General Ordwinn remained where he was, sitting at the table alone, as the door swung shut behind them.
While Caspian was saying goodbye to the guards, Mazik and Gavi conferred. “Did we learn anything useful there?” asked Gavi.
Mazik ran a hand through his hair and huffed. “Shit, I dunno. I feel like the guy’s hiding something, but maybe that’s only because I want that to be true. Nothing he said gave any indication that he knew what she was planning, even though it’s mind-boggling that he’d be that ignorant. And what would he gain by staying behind? He can’t do anything while under house arrest.” Mazik shook his head slowly. “I don’t know. I think maybe he didn’t know. Maybe.”
“They could have had a falling out,” said Gavi.
Mazik grunted. “Maybe we should have just done stupid guard duty. I have a feeling this is going to be a pain in the ass.”
They were silent until Caspian returned. The young Nijāst looked at them optimistically. “So, did you figure anything out? Where do we go from here?”
Mazik jammed his hands in his pockets. “We need time to think this over. Let’s go see if Raedren has a girlfriend yet. Wanna come?”
Caspian looked puzzled, but shrugged. “Sure.”
“Great.”
*
Raedren stared up at the ceiling. It was an hour past sunrise, but he didn’t feel like getting out of bed. So he didn’t. He had the covers pulled up to his chin, and was staring at the ceiling, his mind wandering.
The door opened. Raedren’s eyes snapped shut.
After several days in the Nijāst village, they had fallen into a routine. While Mazik and Gavi spent their time on perimeter duty or questioning people about Rhea’s betrayal—though the latter was happening less often, he had noticed—Raedren spent most of his time at the kennel, with Hyra. It was only during the mornings and nights that he got any time to be alone, to think.
“Wake up, ya idiot.” The pillow disappeared from under Raedren. He groaned and rolled over.
“I’m not your girlfriend. Don’t make us get you up when we all know you’re already awake.” Mazik tossed the pillow at Raedren’s chest. “Making other people wake him up is my thing.”
“Of course it is.” Raedren pushed himself up by his elbows. “I’ll be out in a minute. Let me get dressed.”
“If you take too long, I’m gonna eat your breakfast.”
“Do it and I won’t save you the next time you do something stupid.”
“Oooo, morning Raedren is feisty!” Mazik pantomimed fear, then settled down. “Either way, hurry up. Your shift starts soon.”
Once Mazik was gone, Raedren dragged himself out of bed. He tugged on his trousers, then walked to the window and pulled the curtains aside.
Aside from the occasional shout or explosion when the Noble Hunt attacked, the Nijāst village was quiet. Too quiet for Raedren’s taste. He was a city boy, used to hustle and bustle of Houk, where there was always something happening, even if it was rarely anything good.
In the past, acquaintances had been surprised to learn that Raedren liked it that way. True, he enjoyed spending time by himself, preferably with a good book, and even when he had the endless possibilities of the big city around him, he rarely took advantage of them. But he liked having the option. More than that, he liked the feeling of so many lives around him. It made him feel safe, like he was part of something grand, and it even made him less lonely. Raedren didn’t need to take part in others’ lives to be comforted by them. He just needed to know they were there.
Some people say it’s easy to feel alone in a crowd. Raedren preferred it that way.
The Nijāst village had none of that. It made him uneasy. The other villages they had stopped in hadn’t bothered him, but they had only been passing through, and no one other than his friends had expected anything of him. Here, he felt exposed. Ever since their arrival, the locals had been watching him. It made him uncomfortable.
He let out a long breath, then finished getting dressed. He grabbed his staff from where it leaned next to the door, but stopped before opening it. He stared at the closed door for a long minute, mustering his energy for another day.
I wouldn’t be happy in a small village like this, he told himself. Especially one that’s cut off from the rest of the world. I made my decision. It’s right. Hold firm. He took another breath, let it out slowly. Hold firm, hold firm, hold firm.
The trio approached the kennel shortly before Raedren’s shift was set to begin. Gavi walked between the two men. All of them were silent, for their own reasons.
She glanced at Raedren. His face was blank, his eyes focused on the path ahead.
Were she someone else, Gavi might have thought nothing of it. Raedren was often silent. But this was different. She had known him since high school, and any gaps in her knowledge had been filled once they started risking their lives together. Raedren often looked contemplative, or mildly curious, or lost in thought, but those were different from the blank expression he wore this morning. This was more like how he looked before a battle. It looked like he had walled off his emotions, so he could confront the coming challenge as dispassionately as possible.
Gavi supposed that wasn’t far from the truth. She and Mazik remained silent, to give their friend time to prepare.
“Good morning!” Hyra greeted them as soon as they entered the kennel’s courtyard. She was standing on the front steps, with several spellhounds sitting at attention around her. One—the young male known as Twenty-seven—immediately broke ranks and trotted toward them. As Mazik did likewise and dropped to his knees to greet the dog, Hyra ordered the other spellhounds to follow her. The two groups converged in the middle.
“How are you doing today?” Hyra’s question was directed at all of them, but her smile was all for Raedren.
She was dressed up again, Gavi noticed. Ever since they had arrived, her clothing had gone from sensible tunics and trousers to stylish dresses, skirts, and blouses. Today she wore a sleeveless cream-colored dress with a brown belt around her midriff and light lacing on the bodice. It was short enough to emphasize her long legs, and fashionable enough to make Gavi wonder where she was getting these outfits in a hidden village. It was also completely ill-suited for her job. The skirt was already speckled with golden fur, as the rest of her outfit would be by day’s end.
“We’re good.” Raedren shifted, angling so the conversation included Gavi and Mazik too.
Gavi took the hint. She bowed. “Good morning. You look lovely today.”
“You think so?” Hyra twisted her hips, more leg showing as her skirt fluttered. She looked at Raedren, her expression inquiring.
Gavi couldn’t tell for sure, but she thought Raedren was blushing beneath his beard. “Er, yes. You look beautiful.”
“Who’s a good boy?” Mazik was whispering from knee-height. Twenty-seven’s tail wagged, steadily wiping away the chalk outline of the training area.
Raedren stepped away from the group. “I need to check in.”
“After that, would you mind helping me?” Hyra pressed her hand to his arm “I could use help training this group in protection, if you don’t mind.”
“Uh, sure. If they don’t post me somewhere else, yeah.”
Hyra gave him a dazzling smile. “Great. I’ll see you shortly.”
No one said anything until Raedren had left. Then Hyra turned to Gavi. “So, how have the two of you been doing? Are you still assisting Caspian with his investigation?”
Mazik stood, though he kept patting Twenty-seven. “Yeah, sort of. Not as much the past two days, though.”
“We haven’t been making any progress,” explained Gavi. “We’ve talked to General Ordwinn several times, and been all over his house, and talked to several others—”
“Tons of others,” added Mazik.
“—but there’s nothing that proves he knew anything about what his wife was doing. We’re not sure how to proceed.”
“Does that mean General Ordwinn is goi
ng to be released?”
Gavi shook her head. “I don’t think so. We haven’t found any evidence that he’s innocent, either. I think he’s going to be kept there until someone can prove it one way or the other, or the situation changes.”
“That’s too bad. I find it hard to believe the general would do anything like this.” Hyra sighed. “Then again, I would have said the same about Rhea …”
While they were talking, a group of unfamiliar faces, led by Chief Boern and Knapp, approached the kennel. They could hear Chief Boern speaking as the group drew closer.
“—training. And speaking of, here’s our lead trainer, Hyra Effami.” The chief bowed to Hyra, then patted Mazik on the shoulder. “And these are two of the adventurers who have been helping us. They’ve been of great help in the past few days. Thank you again.”
Mazik squeezed the hand on his shoulder just long enough to make it awkward. “No problem.”
“Actually, we’ll get out of your way,” said Gavi, stepping to the side. She turned to Hyra. “Do you mind if we do some training out back while we’re waiting for our shift to begin?”
“Be my guest.”
Once Gavi managed to pull Mazik away from his spellhound friend, the two of them excused themselves. On their way to the back of the kennel, they passed Raedren, who was speaking with several of the kennel guards. Mazik slapped him on the back as they passed. “We’re going to do some training. Come get us if we’re needed.”
Raedren glanced at Hyra and Chief Boern’s group. He didn’t appear to be in a hurry. “All right. I’ll be protecting any spellhounds that are training outside.”
“And personnel,” added one of the Nijāst, a young woman. “It’s important that our trainers in particular have plenty of protection.”
Raedren’s expression remained the same. “Of course.”
“Don’t let ’em eat you alive,” said Mazik.
Gavi glanced back at Raedren, feeling bad for him. Ever since the first day, Hyra had been pursuing Raedren heavily. The two of them got along, and at first Raedren had been happy—until he learned that, as one of the Nijāst’s top spellhound trainers, Hyra couldn’t leave the village, even if she wanted to. The knowledge she possessed was too important.
Since then, Raedren had been trying to discourage Hyra. It hadn’t been going well.
“He’s too weak to pressure,” said Mazik, as if he could sense what she was thinking about. Probably because she was still looking over her shoulder, she realized.
“I thought you liked that about him.” Gavi jabbed him in the side. “That’s how you get him to go along on your crazy schemes.”
“That’s entirely different!” Mazik swatted at her hand, but Gavi kept at it. “I only rope him into things he might like, but would never initiate himself. Besides, he’ll tell me if I go way over the line, which he has.” He glanced behind them. “Still, it’s obvious he’s not interested anymore, but she’s still pressing. That’s rough.”
“Mmm,” said Gavi as she unhooked her sword belt. “Though it’s not always easy to see that when you’re one of the people involved.”
Mazik grunted. “True. Think we should step in yet?”
They rounded the corner. Several benches had been set up behind the kennel, opposite three man-sized targets set against the wall. Both the stone targets and the wall behind them were crusted and burned where evocation spells had been cast at them over and over, yet the fortified stone looked no worse for the disfiguration. It was as solid as ever, even when it looked extra crispy.
Gavi shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think I can do anything personally, at least. She might think I want him for myself.”
“Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think Raedren is your type.”
Gavi flashed him a lopsided grin. “You know, I think you’re right. The beard would have to go, at least. It would be like kissing a rug.”
Mazik pantomimed writing on his hand. “Mental note: never grow a beard.”
Gavi froze in the middle of putting her sword belt down.
“The next time I see Kalenia, I don’t want her first thought to be ‘tastes like rug.’”
I almost thought— Gavi willed her heart to slow down as she sat, laying her sword behind her. “Hey, some women like it,” she added jovially.
Mazik shrugged out of his robes and sat in front of her, his back to her. “Hyra, for instance.”
The two of them laughed.
Mazik laid his robes on the bench next to them, then flexed his shoulders, loosening up. Even through his slate gray tunic, Gavi could see his muscles clearly. He wasn’t overly muscular, but he definitely had definition, and even more so now than before they started adventuring, which was—and I should stop thinking about this if I ever want to get any training done.
“Ready?” Mazik was facing the wall, his right hand raised and the blue gemstone in his Telman class ring glowing faintly.
Gavi closed her eyes and rested her hand on Mazik’s back. It was large, and warm, and firm—and she banished those thoughts as well. For keen training, she had to sense exactly how Mazik created each spell, paying attention to how his mana moved so she could duplicate it. That required intense concentration, and she would have focus.
After several moments of silence, she nodded. “Ready.”
Her awareness of her surroundings had already faded. With her hand resting within Mazik’s personal mana barrier, she could peer past his defenses and sense what was happening beneath. His mana pool was a bright warmth, a swirling hum that mimicked the larger mana winds that brushed their skins. She swam through it, searching for the strong current of a spell being prepared. She found it, and followed it to its source.
Roiling, spitting discord greeted her. Mazik was casting an evocation spell, and at first blush it felt like chaos. There seemed to be no rhythm or rhyme to the churning anarchy, the threads snapping and tearing as they folded in on themselves, folding over and over, the mana snarling as it grew agitated, building to a fever pitch. Gavi looked for patterns, but it was all light and sound, noise and motion, and none of it made sense.
“Mazik Missile.”
The mana rushed to a point as if it were air being inhaled, and then it shot away like a loosed arrow. Gavi could hear the spell sizzle against one of the stone targets.
“Again?” asked Mazik.
Gavi’s eyes remained closed, her attention sharp, her face set in a determined line. “Again.”
Gavi didn’t know how much time passed. But after several more spells, a voice penetrated her meditative fog.
She opened her eyes, blinking against the light. She found Caspian approaching them from the perimeter fence. He was wearing his usual green vest, though the clothes beneath it were rumpled. There were also bags under his eyes, and he was sporting a scratchy moss of facial hair that he could not pull off. He waved cheerfully when Gavi looked up.
“What did you say?” she asked muzzily. She swung her legs to one side of the bench to face him.
“I asked if evocation was what you had decided to focus on.” Caspian took a seat on the bench parallel to Gavi and Mazik’s.
Gavi had been wondering that herself. She knew there were two schools of thought when it came to teaching magick, beyond keen training versus traditional. Some teachers preferred to focus on a single school of magick until the student was comfortable with it, whereas others preferred to teach every school at once, to give the students a solid foundation, before going deep on the ones they’re best at. In her casting career, Gavi had tried both, to little avail. She still sucked at everything but enhancement.
Right now she was testing out keen training with every school, to see if she had an affinity with one more than the others. The results had been predictably disappointing, which meant it was up to her. If she wanted to get better as quickly as possible—and she did—she had to specialize. The question was in what.
“No, I don’t think so,” she said finally. She thought back to Hectre
, one of their allies from the New Lyfe Gang quest. While she hadn’t been interested in him, no matter how much he flirted—though to his credit, he had taken the hint—she had been interested in the way he fought. She saw him use force magick—alteration—to bat aside projectiles, close the gap between himself and enemies, and push opponents off balance. If Gavi could get better at any school, it would be protection, but since she was absolutely abysmal at that, alteration seemed like a good second choice.
She said as much. Caspian nodded his agreement. “I know what you mean! I’m the same way—totally lousy at protection.” He laughed. “I put a lot of effort into getting better at alteration precisely because it’s so flexible. Plus”—he rattled his quiver—“a little push is good for keeping enemies far enough away for me to shoot ’em.”
“I, for one, approve of this idea,” interjected Mazik. “If you get good at force magick, then we won’t have to slow down for you when we’re traveling.”
Gavi swatted at him, and Mazik ducked. She got him on the backswing.
While Mazik was sniggering, Gavi crossed her arms. “So yeah, that’s my plan. I’ll probably knuckle down and focus on alteration after this.”
“Want help?” The younger man shrugged out of his quiver and bow. He smiled, though it looked tired. “I could use something simple to focus on.”
Gavi didn’t hesitate. “That would be great.”
Two hours later, Mazik and Caspian flopped onto the benches. “That’s enough for me,” said Caspian. He pulled at his shirt, trying to cool himself. “I’m tired.”
Mazik grunted as he rubbed his shoulder. He could feel the dull edge of casting exhaustion. It was like hunger combined with muscle fatigue, only distributed throughout his entire body. “Seconded.”
Gavi didn’t respond. She stood with her back to them, her concentration focused inward. Her shoulders rose as she took a deep breath, then she lifted her hand and aimed. “Gust.”
Nothing happened. Mazik could feel her mana moving, but it wasn’t quite right. It was close, though. Closer than earlier today, and much closer than before they had arrived. Gavi had been practicing magick for nearly as long as Mazik had, and with far less success. He had always wondered whether he would have kept at it as long as she had.
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