The Mage of Trelian (33 page)

After a minute, or maybe several minutes, she became aware that someone had helped Mage Estrella down from Jakl’s back and was giving her some water from a canteen. Meg experimented and found that her fingers were finally willing to unclench their hold. She took a deep breath and then slid down on shaky legs to get a drink of that water for herself.

She sat beside Mage Estrella, just for a moment, giving herself a few seconds to recover from the burning and the healing. Trying to nerve herself to get back up. The five mages they’d abducted so far were lying unconscious in a row a little distance away. Clearly no one was taking any chances with them.

Once she got up, she’d need to go back.

“Princess,” Mage Estrella said gently, “why not send the dragon back without you this time? The magic can’t hurt him; it’s only your presence that makes him vulnerable.”

Meg shook her head. “I can’t send him into that alone. Won’t.” She felt Jakl trying to object, to remind her that he’d fought without her after she fell at the battle of Kragnir. She told him to hush. “If he goes, I go too,” she said. “There are some decisions he can’t make alone, and I need to be right there in case he needs me. If I were somewhere else, even somewhere that was supposed to be safer, his attention would be divided. And . . . I just can’t sit behind and send him off into danger on my behalf. He might be safer in some ways without me, but in others, he’d be more vulnerable alone. We fight together. We’re stronger together, anyway, than either of us is alone.”

Estrella considered her for a moment. “You are linked, in the ancient way,” she said finally. “He is not just your pet, this dragon.”

“Yes,” Meg said. “Does that help you to see? Sending him alone is like sending one part of me but leaving the rest behind. He fought for me when I fell in the war with Lourin, but . . . while he was brave, and wonderful, and magnificent”—
and you were,
she thought at him firmly —“he was also acting in rage and pain and fear. It turned out all right, more than all right, that time . . . but this feels like a far more delicate situation we’re in now. The goals are not as immediately clear. He needs my guidance.”

The mage nodded, seeming to understand.

“Not everyone knows about the link,” Meg added. “I’d appreciate it if you kept it to yourself.”

Estrella smiled. “I suspect that anyone who knows that such a thing is possible will already have put it together for themselves,” she said. “But that is a smaller number than you might imagine. It’s been a long time since there were many dragons, as you know. And longer still since bondings were a well-known practice. But I will not be enlightening any who do not already know. This I promise you, Princess.”

“Thank you,” Meg said. Then she got to her feet. Putting this off was not going to make it any easier, and she’d rested for as long as she could justify.

Mage Oren came over then. “If it’s all right with you, Estrella, I’ll take a turn accompanying the princess. Begging your pardon, but I believe I’m stronger in defensive magic, and that seems to be what is most called for now.”

Estrella turned her smile to him. “No begging of pardons is necessary, Oren. I think your suggestion is a wise one. And I believe a little more rest would not hurt me.”

Oren looked at Meg, who nodded her agreement. “I’ll be happy to have your assistance, Mage Oren. Thank you.”

They went back again.

Meg still had to battle her terror, but somehow now that she’d actually been hit, and survived,
again,
she found the fear a little easier to manage. Only a little, but she would take what she could get. And Mage Oren was noticeably better than Mage Estrella at keeping the fireballs away. The remaining traitor mages were relentless, though, and while some of Serek’s group were helping to fend off the enemy spells that came at them now, they couldn’t stop them all.

On her second trip with Oren, Meg was finally starting to feel a little less certain that she was about to be set on fire as soon as she came within range. She could do this, clearly; she
was
doing it. It was going to be okay. She tried to focus just on being present with Jakl, helping him choose a target and adding her strength and determination to his as he went once more back into the fray. The mages were all waiting for them again, facing them in a line.

But this time Mage Krelig was facing them, too.

I suppose he’s finally gotten tired of watching us snatch away his army, one by one,
she thought sadly. She’d hoped he’d been suitably distracted by trying to fight all the other mages who were trying to kill him. But while she could see Serek’s mages still apparently casting spells in Krelig’s direction, he seemed content to ignore them for the moment.

“You have become an annoyance,” he said, and although she knew it was impossible, she could hear his voice perfectly despite the fighting going on all around them.

He pointed, and Meg tried to brace herself for whatever he was about to do.
Not fire, please not fire,
she prayed, unable to help it. But whatever it was, it was directed at Oren, not at her. She felt him stiffen behind her, then start to slide backward.

“Oren!” she screamed. She turned and grabbed for him, seeing as she did so that his eyes had rolled up to show only the whites. She didn’t know what Krelig had done, but clearly Oren was in no position to help defend her now. In fact, if she didn’t get a better grip on him, he was going to go sliding off to his death.

You’ve practiced this,
she thought abruptly. And of course that was true.
Exactly this, with the soldiers. You can hold on. You’re strong enough. Or at least stubborn enough.
She took a breath and managed a firmer hold on Oren. There was no safety harness this time, though, and he was not just pretending to be unconscious. If he fell, he would die.

So she was not going to let him fall.

Jakl, away!
Meg sent at him frantically. He changed course, flying straight up, but then abruptly slammed into something. Meg screamed at the impact and nearly let go of Oren. Jakl shook his head, momentarily dazed, falling backward toward the earth. She could feel his pain and confusion, swirling together with her own. He was able to regain control and manage their landing, but it was still rough. She nearly lost Oren a second time as they hit the ground.

Another barrier, she realized. Like the one the mages had warned her about when they first approached. Krelig must have put it back in place. She looked helplessly down over her shoulder, still trying desperately to hold on to Oren. Even though they were on the ground now, and the fall wouldn’t kill him, landing unconscious and defenseless at the feet of the enemy mages probably would.

Krelig was looking up at her, a terrible smile on his face. He opened his mouth to speak, no doubt to tell her exactly how he was going to kill her.

And then he suddenly staggered forward, nearly falling to the ground.

Calen stood behind him, arms outstretched.

Meg was so astounded, she nearly laughed. Despite everything. Had Calen just — just transported himself right up behind the mage and
pushed
him?

Krelig’s smile vanished, replaced by an expression of uncontrolled rage that instantly killed Meg’s fleeting moment of amusement. He whirled around.

“Leave her alone,” Calen said calmly. She could hear him perfectly, too. It must be magic, she realized. She was assaulted by a sudden mental image of Anders waving his fingers in the air and whispering,
Magic!,
and she had to fight back laughter again. Hysterical laughter. She was losing her mind.

Focus!
she told herself desperately. Not that she could think of anything to do. It was still taking every ounce of her strength to keep hold of Oren. Jakl seemed to have mostly recovered from smashing his head into the barrier, but she bade him stay still. Until she could see how they could help, she thought the best thing would be to be very quiet and not interfere.

“You wanted me?” Calen continued. “Well, here I am.”

Krelig straightened. His smile returned. “I will deal with you,” he said. “Right after I kill your friend.”

“You’ll deal with me now,” Calen said. He wasn’t smiling. Quick as lightning, he raised his hands toward the older man and then suddenly seemed to thrust something forward. Krelig raised his own hands almost lazily, then seemed shocked when the force of whatever Calen had cast at him pushed him back a step. His eyes widened. “How . . . ?”

Calen didn’t waste time answering. He continued moving his hands, clearly casting spell after spell at Krelig. The mage was forced to remain facing him, to defend himself and retaliate.

Meg noticed some of the other enemy mages raising their hands toward Calen as well.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said under her breath.
Jakl, stop them!

Jakl released a targeted burst of fire that enveloped the mages first on one side, then the other. In that moment, Meg had absolutely no reservations about sending them all up in flames. Most of them seemed able to put themselves out fairly quickly, in any case. But it forced them to pay attention to the dragon, to keep defending themselves. Which she hoped would leave them too busy to send anything against Calen.

She also hoped that it would keep them too busy to realize that she had no protection other than Jakl’s interference. If they thought to cast something at her now, with Oren still unconscious in her desperate grasp, there would be nothing she could do to stop them.

T
HE NEW BARRIER HAD WINKED INTO
existence so quickly, none of them had seen it coming. Calen had been too distracted by seeing Meg flying crazily back into danger after she’d been set on fire yet again to notice the colors in time. And then Jakl had crashed into it, and gone tumbling toward the ground. Calen would have transported right then to try to save her if not for Serek’s sudden viselike grip on his arm.

“Calen, wait!” Serek barked.

“No! I —”

“I know. You have to go, I know, but just listen first. Quickly!”

Calen listened.

He felt a savage smile stretching across his face as he did.

Now
this
was a plan he liked.

Serek’s explanation had taken only seconds; the man could be incredibly succinct when he wanted to be. And it helped that Serek was linking with Calen at the same time — it was the same way the other teams had joined to cast as one, and it helped Serek to send some of what he was communicating in mental images instead of words, which got the message across even faster.

And then there was no more time, and Calen
jumped,
and nearly pushed Krelig right over onto his hateful, evil face.

He knew the other mages were still a threat, but Calen couldn’t think about them now. All of his attention was on Krelig. Had to be on Krelig. Because this was it: the final battle. Right here. One of them was not going to survive this. Calen just had to make sure that Krelig was the one who died. And he had to start it before Krelig had a chance to hurt Meg.

He talked just long enough to give as many of the others as possible a chance to join in with Serek back on the castle wall. And then he stopped talking and started casting. With everything he had.

And everything Serek and the others had, too.

Krelig clearly hadn’t been expecting that. He’d probably never participated in a voluntary joining of this kind in his entire life. It required relinquishing all your power to someone else, letting that person use your ability as though it were his own. Calen felt sure that Krelig would never consider doing such a thing himself. And none of the traitor mages would ever be able to surrender their power to Krelig. They feared him, and maybe some of them even respected him, but none of them could ever
trust
him. He’d had them practice casting together, adding their magic to support another’s shield, or lend strength to an attack, but those were isolated moments of joining your energy to another’s. This was different. Serek and the other mages up along the battlements had all lent Calen their full strength and energy, to direct as he saw fit. Normally there might not be so much advantage to that — it concentrated all your power in one place, but it also gave your enemy only one target to focus on. If Krelig killed Calen, the others wouldn’t necessarily die, but they’d certainly be damaged, and at best would need some time before they’d be able to cast anything else themselves.

It would really probably be a very stupid plan under any other circumstances. Which is why Krelig hadn’t seen it coming. Because it didn’t make any sense.

Except that Calen could see the colors early.

Which meant that he could counter everything Krelig sent at him. But that alone wouldn’t be enough on his own, because he wouldn’t have the strength to hold out for very long. Calen was strong, stronger by far than any of the other mages on either side — but not stronger than Krelig himself.

But now — now Calen had all the strength he needed. Or at least, all the strength available. He just had to hope it was enough.

He was vaguely aware of fire and heat nearby and suspected that Jakl was doing some fighting of his own. But he put it out of his mind. He trusted Meg to take care of herself, now that he had Krelig occupied. His only job was to focus on what he was doing.