Advent (Advent Mage Cycle) (16 page)

“I find that hard to imagine.”

“So did I until I saw him head straight into an area fortified and defended by magicians. He went in so quickly I almost couldn’t track him. And then he came out again, barely a scratch on him.” I shook my head at the memory, absently shifting my grip on Nolan as he squirmed a little on my back. “The wonder of it is he can train just about anyone to do what he does. I fully expect some intelligent commander to snatch him up at some point.”

To this, Saroya only gave a thoughtful hum. I could tell his attention was ahead, and what might lie out of sight around the corner.

“They’re down,” I assured him quietly. “Shad’s already taken care of them.”

Saroya shot me another neutral glance, as if he wasn’t sure whether he believed me or not. Despite my confidence, he still went a few steps ahead to see for himself if the area was clear or not. I paused for a moment, holding Nolan up with one arm, and shifted my hair around to rest on my right shoulder. The way Nolan kept squirming, he kept pulling my hair, which meant my head kept getting jerked backwards.

Comfortable again, I rounded the corner and was not surprised to find the hallway empty. Saroya looked around in puzzlement, not finding either Shad or unconscious Priests as he expected.

“He stashed them in an empty room,” I jerked my thumb to indicate the precise room to my left, “and went ahead to clear the way.”

Saroya didn’t ask how I knew, as I half-expected. He just inclined his head and kept walking. Apparently, he was taking my announcements and putting them under the heading of “Magicians Know Things” and moving on.

We caught up with Shad two hallways and a short flight of stairs later. He was waiting patiently for us, not looking particularly mussed or tired. I hadn’t expected differently. He only gave us a smile of greeting. “Garth?”

I answered the obvious question in his eyes. “They’re mostly behind us. A group of three is off to our left, but further on. I doubt we’ll cross paths with them.”

“Good!” Shad beamed at us as Saroya took point again, leading the way.

We’d crossed another hallway, and were going up another flight of stairs when there was a hail behind us. “Saroya!” a man called. “Perfect, I need to ask you about this evening’s report.”

Saroya hissed something under his breath—tone was enough to tell me that I didn’t want to know what he actually said—and muttered to us, “Go ahead of me.”

By the time he turned around, he had a polite smile on his face, heading back to the man that called to him.

Shad and I kept walking, like we had our own business to attend to, until we were around the corner and out of sight. Then Shad stopped dead. “Okay, so which way?”

I gave him a blank look. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because you’ve been here before?”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” I protested. “Shad, do you know what a
maze
this place is? The Chahiran Palace was never really designed. They just kept adding additions to the original. People who’ve lived here their whole lives still get lost.”

“What is the good of being such a powerful Mage,” he demanded in a low tone, “when you can’t even avoid getting lost?”

“Magic has nothing to do with getting lost,” I retorted, feeling the childish urge to stick my tongue out at him.

“Obviously.” He rolled his eyes. “Can’t you at least find the team and use them as a reference to guide our way out of here?”

I pointed to the wall. “They’re that way.”

“…that was
so
helpful, Garth, thank you.”

“Anytime.”“Remind me never to go on vacation with you. Well, what about you, Nolan?” Shad gave a hopeful look to the area Nolan’s head should be in. “You know how to get out, don’t you?”

I couldn’t see him, but I felt him give a rapid and emphatic shake of the head. “Uh-uh. I don’t know this way.”

Shad slumped slightly. “Garth, you weren’t kidding.”

“No, I wasn’t,” I agreed dryly.

Saroya came around the corner and came to an abrupt stop, regarding us with some confusion. “Why didn’t you go ahead like I told you?”

“Because we were afraid of getting lost,” Shad responded wryly.

Saroya blinked, as if this hadn’t occurred to him before, but only said, “Hmm. I see. Well, let’s go.”

I gladly followed his back as we continued to weave our way out of the Palace. I lost all track of time as we went up, down, and over. If anyone had asked me to repeat that journey, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to do it without becoming hopelessly confused.

I started to sense the capitol’s population immediately in front of me, so I had to assume that we were very close to gaining the outside. It was so quiet where we were, and so deserted, that I hoped we might actually pull this off undetected after all.

KLANG. KLANG. KLANG.

I jumped, heart leaping into my throat at this abrupt, ear-shattering noise. What was that?!

Saroya snarled something under his breath. “They’ve figured out you’re missing, Your Highness,” he told Nolan grimly. “I’m going to have to show up and see what I can do to re-direct the search. I’ll buy you enough time to get out of the city.” Dropping his eyes to me, he continued, “Keep going straight down this hallway, then go right, left, and then right again. You’ll see the outside door at that point. Whatever happens, keep going.”

I nodded firmly. “Understood. Good luck, Saroya.”

With one last bow for the prince, he spun on his heels and took off at a dead sprint back the way we had come.

Shad and I started walking even faster than before, heading for the outside. “What did he say again?” I asked him as we moved. “Down this hall, then left, right, and left?”

“It was right, left, right!” Shad corrected with some asperity. “Don’t confuse me, okay?”

“Sorry.”

“You’re actually bad with directions, aren’t you?”

“Terrible,” I admitted sheepishly. “If I wasn’t Jaunten, I’d be in serious trouble.”

Shad shot me a sour look. “I believe that.”

We started running across more and more people in the previously quiet hallways as they started responding to the alarm. I didn’t want them to take a close look at how my arms were positioned—without them actually seeing a person on my back, it would look odd—so I hooked my thumbs in my belt loops, acting like this was a normal position for me. Either they were too preoccupied to notice, or they didn’t care enough to stop me, but I gathered no strange looks as we passed them.

Since they were all running, Shad and I took advantage of the situation and started running too. It still seemed eons until we reached the outer door, though. Even when we stumbled out into the clear, cold night air, we couldn’t relax. The outside was in as much of an uproar as the inside of the Palace.

From here, I could take over. I knew the outside of the Palace well enough to navigate our way out. Shad and I kept up a steady pace as we weaved in and out of frantic people, heading into the city proper. At different points, I felt Nolan’s fingers dig into the shirt on my back, trembling. I wished I could spare him some words of encouragement or comfort, but didn’t have the breath to do either.

We were within sight of the main city gates when Shad and I slowed down to a fast walk. No one was running here. I was hoping that we had outrun any message sent out that the prince was missing. It might be protocol to seal the city, for all I knew.

The gate guards were talking with each other as we walked past them, clearly debating on whether the alarm meant they should close the gates or not. Apparently they couldn’t decide if that particular alarm was a general fire alarm, or abduction alarm.

“I think someone skimped on their training,” Shad muttered in amusement to me. “Luckily for us.”

I nodded in agreement. Still, despite the idiots on the gate, I didn’t breathe easy until we were well past them and out of sight of the main road.

“Garth!” Xiaolang hissed from the darkness.

I wasn’t surprised to find him there, of course, because I had felt the team moving in closer to the city as we went out to meet them. I went directly to him. “We managed to get out without them suspecting us.”

“Good,” Xiaolang responded in relief. “Our young prince is on your back, I assume?”

“You assume correctly.” I swung Nolan around in my arms and lifted the amulet off his head so everyone could see him.

Xiaolang took one look at the little boy in my arms and jerked back in surprise. I gave him a suspicious look. That wasn’t Xiaolang’s normal reaction around people. “Xiaolang?”

“That’s the boy,” he breathed, so low I barely heard him.

I almost asked
what boy
? Then I remembered a certain conversation on my family’s back porch, so many nights ago. I blanched. “Are you sure?!”

Words were beyond Xiaolang. He just nodded vehemently.

Great magic…well. “I think it just became very important to reach Hain as soon as possible.” Not that we didn’t have enough reasons for that to begin with.

“I cannot argue with that.” Xiaolang snapped out, “People let’s move!”

Chapter Ten:
Sneaking

We didn’t dare use any sort of magic while near the capitol. Or in the whole of Banaszak Providence, for that matter. The whole Providence was swarming with Star Order Priests—this was practically their headquarters. Fortunately for us, Banaszak lay right on the Chahir-Hain border, which meant we were only about a day and a half’s travel from reaching the safety of Hainian soil.

It would still be a very nerve wracking day and a half.

It being too late to travel, I searched around until I found a deserted clearing next to a small stream. It was well off the main road and out of sight behind a thick covering of evergreen trees. This early into spring, most trees were still budding, leaving little coverage. This dense gathering of evergreens was a godsend.

We all fell into our normal patterns of making camp. It wasn’t until I had my bedroll settled and was turning to help Hazard cook dinner that I took any real notice of what Nolan was doing.

The young prince had Didi in his arms—the Meuritta was nuzzling against his jaw and chittering in a happy manner—and a hand was gently stroking Night’s nose. My nreesce seemed completely absorbed in whatever conversation he and Nolan were having. Hayate half-curled himself around Nolan, head pressed against the boy’s side, and his eyes were nearly closed, a warm rumble echoing from his chest.

I took in this picture of contentment with a rueful smile. Life Mages were a magnet for animals of any kind—apparently even young, untrained Life Mages.

Aletha drifted up to my side and gestured to the group. “Is that typical behavior around Life Mages?”

“Pretty much,” I confirmed. “I’m actually glad we’re traveling with him when he’s not trained,” I added thoughtfully. “Fully trained, and he’d be a magnet for any animal in twenty miles.”

Aletha’s eyes went wide when the implications hit. “…Oh. That would be, er, interesting.”

“That’s one word for it,” I agreed blandly. With another amused glance at the foursome, I turned back to the cook fire.

I was just turning the rabbits (that someone had caught earlier) over, to prevent them from scorching, when Nolan appeared at my elbow. “Garth, who’s Trev’nor?”

I blinked at this question, confused, until I remembered that Shad had mentioned Trev’nor earlier. “Ah, he’s a young Earth Mage about your age.”

Nolan apparently found this information very interesting. “Can I meet him?”

“Oh, you’ll definitely meet him.” I’d make absolutely sure of that. “You’ll be living with King Guin when we get to Del’Hain, of course. Trev’nor already lives at the Palace with his parents. I have no doubt the two of you will run across each other often.”

He smiled, heartened by this news. “Maybe we can be friends.”

I had absolutely no doubt about that. “I’m sure you will, Nolan. Trev’nor is a very friendly person.”

Satisfied, he sat next to the fire and resumed talking to his captive audience.

When dinner was ready we all gathered gratefully around the fire and started consuming hot food. We were about halfway through our plates when Nolan asked the inevitable question.

“Xiaolang, why do you glow blue? Are you a magician too?” He blinked curious blue eyes.

“No, Your Highness,” Xiaolang responded patiently, “I’m not a magician. I’m Q’atalian. All of my people are empaths, and empathy is apparently close enough to magic that you can see it.”

“Oh.” Nolan chewed on this new information for a minute. “Why are Q’atalians empaths?”

I paid more attention to the conversation, wondering why I had never questioned that before. It was just something you grew up knowing. The sky is blue, summer is warm, and Q’atalians are empaths. It was a fact that I’d never questioned.

Xiaolang cocked his head, eyebrow quirked, looking slightly amused. “Do you want to hear the story? About how my people came to be.”

They had a story? This was news to me.

Nolan nodded eagerly.

“All right then.” Xiaolang put his plate aside, assuming a storyteller’s position-legs crossed, hands palm up on his knees. “In the beginning of time when the world was new and humans young, the land lay untouched, untamed. A man could journey for weeks and see nothing but the sky above his head, the dirt beneath his feet, and the trees that lay between. Humans lived apart, their numbers no greater than the members of their family. Caves were their abodes, for they lacked the tools to create houses, and fear of the ever changing elements keeping them in hiding.

“A man could labor in the soil from sun-up to sun-down day after day and yield little more than enough to survive. Nor could he keep all his thoughts upon his labor, for monstrous beasts came from the North, beast of claw and fang, scales and fur. Beasts that hunted and killed whatever was in their path. Within five generations, people lived in constant fear, leaving no energy to care or love any but themselves.

“The great guardian of this world, Gramercy, looked down from the heavens and wept for his people. So great was his sorrow, his tears fell from the sky, watering the land and making it fertile. Soon there was more food to eat, more fish in the river, game in the woods, plants in the ground. Humans grew strong enough to slay the monsters that preyed upon them.