His grey eyes regarded me with frank amusement. “Are you saying, young master, that you can carry a man around?”
“I’m a blacksmith,” I answered with a quirk of my eyebrows. “Trust me, in comparison to some of my tools, you’re light.”
He gave a raspy chuckle. “In that case…”
I shifted him around so that he was on my back, arms around my neck, and my arms under his knees. With him properly settled, I started for the front door in a steady walk.
“We are fortunate that you came,” Uncle Jes said against my right temple. “Are you part of the firefighters?”
“Actually, I am. Haikrysen is my name.”
He jerked in surprise. “Haikrysen? That’s the Fire Mage from Chahir!”
“That’s me,” I responded cheerfully, glancing at him over my shoulder. The dumbfounded look he gave me was rather amusing. “Someone saw the fire and rang the bell, so Kaya and I came down to put it out. Did you know that it was started by thieves?”
“I did not,” Jes growled, “but it doesn’t surprise me. My nephew is often the target of thieves. Didn’t manage to catch them, did you?”
“Kaya went after them. I doubt they’ll be able to outrun her.”
“This Kaya person you keep mentioning, that wouldn’t happen to be…”
“My dragon familiar, yes.” We cleared the doors in the next moment and I looked around expectantly. The young mother came forward instantly, hands outstretched.
“Uncle Jes, are you all right?”
“Just fine,” he assured her, voice sounding raspy from the smoke. “The children?”
“Shaken, but fine. Magus, thank you ever so much.”
I smiled down at her. “My pleasure. You haven’t seen Kaya by any chance…wait, there she is.” I could hear the hard flap of her wings as she back-flapped, preparing to land. In her hands were the two men I’d told her to chase down. She dropped them none-too-gently on the paving stones before she landed practically on top of them.
The thieves huddled in on themselves, hands curled protectively over their heads, as she crouched over them.
“Caught bad men,” she assured me with a satisfied huff.
“Good girl,” I praised. “Now, go get Mari for me. I’m not sure what do with them.”
“Not necessary,” Mari called out as she ran toward us. “I’m here.”
I stood still and watched her as she took in the whole scene with her own eyes. Mari looked as if she had thrown on the first clothes at hand, like I had, although she’d found a moment somewhere to gather a few people as four men followed behind her. Her eyes caught on the trembling men still being guarded by Kaya and she frowned.
“Krys, are those thieves?”
“We spied them escaping from the house as we flew in,” I explained. “I assume they’re the ones who set the fire.”
“You’re probably right,” she responded grimly. Turning on one heel, she gestured to two of the men. “Take those morons and throw them in a cell. I’ll deal with it shortly. Master Gerrety, is everyone in your household accounted for?”
The young master had his arms around both of his children, reassuring them, but at this question he looked up. “Yes, fortunately everyone is fine. I can’t account for property damage, though, not yet.”
Mari didn’t seem surprised. “I understand. I’ll come by again tomorrow afternoon and we’ll talk about that then. Krys, I’ll need you to make a full report tonight about what you saw and did.”
How was it that no matter what occupation you had, there was always paperwork involved? “All right.”
When both thieves were hauled to their feet and frog-marched away, Kaya turned her attention to the still upset children. Much to their father’s alarm (and my amusement) she put her head up against them and started making soft, rumbling noises of comfort.
“Bad men gone,” she assured them. “Fire gone too. No cry, no cry.”
The youngest child, a little girl of about five, dragged a fist over her eyes to rub away the tears. “Really?”
Kaya gave a gentle bob of the head in confirmation.
The young boy reached out and laid a hand on her nose. I guessed him to be two years or so older than his sister, old enough to realize that things could have been much worse. “Kaya, will you stay here tonight? In case they come back?”
“Will,” she promised with another gentle nod of the head. She turned those big eyes on me and implored, “Krys stay too?”
I never stood a chance when she turned those eyes on me. She was a dragon. She shouldn’t be good at puppy eyes! Defeated, I just let out a long sigh. “Sure, I’ll stay too.”
~*~
Turned out, the adults didn’t get a lot of sleep that night.
The young mother—Reena—found a corner of her house that didn’t smell too much of smoke and arranged some bedding on a couch so that Uncle Jes could rest. Keeping him out in the cold night air wouldn’t be good for his recovery. Reena tried to get her children to come back inside as well, but they wouldn’t hear of it. As a compromise, she brought out several blankets instead. Kaya curled up around her young friends, watching over them as they finally settled down and fell back asleep. Leaning against a dragon’s warm bulk, wrapped in blankets, I had no doubt that by morning they would be roasting.
While I helped to settle the uncle and the children, Mari had been going around getting statements from everyone. She filched a jacket from someone and gave it to me, which I thankfully shrugged into. The size was a mite large, but it had a flannel interior that kept me nice and warm, so I didn’t complain.
I did find an open spot near the center of the drive and set a steady fire burning, giving people something to warm up with. As the moon climbed, the air grew colder, and everyone was thankful for the additional heat.
Reena and her husband huddled next to the fire with me, their eyes on their home. I could see the worry and strain in their expressions as they mentally calculated what it would take to rebuild the destruction of this night’s events.
“I’m sorry this happened,” I offered quietly.
Gerrety turned to me and flashed a quick smile. “Don’t be, Magus. If not for you and your dragon’s quick reflexes, we’d have lost the entire house and possibly part of our family. It’s those thieves that are to be blamed for this.”
“And those thieves will certainly pay for it,” Mari assured us as she came to stand at my side. “You’re certainly earning your keep, Krys. Not only with the firefighting, but the thief-snatching too.” Her eyes glinted with amusement.
I grinned back at her. “Does that mean I get a bonus, boss?”
“How about a tub of barbecue sauce?”
“Are you trying to encourage bad habits?”
She laughed outright, the sound sweet and light. “You need to have Kaya rescue a cook so that he’ll eternally make her barbecue in thanks.”
I blinked at her, and while I recognized that she was teasing, the notion had a certain appeal. “Now, there’s an idea.”
“And I must ask about the hair,” she gave me a pointed look.
I looked around my shoulders ruefully. I never had found a way to deal with it, even with my feet on the ground, so it more or less lay in a tangled mess around my shoulders and down my back.
“With hair that long, you don’t sleep with it braided?”
“Oh, trust me, I plan to from now on,” I promised sourly. I would not be put in this situation again. For one thing, it hardly looked professional to have hair like a rat’s nest on the job.
“You did well,” she assured me in a warm tone, “but next time, take two more seconds and put a jacket on, grab a hair tie, all right?”
“Kaya was just a little excited,” I explained dryly.
Mari arched a sardonic eyebrow. “Oh, so you’re blaming this on your familiar?”
“Of course! What do you think familiars are for?”
Chapter Eight: Contracts
That house fire seeme
d to set off a series of fires. Within that same week, part of an inn—the same inn where I’d temporarily stayed—caught fire. Kaya, of course, heard the bell before I did and yanked me away. This time I managed to get my boots and a jacket on before she tugged me into the air. Three rooms and part of the roof burned before we could get there, but I subdued it easily enough and most of the inn stayed intact, if scorched. Mari came in just as I finished, and I hung about to watch her as she processed the scene. She knew by looking at the burn patterns how the fire had started and spread. A guest at the inn had left a candle burning, and during his sleep, had knocked it over. A careless mistake, but a common one. Mari informed me that most house fires started this way. The second most common cause was apparently kitchen fires, which made sense.
The owner of the inn sent me a very nice card of thanks as well as an offer for a free dinner whenever I wished. (I shamelessly took him up on that, too.) But after that, it seemed like every week we had a fire in some part of the city. Sometimes at night, sometimes during the day. According to firefighting regulations, I wasn’t supposed to be on duty full-time. In fact, I had really only been assigned night-duty because I could get there faster than anyone else. But I couldn’t explain that to Kaya. To her, if that bell rang, we were supposed to go. So we went. I didn’t mind, and everyone understood I had no intention of taking over their jobs, so I didn’t leave any hard feelings in my wake.
Actually, because I flew to every part of the city, I got to know it fairly quickly. I made a lot of friends in short order as well. But helping people had always been the easiest way to make friends. The innkeeper set a precedent that others followed and I soon received thank you cards and letters, sometimes even drawings by children, from people that we helped. It touched me and made it feel as if I had formed a strong bond with this place.
Kaya took every letter we received away from me and tucked it securely and carefully away in a strongbox. The pictures she had me hang on the wall, though.
As the days passed by, autumn started to encroach on the land. I’d never had real experience with farming or anything of the sort, but I’d done a great deal of research while at Strae. I knew that most cool burns were done in either autumn or spring, to clear out the bramble.
Part of my job as border patrol was to make sure that the highways were clear. No one specifically told me that burning the trails clear of briars and bramble was part of the job, but I figured it did. So the first morning that we had a real nip in the air—even compared to Chahir’s weather—I knew it would be a good day to burn some things.
Now, I’m not saying that I take great and inherent delight in seeing things go up in flames. Far from it. But I do enjoy using my magic. Every magician does. In fact, most magicians use any excuse they can think of to use their magic. It’s one of the reasons why Garth is so famous in the magical community—he doesn’t use magic unless he actually needs to.
As his student, I’ve adopted his attitude in this regard as much as I could. Especially considering that I’m a Fire Mage, no one actually wants me running around loose torching things. So unless it’s somehow job related, or I’m cooking, I don’t use magic at all. The restrictions I place on myself aren’t easy to live with some days.
That’s why I look forward to days where I can lower those restrictions and play.
Kaya and I got up early the next morning, packed a lunch, and went to report in to Mari. Our illustrious boss had very firm rules about reporting in before and after work. In her words: “You might be a strong, powerful mage and she might be a fire-breathing dragon, but in case something does go wrong, I want to know where to start looking.”
So Kaya dropped me off near the center of town and then swept off to go land at the docks. I walked into the office with every intention of just popping in, saying a few words, and walking right back out.
As with so many other plans, mine didn’t last long.
I’d barely stepped two feet inside when I realized Mari had company. Important company. I recognized the Mayor of Mellor, two city councilmen, and the firefighting Captain of the 7th Division.
“Krys, excellent timing,” Mari greeted me. “Come in. I believe you’ve already met Mayor Hartmann, Councilman Whitsett, Councilman Huber and Captain Lang?”
Being bad with names, I’d actually forgotten two of them, and blessed Mari for that verbal reminder.
“Of course. It’s good to see you, gentlemen. Did you need me for something?”
The Mayor opened his mouth to respond, but Captain Lang beat him to it by asking, “Did you come in to report, Magus?”
My eyes cut to him, trying to read the inscrutable expression on his face. “Yes, sir. I wanted to tell Mari that I’d be on the northern roads today. I want to burn them clear before the bramble takes over.”
Whatever the Mayor was going to say abruptly got shelved and he asked in concern, “Is that safe?”
“Perfectly,” I assured with a professional smile. “I will do a cool burn, nothing hot and ferocious. It’s very controlled and meant for this specific task.”
Whitsett gave me a thoughtful look. “Clearing the roads is not part of your job description, Magus.”
“Border patrolling is easier when I can actually see the road,” I responded with dry humor. “Is there a more urgent request for me today?”
“No, Magus, that is not why we are here.” Mayor Hartmann stepped forward so that he could meet me in the eye. Or as well as he could, considering he stood a good hand shorter than me. His dark brows were drawn together in an expression of intensity. “Magus, I must be frank. Before you came, we had many reports of a Fire Mage in Jarrell Province that went berserk and set an entire city on fire.”
I mentally winced. If I ever got my hands on Remcarparoden, I’d beat him black and blue for doing that and smearing the Fire Mage’s reputation.
“But since your arrival, you’ve proven to have excellent control over your element and to be very hard working. We know that there is still some time left on your contract, but we’ve met and discussed your future employment with us, and we wish to sign you on as a permanent employee of Mellor.” Hartmann beamed up at me. “The permanent position will mean that you can access the typical benefits that most city employees do, of course. Will you consider it?”
My eyes nearly popped out of my head. Consider it? Mari had said something about this earlier, but she’d made it sound like I would be on permanent contract for fire seasons. She hadn’t even hinted that this would be a full-time, year round position with benefits and everything. Having a stable job would be a blessing straight from the heavens! And frankly, I hadn’t looked forward to the day when we’d need to leave. Kaya had adopted every child in this town and having to take her away from her playmates would not go over well. For that matter, the children would pitch a fit too.
I took in a breath to keep from pouncing on the man and enthusiastically accepting the offer. “Why yes, Mayor, I’d love to stay on permanently. Truthfully, Kaya and I both feel very at home here.”
He gave me a smile like a cat that had just caught a flock of canaries. “Excellent. I will have Mari fill out the proper paperwork for you. During the off season, we will expect you to do border patrol work as you are doing now. But while we are in fire season, we want you to stay nearby. Is that acceptable?”
“Of course,” I assured him. “Er…since we’re still technically in fire season now, does that mean I need to change today’s plans?”
“Do a sweep of the area and see if there are any hotspots,” Captain Lang advised with a muted twinkle in his eyes. “We rarely get fires this late in the season. If you don’t see anything, it should be safe enough to go.”
A definite relief. “Understood, sir.”
“There is one more thing,” Councilman Huber mentioned with a tenuous smile. “Magus, I’m not sure if you’ve heard of this or not, but we experience terrible icing during the winter. We often have trouble with our ships on the Paswaters Lake bein
g frozen in place. Is it possible for you to melt the ice and help break them free?”
I blinked at him. I’d never thought of using my magic that way, but… “I don’t see why not. I think between Kaya and I, we can take on that additional task.”
“Excellent.”
I had a group of very happy officials in front of me. I shot a look at Mari, wondering at her reaction, only to find that she had a smile stretched from ear to ear. My reason for staying didn’t solely involve her, but I had to admit that it was a perk.
Kaya’s nose abruptly appeared in the door. She couldn’t get more than her snout and eyes inside, as the narrow dimensions of the door didn’t allow more than that.
“Krys, go?”
“We’re going,” I assured her. I’d never told her that this job was temporary (partially because I couldn’t come up with an easy way to explain it to her) so I didn’t mention that we were full-timers now. I just boiled it down to facts she could understand. “They gave us another job. When the lake freezes over, we have to melt the ice to free the ships.”
I could hear muted thumps coming from outside, so her tail must be thumping at a happy rhythm. “Lake freeze soon?”
“You’re incorrigible,” I told her with a shake of the head. “Soon enough, sweetheart. Back up now and let me through. We have roads to burn clean.”
With that promise, she rapidly jerked her head free.
Turning to Mari, I offered, “I’ll come in tomorrow morning to do that paperwork, if that’s all right.”
My boss nodded amiably. “That’ll be fine. I’ll explain benefits to you then. Part of that is government housing, you know. You might want to think about that today as you fly.”
I scratched my cheek. “Well…are you saying that you’ve got housing available that can fit her too?”
The mayor found this funny as he started chuckling, making his ponderous belly shake a little. “We might need to custom build something, Magus.”
“Why don’t you think about just renovating the place we’re in now?” I suggested, spreading my hands. “It’s a good location for us, considering the three jobs we’re juggling. We can see most of the city and the lake from there. It has to be cheaper on the city’s budget, too, to just add some features to that building rather than start from the ground up.”
Dragon's Mage (An Advent Mage Novel), The - Raconteur, Honor Page 10
