“When I have an outworlder's captive attention?” Clive asked. “There's no way I'd pass that up. As you said, we can have a nice, long meeting on the way. I have so many questions.”

“I did say that, didn’t I? Alright, Clive. Ask away.”

* * *

They arrived at the first village, where there were signs of the monster attacking. The villagers had reacted quickly, barricading themselves in their homes. There were marks of the monster trying to break in, but it failed to breach the thick, mud-brick walls. The villagers told them that they had been attacked every day while they waited for their messengers to reach Greenstone.

Jason told them to keep themselves locked away while they checked on the other villages. He and Clive got back in their airboat and took off again. As they travelled, Clive continued his interrogation of Jason.

“You killed Landemere Vane?”

“And his mum,” Jason said. “Did you know them?”

“I knew him.”

“He wasn’t a friend, was he?”

“No,” Clive said. “The whole family was reclusive. I only knew him at all because we specialised in the same field of magic.”

Jason looked up and around. “Hey, we’re almost at the next village.”

“You know this area?” Clive asked.

“No, one of my outworlder abilities is a map that only I can see. Places only appear on it when I get close, though.”

“Fascinating,” Clive said. “Have you tested the effects of going to a high place with superior sight lines?”

“I haven’t,” Jason said. “That’s a good idea.”

“This is why you need to let me study you.”

“Definitely not,” Jason said. “I get enough of that from Farrah.”

“Who?”

“A friend of mine. She’s Magic Society, too. I’ll introduce you.”

69. Dumpling Soup

69

Dumpling Soup

There was a small jetty from which they could see the village. There were several dinghies tied up, one of which had been sunk in the shallow water. A streak of dried blood was on the part jutting above the waterline.

“Looks like someone’s hurt,” Clive said as he tied the airboat to the jetty.

“I hope so.”

“You hope someone’s hurt?”

“You can fix hurt. Can’t fix dead.”

Jason stopped, looking at Clive.

“You can’t fix dead, can you?” Jason asked. “It never occurred to me to ask.”

“Not at our rank,” Clive said. “Some gold rank healing effects can bring you back if they’re used immediately.”

“Like magic CPR,” Jason said.

“I don’t know what that is,” Clive said. “There’s also diamond rank, but there are always rumours about diamond rank.”