“Odd,” Night replied finally. “But I can get used to it. It’s snug enough to where you won’t slip, right?”
Garth blinked, obviously not expecting this question. “Uh, yes, it’s snug enough.”
“Bridle?” Night prompted him.
His Rider looked a little baffled at this new, willing attitude of Night’s, but he definitely wasn’t going to question it. While Garth and Night had been training yesterday, Small Rider had made a bridle that was very similar to the design that Night had described to him yesterday morning. It wouldn’t win any prizes on beauty and craftsmanship, but it was fully functional and could do the job until they could have a better version made. Night ducked his head so that Garth could put the nosepiece on, and waited until everything was buckled into place.
“Nothing’s pinching or anything?” Garth inquired, running his eyes over the leather.
“Feels fine,” Night assured him. “Are you going to mount me now?”
“That’s the plan,” Garth answered with a slight smile. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Night affirmed. He made sure to stay perfectly still when Garth put a foot in the left stirrup.
Garth had been riding on a pretty regular basis for a year now, so he was no novice to being in the saddle anymore. But he still had to put an extra bit of effort into swinging up onto Night’s back. Most of the Mage’s previous mounts had been on the shorter side. Garth had done that on purpose. If he was going to fall off the back of a horse, he wanted to make the distance he fell as short as possible. Night was anything but short, and it took additional momentum to swing onto his back. Garth threw his right leg over the stallion’s back and settled into saddle’s seat easily.
As soon as he was fully seated, something magical happened. A connection formed between mount and Rider, and for an eternal moment, two very different people were completely in tune with the other. Garth sucked in a sharp breath when he felt the bond snap into place; between his legs, he felt Night shiver slightly in reaction. It was like two pieces of a puzzle clicking into place, as perfect as a warm sun in a clear blue sky. The absolute rightness of that moment could not be denied.
Small Rider was standing off to the side, just observing, as Garth swung up into the saddle. But even he felt it, when bond between mount and rider formed. Small Rider had little to no sensitivity with magic, but even he could feel that something was going on—and it was awe inspiring to watch. For that moment, he felt equal parts of surprise and envy, wishing that he could switch places with Garth. Right in front of his eyes, he knew without a shadow of a doubt, he was witnessing history being made. Mage and Nreesce were like the scent of warm bread coming from the kitchen; the sound of children’s laughter; the feel of a lover’s warm caress. They were the picture of perfection, contentment, acceptance, and completion.
Like all such moments, this one couldn’t last. In a petulant tone Night lifted his head and asked “Why did we wait to do this?” This sent Garth off into snickering and Small Rider into shaking his head in amusement.
When Garth was able to subdue his laughter, he gathered up the reins in both hands, which gave a silent signal to Night that they were about to move. With infinite patience, he led his Nreesce through movement after movement, using reins and heels and knees to guide Night. The Nreesce followed each lead without complaint.
Small Rider stayed on the sidelines and watched, with approval, as the two went through the paces. Rider and mount were in true harmony with each other as they moved, and it was beautiful to watch. Night was almost prancing as he moved, clearly overjoyed to finally have his Mage on his back. It was like watching poetry in motion, a ballet between horse and rider.
He left them to it, turning to make some lunch. Small Rider was no longer concerned about them. They were like unto the great masters and their canvas, a sculptor and his marble stone; a wave in motion, and a perfect oneness that could not be denied.
Chapter Eighteen: Work—Of All Kinds
The next week was very busy for Night and me. After the training was complete, I swear that I spent every waking moment on Night’s back. Part of it was because Night was always pushing me to ride him. Now that he had me on his back, he wanted to carry me everywhere, it seemed—but the other part of it was completely practical. I traveled back to Jward, fixing the road as I went. As we entered the city, I began shoring up the bedrock underneath as well as I could. I tried to keep the base strata stable enough that we wouldn’t have any serious earthquakes during the evacuation. I couldn’t stop the process completely, but I did what I could to dampen the effects. I was also repairing the roads within the city itself, to make it easier for people to leave when the time came. There had been so many earthquakes recently that some sections of the road were nearly impassable.
I knew that I needed to slow down. I was working from sunup until way past midnight trying to get everything done and, at the same time, keep everyone safe. My magic level was beginning to run low, hinting that I was overworking myself. There was just so much to do. I couldn’t in all good conscience stop working and rest—not when I saw how much work there was left to be done.
It was difficult to drag myself out of bed this morning, and down the stairs. Only one thing convinced me to leave my warm covers. Food.
By all that is magic, I was famished!
And I wouldn’t mind sleeping for about eighteen hours straight.
This morning I was bolting down a quick but oversized breakfast, with firm plans to go out and make sure that all of the roads were still clear. It had been at least six days since I had done that, and I felt it was time to check up on everything again. Keeping those roads passable was crucial to the efficient evacuation of the city, after all. Half-way through my piece of bread, one of the Order’s pages darted in and handed me a note. He darted out again, before I could swallow the food in my mouth, and ask him a question. Frowning, I opened the note and read the contents quickly.
Magus,
The Trasdee Evondit Orra has sent help for us. They have just arrived if you wish to meet with them. Everyone is in my office.
Elion
Help? The Trasdee Evondit Orra had sent help?!
I scrambled to my feet and sprinted for the door, grinning like an idiot. Finally, finally, I could share the workload with someone else.
“What has you so excited?” Night demanded as he followed me out the door.
“The Trasdee Evondit Orra sent us help!” I responded happily. Grabbing a handful of mane, I kicked myself up and onto his back, a maneuver that was much harder to do than it seems. Night waited until I was firmly seated, then moved off into a quick trot without my urging. Riding a Nreesce was so much better than riding a horse for this reason alone—a Nreesce could anticipate what you wanted and didn’t need to be controlled in every little thing. “Go to Elion’s office.”
As Night weaved in and out of people, heading toward the Order’s building, I stretched out my magical sense, trying to determine who the magical council had sent. I didn’t know everyone, of course, but over the last six months, I had met quite a few Witches and Wizards.
The first two people I felt were strong enough magically to be a Witch or Wizard, but I didn’t recognize them. Everyone has a different aura, or a different “signature”—for lack of a different word. It was easy to tell people apart. There was a third person that felt very familiar, although it took a moment to place him—Doss. They had sent Professor Doss! Of course, he was an Earth Wizard. I guess his abilities were perfect for this problem.
I turned my attention to the last magical person—and my teeth nearly fell out of my head. “Chatta’s here!”
“Are you sure?” Night demanded incredulously.
“Of course I’m sure!” I wanted to urge him to go faster, but the streets were pretty crowded—he was probably going too fast as it was.
Night apparently didn’t share that assessment—he sped up to a full run, forcing people to dive out of his way, or get run over. F
ortunately, we were close to Elion’s office at this point, so he wasn’t running at that insane speed for long. No one was hurt with Night’s mad dash.
I slid off his back to open the doors. With Night in this impatient mood, he’d probably just break them open, instead of waiting for someone to open them for him. It took two long hallways to reach Elion’s office, and by the time I was there, I barely had the patience to open his door.
“Garth!”
I jerked around at Chatta’s voice, turning automatically toward the sound. That happened to be a good thing, because I was barely able to catch her when she launched herself at me, hugging me tightly around the neck. I hugged her back just as tightly, burying my face in the silky feel of her hair. “I missed you,” I whispered hoarsely.
“I missed you too,” she whispered back in heartfelt tones.
There was so much joy building up in me, so much happiness in finally being back with my friend, that I couldn’t contain it. I spun us both about in a tight circle, making her laugh and hold on even tighter.
“Stop hogging her,” Night whined. “I want my hug too!”
Chatta really started laughing at that. I reluctantly let go of her so she could throw her arms around Night’s neck and hug him as well. He rubbed his head against her back, tail swishing in contentment.
Without Chatta distracting me, it finally penetrated my delirious brain that there were other people in the room. Doss was standing nearby, a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. I gave him a slight bow and a smile of greeting. “It’s nice to see you, sir.”
“Likewise, my boy, likewise.” He offered a hand, which I accepted with a firm grip. “You’ve done very well keeping things together up here. I took a peak while we were waiting for you. Your control has improved since you graduated.”
I flushed a bit at the praise. “Thank you, sir.”
Doss turned to the other two Wizards in the room. “I don’t think you’ve met our colleagues yet. This is Wizards Jarod Toumen and Marcus Narain. Gentlemen, may I introduce Magus Rhebengarthen, the Advent Mage.”
I gave him a dirty look for using my nickname as part of a formal introduction. The man had the absolute gall to look innocent. Ignoring him for the moment, as he and I would have words on this subject later, I gave both Wizards a polite bow. “Thank you for the gift of your names.”
“It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Magus,” Toumen responded. He was tall, even for a Hainian, and had rather unusual wavy chestnut hair and hazel eyes. There was just something soothing about him, and I liked him instantly. “We’ve heard quite a few stories about you from Chatta on the way up here.”
I shot my best friend a suspicious look. “What kind of stories?”
She blinked back at me, all innocence. “Oh, nothing major. Like that time we were at the Red Festival and Night knocked you into the fountain. And of course, I had to tell them all about the early days when you and Night were still at the school.”
I groaned and covered my face with both hands. “Thanks a lot, Chatta.”
“It was very entertaining,” Narain offered with a broad grin. He was a rather large man in build, rather like a blacksmith would be, and with the typical Hainian dark coloring. “In her defense, I think she told us most of those stories so we wouldn’t be nervous meeting you. You have quite the reputation, Magus Rhebengarthen.”
I held up a finger to stop him. “I’m Garth, not Magus or Advent Mage, or any of that nonsense. And what do you mean, I have quite the reputation?”
Chatta was the one who answered. “If you believe the rumors, you could probably move mountains if you felt like it.”
I probably could—if I felt like it. But it would be pretty pointless and pretty exhausting. I didn’t exactly want to own up to that, but I didn’t want to lie either, which left me slightly tongue tied for a moment. “Uh-huh. Well. I think everything you heard was rather exaggerated.”
“Probably,” Narain acknowledged with a twinkle in his eye. “At least, that’s what we decided after Chatta told us what you were really like.”
Chatta came closer and linked her arm through mine, looking up at me with forlorn eyes. “So am I forgiven?”
And how was I supposed to stay upset with her when she’s looking at me like that? I blew out a breath and gave up. “I’ll forgive you—in this life.”
She beamed at me.
Why do I have the feeling that I was just manipulated…?
Don’t answer that.
Ignoring the knowing smiles on everyone’s faces, I turned to Doss, who was without question the person with the most experience and authority in the room. That made him the leader of this group, in my mind. “I’ve been keeping the roads in good repair to help expedite people moving out of the city. As I’m sure you’ve seen I’ve been attempting to keep the bedrock underneath us stable. I haven’t had the time or energy to do much else.”
“Understandable,” Doss replied with a nod. “We’ll handle the rest of it. Garth, you are aware that your magic level is too low?”
I winced. I had hoped that he wouldn’t notice that. “Yes sir, I am. There’s just been too much to do.”
“You won’t do anyone any good if you collapse,” he pointed out with a stern finger. “I expect you to rest today. We’ll handle things until you’re properly rested, and your levels are restored.”
I nodded, more relieved than chastised.
“Today, I want you and Chatta to go around the perimeter of the city and mark where you think the land will break. It will give us an idea of which parts of the city need to be reinforced.”
A sound suggestion, and I’d get to spend the day with Chatta, which delighted me no end. “Understood, sir!”
Since we were going out shortly, I borrowed one of Elion’s pages and sent him to fetch Night’s saddle and bridle.
Elion had a map of the city hanging on one wall. I went to it and started pointing out the areas that needed the most work done to them. Some of the buildings were shaky and needed repairs done to the foundations. That gave them a rough outline of what the bedrock was doing under our feet. They already knew what the basic plan was (I assumed that Elion had filled them in), so it didn’t take long to divide up the workload among the five of us.
Within a half hour we were outside again. While we waited for Chatta’s mount to be brought around, and Night’s saddle and bridle to show up, I asked something that had been bothering me. “Where’s Didi?”
“He and Trev’nor have become inseparable,” Chatta explained with a bright smile. “He and I had a talk when I was packing for this trip, and I offered to just let him stay and play with Trev’nor while I’m gone. Since he would have to be quiet and well behaved for weeks on end, he instantly agreed to stay and play with Trev’nor.”
“In other words,” I fixed a suspicious look on her, “you foisted Didi off on a poor, unsuspecting Jaunten couple for an unspecified amount of time.”
“Pretty much,” she agreed cheerfully.
“Chatta, you are an evil, evil woman.” I couldn’t keep in my grin any longer and let it loose. “I’m proud to know you.”
“Why thank you, Garth. I thought it was rather clever myself.”
Chatta’s pretty little palomino mare was brought around at this point, and the page came back with the saddle and bridle. Chatta watched with interest as I quickly saddled Night before I swung up onto his back.
“When did you find time to train him?” she asked me. “For that matter, when did you learn how to train him?”
“Small Rider,” I answered. “I’ll have to introduce you to him when he comes back into the city. There’s a Tonkawacon tribe near here, and he’s one of the master horse trainers. When we went out to find a temporary site to move everyone, Small Rider went with me. He taught me how to train Night while we were out of the city.”
“Oh. Then this must have happened recently.”
“I’ve only been riding Night for about a week now,” I confirmed.
Chatta gave Night a quick wink. “I'll bet you’re happy about this.”
“Very,” Night agreed fervently.
“I was going to check the road out of town to make sure its still in good condition,” I told her as I gathered up the reins in my hands. “Do you mind if we do that first?”
“No, not at all.”
~*~
Everything went by so much faster with Chatta there. She did the majority of the spellwork, partly because I wasn’t supposed to be using magic today, and partly because my magic wasn’t really suitable for putting up red flags. As we worked, we both talked and swapped stories about the last six months, just catching up.
I’d forgotten just how easy it was to talk to her, and it was only now as I rode beside her that I realized just how much I had missed my friend.
Maybe I can talk the Trasdee Evondit Orra into assigning Chatta as my partner. Most Witches or Wizards had partners, and it would make even more sense to assign me a partner. There was some magic that I couldn’t do, after all. I was absolutely loathed to be apart from her again, for any serious length of time.
We went in a large half circle around the city, putting up markers every hundred feet or so, which sounds easy, but takes forever. It was coming on dusk by the time that we were finished.
I hadn’t realized it until Chatta started putting markers up, but actually, when I force the break open, there would be quite a bit of space left around the city. It varied, of course, but there was at least a mile on all sides, and sometimes up to five miles. The city would have at least some room to grow, if it needed it. When we were finally done I stretched in the saddle and hid a yawn. “Why don’t we go get dinner? My treat.”
“I can’t refuse an offer like that,” Chatta replied with a yawn of her own. “I’m starving. Are there any decent restaurants?”
“There’s one near the Order building that serves excellent food. Even their fish is good.”
Chatta rolled her eyes at me. “What is it about fish that you don’t like?”
Jaunten (Advent Mage Cycle) Page 23