Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (40 page)

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” I muttered in hasty reassurance, my eyes never leaving the Gardener. My mind was unraveling all of the information it had just been handed. In the…impressions I guess you would call it…I had the sense of time passing. A
lot
of time passing. And the land being changed, many people working to restore the land from the damage it had taken; of ley lines being reconnected, and energy flowing properly again.

Several things clicked into place. “Of course,” I breathed in realization.

“Garth, will you
please
explain?” Chatta was about one second from shaking answers out of me.

“I always thought it strange that certain parts of Chahir had recovered faster than others. I put it down as simply that it hadn’t been as damaged during the war as other places. But that’s not necessarily true. The Gardeners have been working all of this time, going from place to place, restoring the land.” I abruptly laughed, delighted to finally have an answer to a question that had always alluded me.

“We truly appreciate it,” I told the Gardner earnestly. “I didn’t dare attempt such a thing on my own—I was afraid of messing everything up trying.”

He smiled at me again, sincerely pleased by my response. He reached out his hand once more.

Knowing a little better what to expect, I cautiously touched him, mentally bracing myself for impact as I did so.

The impression this time was briefer, though, and not as convoluted—an image of myself near the Netchdor Pool. There was a layer of curiosity in the picture.

“Yes, I was there,” I confirmed when he released me. “Those pools are being used to track down people with magical abilities. We wanted to know if we could shut them off, to prevent them from being used against us.”

His head cocked, puzzled.

I shrugged helplessly. “I know I didn’t do anything—I couldn’t turn the pool off without either tampering or shutting off the ley lines. I didn’t dare do either. That would cause too much damage to the land.”

He reached out this time, touching my cheek with gentle fingertips, almost like a caress.

This time, there was the picture of other Gardeners working, but now they were around buildings that housed pools. The ley lines under the ground were being moved, their power diverted into other lines.

My eyes went huge as I processed this. “Would you do that? Truly?”

He nodded firmly. His fingers pressed a little harder against my skin. Clear as a bell, I heard:
You helped preserve our work. We shall help with yours.

I nearly went limp with relief. “Thank you. I can’t tell you how much that will help.”

That seemed to amuse him.
But we do know. We can feel you as well as you feel us, Balancer.

Balancer?

From the back of my head, a well worn memory surfaced.
When Trivoxor has chosen a Rider,
Night’s prophecy read,
the Balance will be restored.

Raile had talked about The Balance also, not two weeks ago in Coven Ordan. I gaped in amazement. “How did you know that was me?”

He trilled softly, and the sound was so close to laughter that I couldn’t mistake it for anything else. He gazed up into my eyes, and gave me one final fond pat, like a doting relative who had known me all of my life. I had the most eerie impression that he knew me personally, but I had absolutely no idea how.

He left one last impression to not worry about the pools any longer, and then he released my face.

With a bow of acknowledgement to me, he turned and melted back into the grass, disappearing in moments.

“
Wow
.” Night sounded stunned.

I nodded in agreement.
Wow
just about covered it.

Shad pounced on me. “Will you
please
explain what just happened?”

I looked into that impatient face and wondered—exactly where do I begin?

After a few moments, I managed to get my mouth working coherently again. “That…was a Gardener.”

“And those are?” Eagle prompted with a hint of impatience.

“Gardeners are a race of people that…well, I thought them more legend than anything until this moment. Some people claim they are the ultimate Mages—that we human Mages are only a shadow compared to them. They know more about the land, and the animals and plants on it, than we can ever begin to understand. They are the ones that restore a land when it is damaged. It is because of their efforts here that Chahir is starting to recover.” I looked back to the spot that the Gardener had disappeared, feeling a little surreal and off-balance. “I can’t begin to describe…there just aren’t
words
…”

Night bailed me out. “
They don’t really talk with words. What they do is give you impressions, images, pictures, and scenes, in order to communicate.”

“There are layers of emotions in there, too,” Xiaolang observed in a slightly strained voice. “I felt that.”

“Yes, there was,” I agreed shakily. “Apparently they’ve been keeping an eye on us. He wanted to know what we were doing near Netchdor, at the pool.”

“We caught that much,” Aletha assured us. “I gathered that they’re going to help?”

“They’ll shut off the ley lines powering the pools,” I confirmed. “They can do the job I can’t—they truly understand how the land works, and will be able to change things without consequences. Compared to them, I’m an absolute novice. He told me not to worry about them.”

“So they’re on our side?” Eagle hazarded.

“…that’s not quite right.” I frowned, struggling to put into words something I instinctively knew. “He said that what I did helped with their work—preserving the land—and that because of that, they were willing to help me.”

Chatta knew most of this already, and while she was interested, she was still fidgeting. “But what did you mean, when you asked that last question?”

I dragged my mind back to the present. “He called me Balancer.”

Chatta’s eyes went wide. “Oh.”

“Yeah. That was pretty much my response.” I shook my head, pushing myself up to my feet. This was too much for my poor brain to handle. I felt like my thoughts were running in mad little circles, chasing each other, without any insight.

“So, we don’t have to worry about the pools, eh?” Xiaolang was obviously cheered by this development. “Excellent. That will make all of this a bit easier. All right, everyone load back up. We’re burning daylight.”

I climbed back onto Night. It was a good thing I wasn’t on a regular horse, because the rest of the day I was so busy thinking of prophecies, Gardeners, and pools that I didn’t pay an ounce of attention as to where we were going.

Chapter Nineteen: Surprises

That can’t possibly be right….

Fighting off a wave of incredulity, I double-checked. I went slowly, taking my time to make sure I had an accurate count.

Forty-one people. Fifteen were magical.

Not twenty miles to the east was a gathering of fifteen magicians.

Fifteen
.

A gathering such as this would not be unusual in Hain, but in Chahir? I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

After several false starts, I managed to get my mouth and brain working together again. “Xiaolang?”

He turned expectantly, hope vivid on his face. “Yes? Did you find one?”

“More than one,” I answered weakly.

“Two? Three?” Something on my face—or maybe he was reading my emotions, who knows?—told him that something was up. “How many Garth?” he asked slowly, his eyes intent.

I had to swallow, twice, before I could force the answer out of my mouth. “Fifteen.”

A small, petty part of me enjoyed everyone else’s surprise. They nearly fell out of their saddles from the shock. By common consensus, they all turned their mounts to form a rough circle around me.

“
Fifteen?!
” Shad repeated, nearly choking. “In one place?!”

“Fifteen magicians,” I refined, “forty-one people in all. Here’s the really weird part—they’re all gathered around the pool.”

Chatta let out a low whistle. “Now that’s…unexpected.”

No kidding.

Xiaolang nudged Hayate closer to me. “Can you give us anymore information? How many are Witches, Wizards, or Mages?”

I shook my head, feeling helpless and frustrated. “They’re too close together, too jumbled up. I can barely tell them apart. The majority are either Wizards or Witches, I can tell you that much. I
think
there’s at least two Mages as well…but don’t quote me on that one.”

“Fifteen,” Xiaolang repeated thoughtfully, exchanging a look with Shield. He looked a little concerned, which was understandable. The most we had ever rescued at one time was three, and that had been a little challenging.

Fifteen would be a nightmare.

And it could well be more than fifteen. No ordinary Chahiran citizen would move to a scrying pool without some very good reasons. Following their magically gifted family member would be one of those reasons. If they were willing to move there, then they would likely move to Hain as well, to keep their families together.

“Probably more than just the fifteen,” Shad murmured, mind a thousand miles away.

“I think so, too,” I sighed. “We’re not talking fifteen, but probably forty-one.”

Xiaolang went from worried to overwhelmed. “Quite. And I think we better be very careful how we approach them. They’ll be on the defensive.”

Chatta shook her head in disagreement, mouth set in a grim line. “We’re not going to be able to just walk up there, not unless they want us to.”

Aletha blinked. “Why?”

Shad, Night and I all groaned in realization more or less at the same time. Chatta shot us a grimace, partly in agreement, partly in understanding.

“What?” Aletha demanded.

“They’re sitting right on top of a permanent pool. It takes no knowledge to use it. Anyone can look at it. Worse—for us—if you don’t focus a pool, it shows the immediate surroundings by default.”

Xiaolang pinched the bridge of his nose, looking like he was developing a headache. “How much of the surrounding area can they see?”

“It depends on the strength of the ley line supporting it,” Chatta answered with a slight frown. “If the ley line is weak, perhaps thirty miles or so. If it’s strong…perhaps a hundred.”

“Garth, we’re about twenty miles away, aren’t we?”

I wasn’t surprised Xiaolang made that assumption. He knew my range, after all. I just nodded in confirmation.

“So they already know we’re here.” Hazard sighed, looking distinctly unhappy about the situation.

“But won’t they realize we’re not the bad guys?” Eagle was looking at me when he asked this. “I mean, these pools tell you when people have magic, don’t they? Won’t it be obvious that we have a Witch and a Mage in the group?”

“That’s not going to help, in this case.” Xiaolang’s headache was contagious—I was feeling one coming on myself.

“Why?” Eagle persisted.

“The Star Order actually has a type of magic as well,” Chatta explained in a dead voice. “It’s part of the reason why they can detect other magicians. From the outside, we can be mistaken as a Star Order hit squad.”

“We’re not dressed like them,” Aletha pointed out.

“They’re in the habit of trying to dress inconspicuously,” I stated tiredly. “To them, we’ll look like a typical squad; two Star priests, and a squad of soldiers. The only part of our group that might cause some confusion is Hayate and Didi—everything else will conform to Star Order tactics. Regardless, they’re not going to risk it and let us get too close, not without putting up a whale of a fight.”

An aggravated groan swept through the group.

Xiaolang pulled himself together, turning Hayate back around. “Let’s at least get closer. We’re going to have to think of a way to prove our good intentions.”

~*~

We stopped that night about five miles away from the Hapt-den-War Pool and made camp. It was actually a fairly nice area, a shallow depression in between short rolling hills, with a small stream nearby. We were largely sheltered from the wind and curious eyes. It was a nice place to stay.

That was good, considering that we’d probably be here a few days.

I’d like to say that during the day of riding one of us came up with some brilliant plan on how to approach these people…but we didn’t. Aletha and Shad—the two sneaks—put their heads together for hours, but couldn’t think of a good way to approach without putting people’s backs up. They consulted a lot with Chatta, trying to gain an idea of the magical end of things. Not one of them looked pleased by the conclusions they were drawing.

If only the area we were in wasn’t so
desolate
. We were still in the Flats, barely. There wasn’t any decent cover out here for miles around. Just some shrubby trees here or there would have helped tremendously.

We all gave up and just focused on setting up camp that night. I managed to trick Aletha into cooking again, so we had something decent for dinner that night. (I might have to watch my back, though. She was rather peeved at me, and that’s a dangerous woman to have on one’s bad side.) Xiaolang set up a watch, with Hazard taking the first hour.

I rolled out my bedding next to Chatta’s. I’d never say this—she’d scalp me if I did—but I was worried about her. I’m pretty difficult to get up in the mornings, but Chatta’s darn near impossible. If we were suddenly attacked in the middle of the night, odds were she’d sleep right through it. If something did attack us, I wanted to be close enough to throw up a shield around us both.

I had my eyes closed, and was just beginning to doze off when she dropped into her bedroll.

“Garth?”

“Hmmm?” I responded, feeling much too lazy to use actual words.

“About what happened yesterday….”

That was such an open-ended line I had to wonder what she meant. Yesterday I had come face to face with a legend, an actual Gardener. Yesterday I had discovered that I’m not the expert on earth magic that I thought I was. A lot had happened yesterday. “Which part?”

“About that flashback Night said you had.”