Page 52 of The Mage on the Hill
John’s startled expression lasted half a heartbeat. “This isn’t the time to be facetious. How did you get in here? Who’s that with you?”
“Elias Butler, sir.” Elias came forward and extended a hand that John shook in an automatic response. “Formerly Allegheny guild. Minor Arcana abomination.”
“I’ve heard of you.” John snatched his hand back.
“As to your second question—Darius asked Toby to let him in. You do know Toby’s doing all this, right?”
“Yes.” John subsided onto his chair and waved a hand toward the bed where Toby lay, pale and still. “This shouldn’t be possible. He’s sedated so completely, we could perform surgery.”
“And still….” Darius limped to the bed and perched on the edge where he could hold Toby’s hand. “He failed… your test.”
“In frightening fashion, yes.” John rubbed his hands together to spark a light ball and floated it over to the bed. “He showed no sign of channeling and was going into wild magic overload with terrible speed. We had to sedate him to save everyone in the building. His parents are here.” He ran both hands back through his hair. “Don’t look at me like that, Darius. We can only deal in the possible, not the patentlyimpossible.”
“Or you can dismiss things that you thought were impossible when they’re right in front of you,” Elias muttered.
Darius stroked the strands of white back before he leaned in to kiss Toby’s forehead. “And yet… here we are.” He hated how cold Toby was, hated the whole situation, though anger wasn’t going to get them anywhere. Besides, he had been thinking about the situation since the night before. “Paper?”
John shot him an incredulous look, but Elias hunted until he found a notepad and pen in a drawer. For a moment, Darius considered the paper. Old Darius would’ve gone in with all the righteous rage of an avenging angel, spouting consequences, making threats. Present Darius was coming to the conclusion that Old Darius had been about as subtle as a knife in the ear.
I wish you would have listened, John. We could have prevented all of this. Toby’s inexperienced and wielding such enormous power that it easily overwhelms him still. He needs guidance to channel. Calm assistance rather than pressure to perform.
Regardless, this is where we find ourselves and this is what I propose:
First, Toby comes with me. This is nonnegotiable since I’m certain it’s the only way we all get out of here alive.
Second, Toby stays with me. He needs a teacher who understands him. He’s bright. He’s motivated. He’s intellectually flexible. I’m confident he’ll be safely in control within a few weeks.
Third, I’m not asking for reinstatement. We’ve gone too far to go back if we’re both honest. My return to the guild would be one episode of resentment after another. I have Toby. I have my house. I propose that when I return there, you leave us in peace. You relinquish all control over Toby, his education, and my mage craft.
We stay out of your way. You stay out of ours. Nothing more complicated than that.
Squinting even with all the mage light, John had to fish his glasses out of his suit jacket before he could read Darius’s list of demands. He frowned and set the pad down, not offering any immediate commentary as he stared at the vine-obscured window.
While he pondered, Elias seized the moment to read the note, eyebrows creeping up his forehead with every line. He looked about to say something, but Darius shook his head.Not yet. Tell me later.
John finally broke his silence. “What would you propose to do about the child’s parents?”
“Up to…. Toby.Nota child. They can visit. If he… wants.” Darius took a deep breath. So many words today. “Visit. Not… interfere.”
With a twitch of his fingers, he asked for the pad back.I know this is hard, to give up control like this. But it’s not as if exiled mages haven’t lived outside the guild system all these years. Toby will simply join our ranks. He won’t be a wild mage alone, though. So please don’t look at it as leaving a dangerous loose cannon out in the world. He’ll have support. Training.
“I admit I had doubts about your recovery.” John tapped the notepad against the windowsill. “But it’s obvious that your communication issues arenotdue to intellectual impairment. So be it. I agree to your terms, but only because it appears to be our only choice. If you’re unsuccessful in freeing us from this trap, more drastic measures will need to be taken.”
More drastic measurescouldn’t have been any clearer. If they couldn’t walk out as Darius hoped, they would kill Toby and hope his death would free them. They’d call it a kindness. Euthanasia. For Darius, it would be murder. He tamped down on his boiling rage so he could manage a civil nod.
After a flurry of activity that included handwringing from Toby’s parents, who didn’t look favorably at either Darius or Elias, and consulting with several doctors, a nurse-phlebotomist came to remove Toby’s IV’s, both the fluids and the sedation.
“It’s going to take a few hours for him to wake up,” she instructed in a tone both stern and kind. “And you’ll have to watch him carefully for at least four hours after. He’s going to be a little loopy and prone to falls. Lots of fluids and I’d wait until at least six tonight before you try food.”
Finally, Toby was wrapped in blankets and lifted onto a gurney. That wouldn’t work to get them out of the building, Darius was nearly certain, but he didn’t think his knee would manage all the stairs with even a Toby-weight burden. Instead, two orderlies rolled the gurney down the hall to manhandle it down the steps while staff, parents, and everyone else evacuated the second floor.
Toby had been the only patient, which really shouldn’t have been a surprise.
At the door, Darius stopped them. “Has to be… me.”
“You have to carry him out?” Elias guessed correctly. “Yeah, I can see the sense there. You sure you can?”
Darius answered with a glare. Yes, he’d carried Toby up the stairs at the house. No, his knee hadn’t been screaming at him that day. He didn’t need to go far, though. For Toby, he could manage this one thing without screwing it up.
