The Mages of Royas Bay (Mages of Wrystan 1)

Chapter 4: The Hungry One

THE FIRST THING Hawk did after he was released was hold up his arm. The sparrowhawk was there almost before he moved. Cupping his free hand around Cyrus' fragile back, Hawk lifted his arm and buried his face against his mage-beast's orange chest. Cyrus rubbed his beak along Hawk's nose, then tenderly preened his curls. They were back together again. They were safe.

"Enough." Irissa rose from cleaning the knife on the old man's cloak and jerked her head at the cage. "You'd best handle that, I think."

Despite having just saved the lives of two young mages, it seemed the witch still had a problem with mage-beasts. She was crouched before Sidony now, checking the girl for injuries and avoiding looking at Hawk and Cyrus. Hawk shrugged. As long as her prejudices didn't stop her from doing what needed to be done, she could think what she liked.

While Sidony and Irissa talked, Hawk shifted Cyrus to his shoulder and approached the copper cage. Closer up he could see that it was a pine marten inside. Bigger than a ferret, with more triangular ears than a polecat, it also lacked the bandit mask. The large splash of cream beneath its chin and down its chest was the biggest clue, along with the thickly furred tale.

It watched his approach with bright, intelligent eyes, but didn't spit or growl. Its whole body tensed, but it didn't move when Hawk reached for the cage.

"Mountains!" It was Hawk who growled when he touched the copper wire. "That hurt."

"What happened?" Irissa demanded, crossing the dell to look at his hand. A line of welts rose on his fingertips. Irissa frowned, turning it on the pine marten when the beast gave a low growl. "Quiet," she muttered, and prodded the wire.

The cage swung, but she didn't recoil. "Mage cursed."

"Mage what?" Sidony asked, coming closer and tickling the pine marten through the wire. It inclined its head towards her touch, but kept its eyes on Irissa. Hawk noticed the beast was very careful where it put its paws and stayed away from the sides of the cage as much as possible.

"Mage cursed," Irissa repeated. "Cursed against mages." She ducked to look underneath, a touch of revulsion on her face as she straightened up. "Mage-beasts too."

Hawk tilted his head and grimaced. The pine marten's sensitive paw pads were a mass of weeping welts. Keeping a creature in a cage too small for it was one thing, using that same cage to torture it was beyond evil.

He wanted to tear the cage into tiny pieces, but a glance at his hand stopped him. He didn't know if he even could break the wire, and if he shook it up too much he would just cause the marten more pain. Taking a deep breath, he turned and looked Irissa in the eye.

"Will you help him?" he asked, knowing the witch didn't owe him anything. She'd already saved both his and Sidony's life, while her beloved Ren had died.

For a long moment Hawk thought she would refuse. She stared at the forest floor, then took a long look at the caged beast. Finally, she glanced over her shoulder at where the old man had finally fallen silent.

Sighing, she reached up and unclipped the cage from its holding chain – all made from copper. Putting it on the ground, she stepped back and the front fell off.

With a happy grunt, the pine marten dashed away through the leaf litter, scrambled up the side of the dell and vanished amongst the trees.

"After it!" Irissa ordered, scooping up the big knife and grabbing Sidony's hand. Hawk paused only to launch Cyrus in pursuit before he started to run.

* * *

THE CHASE HAD barely begun when Cyrus came darting back through the trees, keening his warning cry. Hawk looked up briefly before he was shoved to the ground. Sidony landed next to him, while Irissa crouched over them, a knife in either hand.