Advent (Advent Mage Cycle) (4 page)

“Yes. Night, I think I’m going to stay overnight at least with the Haru Tribe. If Cora needs any help or medicines from Del’Hain it will be up to me to get them. I need to be on hand.”

Night flicked his ears forward in understanding. “
All things considered, it might not be wise for me to go with you. We’re not sure what kind of disease this is and my body might be susceptible to it.
”

“That’s very true, Night,” Cora confirmed. “Will you and Trev’nor wait here for Garth then?”

He bobbed his head.
“Yes. Try to find time to come tell us how things are going over there, though.”

“I will,” I promised him. “Small Rider?”

“I’m ready,” he assured me. “Just let me grab my horse.”

Most horses don’t like traveling the earth path. Something about being underground bothered them. Because of Cora and her persuasive powers with animals of all kinds, I didn’t have to worry about any panicked horses this trip. Small Rider was in awe of her ability to so easily soothe and control such a strong stallion. I think he fell half in love with her on the spot.

The Tonkawacon tribes might be separate entities, but they were never really that far from each other. It took all of five minutes to find Small Rider’s tribe. It looked much like Roha’s tribe—full of tents, cook fires, and people. However, there wasn’t one horse in sight. In this place, the lack of horses seemed very wrong. Small Rider must have the only horse still on its feet in this place.

We were barely above ground when several people spotted Small Rider and swarmed in our direction. A few of them recognized me, their worried faces lighting up in relieved smiles.

“Magus!” a bear of a woman that I recognized as Rosa caught my hand and squeezed it, tears gathering in her eyes. “I knew he’d find you. We’ve been praying you’d come.”

I was touched that she had such faith in me, but unnerved as well. I didn’t have the power to solve all the world’s problems!

“I did better than that, Rosa. I brought you the help you need.” I pulled her around so that she could see Cora, standing a little behind me. “Rosa, this is Life Mage Hevencoraan. She’s the true expert when it comes to horses. Cora, this is the Mother Trainer of the Haru Tribe, Rosa of Haru.”

Rosa’s jaw dropped at hearing that she was facing another Mage. It took her a moment to find her voice again. “We are very glad you’ve come, Magus Hevencoraan.”

“Cora is fine,” Cora assured her with a gentle smile. “Now, show me my patients.”

Those were the right words. Rosa forgot to be nervous and grabbed Cora by the hand, leading her for the nearest tent. “We were so worried about them in this cold, we just moved them inside.”

“What are the symptoms?” I heard Cora ask as she rapidly disappeared into the tent.

“A Life Mage,” a man I didn’t know breathed in wonder. From the braids, I took him to be the Master of Leatherwork in this tribe. Every other occupation’s braids that I know about has a distinct pattern and color scheme. Only the leatherwork had simple plaits and pure leather strips. “I have only heard of them in olden tales. It’s said they can talk to any beast, and can heal them.”

“They can also mimic them and create them,” I informed him. I tried not to smile at the flabbergasted expression this won me.

“Incredible.” He took a step forward, face alight with eagerness. “Will you not help as well, Magus?”

I spread my hands apologetically. “I know nothing about horses. My magic will not help much in this case. I’m strictly here to go and fetch medicines if Cora needs me to.”

His face fell slightly. “I see. I had hoped that as an Earth Mage, you might be able to do something with animals. They are of the earth, are they not?”

“As much as humans or metal are,” I agreed wryly. “But they are largely outside of my control, I’m afraid.”

Small Rider gave the man a stern look, eyes sharp enough to make him gulp nervously. “You ask too much, Chase. We owe this Magus much already, for making so many trips to bring us the help we need. Be content with what he can and has done for us.”

I waved him down, not wanting to start an argument right here in the freezing cold. “Small Rider, it’s fine. Even full-blown magicians don’t have a good idea of what my abilities are. Some misunderstandings are normal. For now, I want to look around the area and find the source of the problem. When did the horses fall sick?”

“About two weeks ago,” Small Rider answered with a growing frown.

“Have you camped in this area before?”

“This is our normal winter camp.”

Hmmm. Interesting. “And you’ve never had problems before this?”

“Never,” he assured me vehemently.

Strange. So whatever the problem was, it was very recent. I couldn’t imagine it was some inherited disease—not when it affected a whole herd of horses all at the same time.

“Has anyone of the tribe fallen sick as well?”

Small Rider’s gaze searched my face intently. “No…why?”

“Well, the first source of disease is usually found in the water supply. At least, in my experience. It’s always the first thing I check when things start going wrong. But if the people and the horses are using the same water source…?” I waited for him to nod confirmation before continuing, “Then that can’t be the reason.”

“Garth?”

Cora? That call had come from inside the tent. I hurried forward, responding to that urgent tone.

Inside the tent two horses were stretched out on their sides, breathing heavily. The tent was warm but not warm enough to cause them to sweat so much. They were nearly soaked with perspiration. Cora knelt next to one, hands stroking the dark hide. I could feel power rolling out of her as she worked.

She didn’t even glance up at me, just started talking. “There’s a parasite that has infected their intestinal track.”

I winced. Even the description of that didn’t sound pleasant.

“Worse,” she echoed my wince, “is that it’s starting to infect the bloodstream. If it hits the heart, we’re doomed.”

My heart twinged in sympathy. “I think that’s an understatement, Cora. What do you need me to do?”

“If the parasites started in the intestinal track—and all signs are that’s the case—then these horses must have eaten something that carried them. You’ll probably find them in a warm area, or a sheltered one, as parasites shouldn’t still be alive in this cold; unless they are in hibernation, waiting for something to ingest them. Anyway, I need you to find that source.”

This was harder to do than she realized, as anything smaller than a rat was difficult for me to pinpoint. But I nodded, not willing to shirk the task before even trying. “I’ll do my best. Can you do anything?”

“I’m cleansing the system as we speak. I need to tackle the worst cases first.” Cora looked at Rosa, hovering to one side. “Make a list of which horses are the worst off. I’ll deal with them in order.”

Rosa didn’t waste any breath on speech, just bounced to her feet and sprinted out of the tent.

I followed her example and ducked back out of the tent. No surprise to me, Small Rider hovered just outside the doorway, worry making him look five years older.

“You heard?”

He nodded grimly. “Yes. I can show you where the horses normally graze.”

At least that narrowed the area I needed to search. “That’ll help.”

~*~

Some six hours later I was ready to tear my hair out in frustration. After combing every inch of the pasture where the Tonkawacon horses tended to roam, I had not found one thing wrong with the area. There wasn’t a bug of any sort to be found anywhere.

Small Rider faithfully stayed at my side, steering me into new areas as I exhausted the possibilities inch by meticulous inch. He looked as frozen as I felt.

“It’s not here,” I finally groaned, rubbing my throbbing temples. This kind of search was straining my senses to the max. Worse, the search wasn’t over just because we had run out of pasture to search. “Are you
sure
they don’t go anywhere else to eat?”

“They’ve eaten the grass from all the other areas weeks ago,” Small Rider assured me exhaustedly. “Maybe it is in the water source.”

“Can’t be,” I denied. Rubbing my temples wasn’t helping. It worsened the pain instead. “All of the people would be sick, too. What’s really bothering me is why
your
horse is fine. Why just that one?”

Small Rider opened his mouth to respond, hesitated, and closed it again. “He’s…something of a snob. He normally doesn’t want to be around other horses.”

“So he wouldn’t eat in areas where they would eat?” Who ever heard of a snobby horse?

“Right.” His brows gathered in concern. “Garth, are you all right?”

“Headache,” I answered with a dismissive shrug. “I’m not really that good with fine searches like this. It takes a bit of concentration.”

“I think we need to take a break.”

I couldn’t argue with his logic. We were both half-frozen, hungry, and tired. Tired people made mistakes and overlooked things, which something we could not afford to do right then.

We trudged back to the camp in a weary shuffle, kicking up snow as we went. I didn’t have a mirror handy, so I couldn’t say what I looked like, but it must have been pretty rough. The first matron that saw me grabbed my arm and Small Rider’s, dragged us into her tent, and ordered us to sit down at her fire and get warm.

I smiled at her in bleary thanks, taking off my gloves in order to give my hands direct source to the fire’s heat. I watched the matron bustle about, putting something hot into bowls. Something about her looked vaguely familiar…the sharp angles of the face, the husky tone, and the nutmeg color of her hair reminded me sharply of someone, but who?

Catching my puzzled staring, Small Rider said in a low tone, “Rosa’s younger sister, Risa.”

Ah, that’s where the resemblance came from. Risa became my favorite woman in the world when she handed me a large bowl full of hot stew—delicious hot stew.

“Thank you,” I said in honest gratitude.

“You’re helping to save my children,” Risa responded with a slight smile. “Feeding you and getting you warm again is the least I can do.”

Children? Oh, she meant the horses. The Tonkawacons had very close ties to their horses; I guess they were children in a way.

I gave over any deep and profound thinking in favor of eating. Risa, marvelous woman that she is, fed me three bowls before I finally felt stuffed to the gills and begged for mercy.

Full and warm for the first time in hours, I curled up near the fire and gave serious thought to taking a nap.

“The two of you look exhausted,” Risa murmured, tone heavy with worry. “You didn’t find what that Life Mage said to look for?”

“Not a thing,” Small Rider answered with a tired sigh.

“Did you look in the water?”

“Can’t be the water,” I groaned, letting my eyes slide shut. The idea of a nap was becoming more and more attractive. Sleeping an hour or two might get rid of my headache…hmmm. “People would be sick too.”

“That’s a good point,” she allowed. “But you did check it, I hope. There’s grazing up around that area, too.”

“Guardians!” Small Rider jerked around so fast, he smacked me in the shins. “Garth, I forgot about that! There’s a cave not far from here that has a clear water source—but the cave is warm, so grass is still growing up in there.”

Grass…warmth…water…sheltered…didn’t that meet all of Cora’s criteria? I sat up abruptly, which made my head spin for a second. I put a hand to my head, afraid it might fall off without the support. “Oww.”

“Garth?” Small Rider caught my shoulder, steadying me. “I think that headache of yours is worse than you let on.”

I waved this concern away, more focused on the idea of solving the mystery. “The cave, you said it isn’t far away?”

“You think it’s there?”

“It fits all of Cora’s criteria. Warm, sheltered, grass—can you think of a more likely place?”

He chewed on that for a minute. “No, not really. This time, though, let me saddle my horse. It’ll be faster to ride there.”

Solving this mystery quickly also meant that I could return faster and curl up for several hours around a fire. I wasn’t seeing a downside to this plan.

“Okay. Let’s go.”

As I waited for Small Rider to saddle his horse, I was pleased to note that my headache had downgraded from sharp twinges to dull throbbing. The food and chance to get warm probably had something to do with that. I could ignore a dull throbbing and focus on the job at hand. Good.

Small Rider came around to Risa’s tent, kicking free of a stirrup so that I could use it to boost myself on board. I was too tired to make the mount a graceful one, but I managed to double up behind him without knocking both of us to the ground. That’s all I really cared about at the moment.

Risa was right—the cave wasn’t far away, and it was rather easy to spot. Everyone apparently used this as their water source because there was a beaten trail to and from the camp. It was a five minute ride at a walk to get there.

I slid off the horse, not really paying attention to Small Rider. I was focused on the cave. It was small, really, barely tall enough for a horse to go through. From its depths warmth beckoned, inviting caresses of warmth against my bare skin.

As soon as I stepped inside I realized the mouth of the cave was deceptive—inside, it was large enough to hold a dozen horses without strain. The water trickled in from one wall, collecting in a small pool about the size of a wine barrel in the floor.

And all around that warm pool of water was a carpet of grass.

It was strange grass—I’d never seen the like before. It wasn’t really green, but a strange blue with fine yellow stripes down the middle. Some of it was cropped short, as if a certain four legged herbivore had eaten it recently. I knelt down at the nearest patch, letting my magic sense study the area.

I found, living in those blades of grass, tiny little crawling insects.

The parasites. At long last.

A scuff of boot against rock sounded behind me. “Did you find them?”

“I found them.” My joints and bones creaked when I pushed myself back to my feet. “What kind of grass is this, Small Rider?”