Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (10 page)

All of those hours that Eagle and I had spent teaching Xiaolang proper Chahiran customs hadn't gone to waste. The Captain made the polite response without hesitation. "Thank you for the gift of your name. Allow me to introduce the rest of your rescuers. Behind you is Magus Rhebengarthen."

She twisted abruptly to stare up at me, jaw dropping slightly. "
Magus?"
she parroted in disbelief.

I was so used to this response, I didn't do anything more than shrug. "I was the first Mage found in over two hundred years, Rheiveraan, but I can assure you, I'm not the only Mage out there."

Xiaolang continued as if we hadn't interrupted him. "Riding with your sister Rheijennaan is Witch L-Chattamoinita Delheart."

It was Rheijennaan's turn to twist around in surprise. She was too surprised to say anything coherent, however.

"Eagle Sevar is riding with Rheinellaan, and last but not least, Hazard Harewood."

In the silence of the night, Rheinellaan's voice carried easily. "Why did you rescue us?"

"It's our task," Xiaolang answered. "The King of Hain has ordered us to find every magically gifted person in Chahir, and send them to Hain."

"Then," Rheiveran whispered in front of me, "we're going to Hain?"

"Yes," I answered gently. "You'll receive training there. You won't have to worry about your safety again, Rheiveraan."

Silent tears slipped down her cheeks, but she wiped at them quickly. "Thank you."

"Didi," Xiaolang summoned the Meuritta with a brief wave of his hand. Didi, being the attention hog that he was, instantly responded and flew to hover around Xiaolang's head. "Scout ahead of us and see if you can't find a good place to camp for the night. Make it at least another two miles farther from the city."

Didi was still high from his successful role of hero; he chattered back in cheerful tones then rapidly flew forward along the road.

"What," Rheijennaan demanded with awe in her voice, "was
that?”

Chatta started to explain about Meurittas, and then about Dragoos, and finally about Night—which made Rheiveraan start in surprise when she realized that she was riding a magical creature. As she was explaining, she was zapping the manacles off the girls’ wrists. They fell to the ground with a clatter. I let her words become background noise as I turned my attention to other things.

We wouldn’t be able to travel far with the girls. We simply didn’t have the supplies for three extra people. Xiaolang, being the prepared person that he was, had bought extra bedding and food in case we picked up another person. But no one had expected that we would pick up
three
people at the same time.

Xiaolang and I must think alike. He shifted in closer to me and said in Hainish, “We won’t be able to travel far doubled up like this.”

“I know,” I responded. From the thoughtful expression on his face, I knew that he had already thought of something. “What’s the plan?”

“We’ll come close to Habbick tomorrow morning,” Xiaolang mused, as if he were thinking the process out loud. “You said that they are very tolerant of magic.”

I was beginning to see where he was going. “Yes, I did. You want me to take them across?”

“By that earth traveling method you have,” Xiaolang confirmed, happy that I was following his train of thought. “It won’t take long to take them over to Hain, will it?”

“Not long,” I agreed. I tried to estimate how long it would take because Xiaolang liked having a time frame to work in. “Perhaps an hour, altogether. I’d like to properly introduce the girls to whoever is in charge.”

“Instead of dropping them off like a litter of kittens?” Xiaolang drawled, the corners of his eyes crinkling up in sardonic amusement.

“Precisely.” I gave him a brief grin.

Hazard had urged his horse into a brief trot so that he could fall in on my other side. “So what’s the plan?” he asked—in Hainish, apparently realizing that we didn’t want the girls to really overhear us just yet.

Xiaolang filled him in, ending with, “Garth assures me that this shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.”

Hazard’s eyebrows rose sharply, kissing his hairline. “I’m suitably impressed. An hour instead of a three day trip on horseback?”

I had no good response to this, so only shrugged.

“So what do we have, anyway?” Hazard asked with genuine curiosity. “Three Witches?”

Actually, until he asked, I hadn’t even thought to check. I focused my power, feeling the three we had rescued. Rheiveraan was definitely a Witch. I indicated her with a nod of my head. “Witch.”

Hazard inclined his head to the group riding behind us. “And the other two?”

Turning my head slightly, I looked behind me. “Rheinellaan is a Witch as well. Rheijennaan is—” It finally penetrated what I was sensing, and the words dried up in my mouth.

Xiaolang was studying me closely. “Garth?”

I had to swallow—twice—before I could get my mouth to work. “Rheijennaan is a Mage.”

I was bracketed by twin looks of jaw-dropped surprise.

“What kind?” Xiaolang demanded hoarsely.

“That I’m not sure of,” I admitted slowly. “She’s not a Life Mage, and she’s not an Earth Mage. She feels different.”

“A completely new kind of Mage…” Hazard breathed, staring at Rheijennaan like a man would look at some rare work of art. “How can we find out what kind she is?”

If we had one of those triangle devices, that would tell us. Since we didn’t have one, however, there was only one other option. “We talk to her.”

Hazard’s reaction was comically blank. “What?”

I gestured for him to be silent for a moment then I called to Chatta, “I need to ask Rheijennaan a question.”

Xiaolang maneuvered farther away so that Chatta could come in closer to me. As she approached, I silently indicated the Chahiran riding in front of her. Chatta nodded, indicating that she knew she was riding with a Mage.

Chatta knew more about magic than I did—the benefits of growing up in a magical culture—so she might recognize what I couldn’t. So I carefully mouthed the words “What kind?”

She gave me a bewildered shrug.

Busted buckets, she didn’t know either. That meant we had to flounder through it, somehow. We couldn’t just leave a Mage alone until we got them to the school, like we could a Witch or Wizard. A Mage’s power didn’t require a tool of focus to work, and because of that Mages were more prone to have magical accidents. We had to know what kind of Mage she was, just so we knew how to properly shield her power.

I was hoping that Chatta would question her, as she was better with people. However, she was looking expectantly at me, like I should be asking the questions. Apparently, because I was the Mage, I would know the right questions to ask. At least Chatta thought so. With a sigh, I turned to Rheijennaan.

“Rheijennaan,” I asked as gently as I knew how, “did you have anything strange that happened around you? Things that only could be done by magic?”

She bit her lip, eyeing me nervously. Still, she nodded.

“It’s all right,” I assured her deliberately smiling to put her at ease. “We all have magical accidents in the beginning. Once you learn how to control your magic, you won’t have to worry about that. Can you tell me what happened?”

“I-I could sharpen Da’s sword just by looking at it,” she whispered. “And the iron work on the front gate always changed when I touched it.”

Metal? Warning bells started clanging in my head. “Was it only metal?”

“Sometimes the fire would flare up around me…” she licked her lips, shifting a little in agitation. “And I could heat up the water by putting my hand in it, sometimes.”

“Elemental Mage,” Chatta breathed.

Rheijennaan jerked around to stare at her, nearly upsetting her seat on the horse and falling off. I grabbed her arm, catching her until she was steady again. I don’t think she even really noticed.

“I’m
what
?” she demanded with wide eyes.

“An Elemental Mage,” I told her with a calm voice. “You are a Mage that has control over all five elements; air, water, wind, metal, fire. Judging from what you said, you have an affinity for metal and perhaps fire.”

Wonder and anxiety battled across her face. “And my sisters?”

“They are both Witches,” Chatta answered. Without prompting, she started an explanation of what the differences were between Witches and Mages. I admit I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to her. I was wondering instead why the majority of Mages that we had seen so far had been from Chahir. The sole exception was Trev’nor, and while discovered in Hain, he wasn’t
from
Hain. My guess would be that he was Chahiran as well, because he had the look of my countrymen.

Why didn’t Hain have any Mages?

Chapter Five: Power

It was an easy process to zip over to Hain, drop off the girls, and then zip back again. I was pleasantly surprised at the safe house established by Guin. This one was a rather large, two story building, which still smelt of new paint and saw dust. Actually, the size of the house rather unnerved me—Guin didn’t honestly expect for us to find enough people to fill this huge house. Did he?

An elderly couple was in charge, the matron being a Witch with a kind smile and sharp eye for detail. I felt no qualm leaving the girls in her capable hands.

The whole trip took roughly an hour or so. I made it alone, as Night wasn’t about to stay in the earth that long. He said, when I asked if he wanted to come with me, “
No one can attack you while traveling. I think this trip you can do alone
.” I was a little surprised by this answer, actually. This was the first time that Night had ever voluntarily let me out of his sight. I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased by this show of independence or disturbed.

Right before I left the safe house I was given a very interesting piece of news. Someone in Jarrell—apparently the Dom of that province, or perhaps the Warlord—had sent a message to Guin. There was some sort of magical person loose in Jarrell, and he was setting buildings on fire. The Dom was perfectly willing to let him leave the country, but wasn’t too keen on letting this person stay and continue torching things. Hainian assistance was urgently requested.

I couldn’t quite believe my ears. Someone was going around setting magical fires in Jarrell? And apparently they were quite crafty about it, if the Dom of Jarrell thought it necessary to call in experts. I didn’t like the sound of this at all. My return trip to Habbick, where everyone was waiting for me, was much quicker. I went as fast as I dared. Xiaolang needed to be told about this immediately.

When I arrived back in Habbick, I was pleasantly surprised to see Aletha and Shield had caught back up with us. Before I had left camp had been made in a small clearing off the road. They were both sitting by the campfire.

Aletha came to her feet as I rose out of the earth, head cocking to one side. “They weren’t kidding; you really did come back in an hour. That was a quick trip, Garth.”

“One of the reasons why I like traveling that way,” I agreed. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to her, my eyes darting around the clearing in search of Xiaolang. At first I didn’t see him because he was partially hidden from my view. Just as I was about to ask where he was he rose from behind Hayate’s crouched form.

“So how was it?” the Captain asked me.

“Fine. I have news." His eyes sharpened. "There's a young man loose in Jarrell that's setting things magically on fire. The Dom of that province has requested help from Hain."

The entire group stared at me. I shrugged with palms splayed. "I don't have much more information than that. The message was passed along to me when I dropped the girls off."

"I see," Xiaolang murmured. "Well then. Let's go to Jarrell."

~*~

It took two days of hard riding to get to Jarrell providence. As soon as we crossed the border we all breathed a little sigh of relief. This providence, at least, didn't really mind magic. We wouldn't have to hide our purpose or identities here. Didi, for the first time in weeks, dared to fly just above our heads within plain sight. I stopped acting like I was guiding Night, and just tied the reins loosely to the pommel of the saddle. He knew where we were going—he didn't need any direction from me.

I was always searching around me of course, but I wasn't feeling anything magical. The message that had been passed to me had been noticeably short on details. We knew that the magical arsonist was loose in Jarrell, but that was a very wide area to cover. We weren't sure exactly where to go once we hit the border. It was nearing noon when I gave up searching. "Xiaolang!" I called.

He turned in the saddle at my hail, twisting around until he could look at me. "What?"

"I think we better stop and let Chatta search. As it is, we might be heading in the wrong direction."

He nodded in agreement. "Chatta?"

"This hopefully won't take long," she assured him. "But it's close to lunch anyway. Why don't we stop and eat while I look?"

All of the men in the group instantly praised her for such thoughtfulness. Food is
always
a good idea.

We found a nice clear area near the road where we could dismount and stretch out a little. I pitched in and helped Aletha cook lunch. This was not a matter of charity on my part, but a matter of survival. I've quickly learned on this trip to not let Hazard or Shield anywhere near the cooking utensils. They can make sandwiches.
That's it
. Anything else is hazardous to one's health. I don't even trust them to heat things up properly.

Lunch was happily consumed, and the dishes grudgingly washed before Chatta found anything. She made a sound of victory, effectively capturing all of our attention. I darted over to her side, Xiaolang right behind me.

"What?" I asked eagerly, peering over her shoulder and into the small scrying bowl she was holding. I don't know why I bothered as I wouldn't be able to discern much. I couldn't see magic, after all. But the image in the water, as it turns out, wasn't of a person. There was a scene of charcoal and black stone, instead. Judging from the small wisps of smoke the building had burned down very recently.