The Lost City of Ithos: Mage Errant Book 4

by John Bierce

  No, no thank you.

  And what was the Council? The Coven? Who had just returned to Anastis, and from where? And what had Kanderon been about to say when Hugh’s access was cut off?

  His mind was still racing in circles when the floorboards creaked and Talia stepped in.

  “Hugh?” she said, in a near whisper.

  “Did the Radhan send for us to rejoin them?” Hugh asked.

  “Not yet,” Talia said, still quietly. “You weren’t trying to nap, were you?”

  Hugh shook his head. “No, I was just getting some reading done.”

  Talia was silent for a moment, then said, in a much more normal voice, “What?”

  “I was reading,” Hugh said.

  “How?” Talia demanded, giving him a confused look.

  “With… with my eyes,” Hugh said.

  “It’s pitch black in here, Hugh,” Talia said.

  Hugh furrowed his brow in confusion. “No it’s not. There’s plenty of light coming from the passageway.”

  Talia looked in his general direction, then back out the door.

  “There’s really not, Hugh. Are you using some kind of night vision cantrip? Do those even exist?”

  Hugh shook his head. “Are you alright, Talia? There’s plenty of light for me, did you hurt your eyes somehow?”

  Talia stared at him silently, then stormed out of the room.

  A few moments later, she was back, dragging the others with her.

  “Huh,” Sabae said. “It is, in fact, pitch black in here.”

  “Are yeh reading from yer spellbook?” Artur asked. “Maybe yeh’re using yer crystal affinity sense to read the letters?”

  “What are you all going on about?” Hugh asked, genuinely perplexed.

  “I don’t think that’s it,” Alustin said, entering the room. He tapped a finger against the glow crystal by the door, and light filled the room. The others all blinked and shielded their eyes, but Hugh only needed to blink once or twice.

  Then Alustin climbed right up onto the bunk with Hugh and was staring directly at his eyes from only inches away.

  “Fascinating,” he said. “Hugh, can you think of any incidents where you had an easier time seeing in the dark recently than others around you?”

  “I mean… maybe?” Hugh said. “I honestly don’t know?”

  “Someone deactivate the glow crystal, please,” Alustin said.

  The light in the room dimmed a second later.

  Alustin put his finger right next to Hugh’s eyes, then flared an abrupt light cantrip from his fingertip. Hugh blinked and pushed away Alustin’s finger.

  “Did anyone else see that?” Alustin demanded.

  “Ah did,” Artur said.

  “Likewise,” Sabae said.

  “I didn’t,” Talia muttered.

  “Ah’m still stuck out in the hallway,” Godrick muttered.

  “What?” Hugh demanded.

  “Eyeshine,” Alustin said, climbing down from the bed. “Have you ever seen a cat or a dog’s eyes reflecting a light cantrip or a campfire? They reflect it brightly. It’s how they see in the dark better than we do. It’s called eyeshine, and you have it. Not especially strong, but it’s there.”

  “What?” Hugh demanded, even more confused. “Why would I have eyeshine?”

  Sabae put her finger in his face and set off her own light cantrip.

  “I saw it that time,” Talia said. “It’s really faint, but you’re right, it’s there.”

  “Still stuck in the hallway,” Godrick said.

  “Why are my eyes turning into dog eyes?” Hugh said.

  Alustin shook his head. “They’re not. They’re turning into sphinx eyes.”

  Everyone was silent for a moment at that.

  “Ohhhh,” Hugh said, finally understanding what Alustin was getting at.

  “I don’t understand,” Talia said.

  “It’s the warlock pact,” Alustin said, turning the glow crystal back on again. “Warlock pacts often result in not just altered magical abilities, but altered physical characteristics as well. It’s fairly unpredictable what effects, if any, a warlock will develop from this process, but Hugh’s been pacted long enough already for it to start happening.”

  “Still can’t see,” Godrick said.

  “Hugh’s pacted with a monster the size of a large building, and all he got was night vision?” Talia asked, sounding less than entirely impressed.

  “Probably more than that,” Alustin said. “Sphinx eyes also have incredible distance vision, impressive ability to make out small objects close up, and significantly improved color vision as well. Sphinxes have some of the best overall vision I know of. Hugh’s eyes won’t ever get quite as good as Kanderon’s— for one thing, a lot of their increased distance vision comes from their sheer size, but more importantly, traits acquired by warlocks are seldom as powerful as the original.”

  “I suppose that’s not bad, then,” Talia said, sounding a bit less skeptical.

  “Sounds like someone’s boardin’ the ship,” Godrick said. “Ah’m guessin’ we can head back up now. Also, ah still haven’t gotten ta’ see yet.”

  “Right then,” Alustin said. “Let’s all get ready for a party.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Constellations

  Alustin had insisted they all pack formal wear for the trip. Not their best, but nice enough. To Hugh’s amusement, it had been Artur who complained most about that, insisting that bringing formal wear on a combat mission was “ridiculous Librarian nonsense.”

  Hugh rather liked wearing his. He couldn’t explain why, but dressing nice felt a little like wearing social armor or something. He did leave his floating quartz crystal in his cabin, though— probably best not to have it at the party in case he accidentally hit someone with it.

  As they climbed the ramp up to the top, Artur gave them all dirty looks, as though daring them to comment on his formal-wear.

  Talia and Sabae had even worn dresses to the party— which was definitely a rare occasion. Talia wasn’t wearing her ridiculous new hat, but she’d found a headcloth that went with her blue dress, which while not overly fancy, matched the color of her tattoos perfectly. Sabae’s dress was mostly just… green. Really, really green. Possibly too green.

  Hugh couldn’t help but notice that the party ward was working perfectly. Unless he focused as hard as he could, his eyes simply skimmed over the party space as though it were empty stone.

  The instant he stepped over the ward, however, the atmosphere completely changed.

  The Radhan had set up a huge bonfire, burning what smelled like dried seaweed and driftwood, both of which were plentiful among the rocks around the base of the island. A small group of Radhan were playing musical instruments, many of which looked to be homemade. The music wasn’t as… technically proficient as the music Hugh had heard at Skyhold’s Midwinter celebration, but it was far more enthusiastic, and Hugh couldn’t help but be reminded of the sandstorm festivals in Theras Tel, albeit with a little bit over a hundred people rather than a city of hundreds of thousands.

  There was a sizable crowd dancing off to one side of the bonfire near the musicians, while some of the children ran and played near the center of the warded space. Glow crystals rested atop the tables, in the middle of a massive demolished feast. Or, partially demolished, at least. The cooks had made enough food for at least twice as many people as were on the ship.

  Someone pressed a wineskin into Hugh’s hand, and he turned to see one of the mages who’d been working on the ward earlier.

  “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in talking shop during a party,” the middle aged man said.

  “Honestly,” Hugh said, “I can’t think of many things I’d prefer more than talking about wards at any point.”

  Sabae straightened a couple wrinkles in her dress nervously as she stared at the dance floor, looking for Tollin or Yarra. She saw plenty of married couples, and a few unattached Radhan flirting with mem
bers of other Radhan families— one family onboard had split onto two ships recently, and another new one had moved in to take the cleared space. It wasn’t an acrimonious split, by any means— the Radhan had a highly complicated method of determining who would live on what ship, and moved between various ships quite frequently.

  As she scanned the crowd, she saw Alustin somehow already on the dance floor with his tall friend, despite the fact the Skyhold party had only arrived a couple minutes ago.

  She heard muffled cursing behind her, and saw Talia glaring off at a crowd of mages, all clustered around Hugh, who was talking animatedly.

  “They wanted him to talk about wards,” Talia said helplessly. “Now how am I going to get my chance to talk to him?”

  “Yeh’ll find it. That’s what parties are fer,” Artur said, patting Talia on the shoulder. “Ah’m in a bit of a music makin’ mood mahself.”

  With that, Artur strode off towards the musicians.

  “Your dad plays music?” Sabae asked Godrick.

  He shrugged and smiled. “He’s a man a’ many talents.”

  Talia made another high pitched noise. “How does he know about me and Hugh?”

  Sabae sighed. “I think everyone but Hugh knows, Talia. Godrick, let’s find something to drink and distract Talia until Hugh’s not busy anymore, so she can go talk to him and totally fail to work up the nerve to tell him how she feels.”

  “Hey!” Talia said, glaring. She made to kick Sabae, but then stopped, and settled for sticking out her tongue.

  “Ah’ll distract Talia,” Godrick said, chuckling. “Yeh’re going ta go over ta’ that table over there and chat with some very pretty Radhan youths that are keepin’ their sick friend company. They keep looking over at you. Yeh’re going ta’ have a nice conversation with them, and then yeh’re goin’ ta’ ask one of them ta’ dance.”

  Sabae looked over and spotted Tollin and Yarra keeping company with Dell at one of the tables. She took a deep breath.

  “And remember,” Godrick said, “yeh need ta’ pick jus’ one a’ them.”

  “Why do people keep saying that?” Sabae muttered.

  Godrick just sighed. “Come on, Talia, let’s get a drink then do a little dancin’. Yeh’ll need to work up your nerve at some point, though.”

  He dragged a grumbling Talia off behind him. Sabae watched them for a moment, then shook her head. There was no way Talia was going to go through with telling Hugh her feelings tonight, and she’d be willing to bet they’d be dealing with weeks more of her pining, at least.

  Sabae took a deep breath, smoothed her dress one more time, then strode over towards Tollin and the twins.

  “Sabae!” called Dell happily as she arrived. “My hero!”

  He burst into a fit of coughing, but it only lasted a few seconds. He’d breathed in a lot of seawater when the serpent had dragged him underwater, and his lungs had suffered a lot of damage. He was already doing considerably better under the attention of the Cormorant’s healers, however. He hadn’t been able to speak above a whisper the first day after he woke up.

  “Hi Sabae!” Yarra said, tucking a strand of her long brown hair behind one ear.

  “Glad you made it!” Tollin said, shaking his own shaggy black hair out of his eyes.

  Dell took a sip from a wineskin, then handed it to Sabae. She took a sip to hide her nervousness.

  This was absolutely ridiculous. She shouldn’t be getting this nervous just because of a couple pretty faces. So she’d never dated before or kissed anyone, but she’d manipulated Hugh and Avah into dating. She’d observed other people dating enough to know it wasn’t that complicated. People just liked to make idiots of themselves. It wasn’t that scary, not in comparison to the other things she’d done. Sabae had fought pirates, sea serpents, and demons, and she had survived the labyrinth of Skyhold twice, not to mention…

  She quickly turned her mind from thoughts of magma.

  Dell cleared his throat. “Sorry about that. I should clarify that you’re my hero because you’re about to take one of these idiots off my hand so I can actually have a conversation about something other than how amazing and pretty they think you are.”

  Both of them turned bright red, and Yarra swatted her twin brother gently on one shoulder.

  “Careful, I’m still wounded,” Dell said, laughing.

  Sabae spent a few minutes chatting with the three of them and passing around the wineskin. For someone still recovering from a near-death experience, Dell was surprisingly relaxed and sociable.

  They finished the wineskin, and Dell asked the other two to fetch another. There was a little argument that it was hardly a task that needed two people, but Dell just waved them off.

  When Yarra and Tollin were out of earshot, Dell’s face turned more somber.

  “Sabae…” he started, and she found herself tracing the scars on her hands with her fingers, a nervous habit she’d thought she’d broken years ago. She’d never quite understood Hugh’s discomfort with praise until this last week, when the Radhan had started relentlessly sending it her way.

  Dell smiled wryly. “I’m sure you’re sick of being thanked and congratulated, so I’ll make this the last time, I promise. But you really did save my life. I really thought I was going to die down there.”

  He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, in a move almost identical to Hugh when he was feeling awkward.

  “I can’t even stand near the railing without panicking now,” he said. “I have nightmares every single night about deep water. I know it hasn’t been that long since the attack, but I’ve been seriously thinking about asking to be moved to a ship on the Endless Erg. I don’t know how you can be as strong as you are about things like this. It’s more than just your magic— I’ve known plenty of mages who weren’t half as brave or confident as you. I know you probably think I’m weak or a coward for being so afraid, but I just want you to know how much it means to me.”

  Sabae sat down next to him, and spent a moment thinking about her words. Finally, she took a deep breath.

  “I’ve been having nightmares too,” she said. “During midsummer, a rogue mage and a demon attacked Skyhold, and, well… I got trapped. Stuck inside a little warded space, with waves of magma crashing against it. I really thought I was going to die too. More nights than not, I get woken up by nightmares of molten stone. And the serpent that snagged you, the one that chased us up to the surface? It’s been showing up in my dreams too, swimming in the magma. So has this one lightning mage who…”

  She stopped, noticing Dell’s wide eyes.

  “My life’s a bit over the top, right?” she said, nervously.

  “Just a little bit,” Dell replied. “Only a tiny bit, though.”

  They both burst out laughing at that.

  Sabae wiped tears of laughter out of her eyes. At least, she was fairly sure they were tears of laughter.

  “I’m glad you made it too, Dell,” she said. “And you don’t need to be ashamed of your nightmares and fear.”

  “You either,” he said. “And it looks like your admirers have finally found the wine. Have you picked whose heart you’re going to break yet?”

  “Why do people keep asking me that?” Sabae groaned. “Why do I have to be the one to make that decision? And why is it so difficult?”

  Dell gave her a thoughtful look. “You… haven’t dated much before, have you?”

  “Is it that obvious?” Sabae said, scuffing her sandal on the ground.

  “I mean, a little,” Dell said. “Either that or you’re just, uh… really, really ambitious, and, uh… I’m leaning more towards the inexperienced end of things.”

  Sabae groaned.

  “Here they come,” Dell said. “But… since you saved my life and all, I think I can help you out a little. Try not to cause any drama for me to deal with, alright?”

  Sabae gave him a confused look, but she didn’t have time to ask what he meant before Yarra and Tollin arrived.

  Yarra h
anded her brother the wineskin, and Dell drank deeply, then sighed. “As much fun as I’m having, I’m about done in for the night. Tollin, I hate to be a bother, but would you be willing to help me back to the ship? I’m not sure I can make it back on my own, my leg’s killing me tonight.”

  “Of course,” Tollin said.

  “Should I help too?” Yarra said.

  Dell waved her off. “I’m not a complete invalid, and besides, we don’t want to abandon Sabae completely, do we?”

  Yarra beamed at her brother, and Tollin suddenly cast a suspicious look at his friend, but Dell just smiled and waved back at Sabae. She smiled and waved back at him as he limped off, his arm around Tollin’s shoulders.

  Sabae shot a glance at Yarra, and there was a moment of silent awkwardness as Sabae tried to figure out what to say.

  This really shouldn’t be this difficult. She’d seen other people flirt successfully so many times before, it really wasn’t that complicated. She didn’t know why…

  Yarra spoke up, interrupting Sabae’s thoughts. “So, uh… would you like to dance?”

  Sabae blushed, then nodded, not trusting her tongue not to say something stupid. Yarra blushed too, but she grabbed Sabae’s hand and led her towards the dancers by the fire.

  Sabae realized she was grinning like an idiot, but made no effort to stop.

  Along the way, Sabae noticed Hugh’s spellbook sitting suspiciously close to the edge of the fire. It noticed her and abruptly started giving her an innocent look, as though it were just enjoying the heat.

  Sabae scowled at the ridiculous thing, sure it was up to something, then shook her head. Someone else could worry about that absurd book. She had much better things to focus on tonight.

  To Talia’s surprise, dancing with Godrick was really easy. Despite the massive height difference, Godrick was a skilled dancer, and he didn’t seem to be bothered by her repeatedly stepping on his feet while she kept sneaking glances over towards Hugh.