Swallowing her current bite, she nodded. “It was all I could think of at the time. Their hypnotism is no joke, and it had told me I couldn’t speak.”
“So you lit up instead. Smart.” Jackson seemed to approve of her actions quite a bit judging by his grin.
Jade smiled back, then asked quietly, “By the way, where’s Will?”
They looked a little startled by her question, then seemed to remember she was a traveler. Jackson filled her in, “Oh, he’s at the palace. Whenever a mesmer is known to enter the city, the royal family gets put on lockdown in the palace. Will always grumbles about it because he wants to go fight.” Well okay, that made complete sense. She nodded, shoveling more food into her stomach. She’d spent enough time in the bath that eight-thirty was fast approaching, even though she’d gotten up at dawn. Jackson finished his explanation, “Yeah, I figure since school starts tomorrow, he’ll be back tonight. But ever since Will’s uncle Tevon was taken by the mesmer, they’ve been a lot more careful.”
Jade pondered what Jackson had just told her. Ironically, it was the higher-ups in the kingdom who were the most at risk from the mesmer. The normal people were relatively safe unless they were really unlucky, because they didn’t have what the mesmer wanted: magic blood. It was rather unlike the normal stories where the people had been nameless cannon fodder for monsters. Granted, given the green things she’d seen being shot down, the mesmer weren’t the only things that went bump in the night.
Still, next time she’d be more prepared. She now fully understood why people carried weapons around with them. She needed to retrieve the daggers from where they’d put them in her Dracona workshop so she’d have them for morning classes. There was a small commotion at the door, and she saw one of the city guard entering the common room. Quickly shoving the last of the food on the plate into her mouth, she stood up, wiggling her fingers at Jackson, Evan, and Adam in farewell as she chewed furiously.
The guard was scanning the common room, smiling when he noticed her and that she was heading towards him. She recognized him as the guard who’d carried her here last night. His hawkish blue eyes and sandy brown hair that was tied back neatly in a ponytail had made an impression on her. Swallowing her giant mouthful of food as she got to him, she grinned. “Hi again! I didn’t catch your name last night. I’m Jade. It’s nice to officially meet you!”
He laughed as he took her hand, bending over and giving it the customary kiss. She was almost used to it now, but it still took effort not to pull her hand back immediately. “The pleasure is mine, Lady Jade. I’m Sir Christopher Jacobs. I heard you needed an escort to the east gate?” She nodded, and he held out his arm, which she fairly gracefully accepted. She finally had the whole walking thing down, so she didn’t look like a baby giraffe anymore!
Just before they walked out, Kaylee ran up with a little shoulder bag, handing it to Jade as she interjected, “I almost forgot. This is the jar you asked for.” It fit comfortably over her head, resting at her hip like a shoulder bag. Inside, she could feel a large glass jar, and when she peeked in the bag, she could tell that her own contaminated blood was inside as well. She thanked Kaylee before she quietly retreated.
As they stepped outside to the curious gazes of the other students eating breakfast, he said quietly, “Thank you for last night. Doctor Mike told us that he’s never seen anyone be able to heal an injury like that before. I could hear that Dalton’s lungs had been punctured, and I’ve seen men die from less before.” She nodded because she could figure out what had happened. As awesome as Mike was, he wasn’t a blood or wind magician, and she’d used both in her healing last night to clear out his body so it could heal properly.
She smiled and squinted as she explained, “I’m a bit different than your normal magician.” Also, blast the stupid sun! She really wanted her sunglasses back.
He grinned. “We’re counting on that. If you can rid the guards of the mesmer taint like Stephen said you might, then it’ll save a lot of lives.”
She nodded, smiling. “Hopefully it works like I think it will, and we can set up a trap for them that they won’t walk out of alive.” He looked surprised at her vehemence as she talked about the trap. She might be happy-go-lucky most of the time, but that didn’t mean she ever really wanted one of those things near her again. If they could be stopped at the wall so she didn’t have to deal with them roaming in the city at the very least, she’d feel better. Less paranoia was a good thing.
She wished she was strong enough now. The fact that they’d only sent one mesmer last night, based on what she’d heard, meant there were probably living people still being tortured in the forest. It didn’t sit well with her.
Silently, she thought of mana sense and felt her eyes tingle a little as she tried to activate it. Her footsteps faltered a tiny bit as she realized she could see the faintest blue aura around one of the people in front of her. Quickly recovering, she kept her eye on them and made sure to stumble when she was close, brushing her arm against them with a muttered, “Sorry about that.” Christopher was studying her with concern in his penetrating blue eyes, and she smiled reassuringly at him. “I’m just testing something with my vision, sorry.”
Silently, she clicked on the new flashing button to see if her theory was true.
You have touched Silas Dastrup, Siphon activated. Assessing stats and experience...
Choose a stat to siphon: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Magic, Charisma, or Luck.
Choose a skill to siphon: Athletics, Insight, Light Armor, Perception, or Water Magic.
Hole in one!
Chapter Thirty-Three – Fishy
Jade wanted to keep mana sense completely activated, but she was wary of using up her energy before they even got to the wall. Instead, every time they turned a corner, she’d activate it briefly and do a scan of the street. Some of the walls or windows lit up as well, showing that they had an active magic. There were occasionally light halos of color around people, and she kept trying to casually brush against them as they walked by. Christopher seemed a little disconcerted that she couldn’t seem to walk in a straight line, and she eventually gave up on trying to touch them and made small talk instead.
“So, if I understand correctly, what you’re telling me is that in front of each gate is a military camp area for the guards?”
Christopher nodded. “It makes it easier for them to be on site in case of an attack. It also provides an easy training area.”
She nodded. “That makes sense. So how is this going to work? Do people know I’m coming?”
Christopher paused thoughtfully. “Probably only the higher-ups. However, they called for a morning muster at nine, so they probably plan to introduce you as a healer that will be around, so people don’t question why you’re there.”
Jade quickly pulled her pocket watch out, noting the time, which read 8:50. “Uh, perhaps we should speed up then?”
Having peeked over her shoulder at the time, he laughed and assured her, “We’re almost there, no hurry.” She heaved a silent sigh of relief, having only just now realized that she apparently had a thing about being late. In the hospital, she’d had no choice. The doctors came when they came, but she’d hated when the nurses took away her computer in anticipation of a doctor’s visit and then they were late. Take away her one pleasure in anticipation of the doctor telling her she shouldn’t last the week, but somehow she was still alive? Meh.
She was drawn out of her ruminations of the past when they arrived at a lower wall. It was only about eight feet tall, but it was a clear distinction of ‘you are now entering a restricted zone.’ She figured it was mostly so people didn’t wander in by accident. It was nothing compared to the giant wall she could see beyond. She wasn’t sure how tall that one was, maybe thirty or forty feet? Estimating heights wasn’t her forte; all she knew was that it was tall.