“Sir, you’re heading the wrong way,” Ilyas said, lightly touching my arm to halt my progress. I stopped and turned to face him.
“Well, then where did Lex take this Mage?”
“Straight to the palace, General. He thought it best to avoid as many prying eyes as possible,” Ilyas intoned lowly as to not draw attention to our conversation. I appreciated his discretion, even if the streets were deserted.
Lex was smarter than I gave him credit for.
I huffed a pleased sound before abruptly turning on my boot heel and striding back the way we just came.
“Very good. Now tell me what you know.” The palace wasn’t a far walk from the administrative offices, and Alois and I had created quarters on the first floor, separate from the remainder of our living space, for instances like this. We’d just never had to use them before.
“He’s approximately Lex’s age, maybe a few years younger. Big man, an Earth Mage. He arrived about a half hour ago nearly unconscious from his ride or the sickness. Maybe both. He didn’t say much, only that he was from Isrun, in the Borderlands, and that there was aggressive rebel activity.”
“Isrun? That’s nearly a week’s ride.” I’d sent a small convoy of Mages to Isrun roughly a month ago to deter suspected rebel activity, but I never received any communication that would lead me to suspect there was trouble. My stomach sank abruptly at the thought that I missed some letter in the pile on my desk.
Fuck, I need to get through those missives.
“He was holding three crystals in his hand. We think that he pulled too much for too long and burned himself out trying to get his horse to go faster and even out the ground. We’re guessing he made it here in three days, four days max.”
My eyebrows shot to my forehead.
“Who made that assumption? That’s almost unheard of, especially for a backwater Earth Mage.”
“I did, General,” Ilyas admitted.
I looked at him out of the corner of my eye as we rounded the street where the palace gates sat at the end.
“I have some abilities with animals as Lex’s Vessel, and the feeling I was getting from the horse was not one of malnourishment or extreme thirst. Sure, she was tired and hungry and thirsty, but not anything more than what would’ve been caused by a three or four-day trip.”
“Hmm,” I hummed. If that was true, it would certainly be an interesting development. I had never heard of a Mage being able to travel that quickly.
We reached the gates and they opened automatically, sensing my signature.
Ilyas and I walked silently through the gardens, the only sounds were our breaths as they puffed in the night air and the slap of our boots against the stone pathway.
“He asked us to save someone,” Ilyas added almost as if he were talking to himself.
I nodded to the Mages standing guard at the door to the palace, and they quickly moved to open one, Ilyas and I pausing only long enough for the door to open enough for us to pass.
“Save someone? Who?” Our boots clipped as we walked down the passageway to our left. The palace was still and quiet, the servants still not up for the day. We reached yet another door that opened with my magical signature, this one led into the portion of the house that Alois and I had built for this exact purpose.
Alois must already be here if Lex was able to bring the sick Mage on his own.
I felt an inkling of frustration again at the fact that Alois didn’t think to tell me about this as soon as Lex arrived, but I pushed it down for now.
Perhaps he knew that Ilyas was already on his way to my office.
This part of the house had a plethora of bedrooms and communal bathrooms. There was also a sitting area with a variety of chairs and tables, a communal dining hall, and a Healer’s room. All of it sat bare and empty since Alois and I never had guests.
“A woman. Her name is Faylinn, apparently,” Ilyas added as we reached the only open door in the hallway.
I stopped and stared at Ilyas.
“Faylinn?” I asked him. The name sounded familiar, I just couldn’t place where or how.
“Yes, sir. I feel like that’s a name I would remember,” he said wryly.
I hummed thoughtfully, struck by the odd sensation that Ishouldremember that name.
