The Mage of Trelian (30 page)

“Hi,” she called out to them. “Anyone need a ride to Trelian?”

She did end up having to wait while they decided who would go in the first group. But once those selected had climbed up behind her (with various degrees of grace and courage), she turned and looked down at the rest of them. “Figure out now who is coming in the next group. I think it will take four more trips after this one.” Jakl could easily manage five at a time, maybe six, and a few of them were on the small side; she thought they could make it in five trips all together. In fact . . .

She pointed to one of the apprentices, a skinny boy of maybe ten. “You come with this group,” she said. “Better to have Jakl carry extra people when he’s fresh than when he’s tired.”

The boy looked nervous but came gamely forward, climbing up behind the others.

“Keep moving,” she said to the rest. “I’ll be back in under two hours. The farther you ride in the meantime, the quicker you’ll see me again.”

She left them trying to recapture their horses, and leaped with Jakl back into the sky.

The first trip was uneventful. Meg had a bad moment when she was suddenly seized with the certainty that she would see Krelig’s army waiting for them as they approached, but the way was clear when they arrived. She landed in the courtyard and sent the mages off with a waiting guard to find Serek and the others. Then she and Jakl headed back for the next group.

She took five the next trip, and another five the next. Each journey was a bit shorter than the one before, since the mages kept riding toward Trelian all the while. Which was good, because Meg still expected to see Krelig’s army at any moment. She wanted to have everyone safely delivered before that happened. Every time the castle came into view, she felt an overwhelming wave of relief that the enemy had not yet arrived.

We’ll make it,
she told herself.
We’re more than halfway there.

But she continued to urge Jakl to fly as fast as he could.

She’d planned to take six on the fourth trip, but the mages had other ideas about how they wanted to be grouped, and she didn’t want to take the time to argue with them. So it would have to be six in the last group. Fortunately neither she nor Jakl was feeling the least bit tired. Each time she’d returned to the castle after the first trip, there had been a mage waiting to give them a little magical strength and energy.

Magic could be pretty handy sometimes.

Jakl didn’t mind the multiple trips; he was happy that they had an excuse to fly as fast as possible. He liked the extra energy, too.

When she dropped off the fourth group, Calen was waiting with another mage that she didn’t know. That was different, and so immediately made her alarmed.

“Trouble?” Meg asked, sliding down to the ground before him.

“Maybe,” Calen said. “Anders had another vision. He said you’d need extra strength for the last trip.”

“Did — did he say why?” The fear she’d been struggling to keep at bay came rushing back in a heartbeat.

“He couldn’t say. It could be Mage Krelig’s arrival, or it could be a storm coming, or it could be any number of things. He wasn’t sure why you needed the extra strength; he just said it would be bad if you didn’t have it.”

“I see,” Meg said. “All right, then. Cast your spells, and we’ll go.”

The other mage went first, touching first Meg and then Jakl, sending a now-familiar flood of alertness and energy through them both. Meg felt as though she’d just awakened from a very good night’s sleep.

“Now for the extra,” Calen said. He stepped closer and touched her hand. Meg gasped as the magic began to flow into her. It was — it was more than strength. It was power. She almost felt like she could fly back for the last group of mages on her own.

“Calen,” Meg said, “can you spare that much? Won’t you need it for yourself?”

He dropped his gaze. “I’m much stronger than I used to be, Meg. Don’t worry.” He glanced back up at her, and the smile he gave her looked a bit forced. “Plenty left where that came from. But I’m only giving it to you; I think you need it more than Jakl does. And Anders only said that
you
would need it, not that Jakl would.”

“Well,” Meg said in a low voice, so the other mage wouldn’t hear, “it’s not like we can’t share it if we need to.” She thought that at least some of the other mages must guess how closely connected she was to Jakl, but she still didn’t want to advertise the fact.

Calen nodded. “That’s what I thought, too.” He stepped back as Meg climbed back up astride her dragon. “Be careful!” he added at the last.

“Of course,” she said. Then she grinned at him. “You know me!”

She laughed at his helpless expression as they flew away.

The last six mages pulled up their horses when they saw her returning. The other horses had already been turned loose, with the hope that they would find their way back to the Magistratum. Meg waited while they dismounted and collected their small bundles of belongings. They were a mixed group: three women and three men of various ages. One of the women was very old; Meg was a bit worried about her, but she slid down from her horse without difficulty and showed no hesitation about climbing atop the dragon. Still, Meg suggested that the old woman sit right behind her, which felt like the safest place. At least Meg would know she was all right.

All their faces were heavily marked, which Meg took as a good sign. As far as she understood, that meant they knew a lot of magic and were very good at it. From what Calen had told her, the mages back at the castle needed all the help they could get.

When everyone had settled into place atop the dragon, Meg checked to make sure they were all holding on, and then let Jakl launch himself back up into the sky. She never got tired of feeling the beat of his wings through the link, especially right at the start, when he was first gaining his initial speed and altitude. She could feel the air working to lift them higher, the power of him as he pulled them forward, the dwindling presence of the ground below. It was always wonderful, every time.

She heard one of the mages whimper slightly from behind her and smiled. She didn’t think it had been the old woman.

As they flew, Meg kept an extra-sharp eye out for danger this time around. She wished Anders could have been more specific! She doubted it had been a storm he’d felt coming — the sky was clear for as far as she could see. But then, the ground was, too. There were areas of dense forest that she couldn’t see into, but she didn’t think Krelig could move an army through there. Even a small one. Not if he were bringing the slaarh, anyway. At least some of the slaarh could fly; she expected that would be the way they came.

The closer they got to home, the better Meg felt. Whatever Calen had done seemed to have worked, thank the gods. And Anders. They’d get this last group safely inside, and then Serek would have all the mages he needed. Surely, this many mages, working together, would be able to bring down even someone as powerful as Mage Krelig. She knew he wouldn’t be alone, but he wouldn’t have nearly as many mages as they did. And if he showed up with the Lourin soldiers at his back . . . well, they had the Kragnir forces now.
Thanks to you,
she thought at Jakl fondly.

They were almost back. Meg was so busy thinking about the combined ferocity of Trelian’s and Kragnir’s armies that it took Jakl’s sudden tug at her through the link to bring her attention back to her surroundings.

Sorry,
she thought at him.
I was —

She broke off.

Behind her, she heard the other mages gasp and cry out.

A great horde of slaarh surrounded the castle in a dark, horrible ring. The afternoon light seemed to slide right off their oily black hides as though it couldn’t bear to touch them. They all had human riders atop them, and more men stood on the ground behind the monsters. Lourin’s forces, Meg thought. Maybe Baustern’s and Farrell-Grast’s, too.

And just inside the circle of monsters, a large group of mages stood facing Trelian’s front gate.

Krelig had come.

Jakl screamed and sent a burst of fire into the air before them. The slaarh’s heads snapped toward them, and the men on their backs seemed to be struggling to hold them in position.

Meg shook herself out of her shock and tried to evaluate the situation. She felt a smile tugging at her lips. The slaarh didn’t matter. Not unless they came up into the sky to meet them. Jakl could fly right over all of them and land safely inside. Krelig must not have realized that the opposing mages were traveling by dragon.

Ha,
she thought.
Go on, Jakl — bring us home.

Suddenly one of the mages — she thought it was the man just behind the old woman — called out in horror: “Stop! Princess, turn the dragon, you can’t —”

She turned back to look at him. “It’s all right! We can fly right over them!”

He was shaking his head desperately. “No! It’s the mages inside — there’s a magical barrier. I can feel it. You’ll hit it straight on. The dragon won’t be able to pass through it!”

Meg hesitated only for a second, then told Jakl to turn away.

He obeyed instantly, even before she was able to explain her hazy understanding of why it was necessary.

“I sense it, too,” the old woman said. “Do you all sense it? It surrounds the entire castle and grounds, like the cover on a hot dish.”

There were mutters of assent behind her.

Find a place to land, somewhere far enough away that we can stop and figure out what to do next,
she told her dragon.

Meg did not like this one bit.

Because if this was the danger that Anders foresaw, it was going to get worse before it got better. She hadn’t needed extra strength to change course. She wouldn’t need it to land and see what the mages had to say about what to do. Which meant that whatever they decided to try must be the thing that would be difficult and dangerous.

Or maybe it wouldn’t be — not at first. But then it would all just go horribly, horribly wrong.

C
ALEN FELT IT JUST BEFORE IT
happened. He couldn’t see anything, because he was deep inside the castle with the others, but he felt it.

And then a second later, they all did.

“He’s here,” Calen said. And then: “Did Meg make it back?” He ran for the door without waiting for an answer.

“Calen!” Serek called after him. Calen kept running.

He heard distant screams but didn’t stop to wonder what they were about. Down one hall after another, then up flight after flight of stairs until he reached the battlements. He burst outside and looked out over the wall.

He didn’t see Meg or Jakl anywhere. What he did see was a shimmering dome of magical energy encasing the entire castle and grounds. And beyond it . . .

Serek slammed through the door behind him. Calen could hear the other mages coming up the stairs, too.

“Dark Lord and Bright Lady,” Serek said softly as he came up next to Calen.

I’d almost forgotten how ugly those things are,
Calen thought. The circle of slaarh surrounded the castle as far as he could see in either direction. And behind them was a host of men, some on foot, some on horseback. Closer, he saw people — Trelian’s people — running toward the castle doors, fleeing the enemies who had suddenly materialized in their midst.

“Where did they come from?” another mage asked, stepping up behind them.

“He transported them here,” Calen said. He could see faint traces of purple energy still floating around them.

“Transported —
all of them
?”

Calen nodded absently. He didn’t really care so much about that. He wanted to sort out what that dome was about. “Can you sense the barrier he’s put up?” he asked Serek. “I can’t tell. . . . It’s red, orange . . . white . . . some violet. . . . I don’t think it’s the same kind of spell he used to block magic energy before.”

“No,” Anders said, joining them. “It’s a physical barrier of some kind. Look.” He pointed, and they saw someone running toward it from the other side, some poor soul who had been out beyond its boundary when the slaarh appeared and was now trying to make it back inside to safety. A servant, Calen thought, returning from some errand. He was running flat out — unable, of course, to see that there was anything in front of him. Calen inhaled to shout a warning, ready to cast an amplification spell so the boy would be able to hear him from that distance, but it was already too late. The boy slammed into the barrier and flew horribly backward from the impact, landing several feet away on the grass. He did not get back up.

“Meg and Jakl will fly right into it!” Calen cried, scanning the skies for them. It was surely time for them to be back, wasn’t it? Or had something delayed them?

Had Krelig already killed them?

Serek put a hand on his shoulder. “She’ll have mages with her. They’ll sense it. They’ll warn her.”

Calen shook him off. “She might not listen! You know how she is! She might just —” He spun to face Anders. “This is what she needed the strength for! So she won’t die when she hits the barrier, so she’ll still be all right —”

“No,” Anders said again. “This isn’t it. I don’t know what she needs the strength for, but it’s not this. I can feel that much, at least.” He knocked lightly at his forehead with one fist. “Stupid glimmers.”