Honor Raconteur - Lost Mage (Advent Mage Cycle 06) Read online

  “Weather Mage, to be precise,” I answered calmly. Ahhh, I bet I knew what was going on here. “I assume that you have a triangle or something that told you what she is, and came to collect her and send her to Strae Academy on Vonlorisen’s orders?”

  The man blinked. “You know what she is? And what our orders are?”

  Oh did I ever. “Sir, my name is Riicshaden, Professor of Weapons at Strae Academy.” Although I hadn’t assumed that position yet. Details, minor details.

  His eyes bugged out so far they nearly fell out of his head. “Professor of Weapons, you say?!”

  One of the men to my right muttered to his companion, “Wasn’t Riicshaden the name of the man that helped clean the Star Order out of the country?”

  “That’s me,” I confirmed, not looking in their direction. It was more fun to watch the officer in front of me splutter, completely taken aback by my identity. “Now, gentlemen, let me re-introduce you. This is my sister, Riicbeccaan, a Weather Mage. I’m her legal guardian. We’re on our way to Strae Academy. Is there a problem?”

  The officer snapped into attention. “Sir! I’m Guyroben, Captain of the Movac City Guard First Division. We apologize for the confusion. We assumed the girl was an unknown magician and needed protection.”

  I held up both hands. “Understood. I know exactly what your orders are. I’m the one that wrote them, you see.”

  Quite a few of them choked hearing that.

  Ignoring them for a moment, I crouched down and held out my arms to Becca. She flew into them without a second of hesitation, one hand clutching Tail to her chest, the other arm around my neck. I thanked all magic that Tail was sentient, as any other cat in that position would have been clawing his way to freedom right about now.

  “Professor Riicshaden,” Guyroben said respectfully, “we sincerely regret scaring your, ah, sister. A Weather Mage, you say?”

  I nodded confirmation, but I was focused on Becca. “Becca, these men aren’t enemies. Actually, quite the opposite.”

  She looked up at me doubtfully.

  I sighed internally. Right, that didn’t sound convincing when six armed adults surrounded you. “See, they’re used to magicians being in trouble, bad trouble like I found you in, so they snatch up the magicians first and then apologize later. They’re less likely to have casualties that way.”

  Her brows beetled as she considered that. Then she peeked at Guyroben. “So he’s not a bad man?”

  “Not at all,” Guyroben assured her gently. “I’m under orders from the king to protect any magician I find. In fact, I have a nephew who’s a wizard and is at Strae Academy right now. I didn’t know they had a Weapons Professor, though.” He looked up at me with consideration, as if now wondering if I’d sold him a line.

  “It’s a new position, actually, and I haven’t taken it up yet,” I explained patiently. “I’ll do so when I return with her.”

  “Ah. I’d wondered.”

  “At any rate, they’re not bad men,” I assured her firmly. “They just didn’t know you already had a guardian to protect you. So do me a favor? No calling in storms ’cause you’re scared?”

  “I’ll try not to,” she promised faithfully. Since she had color returning to her skin, and her death grip on me and the cat had eased, I assumed her panic had passed.

  “Good girl.” I turned and looked down at the man I’d thrown, who was groaning his way up to his feet, a hand held protectively over his stomach. “Sorry for that, by the way.”

  The man had enough grit to look up at me and give a strained smile. “I certainly know why you were offered the position of Weapons Professor, sir. No worries, I won’t take offense at this.”

  “Perhaps this will teach all of you to ask questions first?” Guyroben asked his men dryly. “Professor, is there any assistance that we can offer you?”

  “Now where were you earlier today, when I had to do all sorts of bothersome paperwork to get us passage on a ship?” I asked him wryly.

  He shrugged, lips kicked up on one side. “You still would have had to do the paperwork. Trust me on that.”

  Ah well, that figured. “Do you have a way to send messages directly to Strae?”

  “We do,” he confirmed.

  “Excellent. I need to send one to Garth, let him know we have Becca and we’re on our way back. I’m afraid he might have lost us down there, even if he was keeping track with a pool.”

  Guyroben studied my face intently. “By Garth, you wouldn’t happen to mean Magus Rhebengarthen?”

  “That’s him.” I waited to see his reaction.

  The man merely swallowed, hard, but otherwise kept his composure admirably intact. “I see. Professor, if you’ll follow me, I’ll escort you so you can send that message. If you can, tell me the full events of how you managed to retrieve your sister as we walk. For the sake of my report, you understand.”

  Report, my left foot. I snorted. “Sure, sure. Let me get the food we ordered first, though, and notify my fiancé where we are.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  On second thought…. “Actually, there is something I need help with. I had to acquisition a schooner to get up here, see, and…”

  Our passenger ship was nothing like the little schooner that had sailed us around half of Chahir. At a whopping 440 feet in length, with a full five-mast rig, it made the schooner look like a glorified rowboat. In a way, it was. Aletha had done well in booking us on this ship, though. With her charm and wit, she’d managed to land us the honeymoon cabin, and so we had more space on board than a normal cabin would’ve given us. For a ship cabin, it was actually comfortable. Around the size of an inn room, with a bathroom of sorts attached. (I still had to stand sideways and walk like a crab to maneuver in the bathroom, but at least I could move around in it.)

  This cabin had a connecting door to Becca’s cabin, too, which put most of my paranoid instincts to rest. If something did happen in the middle of the night, I could be there in a second.

  I’d barely managed to get a good look at the room when a cabin boy rapped on the open door and said, “Pardon, sir, but Captain requests an audience with you and your family.”

  Oh? I wondered what this was about. I hoped it wasn’t because a certain Jaunten horse was refusing to board. We’d had a loooong talk about that this morning before coming over here. “A moment.”

  I went through the connecting door and said, “Captain wants a word with us.”

  Aletha paused in opening Becca’s traveling case. “About?”

  “That is the extent of my knowledge.”

  Eyebrow quirked, she gestured me back out.

  We followed the cabin boy down the hallway and up a short flight of stairs before the cabin boy knocked on a rather impressive wooden door. When he heard a call from inside, he simply shoved it inwards and announced, “Here they be, Captain.”

  “Thank you, Squid.”

  “Ma’am.” Squid—surely that was a nickname?—bobbed his head at us before disappearing back the way he’d come.

  “I’m Kayla Kawajan,” she greeted us through the open door. “Captain of the Northern Star. Come in, come in.” Captain Kayla Kawajan was a round woman, in face and body, with hair stuck up in a permanent braid around her head and a ready smile. She gave off the feeling of liking everyone and everything, until someone crossed her, and then she would become as ruthless as an upset dragon. I’d met captains like her before and recognized the type well. Needless to say, her passengers would adore her, and her crew have a healthy fear of her.

  She pulled the three of us into her office and welcomed us with a smile. “Please, sit,” she invited in a husky voice. “There’s a few things we need to cover before I marry you two.”

  I couldn’t begin to think of what. Aletha had assured me she’d taken care of the paperwork and had already registered our marriage before we boarded ship. But I sat in the chair she pointed to regardless, making way for Becca as I did. And then making more space for Tail, as wherever B
ecca sat, Tail would too.

  As we got comfortable, I took a better look at my surroundings. Strangely, it didn’t fit with my idea of a ship’s office. I expected elaborate woodcarvings in the beams, and painted gold gilding the edges. Instead, the simple desk, four chairs, and the landscape hanging on the wall could belong in any earthbound office. The only thing that looked different was the bay windows behind the desk, which looked out over the ocean. Well, that and the fact that all of the furniture was bolted to the floor.

  When we settled, the captain put her back to the edge of the desk and leaned against it, facing us square-on. “I couldn’t help but notice who I’m marrying today. Captain Riicshaden, Second Lieutenant Aletha Saboton, it’s an honor to meet you. I’ve heard a great deal through rumors and such, so I have a good notion of who you are.”

  Oh. I shared a quick glance with Aletha. We hadn’t expected that a ship captain would recognize us, but that was silly in hindsight. This woman traveled up and down the coast and probably heard more rumors in a year than I would in a lifetime.

  “Because I know who you are,” she continued, “I have to ask—are you sure you want to be married this way? People of your notoriety would surely warrant a grander ceremony.”

  “It’s the grand ceremony we’re trying to avoid,” Aletha admitted. “Neither of us cares much for that.”

  Her grey eyes looked the both of us over carefully, then she smiled. “As long as you’ve thought it through. I certainly would like to boast that I married you. Then, to the other matter. About the vows.”

  It abruptly occurred to me that I was repeating what Garth had done. I was marrying a woman of a different nationality, and of course they would have their own notion of what ‘proper vows’ would be.

  Aletha realized it in the same moment and snapped her fingers. “I forgot. Chahiran vows are different.”

  “And if you don’t use those vows with a Chahiran, you’re not legally married in Chahir,” Captain Kawajan said firmly. “Which is why I must ask, where do you plan to live after you’re married? Your answer will determine which vows I can use.”

  “Isle of Strae,” I admitted.

  “Strae Academy, to be precise,” Aletha amended.

  Kawajan’s eyebrows rose. “Strae Academy?”

  “I’m the Weapons Professor there, you see,” I explained. “And the little girl in my lap is not only my sister, but a young mage.”

  Kawajan focused on Becca for the first time. “Is that right? Then it’s an honor to meet you as well, Magess.”

  Becca gave her a shy smile.

  “So, you’re bound for the Isle of Strae, eh? Well, in that case, I think our course is clear. We must use the Chahiran set of vows, otherwise you won’t be legally wed.” Kawajan nodded, content with her own conclusion. “In that case, there’s a few things I need to tidy up and such before we marry you off. I do want to explain, though, that we have a long tradition on this ship where marriages are concerned. You see, we’ve always had the wedding in the main dining hall, with my crew in their best dress. Once you exchange vows and rings, then you’re seated with me at the head table, and everyone is given the chance to toast you if they wish to. After that, we just have a grand time partying.”

  Now, that sounded like an ideal wedding ceremony to me. No real fuss. After hearing Becca and Aletha talk about weddings for days on end, though, I knew better than to say anything before knowing what Aletha thought of this. I turned to ask, but the smile on her face was answer enough. “Gorgeous, I take it this is perfect?”

  “Perfect,” she agreed, smile stretching from ear to ear.

  “I’m not familiar with the Solian vows, but I’m willing to use them if you want to teach them to me,” Kawajan offered to her. “We can just do double vows, cover all the stops.”

  “There actually isn’t a standard wedding vow for Sol,” Aletha responded with a wry shrug. “Each city-state has its own version. As long as it’s properly registered with your city-state, they’re fine. I will need a second copy of the marriage license to give to Ascalon.”

  Kawajan nodded. “That’s easily done. Then, one last thing. How do you want your new married name to read?”

  Aletha blinked at her. Then blinked again. “Oh, great guardians, my name will be Chahiran after this!”

  I threw back my head and laughed out loud. “You honestly didn’t think about that?”

  She shot me a dirty look. “When, in the past three days, have I had time to think about it?”

  “But seriously,” I insisted, “after all that trouble that Chatta went through to figure out how to work her name into the Chahiran naming system, it didn’t occur to you at all?”

  “No,” she groused, looking peeved. “But it should have. Captain Kawajan, have you been in this situation before? Marrying people of different nationalities I mean.”

  “Often,” the captain responded easily. “People think it’s romantic to elope and get married at sea, for some reason. Normally ends up with one or the other seasick the entire trip, which doesn’t make for much of a honeymoon, in my opinion.”

  “So what have you seen? When people try to merge their maiden name with their married one.”

  “Oh, all sorts of varieties. I’ve seen one woman hyphenate it, where they use their husband’s family name, hyphen, and then their maiden name. I’ve seen where the woman just takes her first name and inserts it into the Chahiran name. I’ve seen where she put the family name first, then her maiden name, then her first name—turns into a mouthful, that does.”

  “Chatta’s first name alone was a mouthful,” I recalled. “That’s why she stuck with her nickname instead.”

  “Riic-Saboton Aletha?” Aletha tried out dubiously, mouth pursing. “Riicsabotonalethaan? Guardians, no, it sounds like a disease.”

  Becca must have agreed, as she giggled. “Riicalethaan,” she suggested.

  Aletha gave a solemn nod. “Only one that makes sense to me. At least I can say it without turning my tongue into knots.”

  “I’ll put Riicalethaan on the license, then.” Kawajan clapped her hands together, the sound unreasonably loud. “Dinner’s served sharply at six. I’ll meet you at the doors.”

  The captain—an astute woman—had charitably given us the cabin right next door for Becca and Tail at half-price. At first I wanted to refuse it, but she explained that it was something of a wedding gift. I, for one, was grateful to her as it helped lower the cost of the trip.

  It might have been unwise to book a separate cabin to begin with, but I didn’t want to spend my wedding night with a little girl and a furball wedged in between me and my bride.

  We more or less would have emptied our pockets paying for all of this if not for our run-in with the city guard the day before. They’d refilled my wallet after I’d told them the full tale of our journey. I hadn’t tried to stop them, either.

  Little girls were expensive.

  Wives weren’t much better!

  I was unpacking our bags into the chest at the foot of the bed when Aletha stuck her head inside the room and informed me, “Your horse is refusing to board.”

  Turning, I gave her a dismayed look. “What, they’re still loading the horses?”

  “Just yours, darling.”

  Remind me again why I wanted a sentient mount? “Right,” I sighed. “I’m coming.”

  “Coming with an idea of how to convince him to board, I hope,” Aletha responded, leading the way through the narrow hallways. “Unlike Night, he cannot be bribed with peanut butter.”

  “I’m fresh out of ideas and open to suggestions.”

  Becca appeared in the hallway. “Tail said he’d talk to him.”

  It took a second for that sentence to make sense. When it did, I had to bite my lip to keep my humor in check. A cat was going to talk sense into a horse? Now I had to see this. “Is that right? Lead on, then.”

  We trooped back down to the dock level, where a certain white horse stood in front of a gangplank. Clo
ud had all four hooves planted, a stubborn look in his eye, and his head held up high, refusing to let anyone touch his halter. When he saw us, he paused and lowered his head a little. Was it my imagination, or did he look nervous?

  Tail leaped lightly out of Becca’s arms and strode toward the stallion. He stopped right in front of Cloud, one paw clawing the air as if to say, ‘Get your head down here, I can’t talk to you like this.’

  I noticed as we stood off to the side that other people were taking notice of this odd pairing and were gathering around, at first in unobtrusive ways, then in more obvious ones.

  Cloud hesitated, but he finally lowered his head so that he was more on an eye level with Tail.

  Now, I didn’t speak cat. I didn’t speak horse, either. But I swear to you that a severe tongue-lashing happened right in front of my eyes. Tail’s ears were flat against his head, fur rising along his spine, and if he’d still possessed a tail, it would have been lashing.

  Cloud hunched in place, looking hangdog, but he really didn’t want to board the ship, in spite of everything Tail was saying. He whinnied in a plaintive way and tossed his head.

  Tail growled in warning.

  “Now, Tail, don’t be mean.” Becca left my side and went to Cloud, where she put a hand on his nose and stroked it soothingly. “Cloud, I know you don’t want to go on a ship again. But this is a bigger ship, it won’t be so cramped, and you’ll have other horses to talk to.”

  Cloud failed to be moved.

  Pursing her lips, she tried again. “You want to be a Nreesce, don’t you?”

  The horse visibly hesitated.

  From the side of her mouth, Aletha asked me, “Did you tell her he could become a Nreesce?”

  I was just as confused. “No. I wonder where she…” I paused as a conversation from several nights ago came back to me. “I did tell her about Life Mages, though. And there’s some at Strae.”

  “Ahhh, and she put the pieces together. And at some point, talked to Cloud about it. Well, within the realms of magic, making him a full Nreesce is totally possible. Or at least I think it is.”