Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (33 page)

Breaking glamours was, needless to say, not my strong point. I looked at Chatta. “Can you?”

“It’s so old…” she muttered in a doubtful tone. “It would take me a while.”

“
I could break it
.”

My eyes dropped down to Night’s head in astonishment. “What?”

“
I’m a Breaker, remember?
” He tilted his head to give me an amused glance. “
I can break anything when I hit it. That includes spells, if they’re tied to a certain place.
”

Actually, in the heat of the moment, I
had
forgotten that.

“
Well, Xiaolang?
”

“Go for it,” the Captain encouraged with an expansive gesture.

Night trotted up, me still on his back, and eyed the rock for a moment. “
Is this the strongest point?
”

I focused on the area. “Just about.”

“
Here goes. Hang on
.”

I clung to the saddle as he reared back on his hind legs. With a snort, he slammed his front hooves against what appeared to be solid stone.

The spell shattered, the force of it hitting us so hard that it nearly ripped the air right out of my lungs. Night continued his descent onto solid ground, jarring me in the saddle with the hard landing. My teeth rattled in my head, and I slumped a bit, trying to get my breath back. “You okay, Night?”

“Whew! Next time we do this, put up some sort of shield for backlashes.”

“I can’t do that and have you break something at the same time,” I refuted.

“
Well, we’ve got to come up with something. My ears are ringing.
”

“Mine too,” I groaned. The next time I saw Sallah and Aral, I’d ask them their opinion on this. Maybe there was a way to adapt the shield.

“You two all right?” Hazard called.

“Yeah, mostly,” I answered. Aside from my ears ringing, and the headache brewing behind my eyes, I was just dandy.

I forgot about my minor aches and pains when I looked at what was right in front of our noses.

A wide entrance opened up in the mountain, extending a few feet before mushrooming out into a huge cavern. Just from this angle, I could literally rows upon rows of boxes, filled with every possible size and color of crystal imaginable. There was more, too—ancient bon’a’lons, shields, pictures, books. It was a veritable treasure trove for a magician.

“Chatta, come here!” I waved her forward impatiently. “You won’t
believe
what’s in here!”

She sprinted to my side, only to stumble to a halt as she got a good look inside. “Great…good…
magic
…”

“It’ll take three or four wagons just to get it all out of there,” I whispered breathlessly.

“And that’s just what we can see.” She shook her head, eyes so wide they nearly consumed her face. “What if the cavern goes back
farther
?”

I found the idea nearly impossible to fathom. I wanted to hop down and go exploring immediately, but the Jaunten blood in me knew better than to do that. “Any booby traps you can detect?”

“Nary a one,” she denied.

I hadn’t felt anything either, but there was so much magic in that cave I didn’t really trust my senses at the moment.

I slid off Night’s back, and as soon Chatta and I were clear of our mounts, we put up our personal shields, just in case. We exchanged glances and step by cautious step, we entered the cave. I tried to keep my eyes off the objects stored there, and instead measured how big the cave was. I’m not sure if it was a relief or a disappointment that the cave didn’t extend much farther. It would take a lot of time and effort getting everything out of here, so I was glad there wasn’t mountains more out of sight. But still…despite all the effort it would take, I couldn’t help but feel that it would be well worth it in trade off. Who knew how much information was in here already that had been lost for two centuries?

“Garth.”

I turned to look at Chatta. She was kneeling near the entrance to the cave, staring at something. I walked back to her, following her gaze.

There, on the ground, was a pile of blankets, a cloak, and what looked like a small cachet of food.

“Someone’s been here recently,” I said, startled at the realization.

“Someone short,” Chatta agreed, eyes minutely studying everything around the nest of blankets. “See? There’s the imprint of a foot right here.”

I followed her pointing finger. In the loose dirt of the floor, there was the impression of a heel and bare toes. “That’s too small to belong to an adult,” I observed. My Jaunten blood surged to the fore again, providing me with answers to what I was seeing. “That’s a child’s foot.” I knelt down, studying it at closer range. “Recent. Perhaps within the past two days.”

“Your Jaunten side told you that, didn’t it?” she guessed.

“Yes.”

She sighed in envy. “I wish I were a Jaunten sometimes.”

I shook my head, smiling slightly. “I like you better with dark hair.”

“Thanks. I think.”

Xiaolang appeared in that moment. He let out a low whistle, head turning so that he could see everything. “Wow. There’s a lot here.”

I gestured him closer, pointing to the footprint. He lowered himself to rest on his haunches, eyes combing the area. “A child has been here in the past two days or so.”

Chatta let out an irritated breath. “How do you two
do
that?”

He winked at her and drawled, “Mad skill.”

She glared at him for that. “All right, Captain Obvious, then answer this question for me. What kind of child can see past a glamour of this strength and find this place?”

He blinked. “The boy Mage. Of course!”

“Bing, bing! Give the man a cookie.” She grinned at him unrepentantly.

“That’s why we couldn’t find him anywhere near the village,” Xiaolang groaned in realization, running both hands roughly over his hair. “It’s because he’s been hiding in here!”

“At least part of the time,” I agreed. “Now if we can just figure out where he is
now
…”

Xiaolang nodded, rubbing at his temples. “All right, change of plans. Chatta, I’m going to leave Hazard, Eagle and Shield with you. They’ll help you pack this place up and get it ready for transport. Garth, we’re going to track that boy down while they’re working here.”

“Right.” Maybe with the glamour down, I’d actually be able to
sense
things again.

Chapter Sixteen: Hayden

The thing about Xiaolang’s orders, I’ve discovered, is that they’re deceptively easy on the surface. They always sound simple.

They’re not.

Find the boy Mage
, for instance. Simple enough order, right? Considering my abilities, and that the (insanely powerful) glamour of the mountain was gone, it should have been a snap to find the boy and grab him.

Actually, finding him wasn’t difficult. I barely had to move. The difficulty came from the company he was keeping.

I led Xiaolang, Shad and Aletha down the mountain and around a bend. The boy was just around the next curve in the trail, still out of physical sight, but well within my senses, when I heard voices.

“—just let me go check,” a young, high tenor was pleading.

“Not till you finish here, boy. This ain’t near enough jewels to do any real bargaining with.” The voice was gruff, influenced by rough drink and a poor lifestyle.

I held up a hand, halting everyone in their tracks. Xiaolang pulled up close to me and murmured quietly, “Is the boy Mage the one talking?”

“Yes,” I whispered back. “But who’s the man with him?”

“He’s no friend of the boy’s.” Xiaolang looked…angry. His eyes were narrowed, and had about as much warmth as naked steel.

“Empathy tell you that?” I hazarded a guess.

Xiaolang gave a short nod. “We need to intervene.
Now
.”

“But there’s something
wrong
,” the boy was protesting in near-panic. “I can see everything again! Other people will be able to see it, too. I need to go look!”

“You’re not going anywhere until you finish, boy!”

I came in sight of the two at that point. The man grabbed my attention first. I’ve never seen a filthier individual—not even beggars on the streets looked this bad. Heck, Reschkeenen, when we first found him, looked like the Prince of Cleanliness in comparison. The only clean thing about this man was his cloudy blue eyes that glared up at me.

“Who are you?” he demanded belligerently.

I ignored him and looked at the boy. He was slender, half-starved, with an oversized tunic hanging off his shoulders. He was staring at me with eyes so wide they were in danger of falling out of his head. “H-h-he’s a-a-a…”

The man gave the boy a sharp glance. “A what?!”

“A Mage,” I answered with quiet menace. “To be precise, I am Rhebengarthen, an Earth Mage.”

Mr. Filthy sneered, obviously not believing me. “And whatcha doin’ here? You ain’t no kin of the boy’s. He ain’t got folks.”

And you’re taking advantage of that, aren’t you, you filthy cockroach? Just beyond the man, I could see a handful of unpolished stones—gems, actually. It was pretty clear what was going on here. The man had somehow stumbled onto the fact that the boy could, with his magical powers, create precious stones. As an Elemental Mage, even untrained, it would be child’s play for him.

From behind me, there was the sound of Shad’s sword leaving its sheathe. “Why don’t I deal with Stinky, here, and you deal with the kid, Garth?”

“Deal.” I headed for the boy, trusting Shad to guard my back, and Xiaolang and Aletha to give me a warning if something went wrong.

The boy, at my approach, scrambled backwards a few steps.

Surprised, I stopped. I’ve never had this reaction before from a magician, not once they knew what I was. Even Reschkeenen, as terrified as he was, had only given a token protest.

Shad was dealing with the man, but the boy’s eyes never wavered from me, even when his smelly acquaintance started loudly squawking. I wasn’t sure what to do to win the boy’s trust.

Busted buckets, where’s Chatta when I need her…

I sank to one knee, holding both of my arms well away from my sides, to prove that I didn’t have a weapon in my hands. “Sorry. Am I scaring you?”

He didn’t give any indication one way or the other, just watched me with those alarmed eyes.

“Let me properly introduce myself, all right? I’m Rhebengarthen, an Earth Mage dispatched from King Guin of Hain. King Guin’s given me orders to rescue any magician in Chahir and help them safely into Hain, so they can be trained. The people behind me have the same task.”

From behind me, there was an outraged bellow. “Get off me, you sword humping idiot!”

I glanced over my shoulder. Shad had Mr. Stinky pinned to the ground, face squashed into the dirt, both arms pinned behind his back at a highly uncomfortable angle.

“Now, now, no talking back to your elders,” Shad contradicted in a pleasant tone. His mouth was smiling, but the eyes… A part of my mind catalogued that look for future reference. So that’s what Shad looks like when he’s
really
mad.

Mr. Stinky couldn’t see Shad’s eyes, so he didn’t know that his survival depended on remaining still. He started squirming again, and cursing in a foul streak.

Shad grabbed a handful of dirty hair and
yanked
, pressing the exposed windpipe against a sharp edge of rock. The cursing became hoarse.

“If you continue to use such foul language, I’ll only press
harder
,” Shad warned in a deceptively cheerful voice.

“Shad,” Xiaolang drawled in a relaxed manner, “I request that you
do
let the prisoner breathe.”

Shad shot him a thoughtful glance. “You know, I
was
made captain before you. Technically, I outrank you.”

Xiaolang met him look for look. He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t need to. The expression on his face said volumes.

“…oh all right, fine.” Shad let up a little.

Mr. Stinky drew in a few ragged breaths, but wisely didn’t push Shad again. Apparently he was quite attached to his air.

This little side show had been entertaining, but hardly helpful. I had lost my connection with the kid. He was becoming more upset, more involved in what Shad was doing with that reeking globe of flesh. I don’t think he was even really listening to me.

What to say to get his attention? He’d been trying to head up into the mountains when we approached—he’d been worried because he could “see” it clearly. Maybe if I said something about that… I cleared my throat, catching his attention again. “We’re the ones that broke the glamour hiding the mountain.”

“
Actually
,” Night corrected dryly, “
I’m the one that did it.
”

“Close enough,” I muttered to him.

I had the boy’s complete attention now. “How?” he asked in a thread-bare voice.

With a casual shrug I answered, “It wasn’t difficult.” It just made your head ring for ten minutes.

Something flashed across his face, and he became wary again, shrinking a little farther from me. “…don’t believe you.”

He had to know by looking at me, and Night, and Xiaolang, that we weren’t normal. What had he been told, that would so thoroughly encourage him to scorn other magicians? Being raised in Chahir was surely part of his attitude, but it went deeper than normal.

“Allow me to prove it, young Magus.” Without taking my eyes from him, I raised a wall of clay and stone behind us, completely blocking the narrow passage we had just come through.

“Garth, give us some warning!” Aletha growled in exasperation.

Oops. Maybe I should have looked first…nah, she was all right. She was irritated, not in pain, so she wasn’t accidentally hit with something. Besides, I didn’t dare look away from the boy.

For several long moments, the kid just looked at the wall that was now blocking him. Then he started shaking, long tremors that traveled from head to toe. “Take it down…take it down…
take it down TAKE IT DOWN
!”