Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (24 page)

“Shad, what are you doing?” I protested, stumbling along in his wake.

When we were a few feet away from everyone, out of hearing, he finally let go, whirling around to face me. The expression on his face was tight, with worry or irritation, I wasn’t sure which. “Garth, what do you think you are doing?”

I sighed. Apparently this was going to be a Meaningful Conversation. “Be more specific,” I requested, stifling a yawn.

“With Chatta,” he clarified shortly.

I didn’t quite know what to say to that. For one thing, I wasn’t precisely sure what it was that I was being accused of. I’ve discovered with people that if you just look at them, without saying anything, they usually keep talking in order to prompt a response. I just stood there and watched him, eyes level and noncommittal, waiting.

Shad continued, as predicted, irritated and uncomfortable. “Garth, I know that Hainian culture is more open, all right? And Chatta is more affectionate than most. And I know that you two have been through a lot together, and you’re close, but do you realize what that looked like?”

“Yes,” I said shortly, hoping he’d drop it. He wasn’t the only one feeling a little uncomfortable. And while I knew that his intentions were good, I didn’t like being questioned about my decisions like this.

“And do you realize the
side-effects
?” he persisted.

Now he had completely lost me. “I didn’t break any rules,” I pointed out, a bit more sharply than I intended. My head was starting to pound, probably from the effort of being coherent and alert at this insanely early hour of the morning. Dealing with emotionally charged conversations like this, before I had breakfast, was a bad idea. I made a mental note to not do it again in the future.

Shad stopped short, just staring at me for a long moment. “You really have no idea, do you?” he murmured, almost as if he were talking to himself. “Garth, do you realize the reputation that you have in Del’Hain?”

“The Advent Mage reputation?” I admit it, I was fishing.

“No,
your personal
reputation.”

It’s official. He’s lost me. I just shook my head helplessly.

“Gorgeous was filling me in while we were waiting for you to wake up.”

I blinked at this. “Gorgeous?”

“Aletha,” he clarified impatiently. “Focus, Garth.”

I was! I can’t help it if he’s confused me with nicknames.

Shad wasn’t waiting for me to mentally catch up, and kept right on going. “She told me that you have quite the reputation in Del’Hain among the women. Apparently you are considered one of the most eligible bachelors in Hain.”

My jaw hit the ground so hard it made a dent in it. “Are you serious?!”

Shad rolled his eyes expansively. “How can any person be this oblivious?”

“Shad, I’m never
in
Del’Hain for any length of time; day old bread is around longer than I am!” I protested. I felt like someone had tilted the world on me, and then started shaking it at random angles. “How am I supposed to know what rumors are going around about me? And how did they come up with this opinion anyway?!”

“Garth, you’re not thinking about this,” he informed me with forced patience. “You’re a Mage, the first in two centuries. You have the ear and confidence of the King. You are accepted by the Delheart family, which Gorgeous informs me is a very prominent figure in Hainian politics.”

They are?

“
And
you’re helping to actually shape the foreign policy of Hain when it comes to dealings with Chahir. You’re a handsome, unique, powerful, influential man, Garth.
Of course
women are going to be interested in and attracted to you!”

You know, when he put it like that, I felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. “All right,” I said slowly. “I have a reputation in Hain. What does that have to do with me and Chatta?”

“There are a lot of rumors about the two of you.”

I nodded in understanding.
Those
rumors, at least, I’d heard something about.

Shad’s next statement was said very slowly, as if he were carefully weighing each word before it left his mouth. “It would be very dangerous to
encourage
those rumors, even by a seemingly innocent occurrence. People adore jumping to conclusions, it’s their favorite sport.”

My temper, a little strained already by this well-intended interrogation, snapped like a dry twig. “Shad, what do you want me to say?” I demanded in a low growl. “You know that I’d never hurt her, she means more to me than my own life. You are fully aware that I’ve sworn an oath to that effect. And you also know that I don’t dance attendance on other people’s opinion of me!”

“I also know that you’re oblivious!” he growled right back at me, like a wounded tiger. “Garth, seriously, do you
realize
what it looks like from an outsider’s perspective? You two are physically comfortable with each other. I’m not talking about just last night, although that certainly illustrates what I’m talking about. You were comfortable enough to just drift off to sleep with her in your arms. You’re just constantly in each other’s personal space; sometimes it’s hard to tell where one of you starts and one of you ends.”

I opened my mouth to protest this (how, I don’t know, because he was right in many ways) but he didn’t pause, just ran right over me.

“But it’s more than that!” Shad was really getting into his subject now, and growing a little louder with each sentence, like he was gathering momentum and energy as he laid out his argument. “You’re just in perfect harmony with each other. And yes, I realize that you’re close friends, but you’re even finishing
each other’s sentences
, all right? Half the time you don’t bother to talk at all! You’re just doing some sort of silent straight line communication that the rest of the world can’t hear. And I’ve never seen someone so unflinchingly protective as you are! It’s not just when she’s in danger, it’s
all the time
. You always have at least one eye on her to make sure she’s safe and comfortable.” Heaving out a breath like a heavy stone, he demanded again, “Garth, do you
realize
what this looks like?”

I had my mouth open, supposedly ready for some sort of retort, but the words had all dried up. I hadn’t really been doing all of that… had I? I mean, some of it made sense just because we
were
friends, and had spent a lot of time together.

But some of it wasn’t so easily explained or rationalized.

I was still mentally scrambling for a response when Xiaolang drifted up to join us. He had this small, enigmatic smile playing on his lips. I expected for him to start in on me, too, but he barely gave me a glance. His eyes were zeroed in on Shad. When he spoke, it was soft and calming and final. “Shad, it’s all right.”

Shad’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. “Are you serious? But Xiaolang, can’t you see—”

“Better than you, my friend.” There was confidence in Xiaolang’s face, and wisdom. Looking at him, it was obvious that he knew something that we didn’t. Shad snapped his mouth shut, staring back in bewilderment and growing suspicion.

Then those unfathomable eyes of Xiaolang’s turned in my direction, and his enigmatic smile grew a notch wider. “Indeed, I do know what’s going on much better than you.”

The way he said this made cold chills run up and down my spine. Empaths were scary people, sometimes. I was torn between asking what it was that he knew…and burying my head in the sand.

Xiaolang clapped me on the shoulder, leaning in close to murmur, “Think about what Shad said, Garth. Not as an accusation, but as an
observation
.”

I stared at him, bewildered. And yet there was a part of me, small, and always hushed, that knew exactly what Xiaolang knew. I just hadn’t wanted to admit it—had forced myself, in fact, to not think about it at all. EVER.

In sheer reflex I tried to bury it again, shove it to the very back of my head where I wouldn’t have to acknowledge it. Xiaolang’s hand on my shoulder tightened in warning. “Garth,” he reprimanded quietly. “You owe yourself more than that. You owe
her
more than that.”

I couldn’t take it. I simply couldn’t stand there, looking at the
knowing
expression on Xiaolang’s face, or the growing suspicion and enlightenment on Shad’s. I spun on my heel, almost jerking free of the restraining hand on my arm. “I need breakfast,” I said shortly, as an excuse for me to flee.

Behind me, I could hear Shad whisper to Xiaolang, “What do you know that I don’t?”

I didn’t hear Xiaolang’s response—for that matter, I didn’t
want
to hear his response. I had been given about as much as I could handle for one morning. I wasn’t sure if I could take any more.

As I came back into camp, my eyes met Night’s. He was watching me calmly, as if he knew exactly what was going through my head.

And he probably did.

I tensed, still on edge with the last conversation, and not particularly ready to rehash it with someone else.

“
Relax,
” he assured me. “
I won’t gang up on you, too.
”

I felt sheepish for even thinking he would. Night could tease a body to murder, but he wasn’t cruel about it. I thought back carefully,
Sorry. I guess you were listening in?

“
Yes, I heard the conversation.”

His mental voice was neutral, but there was this slight vibration of amusement in it. I almost didn’t ask the question because I wasn’t really in the mood to talk about this subject anymore, but I couldn’t restrain myself.
Is Shad…right?

“
Actually, what he said was rather mild.
”

That wasn’t the tiniest bit comforting.

I went back to hunting up breakfast. Food was much safer.

~*~

Later that morning, on the road, we filled our illustrious Captain in on the discussion last night. Xiaolang was very interested in our theory about the scrying pools. Of course, he asked the one question that none of us really had a good answer to. “So how do we find them, if they really exist?”

Chatta and I shared a look, but we were pretty much stumped. Neither of us had been able to come up with an answer, and we’d been thinking about this all morning.

“Beautiful, you said that Bromany has a very large scrying pool. It’s how they knew Mages were appearing here in Chahir,” Shad mused aloud.

“Right,” Chatta agreed. Realization exploded over her face. “Of course! If they can find
people
across such a great distance, then finding all the scrying pools will be a piece of cake!”

I felt like smacking myself in the forehead for not thinking of that sooner. How is it that I always miss the obvious solutions?

Xiaolang was excited by this prospect. He twisted in his saddle to see me better, eyes bright with eagerness. “Do you think they’d let us borrow their pool for a bit?”

“Let?” I repeated wryly. “I think they’ll be jumping for joy to have us visit for a few days. Do you want to do this now?”

“Can you take the whole group at once?”

Apparently I was going to make it into Del’Hain sooner than I thought. “Is the sky blue?” I drawled back.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Xiaolang responded dryly. “All right, Magus, take us down.”

“
Do we have to?
” Night protested in a plaintive voice.

I rolled my eyes. “You’ll survive, Night.”

“
I get peanut butter for this,
” he grumbled.

I patted him on the neck, humoring him. “A whole jar,” I promised.

And then I took us down.

I’m not sure how to describe being on the earth path. Obviously, there wasn’t much of a view. I found it comforting, and energizing—most of the time. The one exception was when I was in Q’atal. I was too worried about tree roots and tangling with ley lines to relax much. Most of the time, however, I liked it. Not many people really share my view.

Out of the group, only Night, Chatta, Didi, Xiaolang and Hayate had been with me when I traveled this method. It was completely new for everyone else. I knew within the first minute who was going to like it and who wasn’t. Aletha was watching her surroundings with wide eyes, like she would bolt for the surface if she could only figure out how. Shield would have poked at the magic cocoon we were in, I think, just to figure it out, if he weren’t afraid of the consequences. Eagle took one good look around, but when nothing dire happened, he leaned back in the saddle and started rummaging around, bringing a book out to read.

Xiaolang wasn’t disturbed by any of this, so his mind was on more practical matters. “Garth, how long will it take to reach the capitol?”

“Two hours?” I held up a hand, tilting it back and forth. “That’s a rough estimation on my part.”

“Can we get there faster?” Aletha asked in a thin voice.

I took a good look at her, and realized that she was so pale, a ghost would look healthier. I doubted that she would last the whole two hours without becoming sick or panicked. “I’ll pick up the pace. If I double this speed, it will only take about an hour. Can you last that long?”

She was visibly relieved, and nodded. “Yes.”

“What effects will that have on you?” Xiaolang asked in concern.

“This isn’t dangerous,” I assured him. “It just requires more focus. Traveling this way isn’t even tiring for me.”

Reassured, he nodded.

"Don't anyone distract me," I requested of the group in general. "I have to concentrate on what I'm doing, or we'll get tangled up in a ley line, or fall into an underground lake."

There were several alarmed looks, and people abruptly went quiet. "I'm not that distractible," I muttered in exasperation, but let it lie. They'd loosen up a little as time passed, and nothing went wrong.

I'm sure everyone with me was bored out of their minds by the time we arrived in Del'Hain. Time passed quite quickly for me, simply because my mind was focused and I had a task at hand. It seemed like mere minutes to me. I took us up in the Palace's gardens, as it is usually clear of people and gave us enough room to arrive.