After a moment, the woman shrugged. “We all tend to stick to ourselves.”
Liara walked over and stood before her. “Still, surely people would notice if someone started acting a little . . . different.”
She thinks of a man.
The woman reached up and tugged on her ear. “Well . . .” She sniffed. “Now and again, Egg has been wandering off at night, lately.”
Liara drew her brows together. “Egg?”
The woman looked up. “I don’t know his real name. That’s just what some of us call him on account of his only ever picking egg sandwiches at the lunch line.”
“He wanders off, you said?”
The woman nodded. “To stretch his legs and help him fall asleep. At least that’s his excuse whenever anyone asks.”
“Do you know anything about the wagon wheels being tampered with?”
The woman’s eyebrows rose up. “Those weren’t accidents?”
She has no knowledge of the wheels, does not think of them at all.
Liara sighed. At least this interview wasn’t a complete failure. “No, they weren’t.”
“You don’t think Egg had anything to do with it? He seems like a nice person.”
“I don’t know.”
With a troubled expression, the woman looked at the ground.
Liara stared at her. Do you think she’s involved?
She feels no worry about herself, about being discovered. She only worries, now, about this man.
Liara gestured to the gap in the hanging cloths. “Thank you, that will be all.”
The woman stood and left.
Liara walked out. She glanced at Mia, who lay just to the side, and made her way to Adept Stubs. The tall woman stood near the line of people waiting to be interviewed.
Liara spoke quietly. “Do not look away from me.”
Adept Stubs lifted a brow. “What?”
“I’m going to ask you a question, and when I do, keep your eyes on me. Do not turn or glance at anyone else. I don’t want to let people know that we may have a clue in our search for who is responsible.”
Adept Stubs nodded. “Okay.”
“Do you know of the person they call Egg?”
“I do. Is he the one who tampered with the wheels?”
“I’m not certain yet. He’s merely a person I’m interested in at this point. Is he among those in this line?”
Adept Stubs shook her head. “No, though he was supposed to be. He hasn’t returned from lunch, as of yet.”
Liara glanced at the other building. “Is that where they eat lunch?”
“No, that’s the bunk room. The back end of the office is the kitchen. We serve the food there, and people wander off and eat wherever they want around here.”
Liara pressed her lips together. “I see. Well, we can continue with the interviews, see if we can learn anything else while we wait for his return.”
Nearly two hours later, the last of the people had been sent to her and she was still none the wiser.
Adept Stubs joined her in the middle of the hanging cloths.
Liara scowled. “He still hasn’t returned?”
“No.”
Do you feel anyone that is afraid, worried, or angry?
I do not. But only a few people are close enough for me to sense, anyway.
“Do you think he’s fled?”
Liara glanced at her. “Take a guard or three and start a search for Egg. He could be hiding somewhere, or I suppose he could have just returned to whatever duties he had, not wanting to be bothered with the interview. In the meantime, Mia and I will begin a search of our own in the hills. One of us should be able to find him soon enough.”
Adept Stubs nodded and hurried off.
Liara walked out of the cloth walls and climbed into Mia’s saddle. Let’s start circling the quarry. We can expand the circle as we go, keeping an eye out for anyone out there.
Mia let out an affirmative bark and leapt into the air.
Hopefully this wouldn’t take too much time. Mia could only fly with her for so long. Liara scanned the ground below. We’re far from any village or town, so any person you sense out here must be Egg. If you do sense anyone, head for them.
I will. Mia beat her wings and banked into a large arc, circling around the quarry.
He was sliding down a steep slope on the back side of a hill when they caught up to him. Heading north, he was likely trying to reach the desert before turning west, toward the villages, or wherever he was from.
Mia hovered above him as he slid.
“Egg!” Liara called down. “We’re taking you back to the quarry!”
It is him. He knows that is what they call him.
Having reached the bottom of the rubble, Egg looked up, anger plain on his face. “You can try, you little bitch!” He turned and raced for the treeline.
Liara’s brows rose and then she frowned.
I am not little!
Power filled her and she bound his legs together. Immediately after, she bound his arms to his sides.
His forward momentum took Egg off his suddenly bound feet, and he fell over, twisting to land on his side. His grunt when he hit the ground was loud enough to hear. “Let me go, you filthy dragon lover!”
Liara narrowed her eyes. Was this quarryman a former member of the Order?
She had Mia land near him, then she hopped down and approached him. “Are you the one who tampered with the wheels of the wagons?”
A smile split his face. “Oh, yes. And I got a driver along with the marble, this time.”
Liara clenched her jaws. The piece of filth felt nothing at taking a life, was proud of it, even!
Levitating the offensive man, she began moving him to Mia, walking just to the side of him. She would tie him to the saddle and take him back like that.
As they approached Mia, Egg struggled against the sorcerous bindings. “What are you doing, you little cunt? Release m—”
Liara’s fist flew almost of its own accord. She heard a crunching noise, and blood dripped from Egg’s broken nose.
“Aargh!” He’d been spun back by the punch, but he slowly rotated forward again, the levitation spell bringing him back to his former orientation.
He struggled even harder against the bindings, to no avail. “You whore! I’ll kill you!”
Power flowed over Liara again, and his jaws snapped together.
She looked at him. “It’s too bad your tongue wasn’t between your teeth when I bound your jaws. But keep talking like that, and I may remove your tongue anyway.”
Eyes wide and crazy, he started to say something, but started choking. He coughed, and a little blood sprayed out between the teeth of his bound jaws.
Liara stared at him. “Hmm. Seems the blood from your nose is leaking down your throat, too.” She turned to her bond-mate. “Should I save him, Mia?”
Eyes on the man, her beautiful dragon let out a non-committal rumble.
Egg was choking and coughing more violently, now.
Liara sighed. “It would be a pity to have him die before we learned more, however. Oh, well. I’d have liked to see him turn purple.”
She adjusted the levitation spell, rotating the revolting man so he was face down. “There. The blood should run out now and not choke you to death.”
Once he was strapped onto the back of the saddle, she said, “Be a good boy, won’t you? Otherwise, we’ll drop you from a hundred feet up and say we never found you. I’d wager bears or wolves would think you a tasty snack.”
An angry mumble was all the noise Egg made.
Wings pounding, Mia lifted them into the sky. She flew them directly to the quarry.
After unstrapping Egg, Liara dismounted. She levitated him over, rotated and lowered him so his feet were on the ground, then ended the levitation spell.
Adept Stubs looked over Egg’s face. “What happened?”
“I punched him.”
Adept Stubs glanced at Liara. She looked impressed
. “Any particular reason why?”
Liara shrugged. “He was being rude.”
The tall woman grunted and turned to Egg. “Is he the one who tampered with the wheels?”
Egg’s lips curved in a grin. The dried blood around his lips and nose made him look even more sinister.
“Yes,” Liara said. “And he’s quite proud that he killed a driver.”
Egg leaned forward a little, and through his bound teeth said, “Bataan-Mok will never be home to dragons!”
Liara shook her head. “It already is, you ass. My dragon and my girlfriend’s dragon both slept there last night in Dragon Square.”
She placed a finger on her lip. “Oh, you probably don’t know about Dragon Square. I think it used to be called . . . Daelon’s Plaza, or something to that effect?”
Egg’s face turned red and he looked about to scream.
“Careful,” Liara wagged a finger at him. “Remember what I said. I’ll cut out your damn tongue. After all, even if you can’t speak, I’ll still know your answers to my questions.”
Egg suddenly looked frightened. “Witch,” hissed between his teeth.
Liara shrugged. “I’ve been called worse. By you, even.” She glanced at Adept Stubs, at Mia, and back at Egg. “Let’s begin, shall we?”
+ + + + +
As he walked along the hallway, Chanté glanced again at his hastily scratched-out map. This way looked right. He’d been to the Magic Craft classroom this morning, but he’d come from the direction of the Guildmaster’s office that time. He’d made this map, copied from those of the Guildhall, to help him find the way from his rooms. And based on the numbers engraved on the metal plates next to the doors, he was close.
Finally locating the correct room, he walked in. People were seated here and there about the place. He recognized many of them from the cafeteria. Aeron was here and, wasn’t his name Willem? A few heads turned at the sound of the door closing. Those few whispered to their neighbors, and more turned to look at him.
Chanté took a breath and let it out. He’d better get used to people being fascinated with the strange, unknown dragonlinked. It didn’t seem like the curiosity was going to wear off any time soon.
“Chanté!” Quillan lifted a hand and waved, and several people turned to regard the tousle-haired young man.
Chanté had forgotten that Quillan was taking dragonlinked lessons. Very happy to see the machinist, he made his way over to the chair next to him. Several students were seated on the other side of Quillan.
“You know each other?” The boy directly to Quillan’s right glanced over as Chanté approached.
Quillan nodded. “Yeah, we rode here together the last seventy miles or so.” He looked up and gestured to the boy. “This is Fillion, Chanté. He’s from my hometown, Cotter’s Grove. He just got back from Stronghold!”
Chanté glanced at Fillion and sat. The boy’s smile seemed nice.
“It isn’t that big of a deal.” Fillion shrugged. “We portaled over there this morning to help Master Gella investigate something and got back just after lunch.”
Chanté pressed his lips together. He would need to learn the portal spell. Was it in the Magic Craft lesson book he’d gotten from the library? He’d only paid passing attention to things like that before, as Ulthis had better ways to accomplish the same. Now, however, he would likely have use for it.
“So,” Fillion said, looking at Quillan, “you’re not going to be a dragonlinked, but rather, our machinist?”
Quillan nodded. “That’s right. They’ve already given me a room next to the smith’s for my equipment and such.”
“What exactly does a machinist do?” A young man sitting just past Fillion had leaned back to see Quillan.
Fillion smiled. “This is Gregor, by the way.”
Gregor looked at Fillion and smiled.
Chanté stared. The way they looked at each other . . .
“A machinist?” Quillan pursed his lips. “Well, as our nickname, tinkerer, implies, we play around with things, make various devices or gadgets. Some are complete in and of themselves, while some are little bits designed to make other machinery more efficient.”
“I see.” Gregor nodded.
“If that’s the case,” Fillion said, “why are you here for Magic Craft lessons with class one? Why are you training with dragonlinked at all?”
Quillan shrugged. “Magic is involved with almost everything we do today, machine engineering as much as anything else. I’ve had a good amount of training in Magic Craft already, which is why I was put into class one for magic lessons. More important is your second question.” He smiled at Chanté. “As I am your machinist,” he turned to Fillion, “I need to know everything the guild does. There’s no telling what I can help with, yet, but I certainly can’t help if I don’t have a solid grasp of everything that goes on here, dragonlinked activities included.”
Gregor grunted. “That’s a good point.” He looked past Quillan, to Chanté. His gaze flicked up briefly, to the white hair, no doubt. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Chanté. We’d wondered who the unknown dragonlinked was.”
Chanté frowned and glanced about the room. “It seems everyone is curious about me.”
“Even in the baths,” Quillan grumbled.
Fillion chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”
The door opened and a tall young man walked in. The bottom of his long, black coat flapped behind with his quick pace. “Alright everyone, let’s get settled.”
Once at the front of the room, he stepped up to the wall behind the desk, grabbed something, and began writing with it. “We have two new members with us today, so I will start with my name. I am Adept Elah.” His name, in black ink on the wide, white writing surface mounted to the wall, was written in neat, flowing script.
After turning back to the room, Adept Elah pulled a scrap of paper from a pocket, looked at it, and said, “Quillan, if you could introduce yourself to everyone?” He glanced about.
Chanté swallowed convulsively as his near future became apparent. He was going to have to say something to the class! His heart started pounding.
What is wrong? Should I go to you?
I’m going to have to speak to these people!
Oh. Just talk. A wise young man gave me that advice, once.
That doesn’t—!
Quillan stood. “Hello everyone. My name is Quillan and I have been hired by the guild as your machine engineer.” He glanced at Gregor. “A machine engineer is a master of gadgets, you could say. We make things to make lives easier. So that I can be the best machinist for you, the Guildmaster has allowed me to take dragonlinked lessons so that I might better understand your needs. I look forward to working with you all.” He bowed his head and sat.
Chanté stared at him. His speech had been amazing! It covered everything you could want, and he’d done it so effortlessly!
“Thank you, Quillan.” Another glance at the scrap. “Chan . . . Chanté? You’re next, please.”
His gulp was loud. He felt a hand on his leg and looked down.
Quillan gave his thigh a squeeze. “You can do this,” he whispered.
Chanté looked at his eyes, saw the confidence there, and nodded. He took a deep breath, held it a second, and breathed it out.
Relax. Just talk.
He stood.
Looking only at the instructor, he said, “M–My name is Chanté. I’m the unknown dragonlinked some of you may have heard about. My bond-mate’s name is Nantli. I am not from around here, so please forgive me if I’m not familiar with all your customs. I will do my best to learn all there is to know about dragons and being dragonlinked.”
He’d done it! He sat, keeping his gaze only on the instructor.
Quillan whispered, “That was great.”
A little smile lifted the corner of Chanté’s mouth.
“Thank you, Chanté.” Adept Elah looked from him to Quillan. “Now, as I’m not sure if either of you are familiar with all you ne
ed to be for the next lessons, we’ll take a small detour today with a quick refresher on a few topics. The first is focus . . . resonance.” He wrote the two words as he spoke them. Turning back to face the class, he said, “While it has various applications, why do we study focus resonance? Anyone?”
A girl held her hand up.
“Sharrah?”
The wavy-haired girl stood. “It is indispensable for countering spells not placed directly on us, such as glows or barriers.”
Adept Elah nodded. “Exactly. In fact, a barrier is what we will use for the refresher lesson.” He walked along the aisle between tables, toward where Chanté sat.
Panic building, Chanté watched him approach. What was the instructor going to do? Chanté glanced around the room. It was as he feared, everyone was looking at him. He looked back at the approaching instructor and gulped.
Alarm raced through the link. Why are you frightened, now?
I . . . The instructor is walking toward me and I am not certain what he intends.
Chanté, eyes growing larger, watched Adept Elah get closer and closer.
Anaya says that students practice spells in there, many times with the instructor. That may be what he has in mind.
Adept Elah left the aisle and stood on the other side of the table from Chanté. “I’m going to cast Francisco’s Barrier on the table here.” He tapped the wooden tabletop.
Chanté let out a quiet breath. You were right.
A new feeling came through the link, comprised of pride and gratification, mixed together.
After a pulse of magic from the instructor washed over him, Chanté saw a very faint . . . something. An occasional shimmer hinted at an outline.
“As the rest of you know,” Adept Elah said, staring at the faintly outlined object, “Myung’s Manifestation will make the enchantment supporting the barrier visible to everyone. Myung’s is the first thing you should try if you have need to counter a spell you know nothing about, as it will reveal most spells. However, it cannot reveal spells that use the more esoteric foci. We have another even more complicated spell we can use to manifest those.”
Chanté again felt a pulse of magic power and the swirling cloud of the barrier spell’s magic was revealed. He could taste its foci, the melange of their flavors and textures, and even their positions in relation to each other. He wasn’t sure how he could determine position just from their taste, but—
Of Gods, Trees, and a Sapling: Dragonlinked Chronicles Volume 4 Page 17
