Magus (Advent Mage Cycle) (46 page)

My eyes snapped open. “Shad, Night, I found him!”

“Good.” Shad executed a harsh swing of his sword, hitting his opponent with the flat of the blade on the chin, effectively knocking him unconscious. “Go!”

I didn’t aim for anyone in particular—I didn’t need to. They were so clustered together that even if I had just struck out blindly, I would have hit someone. I spun the bon’a’lon in my hands and started carving a path forward.

Those shields were fancy and formidable, but they didn’t do much good now that Chatta had robbed them of their magical barriers. I injured perhaps ten or fifteen men before the front ranks realized what was going on and turned to face me.

Shad shot ahead of me, engaging the men who were heading in my direction. “Garth, forget them and go!”

I saw sense in that order as soon as he said it. I was the only one that knew where the key priest was. As soon as he was defeated, this would end very quickly. Still, I couldn’t just cut a straight path as Shad wanted me to. I was pressed in on all sides by soldiers, priests, and spells being shot around my head. Shad was just as boxed in as I was. In fact, the only person who had breathing room was Night, who was breaking people’s shields left and right. In desperation, I shoved my way to his side and threw myself onto his back.

“Night, go!” I had to yell to be heard over the din of voices, clashes of metal, and the shouting orders.

Night reared slightly, lashing out and hitting two shields at once—I wasn’t too surprised to see them instantly shatter. Nothing can withstand a Breaker’s power. The men behind the shields flew backwards, nursing—I’m sure—broken arms.

Night reared again, letting out a noise that reminded me eerily of a battle cry. Using teeth and hooves, he fought his way through the Star Order soldiers.

On his back, I sent the bon’a’lon whistling through the air, striking at anyone trying to harm us.

For a moment, an insanely clear moment, I felt like I was in harmony with all of those Mages two centuries ago. Night might be terribly young for his position, but he was fighting like the trained war horse and magician’s mount he was born to be—he was protecting me, as he was destined to do.

And I was fighting just as zealously to protect him.

With an equine scream of rage, he burst through the last of the resistance, and into the first rank of priests.

The Star Order Priests weren’t difficult to pick out. They were in the silver robes of their Order, looking faintly sinister to my eye. When they registered I was nearby, they turned to face me.

I threw up every shield I had, protecting us—or so I hoped. Their magic had already defeated mine once. I wasn’t confident of anything anymore. I was grateful when the attacks from the pool ceased firing in my area, focusing more on just the priests in front. At least I wouldn’t have to dodge their attacks
and
the priests’.

Now that I was close enough, and without any sort of distractions—enemy soldiers breaking through my impenetrable barrier were
very
distracting—I had to refocus to find the priest I needed to take down.

“
Garth, where?
” Night demanded of me impatiently as he lashed out with his back hooves.

I didn’t want to speak and risk biting my tongue because of his wild bucking, so I sent a mental picture of the one that we needed to reach.

“Got it. Hold on
.” Night was barely able to take two steps when the nearest Star Order Priest took the staff in his hands and gave an expert swing at my barrier.

I hissed in pain as the power on my shields overloaded, sending a backlash powerful enough to singe my nerves. Shrieking hinges, but that hurt! He swung at me again, and this time I dodged backwards, not letting my shields just take the brunt of the blow like I usually did. I didn’t want that staff to touch my shields at all.

“
Garth, why are you dodging?”

“Back up!” I ordered with a hint of panic. “That staff is covered with blood magic; it can actually penetrate my shields!”

Night didn’t back up like I expected him to. He reared instead, his front hooves flashing and striking the staff whistling near us. The priest yelped in panic when his staff broke, and then his eyes rolled up in his head as he simply dropped to the ground.

I stared in amazement. Fortunately, some part of my mind was still thinking logically and came up with an explanation. In order for blood magic to work, it had to be linked to a human being—in other words, for the staff to have any power, it had to be connected to the blood of the user. When Night struck out at them, he not only broke the shield but also whatever linked magic they were using in
connection
with those shields.

A hungry smile took over my face. “Night, break their weapons!”

“Working on it.
” He twisted so sharply that I was wrenched sideways in a squeak of leather.

Shad appeared out of thin air next to us, commandeering a stirrup from me and hanging on to the pommel with a white knuckled grip.

“Chatta’s put a charm on my weapon that has Night’s breaking ability!” he shouted over the din. “If you can get me to the priest, I can get through his shields!”

Now when had she figured out how to do that? I shook my head to clear away the thought. Later, I’d ask later. I twisted in the saddle again, taking an absent swing with the bon’a’lon at a priest that dared to get closer, searching for the priest…ah, there! I pointed to him.
“The priest not interested in fighting. The one with the fancy trim on his robe, who’s just standing around watching. That’s the keystone.” I grabbed Shad’s arm to keep him from flying when Night did another one of his bucking attacks. “If I put you on the ground and vault you into his direction, can you manage?” I asked rapidly.

Shad gave me a sharp nod. “Do it!”

He dropped from his perch, knees bent slightly as he landed. As soon as he touched earth, I sent a sharp pulse up through the ground, vaulting him in the sky a good five feet. He didn’t flail as I half expected, but instead tucked into his chest a little and flipped, coming down toward the priest with targeted precision.

I lost all sight of him as priests swarmed me.

It was completely against my training to release all of my shields. Still, they were doing more harm than good at this point. Every time that a priest hit them, it sent a wave of power at me, which bloody well hurt. I couldn’t afford to be injured or distracted, not when there was that many of them. I trusted in my weapons training and my instincts instead, fighting with the bon’a’lon alone.

Night had not been idle while I was fighting. In fact, he had taken out two more. It became a blur of staffs, and faces, and those strange silver robes. I could feel the blood pounding in my ears, the sweat trickling over my skin and down my back, the ache in my arms from the force and speed I demanded from them. None of my training had prepared me for this.

But I wasn’t going to lose to them. Not ever.

Night let out another scream, sounding like a war cry, and his back legs lashed out behind him. Over the sound of wood cracking, and the moans of pain from the priests, I heard Shad yell.

A staff came whistling at me again, and I had to catch it or be hit in the face. I bent a little over Night’s back, sending the bon’a’lon up and around, unarming him and hitting him squarely on the side of the face. He stumbled to the ground, crying out in pain.

Night broke the staff before I could reach it, snorting in satisfaction. I think he enjoys breaking things. Silly horse.

Shaking my head, I looked up, guarding for the next attack. Three more priests were heading for me, the promise of grim death in their faces. I snarled in response. They
weren’t
going to take me down.

From the opposite end of the barrier, I heard an anguished cry. Startled, I jerked around, searching for the source. Shad? Surely not! Shad was a much better fighter than me. If I could defend myself, then he shouldn’t have any problem.

Unless a priest had somehow used blood magic to get around his guard….

I didn’t like that kernel of doubt one iota. “Shad?” I yelled in panic.

The three priests in front of me abruptly jerked to a stop, the most astonished surprise scrawled on their faces. And then they stumbled forward, like they were on some sort of taut rope that had been suddenly cut.

“Got him!” Shad’s voice rang out jubilantly.

I had a brief moment to indulge in a wave of relief. In the next instant, a powerful spell whipped through the air, striking every shield within sight and shattering them completely. I blinked, somewhat surprised at the ferocity of the attack. I recognized Chatta’s magic easily, after so much time sparring and working with her. For her to do a spell like this, someone must have given her enough time to do an elaborate incantation.

With their personal shields broken, their main source of power gone, and most of their weapons shattered at their feet, the priests around me looked terrified. They backed away slowly, the ones closer to the entrance actually turning to run. Some ran forward, toward the still fighting soldiers.

“
Stop them!”
Xiaolang yelled in desperation. “
They’re stealing power from the soldiers!”

I could feel my blood run cold as I realized what he meant. The priests, desperate for power, were trying to drain the soldier’s of their life force to augment them. But a normal man doesn’t have the power that a magician does—a drain like that would kill him. I whirled around, sensing the priests that were working active magic, and grabbed them ruthlessly with tentacles of stone. Without no finesse, I dragged them away from their intended victims and roughly gathered them into one mass in front of me.

Three more joined from the opposite side, bound by magical tethers that I recognized as Chatta’s handiwork. As she rounded up that side, I reached for the ones trying to escape, scooping them all up in a wave of the earth and pitching them into the group as well. I didn’t dare let anyone escape.

As soon as we had all of the soldiers and priests in one area—all of the living ones, anyway—I dropped a barrier around them. They’re able to penetrate my barriers when they have powerful blood shields around them, but they can’t do it now.

Shad sauntered toward me, glancing at the injured enemy as he skirted the outside of my latest barrier, rubbing at his chin idly. “Are they secure in there?”

“Perfectly,” I assured him. “Was the key priest hard to get to?”

Shad gave me a gamine grin. “He was ridiculously easy to defeat.”

I laughed, clapping his shoulder. “Shad, you’re so modest!”

“Hey, you brought me along for my fighting abilities, remember?” He mock pouted at me. “It’s not all just looks and charm.”

I rolled my eyes. “What charm?”

“Oh, now
that
was low.”

“
Save the banter for later,
” Night advised. “
Someone is coming out of the pool.”

Huh? My head snapped around. Night was right, there was someone coming cautiously out of the building. He had a crystal in one hand, which I assumed he knew a little of how to use. I found it interesting that he wasn’t the typical Chahiran—his hair was a thick chestnut in color, and his skin was a more swarthy tan.

The team gathered around me as he approached. I took a second to do a quick inventory. It looked like Xiaolang had a nasty gash along one arm, which someone had hastily bandaged, and there were some obvious bruises forming on everyone but for the most part we were alright. I let out a breath of relief. Thank the Guardians we hadn’t lost anyone in this frantic battle.

I turned my eyes back on the man as he stopped directly in front of me, eyes wary but not condemning. We regarded each other without a word, the silence taut and almost thrumming between us.

“If you defeated the Star Order Priests,” he finally stated, “then you must be our allies. Who are you?”

“Did you read the letter?” I asked cautiously.

A rueful smile flitted over his face, almost too fast to see. “A blind man couldn’t miss that letter. We know where you come from, and what purpose you are here for. But who
are
you?”

A reasonable question. “I am Rhebengarthen, an Earth Mage.”

His breath hissed in between his teeth. Recognition was clear in his eyes. “You’re of the Rhebens!”

Um…hmm. Why does he recognize my family name? “Yes, I am.”

He relaxed noticeably, even smiling. “We found records in the building that listed the known Mages before the war. There was three of the Rheben line.” Thoughtfully he added, “All of them were Earth Mages, actually.”

“It’s hereditary,” I admitted. “With me are Captain Riicshaden of Jarrell—” he definitely recognized that name, and his eyes flew to Shad, looking a little astonished “—and my Nreesce, Night.”

If Shad surprised him, Night flabbergasted him. “So
that’s
what a Nreesce looks like…” He shook his head. “Forgive me, Master Night, we heard only rumors of what a Nreesce was. We did not recognize you.”

“
Yes, I know
.” Night winked at him. “
You make really good peanut butter up here.
”

A startled laugh burst from his mouth. “So it was you! Jillian was telling me that she almost had a stallion bribed away.”

“I assume that Jillian is the Life Mage?” I inquired politely.

“Yes. Um, you can tell?” That unnerved him a little.

“Yes,” I confirmed dryly. “The same way that I can tell you’re a Wizard.” Oh he was definitely surprised by that. “Do I glow brown and green to you?”

His eyes narrowed. “Actually…yes.”

“You’re seeing my magic,” I explained patiently. “Most magicians see magic. I’m one of the few exceptions. I can only feel it.”

“Oh.” That took a moment for him to fully absorb. Then he blinked back into the present. “And who are your companions?”

I turned and introduced everyone. He responded politely to every person. “I am sorry, I’m being very rude. I am Nihuishen. Just call me Huish, everyone does.”

“Thank you for the gift of your name.”