Advent (Advent Mage Cycle) (18 page)

“Sit down, all of you,” Chaelane invited. “And do tell us the story from the beginning.”

Since I was the only person that had been there from start to finish, I was voted as the story teller this round. I started from where Saroya found us on the road and ended with coming here. Nolan happily devoured two cookies during the story, keeping pace with Guin. (Truly, it will be a miracle if my King doesn’t gain a hundred pounds, the way he eats.)

Guin didn’t seem all that surprised to hear about Vonlorisen’s promise. I sat back, eyeing him suspiciously. He raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, Garth?”

“Why do I feel like you had a part in this?”

Guin hummed. “I may have pointed out that Nolan would never be able to come back as long as things stayed the same. He seemed to agree. So no, I’m not that surprised. It will be interesting to see what form of house cleaning occurs, however.”

“He’ll have to eradicate the Star Order. There’s really no other option. They won’t let him get away with making the kind of changes he needs to.” Irony at its finest considering what they were.

For a time, only the crunching of cookies and the scent of hydrangeas filled the air as we all contemplated the ramifications.

Chaelane was idly toying with her half-empty tea cup. “Magus, as I understand it, Nolan will not come into his powers at fourteen. Is that correct?”

I shook my head. “Normally, yes. But Nolan is like Trev’nor—a child prodigy. I anticipate that he’ll come into his powers about nine or ten.”

Her eyes went round as saucers. “
Nine
?
”

“Yes. He’s already demonstrating some power now, which he should not be able to do. He’ll be fully trained by the time he’s twelve, I have no doubt.”

“But a twelve year old Mage,” she protested, flabbergasted, “that’s…that’s just…”

“Ridiculous?” Chatta finished, rubbing at one temple with her fingertips. “Yes, we all agree. But there’s not much we can do about it. When he comes into his power, he
has
to be trained. All sorts of disastrous accidents will happen otherwise.”

“We’ll be facing the same thing with Trev’nor,” Guin muttered absently. “And at practically the same time. I do intend to put them in an internship with another Mage until they’re sixteen, at least. Garth, I hope you realize that.”

I nodded. “I do, Sire. Since the only trained Life Mage we have is Cora, Nolan will likely be interning with her.”

“Yes, quite likely,” Guin agreed. “But we can worry about that later. For now, Nolan, you shall stay with us. We shall see to your care and education.”

Chaelane aimed a smile at her husband that would have put the sun to shame. He actually blushed a little under her regard. Nolan looked between the two, delighted.

“And can I meet Trev’nor soon?” he asked eagerly.

“Soon,” I promised him when the two adults blinked down at him in a blank manner. “I told him a little about Trev’nor on the ride in. He’s anxious to meet him.”

“That’s quite understandable.” Chaelane clapped her hands decisively. “We’ll arrange a meeting tomorrow, Nolan. I’m sure you and Trev’nor will become good friends. But for tonight, it’s very late. We should see about settling you in.”

“Okay,” he agreed around a yawn, drooping a bit around the edges.

“Good.” Gathering him up in her arms, Chaelane carried him out of the garden. His cherub face resting on her shoulder, we heard him mumbling all the way into the castle, mixed with the queen’s deeper murmurs.

I watched her go and thought to myself, Good luck, Vonlorisen. You’re going to need it getting your grandson back from her.

Chapter Eleven: Unexpected Surprises

Xiaolang had found the time to pull Guin aside and explain that Nolan and Trev’nor
really,
really
needed to meet. With that thought suitably impressed on the King, and with Guin’s assurance that he would make sure of it, our task was finished. We departed at first light the next morning.

I approached from a more northerly angle this time, going into Habbick Providence, as we had several families in that Province to look up. The Index had a list of several Witches and Wizards from this area. We’d barely been within the boundaries of Chahir more than an hour before I found a Witch. Since we were so close to the border anyway, Xiaolang ordered that I just transport her by the earth path to Del’Hain, so we would be unhindered in our search this early on our journey.

It didn’t take long to drop off our newly discovered Witch. I delivered her into O’danne’s capable hands—his Chahirese was good enough to communicate with her—reported to Guin on our find, then headed back to rejoin the team. I had a rough idea where they should be by now, probably about ten miles or so from where I had left them. I deviated a bit from my previous route to save time catching up with them.

As I rose above ground, however, no one was on the road. More than a little confused, I turned slowly in a full circle, looking all around me. This part of Chahir was made up of lazy rolling hills and scraggly trees, nothing that could really hinder someone’s view. The sunlight cast a warm, golden glow on everything but was not so blinding that it could obscure sight. There weren’t even any houses or small villages in this area of the country, just the main highway that I stood on and endless small crests of golden grass. I turned another full circle, feeling the tepid air stick in the back of my throat as panic built in my chest. I still could see no trace of my team. Becoming worried, I gave up on normal sight and reached out with my magical sense. I don’t care how fast or slow the team was going, they couldn’t have covered more than twenty miles in the two hours that I was gone.

Aha! There they were. Wait…I frowned in confusion. They weren’t anywhere near the road. In fact, I think they were in a cave. Why by all magic were they in a cave? There wasn’t anyone else with them, so they couldn’t have been side-tracked by a new magician. Worry started to gnaw a hole in my chest. Something was wrong. I don’t know what, but something had definitely gone wrong while I was in Hain.

I dropped quickly back onto the earth path. It took barely a minute to reach them.

Just in front of the mouth of the cave I surfaced again—and was greeted by a very sharp sword pointed in my direction. In sheer instinct, my shields snapped up.

“Whoa, Shield, it’s me!”

Shield’s sword lowered before the words could completely leave my mouth. “Sorry. I wasn’t sure if they found a way to do
that
too.”

What? What in in the four winds was he talking about? My eyes took in the rough bandage around his arm, the nasty bruise under his right eye, the rips in his clothing. Shield looked like he had been in a fight—and lost. Alarm and unease spread through my chest like cold poison. “What happened?” I demanded.

“Not five minutes after you left, we were attacked by Star Order Priests,” he growled, every inch of his considerable bulk screaming tension.

“There wasn’t any Star Order Priests near you!” I protested. I had double checked before leaving.

“Chatta didn’t seem ‘em either. She says they figured out some new glamour spell or something.”

Oh
joy
. I ran a shaking hand over my face. “And the team?” Chatta? Where was Chatta? She should have noticed my approach by now, surely.

Night stuck his head out of the cave. “
Garth, you need to take us into Del’Hain. NOW
.”

The urgency in his voice set off all sorts of alarms in the back of my head. If Shield, who is a strong fighter, was hurt…if they had been forced to retreat and hole up in a cave… I dropped my shields and shoved past Night quickly, stumbling a little in the semi-lit cave.

When my eyes adjusted, I wished they hadn’t.

The small, dim confines of the cave were filled to the brim. On every rough-hewn surface of granite, a member of the team lay injured on the cave floor, except for Shad. My horror at the sight in front of my eyes twisted my stomach so much that even the damp, slightly moldy smell of the cave was enough to make me nauseous. Someone had placed a lantern in the middle of the cave floor, propped up slightly with a sizeable rock, and it was by its shallow glow that I could see my friends.

Hazard was to my immediate left, a bloody bandage around his forehead. Even asleep, his face was drawn in lines of pain, and I didn’t like the way he was curled up gingerly on his side. It spoke of another, more serious wound I wasn’t seeing. Chatta was next to him, leg roughly splinted. I dropped to my knees next to her, reaching out.

“Chatta?”

She grabbed my hand with hers. “Aside from my leg, I’m all right,” she assured me with a strained smile. “But Xiaolang…”

My eyes followed where she indicated and I went cold. For a moment, a sickening sense of déjà vu swept through me. Xiaolang looked as bad as Elis had, when I had stumbled across him. Bloody bandages covered him from head to shin. The only visible skin I could see was his face, the left hand that gingerly rested on his thigh, and the patch of his chest near his neck. Everything else was swathed in bandages that seemed to blend in an eternal wave of white. Even his skin looked sickly white, as if so much blood had drained from him that he could match the marble texture of the stone around him.

I hadn’t been able to save Elis. I hadn’t the knowledge or the training necessary at that time. But this time was different. Xiaolang was
not
going to die on me. “Shield!” I called urgently. “Get in here!”

As soon as he was within sight, we disappeared in a shower of dirt.

The last time we had faced Star Order Priests, we had come out practically unscathed. I couldn’t imagine what they could do that would put the whole team—strong soldiers, all of them—into this condition. I turned and caught Night’s eye. “
What happened
?” I gritted out.

Night blew out an exhausted breath. Now that I was paying proper attention, I realized he was covered in shallow cuts and bruises.

“
I honestly don’t know. They appeared without any warning. At first, we were holding our own. And then one of them did something, some spell, and he suddenly had powers like an Earth Mage.”

“An Earth Mage?” I repeated incredulously. “Night, that’s not possible!”

“That’s what it looked like. It was like fighting you—only not as well trained, thankfully.
”

“I second that,” Chatta said in heartfelt tones. “What he could do was bad enough.”

“Worse,” Shad added darkly, “was that all the Priests were linked to him, making
them
more powerful too. It’s a miracle we got out of there alive.”

“If it wasn’t for Night, I’m not sure we would have.” Shield shot the nreesce a grateful look. “You fight like a demon, my friend.”

If Night could blush, he would have been. “
It was what I’m bred to do
,” he pointed out. “
But I’m not sure I would have lasted much longer. Whatever spell that Priest used,
” Night observed to me,
“it didn’t last long. About fifteen minutes. And then he collapsed.”

“More than that,” Chatta disagreed. “He burned out.”

A Mage could only handle the power that we did because every part of our body was made to be a conduit of magic. Anyone not a Mage trying to use that much power would be burned inside out from the attempt. It was like trying to shove an ocean’s worth of water into a river; not only would that not work, but the riverbanks would be destroyed in the process.

“Why do you say that he had Mage power though? What did he do exactly?”

“Well, he was throwing boulders around, and grabbing our legs with stone. Threw Xiaolang a good hundred feet too.” She grimaced at the memory. “Completely spooked the horses. They all ran off. I’m grateful I kept some potions in my pockets, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to help at all. I didn’t dare use active magic. Who knew if there were other Priests in the area?”

She had a point. “Which reminds me…what kind of glamour are they using?”

“It wasn’t a glamour,” she denied. “It wasn’t anything like one. What it looked like to me was that they had sealed all power inside themselves—to me, they looked normal. They weren’t even wearing those stupid robes.”

“Perhaps measures to hide from Vonlorisen?” It depended on how fast the word had spread after we left Vonlorisen last night. We weren’t that far from the capitol. He might have started dismantling the Star Order already.

“Perhaps,” she agreed. “More likely it’s something devised especially to fight you. After all, what we’re doing in Chahir isn’t precisely a well-kept secret anymore.”

“And then?”

“And then they broke and scattered, dragging the unconscious wannabe Mage with them,” Shad picked up the story. “Chatta sent Didi out to scout for a safe place and he found this cave. We put Xiaolang on top of Hayate, Chatta on Night—”

I was vaguely impressed Night had allowed that.

“—and we holed up in the cave, waiting for you. Um, Garth, I’m hearing a lot of cracking sounds. How fast are we going?”

“Fast.” My smile showed teeth. “If I didn’t know this route so well it would be suicide to talk to you right now.”

I received quite a few nervous looks for that comment.

“Um, Garth?” Chatta tugged at my hands to draw my attention back to her. “Maybe you should slow down a bit?”

I looked at where Xiaolang lay, curled up against Hayate. The dragoo was watching his owner with round eyes, his forehead so wrinkled that it formed a flat ridge. I didn’t have to be an expert at dragoo body language to decipher his very worried expression. He was curled up around him in a protective circle, too. Xiaolang, naturally pale already, looked like death now.

“No,” I refuted quietly.

Chatta followed my gaze, comprehension dawning. Her eyes softened and her grip tightened a little. “He’ll make it. I poured a few potions down him, to replenish blood and help with the pain.”

That eased my worry slightly. But only slightly. Every man and woman on this team was important to me—it hurt that they were injured.