Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (48 page)

“No, they’ll just go right back to committing the same atrocities,” Xiaolang agreed grimly. “At the same time, I don’t hold with killing captives.”

I didn’t either, but I was afraid that turning them loose would be a greater evil. Their future victims would not appreciate our restraint. If only they didn’t have this twisted magic in their bodies…magic. I frowned slightly as I thought that through a little more. “Without their magic, they would lose most of their power. If they cannot be priests of the Star Order, they lose their sanction to hurt and hunt people.”

Xiaolang looked intrigued by this thought. “You think we can turn them over to the Coven Ordan, have them stripped of their magic, and then it would be safe to turn them loose.”

“Can you think of a reason why that wouldn’t work?”

“No,” he responded slowly, clearly still thinking, “I think it’s a good plan. I assume you can use the pool to call them.”

“Yes, that would—” my words dried up as my senses registered that we had a visitor. I nearly tripped, I spun around so fast.

Standing calmly, just inside of my main barrier, was a Gardener. He was different than the one I had met before. A little taller, eyes a trifle darker. He approached me in a no-nonsense stride, hand extended.

I sank to one knee, watching his approach in confusion. Where had he come from, and why? I gently took hold of the hand he extended.

“
We will take these men from you,
” he informed me and for once there was no other images interwoven with the words, although I detected a trace of barely restrained anger. “
We are not pleased with the harm they have caused. We will teach them what they have done wrong.”

I almost felt pity for the Priests in that moment. I cannot imagine what teaching methods a Gardener might employ, but I would think that they are very methodical instructors. The priests would understand
thoroughly
just how wrong their actions were, which would be hard to bear.

“We would be glad for you to take them,” I responded carefully. “We were worried about what to do with them.”

At this, he smiled slightly, and I knew then that the anger was not directed at me, but them. “
Then release them.”
He paused, looking around him carefully, and his eyes narrowed slightly in displeasure. “
This land does not look right.
”

“I’ll fix it,” I promised hastily. I did
not
want a Gardener mad at me. “This was just temporary, to help us fight them.”

He nodded in approval. “
I trust you to do so, Balancer.”
He released my hand then and gave a pointed look at the captive priests.

I removed the barrier and stood again. With a small wave of his hand, he gathered up all of the priests and disappeared into the earth in the next instant.

“Well.” Xiaolang cleared his throat slightly, expression rather stunned. “That was…unexpected. I take it that the Gardeners know what to do with them?”

“He said they were going to teach them what they had done was wrong,” I explained. “He’s not happy with what they were doing.”

“Or with what you did here,” Xiaolang observed, eyes twinkling in dry amusement. “I caught that much.”

“Er…yes.” I winced at that and started right then and there to start dismantling all of the fortifications I had just built this morning.

Xiaolang chuckled slightly as the land started smoothing out again into the plains they were meant to be. “You’re relieved, aren’t you, that the Gardeners are going to rehabilitate them.”

I shrugged slightly in response. “I want to believe that men can redeem themselves. I wanted to give them the opportunity to do just that.”

“That’s why you just turned Asla’s ex-husband Jaunten, isn’t it?” His eyes were shrewd, perhaps a tad amused. “You wanted him to redeem himself as well.”

Huh. I hadn’t thought of it that way before—I just thought it poetic justice to paint the man with the same brush his wife and son had been painted. But maybe Xiaolang was right. “Perhaps.”

“Has anyone told you, Garth, that you’re just a nice man?”

I suppressed a smile. “Only when they want something from me.”

Shad approached, watching as I took away the ring of rocks and put it all back where it was supposed to be. “Cleaning up? And where’s our captives?”

I let Xiaolang fill him in as I focused on doing a
good
job of cleaning up. Like I said, I didn’t want a Gardener mad at me. It took longer to fix everything than it had to create it all, but life is normally like that. By the time I was done, Xiaolang had disappeared somewhere and only Shad was still there.

“Looks like we were never here,” he commented in approval.

“Thanks.” It was only then that I realized Shad had not voiced any plans for the next three or four months. “So what will you do over the winter?” I asked.

“Xiaolang has invited me to come up with him,” Shad answered easily. “He wants me to teach people up there my techniques for dealing with magicians. He claims it can be applied to any opponent. Beating up on raw recruits for the next four months sounds fun to me.”

Those poor recruits. Shad was nearly bouncing with glee just thinking about it. It was better that he was up there causing mischief, though, than in Hain pestering me. A bored Shad was just as dangerous as a bored Didi—I didn’t want either one in my vicinity.

“Garth!” Xiaolang called from near the pool. “Aren’t you ready to go yet?”

“Coming!” I yelled back. I had to suppress the urge to run back to the group. I was eager to go home.

~*~

Despite my warnings to everyone, some people just couldn’t handle traveling by earth path. After consulting with Xiaolang about it, he used his empathy to calm everyone that was panicking, holding them in something like an empathic trance until I could get them to De’Hain.

With all of the people, horses, crates, bags, and the like, we took up a pretty good area. The only place that I could think of to come up above ground that could hold all of us was the main courtyard to the Palace. Well, Guin needed to know about all of them anyway, right? This was just killing two birds with one stone.

I brought all of us up, pretending not to hear all of the sighs of relief behind me. After being in water and traveling, I could at least empathize now with how everyone else viewed traveling in the earth.

There were the usual shrieks of surprise from everyone aboveground as we came up. I just eyed them wearily. Seriously, when were they going to get used to this? I’ve been using this method and popping in and out of the Palace for nearly two years. One would think, judging from their reactions, that they’d never seen me do this before.

By some stroke of good luck, Val Haben was in the courtyard when we came up. I’ve never seen Haben startled, and for a moment I enjoyed the sheer dumbfounded, jaw-dropped surprise on his face as he took in all of the people behind me. “Garth…” he said slowly. “I see you’ve been busy.”

“Only fifteen out of all of these are magicians,” Chatta piped up, waylaying his assumptions before they could get truly grounded.

Haben managed to get his jaw back into its socket and nodded. His eyes couldn’t stop roving over the people waiting behind me. “That’s still
very
impressive. Wait one moment. I’ll get some Jaunten to help sort everyone out.”

Huish maneuvered up to stand next to me as Haben scurried off. “Who was that? He sort of…glowed…a little. Like Aiden.”

This surprised me. “Jaunten glow to you?”

“Jaunten?” he repeated in surprise. “That man was a Jaunten?”

“The Head of the Jaunten, actually. Val Haben.”

“Oh.” He blinked, processing this. “Yes, there was a faint hint of red around him. I suppose that’s the magical influence on his blood.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what it is,” Chatta confirmed. “While you’re here, the Jaunten will help you settle in and adapt to Hain.”

Huish nodded, acknowledging this. “Magus, what about you?”

“I’ll do whatever I can to help all of you as well,” I confirmed. “But I can only do that during these winter months, while we wait for the winter storms to pass. Then, my priority will be rescuing people out of Chahir again. I’m sure you can understand that.”

A small smile tweaked Huish’s mouth. “Yes. I can understand that.”

Which reminded me. I turned to Xiaolang, waving a hand to catch his attention. “Xiaolang, do you and the Red Hand want a lift up to Ascalon? I’ll take you up, if you want to avoid all the snow and cold weather.”

His eyes lit up. “Would you? I’d appreciate it.”

Aletha groaned. “I’d almost prefer the snow. How long will this trip take, Garth?”

I paused and thought about it, distances and magic balancing in my head. “Um, three or four hours? That’s a rough estimation on my part, as I’ve never actually tried to go that far on the earth path.”

She winced. “That long, eh?”

Eagle slung a friendly arm around her shoulder. “Think about it this way, Aletha. Which would you rather do, sleep outside for two weeks in freezing temperatures, or put up with a confined space for four hours?”

Aletha considered that quite seriously for about three seconds. “Okay, earth path wins.”

“Wise of you,” Eagle murmured with a wicked smile.

Haben must have notified Guin, because the King of Hain appeared out of a side door. “Well, I see that Haben wasn’t exaggerating. Captain Xiaolang, you have set a new record with this group.”

“I can take no credit for it,” Xiaolang answered ruefully. “It is this man that is responsible for bringing everyone together.” He turned and caught Huish’s elbow, dragging him forward. He switched to Chahirese in order to make the introductions. “Huish, this is Guin Braehorn, King of Hain.”

Hearing this, Huish gulped nervously and went stiff with panic.

Xiaolang ignored the reaction and kept going. “Your Majesty, this is Nihuishen, the appointed leader of this group.”

Guin, no surprise, walked right up and made a proper bow to Huish. “Thank you for the gift of your name, Nihuishen. And I’m honestly delighted to see you and your people. Would you properly introduce me to all of them?”

Huish was definitely overwhelmed, but after a moment pulled himself together. Squaring his shoulders, he answered in a reasonably calm tone, “Of course, Your Majesty.”

I watched in approval as my adopted King greeted each person individually. This was why I respected the man—he truly cared about each person in his kingdom. It was so easy to serve a man that had every person’s welfare in mind.

As Guin walked around talking to people, Chatta leaned in and murmured, “So, what are you going to do for the next four or five months?”

“I have vacation time coming, and I’m using it,” I stated firmly. “Every other time I’ve tried to take a break, some emergency has popped up to stop me. This time, I don’t care
what
happens, I’m taking a break.”

Chatta snickered. “Isn’t that what you said last time?”

“I mean it this time.” My chin jutted out obstinately.

“
You said that too,
” Night drawled.

I ignored him. “Besides, I want to buy a house while we’re here.”

Night perked up. “
I’d almost forgotten about that.”

“What house?” Chatta had her head cocked slightly in question.

“Garth!” Guin called over the crowd. “I need you to go and tell the Trasdee Evondit Orra about the influx of magicians they’re going to get soon. And after that, go talk to Haben and see what he’s doing to arrange temporary housing for these people. And after you do that, help me sort everyone out. When that’s done, you need to—”

I listened to the growing list of tasks in horror. Guin didn’t expect me to do all of that
today
, did he?

Maybe I needed to go visit Small Rider, or something. Obviously, if Night and I were to get our vacation, we needed to be
elsewhere.

Epilogue

Surely, surely he was mistaken.

Vonlorisen stood just inside the doorway, facing the Palace gardens. Normally this place brought a sense of peace to him. Its carefully tended foliage, beautiful flowers, and ancient trees created a sense of tranquility that anyone could appreciate.

Today, his favorite garden did nothing to soothe him.

His eyes were fixed on a small boy of six, who was currently playing in the garden under the watchful eyes of his nurse. After an hour of playing, his clothes were a little dirty and mussed, blond hair escaping the neat combing to creep into his eyes. He didn’t look like a prince, sitting there so happily in the dirt—only like a little boy.

Surely,
surely
he was wrong.

The boy noticed him and waved cheerfully. “Granda!”

Vonlorisen waved back, half smiling. “Are you behaving yourself, Nolan?”

The boy launched himself from a sitting position to his feet with an easy bounce, running happily to his grandfather. “I’m being good!” he assured him as he ran. Once close enough, he grabbed Vonlorisen’s hand and started tugging at him impatiently. “Come see, Granda.”

Vonlorisen had been incapable of saying no to his grandson ever since the child had been born. This time was no exception. He allowed himself to be led further into the garden, past the stone pathways, and into the thick shadows of the trees.

“Here she is!” Nolan beamed up at him, eyes sparkling. “I told you there would be six, didn’t I?”

Vonlorisen’s eyes followed his grandson’s pointing finger. There, comfortably ensconced in a shallow box was a black and white cat, lying on her side. At her belly were six nursing kittens of various hues, obviously recently born as their eyes weren’t open yet.

A sick dread filled the King of Chahir’s stomach. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. Nolan had predicted weeks ago that the mother cat would bare six kittens. Before that, he had gravely informed his grandfather that his favorite horse was sick to his stomach—a fact confirmed later that night by the head groomsman. Vonlorisen would have been able to ignore or rationalize such incidents if they just didn’t happen so
frequently
. And it was more than these astounding predictions; the boy could talk to the animals too! He’d seen his grandson stroll right up to vicious warhorses without an ounce of fear, pat them on the noses, and speak to them as if they were a human being. And those ferocious, war-trained beasts would whicker happily and nuzzle back against that small hand, completely in the boy’s thrall.