“Odds are they weren’t able to stay in here for long.” Nolan looked grieved by this account. “I mean, most of what we’ve seen took magic to operate. Even the irrigation canals required someone with magic to keep the water flowing. They might have had a few months to enjoy their new city before it started falling apart on them.”
“So senseless.” Becca stared at the city, now shrouded by nightfall, with sad eyes. “They destroyed the very thing they were trying to have. I wonder why the original group chose this place. Why here? Why not somewhere in a country more peaceful?”
“They tried other peaceful places first, but magicians were in such high demand they couldn’t stay there for long without being fought over. They chose this spot because nothing was here. It wasn’t desirable to anyone. Even the underground lake here that fed the canals wasn’t here to begin with. A Water Mage and Earth Mage together crafted it.” Trev’nor pointed toward the stewpot. “Is that done yet?”
“Give it a little more time,” Becca cautioned. Reminded, she leaned over and gave it a good stir. “So we know the answers to our questions. The current day slave in Khobunter is originally from Chahir.”
“And they were enslaved at first because of jealousy and now out of…what? Engrained habit? Ease of living? Profit?” Nolan shook his head in violent denial. “Poor excuses, all of them.”
“I now feel a little better about what we did in Rurick.” Trev’nor had a ghastly expression on his face, lips stretched into a feral baring of teeth. “So. We have answers. Now what?”
“Now we go back to Rurick,” Becca opined. “I think we should be there when we call home so that if they ask us questions we don’t have an answer to, we can ask someone there.”
Trev’nor lifted a shoulder in a tired shrug. “Agreed. I think we need another day to think about this anyway before we call home. Besides, when we do call, they’re going to immediately demand we go back. But Becca, we haven’t found your answer yet.”
“And we don’t have our dragons yet,” Nolan reminded him. “I think we should call home, make arrangements, and then quickly get out of Rurick before they catch us. We still have things to do up here.”
Becca agreed. She wasn’t done up here yet and wasn’t about to go home. Yes, Khobunter was dangerous, but they now knew exactly how dangerous. A slaver wouldn’t get the chance to catch them again. Forewarned was forearmed. “Then let’s eat, sleep, and figure out what to say to everyone back home.”
“I’m sleeping in late tomorrow,” Trev’nor told them firmly. “And getting a good look at the place before we go back to Rurick. You two got to explore this place but I didn’t. I want to see it all before we go back.”
“Fine,” Becca acquiesced. It wasn’t like they had a firm deadline after all. Besides, she wanted to play with the fuzzies a little longer. She’s grown strangely attached to the little things. Really, she was of half a mind to take one home with her, although it might be a little dangerous to do so.
How to convince Tail that the fuzzies were not toys? That was the question.
Trev’nor’s ‘take a day to explore’ turned into three days. He hadn’t intended to take that long, but it was a large place, and he found himself stopping in certain parts of the ruins and telling the other two the full story to the place. The stone had recordings of every major building and he recounted them as they walked about. They had an energetic audience, as the fuzzies followed them around, actively looking for scratches and pets. Nolan could barely shift two feet in any direction without bumping into a dozen of them. Trev’nor was used to his friend being an animal magnet and didn’t find it strange. He still found it funny, though, even after so many years.
They were all a little reluctant to leave, but they’d promised to be back in a week or so, and they’d already spent more time in Rheben than they’d really needed to. So the morning of the following day, they packed up and headed back to Rurick.
Since he’d already come this direction once, Trev’nor more or less knew where to go, or thought he did. When he came close to the right area, he slowed abruptly, senses straining. “Wait.”
Nolan and Becca looked at him strangely.
“Something’s not right.” Trev’nor felt like they were a few marks north of the city and rose abruptly to the surface.
“What’s not right—?” Nolan turned to face the city as he asked and the sentence died unspoken.
Before they had left, Trev’nor had made sure to put all of the buildings to rights as much as possible and to repair the wall around the place to give them more security, until the city could form up a new guard to protect it. The wall was now in shambles, crumbling in various places and there were clear signs of a battle being carried out.
“They’re gone,” Nolan breathed, voice shaking. “The whole town is gone.”
“WHAT?!” Becca demanded incredulously. “But I’m seeing movement! Surely someone’s in there.”
“Not our people,” Nolan denied instantly, eyes still glued to the town. “Different people.”
Trev’nor felt like someone had reached into his chest and tugged his heart out of place, hollow and cold, breathless with denial. “They can’t just be gone.”
A slightly hysterical note rang in Becca’s voice. “Where are they? It’s a whole town; where could they disappear to in six days?!”
Nolan grabbed her by the arm, his grip tight and reassuring. “Steady. Steady. We’ll find them. First question really is, what happened? And who are these soldiers that we’re seeing in the town?”
Eyes narrowed against the brightness of the suns, Trev’nor peered intently ahead. “Nol, didn’t you say before that the warlords in Khobunter are in constant conflict with each other? Always fighting over land or water rights, is what you said.”
Head flopping back, Nolan groaned in realization. “It’s the neighboring warlord’s men. He took advantage of the confusion and lack of soldiers and conquered this place, didn’t he?”
It wasn’t really a question but Trev’nor answered it anyway, “That would be my bet. It’d be the perfect opportunity to strike. I mean, that’s Strategy 101.”
Becca looked at the town she thought she’d saved with hollow eyes. “We set them up for this.”
“Yes.” There were unshed tears in Trev’nor’s eyes. “Yes, we did. Some heroes we are. Why did I think just building a bigger, stronger wall around the town would be enough to keep them safe?”
Shaking his head, Nolan said softly, “None of us thought this through well. We were too impulsive. Too mad to think straight. But we have to think now. We have to. Our mistakes already cost lives. We can’t afford to make another one like this.” Grabbing them by the arms, he towed them back the direction they’d come. “We need to find a safe place to make camp. We have to talk this through and decide what to do.”
Trev’nor stumbled along behind him, not thinking of anything at all. Or at least, trying very hard not to think of anything. He didn’t want to imagine what must have happened after they left.
Nolan jostled him. “Trev, focus. We need a safe place to stop. Somewhere shady, somewhere with water if that’s possible.”
Rarely had Trev’nor had to use the training that Shad put him through. He used it now to force himself to be rational, to function, even as his heart screamed. He took in a deep breath, let it out in a steady stream, then took in another, bearing his mind and magic on the problem at hand. “No water within fifteen miles that I can feel. Ahead and a little to the left there’s a craggy sort of ravine with a lot of overhangs. Lots of shade.”
“That’ll do. Guide us.”
Putting one foot in front of the other, Trev’nor took his friends to a place of relative safety. The overhangs weren’t large, barely enough for three people to lie down underneath, but it would suffice for a camp. Not trusting anything, he put a ward up immediately so that he could at least breathe without worrying someone would ambush them from behind.
Becca dropped like a marionette
with its strings cut. Tears streamed down her face, mixing in with the fine dust on her skin, so that it looked like dirty trails on her cheeks. Nolan went to her and gave her a hard hug, and Trev’nor saw for the first time that tears were in his eyes too. Every one of them had grown attached to the people in that town. They were friends. After what they’d been through together, that was understandable. And now those friends were missing, possibly hurt or dead, and Trev’nor had no idea where they had gone.
He felt like killing something.
“Our mistake was thinking that we really are heroes.” Nolan’s voice sounded jarringly loud in the silence. “Our mistake was thinking this really was a grand quest where we could swoop in, save the day, and leave with the sunset. But this country has never been peaceful. There are not any centralized laws here, no one to make sure that things are just and right. Might of arms is what rules Khobunter.”
Trev’nor felt Nolan’s words like barbs aimed at his heart. He gasped from the pain of it. “Nolan, we can’t just leave. We can’t ignore it because things went wrong!”
Nolan turned his head and looked at him. In that moment, Trev’nor knew he was not looking at his childhood friend. He was looking at the Prince of Chahir. Those clear blue eyes nailed him in place, seeing right through the very heart of him.
“You have one of two options. We either stop right where we are and call home, call for the reinforcements we should have called for when we realized that we were in over our heads, and let an army do the job. We go home.”
Becca shook her head, still unable to speak a word past her tears, but adamant in her refusal.
Glancing down at her, Nolan continued, “Or, you two realize that you’re in this for the long haul. I can’t stay in Khobunter forever, I have my own country to rule. So it would have to be you, the two of you, who do this. You take this country on as your own. You conquer it, you rule it, and you stay here for the rest of your lives. Nothing short of that dedication will safeguard it as you wish.”
Stay here…forever? Could he even do that?
“It has to be one or the other,” Nolan said adamantly. “There is no middle ground on this, no compromise. Trev, you said on the way up here that things would likely get to the point where it would be beyond hard and we won’t know what to do. Well, guess what, we’ve landed. We’re now at that point. You and Becca have to decide just how important it is to you that you rescue all the magicians in this country yourselves.”
“I…” he started, only to falter.
“Don’t you dare answer right now.” Nolan jabbed a finger at him. “I won’t take any answer you give me. It’ll be from impulse. You sleep on it, Becca you too, and then give me an answer in the morning.”
Trev’nor was actually grateful for the reprieve because his mind and heart were in such a muddle that he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. His heart said one thing, his mind another, and they weren’t agreeing on much of anything. So he gave a ginger nod, arranged his pack, and laid down with his head pillowed on top of it. It was still plenty light out, it wasn’t like he was that tired either, but the gravity of the decision weighed on him. He needed to lie down and just ponder it for a while.
Shad’s training had finally fully kicked in. His mind whirled with questions, most without immediate answers. Say he did stay and called this place home. How did he defend each city from being re-conquered? How could he manage that when he had no resources of his own? Did he have to stay long enough to train the magicians of that town how to fight before he could move on to the next place? In that case, conquering Khobunter could well take a decade. It took at least two years to train a magician up to a good fighting level. And he had no resources to train them with. Cripes, that was another problem. He didn’t have the faintest idea on how to train a witch or wizard to begin with.
But did he really have to leave each city to fend for itself while he moved on to the next? That seemed like a poor strategic choice. They could put up wards, certainly, but that was a restrictive way to go about it. It was half-prison to the inhabitants, as they wouldn’t be able to do any trading or true communication with the outside world. That was a temporary fix, nothing more. They needed a real solution.
Trev’nor, being initially raised Tonkowacon, was not one to be really attached to places. He’d been constantly on the move since he was two. The only place he’d really stayed for any length of time was Strae Academy. Was his attachment to these people really so strong that he could consider this place home for the rest of his life? In this moment, it felt like it, but would that feeling fade?
The questions whirled around in his mind even as night fell, becoming snarled and then untangling themselves again as he boiled it down to the more essential questions. Could he just go home and ignore the people here? No. Could he call for reinforcements, hand this problem over to someone else, and hope they did a better job than he did? No. Could he live with the fact that he had seen and experienced incredible evil firsthand and didn’t try to stop it? Absolutely not.
Somewhere in the predawn, he realized that while he had been arguing with himself, his subconscious had already reached a decision. He was staying. He was going to fight this whole country until he was finally able to rescue every last magician imprisoned here.
Trev’nor had always been aware that a Gardener had spoken to Garth about him and Nolan. It had been no secret. The adults had talked about it openly for years in front of him. Why had it been so important for the two of them to meet and become friends? Twelve years later, Trev’nor still had no idea. But he hoped that if this problem wasn’t the one that the Gardeners wanted him to fix, that it was somewhere in this country. Because no matter what came, he would not leave Khobunter.
Dawn teased the horizon, washing the desert in tones of cool blues and whites. Trev’nor hadn’t slept a wink. He rolled over to find Becca wide awake as well, curled up and looking at the rising suns with one of the calmest expressions he’d ever seen from her. He knew by looking at her that she had reached a decision too. Nolan was the only one that had tried to sleep, but he kept tossing and turning fitfully.
“Nolan.” Trev’nor waited until Nolan rolled to a sitting position and was looking at him. As Trev’nor said the words, the weight of the responsibility he was taking on settled over him like a heavy mantle. “I’m staying.”
Nolan searched his eyes, looking for resolve, and found it. His smile came slowly over his face, speaking of pride. “I thought you would. Becca?”
“You can’t pry me out of this country,” she responded without turning her head. “I’m staying. I will not let this nightmare continue.”
Trev’nor understood her sentiments perfectly but he still had to wonder, “Will they let you stay? Considering who you are?”
Now she looked at him, eyes fierce. “I will fry anyone that tries to stop me.”
He had seen her chuck lightning bolts at things. She was scarily accurate. He wouldn’t cross her. So he made a peaceful motion with his hands. “Noted. Alright, Nolan, you have our answer. Now what?”
“Now we go back, study the situation, and come up with a strategy of how we’re going to do this.”
Becca’s forehead crinkled into a frown. “What about the townspeople?”
“I was thinking about that last night. Odds are they’re sold as slaves and carted off to the next warlord. Which one is a bit of a question—there’s three within distance of Rurick. I think that if we systematically go from one place to another, we’ll run into them.”
Trev’nor couldn’t fault the logic. A warlord in Khobunter was not one to waste resources or the chance to make money, and selling that many slaves would make him a lot of money. Odds were good that he hadn’t gone in and massacred the whole town. The thought eased his mind and he could breathe a little easier. “Right. Breakfast first, and then let’s go figure out how to conquer Khobunter.”
Becca gave him a flat look. “Really. Breakfast first?”
“I can’t thin
k on an empty stomach,” Trev’nor protested. “I don’t know about girls, but men sure can’t.”
Nolan coughed, the sound suspiciously close to a laugh. “We need to keep up our strength, Becca.”
She threw up her hands into the air. “Oh, fine. Breakfast first. Who’s cooking?”
The benefit of having to re-conquer a city was that one knew the layout extremely well. Becca knew exactly where to strike, how much power it required, and which weak points to exploit first.
The garrison of soldiers, dressed in cream white uniforms that she didn’t recognize, didn’t stand a chance. They received no warning that they would be fighting three very enraged mages. Trev’nor took down his wall, what was left of it, which threw them into a tizzy. Then Nolan went dragon again and took out the original wall and garrison, further disrupting their chain of command. Becca was perched up high—thanks to Trev’nor—and watched it play out as she struck her own targets with bolts of lightning.
Rurick fell within an hour.
Anyone left standing immediately retreated, running from the city like their lives depended on it. (Which they did.) Becca noted the direction they ran to, due east, with interest. So, they were from a city over in that direction? That narrowed the field of likely suspects quite nicely. Maybe they could recover their friends sooner rather than later.
She was just about to call for Trev’nor to get her down from her earthen pedestal when something caught her attention. From the corner of her eye, there had been specks that had blocked out part of the suns for a moment. Hmm? What could possibly do that, when there wasn’t a cloud in the sky?
Turning, she looked harder, lifting a hand to shield her eyes. Three distinct shadows were in the sky and coming in closer. Becca did not mistake them for a bird as nothing in the world had a wingspan like that except one species: dragons.
Becca’s mouth went dry as she stared up at them. Dragons. Three wild dragons. What in the wide green world were they doing all the way down here? This was not anywhere close to their nesting or hunting grounds! Dragons didn’t normally attack humans, granted, but they didn’t normally venture this far from home either. Their behavior was completely unpredictable at the moment and Becca had no desire to figure out if they were in the mood to snack on humans or not.
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