Page 33 of The Mage on the Hill
“No such thing.”
“Hmm. It is if you’re reverting to stone griffin gargoyle face.”
Occasionally, Toby uttered sentences that scattered his thoughts so thoroughly, he couldn’t even respond inside his own head. A door slamming distracted him, and he turned to find Zubayr barreling down the gravel path at him, expression unhappy and determined. Darius was certain he was about to get flattened, but Zubayr threw himself against Darius’s chest, arms spanning his ribs in a crushing hug.
“Dar. It’s you. You shocked the heck out of me and youshouldn’tbe here. But you must be in trouble or you wouldn’t have come.” Zubayr lifted his head, eyes swimming with tears. “I can’t just shut the door if you need help.”
“Thank you.” So much more needed to be said, but that was the limit of Darius’s words as tight bands constricted his chest.
Somehow Zubayr made pushing back and leaning around him graceful. “Hello?”
“Hi. Toby Jones. Fugitive unplaceable student.” Toby offered an uncomfortable wave. “My fault he’s resorted to a life of mage crime.”
A familiar tic started under Zubayr’s left eye, his sigh only just audible. “You better both come in. Sounds like I have some catching up to do.”
TOBY SATquietly while Zubayr hurried around the kitchen. He’d declared them both too thin and set out an astounding amount of food. Thinly sliced chicken. Tatziki. Rice balls with some sort of ground meat. Leftover black bean chicken from a Chinese takeout place, which he heated up. Pumpernickel bread and honey. Zubayr plunked an entire apple pie in the center of the table, then after a moment’s consideration, added an orange-glazed pound cake beside it.
“Feeding… armies?” Darius croaked out from where he hunched by the window.
An almost smile twitched at a corner of Zubayr’s mouth, so maybe that was an old joke. “I get visitors sometimes. Pays to be prepared. Like now. Darius, sit down. Please. Make me happy and eat something. You look like a hard breath could blow you away.”
Darius snorted, but he sat and reached for the black bean chicken and the rice balls. Too nervous to eat much, Toby contented himself with bread and honey.
Finally Zubayr plunked a pitcher of iced tea amid the bounty before he settled. “Dar, the last time I saw you, they weren’t sure you’d walk again.”
Darius swallowed whatever he’d been chewing. “Ta-dah?”
“Cute. The doctors weren’t even sure you’d ever be aware of your surroundings again.”
“There was… help. At first.” Darius trailed off and hunched in on himself, staring at the table.
Zubayr’s frown transferred from Darius to Toby. “How long?”
A sensible person’s instinct would’ve been to ask,how long, what?Toby’s mouth apparently wasn’t on speaking terms with his brain that day. “How long have I known him? Not long at all. Not quite two weeks? How long was the guild helping? Dunno, but it sounds like only until Darius was sorta mobile again. How long was he alone? At least a decade? I think?”
A tic had started in Zubayr’s left eye, and Darius began to growl, so Toby decided his best course of action was to stuff a rice ball in his mouth.
“Is this true, Dar? They forbid you teaching, revoked your guild status—that part I was there for. Then abandoned you?”
“I wasfine,” Darius snarled as he stabbed a piece of chicken.
“According to some definitions of fine, I’m sure.” Zubayr heaved a soft sigh. “Dar, I’m not in any way trying to diminish your amazing recovery. I’m angry that the guild withdrew support from someone who needed it.”
“Didn’t need them.”
A slow, crooked smile spread over Zubayr’s face. “Of course you didn’t. Silly of me.”
He cut himself a slice of cake, then offered the knife to Toby. In a move faster than Toby would’ve credited, Darius snatched the knife and placed it out of reach.
“Food first. Then cake.”
Toby rolled his eyes before reaching for another rice ball. “You see how he treats me?”
“Haven’t you seen Darius’s personal coat of arms? It’s a grumpy badger, rampant, with a banner readingI’m Always Right.”
Toby nearly choked on his iced tea, and while Darius growled again, the laugh lines appeared around his eye and his patch.
“The meat of the matter now.” Zubayr glanced between them. “How bad is it, Toby? When were you last in crisis?”
