Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (15 page)

Since I knew everyone, I did the introductions. "Shad, this is Captain Xiaolang of the Red Hand Squadron, and Night. Night, Xiaolang, Captain Riicshaden."

Xiaolang and Shad exchanged polite bows, and then Shad lifted a hand and placed it against Night's nose. "I'm glad to meet you in person, Night."

Night pressed into that palm, tail flicking happily. "
Me too. How are you feeling?"

"A little tired, but I don't want to go inside," Shad admitted.

"I don't blame you."
Turning his head to me, he flicked both ears thoughtfully. "
I think he needs to eat, Garth, don't you?"

"Not a bad idea," I concurred. "Shad?"

He was already nodding, perking up slightly in excitement. "That's something else I've really missed. Food," he sighed dreamily. "Can I have beef stew, some steak pie, apple crisps and a big tankard of mulled apple cider? Oh, and some hot biscuits with butter and jam on them."

Either he was really hungry after two hundred years, or the man has a hollow leg. "I think you better start out easy first. The beef stew is probably the best food to eat."

"Kill joy," he grumbled.

~*~

Shad had his beef stew, and was finally convinced to rest, after a lot of persuasive arguing. Even with all of the healing spells on that crystal, being trapped like that for so long had taken a toll on his body. It would take time for him to build his strength up again.

Xiaolang and I settled in a room near Shad's. Overlyten had insisted that we stay in the castle, and close to Shad, just in case something went wrong. I don't know what he expected me to do if something
did
go wrong…I'm not exactly a healer, after all. But maybe he thought that because I was a Mage, I could do anything.

Yeah, that was probably it.

I wasn't going to turn down free lodging for the night, however. And I
did
want to stay near Shad. He needed someone to watch his back. The entire providence, it seemed, wanted to catch a glimpse of the revived Captain. It was proving challenging to keep people away long enough for Shad to sleep.

The room I was in now was large, comfortable, and obviously meant for guests. There were two over-stuffed beds on either side of the room, with rich canopies hanging over them. I threw myself onto one of them, wriggled around comfortably, and prepared to doze off.

"Garth?"

I mentally groaned. I wasn't in any mood to talk to Xiaolang. "Yes?" I answered reluctantly.

"I think we should take Shad with us."

Huh? Okay, this sounded somewhat important. Maybe I better pay attention. I opened my eyes so I could look at him. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, idly rubbing his hands together. "Why?"

His eyes never left his hands, still slowly moving against each other. "He's not…comfortable here. Not anymore."

And Xiaolang would know. "Has he said anything?"

"No," he denied with a brief shake of the head. "I just sense uneasiness from him. He was well-known before, during the war, but now his fame is overwhelming. He'll never be able to live here comfortably, Garth. He's just too famous."

I thought of all those times I had run into someone that knew me only as the Advent Mage, and immediately understood what Xiaolang meant. People with hero-worship are never any fun to deal with. "Then I can understand why he wants to leave. But why do you want to take him with us?"

"A few reasons," Xiaolang answered slowly, as if he were having difficulty putting his thoughts into words. "One, he can teach my team and me how to actually fight against magic."

That was a valid point all by itself.

Xiaolang wasn't done, apparently, because he kept going. "Two, I'd feel better having one more Chahiran on the team. There are times when we'll need to infiltrate an area, and right now only you and Eagle have a prayer of blending in. It would be better if you had one more person with you, just to watch your back."

Two valid points. I nodded, to show that I was agreeing with him, and to encourage him to continue.

"The last reason is more selfless," Xiaolang admitted. He was smiling ruefully when he spoke. "Shad is far more comfortable with us than with anyone else here. Part of it is because we're not treating him like some sort of warrior-angel descended from the heavens, but I think part of it is because of what we are."

"A soldier and a Mage," I said in dawning realization.

"Before being sealed up in that crystal, that was the people that he was around the most—magicians and soldiers. We understand him in ways that no one else can, Garth, and vice versa. I think if we offer the invitation to join us, he'll jump at it."

Stated that way, I could see Xiaolang's point. "I agree. I wouldn't mind having him along," I added. "It's nerve wracking enough bumbling around in enemy territory with only seven people. Another person would make me feel a little better."

"You and me both," Xiaolang muttered under his breath.

"Will you ask him in the morning?"

Xiaolang bent a perplexed look on me. "Why do you think I should ask?"

"It will come better from you." I couldn't offer a reason for that, it was just a hunch I had. "Because you're both soldiers."

"Your logic is a little shaky, Garth, but I'll ask him." Shaking his head, he finally rolled comfortably into the bed. "Where's Night?"

"He volunteered to keep watch over Shad tonight." It had surprised me how quickly Night and Shad had become friends. That actually had something to do with how I felt about the Captain. Night was an excellent judge of people. Every person that he's liked on sight like this inevitably became a very good friend.

"Good, someone needs to keep the rabid fans at bay." With a large yawn, Xiaolang flopped onto his belly. Three seconds later, he was snoring loud enough to wake the dead.

I yawned myself, closed my eyes, and let the mattress swallow me whole.

~*~

"Can't I get
up
now?" Shad whined pitifully. His puppy eyes in my direction would put any dog to shame.

"Can you stand up by yourself?" I replied dryly.

"Er…"

"Then no, you can't."

"Spoilsport." Shad slumped, actually pouting. He was still in bed this morning, because obviously his body hadn't miraculously recovered overnight. I hadn't expected it to.

Obviously he had.

"But I'm bored!"

Just as obviously, he didn't deal well with confinement. Most active people didn't, but still, he was driving me up the wall. If I didn't find some way of distracting him soon, I was going to strangle him. "What if I move you outside?" I suggested out of sheer desperation.

"Okay!" He lit up in an expectant smile.

I subdued a put upon sigh, and helped him get out of the bed. Shad could—sort of—stand now, he was just very wobbly. And his legs tended to give out from underneath him at random moments. He put one arm around my shoulders for support, I wrapped an arm around his waist, and then we shuffled our way outside.

It was, thankfully, a short distance to the outside courtyard. Still, I was glad to put him down on a bench. Shad gave me a quick smile of thanks then he turned his face up to the suns. He still hadn't gotten enough sunlight, and was outside every chance he got.

"There you two are!" Xiaolang walked up, faintly amused to see us outside already. "You're going to burn if you keep this up, Shad. Your skin isn't used to sunlight right now."

"So I look like a lobster for a few days, who cares?" he retorted flippantly. "The sooner I burn, the sooner I'll tan."

"You'll burn, and then peel, and then you'll have to start the process all over again," Xiaolang corrected. "And we care because we'll have to hear you whine the entire time you're burned."

Shad turned the full force of his puppy eyes onto Xiaolang. I felt vaguely justified when the Ascalon Captain caved. At least I wasn't the
only
one here with a soft touch.

"It's your skin," Xiaolang sighed in resignation. "Anyway, I tracked you down for a reason." He took a seat on the other end of Shad, effectively capturing his audience's attention. "Shad, has anyone explained why it took two hundred years to free you from the crystal?"

I've learned in the day that I've known him that Shad is a fairly happy-go-lucky person. So it was strange when he became solemn and pensive. "No, no one has. Why?"

"I think it's perhaps best if Garth answers that question, considering who he is."

"Who he is?" Shad parroted in confusion. He twisted so that he could look at me. "Who are you, besides the obvious?"

"I am the first Mage born since the Magic War," I answered softly.

"It is for this reason that he is called the Advent Mage," Xiaolang added just as softly.

Shad was so stunned that you could have knocked him over with a feather. "The first…since…" he swallowed hard, and started over. "But why?! There's always been Mages! Not a lot, I'll grant you, but there's always been at least a dozen running around."

"I think we better start at the beginning," Xiaolang observed. "Garth, you know the history better than I do. Why don't you tell him the full tale?"

And so I did. I started with the order for all magicians to remove to the Isle of Strae, and then spoke of the effect that the war had on Chahir. I told of the Jaunten, and how they were chased out of the country. There had been no magic in this country, at least none that we were aware of, until I had shown up in Del'Hain. I gave him a brief summary of the agreement Guin had with Vonlorisen, and why such an agreement was necessary.

By the time I was finished, Shad looked sick to his stomach. It took several tries before he could manage a coherent response. "I can't believe it…. I know that magic did a lot to hurt us during the war but it did so much
good
as well. For them to just throw that power away…" he shook his head, incredulous.

"Maybe you can tell us what
started
the war?" Xiaolang asked in genuine curiosity.

I think that questioned startled Shad just as much as anything I had said. He jerked around so quickly that he nearly lost his balance on the bench. "You don't
know
?!"

"A lot of history and knowledge was lost during the war," I explained quickly. "You won't believe how much. They weren't even really able to train me—it was mostly trial and error. They could barely tell me what kind of Mage I was."

"Great good guardians! What kind of insanity is this?" he demanded in sheer disbelief. He shook his head, visibly pulling himself together before answering. "There was this great contention in the magic community. There were some that held that the more powerful magicians needed to be regulated more. I don't understand the finer details, as I'm no magician myself, but the gist of it was that they wanted to put some kind of power limitations on people."

I went stock still as the full implications of what he was telling me sank in. "Mages. They wanted to control how much power a Mage could draw."

"Them, and any Wizard or Witch deemed too powerful," Shad acknowledged. "There were others, mostly the Mages, that argued against it. They said it was hard enough to do their job as it was, they didn't need any power restrictions to make it even harder."

"Would it?" Xiaolang asked me quietly.

"Very much so," I answered shortly. Idiocy. The people back then were absolutely insane to think that would work. "Think about this, Xiaolang. The only time that I'm ever called in is when a Witch's or Wizard's power isn't enough to do the job. How could I do anything effectively if my power is limited to 'normal' levels?"

"That's the same argument they were using," Shad stated bleakly. "Much good it did them. They started to get into really heated arguments about it, and then fights started breaking out. Before we knew it, we had a total war on our hands, and no way of protecting the civilians. Some of the more compassionate magicians went around putting up wards around the cities and castles, to help protect people, but that didn't do much good if the fight started
inside
the wards. It was a bloody mess," he concluded grimly. "Still, to banish all magic… that's too extreme."

"Especially now that more of our countrymen are being born with magic," I agreed. "But that's one of the reasons why I'm here—to help those people into Hain."

"And that brings me to the original question I wanted to ask." Xiaolang was intent, eyes locked with Shad's. "Will you go with us?"

Shad froze, sheer surprise keeping him in place. "You…want me to go with you?"

"We could use your expertise," Xiaolang admitted this with a charming smile. "And we could certainly use another person. We're only doing this impossible job with seven people as it is."

"Nine if you include a mischievous Meuritta and a prankster-loving Nreesce," I inputted drolly.

Xiaolang's lips twitched but he continued as if I hadn't interrupted. "If the stories are true, Shad, you're an incredible fighter that knows how to combat magicians and win. I need that knowledge. You're also Chahiran, so you have a better chance of infiltrating than my own people do. I can do this job without you but it would be much easier with you."

Shad seriously considered that…for about a millisecond. Then he lit up in a smile that was eerily similar to Didi's when he was about to do something he shouldn't but was going to enjoy doing anyway. "So basically, we're going to sneak all around Chahir under Vonlorisen's nose, steal people, smuggle them into Hain, and not get caught doing it."

"That's about the size of it," Xiaolang agreed. He was smiling too, a reflection of the expression on Shad's face.

"Sounds like fun to me! I do love the impossible missions; it keeps me on my toes. So when do we start?"

"Soon," Xiaolang promised. "We have one more thing to do before we get back to what we were assigned to do." He extended a hand, which Shad clasped firmly. A little kernel of worry, that I hadn't even realized was there, eased when Xiaolang said, "Welcome to the team, Riicshaden."

Chapter Eight: Q'atal

It was a fifteen mile stretch from the top of Chahir to Q'atal. At least it was if you went by boat and crossed the gulf to get there. If you went by land, it was a good three hundred miles, filled with flat grassland, impossible mountains, rocky shorelines, and bandit infested forests.