage.”
I gave them a half-bow.
“A Mage from Tobadorage?” the boy repeated incredulously. “Then you’re him! The guy we’ve been hearing about.”
“Hearing about?” I repeated cautiously. I suddenly had a sinking feeling about where this was going.
“We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors and tales as we traveled around,” the Mage responded slowly, studying me from head to foot and back again. “Apparently, Vonlorisen has been shutting down the Star Order Priests because this Mage from Tobadorage convinced him to. And this same Mage is supposed to be going around Chahir, gathering up all the magicians, and disappearing with them.”
“You know, that’s really pretty accurate,” Shad noted to me. “I’m impressed. Rumors usually garble details up much worse than that.”
“We also heard,” the boy picked up the conversation with an apprehensive look at me, “that you totally destroyed a city in Jarrell.”
I gave Shad a pointed look and drawled, “You were saying?”
“Two out of three still isn’t bad odds,” he pointed out with a maniac grin. “And even that rumor is half-true.”
“I repaired everything afterwards!” I protested indignantly. “And I only clobbered a few buildings in self-defense, not the whole city!”
Chatta elbowed me in the stomach. “Will you two stop? You’re confusing the issue, and frightening the boy.”
As I rubbed a hand along my disciplined midsection, Chatta carefully recited the full story behind that last rumor. Her audience was completely impressed, regarding me with rapt attention by the time she was done.
“And just so you know,” I couldn’t help but add in my own defense, “all of those people that we’ve found? We take them directly into Hain so that they can be trained at the Magical Academy. I am not hoarding them somewhere for my own purposes.”
“Is that why you’ve tracked us down?” the Mage asked, looking at me with a thoughtful eyes.
“Yes,” Xiaolang confirmed simply.
“Hmmmm. And what if we don’t want to go?”
“You’d rather wander aimlessly around the country dodging renegade Star Priests?” Shad challenged him in amusement.
“He’s got a point,” the young Wizard grudgingly admitted. “And I bet they’d feed us a lot better in Hain.”
“Yeah, I bet you’re right about that.” The Mage winked at the young Wizard. “Whatcha say, Tom? Shall we go with them?”
“School beats dodging crazy Priests any day,” the boy responded fervently.
“Then that’s settled. I’m Lonjaroden, and this is Waentomlinen.” He gave the group in general a polite bow.
The entire team gave them a short bow in response. Chatta picked up the introductions again, covering everyone in the team. I breathed out a long sigh of relief that we had finally caught up with the two boys, and had convinced them to come back with us. Waentomlinen was especially taken with the idea of a talking horse, and went over to exchange a few words with Night.
“I see that you don’t have a horse,” Xiaolang observed, mind clearly thinking about travel. “We’ll need to buy you one. It’s a good week trip back into Hain from where we are.”
“I can just double up with Garth,” Chatta volunteered quickly. “Night won’t mind, will you, Night?”
“Certainly not.” Night whickered with a doting grin on his face.
I think everyone knew precisely why Chatta had volunteered so quickly but aside from a few smiles, no one rose to the bait. I figured Shad would start in on me later, though. His smirk all but guaranteed that I was in for a rough time. Xiaolang has amazing facial control. He just nodded and said, “That will be fine. Lonjaroden—”
“Jarod’s fine.”
Xiaolang blinked, then smiled and relaxed a bit. “—thank you. Jarod, if you’ll take Chatta’s horse? And Waentomlinen you can either double with him or with me, if you wish.”
Tom eyed the dragoo with an obvious nervous edge to his voice. “Just Tom’s fine. And I think I’ll ride with Jarod.”
I couldn’t blame the kid for his caution. Dragoos certainly looked capable of eating small children for breakfast. It took a little exposure to the breed before you realized that they were very easy going by nature, and the only thing they were interested in eating was great quantities of bacon. And nekons…or meurittas of course, in a pinch.
“Mount up,” Xiaolang ordered with the familiar circular motion of his hand.
I swung back up on Night, and then kicked my foot free of the stirrup and extended a hand to Chatta. She took it, climbing up behind me with one smooth motion. Once she was settled, she took full advantage of her position (as I expected) to snuggle up against my back.
“I like this position,” she declared against my left ear. “I think we should just travel like this the rest of the time.”
“I certainly wouldn’t mind,” I admitted frankly. I was trying not to openly grin, but it was extremely difficult.
“Alright, lovebirds, pay attention or we’ll leave you behind!”
Chatta gave a casual wave of her wand over her shoulder. Shad yelped as the spell hit, zapping him in the thigh.
“Beautiful, that was just plain mean!” he whined, rubbing his leg.
“You asked for it,” she responded with unrepentant ruthlessness.
Xiaolang twisted in his saddle and pointed a stern finger at Shad. “Quit.”
“Aw, C2…”
“I won’t stop her from zapping you again, harder next time.”
“…you people are no fun.” Shad slumped in his saddle, pouting.
“I feel like I’m missing something,” Jarod commented, a smile tugging at his mouth.
“You are,” Eagle assured him. “But don’t worry, we have a long ride, and it’s a good story. It all started about a year ago…”
I just sighed. This was indeed going to be a long trip.
~~~
As we rode, Jarod shared the story of how his awakening magic was detected by the Star Order Priests. He’d been a stonemason most of his young life, and had been unconsciously using his magic to aid him in his work. Since most of his hometown was fond of him, they warned him about the Priests, which gave him enough time to make his escape. Or so he thought, until he was later captured that first night he was on the run.
But even this meager experience with his magic served him well. He was able to change the bars of his prison cell into soft brass, so that he could just kick his way out and escape into the darkness. As he ran, he kept practicing with his magic by focusing on what he needed, using it to help him evade trouble when it caught up with him. It was in the sapphire Star Order building that he encountered Tom, who was locked up in the cell next to him. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to leave a helpless child to the tender mercies of the Star Order, so he’d taken the kid along with him when he broke out.
This fortunate meeting turned out to be a blessing for them both. Tom had managed to figure out a little about the magic within him, and came up with a few spells on his own. The glamour spell was remarkably effective in masking their magical emanations. It prevented the Priests from being able to follow their escape route. Unfortunately, it delayed our efforts to find them as well. Tom also learned how to summon things—which he did, to get food for both of them. Jarod used his magic to locate caves and small clefts and niches for them to lay low in during the day. When their luck ran out, and they did get caught, he used his innate abilities to influence the very structure of the building’s materials, to literally break the prison walls, and make their escape.
When Chatta started telling them about Del’Hain and the magical academy they would shortly attend, I tuned her out and focused my attention back to our surroundings. We hadn’t felt the presence of anyone with magic the day before in this area, but I knew very well that one could begin to emerge and experience the onset of the magic within them at any moment.
It was a quiet, uneventful trip as we made our way up the road that never seemed to change much. That night we stopped in a quiet grove of sparse evergreen trees off to one side of the road. Since it was my turn to cook, I wasn’t paying much attention to anything but the task at hand. My cooking skills are thin at best, and it takes a great deal of effort to make sure what I served was fit to eat. When everyone was eating, I finally had time to sit down and relax, enjoying the company of the people around me. Tom sat next to me with a full plate, which he was busily devouring in short order. Summoning skills or no, I was betting that the poor kid hadn’t had a decent meal with any regularity.
When my own belly was full and my plate scraped clean, I realized that during all of that day’s exchange of tales and information, I’d never heard how Tom was discovered.
“Just how did you get caught?” I couldn’t help but ask Tom. He was at the right age for accidental magic to occur, but he was also one of the few Wizards we had met that seemed to be able to make things happen on his own. And he’d been using his magic fairly regularly; as far as I could gather from the things he had told us. From my own experience, there shouldn’t have been a buildup of magic large enough for an accident to take place, which inclined me to believe that he had been actually doing something and got caught.
Tom looked a little sheepish at my unexpected question, and ducked his head in embarrassment. “Well, one day I was playing in the backyard with my soldiers…”
I smiled and nodded in encouragement, so he would continue.
“And I got a little bored, and started wishing that they could move on command instead of me moving them…”
Uh-oh. I was starting to understand where this was going.
“…and somehow they did start moving on their own?” he finished tentatively. “I didn’t really mean to. They just obeyed me. One of my neighbors was hanging up clothes and saw me, and she reported me to the Priests.”
I shook my head sadly. His harmless childlike play had effectively ended his childhood, and almost his life. One misguided neighbor, relating what they had seen, could have had deadly consequences not only for Tom, but his entire family. Out of all of the stories that I had heard, though, this had to be the most unique way of uncovering magical abilities. Sensing a good moment to teach him, I ducked down to his level. “Tom, would you like to know why that happened?”
He looked up, definitely intrigued. “Why?”
“Because magic follows intent.”
“Intent?” he repeated in confusion.
Maybe he didn’t understand the word? I rephrased it just in case. This was something vital he needed to understand. “That’s right. Magic listens to what we really desire, and responds to make it happen. That’s why we have to train so hard to keep control of our thoughts and actions. If we don’t, the magic within us will leap to do our bidding. It will do whatever we want, even if it’s a selfish or an unwise impulse that we shouldn’t do. Do you understand?”
He nodded slowly, staring at his feet, eyes narrowed in thought. “I think so.”
Shad had clearly overheard our conversation because he started grinning; the child within him rising to the occasion. “So, animated toys, eh? That’d be pretty fun to play with, I have to admit. Hey beautiful, can you do something like that?”
Chatta had been near the fire, pouring herself a hot cup of tea, but at his question she straightened, and gave Shad a haughty look. “Of course I can. What kind of question is that?”
“So can you make us some animated soldiers?” Shad inquired with a pleading little expression on his face. Any dog would be jealous of such look, guaranteed to get an extra snack or a scratch behind the ears from any person alive.
Chatta held eye contact with him for a long moment, and then blew out a breath of resignation. “Oh, why not? Here, then.” Pointing her wand at a nearby log she spoke two incantations in quick succession. “Reform. Animation,” she intoned with authority.
In the twinkling of an eye, there were dozens of little wooden soldiers, standing at no more than three inches high, lined up in neat rows. I judged there to be about a hundred or so. Under my incredulous gaze, the toy soldiers marched in our direction, in perfect step.
Tom clapped his hands in delight and scrambled around the fire to watch them. “Thanks, Chatta!”
Shad was just as delighted, probably more so. “I get half!” he told Tom firmly. “I’ll take you on.”
Tom grinned in wolfish delight at this challenge. “You’re on.”
I watched in amusement as they quickly started establishing boundaries and dividing up the soldiers. There was an uneven number as they divided their troops, and without a word Chatta solved the problem by making another group just for Shad.
“Garth, can you make me a hill with a castle on top?” Shad asked eagerly.
…and just how had I been sucked into this game?
“Me too, me too, and can I have a wall and a mote?” Tom bounced in place, practically radiating excitement.
Watching them, I couldn’t help but get caught up in the spirit of the game as well. Well, why not? With a shrug, I started to carefully form little hills, valleys, and ridges. With even more care I formed small castles on both hills. They were simple structures, little more than a square with four towers and battlements.
Tom was impressed enough to let out a low whistle. “That’s way better than what I did last time.”
“Witches and mages are so handy,” Shad agreed, rubbing his hands together in brisk anticipation. “Now, let the games begin!”
“Now wait just one minute,” Eagle cut in, plopping himself down kitty corner to the oth
er two commanders. “I want to play too!”
I’m beginning to feel a pattern forming here. Obligingly, I started reshaping more of the landscape, so that Eagle could play as well. Chatta apparently took notice of the pattern as well, as she didn’t just do another batch of a hundred, but instead a batch of a thousand. It was probably a good thing she did, as the newest soldiers were promptly divvied out to each player.
“Not just infantry,” Shad protested as little wooden soldiers started appearing out of the log. “We need archers, cavalry and spearmen too.”
Chatta gave him quite a sharp, penetrating look for that. With a roll of her eyes, and the sigh of a long suffering parent, she started changing some of the infantrymen into mounted cavalrymen and archers instead.
Xiaolang cut in before they could actually get started, sitting on the opposite side of Eagle. It only took a single look from him, a simple expression that implored me too? Trying my best not to laugh at seeing three grown men playing with toy soldiers, I constructed him a castle on a hill too. The soldiers were distributed so that Xiaolang could have his share as well.
And then, without any warning or fanfare, the battle began.
I felt like I should back up Tom and offer some support. After all, he was facing an experienced soldier (Eagle) and two strategy masterminds (Shad and Xiaolang). The poor kid was in way over his head and didn’t even realize it. After a few minutes of clashing soldiers, though, I realized that “the older children” weren’t playing at their full potential. They were taking it easy on the young Wizard. Wait…frowning, I focused my attention on Tom for a moment. At this moment he was using his own magical power to augment his soldiers. It wasn’t just that his opponents were not fighting at their full capacities; the battle was shifting because his soldiers were faster and stronger than their opponents.
Looking up, I caught Chatta’s eye. I gestured in Tom’s direction, and gave her a questioning look.
She nodded back. Yes, she had noticed it too.
Huh. Well, this was making things more interesting.
Shad must have realized something was up as well because he pointed at Tom’s soldiers and complained, “Why are my guys getting slaughtered so easy?”
Advent Mage Compendium (Advent Mage Cycle Book 5) Page 7