by Eric Vall
“I know they’re capable of filling a person’s lungs with water,” I told him honestly. “It’s happened to me, but there was a wealth of water sources around at the time. I’m trying to figure out if the risk of this is as high here in the foothills. Knowing where you could draw water from would help me out in that respect.”
Odin nodded, and even though he still looked caught off guard by the idea, I could tell he was already dedicating some serious thought to this.
“I’ll keep practicing,” he finally said. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I think I can experiment a little and still find an answer for you.”
“Thank you,” I said as I turned back to see how far the Ignis Mages had gotten with the burning. “Come by the house whenever you have something to discuss, alright?”
“Of course, sir,” Odin replied, and he headed back toward the marketplace with a look of deep concentration.
“Wait a minute,” I called as I remembered one more thing, and the kid turned on the spot. “I met your brother, Jenik, in the Oculus.”
“Is he okay?” Odin asked with immediate concern.
“He’s fine,” I replied. “Shaken up but holding his own. He’s gonna be doing some scouting for me there, but he’ll be coming and going for the training sessions. Then I’ll make sure he gets a house here in Falmount.”
“Thank you,” the kid said as he smiled his relief. “My mother would kill me if something happened to him. He begged for a week to be allowed to come with me to Serin, but when we got here, everything was already getting strange amongst the mages.”
“We’ll handle that, too,” I assured him as I turned back to the others.
The controlled burn was going alright, but the mages were having trouble with the amount of smoke billowing around them. Not knowing much about their element, I couldn’t assist them, so hearing Kurna and Aurora approaching from the village was a relief. They both caught the issue without me having to say a word and promptly joined the young mages to give them instructions.
After ten minutes, the flames in the forest had heated to a brilliant white, and the smoke cleared as the burning increased in speed. I couldn’t help grinning as I listened to Aurora explaining the finesse required with Ignis Magic while they worked, and it reminded me of the first day I’d met her.
She’d been a natural when it came to cutting straight to the root of wielding elemental power, and by the time the radius of the first field was burned to ash, I’d decided she wouldn’t be leading the weapons tutorial after all.
I called the half-elf over to me while Kurna led the Ignis Mages to the next area that needed clearing, and the scent of pine and soot that drifted from her made me instinctively pull her into my arms.
“Defender Flynt,” she purred.
“I have a job offer for you,” I told the half-elf as I brushed a blue strand of hair away from her sweaty brow.
“Another one?” she asked teasingly.
“If you don’t mind,” I replied. “You’ve always been an amazing teacher, so I thought I’d have Cayla take over the weapons training, and have you instructing the mages.”
Aurora looked uneasy. “They’re pretty raw, Mason.”
“I was too,” I reminded her, “and Shoshanne as well. You’re good at this, and we need to see some results fast. Just look at this clearing. Those Ignis Mages learned at least ten important lessons in under ten minutes.”
A glint of pride came to the half-elf’s emerald eyes. “I can’t argue with that.”
“So, you’ll do it?” I asked with a grin.
“I’ll try,” she clarified as she looked skeptically toward the group Kurna was leading, “but I don’t know how effective I’ll be with the other elements.”
“I don’t doubt you’ll do amazingly,” I said as I turned her chin toward me and kissed her.
Aurora hungrily returned the kiss as the scent of pine overran my senses, but the light clearing of a throat quickly distracted us from each other just before I could lift her fully from the ground.
The Terra Mages were waiting awkwardly for me a few feet away, and two of the youngest ones had their eyes glued to Aurora’s ass.
I sent them both stern looks, and once they swiftly turned away, I released my hold on the half-elf.
“What were you and Kurna coming over for?”
“To let you know the lessons are set to begin at dawn,” Aurora reported. “We’ll do two-hour increments with thirty-minute breaks in between. Kurna thinks classes of thirty mages at a time would do well, and we’ll swap the groups between magery and weaponry throughout the day.”
“I think that sounds good,” I agreed. “Will you let Cayla know the plans, and maybe see if she needs help with Deya? If the dagger is going well, you can start her on a sword today, but only if her aim is showing serious improvement. Otherwise, keep running drills with the dagger. Throwing and hand-to-hand maneuvers.”
“Yes, sir,” Aurora murmured as her lips curled into a sultry grin. “I like you as a knight, by the way. You’re so commanding.”
I was about to make a filthy retort when I caught the eye of two Terra Mages listening to us, so I bit my tongue and let the half-elf head to the house with only a tweak of her ass.
Then I joined the first group of Terra Mages in the ashen clearing, and we took a turn around the whole place to assess the terrain. Once we had an idea of the work ahead, we formed a ring in the center of the clearing and crouched to one knee with our hands braced on the ground beneath us.
The air began to vibrate around me as everyone sparked their Terra Magic, and then we carefully eased into a connection to the mages around us. I could sense the strengths and weaknesses in each of their elemental connections as I joined the circuit, and I was glad to find the three mages I’d guessed to be around my age had a solid grasp of their magery.
The others shied away from the connection a bit, but I knew they’d gain more confidence through this process, and hopefully a little skill if they paid enough attention.
With a mental image of the clearing stretched between our minds, we slowly began churning the earth up to let the fresh ash mix with the soil. Then we set our focus on leveling the terrain, and the process was so familiar to me by now that it took as little effort as moving my furniture had back on Earth.
When the clearing was as level as a football field, I gave the order to break the circuit, and as we all released the magical connection, the younger mages began to chuckle to one another.
“That was incredible,” a girl said as she wiped the sweat from her brow. “I could feel the difference between all of your magic.”
I nodded with a grin. “Circuits are a great way to get an idea of the potential there is to work toward. While you work, try and focus on those differences if you can, and start dissecting what they are. Some of you have a strong connection to rock, but a weak one to soil. Two of you are letting the clay in the dirt muddle your focus because you can’t decide what it is.”
“That’s me,” one of the mages said with a wince. “I wasn’t sure what was giving me so much trouble, but that makes sense.”
I was beyond glad to see the mages focusing together on their understanding of their element, and while they began discussing things more in depth, I decided working in circuits might be the trick to training so many mages at once.
If I paired experienced mages with the younger ones and made sure they were focusing properly on details like these, they could essentially get a crash course in magery with every exercise while seeing a distinct comparison in their abilities.
“What’s your name?” I asked the young mage who had been so excited about the circuit.
“Lily,” she replied nervously.
“I want you to join the other group of mages for the next clearing,” I told her, and a smile came to her face.
“Okay!” she said at once, and she hopped up to join the group waiting at the edge of the other clearing.
“You with the clay,�
� I said with a smirk, “what’s your name?”
“Ruben,” he chuckled.
“Why don’t you and the other mages with more experience work on leading these guys in forming a wall around the clearing?” I instructed. “I know you can probably do this individually, but if you can work in small circuits instead, it’d really help them get a more solid grasp on their element.”
“I could do that,” Ruben said with a nod. “How tall were you thinking?”
“Twenty feet,” I decided. “Use a clay mixture so you can get some practice there, and have the wall surround both fields, with only one entrance on the village side. Keep it thick enough that we can add some lookout stations here and there, though.”
The mages all agreed to this, and as they rose to head to the edge of the clearing, Ruben explained the process of wall making to the two mages with absolutely no clue where to begin.
I checked in on the other group who was just finishing churning the ash into the soil, and since they looked to have everything under control, I joined Kurna and the three Ignis Mages he’d been helping with the controlled burn.
“I’m sure Aurora caught you up on everything,” Kurna said as he clapped me on the shoulder.
“She did,” I replied. “Thank you for getting that arranged so quickly. After seeing the state of the Oculus, we spoke to Temin and decided on a course of action.”
Kurna’s expression sobered. “What was it like in there?”
“How about an ale?” I sighed and scruffed my beard. “I’ve got a few things I wanna run by you, and I don’t think you’re gonna like them.”
“You’re a wise man,” Kurna snorted. “Dwarven ale could get an angry drake singing if you wanted it to.”
I furrowed my brow. “The drakes sing, too?”
All three Ignis Mages looked at me like I was crazy, and when Kurna did the same, I cleared my throat.
“Nevermind,” I mumbled.
Apparently singing was a sea dragon thing. Either that, or it was a Deya thing.
Chapter 12
Kurna and I took a corner table at Flynt’s Pub, and we kept our backs to the rest of the room while I filled him in on everything we’d discovered in the Oculus, including Wyresus’s hiding hole and the incident in the infirmary. He eventually ended up chugging three pints without noticing, and when Raynor brought a fourth, I showed him the lists of suspected Defenders the women had gathered.
“Shit,” Kurna sighed for maybe the fifth time since we’d sat down.
“You recognize the names?” I asked eagerly.
“A few, unfortunately,” the brawny mage admitted. “Defender Ravvo is an Ignis Mage, and not one I’d like to come up against. He’s about my size, black hair, dark skin, and brown eyes. He came to the Oculus only a month ago and already knew his magery from practicing by himself over the years. He’s a bit like you: very attentive, strong connection to his element. I don’t know where he’s been all these years, but he’s certainly rough around the edges.”
“No wonder Wyresus promoted him on the spot,” I muttered. “He came to Wyresus already fit for it, but why would he come to the Oculus if he already had a firm grasp on his magery?”
“At the time, I assumed he wanted to put his talent toward defending Illaria,” Kurna replied. “When I got back from Orebane, he was already a Defender, and I thought to meet the man and get to know him, but like I said, he keeps to himself. I gave up after he just kept brushing me off.”
“Do you think he was planted here by the Master?” I asked, and Kurna gave a shrug that showed he wouldn’t doubt the idea at all. “Defender Ravvo … I’ll keep him at the top of the list, then. What about the others?”
“Defender Aloshi and Defender Dahko,” he said as he scanned the list. “Aloshi is about Cayla’s size, but she has short white hair that’s shaved off on one side of her head and lighter eyes than Cayla. She’s been at the Order for a while and has become one of the top Aer Mages there. I haven’t seen her for weeks, but I’m not surprised to see her on this list. She’s sharp-tongued and short-tempered.”
“The Master probably values her skills highly then,” I mused. “An accomplished Aer Mage with a mean streak could do a lot of damage.”
“Dahko as well,” Kurna warned. “He’s less experienced, but his Terra Magic is very strong. I was told he was in a similar state as myself when I first arrived at the Order, which doesn’t fair well for us. He’s lacking training, but Wyresus promoted him because of his determination and strength.”
“Wyresus has been reckless,” I mumbled as I finished my pint. “He should have been training these mages, not just sizing them up and sending them on their way.”
“You’ve hit the point of it,” Kurna agreed. “All of the Defenders he promoted had one thing in common: a commanding presence. Wyresus doesn’t understand true strength, so he goes off the appearance of it, but I can tell you for certain Dahko was not fit to be a Defender when he was promoted. He lashes out without restraint. I saw him go after a younger mage just for knocking into him in the streets once, and the poor guy was unconscious by the time he let up.”
I shook my head as I imagined what I would have done to Dahko if I’d been in the streets of the Oculus that day.
“The Master certainly knows how to pick ‘em,” I snorted. “From the sound of it, he’s got strong and erratic mages at the forefront of his organization here. He did the same in Nalnora. The first Houses to fall were the strongest ones with the bloodiest taste.”
“This might have served him well with the elves, but it’s a weakness in magery,” Kurna countered. “Strength doesn’t amount to skill or stamina, and without this, a mage can make a lot of mistakes.”
“With the Master’s rune on them, they’ll fight hard and fast like the others,” I mused with a furrowed brow, “but they won’t take their own limits into consideration anymore.”
“With any luck, they’ll push themselves to the brink,” Kurna added, “but I know Defender Ravvo won’t struggle with this. Defender Aloshi may even sustain herself for quite some time.”
The bartender brought another two pints to the table, and when I turned to nod my thanks, there were at least twenty mages standing behind us and blatantly listening in on the conversation. I’d been so wrapped up I didn’t notice the pub becoming quieter, and I cocked a brow to the crowd that had gathered.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“What can we do if the Master’s taken all of our strongest Defenders?” a mage asked, and the others looked like their concerns were in the same place.
“Train,” I replied pointedly, “but trying not to piss off the Defenders you have left is a good idea.”
The young mages abruptly scattered to go back to their own business, and Kurna chuckled as we turned back to our pints.
“One thing’s for sure,” he sighed, “you’ve got your work cut out for you with this lot.”
“So do you,” I countered with a smirk. “You’re helping Aurora train them tomorrow. I’m gonna be busy with Cayla’s group.”
Kurna cursed under his breath before he drained his last pint, but I was glad to see he didn’t argue against the plan. He was the strongest Defender I had on my side as far as I knew, and with Haragh already headed for Orebane, I needed all the help I could get here.
“How many Defenders did you say we have in Falmount?” I asked the man as we finished our pints and rose to leave the pub.
“I would guess around fifteen,” Kurna replied, “but there may be some left in the Oculus. Do you want me to locate them?”
“That’d be great. The last thing we need is to lose any more of them to the Master.”
I parted ways with Kurna in the marketplace and sent him to oversee the mages still forming the training fields, and then I headed back to see how Shoshanne was doing with the tranquilizers.
I found the healer on the floor with Ruela dozing in her little cave nearby, and there were books scattered all around the place.
>
Shoshanne’s brows were furrowed in stubborn concentration, and she slammed the book in front of her shut as I strolled in.
“Everything I’ve found so far is either out of season, or I have no idea where to locate it,” the healer sighed in frustration. Then she pulled another volume from a stack and began searching this one next.
“We’re losing valuable time,” I decided as I considered how much time had passed since we left the Oculus. “All of the Master’s mages could be gone by now.”
“What do you want to do?” Shoshanne asked.
“We’ll look for a tranquilizer later,” I told her, “for now, come with me. If we can use your Aer Magic to capture even one mage, then we’ll be back in business.”
“You don’t think it’s too dangerous?”
“It might be,” I admitted, “but we managed to take the last group down, and if we’re careful about who we target, we won’t have to kill anyone.”
Shoshanne and I left the house, but we didn’t take the Mustang since the growl of the engine would be too distinct for us to have the element of surprise. We headed for the stables instead, and I slipped a few coins to a couple mages who were just readying their horses.
They promptly handed over their reins to us, and Shoshanne mounted the chestnut mare while I took the black draft horse who was kicking impatiently against the dusty ground.
We left the town at a gallop as we took a route along the southern edge of the foothills to the west, and I kept my Terra Magic sifting through the ground ahead of us to scan for any fleeing mages. The horse I borrowed off the mage must have been badly in need of a run because he drove ahead with the forceful kind of energy I always had when I was restless.
He wove expertly through the trees of the forest and leapt over boulders without pause, and when I reined him in at last, he snorted angrily in response like he wasn’t nearly ready to stop yet.
I grinned and gave the horse a solid pat to calm him down a bit. “I get it, buddy, don’t worry. We’ve got plenty of work to do today.”
“I’m glad I’m not riding him,” Shoshanne muttered as she eyed the darting eyes of the black beast.
