Advent Mage Compendium (Advent Mage Cycle Book 5)
Author: Raconteur, Honor
Date: 2012-08-05
Keywords: advent mage cycle; compendium
Publisher: Raconteur House

Advent Mage

Compendium

Honor Raconteur

Raconteur House, Tennessee

Forward

As my editor and I worked on Advent and Balancer, she had issues with some of the scenes I had written. They didn’t add to the plot in any way, they didn’t really build character, they were written just for my sole entertainment. So she convinced me to take them out of the book.

While I did see her point and agreed with her, I didn’t want these stories to sit on some hard drive collecting dust. Sure, they weren’t a vital part of the story but they were entertaining and in one particular case, it gave a great deal of backstory. One story was written purely for fans. (Fans that unfairly bribed Night with peanut butter when I wasn’t looking!)

All of this gave birth to—the Compendium. Here are the stories that I give you for pure entertainment. If you’re paying attention to events, you’ll be able to tell where they originally fit in the books.

I’ve put each story in order of the timeline of events. Enjoy!

Honor Raconteur

Table of Contents

Forward 2

Warhorse 4

The Index 12

Toy Soldiers 26

Afterward 99

Warhorse

When I was still a colt, it traumatized me when Garth disappeared from my sight. But as I grew older, I began to realize being away from Garth sometimes had its advantages. Like right now. As he zipped along the earth path with the Witch we had just discovered in tow, I am heartily grateful to be away from him. Being underneath the surface of the world, unable to see anything or know where you are, there’s just something inherently wrong about the whole idea. If it weren’t for the fact that Garth was the one in control, I’d never go down there.

There was nothing else to be found in twenty miles any direction from where we stood now, Garth had made sure of that before he left; however we might as well put the time to use until his return by us moving along.

With him gone, I kept an eye on Chatta, as I normally do. Garth had never asked me to watch over her. I simply did it because Garth loved her (even if he was too dense to realize this yet) and because she was dear to me, too. She probably didn’t need my protection, as she’s a very formidable Witch, but I watched out for her anyway. It’s just what a guy does.

The day had warmed up through the course of the morning, and people were shedding jackets right and left. The area around was simply low foothills, scraggly trees and an extensive amount of yellow, dry grass. There was no water in sight and no breeze to give relief from the heat. I didn’t find it particularly hot, but the flies were starting to buzz around me, which was irritating. I kept flicking them off with my tail or the shake of a head, but they were back within seconds. It’s a shame they’re too quick for me to stomp on…

Aside from keeping track of Garth (who can, and has, been lost in his hometown before) I have one other job on this team. Garth will certainly notify everyone the moment he finds someone with current or potential magical talents, but it doesn’t occur to him to say anything if there are other people on the road. My telepathic range isn’t as extensive as Garth’s magical sense is. I can only detect people five miles away, but it’s enough to give Xiaolang plenty of warning.

A good hour went by of us plodding along the dusty highway before I detected a party of men approaching. Xiaolang, there’s a party of about ten men coming our direction.

“Thank you, Night. I’m not too worried about travelers right now as Garth was sure no Star Order Priests are within our vicinity.”

Well, that’s true. Our presence in Chahir is a badly kept secret anyway; I suppose I don’t have to be on the lookout anymore. But if I’m not searching for travelers, then what am I supposed to do to distract myself from these pesky flies? Hmm. Now there’s a thought. I eyed Didi, riding along on the back of Chatta’s mare, with a sidelong look. Didi?

The meuritta looked up with his ears cocked in question. “Di?”

If you keep all the flies away from me, I’ll let you braid my tail.

He perked up immediately at this offer, as I knew he would. Didi never got permission to braid anyone’s hair, but his fingers were constantly itching to do so. For him, this was the offer of a lifetime.

“Di!” he squealed in happy agreement. Without a by-your-leave, he leapt from the back of Chatta’s horse to my back and started chasing flies away with enthusiasm. Even the fly chasing had to be entertaining for him. Anything was better than sitting on the back of a horse and pretending to be good.

I saw the dust the horses kicked up before the travelers themselves appeared on the road ahead. As the distance closed between us, I watched them in idle curiosity. Plain clothing, all of it in browns or blacks or muted greens that people normally wore as travelling clothes. With their fair hair and light skin tones, all of them were Chahiran, which was not remarkable considering we were in their country. Even the horses they rode were nondescript. Nothing remarkable about this group.

And yet, something about them bothered me. Some sixth sense said that I needed to look under the surface. What was it?

We were closer now, some hundred paces or so away from them. I could almost make out the color of their eyes from this distance. One of them reigned to a halt and slid from his saddle to the ground. What? No one stops in the middle of the road, even if your horse pulls up lame. That’s bad road etiquette. What was he doing?

Without truly meaning to, I focused on the group to see what they were thinking.

“…they should be close enough …now!”

Close enough to what—even as I thought it, I caught flashes of what the rest of the party was thinking and my battle instincts flared to life. I half-reared as I screamed out to my team ON GUARD! THEY’RE STAR ORDER!

Everyone drew their swords at once with hisses of steel. The other group seemed surprised at our sudden combat readiness, but it didn’t make them hesitate for more than a moment. With a shout, they charged us.

I stood in the middle of the group, and the first to reach us were quickly engaged by Xiaolang, Shield and Hazard. Some of them slipped around them and reached the rest of us. I planted myself at Chatta’s side and flailed out at the first Priest to reach me. He swung out at me with a battle axe in his hands, but enhanced weapons don’t really affect me. I hit his arm and weapon with my front hooves, breaking both. With a scream, he dropped the broken weapon, which thudded to the ground. Cradling his injured arm, he tried to back his horse away, but the area around us had turned into a melee of weapons, horses and fighting men. There was nowhere for him to go.

From nowhere, a boulder flew right past my head, whistling as it sped off. I felt the fine hairs in my ears stir, that’s how close it passed to me. Where by the guardians had that come from?! I lifted my head to look around, and then shied abruptly right, nearly slamming into Chatta, to avoid being hit by another flying boulder.

There! From up ahead, the young Priest who had first dismounted now stood and was grabbing any boulder or stone in the area to use as a projectile. For a second, I watched in stunned amazement as he grabbed a boulder bigger than my head without touching it, and then threw it at us. What magic did he use…? I thought only an Earth Mage could manipulate ground like that!

As I watched in growing horror, part of the road rose up like a coiling snake and darted forward. Xiaolang, heading for the Priest, dodged the first strike but not the second. It caught him around the shoulders and lifted him high, then threw him like a snapping whip.

Swearing, I darted forward, using my chest like a battering ram as I needed to in order to fight clear. Xiaolang…I have to get to Xiaolang… Hayate, how is he?!

The dragoo sounded livid and very worried at the same time. “Not moving.”

As I passed Hazard, I could hear him grit his teeth, his blade locked with an opponent’s. “Night, get to the Captain. These benighted Priests just got stronger, and I can’t get free of him.”

Stronger? Had they linked to that Priest-Mage over there? Likely the case, but I really didn’t want that to be the answer. I was pressed on all sides by horses struggling to get free, some of them crow-hopping in the limited space, trying to get away from the moving road and the boulders whizzing everywhere around them.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Shad leap free from his horse, abandoning it. The gelding took advantage and abruptly darted away. Shad did an almost impossible leap straight toward me, grasping a hand in my mane and swinging up onto my back. “Sorry, Night, but you’re my only chance to get to Xiaolang.”

Hang tight, I ordered grimly. With a war cry tearing from my throat, I reared and lashed out again with my front hooves, breaking a Priest’s leg and pushing him and the mount he rode aside in the same moment. With that, we were clear. I sprinted forward, heading straight for Xiaolang.

Hayate was crouched protectively in front of his downed master, even though small rocks the size of a fist kept hitting him now and again. There was nothing I could do for Xiaolang in that moment, but I could certainly do something about the rocks and earth-whips that were being thrown at us.

I lashed out with my back hooves, connecting with a sizeable boulder headed for my teammates. It cracked in half and spun away at different angles, impacting hard into the dirt. Shad left my back in the next moment, his boots barely touching earth before he sprinted for the earth-wielding Priest. I could spare no real attention on Shad. Instead I focused on every boulder, every attack that I could reach, either using my Breaking power to destroy it, or simply using my body to block the smaller attacks. I quickly discovered that if I kept rearing and hitting the earth around me, it disrupted the control the Priest-Mage had on the earth. I could prevent half of his attacks from completely forming just by my Breaker power alone.

I could hear all around me the sounds of metal clanging against metal, the screams of the wounded as they were hurt, the thud of hooves dancing in panic against the packed earth. Chatta appeared from the middle of that madness of packed bodies and limped straight for Xiaolang, one leg almost dragging behind her. Guardians, when had she been hurt?! The injury had to be a serious one, as she put no weight on that leg, but half-crawled along the ground.

If I left my position now, and stopped fighting the Priest-Mage’s tactics, every person behind me would suffer the result. I couldn’t abandon my post here. So I shifted my stance to directly protect her and the downed Captain. When I did, I had a clearer view of Shad directly engaging the Mage-Priest. How had he managed to dodge all of those earth attacks…? What am I saying, of course he did! No man alive is quicker, or has faster reflexes, than Shad.

Still, Shad barely got one good swing in before the Priest-Mage froze, a horrified look on his face. Then his eyes rolled into his head and he slumped slowly to the ground before collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut. I stared at him in confusion for several moments. What? What happened? Had he burned himself out using power that he shouldn’t?

With their power link broken, the other Priests disengaged quickly and fled. They sped past me as quickly as their legs would carry them, as most of them had been unhorsed at one point or another. The few still mounted stopped long enough to throw their downed comrades over the saddle and then they too ran from us.

I didn’t care if the enemy were cowards. I had more important concerns. Chatta, how is Xiaolang?

“Not good,” she responded with a pinched look to her eyes. Her skin was white from the pain. “We need to get him to a hospital quickly, but the fastest way is Garth.”

“You’re right, but we can’t wait in the open like this,” Shield objected. “Too vulnerable. Night, take Chatta. Shad, help me put the Captain back on Hayate.”

“Didi,” Chatta turned until she spotted him hovering in the air before ordering, “Find us a safe place to hide.”

The meuritta sped off like a shot. I went to Chatta and lowered myself to my knees so that she could mount without straining her leg. Even as she gingerly moved onto my back, I swore that I would guard her better in the future. This time, I wasn’t moving from her side until Garth was back.

When Shad pulled the unconscious captain into his arms, I sent up a silent prayer that Xiaolang would be able to hold on until Garth could get us back to Del’Hain.

The Index

I admit, I took my sweet loving time going down to the Sojavel Ra Institute. I had spent a harrying day yesterday meeting with King Vonlorisen, arranging for his Queen to be exiled, and then checking up on Xiaolang and Chatta. Not to mention hunting down two errant boys who had somehow gotten it in their heads that if they just had a familiar, they would be proper Mages.

After the day I had yesterday, all I wanted was at least one day of peace. I didn’t get it, not with Kartal’s summons, so I decided to slow roll my response. I spent the morning at my parent’s house over a wonderful breakfast and checked on everyone in the team. I even contemplated a mid-morning nap.

If not for the unfortunate fact that Kartal figured out how to tap into my parent’s mirror, I likely wouldn’t have made it down to southern Hain at all.

So seeing Kartal waiting at the front entrance, toe tapping, and a thundercloud expression on his face didn’t really surprise me. I came up from the ground, eyed him sideways and thought just perhaps I shouldn’t have let myself be pushed out the door.

“Garth, what took you so long?!”

Have you ever seen someone have a conniption? It isn’t a pretty sight, let me assure you. Still, I wasn’t as worried about this explosion as most people would be. After all, I can disappear into the earth at the snap of my fingers and Kartal doesn’t have a prayer of finding me afterwards. I’m safe enough. That confidence allowed me to smile at him benignly.

“I had things to check up on this morning. Calm down, Kartal. You look like an irate lobster, waving your arms around like that.”

He snapped his mouth shut and gave me a look hot enough to melt metal. “Misbegotten, egotistical Mage,” he snarled between clenched teeth.

“Thumb-sucking Wizard,” I retorted back pleasantly.

He pointed an outraged finger at me. “I did not call you down here in order to get into a childish Insult War with you!”

That’s rather a shame. I haven’t had a decent Insult War in ages. “Then tell me what you do want me to do so I can get it done and get out of here.”

He gestured me to follow him curtly with a sharp wave of the hand. “This way.”

I looked around the Institute idly as I followed Kartal through the building. The place hadn’t changed a bit since my last visit. I still had to dodge people that were so focused on the book or magical doohickey in their hands that they were paying no attention to the outside world. And I could swear that the stacks of scrolls, books, and magical whatchamacallits cluttering the hallways had doubled since my last visit here.

About two stories up, Kartal shoved open a door and stepped inside. I caught a glimpse of the plaque as I entered. It simply read “Chahiran Cave Treasure Room.” I nearly passed it completely when I realized that someone had scribbled a note to the side of the plaque. Curious, I backed up a step to read it: “No, you idiots, ‘treasure’ doesn’t refer to any gold, all right?”

I lifted a hand to my face to cover a snicker.

Under that line someone else had written (in red, no less): “And stop sneaking off with stuff! I know exactly how many items are in here, you dolts, don’t think I don’t notice when you ‘borrow’ things!”

“Garth, what’s the hold up?” Kartal asked impatiently, looking back over his shoulder.

“Sorry, I got sidetracked by the notes on the plaque.” I gestured to them with a nod of the head. “Did people really think there was gold in here?”

He rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t believe some of the rumors that were going around. I had one person stop me and insistently demand that I confirm there was an eternal elixir of youth stashed in one of the crystals. Now come on, you’ve wasted enough time.”

Now, I’m no stranger to chaos. Anyone who had seen my room while growing up would know that I’m familiar with messy rooms. But I’ve never seen a room look quite like this.

There were several long tables that took up the length of the room. Covering the surfaces of these tables were all of the weapons, books, scrolls, crystals, and other paraphernalia that I’d brought from the cave. I’m sure that at first it had been laid out in an organized manner but it wasn’t that way now. Actually, it looked rather like Didi had attempted to organize things, it was that cluttered.

The tables I could sort of understand. It was the little girl that confused me.

Standing at the far end of the room stood a transparent little girl of about six or seven. She was very pretty and obviously Chahiran—her hair was in blonde ringlets, eyes a light green, and she was in a dress cut in an ancient style. I’ve only seen dresses in that square shape with poofy sleeves in history books and old portraits. Aside from the fact that I could see right through her she looked perfectly real.

A ghost?

No, surely not.

As I watched, she was seemingly talking to thin air. “…by extracting the seeds from the center fold one must be careful to not tear the petals. They will be used later in the potion and must be undamaged to reach the desired effect—”

Hearing a potion recipe out of a six-year-old Chahiran was unbelievably odd. I turned to Kartal, hoping for an explanation. “What is going on? Who is she?”

“Yesterday morning Stout stumbled across the crystal that held the Index to all of the crystals.” He had a vexed expression on his face as he watched the little girl.

Considering all the crystals here I thought an Index would be really helpful. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“If we could actually use her, yes, it would be,” he snapped. “As it is, she doesn’t respond to requests. She just spouts off whatever she wants to and changes the subject on a whim! Half the time she doesn’t even finish a thought. We have two intern Wizards right now following her around and writing down everything she says. We’re hoping to piece everything together later in hopes that she’ll return to one of her earlier subjects eventually.”

I was beginning to see why Kartal was so frustrated. “And why were you so insistent that I get here this morning?” Considering the amount of crystals in this room that were yet to be looked at, I couldn’t understand why Kartal was in such a rush to gain access to a handful of specific crystals.

“Because some of the crystals are sealed by an Earth Mage’s power. We’re hoping that one of them will tell us how to operate her—or at least give a hint as to what we need to do to get her attention.”

Ahh. Now I get it. “So which crystals?”

As I followed Kartal, I noticed that Wizards Stout, Toplady, Vertas, and Coles were here as well, all hovering around one crystal. “What’s the Advent Mage Study group doing here?”

“There is no Advent Mage Study group any longer,” Kartal responded sardonically. “You gave them all the answers so the Director disbanded it and re-assigned them here.”

I thought about that for a moment. The most argumentative scholars in this Institute had been assigned to work with Kartal? “How long have they been here?”

“Two weeks.”

“…and you haven’t murdered any of them yet?”

He snorted in black amusement. “It’s been close a few times. It helps that they actually are good researchers. If you can keep them from arguing with each other.”

I found it hard to believe that.

The little girl paused in mid-sentence, head cocking slightly to one side. “Do you wish to delete this information?”

Toplady smacked Stout on the back of the head. “You moron, stop touching the crystal!”

Stout rubbed at his abused head and gave Toplady an injured look. “There has to be a way to actually direct her!”

“Messing with her crystal is also obviously not the way to access her!” Toplady snapped back in exasperation.

“Do you wish to delete this information?” the little girl repeated.

“NO!” the four Wizards yelled in unison.

The Index didn’t seem to hear them. She stopped talking completely. After a long moment of waiting, she raised her arms over her head and started doing little pirouettes around the room.

Granted, she looked rather cute dancing around the room like that, but I couldn’t figure out what the purpose was behind the action. “Why is she dancing?”

“That seems to be her waiting mode,” Kartal answered in an aggrieved tone. “When she’s not talking, she’s dancing.”

…huh. That’s unexpected. Most Indexes in their waiting period just stand there.

“Stop getting side-tracked, Garth.” Kartal beckoned me with an impatient wave. “The crystals are here.”

There were five crystals laid out on a velvet square. They didn’t look any different than the other crystals but they definitely felt different. Kartal was right—these had certainly been touched by Earth Mage power.

I picked up one to study it better. This could not be approached the same way that I had released Shad. For one thing, there was nothing physically inside as far as I could tell. And I definitely didn’t want to melt the crystal down.

“Well?” Kartal prodded impatiently.

“I have no idea,” I admitted with a sigh. “This is different than the crystal Shad was in.”

That was obviously not the answer Kartal wanted. A visible tic developed in his jaw. “Any idea how to undo it?”

“One or two. Let me think for a while.”

He hardly had an option. With ill grace he nodded. “Fine. Call me over when you figure it out.”

“Of course,” I responded amiably.

He grumpily stalked off. I watched him go and thought that if I had been forced to deal with an uncooperative Index and the Advent Mage Study group, I’d be in a rotten mood too. I charitably forgave him for his bad temper.

I turned back to the crystal in my hand. This was truly strange. Small barriers or wards are very difficult for Mages. The crystal was about the size of my ring finger—I couldn’t imagine doing a ward this small. My head would explode from the attempt.

So how had that long ago Mage done it?

Hmmm…

“YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT!”

Huh? Broken out of my revere, I turned around. Coles was getting smacked by both Toplady and Vertas. Oh great, now what had they done?

I turned to look at the Index. She wasn’t doing pirouettes anymore. Actually, she was staring at a wall and talking like she normally was.

“…and then put the krale danga in small doses in with the teran danga. This should bring you the Amora Mixture. Be careful to not make cirods out of such material. It is very abinai. When the Amora Mixture is naia—”

One of the intern Wizards turned to me with a silent plea in his eyes. “Magus, please, what is she saying? That’s not Chahiran, is it?”

“No, that’s Chahiran,” I corrected slowly. “Very ancient Chahiran. I’m not catching all of it myself. She’s using a few words and terms I’ve never heard before. Whatever dialect she is speaking is not one that I’m familiar with.”

“Ancient Chahiran?” Vertas repeated in despair. “But that’s a dead language, isn’t it?”

“Practically,” I agreed. “I think only the Jaunten would know it. And we certainly don’t go around speaking it.”

“Why don’t we just undo whatever Coles did to the crystal?” Stout suggested.

Toplady drew his wand and pointed it at his three colleagues. “I’ll hex the next person that touches that crystal! Try that again and you’ll spend the rest of your life on four legs, in a pond, catching flies with your tongue!”

“But we can fix it!” Coles protested indignantly.

I wasn’t about to try and break them up. I wasn’t going anywhere near that danger zone. My survival instincts were better than that. No, I decided it was much safer for me to go back to the crystal and let Kartal deal with the other Wizards.

Closing my eyes, I focused my full attention on the crystal. With my magical sense I went over every nuance and facet. How strange. There were actually two spells on this crystal. Earth magic and normal spellwork. Was the other magic I was detecting from the information recorded in the crystal?

Hmm…no, that wasn’t entirely it. Part of the magic was for that reason, but not all of it.

What really puzzled me was that the earth magic was in every part of the crystal. If it was for simply shielding purposes, shouldn’t it just be on the surface?

This just doesn’t make sense…

Out of nowhere the answer hit me square between the eyes. I’m an idiot!

“Kartal!” I called urgently.

He stopped waving his wand around in a threatening manner and dashed over like a puppy eager for a treat. “You got it?”

“I’m an idiot,” I told him with a roll of the eyes. “We’re both idiots! This,” I waved the crystal, “was created by earth magic, not shielded with it. It’s just that the earth magic is so strong that you can’t easily see the other spells.”

“Are you telling me,” he demanded crossly, “that I can undo the shields on these myself?”

“Yes, and that this is a wasted trip for me,” I said sarcastically. I slapped the crystal into his palm. “Have at it.”

With a growl he pulled his wand out of his pocket and started firing spells at the crystals. When the wards were off, he put his wand away again in a jerky motion. “While you are here, you might as well help us figure out how to use the Index.”

“I’m not a scholar,” I protested, splaying my hands.

“No, but you are Chahiran. You might think of things a Hainian won’t. Besides, she’s talking in Ancient Chahiran. You can at least understand her most of the time. We don’t have a prayer. And,” he added with a challenging look, “you don’t have anything better to do right now, do you?”

I did have to drag a Chahiran Queen to exile, but that wasn’t until tomorrow. “Nothing today,” I admitted. “All right. Tell me from the beginning. How did you access the Index?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose, expression pained. “I wish I could say it was intentional. Actually, it was almost an accident. Coles undid the warding on the crystal and she just rose out of it.”

“She rose out of it?” I repeated in confusion. The only Indexes I had used were called for or they wouldn’t appear at all.

“What do you require?”

It took a second for me to realize that sweet voice was talking to me. I abruptly spun about. The Index was not two feet away from me, staring at me expectantly.

“She’s talking to you,” Kartal breathed in growing excitement. “She’s actually looking at you and talking in Hainish! Garth, quick, ask for something.”

Huh? Ummm… “How many crystals are there?”

“There are 1,863 crystals,” she responded promptly, eyes never leaving my face. “What information do you require?”

I was suddenly surrounded by magicians that were staring at me like I had just sprouted wings and a halo. I tried to ignore them and focus on the Index. I still had no idea why she was responding only to me. Because I was Chahiran? If that were the case, why didn’t she respond to me when I had walked into the room?

Well, when you don’t know, ask…right? “How do I ask you for information?”

She blinked at me. “You only need to ask a question to access the information stored in the crystals.”

I groaned and rubbed at a temple. Not the answer I needed. I thought for a moment and rephrased the question. “How do I get your attention?”

“By saying my name.”

Now we were getting somewhere! “And what is your name?”

“Rose.”

“Rose,” I repeated in some puzzlement. Indexes generally weren’t named. All you need to say to call one up is “Index” and they would respond.

“I never would have guessed that,” Kartal admitted sourly. “She’s got a name—no wonder she wouldn’t respond to us. Is that a Chahiran’s magical tradition? To name an Index?”

“How should I know,” I retorted in exasperation. “I’m Hainian trained, remember?”

Kartal waved this off as unimportant. “Rose, tell us who created the crystals.”

Her eyes didn’t even so much as twitch in his direction. She kept looking straight at me.

Maybe she didn’t know the answer…? I tried repeating it. “Rose who created the crystals?”

“Wizard Monchjonen.”

Kartal blew out an aggravated breath. “Is she only responding to you because you are Chahiran?”

“Possibly,” I allowed. Since Rose answered every question put to her, I thought it worth a try to make her tell us why she would respond only to me. “Rose, can you only answer questions that a Chahiran asks?”

“No.”

Then why…? “You are allowed to answer questions asked by a Hainian?”

“Yes.”

Okay, so, obviously there’s another reason. “Rose, how many people are in this room?”

“Eight.”

And she could obviously see them. I started scratching my head, completely confused.

One of the interns stepped closer to her, eyes darting between her face and mine. “Magus, say her name again.”

My hand slowly lowered as I looked at him. He obviously had an idea. I could almost see the wheels spinning in his mind. “Rose.”

“Rose,” he repeated carefully.

The Index turned her head and looked at him. “What information do you require?”

“How did you do that?” Kartal demanded of the intern.

“It’s our pronunciation!” the intern responded with growing enthusiasm. “I noticed it when you said her name right after the Magus did. You both pronounced it differently. Magus Rhebengarthen says it more like Ro-ze.”

I smacked myself on the forehead with the palm of my hand. “Of course. In Hain, you say the ‘se’ very softly, almost unpronounced. She doesn’t recognize it as her name when it’s spoken the Hainian way.”

Kartal turned and faced her, jaw squared in a determined line. “Rose,” he enunciated clearly.

She immediately turned her head to look at him. “What information do you require?”

“It worked!” The interns linked arms and started capering around the room, laughing victoriously. The Advent Mage Study group wasn’t far behind them. The only thing that stopped Kartal from following them, I think, was his sense of dignity. As it was, he was smiling like a demented jack-o-lantern.

“Congratulations,” I told him with a laugh. “Your Index Mystery is solved. Can I go home now?”

“Go,” he said with a shooing motion. “You’ve more than done your share. I’ll call you again later if I run across something else that only a Chahiran can unravel.”

And I had no doubt he’d stumble across something else. With a casual salute, I turned and strode out of the room. It was only about mid-afternoon. And I didn’t have anything pressing to do. Maybe Night and I can finally go house hunting…

Toy Soldiers

Upon our return into Chahir after our quick trip to drop off the latest youngsters with magical abilities we had rescued, the first major town that we reached was called Nilton. It was comparable in size to Tobadorage but rather more metropolitan because it was so close to the Hain-Chahir border. We went through the usual motions of acting like a group of foreign travelers and nothing more as we approached the city gates.

As it turns out, that wasn’t necessary.

One of the gate guards stopped us, looking the group over carefully. And then his eyes went straight to me and locked on. “Are you Magus Rhebengarthen?”

How is it that I’m so easily recognizable? Was it the hair? I gave a glance toward Xiaolang, not sure how to respond to this. He gave me an encouraging nod, so I shrugged and answered, “Yes, I am.”

“Magus, we have received word from King Vonlorisen that we are to offer all aid to you upon request.”

…what did he just say?! Vonlorisen had obviously informed everyone in the capitol, but here too? “When?”

“The order reached us three days ago,” he answered respectfully.

Vonlorisen had only been working on this for two weeks. He abolished the Star Order, exiled the Queen who was a member of the Star Order, and reversed the ban on the use of magic within Chahir; and he’d already gotten word out to the whole country? “I see. What is your name?”

“Lieutenant Richlinen.”

I did a half-bow from my saddle, making the leather creak a bit as I moved. “Thank you for the gift of your name, Lieutenant. I appreciate the information. Can you direct us to a good inn?”

“The Rose and Crown is a good one, Magus. Just go straight up the main street. It’ll be on your left.”

“Thank you,” I responded. I waited until we were past the guards, and well out of earshot, before looking at Xiaolang. “Was he telling the truth?”

“Every word,” Xiaolang answered with a slightly dumbfounded look. “He was a little nervous of you at first, but by the time we passed him, he was just…confused, I think.”

“While Chatta and Garth search the city for magicians, we might want to nose about a bit,” Shield suggested to his captain. “We can figure out how well the people are accepting this abrupt change in policy.”

“Good idea,” Xiaolang agreed. “Split up into pairs once we get rooms at the inn.”

There was a chorus of acknowledgements of the order.

The Rose and Crown was indeed a good inn, and the price wasn’t half-bad either. Since we weren’t a hundred percent sure what our welcome would be, Didi still stayed out of sight and Night kept pretending to be a normal stallion. Hayate was exclaimed over, as usual, but Xiaolang was so used to explaining that he bought the dragoo in the Empire of Sol that he knew exactly what to say to allay any suspicions.

Chatta and I retreated up to one of the rooms and locked the door. It wasn’t very big, barely large enough to hold two small beds on opposite walls and a table in between them. Still, the place looked clean enough. She sat on one bed with a bowl of clear water in her lap; I sat on another, closing my eyes to help me concentrate.

When I scry, I lose all track of time. Even after doing it for two years I still became completely absorbed in everything I was sensing, and mundane issues like time just got lost in the process. So I couldn’t tell you how long we were at it when Chatta called for my attention. “Um, Garth?”

She had a really odd note to her voice, like she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. I opened my eyes and looked at her. “Did you find someone?”

“Er…not precisely…”

Huh? I cocked my head at her a bit, puzzled. “Then what?”

“I found evidence that someone was here,” she explained, motioning me closer. “Elemental Mage, I would think.”

I slid off the bed and leaned over the bowl so I could see what she was talking about. Reflected in the water was an image of a building with the Star Order crest on it. You can’t miss their crest. It’s one large, four-point star, set on a shield. The thing was probably as tall as I was. Wait…there’s something funny about that building and that crest…I blinked, wondering if my eyes were playing tricks on me. “Is that building made out of blue stone?”

“Sapphire,” Chatta corrected. “At least, that’s what it looks like.”

I stared at her like she had just lost her mind. “Sapphire?! Chatta, that’s insane, no one makes a building out of precious stones!”

“I know, believe me!” she responded in matching disbelief. “But look at it! Look at the way it reflects light. That stone looks like sapphire. And see how pock-marked it is? It looks like people have been chipping pieces out of the building whenever they get a chance.”

Now that she mentioned it, it did sort of look like the building had leprosy. Huh. “Where is it?”

“Not far, about two blocks from where we’re sitting.”

I made a snap decision. “Let’s go. I think this situation calls for a closer look.”

“No kidding,” she agreed with an emphatic nod. Putting the bowl aside, she extended a hand toward me.

I took it, helping to pull her off the bed. She took advantage of the proximity to give me a hug. I smiled at her and returned it, half grateful and half annoyed that I couldn’t hold her for long. If I possessed the power to change history, I’d go back to that moment when I gave Delheart the oath and find a different way of placating the man. This was becoming really annoying. And it doesn’t help the matter whatsoever that Chatta is so tempting and always making physical contact with me!

.

With a very deep and calming breath, I shelved my impatience and went back to the task at hand. I followed Chatta down the stairs, through the crowded tavern, and out of the inn altogether. Since she knew where the building was, I let her lead. As we walked, I tried to make my mental voice strong enough that Night would hear me. We’re going out to check on something, I told him as clearly as I could. If anyone comes looking for us, we’ll be about two blocks away at the Star Order building.

He must have heard me because he responded in surprise, “The Star Order building? Whatever for?”

We think the building is made out of sapphire.

There was this pregnant pause as if Night had mentally stumbled over the idea and needed a moment to recover. “…run that past me one more time.”

Sapphire, I repeated in amusement. I know, it sounds crazy, but that’s what it looked like in Chatta’s scrying bowl.

“I’m beginning to see why you want to verify this in person.”

Yeah, I thought you might. Anyway, we’ll be back soon.

“Alright.”

The city streets were fairly crowded, and not always with the most trustworthy people. I made sure to keep close to Chatta with my eyes peeled for signs of trouble. Most just glanced at us as we went by but others took a second look, lingering over first Chatta (with her dark hair she was obviously foreign), and then me.

Now, I know that my hair is unusual, but did I really stick out that much? “Chatta, are you sure that I can’t dye my hair?”

“Positive.”

Rats.

She glanced back at me, expression curious. “Does it still bother you?”

“Not really, but I think it’s making me easy to identify.”

“That’s true; the gate guard was able to recognize you on sight, wasn’t he?” It was clearly a rhetorical question because she didn’t wait for a response. “I can’t think of a solution to that off hand, Garth, aside from wearing a hood of some sort. And that will be beastly hot in the summer.”

No kidding. “Maybe a glamour?”

“Now that’s an idea,” she approved. “It wouldn’t last long, of course, but that’s possible. We’ll play with it when we get back to the inn.”

“Okay,” I agreed with cautious hope.

We rounded another two corners before finally coming upon the Star Order building. I searched it mentally and found that the building was completely empty. Had Vonlorisen’s new laws already been enforced to the point that the Order had abandoned the building? And then we got closer to it, and I saw what condition the building was in, and realized that might not be the reason.

The building, up close, was more holes than anything. I could literally see daylight in a few places. And it was definitely made from sapphire. My earth sense was telling me that in no uncertain terms. “It’s sapphire,” I confirmed with disbelief.

“Yes, I can tell.” Chatta shook her head in amazement. “Unbelievable. Would an Earth Mage be able to do this?”

“Probably,” I answered slowly. Sapphire, after all, was stone. A really fancy, pretty, hard stone, but a stone nonetheless. It had frankly never occurred to me to turn a building into sapphire though. “But I’m not sensing any earth magic. Actually, it feels like elemental magic.”

“That’s what I’m seeing, too,” she agreed after a moment. “The spell doesn’t look old, perhaps three days or so.”

That was close to the estimate I had made as well. “So they can’t be too far away. Close enough for us to track down, surely.”

“I would think so. I doubt they’d stay in the city, especially after doing something this flashy, but let’s go back to the inn and double check to make sure we haven’t overlooked them.”

That was a good idea. “And if they’re not here, do we try searching outside of the city?”

“I can’t do that very far, and neither can you,” she pointed out. “We’ll let Xiaolang decide if we get to that point.”

It wasn’t a bad plan so I nodded in agreement.

Chatta looked the building over from base to top and then down again. “Was this a Mage accident, you think?”

It was a valid enough question but my gut instinct was that she was wrong. “I rather doubt that. Most Mage accidents are very spectacular, true, but they are also very messy. The building managed to survive the change intact without any sort of structural damage to it.” The damage had come later. “I can’t imagine that an accidental explosion of magic could do that. Doing something like this would take control or you’d risk the building collapsing.”

“So that means that whoever this Mage is, he’s figured out how to control his abilities?”

“When you put it that way,” I said slowly, “I think you’re right. He or she would have to be able to control their abilities at least in part, wouldn’t they?”

“Or this really is a Mage accident,” she countered with a shrug of her hands, “and it was just a minor miracle the building survived.”

I found that possibility hard to believe. “When we find the Mage, let’s ask them.”

“It’s probably the only way we’ll find out the truth.” She slipped her arm through mine and looked up, her eyes silently asking if doing so was a breach of the oath or not.

I considered it borderline. And I probably shouldn’t have allowed it, but if I didn’t get to touch her somehow, I was going to go stark raving mad. I brought her in a bit closer, encouragingly, and smiled. “Well, let’s go back to the inn. Do you want north or south?”

“I’ll take north of the city, you take south.”

“Hey, Garth?”

Yes, Night.

“I’m dying from suspense, here. Is it really sapphire?”

It really is, I answered in amusement.

“Unbelievable. I’m going to pass the news to the team, alright?”

You’re bored, aren’t you? I guessed. Either that or he wanted a chance to tell the story first.

“You try standing in a stall all day acting like a dumb animal,” he retorted. “And I’ll know they’ll ask this: was it an Earth Mage or an Elemental Mage that did the deed?”

Elemental, we think. And it was done about three days ago. More or less. Pinning down a spell’s age wasn’t an exact science.

“Got it.”

“Night was talking to you?” Chatta ventured.

“Yes, apparently the suspense was killing him. I think he’s bored standing in the stable.”

“I would be,” Chatta muttered.

~~~

Naturally, once Night had told everyone about the sapphire building, the whole team had to go see it for themselves. It was the main topic of conversation that night over dinner. Also naturally, it was Shad that asked the one question I didn’t want to answer.

“So, Garth, why haven’t you done something like this before now, hmmmm?” He waggled his eyebrows mischievously. “You said it was possible with your power. Wouldn’t it make life easier on you if you could just make a big block of diamond or some other jewel whenever you’re short on money?”

I put my spoon down and faced him squarely. “No, Shad, it would actually make life very difficult.”

He blinked, caught flat-footed for a moment. “Why?”

“There are two reasons for this. One, if it ever gets out that I can make precious gems whenever I wish, what do you think people will do?”

“Chase you down and plague you to do it for them,” he answered thoughtfully. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“It would also drastically lower the value of all gems,” Eagle pointed out. “If any gem could be made of any size, the rarity disappears.”

“And that was my second reason,” I stated, inclining my head toward Eagle.

“Pretty good reasons,” Hazard observed as he picked up his tankard.

“Doesn’t the magical counsel also prohibit that sort of thing?” Aletha put the question to both Chatta and me.

Since I had my mouth full, I gestured for Chatta to answer.

“Yes, it does,” Chatta agreed. “There was actually a time, many centuries ago, when magicians weren’t as well regulated and they went a little crazy making gold or jewels or whatever else they felt like doing. The economy of the country collapsed as a result. Ever since then, doing anything of that nature is strictly against the rules.”

This was taken in with a digestive silence.

I was less interested in sapphire buildings and more interested in what the team had spent the day investigating, so I changed the subject. “So what’s the general consensus? How is Chahir taking this abrupt reversal of Vonlorisen’s?”

“I’m not sure if they know how to respond just yet.” Xiaolang idly mopped up the last bit of the gravy on his plate with a piece of bread. “People are rather conflicted. Apparently, the Star Order here was very harsh even on people with no magical abilities whatsoever. I haven’t found a person yet sorry to see them gone.”

“Me neither,” Shield agreed darkly. “And after some of the stories I heard, I don’t blame them.”

Xiaolang nodded in acknowledgement. “What they’re not sure of is how to react to magic. Rumors of what happened in Jarrell have floated down, and while it’s somewhat exaggerated, it still paints a certain Magus in a very positive light. Of course, it also tells of an insane Mage, so I’m not sure if that event is hurting or helping at this point.”

I was afraid of that.

“I heard other rumors too,” Aletha offered. “While I was looking at that building, I had a little old lady tell me that it was the work of a young Mage they had captured. She claimed he was in there about five minutes, and then he turned the cell bars inside to brass and simply broke his way out.”

“I heard something similar to that,” Hazard inputted, attention peaked. “And he apparently rescued a nine year old boy that was in the cell next to his. The boy was supposed to be a Wizard.”

Aletha nodded eagerly as he talked. “That’s what the old lady said too. And she said that the building was turned into sapphire as revenge.”

Hazard had a dubious expression on his face. “Now, I heard that the building was turned into sapphire to serve as a distraction while the boys ran away.”

“It could probably be both,” Shad pointed out. “Having a building turn into this giant sapphire would be pretty distracting.”

Shield was chuckling, a faraway look on his face. “And it’s a unique sense of revenge, if you think about it. No one would be able to leave temptation like that alone. Wouldn’t it be annoying to hear people chipping away at the walls at all hours of the day?”

“Like living in a log house that’s infested with woodpeckers,” I agreed, smiling at the mental image. “No wonder the place is full of holes.”

“You can see why they abandoned it.” Xiaolang was grinning too. “I wish we had been here earlier, just to see their reactions…ah well. Garth, Chatta, since you two haven’t already said anything can I assume that you didn’t find anyone here?”

“Not a soul,” Chatta admitted with a shrug. “We searched a bit outside the city, too, but still couldn’t find anyone.”

Xiaolang lost his smile as he heard this. “Which means the boys are outside of your range. I hate to pick a direction blindly and start looking. We could very well choose the wrong way and have to backtrack. Aletha, Hazard, did anyone offer a description of what the boys looked like?”

Aletha shook her head immediately, looking toward Hazard. Hazard shrugged, splaying one hand in a helpless gesture. “Sorry, Captain. Everything I heard was second hand. I’m not even sure how accurate it is.”

“Garth,” Shad had a too-innocent expression on his face, “couldn’t you go to the building again and pick up on the boy’s trail?”

“Do I look like a bloodhound to you?” I groused at him.

“Well, now that you mention it…”

I chucked a piece of bread at his head, which he ducked. Chatta slapped me on the wrist and hissed, “Behave!”

Frowning down at her I added irritably, “If that were possible, I’d have already done it.”

Xiaolang tapped the table to get our attention back. “We’ll have to fall to basic legwork. I want everyone out tomorrow asking about this. Let’s see if we can’t get at least a basic description and a direction to go off of.”

~~~

The story of the Sapphire Building was quickly becoming a city legend. Everyone knew of it, and most were willing to talk and theorize about it, but few actually knew any facts. Xiaolang divided Chatta and I up, feeling that it would be a better idea to send us different directions to increase our search area. She went with Shield, and I went with Aletha the next morning, going about the city and talking to everyone.

After talking and walking for about three hours, I was ready for a break. The day wasn’t really that hot, but there was no breeze and with all of the walking we were doing, I was heating up quickly. Taking off my jacket had only helped a little. “Aletha, how about we stop for an early lunch?”

“Sounds good,” she admitted with a sigh. “I’m dying of thirst.”

Since neither of us knew the city, I chose the first open air café I saw and led her to it. We sank into iron chairs, put in orders for food and ice water, and just relaxed for a minute.

“Garth?”

I was reveling in the nice cool feel of iron against my skin and didn’t feel like talking much so only responded with, “Hmmm?”

“Chahirans don’t tend to move much, do they? You’ve said something like that before. That most families tend to stay in the same area generation after generation.”

“Right,” I agreed. What was she driving at?

“So wouldn’t that mean that even in a city of this size, everyone would know everybody?”

She had a point. “That was certainly the case in my hometown, and Tobadorage is bigger than Nilton. What are you getting at, Aletha?”

“It just strikes me as odd,” she said slowly, rubbing at her chin, “that no matter whom we ask, we can’t get much more than a basic description. If these two boys were from this city, wouldn’t people know who they are?”

…I’m an idiot and I should have figured that out much sooner. “You’re right. Absolutely right. But if that’s the case, asking around in the city won’t do us an ounce of good.”

“Not unless one of the team stumbles across someone who actually saw them leave town,” she agreed with a groan. “Which means the past three hours might have been a waste of time.”

Maybe, maybe not. I wasn’t going to leap to any conclusions on that. “So what now?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted.

Our glasses of water arrived and were set quickly in front us before the waitress moved on. The conversation stalled long enough for us to gulp the entire contents of the glass. I felt infinitely better after consuming that nice, cool water.

“Garth…” Aletha visibly hesitated, mouth working as if she were searching for the right words.

“Ask,” I encouraged her in amusement. “I won’t take it the wrong way.”

“You do realize that Chatta is going crazy about that oath, don’t you?”

I winced. “Yes, I realize. She never says anything, but…” Chatta had ways of letting me know how she felt about something without saying one word. I was getting a lot of unhappy cues recently.

“I’m just wondering why you haven’t done something about it. Normally, when you realize that Chatta wants something, you instantly respond. I just thought, especially considering how you feel, that you would have done something already.” She paused and added, “You can tell me to leave off. I know it’s not really any of my business.”

No, it wasn’t, but Aletha was a good friend to me and Chatta. And it was obvious she only brought it up because she was concerned. “There are two reasons for this. One is that I can’t leave the team in Chahir again unguarded. I just can’t risk a repeat of what happened last time.”

She nodded, accepting this. “I thought that was part of it. But what’s your other reason?”

I couldn’t help but smile ruefully. “A few months back, Delheart and I had a little talk. He was worried about my intentions, I think. I assured him at the time that she was the dearest friend in the world to me but only a friend.”

Aletha gave me a slightly appalled look. “You didn’t!”

“Unfortunately, I did,” I groaned.

“…oh dear.”

I nodded, resigned. “I know. He’s not going to take this abrupt reversal well. I’ve been trying to figure out what to say.”

Aletha’s lips were twitching suspiciously, as if she were struggling not to smile. “You really can get yourself into situations, can’t you?”

“It’s a gift,” I agreed dryly. “But I do have a trump card.”

She gave me an odd look. “A trump card?”

“Chatta.” When her blank expression didn’t change, I elaborated. “Delheart has a very soft spot for his daughter. What Chatta wants, Chatta gets. If I don’t secure his permission to marry her, for whatever reason, I’m sending Chatta his direction. I have no doubt he’ll fold at that point.”

“So you won’t consider eloping?”

“Are you kidding? My mother will kill me.” I shuddered in true horror. “No, I’d rather live a long life, thanks.”

Aletha started laughing, shaking her head in mirth. “Knowing your mother, you’re right. But I’m curious, why haven’t you thought of using Guin to argue your point? You know he’d be delighted to step in and help.”

I actually hadn’t considered that. “I’m not sure if that’s entirely wise…” I finally stated, after considering it from every angle. “Mixing political connections with personal issues never works out well in the end. And I don’t want my future father-in-law feeling like I strong armed him into this. That’ll definitely put us off on the wrong foot.”

“Save it for a last resort,” she advised.

Our food arrived, and we heartily dug in. As I chewed, I ran what Aletha said over and over in my mind. The boys couldn’t be from the city otherwise everyone here would have an idea of who they are. So if not from here, where? The young Wizard would be darn near impossible to track. There were so many families with a rich magical heritage that it would be extremely difficult to trace any of them down. But the Mage…how many families boasted Elemental Mages?

“Garth? What’s wrong? You’ve stopped eating.”

I snapped my fingers. “That’s it. Aletha, we’re approaching this wrong. What we need to do is go back and check the Index and see which families produced Elemental Mages. There can’t be that many; I only remember seeing two or three references. And then from there, we’ll have an idea of who we’re looking for.”

“Now, that is a good idea,” she declared. “Call up Chatta and tell her to pass the word along.”

“Better, I’ll tell Night, and have him pass the message along.” He was the one that could reach everyone, after all. I closed my eyes and focused my thoughts. Night?

“Yes, Garth.”

Aletha just had an insight. I briefly explained what thoughts we had and what conclusion we came to, ending with, Contact the team, will you? Tell them what we think and see if they agree.

“I certainly do. Hold on a moment.”

Opening my eyes, I told Aletha, “He thinks we’re on the right track. He’s telling everyone now.”

“Ummm…”

I turned, looking behind me for the source of that uncertain noise. Our waitress was standing two feet away, her tray in both hands and held close to her chest in a nervous gesture. Now that I was properly looking at her, she was quite pretty in a way, despite the jug ears. I gave her my most friendly smile, the one that said I wouldn’t hit a fly unprovoked. “Yes?”

Her eyes darted uncertainly between Aletha and I. “Are you mages?”

I exchanged glances with Aletha. Apparently the waitress had picked up enough of our conversation to make an educated guess as to what we are. Was it entirely wise to admit to it? She shrugged, indicating the choice was mine. Since Xiaolang had already encouraged me to admit to my status with the gate guard, I hoped it would be safe to admit to it again. “My companion isn’t, but I am. I am Magus Rhebengarthen.”

“Magus…” she whispered almost breathlessly, eyes flying wide. She bobbed a nervous bow. “Thank you for the gift of your name. I am Doreliahan.”

It was obvious she was very nervous. I gentled my tone even more, trying not to scare her. “Thank you for the gift of your name, Doreliahan. Is there something you wish of me?”

“Um…” she bit at her bottom lip, took a deep breath, and blurted out, “Ancient tales held that you could request anything of a mage and they’d do it for a price, is that still true?”

I blinked. A Chahiran was asking a mage for help? And it wasn’t a life or death situation? Maybe the world was spinning counter clockwise today… “Yes, true if the mage believes the request is within reason. What specifically do you need me to do?”

“The kilns for the café are falling apart,” she admitted slowly. “We don’t have the money to replace them and it’s impossible for us to repair them. I can’t pay you much, but if you could just fix one…”

If it meant earning trust for magicians in Chahir, I’d do it for free. I bit my tongue before I said that and just stood. “Show me. If it takes little time on my part, I won’t charge you much.”

Doreliahan perked up a bit at this, looking more hopeful. “This way, please.”

Aletha stood and followed me closely as we were led toward the back of the café. In Hainish, I muttered to her, “Afraid of an ambush?”

“I doubt it will happen, but I’d rather not take chances,” she murmured back. “Besides, if anything happened to you, Chatta would skin me.”

Yes, she probably would. I yanked a smile off my lips and focused on Doreliahan’s back.

All movement stopped in the kitchen as we walked through it. Several people watched us warily as we weaved our way around tables and crates of food toward the back door. Judging from their resemblance to Doreliahan, I took this to be a family operated restaurant. It was a relief when we stepped out into the back yard of the café, escaping all of those wary eyes.

The yard wasn’t big, meant more for storing firewood and doing minor butchering than anything. Off to the side were two brick kilns, and I could instantly see what the problem was. They were badly cracked all over, crumbling in places, and obviously older than the hills. No wonder she said repair wasn’t possible. There were patches on top of patches.

Doreliahan hovered nearby, wringing her hands, as I knelt and did a better inspection. A normal stone mason couldn’t do anything with these kilns, but I was hardly normal. For me, this wouldn’t take much effort. I twisted about and gave her a reassuring nod. “I can fix this. Is there anything in these kilns now?”

She shook her head, smiling in relief. “No, my Lord Magus, not a thing. We had to stop using them last week.”

“Good.” I turned back toward the kilns and focused. From bottom to top, I renewed the stone and mortar, making it over again until it was practically brand new. I heard Doreliahan gasp behind me and I nearly shook my head. Really, if this amazed her, I wonder what her reaction would be to the stories I was famous for? Kilns were a piece of cake compared to creating islands.

It took perhaps a minute to fix both kilns and then I stood up again. “Done. As this didn’t take much time or energy on my part, Doreliahan, why don’t we just say that lunch was free?”

“B-but that’s not enough for payment!” she protested.

“Yes, it is,” I corrected firmly. “Doreliahan, compared to the tasks I’m normally assigned, this was very easy.”

She reluctantly subsided, although I had the feeling she would have continued to argue the point if she could only figure out how.

I smiled at her and gave a half-bow. “And thank you, for having the courage to approach me. I wish more people had the same courage.”

She smiled back, timidly. “Thank you, for your help.”

“Anytime, Doreliahan. And I mean that. At any time, if anyone needs help, all they have to do is ask. I’ll respond.”

She nodded. “I’ll remember.”

“Good.” I was nearly back in the kitchen before I thought to add, “Thank you for lunch, it was quite delicious.”

She didn’t seem to know quite how to respond to that.

Aletha started chuckling once we gained the street again. “That poor girl is so star struck she was completely tongue tied.”

Star stuck? I frowned at Aletha, puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“Great guardians, do you not realize how charming you can be? No, I can tell by that look on your face, you really don’t. Oh dear. Chatta will definitely have to keep an eye on you.” Aletha chuckled, completely entertained.

I turned the last five minutes over in my head, trying to figure out what she meant. Doreliahan had looked pleasantly surprised, certainly, but star struck? “I was just trying not to scare her.”

“Well, you succeeded in that, at least.”

Night’s voice in my head was a pleasant distraction. “Garth, Xiaolang told me to tell you that you’re both brilliant. He wishes he had thought of that earlier. Meet back at the inn now, he wants to go over the Index and see where we should go next.”

Understood, we’ll be there soon. “Xiaolang thinks we’re right,” I repeated for Aletha’s benefit. “He wants us to meet back at the inn now.”

Aletha waggled her eyebrows teasingly. “Lead on, my Lord Magus.”

“Oh, stop that,” I ordered in exasperation.

~~~

We all crowded into Xiaolang’s room at the inn, taking any available surface to sit on. Since there wasn’t much room to begin with, Shad generously offered a knee to both girls. Aletha laughed and took the offer. I was relieved when Chatta refused, choosing to cast a levitating spell on herself instead. Seeing her perfectly at ease, sitting on thin air, was a sight all by itself. Besides, judging from the disappointment on Shad’s face, he would have used her close proximity to torment me.

Since Xiaolang struggles with reading Chahirese, I leaned over his shoulder, making sure he didn’t miss anything. We were both familiar enough with the book that it didn’t take us long to find it.

As it turns out, there was a family nearby that was famous for producing Elemental Mages. The Lon family were well documented in the Index, and were from Findor, a city not an hour away.

Xiaolang tapped a thoughtful finger against the entry in the Index. “Findor.”

“Findor,” I agreed, straightening from where I had been reading over his shoulder. “At least, that’s our surest bet at the moment. He could be from the Rhei family, like Jenna.”

“She’s from much further north, though,” Xiaolang pointed out. “I find it hard to imagine that a Mage, no matter how gifted, could travel this far without being caught and executed already.”

I found it rather hard to imagine as well.

“Alright, people, pack up,” Xiaolang ordered. “I want to be in Findor by mid-afternoon.”

We obediently scrambled, going to our own rooms and repacking our gear.

~~~

We made it to Findor at about two o’clock that afternoon. It wasn’t a terribly large town, about the size of Jward I think, but it was nestled into the crook of three mountains and seemed larger because of it. The size was convenient, as it wasn’t so large that searching for people with magical talents was impossible. I was grateful for this, as it spared me a headache. We were nearly to the front gate of the town when I had managed to finish my search.

“Xiaolang,” I called ahead of me and waited until he turned around before continuing, “no magicians here.”

He nodded, not particularly surprised. “All right. In that case, let’s find an inn to settle in for tonight. We’ll spend the rest of today asking around to see if there really was an Elemental Mage here.”

We followed Xiaolang down the main street, moving at a casual walk. I was not oblivious to the fact that we were gathering attention, but considering our team, that wasn’t unusual. What was rather unusual was the pointing, and the people conferring with each other in low voices.

“I think they’ve already heard about the new laws,” Hazard noted idly to me.

“I rather think you’re right.” I looked around me thoughtfully, gauging the situation. “So what’s the normal procedure for finding information about a person? We’ve always just stumbled across witches, wizards and mages before this.”

“Normally there’s an informant of some sort in a city of this size. Shield and I go to one of the seedier bars and start asking around until we find the right person to talk to.” Hazard shrugged. “The Cap’n will probably do something like that this time around.”

I certainly couldn’t think of a different way to approach the problem.

Have you ever known instinctively that something was off, even though you couldn’t quite put your finger on it? I frowned slightly, unable to pinpoint what was bothering me. With more care for detail, I turned in every direction, intently scanning my surroundings.

“Garth?” Hazard was looking around us too, alert because of my reaction.

“There’s something…huh?!” I instinctively pulled Night to a stop so that I could really look. There was a typical Star Order building on the main road—no surprise—but instead of the iron bars I normally saw on their windows, these were brass. Brass. What kind of an idiot puts brass bars on prison windows? Considering how malleable brass is, even a weak woman could kick her way out!

“What?” Hazard demanded, staring in the same direction I was, obviously trying to figure out why I was reacting the way I was.

“The bars,” I pointed a finger at them. “They’re brass…wait a minute, there’s a trace of Elemental magic on those bars!”

Our actions had not gone unnoticed. Chatta and Eagle turned back and came around to join us in time to hear my last statement. Eagle stared at the bars in question with a sort of piqued interest. “A Mage created them?”

“Transformed them,” Chatta corrected. She was staring at the bars with narrowed eyes. “And the magic here is older than that sapphire building. Which means he’s been heading south…”

“So we traveled in the wrong direction,” I completed the thought with a groan.

“That’s the size of it,” she admitted darkly.

I swallowed the urge to start cursing my luck. Out loud.

Xiaolang trotted over. “What’s the hold up?”

I succinctly filled him in about the bars, ending with, “We went in the wrong direction.”

Xiaolang grimaced. “Well, we came up here more for information than anything else. At least we know he was here.”

That was a positive point.

With a sigh of frustration, our Captain gave a circular motion with his hand. “Let’s find an inn.”

We settled into a modest inn called the Silver Hammer. It was clean, although a little rough on the edges. I gathered from the innkeeper’s expression of delight that his usual patrons were locals who wanted nothing more than ale and food. He was too far off the main roads to attract many travelers. Seeing a party of our size was like hitting an unexpected jackpot.

With our gear in our rooms, and the horses stabled (which included a tired Night) we went back out again, searching for information. We separated in pairs, wanting to cover as much ground as possible. I was pleased when Chatta came with me. Cautiously hopeful about getting some answers, we went toward the west part of the city.

This is where the problems started cropping up.

People were strangely close-mouthed here. They either wouldn’t talk at all about the boys, or they were very vague in the recent events revolving around those brass bars. Even Chatta, with her considerable charm, wasn’t making much in the way of headway. This reaction was so different from all of the other places that we had been in, it just confused me. And then, after talking with several people in a row, a glimmer of an idea started to revolve in my mind.

As we walked away from yet another suspicious person I leaned in close to Chatta and murmured, “Is it just my imagination, or are they acting protective of this Mage?”

“I don’t think it’s just your imagination,” she refuted quietly. Her expression was rather thoughtful. “I’ve gathered the same impression. Do you suppose he’s a local?”

“Odds are good,” I admitted. He didn’t have to be, though. I’ve seen many a hometown that was harsh on their young people showing a magical ability. “I don’t think just talking to people randomly is going to get us anywhere.”

She sighed and gave a glum nod. “I agree. Suggestions?”

“Dinner?” I responded hopefully.

She rolled her eyes, a grin slowly appearing on her face. “Well, I admit it’s more productive than just wandering around aimlessly…”

That settled it, to my mind. Taking her hand, I tugged her back in the direction of the inn.

Laughing, she followed along without a word of protest.

~~~

We were lingering over the remains of an excellent dinner when Shad and Xiaolang showed back up. Just going from their expressions, I would say that their search was just as fruitless as ours had been. They both looked rather irritated. The telling point was that Shad also looked as if he were contemplating mischief, as he had that gleam in his eye that spoke of trouble. Xiaolang, interestingly enough, had the same sort of gleam. It was normal for Shad to be looking for trouble. It wasn’t for Xiaolang. I mentally started bracing myself.

“No luck?” Chatta inquired as they joined us at the table.

“Yes and no,” Xiaolang sighed. He sat back with a groan, the wood in the chair creaking. “No luck from the townspeople, no. We did find an informant that gave us something to go off of, though.”

“That’s good,” I observed cautiously.

“Maybe. Thing is, we’re not convinced that he’s telling the truth.”

“In other words, C2 says the idiot’s lying through his teeth,” Shad translated as he snatched an uneaten roll from my plate, “we just can’t prove it.”

“My empathy,” Xiaolang explained briefly. “I can tell when someone is lying. About half of what I was told was plain lie. The other half…well, I’m not too sure about it either. But he was the only informant we found that was willing to talk to us.”

“Yeah, the rest wouldn’t even pipe up,” Shad admitted glumly. “So, here’s where our sneaky plan comes into play.”

Sneaky plan, was it? Oh boy. I nodded for him to continue.

“See, the informant is your typical weasely, greasy man no one particularly likes. He’d sell his own mother. The only way to get the truth out of him is to scare him.” Shad beamed at Chatta and I in a manner that could only be described as wolfish. “This is where you two come in.”

I had a feeling he was going to say something like that. “You want Chatta and me to scare him into line?”

“Yup.”

“Using magic?” Chatta inquired thoughtfully. She seemed intrigued by the idea.

“You have free reign,” Xiaolang assured her. “Whatever you think will work.”

I found it odd that Xiaolang would encourage violence. He was usually the last to do so. “Is this informant stupid or…?”

“His aura is as dark as a Star Order Priest,” Xiaolang answered with a dark frown. “There’s no need to show mercy to the likes of him.”

Ahhh. I was beginning to see. I exchanged a thoughtful glance with Chatta. I could think of a few things off the top of my head that would make someone talk without actually causing them lasting damage. “Any ideas?”

“A few,” she admitted, a slow smile taking over her face. “So where is this informant?”

“Hazard is sitting on him,” Xiaolang answered dryly.

I hope he didn’t mean that literally, otherwise the weasel informant probably couldn’t breathe by now. Hazard was a large man. “Let’s go,” I urged.

~~~

Xiaolang and Shad led us to a very shabby inn on the poorer side of town. I could tell just from the looks of the place that it was a regular spot for shady dealings. Normally, I wouldn’t have let Chatta take one step near it. Since we had to go in there, I definitely wasn’t going to let her out of my sight. My fingers started twitching towards my bon’a’lon as we crossed the threshold of the building.

I had to blink a few times to adjust my eyes to the dimmer lighting. Even then I couldn’t see much because of all the smoke. My guess was that the chimney was blocked somewhere…or more likely, hadn’t been cleaned properly in a while. It might be a blessing that my vision was obscured. I was pretty sure that I didn’t want to see the occupants of this place, and I especially didn’t want to see what they were doing.

Xiaolang led us straight up a set of rickety stairs that creaked alarmingly with every step. I didn’t breathe easy until we reached the second landing. He ducked into the first room to our right.

I was the last to enter the room, and so shut the door behind me. The whole team was in the narrow confines of the room. Aletha, Shield, and Eagle were sitting on the only bed. A man I didn’t recognize was in the only chair, Hazard looming over him. This must be the informant, then. Shad’s description of a weasel wasn’t far off, really. He had a long, thin face, narrow eyes, and messy colorless hair that obscured most of his eyes. I could smell him from five feet away. Judging from the ragged and tattered state of his clothes, this wasn’t a very prosperous informant.

“Now, Mr. Slate,” Xiaolang said in a deceptively mild voice, “it turns out that I don’t believe what you told me.”

Slate’s eyes were darting around the room in panic. “I can’t help it if what I told you isn’t what you wanted to hear—”

“You were lying to me,” Xiaolang corrected, voice almost gentle.

Slate gulped; obviously he heard the menace in those words as clearly as the rest of us did.

“We’re going to give you one more chance to be truthful.” Xiaolang dropped all pretense of cordiality and let a dark frown sweep over his face. “I suggest you use it. Facing you are a Witch and an Earth Mage. I’ve given them free reign to do whatever is necessary to get the truth out of you.”

I figured this was my cue. I took a step forward, capturing Slate’s attention. His eyes snapped to me, a little wide with fear. His hands, clenched in his pants, were shaking.

“Earth Mage,” he started babbling, the words tumbling over each other so fast I was barely able to catch them all, “Earth Mage he says but there’s only one Earth Mage and that’s the Advent Mage and there’s no way he can be here in front of me—”

“Why not?” I cut him off. Maybe, just maybe, we could use my overblown reputation to scare him into talking without actually doing anything. “You’re an informant, Slate. What’s the information going around about the Advent Mage?”

Slate paused and really looked at me. “H-he’s from southern Chahir…”

“I’m from Tobadorage,” I responded blandly.

Slate’s hands started trembling even more. “He’s a man of n-normal height with long white hair…”

I pulled my hair over one shoulder and waved the end of it in the air.

All of the blood in Slate’s face started draining away. In a reed thin voice he finished, “…and his magic glows green…”

Just for the finishing touch, I created a small, globe-shaped barrier in my palm. It naturally glowed green, as all of my barriers do. I cocked an eyebrow at him and waited.

Slate looked about ready to pass out and hit the floor. Then his eyes hardened and he shook his head, expression becoming distrusting. “You could be tricking me. What I said is commonly known.”

Busted brass buckets, I should of have known this would be too easy. Alright, I guess we were back to plan A. I looked at Chatta, letting the barrier dissolve. “So? How shall we do this?”

“Well…” she drew out the word, clearly thinking. “You could open a nice, deep hole in the earth while I dangle him over it. Maybe if he faces being dropped a mile into the earth, he’ll feel like talking.”

Slate froze and stared at her as if he wasn’t quite sure if he believed her or not.

Shad heaved an aggravated sigh. “Now beautiful, where is your creativity? You can do better than that.”

“Then what do you suggest?” she challenged.

“Turn him into a toad,” he encouraged with all of the enthusiasm of a child.

“Do you know how difficult that is?” she responded in exasperation, apparently oblivious that Slate was watching her as if she had just sprouted flowers out of her ears. “There’s weight and body size to factor in, you know. Condensing a human of Slate’s size into the body of a toad is very difficult. Can’t I do a goat instead?”

“A goat could butt us,” Shad pointed out with forced patience. “I want an animal that can’t do us a lick of harm.”

“Will you two be serious?” Shield demanded, idly weaving a loose thread from his shirt in between his fingers. “How is an animal supposed to be able to talk? The whole point of this is to get him to tell the truth.”

“He’s got a point,” Aletha drawled. “What if you make his body repellant to water, like you did with my cloak?”

“He’d dehydrate that way,” Shad acknowledged, “and probably die from it, but wouldn’t that take a while?”

“About five days,” Chatta stated dryly, “and that won’t work as the charm will repel all water, including what’s in his body.”

“Is that bad?” Hazard inquired in interest. “It won’t kill him, right?”

“Hazard, seventy percent of the body is made out of water, what do you think will happen?”

Hazard gave a slow nod. “A messy death, probably. Okay, it was a bad idea.”

“What about dyeing his skin funny colors?” Aletha suggested, an impish smile on her face. “The embarrassment alone should get him.”

“That works better on women than men,” Eagle objected. “That wouldn’t make me talk, at least.”

“So what do men fear?” Chatta queried archly. “Hair loss?”

All of the men looked at each other. I was the only one that was brave enough to nod and admit, “That is rather an issue…or it would be, if I weren’t marrying a talented Witch.”

Chatta grinned up at me smugly.

“It’s still not scary enough,” Shad objected with a vehement shake of the head. “Come on, people, be more devious than this.”

“Talking like a girl?” Hazard ventured uncertainly.

“That’s sick and just wrong,” I objected.

“I like it!” Shad protested. “Come on, beautiful, give it a try?”

“At least this one’s viable…” Chatta muttered under her breath. She drew her wand from one sleeve and pointed it at Slate. He stared back at her, half ready to bolt, I think, if only he could figure out which direction to bolt to.

When she cast the spell, she did it so low under her breath I couldn’t hear more than the words “feminine” and “lie.” As she lowered her wand again she told Slate, “From this point on, if you lie, your voice will sound extremely girlish.”

He nervously cleared his throat. “I don’t believe—” abruptly he cut himself off, one hand flying to clasp his throat. The voice had indeed changed, not sounding like his own rough rasp but rather like an eight year old girl’s.

Shad hooted with laughter, slapping a hand against his leg. “Now that’s funny! Go on, Slate, lie some more!”

Xiaolang rolled his eyes. “As entertaining as this is, that won’t get him to talk. All it will do is make him clamp his mouth tighter. Chatta, kindly remove the spell. And this time, I want more sensible suggestions.”

Chatta reluctantly removed the spell. Judging from her expression, she’d found it pretty funny too.

A brief pause fell as we started seriously considering better options. Slate watched us all with bug eyes, like a rabbit would facing a hungry den of wolves. His nerve hadn’t broke yet, but there was a fine sheet of sweat beading on his skin, and I was silently betting with myself that he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.

“I could make him reverse in age a year every time he told a lie,” Chatta suggested suddenly.

“That’s not a punishment,” Xiaolang objected. “People want to get younger, usually.”

“Fine, then I can make him age a year when he tells a lie,” she parried immediately. After a pause she added thoughtfully, “Although I’m not sure I remember the spell to reverse it…”

Slate whimpered softly and cringed further into his chair, trying to sink into the wood.

“That’s not fun, either,” Shad objected. “I mean sure, it’s doable and all, but isn’t there something else we can do that’s better? Something’s that more obvious?”

Eagle perked up, staring at his hand with a thoughtful expression. “What about making his limbs grow into disproportionate sizes?”

Quite a few of the team nodded, me included. That was a good threat. I wasn’t sure how practical that would be, though… I looked at Chatta. “Can you do it?”

“Well, I could…” she answered doubtfully. “But it’s really complicated. I’m not sure if I remember the incantation right…”

Slate started to slide out of his seat. With one hand, Hazard caught him by the scruff of his neck and jerked him back upright.

Glancing at Eagle she added, “A better option is for him to simply gain weight instead. Say, he gains ten pounds whenever he tells a lie. Best yet, I don’t have to worry about reversing it because he’ll be able to lose the weight himself.” With an evil smirk she drawled, “Eventually, that is.”

Shad threw a hand up in the air. “I vote for that one! Who’s with me?”

Everyone but Xiaolang and Chatta immediately added in their approving votes. Xiaolang just nodded, fighting a smile, while Chatta drew her wand again.

With a brief incantation—again spoken too softly for me to really catch—and a wave of the wand, she put the spell into place. “Alright, Xiaolang, the basic spell is in place. Tell me when he lies, and I’ll activate it.”

Xiaolang nodded at her before turning his full attention to Slate. “Now,” he said genially, “let’s try this again, shall we? Was there an amateur Mage here not long ago?”

Slate licked dry lips, wide eyes on Chatta. “No.”

“Lie,” Xiaolang pronounced calmly.

Chatta flicked her wand slightly. The result was almost instantaneous. Within a minute, Slate’s right hand grew to about five times its original size. I stared in a sort of repulsed fascination. She had made him gain all ten pounds just on one hand?!

I’m so glad I’m on this woman’s good side.

Slate screeched like a wet, stepped on cat, cradling his suddenly fat hand to his chest. He was staring at Chatta like she was some sort of devil that just appeared to torment him.

Shad and Aletha started cackling behind their hands, thoroughly entertained.

Xiaolang clapped his hands loudly, grabbing Slate’s attention again. “Focus, Slate, or the rest of you will quickly becoming alarmingly obese. Was the Mage here?”

“Yes!” Slate nearly yelled, hunching over his hand.

“Good, we’re going in a better direction,” Xiaolang approved. His tone and expression wouldn’t have been out of place at some formal dinner instead of interrogating a man. “Now, do you know who the Mage was?”

“No.”

“Lie,” Xiaolang observed to Chatta idly.

Shad quickly requested, “Do something beside his other hand.”

Chatta paused, assessing Slate for a moment before shrugging in assent. “Alright. Here, then.”

Slate’s chin quickly developed into four chins, the bottom of which rested against his collarbone. Seeing this rickety thin man with four chins was ridiculously funny. I choked back laughter, hiding a smile behind one hand. Practically everyone else in the room was doing the same thing.

“Who is the Mage, Slate?” Xiaolang patiently repeated. His expression was still bland, supposedly unaffected by the sight in front of him. Really, the man has excellent facial control.

“Tall fellow, about seventeen,” Slate suddenly babbled out, twitching like a cornered animal. “Sandy blond hair, big as a mountain.”

Now we were getting somewhere. We had a physical description, at least.

“What was his name?” Xiaolang asked.

Slate hesitated, face stark with terror. “I-I—”

“Name,” Xiaolang demanded, voice growing colder.

“I don’t know!” the informant blurted.

“Lie.”

Chatta hit his foot this time, which bulged out of the leather of his shoe. Judging from Slate’s wince, the shoe was suddenly much too tight.

“Now, Slate,” Shad put a mock-friendly hand on the informant’s shoulder, making the man flinch. “I’d stop lying if I were you. For one thing, you’re going to have to go through a lot of trouble to get your hand, foot and chin back to the right size. Really, can you imagine what sort of ridiculous exercises you’re going to have to go through? I can’t even imagine what sort of motion you’ll have to do to get your chin right again. Why don’t you just tell us the truth, eh?”

“He’d said he’d put me in an eternal prison of quartz if I told anyone!” Slate was about on the verge of tears.

“Slate, he can’t come back and do that to you; he’s on the run from the Star Priests, remember?” I reminded the man tartly. “Use your brains, man. Now, what was his name?”

Slate stared down at his ten-pound-heavy hand for a long moment. Shakily he whispered, “Lonjaroden.”

I couldn’t help but hiss in triumph. A Lon Mage! I recognized it from the Index. If my memory served me right, then the Lons were originally from this area. Which meant that he had to be from this area.

Well, no wonder the locals didn’t want to talk about the kid. They were trying to protect one of their own.

“One last question, Slate, and you’re free to go,” Xiaolang encouraged with that scary gentle smile of his. “Where was he heading?”

“South, but I don’t know if he had a particular destination.” Slate stared up anxiously at Xiaolang. “Honest, I don’t know more than that!”

“That,” Xiaolang observed dryly, “was definitely the truth. Chatta?”

With a last wave of the wand, she released the spell, allowing all of the extra weight to disappear. Slate slumped with a whimper of relief.

“Well.” Xiaolang gave the informant a coolly courteous nod. “Slate, it was…interesting…doing business with you. Good day.” With a wave of the fingers, he motioned all of us out.

As we all thumped our way out of the room, Shad observed to no one in particular, “We’ve gotta torture people more often, it is almost as much fun as dodging magical fireballs.”

I leaned forward and murmured in Chatta’s ear, “I think we’ve created a monster.”

“No kidding,” she whispered back in despair.

~~~

It was all well and good to finally know who we were looking for, and have a description of them, but it still left us the problem of where to look first. Lonjaroden had been heading in a southerly direction when we stumbled across his trail, true enough, but that didn’t mean he stuck with it. We had no idea of what his goal was. He could have headed east or west on a whim and we wouldn’t know it.

The topic at dinner that night revolved around this problem. When dessert arrived we still hadn’t really thought of a solution.

“Garth, can’t you detect him at all?” Shad asked plaintively. “He’s an Elemental Mage, right? That’s close enough to your power that you should be sensitive to it.”

I cut him a sideways glare. “One of these days, Shad, we’re going to sit down and have a long talk about the differences between Mages. For now I’ll say no, that’s not true, and I’m not a bloodhound!”

“The real problem is he’s outside of our immediate range.” Chatta was staring absently up at the ceiling, her thoughts a million miles away. “We need to search a broader area so that we can find his location and then pick him up.”

“Like a Watchman Pool?” Shield suggested.

She nodded in resignation. “Something like that. If we had one nearby that would be very handy.”

From a breast pocket, Xiaolang drew out a very tattered paper. Clearing a space in front of him, he started unfolding it, revealing the map of Chahir he seemed to carry with him at all times. “According to Don, there was a Watchman Pool about a hundred miles from here.”

“We won’t save much time going a hundred miles out of our way just to use that pool,” Aletha observed doubtfully.

“Not riding there, no,” Xiaolang agreed with a pointed look at me.

I could pretty much guess from his expression what he was thinking. “Earth path?”

“Why not? Vonlorisen is advertising our presence in Chahir left and right. I fail to the see the point of restricting magic now.”

I agreed with him and nodded to show my willingness. “Alright.” Seeing Aletha grimace—she hated being down there—I added, “It won’t be much of a trip. A half an hour at most, I would think.”

She only looked partially relieved to hear this. Mostly, she looked resigned to her fate.

“Everyone get a good night’s sleep,” Xiaolang ordered as he rose from the table. “We’ll get an early start in the morning.”

~~~

Despite what Xiaolang had said about getting an early start, we didn’t really. I mean, we could have, but everyone knew very well that I just don’t function in the mornings. Not until I’ve had breakfast and about a half hour to properly wake up, that is. Everyone undertook to delay Xiaolang, to give me enough time to wake up until he finally gave up on the early start time.

They didn’t want me navigating the earth path half-asleep. I couldn’t imagine why….

Regardless, it was mid-morning before we reached the Watchman Pool. I brought us up near the front entrance. This building seemed to have weathered the onslaught of time a bit better than the others I’d seen, although the base of it was still choked with weeds. Prickly weeds with thorns, I might add. None of us went anywhere near those thorny things until Chatta burned a path clean for us.

The door was rusted shut, though. I undertook to make a new doorway for us in a different place instead of fighting corroded hinges. This building was a little different in layout from the other one we had been in—the door opened straight to the pool. There were other doorways around the edges of the pool, which I assumed lead to other rooms. None of us felt the particular need to investigate further and just settled inside. The general, silent consensus was that we’d take advantage of being lazy a bit while we could.

Chatta went straight to the pool’s edge and started peering into it intently. As I can’t use a scrying pool at all, I chose to sit next to her and just look over her shoulder. She was scanning through the land so fast that I really couldn’t tell where she was looking. Nothing looked familiar to me. She stopped abruptly and backtracked at a slower pace.

“There,” she pointed a finger at the pool, “do you see it?”

Indeed I did. It was a Star Order building…made of emerald. It was rather an obvious sign of Lonjaroden’s passing in my opinion. “Can you see how old it is?”

“About two days,” she said slowly, peering at it in concentration. “Maybe less. Its further south than the sapphire building we found.”

“So he was still heading south then…” I looked around to tell Xiaolang, only to find him standing right behind Chatta, leaning over her to see into the pool as well.

“Can you keep searching further south?” he asked her.

She nodded, eyes never leaving the pool, and kept searching. It took a few minutes before she found something else and skidded to a stop, freezing the image in place. “There. Do you see that prison?”

“The bars are brass,” Xiaolang murmured. “How old?”

“A day, no more.”

“He gets caught quite often,” I noted to no one in particular.

“If he weren’t an Elemental Mage with some control, he’d probably be dead by now,” Xiaolang finished the thought grimly. “Keep searching, Chatta. I’d feel better if we could spot those two.”

She went back to searching, hunched intently over the pool. After several dizzying moments of flying through the area she shook her head and leaned back. “I’m sorry, I don’t see anyone within fifty miles of the area.”

Xiaolang looked pensive. “Garth, is it possible for an Elemental Mage to use the earth transport technique that you do?”

“No,” I responded immediately. “I tried teaching Jenna how to do it over the winter and she couldn’t work it at all.”

“Earth isn’t one of her elements,” Chatta pointed out. “She was the weakest in earth.”

“True,” I conceded slowly. “Assuming this was a Mage with an emphasis in earth magic…it might be possible. But I still don’t think he’d be able to manage it.”

“Then how is he disappearing from our view?” Xiaolang directed this question to the both of us. “Glamour?”

I exchanged a glance with Chatta. I certainly couldn’t think of any other way to do it.

“That’s the only possibility I can think of…” she frowned and added, “Although he might just be in a building or a cave right now. I can’t search inside of buildings.”

Xiaolang hummed to himself, mind whirling at high speeds. “For now, let’s go to the area that we’re sure he was at. When we arrive, we’ll do another scrying to see if we can’t find him. He might appear from wherever he’s taken shelter by then.”

It sounded like a viable plan to me.

With a wave of the hand, Xiaolang gestured for all of us to mount back up. I almost offered to take us back into the earth path until I realized this was not an area that we had been in before. I needed to search this area as we went after Lonjaroden, or risk missing someone else.

I felt briefly irritated at this delay until I reminded myself that Lonjaroden and the boy that was with him were on foot. And they had to hide most of the time to avoid getting caught. We’d be able to catch up to them quickly enough.

~~~

Really, where were they hiding? I let my weary head rest on my chest for a minute, while I rubbed my eyes and waited for some inspiration to hit me. I tried to think where I might be, remembering that it wasn’t that long ago I myself was in their same situation.

We’d been on the road for three days searching for the Mage and his young Wizard companion, and so far we hadn’t caught even a glimpse of them. We knew that we were on the right track simply because of all the prisons and Star Order buildings we ran across that had been tampered with. Some of the buildings were quite striking looking, now made out of exotic stones and metals.

These two were certainly alive and well. We asked the people of the towns we traveled through about the Mage and Wizard, and they usually confirmed that they had been there, although some people were still nervous about talking to us. The fear associated with speaking about anything even remotely connected with magic in Chahir was difficult to overcome after two hundred years. What I found most interesting was that several of the older women would speak in fond terms concerning our two wayward youth, “Our boys can’t be caught by those Priests,” they would scoff, “and even if they do manage to catch them, they will just slip through their fingers like warm butter.” No matter which town or village we asked about them, the response was always similar to this. These two had an amazing way of inspiring true loyalty from the people they came into contact with.

It was late afternoon now, and even though I was straining my senses to the limit, I couldn’t detect anyone magical within twenty miles of me. “They have to be using some sort of glamour,” I growled in exasperation to Chatta. “I’m sure I would have found them by now otherwise, we have to be within range.”

She nodded in agreement, frustration clearly showing in her face. “And from what we’ve been able to piece together about them, they seem to lay low during the day. I can’t do an accurate scrying at night, not on such a wide spread scale. I won’t be able to see anything; I could be looking right at them and totally miss it.”

“What if you had access to a permanent pool?” I ventured, looking at her with a small glimmer of hope elevating my sagging spirits. That would certainly be large enough to let her see more details at night.

“Maybe…” she chewed on her bottom lip, lost in thought.

“Xiaolang,” I called ahead loud enough to reach to the front of the group, waiting for him to turn around before continuing my question, “Is there a Watchman’s Pool near here?”

“Not for another hundred or so miles,” he replied, after briefly scanning his well-worn map. “Why?”

“Chatta thinks that she might be able to do a better search for them at night with a permanent pool,” I explained.

Xiaolang’s eyes immediately went to her. “I’ll have Garth take us there by earth path, if you think it’ll help.”

“I know I can’t do it with a small pool,” she responded with a helpless shrug. “But I think I can get more details with a larger one. I’m just worried about missing them in the dark because I’m searching such a large area. Perhaps that is why they seem to be traveling at night.”

He nodded, taking this in, weighing all of our options for a long moment. “Still, I think we’ll take the chance. It can’t be any worse than what we are doing now. Searching this way isn’t getting us anywhere at all. Garth, take us down.”

I nodded and formed the bubble around the team and dropped us into the earth. It was very easy to find the pool in question, as it was the only magical building within my range. I simply went east as Xiaolang dictated from his map until I felt it, bringing us up near the building. From that point on, I was decidedly useless; finesse and fine control are not my strong suits. We all spread out and tried to get comfortable, while Chatta stared intently into the pool. She was so still and intent on her search, that I had to look closely once in a while to make sure she was still breathing.

Of course, poor Chatta had the hard job of the search this time. She couldn’t assume anything about the pair’s movements, as they could have doubled back or anything during the time we weren’t tracking them. So she had to search in a slow spiral pattern that, while effective, ate up time.

This particular Watchman Building had a small river running next to it. Feeling the need for a good bath, I built a couple of stone partitions along the river bank, one for the women and the other for us men. After three days on the road, we all were a little worse for wear, and wanted a dip in that water as quickly as possible, despite it being decidedly chilly. (I suspected it was probably from a mountain run off, considering the temperature.)

It was at this point that I discovered something interesting I hadn’t noticed before. Shield and Hazard are not to be trusted around water. They thought it was great sport to try to douse their teammates and splash any unsuspecting soul passing nearby. I wisely kept a watchful eye on them, positioning Night’s large frame to best advantage between me and them, using him like a shield. Shad foolishly took both of them on at once, and got completely soaked for his trouble. When we finally dragged our chilly, prune-skinned bodies out of the water, sunset was almost on us. I released the walls of the partition I made. As the stone slid obediently back into the earth, the water resumed its course naturally again. We all retreated back into the building, getting warm and something to eat foremost on our minds. Xiaolang started cooking dinner, while Chatta went to the pool and resumed her scrying for our elusive boys.

I was sitting on my bedroll, trying to comb out the wet, tangled mass at the back of my head that looked more like an angry animal than hair. Aletha sat down next to me, intently inspecting the ends of my hair, a slight frown fixed on her face. Bemused by her expression, I asked, “Yes, Aletha? Are you on to something?”

“I know that you can’t really cut your hair, because it would reduce your magic, but what about a trim?” She reached out and picked up a handful, offering it up for my inspection. “It’s starting to look a little ragged around the edges.”

I hadn’t ever thought about it, and didn’t really care one way or the other. And I suspect it didn’t really bother her that much, either, but neither one of us had anything better to do at the moment. So I shrugged my shoulders and nodded my consent. “If you want to trim it, go right ahead.”

“Don’t move,” she ordered with a quick smile, getting up to go rummage through her pack. It took only a few moments to locate her scissors and a comb in the chaos of her gear, and then she was back.

I sat still as per her orders, resting on my heels so that she had a more comfortable height to work from. It had been a good two years since I’d last had a haircut, and my hair had grown well past the middle of my back. The odd thing was, with every snip of the scissors, I could actually feel a little bit of power drain away from me. When Chatta had first explained to me that magic was in every cell of my body, I thought she was just exaggerating. Now I realize she was serious. With every pinch of hair that was cut away, I felt the loss of a little power along with it. The amount was minuscule, of course, in comparison to the total power that I could wield. But it was enough for me to actually feel it. It gave me a new insight into the power that was one with my body.

I felt lighter in more ways than one by the time she was finished. She pulled the hair back into the clip before standing up. “There, you’re done.”

“Thanks.” I smiled up at her.

“Don’t mention it.”

I turned to sweep up the remains of my freshly shorn locks, intending to clean them off of my bedroll, only to discover that Didi had already darted in behind me, and was rapidly gathering up every strand of hair that he could put his hands on. “Didi, what are you doing?” I asked with an appraising expression on my face.

He paused momentarily, arms full of hair, and gave me an imploring look. “Di?”

I couldn’t imagine what he wanted to do with the hair, but it was obvious that it was important to him. “You really want it?”

He nodded hopefully, never breaking eye contact with me.

There was no harm in it, as far as I could see. Or so I hoped. “Alright then, go ahead.”

Beaming like a giddy child, he chattered happily and quickly gathered up the rest of the hair. I watched in confusion and more than a little amusement as he retreated to a remote corner and carefully started laying out small pieces of hair in front of him. Maybe he thought he could weave it all together into one strand? I would think the pieces were far too short to work with, but I wasn’t about to put anything past a meuritta, not when it was about string.

Chatta refused to move away from the pool, afraid she would miss something, so I brought a plate of food to her. As I sat next to her at the pool’s edge, she ate without taking her eyes off of the images in the pool. “So what did Didi want with your hair?”

Did nothing ever escape her notice? “I have no idea. Do you?”

“Not at all.” She allowed a quick glance at him, took another big bite from her plate, and turned her eyes back to the pool. “Knowing him, we’ll probably find out tomorrow morning, early.”

Probably. I sighed mentally. That did seem to be the preferred time that Didi enjoyed revealing his mischief.

Time passed slowly and without event, as one by one, the team padded off quietly to retire for the night. Chatta finally narrowed her search area down to one village, as she detected there was a patch near the center that she couldn’t clearly make out. We both agreed that a glamour of some sort was probably being used. I sat down next to her position, and took over watching the area for her so she could rest her eyes.

Still, even with us switching places every few hours, there was absolutely no sign of the two boys.

It was nearly daybreak, and I was sound asleep when Chatta’s shriek jarred me into the waking world.

In sheer instinct, I was half out of my bedroll with my hand on my bon’a’lon. What? What was wrong? Did something happen?

“Didi! YOU INFERNAL CREATURE!”

Oh no. Now what did he do?

Resigned to being awake (although I could have used another two hours of sleep) I put the bon’a’lon back on the belt and got to my feet. “Chatta, what—”

The love of my life spun about on her heels, eyebrows slammed together in a dark expression of epic fury. As she moved, a braided lock of white swung in her hair, catching my eye. The intricate weave of the braid meant it was Tonkowacon, so it no doubt meant something, but I didn’t recognize it.

Chatta picked up the braid and waved at it me an aggravated manner. “Why did you give him your hair?”

I blinked at the question and took a closer look at the braid. Huh, she’s right. That is my hair braided in with hers. So he had made a rope out of it, eh? “Um. I didn’t think he’d do another braid, not considering how the last attempts turned out.”

“I kept mine in to spare Trev’s feelings, remember?” she asked me in an acid sweet tone.

Oops. I’d actually forgotten that. No wonder Didi thought he had tacit permission to do another braid on her. “Ahh…sorry? What does that braid mean, anyway?”

She blew out a breath. “No, it’s not your fault, we both knew he’d do something with it. It’s an engagement braid.”

An engagement braid. I fixed the sheepish meuritta with a narrow look. Didi, already crouched defensively on the floor in front of Chatta, nearly went prostrate at my expression. “Didi, I understand the supportive gesture, but do you realize how much trouble that will cause if Chatta’s father sees it first? I haven’t gotten permission to marry her yet!”

Didi’s ears went flat in dejection and he let out a soft wail. “Diiii.”

Chatta waved the braid at him. “Take it out.”

With a large sigh, he hopped up onto her shoulder, wrapped his tail around her shoulders for purchase, and started unraveling the braid. Fortunately, it looked like the sort that was easy to undo. I guess it would need to be—after all, an engagement braid would only be needed until the marriage ceremony. Then it would need to be replaced by a different braid.

Xiaolang poked his head cautiously around the doorway. “Is it safe to come in?”

“Debatable,” I answered dryly. “Who’s cooking breakfast?”

“Shad.”

Odd, I don’t feel as hungry now…

“Garth, I see them!”

I spun on my heels to see the image she was pointing to in the pool. “You see them?”

“Yes,” she confirmed impatiently. “We need to move now, before I lose them again.”

I stared at the image still in the pool. It was a tall man and small boy with flaxen hair traveling in a very cautious manner toward the village. I couldn’t see much detail, as the image was that of a bird’s eye view. That didn’t concern me at the moment. I just wanted to make sure I recognized enough landmarks to get us there. When I was certain I had it fixed in my mind, I climbed to my feet and started shoving everything into my pack, slinging it onto Night’s back in one quick motion. I had been tracking these two four full days now, and I was not going to let them get away from me.

In ten minutes we were ready to go. At Xiaolang’s nod, I took us down onto the earth path, stifling a yawn as we went. Five hours of sleep was really not enough for my system, but I was determined to make it do. I promised myself that I would make up for it later.

I brought us up about a hundred paces away from the two youngsters. It was close enough that they couldn’t possibly outrun us, but not so close as to scare them out of their wits. I hoped.

When we surfaced, they both looked like they were in a state of shock, the young boy holding on to his larger companion’s arm in alarm.

“Wait, don’t be afraid!” Xiaolang called to them, hands splayed wide open to show that he was unarmed. “We don’t mean you any harm. Won’t you allow me to talk to you?”

They watched us warily, not responding for a long moment. I studied them both, taking them in from head to toe, the Mage especially.

He was huge!

Chahirans didn’t get big, as a rule, but this new Elemental Mage made Shield look like he was just average sized. I thought he was a nice looking young man, with even features, but then I’m a guy. We have a different standard for that sort of thing. Still, judging from the approving grins on Aletha and Chatta’s faces, they thought he was handsome indeed.

Standing very close next to him was a boy about nine or so, I think. His sandy hair was tangled and dirty, half-covering grey eyes. From under the hair that was falling in his face, he was watching us warily. He was holding on to one of his companion’s hands so tightly with both of his that his knuckles were white, and his body was practically fused to the Mage’s leg.

“Now this is interesting,” the Mage noted with awe in his voice to his younger companion. “Four of them glow…no, wait, I take that back, the horse is glowing to some extent too. Huh.”

The boy slowly nodded his head. “I see it.”

“As we see you,” Chatta responded with a particularly charming smile. She slid out of her saddle, coming around to where they could see her better. I followed her example, coming around slowly to stand by her side. “Now that we can see each other, let’s begin some proper introductions, shall we? I’m Chatta Delheart, a Witch from Hain.”

Both of them straightened abruptly, regarding her with more interest.

Chatta held out a hand, indicating in my direction. “This is Magus Rhebengarthen. He’s an Earth Mage, and originally from Tobadorage.”

I gave them a half-bow.

“A Mage from Tobadorage?” the boy repeated incredulously. “Then you’re him! The guy we’ve been hearing about.”

“Hearing about?” I repeated cautiously. I suddenly had a sinking feeling about where this was going.

“We’ve been hearing a lot of rumors and tales as we traveled around,” the Mage responded slowly, studying me from head to foot and back again. “Apparently, Vonlorisen has been shutting down the Star Order Priests because this Mage from Tobadorage convinced him to. And this same Mage is supposed to be going around Chahir, gathering up all the magicians, and disappearing with them.”

“You know, that’s really pretty accurate,” Shad noted to me. “I’m impressed. Rumors usually garble details up much worse than that.”

“We also heard,” the boy picked up the conversation with an apprehensive look at me, “that you totally destroyed a city in Jarrell.”

I gave Shad a pointed look and drawled, “You were saying?”

“Two out of three still isn’t bad odds,” he pointed out with a maniac grin. “And even that rumor is half-true.”

“I repaired everything afterwards!” I protested indignantly. “And I only clobbered a few buildings in self-defense, not the whole city!”

Chatta elbowed me in the stomach. “Will you two stop? You’re confusing the issue, and frightening the boy.”

As I rubbed a hand along my disciplined midsection, Chatta carefully recited the full story behind that last rumor. Her audience was completely impressed, regarding me with rapt attention by the time she was done.

“And just so you know,” I couldn’t help but add in my own defense, “all of those people that we’ve found? We take them directly into Hain so that they can be trained at the Magical Academy. I am not hoarding them somewhere for my own purposes.”

“Is that why you’ve tracked us down?” the Mage asked, looking at me with a thoughtful eyes.

“Yes,” Xiaolang confirmed simply.

“Hmmmm. And what if we don’t want to go?”

“You’d rather wander aimlessly around the country dodging renegade Star Priests?” Shad challenged him in amusement.

“He’s got a point,” the young Wizard grudgingly admitted. “And I bet they’d feed us a lot better in Hain.”

“Yeah, I bet you’re right about that.” The Mage winked at the young Wizard. “Whatcha say, Tom? Shall we go with them?”

“School beats dodging crazy Priests any day,” the boy responded fervently.

“Then that’s settled. I’m Lonjaroden, and this is Waentomlinen.” He gave the group in general a polite bow.

The entire team gave them a short bow in response. Chatta picked up the introductions again, covering everyone in the team. I breathed out a long sigh of relief that we had finally caught up with the two boys, and had convinced them to come back with us. Waentomlinen was especially taken with the idea of a talking horse, and went over to exchange a few words with Night.

“I see that you don’t have a horse,” Xiaolang observed, mind clearly thinking about travel. “We’ll need to buy you one. It’s a good week trip back into Hain from where we are.”

“I can just double up with Garth,” Chatta volunteered quickly. “Night won’t mind, will you, Night?”

“Certainly not.” Night whickered with a doting grin on his face.

I think everyone knew precisely why Chatta had volunteered so quickly but aside from a few smiles, no one rose to the bait. I figured Shad would start in on me later, though. His smirk all but guaranteed that I was in for a rough time. Xiaolang has amazing facial control. He just nodded and said, “That will be fine. Lonjaroden—”

“Jarod’s fine.”

Xiaolang blinked, then smiled and relaxed a bit. “—thank you. Jarod, if you’ll take Chatta’s horse? And Waentomlinen you can either double with him or with me, if you wish.”

Tom eyed the dragoo with an obvious nervous edge to his voice. “Just Tom’s fine. And I think I’ll ride with Jarod.”

I couldn’t blame the kid for his caution. Dragoos certainly looked capable of eating small children for breakfast. It took a little exposure to the breed before you realized that they were very easy going by nature, and the only thing they were interested in eating was great quantities of bacon. And nekons…or meurittas of course, in a pinch.

“Mount up,” Xiaolang ordered with the familiar circular motion of his hand.

I swung back up on Night, and then kicked my foot free of the stirrup and extended a hand to Chatta. She took it, climbing up behind me with one smooth motion. Once she was settled, she took full advantage of her position (as I expected) to snuggle up against my back.

“I like this position,” she declared against my left ear. “I think we should just travel like this the rest of the time.”

“I certainly wouldn’t mind,” I admitted frankly. I was trying not to openly grin, but it was extremely difficult.

“Alright, lovebirds, pay attention or we’ll leave you behind!”

Chatta gave a casual wave of her wand over her shoulder. Shad yelped as the spell hit, zapping him in the thigh.

“Beautiful, that was just plain mean!” he whined, rubbing his leg.

“You asked for it,” she responded with unrepentant ruthlessness.

Xiaolang twisted in his saddle and pointed a stern finger at Shad. “Quit.”

“Aw, C2…”

“I won’t stop her from zapping you again, harder next time.”

“…you people are no fun.” Shad slumped in his saddle, pouting.

“I feel like I’m missing something,” Jarod commented, a smile tugging at his mouth.

“You are,” Eagle assured him. “But don’t worry, we have a long ride, and it’s a good story. It all started about a year ago…”

I just sighed. This was indeed going to be a long trip.

~~~

As we rode, Jarod shared the story of how his awakening magic was detected by the Star Order Priests. He’d been a stonemason most of his young life, and had been unconsciously using his magic to aid him in his work. Since most of his hometown was fond of him, they warned him about the Priests, which gave him enough time to make his escape. Or so he thought, until he was later captured that first night he was on the run.

But even this meager experience with his magic served him well. He was able to change the bars of his prison cell into soft brass, so that he could just kick his way out and escape into the darkness. As he ran, he kept practicing with his magic by focusing on what he needed, using it to help him evade trouble when it caught up with him. It was in the sapphire Star Order building that he encountered Tom, who was locked up in the cell next to him. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to leave a helpless child to the tender mercies of the Star Order, so he’d taken the kid along with him when he broke out.

This fortunate meeting turned out to be a blessing for them both. Tom had managed to figure out a little about the magic within him, and came up with a few spells on his own. The glamour spell was remarkably effective in masking their magical emanations. It prevented the Priests from being able to follow their escape route. Unfortunately, it delayed our efforts to find them as well. Tom also learned how to summon things—which he did, to get food for both of them. Jarod used his magic to locate caves and small clefts and niches for them to lay low in during the day. When their luck ran out, and they did get caught, he used his innate abilities to influence the very structure of the building’s materials, to literally break the prison walls, and make their escape.

When Chatta started telling them about Del’Hain and the magical academy they would shortly attend, I tuned her out and focused my attention back to our surroundings. We hadn’t felt the presence of anyone with magic the day before in this area, but I knew very well that one could begin to emerge and experience the onset of the magic within them at any moment.

It was a quiet, uneventful trip as we made our way up the road that never seemed to change much. That night we stopped in a quiet grove of sparse evergreen trees off to one side of the road. Since it was my turn to cook, I wasn’t paying much attention to anything but the task at hand. My cooking skills are thin at best, and it takes a great deal of effort to make sure what I served was fit to eat. When everyone was eating, I finally had time to sit down and relax, enjoying the company of the people around me. Tom sat next to me with a full plate, which he was busily devouring in short order. Summoning skills or no, I was betting that the poor kid hadn’t had a decent meal with any regularity.

When my own belly was full and my plate scraped clean, I realized that during all of that day’s exchange of tales and information, I’d never heard how Tom was discovered.

“Just how did you get caught?” I couldn’t help but ask Tom. He was at the right age for accidental magic to occur, but he was also one of the few Wizards we had met that seemed to be able to make things happen on his own. And he’d been using his magic fairly regularly; as far as I could gather from the things he had told us. From my own experience, there shouldn’t have been a buildup of magic large enough for an accident to take place, which inclined me to believe that he had been actually doing something and got caught.

Tom looked a little sheepish at my unexpected question, and ducked his head in embarrassment. “Well, one day I was playing in the backyard with my soldiers…”

I smiled and nodded in encouragement, so he would continue.

“And I got a little bored, and started wishing that they could move on command instead of me moving them…”

Uh-oh. I was starting to understand where this was going.

“…and somehow they did start moving on their own?” he finished tentatively. “I didn’t really mean to. They just obeyed me. One of my neighbors was hanging up clothes and saw me, and she reported me to the Priests.”

I shook my head sadly. His harmless childlike play had effectively ended his childhood, and almost his life. One misguided neighbor, relating what they had seen, could have had deadly consequences not only for Tom, but his entire family. Out of all of the stories that I had heard, though, this had to be the most unique way of uncovering magical abilities. Sensing a good moment to teach him, I ducked down to his level. “Tom, would you like to know why that happened?”

He looked up, definitely intrigued. “Why?”

“Because magic follows intent.”

“Intent?” he repeated in confusion.

Maybe he didn’t understand the word? I rephrased it just in case. This was something vital he needed to understand. “That’s right. Magic listens to what we really desire, and responds to make it happen. That’s why we have to train so hard to keep control of our thoughts and actions. If we don’t, the magic within us will leap to do our bidding. It will do whatever we want, even if it’s a selfish or an unwise impulse that we shouldn’t do. Do you understand?”

He nodded slowly, staring at his feet, eyes narrowed in thought. “I think so.”

Shad had clearly overheard our conversation because he started grinning; the child within him rising to the occasion. “So, animated toys, eh? That’d be pretty fun to play with, I have to admit. Hey beautiful, can you do something like that?”

Chatta had been near the fire, pouring herself a hot cup of tea, but at his question she straightened, and gave Shad a haughty look. “Of course I can. What kind of question is that?”

“So can you make us some animated soldiers?” Shad inquired with a pleading little expression on his face. Any dog would be jealous of such look, guaranteed to get an extra snack or a scratch behind the ears from any person alive.

Chatta held eye contact with him for a long moment, and then blew out a breath of resignation. “Oh, why not? Here, then.” Pointing her wand at a nearby log she spoke two incantations in quick succession. “Reform. Animation,” she intoned with authority.

In the twinkling of an eye, there were dozens of little wooden soldiers, standing at no more than three inches high, lined up in neat rows. I judged there to be about a hundred or so. Under my incredulous gaze, the toy soldiers marched in our direction, in perfect step.

Tom clapped his hands in delight and scrambled around the fire to watch them. “Thanks, Chatta!”

Shad was just as delighted, probably more so. “I get half!” he told Tom firmly. “I’ll take you on.”

Tom grinned in wolfish delight at this challenge. “You’re on.”

I watched in amusement as they quickly started establishing boundaries and dividing up the soldiers. There was an uneven number as they divided their troops, and without a word Chatta solved the problem by making another group just for Shad.

“Garth, can you make me a hill with a castle on top?” Shad asked eagerly.

…and just how had I been sucked into this game?

“Me too, me too, and can I have a wall and a mote?” Tom bounced in place, practically radiating excitement.

Watching them, I couldn’t help but get caught up in the spirit of the game as well. Well, why not? With a shrug, I started to carefully form little hills, valleys, and ridges. With even more care I formed small castles on both hills. They were simple structures, little more than a square with four towers and battlements.

Tom was impressed enough to let out a low whistle. “That’s way better than what I did last time.”

“Witches and mages are so handy,” Shad agreed, rubbing his hands together in brisk anticipation. “Now, let the games begin!”

“Now wait just one minute,” Eagle cut in, plopping himself down kitty corner to the other two commanders. “I want to play too!”

I’m beginning to feel a pattern forming here. Obligingly, I started reshaping more of the landscape, so that Eagle could play as well. Chatta apparently took notice of the pattern as well, as she didn’t just do another batch of a hundred, but instead a batch of a thousand. It was probably a good thing she did, as the newest soldiers were promptly divvied out to each player.

“Not just infantry,” Shad protested as little wooden soldiers started appearing out of the log. “We need archers, cavalry and spearmen too.”

Chatta gave him quite a sharp, penetrating look for that. With a roll of her eyes, and the sigh of a long suffering parent, she started changing some of the infantrymen into mounted cavalrymen and archers instead.

Xiaolang cut in before they could actually get started, sitting on the opposite side of Eagle. It only took a single look from him, a simple expression that implored me too? Trying my best not to laugh at seeing three grown men playing with toy soldiers, I constructed him a castle on a hill too. The soldiers were distributed so that Xiaolang could have his share as well.

And then, without any warning or fanfare, the battle began.

I felt like I should back up Tom and offer some support. After all, he was facing an experienced soldier (Eagle) and two strategy masterminds (Shad and Xiaolang). The poor kid was in way over his head and didn’t even realize it. After a few minutes of clashing soldiers, though, I realized that “the older children” weren’t playing at their full potential. They were taking it easy on the young Wizard. Wait…frowning, I focused my attention on Tom for a moment. At this moment he was using his own magical power to augment his soldiers. It wasn’t just that his opponents were not fighting at their full capacities; the battle was shifting because his soldiers were faster and stronger than their opponents.

Looking up, I caught Chatta’s eye. I gestured in Tom’s direction, and gave her a questioning look.

She nodded back. Yes, she had noticed it too.

Huh. Well, this was making things more interesting.

Shad must have realized something was up as well because he pointed at Tom’s soldiers and complained, “Why are my guys getting slaughtered so easy?”

“He’s augmenting his soldiers with magic,” I admitted with a shrug.

“Beautiful…” Shad beamed at her with a hopeful smile. “Can you upgrade me too?”

“You’re a better strategist than he is,” she pointed out ruthlessly. “Think of this as a challenge, and formulate a brilliant plan to overcome it.”

Sulking, he focused back on his soldiers, muttering darkly under his breath, but all the more determined to win.

The battle raged on. Little archers were shooting down the cavalry and infantry, the infantry was taking out the archers, and the spearmen were taking down the cavalry. It was remarkably realistic despite having three inch tall warriors. There were even battle cries and shouted orders—from the three men and one small boy controlling them. I noted with amusement that even though they were taking things rather easy on Tom, the same was not true of the combat between the three friends. They were shockingly ruthless, actually. Shad was whispering secret commands to some of his infantry soldiers and turning them into assassins to take out key officers. Xiaolang was forming his infantrymen into close, tight blocks and using them to plow through any cavalry that got near him, like a large boulder in a stream. Eagle was waiting until Xiaolang and Shad were fully engaged with each other, before pouncing on them from the rear with a surprise attack.

I don’t know how much time it took, but the battle finally wound down, with Xiaolang emerging as the clear victor. Tom came in a close second, as the other two had drawn the focus of Xiaolang’s superior tactics.

“I must be rusty,” Shad moaned theatrically, shaking his head. “I can’t believe I lost so badly.”

“Nonsense, Shad,” Xiaolang retorted with the self-satisfied grin of a victor. “We were just following the rules.”

“What rules?” he demanded, with an air of suspicion in his voice.

Xiaolang drew himself up into a decidedly noble pose. “Rule number one: I always win.”

“And rule number two,” Shad added, with a hand full of moss tossed in his direction, “you always lose.”

Tom started cheering at this point, clapping his hands and laughing with delight. I think we’re corrupting the kid. Laughing in spite of myself, I ventured to inquire, “Is there a rule number three?”

“Always be on guard,” Xiaolang responded promptly.

“How about a rule number four?” Jarod inquired.

I twisted around in surprise, not realizing that he had come up and was standing behind me. How long had he been there?

“Rule number four…” Eagle mused. “What would be a good fourth?”

“Always eat dessert first!” Tom volunteered enthusiastically.

“That’s a great one,” Shad concurred.

I eyed them both and had to wonder just who was supposed to be the child. With Shad it was sometimes hard to tell. I couldn’t help but ask, “So, what does that make rule five?’”

“The rules always change.” Shad shot me a lopsided impish leer.

Eagle raised his hand. “I second that. All in favor say aye! Yup, that’s clearly a majority vote. Chatta, what are you doing?”

I had to twist in the other direction to see past Xiaolang. Chatta had a small pad of paper in one hand, a quill in the other and she was writing quickly. Glancing up she said defensively, “I’m writing down the rules. These are way too entertaining to forget. What’s rule six?” she asked with eager anticipation, ready to jot it down.

There was a pause as people started thinking.

“While we’re all pondering this profound question,” Jarod drawled, “do you mind if we played again for inspiration? I want to join in this time.”

“I suppose this means that I’ll be creating more soldiers…” Chatta acted as if she was being put upon, but her eyes relayed just the opposite message, and were sparkling with amusement.

In the spirit of things I added, “And I suppose I need to make another hill and castle for you, Jarod?”

“Why, yes, thank you!” he exclaimed to us in mock-innocent delight.

Uh-huh. I started forming a new hill and castle…and then on spur of the moment made another set for me. Only mine was a lot larger and fancier. It had more towers and battlements, with an inner courtyard.

“Ooh, that’s spiffy,” Shad observed, leaning forward eagerly to observe my handiwork. “Can I have that one?”

“No, that’s mine,” I corrected. “Chatta, can I have some troops too?”

She hung her head this time, slowly shaking it from side to side. “I knew you’d join in eventually. This game is getting pretty popular all of a sudden.”

“I wonder if you could market this game?” Shield asked in a rhetorical tone. “Do they have animated toys?”

“Well, yes,” Chatta answered absently as she started conjuring more soldiers. This time she was making them in different colors, probably so we could tell them apart from the first batch of soldiers. “They’re rather pricey, however. Only the very rich can afford them. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen moving toy soldiers before.”

Eagle looked at everything as we set up our soldiers and said, “I think you could make some serious money just making the soldiers. This is a lot of fun.”

He had a point.

“So that’s how you do it!” Tom suddenly exclaimed. His eyes were glued on Chatta, watching her every move intently. “Can I try?”

She looked at his eager face thoughtfully for a moment before nodding. “Alright then, come on and give it a try.”

I wasn’t sure this was such a good idea, but didn’t protest. Chatta was the expert on Wizard’s magic, not me, and it was reasonable to trust her judgment. Under her patient tutelage, Tom learned how to craft a soldier and make it move. His efforts were clearly not as well formed as hers, but it was impressive that he managed to do it at all.

Beaming, and clearly proud of himself, he ran back to join us. As soon as he was settled we all launched out our soldiers against each other. It quickly became a chaotic mess. I could barely tell my men apart from everyone else’s.

“Tom, stop changing your archers into infantry!” Jarod complained. “That’s cheating!”

I glanced down sharply and realized Jarod was right, Tom had just used what he learned from Chatta to change his men into what he needed at the moment. His new strategy would clearly have a profound effect on the outcome of the upcoming battles.

“Now can we have some upgrades?” Shad implored Chatta.

I shook my head, a smile tugging at my mouth. Now this was going to be an interesting game.

Afterward

I hope that you’ve enjoyed this collection of short stories. I never thought there would be a Compendium of any sorts for this series, but now that it’s out I’m quite pleased I had a chance to share some of the “nonessential” parts of the story. If it whiled away a few hours and left you with a smile on your face, then it was well worth the effort on my part to release it.

Please look forward to the end of the series, Balancer, which will be released this Fall 2012.