“Vee has a soft spot for the junior agents,” Woods told us almost absently, craning his head to watch as the giantess approached. “And her tolerance for bullying and senseless fighting is so low as to be in the negative digits. Just be warned, as it’s likely that you’ll be pairing up with them for the foreseeable future. When it comes to traveling about, those two are usually the first we think of to send, you see.”
I did and didn’t at the same time. “Vee? Not Violet?”
“She hates her name, says she’s not some delicate flower. She goes by Vee.”
Ahhh.
Bannen frowned, clearly seeing something that I didn’t, and put his palm flat on top of my head. I recognized the signal and promised, “Staying right here.”
“Thank you.” He was up in the next second and gone, halfway toward the fight. I watched him catch two men that tried to join the fray, grasping them by the arms and twisting them into a hold on the ground, forcing them into stillness.
“Your familiar is an exceptional fighter,” Woods said in a tone that suggested he was digging for something. “Where is he fr—oh, sard take it, not again!”
What? I turned back to the fight and saw Taberwood grab a man by the belt and literally throw him upwards. Two seconds later, a thump sounded right above my head. Had she just…? “Did she just throw him onto the roof?” I asked incredulously. I knew the giants were strong, but Taberwood’s not a full giant! She couldn’t be, not at that height, so how could she have the natural strength to throw two hundred plus pounds around?
“Yes,” Woods growled in vexation.
Chi had not been idle during this, whacking anyone who tried to join the fight or ambush his partner. When he saw Taberwood throw someone, though, I could hear the pout even from here. “Vee, why are you throwing people? I thought that was our special thing.”
“It’s not our thing, Chinny,” she responded in exasperation.
“It’s totally our thing,” Chi insisted, clobbering some other sap on the back of the head with considerable force. “I’m wounded right now, Vee. You’re only supposed to throw me.”
For some reason, Bannen found this hysterical. “I absolutely have to be friends with you two. Where do I sign up?”
Woods pushed back from the table and stalked forward, brows furrowed together. “Vee, do not throw people on the roof! Drunk people are beyond difficult to get back down, you know that.”
Oh, that was the issue? I would’ve thought it would be throwing people in general, but what did I know? Since I’d promised to stay put, I did, turning in my chair to watch. Some part of me found this whole scene funny and I had this ridiculous urge to giggle. I’d been promised lunch, but I didn’t realize a show came along with it.
After seeing the giantess throw a man, the rest of the crowd—that wasn’t six sheets to the wind—realized that fighting her might be a bad life decision. They quickly found other places to be. Someone had called the city guard, as men in black uniforms showed up and started handcuffing people, hauling them off. It took more than a few minutes to straighten the mess out before Bannen sauntered back to me, returning to his now cold lunch.
“What started the fight?” I asked, beyond curious.
“No idea,” he answered, grimacing at the cold chips. “These aren’t as much fun cold. Ah well. The guardsmen asked, but the idiots are so drunk they honestly couldn’t remember, so it was probably something really stupid.”
“Ah, one of those fights.” I’d encountered more than my share of those. Bannen could be blamed for at least half of them. While we had no one at the table, I dared to ask in a whisper, “What do you think?”
“I think we have steady employment for the next several months, maybe more if we play our cards right,” he responded without looking away from his food. “The MISD are mostly magical troubleshooters, right?”
“More like a magical disaster response team.” I frowned, not sure how best to explain it. “They tackle anything that occurs on a global scale, something that either isn’t confined to one country or surpasses that country’s experts. You have to be either very, very smart to be with them or amazingly talented.”
“Or have an amazingly unique type of magic?” he asked with a look on his face that suggested he knew exactly what kind of daydreams I had entertained while growing up. “Tell me, darling, how often have you considered joining up with the MISD?”
More often than I cared to admit. “When I was younger, it was just a dream. Literally. You know how bad my health was back then, I wouldn’t have been able to do it. Now…” I trailed off a little wistfully. Their reputation was an amazing one, but I knew that sometimes reputations were so different from reality that they were literally nothing more than figments of someone’s imagination. It would behoove me to be cautious about trying to join them until I knew a little more about what they were really like. “Do you think they’ll live up to their reputation?”
“Only one way to find out.” He didn’t say anything more as the three agents rejoined us at the table. “Well, Taberwood, that’s an impressive skill you got there.”
A happy flush rode the woman’s cheeks. “Call me Vee. And thank you, I do enjoy throwing idiots up high.”
“And me,” Chi reminded her, still pouting.
“As I said, I do enjoy throwing idiots.”
I snorted a laugh.
“You stepped right into that one,” Woods informed Chi drolly.
Chi stuck his tongue out at him.
“Very mature,” Woods drawled. “Now, before we can digress any further, I have a simple question for you, Magus Rocci: are you amiable to signing a short-term contract, at least, to deal with the shards of Toh’sellor?”
I tamped down on my inner child firmly and tried to sound professional. “I am, sir. Where do we need to go, what are the terms, who do I talk to?”
“The answer to that all lies with one man: Salvatore.”
Stop that, hand. Just because we’re walking somewhere doesn’t mean you get to hang on to Rena. I curled my fingers into a fist, actively keeping myself still and not reaching out to her as we left the café. Being outside of Mary’s range of influence where our relationship had its comfortable boundaries, was harder than I expected. I kept a scowl off my face through sheer dint of will.
The headquarters for MISD was not anywhere near us, of course, so Woods took us to a private room at an inn nearby and had Vee set up a communication via the mirror hanging on the wall. The place had been obviously set up for these kinds of meetings, as it had a narrow table, eight chairs, and plenty of space for people to get up and shuffle around. The ease with which Woods navigated the place, greeting the owner, made me suspect that he hadn’t just been stationed here. The man wouldn’t happen to be a native, would he?
As I wasn’t the mage, I let Rena step up to the mirror and do the talking. I did listen, of course, I wasn’t an idiot; I needed to know what she agreed to. I expected her to talk to some retiring older gentleman with sharp eyes.
The only part I got right was the sharp eyes.
The man that appeared in the mirror looked rough, like he could stay up three nights, drink nothing but coffee, and still kick your arse. He had a bald head, a clean scar that ran over one eye, and a face that any guard dog would envy. He wore the blue uniform, or at least the shirt, and it was tight across a very muscled chest. He looked straight out and barked, “Woods, I don’t have time for nonsense, make this quick.”
Woods didn’t even jump or look startled, so this must be the man’s typical greeting. “Sir, this is Magus Renata Rocci and her familiar Bannen Hach.”
A flash of triumph crossed the man’s dark eyes. “Finally. And?”
“They can do everything rumored and probably more,” Woods reported with a wry smile at Rena. “I’ve only seen her in action once, sir, but it took her three minutes to take down the shard and that was after she killed eight minions through Maksohm’s shields.”
Salvatore’s eyes na
rrowed. “Through his shield, you said?”
“Yes, sir.”
I had no way of knowing if Salvatore possessed magic or not, but he clearly understood the logistics of it because he looked more than a little impressed. “Alright. Magus Rocci, I’m Howard Salvatore, Director of MISD. We’ve been looking for you for nearly two years, as after our initial sighting of you in Corcoran, you seemed to disappear off the map.”
“I was training under a master in a very remote location,” she explained a little apologetically. “I understand that you need help with these Toh’sellor shards popping up?”
“We do indeed. Until we can figure out how Toh’sellor is managing to get past my best peoples’ barriers, I need immediate help with a situation. That would be you, Magus, as you’re the only one that has any kind of impact on these things. I can’t put a time limit on any contract offer as I frankly have no idea how long this insanity is going to continue. I’m offering travel expenses and additional bonuses if you stumble into a situation not directly connected to Toh’sellor and help my agents out.”
It scared me a little, that last clause. I had a terrible premonition that these agents saw a lot of trouble.
Perhaps Rena felt the same as she asked suspiciously, “Does that extra bonus come with hazard pay, Director?”
The man had the audacity to grin at her, the expression sharp, dark eyes penetrating. “I doubt anything is as dangerous as you are, Magus, if the reports are to be believed.”
I seriously doubted that. Rena’s skills were amazing but I’d also seen some pretty dangerous things in my time. That he just threw that tidbit out there, casually, conversely scared me more than it should. I didn’t want Rena stumbling into uncontrollable danger that would surely give me nightmares. “Rena…” I murmured low, unease in my voice.
She turned to me, absolute faith in her eyes, her hand reaching out to tangle with mine in a reassuring grip. “It’ll be fine. You’re with me.”
Shoulders slumping, I sighed. “I think I did too well in convincing you that I’m invincible. I regret it right now.”
Laughing, she patted me consolingly on the shoulder—such a faker, seriously—and turned back to the director. “Alright, sir, I understand the terms. Pay?”
He named a figure that made me choke. Rena’s eyebrows rose into her hairline. We shared a look and were of the same mind: Take it, take it quick!
Rena tried to stay professional but I could read her well after two years. The way she kept rising her heels off the floor said she wanted to bounce on her toes right now. “Send me a contract,” she said simply. “I’ll take the job.”
“Excellent.” Director Salvatore paused for the first time and looked a little uncertain. “I have never been in a position to say this before, so I’m not sure of the protocol here, but Master Hach—do I need to send you a separate contract with the same terms and pay?”
I was all ready to say, no, didn’t need another contract, until he said ‘pay.’ I abruptly flipped in the opposite direction. “I’d appreciate it, sir. You are, after all, getting both of us.”
“Then your next stop is Kapanka. Agent Dah’lil Maksohm will meet you there with your contracts. I’ll have a map of the confirmed locations of the shards sent with it. That said, there is one shard that absolutely needs to be done next. Maksohm knows where. Woods, stay where you are and deal with clean up. Taberwood, Franklocke, you’re on escort duty with these two until I say otherwise.”
“Yes, sir,” Chi and Vee said smartly.
Oh, we got to keep these two? This job just kept getting better and better. I adored competent people, and having two agents who knew their way around a weapon just made my life easier all around. Not that Rena’s trouble, but she’s certainly a magnet for it some days.
Salvatore hesitated before adding, “You’ll be using the Rainbow Line in order to travel to Kapanka.”
It wasn’t a question, but Vee answered it. “Yes, sir.” Then her eyes lit in understanding. “We’ll deal with that on the way.”
“Excellent.” Salvatore flicked a hand, and the mirror went blank again.
Woods turned to us and stated calmly, “Even if it’s not official until the contract arrives, you’re basically on the job as of now. Have you booked a room anywhere? No? Then I’ll see to it. We have rooms in this inn already so I’ll get you, ah…” he paused, delicately.
“Two rooms,” Rena informed him. “Side by side if you can manage it.”
“Two rooms,” he confirmed, and I knew that what he had really been asking was whether we were romantically involved or not. That gave him his answer and probably raised more questions, but he bit them all back, expression obviously curious considering we stood comfortably in each other’s space. To everyone else we must be throwing some very confusing signals. “Then excuse me while I see to things.”
After two years of Rena politely informing people we weren’t together, it no longer stung. Much. Hardly at all. Just twinges, now and then, as my heart protested. I ignored it and focused on something else, anything else. “What’s this about a problem on the way?”
“Infestation of some sort that’s eating the Rainbow River,” Chi informed us with an expression of exaggerated distaste. “We heard something about it on the way in. Apparently it’s a…what did they call it, Vee?”
“Infestation of pink slugs.”
I blinked, sure they were pulling one on me. “Pink slugs.”
“It’s apparently a real thing,” Vee assured me, a little bemused at even her own words. “Or if the reports are to believed, they are. The problem is…wait, do you know how the river got the name Rainbow River?”
“It’s from the different types of moss that grows in it,” Rena responded comfortably. “There’s five different types, all in vibrant colors, giving the illusion that the river has a rainbow running through it.”
Vee gave her a nod. “Right. Well, these slugs apparently live on moss and are eating the rainbow.”
I thought I saw where this led. “So since we’re traveling that direction anyway, Rena can wipe out the infestation of slugs as we go, prevent them from destroying one of the wonders of the world?” When both agents smiled at me, I thought about it, then realized it didn’t hurt to take a half day and do this. “I’m fine with that, but why hasn’t someone else already tackled it?”
“Any poison we would use on the slugs also destroys the moss,” Vee explained patiently.
Rena snorted. “Well that defeats the whole purpose.”
“Right?” Chi agreed. “So you’re fine stopping along the way to deal with this? Good. No hazard pay with your first official job with us, but it’s got bragging rights, which is almost better.”
“Absolutely,” I agreed easily. “Chi, Vee, you both have the air of long-time partners.”
“Six years, give or take,” Vee replied easily.
I didn’t know how to phrase this subtly, so I went with the first thing that popped into my mind. “Obviously, Rena and I know how to fight, and we meshed well enough at the shard, but I’m not really comfortable just diving into random situations with people I barely know. So how about we do some training this afternoon, get a feel for each other, before something serious hits?”
For some reason Vee got all slitty-eyed and suspicious on me. “Are you going to make me throw you too?”
Chi looked absolutely indignant, which made Rena and I both laugh.
“No,” I promised, although it was a little wistful, as that honestly did sound fun, “I won’t ask for that. I can’t, I have to stay at Rena’s side.” I caught the look on her face, the one that said she felt bad about holding me back, so I tousled her hair, silently reassuring her it was fine. And it was. I could miss out on a little fun as long as she was safe. “But there’s things you need to know. If I go down, for whatever reason, you need to know the signals so you can protect her. Trust me, guarding Rena when she’s throwing magic around is not as easy as it sounds.”
“
Bannen,” Chi drawled with a twang in his accent that made him sound just a little country, “you forget that we watched you two in action. Nothing about her magic is simple, and—no offense, Rena, honestly—but you’re ridiculously hard to protect. I noticed it during the fight. When you stop moving and start casting those spells, we literally cannot move you or distract you at all, can we?”
“Not at all,” Rena affirmed. “If I’m distracted, well, bad things happen.”
I remembered the last time that she’d been distracted and winced. “Things tend to blow up. Things that should never, ever blow up.”
“I said I was sorry,” Rena said with a long-suffering sigh.
“Still not forgiving you for that one.” Ever. Anyone that had a city-sized sewer literally explode on top of them would back me on this.
Chi’s mouth stretched into an unholy grin. “I’m sensing a whale of a story here.”
“Later,” I promised him. “Preferably when I’m drunk. Anyway, for now, how about a few rounds of training before dinner?”
“Sounds good,” Vee agreed. “I know an empty lot not far from here that should work. I can magic up a few opponents for us to go up against.”
“Ladies first,” I invited.
For some reason this did not make her smile, as I intended. Instead she glowered at me. “Are you being sarcastic?”
“To a woman that could literally squash me like a bug? Wouldn’t dream of it.”
This might not have been a good idea. I’d suggested it for good reasons, but training with the four of us meant that someone needed to act as an opponent. Vee took the first round, conjuring up magical shadows to attack, but because she didn’t have Chi’s back, he relied on Rena and I to fill the gaps. It worked, but was harder than it should have been.
The Void Mage (The Familiar and Mage Book 2) Page 3