Branded Mage

by D. W.

  Thad smiled at the old man. He had to admit to himself that he feared he would have to live in the crammed barracks that smelled of sweat and other foulness that accumulated when a large group of people lived in close quarters. “Sounds like a plan to me. Honestly I’m quite exhausted, and if you would show me to my room I would love to take a quick bath and hit the sack.”

  Trent’s smile widened at Thad’s words. “No problem, my young man. There is not a bunk in there at the moment, but while you are out at the baths I will have some of the soldiers bring one in for you. I will also have them clean up the room a little. I was using it to store some confiscated items, but we can move that to one of the other buildings for as long as you need the room.”

  Trent led him to a cluttered room that was only a bit smaller than the one he had back at the palace. It didn’t have any windows but with as cold as the weather was, he considered that a blessing. The general promised him that when he returned he would have a clean room furnished with a bed, desk, and a few chairs. Trent had said they probably wouldn’t be anything exquisite, but they should do the job. As he left for his bath Thad assured him anything would work.

  There were two sets of baths one for the regular soldiers and one for the officers. Thad on the General’s suggestion went to the officer’s baths. The General assure him that, while they were smaller, they did have the warmest water. The water wasn’t steaming hot but was pleasantly warm. It helped easy some of the soreness that days in a cold saddle had worn into him.

  There were a few others in the baths with him but they remained silent like him just enjoying the pleasant soak. As he sat back he thought about what he would do first. The large doors were already secure but the general showed great interest in having them strengthened even more. He was the expert on defending the fort so he figured it would be a good place to start. After that he could start working on some of the battle harnesses in the armory so that when the gems arrived all he would have to do was add the defender enchantment to them. In fact he should be able to write the enchantment on the harnesses and then link them to the gems when they arrived. It would save a lot of time and in theory it should work.

  Back at the command headquarters, he found his room clean and furnished with a stout wooden bed that looked as if it had once been part of a bunk bed. The mattress was lumpy and a little worn, but was still much better than sleeping on the floor. The desk was old and worn and one of the legs appeared to have been fixed numerous times. There were also three chairs, each one different, and one was such a hideous green it hurt Thad’s eyes to look at it.

  The next morning, he woke late. The sun had already cleared the horizon. Trent wasn’t anywhere to be found, so Thad decided to look at the large wooden gate, after he got a bite to eat.

  The first task was, to simply to examine the wood and metal of the gate with his magical sight. The more he used it, the easier it was for him to control it. The wood was much easier to look into than a human body. The first problem he encountered was that while the wood was the same kind, it was not of the same tree. There were minute differences in its makeup meaning that he would have to enchant them separately. He could do this, but it would be stronger if he could enchant the gate as a whole.

  Focusing harder, Thad tried to see if he could force the wood to bond together as one seamless piece of wood. At first, it went easily, until he came to the nails and iron that linked the pieces together. With a little extra force, the metal started to almost melt into the wood, making it shine light silver with little spots of brown where the rust hadn’t yet been scrubbed clean.

  It didn’t take long, even with his staff, for him to begin to tire. He wasn’t even a quarter done with the gate when he was forced to take a break. It was still a few hours before it was time for the midday meal so, decided it was a good chance to check out the room in the armory that Trent had designated for his use.

  The inside of the armory smelled of old leather and oil. A fairly young soldier sat in a cushioned chair with his feet resting on his desk. He wasn’t very big; to call him skinny would have been an understatement. He had short red hair and a very pale complexion with freckles covering every inch of visible skin. Thad knocked hard on the desk, forcing the young soldier to tear his attention away from the book he was absorbed in.

  “Yes?” the young guard asked lazily.

  “I am Thaddeus Torin; I believe General Foreman informed you that I am to have room to work here?” Thad said slightly annoyed at the soldier’s dismissive attitude.

  At the mention of the general’s name, the soldier quickly straightened himself. “Ah, yes Master Torin. The room is through the door behind me, it is the second one on the left. It’s still a bit dirty, but I haven’t had a proper chance to get it cleaned.”

  “I can see that,” Thad said sarcastically, “and where would I find the storage for weapons and other equipment?”

  “The first door on the right is the weapons, and the second is armor. The first door on the left is where our blacksmith does repairs. The other two rooms are for spare supplies and records.” The soldiers said, his attitude changing abruptly from inattention to being fully cooperative. Thad was slightly surprised and wondered why the man wasn’t mucking out the latrines.

  Not wanting to let the annoying young soldier ruin his day, Thad continued through the door and back to the room that had been set aside for him. The room was far from clean and more than one part of the wall had moss covering it. A few items still cluttered the room, including what looked like left over, moth eaten blankets.

  The room smelled as bad as it looked, making Thad retch uncontrollably. Holding his hand over his mouth, he quickly exited the room so he could get some fresh air. Walking back to the front office, Thad was able to convince the soldier to part with a couple of burlap sacks he could use to clean out the refuse in his office.

  Taking a deep breath, Thad steeled his stomach and headed back in the dank room. He carefully picked up the rotten blankets and quickly shoved them in the sacks. It didn’t take long, but even after all the trash had been taken out, the stink still hung heavy in the air. Thad wished he had some of the air cleaning fungus from the capitals sewers.

  Remembering the sewers, Thad thought of an idea and sent out his magical sight into the room. The parts in the air and ground that carried the scent were hard to find because they were so small, but after a few moments he was able to isolate and destroy them. He knew that he was taxing himself a little more than he should have, but he seldom had self-control when a new idea hit him.

  In less than half an hour, the room smelled as if it had been aired out thoroughly with only a slight hint of the stench still remaining. He was happy with his success even though his head now hurt and his tunic had a nice ring of sweat around the neck.

  With the room now cleaned, he took stock of everything that was left. The desk looked to be in good repair though it was a tad simple, barely any more than four legs with a rough top. It would work. It wasn’t like he really needed much; just a place to set the items while he worked was worlds better than what he had been doing. The chair was far more comfortable than it looked, though it had a large amount of stains that Thad wasn’t convinced were from age.

  With his new office cleaned, Thad inspected the armor room first. The walls were lined with battle vestments of all kinds, from simple leather to steel breastplates. Thad had never seen a Farlan soldier wearing full armor before. While it added more protection, it also slowed down movement, and tired you out much faster. He was sure that in a siege, they would be of little use on the battlements, so he left them alone. Instead, he grabbed half a dozen leather battle harnesses and headed back to his office to stack them on his desk. After a dozen or so similar trips, he had a few large stacks of armor to begin working on.

  With more than enough armor to keep him busy, he decided to check out the weapons room. It was easily twice the size of the other room, the walls lined with racks of every type of weapon Thad ha
d ever heard of, and some he hadn’t. He knew at some point, he would have to enchant the swords and shields of the soldiers, but from what he had learned from the general, the arrows should be his priority for the moment.

  He found the arrows wrapped in large bundles in the northern section of the room. There were thousands of them, both arrows for bows and bolts for crossbows. Grabbing a bundle of each, he went back to his office to start on an idea that he and another soldier had discussed during the march to Southpass.

  Setting down his load, Thad removed the thin cord that held the arrows together, causing them to spill haphazardly across the floor. He picked one up and inspected where the arrowhead and shaft met. The arrowhead was of iron and the shaft was made from a hazel shoot. Even though it was not really wood, it looked like it would still hold an enchantment.

  The plan was simple; replace the metal arrowhead with one mace of crystal that was enchanted to be extremely sharp as well as to increase the speed of the arrow. The one thing he planned to do different from his normal weapon enchantments was to leave off the spell that strengthened them. That way if the arrowhead met with something hard and could not pierce through, it would break and the sudden release of magical energy would cause an explosion albeit a minor one.

  He still had a few crystals from when he had bought a large order of them, before switching over to using the cat eye gems. However, only one of them was large enough to make an arrowhead, and it still needed to be cut down. He could do it with magic, but that would have to wait until later. He had already pushed his strength to the limit and needed at least a few hours to recuperate.

  Tired and sweating, despite the cold temperature, Thad made his way to the mess hall. As he approached the building, he could see that a line had formed outside one of the doors, letting only a certain number of soldiers in at a time. It made sense to Thad, there had to be a limited amount of space, and he doubted that even a quarter of the troops stationed at the fort could fit in the building at a single time.

  After a short wait, Thad found himself at the front of the line where a large cistern had been placed so that soldiers could wash their hands before eating. He had seen similar things in the palace for the bathing, large cisterns were built to allow the water to be heated before being channeled to the bathing house for use. It took a fair amount of manpower to keep the cisterns full and few could afford such luxury, but Thad guessed with the soldiers it was a little different.

  Inside, everyone was shoulder to shoulder with very little room to move freely. The meal didn’t look too bad, even if it was a little plain. Some kind of steak with mashed tubers smothered in gravy with dry biscuits. It wasn’t a meal to celebrate, but it would stop his stomachs grumbling. For a moment, he missed the palace and its rich and diverse food. Not to mention the fact that the cooks always had something ready for him to eat during the night in case he happened to be working late.

  Thinking of the palace, Thad cursed himself. He had promised the princess he would write her as soon as he arrived and send the note through the sending box. Rushing off to do it now wouldn’t accomplish much; he would just have to see to that as soon as he finished eating.

  His hunger satisfied, Thad headed straight for the command center. He causally greeted Trent before entering and continuing to his room. He found his travel sack and began empting its contents until he found what he was looking for. The sending boxes had been one of his greatest ideas as far as he was concerned and, he didn’t know how he had forgotten about it or his promise to the princess.

  Opening the box, he found a neatly folded letter inside. He knew he should have checked the box more often, but with everything happening around him, it had skipped his mind. Opening the letter he slowly began to read it to himself.

  Dear Thaddeus,

  I have just heard that you have come under attack south of the Calisaren duchy. We have only received the barest of information and while we heard that you were in good health, you had sustained some form of injury. I know that the plan was for you to inform me of your arrival at Southpass, but I hope you have received this and will ease my worried mind.

  Mother is working hard to get the other nobles to accept her new decrees over the treatment of free men .It hasn’t been easy, and more than a few are causing endless trouble for her, but most of them have come around. The threat of an Ablaian invasion coupled with civil rebellion is helping the cause more than one would think.

  Mother has even gone so far as to create a group of knights who are made exclusively of slaves. Their job is to make sure the laws governing the treatment of men and slaves are upheld. Their captain, one of mother’s former guards has been very enthusiastic about his new post.

  I guess I have rambled on long enough for the time being. I will eagerly await your response. Safe travels and speedy return, your friend Maria

  Thad read the letter three times making sure he didn’t miss anything of importance. He didn’t know why he didn’t think of conversing with the princess more. It wasn’t like he could send a letter every day. The sending box had its limits and could be used only every few days because of the massive draw on magical energies it used. Though it also had its advantages, the size of the boxes only changed the draw slightly; it was the initial connection that caused most of the drain, so you could make the boxes from small to large without a large change in effect.

  Looking around his room, he noticed he didn’t have anything to write on or to write with. He had seen many different ink bottles on Trent’s desk and wondered if the old man would be willing to part with a few.

  Thad found the general sitting in front of his fireplace drinking something from a heavy ceramic cup that steamed in the chill air. “Trent, I find myself in the need of some writing materials. Do you think it would be possible to get some?”

  “Sure, there is plenty of parchment in the top of the drawer, and the quills are in the center section. You may take any of the inks you think you will need; I have plenty more back in storage. The quills and parchment aren’t of the best quality, but they serve their purpose.” Trent said, waving his hand dismissively toward the desk.

  Thad grabbed a handful of parchment as well as a bottle of dark black ink and two quills that looked as if they were still in decent condition. He thought about grabbing a bottle of red ink as well, but decided against it. It would come in handy if he was planning out future enchantments, but right now he had his hands full with the simple ones he had already performed hundreds of times.

  Thad set the writing materials down on his desk and pulled his chair up. He put the pen to the parchment, but nothing would come to mind. What should he tell her? He had never written a letter to anyone before other than the short notes he had sent the princess back when he lived in the sewers of the capital.

  Maria,

  I am sorry that I have neglected checking the sending box and have not contacted you sooner. The trip to Southpass has been entertaining to say the least and we did run into a bit of trouble on the road. I was not injured in the engagement; the only trauma I sustained was caused by my own hubris.

  We have made it to Southpass and I am currently working on enhancing the defenses. I am running low on supplies, but general Forman has sent a soldier into town to requisition the needed supplies and personnel needed. Hopefully by time the Ablaians attack, I will have this place completely prepared; however, it looks like an impossible task at the moment, as there are thousands of soldiers to equip and only one of me.

  I shall write you another report in a few days, when the sending box has had time to recharge. As for now, I hope you and your mother fare well in your endeavors to quell the current rebellion.

  CHAPTER XVI

  Thad waited anxiously as the wagon was unloaded and the supplies were moved to his. They had brought far more than he thought he could ever use. Sacks upon sacks of cat eye gems as well and a huge amount of uncut crystals, some of which were nearly the size of a man, were moved from the back of the wagon. T
hey had been unable to find a master glass blower was willing to shut down their shop and make the trip, even for a short time, but they had been allowed the use of two apprentices that were of little use during the slower season.

  Thad met with the two apprentices while he waited for his materials to be completely unloaded. One was a male and the other female, both were still in their mid to late teens. They only wore cheap wool clothing bundled tight around them to help stave off the cold.

  “Hello, I am Thaddeus Torin, the mage you will be working with. What I need isn’t very difficult, I will need glass globes that are strong enough to withstand a bit of handling.” Thad said holding out his hand.

  The young man took his hand quickly, but the young lady looked at him as if he was a leper. “I was told we would be assisting a great mage, but I didn’t expect to find that this so called mage was nothing but a poorly bred boy.”

  “You are more than welcome to return Tremon if that is your wish.” Eloen said, coming up behind Thad putting her arm protectively around his shoulders.

  “Fine, when can your men start the trip back?” The young girl asked spitefully.

  “You have misunderstood something miss. The guard will not be headed back to town until the next time we are in need of supplies. It appears that you will have to make the walk on your own.”

  The young lady looked horrified as a group of soldiers removed her from the compound. Thad thought that it was a little harsh, but Eloen would hear none of his complaints. “She agreed to the conditions freely. If she can’t honor the agreement, then were not going to waste the manpower to see her back to town. The snow is starting to melt and when the Ablaians attack, we will never every man available.”