Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (43 page)

~*~

No matter how powerful a pool might be, it still had limits. If you were hiding in a city, for instance, the magician using the pool would be hard pressed to pick one person out of a crowd. Same idea applies to forests, and twisty mountain passes. Permanent pools are built to oversee a wide range of land all at once, which is very handy—but it’s hard to focus on smaller details. Only a truly gifted Wizard or Witch can coax a close-up view from a pool, which is what made Don’s work so impressive back in Coven Ordan.

The problem was we weren't sure just how good the magicians up there were when it came to using that pool. How much of us could they really see, or were we little better than small figurines for them?

Chatta, Xiaolang and I gathered well away from the fire that night, giving Aletha and Shad some last minute tips before they went skulking.

“If their pool is truly on the default setting like we think it is then they won’t be able to see you,” Chatta assured them for the second time. “All they’ll see is pitch blackness, except for our campfire. You shouldn’t have any trouble.”

“Go slow,” Xiaolang cautioned. “They might have some automatic defenses in place that we don’t know about. After all, they’ve been here for a while—there’s no telling what they’ve done.”

“Yes, Da,” Shad replied sweetly.

“Oh, get out of here,” Xiaolang shot in exasperation. “And don’t get caught!”

With a casual salute, the pair slunk off into the darkness. There was only a sliver of moonlight to see by, which hopefully would help them.

I wish there was some way for us to know if something went wrong, though. Shad had the mirror broach to communicate with—altered for his use—but I knew good and well that he wouldn’t use it unless he felt there wasn’t another choice.

With nothing else to do, we went back to the fire. The wind had a definite nip to it, which didn’t surprise me, as we were quickly heading for winter. Fall was nearly over now. Hayate was huddling under his charmed blanket, and the look he gave Xiaolang was downright pitiful. “
Cold
,” he mourned.

“I know, we all are,” Xiaolang sighed. “Garth, how cold does it get in Chahir?”

“Pretty cold,” I admitted. “Especially up here, since we’re so far to the north. I’ve heard that it gets cold enough up here to freeze a man’s hand to wood.”

Hazard especially was giving me an appalled look. He hated the cold almost as much as Hayate. “That’s ridiculous! What do people do up here during the winter?”

“Stay inside,” I answered dryly.

“This part of Chahir is infamous for its ice storms,” Eagle added. He looked slightly troubled, as if he were just now remembering this information. “They can blow in within hours, and the ice lasts for days at a time.”

I nodded confirmation. “I had an aunt that lived up here with her husband. After about ten years, she got sick of it and dragged her family back south, where it was warmer.”

Xiaolang hummed thoughtfully. “What are the possibilities that people would try to leave Chahir in the dead of winter?”

I hesitated, thinking that question over. When I answered, I was confident in my opinion. “Slim to none, weighing more to the
none
side. It becomes far too dangerous to travel in winter. It’s like a death sentence to travel more than a mile or so outside of the home. Even the garrisoned troops don’t move. If anyone’s abilities
did
wake up during winter, they wouldn’t dare try to escape before spring.”

“Death sentence, eh? Even for us?”

“Especially for us.” My voice was grim.

“Because we don’t have guaranteed shelter,” Chatta murmured in understanding.

“Or a guaranteed food supply,” Shield grumbled.

Xiaolang’s eyes narrowed in contemplation. “I see. How long do you think it will be before winter really sets in?”

“Another month, at most.” Ruefully, I added, “I wish we had this conversation three days ago, before we met up with the Gardener.
He
would have known the exact answer to that question.”

Even though Xiaolang couldn’t possibly see it, his head turned in the direction of the pool. “Then this could very well be the last group that we rescue for the year. We don’t dare move around during winter.”

“No,” I agreed.

“That might be a good thing,” Xiaolang reflected.

“Why, because we’re all a little haggard and threadbare?” Shield held up a sock and stuck a finger through the hole in the toe.

“Partly.” Xiaolang grinned at him. “And we’re all tired. This is very nerve-wracking work. Tired men make mistakes. We all need a little rest and relaxation.”

From the east, there was a sudden explosion of magic and light. I jerked up to my feet automatically, scanning the area. “Rats. I think they were just discovered.”

“I can’t
see
,” Chatta complained under her breath. “They’re too far out.”

“How far?” Xiaolang demanded, coming to stand at my side.

“About two miles…” I answered slowly. “In fact, pretty close to where we were caught yesterday.”

He groaned. “That answers that question—they have permanent armaments in place.”

Another explosion of light flashed brilliantly on the horizon, this one further in. I swore under my breath. “Chatta, did you see that?”

“Yes, and I recognize the spell,” she replied grimly. “And there’s no way that spell can be altered for some sort of defense. A person has to cast that one.”

“Long distance?” Xiaolang guessed.

“Oh yes.” Her mouth quirked in one corner in a humorless smile. “This also answers another of our questions. They can use that pool.”

I realized what she meant, and felt like banging my head against something hard in sheer frustration. “Of course.”

Xiaolang looked at us, slightly puzzled.

“They have to do something to the pool to influence the image to lighten,” Chatta explained in a morose tone. “That takes a bit of practice, to see at night. They’re better at manipulation than we gave them credit for.”

“Half-trained magicians,” Xiaolang grumbled under his breath. “Guardians deliver us.”

Shad and Aletha came running up a few minutes later, both a little breathless and something the worse for wear. Shad had a scratch on one thigh, and Aletha looked like she had been scorched by an open flame—nothing serious, but I think if she hadn’t reacted quickly enough, it could very well have been serious.

“Sorry, C2, but mission failed.” Shad probably meant to sound contrite, but was too high on adrenaline to be convincing. “But
man
, was that fun!”

“Speak for yourself.” Aletha was definitely put out with the evening. “Those idiots scorched my
hair
. Just look at this!” She waved the tip of her braid in the air—and I saw what she meant. At least an inch or so was melted.

“I’ll fix it,” Chatta soothed. “Just come over here, where there’s enough light for me to see by.”

The girls went over to the fire, talking with animated gestures as they went.

Xiaolang looked like he was ready to join me with the head bashing. “So did we learn anything tonight, or was it a complete waste of time and effort?”

“Oh, they can definitely see us,” Shad assured him. “At first it was just the ground fortifications. Those are even more challenging than going against a Wizard or a Witch—the spells just came up out of the ground. You either dodged ‘em or you were toast. But after Gorgeous and I got past those, they started flinging spells at us from the roof. And then we ran into the
second
line of defense. We couldn’t watch both ground and air at the same time, so we decided to retreat.”

“We barely made it back out alive,” Aletha grumbled.

“Second line of defense, eh?” Xiaolang rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That speaks of military expertise. Actually, the whole set up reminds me of military experience.”

“They could have someone with a soldier's background up there,” I pointed out. “We have no idea what these people used to do before they moved.”

Xiaolang didn’t seem to appreciate this thought. “I hate planning with little information.” With a sigh, he turned back toward us. “All right, let’s get some sleep. And I expect someone to think of something brilliant by tomorrow morning. Otherwise, we’re doing this the hard way.”

Chapter Twenty-One: The Hard Way

I was shaken awake the next morning by an urgent hand. "Garth? Garth! Wake up."

Shad sounded worried, which didn't say good things to my still half-asleep mind. Shad was never really worried about anything. By the time that Shad grew concerned about something, everyone else was running for cover. My eyes snapped open and I sat up abruptly, looking around me in growing panic. We weren't under sudden attack were we?

No…the camp was still this morning, most people still sleeping. The sole exceptions were Shad and Xiaolang, who were both kneeling next to my bedroll. "What?" My mouth felt like it was made of glue and wool, making it difficult to speak.

Xiaolang’s words were so quick that it took a second for half of them to sink in. "Shad thought of something. Before, we thought that the Star Order was finding magical people through the pools, but that isn't always the case—it can't be. Three of the pools are abandoned. So if the Star Order isn't finding people by the pools in those Provinces, then how are they finding them?"

I stared at him, brain so fuzzy that only half of that question made any sense. Taut seconds ticked by while I tried to think logically, but the only thing my brain could come up with was, "Tea. I need hot tea."

Shad rolled his eyes. "Why is it that both of our magical experts are impossible to wake up in the morning?"

I groaned, covering my eyes with one hand. "Why can't you come up with the complicated questions
after
I've had breakfast?"

Xiaolang chuckled slightly at our banter, but being the nice man he was, got up and fetched me a cup of hot tea.

It was comfortably hot, not scalding, so I chugged it down. “Now, say that one more time.
Slowly
.”

Shad started speaking, giving me the gist of the problem again. While the heat spread through me, waking me up a little, I tried to think their question through. We'd assumed that the pools must be how the Star Order was tracking down all of the magicians in Chahir. And that was true, to a point—but in Coven Ordan, Don had pointed out three pools that were abandoned. Obviously, in those Provinces, the Star Order had to use some other method than the pools to detect magicians. The triangle was one way, of course, but you had to be practically on top of a person before that would register anything.

"I'm not an authority on how Star Order magic works," I said slowly, thinking out loud. "No one is, outside of that Order. They keep their magic a closely guarded secret. But they could have their own version of scrying pools, or something that works along the same lines. In fact, for them to be effective, they'd have to have something along those principles."

"So it wouldn't be farfetched to assume that they could see what we're doing here?"

I stared at Shad, horror blossoming like poison in my chest. "Great good magic," I rasped, "they could very well do just that. Worse, they probably
are
. With all of the magic that's been thrown around the past three days, we might as well have set off fireworks to announce what we are doing."

Xiaolang raised his fingertips to rub at both temples. "I was afraid that would be the answer.
Trevesa
. All right, we're going to need to make some rapid decisions here. How big of a force will they send to deal with us?"

"The Star Order really isn't that big." I was thinking rapidly, pulling together everything I had learned about them and the little I knew from Jaunten knowledge. "They depend on the government to support them. They're not going to have a lot of people to draw
from
. Still, I would expect about twenty or so from the Star Order and about a hundred garrison troops."

Xiaolang blanched. "That's overkill, isn't it? There are barely fifty of us."

"They don't take anything for granted." My mouth was set in a grim line. "I could very well be underestimating it. They're known for trying to overwhelm their opponent on two-to-one or three-to-one odds."

A deep frown was etched into Shad's forehead. "Didn't your father say that when you were caught in Tobadorage a squadron of twenty men was sent to capture you?"

"Yes."

"Twenty against six," Xiaolang said softly. "Overwhelming odds, indeed. Were any of them part of the Star Order?"

"No. I'm not sure why," I reflected thoughtfully. This wasn't something I had considered before. The Star Order usually populated the cities more than the country, just for the simple fact that it took more people in the city to keep track of such a dense population.

Xiaolang was already moving on, thinking ahead. "Regardless, we need to start planning for the worst. We've already been here three days. I wouldn't be surprised to see them start arriving today, or early tomorrow."

I couldn't disagree with that analysis. The nearest city was only about forty miles away. It would take a day to get people organized to move, and awhile to get here. We were actually lucky that they hadn’t descended on us earlier. "The foot soldiers won't prove any problem for me to deal with. I can wipe out most of them in a few minutes. But the Star Order…." My hands clenched on my mug as dark suppositions whirled in my head. "Their magic is very strange. I've only witnessed it once, and it wasn't like anything else I've ever seen or heard of. I'm not quite sure how to combat it, Xiaolang." And I didn't want Chatta anywhere near it.

"I'm not quite as worried about that as you are." Xiaolang flashed Shad a tight, feral smile. "After all, I have an expert who can get past magical attacks. Even the Star Order is susceptible to a foot of steel."

Shad sparkled like a child let loose in a candy store. "Now
there's
a thought. Maybe I can get some fun after all."

"I thought you'd like that." Xiaolang's smile widened for a moment. "My main concern is the people at the pool. They've proven that they can defend themselves, but against expertise and that number of opponents? They wouldn't really last against us for long, if we went all out. It's only our hesitation in hurting anyone that has let them hold up this long."