Chapter 3
1786 Words
3
Chairs were procured and soon we were seated before the fireplace. The fare proved to be simple, but tasty as Paco doled out a plain soup from a pot that hung in the hearth. He poured an extra bowl and held it out to Sage. “If you wouldn’t mind taking this to Signor Abano. I’m sure he’s famished.”
Sage had only taken a few spoonfuls of his own bowl, but he smiled and set his bowl aside to accept the container. “I would be glad to nourish our friend, especially as we will have a long journey tomorrow.”
Paco lifted an eyebrow. “You will not stay any longer?”
Sage eyed him with a curious look. “Should we?”
A bittersweet smile graced Paco’s lips as he turned back to the pot and shrugged. “I suppose not.”
Sage stood and cast a quick look at Bee, who gave him a bright, slightly lopsided smile, before he left our company. I couldn’t help but be wary, and suddenly the plain soup didn’t taste so delicious. At the moment Sage left the house Paco turned back to own with his own bowl which he had been cradling.
His smile was bright and his eyes equally brilliant as he took a seat close to the fire with his back to the warmth. The firelight cast his front in light shadows which the candles around the room didn’t quite dispel. “So what brings you this way on such a horrible night?”
“Sightseeing,” Caius told him as he set his empty bowl down on the floor. “We thought we’d take a look at the borderlands around Feronia.”
Bee’s face was alight with glee as she nodded. “There’s ever so many animals to see around here, and hardly ever a patrol to be found along the border.”
Paco frowned. “How I wish that were still true, but the empire intrudes ever deeper into these lands.”
Bee tilted her head to one side and blinked at him. “Why?”
“The metalus, no doubt,” Caius reminded her as he leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “And maybe your automata?”
Paco laughed and shook his head. “Custado? His only use is as a companion, and he’s hardly fit for that. The machine has no voice, and can hardly lift anything with those spindly arms.”
Caius studied our host with a look of curiosity. “What about the purity of the metalus? That has to interest them.”
Some of Paco’s good humor fled as he nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid you’re on to something there. The metalus min is full of uncommonly good metalus, at least for the shallow depth where the vein is found. I would wager it could produce quite a few bits of machinery, if one were to find out the inner workings of those machines of old.”
“You wouldn’t happen to know about that, would you?” Caius wondered.
Paco laughed and shook his head. “Oh no! I’m a humble scholar. Ask anyone around here whether I could even get a nutcracker working and they would laugh at the idea.”
Bee held out her empty bowl to our host and grinned. “Might I have some more, please?”
Paco grinned and took her bowl. “Gladly, Miss-?” He paused and laughed. “In my eagerness to invite you I forgot to ask your names.”
“Bee,” she told him as he scooped out a generous helping into her bowl.
“A pleasure, Bee,” Paco returned as he handed back her bowl and turned to Caius and me. “And yours?”
I set a hand on my chest before I in turn gestured to my more stoic companion. “I’m Jane and this is Caius.”
Paco bowed his head. “I’m glad to have met you all. Fate must be kind to us.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Why do you say that?”
Paco shook himself and smiled. “Perhaps your coming might stir the townsfolk into doing something about our plight. Those patrols grow ever more intrusive, and I caught a small contingency of the troops around the mouth of the mine only today.” He looked up at his machine friend and grinned. “Custado here interested them until I told him he didn’t have a single weapon on his body. After that they hardly looked at him.”
I noticed a strange look in Caius’ eyes, but he said nothing.
At that moment Sage returned with his clothes as damp as a fish’s scales. Bee grinned up at him. “Have you been swimming?”
Sage shook himself on the threshold and smiled as he strolled over to us. “Not quite. On my way back from the stable I sought to see how the roads were holding up.”
Caius’ gaze settled on the muddied hems of Sage’s pants. The muck reached to just slightly below his knees. “You look like a stampede of horses ran past you.”
Sage gave him a sheepish look as he settled back in his seat. “You should see the roads. Rivers run down the streets and I would venture to guess that the mud is half a foot deep.”
Paco paused in removing the empty pot from over the fire and his eyes flitted over us. “Then you will stay for a few days?”
Sage pursed his lips as he gazed into the fire. “We may have little choice, but we will see what the morrow brings.”
Paco stood with the pot in hand and smiled at us. “Well, until that time comes, I bid you all a very good night. Should you need anything else, please feel free to ask.”
Sage smiled and bowed his head. “Thank you, kind sir. We will.”
Paco placed the pot on the wood stove in the kitchen and slipped into his bedroom. The door was hardly shut behind him before Caius turned to Sage. “Well?”
Sage rummaged around in his cloak and drew out the familiar box. He opened the lid and drew out a long smoking pipe before he pocketed the box. “Well what?”
Caius leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you going to tell us what you were really doing out there?”
Sage lit some weed with assistance from a slender stick from the fire, and puffed a few times before he smiled at my dragon boyfriend. “What makes you believe I had other motives?”
Bee squatted him on the arm. “Behave, dear!”
Sage winced and rubbed his arm before he turned a pained but endearing look at his wife. “Since my secret appears to be less a secret than I thought, I should tell you that I sensed something amiss out there.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “You mean besides Noah’s flood coming to get us?” A look of confused curiosity came from Caius, and I patted him on the arm. “I’ll tell you later.”
Sage puffed out a few rings of smoke and smiled. “Besides that. There was magic afoot, and I sought to discover its source.”
“And?” Caius wondered.
Sage held his hands up to the fire and shook his head. “Unfortunately, I could see nothing in the dark, and the slickness of the streets prevented me from doing anything other than getting dirty.”
I tilted my head to one side. “What kind of magic did you sense?”
He cast a furtive glance at me before he returned his gaze to the crackling fire. “I thought it was darcane.”
I set a hand on my chest and looked down at myself. “You mean like what’s in me now?”
Sage nodded without turned his attention away from the flames. “Yes.”
Caius frowned at my grandfather. “But you can’t sense that it’s in her, can you?”
Sage shook his head. “No, but we may safely assume the power slumbers within her and that quiet makes it more difficult to sense him. However, anyone attuned to the. . .well, the dark side of magic may be able to sense her ‘passenger,’ as it were.”
I furrowed my brow. “I’m sorry. I wish he wasn’t in there.”
Bee set a hand on my shoulder, and I turned to find her giving me a soft smile. “There’s nothing to apologize for, Jane. We are very proud that you were chosen to be the vessel for such a polite young man.”
Sage snorted and a puff of smoke escaped his nostrils. “Yes, well, the matter is done. We must make lemonade out of these lemons.”
A dark cloud settled on Caius’ brow. “And how do we do that? With magic?”
Sage’s eyes twinkled as he looked me over. “We might stick you in a barrel and cover you in dirt.”
I blinked at him. “Why?”
“The purity in the soil tends to neutralize darcane,” Sage explained as he used a hand to gesture to Caius. “And your dragon companion can carry you around-”
Caius rose and tossed his bowl onto his seat. “I’ll be outside.” I made to stand, but he shook his head. “You stay in here.” He didn’t wait for a reply, but swiftly exited the house.
“Poor young man,” Bee sighed before she took another sip of her soup. “It must be so frustrating no longer having the power to protect the one he loves.”
I lifted an eyebrow at her. “What do you mean?”
Sage set aside his food and sighed. “What your grandmother is trying to say is without the curse Caius once carried, he is less able to protect you. The curse not only granted him magical powers, but a stronger ability to sense them. Now he has neither.”
My heart fell and I lifted my eyes to where he’d gone. I stood and hurried after him, with Bee’s insightful words following behind me.
“Such a good soup. I think I even taste capesso in here. Maybe that young man will give me some.”
An exasperated sigh came from my grandfather. “The gods forbid. . .”
- Writer
