Warlords Rising (32 page)

In the course of Trev’nor’s life, he had only been in Q’atal
a handful of times. Mostly to visit with Xiaolang, once to help re-do the ward
with Garth to make it larger than the original. His last visit had been nearly
three years ago and he had grown considerably since then. Having changed the
wards with Garth, he knew exactly how they were created and where the sole
doorway into the country was.

There were no magicians in Q’atal, of course, so no one had
any mirror broaches. Instead, they had a pillar in the middle of town that
could communicate with a similar one in Strae. It wasn’t capable of passing along
much, just an impression of needing Garth and how urgent the need was.
Communication magic, over that kind of distance, without a magician on both
ends to operate it, had its limitations. But for Trev’nor’s purposes, that
pillar would do the job adequately enough.

The problem was, he had nearly five hundred people with him.
That was a lot to drop on someone unannounced, even if they did know who he
was. Worse, the timing had worked out so that he was coming in at nearly six in
the evening, which meant imposing on people even further. If the situation
hadn’t been as chaotic in Trexler, they wouldn’t have immediately taken all of
the magicians out, but instead waited until morning.

He took everyone to the door and ushered them just inside.
Then he hopped up on a short bench so they could all see and hear him.
“Everyone, as discussed, just wait here! It might take a good hour for me to
return, but you’re perfectly safe here!”

“We understand, Warlord,” several people assured him.

Hopefully they did. Blowing out a breath, he hopped down
again and headed for the country interior. He barely made it to the first row
of houses before coming face to face with the Remcar-ol. Trev’nor put on a game
smile. “Ah, hello.”

“Magus Trev’nor, what are you doing here?” An Meiling
demanded. She didn’t sound upset, but her eyes were a little wide in her face
and there was a flush on her cheeks that made her skin look lavender. “I sense
a great many people with you.”

“You sense correctly.” Even though Trev’nor had spent nearly
four hours getting here, he still had no idea where to start explaining. “I
promise to tell you the full story, but the short story is that Nolan, Becca,
and I have rescued five hundred magicians that were enslaved in Khobunter.”

The whole Remcar-ol burst out at once, “WHAT?!”

“There’s more, a lot more,” oh so much more, “but for now,
can you let them in for the night? I don’t have a safe place to put everyone.”

“Of course we can, child,” Li Shen was already moving,
faster than his elderly appearance would lead someone to believe he was capable
of. “An Quon, inform everyone to prepare beds.”

“Everyone ate before I brought them here,” Trev’nor assured
the man, almost belatedly. “And no one’s seriously injured, Nolan healed people
before he let me leave.”

An Quon waved in acknowledgment over one shoulder but didn’t
slow down.

Trev’nor was ever so glad that this was a country of
empaths. The whole nation would feel exactly the turmoil of the ex-slaves and
know how to react to them. It also meant he didn’t have to go into a lengthy
discourse of what had happened, what was wrong, or anything like that. They
could read enough from the people to get the gist themselves.

He didn’t think that would excuse him from telling the
story, though. Not with An Meiling in charge.

Trev’nor doubled back with the Remcar-ol and explained who
they were to the waiting magicians, then helped wherever he could. The whole
nation came out to see for themselves what was going on, and it was interesting
to see everyone’s double-takes. On both sides. The empaths were likely
overwhelmed by the strong emotional signatures of that many magicians all at
once. The magicians were puzzled by seeing a blue aura—not a typical color—that
wasn’t really magical. Trev’nor probably should have explained more on the way
down here, but his main concern had been getting them all here without losing
anyone or tripping over a random ley line.

It took hours to find enough beds, and often the couples or
parents were doubling up with family to make more room, but eventually they
were all settled into different houses. Trev’nor saw several cases of the
Q’atalians being overly kind to their unexpected guests, which in turn made
people burst into tears, confused and not sure how to respond. They had never
experienced anything like this before. Seeing it brought tears to Trev’nor’s
eyes, as no one should be confused by kindness.

An Meiling came up and gently touched him on the shoulder.
“I think you should come sit down with me, Trev’nor.”

“You’re only saying that because I’m swaying on my feet,” he
half-joked.

“That too,” she admitted. The look on her face was very maternal,
an expression he had seen on his own foster mother when he was being difficult.

It felt so nice to be in a place where he didn’t have to make
decisions right, left, and center that he followed her obediently to a shaded
area that offered cushioned chairs and a small brazier. It wasn’t a
particularly cold night, but the brazier gave off more light than heat, and he
gravitated toward it. As he sat, he realized that most of the Remcar-ol were
already there and obviously waiting on him.

Seeing this, he paused and realized that he couldn’t
continue as just ‘Trev’nor’ to them any longer. Nolan had made a good argument
that morning. He was now the leader of a neighboring country. He had to
establish relations with them now. “An Meiling, have you contacted Garth yet?”

“No, I have not found a moment to do so. And I did not want
him coming to fetch them in the dead of night; I thought it best to contact him
in the morning.”

Perfect. That bought him the time he needed. “Good. Before I
give you the story, I should properly introduce myself.”

Yu Tung gave him a perplexed smile. “We know who you are.”

“Not quite, Yu Tung. Things have changed since I saw you
last. I am now the Warlord of Trexler.”

The Remcar-ol went very still, so still that they resembled
garden gnomes sitting around the base of a tree.

It was An Quon that found his voice first. “You—you
conquered Trexler?”

“With Becca and Nolan, yes. We had to. It was the only way
to free everyone.” Wiping a hand over his face, he tried to scrub away some of
the fatigue so he could focus better. “Let me start at the beginning. It’ll
make more sense that way.”

An Meiling took him by the arm and drew him gently into the
chair next to hers. “Sit, Trev’nor. Tell us your story.”

He started at the beginning, what seemed a decade ago, about
Becca’s desire to investigate Khobunter and their selfish wish to have dragons.
He left nothing out. There was no point in trying to skirt over events or lie
to an empath. They felt his emotions as he relived the events, and often one or
another would reach out and touch him, soothe the pain as best they could. It
helped tremendously and gave him the strength to tell the story all of the way
to the end.

When he finished, An Meiling stood and held his head to her
chest. “You poor child. What difficult decisions you’ve had to make. You should
have called for help.”

“We couldn’t,” Trev’nor denied, feeling a little hollow with
exhaustion.

“You couldn’t,” Li Shen agreed sadly. “Politically speaking,
no one would have been able to come to your aid without serious consequences.
Even your mentors would be hard pressed to help you at this point. Although I have
no doubt that some of them will want to despite the consequences.”

“They can help me. By taking in five hundred students and
whatever other slaves we’re able to save. I’m sure Garth is going to hit the
roof when he hears the full story, but the one thing I want to make clear is
that this was
my
choice. Mine and Becca’s and Nolan’s. We knew what the
consequences were going to be, what people would think of us, and likely how
the Trasdee Evondit Orra would react. We chose to forge ahead anyway. All of
the countries and magical organizations of the world have had decades, at
least, to do something about the situation in Khobunter. They didn’t. They
can’t complain when we chose to resolve the situation ourselves.”

“Oh, they’ll complain,” Yu Tung denied dryly. “At great
volume and length. But it is true they will not have the right to stop you.”

Trev’nor half-expected an argument from the people sitting
here. Why wasn’t he getting one? “No one here is complaining either.”

“Politically speaking,” An Quon started in a particularly
droll manner, “we’re very glad to have Trexler removed from power. He was a
very difficult neighbor. Having someone we know and trust in that seat of power
instead is a great relief to us.”

Nolan had been dead on. He really had made a smart move
coming and introducing himself as the new warlord here. “Thank you?”

“But,” An Quon continued, giving him that Look under a bushy
set of eyebrows, “I think you have shouldered on more than a seventeen-year-old
should be expected to take on.”

He was tired enough that this made him laugh. “We were a bit
rash in the beginning.”

“A bit, he says,” Li Shen despaired.

“We have good help now, though,” Trev’nor continued. Uh-oh,
this was bad. The chair was gaining a death grip on him. He hadn’t thought so
before, but it now felt perfectly comfortable to sleep in. “The people of
Trexler are supporting us, although it’s by degrees in some places, and the
dragons have been a tremendous help. I really don’t know what we’d do without
them.”

“And now, you want us to help you as well.” An Meiling
didn’t sound discouraging, more amused. “By acting as a relay point for the
rescued magicians.”

“If you don’t mind? You’d cut my travel time in about half
that way and honestly, we can’t afford for me to take days at a time to settle
the magicians in Strae. Nolan and Becca can barely afford for me to be gone a
few hours.”

“We prefer to help over having those poor people stuck in
Khobunter.” An Quon was very firm about this point. “But child, we worry for
you. You have taken on too much.”

“An Quon, I am not,” yet, “in over my head. I probably would
be without Becca, Nolan, and the dragons, but like I said the people of Trexler
were glad to see the old warlord go. They’re quite happy with us so far and are
slowly coming around to help establish a new rule. I promise you, the minute we
feel like things are out of our control, we’ll stop and call for help. But we
didn’t undertake this lightly and we have no intention of abandoning Khobunter.
That country is a serious mess.”

“And you are the one that is going to fix it?” Li Shen asked
doubtfully.

“Someone has to. I don’t see anyone else volunteering.” More
truthfully, Trev’nor added, “Actually it’s not really us doing the work. It’s
the people who are really changing things. All we’re doing is providing
guidelines and giving them the power they need.”

“Trexler was not a good leader. I can see how the people
would readily cast him off.” An Quon leaned forward, eyes piercing. “But can
you say that your success will be just as high in the rest of the country?”

“This might sound strange, but I hope it isn’t. The reason
we were so readily successful in Trexler was because the people had been badly
abused for years. I hope that the rest of the country isn’t the same. I hope
that it’s been better for the rest of Khobunter. But sadly, I don’t think it’ll
be much different. The land right above us and to the right of us seem to have
the same bad habits. Half of this country is going to be the same as Trexler.”
That thought was extremely depressing. While making it easier to conqueror, it
also meant that Trev’nor and Becca had more to fix. Fixing was always harder
than breaking.

“When you need our help, you will ask for it.” An Meiling
was not asking. She was commanding.

Trev’nor forced his mouth up into a tired smile. “I promise,
we will. We already are.”

“While I do not fully agree with everything you are doing,”
of course they wouldn’t, the Q’atalians abhorred death, “I think you are acting
with the best of intentions, and it is true that the situation in Khobunter
must change. That land is a stubborn one and they respect only might of arms.
You have chosen a hard road, young magus.”

She had no idea. Well, no, she probably did. “I know it.”

Patting his shoulder, she gripped his upper forearm and
dragged him out of his seat. “We will talk again in the morning. For now, we
all need sleep.”

Trev’nor had no intention of lingering long enough for Garth
to get here, which was likely her plan, but was honest enough to admit that in
his current state he would probably make a costly mistake in traveling back to
Trexler. He was too tired to even stand upright without swaying. That wasn’t a
good sign. They had about seven hours until dawn, and he’d take the rest of the
night to get some good sleep before taking off. “If there’s still a spare bed
to be had, I’ll take it. If not, point me to some soft grass and I’ll make do.”