“Trev’nor is still pestering me about that,” I admitted. “And if he still wants that ten years from now, I’ll probably give in. But really, I haven’t thought much about it.”
“But all of that knowledge and experience…just lost…” She sounded faintly horrified at the idea.
“It won’t be,” I pointed out, fighting a smile. “Assuming I can convince some daring woman to marry me, all of my children will be born with Jaunten blood.”
She had clearly not considered that. “Oh! That’s true, isn’t it?”
“And even if that doesn’t happen, Hevenreien, Cora’s brother, carries my Jaunten inheritance.”
“Yes, but he’s not quite the same. A Mage would have to constantly badger him with questions.”
I couldn’t argue with that. “Why this sudden curiosity about Jaunten?”
“I just realized that I don’t understand that part of you at all. Most of the time, you act like your Jaunten blood doesn’t impact you.”
“Some of the time, that’s true,” I allowed. “None of my Jaunten ancestors knew anything about magic. But you’ll notice that I’ve never used a map.”
She blinked. “You’re right, you haven’t. Jaunten knowledge?”
“With all of my ancestors combined, there isn’t a cranny in all of Hain that I can’t recognize on sight.”
“Now that’s handy,” she observed enviously.
She has no idea. Before I became a Jaunten, I was notorious for getting lost.
Didi appeared from the air, landing with a soft thump near Chatta’s hip. With a wide yawn that nearly dislocated his jaw, he snuggled in against Chatta’s chest. Eyes closed, he chittered in sleepy pleasure.
I stifled a yawn myself. “I think he has the right idea.”
Chatta nodded, eyes already falling closed. “Garth…thanks for telling me.” The words came out a little slurred.
Smiling, I relaxed and let comforting darkness swallow me whole.
Mmm. Peanut butter. That sounded so good…
Last time I had to chase Night around the backyard for it, as Mom only made one batch, and the brat wouldn’t share.
Eyes still closed, I shifted a little on the rocky ground. I didn’t need to take a peek to know that it was very late at night, and nowhere near my turn to take the watch. Shifting some more, I tried to go back to sleep. It did no good, of course. I was hungry now.
Grumbling, I woke up a little more. I hate food dreams. I always wake up starving from them.
Mom had packed a jar of peanut butter for me right before I left. Unless Night had somehow pleaded/blackmailed/threatened someone into feeding it to him, it should still be there. Maybe I’d be able to sleep some more if I had some.
I was sitting up before I realized that I could hear Night’s voice in the back of my head.
“Mmmm. Thick and creamy. So good! As good as Jaylan’s…”
That brat! Had he somehow convinced whoever it was on watch to feed him MY peanut butter when I wasn’t looking?!
My brain cycled that one through, and then realized that wasn’t right. He said “as good as Jaylan’s.” So if it wasn’t my mother’s peanut butter, whose was it?
“Just one more cracker…no wait, don’t make me stretch my neck for it. I’m too far from camp as it is.”
What was that idiot doing? Trying to broadcast my mind I asked, Night, what are you doing?
“Um.” Don’t ask me how, but I could almost feel the guilty wince in that monosyllable.
Where are you getting the peanut butter from? I tried not to sound darkly suspicious…but I was.
Um…we have a visitor?
We have a what? Blinking, I tried to wake up enough to think. A visitor? From where?
“I believe that she’s from the pool. She hasn’t said much about that, but she’s definitely a Life Mage. She feels just like Hevencoran.”
Great magic! Bring her into camp, then! I want to talk to her.
“About that…I’ve tried! She can’t believe that I’m talking to her; she keeps thinking it’s her imagination or something. I’ve been trying to make friends with her so she’ll come back to camp with me.”
How? I inquired dryly. By letting her feed you peanut butter?
“It’s all for a good cause,” he pointed out righteously.
Cause my left eyeball! I made my mental voice as dry as possible. How noble of you to sacrifice yourself for our sakes, Night. And how is your plan progressing?
“I think it’s going to take at least three more crackers of peanut butter.”
I groaned, letting my head thump against my knees.
“No, wait, don’t go that direction!”
Alarmed, I sat back up. Night, what’s going on?
“She keeps drawing me away from the camp. Come on, miss, not that way? We really need to go back…”
Night, she’s obviously not comfortable being so close to our camp. Just plant your feet and refuse to move. I’ll be there in a second.
“But she’s got another cracker just slathered in peanut butter!”
Don’t move, I ordered sternly.
“I can just stretch my neck out a little further…”
I groaned. He wasn’t listening to me at all. Kicking off my blankets, I tugged on my boots quickly. Night, where are you?
“Head toward the pool, you’ll run into me.”
I was nearly outside of the fire’s light when a shadow detached itself from the ground. My heart leaped in my chest before I realized that it was Shad. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Yeah. Night’s been out there for a while. Do you know what he’s doing?”
“Being bribed,” I growled.
He blinked. “I’m sorry, what?”
I grabbed Shad as I moved. “Just come on, and try to look non-threatening.”
“Um, they’re really not evil…”
Night, what are you talking about?
“She keeps telling me that I’m a beautiful stallion—which she’s right about—” I rolled my eyes at the smug tone “—but she also says that she’s going to save me from ‘those evil men’ if I would just follow her.”
The ‘evil men’ being us?
“Probably. Like I said, she’s really not listening to me. Mmm. Yum!”
Night will you PLEASE focus?!
“But it’s good peanut butter!”
I’m going to kill him when I get my hands on him.
“Garth, considering what she said, I don’t think it’s wise to come any closer.”
I flung out a hand, stopping both Shad and I in our tracks. Why not?
“Well, she thinks you guys are the bad guys. If you show up now, it’s just going to spook her.”
You say that like you have an idea in mind.
“Of course I do. I’ll go back with her, and talk to the people at the pool.”
I groaned, heading falling back to look at the starlit sky.
“What?” Shad demanded. “Will you please tell me what’s going on?”
“Apparently there’s a young Life Mage that lives up at the pool,” I explained in a rapid undertone. “She’s come down to try and steal Night away. I doubt she knows what he really is—every time Night tries to talk to her, she thinks it’s her imagination.” The girl must have quite the imagination. “She must be quite charming. Night thinks it’s a wonderful idea to go back with her.” I rolled my eyes.
“Like a spy behind enemy lines?” Shad was about a hare’s breath from bursting out laughing.
“Something along those lines.” I made my mental ‘voice’ as firm as possible. Night, you’re not going back with her. Get that notion right out of your head.
“Seriously, Garth, I think this will work.”
You’re only saying that because you want more peanut butter!
“She’s a sweet girl,” Night defended himself. “And it’s not like I’ll be in any danger.”
I took in a deep breath, and tried to remain calm and reasonable. Night, listen ve
ry closely. This girl is a Life Mage. If she doesn’t believe that it’s you talking, no one else up there is likely to. They’ll think it’s some Star Order trick. Believe me, I know how deep the paranoia about the Star Order runs in this country. It’s only gotten worse since I left two years ago.
“Can’t I at least try?” he asked plaintively.
We DO have our own peanut butter, you know.
“Yes, but you won’t feed it to me!”
I buried my face in my hands. Sometimes Night was so mature and reasonable, that I forgot he was still a teenager. Or at least, I forgot until he did something like this and reminded me. Tomorrow morning, I promise to feed you half the jar. Just don’t, whatever you do, walk off with a perfect stranger?
“How about the whole jar?”
I’ll have Didi braid pink ribbons through your hair if you don’t come back right this instant, I threatened.
“Garth, I’m dying from suspense here!” Shad complained.
“I’m arguing with a teenage Nreesce with a death wish,” I half-growled.
“Ah. Judging from your expression…are you losing?”
“Badly.”
Shad had the bad taste to snicker.
“Uh-oh. Garth, you better get here quick. She just pulled out a halter.”
Aw rats! Duck it! I ordered quickly.
“I’m trying to!”
“Shad, run!” I took off as I said this, pelting around the curve of the hill.
“What’s going on?” Shad demanded at my elbow.
“She’s got a halter she’s trying to put on Night.”
“And how hard is he trying to avoid that halter?” Shad wanted to know, a demented grin tugging at his mouth.
“Peanut butter, halter…peanut butter, halter…Garth, how close are you?”
Night, if you’re thinking about accepting that bribe, think again. You know the second you take it she’s going to get that halter on you.
“But you’re close enough to rescue me, right?”
NIGHT!
“It’s a perfectly reasonable question!”
No, it is NOT!
“…oops.”
I just groaned.
Shad gave me a quick glance. “He got caught, didn’t he?”
“Sounds like it,” I sighed.
Fortunately, we were close. We came up another shallow depression, and nearly stumbled right into Night. He was standing there with a sheepish look on his face, a halter half-buckled on him.
Standing at his head was a slim girl with waist-length hair. I couldn’t tell much about her, considering the wan lighting of the moon, but she was definitely a Life Mage.
She took one panicked look at us, dropped the halter, and bolted.
“No, wait!” I called uselessly after her. “Busted buckets…” She was fast, maybe faster than me. “Shad, after her!”
I’ve never met anyone that could outrun Shad. He was on her trail before I could get the words out of my mouth, grass moving noisily under his feet as he moved.
In seconds, he caught her arm. “Wait, we’re not here to hurt anyone—”
I know, intellectually, that a Life Mage can do more than communicate or sense all life forms. They can mimic them, too. But I’ve never seen that in action. It was certainly quick! One minute Shad had a hold on a girl’s arm, the next, she was gone.
“Where’d she go?” I looked around in panic.
“The cat!” Shad yelled, pointing off to the right. “Catch the cat!”
She’d turned herself into a cat?! I took off in pursuit, trying to watch the motion of the grass. The grass was too thick and tall to see a cat, but she was sure to disturb the grass as she moved, and that would help us figure out where she was.
Shad and I pelted all out, searching for her at frantic speed. Shad dove and nearly caught her once, but she sped out of his hands at the last second.
Maybe she got tired of being chased. Or maybe she was just scared and acting on the defensive. All I know was, one second I was chasing a small house cat, the next, she had turned into this black, ferocious looking panther. With a roar, she spun on her hind legs, and charged.
“Whoa!” Out of sheer survival instinct, I did an about face and started running the other direction. I snagged Shad as I ran, throwing up a shield around us as soon as I was close enough.
She skidded to a stop, pacing just outside of the shield, snarling at us in rage.
“We’re not enemies!” I shouted in exasperation. “Will you calm down and listen?”
Xiaolang appeared out of nowhere, boots unlaced and a sword in hand. “What is going on out here?!”
Shad pointed at the panther. “Xiaolang, catch her!”
Our illustrious Captain took a good look at the huge cat facing us and he demanded incredulously, “Catch that? Are you crazy? No way!”
“But—!” I couldn’t get the explanation out fast enough. Once she realized that Xiaolang was armed, she took off again, disappearing quickly into the thick cover of darkness. I could have found her again, of course. My eyes might be useless, but I could still sense her. But there was no way I could catch her.
And I wasn’t sure, now that I’d calmed down some, whether that was the best approach anyway.
“Too late,” Shad sighed.
Xiaolang raked a frustrated hand through his disheveled hair. “Will someone please explain what is going on?”
I glared at my Nreesce. “We have a traitor in our midst.”
Night gave me an offended look. “I am not!”
“And who was bonding over peanut butter…?” Shad’s expression was a little too innocent.
“I was making friends with her!”
Xiaolang sank his head into his free hand. “This is going to be good, I can see it now. All right, back to camp. You can fill me in there.”
Chapter Twenty: Tactics
My hand clenched around my mug as once again, female laughter rang in the air. Chatta and Aletha were hanging onto each other, nearly falling sideways as their unbridled laughter threatened their balance.
I didn’t mind that they were enjoying themselves. Truly. It’s always nice to see pretty women laughing.
But did it have to be at my expense?
“…and then she turns into a cat…” Aletha gasped, tears of mirth streaming down her cheeks.
“And Super Soldier over here couldn’t catch her,” Chatta added with a look at Shad.
“Neither could the all-powerful Advent Mage,” Shad drawled in return. He wasn’t upset—Shad’s twisted sense of humor still thought the whole situation last night was hilarious. Seeing the girls laugh about it just upped the level of entertainment for him.
“…and then she turns into a panther…” Despite the fact that Aletha and Chatta had already gone over this story three times, they both cracked up again.
“And Garth automatically runs from her!” Chatta had an arm wrapped around her waist, gasping. “Oh—stop, stop, it’s too much!”
Aletha had either no pity, or was too amused to stop now. “Night, come tell us what his face looked like.”
I shot a glare at my Nreesce. “Do and die.”
Night’s eyes darted between me and Chatta, and I didn’t need to be a telepath to know that he was tempted to tell the girls all about last night despite how I felt about the matter.
“Oh, better!” Chatta had this expression on her face that I didn’t trust. Every time that I’ve seen that particular look, mischief followed. “Night, come here. We’ll make a memory crystal of last night.”
Oh no. No, no, no, no, no! Have last night as a crystal memory, so that everyone in the world (or in Chatta’s reach, same difference) would know about it? Over my dead body. The glare I gave Night could melt steel when he took a step forward. “Night, if you take one more step, I will ban you from peanut butter for LIFE.”
Night froze in mid-step. “Seriously?” His eyes were wide with alarm.
“Now, Garth.” Chatta was smirking at me.
I gave her the most menacing glare possible. “I can’t stop you from laughing about last night, but if you think that I’m going to sit idly by and watch you spread that memory around, you’ve been eating too many mushrooms.”
She blinked at me, all innocent naiveté. “But they’re such good mushrooms! They make me see pretty colors.”
Two could play this game. “Seriously, you’d better stop. You’re starting to glow.”
“I’m a Witch, I’m supposed to glow!”
“A neon green?”
Chatta, as she normally does, fell to insults when she started losing. “Vertically challenged pipsqueak.”
“Mother of a fat drunken pig,” I retorted immediately.
“Ha! Shrunken freak of nature!”
“At least I’m not horizontally unchallenged!”
“Obviously I need to teach you more insults!”
“Why? Mine’s fine—it’s short and simple, rather like you.”
“Oooh, first blood.” Shad was watching us with unholy glee.
Chatta gave him a glare that could have frozen a man on the spot. “Garth, how about a temporary truce?”
“In order to beat up on Shad?” I eyed the Captain thoughtfully. He had been the one to tell the story to the girls, which had started this whole thing. Yeah, I could be decently mad at him. “You’re on.”
“Excellent,” she purred. She drew her wand from her sleeve in a particularly sinister manner.
Shad didn’t look as nearly as worried as he should. “Now, now, let’s not be hasty. We’re all friends, aren’t we?”
“We’ll leave you breathing,” I promised with a feral smile.
Xiaolang cleared his throat, effectively capturing our attention. Even though he was only half-dressed (still without jacket and boots), and was sitting on his bedroll, he still somehow radiated authority. “May I remind you that we’re barely five miles away from a very nervous group of magicians? No fooling around.”
“Killjoy,” Chatta accused him.
I nodded in quick support of this opinion.
“Ah, c’mon, C2!” Shad sounded like a whiny three year old. “I can take ‘em. Having them both out for my blood makes for a really good workout.”
Xiaolang rolled his eyes. “Why must I be the adult here? And what’s this C2 nonsense?”
Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) Page 32