Hunted by Magic (6 page)

“Nice job,” Annia said as the balloon began moving southeast. She braced her arms on the edge of the basket and looked out, her dark red hair streaming out behind her like a banner. The sun kissed her face, highlighting her skin with a peachy glow, and from the way Fenris was eyeing her I saw I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.

“What?” he asked defensively when he noticed I’d switched my gaze to his.

“Just wondering if you’ve got something to share with the class.”

“You already know how I feel about having her here,” he muttered, but he averted his gaze.

But as I continued to steer the balloon, I wondered if I really did know how he felt. Fenris had stressed the need for discretion on this mission, but I wasn’t sure why. After all, there was a horde of people heading out to search for Iannis. Why did it make a difference that Annia was teaming up with us as opposed to going out on her own, or with a crew of Enforcers? Was there some kind of secret that Fenris was worried she’d find out about?

He does seem to have his fair share of secrets,
I thought as I looked out across the changing landscape. We’d cleared the city now, and rolling hills of green stretched out below us, side by side with plots of farmland and orchards. The trees beneath us were laden with fruit just ripe for the picking. Hopefully whatever part of Mexia we ended up in would also have fruit- laden bushes or trees, or at the very least plentiful game. But at least part of the Coazi area was supposed to be desert country, so perhaps that was overly optimistic.

So long as we find Iannis, I’ll put up with anything,
I thought, my eyes firmly on the horizon. I only hoped that we found him before it was too late.

“
B
y the Ur-God
,” Annia swore, her teeth chattering, “is there anything we can do to make it less freezing in here?”

“Sorry, but the closest heat source we have is currently being used to power the balloon right now.” I turned my head to look at Annia, who was huddled in a corner of the basket, her bedroll unwrapped and tucked around her. Her cheeks were pink from the cold, as I imagined mine were – they stung from constantly being slapped by the winds buffeting our balloon.

“I wish I’d packed more layers to wear,” she groused, her dark brows drawn together in a scowl. “This drafty basket is letting in far more air than the airships I’ve traveled on. Honestly, you’d think it was winter up here!”

“It is rather cold,” Fenris agreed. He was sitting on the opposite end of basket from Annia, his knees drawn up to his chest as well, but he’d forgone the bedroll – since he was a shifter, the cold didn’t affect him as badly.

“Seriously, Naya,” Annia said, “can’t you use your magic to heat up the air or something?”

“Keeping the air warm in here would require constant use of my magic, and I’m already using it to steer the balloon,” I told her. “I’m not a never-ending power source, Annia – that would drain me eventually.”

“Oh alright,” she sighed, burrowing a little deeper into her bedroll. “But this still sucks.”

“I told you we shouldn’t have brought her.”
Fenris’s voice echoed into my mind, a little smugly.
“She’s clearly not cut out for this kind of travel.”

“You have no idea what Annia is and isn’t cut out for.”
Annoyed, I turned to glare at him, but I found that he wasn’t even looking at me. Rather, he was staring at Annia over his knees, his yellow eyes glimmering with ire.

My scowl melted away into a grin as an idea came to me.
“Go sit over there with her.”

Fenris’s eyes snapped toward me. “
Excuse me?”

“Oh you heard me right
.” My grin widened.
“Go get under the bedroll with Annia and share your body heat with her.”

“I’ll do no such thing,”
Fenris bit out.
“You keep saying she can take care of herself. She doesn’t need me.”

“Oh stop being such an ass.”
I would have been annoyed at his recalcitrance if I wasn’t enjoying how uncomfortable he was becoming. I’d never seen Fenris so ruffled.
“You know why we need her, and there’s no point in letting her suffer if we don’t have to. Be a gentleman, for Magorah’s sake! Unless you don’t know how.”

“Of course I know how,” Fenris snapped.

“Know how to do what?” Annia asked, and we both snapped our heads around to look at her. Her dark, thickly lashed eyes were peeking out from beneath the bedroll, and they latched onto Fenris hopefully. “Build a fire in here without setting the whole basket aflame?”

“No,” Fenris sighed, his voice softening. He rolled onto his knees, and the basket rocked a little as he made his way toward Annia. “But I suppose I can help warm you up with my body heat.”

“Oooh.” Annia waggled her eyebrows, and I nearly lost it. “Does that mean you’re getting naked?”

“Hardly.” Fenris kept his voice even, but his short, dark hair wasn’t long enough to hide his ears, and I bit back a laugh as I watched them turn red. Annia lifted the bedroll and waved Fenris over – a gesture that cost her as the exposure caused her to start shivering again. Noticing, Fenris quickly got under the bedroll with her and tucked it around them both, pressing his stocky body close to Annia’s.

“There,” I said, grinning. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“You put him up to this?” Annia asked, her brows arched.

“Well, I didn’t want my best friend turning into a popsicle. Feel free to snuggle in closer – he doesn’t mind.”

“What…?” Fenris started to protest as Annia did exactly that, and I let out a snicker. From the glint in her dark eyes, I knew she was playing along with me. Fenris was ridiculously easy to tease, and I found myself wondering why I hadn’t done it before. Probably because we didn’t really spend any idle time together. As I watched Fenris slowly begin to relax, I wondered if he spent idle time in the company of others at all. He was close friends with Iannis, sure, but I’d hardly ever heard the two of them talk of anything other than business, and he didn’t appear to have close relationships with anyone else.

Then again, Fenris was a shifter, so should I really be surprised that he hadn’t made friends with the others? The way the Council had turned on him so quickly the moment Iannis was out of sight was proof that without the Chief Mage’s support, Fenris didn’t hold much influence. It made me wonder if that was my fate, too – if I would always have to rely on Iannis to protect me from the wrath and prejudice of the Mages Guild.

Hell no
, I thought, gripping the rope in my fist a little tighter. I might need Iannis now, but no way was I going to be dependent on him for the rest of my life. I was going to become a mage in my own right, a force to be reckoned with, and the other mages would have to respect me.

“Is it just me, or are we swaying a little?”

Annia’s voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I realized that my lapses in concentration were pulling the balloon in the wrong direction – a side effect of letting myself get caught up in my emotions.

“Sorry,” I muttered, reining myself in. The balloon steadied again as I straightened out our course. “I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Do you need me to take over?” Fenris asked, sounding concerned. “It’s important that you maintain your focus and control, Sunaya. We don’t want to wreck the balloon.”

“No, no, I’m fine.” I waved Fenris away as he started to stand up. “I’ll be good for another hour at least.”

“Very well,” he said, settling back in with Annia. I turned my attention back to the landscape, which was so very, very far below us. It had been six hours since we’d left, with at least another four to go until we crossed the border into Mexia. Right now we were hovering over the state of Aziana, the craggy, reddish-brown landscape peeking through the clouds below us. Mostly canyons and desert, with the occasional green patch of forest. I’d heard they had cacti there the size of trees, with arms sticking out to the sides and up, like a man holding up both hands in surrender. I wondered what the people there were like – I’d traveled all over Canalo on Enforcer business, but never to other states, and it made me realize I knew very little about the rest of the Federation.

If we ever get out of this mess, and I ever get some time off, I’m going to travel,
I decided.
From coast to coast, so I can see what this country is
really
like, and after that to other continents.

I steered the balloon for another hour, then with Fenris’s help landed it in a sheltered valley so we could make camp. The sun was setting, and none of us were keen on trying to steer the balloon through the night. Without light it would be tough to land safely, and the charm could well lead us to a forest or down a canyon. Also, my bladder was full to bursting – we’d had a bucket on board to relieve ourselves, of course, but I’d stubbornly held out until we landed.

“You two make camp,” I told Fenris and Annia once we’d secured the balloon. “I’m going to see if I can scrounge up some dinner.”

“Why?” Annia asked, frowning as she held up a sack. “We’ve got provisions.”

“We shouldn’t use them if we don’t have to. Besides,” I added, grinning a little, “I could use the exercise.”

“Suit yourself.” Annia turned away to unpack the small tent we’d bought. It turned out that she’d brought one of her own, so we had two shelters if the weather got rough. Thankfully it didn’t seem like that was going to happen – the air here was dry and warm. Almost swelteringly so, especially considering that we’d been freezing our asses off just a little while ago. I hoped things cooled off a little bit, or I was going to have trouble getting to sleep.

Putting the worry out of my mind, I closed my eyes and reached for my inner beast. She sprang forth eagerly, and a white light enveloped me as uncomfortably hot tingles spread through my body. I stretched and changed shape, muscles, skin, and bones reforming, and when the white light faded, I was crouched on all fours, my tail swishing back and forth. Digging my claws into the reddish-brown dirt, I stretched and yawned, muscles rippling beneath my black fur. It felt good to be back in beast form again.

I spared one last look at Annia and Fenris, then bounded forward, heading up into the tree-dotted hillside. Dirt and rocks shifted beneath my paws as I ran, and I opened up my senses to the wilderness. Birds twittered overhead, branches rustled as a squirrel hopped from one tree to another, and the scent of deer droppings mixed with the fresher scents of evergreens and shrubs urged me onward.

I tracked the deer droppings further north to a clearing, where a herd of deer grazed. I crouched in the tall grass for a little while, scoping out the options, and my eyes settled on an older female with a limp in her rear right leg. Settled on my choice, I sprang from my hiding place and bounded straight for her. The herd immediately took off, galloping to safety, and the female tried to follow, but her leg slowed her down as I’d expected. Within seconds I was on her, taking her down, my claws digging into her hide as she struggled vainly. Clamping my jaws around her long neck, I shook her neck to break the spine, the killing blow. A crack rent the air, and as the deer went limp, I pierced her jugular with my fangs. As her sweet blood coated my tongue, I was briefly overwhelmed by the urge to feast right then and there, but I held back. This kill wasn’t just for myself, after all – it was for Annia and Fenris as well.

“Wow,” Annia remarked as I dragged the deer back to camp. “You really know how to impress a girl, don’t you?” She was sitting on a log in front of a campfire, stirring something in a pot.

“I told Annia to wait for you, but she insisted on using some of the rations,” Fenris responded as I tossed my head, annoyed that Annia was cooking something else. He was sitting next to her on the log, though at a respectable distance. To the left, I noticed that the tents had been set up, and the balloon was properly secured.

“Oh well. More for you and me, I guess. Come on then, let’s eat.”

Something very much like reluctance crossed Fenris’s face, but then he nodded and stood. I dragged the deer carcass aside out of respect for Annia, and waited until Fenris had changed into wolf form before ripping into it. Shifters need a lot of food to begin with, and on top of that I’d been using my magic all day, so I was ravenous. Between the two of us, we managed to pick the bones clean in short order.

“Enjoy your meal?” Annia asked after we’d trotted back over to the campfire.

I bumped my head against her leg and made a purring sound in answer, then curled up by her feet and stared into the fire. With a full belly and nothing pressingly urgent to do, sleeping in front of the campfire sounded like a really nice idea right about now.

“I’m going to explore for a bit,”
Fenris told me. I cracked open an eye to see him standing under the trees, swishing his tail.
“You’ll be staying here with Annia?”

“Yeah. I’ve had my share of exercise, thanks.”

Fenris inclined his head once, then bounded off into the forest. I didn’t know where he got his energy from, but then again I’d done most of the steering today, so it stood to reason he wasn’t as pooped as I was.

“So,” Annia said just as I was about to drift off, “what’s the deal with Fenris?”

Huffing, I lifted my head to glare at her. Couldn’t a girl take a catnap? It wasn’t like we could actually communicate while I was in beast form.

Annia only lifted an eyebrow. “Oh, give me a break and change back already. I’m not sitting out here by myself and talking to the air when I’ve got you for company.”

I made a disgruntled noise in the back of my throat, but did as she asked and changed back into human form. Once I was on two legs again, I sat down on the log beside her and stared up at the sky. The sun had fully set, leaving only a tinge of purple at the edges of the dark sky. Out here in the wilderness, I could see more stars than sky, many of them more luminous than even the waxing moon hanging above our heads.

“Not sure what you want me to tell you about Fenris,” I finally said. “I don’t really know much about him.”

“You have to know something,” Annia said, looking at me curiously. “From what I understand, you two are the only shifters who spend any substantial length of time in the Palace. What’s up with that?”

“Well, I know why
I
ended up in the Palace,” I said, playing with the ends of my ponytail. I’d scooped my hair back and tied it with a leather band hours ago – the winds had kept blowing it in my face and making visibility difficult while I was steering the balloon. “The Chief Mage took an interest in my abilities, and he hasn’t gotten tired of me yet. But I have no idea why he and Fenris are friends. It’s not like Fenris is half-mage like me.”

“If he’s not a mage, then how is it that he was able to help you steer the balloon?” Annia asked, puzzled. “I thought you had to have magic in order to do that. Isn’t that what Noria said?”

“I…” I opened my mouth, and then closed it again. I didn’t have an answer for that. “He must have picked up some kind of trick from Iannis.”

“How do you know he isn’t a hybrid like you?”

“He’s not.” I shook my head emphatically – of this I was certain. “He smells like a full-blooded shifter to me.” I slanted my eyes toward her. “Why are you so curious, anyway?”

“I like to know who I’m working with.” Annia’s lips curved into a small smile. “And besides, I’m curious as to why he’s so stiff and fidgety around me. If it weren’t for you, I’d think he’d never been around a woman before.”

“I think he’s just not used to new people.” But my own lips twitched, and I had to stifle a laugh. “Just how ‘stiff’ was he under that blanket anyway?”

Annia snickered. “He wasn’t
that
kind of stiff, you pervert.” Her dark eyes twinkled with mirth as she shook her head at me. “In fact, I have to wonder if he’s even into women.”