Dragon's Mage (An Advent Mage Novel), The - Raconteur, Honor (15 page)

I took in a breath and let it out slowly. “You’re sharp. Or I’m obvious.”

“A little of both,” she responded dryly, eyes crinkling. “You’ve been sitting on that contract for almost six days. I’m guessing you have an issue with some part of it.”

Clearly, I could not underestimate her. The sideways approach that I had mentally planned would not work, so I tossed it aside and asked bluntly, “Is the border patrol really called in to support the military operations of Osmar?”

She didn’t so much as blink. “I just
knew
you were going to ask that question. Magicians don’t normally fight, do they.” It wasn’t a question.

“No, we do,” I corrected, rubbing at the back of my neck. “It’s just…Mari, how much did you hear about what happened in Jarrell?”

“That crazy magician that set fire to the city, you mean? I heard so many versions of that story that I lost count.”

Didn’t surprise me. Rumors did that. “All right, let me tell you what really happened. You’re not going to really understand my hesitation otherwise. There was a Fire Mage, Remcarparoden, who went insane shortly after Chahir announced the new set of laws dealing with magicians.” At the words
Fire Mage
she went very, very still and seemed to almost hold her breath. I grimly continued. “He truly was mad. No one was attacking him, or threatening him, he was just setting the city ablaze for the sheer fun of it. He was intoxicated by his own power. The Dom of Jarrell had to call in for help just to stop him. Garth and his team were the ones to respond—in fact, it was Garth that battled him. They destroyed a whole courtyard before Garth could subdue him. Ever since then, no one has really trusted the Fire Mages.” That, actually, was the largest understatement of the year, but I left it at that.

“You’re afraid that if you start using your abilities to fight with, that the fears associated with Fire Mages are only going to be validated,” she summed up quietly. “You think that no one will believe that a Fire Mage can do something besides destroy.”

She’d struck the nail precisely on the head. “That’s it exactly.”

Mari lifted a hand to her eyes and rubbed at them with her fingers, releasing a long sigh as she did so. “I didn’t think of that. I thought you were hesitating for a different reason entirely.”

Different reason? What had she imagined? “What’s that?”

“You’re a gentle soul, Krys,” she told me with a crooked smile as she lowered her hand. “In fact, you’re probably one of the most gentle men that I’ve ever known. I had a hard time picturing you on a battlefield.”

Well, she wasn’t wrong. “I’d never choose to fight, not if there was another recourse. But magicians
do
fight, Mari. We’re prepared for that the day that we finish our training. I just don’t want to be dragged into a situation where my superiors are constantly using me to fight when it’s not strictly necessary. It’s a slippery slope that I don’t want to walk on.”

She clearly understood what I meant and her brows furrowed thoughtfully. “I can’t say your concerns are groundless. We might want to revise the terms of the contract a little to make it clear that they can only call you in a true emergency. And even then, you should have the right to decide if you should go or not.”

“Can you do that?” I asked with as neutral a voice as I could muster. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just take away the border patrol part of the job? I don’t really need it.”

She was shaking her head before I even finished. “No, you’re a tremendous help to us in that area. I don’t want to lose you. And frankly, it wouldn’t really help. You’re in a military city-state, Krys. Citizens are required to fight if we need them to. You can’t avoid fighting entirely by giving up a job. In fact, it would actually protect you better if we just amended the contract.”

I trusted her judgment on this. “Let’s do that, then.”

She leaned forward, putting her face inches from mine, and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial tone. “Just between me and you, how powerful are you?”

I met her eyes without flinching as I answered quietly, “Between me and you…I can level this city without breaking a sweat.”

Her eyes flared wide. “That’s….”

“Unimaginable?” I finished for her with a humorless smile. “That’s the power of a mage. Why do you think they’re so nervous about me? If I ever lose control, or go power-mad like that other Fire Mage, I could do an insane amount of destruction before they could stop me.”

She had a wry expression on her face, mouth quirked up in a half-smile. “Somehow, I can’t picture that happening. Not with you.”

“Neither could my teachers, which was why I was allowed to leave and make my own way in the world. Still…now you have a better idea of what I’m capable of.”

“Better, perhaps, than even you do,” she agreed. She clapped me on the shoulder in a comforting manner. “Stop worrying. You’re never going to be forced to do something horrendous, not with me on your side.”

From her lips to the gods’ ears.

~*~

It took a few days, but Mari managed to write in the amended clauses in my contract, and after reviewing it, I signed it. As far as I could tell, I was the first Chahiran magician to become an employee in the Empire of Sol. In its own way, my employment here was groundbreaking.

While I had been focused on getting all of my i’s dotted and t’s crossed, Kaya had been more or less left to her own devices. She usually spent most of her time near the city park, as part of her job (at least in her mind) was to keep track of the kids. After I dropped off the signed contract, I swung by the park to pick her up.

Since the main post lay along my route, I stopped in long enough to get my mail. I looked at the bundle of mail in my hands, absently sorting through it as I walked toward the park. A letter from my parents, one from my sister, a newspaper from Alvacon (I liked to stay abreast of events in the home country), and a letter from a sender I didn’t recognize. No, wait. I did recognize that messy handwriting. Him again.

With a fatalistic sort of feeling, I broke the wax seal on the cheap parchment and unfolded the letter.

To Solian Fire Magus,

I have completed first task. Come see my work.

Huuuuh? Hadn’t Mari said that they typically didn’t expect any sort of response? I folded the letter up again, blowing out an irritated breath. I’d bring it by later and consult with her about it. Right now, it had been a long day, and I just wanted to pick up my dragon and go get dinner somewhere.

Kaya, to my complete lack of surprise, had kids hanging off of her on every limb. Her tail kept twitching, too, which I used to gauge how happy she felt. The tail was an accurate happiness meter. Just twitching meant a general contentment with the world. Outright thumps—known to destroy furniture and knock down innocent bystanders—meant she felt ecstasy. I judged her to be at the safe level of “general happiness” at the moment. Fortunately for the nearby buildings.

“Krys!” she greeted me, tail smacking the ground in a harder thump, her eyes lighting up. “I hot stuff!”

I blinked. Now where had she picked up
that
? “Are you now?”

“Magus!” one of the boys greeted, running to me. Conner, I think his name was. “Did you know Kaya can learn words?” he asked me with unbridled enthusiasm.

Ohhh. I think I knew now where she learned that phrase. But this worried me a bit. What
else
had the kids taught her while I wasn’t looking? The possibilities were endless. “Actually, I did. What did you teach her?”

“War words!” he instantly responded, nearly bouncing on his toes.

War words…oh joy. I resisted the urge to rub my aching temples. “Anything else?”

“Our names,” he added thoughtfully, starting to count things off on his fingers. “And all the names of the food at the market.”

Well, at least he had included some of the more useful words. “That’s amazing. All in one day?”

“Naw, ever since you started doing paperwork,” he answered.

That made more sense. Kaya’s smart, but that’s a lot of words to learn. “I’ll let you get back at it tomorrow,” I promised him dryly. “Just try not to teach her anything weird, all right?”

“Krys! We blow hot air!”

“…like
that
,” I pointed an accusatory finger at my familiar, which set all of the kids laughing. The laughter was mischievous, so they knew good and well they shouldn’t have taught her that to begin with. I just shook my head in resignation. No matter what I said, they were going to teach her anything that popped into their heads. Fortunately, the oldest was somewhere around ten, so they didn’t know anything
too
weird to teach.

 “Magus,” one of the girls approached, tugging on both of her braided pigtails in a nervous fashion, “are you really going to stay?”

The question held a weight, as if she needed more assurance than just the obvious. I knelt on one knee so I could put myself at eye level. “We are. We’ll probably be here a long time, as this place has become home for us.”

A bright smile, like a second sun, took over her face. “Then, if bad men like the ones that attacked An and Jarri’s house attack mine, will you come?”

Ahhh. Some version of the house fire must have gotten around, and had obviously scared some of the kids. After all, if it happened to one of them, it could happen to any of them.

“We’ll come flying to the rescue,” I promised her gently.

Obviously relieved and reassured, she giggled and darted back to swing on the tip of Kaya’s nose. My dragon had obviously done this before, and she gently shook her head, sending the girl’s legs swinging, which elicited more giggles. Really, what did the kids think of Kaya as? Some sort of breathing play-set?

“Can she go to the lake tomorrow?” a child sitting on the base of her neck called down to me. “We want to teach her to flip us into the water.”

What, like some kind of gigantic slide? She’d probably have a ball doing it. “Just make sure an adult goes with you,” I cautioned. I thought the warning prudent, as children tended to forget minor details like if they can swim or not when they see fun to be had.

“All right!” he pumped a fist of victory in the air.

Well, I probably didn’t need to worry about it much. Kaya wouldn’t let any of the kids drown anyway.

“All right, Kaya, time to go.”

She shook herself like a wet dog would, shedding children in every direction, which made them laugh as they tumbled gently to the ground. Then she sauntered over to me with a bounce in her stride. “Krys go play in water too?”

I looked at the bright excitement in her eyes and heaved a sigh of resignation. I just knew that I’d be roped into going somehow.

Chapter Ten: A Bad Day

Border patrol could, at moments, be boringly predictable. Most of the time, I didn’t mind. Predictable days meant not getting rained on, riding through a thunderstorm, or dealing with cranky travelers. Boring was good. But I did wish, from time to time, that something interesting would happen that would liven things up without causing too much trouble.

But on a day like this, with no clouds in sight and a mild breeze that kept the heat at bay, a man couldn’t complain. I swayed slightly in the saddle as Kaya banked on a turn, coming around the bend of the main highway, making sure that the path still remained clear. In this season, bramble tended to grow overnight, so it took constant work on our part to keep the roads bramble-free.

As I half-expected, bramble had already started to encroach on the sides of the road. With a smile of anticipation, I raised a hand and cast out a spurt of fire to burn it clean.

Kaya turned her head just enough to pin me with a significant look, reminding me that she got a turn next.

I waved a hand at her, giving her the go-ahead. Impatient, wasn’t she? The only way to get any peace with her on these patrolling trips was to take turns burning things clean. Never mind the fact that doing it was technically
my
job.

This time, I caught sight of a significant growth of that tanglevine that no one can seem to get rid of. It appeared to be growing straight for the road, too. Man, if that got loose, I’d
never
get rid of it completely. Determined to nip a problem in the bud, I increased the heat of my fire and focused on it for a few seconds, burning the area completely clean, scorching the bedrock around it to a sooty black. Even from this height, I could smell the distinct scent of burning vegetation.

All right, this section of the road was cleared. Urging Kaya to the right, I brushed her skin on the side of her neck, indicating she could take a turn now.

From my left and up ahead, the ground shook and rumbled slightly. I instinctively pulled Kaya up, away from the trail, and came back around for another look. Kaya slowed as well, reducing her speed so that she almost hovered in place. What? An earthquake? I didn’t think Sol got any of those. I’d never heard of them happening up here, anyway. So what…?

Not a stone’s throw from me, the ground slowly rotated in a circular shape before loose dirt started pouring off in small waves. As I stared in astonishment, a perfect circular roof rose out of the ground, making the dirt around it crack apart, pushing its way skyward relentlessly.

It wasn’t just the one, either. Appearing in almost a straight line rose nine towers, all rising from the ground in a steady upwards motion. At first they looked small, about the size of a small room, but the more they went up, the wider at the base they got, until it took up the same amount of space as an average home. Unlike the pale tan sandstone this area of the country had, the towers were made of grey limestone.

“What are they?” I breathed to myself, shocked to the core. I’d never seen or heard of anything like this, and I’d been around some pretty ancient magic. But these things—the workmanship looked solid, as if it had only been built yesterday. The tower next to me clearly had no chinks in between the building stones. And it
towered
over the landscape, standing at least seven stories tall. I could look directly into the upper part of it from Kaya’s back.