There was a digestive pause. “
You’ve figured something out, haven’t you? I can hear it in that smug tone of yours.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “I’ve figured something out. I promise to tell you later.”
“You’d better. All right, I’ll make a copy. Anything else?”
“No, not now. I’ll see you tonight.”
“
Right. Have a safe trip up.”
I put the broach back into my pocket as I headed for Trev’nor’s apartment again. I needed to pick up a certain nreesce before we could go up to Ascalon.
Chapter
Four: Preparation
I had never been as far north as the Empire of Sol before. Even when I dropped Xiaolang and the Red Hand off last fall, he had me deliver them to Q’atal. He claimed that having a Mage suddenly pop out of the ground without any warning would give Ascalon Security a heart attack. This time, however, I was expected. I went the straight and easy route—not to mention the fastest.
In his letter to me he had directed me to come up in the main courtyard of Headquarters, supposedly a mostly deserted place that would give me room to arrive in. Despite all of the precautions, there were still people who jumped, screamed, and scrambled over each other when I popped out of the ground, the earth melting away from me, sloughing off in all directions. I stared around me, heaving a resigned sigh. Really, was it that strange? Did I look like some sort of ghoul?
“I thought Xiaolang warned them about this,” I complained to Night.
“
Maybe they didn’t take him seriously,
” Night suggested casually. He seemed to find grown adults shrieking like children to be somewhat entertaining. Snickers kept escaping from his serious expression.
“Garth!”
I knew that voice. Spinning about, I looked for a familiar head of untidy blond hair. In the sea of black and red uniforms, it took a second for me to spot him. “Eagle!”
The tall, blond soldier strode forward until he could clasp hands with me, a delighted smile on his sun-darkened face. “You look good, Garth. The Captain said you’d probably arrive soon, so we’ve been keeping an eye out. How was your winter vacation?”
“It wasn’t much of a vacation,” I groaned. “I’ll tell you about it later. Is everyone ready to go?”
“Pretty much, yeah. The Captain is having an in-depth argument right now with the Powers-That-Be.” He shook his head, half-resigned, half-amused.
I wasn’t sure how to take that statement.
“Is there a problem?” I asked cautiously.
“Well, you know how Shad came up here to train recruits, right?”
I didn’t like this beginning. Shad was good, very good, at what he did—but he also had the same sense of mischief and curiosity as a Meuritta. I gave a ginger nod. “Right. And?”
“He’s
really
good at teaching.” Eagle looked a little dumbfounded at this. “Hard to believe, I know, but he just knows how to break it down so even the greenest recruit can understand. When the Core Commanders did their end of term review, they discovered that Shad’s students were far more advanced than everyone else’s.”
“And now they want to keep him?” I guessed.
“Bingo. The Captain is having a devil of a time convincing them that he really needs Shad to go into Chahir with him—I think he’s half regretting bringing Shad up here in the first place.”
I could see how that would happen. I was kind of glad for Shad’s sake that he had obviously found a place that wanted him. If nothing else, after Chahir was settled once more, maybe the rascal could settle permanently here.
While I was glad for this development for my friend’s sake, it did leave us with the immediate problem of prying him out of Ascalon’s clutches.
“Would it help any if I stepped in and said a word? Or do you think Xiaolang has it in hand?”
“I’m not sure, really.” Eagle shrugged.
“
But is it really necessary to argue about this?
” Night cocked his head at both of us, looking a little puzzled. “
Shad didn’t sign up to be part of the Ascalon military, did he? If he’s still a civilian, he can leave whenever he wishes. No one has the power to stop him
.”
Eagle looked pole-axed, eyes nearly crossing, jaw in danger of becoming unhinged. “Night…you’re right! Great guardians, why didn’t we think of that?”
“Because you’re used to thinking of him as part of the military command structure,
” Night said sarcastically. .
He had a valid point. It was so engrained for these men to just obey their superiors they probably never thought to question whether Shad had to obey or not. It was sheer force of habit.
“Well, in that case, we’ll be able to leave very soon.” Eagle obviously felt cheered by this new development. “Are either of you hungry?”
It had taken a large part of the morning to get up here. My stomach was letting me know it too. “Getting that way, yeah.”
“Let me show you to a good restaurant. The team will meet you there for lunch, okay?”
That sounded like a good plan to me, but anything that involved food was always a good plan.
I took a good look around me as I followed Eagle through the city gates and down the street. Most of the Empire of Sol had military city-states, and the architecture certainly reflected that. All of the buildings were very functional in style and rather uniform in color. They all had a very utilitarian architecture to them, with no frills of any sort. It almost looked like a gigantic cookie cutter had been used to stamp out rows of identical square buildings, all of the same shad of unrelenting grey. They were all identically spaced apart, as well, nothing more than an alley between them. The only difference from one building to the next was the landscaping in the miniscule front yards. I imagined that with everything looking so similar, it would be terribly easy to get lost in this city. Mental note to me: Don’t wander around without a native playing tour guide.
It was very easy to tell civilians apart from military—the civilians were all in bright, bold fabric while the military was in stark black. An amazing amount of beadwork and embroidery livened up the clothing even more, with an interesting mix of a tight, form-fitting layer on the bottom with very loose, flowing shirts and skirts of gauzy material layered over the top. Whatever lack of beauty their city might have was well made up for in the way the civilians dressed. It was like watching a rainbow parade down the street.
“Hey, let go of my reins!
”
Huh? I snapped around to see who Night was talking to. My nreesce had all four feet planted, leaning back onto his haunches. A dirty urchin had his hands wrapped around Night’s reins, determinedly tugging at them. Someone was actually trying to steal Night?!
I made my voice anvil hard, expression as black as a thundercloud, trying to be as scary and menacing as possible. “Kid. Let go of the reins.”
The boy—I think it was a boy under all of that dirt—froze and peeked up at me. “Hey mister, you mean this is your horse? Sorry, I thought he was just wandering around without an owner.”
“
I don’t need to be led around by the nose like some idiot dog,
” Night snapped, shaking his head angrily. “
And let go, already!
”
The boy’s eyes shot open wide. “…wait…did…that voice…”
“Yes, the ‘horse’ is talking to you,” I said dryly. “That is not a horse, you see, but a nreesce.”
The boy’s face twisted up in a dubious expression. “Nreesce ain’t just a bedtime story?”
“
Do I look like a figment of your imagination?”
Night snapped back.
I decided to put this into terms the boy was probably familiar with. “Kid, nreesce have the same intelligence as any person. Worse, for you,
that
nreesce is trained to act as a warhorse as well. Do you really want to hold on to him?”
The kid instantly dropped the reins. He might not understand nreesce very well, but being surrounded by the military like he was, he knew how dangerous a warhorse could be.
“Good decision.”
Night’s ears lay back in agitation. “
The idea!
” he grumbled darkly.
“That someone could actually steal me.
”
Eagle bent an evil eye on the now empty-handed thief. “I suggest disappearing before I call for the military police.”
He didn’t have to be told twice. The urchin disappeared into the crowd in an instant, untraceable.
Now that the matter was settled the humorous side asserted itself. Struggling to hide a grin, I gave Night an arched look. “Do I need to hold your reins?”
He gave me a venomous look.
“Do and die
.”
“Now, Night, it’s a wise precaution.” I widened my eyes innocently. “After all, people up here aren’t as familiar with nreesce. We don’t want you to get stolen, do we?”
He let loose a sound that was almost a growl.
“So help me, I’m kicking the next person that tries to steal me
.”
“Do that,” Eagle encouraged him. “They might not believe you’re a nreesce, but we’re all familiar with warhorses up here. If you give yourself a reputation for being bad tempered no one will bother you.” He paused and rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. “Well, really, no one with any sense would try to nab an equipped horse. Not when it’s obvious he’s following someone.”
Night gave an agitated shake of the reins. He still looked irritated.
I rubbed at my lips, erasing a smile. Really, in the long history of the nreesce race, had anyone actually tried to steal a nreesce? This had to be one for the records. I made a mental note to tell Chatta about it later.
The restaurant that Eagle led us to thankfully had outside seating. Like most good restaurants, the exterior didn’t look like much. It had that same blocky look as every other building in this city, with a few random, short green shrubs lurking near the front door. The place could have used a fresh coat of paint as well—preferably something not a garish pink. After that one peak inside, I felt perfectly happy to stay
outside.
Besides, trying to convince the owners to let a horse inside was never any fun. It was still a bit nippy, being very early spring, so no one else chose to sit at the outside tables. We had the area completely to ourselves. Eagle left us with orders to sit tight and eat while he went to inform everyone else that we had arrived.
I ordered a lot of fruits and vegetables for Night, and something hot and spicy for me as I was beginning to feel the cold. Going from the very warm depths of the earth to this chilled wind without a transition was not exactly pleasant. Still, it was warmer up here than it was down in Chahir. Much warmer. I wasn’t looking forward to going back into my homeland.
Lunch had just been set in front of me when I heard a hail from behind me.
“Garth!”
I twisted in my seat.
“Aletha!” . I stood to exchange a hug with her, then regarded her at arm’s length. She looked better than she had four months ago—rested, at ease, and the uniform was sharp again instead of a little stained and worn. We had all looked a little threadbare and haggard four months ago. Actually, with her dark hair and pale skin, the black and red uniform suited her very well. “You look good.”
“So do you,” she returned with a bright smile. “Did you grow?”
“A whole inch,” I answered proudly.
“I thought you looked a smidge taller,” she laughed. “Hello, Night.”
Night bobbed his head at her.
“Hi, Aletha. Where is everyone else?”
“Just behind me.” She took a seat at the table. “They sent me ahead to order their food. Garth, Eagle told me to reassure you that Shad
is
coming with us. Our illustrious Captain won the argument that Shad, as a civilian, doesn’t have to stay if he doesn’t want to. Of course, that begged the question of why he was accompanying the Red Hand Team to begin with.”
“I’m sure. And what was Shad’s response to that?”
Aletha mimicked Shad’s voice nearly perfectly. “I’m merely a consultant on this venture, gentlemen.”
“
Good answer,
” Night reflected as he munched on an apple. “
Even true.
”
She nodded in agreement. “They couldn’t really argue. But Xiaolang is escorting Shad directly here just in case someone thinks up a new line of attack. Garth, were you planning to leave for Chahir directly from here?”
“No, we need to go to Hain to pick up Chatta first. She was finishing up one last job for the Trasdee Evondit Orra as we left.” I swallowed a healthy spoonful of stew sighing at the pleasant flavor. “She swore that she’d be ready to go by the time I brought you guys back down.”
“Good enough,” Aletha decided. “We don’t want to travel the earth path and go into Chahir that way anyway—why alert them that we’re back in the country?”
Why indeed? Sneaking back in seemed a safer tactic to me.
Aletha waved down the waitress and gave her a long list of food to be ordered. We wouldn’t be able to do this much longer—just sit down at a restaurant and order something to eat. I was really going to miss restaurants. Travel food lacked flavor.
The rest of the team descended all at once, like an enthusiastic, black tidal wave. I stood and shook hands, clapped shoulders, and just said hello—Shad took the opportunity to steal the tie from my hair, which was annoying. With the wind, my hair kept blowing into my face. I had to drag it away from my eyes and mouth. I gave him an evil glare.
“Shad, give it back.”
“But I haven’t been able to torment you in four months!” he protested with a merry smile. “Let me enjoy the moment.”
If he thinks he can outmaneuver an Earth Mage, he’s delusional. Without letting my expression change one whit, I turned the stones under his feet into quicksand. With a yelp, Shad immediately sank into the ground right up to his chin.
“Garth!” he wailed in protest. “That’s not fighting fair!”
“Sure it is. Magic is just one of the weapons in my arsenal.” I flashed my teeth at him in a slightly mocking smile. “
You’re
the idiot that picked a fight with me.”