Sorcerous Rivalry (The Mage-Born Chronicles Book 1)

by Kayleigh Nicol

  “But we’ve got money now.” I jingled the stolen coin purse on my hip. “We could even eat really well and have our clothes washed and—what?”

  Kestral held his out to me again. “The purse.”

  “Wha—no!” I gripped the bag and took a step back. “You’re just about broke. What if Shan needs more shoes? What if I need to eat?”

  “I can hunt. Hand it over.”

  “But we can use this money,” I whined. “They tried to kill you; you earned this money.”

  “They were dishonorable at the end, but they were both good men once. If this is the only tribute I can give them, I will.” Kestral gestured again. “The purse.”

  Foolishly the thought to fight crossed my mind, but when I realized that option had only one possible outcome, I reluctantly handed over the purse. Besides, what Kestral didn’t know was that I had slipped almost half the purse into different pockets and pouches already. As any street kid knows, it’s foolish to keep all your coin in one easily-stolen purse.

  Kestral removed the purse he had stolen from his belt and upended both bags into the river. I wanted to cry as I watched the coins sink, but Kestral raised his eyes to the sky and mouthed what looked like a prayer. After he was done, we cleared the bridge and Kestral swung up into the saddle.

  “Are you riding with me?” he asked.

  I considered it for a moment. I could ride on his shoulder as a crow, or I could ride in a belt purse as a rat. In fact, his bags were packed in such a way that I could perch on them as a cat. But I shook my head and shifted to my crow form, taking off ahead. Maybe when I tired of flying, I’d ride with him, but I’d had my fill of surly silence.

  “What do you know about Laki?” Kestral asked as he turned Shan loose to graze. Our campsite was a simple affair—a ring of gathered stones, a single bedroll and a small pile of bags. I found myself hoping they held a lot of food; I was tired from flying all day.

  “Only what Cera and Velyn told me.” I attempted to light a fire with Kestral’s flint. I had only built a fire once or twice before in my life, and I felt Kestral’s judgment heavy on the back of my neck as I failed. “Cera says we all have a stubborn streak. Velyn said Laki’s power is something about life to the lifeless.”

  Calloused hands gripped my wrists and adjusted my hold on the flint. Kestral crouched beside me, watching as I struck the flint again. “The reports I’ve read said he can manipulate plants. Give them a sort of sentience. They also said he’s dangerous when he gets scared.”

  “But he’s never killed anyone, right? He seems like the complete opposite of his twin.” Sparks flew but failed to catch my kindling. I tried to pass the flint over to Kestral, but he pushed it away, gesturing for me to try again.

  “Laki may never have killed anyone, but there’ve been some near misses.” Kestral grabbed my wrist again and dragged my hands closer to the kindling. “One hunter was so badly concussed that he barely made it back to town for treatment. A few hunters were found tied up in thorny vines for days and nearly starved. Just because he doesn’t kill doesn’t mean he’s weak. Stop flinching from the sparks.”

  “Animal instinct,” I muttered, striking again. “We don’t like fire as a rule.”

  Kestral sat and leaned back. “The sooner you get that fire started, the sooner we eat.”

  “Dust and ashes,” I growled, drawing sparks again. The kindling caught this time, but quickly started to burn out. I added more, trying to keep it going. “You ever go after Laki’s bounty?”

  “No.” Kestral handed me several sticks he had gathered earlier. “Yours was the bounty I chose after I left the army.” His eyes flicked to me, then away. “If I’m honest, I wasn’t really expecting to find you. It was more of an excuse to stay on the road.”

  “Do you just not like settling down?” I asked, only half paying attention as I fed the fire. There was food on the line and for once I was more interested in that than learning more about Kestral.

  Kestral rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “I’m a soldier. I like to fight. A lot of remote villages aren’t worth the army’s attention, so they get plagued by minor mages, cruel fairies or dangerous beasts. Fighting for the kingdom was all I wanted to do.”

  I sat back, grinning. The fire had finally caught. Kestral reached back and dragged his bag of cooking supplies closer. “Wait,” I said as Kestral set up his cooking tripod. “If you didn’t think you’d find me, are you still going to kill me?”

  Kestral was quiet a moment, setting the poles of his tripod together and suspending a shallow pan from them. He slid the tripod over the flames then rummaged through his packs for food. “You are a dangerous mage-born, aren’t you?”

  “That’s right. I forget sometimes how dangerous small cats and spiders are to the kingdom.”

  Kestral tried to suppress a shudder at the mention of the word spider, which made me laugh.

  “I may be one of Laurana’s kids, but I’m not exactly dangerous. Not like Kila and Velyn.”

  “Kila’s not really dangerous. She served honorably in the army until the bounties were announced.”

  “Really?” That surprised me. “Did you ever meet her?”

  “No, I heard she was stationed to the west, defending against Viaparaiso. She had an impressive battle record, was even on track to become a high-ranking officer.” Kestral poured a little water in the pot, then dumped a package of rice and dried vegetables into it, stirring with a long wooden spoon. “Her squad turned against her the day the bounty was announced. She slaughtered each and every one of them.”

  I shuddered. “And you say she’s not dangerous?”

  “She’s never gone looking for a fight and she makes her location known.” Kestral shrugged. “If people stopped trying to kill her, I doubt she’d be a threat. To our kingdom, at least. She’s not like Velyn, looking for a fight or a throne.”

  “I’m not looking for a fight or a throne,” I muttered. I searched through Kestral’s bag until I found an oilcloth wrapped around some kind of meat. I held it out to be added to the pot. He stared at the offering for a moment as if considering whether to add it, but finally he took it and cut the meat up into small pieces before feeding them into the pot. “How did Kila serve in the army without anyone knowing she was one of Laurana’s children?”

  Kestral looked up at me, his eyebrows disappearing beneath that messy mop of hair. “You really don’t know anything about your family, do you?”

  I shrugged, trying to look as if I didn’t care. Because I didn’t. “It’s not like I knew I had a family until four years ago. Dear old Dad is trying to have us killed and Ma is in prison.”

  “But you didn’t try looking into your family after you found out?” Kestral asked, still surprised. “You weren’t curious?”

  “My only interest was in survival,” I replied, leaning back, resting one hand on a bent knee. “I went into hiding and hoped no one would figure out who I was.”

  Kestral shook his head as he stirred the pot. “I only know what they told the hunters, but it seems that the king took an interest in his older children. At least until the queen finally bore a live heir.”

  I nodded. Everyone knew the queen was sickly and had had several failed pregnancies before finally giving birth to the realm’s only prince. He was a few years older than me, but that was all I knew about him. The queen barely survived the birth and hadn’t been seen for years afterward.

  “The two eldest were adopted by noble families. Your sister stayed in the capital, but your oldest brother’s family took him to their keep in the south. Neither has been seen by their families since the bounties were announced.” Kestral paused to taste the food, then continued stirring. “When the twins were born, the king wanted one to go into the military and the other into the Order of the Great Canvas.”

  “He took that much interest in us?” I asked, mildly surprised.

  Kestral shrugged. “The prince was born a year after the twins and after that it seems he stopped caring
about where the queen sent you all.”

  “How paternal,” I replied dryly. “Wait, if he wanted one twin in the military and the other in the Order, then why did Kila end up in the army? Shouldn’t they have sent the male twin?”

  “You would think so. The queen says it was a mix up.” He took another small taste of dinner. It smelled good to me, but Kestral kept stirring. “Laki was sent into the Order and Kila entered the military.”

  “So, is Laki a priest now?”

  “Monk. He entered the Star-Strewn sect. It’s possible he’s no longer practicing religion, though.” Kestral glanced over at me. “It doesn’t seem as if the king took any interest in Laurana’s three youngest children. Velyn went north to a fishing village, Cera was given to traveling performers. The queen claims she has no memory of where you were sent.”

  I chuckled. “She didn’t want to admit to sending me to Giltner, did she?”

  “Most likely not. It’s not a place anyone would have thought to look, though.” Kestral pulled a bowl out of his bag and tipped the cooked rice and meat into it. He passed it over to me without a spoon, so I sipped from the rim. Halfway through my bowl, I looked up and realized Kestral wasn’t eating.

  “Not hungry?” I asked. I had been starving half the day.

  “I only have the one bowl,” Kestral replied. “I’ll eat when you’re finished.”

  “Why only one bowl?”

  “Why would I need more?”

  I shrugged and finished gulping down dinner. When I passed the empty bowl back, Kestral poured the rest of the meal into it and indicated that I should break down the cooking instruments. I set the pot and rods aside, allowing them to cool off.

  Kestral glanced up, opened his mouth, then shook his head and continued eating.

  “What?” I asked. Now that I’d eaten, I was interested in learning more about him again, so I wouldn’t mind resuming our question-for-question game.

  “Nothing.” He tipped his bowl back. I slid over so that I sat right next to him, hoping to surprise him when he lowered the bowl. No luck, just a glare.

  “What is it? More questions?” I grinned, leaning close. “I don’t mind trading answers.”

  Kestral stared for a moment. “What was growing up in Giltner like?”

  I forced a laugh and drew back. “It’ll take more than dinner to get that story out of me. A keg of Wix’s darkest ale isn’t enough for that.”

  Kestral set his empty bowl down and rummaged through his food satchel again. He pulled out a waterskin, sloshing the liquid inside before he uncorked it and took a sip. “What about for Goldwater Whiskey?”

  I leaned forward despite myself. I took the skin by its neck and sniffed. A heady aroma of woody liquor burned my nose. I had only sipped it before, but it had been wondrous. I pushed the skin back into Kestral’s hands, letting go with difficulty. “It would take more than you have there.”

  Kestral shrugged and took another sip before tucking the skin away. “I’ll remember that.”

  I forced another laugh but this time it sounded bitter. “Why do you care if you’re only going to kill me?”

  “I will kill you if you don’t finish cleaning up dinner.” Kestral nudged the dinner bowl over to me with his foot, then stood. He whistled to call Shan in from grazing.

  I grumbled as I scrubbed out the bowl and dinner pot, wiping them clean with a small cloth. After everything was dry enough, I packed them into Kestral’s food bag. I glanced over at him as he set up his bedroll with his back to me. Did I have time to sip his whiskey while he wasn’t looking?

  “Oh, I do have a question,” Kestral called without looking back at me. I lifted the skin, hoping to sneak a quick sip. “How much liquor would it take to make a cat drunk?”

  I pulled a face at him and put the whiskey back in the satchel. “I don’t have to sleep as a cat, you know. I can draw from you in any form.”

  That earned a glance back at me. “If you want to draw, you’ll do it as a cat. If I even catch you thinking about another form, I’ll crush you.”

  I laughed before slipping into my cat form. Cats were the best sleepers anyway.

  Chapter 4

  The forest was dense and ancient with trees so tall their dark green summer leaves cast deep shadows, making midday feel like early evening. Thick layers of leaves and grasses made the trek arduous. My sneak-thief boots weren’t helping matters either. The grips for climbing became easily matted with dead leaves or clumped with mud. For the first time, I wished I had a pair of simple leather boots like Kestral’s. Of course, Kestral was nowhere nearby. He had wanted to hang back, so we wouldn’t appear to be ganging up against my brother.

  How anyone could find a Star-Strewn monk in the middle of this dusty forest was a mystery to me, but Kestral assured me we were on the right path. Or, at least, the right lack-of-a-path. Laki might be easy to find but he wasn’t easy to approach. Spotting sunlight up ahead, I eased my back against a wide elm and leaned around it, peering into the clearing.

  My brother sat on a stump in the middle of the clearing, whittling a block of wood. Behind him stood a dead, hollowed-out tree that appeared to be his home. A cloth was strung across a doorway and a tall carved bear stood outside of it. The clearing was dotted with carved nymphs, animals and shaped bushes, many out of wood, several out of clay or stone. Laki himself wore a dirty, dark green robe, giving him a shapeless look. He had rounded cheeks and a squared-off jaw. While seated, it was hard to tell, but he appeared to be a few inches shorter than I. His head was bald and his eyes downcast, focused on his whittling.

  “Come into the clearing, Reshi. It’s rude to linger out of sight,” Laki said softly without glancing up. Only my half-expectation that he knew I was there kept me from jumping. I tossed my cloak back over my shoulder and stepped lightly into the clearing.

  “How did you know it was me?” I asked, mostly for the sake of being polite.

  Laki looked up, a sad smile on his face, eyes the dark green of leaves in midsummer. “The elm you were standing beneath is a friend of mine.”

  “Ah. Well, I hope I didn’t stomp on any of his roots.” I glanced back, giving the tree a friendly wave. “I wasn’t trying to sneak up on you.”

  “Speaking of ‘sneaking up,’” Laki said, lowering his head to continue whittling, “Call your hunter friend in where I can see him.”

  “Hey Kestral!” I called over my shoulder. “Laki says come on out!”

  I shifted my weight from foot to foot, waiting in uncomfortable silence. Kestral had stopped much farther back, hoping not to scare Laki into a fight. It would take him a while to lead Shan through the nearly impassable forest around us, which was probably by the design of the brother in front of me.

  “Nice carvings,” I said, pointing to several that looked like a family of foxes. “Did you make all of these?”

  Laki nodded, working silently on his block of wood.

  I wandered slowly around the clearing, looking at each carving with interest. “You’re really detailed. I couldn’t do anything like this. I don’t have the—”

  “Patience?” Laki interrupted. He looked up, smiling again. “You don’t like waiting, do you?”

  I laughed nervously. “What makes you say that?”

  “You pace like a wolf.” Laki tilted his head, his eyes never leaving mine. “No, more like a nightblack cat. Caged and waiting. But what are you waiting for, little brother? To fight? Or to flee?”

  “Are those the only options?”

  “Generally speaking, yes.” Laki put his head down but this time he only stared at his block of wood. “My twin and I are good examples of this natural law. She fights. I flee.”

  “Are you and Kila close?” I asked. I had never met Kila, but I imagined her to be a little like Kestral—a warrior always looking for the next battlefield.

  “Not particularly.” Laki shivered. “Hers is a star of blood and pain. Mine is of peace and growth. We met once. We didn’t get along well.” He looked
up at me again, eyes catching mine. “What star is yours, Reshi? A violent star? A timid star? Which star draws you when you gaze upon the Great Canvas?”

  Oh stars, he really is a monk, I thought, suppressing an eye roll. “I never learned the names of the stars. I prefer the darkness in between the stars, anyway.”

  “A shadowed star.” Laki stared at me for a long while before nodding slowly. “It suits you.”

  Before I could ask what he meant, booted footsteps drew near, and a horse’s neigh rang out. Kestral and Shan could be deathly silent when needed, so I imagined Kestral was taking care not to surprise Laki in any way. A moment later Kestral stepped into the clearing. He left Shan just behind him, grazing at the edge of the clearing.

  “Telakishin.” Kestral nodded his head to my brother.

  “Mage hunter.” Laki only flicked his eyes up at him. “Do I have reason to fear you this day?”

  “Not this day,” Kestral assured him. He held his hands away from his sides. He still wore his sword, along with other weapons, on his belt but he kept his hands clear of them. “We came to talk.”

  “About Sister Cera.” Laki sighed. The knife flashed in his hands as he resumed whittling. “May she find the rest she deserves, cradled in the star that burns only for her.”

  “You already know about Cera’s death?” I asked, surprised. I doubted Laki received many guests out here and not many knew of Cera’s demise just yet.

  Laki nodded, his eyes on his whittling. “I’m certain we all felt her passing. She was our link to each other. Our guiding star.” He glanced up briefly. “Why don’t you sit? I feel this may take some time.”

  A number of stumps littered the clearing. I selected one near Laki. Kestral glared grimly at a few stumps before choosing to lean against an unshaped boulder. He crossed his arms over his chest, keeping his hands away from his belt. Honestly, if he was so worried about scaring Laki, why hadn’t he left his weapons with Shan?