“Anything I can do,” Tori quickly agreed.
“Lisette thinks we can target the differentness of their magic to find them. When I fought them, I wasn’t experienced enough to see the difference between them and Burkhard mages, but you’d still recognize it, right?”
Tori nodded. “Definitely. But we need supplies—”
“Got it!” Alric called out as he rushed toward the bedroom. He returned less than a minute later carrying a large leather satchel. “Lisette made sure we had a variety of supplies, should we run into trouble.”
“Do we have a map?” Tori asked. “I could use a mirror for some scrying, but I might not immediately recognize what we’re seeing. Particularly if there isn’t a road sign nearby.”
“There are some at the front desk. I’ll grab one,” Ravi volunteered and was off like a shot through the door before anyone could even draw a breath to argue.
“I can run a tracking spell linked to your seeking spell that moves along the map in tandem,” Evora offered.
“Excellent!” Cameron led them over to a small, round table with four seats positioned around it. Tori jumped in and quickly helped the young mage sort through the ingredients on hand, pulling out the things that Lisette instructed.
Hesitating, Tori chewed on his lip for a moment and then finally grabbed the bottle that contained fragments of a fallen star, changing it out for a jar of powder from the acorn of a thousand-year-old oak tree. “I-I think this will work better for what we’re trying to do. The acorn powder will highlight the fractured quality of their magic more clearly.”
Lisette had described his skills as more instinctual, and right then, his instincts were screaming to include the acorn. He was just terrified of being wrong. They had enough supplies to cast the spell again, but Tori didn’t want to waste the time.
To his surprise, neither Cameron nor the more experienced Evora argued with him. They just continued to prepare what they needed. Ravi returned and helped the Valerii mage spread out the map across the table.
As everything became set, Baldewin walked up behind Tori and placed his hand around the back of his neck, his warm touch soothing tense muscles. He bent his head low so he could speak directly into Tori’s ear. “I’m here for you. Take everything you need, my mate.”
And for the first time, it truly hit him. This mate thing was way more than finding the love of his life, his center of happiness and peace. In Baldewin, he’d found a near limitless source of power to fuel his spells. He was now stronger than he’d ever been in his life because of his dragon mate.
They would find these missing kids.
With new confidence, Tori started his spell, focusing on the Jaeggi magic that he’d sensed before. Both Cameron and Evora quickly linked with him in a separate spell so they could see what he was seeing. He could only hope that they hadn’t already drained the kids, temporarily fixing their own magic.
The elements he cobbled together crafted the spell, but with it, he wove a tendril of power straight from Baldewin’s stockpile. It was beautiful, a sharpness of color and crispness in the world he’d never experienced before. He wanted to weep for all the mages who didn’t have mates. This was how magic was meant to be crafted. He felt a completeness in his work he didn’t think was possible.
Tears burned his eyes, and a lump of unexpected joy formed in his throat, but he swallowed it down. He needed to concentrate on his task.
To his surprise, the spell worked much faster than he’d anticipated. He could feel the magic latch on to that now-familiar wrongness and stretch out across the distance, pulling him along for a fast ride.
“Whoa…” Tori breathed.
“Good whoa? Or bad whoa?” Ravi inquired.
He sounded close, but Tori couldn’t drag his eyes away from the map. He didn’t see the colorful paper spread across the table, though. His mind was zipping across the earth before it finally stopped in a small town. The sense of traveling slowed greatly, and he could see a scattering of buildings.
“Good whoa,” he breathed. “Evora?”
“I’m with you. Utsjoki Village?” she replied quickly.
“Yes,” he hissed, trying to pull a little more power into the spell to get an exact location. “The Jaeggi have cast spells in that town. A few of them. Wards. And a very big masking spell.”
“Utsjoki Village is close. Maybe an hour from us,” Alric said, scanning the map.
“They’re there,” Tori declared in a hard voice. He ended the spell and rubbed his aching temples against the sudden rush of pain. He felt a little lighter as he released the magic from Cameron and Evora as well. “They’ve cast a few spells to hide what they’ve been up to and where they are settled. Maybe after we get into the town, I’ll be able to try the spell again and pinpoint their location better.”
Baldewin leaned down and peppered Tori’s temple and down his jaw with kisses. “I’m so proud of you. That was amazing.”
Tori couldn’t deny the rush of pleasure that came with those words. He could feel Baldewin’s pride and happiness pouring through him. He’d done that. He’d worked that spell, targeted something that none of the others had noticed. He’d brought them one step closer to finding the missing Taavi, and he’d done it with his magic.
“Baldewin, I want you and Ravi in the air and heading toward Utsjoki in five minutes. Try not to be seen, but finding those kids is the priority,” Alric directed. “Gunter will travel with us and act as additional protection for the mages.”
“Yes, Hoheit,” the three dragons agreed in unison. Tori got a final wink from his lover, and then the dragons were running out the door.
Part of him wanted to follow just to watch Baldewin shift into his amazing dragon form, but there was no time. He helped Cameron, Evora, and Gunter quickly pack up their supplies in the leather satchel while Alric called Rodrigo with the latest news. Tori wasn’t even sure if the Valerii had been able to get to Nuorgam, but there was no doubt that the ice dragons would be airborne in a matter of minutes.
As they hurried to one of the black SUVs they’d rented, Evora poked Tori with one of her long fingernails. “When we return to Burkhard Castle, you will show me exactly how you did that.”
Tori grinned broadly at her, his heart swelling. “I will. I promise. You’ll be able to see the difference in their magic when we get to Utsjoki. That’ll be your focus.”
“Do you think we can weave that distortion recognition into some of our wards on the castle? Maybe even Sonthofen?” Cameron asked. He stood next to the driver’s door, his eyes wide.
“Drive now. Talk magic after we’ve found the missing mages,” Alric commanded, but there was a lighter sparkle in his blue eyes. A hint of a hidden joy. And why not? If the Burkhard dragons had been running short on mages for five centuries, then it likely meant they were also short on new spells and magic chatter. This was a normal he hadn’t been able to experience for a very long time.
Tori jumped into the backseat with Evora and Gunter. They were still pulling on their seatbelts when Cameron tore out of the parking lot with a spray of gravel and a surprised yelp from the king in the passenger seat.
Fear and hope were warring in his chest. He was afraid of them being too late to save the mages. If they didn’t get there in time, not just a trio of young lives would be lost, but also any hope they might have had in convincing the leaders of the Taavi Clan to even listen to the dragons. He wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to change their minds completely about dragons, but he wanted to believe that at least some of them might finally come around.