boy and the girl sat together in the shade of the canopy at the rear of the aircraft. Lariana rose immediately and went to him, and he directed her down off the vessel to help the old man unload the supplies from the cart.
Reyn started to rise to help her, but the sorcerer reached out quickly and held him back. “Not yet, Reyn. You need to rest a bit longer, recover a little more of your strength. Lariana can manage the supplies.”
The boy leaned back again, glancing past him momentarily to where Lariana was disappearing down the ladder. “I’m well enough already.”
“She’s quite remarkable, isn’t she?” the other asked, arching one eyebrow. “Did you have a nice talk?”
“She says she is your assistant. Is that so?”
The sorcerer nodded. “She applied for the job, even though I wasn’t offering it to her. She is quite persuasive. I agreed to take her on because I like her determination and confidence. How did she do with caring for your injuries?”
“She did well.”
“Did she tell you who I am?”
“Arcannen. You’re a sorcerer.”
“I am a practitioner of magic. Which is why I wish to speak with you. It’s very important that I do. I thought I made it clear that you should remain at the tavern until I returned. Apparently, you lost faith in me.”
Reyn shook his head. “A pair of Druids came to find me. Gammon told them I had already left, but he thought I should get away before they could find out the truth. So I tried to sneak out the back door, but they were waiting. One of them attacked me. What was I supposed to do? I ran; I tried to get away from them. But the Fortrens found me.” He paused. “Why did you set them on fire?”
Arcannen gave him a look. “I warned them to leave you alone.” He shrugged. “They were trash, anyway. And trash should be burned.”
Reyn almost said something critical in response, but decided against it. He didn’t know Arcannen well enough to question him too closely, and he couldn’t ignore the fact that the man had saved his life. How he had managed it wasn’t something Reyn cared to question too closely.
“Did you tell Lariana about yourself?” the sorcerer asked.
“We talked about a lot of things.”
“Why don’t you tell me a little of what you told her? When did you first find out about your magic? About what your singing could do? Tell me that, and I’ll tell you what you don’t know about both.”
So Reyn told him of his past, relating pretty much the same details he had revealed to Lariana. He wanted to discover what Arcannen knew about his magic, thinking that this might be his one chance to learn something useful about its origins. He took his time, pausing now and then to see if the other had questions. But the sorcerer said nothing, letting him do the talking.
“Have you tried using this magic in other ways?” he asked when Reyn finished. “Besides singing? Have you attempted to do other things with it? Experimented with it?”
Reyn was confused. “No. What sorts of other things?”
The sorcerer ignored him. “Has anyone ever instructed you on how to use your magic? Have you been taught by anyone?”
“Is that what you want to do? Teach me to use my magic? Is that why you’ve been after me?”
Arcannen looked at him as if he were an idiot. “I would be interested in teaching you to use magic, yes. But I am much more interested in finding a way to help you stay alive. Or did you miss that part?”
Reyn flushed. “I know what you did for me. I’m just trying to understand what’s happening.”
“All right.” Arcannen gave him long look. “Let me keep my part of the bargain and tell you what I know about your magic. Then you can decide for yourself what you want to do about it. But first we need to leave this airfield. I’ve been here too long already.”
He signaled to Lariana, who was just finishing up with loading their supplies, and she moved immediately to begin the process of attaching the radian draws and raising the light sheaths. Because the Sprint was small, the work went quickly, and within short minutes they were lifting off, turning east from Sterne. Arcannen was at the helm with Lariana left sitting aft with Reyn. Sprints were small; the three of them pretty much filled up the cockpit.
Reyn, left to his own devices for