Duvessa was the first of the three girls to crawl out of the two person tent. The shadow sparrow from the mountain top was waiting for her.

"You will all be glad to know that there are indeed a number of people at the ruin, and they are digging in the rubble," Duvessa announced. "We don't need to worry about that."

"They must've gone up last night," Owen said, stretching out a crick in his neck and poking at his shoulder where Mau had healed it. "Good we didn't stay at the guardhouse then."

Duvessa heaved a big sigh. "You're right."

"Did your capybara come back?" Owen asked.

"Nope. No idea where it is either." Duvessa waved a hand dismissively. "I'm hungry. What do we have to eat?"

"Magic berries?" Blaise said, smirking.

"Please, no," Seth said. He was still in pain, but it was much more manageable. He physically felt okayish if a bit queasy still, but he was certain any attempt to use his power would make him hurl again, so he didn't try.

"Nobody else had the reaction you did," Booth said. "You got an allergy, you think?"

"I'm not allergic to anything else that I know of," Seth said. "I've never had something like this happen before. It didn't hurt until I tried to use magic after eating the berry."

"I bet it has something to do with you having a familiar then. A familiar is some kind of soul link or something, right? The power in the berry might be doing something to that."

"Nope!" Duvessa said. "Reginald the Second is my familiar. I had more berries than Seth and I'm perfectly fine."

"Reginald is a shadow summon though," Booth argued. "Not a real familiar."

Duvessa gasped and whirled on Booth. "Reginald is absolutely a real familiar. You take that back! You'll hurt his feelings."

They took their time getting camp broken down to give Seth more time to recover. Mau crawled into Seth's almost empty knapsack and went to sleep, not waking even when he put it on. It was late morning before they set out and Seth was both grateful and embarrassed that everyone walked slow for him, especially considering they stayed off the paths. He was feeling more normal by the time they started passing farms in the afternoon.

"Should we be worried about people seeing us walking down the mountain?" Booth asked.

"Oh! Yes! People talk. Are we going to get in trouble anyway? Should we report this after all?" Duvessa said.

"It's late enough we can tell people that we went up this morning," Seth said. "We should talk to someone though so they get the right idea."

The farm they were passing had a large pen full of fat orange chickens. A woman was working in the garden so Seth and Owen walked over and greeted her.

"You kids coming from up top?" she asked.

"Yeah. We're mage students and were up there this morning." Seth told her.

She nodded. "Been a busy day for the mountain. There's been people trotting around all day. You know what happened up there?"

"The building there collapsed," Seth told her.

"What would cause that?" she asked, surprised. "Did something happen up there?"

"We don't know," Seth said.

Owen was blushing hard and Seth thought Owen might tell her everything. Grasping for the first thing to come to mind Seth blurted out, "You have a lot of the same chickens that were up at the peak."

"These beauties?" The woman smiled proudly. "Best layers and fattest birds both. There was a guard that came by every month or so and would buy some to take up with him. He really liked my birds."

Seth was surprised by that. A guard was buying chickens? There were different breeds up there, so he was stopping at different farms. Was he feeding the wyvern on purpose?

"When was the last time he came by?" Seth asked. "I wonder if he knew about the structure being unsound."

"Oh, I haven't seen Gavin in nearly a year. Pity too, he was such a sweet young man and the other guards that head up just aren't interested in buying my chickens."

Seth's stomach clenched and he suddenly felt just as sick as he had yesterday. "Gavin? Was he a palace guard? A small scar in his beard just here?" Seth pointed to a place beside his chin.

"Why yes, he did. And he had the red sash and trim on his uniform. Do you know him?"

"I- yes. I did. He passed away last winter."

The woman's face fell. "I'm sorry to hear that. Ah! Where are my manners? Can I offer you something to drink?"

"No thank you, ma'am," Seth said. "We need to get going and have a report to make ourselves. If I could ask you to direct us to the road?"

They got directions to the main road and then promptly ignored them once they were out of sight. Seth followed blindly until he needed to stop. He leaned against a tree and tried to process what he'd just learned. The only clear thought he had was that he needed to talk to Saben.

Owen stopped next to Seth. "Who is Gavin, Seth?" he asked.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"He was a friend of my dad's. He died the same day my dad did." Seth closed his eyes and slid down the trunk to sit at the tree's base.

"I'm sorry," Blaise said, the sentiment echoed by the others.

"But why–" Owen began before being shushed by Blaise. "No, this is important. This guy was a palace guard and was buying chickens to feed the wyvern. If he was your dad's friend…"

"He killed my dad."

Seth had been at the manor the day it had happened. Gavin had betrayed Seth's father and murdered both him and the lady they were meeting with that day. If Seth had been inside the room at the time instead of the hallway, he'd probably be dead too. As it was, the resulting fire nearly killed him. He was lucky Benjamin had found him.

And that asshole had been feeding a wyvern. Helping it grow. If that wyvern had gotten big enough, it could have evolved into a dragon. A dragon that could have devoured most of the city and utterly destroyed it.

The loss of his dad had upended Seth's life. Dealing with the loss of his only remaining parent was painful enough for anyone. Then on top of that everything he had expected and wanted for his future had been taken away too.

Seth had hoped to never hear about his father's murderer ever again. To now learn that he had other plans he was working on, that other people were in danger from this asshole, was disturbing and raised all the feelings of helplessness and insecurity he'd felt in the days following his dad's death.

What else had Gavin done? What other plans were in progress that would harm innocent people? The bastard was dead and yet he could still reach out and steal Seth's peace and safety.

He had to tell Saben. Seth wasn't sure he should put this kind of information in a letter, but Saben needed to know what Gavin had been doing. This was probably related to what Saben was worried about.

Booth was the first to speak. "The wyvern's dead. The well was already broken. The guy feeding the wyvern is also dead, so it probably would have died soon anyway."

"Seth," Blaise asked softly, "did you know about the berry bush? Or the wyvern?"

Seth opened his eyes and looked at her. "No."

"How could you ask that, Blaise?" Owen demanded.

Blaise shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's just that coming here was Seth's idea. And he found the entrance. There wasn't much ambient mana here, but those berries, and well…" Blaise spread her hands and shrugged.

"I had no idea the asshole that killed my dad was also raising a wyvern to kill the city," Seth said flatly.

Blaise stepped back. "You're right, I'm sorry Seth. I didn't think it through."

"We killed the wyvern. Coming here was the right thing anyway," Owen said. "It was a good idea, and a good thing to try."

"We're in the same spot as before," Booth said. "Blaise hasn't got a power."

"Not quite," Selendrith said. "The mana berries are new. We can take them to the Circle Tower and have them studied. They might be able to be used in a potion or something to cure Blaise."

"We can't tell anyone about the berries without also telling them where we got them," Blaise pointed out.

"We could have purchased them," Selendrith said. "They're obviously magic, so it would be reasonable to buy them."

"And if the authorities find the mana bush in the wyvern's lair they will know where they came from," Blaise answered.

"Then we wait. We let this cool for a couple days," Booth said. "I'll see if I know anyone that we might be able to use as a cover. I bet some berries show up in town somewhere anyway."

"Yes! I want more berries too. I'll have to tell my grandmother about them," Duvessa said.

"I gotta be careful in town for a bit," Booth added.

"Those Skull jerks! I can send sparrows to watch them for you," Duvessa said. "I can let you know where they are and what they're up to."

"I can probably have the Tower do tests after eating another berry," Blaise said. "They'll figure out if and how it's working, and if I just need more berries. We still have plenty."

"The charging ritual is still an option, too," Selendrith said. It was what they'd gone up there to do in the first place. "It's just a much slower process with lower ambient mana."

"Oh! Can you take the mana in the berries and use that in the ritual to give power to Blaise?" Duvessa asked.

"Not directly. There is a transference ritual that can be done that transfers power from object to object. That one is pretty tricky, and I can't do it. The one I can do is a gathering ritual I use for filling mana vaults," Selendrith said.

Seth stood up. "Let's get back. I'm going to bed, getting clean, and eating. Maybe not in that order."

"Oh!" Duvessa cried. "A heated bath! I forgot I wanted one. We should hurry."

----------------------------------------

Two men sat in what had once been an upstairs parlor in a run down mansion. Now it was used for drinking and cards. One looked like a pirate, with long blond hair, a loose white shirt, and black bandana. His guest looked like a plain and typical man of business.

The pirate poured from a brown bottle into two mugs. "The boss says you've got something from his 'benefactor'?" He enunciated the word like he didn't know what it meant.

"I do. I think you'll find this very useful," the guest said. "It just arrived this morning, and I'm sure you won't be disappointed. I've done some initial tests and it works perfectly." He pulled an ornate wooden box out of a metal crate. He brushed a few stray pieces of the straw packing material off and placed the box on the table. "Go ahead, open it."

The pirate gazed suspiciously at the box and then the other man. He abruptly leaned forward and tossed the box open. Inside was a sinister looking, lacquered cup. It could have been called a bowl, but it was small, and sat on a short and stubby stem, like a wine glass for a toddler.

"How does it work?"

"The trickiest part is targeting the magic you want to capture. It works quite differently to the other options we've talked about. For one, it will not work at all on structured magic. However, you do not need the source of the power to be nearby when capturing it. Shall we step outside for a moment and I'll demonstrate?"

"It'll work on those?"

"I guarantee it."

The guest picked up the cup and stepped out onto the balcony.

"Hold the cup so you can see your target between these two points, and then activate it like this," he instructed and handed over the cup. "Give it a try."

The blond man in the bandana looked around and spotted a black bird nearby. He held up the cup and activated it. The shadow disintegrated instantly. Within the cup a teaspoon of shadow stuff pooled in the bottom. "That was easy."

"Indeed. It's a simple but powerful tool."

"How many of these are out there?" the pirate asked.

"This is the first. No one else has this."

The pirate hummed skeptically. "Then I drink this?" The stuff looked like inky sludge.

"Yes. Or you can continue to collect them. As near as I can tell, the cup can hold power for a long time and will deny the original caster access to the power for as long as it is being held."

"How long do I have the power for?"

"If you use it? It depends on the power. Instant effects, which is most magic, are used up instantly. However, this particular power is summon based. You will maintain control as long as the summoned creature has not been slain. At that point it returns to the original owner. If you call the summoned creature back, you can use the summon again."

"Can I change the creature summoned?"

"Yes. You can make it anything you want. And do anything you want with it."

"How much can these shadows do, then?" The pirate was grinning.

"I think you'll have a lot of fun finding out."