Origin (Scales 'n' Spells 1)

They did need to know, even though what was said to him still didn’t make sense. “It was Thomas, that guy we saw via cat, who’s running things. He’s British, by the way. Or at least he spoke like a British person. He told me the reason they keep trying to grab us is that we’re stepping stones. And I personally was bait, to draw you guys out.”

“Stepping stones?”

“‘Stepping stones for our ascension’ were his exact words. I’m confused by what he meant, and he didn’t explain anything or give me any context. Just that, and he wanted to kill Alric, use his death to demoralize all of you, to wipe out the dragons completely.” Which still made Cameron plenty mad, thinking about it. He definitely wanted a revenge match, and the next time, the Jaeggi wouldn’t come out on top.

Everyone exchanged glances, but it was obvious no one had an answer to this either.

“We know too little,” Dieter sighed, leaning back in his chair. “We can’t even guess right now. Why now? What are their aims? The Jaeggi were always powerful in magic, so needing mages as stepping stones doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Nor me,” Lisette agreed, making a face. “We’ll need to investigate this more thoroughly, I think. And be better prepared in the future. Cameron, I have a question for you. That spell you used, the one that freed Alric and cleared the courtyard of all magical traps. What was that?”

“Oh. Uh, Gunter and I cooked that up, just in case.” Cameron ruffled the back of his head. “I wanted something on hand, just in case we were ambushed again. Something that I could mix up quick that would have an AOE effect on an area, cancel out all magic. The original spell we came up with wouldn’t have much of a range. It was meant for about a ten-foot radius.”

Gunter gave a nod, turning in his chair to explain to her directly, “The spell used had captured dragon’s fire, reflected sunlight, and filaments of a meteor, and of course whatever power he chose to draw from Alric. It was a level thirteen spell, which I know is volatile, but we kept the elements separate for that reason. Once Cameron needed it, he could throw everything into a single glass tube and release it.”

Lisette looked like a migraine was impending. “But he didn’t just use those elements. Cameron? Why draw on everything around you like you did?”

“Um.” Cameron almost blurted out ‘instinct,’ but that would go over so poorly. “So, as I was running, I caught glimpses of all these different spells buried or hidden in the courtyard, and I had a feeling they were like mines. And I knew that if stumbled into, they’d be bad mojo, and I wasn’t about to let that hit Alric or any of you, so…I figured I’d better enhance the radius of the spell. No way to do that with what I had on me. I pulled in every element I could around me, enhancing what power I could, and I modified the spell to where I didn’t bring the dragon’s fire into it. Not what I had in the bag, anyway. Plenty of dragon’s fire live and in action, so I drew on that, and Alric’s power. It was borderline a fourteen when I released it, which I know was beyond iffy. But the intent of the spell was to run amok and break everything in range anyway.”

“And you didn’t see the harm.” Lisette rubbed at her eyelids with two fingers.

“Um. It worked?”

Alric took his hand and held it, smiling at Cameron as if he couldn’t have been prouder. “That it did.”

Cameron might have basked under that smile. Just a little.

“It’s just as well I’m already grey,” Lisette sighed in resignation. “Between having you, Cassie, and Ha Na as students, you would have sent me into an early greying anyway. I’d like to examine precisely what you did later. We’ll need a modified version, I think, to arm all of our mages with.”

In other words, she liked the effect the spell had, but the way Cameron had unleashed it scared the fuck out of her. “The original version is perfectly safe and portable.”

“Precisely what you did,” she repeated sternly.

Co-ruler he might be, but Cameron was still her student. “Yes, ma’am.”

“We’ll need to figure out where the Jaeggi have moved to.” Baldewin took off his glasses and rubbed at one temple. “I’ve not had much luck in that quarter. I doubt we’ve seen the last of them.”

“We’ll redouble our efforts until we find them,” Alric promised in a voice of doom.

“I can help with the computer end of things,” Cassie offered. “You’d be amazed what the right search algorithm will come up with.”

“We’re counting on you.” Alric flashed her a quick smile. “Alright, let’s focus today on cleaning things up. If no one has realized dragons and mages are still alive, then let’s take advantage of that while we can. The world will likely realize the truth soon enough. We should enjoy our anonymity while we can.”