Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (21 page)

~*~

The general consensus of the
Remcar-ol
was that a doorway in the barrier was a good idea. They requested that the doorway face Ascalon, as most of their trading was done with that country. With that piece of information, I went back to my remote spot and did another scrying.

After a full afternoon of studying the problem, I reached the conclusion that I would have to treat this barrier like I would any barrier.

It had to come up all at once.

It just wouldn't work if I tried to raise it in sections, and then magically glue it altogether. There would be too many areas that would be weaker than the rest, and with enough time and patience, those weak points could be exploited. No, I would have to raise the barrier as a whole. I groaned at the thought, because I just
knew
how this would make me feel. I could do barriers—pure earth barriers, at least—but it was never easy magic for me. Actually, I'd rather turn Jward into an island all over again rather than put a barrier up around Q'atal. It would be far easier.

I went back to the main part of the town, looking for Xiaolang. I found him wrestling with some of his younger cousins—they had him currently pinned to the ground—with an elderly woman watching on in fond amusement. At my approach, he looked up. "Garth! Are you done for the day?"

I shook my head. "I'm putting the barrier up. I just wanted to double check that everyone was in the country."

Xiaolang quickly rolled to his feet, children dangling off of him and squealing in surprise at his quick movement. "You're putting it up
today
?" he demanded incredulously. "You said this was difficult magic! And the day is nearly gone."

"It's very difficult magic, but it won't take long to do," I answered. "It just takes a lot of energy. Is everyone inside the country?"

He was slow to answer, eyes locked with mine. "Yes."

"Good," was my only response. I turned away, looking for a good place to land. I had no doubt that once the barrier was up I was going to collapse on the spot. I wanted to land on something soft when that happened.

There was a nice pile of sand nearby, meant for the younger children to play in. Sand shouldn't be
too
bad. I edged closer to it, trying to not make it obvious what I was doing. If anyone had an inkling of how hard this would be for me, I was sure that they would protest and argue. Loudly.

Satisfied that I was within range, I took a deep breath to steady myself. Here goes.

Closing my eyes, I tapped into the three ley lines that I deemed necessary for the barrier. Let me just say this—I would
not
have been surprised if energy had started shooting out of my fingertips. My nerves were singing with power, and it was so intense that it was almost painful. I gasped at the shock of it, realizing that I just couldn't hold this kind of power in check for long. I had to put up that barrier.

Now.

I didn't put up barriers like anyone else would. My power just worked too differently. I didn't sing an incantation, say a spell, or anything of that nature. What I did was mentally envision the barrier that I wanted, and willed the power at my fingertips to do my bidding.

Mentally picturing a barrier was the easy part—molding power to fit that vision? Not so easy. It took a lot of fine control on my part, and I had to keep a firm grip on the ley lines while working.

I lose all track of time when doing magic like this. I couldn't tell you how long I was at it before my heart started to pound in my ears, and black spots started swimming in front of my eyes. I was gasping for breath, feeling my muscles began to shake under the strain. I couldn't take much more of this. The barrier was almost up…the shape almost completed…I just had to last…a bit…longer…

The barrier snapped together and began working with an almost audible hum. Or maybe the humming was the sound of my blood rushing south. With the last of my strength I looked up. There was a dome of dark green over my head—the barrier was up. Darkness was encroaching on my vision, and the last thing I knew was that the ground reached up and smacked me.

~*~

Something soft and cool was stroking the hair away from my face in a soothing manner. The sensation was so pleasant that I smiled and tried to lean into it. Hmmm. Chatta…

"Garth?" a gentle voice asked from nearby. "Are you awake?"

My mouth felt glued together, it was so dry. I pried it open and croaked, "Chatta?"

"Yes, I'm here."

She was actually here? I wasn't hallucinating? Needing to verify that with my own eyes, I pried open an eyelid. No, she really was there, leaning over me and watching with obvious concern. "You overdid it again, didn't you?"

"Had to do it all at once," I muttered vaguely. I fumbled around until I found her other hand, and put it against my face. Her skin felt blessedly cool against my heated skin.

"You feel a little feverish," she fretted.

I
did
feel a bit warm. My body wasn't too happy with the events of the past couple of hours. I wasn't thrilled about it either. The next time someone asks me to do something like this, the answer is going to be
no
.

Another voice I had never heard piped up. "Is he awake?"

I felt Chatta shift next to me on the bed, turning to talk to whoever had just entered. "Tyvendor, he's running a fever. I've never seen him so low like this. Is there something we can do?"

"He just needs rest. And a lot of water, magic like that can drain you." There was a hint of awe in his voice when he spoke again. "You weren't kidding, Chatta, when you said he was incredibly strong. I've checked that barrier from top to bottom, and it's
completely
impenetrable, even for a Mage. I thought something like this was just a legend. I never imagined he could actually do it!"

Okay, now I was really curious. Who
was
this man? He didn't feel like a normal person, or a Wizard. Twinges started hammering in my temples, and I stopped trying to figure out what he was. My brain was too sore for me to carry that investigation any further.

"I told you not to worry about him," Chatta replied tartly. "Experience is a good teacher. Give me that glass, will you?" Her voice gentled again, and the hand stroking my hair paused. "Garth, can you sit up a little? I think you need to drink some water."

Water? That was a wonderful idea. I struggled to sit up a little—this was difficult, as my muscles were as cooperative as wet noodles—so that I could drink something. Chatta shifted around until she could put a shoulder behind mine, giving me some support, then steadied a glass against my lips. I drained the cup in one long draw and sighed in satisfaction once it was gone.

I wanted to ask questions, about the barrier, about the man in the room, about how Chatta had come up to Q'atal so quickly to be here. I didn't get a chance to utter one word before I sank back into comforting darkness.

~*~

The next time I woke up, the world was a much friendlier place. For one thing, my headache was nearly gone. For another, I didn't feel like death warmed over. My body was a little stiff, probably from lying still for so long, and my stomach was so empty it was grumbling plaintively, but other than that I felt fine.

I shifted my head around, getting my bearings. I was back in the main hall, but the room was empty, all the beds made. Well, not quite empty. Night was apparently taking a nap on the bed next to mine.

Slowly, I sat up, feeling stiff and a little uncoordinated. Had it all been a dream, then? Had Chatta really been here, and that other man I didn't know?

"Di!"

Didi? I looked around until I spotted him. He was sitting up in the rafters, peering down at me with ears quivering. When he realized I saw him, he dropped straight down onto my bed, bouncing a little at the impact. "Di!" he proclaimed, smiling.

Apparently
everyone
enjoys bouncing on the bed. I smiled back at him. "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

He nodded vigorously.

"If you're here, I suppose Chatta's here as well?"

"Di," Didi agreed. He held up a little paw, indicating for me to stay put, then scampered across the room and out the door.

I assumed that he was going to fetch Chatta, so I obediently stayed put. There was a glass of water next to my bed, and I gratefully quaffed it down while I was waiting. As soon as I saw Chatta, and figured out what was going on, I was going for a bath and food—not necessarily in that order.

Chatta appeared in the doorway, skidding to a halt when she saw me. "Garth! Finally, you're awake!" Without pause she flew the rest of the way, nearly bowling me over with an exuberant hug.

I put a hand quickly behind me as a brace so I wouldn't get knocked over, returning the hug with my free arm. She smelled like sunshine and flowers, a heady combination that filled my head. I smiled as I held her, enjoying the solid warmth of her pressed close. For a moment I just relaxed, letting my questions wait. "I thought I dreamed you," I murmured into her hair.

"You've been asleep nearly two days," she mumbled into my shoulder. "You woke up once yesterday afternoon, long enough for me to get some water down you, and then you went right back to sleep. I've never seen you so exhausted!"

Well, there was a good reason for that. I've never
been
that exhausted. I decided it might be wise to not say that out loud. "So how did you get up here so fast?" I asked instead. "I wasn't expecting you for another four or five days, at least."

She sat back a little, enough to see my face. There was a very disturbingly impish light in her eyes. "I hitched a ride with an Air Mage from Bromany."

My jaw hit the ground so hard it probably left a dent. "WHAT?!"

"You look like a beached whale," she giggled.

"Chatta, stop teasing me and explain!" I requested plaintively.

I listened with rapt attention as she filled me in on the past few days. What she was telling me was incredible—a whole colony of magicians on Bromany soil, who were descendents of people who escaped the Isle of Strae? Three Mages in particular that came over to Chahir, and then Hain, in order to meet the new Mages being born? There was one point to all of this that I couldn't let pass unchallenged. "Why do they want to meet me in particular?"

"Because you're the first Mage they saw awaken," she answered promptly. "I think that your reputation has something to do with it too. You wouldn't
believe
the rumors that are spreading around the capitol right now."

Actually, I probably would. People have very vivid imaginations, and for some reason, they keep inflicting their ideas on me. "So they want to meet the man behind the myth?"

"In part," she agreed. That impish light was back in her eyes. "Speaking of rumors…you're going to have to make an honest woman out of me."

I had absolutely
no
idea what she was talking about. "Eh?"

"One of the rumors going around right now is that Da wouldn't give you permission to marry me, so we eloped. That's why no one has seen us for the past few months."

She said this with such a straight face that I had a hard time believing that she was serious. When it finally hit me that she
was
serious, I just groaned. "Those people have obviously never met our parents. I wouldn't dare elope with you, my mother would scalp me. She's always wanted to do a big wedding for all of her kids."

"Mine too." Chatta was trying not to laugh, but it was obvious that she was enjoying this rumor. "I've been thinking about buying some fake wedding ring, and showing it off to our families when we get back."

I groaned again, louder. "Are you
trying
to get me killed? Besides, your father would know I couldn't—” too late I realized I was saying and snapped my mouth shut.

Chatta's amusement faded, replaced by growing suspicion. "Garth? Why would my father know you couldn't elope with me?"

I eyed her warily. I knew that look. I was in hot water, and only a lot of fast talking was going to save me. "Er, well, we kind of had a talk one night."

Her eyes narrowed. "What talk?"

Busted buckets, I had hoped her father had mentioned this to her…apparently the coward had left that up to
me
. "Um, well, apparently he had heard rumors about us as well. He was rather concerned about you traveling around with me alone…" I took a peek at her expression, and immediately wished I hadn't. She looked on the verge of exploding.

"And just what did you say to that?" she growled.

"That you would have hexed me if I tried something on you," I replied quickly. "We both know you can take care of yourself, it was just the situation he didn't like."

That mollified her some, and she settled a little. "That couldn't have been the entire discussion; I know my father better than that."

Rats. Why did she have to be so sharp? I winced, resigning myself to the inevitable. "I, er, sort of promised him that I would be on my best behavior."

"I want the promise you gave him word for word," she ordered in a flat voice.

Great magic, I really
am
in trouble. Chatta hates it when she thinks that someone is patronizing her, and having anyone sworn to protect her was a form of patronizing, to her mind. I longingly eyed the door, but even if I made a run for it, she'd catch me. With a sinking heart, I repeated it. "On my blood, on my honor, and by the name of my family, I swear to you that my life will be forfeit before I allow any harm to befall her. Sven Delheart, father to L-Chattamoinita Delheart, will you accept this oath for your daughter's protection."

She froze, staring at me with a horrified expression. "You honestly swore to my father that you would sacrifice your
life
for mine?!"

I re-evaluated the idea of running for the door, but her grip on me was too tight to escape. I gingerly nodded.

"Garth! WHY WOULD YOU DO SUCH A THING?!"

Owwww! That was my eardrum. Cringing as that irate sentence was yelled right in my ear, I tried to hastily explain. "It's the traditional oath of protection in Chahir! It’s the oath that we use when we're traveling alone with a woman, so that her family doesn't have to worry about her."