First of Tomes (The Tomes of Kaleria Book 2)

by Honor Raconteur

  Swearing, Mei Li did the only thing she could think of. She clamped one brick between her feet and lay down, keeping the other brick in one hand with a stranglehold grip. It was six feet, more or less, and she could curve her body enough to be (mostly) in alignment. As long as she held her breath in between waves, it worked fine.

  She felt like a drowned rat, but it worked.

  Liggett copied her once he saw she could maintain control of the bricks. Mei Li wasn’t sure what Nord did, as he was outside of her view in this position. But she could feel the magic linking up as each person got their talismans into position. She linked hers in with the rest and kept her eyes and mouth firmly closed to avoid being drowned by the waves that didn’t seem to diminish as they had before.

  The dirt under her body, sodden with water as it was, started to rise. It felt like a reverse mudslide as it slithered up over her feet and hands, pushing at her torso. Feeling that it had a good grip on the bricks, she let go and frantically rolled out of the way before she could be enfolded and become part of the wall. Getting up on her knees, she dared to open her eyes, panting for breath. How was everyone else?

  Head jerking this way and that, she checked on them. Liggett was also free, hands on his knees as he stood and panted, only to be knocked back to his knees on the next strong wave. Nord had himself braced, somehow, managing to keep his feet. His wall of earth was also rising, faster than hers. Mei Li threw some magical effort into it. They really needed to get this up quickly before Shunlei got seriously hurt.

  Perhaps everyone had the same thought. The magic doubled in strength from almost every person, the wall climbing steadily and with great force. It had much the texture of the rocks in this area, which made sense, as they were drawing upon the natural force of this very land.

  Gong was past words. He howled wordlessly, enraged. The wall in front of Mei Li was now tall enough she could no longer see him, but she heard something heavy hit the side of the pagoda and winced. That was likely Shunlei. Even if it wasn’t, he needed to retreat now, or he risked being trapped inside. “Shunlei, get out!”

  Another hard crash. Mei Li held her breath, anxiously scanning what she could see of the sky. Come on, Shunlei, come on….

  It felt like a small eternity before a flash of red darted through the still sky. Shunlei didn’t go far—probably because he had no air currents to help him get airborne here. But he cleared the wall in a leap and landed hard on the other side.

  She wanted to turn and check on him but couldn’t move from this spot. She still had magic to feed into the wall, and it was so close to forming the top that she didn’t dare move yet. Instead, she turned her head and called to him, “Are you alright?”

  “Been better,” Shunlei grunted back, then groaned. “Water deities have a wicked left. For future reference.”

  If he was joking with her, he wasn’t too badly injured.

  “Shunlei, sit down, we have this,” Hawes directed.

  “Are you sure? Because he didn’t look all that worried while I was inside.”

  Oh. Well, that was not reassuring.

  Nothing else in the world sounded like stone cracking and breaking apart. Mei Li could feel the vibrations of it under her feet. It was all the warning she had before the earthen wall in front of her was impacted hard. A crack formed, and she swallowed around a tight throat. Mercy, but that didn’t look promising.

  “YOU’LL NOT CAGE ME!”

  Gong did not sound subdued, either. Enraged, yes. Subdued, very much a no.

  Mei Li had the sudden thought that they’d bitten off more than they could chew. Did they try and retreat and attempt this again another day? Would they even be given that chance?

  The top closed, for all the good that did. Mei Li stopped feeding power into it—there was no point with the spell finished—but she hovered anxiously. What could they possibly do at this juncture?

  “I say, what’s all this nonsense about?”

  Mei Li turned sharply and just about lost her tongue. There was no possible way the man behind her was human. His feet were fused into the earth, for one thing, and he looked more like a finely-sculpted marble statue than anything living and breathing. His body was an assortment of moss, with fingers formed like tree roots, which wrapped up and around his arms before trailing out over his torso.

  Mei Li’s mouth went dry. There was, apparently, an earth deity in the region as well. Someone really could have mentioned that.

  Nord, being quicker on his feet, immediately gave a bow. “Gong the water deity has gone mad. He’s flooding all of Thibault. We’re attempting to seal him long enough to either stop his actions or gain proper help.”

  “Flooding?” The earth deity turned and looked about him, as if taking in the entire area. Mei Li had the sense that it was more than his immediate surroundings he saw, but the entirety of his territory in that single sweep of the eyes. “Oh. Yes, I do see. Oh dear, that isn’t good at all. I was wondering what had gone on up here, as things were going off-kilter down below. But I don’t want that idiot sealed in with me, either.”

  Mei Li cleared her throat and drew upon a whisper of courage. “Respectfully, we don’t want him either. And we don’t have the power to stop him.”

  The earth deity regarded her thoughtfully for a moment. Then he grunted. “Well. Can’t argue with that. And I’m responsible, I suppose, for not investigating when I first noticed the problem. Take that down; I’ll deal with him.”

  Turning, Nord immediately took one of the bricks out to open a path inside. The earth deity strode through—well, more like glided. His ‘feet’ never made an appearance. “Gong, you half-wit, what have you done now?”

  “Brother! They think to cage me!”

  “They think to cage you because you’re flooding both them and me, you utter moron. And what are you even doing on my land in the first place? You’re supposed to be in the ocean.”

  “But no one was worshipping me!”

  “Well, drowning them all isn’t going to help improve matters. You come with me. Mother will attend to you.”

  “I don’t want to go home to Mother! She’ll scold me.”

  “Why do you think I’m taking you? You need the scolding. Enough, you don’t get a choice on this.”

  There was a tragic wail of nooooooo and then abrupt silence.

  Mei Li dared to peek around the hole in their earthen wall. Neither deity was in sight, and it looked as if it was just a half-destroyed pagoda and many puddles of water. Innocuous, even.

  “Well.” Melchior cleared his throat. “I vote we never do that again.”

  A general, nervous laugh of agreement echoed among the group.

  At least Mei Li now had an answer why no one recorded how to seal a mad water deity. Turns out, you couldn’t. Good to know.

  Janine invited them back to her academy to stay and rest, and they were just as happy to do it. They had many dormitory rooms available, which meant for once Mei Li didn’t have to share with Kiyo. Frankly, having a room all to herself was heaven.

  The next morning, they met over breakfast. The main dining hall had three tables spread out and students gathering in pockets here and there with friends. It was a wide range, the youngest being six or seven, the oldest full adults. Mei Li queued up with the rest of them in line, choosing an assortment of hot tea, baked pastries, scrambled eggs, and some sort of porridge that smelled of pumpkin. She sat down with it and ate with a smile of pleasure. They employed excellent cooks here.

  Nord joined her with a clatter of a tray, sitting opposite. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning,” Mei Li returned before swallowing a mouthful of tea. “How are you?”

  “Stiff and sore from being tossed about yesterday, and glad to have a chance to rest.” He eyed her as he mixed sugar into his tea with a spoon. “Lady Mei. I wonder if I might ask a favor of you.”

  “What?” Mei Li was intensely curious on what he’d ask for. Nord was so shy with her most of the time, after
all.

  “Your methods are so different from any other mage I’ve seen. I’d truly like it if you could pass along your knowledge to Master Janine. Sandeep, as well.”

  Ah. This did and didn’t surprise her. Much of Mei Li’s knowledge came from history, and some of the spells and invocations she knew were centuries old. A number of them even dated as far back as this very time she was in now. But of course she used ‘newer’ methods too. “I wouldn’t mind that at all. I’d like to learn more about your methods as well.”

  Pleased, he ducked his head, and his hands reached for the flaky pastry on his plate. “Thank you. I didn’t graduate from here—I lacked the aptitude to specialize in healing—but it’s still very close to my heart.”

  Healing magic was strangely precise. It took a different kind of mindset when making the salves and potions for it. Mei Li understood that not every Tomes had been good at it. She was decent, but she would never claim to specialize in the field. “I understood, truly. I’m alright with it. I’m certainly not an expert.”

  “Few are. Master Janine is normally in the sunroom after breakfast. I think we can meet her there and make the offer. I did speak with her about it last night, and she was keen on discussing matters with you, assuming you were amiable.”

  “Alright.”

  They finished breakfast companionably and then Nord led the way through the cool stone hallways. The sunroom was aptly named. It was basically formed of two walls of windows, all stretching from floor to ceiling and letting the morning light pour in. It was far warmer here than it had been in the hallway, and the windows framed a lovely view of the courtyard beyond with its multiple flower beds in full bloom. If Mei Li had a room like this, she’d spend most of her time in it too.

  Janine and Sandeep were seated at a round table, papers and ink well spread out between them, but they both turned as the door opened.

  “Ah, Nord, I see you convinced her. Good.” Janine waved them forward and to the empty chairs at the table. “Do join us, Lady Mei. I’m eager to hear more about your teacher and your methods. I saw only a part of what you can do, and it intrigued me.”

  “I’ll be happy to.” Mei Li joined her, eyes taking in the pages splayed on the table. It looked like a very complex potion in the making for…snake venom? No, an antidote for it.

  “Antidotes for snake venom,” Sandeep answered the silent query on her face. “We do try to think of things ahead of time and have them on hand for emergencies. It’s difficult to do, however. Poisons are challenging.”

  “Lady Mei knows how to treat a bite from a Bai Gu Jing,” Nord informed them, taking the chair next to Mei Li. He sounded as proud of her as if he had accomplished it himself.

  Mei Li found his reaction amusing and shrugged. “It’s something my master taught me.”

  Janine leaned toward her, eyes locked on with fervor. “I didn’t know that could be treated. Please, do tell me the particulars.”

  As that knowledge was developed in this timeframe, or thereabouts, Mei Li saw no issue with doing so. Who knew, maybe it was Janine who had spread the information to begin with? “I’d be happy to. The first thing you must know is that there’s a window of opportunity in treatment. If you miss it, there’s no hope for the patient—”

  The door cracked open and Hawes’ head popped in. “Oh, there you two are. I was told you might be here.”

  Janine waved him further in. “Do join us.”

  “Thank you,” Hawes held up a hand, mouth tilted up in a sardonic fashion, “But I’ll pass. It looks like you’re talking magical theory, which is very much my weak point.”

  Janine’s eyes narrowed. “You did say before that you are a battle mage.”

  “Quite right. If you want a shield warded for extra protection, or a keen blade with magical oomph for an attack, I’m your man. You ask me to make a complex talisman, I’ll have to pass. I have excellent colleagues for a reason. In fact, I’m searching for one in particular. Lady Mei, where is Shunlei, do you know?”

  How she became a dragon’s keeper was a good question. “I do not. I haven’t seen him yet this morning. Why?”

  “I thought Melchior and I could spar with him a bit this morning.” Hawes took a half-step further into the room, hand gesturing to the sunny day outside. “We really don’t understand his strength. He’s not used to fighting alongside humans, and that’s going to get us into trouble sooner rather than later. And it’s finally decent weather outside. I thought to capitalize on it.”

  “Oh, well, that sounds like a good idea to me.” And Mei Li was of the opinion that some male bonding was precisely what Shunlei needed. Boys seemed to bond over sparring. Men didn’t seem to outgrow that.

  “I’ll look for him. Don’t let me interrupt you.” Hawes ducked back out.

  Mei Li left him to it. “Where were we? Ah, right, the time period for treatment.” She picked up where she had left off, explaining everything she knew. As she did, the others took studious notes. Nord led that explanation into another, segueing into something else he had seen her do that he didn’t know was possible. Mei Li found a way to flip the conversation, asking her own questions, as she needed a firmer grip of just what was common knowledge in this time. Right now, she only had a shaky grasp on that.

  As they spoke, magical theory flying about the table, she caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye. Shunlei, Hawes, and Melchior were all in the courtyard. Melchior stood off to one side, letting Shunlei and Hawes have a go at each other. Even as she watched, Shunlei lashed out, his punch landing solidly against Hawes’s shield. Even with a battle mage’s protections on it, Hawes was still pushed back three feet, his shoes sliding against the slick courtyard stones. Hawes was stunned first, then he threw his head back and laughed.

  Janine caught Mei Li’s stare and glanced through the window. “Do we need to keep an eye on them out there?”

  Mei Li waved this away. “They won’t break each other.”

  Probably.

  Melchior was unfortunately proven correct in his earlier assumption about their travel arrangements. Hawes did make them ride back down instead of taking the faster and easier route of a ship. He gave them all two days to relax in Thibault, and then the morning of the third day, they said their thank yous and goodbyes to everyone. By mid-morning they were back on the road heading south. Thankfully, at an easier pace and without a dark cloud following them. The roads weren’t completely dried out yet from all the excessive rain, but they weren’t mud anymore, either. It was well enough to travel on.

  They left Thibault without incident, still following the coastal highway down. It was passing through the same territory as before, but there was no helping that. They only had so many highways to choose from. There was still Ghost General’s Sword to track down once they reached Bader. Not that she could call it such aloud. People didn’t name it until after it was sealed in the temple and they belatedly realized the sword was a relic from the previous war. She had to watch her mouth to make sure she didn’t call it that aloud.

  The sun steadily rose in the sky, crossing over their heads, then started toward the mountains on the other side. As it sank toward the horizon, the light faded with it, leaving Mei Li wondering where they’d stay for the night. They’d passed several little towns already on the way. The fishing was plentiful here, after all—it only made sense. Maybe at the next town, they’d stop? It wasn’t like there was much space off the road to camp out. The borders of the road tended to be rocky and slope at a steep incline. Had been that way for most of the day.

  At her back, Shunlei abruptly went taut. “I smell something burning.”

  Alerted, she turned her head toward him to hear him better. “Something bigger than a hearth fire, you mean?”

  “Yes. Like a town.”

  “Dragon?”

  “Quite possibly. I’ve been picking up a dragon’s scent off and on, but I don’t think I’m in anyone’s territory. I need to go ahead and look.”

  “Go,
go,” she encouraged, pulling Peanut to a halt.

  Shunlei hopped off quickly and dodged to the side, where he could find open ground. He walked toward the cliff side, and she knew he was taking advantage of the wind that had buffeted them all day.

  In seconds, he changed over from human to dragon, then nose-dived right off the edge. It made her heart leap in her throat—that was cutting it rather close, wasn’t it?—then he soared back up, red against the sunset sky.

  Hawes, of course, noticed and cupped his hand around his mouth to call back to her, “What’s going on?”

  “Something is on fire ahead!” Mei Li peered that way. It was a little hard to tell in the approaching twilight, but it did look like a great deal of black smoke billowing ahead. She’d not been paying it much attention. Hadn’t noticed it all, in fact. “Shunlei went to see!”

  Hawes clearly didn’t like the sound of that and pushed his horse straight into a canter, the fastest they could go on these roads. Mei Li kept up, her eyes now anxiously fixed on the land ahead of her as she tried to see what was going on. It felt like eons, but it couldn’t have been a half hour before they crested over a rise, and then she could really see the situation for what it was.

  Half the town was ablaze.

  To be precise, it was the dock area on fire, one of the ships in port also aflame. Settled into the valley between two rocky hilltops, the fire and smoke filled the air and made the visibility rather poor. Mei Li had to strain her eyes to get a better look at the situation. People scurried about, either children or something precious in their hands, running for safety. No one seemed to know where that was, as they scattered in different directions. Mei Li couldn’t make sense of it at first, because what were they running from? The blaze itself? Shouldn’t they be trying to put it out instead of just running and abandoning it all?

  Then she heard the whoosh of wings and the crash of two hard bodies colliding and realized exactly what they were running from.