Page 16 of The Mage on the Hill
In such a small space, those words shouldn’t have echoed, but in the silence that followed, they reverberated endlessly. Toby wanted to ask what he meant, because it was Darius and there had to be more to it, but the anguished roar had frozen him in place. He could only watch in helpless ineptitude as Arden gathered Darius into his arms, helped him stand, and led him away.
He hadn’t moved, pack still on his shoulder, rooted to the kitchen tiles, when Arden returned.
“I hope you don’t take that at face value.” Arden flicked the stove off as the kettle began to whistle and poured the steaming water. “There’s no need to be frightened. Of him.”
“I’m not.” Toby cringed at the note of childish defiance. “Where is he?”
“Back in the guestroom, resting. He’s not well.”
“No shit.”Dammit, where did all this rude come from?
Arden handed him a mug of tea and pointed to the table, the gesture too much like a Darius direction to ease the lump in Toby’s throat. It got his feet moving, though. He settled uneasily with his backpack in his lap and the mug clutched in a death grip.
“Park the attitude, magpie. I’m not the enemy.” Arden took the opposite chair, long legs stretched out under the table. “When did you last do a web?”
“What?” Toby jerked when a foot tapped his leg.
“Web. I know at least that much about how Dar teaches. The web exercises were an early innovation.”
“Oh.” Resenting someone for knowing Darius longer was stupid, and where the hell wasthatcoming from? “Last night before dinner.”
Arden gave one definite nod and rose, all limbs and sharp movements. Scrap paper from a heaping pile in one drawer and pens in various colors from another joined the mugs on the table. “Draw three webs—any symbols or illustrations you like—while I make lunch. Looks like you need food as much as you do channeling.”
The tone was irritable and weary, further setting Toby on edge. But he didn’t feel like he had any room to argue as a guest in a stranger’s house. He wanted to go check on Darius, wondering if maybe he shouldn’t have been alone. Instead, he pulled a piece of paper toward him and started drawing.
Chapter Six
“WERE YOUhis student?” Toby took a bite of the veggie burger Arden had made for him, piled high with spinach greens, tomato, and onion.Mmmmm. I could eat twelve of these. With a jolt, he realized he’d recovered his appetite living with Darius, then jolted again when Arden laughed. He’d forgotten he’d asked a question.
“Me? No, but thank you for thinking I’m that young.” The smile transformed Arden’s face, making him immediately more accessible, less forbidding. “I worked as a teacher at the Montchanin Guild when Dar started taking unplaceable students, so we were sometimes colleagues even if he was still at the university.”
“Were you, um….” There wasn’t any polite way to ask it.
Arden jerked forward to take a bite of lunch, like a water bird striking, though his eyes still crinkled in amusement. “No, not that either. Friends, yes. Co-conspirators. Dar was young, fit, and very much not wanting a relationship. Sex, yes, indiscriminate of gender. Anything lasting, no.”
“And you wanted something more?”
Arden tipped his head to one side, then the other. “Back then I did. Oh, I had a terrible crush on him. When we became friends, it faded.”
“Because you didn’t want to lose him as a friend?”
“Ha. That too. Mostly because his ego was bigger than a container ship.”
Memories of that one photo of Darius still online surfaced, of the transcript he’d let Toby read. Yes, the self-assurance, the confidence could’ve been cocky, maybe even arrogant. It sure wasn’t Darius now.
“Co-conspirators?”
The sound Arden made was somewhere between a snort and a sneeze. “We were both young. Going to change the world, our hearts full of revolution and our heads full of big ideas. The old guildmasters wouldn’t know what hit them, and we’d make the world better forallof mage kind, not just the acceptable ones.”
“What happened?”
“Well, we failed.” Arden took another peck-bite. “Obviously.”
“No, I mean…. Sorry. I guess Darius’s not-talking’s been rubbing off.” Toby dissected an onion ring, wondering if his actual question would be too intrusive. Curiosity won out over manners. “You both wanted to change things. He wanted to change how unplaceables were treated. I read the lecture. But he wasn’t exiled until, um, the Pittsburgh thing. Did you…?”
Arden’s smile turned into something uncomfortable. Bitter, maybe. “Oh, no. My transgression was much worse. I dared to research.”
“Okay, that makes no sense. I mean, it’s not like we’re living during the Inquisition. What were you researching? Did you build a time machine or something?” Toby stopped dissecting his onion ring. “Sorry. I get like this. It’s your business. Tell me to shut up if I ask, you know, a question too far.”
