WarMage: Unexpected (The Never Ending War Book 1)

by Martha Carr

  Raven shook her head. “I bet. At least you only have to smell it.”

  “My dear, I have had gallons of this stuff poured over me through the years. I’m pretty sure my blood is equal parts blue wort, coffee, and whiskey. You know, I got this recipe from one of the spent wizards.”

  Raven looked up, her mouth open, but she was keeping very still. It was so rare for him to ever talk about his old friends or what happened so long ago, and it always came in bits and pieces that never connected.

  “I don’t think I would have survived the years of the Great War without this crap. Hell, I think this stuff was all that was holding Large Craig together. He was like a tall poppy, as tall as he was wide. Strong as a team of horses and just as determined. Hold still.”

  Raven was holding her breath, marveling at the start of an actual story, but his voice wound down, and he stopped.

  “Were you wounded badly during the Great War,” she said, sitting on the edge of the stool.

  Her grandfather narrowed his eyes and looked at her, holding the salve in midair. “I’ve spent years trying to forget what I saw. It’s how I remain here in the present with you and be happy.”

  “But…”

  A distant look passed across his face. It was one she had seen many times before. “Let it go…for me.” He flipped the top again. “Oh damn, this does smell bad!” His head rocked back, and they both laughed. Raven closed her eyes in preparation for the amber liquid to hit her skin.

  Her grandfather lightly pinched the skin, squeezing out a little more blood, then spread the gash open a little more. “Bombs away.” He splashed some of the liquid onto Raven’s skin. It hissed and bubbled as it seeped into her body.

  “Rrrrrrrr!” She gritted her teeth and clenched her muscles to keep from screaming. The searing pain burned its way down to the bone as Raven held her breath, waiting for it to pass.

  “Just another couple of seconds, then I’ll close you up.”

  She could feel the blood rushing to her face as she held her breath, finally releasing it and gasping again. “Damn, I hate that!”

  Connor Alby laughed. “I don’t know anyone who likes it.” The look came over his face again. “But it gets the job done.”

  “I love you, Grandpa,” she said quietly. Raven stood up from the stool and rifled through the box. “Okay! You know what else would get the job done? A good healing spell.”

  “You know I can’t do those anymore.” He looked away, not making eye contact for a moment, but Raven didn’t notice. A wave of pain and nausea had washed over her, and she had briefly closed her eyes.

  She looked at him in the mirror with a cocked eyebrow. “Okay, teach me another healing spell, a better one, and I can do this all by myself.”

  He lifted his foot and rested it on the stool. “You’re going to learn this again at the Academy, but never hurts to hear it twice. Healing spells are very draining for most mages and should only be used in emergencies. Using one could leave you without magic for a day. They are some of the most powerful spells we have. You’re probably not even going to learn about them until next year sometime.”

  “I can handle powerful spells, Grandpa. I’ve done them already.” Raven grabbed a roll of tape from the bottom of the box, along with some gauze padding.

  “You’ve done one or two and under my supervision. School will teach you how to handle them. I’m not sure I did an outstanding job of getting that lesson across to you.” He pulled the bandages from her hands and moved his foot off the stool, sitting her back down again.

  She shook her head. “You’re doing the kingdom a service. I have such a head start on the rest of the class.”

  “Don’t get cocky.”

  “It’s not cockiness! I pulled an advanced spell yesterday on my first day. A simple one that took some finesse.”

  Her grandfather smiled at her, and wearily rubbed his face.

  “Headmaster Flynn caught me and told me he was impressed. As far as I’m concerned, you should be teaching me more!”

  Connor peeled away a few pieces of gauze padding and held them to her wound. “Hold this here for a second.” He picked at the edge of the tape and unrolled a long piece. “You don’t know everything, sweetheart. You are a good fighter, I’ll give you that, and living out here on a ranch, that’s a necessity. As for becoming a powerful mage, you’re going to have to give it time. There’s a big difference between learning a few powerful spells for emergencies and proper, well-rounded training and education. That’s what you’re going to get at Fowler.” He applied the tape to the gauze, binding it tightly to her skin. “There. Give it a day or two. We’ll change it out a few times to keep it clean. It’ll heal up just fine. It’s a good, clean gash. Now, let me look at your jaw.”

  Raven spun around on the stool so that her grandfather could kneel and face her at eye level. “If I’m moving so much faster than everyone else, why should I have the same education? There ought to be a faster track for those who know what they’re doing, you know?”

  He put his thumb on her chin and guided her head left and right as he inspected the purple bruise underneath. “You don’t know everything. And when you act like that, you become more vulnerable, not less. Look what happened to you out there this morning. You thought you knew what you were doing, but you got turned around, and you paid for it.”

  “I saved the goat.”

  “You did. Sometimes half-measures work, but they usually exact a higher price.” Connor Alby winced, and Raven wondered if memories of a long-ago battle still haunted him.

  He poked at the left side of her chin. “I think you’re okay. You’re right, it’s just deep bruising. Going to hurt like hell tomorrow morning.”

  She frowned. “I’m sorry I went out there without something to protect myself. You’re right.” She grasped her grandfather’s hand for a moment, squeezing it and letting go. “I just know I’m going to do some great things. I can already wield spells better than anyone I know.”

  He smiled at her, watching her grow more animated. Her right hand chopped through the air. “Once I get through the Academy, I’ll be out there accomplishing things instead of…” She trailed off, realizing what she was about to say.

  Connor stood up and wiped his hands off with a towel, smirking at her. “Instead of being a lowly goat rancher?” The sides of his mouth turned up slightly.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  “Sure, it is. You’ve got powers, so you want to use them. I was just as headstrong as you are back in the day.”

  Raven saw her chance. “Tell me about the Death Swarm. What happened in the last battle?” She stood up and kicked the stool into the corner of the bathroom, and they both walked out to the sitting room at the front of the house.

  Connor paused, studying his granddaughter’s face. “You are getting older, and they’ll teach you about it in school, anyway.” He sat down on a leather chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “When I heard about the Swarm the first time, I couldn’t believe it, either. But as a young warrior who just wanted to get out into the fields, past the wall, and kick some ass, the prospect of them got my blood boiling.” He clenched his fist and shook it. Raven sat on the floor at his feet and rested her hand on his knee.

  “When you’re at war with another kingdom, there are consequences you have to deal with,” he said. “The morality of war gets a little dicey because you’re thinking about how the guys on the other side have families and lives of their own. Not the Swarm, though.”

  Raven leaned back, looking out the window and watching the ranch hands across the field, processing the grass for the little goats.

  “The Swarm were soulless.” Connor spat the words out with a scowl. “No rules, no consciences, no families to worry about. They used to roam the land out there. They wanted food, and they’d get it, no matter the cost.”

  “And we’re the food,” said Raven with a shudder.

  “When the sun went down, they were on the hunt. Anyb
ody with half a brain didn’t go out.”

  She looked out the window at the peaceful landscape. Two ranchers were carrying buckets of milk from the goat barn to the shed.

  “The Swarm didn’t scare me. I was ready to go. I knew my spells. I knew they needed a good ass-kicking! It was the perfect match for an ambitious young man with a lot of power under his belt. Remember, we are Albys from a long line of wizards! But great power has consequences you can’t always see ahead of time.” He tilted his head, noticing that his granddaughter was looking out the window.

  Without saying a word, he disappeared to his bedroom. Raven silently watched him go. She knew he had reached his limits, and it had been a long day already.

  Connor marched back into the room, sat down in a chair, and placed a large white skull on the table. “Look.”

  Raven came over and peered at the rounded stark-white skull. The large lower jaw jutted out, exposing two rows of sharp, menacing teeth. “What is this?”

  “It’s a Swarm skull, my dear. One of my first kills. It’s from the terrors we nicknamed Razorbacks. Those were the ones that looked like beetles with a growth problem and spikes all over their shells.”

  Her eyes widened as she walked partway around the table. “Can I touch it?”

  He pushed it closer. “Go ahead.”

  She picked it up and lifted it to eye level, staring at what would have been the face of the creature. “Where are the eyeholes?”

  Connor shook his head. “They don’t have eyes. Only the Skifflings do. Most of them run around with no eyes to direct them.”

  Raven furrowed her brow. “They don’t? Then how do they know where to go? That is too creepy.”

  “Most of the creatures in the Swarm have three main senses. Smell, hearing, and general mayhem. They hunt down their food by smelling their prey. They exist to consume, and that’s what makes them so dangerous.”

  She spun around the skull to look at the back of it, peering into the hole where the creature’s backbone would connect. “They’re hungry all the time. What’s so dangerous about that?”

  He chuckled, shaking his head. “Those monsters have no allegiance to anyone. So if, say, a rival kingdom wants to attack someone, they could negotiate with a Skiffling and send the Swarm in with the promise of a living, breathing food resource. They never attacked a large group, but they were relentless. They came at you until they’re either injured badly enough or until they run out of something to hunt.”

  “They were like weapons?”

  “Potent weapons, yes. And the sight of one of them was enough to freeze your blood.”

  He raised his eyebrows, taking the skull from her. “I took this one’s head off myself, Raven. I was out there, battling side-by-side with other powerful wizards like myself. We managed to just barely beat them into retreating, at least in that fight. They came back later. A few of us took down two of the monsters. We picked apart the bones ourselves just to get a good look at them. So many rumors ran throughout the kingdom, but there’s one that, in my experience, rings true.”

  “What’s that?”

  “If you can see the Swarm, you’re probably too late.”

  “I don’t know, Grandpa. I’ve heard a lot of rumors about these things, but they don’t exist anymore.” Raven pointed out the window at the wall towering in the distance. “Do you think they’re back?”

  “What? No!”

  “But the rumors about the empty satellite ranches!”

  “People have been making up stories for years about their return. They’ve become our bogeymen. No, they’re dead and gone, thank God.”

  “Then something else is going wrong, Grandpa. Something else is out there beyond the wall. We should gather a squad and go beyond the wall to gather information, like the old days!”

  “An adventure will find you, Raven. Don’t be in such a hurry.” He lifted his ankle and rested it on his knee. “I’ve been on the front lines. Information doesn’t always come, and it’s never cheap. It takes a lot more firepower than just waltzing out there and throwing a few spells at the enemy.”

  “The kingdom needs protecting, and we are Albys! It’s our responsibility.”

  He leaned back. “Nothing in this world is so straightforward, Raven. I’m a rancher, now, and a grandfather. My responsibility is to help you become the mage you’re destined to be.”

  Raven took the skull from him and gazed at it, pressing her lips together. What if a mage isn’t exactly all I want to be? She pushed the thought away for another time.

  Chapter Five

  A knock at the door caused Connor Alby to stand and gather the skull in his arms. “I need to get this back in a safe place. You get the door.”

  Raven glanced at him, confused. “What, are you worried someone is going to steal an old skull?”

  “If somebody sees this, they’re going to start asking questions. I’m not in the mood to tell old stories.”

  Raven waited until her grandfather disappeared down the hall before she opened the door. A young man with long dirty blonde hair down past his ears and a natural smile squinted through the screen door. William Moss tugged on his ill-fitting khaki-colored shirt. “Hey.”

  “Hey, William. Come on in.” She pushed the screen door open and let the teenager inside. “What are you doing here in the middle of the day? Shouldn’t you be working?”

  “Shouldn’t you be getting your chores done? Get a move on. You have school too.”

  “No classes today. Yesterday was mostly orientation. We dive in headfirst to all of it tomorrow.”

  “I was expecting to find you outside. I checked both barns and the shed. One of the hands told me you were still here. Hey, what happened to your shoulder?”

  “Got into it with an elf over a goat. I won, and there’s one sorry elf out there licking wounds.”

  William held up his hand to high-five and laughed, putting his hand back down. “Maybe later.”

  “I’ll be out doing some of my chores pretty soon. I still have one good arm. Who did you talk to out there?”

  William peeked out the window. “I don’t know his name. Not as old as the rest of the hands, really skinny.”

  “Scruffy face?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s Edward. Did he sound pissed?”

  The young man laughed. “Yeah. Like you were slacking off on the job.”

  Raven laughed with an incredulous tone. “I ought to spark his britches with a couple of fire marbles. I do more work by ten a.m. than he does all day long.”

  “Hey, William!” Connor returned to the room empty-handed. “How are you, my boy?”

  “I’m well, sir. And you?”

  “Nothing an old rancher can’t handle.” He glanced at Raven and gave her a hard look she recognized. William caught his glimpse and smiled at Raven

  “Your folks doing well?”

  “Yes, sir. Business at the dragon ranch is as strong as ever.”

  The old man rubbed his hands together. “It’s a good season for everybody. Our milk is selling well. I imagine dragons are in demand.”

  William flashed a bright smile. “Always, sir, and there’s never very many who pass the tests, even in a good year.”

  “Why are you here, young Moss?”

  “I just needed a break. Can I sit down?” Connor nodded at him. “Thanks. Good to take a load off.”

  Raven looked at the old clock on the mantel. “It’s not like it’s late in the day. It’s barely morning. How are you so tired already?”

  He put his feet up on an ottoman and looked up at the two of them with a shrug. “One of our ranch hands, Fester Solomon, didn’t show up for work today.”

  Connor sat in his chair, looking concerned. “That’s odd. You have a great staff over there.”

  William shook his head. “He’s nowhere to be found. Fester must have decided to move on to another ranch, but it is odd. He was one of our best. Always on time, never late. Can’t figure it out.”

&nb
sp; “We lost a hand recently, too.” Connor clicked his tongue. “Strange.”

  “Who did we lose?” Raven looked up, surprised.

  “Isaac Irving, the new guy. His bunkmate claimed he willed all his stuff to him. He’ll run out of money and wine and turn up again and take back his things. Happens from time to time.”

  “That’s why I’m here taking a break. I’ve been working hard since before dawn. And I’ve got a dragon that’s not falling in line, a real headstrong case. Beautiful creature.” He shook his head, weary. “I just wanted to get away for a few minutes, and then I’ll head back.”

  “Youngsters! In my day, we didn’t get breaks. Had to make sure we finished before dusk. Definitely before dusk.”

  “Grandpa,” Raven said, good-naturedly, nudging him, “we still have to do that. The Swarm may be a thing of the past, but every generation is still teaching us to be afraid.”

  “Not my idea,” her grandfather said gruffly. Raven traded glances with William.

  “I’ll be right back, William.” Raven walked down the hall to her room. She stood in the center of the room and shut her eyes. “Just one more. What’s the harm? Redigendum dolor.” Warm, soothing energy passed through her shoulder, reducing the pain. She let out a sigh of relief and grabbed a fresh overshirt, pulling it on over her tunic as she left her room and went back down the hall. “You can tag along for a few minutes with me if you want. I have to get back to work.”

  The young man raised his eyebrows. “With that on your shoulder? You sure?”

  She gingerly slid her arm into the jacket. “The work doesn’t stop. You just said it. Besides, there’s plenty to do without having to lift anything. I’ll take it easy today, Grandpa. Can you help me with this?” She handed William a piece of muslin, and he helped her fashion a sling. “There, it’ll be fine. I can still help.”