~*~
We were halfway down the hallway, heading for the outside, when Kartal flung up a hand, stopping me.
“Garth, I think we should go back.”
I gave him a blank look. “Back to Adam and Lyra?”
“No, no, no.” He shot me an exasperated frown. “To that room with the Advent Mage study group.”
I didn’t trust that smile on his face. It reminded me eerily of Didi when he was contemplating mischief. “…why?” I asked cautiously.
“Garth, think about this for a minute. This institute is world-renown for giving answers to magical questions. If those idiots come up with some sort of reasonable-sounding explanation for why Mages exist, and how to create more of them, a lot of people are going to believe them. It’ll start an avalanche of mistakes.”
He had a definite point there.
“You’re the only person in this world with a prayer of derailing them,” he pressed on persuasively. “They’ll listen to the Advent Mage, once they know who he is. That’s obvious.”
As logical and reasonable as all of this was, it didn’t match that impish gleam in the man’s eyes. “In other words, you really want to rub in the fact that they didn’t recognize me on sight. Not to mention you feel the need to take them down a few rungs.”
His smile was not at all nice. A cat waiting to pounce on a helpless mouse couldn’t compete with his expression. “Well, that too.”
“Uh-huh.” Knew it. Still, despite his devious intentions, I couldn’t deny the validity of the original argument. “Are you sure that it will do any good? As I said before, they strike me as people who just love to argue.”
“With each other they love to argue,” he corrected. “But they can’t argue with you. You’re the expert on Mages at this point. No one can refute that you’re the expert on yourself. Not much, anyway. Besides, all things considered, wouldn’t you like to try?”
I wasn’t entirely sure I bought this, but there was a part of me that wanted to see if he were right. Besides, this was one of those rare occurrences when I could really enjoy rubbing my outlandish reputation in a little. I’d be a fool to pass up the opportunity. “Well, why not?”
“Ha!” He bounced in glee, grinning.
Nothing makes Kartal happier than the opportunity to razz someone. Maybe his enthusiasm was infectious—I was kind of looking forward to the opportunity as well. Knocking something arrogant down is a deep delight of the blood.
I let Kartal lead the way back to that room. Nothing had changed much since we left it—four grouchy men were still gathered around the disorganized table, and they were still arguing with each other.
Kartal paused in the doorway, wolfish smile well concealed behind a bland expression. Clearing his throat, he waited until he had their attention. “Gentlemen, I feel the need to introduce myself. I am Roarke Kartal, Wizard.”
One of the men perked up instantly. “The same Wizard Kartal that was with the Advent Mage during the Hobendon Peninsula flooding?”
They were familiar with my taskings, at least. They weren’t completely shooting in the dark.
Kartal flashed his most charming smile. “Indeed.”
“Finally, an eye witness!” the portly Wizard cried. He pounced on Kartal and dragged him to an open seat. “I’m Audax Vertas, Wizard. You simply must come and tell us what you know.”
“Oh it will be my delight, I assure you.” Kartal’s grin widened a notch.
Seeing that this was going to take a while, I put my shoulders to the wall and relaxed, settling in for what promised to be quite the show. Kartal has quite the tongue on him—as good as any lawyer’s. I fully expected for him to wrap these men up in theory-logical knots.
Quick introductions were made all around. The man with wispy hair was Wizard Toplady, the one with the seemingly perpetual frown was Wizard Stott, and the combative Wizard was Coles. Since I was being very quiet and still, not drawing any attention to myself, they forgot I was even in the room, and Kartal didn’t introduce me. From the quick grin he flashed me, this was done on purpose.
Drama queen.
They fell into a discussion of magical bloodlines in exhaustive detail. I lost them about three sentences in, as I had no idea about any Hainian bloodlines. For that matter, I had no idea of Chahiran bloodlines, outside of my own. This was (thankfully) interrupted after a few minutes by Cole.
“Never mind the Hainian bloodlines,” he growled, flapping his hands. “Those obviously don’t apply to Chahir. In fact, I’m not sure that any bloodlines apply to Chahir, considering how most of them have surely been stamped out by now. What I want to know is why now? It’s been two hundred years since we’ve seen a Mage, until Rhebengarthen. Then after he appears, we get four more!”
“Five,” Kartal corrected. “Another Elemental Mage was brought into Del’Hain yesterday.”
There was a briefly stunned silence as they digested that.
“Five in two years…” Toplady mused, pulling at one ear in an absent fashion. “Almost unheard of, according to the histories. And all from Chahir. Why?”
“You can’t assume that only Chahir can breed Mages.” Kartal smiled when he got four challenging stares. “Think about it—the young Earth Mage, Trev’nor, is an unknown. We have no idea what nationality he is. He doesn’t look Hainian, but he could be from the Empire of Sol.”
I’d never thought about where Trev’nor came from—but Kartal was right, he obviously wasn’t Hainish. Actually…he rather looked like he could hail from Chahir with his fair coloring….I was diverted from the thought before I could trace it to its logical end by the argument at the table.
“There’s never been Mages from Sol before!” Stott objected.
“We didn’t get Mages from Chahir for two hundred years either,” Coles pointed out. “We’ve never gotten a Mage from Hain. There’s a first time for everything. You’ve met Trev’nor, Wizard Kartal?”
“Oh yes. I was with Garth when we discovered the boy.”
“Then the report that Trev’nor was initially raised by Tonkawacons is true?”
“Completely true,” Kartal confirmed. His eyes were alight with amusement—he was truly enjoying himself.
“But there’s no history of magic in Sol!” Stott reiterated, nearly wailing. “It doesn’t make any sense!”
“It doesn’t make any sense for Hain, who is so rich with magic, not to have Mages, either,” Cole snapped at him.
“Let’s focus on one problem at a time,” Toplady suggested. “Wizard Kartal, you’ve spent considerable time with the Advent Mage. Did he have any theories about how his Mage abilities came about?”
“Why yes, I believe he does know how,” Kartal responded blandly. Turning, he looked at me, as innocent as a cat with feathers sticking out of its mouth. “What was the theory again?”
Don’t ask me how, but I managed not to smile or chortle like a demented idiot. It was very challenging, as Kartal’s wicked amusement was tickling my funny bone badly. My face was hurting from the effort. Matching his tone, I responded, “There are three factors, actually. One of which is bloodlines—although it can skip several generations without showing—but it also takes a certain condition of the land, and the Mage’s proximity to ley lines’ power.”
Dead silence. I was the focus of many suspicious stares. I think, just judging from Cole’s face, that he was beginning to piece together who I was. He was torn between delight and horrified realization.
Vertas frowned impressively, which rather made him look like a bulldog. “Just what did you say your name is?”
“I didn’t.” Completely deadpanned, I gave a polite bow. “I am Rhebengarthen.”
I seriously thought Vertas was going to drop to the floor in a dead faint.
It took Stott three tries to get words out of his mouth. “You…are the Advent Mage.”
Kartal started laughing, mirth rolling out of his chest in waves. Apparently he just couldn’t hold it in any longer. Gasping for breath, he
managed, “Yes, he is.”
“And just for your information, I hate that title,” I added wryly.
I don’t think anyone quite knew how to respond to that. Taking pity on their obvious bafflement, I took an empty chair at the head of the table. “Now, gentlemen, if you truly want to know how Mages are being born these days, I’ll be happy to tell you. I have my information confirmed with the Remnant Mages, so I can assure you it’s all accurate. Are you willing to listen to me this time?”
“We are indeed listening, Magus,” Toplady assured me with humble sincerity.
I smiled at him, and started outlining the same theory—which I was pretty sure was more than just theory—that Aral and I had talked about on his front porch, only a week ago. Kartal just sat back, enjoying the show. I knew without asking that he’d rub this in for years. These Wizards might never live this day down.
Well, that wasn’t my problem. I just laid out magical theory as logically and concisely as I could. As I talked, I realized that these men were genuinely listening. Stott was even taking notes.
Well. Maybe they weren’t blockheads after all.
~*~
After some polite goodbyes to the researchers, I went back to Del’Hain to pick up Night. I left Kartal there in Sojavel Ra. He had that huge pile of “treasure” to help sort through, after all.
I took a few minutes to properly say goodbye to all of the family and pick up a few items in town. As I ran around, I filled in Night on what had happened this morning. Have you ever seen a horse try to laugh and walk at the same time? It’s a funny sight, let me tell you. I actually got quite the kick watching his reaction to the story.
I thought I’d score some major points and picked up two of Chatta’s favorite treats. Night was teasing me about doing this but I’m good at ignoring him when I want to.
Doing all of this had eaten up the morning, and it was nearly noon when I was done. Night and I voted on eating lunch there in Del’Hain before traveling back to Chahir.
After a very filling lunch of squinch and meat pie, I made sure all of my packages were on Night’s back. Satisfied, I took us down into the earth path.
As usual, it was warm and quiet inside the earth. I let it flow over me, soothing away all the minor tensions flooding my body.
“You really do like it down here, don’t you?”
“It’s very relaxing,” I answered contentedly, eyes shut.
“Aren’t you worried about hitting something?”
“Not really.”
He grumbled, but didn’t reply. I decided it was better to just change the subject. “How is Hayden really?” I asked Night. I wasn’t sure if the kid was putting on a good face when I was around.
“Ecstatic. There’s a part of him, though, that thinks this is all too good to be true. He never says anything, but his eyes…”
I nodded in understanding. I expected something like that. “Time will erase that worry.”
“I wish we could bring good news back with us.”
“Chatta was actually afraid this was the answer. She’s quite good with pools, really. We just both hoped that the experts knew something she didn’t.”
“So what are we going to do?”
“Good question,” I sighed. “I haven’t the foggiest notion. We might end up just working around the pools, as we did before.”
“I foresee a lot of glamour spells in our future.”
That statement troubled me. Glamour spells were hard to hold for any length of time. They took quite a bit of concentration. And you couldn’t hold them while you were asleep. For Chatta to cast a glamour over all of us…well, that would drain her quickly. I didn’t exactly agree with Night.
I saw very limited magic being used in our immediate future.
Chapter Eighteen: Cause and Effect
I didn’t take the earth path directly to where the team was. That would have been like painting a target on all of our backs. Instead, I went back to what Shad had dubbed “the treasure cave” and stopped there. Then I pulled out a glamour amulet for both Night and I, and put them on. They would last five hours before breaking down; that should give us enough time to lose anyone that might be tracking us by scrying pool.
Once we were off the mountain, Night fell into a ground-eating lope. I settled back in the saddle, only keeping a cursory eye on where we were going. Riding a Nreesce was so much better than riding a horse—I could just point him in the right direction and turn him loose.
“Garth, who do you think the boy is? The one that Xiaolang had that premonition about.”
I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. “Honestly, I have no idea. The kid’s got to be pretty important, if he’s going to change Chahiran policy.”
“One of the Dom’s sons or something?”
“Or something,” I agreed, arrested by this idea. “Some of the Doms have a lot of power and influence.”
“I hope we find the boy soon. I’m getting kind of tired of being away from home so much.”
I patted his neck in sympathy. “Yeah, I’m with you on that one.” It wasn’t just that I missed being able to see my family and friends on a regular basis, although that was a large part of it. I was also envisioning just how much work was piling up for me. Supposedly Kartal was handling a large portion of it, but still….
Owing Kartal favors would make anyone nervous.
“When this is over, let’s buy a house,” Night suggested in a burst of enthusiasm.
Where in blue blazes had that come from? “Not that I’m complaining, but why are you suggesting that now?”
“We’re too handy for Guin,” he explained with a slight timbre of irritation in his voice. “We’re too convenient. Whenever something goes wrong, he thinks of us first because he knows that it’ll be easy to lay hands on us quickly.”
I followed this closely, mind spinning. “So if we were not in easy reach, say in our own house outside of the city…then he might stop calling on us so much…?”
“I think so.”
For about three seconds, I seriously considered what he was saying. “You know, Night, I’m feeling the sudden urge to go buy a house.”
“I thought you’d see it my way.” He was very smug.
“You’re a devious person Night, and I’m proud to know you.”
He chuckled wickedly.
The rest of the trip, we discussed what exactly we wanted in our new house, making a list as the miles passed beneath our feet.
~*~
It took a day of hard travel, but I finally caught up with the team just outside of Netchdor, in Farless Province. Xiaolang told me to meet them there before I left—Farless was one of those Provinces that were willing to enforce Guin’s terms. It also possessed a permanent pool. For the experimentation that we wanted to do, this was one of the safest places to tinker.
The pool was largely abandoned, not a soul living within thirty miles of it. Everyone was camping just outside the building where the pool was housed, looking rather well established—apparently they had been camped here for a day or so, waiting for me. I waved as I came in. “Hey!”
“Garth!” Chatta leapt to her feet, abandoning whatever it was that she was cooking over the fire, and sprinted for me.
I quickly dropped out of the saddle, barely catching her when she threw herself at me. For a purely selfish moment, I hugged her tight enough to make ribs squeak. She laughed, tightening her hold on me in return.
The moment was completely ruined when Night poked me in the ribs with his nose, throwing me off balance. I nearly fell over, which would have been bad because I’d take Chatta with me. Catching myself, I turned a dark glare on him. “And just what was that for?”
“You’re taking up my hugging time too,” he informed me with an equally dark glare.
That sent Chatta off into an extended giggle fit. Releasing me, she went to hug my bratty Nreesce. “Now Night, you know that I’d never neglect you.”
Sighing in contentment, he rubbed his head agains
t her back, tail swishing happily back and forth.
I watched this with narrowed eyes, plotting different methods of revenge. He’s normally a deep sleeper….
Xiaolang saved Night from impending doom by joining the welcoming party. “So how was the trip?”
Shaking off visions of pranks dancing in my head, I smoothed my face out. “Good. My parents adopted Hayden—when I left, the kid was being smothered with motherly attention and loving every minute of it.” He was sure to feel overwhelmed soon. It wasn’t just parents he had suddenly inherited, but four brothers, two sisters, a niece and a nephew—a veritable wealth of relations.
“Knowing your family, I hadn’t expected anything different.” A smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. “And our treasure?”
“Delivered to the Sojavel Ra Institute. The place is full of magical experts; they’ll figure it all out. I took a moment while I was there and asked them about shutting off permanent pools.”
That distracted Chatta from hugging Night, and she pulled away to look at me. “What did they say?”
“Pretty much what you said,” I admitted with a weary sigh. “They thought moving the ley line or diverting the power would work. Other than that, our only option is putting some sort of capstone on it.”
“I was afraid that might be the answer.” She didn’t look surprised, just resigned.
“I would like to take a few hours and really look the situation over.” My eyes gravitated to the plain gray building where the pool was as I said this. “My first instinct on playing with ley lines is to say that it’s too dangerous but I might be wrong.”
“It never hurts to double-check,” Xiaolang agreed calmly. “But for tonight, rest. You’ve been very busy the past three days, and I don’t want you making mistakes because of fatigue.”
Not a bad idea. “I’ll not argue.”
“Speaking of making mistakes…” Night gave me a pointed look. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Forgetting something…? Oh! “Busted buckets, I nearly forgot. Chatta, I picked up some of that sweet bread you like while I was in Del’Hain.”
Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) Page 29