About halfway down the path, they spotted a single man sitting at a small table with a pair of folding wooden chairs. He was hunched over, all his attention focused on several sheets of paper in front of him. Leaning on one elbow, he rested his head on his hand, fingers thrust through his hair. His lips were pulled into a deep frown, and lines crisscrossed his brow. An acoustic guitar leaned against the table beside him.
Baldewin found his own steps slowing even more as he soaked in every bit of Nestori’s appearance. His clothes were worn, and the hem of his jeans were a little frayed. They hung on his hips a bit, as if he’d either lost weight or maybe got stuck with a pair one size too big. Either way, it looked as if he could do with a few good meals. There was a gauntness to his face that bothered Baldewin. He needed a sandwich. A big one. Maybe a slice of cake to go with it.
“How do you want to handle this?” Warin inquired.
Before Baldewin could answer, Nestori’s head snapped up, his eyes narrowing on them for a moment before going wide. Baldewin wasn’t quite sure how to read that expression. Was he afraid of them? His pale cheeks flushed a second later, and something new sparkled in his eyes that Baldewin couldn’t quite name either.
“No!” Nestori said loudly, pointing at them with the pen clutched tightly in his right fist.
They both stopped sharply, hands raised as if the mage were holding a gun on them.
Clearing his throat, Baldewin forced his confusion back and tried to offer his most friendly, non-threatening smile. “Hello, Mr. Taavi. We don’t mean you any harm. We—”
“No!”
Baldewin paused and frowned, reflecting on what he’d said, making sure he’d spoken in Finnish rather than his native German. Then he reexamined his Finnish. He hadn’t misspoken. His Finnish might be a little rusty, but he’d not said anything to threaten or insult the man.
“We were just hoping to speak to you for a moment,” Warin added.
The pen jerked over to point at Warin, and Nestori barked the same word. With his free hand, he gathered together the papers he was working on. Standing closer to him now, Baldewin was pretty sure he was filling out job applications. Once the papers and his guitar were tightly clutched in one hand, he pushed to his feet, the pen still pointed at them like a weapon.
“I’m sorry, but I think you have us confused with someone else. We don’t mean you any harm. We just wish to speak with you,” Baldewin tried again.
A harsh, bitter laugh jumped from Nestori’s throat, and he stopped backing away. He shoved the pen into his front pocket. “Oh, I know who you both are. Or rather what you are.” His upper lip curled into a sneer as he spat, “dragons.”
The tone, the look of obvious hatred and disgust on his face, stopped Baldewin cold. He’d recognized them, knew about dragons and that they existed. How was that possible? Could he also know he was a mage, then?
Nestori answered that question before it could even form on Baldewin’s lips. He spoke too softly for Baldewin to hear the words, but there was a brilliant flash of light and a surge of power. The scent of petrichor and ozone filled the air. A spell.
And Baldewin couldn’t move.
Holy shit! The mage had cast a spell, and he was trapped. He barely managed to shift his gaze to his right to find that Warin was frozen as well.
Looking straight ahead, he could see the fleeing form of Nestori as he ran out of the park, disappearing into the concrete maze of Helsinki.
Around them, people raised their voices in shock and confusion. No one seemed to know what had happened. He thought he heard someone blaming it on a firework or a flashbang. At least no one seemed to notice they were frozen in place.
The spell dissipated after less than a minute, but it was enough for them to lose sight of Nestori. Warin started to run after the mage, but Baldewin caught his arm, stopping him.
“No,” Baldewin said.
Warin’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, and his mouth fell open. “No? But we can catch him.”
“Yes, and he clearly fears us. Chasing after him and potentially cornering him is not going to get him to listen to us.”
Frowning, Warin glanced over his shoulder in the direction Nestori had escaped. “It seemed more like loathing than fear.”
Baldewin grunted. He could not argue with that. “But why?”
“Is he Jaeggi and we not know it?”
That was a consideration. The Jaeggi Clan was behind the destruction of many mages and dragons during the Dragon War. When they’d kidnapped Cameron, they’d made it clear they still had a deep and unrelenting hatred of dragons.
But if he was Jaeggi, why was he alone and so far from the rest of his clan?
Shaking his head, Baldewin pulled his phone out of his pocket and walked over to the table Nestori had been sitting at. “We have found him once. We will find him again. It’s more important that we report this to Alric. Circumstances are not as we anticipated.”
He dropped into the seat Nestori had vacated while Warin remained standing, his thick arms folded across his chest. The dragon could not draw his eyes away from the direction in which the mage had run, as if hoping Nestori would realize his error and turn around. Not likely. He’d sounded very confident when he shouted “no” at them.
With a knot twisting in his stomach, Baldewin called Alric’s personal mobile number. It wasn’t so much that he was worried about Alric being angry with them but the heavy feeling that he’d failed his king, failed his clan, in some way.
It wasn’t surprising that Alric answered the call after the first ring. Everyone in the castle would be eagerly awaiting news of the new mage.
“Do you have him? Is he safe?” Alric asked by way of greeting.
“No worries if Warin and I are safe?” Baldewin lightly teased.
Alric chuckled softly, a sound he heard far more of now that his oldest friend had found his mate. “I’m not worried about whether my two strongest warriors are safe in Helsinki. I also happen to know that you and Warin have been in communication with Lisette already today. If you were in danger, I’d know it.”
“Always a step ahead of us, Hoheit.”
Alric snorted. “I have to be in order to keep this crazy rabble in line. Now, what news? Have you found him?”
“Yes, but not all my news is good, Hoheit. I am sorry.”
“No apologies, my old friend. Tell me what has happened.”
“We found him, and he looks…weary. Worn,” Baldewin started.
“He’s in need of a damn good meal,” Warin grumbled under his breath, though Baldewin doubted Alric could hear him.
“He refused to speak with us when we tried to approach him. He…he knew who we were.” Baldewin paused, glanced around quickly, and lowered his voice. “He recognized us as dragons.”
“Oh.” The small sound was soft and surprised from Alric. The silence stretched for a second, and he could easily imagine his king trying to take in that information. “That will save you from that awkward conversation. Do you think this means he’s aware he’s a mage?”
“Yes, I’m confident he knows he’s a mage,” Baldewin replied.
Warin cursed softly before stomping back over to the table. He leaned close and snarled, “He threw a spell at us!”