WarMage: Uncontrolled (The Never Ending War Book 3), page 8
She snorted. “What about you, Murphy?”
“It’s only me and my parents. And Fritz.” The girl glanced at her familiar, who yet again stared at Maxwell’s head where it poked out of Henry’s bag. “Nothing beyond those flyers put up in the center of town.”
“I already told you guys that’s only automated stuff that comes through from way out there.” Henry stretched his hand into the distance. “Hey, I bet we could pinpoint exactly where they came from now that Bixby gave us such a riveting account of the whole kingdom this morning.”
“I already know where a few came from.” Raven glanced over her shoulder at Leander to make sure he hadn’t moved. I trust him, but he’s been a little antsy today. “Some of those flyers had the same seal as Havendom.”
“There ya go. They made it out here and we have a few warnings about whatever the capital wants people living way farther north to do.”
“You don’t think it applies to Brighton too, Derks?”
Henry wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “Probably not. I’m in William’s boat. Too much overreaction and people trying to imagine trouble when there isn’t any. That’s nothing new to you, though, is it?” He stepped behind Murphy to try to elbow Raven in the ribs.
She darted away and pointed at him as he laughed. “You gotta be faster than that, Derks.”
“Oh, I’m fast. Maybe not redirect-dragon-fire fast, but I have my moments.”
Finally, Murphy reached the wheelbarrows and unloaded the heavy training ax onto the almost overflowing pile of sparring weapons.
“Excellent.” Fellows smiled at her with a nod and the girl almost froze. “Does anyone else have a weapon?”
“Oh. Yeah.” Raven dropped the dented sword into the other wheelbarrow and gave him a brief smile.
“Then that’s everything.”
With wide eyes and another blush, Murphy turned away from their weapons professor and headed toward Raven and Henry again.
“Miss Murphy,” Fellows called. “Since you’re here, why don’t you help me with these wheelbarrows? Two of us will get the job done much faster and easier.”
The girl gave Raven a surprised look and blushed even deeper. “Uh…sure.”
She headed toward the same wheelbarrow as Professor Fellows, then stopped short when he took the handles. It took a few seconds for her to remember the other one, and she jerked toward it and grunted when she lifted it.
“You got this,” Fellows muttered with a little chuckle. “Don’t think I didn’t see you swinging that ax, Miss Murphy. You’re stronger than you look.”
“I’m, uh…thanks?” She darted her friends a mortified glance over her shoulder.
Raven merely grinned and waved her friend away before Murphy turned and followed her professor crush toward the weapons shed.
Henry tilted his head and frowned after them. “Is it only me, or did she get weirdly quiet and red all of a sudden?”
“Wow.” She laughed. “For someone as smart as you are, Derks, you can be clueless sometimes.”
“Don’t forget freakin’ skilled with a slingshot.” He grinned. “We covered that one too, right?”
“Yeah, we covered it.” She folded her arms and shook her head playfully at him. “Let’s wait for Murphy, though. I have a feeling she might get lost if no one is here to walk her to the main buildings.”
Henry stared at her and his brows drew together in confusion. “I don’t get it.”
“Well, it’s not my place to explain it.” She shrugged and watched Murphy struggle after Professor Fellows with the wheelbarrow.
The man pointed at the girl’s forearm, which bloomed with an orange light before the identical glow illuminated on the door to the weapons shed. They stepped inside and a few seconds later, his sharp laughter spilled through the open door.
“Huh.” Henry smirked. “I didn’t think Murphy had the comedy gene.”
Raven wrinkled her nose over a smile. “I think there’s much more about her you haven’t discovered yet.”
He scoffed and copied her posture mockingly, folded his arms, and stuck one hip out to the side.
Fellows and Murphy stepped out of the weapons shed, and the professor nodded for her to join her friends. The girl practically ran toward them, her cheeks blazing red and her eyes wide, but she was grinning.
“What was that about?” Raven asked and laughed at the dazed look in her friend’s eyes.
“He…he asked me to help him with the wheelbarrows before and after every class for the rest of the year.” While the girl walked dreamily toward the stable walls to retrieve her knapsack and loose textbooks, Fritz dropped to the grass a few feet away from them and rolled happily onto his back.
“And that makes you happy.” Henry glanced at Raven and twirled his finger beside his temple. “That’s like an extra job, Murph.”
She slapped his hand away and laughed. “Did he tell you why?”
Murphy turned around to face them, her arms folded over her loose books and the ridiculously blissful smile still plastered on her face. “Yeah. He said he doesn’t wanna break Rory and that I make a good wheelbarrow assistant.”
Raven glanced at the weapons shed, where Fellows closed the door and ran a hand through his long gray hair. “He laughed loudly. What’d you say?”
The girl stared at her for a moment and the smile faded from her face. “I don’t know.” Before they could respond, she hurried across the grass toward the main buildings.
Laughing, Raven nodded toward Leander. “I gotta see to my dragon first. I’ll catch up with you guys in a sec.”
“Yeah, there’s no way I’m buying her excuse.” Henry hurried after the other girl, holding his messenger bag steady at his side. “Major points for deflection skills, Murph, but now you gotta spill it.”
She strode quickly toward the dragon and gestured to him. “Come on. Let’s get you settled in again, huh?”
He pushed himself to his feet and moved toward her, his neck bent low and his head swinging from side to side. “I had begun to think you’d forgotten I was still out here.”
“What?” She laughed and waited for him to catch up so she could scratch the underside of his chin. “I never forget where you are.”
When he didn’t have an immediate reply to that, she gave him a curious glance and skipped toward the slightly ajar gate to pull it open the rest of the way. He stepped dutifully into his pen, his head still low in an oddly disconcerting posture she hadn’t noticed before.
She stepped inside with him and folded her arms. “What’s going on?”
“I disappointed you.”
“Hey, we already cleared the air on that one.” She waved dismissively, but when he turned in a few slow circles before he curled in the grass—all without looking at her—she frowned. “Leander?”
“Raven.”
“Do you believe me when I tell you I’m not angry or disappointed?”
“I believe you believe it. That may not change what you actually feel.”
“Oh, boy. Okay. I guess I underestimated a dragon’s ability to be embarrassed by a simple mistake.”
He snorted and flurried a puff of dirt and a few ripped blades of grass in front of his face.
Raven stepped toward him and knelt in front of his huge red head. “I’ll sit here as long as I have to until you look at me.”
Leander rumbled softly and after a long moment, shifted his yellow eyes slowly to meet her gaze.
“I’m not saying everything’s okay because I don’t want to hurt your feelings. You know that too, and I’m very sure we both remember how unaware I was of how you felt when we first met.”
He snorted. “Unaware. Uneducated. Unprepared.”
She laughed. “Yeah, all of the above. But seriously, as long as you don’t try to protect me from a professor—again, which I appreciate in principle—we’re all good. I don’t hold it against you, okay?”
The dragon exhaled another breath sharply through his nose and studied her face. “I’m convinced.”
“Oh, good.” With another chuckle, she ran her hands along the sides of his scaly face and nodded. “You’re doing well since we moved here, Leander. Try giving yourself more credit for that too, okay?”
“If you say so.” He lowered his head and turned away from her to curl his long neck toward his side until she couldn’t see his face anymore.
He’s way more embarrassed than he wants to admit. All he needs is space and a little time.
With a deep breath, she nodded and pushed to her feet. “Okay. I’ll be back after regular classes. Then, we’re on Alessandra’s time.”
“Goodie.”
“But after that—”
“Yes, Raven. Flying always makes me feel better.”
She chuckled. “You beat me to it. That’s what we’ll do for the rest of the day, okay? And don’t keep beating yourself up.”
“I’m not,” Leander muttered. “I think I’ll take a nap.”
“Right.” She wiped the smirk off her face. “Enjoy it. You have a nice day for sleeping out in the sun.”
The dragon rumbled in response.
And that’s my cue to leave.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Raven slipped through the gate and closed it securely. The metal latch slid into place, and she returned to the stone archway across the field, pausing briefly to pick up her satchel and sling it over her shoulder. We have the trust part down. I guess this is as good a time as any to show him I don’t stay upset about anything for long.
She caught up to her friends quickly enough where the students gathered in the main courtyard before their next class of the day. Murphy still blushed and shook her head as Henry tried to pry out of her what she clearly didn’t want to tell him.
“Derks, I’d back off if I were you,” she told him. “Murphy’s much stronger than she looks.”
“Ha. See, it’s something like that, right?” He grinned at their red-faced friend. “Is that what you told him?”
“Why do you care so much?” Raven asked.
“Why? Seriously? The only way I make Fellows laugh is by pulling my slingshot out. Which isn’t that funny when you think about it.”
“Well, you proved your point.” She raised an eyebrow.
“We can seriously drop this conversation now,” Murphy muttered. “And maybe get to our next class instead.”
“Yeah, sure, Murph.” Henry gave the girl’s back a slightly harder than necessary pat and her eyes widened. “I’m only messing with you. You know that, right?”
“It’s kinda hard to miss.” Despite not being able to look directly at him, the girl smirked.
“Everyone has their secrets, huh? Fine. But tell me one thing, yeah?”
Finally, Murphy looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
“You didn’t say anything about me, did you?”
The girl burst out laughing, doubled over the books in her arms, and shook her head.
He glanced at Raven and shrugged. “Did I break her?”
She fought back her laugh. “I don’t think so.”
“Okay. I’ll hafta check in about that later. For now, I’ll…uh, show up early to class. I’ll save you guys some seats.” He eyed the other girl who was still doubled over and laughed with tears streaming from her eyes now. “Unless she ends up having to go to the infirmary for this.” With a sheepish grin, he shrugged again and darted through the crowd, calling for a group of his other friends to wait up.
Murphy straightened, took a deep breath, and wiped the tears off her cheeks. “Oh, boy.”
“Are you okay?”
When the girls looked at each other, she burst out laughing again.
“Okay.” Raven couldn’t help but laugh with her. “Now I’m really curious. My guess is Henry wasn’t even remotely on your mind in that weapons shed. So what did you say?”
The laughter died surprisingly quickly before she gave her a sidelong glance and grimaced. “It popped out.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I told him I’d be his assistant for whatever he wanted, even without wheelbarrows.”
When the blush returned full-force, she draped her arm around her friend’s shoulders and tried not to laugh. “At least you got his attention.”
“Oh, shut up.”
Raven caught sight of Bella moving through the crowd of students toward her next class, Wesley wheeling in large circles above her head. “Hold on a sec, Murphy. Bella! Hey!”
The black-haired mage turned to look over her shoulder, then rolled her eyes and picked up the pace toward the main buildings. “Whatever it is, Raven, I don’t have time for it right now.”
“You might want to make some time, though.” She jogged to catch up to the girl. “I found something I think you should see.”
“Seriously, we’re already stuck training together after school. Give me some space.” Bella ducked into the front door of the building where most of the potions classes were taught and Raven stopped short.
“What’s up with her?” Murphy asked.
She frowned and turned toward her friend with a shrug. “I don’t know.”
“Honestly, I was a little surprised she didn’t drop her sparring partner to be yours instead.”
“Well, I bet she’s saving it up for our training with Alessandra this afternoon. That’ll be so much fun.”
The girl winced but couldn’t help a little chuckle. “Better you than me. Good luck.”
Chapter Twelve
Connor Alby sat in the private receiving room and listened to Councilor Dandryce drone on and on about his list of reasons why his suspicions were completely unfounded. If I can’t get them to understand what we’re facing, this whole meeting will be a waste of time. Maybe it already is.
“We simply cannot upset the everyday routines of Lomberdoon’s people on a hunch.” The councilor spread his arms in the elegant armchair and inclined his chin to study him from beneath wildly bushy eyebrows.
“It’s not a hunch,” he replied and forced his voice to maintain its usual levels of calm and sincerity.
“It is when you come to us with very little proof.”
“I have proof.” He licked his lips and frowned as he thought carefully about what he said next. “More than a few pieces of it. My magic—”
“Yes, yes. Your magic’s returned. You’ve said that more than once.” Dandryce waved dismissively.
“And how can you be sure it’s an actual return, Connor?” Councilor Vanderbos leaned forward in his armchair and raised his eyebrows. “Have you considered the fact that what you experienced during the war was enough to subconsciously cloak your magic instead?”
“Yes, Mihael. I’ve spent quite some time considering all the possibilities. And I wouldn’t have bothered to bring it up, but I received that letter—”
“War Mage Athena has been temporarily excused from these meetings for that very reason, Mage Alby.”
“I realize that. But she shouldn’t have been.”
The other two of the four military leaders and royal advisors who’d agreed to have this meeting with him exchanged wary glances with one another. Councilor Artuse looked at her lap and clasped her hands together. Councilor Nerole sucked on his teeth and darted his gaze from Connor to Dandryce.
“Do you disagree with our methods, Mage Alby?” The man’s bushy eyebrows raised and made the question sound much more like a threat.
“I mean no disrespect, Councilor, but I disagree with your methods about as much as you doubt the evidence I’m setting right under your nose.”
“A spent wizard regaining his magic is evidence of only that and nothing else,” Dandryce snapped.
“War Mage Athena thought there was something more at play,” Connor added. He gazed slowly at the faces of all four officials seated around the receiving room with him. “I traveled all the way from Brighton to study the archives, nothing more. This meeting wasn’t part of my plans, and I wouldn’t have pushed to arrange it if the signal hadn’t already been raised.”
“The Endflame. Yes.” Nerole leaned back in his chair and tossed his long black hair out of his eyes. “Which was raised south of Brighton and inside the wall, if I’m not mistaken.”
“It was.” Connor nodded. “The other Guardians saw it and sent the signal along. In Kemfiir, Azerad, and Morningstar City—”
“None of those Guardians have any idea why the Endflame was raised, Connor.” Artuse spoke quickly and her lips pressed tightly together as she regarded him impatiently. Her eyebrows—as light-blonde as her shoulder-length hair plaited neatly along the back of her head—were oddly highlighted by her frown. “Or by whom.”
He clenched his fists briefly and forced himself to open them again. “That’s the whole point of the Endflame, is it not? To raise the alarm across the kingdom no matter what the danger or which mage is responsible for making that call.”
“As I recall,” Nerole added, “the number of veteran mages in and around Brighton is very low. And only two of you were shown the Endflame when King Reginald put it into play.”
With wide eyes, he glanced in disbelief from one pair of skeptical eyes to the next. “Surely you’re not inferring that I manufactured some kind of emergency.”
Vanderbos spread his arms in a placating gesture that also seemed a little insulting. “We have to cover our bases, Connor.”
“I agree. That’s what I’m trying to do and that’s why I called this meeting. The four of you have much more reach than I could ever hope to achieve on my own. We have to spread the word—”
“Of what? A potential danger somewhere in Brighton which no one can explain. The only other mage living that far south is Peter Eckling, and everyone in this room is entirely aware of his mental decline over the last few decades.”
“If Peter’s mental faculties have been dulled so much that you no longer trust him, then so have mine.” Connor pushed himself back in his chair to keep from throwing himself at the king’s officials. How can they be so blind?
“Honestly, Connor, that’s what we originally thought.” Artuse gave him an apologetic smile and hesitated before he continued. “We were all surprised that you left the peace and safety of your ranch—a very prosperous ranch, to be sure—to make the journey here. I for one can say that I’m more inclined to listen to you than if Peter Eckling had shown up on our doorstep instead.”
