They were both nodding in agreement. "True," Allan agreed in quiet approval. "Val Haben said that you have legal authority over him."
"Yes," I admitted easily. "Under normal circumstances, I'll defer to his guardians. After all, I'm not the one who will be raising him. I'll only invoke my legal authority if it becomes strictly necessary." I didn't want them to think that I was going to dictate their every action with Trev'nor. If I needed to say or do something, then I would—but I didn't think it would be necessary. Val Haben said these were good people, and I trusted his opinion on this. Besides, what little I had seen had only validated his opinion of them.
Content that we were on the same page, I steered the conversation so that Trev'nor could add to it. He started to tell of his journey here. I tried to stay out of it as much as possible, letting him interact with both doctors, without my input. Both adults were completely focused on the child, honestly listening and asking questions that he could respond to. They were extraordinarily good with him, and I could tell he enjoyed their attention.
We must have stayed there for an hour or so before Night became so bored that he nearly ripped my ponytail out. Brat! I'm going to strangle Chatta for encouraging that bad habit. Making our excuses, I gathered everyone up and left.
As we walked home, I asked Trev'nor, "So what do you think?"
"I like them," he answered with an enthusiastic bounce on my shoulders. "They need special braids," he added firmly.
Since he couldn’t see it, I let a small smirk play over my mouth. I had no doubt that a certain Jaunten couple would wake up at one point with braids twined in their hair. Well, that story of Trev'nor's journey here should have warned them adequately enough. It will be entirely up to them to take the necessary precautions.
"So may I tell Val Haben that they can be your new parents?" Liking them and keeping them was not necessarily the same thing, so I thought it necessary to ask.
"I guess…." he said doubtfully.
Not the firm answer I was looking for. "Do you not want to live with them?"
For several long moments he struggled with that before he asked in a small voice, "But I won't be able to see you or Chatta or Night or Didi."
Ah-ha! That was the problem. "No, Trev'nor, you won't be able to live with us even if you don't choose Liah and Allan. But I promise you, that no matter whom you choose, we will all come and visit with you often."
"Promise?"
"Promise," I whispered huskily. This poor child was so like me in some ways, and I wasn't referring to our shared abilities in magic. Both of us cut off from the only home we had ever known, were thrust into this strange culture that conflicted with ours, and had to make new friends and allies. I understood his panic in losing the only people that he knew in this huge city.
But I wouldn't abandon him. Not ever.
"So what do you say? Do you want to stay with them, or shall we keep looking?"
"I like them," he answered again. The voice wavered slightly, but he had said it.
"Alright then," I murmured back. I turned my footsteps toward the Palace, and Val Haben. I might as well get the soldiers marching now instead of later.
Chapter Fifteen: Magic
If my "field trip" had taught me anything, it was that I needed to focus on my personal training. I was very wasteful when it came to using my magic, using far more than what was absolutely necessary to get the job done. I couldn't do the more subtle magic at all—in fact, I depended on Chatta (and Kartal at times) to do certain tasks because I hadn't a clue on how to do it.
I spent the next month really buckling down and focusing on sharpening my skills. During the weekends, I was a regular visitor at Trev'nor's new home, of course, but during the school week itself, I was almost entirely absorbed in practicing magic.
In hindsight, that might not have been entirely wise.
I started today out in the practice yard, under one of the shield domes just in case something went wrong. Considering that no one living knew how to train a Mage, an accident was a very real possibility. More than half the time what I did was sheer guess work, and it tested my limits when it came to metal. Dirt was easy to manipulate, as was stone, but metal was a little more involved. I've come to the conclusion that the more that something had been tampered with by man, the harder it was for me to affect it. Too far removed from its natural state, perhaps?
"Garth!"
At the hail, I turned my head, looking curiously at a very agitated and irate Doss heading my direction. His red hair was standing out from his head in various directions; his face was flushed in unattractive red, and he was breathing heavily. Uh-oh, this didn't look good. I dropped the shield, and put the metal I had been playing with back in my pocket. "Yes sir?"
"Why aren't you keeping an eye on that Nreesce of yours?" he demanded.
Oh sweet heaven, now what had Night done? He had gone to visit Trev'nor, or so he told me before I came out here to experiment. I had thought him safely occupied. "What did he do?" I asked in resignation.
"He's eating the flowers!" Doss was fairly shaking in outrage.
I blinked, sure that I had misheard him. "Flowers?"
"Oh come with me," he snapped before spinning on one heel and storming back into the building.
Bemused, I sprinted to catch up with him, falling easily into step with the puffing Wizard. "What flowers, sir?"
"They are called Blue Whispers," he explained in a short tone. "They were specifically developed at King Guin's request. They can record every sound they hear on their petals, for a twenty-four hour period. Anyone with magical ability can touch their petals, and listen to whatever they have heard."
Sort of a silent and decorative spy, eh? Fascinating! I hadn't known something living could be manipulated to that extent. I wonder how it works? Shaking my head, I tried to focus on the immediate problem. "Where did Night eat one of these flowers?"
"Not one, three!" Doss exclaimed indignantly. "And he did it at the Palace."
Ah. Now that made more sense to me. Trev'nor's house was technically on Palace grounds. Night must have been playing with him when, apparently, he saw the appetizing flowers. "I'll go deal with him," I sighed.
"See that you do." With a last huff, Doss stormed off.
I cast my eyes skyward, praying for patience, then turned around and headed for the Palace.
~*~
It took a while to straighten out the Flower Incident. As punishment for not watching my Nreesce, they made me grow replacement flowers. That took about a week to do, as I had to figure out just how under the stars the things were made in the first place. I was still not good with the more subtle magic; I think I would have been in serious trouble if I had attempted something similar on some not-living thing. As an Earth Mage, plants and growing things were somewhat in my domain—I could manipulate them to an extent. Naturally, I was much more comfortable with dirt and stone than I was with living plants, but I could still control plants.
After I made the replacements, Night and I had a long talk about what was considered to be "edible" and "not-edible." He was very apologetic about eating the flowers. Apparently he hadn’t realized they were magical, just that they looked good—and he promised not to eat anymore.
I went back to training, and putting in long hours reading in the library. I was completely reviewing the scant bits of knowledge that had survived the Magic War concerning Mages. Not much material remained, but it still gave me some direction and ideas to work from.
For three months I did some very in-depth experiments. Some of them scared the magic out of Chatta when she caught me. Boy did I get a lecture on my Earth Transport technique! I had read an account about a Mage that could sink into the earth itself, and propel himself at incredible speed through the bedrock, then pop up whenever he wanted. I had thought it a rather far fetched idea, but was definitely intrigued by the possibilities. So, naturally, I had tested the theory. Unfortunately, I had chosen to pop back up into view just as Chatta walked onto the train
ing grounds. I was thoroughly chewed out for just “experimenting without anyone around to supervise. What do you think you are doing?! What if something went wrong? We would have had no idea on where to look for you or what had happened!”
Needless to say, she kept a much closer eye on me after that.
I learned a few other tricks as well, not necessarily from my research. Trev’nor was perfectly happy with his new foster parents, but he was also used to having a certain leeway in wandering around on his own. I was constantly being called in to hunt the kid down. Allan and Liah were convinced that because I was the "Advent Mage" I could do anything. Actually, sensing people magically wasn't easy. I was grateful that Trev'nor was a Mage; people with magical abilities were easier to sense.
It took the whole month to convince Trev’nor that he could not wander off without supervision. After a whole month of this, I had refined my abilities to sense people. Everybody left a signature of sorts in the ground as they passed over it, and it was this that I sensed more than anything else. Anyone with magical capabilities left a stronger signature to follow.
At the end of those three months, I was officially declared an Earth Mage, and released from the Academy. Almost before the ink was dry on my certificate, King Guin yanked me into his office, offered his congratulations, and then directed that I spend the next six months of my internship helping him. Since he had paid for my schooling to begin with, I immediately agreed—it was only fair, I concluded.
I have got to learn to think things through before opening my big fat mouth!
For the next six months I was run ragged—I should say we, actually, since Night was with me the entire time. I think we crossed the width and breadth of Hain a dozen times altogether. We dealt with every conceivable problem—from floods to forest fires and their aftermaths. I’m not sure what developed more, my magical abilities or my diplomatic skills, since I had to deal with so many people.
All I know is that after nine months straight of near constant studying, traveling, and work, I wanted only one thing:
A break.
~*~
When Guin appointed me for my internship, he offered me a room in the Palace to call my own—purely for the sake of his convenience, I believe. The easier to summon me from, you see. I had stayed in that room for perhaps three weeks out of the last six months altogether. It seemed like something of a waste, but I was grateful to have a place to return to.
I came home from my last mission worn out and in serious need of sleep. Barely tugging my boots off, I tumbled into bed and slept like the dead.
What woke me was insistent knocking.
With a heartfelt groan, I dragged myself from my warm, comfortable bed. I winced at the icy texture of the floor beneath my stocking feet; mental note, get a rug for the floor. Soon.
Weaving like a drunk, three-legged dog, I navigated my way to the door and yanked it open. As soon as I saw the man darkening my doorstep, I was seriously tempted to shut the door in his face. “Haben,” I snarled, “the roof had better be on fire!”
“No, but it is about that important,” he answered with a sympathetic smile. “Sorry, Garth, I know you just got in last night. Normally, I’d let you have at least a day of rest but…the reports on this don’t paint a pretty picture.”
The last time he had said something like that to me, a whole forest had almost burned to the ground. That situation had been a nightmare to deal with. I growled in wordless irritation. “Give me ten minutes.” I was at least washing the travel dirt off first and climbing into clean clothes.
“I’ll have breakfast waiting for you in my office,” he promised—probably with the hope that I wouldn’t bite his head off.
I managed—barely—not to slam the door in his face. I had promised myself faithfully that as soon as I caught up on some much needed sleep, I’d spend some time with Chatta. It was that promise alone that got me through the long trip back here to Del’Hain. I considered the prospect that I wouldn’t even be able to see her before having to leave again. That, in concert with little sleep, put me in a foul temper. I wanted to visit Trev’nor too, but I’m not sure if I’d even manage that, despite the fact that we were both on Palace grounds.
Still snarling to myself, I did a quick wash up, yanked on the only pair of clean clothing I had left, and stalked up to Haben’s office. I didn’t even bother to knock, just barged in.
In self-preservation, he pointed to the breakfast tray sitting on his desk. I sat down, and started in without a word.
Food is a miraculous thing—it always lifts the spirits, at least a little. Or it does with me, anyway. Once I had eaten half the plate I almost felt human again. Not enough to forgive Haben for waking me up, but I didn’t feel like burying the man near the center of the planet anymore either.
He was eyeing me cautiously when I looked up, no doubt trying to judge if it was safe to talk to me yet. I sighed, knowing full well that he wouldn’t be talking to me now if he had any choice in the matter. Haben was good about not overextending his people—most of the time. And it was hardly his fault that there seemed to be a rash of natural disasters in the past two months, which gave me no time to recuperate or, at least, rest for a full day.
I could feel the anger drain out of my system and I sat back, returning his look with one of resignation. “So what’s the emergency?”
He looked a little relieved to see that I wasn’t going to snap and start flinging curses at his head—at least not yet. “There are reports of earthquakes near the northern coast. It’s a fairly remote region, and normally I wouldn’t worry about it. However, there is one very prosperous city up there, and they are a direct point of contact to the Tonkawacon tribe.”
I didn’t need to be told how important this was. Tonkowacons were famous for their abilities with horses, medicines, and weaves. King Guin had a special contract with one of the Tonkowacons tribes. He arranged to have several of their horses in his stable, to be used as royal mounts. In special cases, they were Jaunten mounts. Losing that kind of contact wouldn’t be a good thing. “How serious are the quakes?”
“Minor damage to buildings, but they’re growing in frequency, duration, and strength.”
Not a good sign. That meant that the bedrock under the city was becoming more and more unstable, for whatever reason. “Name of the city?”
“Jward.”
Of course. I recognized the name instantly—being Jaunten was really handy sometimes—and knew where the city was. It was a seaport at the very top corner of Hain. Of course, it just had to be on the other end of the bloody country! It meant five days of hard riding at the very least—and I wasn’t in the mood for any riding, hard or otherwise. My slightly improved mood plummeted immediately.
Haben has excellent survival instincts, and he instantly started side-stepping the travel issue. “You can always do that earth transport thing you do; you don’t have to ride.”
“Night hates that mode of travel and will only do it under life or death situations,” I growled at him, eyes narrowing. All possibility of seeing Chatta today vaporized like so much smoke in front of my eyes. Curses, sometimes I wish I wasn’t me.
I couldn’t stay mad at Haben for long, since it really wasn’t his fault. It would mean shooting the messenger. I shoved back the urge to throw a tantrum like a two year old, and made my voice even. “Can you find a ship going upriver? I’ll get packed.”
He was obviously relieved that I wasn’t going to take my frustrations out on him, and nodded vigorously.
With a sharp inclination of the head, I stalked out of his office. Haben had the easy task of finding me a boat—I had the hard job of waking up Night and informing him that we were hitting the road again. My infamous partner was not going to be pleased.
~*~
I don't remember much of the trip upriver toward Jward. I woke up long enough to eat a few times, that I remember—I woke up once because Night nearly rolled on top of me. Have you ever tried breathing when you're fl
at on your back with a full grown stallion's head smack on top of your chest? It gets very difficult very quickly. Other than that, I think I slept the entire three days.
Unfortunately, the Semainai River did not go all the way to Jward. I stopped at Delta, the site of the Red Flower Festival that I had visited with Chatta and Kartal nine months before, and got off there. It was early spring, but the weather was already turning rather warm. I was hoping that I would be able to cool off, once I got into the mountains.
As I unloaded and saddled up my mare (appropriately named Sable for her dark coat), I was given several strange looks. I'm sure the citizens of Delta were used to foreigners, but I must admit that I was probably odd even to them. I was in the brown leathers of the Jaunten, but I had the crest of the Magus emblazoned on my right shoulder and on my back. That was an obvious conundrum. I was riding a small, nondescript mare when I had this huge hulking stallion following me around—without any saddle, bridle, or halter on him. Night was actually old enough for me to ride at this point. The trouble was, I hadn't had time to train with my Nreesce on how to ride him. For that matter, I wasn't sure how to go about it either. I was finally—after six months on the road—comfortable in the saddle, but that didn't make me an expert on horses.
With a sigh, I ignored the looks, and swung up onto Sable's back. It took a while to negotiate our way out of the city; the place was extremely busy even during the middle of the week. It was practically packed to the gun walls with people, and once we were out of the city's limits, we still had traffic to contend with on the road. As soon as I deemed it clear enough, I kicked Sable into a smooth trot. Night effortlessly kept up, keeping pace with the mare.
"I wish we could have seen Chatta and Trev'nor before we left," he observed wistfully.
"Me too," I sighed. It had been too long since I saw either my adopted-brother or my best friend, and I sorely missed them both. "But this is the last job that Guin can demand of me. My internship ends in two weeks, and then we are free to say no."
Jaunten (Advent Mage Cycle) Page 19