Carolynn giggled nervously.
Lia said, “I hope they work it out before Tanner attacks.”
He sighed, “Me too, but it’s a big thing, and will take time. In a real way, the new queen and our towers are starting a second revolution, that will change the face of our kingdom.”
Karina changed the subject, “So… a mystic?”
Lia said warningly, “My mystic.”
He grinned.
Karina rolled her eyes, “I’m not worried, just curious.”
He said, “Think of it like a young child that doesn’t have to learn to read. They still need to study and learn things the hard way, the rules of the world and the theories of how things work, they just don’t have to learn how to read first. I instinctively know the language of magic, as far as runes go anyway. When I decide I want to do something new, the rune comes to me, a lot like remembering something you may have forgotten.”
Carolynn said, “But that’s only part of it, right?”
He nodded, “A speech metaphor would cover the rest, the second advantage of a mystic. I know what others are casting, when they’re casting it, as if I could hear them talk aloud. Everyone else doesn’t know the language, so they just hear the noise, if they have detect magic running which would be their ears in that metaphor. I still had to work hard, I spent a lot of time in the library, and of course it didn’t help at all when it comes to swordsmanship. Obviously, I have no advantage at all in raw magic power, my power is very average for a mage in the towers.”
The upper side of average, but in the thirtieth percentile or so, where a lot of other mages were. Lia was in the top percentile that way, which was a vast difference, along with the tower masters and a few handfuls of others.
Karina said, “Those two things are huge, but can be overcome by hard work and experience for other mages. But, there has to be more. The old mystics held the mages like us in thrall, when they ruled the kingdom. Challenging one was said to be death. Similar to a non-mage challenging a mage, the difference in ability was that stark.”
He shrugged, “If there’s anything else, I haven’t discovered it yet. Plus, I suspect part of that is simply legend, if they were truly that powerful, they’d still be in charge. The did lose after all, to a coup, by non-mages at that.”
He suspected the council would know, but they sure as hell weren’t going to tell him. Who knew? Maybe it wasn’t the mystics intrinsic power, but their understanding of magic. Or perhaps, their control of the spells beneath the towers? The safety spells under the towers were strong enough to counter every master mage’s magic during a competition after all.
If the mystics could harness that power to their own will, what wouldn’t they be able to do?
He frowned, he was making assumptions. Maybe it was about being a mystic, and he just didn’t know it yet. He also didn’t overly care, he didn’t want rule, his ambitions lay elsewhere, and he didn’t think that would change, despite Jace’s obvious worries in that direction.
Still… Elisha’s confusing tangent in council had suggested just such a thing, a way to make him a weapon capable of defending all of them against the other three towers, hadn’t it? But was it simply information he didn’t have about his abilities, or was it about the permanent magic of the tower itself?
Perhaps both, or something else entirely that hadn’t even occurred to him yet. He had no way to know. He pushed it out of his head, it was a pointless exercise. He didn’t have enough information to draw any conclusions, and speculation wouldn’t help anyone.
It could be as simple as them developing spells that were kept a secret from the others. Spells so deadly and so attuned to their opponent’s weakness, even a more powerful mage couldn’t stop them. In truth, he already had that advantage, or close to it being able to cast from all six spheres, but so did all the other normal mages in the rune tower.
Carolynn said, “He’s naïve, maybe if he bent his mind toward enslaving us all it would come to him.”
Lia snorted, “You’ll have a long wait.”
He grinned, “And here I thought not wanting to rule you all with an iron fist was virtuous, apparently I’m just naïve.”
Karina snickered.
He sighed, “Nothing’s coming to me, guess I’ll have to stick to being a junior mage with a scarily powerful partner in life.”
Lia blushed.
He added, “Or, maybe I’m just lazy, because being an iron-fisted ruler sounds exhausting. Maybe I’m not the naïve one at all, and ambitious men who want that still suffer under the delusion that life can be controlled. Life is too messy to ever be fully ordered and controlled, to be made completely safe, and simple answers are always too brutal, and evil besides. All we can do is the best we can, and accept some things are past our control.”
Carolynn giggled.
Karina said faux wistfully, “Still, having minions sounds appealing.”
She wasn’t serious of course, the whole conversation was a little ridiculous. Except, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was an aspect of his power he was missing. Or perhaps that he just didn’t fully understand yet.
He really didn’t want to rule, but being more powerful meant being a better mage, better able to protect what he loved and care for. Random chance and life’s unfairness had to be accepted, but that didn’t mean he shouldn’t try to make it as safe as possible. He just didn’t feel a need to control everything to do that.
Still, he suspected the old mystics having powerful magical tools was probably the right answer, although he couldn’t prove it. He couldn’t be sure of course, but he didn’t sense any other abilities within him, much less one that would allow him to take out a master mage. Especially a master that had higher than average magic, like Lia, but much more than her after thirty more years of even slow growth. Surely, he’d have noticed or discovered any more intrinsic abilities by now, wouldn’t he? Regardless, he was really done with the whole thought process, and pushed it out of his head.
What he did mattered, and the results of what he did. He didn’t want to be like the old mystics, assuming that recorded history was even accurate. That whole unbeatable mystic thing could just be a lie, or a legend, in the first place. They were beaten, after all.
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning came early, as he’d come to expect of the princess. He was alert, they all were since by then Tanner would surely know of the princess’s location, and he would’ve worked out some kind of plans last night. If an attack was coming, he suspected it would be on that day.
He also very much enjoyed blade practice that morning, as the princess proved to be the equal or better of every life mage blade master that had been embarrassing him for the last seven months. She’d even given old Garen, their sword master and teacher, a run for his money, though he’d pulled out a win with a light touch. It was a bit petty of him he knew, but he really enjoyed watching them lose to the small slip of an underage queen.
It was also the time of the first move of Tanner’s, and he almost missed it. If he hadn’t been a mystic, he would have missed it. Tanner didn’t attack them with all his mages, he’d opted for subtlety for the first attack on the queen’s life in her new place of protection.
It turned out, one of the life mages had defected after all, then showed up that morning for sword practice. He just hadn’t ever gone to tanner, but he’d stayed, perhaps as a spy for the other side, that Tanner had turned into an assassin.
Sword practice was always a magic free place, so when he felt one of the life mages watching the queen and her opponent rather closely, then start to cast a speed enhancement spell, he reacted without thought. It wasn’t the first part that stood out, a lot of the life mages were as impressed as he was at the young queen’s prowess with a blade, and they were all watching closely.
He as guard, was watching everything except her.
The life mage lunged forward a moment later at the queen’s back, as he dropped the practice sword fell
from his hands and he drew his real sword. Sure, she was surrounded by a great number of other life mage blade masters, but not one of them were spelled for speed and had no chance to stop it. The queen started to turn, sensing the danger, but even her mastery of the blade was no match for someone moving so fast, it’s what made life mages so deadly in battle, and rune mages as well for that matter.
Fortunately, he didn’t hesitate when he’d felt the telltale signs of a spell and read what it was, and rune magic was faster than vocal and semantic spells. He cast his enhancement spells, at the same time he cast an earth spell. Right before the blade could run the queen through from behind, the sword was torn out of the life mage’s hand. The life mage stumbled at the sharp tug, and bowled over the queen, but by then he was hitting the life mage with a tackle from a slight angle, pushing him away from the queen as she fell to the ground.
The only reason that worked, was the life mage hadn’t had time to cast protection spells to stop Olin’s hasty spell from disarming him. All the life mage had cast was the speed spell before going for the kill. If he’d shown up at sword practice with full shields, even the dullest of them would pick him out as an assassin and traitor.
Which, besides being the only reason the queen wasn’t dead, was also why his follow up spell worked on the more powerful mage. As they hit the ground, he released a life spell that put the man into a trance, froze his thoughts and his mind. A moment later, one of the royal guard present was helping him get the life mage manacled, for questioning.
Vida looked gratefully at him, but also quite shaken by the unexpected attack.
Aubrey looked like she could chew nails, a livid look he hadn’t seen before on the life tower mistress’s face. Of course, the assassin was her mage, and she probably knew him very well, thought of him as a comrade in arms, someone she was safe with. She’d been wrong. She was the first to speak, and to break the shocked silence.
“Question him, see if he has knowledge of any other traitors in our ranks, that stayed to spy rather than going to the castle.”
She glanced at him, and he released the spell holding the man’s mind still. Manacled, he’d be unable to gesture, so unable to cast any spells. She then cast her own spell on the traitor, one that would demand he speak truth, and be unable to hold his tongue and not answer a question.
The man’s face fell, and he looked almost sad as he realized he’d failed to kill the young woman. That look and attitude angered Aubrey even further, and he had to say he was right there with her.
She growled, “Explain yourself. We are working toward a freedom, you know this.”
He sighed, “I wished to spare further losses in our ranks. The royal family will be extinguished, one way or another. We aren’t so foolish to believe these talks will succeed. The royal family already owns us, why would they relent? With my failure, there will be blood, death, and civil war among the mages. We will be slaves no longer, no matter the price.”
She asked, “Does Tanner have other spies here, and does he know our full defensive plans?”
He shook his head, “No, I was the last chance as I said, to avoid bloodshed among us. There are no others, that I know of, at least. It’s possible that Tanner held such information from me, but I doubt it. He wouldn’t have been able to easily lie to me in our mind to mind communications, and he said I was the only one, the last chance. You would recognize any of the other defectors on sight. As for the second question, he does.”
She sighed, “You’re a fool, the talks are going well. But there’s a lot to go through, a lot of compromises to be made on both sides.”
He shook his head, “If we rule, we don’t need to compromise.”
She snorted, “The commoners wouldn’t accept us. The army wouldn’t accept us either, which would endanger us further to the empire south of us. The kingdom would tear itself apart. We must be free, but the royal family must rule. Both are possible, but it will take time. We need a place we can all agree on, not just the queen and the council, but the nobles that will have to follow the new rules as well. You, however, will not live to see it.”
The life mage blanched.
She said coldly, “You would have been forgiven for defecting, had you come back to us once a new arrangement between us and the crown was formalized, but raising a sword against the queen is a capital offense. Until now, only Tanner’s and Sun’s actions were irretrievable and unforgivable.”
Talia said, not unkindly, “I can deal with it, Aubrey.”
Aubrey shook her head, and there were tears in her eyes, but her voice was pure steel, “No, he’s mine. It is my responsibility, and failure. He’s stupid, and he was led to this by Tanner like a lamb to the slaughter. There was no risk for him in waiting, and he could have stood his ground if we did fail to make a new arrangement between us and the crown. It would’ve cost him nothing to wait and watch for another day or two. The only ones who have a vested interest in sabotaging it at all, much less so quickly, is Sun and Tanner, who will die if the new arrangement comes to fruition.”
The life mage looked abashed, regretful, and horrified at that, as if those simple facts hadn’t occurred to him before.
He imagined that stirring speeches of winning their freedom had the life mage eating out of Tanner’s hands. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to talk all the others into a real outright attack, if the queen’s and council’s current talks and the subject of it was widely known.
Idiots, led by emotions and outrage.
It also explained why the mage’s intentions hadn’t triggered his shields and enhancements directly. The life mage had been focusing on the errant idea of all the mage lives he’d be saving in a battle, and not the actual violent act to get there. It was a loophole of sorts, and a dangerous one, it was why they couldn’t fully depend on their ward spells and needed to stay alert at all times.
Aubrey moved quickly as she drew her sword, and the strike that took the traitor’s life was fast and true. Merciful, even. It was a shocking testimony to how real it all was, it wasn’t a game. The future of the mages, the royal family, and the entire kingdom was on the line.
The death count was up to ten mages, and the true battle hadn’t even begun yet. He hoped they’d hurry, but he knew it would take some time, he just wished he knew how much. No one had the stomach to continue sword practice after that, so everyone retired to their posts, or to the inn to wash up and get ready for breakfast. He, Lia, Carolynn, and Karina were in the latter group, shadowing the young queen.
Chapter Seventeen
It was late morning out in front of the inn, the four of them guarded the door as the queen and four master mages discussed the rules, laws, and traditions. Each one would have to be evaluated, to be held up, changed, or completely stricken in light of the new arrangement. He wasn’t sure fully what the final compromise was, the core of their agreement, or even if it was fully set in stone, but he was fairly sure that part of it was settled. They were now discussing the framework of laws, rules, and exceptions that supported that core relationship structure between the mages and crown.
An obvious exception would be during war, if there weren’t enough mages in service to handle everything, they could be temporarily pressed into service. An obvious thing to strike from tradition is requiring all mages to be in at least four competitions a year, or perhaps just modify it to reflect all mages who are in service to the crown. Little things, and perhaps obvious, but it all had to be spelled out before the agreement was done. Otherwise, they’d be making it up as they went along, and that wasn’t ruling, that was chaos.
Not to mention, people would object if their new rights were seen as infringed, it’d all have to be spelled out if it was going to work, especially the exceptions. Of course, being pressed into service during times of war was something that applied to commoners as well, so they’d still be on even ground there with the rest of Reton’s citizenry.
He was also sure some tower rules would become laws. He doubted th
ey’d tolerate a splinter school being formed for instance, or a mage opening a laboratory to experiment with magic. Technically, if they didn’t live in the tower, and were free, the tower rules were meaningless to those non-guild mages and didn’t apply at all. Only the laws of Reton would have meaning at that point and could constrain them.
In short, it was bloody complicated, and he got why it was taking so long despite the urgency of coming to new terms before the standoff ended between the sides.
He asked, “So, what will you two do if we’re given a choice after ten years of service, to pay for the schooling, food, shelter, and stipend.”
Both Karina and Carolynn looked startled by the question, as if that choice hadn’t really even occurred to them yet, despite what was going on. Both of them were in their late twenties, and had no doubt already served ten years. In short, they may be able to just walk away in a couple of days, and never look back.
Lia giggled at their shocked faces.
Karina shook her head, “I’ll be staying of course, the water guild is my family.”
Carolynn nodded, “Me too, earth guild, I mean.”
He nodded, “But you could pay a small amount to stay, to cover shelter and food, and then do your own thing while staying with family in the tower. Open a business, or…” he trailed off.
Karina snorted, “Do you think we’d be out here with you, after being relieved of duty, if we didn’t want to be a part of something bigger? To protect the kingdom and our way of life?”
He smirked, “No, actually I didn’t think you would at all. I was just curious if you’d given it any thought.”
Carolynn asked, “What about you two?”
He replied, “I feel the same, I want to be part of something bigger than I am, and I wouldn’t leave Lia’s side. Besides, it could be ten years before I face that question, but it’s not an option that appeals to me.”
Lia smirked, “Same. I’m not sure all that much would change for most of us under the new regime. Only the truly unhappy will go their own way. Except… we can take pride in our decision to do what we do, rather than being forced into that choice. That will make a difference, I think.”
Rune Mage: The Rune Mystic: Book Two Page 13
