Advent (Advent Mage Cycle) (13 page)

“I can do something about it. Hold on.”

I am not, needless to say, good with water. But I can drain water from an area as well as anyone else can. I probed the area a bit until I found the underwater stream that the fountain fed from, and then I opened up a hole that connected directly to that stream. The water drained rapidly down my ready-made drain, receding from the surface at a good clip.

It took only a handful of minutes for most of the water to retreat back into the ground, leaving only a few mud puddles here and there around the courtyard. Once most of it was gone, I shut up the hole again, smoothing it so that no one could tell there had been a hole there to begin with.

“Amazing,” Sinhelenan whispered in awe. “Can I do that too?”

“Water is your element, not earth,” I corrected her gently. “But I can promise you that your power with water is just as amazing.”

Xiaolang went taut next to me. “People are starting to return. And they’re pretty angry. I think we better go now. Garth?”

“Right.” I wrapped us all up in a cocoon of magic and took us to the earth path.

Sinhelenan, as expected, was very nervous with the experience. Shad undertook the task of calming her down, assuring her that there was no danger. He didn’t have her completely convinced by the time that we were back at camp.

Even as I brought everyone up to the surface, I resigned myself to a lot of scolding from Night. He absolutely hates it when I take off without telling him first.

Actually, Chatta was sure to be irritated too. Busted buckets.

“
Garth, finally
!” Night and Chatta were in perfect sync, from voices right down to the glares they were giving me.

I held up my hands defensively. “It was an emergency, all right? I couldn’t wait for you two to wake up!”

“
We’ll talk about this later,
” Night promised direly. “
For now, introduce us. Who’s this pretty girl?”

I made the introductions all around. Chatta took pity and hit the half-drowned rescue team with drying spells—Sinhelenan excluded, as she was perfectly dry. Shad gave her a hug for her efforts, which made her smile.

It was a definite relief to be dry again. Standing around in predawn cold while being soaking wet is
not
a pleasant experience.

While Chatta dried me off I kept my attention on our new Mage. I sort of had to, as I was still actively sealing her power, which took some concentration on my part. Because I was watching her, I saw her and Krys’s mutual surprise at meeting another Mage. I also noticed that while Sinhelenan responded politely to everyone, it was clear where her attention really was. Sinhelenan was staring right at Night with eyes so wide they threatened to fall out of her head.

“…Why is the horse talking in my head?”

“That’s not a horse,” I explained. “He is a nreesce, a magical being with sentient intelligence. Mostly. Unless peanut butter is involved.”

Night shot me an offended look. “
What’s that supposed to mean?”

I ignored him. “You’ve probably heard of nreesce in old legends,” I told Sinhelenan. “The old fables that tell of how the Mages had a special mount they rode? That’s what they were referring to.”

“But he’s a gorgeous stallion!” Sinhelenan protested in confusion.

Night preened. “
She thinks I’m gorgeous! What a nice girl.”

“What did you expect?” Chatta had her head cocked at a puzzled angle. “What do these Chahiran fables say a nreesce is, anyway?”

Sinhelenan couldn’t take her eyes off of Night even though she answered. “A monstrous, horse-like creature that can break anything with its hooves, and can set fire to things with its tail. Some legends say that it has paws with sharp claws instead of hooves.”

“What’s scary is that part of that is actually true,” Eagle observed to no one in particular.

“All of it’s true,” I corrected him. “It’s just not true of all nreesce. Night is a Breaker, as you know, but there are Firetails and nreesce born with claws instead of hooves. You just don’t see all of those features in one nreesce.”

Hazard let out a low whistle. “Interesting. You learn something new every day. All right, now that the pleasantries are out of the way…Captain?”

“We need to move out,” Xiaolang concurred, frowning to himself. “Sinhelenan’s village is about twenty miles away, but I don’t feel comfortable being this close. Shield, are we ready to go?”

Shield nodded instantly. “Just waiting on you.”

Xiaolang waved his hand in the air in a loose circle. “Then load up, people. I want to get out of this area as quickly as possible.”

Chapter Eight: The Unexpected

It took about a week to drop off Krys and Helen, only because we took the earth path most of the way. None of us thought that simply dropping both Mages off at the way station was a good idea. Krys especially warranted a
lot
of negotiation. As soon as we hit the border, Xiaolang had me take everyone down to the earth path to travel straight for Del’Hain. We all appreciated getting away from the chilly mornings in Chahir. We then spent about an hour arguing with the Trasdee Evondit Orra about training a Fire Mage—we won. I think the turning point happened when Xiaolang innocently asked if it was really necessary to train a Mage
here
. Wouldn’t dropping Krys off in Coven Ordan be a better option? They knew how to train Mages, after all.

We had no arguments with the Trasdee Evondit Orra after that.

I sighed, thinking about the situation. I hope that Krys’s patience doesn’t wear out when dealing with the Trasdee Evondit Orra. He had a lot of bad history to overcome—which was not at all fair, as he hadn’t done anything to begin with.

Helen was more warmly received, as she was the first Water Mage to be discovered in this country. Even Coven Ordan only had two—one of whom was thankfully in Del’Hain acting as a teacher. I was surprised to find that Helen was actually fifteen—just a very petite fifteen, making her look younger than actuality. She was also staunchly on Krys’s side, as they had become friends on the journey in. Having another Mage as a friend was sure to help Krys over the rough spots in gaining people’s acceptance.

I took one day to introduce them to everyone and to set up a backup plan if Krys found attending the Academy intolerable. Krys knew that all he had to do was talk to one of the Remnant Mages and they would take him directly to Coven Ordan for training. This enraged most of the Trasdee Evondit Orra, but I didn’t care.

I’m not a politician. I hate manipulating people. I frankly didn’t care where Krys was trained as long as he
was
trained. Krys felt the same way about it. The council, realizing that they had no room for negotiating, reluctantly backed down. They’d probably be quiet for the duration of Krys’s training—after he was trained they’d probably pull something else. Or so my theory, anyway.

Two days after leaving Chahir, we were back on a road that led to Cammack Providence, and a possible magician family. Not only was the Lon family famous for producing Wizards and Witches, but also for Mages—Elemental Mages, to be precise. The Index had quite a list of magicians from that family. Since Cammack was one of the “neutral” Providences, we all had high hopes of finding some magicians in that family.

Magical people are easier for me to feel than normal people. They always have been—they leave more of an impression. Something about magic stirs up the earth so that each magical person registers like a lodestone upon a sandy hill. Normal people, on the other hand, are much harder for me to track. That’s why it took me a while to realize that there was someone on the road ahead, waiting.

I frowned, trying to estimate distance. He was perhaps a mile or so ahead of us. Hm. I didn’t remember anything nearby; not villages or towns or even farms.

Pitching my voice to carry I asked, “Xiaolang, is there any habitations near us?”

He twisted in the saddle to look at me. “No, why?”

“There’s someone just ahead of us,” I answered perplexed. “They’re just…waiting.”

“Magical?”

“No.”

This definitely intrigued him. “Injured, perhaps?”

“I can’t tell,” I confessed. I just wasn’t good enough to tell nuances. I could barely tell gender, most of the time.

“Hmmm.” He gave the area around us thoughtful scrutiny. We were surrounded on all sides by short, twisting trees that crowded in on each other. It would give a person just enough cover to set up an ambush, if necessary. “How far ahead is this person?”

“A little over a mile, I think. Maybe a little farther.”

Xiaolang gave a sharp wave of his hand. “Aletha, Shield, go investigate.”

They tossed their reins to Eagle and Hazard, who caught them with practiced ease, then dropped out of their saddles. I’ve seen how good these people are at infiltration, but was still suitably impressed when they melted into the woods without a whisper of sound to betray them.

Xiaolang slowed the pace, taking us down to a dawdling walk.

Minutes crawled by without a sound. I kept track of Aletha’s and Shield’s progress as they approached the man (I was fairly sure it was a man at this point). Chatta sidled up closer to me and whispered, “Can you feel where they are?”

“Right on top of the waiting man,” I murmured back. “Wait, they’re heading back…hmm. Interesting.”

“Don’t you dare go cryptic on me,” she warned direly. “What’s interesting?”

“They’re escorting him back.”

She sat back in her saddle, eyebrows raised in surprise. “What does that mean?”

I shrugged. She knew as much as I did.

It didn’t take long for them to come within sight. I was not really surprised to see that the man had both hands on his head, Aletha and Shield’s weapons pointed at some tender portion of his anatomy. He looked rather relaxed for a man at sword point. He had a straight, military bearing, a slightly chiseled look to him and blond hair cut so short he almost looked bald. His skin had a weathered texture to it, darkly tanned, that emphasized the crow’s feet at the corner of his eyes and the fine lines around his mouth. I couldn’t quite place his age—his strong, muscular build belonged to a man in his twenties but the wrinkles said forties. Considering that he was in a stark blue and silver uniform, the military look he had was not unexpected.

What did surprise me was the uniform the man was wearing. The stark, almost severe design of the uniform with minimal silver edging could not be mistaken for any other nation’s uniform. This one had been intended to blend the wearer into shadow.

Shad and I both hissed in recognition.

“What?” Xiaolang demanded in alarm.

“He’s in the uniform of the Special Forces,” Shad answered grimly.

Xiaolang nodded in understanding and he looked distinctly unhappy about this information. I shared that feeling completely—the Special Forces often did the same work that the Jaunten did for Guin. What worried me was that they also did the dirty work; assassinations, intimidation, that sort of thing. They didn’t answer to anyone but Vonlorisen.

What was a lone Special Force soldier doing out here?

We all dismounted and formed a half-circle, watching silently as the soldier was brought within five feet of us. I looked at Xiaolang out of the corner of my eye, sure that he would pick up on any danger before the rest of us did. Strangely, he didn’t look worried—just confused.

What was going on here?

The soldier wasn’t concentrating on any of the Red Hand—which would have been my main worry—or the swords pressing against his skin. (Which would
definitely
have been one of my main concerns.) Instead, his eyes were fixed on me. Call me crazy, but he actually looked
relieved
to see me.

“I am Saroya, Special Forces,” he introduced himself in a gravelly voice, like he gnawed on rocks for breakfast.

On that, I choked. Someone in my Jaunten ancestry—probably Elis—had run across Saroya before. They’d known who he was. This was the
Head
of the Special Forces.

“Garth, care to share?” Shad muttered in a tight voice.

“That’s the Head of the Special Forces,” I rasped back.

Beside me, Chatta emitted a strangled shriek.

Saroya studied me from the tip of my head to my boots and back again. “You are the Advent Mage?”

Why,
why
has my stupid nickname crossed over the border? Oh wait, I’d actually used it last year when rescuing Asla and Aral. Stupid me. Why had I done that? I gave him a quelling look. “I am Rhebengarthen, yes.”

“I have a message for you from King Vonlorisen.”

My eyes popped wide. Was he
serious
?! Why on earth would the King of Chahir want to communicate with me? “And that would be?”

“The message is in my right breast pocket.”

“Aletha, Shield, relax,” Xiaolang suddenly ordered. “He’s speaking the absolute truth.”

They instantly backed off a pace, but their eyes never left Saroya. No matter how much they trusted Xiaolang’s empathy, they couldn’t overcome trained paranoia that easily.

With very slow, cautious movements, Saroya pulled a sealed tube out of his pocket. I stepped forward and accepted it, testing it with my senses to see if it were booby-trapped in any way—it wasn’t. If this had been tampered with by a Star Order Priest, some trace of blood magic would have lingered no matter how thick their glamour spells. I hadn’t really thought it was, but this was a man that demanded caution.

I broke the metal seal—Vonlorison’s personal seal—untying the string before unrolling the message. Shad, Night and Chatta all read over my shoulder.

To Magus Rhebengarthen:

As you have no reason to trust the contents of this letter, We shall begin with this. We swear that every word in this message is absolute truth as We know it. You have Our word as a Von.

I nearly dropped the parchment when I read that part. “Great magic, this is serious,” I noted to Shad.