After my mental inspection the day before, Kartal had been cold towards me in front of people, and a jerk in private. He did manage to control himself enough to cooperate in determining where the drains should be. He flared up again when I put the drains in, with no help from him. I honestly hadn't meant to show off. It was just that it didn't occur to me that it would be a difficult task for a Wizard. With my Mage sense, I had seen nothing but loose soil lying underneath water. It was child’s play for me to move the earth into deep furrows, to act as a drain.
We stayed on in the area and worked for two more days. When we weren't trying to repair the devastation, Kartal was off charming the ladies. I was usually tired by the end of the day, and just went to bed. Night didn't like Kartal at all, and chose to retire with me without a fuss. He never said anything, but I think he was guarding me.
Just knowing that someone was on my side was a relief. I found myself talking with him more than I ever had, and asking for his opinion on several things. If nothing else, his answers were amusing. The older Night got, the more hints of the Jaunten knowledge I saw. Was there some kind of a safety feature in the blood inheritance that limited its effect on a young mind? Nothing in my knowledge suggested it, but it was something I should definitely ask about when I returned to the Academy.
As bad as Kartal was in town, he was a hundred times worse on the road. There, we had no relief from each other. Kartal took over—or tried to take over all of the travel arrangements. I let him have his way most of the time, just because I was tired of arguing with him.
Then he did something I couldn’t ignore.
We stopped for the night at a hostel that was obviously upper class. I took one look at it and knew that there was no way that they would let Night stay in my room with me. “Kartal, we can’t stay here.”
He paused in dismounting, giving me a distasteful look. “You might be used to such common accommodations, Rhebengarthen, but I am not. I refuse to spend another night in some hovel. We will stay here.”
I gritted my teeth and kept my tone even. “They will not allow Night to stay with me. We cannot spend the night here.”
“So, let him sleep in the stables,” Kartal shrugged in a bored manner. “That’s where he belongs anyway.”
Night suddenly lunged for Kartal, who still had one boot in the stirrup, and bit him hard on the thigh. The Wizard screamed in pain, jerking away in sheer reflex. That startled his horse into rearing up and skittering sideways. Kartal lost his balance, and landed on his back in the mud with a squelch.
My sweet, innocent Nreesce danced away, and ducked behind Sunny and me. He batted big blue eyes at me, as if mischief hadn’t even crossed his mind. I looked away quickly, before I started laughing. Unfortunately, I looked in the wrong direction and saw Kartal glaring, his expensive robes ruined with mud, nursing what I’m sure was a nasty bruise on his leg.
Can’t laugh…can’t laugh…it will only make things worse, can’t laugh… “What were you saying about the accommodations, Kartal?” I enquired with exquisite politeness.
Angrily, he jerked up to his feet, doing his best not to put any weight on his injured leg. “You need to control your Nreesce,” he snarled at me.
“Kartal, you are obviously laboring under several misconceptions. Allow me to enlighten you. Night is not my possession; he is my companion. As such, he has every right to stay in my room if he so desires. You may stay here if you wish, but I believe Night and I shall find another inn.” I turned Sunny around, completely ignored the Wizard, and led Night further along the street.
“Not mad at me?” Night enquired hesitantly.
“Not mad,” I assured him while swallowing another smile. “He well deserved the bite. But try not to make a habit of it, all right? We’ll keep biting as a last resort.”
He pranced a little, happy no doubt that he had gotten by with assaulting Kartal. I went back to looking for a suitable inn, grateful that I wouldn’t have to put up with Kartal, for at least one night.
~*~
Night’s bite had an interesting effect on the pompous Wizard. He was almost completely silent the next day. If I’d known that biting him would shut him up, I would have had Night bite him well before this.
Okay, maybe not, but the idea certainly would have tempted me! It would have also served as a nice pressure relief when the Wizard was really getting under my skin.
We must have covered a league before Kartal finally spoke. When he did, it was dark and ominous, like the rumbling of thunderclouds. “Since you obviously do not wish for my help, I’ve contacted the Trasdee Evondit Orra, to inform them that you will be on your own from now on.”
I knew that there were magical way stations where messages could be relayed. I hadn’t realized that the town we were in last night was large enough to house such a station. Apparently it had been. Kartal must have been there half the night getting a message all the way to Del’Hain and back. “And what was their answer?”
His glare at me was murderous. “Since you are still being schooled, the consensus was that you will continue to need a trained Wizard as an observer.”
He was clearly unhappy about that decision. For that matter, I wasn’t particularly delighted by it myself. I sighed, feeling very put upon. “Kartal, can’t we call a truce?”
“Truce? When you delight in showing me up at every turn?”
I’d been told by several people that Kartal was a prodigy when it came to magic. He was obviously used to being the best at magic, and rarely topped in ability. “I’m not trying to compete with you, Kartal.”
“Oh really.”
I wanted to snap back, yes, really, but that was just a little too juvenile. “Kartal, I’m an Earth Mage. It stands to reason that I have more power at my beck and call than you do. That doesn’t make me superior in ability. I don’t have the knowledge of magic that you do. Half of what I do is sheer guess work.” He looked away from me, obviously not buying that either. Blowing out a breath of exasperation I tried a different tack. “If you’re trying to prove that you’re the better Wizard, you’re not going about it the right way.”
“Well forgive me for not being perfect!”
What sins could I have possibly committed to deserve dealing with this idiot? This was worse than any argument that I ever had with my brothers. Most of those arguments wound up being settled with a physical altercation. It also served to relieve the tension by letting off a lot of steam. I never dared follow the same pattern with my sister.
I haven’t exactly made a study of the subject, but fights between guys and fights between girls are completely different things. A girl’s fight isn’t so much a quick battle as a drawn out, no holds barred, epic war. They slowly build up to an actual physical fight, with years of issues for ammunition. There are plenty of petty barbs, dirty looks, and underhanded tactics, mixed in lots of help from their girlfriends.
Now, a guy’s fight has one of two purposes behind it. One, you really hate the guy’s guts, and just feel the urge to pound on him whenever he is nearby. Or two, you are mad at a friend. Fighting with a friend is simply a way to acknowledge your differences and get the whole issue out in the open. After a proper "discussion" it is considered settled, and life moves on.
Kartal and I weren't friends, but I had a feeling that if we just pounded on each other for a while, and got all of our pent-up frustration out of each other's systems, we'd probably feel better for it.
And if my mother heard me trying to rationalize beating up on someone else, she'd kill me. I let out an irritated sigh, and tossed aside the lovely fantasy of punching Kartal's face in. I tried to focus on coming up with a more rational solution to my dilemma.
I couldn't beat up on him, couldn't kill him…what options did that leave?
~*~
By the end of the day I was back to that question. However, killing Kartal was looking more and more appealing. With every asinine word out of his mouth, the urge to reach out and constrict his airway beca
me a little stronger. If he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t say stupid things.
Kartal knew that we were in something of a hurry. Every minute we delayed meant more water was flooding the peninsula, and it would take that much longer to clear up the mess. Did the prodigy Wizard care?
At every way station, café, tavern, or watering hole, Kartal stopped to linger. Instead of the usual three leagues a day we'd covered before, we'd barely covered six miles. If I weren't ordered to stay with him, I would have left in a heartbeat. I felt certain it would be quite some time before he’d even noticed I was gone.
We stopped for the night (with another hour of daylight left for travel I might add) in a little inn that was surprisingly clean and comfortable. The innkeeper was a stout woman with a broad face, wrinkled with a lifetime of laughter and smiles. Her hair was wispy and defied being kept in the tidy bun at the back of her head. The apron she wore tied to her plump middle, with its stains and worn condition, bore silent testimony to her endless labor. She introduced herself as "Aunt Emmy", and insisted we call her as such. When I introduced Night, she didn't even bat an eye. She reached up with a callused hand and scratched him behind the ear before offering him a plate of apples.
Kartal even commented that this inn was "adequate", which was a minor miracle in and of itself. I went to bed that night with a full stomach and a hope that surely things would improve in the morning.
Chapter Eight: Diplomacy
Chatta truly loved Professor Doss. He was one of the best employers she had ever had…but the man didn't have one ounce of organizational talent in his body. She'd taken three days off in order to study for her Witch's examination, and in her absence, all of the graded (and un-graded) tests, essays, reports, and special projects were heaped precariously on the desk. There was correspondence lying all over the place with books stacked here and there, not to mention several dirty dishes. In fact, if she wasn't mistaken, one plate looked half-eaten, and had the pungent aroma of being abandoned for several days.
Sighing, she rolled her sleeves up and set to work organizing and cleaning up the area. At least she was a full-fledged Witch now, which lifted all of the magical restrictions. It made clean up so much easier. All she had left was a six month internship with the school, and she was a free woman.
Just shortly after lunch she finally finished grading all of the tests and essays. The projects she wasn't about to touch! Some of them were so poorly assembled, it was probably lethal to do more than look at them. She turned toward the huge stack of correspondence and started to sort through it. Most of it was a matter of filing, or simply throwing it away, as necessary. She was half way through the stack when Garth's name leaped out at her from one report. Blinking, she went back to the top of the page and started to read more carefully.
"To Trasdee Evondit Orra, Greetings:
Progress has been speedily made in rectifying the flood damage. The mayor requested that I pass along his gratitude for your wisdom in assigning such highly trained talent to help him and his province.
There is a significant problem, however. Mage Trainee Rhebengarthen has proven very difficult to work with. His uncompromising arrogance is unmanageable. I request that one of us be reassigned."
Chatta's face scrunched up in a disbelieving frown. "Garth?" she muttered doubtfully. "Arrogant? Never! He's always so polite…and he's the first to compromise, too." There was something else going on here, definitely. Her eyes darted to the bottom of the page, looking for the author.
Roarke Kartal, Wizard.
Kartal, Kartal…why did that name sound so familiar?
The door clicked open, drawing Chatta's attention. Professor Doss came in, took in his cleared desk, and beamed. "My dear, you are excellent as always! So very efficient. Is everything graded?"
"Except the projects," she confirmed. "I didn't dare touch them."
"Excellent!" he approved cheerfully. "I shall deal with those. Are there any new messages for me?"
"No, it's been quiet this morning." She hesitated. Doss had always been good about answering her questions. He certainly wouldn't mind that she'd been reading his mail; in fact he seemed to expect it. "Professor, this message concerning Garth…may I ask what is going on? I've never seen Garth acting arrogantly, and he's one of the easiest people to get along with in the world!"
"Ah, that one." Doss lost his jubilance, hands rubbing together in front of his substantial paunch in an absent fashion. "Yes, that letter bothered me as well. It doesn't sound like our Garth, does it? Tell me, Chatta, do you know Wizard Roarke Kartal?"
"No sir," she admitted. "The name sounds familiar, but that's all."
"Ah, well, he is several years older than you. He's a prodigy with magic, you see; always was an excellent student. I'm afraid it went to his head a little. We assigned him to help Garth, just to oversee matters, since Garth has so little practical experience with magic." Turning aside, he sank into a chair, shifting until he was comfortably settled. "Truthfully, I had hoped that being around someone like Garth would deflate his ego a little. Kartal is brilliant, but compared to a Mage's power, he's little more than an amateur. I thought seeing Garth in action would humble him, but apparently it's just enraged him. His jealousy seems to have impaired his perspective."
Chatta nodded, to show that she was following. "Was he reassigned?"
"No, my dear, we couldn't afford to do that. There's so few of us Wizards and Witches, with too much work. We simply couldn't spare anyone else to take Kartal's job. Switching now would cost precious time. We left him where he is." Doss let out a great sigh, looking weary and irritated. "I regret saddling Garth with that self centered narcissist. We shouldn't have to burden a fledgling Mage to spank one of our own Wizards."
Chatta's mouth quirked with humor at the imagery, but the humor didn't last long. She didn't like thinking that her friend was in such an uncomfortable situation.
A wild notion suddenly bloomed in her mind. The problem was how she would manage to convince everyone else to let her do it? "Professor?" she ventured cautiously.
"Yes?"
"Just how bad is the situation, do you think?"
"Not good," he admitted sourly. "I fully expect to get a report any day now that one of them has killed the other. They're at each other's throats as it is."
Wetting dry lips, she very carefully phrased her next words before voicing them. "You said that there weren't any full Wizards or Witches to spare right now…but what if you sent someone still in their internship? Not to replace Kartal, per se, but just to act as mediator. It would give them practical experience as well," she hastily added.
Doss froze, arrested by the idea. "That isn't a bad idea…no, indeed! It would kill two birds with one stone." The proverbial light dawned, and he grinned at her, eyebrows waggling. "Ah, I see now. You want to go, don't you?"
Sheepishly she nodded. "May I? I hate to think of Garth stuck with this moron, with no one to help balance the scales. And I really, really want to get out of the school for a while."
He pretended to think it over, but really there was no good reason to reject the request. Chatta was a very skilled Witch, and she had a level head on her shoulders. He let her stew for a moment before nodding. "I don't see why not. I'll put in the formal request and arrange for some quick transportation. You go pack."
"Yes sir!" She bounced out of the chair and was out the door in a heartbeat, leaving an amused professor in her wake.
Doss shook his head at the empty door. "I don't have to warn her to pack lightly, do I?" he enquired of the empty air. "Well, if she packs too much, it'll be a lesson learned for her."
~*~
Chatta had never realized it until this moment, but she really didn't have any practical traveling clothes. Witches' robes were all well and good while in school or around town, but they were a pain to ride in! She didn't own any of the special traveling robes; her budget never seemed to stretch that far. And she only had a valise, no saddlebags. That wouldn't work at al
l. There was no hope for it; she was simply going to have to go shopping!
Normally, when Chatta went shopping, it was an all day affair. Contrary to what her father believed, however, she could shop quickly, when the circumstance demanded it. She managed to buy robes, traveling boots, saddlebags, a weather proof cloak, and a bedroll. If she'd forgotten anything else, she'd either buy it or conjure it later.
She rushed back, quickly changing into one of her new robes and stuffed everything else into the saddlebags. A few other necessities went into the bags as well, packed with more haste than care.
Chatta was usually a person with fair observational skills, but like all people in a hurry, some of the little details escaped her immediate notice. She failed to notice the latch on her window being opened. She also failed to notice a small animal with bright, inquisitive eyes, long pointed ears and wings that darted into her room. She failed to notice the attention she gathered when she put several long ribbons into her pack.
While she made one last check around the room, the small invader winnowed his way into her bags, determined to get to that ribbon.
"I think that's everything," Chatta murmured to herself. "If not, I'll deal with it later." So saying, she tied the bags firmly into place, hefted them over her shoulder, and departed from the room.
Professor Doss met her in the hallway in an expansive mood. He was pleased that he finally had a solution to the “Kartal-Garth problem”, as he'd come to think of it. "There you are, ready to go?"
"Yes, all ready," Chatta confirmed with rising anticipation. She was very much looking forward to seeing Garth and Night again, and especially happy about being out of the school for a while.
"Good, good. I've arranged transport for you. You'll take one of the school horses, of course. There's a riverboat traveling east on the Semanai River. It will take you to Hinkerton, which should put you only a day or so behind them. Travel toward the Boren Mountains and you'll find them. I'll send a message along to warn them you're coming." Softly he added, "Good luck. And stay safe, Chatta."
Jaunten (Advent Mage Cycle) Page 10