Magus (Advent Mage Cycle)

by Honor Raconteur

  Eagle nodded glumly. "The bare bones, anyway. That's all anyone knows, since he refuses to tell the whole story. His family are merchants, dealing in several things that trade well in the Empire. They were bringing everything in for the spring market—”

  I felt the blood drain from my face, because I just knew what he was going to say next.

  "—but the caravan was attacked by bandits before they could fully cross the border." Eagle's eyes were dark and unreadable when he looked up into my face. "The Captain fought back, and killed three of them before they broke and retreated."

  I spoke through frozen lips. "How old?"

  "How old was he, you mean? Eleven."

  Eleven years old…great ancient magic. To be faced with that kind of horror at eleven; to be forced to choose between obeying what you were taught, or watching your family being slaughtered in front of your eyes, knowing that you might be next—I'm not sure I could have done it.

  "He came directly to us, after his family was safe," Eagle continued without prompting. "He came to us and asked that we let him sign up in the military. That was the best decision the Ascalon Commanders ever made. He's the best Captain we've ever had in recorded history." Eagle let out a heavy sigh. "But you can see why it's painful for him to be reminded of home."

  Yes, I could understand that all too well.

  I wanted to help. Hearing that story, it was impossible not to. "I'm not sure that I'll be able to do what you have in mind, whatever Night says to the contrary," I warned Eagle. "But if I can't do an actual barrier, we'll think of something else."

  Eagle gave me a smile so bright that it put the sun to shame. "Are you serious?!"

  "Very much so," I assured him. After a year, nearly, of working magic for towns and villages, I had a handle on the politics involved when working magic. Still, I had a feeling that convincing a government to let me put up a protective barrier might be far beyond what I've done before. And it would probably take a while, too. Still, I didn't imagine that the Q'atal government would argue too much with this plan. Not when it meant protecting their citizens. "We'll need to confer with the government before I can do anything." I was pretty sure he knew this, but felt it was safer to mention it now just in case.

  Eagle was already ahead of me. "Oh, it has been. Not you, precisely, but one of the things we were tasked with was to find out the exact abilities of magic and see if there was any way to protect Q'atal. The Q'atalians are for anything that will protect them without killing anyone else."

  So I had groundwork laid for me already…good. "Maybe when we get up to the top of Chahir, we can take a quick detour?" I suggested. "It's only, what, a half day's travel by boat?"

  "If we cut across the Dorrough Gulf," Eagle agreed. He was nearly rubbing his hands together in glee.

  I couldn't help but be caught up a little in his enthusiasm. Still, I had to be practical. "We're going to have to warn Xiaolang of our intentions before we do any detours."

  Eagle laughed ruefully. "I know, believe me, I know. And I better do it soon—the Captain hates surprises."

  Considering his occupation, I don't blame him.

  Chapter Four: Jailbreak

  Finally, finally, the day ended. We made camp a little off the road, in a shallow depression that was surrounded on all sides by prickly trees. It was a fairly good campsite considering that there was a shallow stream nearby, and we were shielded from view.

  The highlight of the day, in my opinion, was when Keen curled up and went to sleep. I liked the kid much better unconscious. After all, he doesn't talk in his sleep.

  The heavy mood lifted as soon as he started snoring, and for the first time that day, every man in the group relaxed.

  Night was nice enough to curl up on his side so that I could lean against him. It was the only warmth I had available, since Hayate was hogging the fire.

  During the course of the day the temperature had slowly started to drop. For Chahir, we were still in the tale ends of summer. For Hain, it was like an early onset of fall weather, and the wind had a definite nip to it. Hayate, as a desert creature, felt the cold far before any of us did and had reacted like any other reptile would have.

  He went straight for the only heat source in sight and started hogging it.

  Hayate was literally wrapped around the fire, his head resting on the tip of his tail. He was like this organic fire-ring or something. We'd had to cook while leaning over him, because no matter what Xiaolang said, we couldn't get the Dragoo to budge one inch. He was warm (or at least, one side of him was) and he was going to stay warm, thank you very much.

  I was staring at Hayate in bemusement, wondering how he was going to react when winter really set in, when Xiaolang sat down next to me. "Funny sight, isn't it?"

  I nodded, my mouth quirking into a smile. It really was a funny sight to see this supposedly dangerous creature huddling around a fire like a newborn kitten. "Maybe we can get Chatta to attach an untraceable heat charm to a blanket," I suggested thoughtfully. "I bet she knows one. That will keep him warmer than the fire does."

  "And give us access to all that heat he's hogging as well," Xiaolang inputted dryly. "I'll speak with her about it."

  A gust of chilly wind raced over my skin, and I shivered involuntarily. The past year spent in Hain had apparently thinned my blood. I wasn't really used to the cold anymore either.

  "Thank you, Garth."

  Those quietly spoken words were completely unexpected. I turned to look at him, confused. I hadn't done anything recently to earn his gratitude. Xiaolang was looking straight ahead of him, eyes blind to his surroundings.

  When he didn't elaborate, I ventured, "For what?"

  "For putting a protective barrier around Q'atal."

  Hmmm. Either Eagle told him at some point, or he'd apparently overhead enough of the conversation to know what I'd agreed to. "I haven't done anything yet," I felt obliged to point out.

  He finally looked at me, expression more at peace than I'd ever seen. "I know. But you said that you will, and I know that you will do it."

  I waved away his thanks, since it was completely unnecessary. "You're helping me with my country, Xiaolang. I think it's only fair that I help you with yours."

  "It's funny, isn't it? That two exiles like us are returning to our homelands in order to help protect them."

  I hadn't thought if it that way, but when he said that, it made me think. He was right—there was a lot of irony in what we were doing. A soft chuckle bubbled out of my mouth. "It is rather ironic, isn't it?"

  "Try very ironic," he corrected with a chuckle of his own. "At least Q'atal's problem is easier to solve than Chahir's."

  I winced in agreement. Chahir's problems (because there was definitely more than one) were infinitely more complex than Q'atal's. Unfortunately.

  Xiaolang changed the subject without warning. "We're splitting up tomorrow, somewhere around noon. Aletha and Shield will take Reschkeenen into Hain."

  I didn't say anything, but I had to wonder if that was wise. Shield's patience with Keen had noticeably evaporated earlier this morning.

  Xiaolang must have read my concern because he said in reassurance, "Shield would never harm the boy. Gag him, perhaps, but never more than that. I trust that between the two of them, they'll get Keen away safely."

  Actually, gagging wasn't a bad idea. Why hadn't I considered that before?

  Oh, right, because Chatta would never let me hear the end of it. Busted baskets, I knew there was a catch somewhere. There's always a catch. "And after we've split up? Do you have a specific destination in mind?"

  Xiaolang shook his head. "That will be entirely up to you. I assume that you haven't felt anyone recently, as you haven't said anything."

  "You assume correctly." I wish I could say otherwise. I was straining my senses out as far as I could, but so far…nothing.

  "We are out in the middle of nowhere," Xiaolang pointed out in a reassuring tone. "I didn't expect you to find anyone out here. To
morrow afternoon, however, keep a sharp eye out. We'll be getting closer to cities then."

  I nodded in confirmation.

  "For now," Xiaolang's face gathered into determined lines, "I suppose I need to convince my Dragoo that he has no right to hog the fire."

  As he got up, I silently wished him luck. He was definitely going to need it.

  ~*~

  Keen barely survived long enough to eat lunch the next day. For a few hours, his life expectancy was very short indeed. Fortunately, most of us knew that if we could just put up with him for a few hours more, he'd soon be gone forever.

  All of us except for Shield, of course. Shield had another two days, perhaps three, to deal with the boy. From his dark expression, he definitely was considering the pros and cons of gags.

  Chatta had to say a proper good-bye to Keen before he left—this involved a great many hugs and admonishments to be good—which I managed to largely ignore. Then thankfully Shield dragged Keen off, Aletha following along.

  As soon as Keen was out of sight, Eagle caught my eye and did a sharp tossing gesture over one shoulder—a silent Chahiran gesture meaning that we'd left the troublemaker behind us. I grinned and nodded in agreement. Yes, the troublemaker was definitely gone.

  I was glad that Eagle had used that silent gesture (which Chatta wouldn't get) when she said, "I'm going to miss that boy."

  I couldn't respond (politely) without lying through my teeth, so I settled for a neutral "Hmmm." Eagle and I looked at each other, and rolled our eyes. Great magic, but were we glad that boy was gone!

  The rest of the day passed slowly as we continued traveling north, winding our way out of the mountains and into flat grassland. Didi took to the air and spent most of that afternoon as a scout for us. From his very lofty perch in the sky, he looked like some sort of bird of prey, instead of a Meuritta. I had to wonder if he was warmer up there than we were down here—the wind over the grass had a definite nip to it.

  It wasn't until late that evening that I started having problems searching. We were nearing a fair sized town, with a respectable population. Searching for people out in the countryside was easy—trying to find a specific person in a city? Not so easy. There were just so many different auras to shift through; I was developing a headache trying to keep them separate.

  It would have helped if I had been stationary while searching, but of course I was riding Night. In fact, it would have helped tremendously if the people in that town would stay still, but considering the time of day, it was still too early for anyone to be in bed yet. They were all going about their normal business, making it hard for me to pinpoint anyone.

  Chatta pulled up beside me, frowning slightly. "Garth?"

  "We're approaching a town," I explained briefly. She knew as well as I did what a trial it was to do any sort of scrying on a sizeable population.

  "Oh," she said in understanding. "We'll have to stay the night there anyway; I'll help you search then."

  Xiaolang must have heard us, because he dropped back to ride on my other side. "Is there a problem?"

  "We're approaching a town," I explained.

  "Ashton," Xiaolang agreed.

  What, did he have the map memorized now? I ignored that and kept going. "It's harder to search in towns."

  A thoughtful expression dropped over his face. "Really. Why?"

  "Because the people keep moving, for one," Chatta answered with a rueful shrug.

  "And because there's too many of them in one place, for another," I added. "It's hard to keep them separate, sometimes."

  "That's his problem," Chatta denied with a pointed look at me. "Because he feels magic instead of sees it, its harder for him to separate one kind of aura from another. I see it, so it's obvious for me. It's just difficult when the people you're looking at keep moving."

  Xiaolang looked like he was trying to be patient, but was having to work at it. "And why didn't either of you mention this before?"

  I blinked at him. "Sure I did—on the boat, coming into Chahir."

  Xiaolang immediately shook his head, still radiating exaggerated patience. "Garth, you told me that your reach was a little farther than Chatta's, but her precision was better than yours. That's it. I never heard a word about this searching business being more complicated in cities."

  I ran the memory of that conversation back through my head and realized that he was right. I hadn't mentioned that. Oops. "Er…sorry?"

  Chatta was giving me a pointed look. "Obviously I should not leave any explanations of our abilities to you."

  "You know I'm not good at talking," I returned with a pointed look of my own.

  "You spent a year traveling all over Hain, talking with tons of people. I had expected that your verbal skills improved," she replied with a roll of the eyes.

  "Sixteen years didn't do the trick," I observed dryly. "Why would another year make a difference?"

  Chatta, being Chatta, did what she always does when she's losing an argument—she sinks to insults. "Winner of an obtusity contest."

  I, not to be outdone, had to respond accordingly. "Vertically challenged pipsqueak."

  "Noodle-legged weasel!"

  My legs were not noodles! Nor was I a weasel, for that matter. "Mother of a fat, drunken pig."

  "Flea bitten imbecile."

  "Do they do this often?" Xiaolang inquired politely of Night.

  "Only when they have no way of defending their view in an argument. Entertaining, isn't it?" Night drawled with a slight snicker.

  "Very," Xiaolang assured him. He looked up with feigned surprise at us. "Oh don't stop now, you were doing splendidly."

  "He's taking all of the fun out of this," I complained to Chatta.

  Chatta, by this point, was laughing. "I know. Still, it is rather immature of us, isn't it?"

  It really was. But I still liked doing it. "Fun though," I replied.

  She was nodding in agreement, a smile dancing in her eyes. "Is this more or less mature than our lint wars?"

  "Oh, I think it's more mature," I assured her.

  "Lint wars?" Xiaolang repeated with obvious curiosity.

  "Whenever we're stuck in boring meetings," Chatta answered, her lips twitching up into a smile, "we sit next to each other and try to put all of the lint on our robes on the other person's robes."

  "Not with magic, of course, but with just our hands," I added. "We're sure to get out of control if we use magic."

  "We get out of control with just hands," Chatta said under her breath. I still heard her, though.

  Xiaolang was trying to keep a straight face, but his eyes were dancing madly. "Somehow, I can't imagine that the people in those meetings with you are ever bored."

  "We do our best to keep the people around us awake," I answered with (false) modesty.

  "I bet you do." The Ascalon Captain lost his control, a chuckle breaking free. "But back to the situation at hand. Will we need to stay longer in cities?"

  "If we can just stay overnight there, I think we can search it within a few hours, between the two of us." I glanced at Chatta as I said this, making sure that she agreed with me. She was nodding as I talked, so I kept going. "Of course, this isn't a real city, more like a town. The larger the city, the more time we'll need."

  This didn't seem to bother Xiaolang. He just gave a thoughtful hum. "Very well. I'll keep that in mind in the future. For now, let your mind rest. We'll search when we get to Ashton." He paused, eyeing both of us suspiciously. "Is there anything else that you've forgotten to mention?"

  My mind was a blank. I couldn't think of anything else.

  "I can't think of anything," Chatta stated slowly. "Sorry, Xiaolang, it's just that we're used to our magic—we don't think twice about what we can or can't do, we just do it."

  She was unfortunately right—we took our own abilities for granted, most of the time. I only thought about them when I was trying to explain to someone else what magic did. "I think we've mentioned all the important parts to you, thoug
h."

  Chatta abruptly snapped her fingers. "Earth path."

  My eyes widened in realization. She was right—I hadn't mentioned that. Double oops. "Busted baskets, you're right. I forgot about that completely." Turning back to Xiaolang, I started to quickly fill him in. "An Earth Mage is able to drop into the ground, and travel underneath the surface. I can even take people with me, without any risk to them."

  Xiaolang's jaw dropped so far I could swear that it bounced off the pommel of his saddle. "You can go into the ground and travel?"

  I gave a single nod of confirmation. "It's very fast to do it that way, and much safer than normal means of travel, in my opinion. The only downside is that anyone who is claustrophobic hates it."

  "I hate it, and I'm not afraid of dark spaces," Night muttered defensively.

  I wisely decided not to comment on that. "Anyway, if we're ever in a tight spot, or if you need me to drop someone off across the border quickly, then I can travel the Earth Path and do it. But be warned, it would really trigger the alarms."

  Xiaolang didn't remain stunned for long, and by the end of my explanation, he was rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Despite that, this is a very handy ability. We might very well use it in the future. Does it cost a lot of power, on your part?"

  I shook my head. "Whatever power I lose, I gain twice as much by being in the earth."

  "Because the earth is your power source," Xiaolang murmured in understanding. "Hmm. Very well, that's something else for me to keep in mind. Is there anything else?"

  I looked at Chatta, to see if she could think of anything more, but she was already shaking her head. "I can't think of anything."

  "Nor I," I admitted.

  Xiaolang didn't look like he trusted that answer. I guess I couldn't blame him. "Sleep on it, and we'll talk about it again tomorrow," he advised. "While the two of you are searching the town tonight, I'm sending Eagle and Hazard out for provisions. Give them a list of anything that you want."

  Chatta apparently had several things that she wanted, as she immediately turned and went back to talk to Hazard.