Advent (Advent Mage Cycle) (24 page)

She laughed and accepted the hand. “Certainly, Magus.”

We strolled into the parlor—well, I strolled, she floated—that was just as glamorous as before. And unfortunately for me, occupied. I
had
hoped that Delheart wouldn’t be home. The goddess of fortune, unfortunately, wasn’t on my side. As usual.

Delheart rose to his feet as we entered and gave me an ironic inclination of the head. “Magus.”

I bowed back. “Lon Delheart.”

Chatta heaved a sigh, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling as if she were praying for patience. “Will you two stop that? Garth, I told Da the story already. I was very firm on the fact that you were
not
to be held accountable for recent events. And Da agrees with me.” She shot her father a challenging look.

“Yes, I do,” he said in a tone that clearly said he didn’t agree at all. “I just want clarification on one point: Magus, will you ever leave my daughter in Chahir again?”

“No,” I said firmly. “I do not dare risk it.”

Chatta tightened her hold on my arm, eyes searching my face. “Garth, this is not your fault.”

“No, it’s not,” I agreed. I honestly believed that after my talk with Xiaolang. “But Chatta, if I repeat this mistake, then it
will
be my fault.”

Delheart looked between the two of us and after a long moment a satisfied smile crossed his face. “Good. Well, Garth, sit down. Tell us what you’ve been doing this morning and how the team fares.”

My head jerked up in surprise at hearing my given name out of his mouth. It was the first time that he had ever used it. Had I passed some test? He nodded to me reassuringly, a genuine smile on his face. Apparently so. Breathing an inward sigh of relief, I sat in a chair next to Chatta’s parents. She settled in next to me, lifting her injured leg to rest on a foot stool.

I spent the rest of the day with them, just visiting. It was nice, to be able to just talk with people and enjoy their company without an emergency of some sort hanging over my head. Of course, that time couldn’t last. It never does.

Roughly eight o’clock that night, the mirror in my pocket started talking. Even through the material of my pants, I could hear the muttered, “
Are you sure this thing is working
?”

“
Of course I’m sure!
” a female voice responded. It sounded like Cora. “
Just give him a second to find the mirror
.”

Amused, I pulled the mirror out and lifted it to my face. “Hello?”

“
Garth!
” Cora sounded very relieved. “
Where are you
?”

“At Chatta’s house, why?” Little alarms were going off in the back of my head. This was obviously not a social call.

“We need you in Del’Hain. Now. Nolan and Trev’nor have gone missing.”

I blinked, mind stumbling at this information. “Gone missing? Cora, I just took Nolan to Guin a little over two days ago!”

“I know.”

“And he only met Trev’nor yesterday morning!” I continued plaintively. “Are you telling me that they’ve
already
gotten into mischief?”

“To sum it all up in a pretty package…yup.”

I gave a heart-felt groan. “Obviously I needed to assign a keeper… Wait, didn’t Chatta put a locator spell on Trev’nor?”

“
Apparently that’s worn off by now. And he’s been so well behaved recently they didn’t think they needed to renew it. Besides, the entire Jaunten force keeps an eye on him.”

I bet Allan and Liah were seriously regretting that right now, since obviously over five hundred people couldn’t keep track of two boys. “Alright, any idea of what they’re up to or where they went?”

“Well, they were asking where they could find meurittas earlier. I’m not sure if that’s what they’re actually doing or not.”

“Meurittas?” I repeated blankly. “What would they want with meurittas?”

Chapter Fourteen: To Be a Mage

“Trev?”

Trev’nor looked up from the string in his hands, turning toward the door. Nolan hovered in the doorway, his lower lip caught between his teeth.

This looked serious. Trev’nor put the braid down completely. “Hey, Nolan. Whatcha need?”

Nolan ventured all the way inside, fetching up against the arm of a chair. “Mages have familiars, right?”

Trev’nor scratched the back of his head, turning that question over. “Garth does.” He wasn’t sure if there was a rule that said Mages
had
to have one. But Trev had met all the Mages in Hain, and they all pretty much agreed that if Garth thought it was a good idea, then they would do it too. “Why?”

Nolan scuffed a toe against the floor, eyes down. “Grandpa says that I can’t even visit until I’m a Mage.”

Trev’nor sympathized. He remembered all too well what it felt like to abruptly leave home, to be surrounded by strangers. He’d only known Nolan for a day, but he already considered him to be a good friend. It wasn’t difficult; Nolan was one of those people it was very easy to be friends with. Trev’nor hated to lose his friend—which would happen when Nolan went home—but he couldn’t leave that sad frown alone.

“Well, what if we both got familiars?”

“You can’t make a nreesce adopt you,” Nolan pointed out glumly. His shoulders had a definite slump to them.

And he would know. Trev’nor pondered for another moment. “What about a meuritta?”

Nolan froze. He obviously hadn’t considered that. “Meurittas are easy to catch, right?”

“That’s what Chatta told me.” Trev’nor tried to remember exactly what she had said. There was something in particular needed… “We just need bright string.”

Nolan straightened from his slump. “Where do we need to go?”

That stumped Trev’nor. “Dunno,” he admitted. “But I bet Cora does.” Trev discovered earlier that if it was animal-related, Cora knew it. She took her job as a Life Mage very seriously.

“Let’s go ask.” Nolan was nearly bouncing in place. “Where would we find her?”

“Probably at the Academy.” He might have suggested getting a meuritta just to make Nolan feel better, but now that the idea was out there…he liked it. Didi was a lot of fun. Having his own meuritta would be
brilliant
.

Caught up in Nolan’s wave of enthusiasm, Trev’nor jumped out of his seat and headed for the door. Nolan was on his heels.

~*~

Cora looked up from the textbook in her hands. She was still struggling to learn Hainish, and there wasn’t a day that went by when she didn’t consider having her brother turn her into a Jaunten. White hair seemed a small price to pay for instant fluency.

She blinked, shifting her mind to the present and the two boys in front of her. “Meurittas?”

“Right,” Trev’nor confirmed. “Where do they live?”

“All over, really.” She set the book aside completely. “I understand they tend to like wooded areas. The Midian Forest is chock full of them.”

“Is that far away?” Nolan inquired eagerly.

“About twenty miles, I think.” Cora wasn’t entirely too sure of that, as she hadn’t ventured out of Del’Hain very often.

They blinked, looking a little daunted.

“Why all the interest?”

“Just wonderin’!” Trev’nor replied hastily. “Thanks, Cora!” Grabbing Nolan’s arm, he took off at a run, dragging his friend with him.

Cora watched them go, suspicions growing. They were definitely up to something. Maybe she should warn their parents…

~*~

They retreated back to Trev’nor’s room, snitching a map from Alan’s study as they went. Nolan shut the door behind them as Trev’nor cleared a space on the floor amidst the toys so that he could spread the map out.

Nolan dropped down across Trev’nor, peering at the map intently. “What did she call that forest?”

“Midian,” Trev’nor answered absently. His eyes were scanning the map quickly. “There it is!” He pointed triumphantly to the narrow stretch of woods.

Nolan peered at it doubtfully. “I think that’s more than twenty miles.”

“Yeah,” Trev’nor agreed with a sigh. “I wish I could use that earth transport spell like Garth does. It’d be easy that way.”

Nolan nodded, agreeing, but it was clear that he was still thinking. “Trev, you’re a good rider, aren’t you?”

“Of course!” The benefit of living with a Tonkawacon tribe was being able to ride
any
horse.

“And they let you borrow horses from the stable, right?”

Trev’nor was beginning to see where he was going with this. “Yeah…you think we can sneak out?”

“You told me that you ride around the city all the time,” Nolan pointed out. “And you said there’s a pond you like to swim at just outside the city gates.”

One of the benefits of having Jaunten parents was that
all
of the Jaunten kept an eye on you. Trev’nor was allowed to go out into the city simply because his parents knew that the other Jaunten would keep an eye on him. It gave him a certain allowance of freedom—that ended as soon as he was outside of the city gates. Trev’nor’s head tilted as he thought about it. “So if we just pretend like we’re going swimming, we can get out without people stopping us?”

Nolan shrugged. “I think so.”

It really wasn’t a bad plan. “I think we can do it. All we have to do is follow the main road north until we hit the woods. We can’t get lost.”

Nolan’s head cocked slightly in puzzlement. “Which way is north?”

“All we have to do is go out the North Gate,” Trev’nor responded absently, still thinking. “Grab some ribbons or something. I’ll go by the kitchens and get some food.”

From his startled blink, Nolan hadn’t thought about food. “Good idea. Meet you at the stables.”

“Right.”

Nolan darted out the door, intent on his search. Trev’nor had to crawl half under his bed to find a bag to put the food in. Roha had constantly told him that no matter where you were going, you always,
always
took food with you.

Slinging the bag over his shoulder, Trev’nor pelted out the door.

His adopted mother called after him as he headed for the front door. “Trev’nor, where are you going?”

With his hand on the door knob, he nearly vibrated with the need to be gone. “I’m going out with Nolan,” he answered. It was even the truth.

“Be back for dinner!” she ordered as he opened the door.

“I’ll try.” He wasn’t sure he could manage it, though. How long did it take to cover twenty miles?

If she said anything else, he didn’t hear it in the hallway. That was probably a good thing. She would probably start asking tricky questions—like where was he going?

After two years of living in the Palace, Trev’nor knew all the shortcuts. He crossed through the servant’s hallway, down a set of narrow stairs that ended in the kitchen. When he entered the huge room, no one even gave him a second glance. They were used to him popping in.

Trev’nor weaved and bobbed his way between people, counters, tables, pots, and trays of food. As he moved, he snatched what he wanted from the counter tops. Bread, cheese, apples, two flaky pastries—all of it made good traveling food, something else he had learned from his time with the Tonkawacon. He prudently snatched an empty bottle and filled it full of water before stuffing it in the bag as well.

Nolan was waiting for him in the stables, ribbons sticking out of his pocket. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” Trev’nor poked his head into the stable office, where Boden—a stocky man with peppered hair—sat at a desk. “Hey, Boden!”

“Hey, Trev,” Boden responded. “Need a horse saddled?”

“Please.”

Boden heaved his body out of the chair with a grunt. “Okay. Your timing is good, Sadie needs the exercise.”

Sadie was the usual horse they gave Trev’nor, as she was short enough for him to mount without help. Trev’nor liked the little mare, as she had a smooth gait and a nice personality.

The boys waited impatiently as Boden shuffled to the tack room and grabbed Sadie’s saddle and bridle. Trev’nor, in an effort to speed up the matter, led Sadie out of the stall. He had a little trouble hobbling her, as she kept heading for Nolan. Finally, frustrated with the mare, Trev’nor tugged Nolan around until he was at the mare’s nose. Sadie docilely allowed her feet to be hobbled as long as Nolan petted her.

As Boden put the saddle on, Trev’nor popped the bit into Sadie’s mouth and pulled the bridle into place. The mare allowed this, blinking sleepy brown eyes at him.

“There you go, boys.” Boden stepped back, giving Trev’nor room to mount, which he did easily. Nolan had to have a little help to scramble up behind his friend.

“Thanks, Boden.” Trev’nor urged Sadie into a walk.

“You boys be careful!” Boden called to them from the stable doorway. “And stay close! I don’t want your momma comin’ down on me.”

“We will!” Nolan assured him with a wave.

~*~

Twenty miles, Trev’nor decided, was a
really
long distance.

The day was nearly gone when they finally made it to the Miridian Forest. They’d stopped and eaten twice, depleting most of the food in the bag, which worried Trev’nor a little. But he’d think about that more once they’d gotten their meurittas.

“We’re finally here!” Nolan exclaimed. He let go of Trev’nor’s waist and slithered off the mare, bouncing on his feet a little from the drop, and then he started running for the forest. Trev’nor slid out of the saddle right after him, tossing the reins over the saddle horn. He wasn’t worried about the mare wandering off. As soon as he released her, she started trotting after Nolan.

Trev’nor was taller than Nolan, and so caught up to his friend easily. In fact, he was a little ahead of him by the time they actually entered the woods themselves. The setting sun shone through the thick canopy of leaves overhead, giving just enough light to see by. Worried about losing Nolan in the dense underbrush, Trev’nor turned to find him…and stopped dead.

Uh-oh.

Behind Nolan was not only the mare, but also rabbits, raccoons, skunks, squirrels, birds, meurittas, deer, possums, and even a small black bear.