Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (32 page)

The mountain range in front of me was very weird. Mountains had power in them, of course, that was to be expected. Normally, I could feel mountains miles away. And yet, even though I was practically on top of this one, I could barely feel a thing. “Chatta? Is there a glamour on that mountain?”

She stared at it, a frown of concentration wrinkling her forehead. “Actually, there is,” she said in surprise. “Now why would you put a glamour on a mountain?”

“Good question,” I murmured, perplexed.

“Maybe because there’s something there you want to hide?” Aletha offered thoughtfully.

“That’s the only thing that makes sense,” Shield concurred.

It did, in a sense. But putting a glamour on a whole mountain just to hide something seemed a little excessive to me. Whatever was being hidden, it was either very large or very important. A knot of unease started winding its way around my stomach.

“Talk to me, Garth,” Xiaolang ordered. He was watching Chatta and me intently, waiting for our reactions.

“It’s a very strong glamour.” I stalled, not sure what else to say.

Xiaolang groaned, looking up as if he were praying for patience. “Yes, I caught that. How much can you sense past that glamour?”

“I can barely tell there
is
a mountain there.” I shrugged helplessly, spreading my hands out. “Forget about me seeing past it. Chatta?”

“I’m like you, I can barely see the mountain,” she sighed. “One thing I can tell you, though, that spell is old. Very old.”

“How old is old?” Shad asked.

“Ancient. Older than you, Cezza.”

“That’s pretty old all right,” he acknowledged dryly. “Love you too, Beautiful.”

“Will getting closer help?” Eagle wanted to know. “Or do we dare get too close when we don’t know what lies ahead of us?”

We all looked expectantly at Xiaolang, waiting for orders. For long moments he stared at the mountain, as if he were mentally weighing the pros and cons. “I don’t think we have any choice,” he stated finally. “The boy’s location must be in those mountains. Just stay on your toes. I don’t fancy getting tangled up in some ancient trap.”

I seconded that motion.

It was with wary caution that we made our way deeper into the hills. I strained my magical sense as far as possible, but only got limited results for my efforts. We were nearly at the base of the mountain when I realized something. “That glamour has to be tied to a ley line to last this long,” I noted to Chatta quietly.

She nodded in grim agreement. “And whatever its hiding has to be huge—otherwise, why try to hide an entire mountain?”

“And knowing our luck, it’s potentially dangerous,” I sighed.

“Now, now,” Shad cautioned cheerfully, “let’s not borrow trouble.”

A thought occurred to me, and I raised my voice so that it could reach to the front of the group, where Xiaolang was riding. “Can I put up shields?”

He turned in his saddle to look at me. “What?”

“Can I put up shields?” I repeated. “That glamour is so large and powerful that it would mask anything I did. It should be safe enough, right?”

He blinked. “What, did my brain not wake up this morning? Go ahead, Garth. Can you make them large enough to cover the entire group?”

“Easy,” I assured him. I raised my full shields, extending them to cover the group.

There were exclamations and jerks of surprise as the shield came down around everyone. I was puzzled about this reaction until Aletha said, “I can actually see them!”

Ah. Well, their surprise was understandable. After all, Chatta’s shields you couldn’t see at all.

Hazard extended a curious hand toward it.

“I wouldn’t do that, Hazy,” Shad warned sharply, before I could even get my mouth open.

Hazard jerked back, looking rather guilty, like a child caught with his hand hovering over something breakable. “Does that disrupt the shields?”

“No, but it’ll knock you flat.” Shad shot me a look, seeking my confirmation.

I nodded in agreement. “The last person that touched my shields got thrown back into a building and knocked unconscious.”

Hazard clutched his hand closer to his chest, looking faintly alarmed. “I think I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

“Wise of you,” Shad drawled.

I couldn’t leave it alone. Curiosity wouldn’t let me. “Shad, how did you know?”

He assumed a lofty expression. “You forget; I was alive when magic was freely used.”

Aletha was fighting a smile, by the looks of it, and losing. “Translation: Personal Experience.”

“Gorgeous, you’re blowing my cover,” Shad complained with a mock-pitiful expression. Aletha just grinned at him.

“I didn’t expect them to look like this, though,” Eagle observed, tilting his head to look above him. “It glows green.”

“Actually, this is very similar to the barrier he put up around Q’atal,” Shad told him. “Only, of course, that one was
much
larger.”

I shrugged in wry agreement. “All shields are very similar in nature to each other. It’s how you put them up, and how you maintain them, that makes the most difference.”

“So why can we not touch these shields, but people could pass through the shield you put up around Q’atal?” Xiaolang frowned in obvious puzzlement.

“Um…” I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to think of a good way to explain this. “Intent?”

Chatta, wonderful woman that she is, came to my rescue. “Shields that we put up around places—wards, we call them—are made so that people
can
pass through them safely. Our only intention when putting the spell into place is to keep certain people
out
. Personal shields like these, however, aren’t meant to be as flexible. Actually, they have several layers to them. The one you can see is the weapons shield. But there are two others in there that you can’t see—one against magic, and one against power backlashes.”

Something visibly clicked for Xiaolang. “That’s why you wanted the shield! To protect us from any magical attacks.”

That’s what I like about him. He’s quick on the uptake. I nodded. “Just a precaution.”

“It’s also why it hurts if you touch the shield,” Chatta offered. “There’s too much magic for a normal person to handle.”

“Although Xiaolang might be able to handle it,” I speculated. After all, the Q’atalian children had been able to sense it when they jumped in and out of the barrier. Q’atalians might have enough magic to deal with a Mage’s personal shields.

Xiaolang held up a hand. “Forgive me, but I have
no
desire to test that theory out.”

“Chicken!” Shad teased.

“I’m not a masochist,” Xiaolang growled back. With a glare at Shad—which bounced right off, having no effect whatsoever—he directed another question to me. “So when will we be close enough to see past the glamour?”

I spread my hands helplessly. “That depends where the source of the spell is.”

“And that could be anywhere,” Chatta moaned.

Xiaolang cast a concerned look toward the sky. “We don’t have much daylight left. How safe can it be to stay on this mountain tonight?”

“Very safe, if you let me put up wards around our campsite,” Chatta told him.

His eyes were solemn and wary as he looked around us. “I think you’d better do just that.”

~*~

It was a cold, quiet camp that night. We all felt uneasy on the mountain, as we had no idea what might appear and get us. We all spent one hour on watch, despite the wards that Chatta had cast around us.

Hayate was by far the warmest out of the group, with his blanket that Chatta made him. It had taken her a while but she had finally figured out how to attach a non-traceable heating charm to it. That being the case, everyone wanted to sleep next to him. People were down to drawing lots to see who could sleep with Hayate when Chatta lost all patience and spent the next half hour attaching charms to
everyone’s
blankets.

Still, even with the blankets, I woke up feeling chilled the next morning. I looked up at the cold, clear sky, and gave a resigned sigh.

Winter had set into Chahir.

Busted buckets!

I dressed very warmly that morning, anticipating that I would be rather cold the rest of the day. I truly envied Night and Didi for their fur coats.

Chatta had pity on a shivering Hayate that morning and cast a general heating charm over him, so he wouldn’t absolutely freeze. For her generosity, he rubbed his head against her chest and kept saying, “Nice Witch, nice Witch.”

She was amused by this grateful affection, and patted him on the head. “You tell me when that wears off, and I’ll renew it, all right?”

“Will,” Hayate promised with an emphatic nod.

Xiaolang gave her a grateful smile even as he waved a general hand in the air. “Let’s load up, people. I want off this chilly mountain.”

We all pretty much agreed with that and broke camp with alacrity.

As the morning progressed, we ventured farther into the mountains. It was steep climbing, with little to no trail to follow. I had a shield up over us again but Xiaolang didn’t want us working too much magic—he was afraid of attracting attention. Considering some of the traps that magicians were famous for, before the War, I didn’t blame him.

The “trail”—if one could call such an inconsistent, narrow switchback a trail—led us farther down to where we neared the base of the mountain. In the shadow of these giant peaks, the land was made of dark blues and purples more than browns and grays. Vegetation of any sort was scarce, only scraggly weeds and twisted trees surviving here and there.

It was probably near high noon when I realized that the magic I was feeling had changed. “Xiaolang?” I called to the head of the group. When he twisted to look at me, I continued, “The magic source has gotten much stronger. I think we’re within a stone’s throw of it.”

He sat up straighter, looking around in greater curiosity. “I don’t see anything.”

“Neither do I,” Chatta muttered. “There are too many rocks in the way, I think.”

Xiaolang waved me sharply forward. “Garth, you be point. I think you have a better idea of where we’re going than anyone else.”

People shifted aside so that Night could move through.

We pressed forward once more, only far more cautiously than before. I think everyone was assuming at this point that there was some sort of incredibly destructive weapon hidden somewhere in these mountains.

Then again, they
are
soldiers. That’s probably why they assumed such a thing.

We rounded a bend, which opened up into a dry ravine. And that’s where I felt it the strongest.

“There!” Chatta and I exclaimed, nearly simultaneously, and pointed toward what looked like blank rock face.

“You sure about that, now?” Shad drawled, eyes sparkling.

“Chatta, smack him for me, will you?” I requested mildly. “You’re closer than I am.”

Shad ducked before she could hit him, chuckling like some drunk gnome.

“All right, we found it,” Xiaolang said, eyeing the spot we had pointed out with the same caution a man would use facing a hungry wolf. “Now what?”

I rubbed at my chin thoughtfully, turning over possibilities. “I don’t think it wise to leave it behind us,” I finally stated. “We don’t know what that glamour is hiding.”

“What do you suggest?” Eagle leaned forward in his saddle, resting crossed arms on the pommel. “Can you break the glamour?”

Good question. Could I? “Not sure,” I admitted. “Chatta?”

“I’m not sure I can either.” She cocked her head, studying it through narrow eyes. “But you know, I think it’s tied directly into the mountain. And…I think it’s only surface deep.”

I blinked at this. “So, it only
appears
to be solid rock? We could just walk through it?”

“I think so,” she repeated dubiously. “Didi?”

The Meuritta straightened from his perch on her shoulders, ears cocked inquisitively. “Di?”

“Can you check that theory for us?
Cautiously
,” she added firmly.

He nodded in serious understanding. “Di.” Using Chatta as a launching pad, he threw himself into the air, wings snapping out.

I quickly took my shields down before he ran into them. “Didi!” I yelled at him in exasperation. “Do you want to be
fried
?! Don’t get into contact with my shields!”

He chattered back, dismissing my concern with a casual wave of the hands.

“I could wish stronger survival instincts on him,” Chatta sighed in resignation.

We all watched with baited breath as Didi landed in front of the glamour shielded area. He crept forward, nose extended out as far as he could reach. Then he got close enough to go
past
the glamour, and his nose “disappeared.”

I watched intently as his head followed his nose, and then the rest of his body. Taut seconds ticked past, feeling like eons passing.

It felt like an eternity, but it was probably more like five minutes before he shot back out of the glamour. He flew back to Chatta, chittering in excitement, nearly vibrating with urgency.

“Is it safe?” she asked, extending her arms to catch him.

He nodded emphatically. “Di!”

The tension evaporated with his assurance. Well, at least it wasn’t like we were walking into a trap of some sort.

“What was in there?” Chatta inquired.

In answer, Didi lifted his paw and handed her a crystal, nearly the length of a finger. She frowned as she accepted it, but as soon as she touched it, her eyes flew wide. “Garth, this is a memory crystal!”

My head snapped around to stare at the mountain. “There are memory crystals hidden in there?!” I felt my mouth go dry. That glamour was old, old enough to be there since before the War. And if the glamour was put there to hide those crystals…then that meant the crystals might contain information lost during the War. “We have to go in there,” I whispered hoarsely.

Chatta nodded in fervent agreement. “Who knows what information is in there? Xiaolang, we can’t just ignore this.”

“I agree.” He frowned at the rock, however, looking vaguely disturbed. “I don’t like walking into the area blind, though. Any way to drop that glamour?”