Page 139 of Scales ’N’ Spells: Volume One

“Keeping secrets from Alric? I can’t do that without compensation!” Her tone of horror was completely ruined by her evil cackle.

“What do you want, Cassie?” Baldewin asked in a dead voice. He looked up to find Warin watching him with a questioning look. He mouthed the word “bribe.”

Warin snorted. “You started that.”

He could only roll his eyes at his friend. Maybe he shouldn’t have paid Tori for his time, but he couldn’t find it in himself to completely regret it. While he didn’t want the man to escape, he did feel better that the mage had some money on hand to buy food and shelter for a little longer. That thought alone proved that Tori had reduced his common sense to mush.

“I wanna come on a mage retrieval mission with you,” Cassie replied.

“What?” he squawked. Of all the things to come out of her mouth, he’d not expected that. “You can’t be serious. This is dangerous work, Cassie. What if the Jaeggi discovered you were away from the castle?”

“I know defensive wards now, and I would have my Sasha with me to watch my back.”

“Cass…” he pleaded.

“And if I was, say, closer to Helsinki, I might be able to get a better read on Tori’s clan’s location.”

Baldewin’s dragon growled, and he had a feeling it actually came out of his throat rather than staying in his mind. This was a horrible idea, but it would be good for their clan to know where those mages were hiding; if for no other reason, Baldewin wanted to give the leaders a piece of his mind. How could they tolerate one of their own looking so worn and ragged? And this idea that male mages were worthless? Yes, Baldewin would very much like to speak to those idiots.

“Alric makes all decisions on who to send on retrieval missions.” Baldewin paused and rolled his eyes at himself because he couldn’t believe he was going to utter these words. “However, I promise to put in a positive word for you and suggest that we would benefit from your onsite assistance.”

Cassie squealed loudly, and Baldewin jerked the phone away rather than risk damaging his ear drum. Dear heaven, that little woman could produce very loud noises. When he returned the phone to his ear, she was still celebrating but with less volume.

“But you have to agree to follow the orders of any dragons on the mission with you. Your safety would be our first priority. If I think for a second you’re going to endanger yourself, then I’m hanging up and calling Alric myself right now⁠—”

“No! No! I’ll be good. Follow all your orders or whoever I’m with. I’ll be the best little soldier mage you’ve ever seen,” Cassie quickly promised.

Baldewin needed to sit down. He couldn’t believe he was agreeing to this. Looking around, he spotted an empty bench and walked over. He collapsed on it before his knees could give out. If the Jaeggi hadn’t been running around, it probably wouldn’t be strange to take a mage on a retrieval mission, but not now. Alric was still only allowing mages to leave the castle on errands if they had at least two dragons accompanying them. The last trip down to the town of Sonthofen had been two mages and seven dragons. He’d heard the cluster had drawn more than a few stares.

And now Cassie wanted to tag along to find a new mage.

If Alric didn’t kill him, Cameron would.

“It’ll be fine, Big B. You’ll see. We need a mage in the field searching for other mages and keeping an eye on those damn Jaeggi.” Baldewin could only grunt at her reassurances. “Oh, and your cute little runaway mage is still in Helsinki.”

“What?” Baldewin demanded, his head popping up.

“Yeah, I’ve been working the seeking spell while we talk. Tori Taavi is still in Helsinki. Looks to be about five-ish blocks away from where you are now. Nowhere near the train station or the ferry.”

“You’ve been tracking him this whole time?”

Cassie made a dismissive noise, and he could picture her waving dismissively at him. “Of course. What kind of a Burkhard would I be if I didn’t jump to give you a hand? A pretty shitty one, and I am not a shitty clanmate.”

“No, you are not,” Baldewin easily agreed. “You are just⁠—”

“Exhausting. I know,” she finished with a giggle. “Cameron calls me that all the time.”

“Your twin is very correct.”

“Look, B. Five hundred euros is a nice chunk of change, but it’s not going to get him far. Helsinki is a big town; he’s got job applications in everywhere, and he’s established at least a temporary base of operations. Leaving now means starting from scratch, and unless he feels like he’s in danger, he won’t rabbit on you.”

“Rabbit?”

“Run. He won’t run.”

Baldewin found himself nodding, even though she couldn’t see it. “I don’t think he feels threatened by us. Just annoyed.”

Cassie made a humming noise.