Published by Raconteur House
Antioch, TN
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
WARLORDS RISING
Book One of Warlords
An Advent Mage Novel
A Raconteur House book/ published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
Raconteur House mass-market edition/June 2016
Copyright © 2016 by Honor Raconteur
Cover by Katie Griffin
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Other books by Honor Raconteur
Published by Raconteur House
THE ADVENT MAGE CYCLE
Book One: Jaunten
Book Two: Magus
Book Three: Advent
Book Four: Balancer
ADVENT MAGE NOVELS
Advent Mage Compendium
The Dragon’s Mage
The Lost Mage
Warlords Rising
Warlords Ascending *
SINGLE TITLES
Special Forces 01
The Midnight Quest
Kingslayer
THE ARTIFACTOR SERIES
The Child Prince
The Dreamer’s Curse
The Scofflaw Magician
The Canard Case *
DEEPWOODS SAGA
Deepwoods
Blackstone
Fallen Ward
Origins
KINGMAKERS
Arrows of Change
Arrows of Promise
GÆLDERCRÆFT FORCES
Call to Quarters *
*Upcoming
"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours."
- Richard Bach
Acknowledgments
To all the fans that have been begging for Trev'nor and Nolan's story: Your pleas have been answered! (Don't ask me how Becca snuck in, though, I have no idea.)
To Rosie and Bryce, my Advent Experts, who reminded me of things I had forgotten and double checked my facts. I'd look like an idiot without you.
A very special thank you to Carlos d'Empaire who served as my strategy consultant for this book. I was seriously stuck until we had our Facebook chat session. Thank you!
It goes without saying that I wouldn't survive without my editor, Katie, who puts up with me while I try to figure out book plots. A tip of the hat to her young cousins: Alyssa, Kaleb, and Josh that served as our models for this book. All of you are awesome. I won't ask myself what I'd do without you. The answer is terrifying.
What You Need to Know About Advent if You’re New
Welcome to the world of The Advent Mage Cycle. There are four original books, two spinoffs, and now this book. While reading the original six first would fill in a lot of backstory, it’s not required for you to be able to understand and enjoy Warlords Rising.
The first four books tell the story of the Advent Mage, Rhebengarthen—Garth. He becomes the dean to a magical academy by the end of the series. Becca, Trev’nor, and Nolan are his students, which is why you’ll see them refer to him often.
Garth’s story incorporated several other characters, which you’ll also see mentioned often. He had a full team of people that helped him rescue magicians through most of the four books. There is Chatta, Xiaolang, Shad, Aletha, Eagle, Shield, Hazard. Only some of them are mentioned or make an appearance in this book. Riicshaden (Shad) is an incredible soldier that Garth rescues from being frozen inside of a crystal in book 2, Magus. Shad stays with him the rest of the series and even has his own book, Lost Mage.
Shad was the one in charge of going into southern Chahir (where all of the mages are from) and rescuing a young Becca, 8 years old, before she could be killed. He takes on the role of Guardian for her, but he’s also her parent/older brother that raises her. Or I should say, he and Aletha raise her. They both hold the position of Weapons Professor at Strae Academy, working alongside Garth.
Throughout all of the books there is a magical race called the Gardeners who keep making appearances. They are the caretakers of the world and their main job is to keep the earth balanced. The whole world to them is a garden that needs tending, and they do what they can to make sure it stays lush and green. They are sometimes thwarted in this, and when that happens, they awaken abilities in specific people to help aid them. These people are often called Balancers. Garth was one, but his job ended at the fourth book. Becca is a new Balancer because of her ability as a Weather Mage. She has spoken to a Gardener personally and was entrusted with straightening out the world’s crazy weather patterns. Her task will last her lifetime.
Also important for you to note is that throughout all six books it is understood that Trev’nor and Nolan were special from the very beginning. They are prodigies, with their mage powers awake at five years old, and this is unheard of. Most mages awaken around 15. It was also implicated in the series that there was a very important reason why both boys were awake at such an early age and why they had to meet and become friends. I never gave an answer as to why. Warlords Rising and its sequel is the answer.
Trev’nor was originally found and raised by a nomadic people known as the Tonkowacon in Hain. He is Chahiran by birth, however, and Garth’s many times removed cousin. I refer to this every so often. Nolan is Vonnolanen, only prince and Heir to the Chahiran throne. He was supposed to stay at the academy only until he was seventeen and then resume his royal duties at home. So you could say that Warlords Rising is his last adventure.
Weather Mage Riicbeccaan had a plan.
As plans went, Becca thought it a pretty good one. The only potential for things to go wrong lay in that she had yet to convince two particular people to join in. She rather needed both of them for things to work smoothly. That said, knowing them as she did, it was unlikely in the extreme that she would get a ‘no.’ In fact, she rather doubted that she’d be able to get the full plan out before getting an exuberant ‘yes!’
The trick of it was timing. She had to catch these two alone, especially away from any well-meaning adults, or the whole plan would go belly-up like a beached fish. She’d tried three times already today and had been foiled every time.
So when the perfect opportunity landed in her lap, she couldn’t be blamed for hesitating a long second and peering in all directions suspiciously. Really, how often were Trev’nor and Nolan alone, in the side garden, quietly reading? If she didn’t know better, she would think it was going to storm soon, what with that odd behavior. Well, no, to be fair Nolan liked to read. He was the more studious of the two. It was Trev’nor that couldn’t seem to sit still for more than ten minutes before breaking out in fidgets.
She approached cautiously, still keeping a weather eye out for adults. Trev’nor was flat on his back, book held up above his head with both hands, blond braid dangling over the edge of the bench and in Priya’s hands. The little meuritta was having a field day braiding it in that intricately complex manner the Tonkowacon preferred. He was not in his brown mage robes, so she assumed he hadn’t been on any sort of job today, although why he was reading so seriously was beyond her.
Nolan was on the gro
und, back propped up against the bench, his meuritta curled up and in his lap dozing. He sported a small braid on one side, proof that his meuritta had been braiding his hair as well. But the poor soul didn’t have much to work with. Contrary to ‘mage style’ as people termed it, Nolan hadn’t let his hair grow out long. In fact, it barely reached his collarbones. He claimed hair that long was sweltering and he was willing to sacrifice a little control if it meant not having to fight through waist-length hair every morning. Becca privately agreed with him. Both had hair that tended to curl, his more than hers, and she had a fight untangling hers every morning. Enough to think about shaving her head bald.
She was a few feet away when Nolan’s head came up, eyes blinking as he focused. “Hi, Becca.”
“Hi, Nolan.” She sank down onto her haunches next to him and peered sideways. “What are you two so engrossed in?”
“Dragons,” Trev’nor answered, eyes not wavering from his book.
Oh? Perfect. She clamped down on an evil cackle. “Really. Funny, that’s what I was coming to talk to you about.”
Nolan peered at her intently. “You’re wearing that smile again. The one that says you have a plan and we’re going to get in trouble.”
Oh boy were they ever. “I have an idea, and if it works out right, we all three get dragons of our own.”
Trev’nor snapped upright so quickly she swore she heard vertebrae crack. “And?” he prompted impatiently.
“Let me start at the beginning. I need to go into the Khobunter-Libendorf area. There’s something very strange going on up there weather-wise, and I can’t tell from here what’s going on. Given the political conditions of both countries, Shad is dead set against me going.”
Nolan, more in tune with politics than either one of them, grimaced. “Can’t say that I blame him. Libendorf is so unorganized it’s not even sure what its political stance is from day to day, and Khobunter is worse. There is no cohesive political stance. They’re too busy fighting each other to figure it out.”
Becca lifted an illustrative finger. “But I need to get up there. I think that the weather might be the reason why the land up that direction is all desert. But if it’s not strictly that, I need someone to look at the soil itself and tell me if it’s a contributing factor.”
Trev’nor pointed a finger at himself. “That’s where I come in?”
“Exactly. I think three fully trained mages can waltz through there and come out just fine, don’t you? Especially considering the training that Shad put us through.” Her adoptive brother had made absolutely certain that magic or no magic, all of his students could fight even the toughest opponent. “And while we’re in that area, well, why not go talk to the dragons?”
“It’s a sound idea and all,” Nolan agreed, scratching at the chin with an idle finger. “But how do I fit in?”
“You’re our dragon magnet,” she responded promptly.
Trev’nor started laughing. “He’s perfect for that!”
Shrugging, Nolan didn’t disagree, and in fact smiled slightly. “I suppose I’m also there to talk to them for all three of us, negotiate our way into having dragon partners?”
“You do catch on quick.”
The Prince of Chahir took a full three seconds to think about it before asking, “So. When do we leave and how do we get up there?”
“I can’t believe you left them a note,” Trev’nor complained for what had to be the third time in as many minutes.
Nolan turned around so that he was walking backwards. “We had to tell them something. Otherwise they’d assume the worst and run off in a tearing panic. Who knows what would have happened? And we can’t call them via mirror broach—that will let them track our location.”
Trev’nor grumbled about it not being a proper adventure when a note was left behind, but Becca agreed with Nolan. It was why she had helped him write the note. It had been rather cryptic, unfortunately—just that the three of them felt that there was a very important thing to do, they were leaving to take care of it, and would be back when things were done. She had been about to add something like ‘don’t worry’ but it would have been a complete waste of ink.
They had wisely left the note on Chatta’s desk, as it had a better chance of being found there. Not too soon, of course, just somewhere within a day. Chatta was more organized than any other professor in the school but she could not be deemed tidy.
Not having any other choice in the matter, Trev’nor had used his magic to get them off the island, and at that point they’d taken the first boat that would smuggle them to Q’atal. Of course they couldn’t cut straight through Q’atal, not with the barrier up. Only Trev’nor was able to walk through it freely as neither Nolan nor Becca had been this far north before. So instead they went around, which added a good two days to the trip. From there, they’d continued walking, and after four arduous days of no magic and lots of camping out in the open, they had finally exchanged forest and grassland for the edges of desert.
This far out, they might be able to use Trev’nor’s Earth Path again without being detected, but then it would defeat half the purpose of them being out here. Becca had to see the sky in order to know what was going on, which really only left them one choice: walking. So walk they did even as the spring day became progressively warmer. In fact, it really felt like summer out here, not April.
Becca had never seen desert before, not true desert at least. It was very austere and monotone in reds and browns and creamy whites all offset by a stunningly clear blue sky. In its own way, it was rather pretty. Without a lot of trees in the way, they had a clear view of the stars every night, and it had been a breathtaking display of the constellations. Desert life was rather growing on her. The only thing she disliked about it so far was the constant sunburn. Fortunately, with Nolan around, it never lasted more than a few hours as he was able to heal it every night. Still, she’d rather not have it altogether.
Turning to Trev’nor she asked, “Where are we now?”
“Warwick,” he answered without a second of thought. “Far western edge, and I think we’re only a few hours walk from entering Khobunter.”
It never ceased to amaze Becca how Trev’nor did it, but he always knew exactly where they were and very rarely did he ever need a map. He said it was a combination of growing up with the Tonkowacon and his Earth magic, but the last part she doubted. Garth had a terrible sense of direction after all. His only saving grace was his Jaunten blood. No, it must be a talent that Trev’nor just possessed. Either way, she was grateful for it.
Trev’nor gave her a curious look. “What exactly are you looking for?”
Trying not to laugh, she asked, “Did you really follow me all the way out here without knowing that? Just because I said you’d get a dragon out of it?”
Putting on a pompous air, nose lifted in a haughty tilt, he responded snottily, “I cannot imagine letting a delicate female travel alone in such dangerous climes.”
Becca lost it and started giggling at his poor impersonation of a courtier. Nolan chuckled as well but wasn’t as distracted by this play. “Seriously, Becca, you said that you were looking for something. That something was strange up here. But we’ve been so busy getting here that we never got a proper explanation. What is it up here that’s bothering you?”
She had grown up with these two for nearly nine years now, studying right alongside them, but even then she wasn’t sure if she could explain this so they would understand it. Their magic worked very differently from each other after all. “I could go into technical details, but the breakdown of it is this: there’s something wonky going on up here. I can’t see everything from Strae, of course, but I can tell more or less what is going on in the other countries because of what weather currents come our direction. Air flows like water in many ways. You follow?”
The boys gingerly nodded, so she continued, “Well, Khobunter doesn’t flow. It’s like I have a steady stream of water that’s going along, everything’s smooth and i
n control, and then something happens in Khobunter that tosses a rock into my stream. It throws everything off and I have to constantly rework my currents so the weather is going along as it should.”
Nolan pondered on this for a moment before stating, “And from Strae, you can’t see what’s causing it at all.”
She shook her head, mouth tightening in frustration. “Not one bit.”
“How long has this been going on?” Trev’nor asked.
“Remember that year when Kaya and her brood first came to visit? The one where we had the epic pillow launch.” She wasn’t surprised when she got instant nods. That had be one of their more memorable winter holidays. “Ellis was wanting snow so bad that year and I was trying to get it to come to Strae, but something in Khobunter kept messing with my efforts. It took two days longer than it should have. That’s the first time I noticed it.”
“I think I see.” Trev’nor rubbed his hands together in anticipation, a light in his eyes that spoke of pure excitement. “Going off into a dangerous land to find the unknown. Sounds like a proper quest to me.”
“Really?” Nolan drawled. “Then why does it feel like a homework assignment or a class project to me?”
Becca slapped a hand against her leg, chortling. “You know, it does! It’s just like something that Garth would come up with. ‘There’s a problem over here. Using whatever resources you have at hand, find the root cause and then give me a solution.’”
Trev’nor pouted at them—a full blown pout. “The two of you are not getting into the spirit of things at all. What kind of homework assignment leads you to a dragon?”
“Well, that is a point,” she admitted. “But Trev, I never knew you wanted to go on a grand quest so much.” At seventeen, she had assumed that he had more or less outgrown that childhood fantasy.
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