Chapter 12
Nikki was studying.
This wasn’t a new thing. Nikki liked to study and learn things. It was one of the few ways to pass the time without feeling like their brain was trying to rot between their ears from sheer boredom. Nikki and boredom did not get along well.
But what was new was the book they studied from.
Gunter had handed it to them about an hour ago, passing it off as something he’d picked up for Nikki.
(Nikki highly suspected Lisette had actually pestered Gunter about training Nikki, and this was her first foray.) It was the next textbook after the primer, which Nikki had burned through.
Nikki had suffered through the primer, as they’d figured out a lot of it already.
This new book was far more interesting and held Nikki’s attention.
A lot of things suddenly started to make more sense.
Nikki barely got a page in before they felt the sudden, burning desire to take notes—and promptly stole one of Gunter’s notebooks to do so.
Gunter seemed pleased they were so invested in the book.
Nikki figured that out more from observation, as sometimes Gunter would lift his head, look at Nikki at the far side of the table, and get this smug little smile around the corners of his mouth.
It happened too regularly to be mistaken for anything but delight.
It did warm the cockles of Nikki’s dark soul that Gunter was investing so much into them. They liked having Gunter’s attention very, very much.
Now if Gunter would just show any sign of attraction, dammit. Nikki would jump his bones in a heartbeat.
There was a knock at the door before a head popped around the frame. A handsome face, and not one Nikki recognized. Square in the jaw, pitch-black hair, friendly pale blue eyes, with a Slavic sort of look.
“Hello, I’m looking for Nikki?”
Nikki lifted a hand and waved. “I’m Nikki.”
“Ah, good, I’m in the right place.” He came all the way in, revealing more of a broad chest and muscled legs. A powerfully built man, but he moved like a cat, making barely any noise with each foot step.
If he wasn’t a dragon, Nikki would eat both boots.
“I’m Dimitri,” the man said in a surprisingly light baritone. “I’m from the Ice Dragons, here to help with the tracking.”
Oh! The one King Rodrigo had called in. Nikki knew precisely who this was, now. “Hi! Nice to meet you.”
Dimitri didn’t extend a hand for a genial shake but instead offered a fist to bump. “I understand you exploded your way out of the Jaeggi hideout. You’re my kind of people.”
Nikki was delighted by this greeting, practically bursting with pride that even a dragon across the ocean had heard of them. They bumped fists with glee. “I had to go out with a bang.”
“Damn right, you did,” Dimitri agreed, his grin a touch feral. “Now, I’m making sure I have this correct. Your pronouns are they/them, I’m told?”
“Yuppers. What’s yours?”
“He/him, thanks for asking. I wanted to make sure I got that right before I put both feet in my mouth. I got big feet, it would have been painful.” Dimitri turned and offered Gunter a hand. “Hello.”
“Hello, I’m Gunter.” For some reason, there was a sour hint to Gunter’s expression, although he suppressed it behind a stilted smile.
“Pleasure. When I landed, I was sent down here to get caught up. So catch me up; I have little to go on.”
Nikki waved him down to a chair near theirs, even kicking it out a few inches. “Come, sit, we’ll fill you in.”
“Okay.” Dimitri sat, taking in the open textbook with interest. “Magic textbook, right? I’ve seen that one before. But you’re a mage?”
“Whatever knowledge I have, I’ve had to steal,” Nikki explained with a sigh. “There’s a lot of basics I’m missing. Hence, this.”
“Ah, gotcha. Well, that makes sense because of who had you. No way an enemy would give you any hand up.” Dimitri shook his head forlornly.
“I’m truly sorry I missed that party. I haven’t had a good fight since we left the old country.
I told my king I’ll track for you guys, but I’m staying for the fight, too.
When we find the Jaeggi, I’m sure there’s going to be an outright war, and I’m not sitting that one out. ”
Nikki adored Dimitri. They wanted to hug the stuffing out of the man. “Then let’s find them quickly.”
Dimitri grinned. “You and I are going to get along like fur on a cat, I can see it right now. Alright, let’s start with basics.
Give me a good idea of their patterns. If they move, how many move at a time?
What do they take, how quickly do they go?
Do they normally hop short distances, just changing towns, or do they go as far as to change countries? ”
The difference between someone who knew how to follow a trail and a tracker became obvious in that second. No one else had asked Nikki these questions. And Dimitri practically radiated competence in the way he laid those questions out, as if this was the very baseline of what he needed to know.
Nikki really had a good feeling about this man.
“Right, basics. The Jaeggi are about two thousand in number.” Nikki paused, waffling a hand back and forth. “I think a little under that, but it’s not like anyone’s told me a number. I’m going off of what I’ve seen.”
“Ballpark numbers work,” Dimitri assured them as he pulled out his phone and typed in notes.
“They tend to keep the main body together with every move, and that’s about fifteen hundredish?
It’s hard to keep track of an exact number, to be honest. Their routine is to move every three to six months.
They have some sort of schedule they follow, although I could never figure out where the schedule was.
But people referred to it all the time. When it was time to move, they’d call everyone in. ”
Dimitri held up a finger. “Explain that. You said ‘main body’ before, so are there outlying cells?”
“Not like you mean. They always had scouts out, trying to find mages like me. The scouts worked in groups of six, and there was usually a baker’s dozen of scout groups at any given time.
You also had the people in charge of gathering up all the elements.
They tended to live outside the main clan for three months at a time, rotating in and out with others.
All of those people would be called in when it was time to move, to help with the move. ”
“Makes sense,” Gunter muttered thoughtfully. “The scouts and gatherers are still husbands, brothers, wives, children—they need to help pack their family up to move them.”
“Right,” Nikki agreed. “They’d stay for about two weeks after a move, getting people settled in a little, and then they’d go out again. I saw this cycle repeat many, many times.”
Dimitri nodded but didn’t look up from his notes. “How much do they move?”
“Every family was regulated to one moving van. Businesses, too. They really didn’t keep much in the way of belongings or memorabilia.
We kidnapped mages had even less than that, usually just two suitcases.
They’re used to packing up things quickly and moving out.
They normally took four weeks to pack up, move, and unpack again.
But honestly, they’re so practiced at it, I think they could pack up and be gone in three days. ”
“Nomads, that’s what I’m looking for.” Dimitri gave a grunt.
“Basically, yes. You asked if they go long distances. They do country hop a lot. I think the short window is because they can only get short-term visas in most countries. That said, it’s not like they’re going huge distances.
They tend to stay around the Germany-Austria-Sweden area.
I think they’re most comfortable here.” Nikki’s smile turned a touch bitter.
“They stayed in German-speaking countries; made all of us learn and use it, too. I barely remember anything of my mother tongue.”
Gunter’s expression was sympathetic and understanding. “But at least it gave you the means to communicate with your new allies.”
“There’s that.” And Nikki was glad of that. Sneaking in to the cell to speak with Ravi was one of the best decisions they’d ever made. Ravi had led them directly to Gunter, freedom, and magic.
“So, they like to stay within a large, general area. Hmmm. I assume you went looking at all the places Nikki knows?”
Gunter gave him a terse nod. “Fly-bys, for the most part. We picked up no hint of them.”
“It’s not really a surprise,” Nikki said with a shrug. “They don’t repeat places. They’re too paranoid for that. I don’t remember revisiting a town even once.”
“Could be that after the war they were afraid the dragons would find them and enact revenge.” Dimitri’s eyes narrowed in thought. “And now it’s just habit. Or maybe they’re still afraid we’ll visit and rain fire down on them.”
“I’m personally of the opinion that the only good Jaeggi is a dead one,” Gunter said flatly.
“I’m with you on that.” Dimitri’s smile spoke of lye and iron maidens. “Which is why I’m so keen on finding the bastards. Nikki, I understand that when you went in to scout their last known location, you ran into a boobytrap? Is that something they do every town?”
“Every single town,” Nikki confirmed with an adamant nod of the head.
“So be very, very careful while you’re hunting them.
Anything that leads to a vehicle, storehouse of elements, or their operation center is sure to be boobytrapped.
And it’s not always obvious from the outside that the building has those things in it. ”
“Because it’s all makeshift, none of these buildings are made for that purpose.” Dimitri didn’t seem at all deterred by this. In fact, the grin on his face was delighted. “Sounds like a challenge.”
Gunter didn’t seem to like Dimitri’s take on this. “Hunting our sworn enemy while avoiding magical boobytraps sounds like fun to you?”
“Best fun I’ve had in ages. And it’s not even my birthday.” Dimitri rubbed his hands together, nearly bouncing with anticipation. “Seriously, I cannot wait to get started. When do you want to go?”
Nikki wasn’t at all sure on that. They weren’t in charge of this circus, after all. They gave Gunter a glance askance.
“I’m not sure what our timeline is, but I would think in the next day or so.” Gunter frowned as he reached for his phone. “I’ll confer with Hoheit and get back to you. I believe we were only waiting on your arrival.”
“I’d like to rest today, as it was a long flight yesterday, but I say let’s pick up the trail again tomorrow, if we can. We’re not doing ourselves any favors by letting it go colder.”
Gunter grunted in agreement, typing a message into his phone.
“But that does bring up a question. When we do find the Jaeggi, what’s the plan?”
Nikki looked him straight in the eye and said seriously, “Explosions.”
“Are you going to be part of those explosions?”
“Absolutely.”
Dimitri high-fived them.
“I love this whole clan’s attitude,” Dimitri said with a happy sigh. “Can’t believe my king didn’t think to call me earlier, when shit was going down. I’m going to have words with him about that. For now, though, I’m going back up. There’s good food to be had, and pretty people to flirt with.”
Nikki canted their head in interest. “Are you unmated, Dimitri?”
“Most of us are, little mage. But for the first time in five hundred years, we have hope that’ll change.
So many mages are being discovered again, like you.
Surely my mate is among them. And even if that person isn’t upstairs in this castle, I can at least meet people, get names and stuff, and tell my clan in Brazil about them. ”
That was so sweet of him, to be thinking of his clan as a whole. “I hope they are up there, Dimitri.”
“I hope so too.” Dimitri gave them a wink before standing. “Let me know when you want to go.”
“We will.” Gunter waited until he had left before lifting his head and giving Nikki an odd look. “So, is that your type? Big and feisty?”
Silly dragon. Why was he even asking Nikki this question? Like Nikki hadn’t made their preferences perfectly obvious. “Not really. Well, sort of. But there’s more than one dragon near me who’s big and cuddly.”
“Hmm.” Gunter didn’t seem to know how to take that answer. He also apparently didn’t realize Nikki was talking about him.
Nikki gave up. Short of telling Gunter outright, they didn’t know what else to do. But that would be awkward. And Nikki wasn’t willing to live in the land of awkward just yet. For now, they let it drop. “It’s almost time for lunch. Why don’t we go up and eat something too?”
“It is?” Gunter looked at his phone again. “Oh. I guess it is. Alright, well, I suppose I’m hungry enough to eat.”
Said the person who always ate like a starving wolf once food got in front of him. Really, how had Gunter survived before Nikki came along? Did he just binge eat when people remembered to drag him free of the dungeon?
Nikki was rather afraid that was actually the answer.