Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (42 page)

Standing at his head was a slim girl with waist-length hair. I couldn’t tell much about her, considering the wan lighting of the moon, but she was definitely a Life Mage.

She took one panicked look at us, dropped the halter, and bolted.

“No, wait!” I called uselessly after her. “Busted buckets…” She was fast, maybe faster than me. “Shad, after her!”

I’ve never met anyone that could outrun Shad. He was on her trail before I could get the words out of my mouth, grass moving noisily under his feet as he moved.

In seconds, he caught her arm. “Wait, we’re not here to hurt anyone—”

I know, intellectually, that a Life Mage can do more than communicate or sense all life forms. They can mimic them, too. But I’ve never seen that in action. It was certainly quick! One minute Shad had a hold on a girl’s arm, the next, she was gone.

“Where’d she go?” I looked around in panic.

“The cat!” Shad yelled, pointing off to the right. “Catch the cat!”

She’d turned herself into a cat?! I took off in pursuit, trying to watch the motion of the grass. The grass was too thick and tall to see a cat, but she was sure to disturb the grass as she moved, and that would help us figure out where she was.

Shad and I pelted all out, searching for her at frantic speed. Shad dove and nearly caught her once, but she sped out of his hands at the last second.

Maybe she got tired of being chased. Or maybe she was just scared and acting on the defensive. All I know was, one second I was chasing a small house cat, the next, she had turned into this black, ferocious looking panther. With a roar, she spun on her hind legs, and
charged
.

“Whoa!” Out of sheer survival instinct, I did an about face and started running the other direction. I snagged Shad as I ran, throwing up a shield around us as soon as I was close enough.

She skidded to a stop, pacing just outside of the shield, snarling at us in rage.

“We’re not enemies!” I shouted in exasperation. “Will you calm down and listen?”

Xiaolang appeared out of nowhere, boots unlaced and a sword in hand. “What is going on out here?!”

Shad pointed at the panther. “Xiaolang, catch her!”

Our illustrious Captain took a good look at the huge cat facing us and he demanded incredulously, “Catch
that
? Are you crazy? No way!”

“But—!” I couldn’t get the explanation out fast enough. Once she realized that Xiaolang was armed, she took off again, disappearing quickly into the thick cover of darkness. I could have found her again, of course. My eyes might be useless, but I could still sense her. But there was no way I could catch her.

And I wasn’t sure, now that I’d calmed down some, whether that was the best approach anyway.

“Too late,” Shad sighed.

Xiaolang raked a frustrated hand through his disheveled hair. “Will someone please explain what is going on?”

I glared at my Nreesce. “We have a traitor in our midst.”

Night gave me an offended look. “
I am not!”

“And who was bonding over peanut butter…?” Shad’s expression was a little too innocent.

“
I was making friends with her!”

Xiaolang sank his head into his free hand. “This is going to be good, I can see it now. All right, back to camp. You can fill me in there.”

Chapter Twenty: Tactics

My hand clenched around my mug as once again, female laughter rang in the air. Chatta and Aletha were hanging onto each other, nearly falling sideways as their unbridled laughter threatened their balance.

I didn’t mind that they were enjoying themselves. Truly. It’s always nice to see pretty women laughing.

But did it have to be at
my expense?

“…and then she turns into a cat…” Aletha gasped, tears of mirth streaming down her cheeks.

“And Super Soldier over here couldn’t catch her,” Chatta added with a look at Shad.

“Neither could the all-powerful Advent Mage,” Shad drawled in return. He wasn’t upset—Shad’s twisted sense of humor still thought the whole situation last night was hilarious. Seeing the girls laugh about it just upped the level of entertainment for him.

“…and then she turns into a
panther
…” Despite the fact that Aletha and Chatta had already gone over this story three times, they both cracked up again.

“And Garth automatically runs from her!” Chatta had an arm wrapped around her waist, gasping. “Oh—stop, stop, it’s too much!”

Aletha had either no pity, or was too amused to stop now. “Night, come tell us what his face looked like.”

I shot a glare at my Nreesce. “Do and die.”

Night’s eyes darted between me and Chatta, and I didn’t need to be a telepath to know that he was tempted to tell the girls all about last night despite how I felt about the matter.

“Oh, better!” Chatta had this expression on her face that I didn’t trust. Every time that I’ve seen that particular look, mischief followed. “Night, come here. We’ll make a memory crystal of last night.”

Oh
no
. No, no, no, no, no! Have last night as a crystal memory, so that everyone in the world (or in Chatta’s reach, same difference) would know about it? Over my dead body. The glare I gave Night could melt steel when he took a step forward. “Night, if you take
one more step
, I will ban you from peanut butter for LIFE.”

Night froze in mid-step. “
Seriously?
” His eyes were wide with alarm.

“Now, Garth.” Chatta was smirking at me.

I gave her the most menacing glare possible. “I can’t stop you from laughing about last night, but if you think that I’m going to sit idly by and watch you spread that memory around, you’ve been eating too many mushrooms.”

She blinked at me, all innocent naiveté. “But they’re such good mushrooms! They make me see pretty colors.”

Two could play this game. “Seriously, you’d better stop. You’re starting to glow.”

“I’m a Witch, I’m supposed to glow!”

“A neon green?”

Chatta, as she normally does, fell to insults when she started losing. “Vertically challenged pipsqueak.”

“Mother of a fat drunken pig,” I retorted immediately.

“Ha! Shrunken freak of nature!”

“At least I’m not horizontally
un
challenged!”

“Obviously I need to teach you more insults!”

“Why? Mine’s fine—it’s short and simple, rather like you.”

“Oooh, first blood.” Shad was watching us with unholy glee.

Chatta gave him a glare that could have frozen a man on the spot. “Garth, how about a temporary truce?”

“In order to beat up on Shad?” I eyed the Captain thoughtfully. He
had
been the one to tell the story to the girls, which had started this whole thing. Yeah, I could be decently mad at him. “You’re on.”

“Excellent,” she purred. She drew her wand from her sleeve in a particularly sinister manner.

Shad didn’t look as nearly as worried as he should. “Now, now, let’s not be hasty. We’re all friends, aren’t we?”

“We’ll leave you breathing,” I promised with a feral smile.

Xiaolang cleared his throat, effectively capturing our attention. Even though he was only half-dressed (still without jacket and boots), and was sitting on his bedroll, he still somehow radiated authority. “May I remind you that we’re barely five miles away from a very nervous group of magicians? No fooling around.”

“Killjoy,” Chatta accused him.

I nodded in quick support of this opinion.

“Ah, c’mon, C2!” Shad sounded like a whiny three year old. “I can take ‘em. Having them both out for my blood makes for a really good workout.”

Xiaolang rolled his eyes. “Why must I be the adult here? And what’s this C2 nonsense?”

“I was made a captain long before you were,” Shad explained with a shrug. “So you’re Captain Number Two—or C2, for short.”

Xiaolang rolled his eyes, either in a sign of exasperation, or to pray for patience, I wasn’t sure. “Shad, you have the most convoluted mind I’ve ever known.”

“Why, thank you, C2!”

“That
wasn’t
a compliment.”

“You want to try beating some sense into me?” Shad nearly sparkled at the notion.

“No!” Xiaolang growled in irritation.

Shad slumped, crestfallen. “I can’t pick a fight with anyone this morning. You’re all a bunch of old women.”

Xiaolang had no sympathy. “You’ll live, Shad.”

Grumbling, he slunk off away from the camp, picking up his sword as he went.

“He’s not good at waiting, is he?” Shield observed in amusement as he watched Shad stalk away.

“That’s only part of the problem,” Xiaolang muttered under his breath.

I waited for him to explain that cryptic comment, but he focused on putting his boots on, not saying another word on the subject.

Once Chatta got over her amusement, that mind of hers started to analyze the situation. “But how did she know how to switch forms like that?” I think the question was largely rhetorical, but she was still looking at me in confusion.

“That part didn’t make sense to me either,” I confessed. “Cora was telling me that it took practice switching forms. And she had to be shown how to do it.” Thank heavens the Remnant Mages had shown up, especially Hay-el D'Auch. Without her, Cora would have really struggled.

“Hmmm.” It wasn’t quite a sound of agreement, just one of deep contemplation. Then she straightened abruptly, snapping her fingers. “Storage.”

She’s lost me. “I’m sorry, what?”

“When the Watchmen Pools were actually in use, they were used as more than just magical watchtowers,” she explained rapidly. “They served as way stations for magicians, too, if needed. And things were stored there as well.”

My eyes went a bit wide as the full implications sank in. “So there could very possibly be magical artifacts in that building?”

“More than just that, but books, and parchments, and memory crystals, and weapons, and who knows what else!” she disagreed.

Xiaolang looked up from his boots, joining the conversation. “So you’re suggesting that this Life Mage could have self-taught herself using these books?”

“Assuming they’re there? Yes, it’s a definite possibility.”

“I think that’s exactly what happened,” I offered slowly, running last night’s events back through my mind. “It would explain the gaps in her knowledge. Not recognizing what Night was, for instance. Not knowing by looking at me what I am. My shield should have been a dead giveaway.”

Xiaolang looked pained. “So you’re telling me that we have fifteen
half-trained, self-taught
magicians up there who are feeling defensive? Lovely. Thanks
so
much for sharing.”

“It wouldn’t do any of us any good if we went in blind-folded to the possibilities,” Chatta pointed out with ruthless logic.

Our poor Captain pinched the bridge of his nose, groaning. “This just makes a difficult situation worse.”

Chatta gave him a sympathetic smile. “Sorry. Maybe we’re wrong.”

“No,” he sighed. “I’m not that lucky. Besides, that theory fits too neatly to not have some element of truth in it.”

I was afraid he was right. “So how are we going to approach this?”

“We’ll try being polite, first.”

Sometimes, polite doesn’t work.

Xiaolang thought it a bit much to bring all of us—it would send off the wrong signals. So he just took me and Shad with him. We got within two miles of the pool, and explosions came out of nowhere.

It was such a strange mix of attacks—bolts of fire, rocks zipping at dangerously high speeds, raw magic that could char bone. They were all lethal attacks, certainly, but not
normal
; none of the ordinary attack methods that a Wizard or Witch would use in battle. (And considering how many times I’ve sparred with Kartal and Chatta, I could recognize those spells instantly.)

We’d been forced to hastily retreat. Shad was all for pressing forward—
he
hadn’t had any difficulty evading the attacks—but Xiaolang held back. We didn’t want to hurt these people, our future allies. And it would take some serious damage at this point to get them to stop.

I shielded us as we went back to the camp, not quite trusting that we were out of their range yet.

“Phew, that was fun!” Shad was nearly bouncing as he walked, eyes sparkling. “Can I do that again tomorrow?”

“No,” Xiaolang ordered in amusement. “You’re likely to get carried away.”

“But I haven’t been up against a challenge like that for nearly two hundred years! I wouldn’t hurt anybody.
Please?
”

“No.”

“Kill joy.”

“But I’ll have you and Aletha try to sneak in tonight.”

Shad’s face was nearly split by a demented grin. “All
right!
Now we’re talking.”

“Just those two?” I objected. There were, after all, forty-one people up there.

“If it comes to a matter of sheer numbers, then we’ve already lost,” Xiaolang answered patiently. “And these two are my experts at being sneaky.”

“I like sneaky,” Shad supported this with a fervent nod. “Sneaky is fun.”

He was getting
waaaay
too into this. “At least take a mirror with you?” I requested wearily. “If you get into trouble, I’ll come get you.”

“Now that’s insulting! Who says I’ll get caught?”

I side-stepped that one. I wasn’t touching it with a ten foot pole. “At least take it? You never know what can go wrong.”

Xiaolang took the matter out of his hands. “You’re taking one, Shad.”

“And remember not to get caught near the pool,” I added, suddenly remembering that there was a shield under that pool. “I can’t break through the seal without some serious consequences.”

Shad didn’t look as daunted by this warning as he should have been. “What kind of consequences?”

“The building collapsing on top of your head, for instance.”

“Ahhh. That wouldn’t feel too good.”

“It would ruin your whole day,” I agreed dryly.

“Garth, do me a favor?
Don’t
rescue me.”

I snorted. He was going to eat those words later.