Jaunten (Advent Mage Cycle)

by Honor Raconteur

  "Rhebengarthen."

  Curious, I glanced at him. "What?"

  "Why didn't you…why didn't you use magic?"

  I had absolutely no idea what he was referring to. "Not use magic, when?"

  "When we were fighting," he answered like it was obvious.

  Use magic during a fist fight? Why? I stared at him in complete incomprehension. "Why would I do that?"

  "To win, without getting hurt!" he snapped in irritation. Very carefully he sat up, one hand holding his head in place. His cheek was so swollen now that it made his eye puffy. It was definitely obvious that he had been in a fight—and lost. "You're more powerful than I am, obviously, so why didn't you use magic and just end it quickly?"

  This again. The guy really didn't get it. I let out a long sigh, trying to remain patient, while explaining my actions to him. "Look, I didn't fight to show you up, or to make it clear that I was better than you, or anything like that."

  "Then why?!"

  "You insulted my friend," I responded simply.

  His eyes grew until they seemed to dominate his face, and his jaw dropped a little. "That's it? I insulted the Witch, so you punched me to shut me up? Are you really that simple?"

  I didn't think there was anything simple about it. "That's what friends do, Kartal. Defend each other." Didn't he know that? "Why are you looking at me like that didn't make sense?"

  "Because it didn't! I know you like her, that's why I was…well, never mind. I've been insulting you for days now, weeks, and you never did anything but glare at me! Are you saying that other people are more important to you than your own reputation?"

  I've always thought of Kartal as a stuck up jerk, but it's only now that I realize it's more than that. I don't think he really understands what it means to be friends with other people. Somewhere along the line he'd put himself first, and that doesn't leave any room for friends. I almost pitied him—that must be a very lonely way to live. "A reputation is no substitute for friendship."

  His face twisted. "So you'll do anything to have friends, is that it?"

  "No!" Curses, we still weren't really communicating. But at least he was listening now. "If you're living right, you'll attract friends to you."

  A protest almost burst free from him, when he just froze, a startled look on his face. I've never witnessed someone have an epiphany before, but I could swear that Kartal had one in that moment. His mouth snapped shut as he turned away, a thoughtful frown sketched onto his face.

  Something I said must have rung a bell. With a weather eye on him, I went back to relaxing, and waiting for Chatta to show up. Surely there was one inn in this city that would let a Meuritta stay the night.

  "But why didn't you use magic?" he asked quietly, still perplexed. "Surely that would have been better than punching me."

  "It is not what a man is capable of doing, but what he chooses to do that is important."

  He snapped around, irritated. "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "If I use my power to beat up on idiots that irritate me, what kind of a man does that make me?" I shrugged, deliberately meeting his eyes to drive my point home. "Not a good one."

  "…hmmm." Very gingerly he lay back down, but his eyes were not focused on anything.

  If he wanted to think, I was perfectly willing to let him think. But now that he was awake, perhaps I should go look for Chatta. She'd been gone almost two hours, and I was beginning to worry about her. "Night, I'm going to look for Chatta."

  His head came up, tail swishing absently back and forth. "Is she lost?"

  "She's been gone too long; I'm worried," I explained. Colts apparently have no sense of time…unless they're hungry. "Do you want to come with me?"

  "Yes."

  I really hadn't expected any other kind of answer—Night always wants to come with me—and gestured for him to follow me. This wasn't a particularly large town. It was about half the size of my hometown, but it was certainly big enough to get lost in. We must have wandered for about ten minutes before we finally spotted her. Chatta was stalking in our direction, a faintly outraged look on her face. Uh-oh. Her expression brought the word ''bode'' to mind; as in, "this does not bode well."

  She brightened only slightly in seeing us and waved. I stepped to the side of the street and waited for her come within hearing range. "Find an inn?"

  "Yes, but the price was outrageous! I can't believe what that man demanded for a single night."

  Ah, that's why she looked so irritated. Well, as long as she wasn't mad at me… "Is it clean?"

  "Very, and the only place I found that will take us, Meuritta and Nreesce included, which is why I paid." Releasing a heavy sigh, she shrugged. "I assume the narcissist is conscious?"

  "Yes, and not blatantly rude, which is a nice change." I turned and fell into step with her, making our way back to the green to collect the horses and one slightly damaged Wizard.

  Chatta was giving me an intrigued study. "Not blatantly rude, eh? What did he say?"

  "He asked why I hadn't used magic in our fight."

  "Hmmm." She collected a lock of hair and twined it absently between her fingers. "I suppose that is a valid question from his perspective. Kartal has a reputation for using his magic to solve everything. To meet a Mage like you, that uses magic as a last resort, must really confuse him."

  "He looked confused," I admitted easily.

  "Well, maybe this will make him re-evaluate some things. It might even make him a little more humble, the beginnings of wisdom."

  "From your lips to the gods' ears," I sighed. We shared a wry smile, shrugged, and focused on where our feet were going.

  Chapter Ten: Traveling

  Ugh. I'm so bagged out.

  Kartal had roused us so early this morning that we had been on the road for an hour before the sun had clawed its way over the horizon. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a morning person—but there's something inherently wrong about getting up before the birds.

  Stifling a yawn, I glanced down at Night. My poor Nreesce was so tired, he was weaving back and forth like a drunkard. Every so often he would stumble into my knee, blink, grumble, and then straighten himself up a little. "Night? You okay?"

  "Sleepy!"

  "I don't want to be up either," I muttered under my breath. Almost in unison we glared darkly at the back of Kartal's head. He was the reason we were up so early, so we could be reasonably mad at him.

  Chatta came up on my other side. She was riding a finely muscled stallion (brought from the Academy's stables) that had a crush on my mare, Sunny. He tried to nuzzle her whenever he was within range. Chatta was a much better rider than I was (who wasn't?), so she kept him under control easily. I think the stallion resented her interfering with his love life. He kept giving her annoyed glances.

  The Witch was just as groggy as I was, but apparently her mind was awake. She was watching Kartal with a rather appraising look. "Garth?"

  "Hmmm?" I wish I had a cup of hot mulled cider to help me wake up.

  "What under the stars is going on with Kartal?" She kept her voice pitched low, with a weather eye on the Wizard's back. "He's been a hindrance all this time, and now he's acting like he personally has to make up for lost time."

  After our fight yesterday, the pompous Wizard had been mostly civil. I hesitate to use the word ''pleasant''…not aggressive is probably a better way of describing it. "It does seem that way."

  "I've never seen such a turnaround in all my life. It's as if someone flipped a personality switch in him somewhere." Her forehead drew together in a perplexed frown. "Although I guess I shouldn't complain; he's more tolerable now than yesterday."

  That was true. But then, there'd only been one direction to go. I can't imagine anyone being more unpleasant.

  Chatta shifted in her saddle, absently checking her stallion from getting amorous. Her eyes on me were strangely penetrating. "Just what did you say to change him like this?"

  "Nothing earth-shattering," I protested. />
  "That's not true," Kartal denied firmly.

  Oops. He heard us.

  Kartal stopped and half-turned his horse in order to face us. There was no smug, superior expression; no sneer; just that quiet pensive expression he'd been wearing since yesterday. A pensive Kartal was somehow a more disturbing sight than a sneering one. I had no idea what he was thinking.

  Chatta wasn't fazed by this change—or at least, not fazed enough to stay quiet. "So what did he say? It's obvious that something struck a nerve."

  What could I have possibly said…?

  Kartal looked directly at me as he answered. "He said what a man chooses to do is more important than what he is capable of doing."

  She blinked, absorbing the words and mulling them over for a minute. "Garth, that's rather profound. I'm impressed!"

  "From my father's lips to your ears," I said with a slight smile. He'd said it so often to me growing up that I could still hear his voice in my head.

  A slow grin grew over her face. "Aw, and here I thought that you'd come up with that all on your own."

  At that I had to roll my eyes. "Chatta, I am many things, but 'profound' isn't one of them." I gave her a mock glare when she laughed.

  Even Kartal had a hint of a smile on his face from the banter. Well, there might be hope for him yet, if he had a sense of humor.

  "But why did that have such an impact?" Chatta demanded insistently. Apparently she couldn't just let this go.

  Kartal sighed, and surprised me by answering evenly, "Because it reminded me of something that my grandfather taught me."

  Chatta arched an eyebrow, pointedly waiting for the rest of the explanation.

  "He said there's a difference between strength and power. Power changes what you are; strength changes who you are. A strong man does not need to sink to power's base demands. He doesn't need to prove himself to anyone." Kartal gave a wry smile. "Somewhere along the line I'd forgotten that, until a certain half-Mage beat it back into my head."

  I grinned at him. "You're welcome."

  "Kartal," Chatta stated slowly, "there might be hope for you yet."

  "But only if you stop waking us up at this magic-forsaken hour," I added around a yawn.

  "Sleepy!" Night agreed grouchily.

  "We have a lot of ground to cover." Kartal's smile was not at all nice.

  He had a valid point, so I couldn't argue…but I wanted to. I really, really wanted to.

  "Come on," Kartal turned his mount, kicking it into an easy trot. "We're burning daylight."

  Chatta and I followed suit, matching his pace. I gave Chatta's Meuritta an envious glance. Didi had curled up around Chatta's shoulders as soon as we hit the road, and had been asleep ever since.

  I wanted to sleep too.

  The responsible part of me kept my body in the saddle, and at least semi-conscious. Sometimes being an adult was no fun at all.

  ~*~

  Hindsight is perfect. It's easy to look back and see what you should have done. It was just coming on noon, which meant we had spent roughly seven hours in the saddle. We now realized that we should not have let Didi sleep.

  The Meuritta had been awake all of two minutes before he grew bored. And a bored Meuritta is a very dangerous creature indeed. He started arguing with Chatta about the ribbon keeping her hair back. And then he attempted to steal the string in Kartal's shirt. Then, he took to the air and started diving at us, chittering in laughter when we couldn't swat him fast enough.

  What made the situation worse was that he was well rested, and we didn't have the energy to deal with him.

  "Didi, stop!" Chatta burst out in exasperation. "You are such a pest!"

  Didi ignored her, flew a wide circle around her head and landed on Night's back.

  Night immediately let out an equine scream of outrage and started bucking. The road instantly developed several respectable sized craters when his front hooves touched the ground. I groaned when I realized that, as tired as I was, I had to fix them before we could move on.

  Night finally managed to buck off the Meuritta, throwing Didi into the air and toward the grassy banks of the road. Didi twisted in mid-air, landing on his feet. He pulled himself up, giving an indignant "Di!"

  "You can't ride me!" Night snapped.

  "Di!"

  "No!"

  "DI!"

  "NO!"

  "Didi, stop it!" Chatta growled. "Garth is the only person who is allowed to ride Night. Don't you pout at me! You can fly or ride with me, but stop being lazy!"

  Yup, it was definitely a mistake to let Didi sleep. I made a mental note to torment him tomorrow when he tried to take a morning nap.

  Kartal had his wand out and was muttering some sort of incantation into his open palm. A moment later a small black box appeared. He tossed it casually towards Chatta. "Here."

  Chatta caught it easily and stared at the box with blatant curiosity. "What is it?"

  "Puzzle box. That should keep him entertained for a few hours."

  Didi snatched the box from Chatta's grasp, settling comfortably behind her and poking at the box. When he couldn’t open it the first few moments, he looked immediately intrigued instead of frustrated. I was just glad to have some peace.

  Chatta gave her Meuritta a thoughtful study over her shoulder. "Kartal, will you teach me that spell?"

  "Of course. I'll even teach you the one spell that no Meuritta can undo, so you can keep him out of your bag."

  Her eyes lit up. "That would be marvelous! I was told no such spell existed."

  "I had a classmate in school with a Meuritta. He finally made a locking spell that his Meuritta couldn't undo." A reminiscent smile darted over his face. "I think it was created as much from desperation as inspiration."

  Maybe it is a good thing that Kartal wasn't drowned at birth. He was proving handy now. I extended my thoughts into the strata under the damaged road. It took less effort than I had anticipated to remove the evidence left behind of Night’s dance with Didi.

  Peaceful silence descended again. We were only a day or so away from the Boren Mountains now. The land was getting steeper with more hills, and the land itself was rockier. We were forced to slow our pace to a walk in order to navigate the treacherous roads. It was bad enough that the horses occasionally would slip, or trip over some of the rocks—a sure recipe for disaster. Actually, it wasn't really a road—not to my mind. ''Trail made by a wandering drunk cow'' was a more apt description. The thing twisted so badly, I had to wonder if we would make better time just going cross country.

  It was late afternoon now, and I was beginning to worry about where we would stop for the night. I hadn't seen any towns in the past several hours. Sleeping on this rocky ground did not sound appealing. Hopefully there was a town up ahead.

  Kartal suddenly stopped, swearing under his breath.

  I reigned in sharply. "What's wrong?"

  "My horse, I think he's come up lame." Swinging smoothly out of the saddle, he started talking soothingly to his mount, running his hand gently up and down one of the forelegs.

  Chatta and I exchanged worried glances. If Kartal's horse had pulled up lame, it meant that he would have to double up with someone until we could reach a town and buy a new horse for him. That would slow us down even more.

  "Shrieking hinges," Kartal swore angrily. He set the leg back down gently, all the while with a disgruntled frown on his face. "He's got a bruise on his frog, all right. I think he'll be fine with a few days of rest, but we don't have that kind of time."

  "Double up with me," Chatta offered. "We'll sell him at the next town and buy you another mount."

  "It’s the only sensible solution," Kartal admitted, still frowning. He untied his saddlebags, slinging them off the horse. I took his saddlebags and added them to mine, then accepted the reins. It was easier for me to deal with the horse than Kartal and Chatta.

  The whole process took only a few minutes, and we resumed our trek. Didi was not pleased to lose his favorite seat be
hind Chatta, and was chittering angrily. We all pretty much ignored him.

  I freely admit that I wasn't paying my fellow travelers a lot of attention. I had my eyes peeled, searching my surroundings for any hint of a town. So it was a complete surprise to me when I heard Kartal burst out in an exasperated growl. It was followed closely by a panicked yelp, a feminine scream of distress, ending in two resounding thuds.

  I whipped around in my saddle…ohhhh boy.

  Kartal was on his back, sprawled on the ground, with Chatta flat on top of him. The Wizard had a hand over his eyes, as if he were trying to keep his temper in check. Chatta just looked outraged, and a little humiliated, to be smack on top of the prostrate man.

  I was torn between being jealous (I wouldn't mind having Chatta using me as a landing pad) and amused. Chatta unceremoniously rolled herself off, glaring at me, and silently daring me to say just one word. The amusement of the situation started to win out.

  Can't laugh…can't laugh…Chatta will kill me, can't laugh, please gods don’t let me laugh…

  "Garth, this is not funny."

  "Sorry." I put a hand over my mouth, trying to stifle my laughter. "Er, what happened?"

  "That thrice-cursed Meuritta tied our boot strings together," Kartal snarled with a lethal glare in Didi's direction. The Meuritta was preening himself innocently on the back of Chatta's stallion, acting for the entire world as if he hadn't done anything wrong. "Then he dove at me. I lurched sideways to avoid him, and lost my balance."

  "I went down with him because our boots are tied together," Chatta finished sourly. She was also glaring at the Meuritta, and there was an assortment of racks, hot pokers, and thumbscrews dancing in her eyes.

  "Ah." I very wisely didn't comment further than that.

  They started to untangle themselves, all the while shooting dark looks in Didi's direction. The Meuritta was smart enough to take to the air as soon as the Wizard and Witch were on their feet, staying well out of range. He stayed up in the air the rest of the day.