Advent (Advent Mage Cycle) (11 page)

“You can never predict what power can do,” I corrected. “For instance, I was recently up visiting a Tonkawacon tribe that had an epidemic with their horses. Cora and I—she’s a Life Mage—found that a particular parasite had invaded a thatch of grass in a cave. It was that parasite that made the horses so sick. In order to prevent the problem from occurring again, we had to burn the cave clean. Only we had to be careful doing it, as the only water source in the area was also in that cave.” He was following my story carefully, nodding slowly as I finished.

“So in this case, even though fire was used to destroy, it was actually a necessity. You think I can do similar things.”

“We have many forest fires and the like during the height of the summer in Hain. They normally called me in to suppress it—of course, that meant I had to destroy a whole forest because the only way I can stop fire is to bury it with dirt. You would be far more effective—you can just snuff that fire out with your magic.”

He looked decidedly heartened by this news, the uneasy tension in his face fading away. “I hadn’t thought of that. There is quite a bit that we depend upon with fire, isn’t there?”

“There is,” I agreed.

“Speaking of which…” a voice drawled from behind me. “Can I get one of you lovely magicians to warm up the water from the stream for me? It’s so cold that everything freezes when it touches the pots.”

I twisted about to see Eagle pointing to one of the pots in question. Far from washing away the remains of dinner, the water had apparently touched the metal and instantly froze, sealing the food to the pan. Hmm. Now there’s a problem.

“
Now that’s funny.
” Night snorted in amusement. “
I’ve never seen something like that happen before. That must be mountain water you’re using, Eagle.
”

“It’s certainly cold enough for it,” Eagle grumbled sourly. “My hands are numb. Seriously, somebody heat the water up. Please?”

I considered that for a moment and nodded. “All right. Krys, come with me.”

“Eh?” he stared up at me as I stood. “I have no control! Why are you asking me?”

“Because you need to learn control,” I answered calmly. “Don’t worry; I’ll walk you through it. Come on.”

“Garth, is this a good idea?” Xiaolang had obviously overheard our conversation and was now staring at me with a furrowed brow. “This is hardly the best place to experiment.”

“On the contrary, it’s the perfect place to experiment, at least in Chahir,” I countered. “Farless has no Star Priests. I haven’t detected one within fifty miles of this Providence. There’s no one around to detect us. And from what I feel, Krys’s power is quite mature considering that he’s had no training. That means it will be harder to seal. I think it’s a better idea to give him a little training so he can manage his magic himself than to attempt to seal it.”

Xiaolang’s frown deepened as he thought about this. “Chatta, what’s your opinion?”

“As long as Garth puts up a barrier first, just in case of any accidents, I don’t see a problem with it.” She gave me a thoughtful look over the rim of her cup. I knew she was wondering why I had chosen to do this lesson now—it was out of character for me to attempt any sort of magic in Chahir unless absolutely necessary.

There were several things that motivated me in this regard. I had no doubt that I would be talking to her about all of them tomorrow morning, too. For now, it was enough that she was going to let me do what I needed to without protest.

I caught Krys’s hand and pulled him to his feet. “First lesson—no matter how powerful your magic, the basic laws of nature still apply. You cannot start fire underwater. That said, it’s a wise precaution to start practicing with lots of water handy. Just in case.”

Krys gave a nervous nod. “Right.”

We walked the short distance to the stream, which really was more ice than moving water at this point. No wonder Eagle was having a hard time. I raised a barrier around us to prevent any magical backlashes or explosions. Krys jumped a little when it dropped over his head, eyeing it warily.

“It won’t hurt you,” I assured him.

He nodded but I wasn’t entirely sure he believed me.

“Okay, Krys, focus. There’s a part of you, deep in the depths of your core, that feels warm to the touch. Do you recognize what I’m talking about?”

“Uh, yes.” He put his hand just below his heart. “Here.”

Yes, that’s where I felt my magic the strongest, too.

“The truth is, that’s just the largest concentration of our magic. In reality,
all
of our body is magical—it has to be, in order to cope with the power of a Mage. Every part of your body, from hair to skin, has the power to be a conduit for magic.”

His jaw dropped for a moment before he yanked it back into place. “Even our
hair
? Surely you’re exaggerating.”

“No, I’m not. Why do you think I have long hair? All Mages do. It helps with our control, so we leave our hair as long as possible.”

Krys tugged thoughtfully at his short hair. “Well, I guess that will save me money at the barber’s…I’ll have to pull it back like you do, though.”

“It’s an absolute pain otherwise,” I agreed ruefully. “Now, touch that warmth in your core and try to bring it out to rest in your hand.”

For a second he wore a look of intense concentration. And then his right hand burst into flame. I expected him to instinctively jerk back—he froze instead, staring at the fire flickering harmlessly over his skin in wonder. “It’s…really nice, isn’t it?”

“Using your magic feels liberating,” I agreed in complete understanding. “Now, let’s work a bit on your control. Take the flame down to a mere candle’s size.”

This part didn’t go as smoothly. Krys accidentally extinguished it when he tried to manipulate the size of the flame. He had to restart several times before he could manage to control the size.

“Don’t get frustrated,” I commanded with a smile. “You’re actually doing fairly well. It took me six months before I could do any sort of fine control like that. Now, hold that steady.”

Krys huffed out a breath. “That’s easier than it sounds.”

“I know it.” As a temporary measure, I raised a stone wall around the stream, creating a round space of about two feet diameter.

“You did that so easily,” Krys complained. “Tell me I’ll get to your level soon?”

“In about six months,” I assured him, struggling not to laugh at his expression. “It just takes practice and experience on your part. Now, ready? Let your fire dance across the ice, but limit it to within the walled off area.”

He nodded in understanding and raised his hand, letting flame shoot out. The fire obediently stayed inside the stone circle, although it got dangerously close to leaping out a few times. It took mere minutes for the ice to melt completely—and then the water started boiling.

“Stop,” I ordered.

Krys shut it off immediately, the fire extinguishing itself like it never existed.

He really did have pretty good control, especially for a novice. I relaxed and gave him an approving nod. “Good. You have good control for your level.”

From the smile on his face, he was definitely proud of himself. “Thanks, Garth.”

I let the barrier drop and turned, calling, “Eagle! Your water is nice and hot now.”

Since he was a whole three feet away, and watching, my words were rather unnecessary. “So I see. That was pretty impressive, Krys. I’m relieved, really, that you have that sort of control.”

“So am I,” he admitted quietly. “Power like this is scary, in some ways. You can do a lot of damage without meaning to.”

I felt beyond relieved to hear that from him. Krys had struck me as a pretty level-headed man at our first meeting so I hadn’t thought him the type to run around setting cities on fire. But there was always the concern that he might be like Kartal—hungry for power and eager to show it off. A Mage with Kartal’s personality was a recipe for disaster, in my opinion.

I led the way back into the camp before Eagle could somehow cajole or guilt me into helping him wash dishes. Krys was right on my heels.

As we resumed our seats, I saw what Krys had meant about everyone watching him. They were still watching him out of the corner of their eyes, not in distrust, but wary caution. Chatta and Xiaolang were the exceptions, but with their eyes, I had expected as much. Chatta could see Krys’s control. Xiaolang knew that his heart was in the right place.

It was to everyone else that I directed my words. “He is not Remcarparoden,” I announced bluntly. “And a seal is not necessary for him. He can govern himself.”

“Well.” Aletha blew out a breath, giving me an amused look. “That certainly put us in our place.”

“Sorry, Krys,” Shield apologized with a duck of head, his black hair almost long enough to hide the contrition in his dark eyes. “We’ve got a bad history with Fire Mages.”

“I know. Garth told me the story.” Krys smiled, silently assuring them that he didn’t blame them for their reactions.

Chatta went taut hearing this, giving me a worried look. “Garth?” In her voice I could hear the silent question,
Are you all right?

I nodded back in reassurance. She was alive and uninjured. I knew that. The whole experience was just a dark scar that I didn’t enjoy being reminded of, that’s all.

Xiaolang cleared his throat, getting our attention. “Now that we’re all satisfied nothing is wrong, how about we get some sleep? Garth, since you’re satisfied that there’s nothing around to detect magic, how about you put a barrier up?”

“My barrier glows green,” I reminded him.

“Good point,” he conceded. “I’d hate to have to explain that if someone stumbled across tomorrow morning. Chatta, you do the honors.”

“Right,” she agreed.

~*~

“Two of you. I won’t deal with
two of you
!”

“Chatta, shield!”

“Chatta?!”

NO
!

I flailed awake, heart hammering, sweat on my skin, terror burning an acrid taste in the back of my mouth, breath in ragged pants

“Garth?” Xiaolang was leaning over me, hand on my shoulder. His hair stuck up in all directions, rumpled from sleep, eyes almost crossing from either the emotions he felt whirling in me or fatigue. “Garth, it was just a dream.”

Just…a dream? Yes, it had been. I slumped, nearly bowled over in relief.

I took a deep, cleansing breath of cold air. “Thanks, Xiaolang.”

In the deep twilight of the night, I could barely see his head nod. “It’s a painful memory for you. I was afraid this might happen. Hold on a moment.”

Confused, I watched as he went to where Chatta lay sleeping. “Wait,” I hissed quietly, “don’t wake her up!” I didn’t want her worrying about this in the dead of night.

Xiaolang completely ignored me. He bent and carefully lifted her in his arms, bedroll and all. I was impressed he could do that. Chatta’s a lightweight, but she was still dead weight when asleep. Xiaolang was stronger than I gave him credit for, if he could pick her up like that.

He came back to me, carefully laying her back down not three inches from where I was settled. I watched every moment carefully, trying to figure out why he was doing this.

“You’ll sleep better with her next to you,” he whispered to me in satisfaction. “Trust me. Go back to sleep.”

I settled back in my blankets, wondering if he were right. Would I really sleep better just because she was within arm’s reach of me? I closed my eyes, at least willing to test that theory.

And then I realized…I could sense her. Not just her body heat, or her presence, but the soft, constant hum of Chatta’s power. I could sense it all without even trying because she was so close.

How had Xiaolang known?

I raised my head to look at him only to find that he was fast asleep again. I’d have to ask in the morning. Dropping my head again, I tried going back to sleep.

Empaths. They could truly be scary people, sometimes. How much did Xiaolang sense from me that he never acknowledged?

Chapter Seven:
Sinhelenan

“So…I think it’s time you talked to me about a few things.” Chatta had this look in her eye that indicated she was perfectly willing to tie me to the ground and force a truth potion down my throat if necessary.

I groaned quietly. I had known this was coming, ever since she woke up this morning to discover that she had somehow moved during the course of the night. I was grateful that she had at least waited until we were back on the road, traveling in the back of the group, to start this conversation. No one was likely to hear us back here.

“Which part do you want to tackle first?” I sighed.

“We’ll start at the beginning and work through it,” she assured me dryly. “Why the conversation about the Jarrell Incident with Krys?”

“He’d noticed that everyone was keeping a wary eye on him. He also noticed that you were evading any direct questions about Fire Mages.”

She glanced at Krys, riding a few feet ahead of us. “He’s sharp.”

“Yes, he is,” I agreed blandly. “You might want to keep that in mind in the future.”

“Hmmm,” she gave a noncommittal noise. “All right, so you told him the story. Then why the tutoring session? To prove to everyone that he
is
trustworthy?”

“In part,” I admitted easily. “Also because I realized that he’ll be under those same suspicions when we reach Del’Hain from the Trasdee Evondit Orra. If he’s already got some control, they’ll have an easier time accepting him.”

“It’s a good thought. I’m not sure if EnNelle of Tain will cooperate that far, though.”

“That woman never cooperates. I’m not counting on her support anyway. It’s Doss and O’danne that’ll talk sense into the rest of them, and you know it.”

“Heh. Good point. All right, then, last question.” Her eyes became piercing. “Just why was I moved next to you?”

It was stupid, and pointless, but I tried to be concise in my answers just so she wouldn’t delve into the matter. “Bad dream. Xiaolang moved you close to me because he said I’d rest easier.”