Page 35 of The Tribes of Magic (Paragons #3)

QUEST SWITCH

“ G ive me your hand,” I told Conner.

I felt his hand close around mine, and then I teleported us away. I was aiming for just outside the shop, but I overreached. We ended up inside a grove of trees just outside the Magic Emporium train station. And I ended up with a nosebleed.

Conner quickly handed me a handkerchief. He was visible again.

I took the handkerchief, pressing it to my nose. “Thanks.”

“Are you ok?”

“I’m fine.”

“You overextended,” he commented. “That’s why your nose is bleeding.”

“I got that, thanks. But, look, it’s already stopped.” I dabbed the handkerchief to my nose once, then folded it and stuffed it into my pocket.

“This might be a problem.”

“What might be a problem?”

“Getting to where Harlyn is. He’s rather far away.”

“How far away?”

“In the Dark Woods.”

“The Dark Woods?” I frowned. “That’s far away?”

“Indeed. I was hoping you could teleport us there, but I don’t think you’re up for that yet. It’s too big a jump. You need to increase your magic stamina by quite a bit before it’s safe for you to attempt a jump like that.”

“What about you? Can’t you teleport us there?”

“I have many talents, Red, but teleporting across large distances is not one of them. Maybe we could walk there…”

“How long will that take?”

“That depends. Have you learned any speed spells?”

“No. But maybe you could teach me one?”

He looked me up and down, frowning. “Uh, how about we don’t work on completely new spells right now, ok?

Learning new spells is very taxing on your body, and your body looks taxed enough as it is.

The next nosebleed will be much worse, maybe even so bad that even my healing magic won’t be able to stop it.

Even worse, you might get internal bleeding. ”

Internal bleeding. That didn’t sound like fun. And neither did another nosebleed.

“Ok, so we won’t try any new spells right now,” I decided. “How long would it take us to get to this place where Harlyn is, assuming we’re moving at normal human speed?”

Conner considered my question. I could see his mind working, trying to come up with an answer. “Hmm. I guess about eight hours.”

“ Eight hours? That’s nearly a whole work day there and back, and that’s not even taking into account the time we spend talking to him.”

“And getting past the Cursed Ones,” Conner added.

“Cursed Ones?”

“Oh, did I forget to mention Harlyn is hiding out there beyond the Fortress?”

Fantastic.

“How many Cursed Ones do you expect there to be?” I asked.

“Well, it is the Wilderness, so I’m guessing anything between none and a hundred or so.”

I flinched. “I’m guessing this is why you wanted me to come along?”

“You do repel the Cursed Ones nicely. Kind of like a reverse magnet of sorts. But, no, that’s not the only reason I rescued you from Altair’s boring Quest. You’re great fun, Red. At least when you remember to loosen up and let yourself actually have fun.”

“The last time I let myself loosen up and have fun with you, Conner, I caused an avalanche that buried both of us and Kato.”

Speaking of Kato…

“If this is so dangerous, maybe we should ask Kato to come along for backup?” I suggested.

Conner laughed. “Don’t ever let Kato hear you call him ‘backup’. He can’t stand being anything less than the main event.”

That wasn’t quite fair. Kato had let me take the lead on our spell in the Park yesterday.

Conner continued, oblivious to my inner monologue. “Actually, I did try to contact Kato. Unfortunately, he’s tied up being eye candy for the General right now.”

“I can’t believe the Summit is still going on. It’s been days. How could it possibly take them so long to decide whether or not to admit Gaia to the Court? It’s not like the delegates haven’t all already made up their minds.”

“Yes, they probably have,” Conner agreed. “But the Summit is as much about the delegates showing off to one another as it is about voting on Gaia’s admission. It takes a very special kind of supernatural to be on the Court.”

He said special like it was a swear word.

“In any case,” Conner continued. “Kato’s busy. Sorry to disappoint you, Red, but it’s just you and me today.” He gave me one of his usual charming smirks, but I wasn’t fooled. He looked a little stung.

I set my hand on his arm. “I’m never disappointed to be spending time with you, Conner.”

He flashed me a grin bright enough to melt even one of my avalanches.

“I’m just worried, you know,” I said, flushed, “that the two of us might not be able to handle a hundred Cursed Ones.”

“Oh, you can handle a hundred Cursed Ones no problem, Red. Actually, I’m certain you could handle thousands more.”

“Uh, thanks. I think. But I really hope we won’t have to test that statement.”

“Don’t worry so much. The chances of us facing thousands of Cursed Ones are about as high as the General learning how to smile.”

“But there’s still the matter of getting to the Dark Woods. It’s so far away.”

“We could steal one of the Watchers’ SUVs.”

Conner pointed at the big, black vehicle parked outside the coffee shop across the street. How exactly were those Watchers planning on drinking their coffee with their helmets on? Like Knights, they never took them off in public. Maybe they had a drinking straw inside the helmet…

“Everything ok, Red? You zoned out there for a while.”

“I do that when I’m thinking.” Then I added, “For this Quest, we really should keep it stealthy. I think stealing one of the Watchers’ SUVs and being pursued across the whole city is anything but stealthy.”

“Point taken.”

“However, I do have another idea.”

“I’m listening.”

“I think there’s something in the Paragons’ spellbook that can help us.”

“The Paragons’ spellbook? I thought we’d agreed you wouldn’t be trying out any new spells today, Red. You know, so you don’t pass out from all the blood loss.”

“It’s not a new spell I’m thinking of. It’s one I already know.

A lot of the spells in the Paragons’ book have different variations.

Like the teleportation spell I learned from the book.

I was reading the spellbook this morning, actually, trying to figure out a way to travel between realms without a Spirit Tree. ”

Conner looked impressed. “Now that would be a handy spell to know.”

“Yeah, I thought if I could do it, I could use it to search the Many Realms for the missing Apprentices, and I wouldn’t need the General’s permission because I could do it without the Spirit Trees.

” I sighed. “But that realm-hopping spell requires way more magic than I can muster. I need to totally up my endurance before I even attempt it. Still, there was another variation listed in the teleportation section. And it’s kind of like a precursor to doing the inter-realm teleportation spell.

It’s teleporting longer distances in the same realm.

Teleporting to the Dark Woods would be a great way to test out the spell. ”

“We talked about this already,” Conner said. “And we agreed teleporting that far would require too much magic for you to attempt it safely.”

“Yeah, but there are a bunch of tips and tricks in the book, ways to conserve magic. And then, well, I was thinking if the two of us combined our magic, maybe we’d be able to teleport that far.”

He blinked in surprise. “Combine our magic?”

“Right.”

“I didn’t know that was even possible.”

“It’s totally possible. Kato and I did it yesterday.

The combining-magic spell is another bit of magic that I learned from the Paragons’ spellbook.

Hey, I wonder if all six of them ever combined their magic.

The six Paragons, I mean. If they could combine their magic, that would certainly explain how they’d have enough magic to perform some of those really big spells in that book. ”

Conner seemed distracted.

“Conner?”

He shook himself, refocusing. His easy smile returned. “I’m not sure if the six different kinds of magic can mix like that.”

“Why not? The six kinds of magic do mix in me. And in you. And in Kato. So why not in them?”

“Well… I guess you’re right.”

I smiled at him. “Besides, we only need to mix our Dreamweaver magic—yours and mine—for the teleportation spell. So, what do you say, Conner? Shall we give it a go?”

“You don’t even need to ask. You know I’m absolutely up for anything Kato is.”

The two of them could be very competitive.

“And don’t worry about summoning all that magic into a single spell,” he continued. “I’ll be there to make sure you don’t blow up anything.”

I countered his smirk with one of my own. “Actually, Conner, I think it’s a good thing I will be there to make sure you don’t blow up anything.”