Hazard, from behind us, let out a low whistle. “Now that makes things interesting.”
Yes, it did. For good or bad, I wasn’t sure yet.
“We’ll be there in another hour I think.” Xiaolang frowned at the worn map in his hands. “Garth, have you ever been to Shirlane before?”
“No, never,” I said absently. My attention was gravitating back toward the Fire Mage. “It’s supposed to be a very metropolitan place. A lot of trade happens there.”
“So we’ll be able to blend in there?”
“Yeah, probably.”
“In that case—assuming nothing goes wrong before we can get there—the whole team will go in. Chatta, those amulets that you have to seal a Mage’s power, can they also serve as a glamour?”
“They aren’t, but I have separate amulets that do that.” She cocked her head, brown eyes silently questioning.
“How long do they last?”
“Depends on the size of the amulet. The smallest lasts about five hours—the largest one I have can last up to eighteen hours. What are you thinking, Xiaolang?”
“That I’m tired of spending the night out in the freezing cold,” he grumbled.
It was such an unexpected comment that I gave him a funny look. To hear my usually responsible captain make such an irresponsible comment was truly strange.
“Will everyone stop looking at me like that?” he requested in exasperation. “I’m just as cold as the rest of you. If we’re in such a metropolitan city like this, we’re not going to gather a second look. As long as Chatta puts a glamour on this boy to hide him from view, we should be able to safely stay the night here.”
“We’re not arguing with you,” Shield quickly assured him. “We all want one night in a warm bed. But this plan assumes that nothing goes wrong between now and tonight.”
“True,” Xiaolang concurred. “I need to judge the situation when we get there before deciding. But if I decide its safe enough, I’m sending Aletha and Shield to pick out a good inn for us.”
The two soldiers gave him casual salutes, acknowledging the order.
Part of my mind was daydreaming about cushy pillows and warm blankets. I had to shove all notions of that out of my head so that I could focus on the Mage. Still, a part of me was praying that nothing
would
go wrong.
~*~
Shirlane was indeed the busy, crowded city rumours declared it to be. I judged it to be about the size of Tobadorage—which made it strange that I hadn’t detected anyone with Star Order power. Was Farless as truly neutral as they were reported to be? It was the only explanation I could come up with for why there was no Star Order Priests assigned here.
The city sprawled out in haphazard directions, as no one had apparently bothered to design this city but instead let it grow whichever direction people wished. It had a rather cosmopolitan feel to it with the different styles of architecture. I saw hints of Bromany’s rounded edges on buildings, Chahir’s steep rooflines and Hainian’s expansive windows and doorways. We entered through the city gate at a very slow walk, having to almost force our way through the press of pedestrians on the street.
I was leading, as I was the only one that could tell which direction the Fire Mage was in. I was so focused on the boy that it took a few minutes to realize that we were heading into the artisan’s section of the city—specifically, the smithies. If he were truly of the Hai family, he was probably working as an apprentice in one of the swordsmith’s guilds.
Twenty feet away from the boy, more or less, I drew Night to a halt. Xiaolang appeared at my side before I could even gesture him closer.
“Well?”
“Everything is perfectly calm,” I answered in a low voice. “His magic is still shut off as well. I don’t think there’s any danger here.”
The Captain looked rather cheered by this report. “Maybe we can enjoy some soft beds after all. How do you think we should approach this?”
“I’m going to drop all of my shields so that he can detect what I am. No danger,” I assured him when he started to protest. “There’s not one person that can detect me for twenty miles around except for him. Letting him see that I’m a Mage is probably the fastest way of gaining his trust. Let me and Chatta go in first?”
“Why Chatta, too?”
“She’s better at charming people than I am. She can wrap that boy around her finger in about five seconds.”
Xiaolang’s mouth compressed, as if fighting a smile. “I see. Well, it’s true that I’ve seen her charm people before. I suppose it won’t hurt. I’ll give you five minutes.”
“Thanks.” I waved Chatta forward, leading her toward the smithy that I was sure the Fire Mage was in.
“What’s going on?” she murmured.
“Xiaolang is going to let us go in first. I don’t want to overwhelm the kid. Drop your shields—show what you are.”
Her brows twisted into a dubious line. “Is that a good idea?”
“The only other magical person around is him,” I assured her.
She hesitated another moment, and then shrugged and let her shields drop completely. I followed suit, letting my shields down.
Since we were pretending that Night was a normal stallion, I tied his reigns loosely to the hitching post out in front of the smithy. If the building was anything to judge by, this smithy was doing very well for itself. If not for the clangs coming from further on in the store, and the smell of coal burning, I would have thought the place just a simple store.
I bypassed the store entirely, heading to the side door I knew would lead to the actual smith area. When I opened the simple wood door I was assaulted by hot air and the tang of metal in various degrees of being forged. Heat pressed against my skin from all sides and I almost instantly felt dampness dew against my temples and the nape of my neck. Large barrels of water, salt water and oil sat lined up against one side of the wall, while the other side had a very long table with tools laid out in a more or less organized fashion. In the center stood the main forge itself, blazing out heat in a red-orange glow. The equipment and setup was so similar to my father’s shop that I felt nostalgic for a moment.
A man in his late forties stood from his crouch in front of a furnace, revealing a ruddy face slightly damp with perspiration. His leather apron and gloves were scorched from the fires, showing several months worth of work.
“Excuse me, young master, but the store is the other door.”
“I know,” I answered with a cordial nod and smile. “I’m here to speak to one of your apprentices.”
My eyes went to the Mage that I had been following for the past twenty miles. He was at a grindstone, putting an edge to a newly forged sword, from the look of it. At my entrance, he paused, looking up. I finally had a face to put to him—I estimated his age to be about seventeen, making him close to my age. I was a little surprised by this as most Mages came into their power about fourteen or fifteen…and were shortly discovered after their awakening. Had he only come into his power recently?
His skin was a little red from the heat too, blond hair sticking up in various directions. His build was lean and powerful from working so many years at this smithy. I was built along similar lines because of all the years that I helped my father with his work.
After a long moment of looking at me, his eyes shot wide, and the sword fell from nerveless fingers.
Yes, he definitely knew what I was. I stayed cautiously still, waiting for him to get past that initial knee-jerk reaction of fear and surprise.
It took him a few moments before he found his tongue.
“W-who are you?” he demanded hoarsely.
“I am Rhebengarthen. This is my friend, L-Chattamoinita Delheart.” I gestured to her with an open palm.
Chatta dimpled a smile at him and gave a polite bow. “Hello.”
“Krys,” the smith snapped, “what’s wrong with you, boy?”
“Uncle Aldin, they’re…” Krys had to swallow before he could continue, “…they’re magicians.”
Aldin froze, staring at us in mute horror.
“Relax, both of you,” Chatta ordered calmly. “You have nothing to fear from us. Allow me to finish the introductions. I am a Witch from Hain and Garth is an Earth Mage. We are under King Guin of Hain’s orders to rescue any magician out of Chahir and bring them into Hain for training.”
“What does that have to do with Krys?” Aldin demanded, voice becoming more shrill and breathless with each syllable.
“Apparently he doesn’t know,” Chatta observed in a low voice to me.
“Apparently not,” I agreed quietly. “I am correct in assuming your full name is Haikrysen?”
Krys went about three shades paler. “How do you know that?”
“All of the Fire Mages came from one of two families,” I answered calmly. “Either the Hai family or the Remcar family. And since the Hai family is from this area…” I trailed off, letting him finish the sentence for himself.
“Fire Mage?” Aldin gave a laugh that was probably supposed to be mocking, but came out strained and nervous. “My nephew, a Fire Mage?”
Chatta shook her head sympathetically. “Haialdenen, how do you think he recognized what we are? He can see that we are magicians—and only another magician can see magic.”
That defeated Aldin’s attempt to laugh it off. His eyes went to his nephew, silently pleading for a denial.
Krys stood silent, shoulders slumping forward. With a heavy sigh he nodded. “You’re right. I have magic in me.”
Aldin sagged heavily against a table, raising a shaking hand to his forehead.
“How do you know what kind I am?” Krys sounded almost morbidly curious. “Besides the name, I mean. No one in my family has magic anymore but me.”
“Can you see what color we glow?” Chatta asked him gently.
Krys didn’t hesitate to answer. “You’re white. The Magus is…brown, mostly. There’s a bit of green around the edges.”
So he was one of the fortunate ones that could see magic, eh? I was a little jealous of that.
“That’s how,” Chatta explained in that same gentle tone. “Mages glow different colors, depending on what type they are. To me, you look like a deep gold with flickers of red. Haikrysen, this is
not
something to fear.”
“But I’ll have to leave here,” he whispered brokenly.
“Yes.” I wished that I could tell him a different answer but that wasn’t possible now. “Your magic will soon escape your control. You need to be trained to prevent that from happening.”
“My nephew would never hurt anyone!” Aldin snarled, hands clenching at his sides.
“No, I doubt he would.” Chatta’s calm acknowledgement took the wind out of Aldin’s sails and he subsided again. “We call them Mage accidents—at a certain point, his magic will be so powerful that he won’t be able to control it. It will just activate on its own.”
“I almost uprooted a whole forest before I was properly trained,” I recalled. Looking back, it was almost funny now, although it certainly hadn’t been amusing at the time.
“Garth,” Chatta reproved with a dark look. “You’re not helping.”
I shrugged, no apology on my lips. “He needs to know how dangerous this can be. Haikrysen, at your disposal is a tremendous amount of power; power that requires proper training if you’re ever to use it effectively.
How
you use it after that is up to you.”
Krys looked down at the floor, clearly thinking hard.
The door opened behind us, letting in a cold draft of air. I looked over my shoulder to see Xiaolang enter. “How goes it?” he glanced at uncle and nephew.
Chatta took care of the introductions. “Xiaolang, this is Haialdinen and his nephew, coincidentally our Fire Mage, Haikrysen. Gentlemen, this is Captain De Xiaolang. He’s in charge of the rescue team.”
Xiaolang gave an appropriate bow. “Thank you for the gift of your names.”
Krys gave the Captain a puzzled look. “Are you a magician too?”
Huh? Why had he…oh, that’s right. I’d almost forgotten that empaths glow. “Does he glow blue to you?”
With a wary eye on me, Krys nodded once.
“I’m not actually a magician,” Xiaolang clarified. “I’m an empath. But apparently my ability has enough magic at its base to be detectable for magicians. Or so I’m told.” He shot me an amused look. “The reverse certainly isn’t true. Well, Haikrysen, have you chosen to come back with us into Hain?”
“I don’t understand this,” Krys admitted. “Why would the King of Hain send people to look for magicians in Chahir? Doesn’t he have enough already?”
“No,” Chatta answered with a shake of the head. “We’re always short on magicians. But that isn’t the reason. Guin is very upset about Vonlorisen’s treatment of magicians in this country. That’s why we’re here to rescue people.”
“Besides, Mages are incredibly rare,” I added. “Including you, there are only five known Mages on this continent.” I wasn’t counting the Bromanian Mages.
He repeated “Five?” to himself silently with an incredulous expression.
“You will be the first Fire Mage.” Considering we had to strip the other one of all magical power because he was stark raving mad. “You have an incredible amount of leverage because of this, Haikrysen. Use it! You can choose any academy in Hain to train you, and not only will they accept you with open arms, they’ll likely give you such training for free. If they don’t, Guin will pay for it gladly. You have nothing to worry about if you go with us.” Except learning a new language and adjusting to a completely different culture…but I wasn’t going into that.
“You will have a great deal to worry about if you choose to stay here,” Xiaolang cautioned him.
Judging from the look on Krys’s face he knew that Xiaolang was right on that point, at least. After another long moment he squared his shoulders. “I’ll go with you. Just…let me explain to my family before we go.”
“Oh, I have no intention of leaving the city tonight,” Xiaolang assured him cheerfully. “I want a hot meal and a comfortable bed. We’ll give you tonight to say goodbye to your family and pack.”
A little of the unease in Krys’s body language faded. “Thank you.”
“But before you do that…” Chatta rummaged around in a pocket, bringing out an assortment of amulets. Choosing the largest, she put the rest back. “Here. Wear this around your neck.”