“He will grow into it,” Wulfsun assured her.
“Good to know.” She placed the weapon on the table. “So tell me then, Devol. What is the power of your majestic?”
He sighed and put his palms together as he explained. “We aren’t exactly sure.”
“Hmm?” The daemoni paused, her expression startled. “You have no idea?”
“Well, after practicing with it during this last week, we thought it might have something to do with Mana-draining.” he postulated. “When I fought Wulfsun, I was able to break through his shield because he was running low on Mana and—”
“Wait, you broke through Wulfsun’s barrier?” Macha asked and her eyes widened with an impressed look as she regarded the Templar captain. “Has that been done before?”
The giant shook his head and smirked. “Interesting, ain’t it?”
“Very much,” she agreed, rested a hand on her chest, and tapped her fingers. “An ability that allows one to drain the Mana of others would explain that.”
“Well…the thing is, we still aren’t sure that is what it does,” Devol continued. “When I sparred with Jazai, if I was able to get close or graze him, he would lose words in his book and his spells wouldn’t have the power they usually do. In fact, he tried once to teleport or blink as he called it, and he ended up stuck on top of a tree when he wanted to teleport behind it.”
“I see.” She nodded. “Anything else?”
“With Asla, when she did her magical cat thing—” He made claws with his hands for emphasis. “Whenever I struck at her, she lost speed and she said she heard a ringing that distracted her.”
“Heard a ringing?” the daemoni asked quickly and tapped her fingers faster in thought. “Hmm, everything else sounds like it would be affected by Mana-draining or something similar. But that ringing is an odd effect.” She folded her arms and gestured to the sword with her head. “Show me then.”
Devol drew it, held it up, and closed his eyes as he summoned his Anima and began to release power to the majestic.
Rogo returned with a box in his lower arms. “Hey, boss. I brought the materi—” As the blade began to charge, the light poured into it and illuminated the room with a bright glare. The melian slapped his upper hands over his eyes and surprised shouts and gasps issued from the other smiths. When he realized that he might be blinding them, the boy dimmed the light hastily and looked around with genuine concern.
Macha blinked rapidly but otherwise, showed very little reaction. “I didn’t expect it to look like that,” she admitted. “The bright light could be useful on its own. It is certainly an interesting majestic. I’m honestly rather excited to do some research now.”
Wulfsun regarded her with a trace of suspicion. “You aren’t thinking about adding anything, are ya?”
“Adding?” Devol asked and looked at the head smith. “Adding to what? The sword? I overheard Zier and Vaust talk about modifications or something.”
The daemoni nodded. “I’ve found ways to make simple modifications to majestics,” she explained. “Similar to how one would with an exotic, although it takes considerably more materials and much more skill than most are capable of.” She waved a hand dismissively. “But given that we don’t know what it does, it would not be smart to do so right now. But should we have a better grasp of it…” She leaned forward and smiled at the young Magi. “I would be more than happy to play with it to see what we can create.” He looked away from the eager master smith and merely inclined his head in acknowledgment.
“Is it safe to look now?” the melian smith asked, his hands still over his eyes.
Macha sighed and straightened. “It’s been safe,” she replied and tossed him a mold of a sword when he lowered his hands, which he snatched out of the air. “Put the materials you brought with you down. Then, I need you to fetch a bag of cobalt dust and enough diament glass to make a blade of that size.”
“Diament glass?” Rogo placed the box on a table and when he turned to look at her, she stared impassively at him. “Uh…right, boss!” he said and took the mold with him as he hurried to another room.
“I’ll let you know what I find,” she promised, turned to them, and smiled at Devol. “And you be sure to do the same.”
“Yes, ma’am.” he agreed with a polite bow.
Wulfsun chuckled and patted him on the back. “All right, boyo. Say your goodbyes for now. It is time to eat.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Rogo the smithy?” Jazai repeated after he swallowed his mouthful of potato. “Yeah, that’s his real name. Melian’s don’t have family names or clan names like most of the other races. They use their profession as a type of marker of who they are.”
“What about when they are kids?” Devol asked as he scarfed his beef and rice. “Was he Rogo the kid?”
“He would have been Rogo son of… What was his father’s name?” the other boy asked as he tapped his fork on the side of his plate.
“Rogo son of Toro,” Asla answered as she finished her juice. “Or Rogo son of Toro the forger. They can get somewhat wordy so their first names are usually simple.”
“I see.” He moved his empty bowl to the side. “By the way, Wulfsun said we’ll head out on our mission in a couple of days.”
“Zier said something similar.” The scholar’s apprentice looked at Asla. “Did Freki give you an update?”
She nodded, pierced a small piece of fish with a claw, and raised it to her mouth. “Yes, he also told me it will be to return a package to the order.”
“So a simple retrieval mission?” Devol asked and his dejection colored his tone. “Like madame Nauru said.”
“Yeah, that’s the long and short of it,” Jazai agreed. “I’m not surprised that our first mission alone would be something so simple.”
“I wonder why they haven’t given us the specifics.” He picked his cup of water up. “I would think it would be important for us to know what we’re looking for and all that before we set off, right?”
“It could be they don’t know the specifics themselves,” Asla pointed out and swallowed the piece of fish. “Freki said that we might meet someone to recover it.”
“And can’t they use the portals?” Devol asked. “That seems faster and safer.”
“They might not be a member of the Templars,” the young scholar reasoned as he began to eat a soft yellow dessert cake. “We have partners who help the order and some alliances with brokers and guilds will send those looking for us to certain anchor points. But only the most trusted among them have the ability to open the portal or even know where some of the anchors that lead here are. Otherwise, even if you find one of the anchors, a Templar will come to meet you if you try to access it.”
“Oh.” He frowned as he recalled the day he had opened the portal. “I wasn’t a member of the Templars so how did I get through?”
Asla glanced at him. “You mentioned that you had opened it but that you used your majestic to do so, correct?”
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Now that I think about it, both Mr. Lebatt and Wulfsun seemed surprised at that.”
“Maybe that’s simply another facet of your majestic,” Jazai suggested. “It’s starting to sound like a real multi-tool kinda deal. I wish you had more control over it.”
Asla frowned and her ears twitched. “No kidding.”
Devol chuckled but he did agree with them. His majestic seemed far more useful and fascinating than he had given it credit for since he first received it, but he still had no idea what it did. A weapon you could not wield properly was not the most dependable.
While the trainees continued to chat, their mentors, Zier, Wulfsun, Freki, and Vaust, were seated at another table across the dining hall and discussed the mission.
“Well…I understand the logic,” Freki conceded, although his scowl clearly showed his hesitation. “But this could be far more than they can handle right now.”
“The grand mistress agrees,” Vaust stated and sipped
from his gourd, frowned, and shook it. He grimaced when he realized very little of its contents were left. He sighed, placed it on the table, and looked at the wolf wildkin. “Which is why I’ll shadow them.”
“You will?” Zier seemed surprised. “I would have thought you would be on another mission by then.”
“This is my mission,” the mori replied. “Technically, it would be much too dangerous for them. But we currently do not believe anyone knows that the item is out in the open yet. Sending three younglings to retrieve it would raise less suspicion, but we cannot be sure that won’t change between then and now so I will be on standby and observe them.”
“Who got in touch with us?” Freki asked.
“A hunter’s guild in the Britana Kingdom,” Vaust revealed. “Or I should say the Hunter’s Guild of Britana.”
“That means Henry’s boys and girls, correct?” Wulfsun asked and received a nod in reply. “Huh, why not get it to us directly? They are in good standing with us. I know the Britana anchor point is a little out of the way but—”
“The grand mistress asked the same thing,” the mori interjected. “And it would be one of the reasons I am going. They didn’t only find one item. There was another but the team sent to retrieve it never returned.”
This caused the jaws of his comrades to clench around the entire table. “Any more information?” Zier asked.
“Only that the search party never found them. And a couple of other individuals in the guild have gone missing,” Vaust explained. “They cannot rule out that they are followed or watched. Even if they did use the portal to get here, they could be attacked before that happened or the enemy could use a spell or majestic to keep the portal open and thus allow whoever is interested in that item to enter.”
“And we have so many in storage—not that it would be easy for them to steal in the abyss,” Wulfsun grumbled and ran a hand through his wild mane. “Damn. It feels like I’m hearing more tales of people looking for those cursed things than merely stumbling upon them now.”
“Should we tell them?” Freki asked with a hasty glance at Zier. “I’ve only mentioned them to Asla as I didn’t want to frighten her, but does Jazai know?”
“I’m sure he has some idea of what they are, given his father’s work,” the scholar replied and sipped his wine. “Although he has been reticent about whether he knows much about them or not, I’m almost certain it means he at least knows of them. I have told him to keep any rumors or specifics of his father’s work to himself. He is cheeky but he wouldn’t cause a fire he couldn’t put out.”
“They will be instructed to keep the box closed and secured,” Vaust assured them. “And as I said, I will be there to make sure everything goes well. Think of this less as a dire mission and more like a test similar to what Devol recently went through.” He scooted his chair back far enough to place his heels casually on the table. “After all, they are gifted students, but what good are those gifts if they don’t get a chance to use them?”
Freki looked down and sighed. “What good are those gifts if they are killed?” he responded grimly and looked up to see the concern on the faces of his comrades.
“Come now, Freki,” Wulfsun chided. “You’ve been training Asla for a few months now. Not only that, you’ve seen them working together over the past week and they aren’t pushovers.”
The wildkin nodded slowly “I know, but…”
“I, for one, am excited to see what my apprentice accomplishes on his own,” Zier admitted and surprised the others. “What? Jazai is intelligent and can be a help when he bothers to apply that intellect. But after working with him all this time, I know that unless something drastic changes in his demeanor, the path of the scholar will not be his first choice. If anything, he may take a path similar to his father, something I think Ekon is aware of. So this will be an interesting trial for him.”
“And Vaust will be there,” Wulfsun stated and hoisted his stein. “You have confidence in your comrade, right?”
“Keep it down, would you?” Freki asked and gestured at his ears before he nodded. “Of course I do. It’s only… It can be hard to send them out like that when you’ve grown attached.” He bit his lip. “I’ve known Asla since she was a child and hated the fact that I wasn’t there to help her when she needed it. If I was, maybe she wouldn’t be here at all.”
“You cannot continue to dwell on that,” Vaust stated and surprised the wildkin. “She is coming into her own now and even before, has she ever done something she didn’t wish to? I am sure that if she had an issue, the grand mistress would have been happy to find another place for her to grow. But Asla remained here—with you and to find her path. This is her taking another step and if you care for her, you will see her as a sister-in-arms, not as a child to shelter.”
Zier chuckled as he finished his wine. “I would never have thought I’d hear something so profound from you, Vaust.”
“Hey, the kids are leaving,” Wulfsun told them as the trio left their plates and glasses at the cleaning area and departed. “It looks like they are headed toward the scholar spire.”
“Perhaps they are going to end their night with a session of studying,” Zier suggested.
The mori chuckled. “Were you ever a child?”
With a sigh of annoyance, the dryad filled his glass again with the remains of the bottle on the table. “Yes, a very studious one, thank you.”
“Hey, up here!” Jazai called over his shoulder as he opened the hatch to the spire roof. The three youngsters scrambled through and Devol caught sight of the unobscured night sky above.
“Wow, it’s so clear up here.”
“Peaceful too,” the apprentice scholar agreed. “I come here to get away from it all—specifically Zier when he gets cranky.”
Asla sat quickly and stared at the stars. Devol noticed that the lights of the night gave her an ethereal glow, which made her seem rather enchanting although he also saw a look of concern on her face. “Is something wrong, Asla?”
She shrugged and frowned slightly. “I couldn’t hear what the older Templars were talking about, but from Freki’s tone… Well, I don’t think he expects us to succeed.”
“The folly of youth is what Zier would call it.” Jazai sighed as he leaned on the brass railings around the edge of the roof. “It can’t be that bad. If it was important, they wouldn’t send us if they didn’t think we could do it.”
“That doesn’t sound much better,” she mumbled. “Either we’re running a pointless errand or it is some kind of test.”
“Well, of course.” Devol’s statement drew odd looks from the other two. “It seemed obvious to me that this was more of a test than a real mission. They haven’t exactly been subtle about it.”
“Really?” the other boy asked. “I didn’t catch that.”
“I’m sure the mission is real,” he assured them. “But they put us together and made us train. I think they want to see what we can accomplish on our own.” He held a hand out, the palm down. “And I want us to promise each other that we will make it through. I’ve seen you two in action now, and I’m sure we could go on solo missions and do well. Together, this should be no problem.”
Jazai chuckled and stepped closer with his arms folded. “Zier would call you too optimistic.” He unfolded them and placed his hand on top of his friend’s. “But I don’t agree with him on much anyway.”
Asla placed her hand on top of the apprentice’s and surprised her companions. She wore a look of fierce determination on her face. “You are right, Devol. Even if they believe we can’t succeed, we should show them they are wrong.”
“Exactly.” He nodded and smiled at his teammates. “This’ll be the first official mission ever given to me by someone besides my mom, but I don’t think those count. I’m glad I’ll be working with you at my side.”
“Same,” Jazai said and grinned at them.
The wildkin did the same. “I’m excited once again. Let’s do our best.”
Their promise to each other sealed, they spent another hour talking and looking at the stars before they wandered to their quarters to sleep. They would train for one more day before it was time to depart on their first mission for the Templar Order.
It was a mission that would change their reality over the course of their journey, although they did not know it that night.
Chapter Twenty
“Man, I forgot how cold it is out here!” Jazai grumbled as he drew his jacket closer. “Where’s Asla? We need to get this show on the road.”
“Calm yourself, Jazai,” Zier ordered sharply. Although he did a better job of bundling his garment around him for warmth than the young scholar, he was also rather chilled by the outside air. “We are still waiting for the grand mistress as well.”
“It looks like you won’t have to wait long,” the apprentice said and gestured to the bridge. “Here they are.”
Devol and the others looked to where Asla, Freki, and Nauru strode out of the entrance to the castle and hurried to join them. The young Magi saw that Vaust was not with them. As the group huddled together, the two boys noticed that Asla carried a rather large backpack. “You do know we’ll only be gone for a couple of days at most, right?” Jazai managed to restrain a chuckle at the fact that her pack of supplies was almost as tall as her.
“Freki insisted.” She sighed. The wolf wildkin wore a concerned and perhaps even melancholy expression on his face. He must have been sad that his trainee was leaving his side for a while and it was cute in a way.
“Good morning, everyone.” Nauru greeted them with a small bow that all in attendance reciprocated. “Are you ready, young Magi?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Devol stated and stood tall. “Tell us what we need to do.”
“That would be helpful for completing the mission.” Jazai snickered and Zier nudged him in the back in annoyance.
“I certainly agree.” Nauru allowed herself a small smile and cleared her throat to draw the group's attention as she took a small card from her robes. “These are the instructions for your contact. You are to meet in the town of Rouxwoods.”
A New Light (The Astral Wanderer Book 1) Page 15
