Late the next morning, Salman’s walls finally came into view after only a few hours of marching. They’d made much better time as everyone, even the yugruts, had extra energy in their step this close to home. It still took hours, once they reached the larger walls, for the entire expedition to process their way through the opening and closing of the outer and inner gates. With Team Tribal’s diminished popularity, someone had assigned them to the rear section of the expedition, where they waited impatiently amidst settling road dust for their turn to enter.
When they finally marched through the outer gates, Pax felt excitement and worry twist together at what they would find inside the capital. It seemed to take forever before the heavy doors shut behind them, and the noises of the inner ones cracking open echoed off the stone walls of the dark corridor. When the roar of an excited crowd burst into the tunnel through the gap, Pax exchanged a surprised glance with Amil and Rin.
“What are they so excited about?” Dahni asked, having to raise his voice to be heard. “Don’t they know there’s a war going on?”
“They obviously recognize we’re conquering heroes who’ve cleared out hordes of beasts.” Amil had a big grin on his face as he stretched up on his tiptoes to see over the others ahead of them. “They’re just giving us the attention we deserve.”
Rin snorted and shook her head, but looked just as interested to see what was awaiting them on the other side of the inner gate.
When they stepped out into the entry courtyard, it seemed Amil had been more correct than Dahni. Instead of the grim busyness of a city preparing for war, they found a raucous celebration.
It looked like everyone had taken the day off work to join in the festivities. Colors flashed as children threw strips of bright cloth and yarn their way. The normally mucky cobblestones looked cheerful with the remains of the streamers that had greeted the earlier groups.
Vendors hawked their wares, and the succulent aroma of roasted meat, baked goods and sweets made Pax’s mouth water. He saw bodies spilling in and out of taverns. People filled the outdoor tables despite the chill in the air.
“Maybe they’re just excited to have us back with all our beast cores and loot,” Bryn said, running a bewildered look over the scene. “Hardly anyone seems to be concerned about the war.”
Pax nodded, feeling as surprised as Bryn.
Except for the Inquisitors, Rin sent over their Echoes. Don’t stare, but check out how many of them there are. And not everyone is ignoring reality.
Pax was careful to not let his expression change, but looked for the distinctive black and white uniforms. Sure enough, mixed in amongst the revelers, were more of the enforcers than he expected.
Pax realized why he hadn’t noticed them earlier. They mingled much better than normal. Instead of their usual stiff vigilance, most of them had relaxed, fitting in with the crowd in a way that didn’t stand out. They sat eating at tables, chatted animatedly with citizens and even sent out the occasional cheer toward the incoming troops.
That’s the sign that not everyone is ignoring the war.
Tasar’s words sent a chill down Pax’s back, and he had to work to keep his cheerful smile in place.
They’re trying not to arouse suspicion so they can uncover the rebels. Tasar sounded matter-of-fact. There are likely more not wearing their uniforms.
Pax also noticed others in the crowd working hard to hide their nerves. Some smiles were a bit too wide, while some had shoulders tensed and shifted their glances too quickly around the bustle. Pax swallowed hard and got his own feelings under control before sending to his friends. This is just a different kind of battle. Time to get to work. Remember, we love the empire and hate the despicable rebels.
He was proud of how they grinned and waved back at the crowd, basking in the admiration as if they didn’t have a single worry bothering them. Hopefully, any hidden watchers bought the act.
The better part of the next two hours passed as they made their way through the crowded streets back to the Academy. Along the way, happy citizens pressed food and treats on them with lots of thanks for their service in protecting the city.
Pax forced himself to relax into the celebration and enjoy the delicious snacks. When he was pleasantly stuffed, he filled his snack box for later. After the grueling march of the last week, the few miles to the academy weren’t difficult at all. Still, he heard plenty of excited cries and groans of relief when the familiar spires came into sight.
Many of the army had peeled off to their own destinations by that time, leaving the students to separate toward their various academies. The mage courtyard was full of a busy chaos, even worse than that first day when all the new initiates had arrived.
It took repeated bellowing of announcements to get the news to everyone that they had the rest of the day off to get themselves in shape for an assembly with instructions first thing in the morning. Tired students scattered, heading to their dorms or the dining hall.
Pax and his friends made a beeline to get food and beast meat before it got busy. After getting what they needed, they used the growing crowds to slip discreetly into the underground passages and made their way to their training cave. Pax felt the initial excitement of making it back home fade as they silently trooped through the tunnels, each deep in their own thoughts.
By the time they navigated their various protections that kept their cave hidden and stepped through the door, he wanted nothing more than to collapse onto a surface, any surface, and go to sleep.
“Home, sweet home,” Dahni said as he sagged back onto one of the benches lining the wall next to their smoothed training area. Neptid leaned up against his leg and gave him an insistent nudge. “Fine,” Dahni said with a laugh. “I’ve got your meal right here.”
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The other pets followed Neptid’s example, insisting on more food now that they were safe. Even Whisk, who had been excitedly exploring the cave, came rolling back as soon as Pax pulled out the food.
Happy pet noises filled the cave as the crew sat wearily down around their well-worn table.
“Um, I don’t know about you all, but I am not up for any training tonight,” Amil said with a big yawn. “Maybe we should have all just headed back to our dorms for some sleep instead of down here.”
Tyrodon was already nodding agreement, his eyes blinking slowly as if trying to stay awake.
Pax sucked in a long breath to clear out the cobwebs. “I just wanted us to have a private place to discuss plans we couldn’t talk about in front of the rest of the team.”
“Yeah, about that.” Rin looked thoughtful. “At some point, we want to help them unlock their minor elements, so they can slot in spells and level them before we need to head into battle again. But that many people with elements they shouldn’t have—?”
“Someone’s going to slip up,” Pax finished with a grim nod. “I still have to check in with Incedis, but I’m guessing he’s going to say we need to wait until we leave the capital for good.”
The others nodded, looking more contemplative now than tired.
“That just leaves you helping the rest of us get the taming skill, which we need baby beasts to do.” Dahni tipped a hand at the empty cave. “Turgan’s got to have brought a nice haul back we can work with, right?”
“I’ll go first thing in the morning and choose my new companion,” Tasar said with a determined nod, his gaze flicking over to Onyx before looking back at Pax. “Perhaps he has another stonepaw. They are good warrior companions, and it will make it easier to duplicate Bryn’s taming, correct?” Tasar held Pax’s gaze, making it obvious he expected the same success as Bryn.
“I hadn’t thought of using the same beast type, but you’re right,” Pax said. “It should increase the chances of a successful taming. Are you sure you want to limit your choice like that, though?”
Bryn bristled at the implied criticism of Onyx.
Pax hurried to reassure her. “Not that a stonepaw isn’t an excellent choice for a warrior, but you could choose something to give you more diverse abilities instead of a duplicate set.”
Tasar raised his eyebrows. “Bryn and I have the same job. Duplicate abilities would reinforce each other.” He sniffed. “Then we can keep the rest of you alive so you can be diverse.”
That startled a laugh out of everyone else. Tasar let one edge of his mouth turn up before he settled back into the chair, obviously considering the matter settled.
“Alright.” Pax nodded at him. “We’ve got the assembly in the morning, but we’ll squeeze your taming attempt in sometime tomorrow or the next day.”
Tasar didn’t look pleased by the possible delay, but didn’t say anything.
“That leaves the big topic we couldn’t discuss in front of the others.” Pax’s gaze moved over his mage friends before finishing. “Your secondary elements and how we’re going to unlock them.”
There was a beat of silence before a huge grin spread across Amil’s face. “You mean. I’m finally going to get lightning?” He didn’t wait for an answer and jumped up from his chair to pump his fist into the air with an excited yell.
“Hold on,” Pax said with a laugh as he waved for Amil to sit back down. “All I know is that my manual says I need to get my elemental paths up to level 2 before I can help you. But there have to be things you can do to help things along. I guess it would have been too easy for it to unlock on its own once you got your minor elements. I thought there might have also been a chance it would appear once you had a spell in both of your elements, but no go there either, right?” He stopped to look at his friends.
“Like we wouldn’t have told you,” Rin said with a scoff. “And how long do you think Amil could keep quiet about finally getting lightning.”
“Well, you don’t have paths to advance like me, so I need to buckle down and move mine along, plus see if I can find any more clues in my light manual. But I’m not confident there will be more than hints. It’s a beginner manual mostly focused on how I can learn the basics for myself. When it mentions working with other people’s magic, it’s usually just to list all the dangers and forbid it without permission and close supervision.” Pax shrugged. “I guess the writers never envisioned a beginning light mage being all alone in the world.”
“What about Fenix?” Amil didn’t look happy about any obstacles to his new element.
“That’s my next step. We’ve got to take Solanis 2-nine down to meet him and convince him to come with us when we leave. But we don’t know how he’s going to react to that, so I’d rather ask about unlocking secondary elements before we anger him.”
“You can’t just take some of your lightning and push it into me?” Amil looked hopeful.
Pax was already shaking his head. “I was an idiot to mess with your mana in the first place without knowing what I was doing. I can still try, but maybe we explore other, safer methods first.”
“It can’t be that hard. I trust you. We can even have Neptid buff us for health and mana as a safety net.”
“And if I burn your magic out by accident?” Pax asked. “Turn you back into a regular Amil, with no magic?”
Amil finally balked, flinching back at the thought. He looked thoughtful before he shook his head. “We’re at war, and we need to take risks. I say we do both. You do your research stuff, but also take small steps to introduce the new mana to my system. Use the tiniest bit of mana you can and see how I respond. You’re not going to burn out my mana all at once, especially if you’re ready to collapse the entire experiment at a moment’s notice, right?”
Pax had to give him a reluctant nod, because Amil was right. Time was not on their side and he’d learned a lot more about what happened on the inside of a mage than when he’d first started this journey.
“Our mana’s full right now, so let’s make the first step, just a tiny one. Show us the lightning and then let me feel it.” Amil had dropped his excited and pushy persona and let his strategic one out.
Pax looked at the others for their thoughts.
After a moment, Dahni shrugged. “We’ve got me and Neptid, plus your own Heal Others spells. That’s not counting the healing potions we’ve got as another back-up. We should easily be able to handle any injuries, especially if you’re using a small bit of mana. You’ve got the best control of all of us. If anyone can move a tiny amount of lightning around, it’s you.”
“He is a fighting mage, and the war is here,” Bryn said. “We all have to take risks to get stronger if we want to survive this.”
The others were nodding along, despite a few worried looks.
“Then charge me up, Pax.” Amil’s eager look was back as he reached a hand across the table.
Pax shifted back, already shaking his head. “We need to at least go about this with some kind of plan. Let me tell you some of what I’ve been thinking and the rest of you chime in with your ideas. Then we’ll rank them by what we think has the best chance of working. We’ve always done the best work when all of us contribute our various skills to solve a problem.”
Rin gave a tired sigh, but nodded and pulled out notetaking supplies. “Fine, but I’m limiting us to half an hour of brainstorming and then, depending on how wiped out we are, we can try one”—she turned and held up a finger at Amil—“one of the methods if we still have the energy. Agreed?”
He nodded happily before leaning forward to point at her notebook. “Push a little bit of lightning into me. That’s my first suggestion. Write it down.”
“I’m tempted to just go with your suggestion.” She shook her head and scoffed. “Having you jerk and twitch after getting a hefty shock might just teach you a lesson.”
Amil suddenly looked a little hesitant, his gaze moving from Rin to Pax. “I’m talking about a small, controlled amount of lightning. That should be fine, right?”
Pax gave him a shrug and kept a straight face as he said, “Lightning is lightning.”