Dragon's Mage (An Advent Mage Novel), The - Raconteur, Honor (12 page)

With a groan, I rolled back to my feet, brushing off sand as I went back to the picnic. Mari was apparently over her surprise and grinned from ear to ear.

“That,” she observed in amusement, “has to be the most intense version of dodge-ball I’ve ever seen. Do you two play that often?”

“Whenever we’re in an area that’s not flammable,” I answered, dropping back into my seat and picking up my cold lunch. “It’s one of Kaya’s favorite games.”

“I can see why. It looks like a lot of fun.”

“You can join in next time, if you like,” I offered ingeniously.

“I think I’ll stay on the sidelines,” she drawled back archly, “thank you very much.”

“Wimp,” I responded and then ducked when she threw a waded napkin at my head. Trying to regain some dignity, I took a sip of water from a canteen before saying, “To answer your question, I think we can take on both. Neither job is full-time, or even part-time. The search and rescue you’ll only need once in a while. The border patrol is only three hours a day. I’ve committed a half-day with Maese, which leaves me time to do the rest of it easily. Even then, he doesn’t even need me that much. If you call me, he won’t be upset.”

She watched me with unfathomable eyes for a long moment, head cocked. “Are all Chahirans such workaholics? Or is it mages?”

“Combination of both,” I answered dryly. “My parents certainly taught me how to work. Being a mage just took it to a whole new level.”

“That attitude will serve you well here.” She took a bite of her sandwich, swallowed, and added, “I’ll introduce you to the right men when we get back so you can start.”

Chapter Seven: Jobs

We settled into life pretty well in Mellor. Kaya and I now had three jobs between the two us—firefighter, border patrol, and smithing. Between all three incomes, we were sitting rather pretty. In between juggling my various jobs, I took the time to properly establish the shipping building as “home.” I drafted Mari’s help in this process more than I actually needed to. She had a good eye for interior decorating, don’t get me wrong. I just capitalized on any excuse I could think of to spend time with her.

I thanked the guardians my siblings weren’t around to tease me ruthlessly about my crush.

I had a comfortable apartment now, fully furnished. The kitchen had everything I needed to cook and clean with, the bedroom had a rather large feather bed with a stout chest of drawers, and the living area had a comfortable collection of chairs for relaxing. I even had one room turned into a guest room with a spare bed just in case anyone decided to visit me.

Kaya took care of decorating her half of the building. She picked up bits of cloth and worn-out pillows from all around the city and stacked them up like some magpie’s nest along one wall. She had me build her shelves along another wall, deep ones that could hold all of her “pretties.” I had an uneasy feeling about those shelves. She didn’t expect me to fill them for her…did she?

While I worked at Maese’s, Kaya played with the children. It’d taken several days for the parents to get used to the idea of a two-ton playmate, but once they’d seen how very careful Kaya handled their children, they’d relaxed their guard. Actually, Kaya became the town babysitter—nothing would happen to a child on her watch, she wouldn’t allow it. I snuck down to watch one day for a few minutes, and had to bite back a laugh at the sight. Kaya was playing some Solian version of keep-away. She had four children wrapped up in her forearms, holding them captive, and the rest of the children were enthusiastically trying to free them. She’d snatch any of them that were too daring and got too close, but sometimes a child would squirm free and dart away.

I couldn’t figure out how they kept score (unless the object of the game was to have the most children?) and it seemed they were perfectly willing to go ‘round and ‘round until sheer exhaustion dragged them to a stop.

 One of the things I built in Maese’s shop was a large bell that hung just outside of Mari’s office. Because I didn’t live in the city, but outside of it, there was no quick way to alert me of a fire. The bell solved that problem: three rings, and there was a fire. Two rings, and it was some other problem they needed my help with. Aside from being an efficient way of calling for me, it also allowed me to sleep like the dead. I didn’t need to worry about sleeping through a call for help, not with how loud that bell rang.

Even with these measures in place, it was still a surprise when the bell rang out and jerked me out of a sound sleep.

I startled awake so badly I half fell out of bed. Only catching the edge of my nightstand in reflex saved me from crashing to the floor. I hadn’t yet gotten my feet under me when Kaya stuck her nose through my bedroom door, nostrils flaring.

“Krys! Bell! Fire!”

“I hear it.” I threw on the first shirt at hand, stuffed my feet into a pair of boots, and sprinted for the door.

Kaya didn’t have the patience to wait for me to saddle her. She just grabbed me up with one arm, nosed the doors open, and launched herself straight from there. I grabbed onto her collar to steady myself. The cool night air hit me like a sledgehammer, making a shiver dance along my skin. Busted buckets, I wish I’d paused just two seconds to grab a jacket…  Not to mention I hadn’t had time to tie my hair up, so it now whipped around my face and nearly blinded me. Swearing, I caught it all up in one hand, as best I could, and tried to clamp it down. Even as I wrestled with my unruly hair, my head pivoted about to see if I could spot the fire. Nothing on the outskirts, where there were usually breakouts, wait…there! In town? A house fire?

“Kaya!”

“See it,” she assured me, already banking left.

The house in question belonged to one of the more affluent members of Mellor, standing three stories tall. I remembered it vaguely, as I had passed by it once to deliver something for Maese. It was a well-kept place, belonging to a young entrepreneur with three children, I believed. As we got closer, I realized that the wife and two of the children were in the front of the house, near the center of the drive, clinging to each other and crying. I frowned in growing alarm. The husband? I might’ve been wrong about the number of children, maybe that was all of them, but where was the husband?

Then out of my peripheral vision I saw something that made my blood boil. Two men dressed in black with masks tied over the lower half of their faces were dragging heavy bags away from the house. I didn’t need anyone to explain the situation to me—I now recognized the situation for what it was. Two sneak thieves had set the house on fire to set a diversion and used the chaos to steal anything they could lay hands on.

“Kaya, do you see those men?” I asked her while pointing in the direction of the fleeing criminals.

“See them,” she assured me.

“They’re bad men. They set the house on fire.”

Her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits and steam started streaming out of the corners of her mouth.

“You catch them while I deal with the fire.”

“Will,” she purred with dark promise. “Down?”

“Yes, put me down first.” I braced myself as she came in at a fast and breath-taking speed. To avoid falling face first, I landed in a half-run, my legs jarring a bit at the impact. Kaya kept flying, the speed of her rapid ascent causing my loose hair to fly about my head.

I put the criminals out of my head and focused on the fire. It had been fairly contained to just the east side of the house, on the ground level, but in this dry air it had quickly spread upwards. I sucked the heat of the area out, cooling it until the flames snuffed out.

The young mother rushed to me, catching my arm with hands that trembled. In the twilight, I could barely see her features. Only the flowing nightdress she wore and her wispy hair really made an impression on me.

“Magus, my husband! My husband went back in there!”

“I’ll find him,” I assured her even as I started running for the open front door.

The house was a mess. Smoke seemed to be everywhere, and even though the fire was out, the heat of it still lingered. I dragged my shirt up and over my nose, preventing some of the smoke from entering my lungs. Some furniture still stood where it should be, but other pieces were knocked over or scorched black. I couldn’t see anyone as I dashed from room to room.

“Hello? Is anyone in here? Hello!”

“Here,” a voice answered, half-choked around a cough. “Here!”

I followed the sound around another bend in the hallway. Coming slowly my direction were two men, one supporting the other. The tall, younger man with the black hair I took to be the master of the house. The middle-aged man with the receding hairline he supported I had no knowledge of. A servant or visiting relative, perhaps?

“The fire is out,” I assured them both as I walked towards them. “Here, let me give you a hand.”

“Thank you,” the older man responded, lifting his right arm to put around my shoulders.

I couldn’t immediately see anything wrong with the man so looked up at the master, expression questioning.

“My uncle,” he answered. “He’s been down with a nasty illness these past few weeks and has no strength. I didn’t think he could make it outside on his own.”

Judging by the way the man leaned on me that was a good call. “Sir, I can carry him outside.” The man didn’t weigh hardly anything. “If you would go ahead and reassure your wife and children that you’re fine?”

“I’ll do so, thank you. Uncle Jes, is that all right?”

Uncle Jes waved him on. “Go, go.”

With a final nod of thanks to me, the man jogged ahead and out of sight.

While supporting a man this way would eventually get us out of the house, there are much faster methods. “Sir, if you don’t mind, why don’t you just ride on my back? It will be less taxing on you that way.”

His grey eyes regarded me with frank amusement. “Are you saying, young master, that you can carry a man around?”

“I’m a blacksmith,” I answered with a quirk of my eyebrows. “Trust me, in comparison to some of my tools, you’re
light
.”

He gave a raspy chuckle. “In that case…”

I shifted him around so that he was on my back, arms around my neck, and my arms under his knees. With him properly settled, I started for the front door in a steady walk.

“We are fortunate that you came,” Uncle Jes said against my right temple. “Are you part of the firefighters?”

“Actually, I am. Haikrysen is my name.”

He jerked in surprise. “Haikrysen? That’s the Fire Mage from Chahir!”

“That’s me,” I responded cheerfully, glancing at him over my shoulder. The dumbfounded look he gave me was rather amusing. “Someone saw the fire and rang the bell, so Kaya and I came down to put it out. Did you know that it was started by thieves?”

“I did not,” Jes growled, “but it doesn’t surprise me. My nephew is often the target of thieves. Didn’t manage to catch them, did you?”

“Kaya went after them. I doubt they’ll be able to outrun
her
.”

“This Kaya person you keep mentioning, that wouldn’t happen to be…”

“My dragon familiar, yes.” We cleared the doors in the next moment and I looked around expectantly. The young mother came forward instantly, hands outstretched.

“Uncle Jes, are you all right?”

“Just fine,” he assured her, voice sounding raspy from the smoke. “The children?”

“Shaken, but fine. Magus, thank you ever so much.”

I smiled down at her. “My pleasure. You haven’t seen Kaya by any chance…wait, there she is.” I could hear the hard flap of her wings as she back-flapped, preparing to land. In her hands were the two men I’d told her to chase down. She dropped them none-too-gently on the paving stones before she landed practically on top of them.

The thieves huddled in on themselves, hands curled protectively over their heads, as she crouched over them.

“Caught bad men,” she assured me with a satisfied huff.

“Good girl,” I praised. “Now, go get Mari for me. I’m not sure what do with them.”

“Not necessary,” Mari called out as she ran toward us. “I’m here.”

I stood still and watched her as she took in the whole scene with her own eyes. Mari looked as if she had thrown on the first clothes at hand, like I had, although she’d found a moment somewhere to gather a few people as four men followed behind her. Her eyes caught on the trembling men still being guarded by Kaya and she frowned.

“Krys, are those thieves?”

“We spied them escaping from the house as we flew in,” I explained. “I assume they’re the ones who set the fire.”

“You’re probably right,” she responded grimly. Turning on one heel, she gestured to two of the men. “Take those morons and throw them in a cell. I’ll deal with it shortly. Master Gerrety, is everyone in your household accounted for?”

The young master had his arms around both of his children, reassuring them, but at this question he looked up. “Yes, fortunately everyone is fine. I can’t account for property damage, though, not yet.”

Mari didn’t seem surprised. “I understand. I’ll come by again tomorrow afternoon and we’ll talk about that then. Krys, I’ll need you to make a full report tonight about what you saw and did.”

How was it that no matter what occupation you had, there was always paperwork involved? “All right.”

When both thieves were hauled to their feet and frog-marched away, Kaya turned her attention to the still upset children. Much to their father’s alarm (and my amusement) she put her head up against them and started making soft, rumbling noises of comfort.

“Bad men gone,” she assured them. “Fire gone too. No cry, no cry.”

The youngest child, a little girl of about five, dragged a fist over her eyes to rub away the tears. “Really?”

Kaya gave a gentle bob of the head in confirmation.

The young boy reached out and laid a hand on her nose. I guessed him to be two years or so older than his sister, old enough to realize that things could have been much worse. “Kaya, will you stay here tonight? In case they come back?”

“Will,” she promised with another gentle nod of the head. She turned those big eyes on me and implored, “Krys stay too?”