by Eric Vall
“Understood.” Odin nodded his agreement as he stood a bit taller.
“So, I formed the fountain against the wall because I wasn’t sure how we could manage the filtering system,” I explained. “I figured maybe it could drain out the bottom, and the fresh supply could pour in from the wall, but whatever you think is best. I carved a pipe sized tunnel from the dirt up through the stonework so it could pour out that spout right there, but I can reform all of this anywhere you need it.”
“I think what you’ve come up with right here is best,” Odin replied. “I can already sense water beneath us, and I’ll do it just like you explained, but maybe I could instill a steady current in the water to be sure every drop ends up cycling back into the ground throughout the day.”
“Perfect,” I said as I clapped the kid on the shoulder. “I’ll leave you to it then.”
Odin got right to work, and I was impressed to see him already pulling water up and transferring it through the hole in the stone wall within a few minutes. Last time I’d seen him at work, it took him ten times as long just to get in touch with his element, but clearly, he’d been practicing as much as I asked him to.
I left him to focus on his work as I headed back toward the others, and Shoshanne was already waiting for me to secure the restraints on her next patient. I took a moment to summon a small chunk of spring steel from my workshop before I broke the last link on each end of the chain, and then I altered the pieces, so I had a gate and spine like a carabiner. The last thing I did was carefully spring load the gate and carve a small notch to catch it when it closed, and I gave a quick demonstration so the healer could see how the mechanism worked.
“Now, you just have to push this gate in, hook the iron spine through the mount on the table, and release the gate to close the chain link,” I explained.
“That’s exactly what I need,” Shoshanne said. “Can you do the same with the other restraints?”
“Yep,” I said as I left a kiss in her copper curls. “I’ll get you completely stocked on chains, and then we’ll get the rest of the patients tied down.”
Deya stayed to help Shoshanne with sponging up the blood while she worked, and as I formed more chains at the worktable, I could hear the beautiful elf boosting the healer up with plenty of compliments about her precision and professionalism while the two sat side by side at the operating table. They managed to finish twelve patients by the time I completed sixty more chains, and Shoshanne seemed to have the whole procedure well in hand now.
Odin finished the fountain in record time, too, and I sent him to the Oculus when he finished so he could let his brother Jenik know I was leaving town and to keep an eye out for any word from Dorinick. The young mage assured me he would deliver the message immediately, and once Aurora finished helping me restrain the last of the sedated mages, I started on hanging the spare restraints in the storage cellar.
“So, about Shoshanne being cold at night,” I said to the half-elf. “Do you think you could come up with some sort of enchanted fire for her in the bedroom? Something that won’t go out while we’re gone but will stay completely contained and not put her at risk while she’s sleeping. Not too bright, either, I don’t want her losing sleep over it, but bright enough she could read by it if she wants to. I don’t know, you’re the Ignis Mage, I just want it to be perfect, is all.”
“I can do that,” the half-elf said as she fought back a smirk. “All I need is any kind of hearth about two feet from the bed and three feet in diameter.”
“Give me a second,” I said, and I sparked my Terra Magic before seeping into the makeup of our house next door.
Once I found the bedroom, I followed Aurora’s instructions and had a kiva style hearth in the corner opposite from the head of our bed, and I took an extra minute or two to form a stone bench around it so Shoshanne could read her volumes by the fire.
“I’ll make sure it’s perfect,” Aurora chuckled as she blew me a kiss on her way out the door, but then she popped her head back in and sent me a warning look. “Cayla got way more than just a few Defenders for you, by the way.”
I furrowed my brow as I headed for the door to see what she meant, and I found Cayla’s thigh high boots striding up the lane with what looked like every Defender in Falmount stern-faced at her back. My mind raced through every complaint the troop could possibly make, and I was well prepared to back my decisions to do the procedures here in Falmount by the time Defender Urn came to a stiff stop in front of me.
He looked severe as he stared down his strict nose from inches above me, and the muscles in his broad shoulders strained at his leather vest. He reminded me of a biker with his shaven head and bristly mustache, but he moved with the precision of a soldier, which betrayed his eight years of service in the Order.
Then Defender Urn extended a hand, and he looked past me to the mages strapped on the tables.
“Defender Flynt,” the large Terra Mage grunted.
“Defender Urn,” I said as I shook his hand. “I wasn’t expecting to see you all so soon. The first group of mages have been recaptured, and Shoshanne is more than halfway done with removing their brandings. I’m guessing you’ve heard about the unrest amongst the mages in the village, but--”
“We have,” Urn said with a nod, and he brushed past me to lead the entire group of Defenders in while Cayla looped her arm in mine. “Word is that Defender Solana suggested they fuck off, and we fully support her opinion.”
“Oh,” I said with some surprise, and Urn chuckled as he turned around to face me.
“We can certainly understand their discomfort,” he allowed, “but the safety of all mages has always been the primary concern of the Defenders of the Order, and that is what you’re working to accomplish here. The mages in the village have no place questioning your decisions, particularly while you’re acting under explicit orders from their king. We’ve done what we can to make that clear, so I wouldn’t expect any more issues. Normally, the head of the Order would manage all of this, but here we are.”
I smirked. “Well, I certainly appreciate your efforts.”
“As do we,” Urn said. “We’ve come to offer our assistance in any way we can. I assume you already have a plan in place regarding how to proceed from here.”
“Doesn’t he always?” Cayla said as she flicked her blue eyes toward me, and a few mages chuckled their agreement.
“Hey, if that’s my calling card, I’m very okay with it,” I chuckled and sent Cayla a wink. “Right now, we’re finishing the last brandings, and when the mages begin to wake up, we have a lot of questions. I don’t want to overwhelm them, and I don’t want to keep them from their families who are no doubt extremely worried. We just need to get as many answers as we can while being considerate of everything they’ve been through and respecting that they probably want to move ahead.”
“What sort of questions?” Urn asked with a furrowed brow.
“Well, they mostly involve an issue that came to light a couple days ago,” I admitted. “As many of you know, my women and I traveled to Mors Pass in an effort to track down the mage camp, and what we discovered were magical defenses, an entire fortress, which by all accounts seems to defy physical logic, and a dozen or so ogres already possessed by the Master’s rune.”
The Defenders immediately began asking several questions, and I nodded as I held up a hand.
“Yeah, I’m as curious as you are about all of this,” I told them. “These are the same questions I’ve got, and hopefully, these mages can start answering them. Beyond this, I need three Defenders to guard the infirmary while we do our work here, and if any of you can assist Shoshanne over the next week, that would be ideal. Defender Haragh and I have received orders from the king to travel west to Jagruel and assess the threat against the ogres.”
“Jagruel?” a Defender asked incredulously. “The king has handed you a death sentence. How does he expect you to be of any help to the ogres? And why should you? The threat here is--”
> “The threat against the ogres affects all of us,” I clarified. “Every creature the Master enslaves becomes a threat to us, and we need to ensure the ogres don’t join that list.”
“Is there anything life threatening you won’t say yes to?” Urn sighed as he stroked his mustache.
“I’ve never supported being gutted alive,” I told him with a smirk. “That’s probably the only thing on the list.”
Shoshanne and Deya giggled from their operating table, and Urn shook his head.
“Well, that’s a relief to hear,” one of the Defenders snorted. “At least we know you’re sane. How do you expect to handle the ogres, though, after everything--”
Just then, Raynor walked into the infirmary with several sacks piled in his wiry arms, and when he saw all of us standing in the center of the room, he smiled and nodded like he always did.
I was never so happy to see the barkeep.
“I’m so glad you’ve come,” Shoshanne said as she stood and hurried over to unload his parcels.
“Not a problem, miss,” Raynor rasped. “Just wanted to be sure you’re not having any troubles here. I see the tranquilizer is working well enough.”
“Raynor helped us find a proper sedative for the mages,” I explained to the others. “We couldn’t have gotten this far without his insight.”
Three Defenders immediately headed over to the barkeep as I spoke, and they relieved the man of his burdens while he smiled sheepishly.
“Just some sustenance for when they wake up,” he explained. “Thought you might need some broth and greens. There’s some honeyed nuts as well, but I’m cooking up twenty loaves of fresh bread, too.”
“Raynor, you’re a wonderful man,” Shoshanne informed him as she looped her arm in the old man’s. “Would you like to see how everything is going?”
“Certainly, miss,” Raynor said with a smile and a nod, and he went with Shoshanne to the operating table she’d just left.
Some of the Defenders started laying out the food Raynor had brought by while others began gathering up old gauze to clear away for Shoshanne, and a handful came forward offering to serve as the guards for the infirmary.
“Cayla will be doing trial exercises with you in the clearing out front to determine the best fit for the position,” I told them, and they nodded their approval before they followed Cayla out of the infirmary.
Urn remained behind and nudged me in the arm, and he gestured to the mages on the tables.
“How long until they wake up?” he asked.
“Not long now,” I replied. “Probably under an hour. How is the training going?”
“You’ll be pleased with the progress,” the Terra Mage told me. “Those senior Defenders Kurna brought in are even givin’ me a thing or two to learn about, and the younger mages are really stepping it up. In another week, I’d say they’ll all be where they should have been by now, and the newer ones will be ahead of the curve. You’ve got a decent setup out here, it’s completely changed the direction the Order was headed down with Wyresus in charge.”
“That’s the plan.”
“When do you leave for the west?” Urn asked as he considered me carefully.
“Probably tonight,” I told him. “I just spoke with the king this morning about it, but I wanted to get the infirmary locked down and speak with the mages before leaving.”
“What of this fortress, then?”
“I’ve spoken with the dwarven general of Orebane, and he’s already working to stake out the region for us while we try to figure out all we can here. He’ll keep me updated on any developments.”
“Well, you can trust us to look after the town while you’re gone,” Urn assured me. “The Defenders are doing well leading the training, even the ones who thought the work might be beneath their skillset. We’ll take turns checking in at the Oculus for you as well. You just make sure those ogres don’t get the bite on you.”
“I really appreciate the help,” I replied, “but if you wouldn’t mind, could you do me a personal favor?”
“Anything.”
“Could you keep an eye on Shoshanne for me?” I asked. “She has her own defenses in place, of course, but she’s taking a huge risk doing these procedures in mass like this, and if anything happened … ”
“Don’t worry another second on it,” Urn said as he clapped me on the shoulder. “We owe your healer for every life in this infirmary, and we’ll not dismiss that. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Thank you,” I said with a grin.
Urn and I checked on Cayla in the clearing and watched how the trial was going for a bit, and it looked like the Defenders who volunteered to guard the infirmary had put in the time needed to master the weapons I’d made. Their aim was true, but they were no Cayla, and they fumbled a bit with reloading fast enough. I could tell Cayla wasn’t too pleased with the results, and I wasn’t either, but there was only so much I could expect from a revolver and a shotgun.
This notion suddenly had my veins sparking eagerly, though.
“That’s how we counter the mages,” I muttered to myself, and a grin came to my face.
“What was that?” Urn asked as he turned to me.
“I was just thinking about our weaponry,” I explained. “The problem we’re facing now that the Master has targeted the mages is magery is such an immediate ammunition. If you’re skilled enough, there’s no reload period, especially with the Master’s rune magnifying the effects. It makes the mages faster, stronger, more determined, and less concerned with pushing their limits. So, fighting against mages who have no restraint will trump our skill levels any day.”
I was talking fast, and Urn opened his mouth to respond, but I continued without pausing for any breaths as my excitement got the better of me.
“That’s where we’re weakest as individuals and as a collective, because we can either reload our weapons or turn to our magery,” I pointed out. “Now, since we have the perk of being in control of our own minds, we can avoid overtaxing ourselves while the possessed mages won’t even consider their magical limits, but this still isn’t an upper hand. If we can’t fight back long enough for the possessed mages to hit that limit, then it doesn’t matter, and we can’t use it as leverage. Our magery will fall below par regardless, so we’re arming ourselves, right? But reloading our weapons slows us down to a degree we just can’t afford. So, how do we get to where every mage can accomplish both at once? Faster reload, heightened effect, and mass distribution. That’s how we counter the possessed mages.”
“Except we’re not attacking the possessed mages,” Urn said in a low voice, and I glanced over to find him watching me intently.
For a minute, I’d gotten so caught up in the predicament that I forgot I was talking to the Defender who’s hand I’d shaken as I promised I wouldn’t kill the mages we’d lost. I was also watching our top Defenders, though, and I knew they wouldn’t survive an attack if it did come, which was a hole that couldn’t be ignored at this juncture.
So, I decided to say what I’d been thinking since the moment I made the deal with Defender Urn, because if he was in a position to influence the others, then he needed to open his eyes to every side of the problem.
“You have to understand this isn’t an end all solution,” I sighed as I gestured to the infirmary. “We can’t expect to empty out the Master’s entire fleet without him noticing. Eventually, he’ll catch on, and when he sends forces to deal with us, there will be possessed mages in the ranks, and they’ll be doing anything they can to wipe us out. Are you telling me you’re going to put your hands up and refuse to fight back?”
Urn looked away as his brows furrowed another measure, but after a while, he shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “That’s not where we’re at right now. We’re getting our mages back. That’s what’s important.”
“Looking ahead is just as important,” I countered. “We know what we’re up against, so we need to be prepared to counter it when it c
omes, otherwise all of this effort is wasted. It doesn’t matter how many mages we recapture if we don’t fight to keep them. Protecting the Oculus and Falmount is useless if we can’t defend the residents when push comes to shove.”
“Are you gonna attack these ogres he’s got as well then?” Urn asked pointedly. “Defender Haragh would certainly be curious about that, I’m sure. Would you tell him you’d kill the ogres off if they closed in on Falmount?”
“Haragh knows I’ll kill anyone who shows no sign of backing down,” I told him honestly. “If that means I’m fighting elves, ogres, or mages, it doesn’t matter. Defending the kingdom means doing whatever it takes to ensure the Master doesn’t win. We’re doing what we can here right now, but one day, we’ll have to change our tactics. You have to be ready for that. We all do.”
The muscles in Urn’s jaw pulsed as he looked away again, and when Shoshanne called my name from inside, I turned to join her without pushing the subject any further. Knowing I’d said my piece to Urn eased my discomfort a bit where our agreement was concerned, and my mind was already turning a mile a minute with ideas about how to ensure we could counter the possessed mages, and anyone else the Master tried to turn on us.
I’d tracked the Master’s every advance this far, and remaining determined to counter each one had actually paid off in spades, but only now did I understand to what extent. The fact was, if the Master wanted to use magery or rune magic, I currently had both at my disposal. Whatever his numbers or his plans, it was clear what his weapons of choice were, and I just realized I could outdo him at this game.
Because no one in this realm knew the potential for weaponry like I did, not even the Master, and no one could combine all of the available assets into one, lethal, handheld package.
Except for me.
Chapter 8
I found Shoshanne speaking to three mages who had just woken up, and they were sitting with their heads in their hands while the healer spoke quietly to them.
“Are you finished with the procedures?” I asked as I came to Shoshanne’s side, and she nodded.
