The Missing Mage (6 page)

Nathan agreed this was magical, just maybe not the way she meant.Reluctantly, Nathan pulled Ava up from the beach; it was time for him to see his new home. Holding hands, they walked back up the path together. Now that he knew that his feelings for Ava were mutual, he wasn’t going to hide them. However, Aunt Avera was going to react, so the sooner she knew, the easier it would be to deal with. 

As they approached the front door, Ava turned and smiled at Nathan. “Watch this.” She turned to the door and spoke in a loud clear voice. “
Roopa
.”

 Nathan could hear the locks on the large, sturdy-looking front door open. He turned to Ava with a smile, “Magic locks?”

Ava nodded. “The whole house is full of magical stuff, it is so fun.” As they walked into the large main corridor, Ava pointed out the magical paintings that moved and changed colors. Nathan was impressed.

As they watched the painting of the trees, Avera entered from the kitchen corridor. Nathan saw Avera take in their clasped hands as they looked at the painting.

“I see you two found the beach, you both still have a little sand on your backs. Ava, why don’t you take Nathan upstairs, show him to his room. When you get upstairs, don’t turn just go straight down the hallway until you hit the second corridor. Turn left and it’s the last door. I left it open. When you are done come down to the dining room, it is almost dinner time.”

Instead of heading directly upstairs, Nathan and Ava headed back outside for a moment to brush off any lingering sand, neither wanted to start on the wrong foot with Avera by making a mess of her house. Once they were both clean, they headed back inside.

This house is huge
, thought Nathan as they walked down the hallway. Ava was pointing out which door lead to the girls’ rooms and the hallway towards Avera’s quarters. Eventually they arrived at Nathan’s room and, as promised, the door was open.

Compared to the girls’ living quarters, the room itself was small and modest. A nice-sized and very comfortable looking bed, two large armoires, and a dressing table with an etched glass mirror were the room’s main features. What made Nathan’s room unique was the adjacent room, a large spacious workroom. One wall was lined with shelves filled with books and small pieces of equipment. The other wall held a weapons rack with practice blades and open spaces for other weapons. A couple of practice dummies and a large table completed its furnishings. The room was perfect as far as Nathan was concerned.

While Nathan checked out his new workroom, Ava ventured onto the balcony. She called him over, awed. Together they stood and looked at the view, from here, they could see the backyard with the ocean in the distance. The two friends could also see part of the cove’s beach where they had been sitting earlier. Even from this height, the beach was mostly hidden, but small sections were visible.

The sun was just starting to touch the western waters, giving the far off horizon a warm glow. It was beautiful here. Nathan pulled Ava in close as they stood watching the sunset, after a long minute he spoke. “Come on, let’s go down for supper before they send a search party.”

The dining room was large, and featured a huge table and enough chairs for a small army. With Nathan, the girls, and Avera they barely used up any of its seats. The group clumped together at one end of the massive table.

“We never actually use this room, other than when I have house guests or a party. Normally I just eat in the kitchen with Maggie and Ruphus, but since it is our first meal together, I thought it would be nice to do it in here, ” said Avera. Before sitting down to dinner she had introduced Nathan to Maggie, Ruphus was still out buying supplies. Maggie and Ruphus were an older couple; Maggie did the house cleaning and cooking, while Ruphus looked after the grounds.

Maggie, Nathan quickly discovered, was an exceptionally talented cook. Dinner was simply delicious, a blend of familiar foods and some entirely new. A perfectly cooked roast, potatoes, gravy, roasted bavar nuts, and some sort of custard for dessert that made Nathan’s tongue tingle. From the glazed eyes of his companions, it looked like Nathan wasn’t the only one to overindulge during the feast.

 Avera laughed, “Isn’t she just the best cook ever? I stole her from the castle when I moved here. It was two months before my brother would even speak to me.” After everyone agreed that she was amazing, Avera continued. “Nathan and Ava, while you two were at the beach, I was making plans with Rose and Sharon.”

Rose could hardly contain her excitement. “I am going to school here. Tomorrow, Avera is taking me to meet the schoolmaster. She says there are lots of girls and boys my age there.”

Next Sharon spoke. “And I am going to work for Miss Deville in the dress shop. Avera tells me I will get to make my own outfits. I can hardly wait.”

Nathan smiled. Avera was doing a wonderful job acclimating the girls to Balta. Seeing Sharon and Rose happy after all that had happened was very comforting.

“As for you two, my brother Verin tells me he has made a deal for you to make use of a blacksmith shop in town, and arranged for lessons with Balthazar. That should keep you busy Nathan. Ava, when you are not learning magic I have a proposition of you. Rose has been telling me that Nathan has been teaching you girls how to make perfume. I haven’t had a good bottle since my sister left us for a handsome northerner. Would you be interested in making more perfume, the market for it here in Balta is quite good.”

Ava smiled and nodded, “I’d be glad to, but there are a lot of plants on Mithbea that I don’t know yet. Everything is so different here from Solotine.”

“Luckily my brother, the ranger, happens to know all about the herbs and plants that can be found outside Balta. He will gladly escort you and Nathan on a few excursions to help get you acclimatized to your new surroundings. There are also several books in this house on the subject. I would read up on them before going out with Verin.

Chapter eight

SINCE THE DUKE HAD killed the man, he had become an accepted part of the bar’s landscape. He could come and go as he pleased without anyone trying to rob him or threaten him. In a pool of sharks, he was no longer bait, simply another predator.

Most of the time the duke sat and watched, listening to the drunken thugs that would brag to the bartender of their misdeeds, or the furtive nobles who would attempt to casually enter and slip a word to the bartender without drawing attention to themselves. It was ironic, the harder these nobles tried to blend in, the more they stood out.

The bar door opened and another noble slipped inside, hiding in the doorway’s shadows before making his way into the bar. This one was interesting to the duke. He was frail, slight of frame yet held himself with a certain style. Obviously out of his element, the man was highborn. Even in a place like this, the man carried himself well but was not oblivious to the danger this place presented. The noble was middle-aged, lines around his eyes and the grey just starting to make its way into his well-combed coiffure gave away his age. 

The bartender recognized this man, and pulled out a bottle of brandy from below the bar, obviously high-quality stock, and poured a glass. The bartender walked over to the corner table the noble had sat himself down at and slid the drink onto the table. While the man went through his coin purse, he spoke fairly rapidly in a low voice to the bartender. The duke was only a few tables away yet could only hear mumbles. The man was careful about who heard him speak, the duke liked that. After a minute of discussion, the noble slid a gold coin into the bartenders hand. No change was given, the man was paying for more than just a drink.

As the bartender walked past the duke’s table, he looked over and asked if he wanted a refill. This was an intriguing change in behavior, normally if the duke wanted a refill he just silently signaled the man. It appeared the bartender was creating a reason to come to his table. The duke nodded his commitment to another glass of whiskey, curious to see what information would accompany the drink.

The bartender returned to the table carrying the fresh glass of liquor. As he put the drink on the table he leaned in and spoke softly. “Now don’t be going and getting offended, but if you were interested in making more than a coin or two, you should join the man in the corner for a drink.”

The duke coolly looked the bartender over, giving him an icy stare before replying. “And why would I do that?”

The bartender shrugged. “You do as you please, the man has a need for a certain skill set and he has a great deal of influence within the city. I just make suggestions to who might fit the bill, no skin off my back if it doesn’t interest you.”

The duke gave the bartender an appraising look. The man was more perceptive than the duke had originally given him credit for. “And what skill set might that be?” asked the duke.

“He needs someone who can handle their own if a transaction turns violent, and he needs someone who knows how to deal with highborn. I’ve dealt with this one before, he is not above dealing with the sort that frequent this place but he is an honest man who pays good gold. I’d prefer to keep him as a repeat customer.”

The duke almost smiled, the bartender was able to say so much with so few words. The bartender, by his actions and words, had guessed that the duke was interested in access to someone within the inner circles of the kingdom, not coin. Further more, he knew the duke was at least somewhat accustomed to being around royalty. His mention of keeping the man as a return customer was the bartender’s way of saying,
if you take this job, the man had better not end up in a ditch with a knife in his back
. The man represented a good deal of coin to the bartender and he was taking a small leap of faith bringing this to the duke instead of someone else. It was a test to see if the duke would take the job, and also to see if he would do it in a way that benefitted the bartender. It was exactly the type of situation he was looking for.

The duke nodded at the bartender, acknowledging that he understood everything the bartender was implying. “Do me a favor, when you refill his drink, pour a second brandy. I have become tired of this whiskey.” With this simple exchange of words the duke told the bartender of his interest and that their dynamic was forever changed. By asking for the brandy, the duke was signaled that he’d no longer accept drinking the shitty, watered-down whiskey the bartender served his normal patrons. The duke was drinking with the high class folk from now on.

The bartender nodded and took the duke’s glass of whiskey back to the bar, it would go back into the bottle.

The duke waited a few moments for the bartender to return to the bar before heading over to the noble’s table. “Might I join you?” he asked the man.

The man looked up, he had expected the bartender to send someone to him at some point, he just hadn’t known who or when. He looked relieved that his wait was over. “Yes, please do.”

As the duke sat down the bartender brought over two brandies. “Gentlemen,” the bartender said before walking away. This was all the acknowledgement the bartender would give that he had arranged this meeting.

“I am Bryant Bingham, and you are?” asked the noble.

The duke was just about to say his name when he paused. This was a new city, a new start; there was no advantage to carrying around his old name. He could leave it behind with his old failures. “Everet, my name is Everet.”

Chapter nine

AVA SAT AT THE TABLE across from Nathan, Balthazar stood at the head.

“Today we are going to begin training your minds. Ava, this is going to be especially important for you. Nathan has a strong attraction magic, your own magic will want to let him in. That is not a bad thing, eventually you two will be able to sense each other’s location and moods. If the bond becomes strong enough, you’ll even talk to each other through your minds. But if one mind is well trained and the other is not, mind control or unwanted access to thoughts and memories can happen.”

Ava gave Nathan a dirty look, as if to say don’t even think about it.

Balthazar continued. “This is a simple lesson designed to train you both to focus your minds to use magic.” As he spoke Balthazar put a black rock the size of a thimble on the table. “This rock has a spell on it., it will move when someone focuses on it.” The rock began to move to one side of the table, then the other before stopping again in the middle.  “Now Ava, I want you to close your eyes and visualize the rock moving across the table. Don’t visualize your hand moving it, just the rock moving because you tell it to.”

Ava closed her eyes and concentrated on the rock, visualizing it moving across the table. When she opened her eyes, the rock had not budged. She looked at Balthazar, her frustration was obvious.

“Relax child, it is not impossible. Just close your eyes and concentrate on the rock, picture it in your mind. Notice every detail, now picture an invisible hand coming along and giving the rock a big push.”

Again Ava closed her eyes and concentrated, visualizing an in invisible hand. She felt something in her mind, and quickly opened her eyes. The rock was wobbling and had moved an inch. She gave Nathan and Balthazar a quick look. “I did that?”

Nathan gave her a smile. “All you.”

“Now once more, but this time a think of a more firm yet gentle push. You don’t want to flip the rock, just slide it across the table,” said Balthazar.

Ava did as he asked, sending the rock a foot closer to Nathan. She had done it, she had moved the rock using magic.

“Now Nathan, push the rock to Ava’s side of the table,” said Balthazar.

Ava watched Nathan closely, he did not close his eyes as she had done, but he focused very intently on the rock. Slowly the rock started to move until it was sitting right in front of her.

“Very well done Nathan. Ava don’t be discouraged that Nathan is able to do it easier than you right now, he has already had similar training in the north and much more practice with magic. Now keep pushing the rock across the table to each other until I return.” Balthazar spoke before walking away.