Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (5 page)

"Perhaps," she agreed, running an absent finger along her chin. "Let me think on it a while."

"You needn't spend much time on that," Xiaolang advised. "He has more than enough toys." Shield pouted at this, but his captain ignored the expression with the ease of long practice. "For now, let's pack up and get back on the road. I want to reach the Elkhorn River by tonight."

~*~

Once we did reach the Elkhorn River, Xiaolang hired a boat to take us toward Chahir. Since it was a faster and easier way to travel, none of us argued with him.

The only times I've ever travelled by river, I slept most of the way. It was a different experience to be on a river boat while awake, especially with such…diverse traveling companions, shall we say.

Night was currently in the front of the boat, dozing under the warm suns. Didi was curled up on his back, sound asleep (which we were all grateful for). The interesting one, though, was Hayate. He'd lasted about a minute under the suns' warm rays, and then he sprawled out comfortably next to Night and toppled straight into dreamland. If he weren't such an obviously reptilian creature, I could swear that he was part cat.

It hadn't taken everyone long to find their own spots and get comfortable. Chatta and Eagle were bent over the same book, probably studying Chahirese…again. They couldn't seem to stay away from the language for more than five minutes. Shield was going over all of his weapons, and polishing them. I doubted that was necessary; it was more like busy work, I think. Hazard was curled up next to Hayate, his head pillowed on the dragoo's side, peacefully snoozing.

"Garth, may I borrow you for a moment?" Xiaolang called.

And Xiaolang, being the responsible person that he was, was going over a map of Chahir, for the hundredth time. I was used to being consulted over that map by now. With an internal sigh, I weaved my way around sleeping bodies and coils of rope to Xiaolang's side. He had made a niche for himself on the top of a water barrel, his map weighted down with two daggers, so that the wind wouldn't carry it away.

I was amused to note that he had his mapmaking supplies out, the pens and paper especially, and were using them. "You're actually going to use them?"

"It would look suspicious if I were carrying tools around that had never been used," he responded.

Good point.

"Now, out of the fourteen provinces in Chahir, there are four that are supposed to be either neutral or in favor of Guin's laws: Cammack, Farless, Habbick, and Jarrell. Val Haben's report suggests that Echols province is indifferent, but I wouldn't push my luck while in that territory. What can you tell me about these four?"

I looked at the map with dismay. The neutral provinces were scattered all over the country, which was both good and bad. One was far north, near the Empire of Sol; one was to the far west, along the coastline; two of them were adjacent near the middle of the country. These four provided something of a safe haven while we were travelling, but still…travelling between them was going to very dangerous and very nerve wracking. I took a deep breath, and thought about them. "Jarrell was where the Jaunten originated, actually."

Xiaolang perked up at this. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Very sure," I replied. I studied his expression, but I could tell by the way that he was watching me that he had no idea what I was. "Something else we forgot to mention, apparently. Xiaolang, I am a Jaunten."

He blinked. "I thought that was against the rules."

"Not against the rules, but highly discouraged," I corrected with a wry shrug. "I was changed by a man trying to save my life. It's a long story, I'll tell you later. But I have all the knowledge of the Jaunten. Trust me, that's where we came from originally. Tolerance for magic was very low in those days by the government, but the province people themselves didn't seem to care one way or another. I doubt that attitude has changed much."

"Fascinating," he murmured with a thoughtful look at me. "What is it like, having generations’ worth of knowledge in your head?"

"It was really odd, at first." Relaxing against the side of the boat, I tried to put it into words. "All of it is pure knowledge, you know. There's no memories attached with it. It's very strange to know something, and yet have no memory affiliated with it, no experience to back it up with. You get used to it after a while, though. I think the most disturbing part of the whole experience was having my hair change to white."

"White?" he parroted in surprise. "That's not your natural hair color?"

"No, I was born blond, about the same shade as Eagle, actually. The shock of the Jaunten blood changing my body turned my hair white." I tugged at a lock of said hair ruefully. "Dying it back doesn't work, so I've learned to live with it. When I turn fifty, people will stop giving me odd looks, or so I hope."

He gave a noncommittal "hmmm" and let the subject drop. "So Jarrell will be fairly friendly. What about the other three?"

"Cammack is not a very wealthy province. I doubt they have the resources to chase people all over the place. Farless…is hard to explain. The Dom of that province has a half-brother who is Dom over a neighboring province, Darlington. If his brother is for something, he'll be against it, just out of spite."

"So neutral, but not precisely in our favor," Xiaolang muttered. He was making small notations on a writing pad as I spoke.

"That's my interpretation on it," I replied honestly, lifting both hands in a sort of helpless gesture. "But I'm not a political expert. Now Habbick is a different matter entirely. They do a great deal of trading with Hain, mostly for medicines and tools. They'll even buy potions, and call them medicine on the tax forms. We'll have a genuine welcome there."

Xiaolang nodded in acknowledgement even as his hand sped across the paper. "Elkhorn River will take us into Goldstayn Province. That's where you're from, isn't it?"

I nodded shortly. "If we do have to go into Torbadorage, it would be best if I waited outside of the city. My family was fairly well known."

"Ah. Something for me to keep in mind, then." Finished writing, he looked up at me. His voice was gentle when he spoke. "Garth, this won't be easy."

"I know," I replied quietly. "Xiaolang, I would have given anything to have had help getting out of Chahir. Realizing that you have magic is a terrifying experience in some ways, and it's only worse when you're Chahiran. I can't turn my back on these people; not knowing what it feels like, not knowing how desperately you wish that there was someone, anyone, to help you."

"I know," he whispered. And by the look in his eyes, I knew that he really
did
know. He'd been in a similar situation before; he knew precisely what I was talking about.

I wanted to ask how he knew. I wanted to know why a Q'atalian was an Ascalon captain. There was just so much remembered pain in his eyes, that I couldn't ask those questions, and re-open old wounds. If he ever felt comfortable enough to share his story, I would be honored to listen, but I wouldn't pry. It wasn't my right to do so. So I only said, "Yes, I think you do."

His smile conveyed silent gratitude for not pushing it any further. "What do you need in order to scry for magical people?"

"Quiet and a few moments of concentration," I answered simply. "Chatta needs a clear reflection, like a mirror or a bowl of water. Our skills are fairly equal in this area. Chatta is more precise over distance than I am, but I can reach a little farther than she can—we balance out each other's weaknesses."

"So you can search the furthest distance, but are a little vague, and Chatta can't reach quite as far, but can find the person even from a distance?"

I couldn't do anything but nod. "Basically, yes. Give her the right tools, and she can almost double her range."

"But that will set off all of those magical alarms," he guessed.

"Pretty much. Limited scrying with just a reflection takes practically no power." I left it at that, and let him come to his own conclusions.

"Hm. Then I guess our method of scrying is rather obvious. As soon as we come close to the Black Ridge Mountains, start searching, please. We might as well start looking right in front of us."

It sounded like a request, but that was an order, so I nodded. Xiaolang was my friend, but he was also captain and leader of this group, so I better form the habit of obeying him now.

~*~

We landed in Waterford, a small river town that was built on the banks of the Elkhorn River, some two days later. We were barely over the border, and this was a trading town, so foreigners didn't get a second glance. Hayate drew some attention, being dragoo, and so did Didi, but when they saw the black and red uniforms of the Red Hand, most people shrugged it off and turned away. Apparently Solian soldiers weren't uncommon here. That would change after this town, however. Xiaolang and I had already talked about the right clothes to put his people in so they would blend in better.

I had been periodically scanning for any signs of magic since Xiaolang ordered me to, but I hadn't picked up on anyone. I'd half-hoped that I would find someone, just to give us a direction to go, but now we were going to have to start out blind. None of us were really comfortable with that.

We unloaded from the boat and went to a nearby inn for lunch, and to discuss options. Xiaolang had the serving girl take us to a back room for privacy. We weren't in a very friendly province, and it would be wise to keep a low profile here.

Once the food was served, we all sat down. There was thick beef stew and flat bread, which looked very appetizing, so I dug in immediately. It took me a second to realize that everyone was staring in confusion at the bread.

"Garth, what is this?" Chatta pointed to the bread.

"Flat bread," I answered, tearing off a chunk. "It goes great with soup."

Xiaolang was more adventurous than everyone else, and tore off a piece of bread, dipping it into his stew and taking a bite. After a moment of consideration, he nodded approvingly. "This is good."

Everyone else followed his example, some more hesitantly than others, and I smiled when they all agreed that it was fairly good.

Chatta started laughing at this point, shaking her head in amusement. "Now I know how you felt that first morning in school, Garth. It must have been odd to not have recognized any of the food."

"Oh I recognized it fine," I reminded her cheerfully. "Jaunten knowledge told me what it was—I just didn't know how it
tasted
. There's a difference."

"A big difference," Hazard agreed.

Xiaolang paused in eating, giving me an intense scrutiny. "The difference between knowledge and experience, eh?"

He apparently remembered exactly what I told him about Jaunten knowledge. The man had a remarkable memory. I nodded. "Precisely."

We were all starving, so the conversation stalled there while we fed our faces. Aletha, being the fastest eater, was done first, and was idly mopping up a bit of gravy with the last piece of her bread. "So where do we head now, Captain?"

He looked at me when he answered. "North, I think. Most of the people who have made it to Hain came from the south. I haven't heard much about the north, and it makes me wonder how many people are hiding up there."

I concurred. I thought there was a better chance of finding people up north too. "Are we going to follow the border up?"

"I'd like to stick close to the border for now, at least until we are comfortable working with each other." He looked at each person around the table, drawing our attention to him. "You are all good at what you do, experts in your field, but we are not accustomed to working with each other just yet. Completing our mission is going to be difficult enough, and if something does go wrong, I don't want us to be far from the border—and safety, if it comes to that."

I thought that wise, and agreed to it.

"For now, we'll head north toward Beddingfield Province."

Chapter Three: Beddingfield

Late afternoon of the next day, we were skirting the Black Ridge Mountains, travelling along a somewhat well-beaten path. A recent downpour had turned the road into mud and waterlogged the forest. The road—if you could call it that—meandered in between the trees, which meant that we had a lot of branches over our heads. Wet branches that dripped. Oh fun.

I had been searching the area around us for any signs of magic, not detecting anything all day—so when I finally did feel someone, I froze.

Then I realized they were practically on top of us, and I nearly fell out of my saddle.

How did they sneak up on me?!

I twisted around, searching frantically, trying to spot the person that I knew was there, hiding somewhere among the foliage.

Xiaolang turned in his saddle, manner alert. "Garth?"

"There's someone nearby, someone with magic," I answered distractedly.

"How close?" Xiaolang demanded.

"Close," I answered shortly. I still couldn't see them, but I could feel them. Wizard, would be my guess, maybe a Witch. I couldn't always tell gender while scrying, just power.

"And powerful, apparently," Chatta inputted as she joined me in searching the woods around us, "otherwise Garth would have felt them sooner than this."

I nodded in confirmation. "He's shielding himself, somehow."

Aletha snorted in amusement. "Here we are, spending all of this time looking for someone, and they find us. Now that's ironic."

"Captain?" Shield was searching the woods like the rest of us, and being very careful to not make any aggressive movements. His hands were spread out to rest on his thighs, well away from any of the weapons resting on his belt. "How do you want to handle this?"

Xiaolang turned Hayate about, moving closer to us. He reigned in right next to Chatta, keeping his eyes on our surroundings as he spoke. "Chatta," he said quietly, "you're the least threatening of us, in appearance at least. Try making some friendly overtures."

"All right," she agreed. Swinging down from her mare, she walked a few steps off the road, closer to the woods. "My name is Chatta Delheart," she called in a clear voice. "I'm a Witch from Hain. Won't you come down, and talk to me?"