“For breakfast for one, bacon and sausages take a higher heat to cook than flat cakes or eggs. Set your skillet of meats in the back and cook everything else up front. This way everything gets done at about the same time and you don’t burn the eggs by cooking them too fast.”
Alec moved some of the skillets around organizing them so Charley would know which skillets to use up front and to use the thicker ones in back. Charley was quick to catch on and they had most of the pots, pans and skillets organized by the time the stew was done. He’d even found the measuring cups under in a cabinet, they needed washed. Alec promised to try to sneak in in the morning to get him started. He asked Charley to read through his mother recipe book and said he’d try to answer any questions he had tomorrow.
Taking a healthy bowl of the stew, Alec headed out of the kitchen and was stopped by Charles.
“Thank you Alec. That’s a decent thing you did in there.”
“It’s no trouble. He has the basics down and is willing to try. Most of it will come from his mother’s book.” Alec said.
“He’s had a hard time of it this last summer. His ma fell ill early in the winter and just never recovered. He took care of her while I tried to keep this place going and food in our stomachs. He takes too much on himself sometimes and hasn’t learned when to ask for help yet. Now if you have any advice about women don’t forget to pass it along too.” Charles patted him on the shoulder. “I’m all thumbs and tongue tied when it comes to the fairer sex. Still not sure how I ever got his ma in the first place.”
“I’ll not be any help unless she likes to eat. My own luck fails me repeatedly when it comes to women, sir.” Alec told him.
“Well looks like your friends are anxious to talk with you. If you need a hand you just give me a nod.”
Allen was standing and waving him over when Alec looked into the common room.
“We should be alright. Thanks.”
There were more people in the rooms than had come with the horses in the stable as Alec weaved his way to Allen.
“Allen.” Alec said in greeting.
“Don’t be like that. All I ask is that you hear me out and Robert would like to talk with you too. No one is going to force you to do something you don’t want to, you’re your own man and don’t owe us anything.”
Alec ate his stew in silence, taking far less time to do so than he’d like.
“Let’s head upstairs, too many ears down here; we don’t want everyone knowing our business.”
Alec let himself be led up the stairs and into a room. Sherry stood up from the bed as they came in and Robert pushed himself up off the floor. They’d clearly been arguing. He stopped just inside the room. Alec knew he had to put himself in a position of having power otherwise they would think they could just walk all over him. Allen went over and leaned against the wall next to the window. He’d like to stay near the door, showing that he’d leave whenever he wanted to.
“Come in Alec, have a seat.” Sherry motioned to the only chair. It was positioned so it was in the middle of the room with its back to the wall.
Alec just looked from Robert to Sherry. The smile on her face looked fake and like she was the cat that got the milk. Taking advice from one of Allen’s mini lectures “when there isn’t a strong position, make one”. Alec walked over to the chair and carried it back, setting it next to the door. Sitting down he stretched out his feet and crossed his arms in front of him.
“I’m here. Say what you need to.” He noticed that the smile had fallen from Sherry’s face.
“I’ll start.” Allen said. “I’d like you to come back to Kingston with me. Teresa won’t be a problem and you’d be accepted by the rest of my family. You already know my reasoning. The second reason is that as a mage your power could greatly help in the defense of Kingston.”
“You have to…” Sherry started.
“I think it might help for us to give him some information first.” Robert cut her off. “We were tasked with finding you by Archmage Paul. He was able to sense your power before you even became a mage. It’s our intention to fully train you as a mage, fulfilling the prophecies, in safety.”
“How can you guarantee he’ll be safe from the gods?” Allen asked.
“Our home is in the western mountains at a castle where a god was killed long ago. When a god is killed the release of power creates a veil of sorts that very few gods are willing to enter, because they are blind with in it.” Robert said.
“Very few gods? Does that mean some of them do go there?” Alec asked.
“Yes. Mistress Silvia has been known to come and go on occasion. We haven’t seen or heard of any other god entering the veil.”
“I haven’t met her, yet. Which one is she?” Alec asked.
“You’ve been meeting with the gods? More than one?” Sherry asked.
“I’ve met two. Melanie, she’s the one who tried to kill me. And Aaron, he seemed nice enough and showed me a few things.” Alec liked the astonished look on Sherry’s face.
“So they’re not all against you. Silvia isn’t against you either. So if we can train you correctly we hope to advert the prophecies.”
“Go ahead and tell him what your prophecies are.” Allen told him.
“The Banished break free and gods are slain. The gods must put their faith in them, for only those who are kin to the gods may save them, should they choose to.” That is the first one. The second is “The first born mage shall break free the banished in his quest for power if his heart is not kept free. Only when the second born mage rights old wrongs will he gain the power to exile the banished forever.”
“If the Banished are loosed on our world… let’s just say it would be really bad.” Sherry said.
“I know who the Banished are. Aaron told me about them.” Alec told her. “So you think I’m the one who will free the Banished.”
“That’s what we’re trying to prevent by training you correctly. There’s really only one choice. You have to come with us.” Sherry told him.
“Actually there are three choices. He could go with you, me or he could go with neither of us.” Allen told her.
“I strongly suggest you come with us.” Sherry stood from the bed.
Alec stood as well, “And if I don’t?” he increased his shield and prepared to throw up an external one.
“You must. Quit being a child and do what’s right! You’re like a kid not wanting to go to bed, boo hoo hoo I don’t want to!” Sherry mocked him.
“There is no way I would ever go anywhere with you! You’re a real bitch, worse than Melanie even!” Alec threw insults back at her as she started calling him spoiled, ungrateful and other names.
Robert and Allen watched wide eyed as Alec and Sherry threw insults and slander at each other.
Alec was pissed off. He knew he had been on edge for a long time but the woman comes and just starts demanding. He didn’t have time to even flinch as she called a ball of fire and threw it at him. The flames hit his internal shield saving his skin but burnt strait through his shirt. Alec did as Aaron had explained. He sensed where her well would be and placed a full shield over it without a gap then threw up a full shield in front of him.
Allen ran towards Alec and bounced off his shield and Alec let him through. At the same time Robert ran to his wife who was staring with her mouth open. With a screech she jumped toward Alec smacking against his shield and dropped to the ground unconscious.
“What did you do? I can’t feel her anymore!” Robert asked.
“Don’t come any closer. I shielded her well. I don’t want to fight you but I will if you make me.”
“You have to release her! Our bond is through our magic!” Robert was panicking.
“I will in the morning after she leaves town. If she attacks me again I’ll tie off the shield, permanently.” Alec turned and left the room with Allen behind him.
Charles was waiting for him at the bottom of the steps gaping at him.
“Those two
will be leaving in the morning.” Alec said in a flat voice and continued walking.
Allen realized this was a different side of Alec. This was the pushed too far and extremely upset Alec, cold, calculating, assured, and in control Alec.
Reaching the stable, Alec flicked his hand and the torches on either side of the doors flared to life.
“Want to spar?” Alec asked without turning around.
“Sparring only, just be careful, I know you’re upset.” Allen drew his sword.
Alec reached behind the door and received his new staff. The two of them went through their forms concentrating on making their moves perfectly. It was temping to add his power to the staff but Alec refrained wanting to use his muscles. Use them he did, the staff weighed more than a normal staff would, being solid oak.
At the end of their match they were both drenched from sweating and the light rain still coming down. Allen asked if he could check out his staff and held out his sword for Alec to hold. He knew right away that Alec hadn’t been adding his power to the staff it was that heavy.
“How do you plan on using this thing? It feels like you have a steel bar inside it.” Allen asked.
“I’m going to enchant it tomorrow. Make it apart of me.” Alec smiled as he took the staff back.
As Allen walked toward the inn Alec felt the first of several probes to his shield over Sherry’s well. Sharp, followed by prying, followed by all out bludgeoning force. Alec lay down in his bed as the attacks on his shield continued. He could feel both pieces of his power in the inn. One was the shield the other just a speck of his power sitting on the edge of Roberts. For a moment before he fell asleep he seriously considered stretching that speck over Robert’s well so he could get some sleep.
Chapter 17
King Manister called for his generals. He knew that what he proposed was both risky and dangerous but King Sallin would pay for assassinating his son and heir.
Looking around the table the majority of them had been in the war and he knew they had no love for the Sundarians. With the capture of Fort Wallenberg, he would split his army in two. One half would head for the fort and the other would accompany him. Crossing even a small corner of the desert wouldn’t be easy and the logistics of the supply train would be huge.
The King laid the entire plan out for them. Half the army would hold the Sundarians at the fort while he led the other half across the desert and around the swamps. Then it would be easy pickings to sack their way down the foothills until they reached the pass. The first army would attack the fort and the second would come through the pass hitting them from both sides. If Sundaria tried to retreat back up the pass when the first half attacked the second would have them bottled up.
Timing would be most crucial. They would have to retake the fort and bring the first army through the pass before the rest of Sundaria’s army could mobilize otherwise they would be forced to retreat to their side of the pass.
With some of the kinks being worked out of his plan by the generals and the supply train being assembled, King Manister went to argue with the Archbishop once again. Regardless of the priest’s wishes, he would cut through the desert. There was no other way to go around the mountains other than through the swamps. To go through the swamps was to lose more than half his men. Even a mage had his limits and couldn’t take on an entire country by himself.
His younger son was now heir and some of his rougher spots needed a little polishing. His unwillingness to betroth Duke Windstorm’s daughter would be the first order of business. Second, being the second heir had allowed Prince Cameron to pursue a military career. With his older brother as heir, it was never deemed necessary for him to unlock his magical potential. As the future ruler of Maldore and being a member of the only known mage family still in existence, the Prince would be required to live with the priests at the Temple for a year learning to use his power. He had a lot to do over the next four days.
Christi read the list again finding it hard to believe. Billy’s name was half way down on the second page. The King’s Academy was a place of controlled chaos. Supplies flooded in and were organized to the north. Families rushed to the various schools asking if their sons and daughter were called to serve. Two days didn’t seem like enough time for an army to gather and be ready to march.
Peter had let her out of her lessons for the day. She was headed to the officer’s cafeteria to meet with her parents and Billy. She was almost ashamed of being happy that Alec had left. His running had forced Allen to chase after him. Having talked to Tom earlier, she’d learned that if Allen had been there he would have gone too. It was one of those times that she silently thanked Alec for his stupidity.
Christi opened the door and met with the sound of people laughing and crying. She found her parents in the front row of tables saving seats for Billy and her. Giving her parents each a hug she asked if they had heard from Allen.
“Not since Bill came back. I’m sure they’re fine and Allen will find him soon enough.” Jessica reassured her.
“I talked to Tom Stolle this morning. It’s kind of a good thing Allen isn’t here, otherwise he’d be going too.”
“Why is that a good thing?” George asked.
“A lot of the higher ups aren’t happy about crossing into the desert.” Bill said as he sat down. He shook his father’s hand and leaned over to hug Jessica and Christi.
When asked why, Bill said he didn’t really know and that there were all types of rumors going around. Bill assured his parents that while he was going with the second army, even though it was the first to leave, only third and fourth year wizards and sorcerers would be going with the first one.
Bill had to leave shortly after eating saying that he had to make sure the enlisted knew how to count canteens again. Christi walked her parents back to the sorcery tower to talk with Peter. In the parlor Christi showed them small versions of the spells Peter was teaching her.
“I have it scheduled for her to try a full size cyclone tomorrow.” Peter told them from the doorway.
George got up and greeted his old friend. They immediately started talking about the war and what it would mean to various people, including the Prince.
Jessica tried to reassure Christi that both Allen and Alec were fine and they were both very capable men. She reminded Christi that Alec had held his own against a goddess. Surely there was little even an army could do to him.
Fort Wallenberg was a very practically built place. Twenty foot outer walls with areas for either ballista or huge vats of boiled pitch. The twin gates, one to the east the other west, were built right into the stone walls. Foot thick wooden doors banded with steel required huge counter weights to open and close them. Four cross beams held the doors closed and locked into the stone walls in the event of a siege.
General Malcom paced the walls. He received more recruits each day and the fort was nearing capacity. Before long he’d have to start putting men in the garrisons outside the fort. It would be a much harder task to keep order when that happened.
This week alone there had been six court-martials and four hangings. He refused to allow the troops to run around like a bunch of highwaymen. He’d even had one of his lieutenants court-martialed and hung for raping a local woman. It was hard to defend the actions of someone caught in the act.
His other problem was food. Not that there was a shortage of food. No, it was the sabotages. A urine soaked bushel of grain still smelled and tasted like urine no matter how many times it was cleaned. Not to mention how unsanitary it was. Manure in with the corn and beans made entire shipments unusable and killing livestock just made matters worse. He’d made things much harder by posting round the clock guards but he still lost shipments of food every occasionally.
General Brian Malcom headed for his office. He needed a quick belt of whiskey before his meeting with Master Parten and the other magic users. A few of the wizards weren’t so bad really, just the ones directly under Master Parten. The stories that circulated abou
t those who got on his bad side were horrific.
Brian drank down his whiskey and felt it burn the whole way, it was a good burn. He hated the Maldorians. Not as a people, he was smart enough to know that a Maldore blacksmith was basically the same as a Sundarian blacksmith. He hated the raids they made on Sundaria, their assassination attempts on the King. He blamed their King.
The meeting went as he suspected it would, Master Parten making unrealistic demands in the name of the King. Brian had yet to figure out what it was Master Parten wanted. Some men wanted political power, some want knowledge. Parten seem to only want to make everyone else miserable.
He was looking forward to spending the night with Felicia. There were women who followed the army everywhere. Some men liked their women to feign ignorance or even innocence; he liked a woman who knew what she was doing. Passing one of his men, he saw the flicker of the man’s fingers, two and four. One was rumor he might like to know. Two was information that was reliable. Three was known facts that would interest him. Four was a kind of joke, information on Master Parten.
In his career, he had hung one adviser to the king and two fellow generals, all for treason. The king trusted him to run his own spies and keep him informed. As Brian entered his room he was not disappointed to find Felicia there waiting for him, but that he had to send her away for a while. No sooner had he sent her down to the kitchens, his spy slipped in.
“I hope this is worth it. Did you see what I had waiting for me?” he asked.
“Yes sir, on both accounts. A priest named Daniel overheard his bishop talking directly to one of the gods. He didn’t say which one. The god was instructing the bishop to keep an eye on Master Parten. He said that one of the other gods has promised Master Parten power, as in magic, if Sundaria wins the war. The god suggested that Master Parten was using blood magic to strengthen himself.”
“How reliable is this priest? Why would he repeat temple business to one of our informants?”
“My understanding is that the priest, Daniel, has some very bad vices. One of which is dream powder. The other is young children. The temples have heard about both and are looking for him. When he found our informant, he was already on the run and looking for powder. It won’t be long before he is caught.”
Mage (The Elemental Magic Series Book 2) Page 18
