Advent Mage Compendium (Advent Mage Cycle Book 5) Read online

  “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.”
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br />   “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!”