“Precisely.” I gave him a brief grin.
Hazard had urged his horse into a brief trot so that he could fall in on my other side. “So what’s the plan?” he asked—in Hainish, apparently realizing that we didn’t want the girls to really overhear us just yet.
Xiaolang filled him in, ending with, “Garth assures me that this shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.”
Hazard’s eyebrows rose sharply, kissing his hairline. “I’m suitably impressed. An hour instead of a three day trip on horseback?”
I had no good response to this, so only shrugged.
“So what do we have, anyway?” Hazard asked with genuine curiosity. “Three Witches?”
Actually, until he asked, I hadn’t even thought to check. I focused my power, feeling the three we had rescued. Rheiveraan was definitely a Witch. I indicated her with a nod of my head. “Witch.”
Hazard inclined his head to the group riding behind us. “And the other two?”
Turning my head slightly, I looked behind me. “Rheinellaan is a Witch as well. Rheijennaan is—” It finally penetrated what I was sensing, and the words dried up in my mouth.
Xiaolang was studying me closely. “Garth?”
I had to swallow—twice—before I could get my mouth to work. “Rheijennaan is a Mage.”
I was bracketed by twin looks of jaw-dropped surprise.
“What kind?” Xiaolang demanded hoarsely.
“That I’m not sure of,” I admitted slowly. “She’s not a Life Mage, and she’s not an Earth Mage. She feels different.”
“A completely new kind of Mage…” Hazard breathed, staring at Rheijennaan like a man would look at some rare work of art. “How can we find out what kind she is?”
If we had one of those triangle devices, that would tell us. Since we didn’t have one, however, there was only one other option. “We talk to her.”
Hazard’s reaction was comically blank. “What?”
I gestured for him to be silent for a moment then I called to Chatta, “I need to ask Rheijennaan a question.”
Xiaolang maneuvered farther away so that Chatta could come in closer to me. As she approached, I silently indicated the Chahiran riding in front of her. Chatta nodded, indicating that she knew she was riding with a Mage.
Chatta knew more about magic than I did—the benefits of growing up in a magical culture—so she might recognize what I couldn’t. So I carefully mouthed the words “What kind?”
She gave me a bewildered shrug.
Busted buckets, she didn’t know either. That meant we had to flounder through it, somehow. We couldn’t just leave a Mage alone until we got them to the school, like we could a Witch or Wizard. A Mage’s power didn’t require a tool of focus to work, and because of that Mages were more prone to have magical accidents. We had to know what kind of Mage she was, just so we knew how to properly shield her power.
I was hoping that Chatta would question her, as she was better with people. However, she was looking expectantly at me, like I should be asking the questions. Apparently, because I was the Mage, I would know the right questions to ask. At least Chatta thought so. With a sigh, I turned to Rheijennaan.
“Rheijennaan,” I asked as gently as I knew how, “did you have anything strange that happened around you? Things that only could be done by magic?”
She bit her lip, eyeing me nervously. Still, she nodded.
“It’s all right,” I assured her deliberately smiling to put her at ease. “We all have magical accidents in the beginning. Once you learn how to control your magic, you won’t have to worry about that. Can you tell me what happened?”
“I-I could sharpen Da’s sword just by looking at it,” she whispered. “And the iron work on the front gate always changed when I touched it.”
Metal? Warning bells started clanging in my head. “Was it only metal?”
“Sometimes the fire would flare up around me…” she licked her lips, shifting a little in agitation. “And I could heat up the water by putting my hand in it, sometimes.”
“Elemental Mage,” Chatta breathed.
Rheijennaan jerked around to stare at her, nearly upsetting her seat on the horse and falling off. I grabbed her arm, catching her until she was steady again. I don’t think she even really noticed.
“I’m what?” she demanded with wide eyes.
“An Elemental Mage,” I told her with a calm voice. “You are a Mage that has control over all five elements; air, water, wind, metal, fire. Judging from what you said, you have an affinity for metal and perhaps fire.”
Wonder and anxiety battled across her face. “And my sisters?”
“They are both Witches,” Chatta answered. Without prompting, she started an explanation of what the differences were between Witches and Mages. I admit I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to her. I was wondering instead why the majority of Mages that we had seen so far had been from Chahir. The sole exception was Trev’nor, and while discovered in Hain, he wasn’t from Hain. My guess would be that he was Chahiran as well, because he had the look of my countrymen.
Why didn’t Hain have any Mages?
Chapter Five: Power
It was an easy process to zip over to Hain, drop off the girls, and then zip back again. I was pleasantly surprised at the safe house established by Guin. This one was a rather large, two story building, which still smelt of new paint and saw dust. Actually, the size of the house rather unnerved me—Guin didn’t honestly expect for us to find enough people to fill this huge house. Did he?
An elderly couple was in charge, the matron being a Witch with a kind smile and sharp eye for detail. I felt no qualm leaving the girls in her capable hands.
The whole trip took roughly an hour or so. I made it alone, as Night wasn’t about to stay in the earth that long. He said, when I asked if he wanted to come with me, “No one can attack you while traveling. I think this trip you can do alone.” I was a little surprised by this answer, actually. This was the first time that Night had ever voluntarily let me out of his sight. I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased by this show of independence or disturbed.
Right before I left the safe house I was given a very interesting piece of news. Someone in Jarrell—apparently the Dom of that province, or perhaps the Warlord—had sent a message to Guin. There was some sort of magical person loose in Jarrell, and he was setting buildings on fire. The Dom was perfectly willing to let him leave the country, but wasn’t too keen on letting this person stay and continue torching things. Hainian assistance was urgently requested.
I couldn’t quite believe my ears. Someone was going around setting magical fires in Jarrell? And apparently they were quite crafty about it, if the Dom of Jarrell thought it necessary to call in experts. I didn’t like the sound of this at all. My return trip to Habbick, where everyone was waiting for me, was much quicker. I went as fast as I dared. Xiaolang needed to be told about this immediately.
When I arrived back in Habbick, I was pleasantly surprised to see Aletha and Shield had caught back up with us. Before I had left camp had been made in a small clearing off the road. They were both sitting by the campfire.
Aletha came to her feet as I rose out of the earth, head cocking to one side. “They weren’t kidding; you really did come back in an hour. That was a quick trip, Garth.”
“One of the reasons why I like traveling that way,” I agreed. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to her, my eyes darting around the clearing in search of Xiaolang. At first I didn’t see him because he was partially hidden from my view. Just as I was about to ask where he was he rose from behind Hayate’s crouched form.
“So how was it?” the Captain asked me.
“Fine. I have news." His eyes sharpened. "There's a young man loose in Jarrell that's setting things magically on fire. The Dom of that province has requested help from Hain."
The entire group stared at me. I shrugged with palms splayed. "I don't have much more information than that. The message was passed along to me
when I dropped the girls off."
"I see," Xiaolang murmured. "Well then. Let's go to Jarrell."
~*~
It took two days of hard riding to get to Jarrell providence. As soon as we crossed the border we all breathed a little sigh of relief. This providence, at least, didn't really mind magic. We wouldn't have to hide our purpose or identities here. Didi, for the first time in weeks, dared to fly just above our heads within plain sight. I stopped acting like I was guiding Night, and just tied the reins loosely to the pommel of the saddle. He knew where we were going—he didn't need any direction from me.
I was always searching around me of course, but I wasn't feeling anything magical. The message that had been passed to me had been noticeably short on details. We knew that the magical arsonist was loose in Jarrell, but that was a very wide area to cover. We weren't sure exactly where to go once we hit the border. It was nearing noon when I gave up searching. "Xiaolang!" I called.
He turned in the saddle at my hail, twisting around until he could look at me. "What?"
"I think we better stop and let Chatta search. As it is, we might be heading in the wrong direction."
He nodded in agreement. "Chatta?"
"This hopefully won't take long," she assured him. "But it's close to lunch anyway. Why don't we stop and eat while I look?"
All of the men in the group instantly praised her for such thoughtfulness. Food is always a good idea.
We found a nice clear area near the road where we could dismount and stretch out a little. I pitched in and helped Aletha cook lunch. This was not a matter of charity on my part, but a matter of survival. I've quickly learned on this trip to not let Hazard or Shield anywhere near the cooking utensils. They can make sandwiches. That's it. Anything else is hazardous to one's health. I don't even trust them to heat things up properly.
Lunch was happily consumed, and the dishes grudgingly washed before Chatta found anything. She made a sound of victory, effectively capturing all of our attention. I darted over to her side, Xiaolang right behind me.
"What?" I asked eagerly, peering over her shoulder and into the small scrying bowl she was holding. I don't know why I bothered as I wouldn't be able to discern much. I couldn't see magic, after all. But the image in the water, as it turns out, wasn't of a person. There was a scene of charcoal and black stone, instead. Judging from the small wisps of smoke the building had burned down very recently.
"Well, I haven't found the man, but this building was definitely burned by magic," Chatta explained. "He's in this area."
"Good enough for now," Xiaolang declared. "Where are we going?"
"North-west."
Xiaolang gave a sharp circular gesture. "Load it up, people. Let's move."
~*~
By twilight, we'd found the smoking building.
Actually, that was the least of what we found.
The whole city was burning.
The air was thick with soot and smoke, rising high into the sky and serving as our beacon to guide us in. As we crested a hill and came into full sight, it was immediately clear that a good half of the city was engulfed in flames. Acovone is a very metropolitan city built with sturdy brick and granite buildings. I knew it to be a major center for trade, as it was close to the coast and near the border of the Empire of Sol. I felt bile rise in my throat as I took in the damage already done. Even from a distance, it was hideous to look upon.
I didn’t wait for Xiaolang’s order, I just tapped Night’s flanks and bolted down the hill for the city. There was little I could do about the damage already done but there was a great deal I could do about stopping further damage from happening.
I had to find that rogue magician.
The whole team was on my heels, I could hear the thundering of their mount’s hooves behind me, but I paid them no attention. I was intent on finding the magician. I had my senses stretched to the max, but it was hard to find him. Cities are difficult to search even on a good day and today was hardly that.
“Can you find him?” Night asked, slowing slightly as we reached the main gates of the city. He had to slow down to avoid trampling people fleeing outside of the walls. I snatched at the saddle’s horn when he abruptly side stepped to avoid knocking a hysterical woman over.
“No,” I growled in frustration. I scanned the road in front of us, trying to find an opening we could slip through, but it was impossible. There were hundreds of people rushing toward us, trying to escape the city and its wall of flames, and they pushed against us in their panic. “There’s too many people milling around, I can’t pinpoint him!”
“We need to find another way into the city,” Night gave a toss of his head, dancing in place. “I can’t get through, not without hurting people.”
We were at a complete standstill, unable to move against the flow of traffic. Growling out a curse, I reached for the ground deep beneath our feet and built a bridge that arched out over the crowd and over the city wall. Night let out a yelp as the ground abruptly shifted under his feet.
“Garth, warn me!” he snapped.
“Go!” I ordered impatiently. I’d probably owe him a jar of peanut butter later as an apology for my brusqueness, but I’d handle that moment later.
Night bolted up my makeshift ramp, and judging from the sound of hooves behind me, we weren’t alone in our ascent. My bridge touched the top of the city walls, which was fortunately wide enough to hold several horses, although it was a bit crowded. The scene that met my eyes as I cleared the final obstruction to my sight made my chest constrict. It was like a wall of flame. There were people of every possible age and occupation running, jostling each other, carrying children or bundles in their arms. Dozens of people were passing buckets of water from one to the other, fighting a losing battle with the fire.
I twisted in the saddle until I found Chatta. “Help me!” I ordered desperately. “I can’t find him in this mess!”
She nodded curt understanding, raising her wand and conjuring a large, round mirror. As she started scrying the city, I closed my eyes and focused more intently than I’d ever had in my life. Where was he? I started with the people directly in front of me and fanned out from there. With the aura of people came other signals—heavy collisions as buildings collapsed and sank roughly to the earth’s surface, rapid footsteps from thousands of people as they ran in every conceivable direction.
Where, where, where…he has to be here somewhere.
“That way!” Chatta abruptly cried, pointing off to the northeast. “He’s in what looks like the main market area.”
“Garth, let us down,” Xiaolang ordered. “We’ll help put out the flames.”
I took the ground I’d used to build the bridge to here and reshaped it into a new bridge that led to the street below. Miraculously, there was a small corner near the gatekeeper’s house that was free of people and gave us room to descend.
Night leapt onto the bridge without pause and handled the steep angle of the bridge at a dead run. I had to angle myself almost flat against his back to keep my balance, legs wrapped tight around his barrel and fingers knotted around his mane. When he landed, I was thrown forward, the horn lodged into my sternum with an unpleasant jolt. His hooves barely touched cobblestone when he spun and headed in the direction had Chatta pointed to. I grimly held on.
We didn’t make quick progress simply because of the people we had to dodge. Three different times Night barely avoided trampling some poor man. It wasn’t just the people, however, but also the fire we had to contend with. Buildings were succumbing to the fire as we passed them, slowly collapsing in on themselves and sending out errant sparks and support beams that toppled into our path. It made us cautious, nervy about entering new streets or getting close to any of the buildings. We were down to a slow canter and impatient with our progress.
Chatta cast quick shields that hovered over our heads, protecting us from anything falling. It didn’t do anything to deflect the errant sparks that singed our hair and clothes, or t
he thick soot that seemed to hover in the air. We were barely two streets away from the wall and I could already feel soot clinging to my skin and leaving an aftertaste in my mouth.
Time was clicking away in the back of my mind, and I was hyperaware that for every second more it took for us to get to him, the magician was causing just that much more destruction. Night lowered his head and started using it as a battering ram, forcing people to give way and let us through. Chatta stayed close on our heels, following the trail that Night was blazing.
We finally reached a main street that led directly to the market. I didn’t need Chatta’s mirror to see him now.
He was in front of me.
The whole street was lined with vendors’ stalls, small wooden constructions with colorful roofs and banners that were burning quickly before my eyes. Merchants were running everywhere with buckets in their hands, frantically trying to put the flames out. Night was forced to dodge in and around them, his abrupt turns so sharp that I nearly lost my seat several times. It didn’t stop me from getting a cursory look at the magician.
He was just walking along, hands gesturing wildly, flames shooting out of his palms and hitting buildings at random. When I was closer, within twenty or so feet of him, I could see his mouth moving but I couldn’t hear the words. The noise all around me was too thick for me to discern anything.
Ten feet away, and it struck me that he was young, probably two years younger than me. His clothes were plastered to him with sweat, emphasizing his whipcord build. He kept running his hands over his fair hair, sending it standing up in different directions, and there was a manic smile on his face of unholy glee at the destruction he was causing.
When he lifted his hands again, I instinctively grabbed a chunk of cobblestone and threw it up around him, blocking his attack.
He stumbled to a halt, looking at the rock in confusion. In that moment when he was distracted, I slid quickly off Night’s back and ordered over my shoulder, “You and Chatta get the people out of here!”
Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) Page 8