*Rakota's POV*

Once I was above the valley, I angled to the north. My sharp eyes scanned the ground as I cast a mage-sensing spell. The spells on the valley behind me glowed so brightly it wasn't possible to sense anything else, which was to be expected so close to them. Resigning myself to a long search and a lot of wasted magic, I kept flying to the area I had been assigned.

I made sure to remain within sight of at least two of the other dragons in case I needed to call them or they found the mages. No clouds currently hindered my view, so as long as I could see their distant silhouettes, that would be sufficient for my communication spells. My gaze returned to the ground as I cast the mage-power detection spell on the forest below again.

"Anything?" Serepha asked, her voice distant but clear as her magic brought her words to my ears.

I scanned the horizon until I saw her lithe form flitting through the sky and used the communication spell to reply, "Nothing yet, but I'm getting a lot of interference from the spells over the valley."

"Me too, but it won't be long before we're far enough away that they shouldn't cause too many difficulties."

We fell silent as we continued scouring the ground for any hint of mage power. It soon became boring. I was tempted to restart my discussion with Serepha, but I preferred to talk with her in person instead of over such a long distance. The only other dragon I could see was Andar, but he was the kind who couldn't cast while talking.

Well, there was one other option.

I glanced back at the human, who was absently gazing at the view with a more peaceful expression than what I'd seen so far. I used a touch of magic to let her hear my voice above the wind whistling past us and used the eavesdropping spell to hear her reply.

"What did you talk about with Randel?"

She jumped and looked at me with wide eyes, before promptly lowering her gaze. "Uh, we didn't talk for long. He seems to like talking about food."

I snorted. "Well, that's one way to put it. I think most of your conversation revolved around food, although he was doing all the talking. Have you ever entered a castle?"

"No, they don't let many people in, although I've never tried." She shrugged. "I guess I'm not a fan of crowds. I prefer small villages." Her gaze strayed momentarily to the ground below.

If she thought I was going to take the hint to drop her off at the village we were flying past, she was mistaken. Not while the magedebt lay like a shadow under my magic. But I was mildly impressed at how subtle the suggestion had been.

The distraction was welcome since my previous boredom was turning into frustration. I gave the village a hard stare as I cast the mage-power-sensing spell down. It bounced back without results, but there was a faint humming I couldn't quite track or pinpoint, like some powerful spell or shielded magic source was in the vicinity.

When I cast the spell again, the ringing was still present, as it had been for a while, but I couldn't seem to home in on it. Just to double-check, I cast spell-sensing and dozens of small spells in the village echoed back. Rat-repellers, anti-molding, lie-detecting, and various others all echoed back, but none had been cast within the last month, so there was no active magic worker present.

We were past the village now, and I aimed the spell at the forest ahead, yet the humming was still present and just as faint as before. With a frown, I kept going and put more power behind my next spell, casting it over another village we were approaching. The humming was slightly louder but still untrackable.

I scanned the horizon until I spotted Serepha. "Are your spells picking up any weird humming?"

"They were earlier. It kind of felt like a shielded mage stone. Could the mages have hidden some in the area in case they were needed?"

"As prepared as they were, it's very possible," I grumbled. "And if they scattered this many around, they wouldn't have had time to reclaim all of them while fleeing."

"If you're encountering a number of them, then the mages likely didn't go down that road."

"That isn't exactly what I wanted to hear, but you're probably right. I might have to come back another day and find them. There has to be at least a dozen around."

"It'd be easy magic to collect," she agreed.

I cast another spell, and as I expected, the humming was the only thing I heard. I considered it, but it wasn't "loud" enough for an actual spell or physical shield. The mages had clearly been very busy when setting up their trap. If there were this many mage stones beside this road, then they had likely hidden more along other escape routes.

They'd have plenty of power at their disposal whenever we found them, which wasn't a welcome thought. The worst part was that the other dragons would almost certainly find the mages first, and that vexed me to no end.

I had been the one they had bespelled, so I should be the one who got to rip out the seed of their magic and turn it into a mage seed crystal that would create a tiny trickle of power that would last for decades to come.

With a huff, I cast another spell, adding more power to it and focusing it more tightly on the ground below. The same faint ringing hum came back, neither stronger nor weaker. The stones must be spaced out along the road at equal distances. None had been gathered together by a mage, which would have made it "louder", nor had any been removed to create a "quieter" gap.

I shook my head and decided I needed a distraction. I glanced back at Katerina, who was watching people fishing in a river. "When your family was attacked, was there only one naga?"

She jumped again, although she didn't seem nearly as startled this time. "There were at least two, although the horse began running the instant they burst out of the river, so I'm not sure if there were others."

If they had been close enough for the naga to launch an ambush out of the water, I didn't have to bother asking if they survived. They wouldn't have. She didn't look that old, but she had mentioned the event happened about eight years ago. It was hard to tell how old a human was unless they were juveniles or their hair started going gray. As best I could tell, this one was a young adult.

"How old are you?"

She shifted her weight uneasily at that question. "Twenty-two. I was fourteen when I saw those naga."

She was still a juvenile by dragonkin standards, although she'd be considered an adult among the humans. Most humans formed groups, especially when young, so it was strange that she had been wandering around by herself.

"Do you have any other family around?"

"Not really. Just distant relatives and cousins."

"You didn't stay with them after losing your parents?"

She winced. "We had our reasons." Her reply sounded more like an evasion of the question than a case of relatives who didn't get along.

"What's in Emerson City?" It seemed like a rather odd destination if she didn't like cities, especially when it was too far away for a casual visit.

"I have a few cousins there that I haven't seen for a long time." This reply also sounded evasive, like she was making things up as she was going.

"Have you been traveling a lot since you lost your family? How do you make your living?" She wasn't a trader, so I couldn't figure out why she was on the road so much. Something just wasn't quite lining up, although I was far from an expert on human behaviors, having avoided the hairless monkeys most of my life.

She hesitated, then said, "I've walked along more roads than I would have liked. I do a bit of sewing for other travelers and trade pelts from the rabbits I snare."

"And unlike Randel, riches and fancy foods don't seem to be your goals," I wryly commented, halfway hoping she'd drop some details that would help me solve the riddle of why she seemed to wander aimlessly.

She actually chuckled. "Gold is a good way to get mugged or lure in thieves, and I could buy a week's worth of trail rations for what Randel's roast duck would have cost, assuming he paid for it."

"Not likely, which is why he's only allowed to go into a city twice a month."

"I'm sure the King can afford a duck every week or so," she murmured. "There would be more hard feelings if he took things from the sellers in the market since it might mean the difference between them feeding their families that night or not."

I hadn't thought of it that way. Her perceptiveness and consideration weren't traits I normally saw in the nobles or other humans who paid for flights. Her replies were sensible and logical, yet spoken with quiet deference. And her background and lack of immediate family ties were unusual.

All of these details were beginning to make other thoughts emerge.