Branded Mage

by D. W.

  In his office, Thad grabbed a handful of gems of varying sizes from one of the sacks. He would have a lot of heavy work in the days ahead of him. He had already finished the preparations on the gate itself as well as about ten percent of the wall while he waited. The general mainly wanted him to make as many of the magical arrows as he could. The demonstration he had performed for the army had been a huge success. The arrows had gone through one of the reinforced shields before breaking and blowing a hole through the steel armor behind it.

  The enchantment itself wasn’t hard to do. The hard part was cutting the gems to the size and shape of an arrowhead. Luckily Andre, the blacksmith, had agreed to help on that end and had the crystals moved to his workshop, which he was now sharing with the apprentice glassblower.

  Thad wasn’t sure how long it would take the man to get him a batch of arrows, but there had been hosts of volunteers to help him. Thad even had his own security detail that was insisted upon by both Harmon and Eloen. It seemed silly, and he found it annoying to have someone waiting outside the door for him everywhere he went. Who was going to try and attack him in the middle of a military base? As with most things when it came to Eloen, it was impossible to sway her from what she wanted.

  Setting the gems down on his worktable, Thad picked up the first battle harness and began the tedious process of linking the gem with the enchantments he had placed upon the armor. It was easy and only took time and a bit of focus since he had done the majority of the work ahead of time. He had already prepared a little under a hundred and though it was only a fraction of what he had to get finished, it was a good start.

  Time passed quickly as Thad worked. It had felt like only a few minutes when a knock came at his door from one of his guards. Hunter, a young soldier with a sunny disposition and wicked sword arm poked his head through the door. “Master Torin, it is time for the midday meal. Do you want to go to the mess, or do you want to stay cooped up in here all day again?”

  Thad finished the battle harness he was working on and set it down gently on the pile of finished projects. He quickly counted what he had done, and was surprised to find that he had already finished twenty battle harnesses. At this speed, he would have the first hundred done within two days, meaning he would then have to expend more energy as his pre-enchanted stock would run out.

  “I could use a good walk. I would also like to check on the new worker, and see how Andre is fairing with the arrowheads. Thad said, getting up from his chair and stretching to alleviate the throbbing in his back from sitting hunched over for such a long period of time.

  Exiting his office, Thad was joined by his other daytime escort, Kylee. She was a nice older woman in her early thirties with light brown hair that had been cut short in military fashion. Unlike Hunter, Kylee had asked for the post. Thad had a sneaking suspicion that Eloen had more than a hand in that. While she was a kind woman, she tended to treat Thad like one of her kids. She spent half her time scolding him about spending too much time indoors.

  The blacksmiths workshop was only a few doors down from his, but its layout was much different than his own office. Inside held all of the tools the blacksmith needed, but the most of the work was done in an open area outside that was easily accessible through a second door at the rear of the workshop.

  Today, Andre wasn’t banging out horseshoes or working the kiln, so he was inside with a grinding wheel and a slew of other tools. Five others also sat around at almost identical looking grinding wheels, working on the arrow heads while two others firmly attached them to the shafts. A large pile of finished arrows were piling up on a nearby table, making Thad wince. While he didn’t mind helping out, the task of reproducing the same enchantment over and over wore on him.

  Hearing him enter, Andre looked up from what he was working on and greeted Thad with a large grin. “Thad my boy, at this rate, we should be able to keep more than enough arrows for you to work on. I never worked with crystal before, but after the first few failed attempts I realized that it’s not that much different that working with some of the more delicate metals.”

  “We were just headed to the mess hall; I thought I would stop by and check on you and our new worker to see how things were coming along.” Thad said returning Andre’s smile.

  “The new lad is out back at the kiln. He’s been making up those glass orbs you asked about in about every size and thickness you could ask for. He seemed more than a little nervous about it all. Then again, you never do leave a man much to work with do you.”

  Thad knew what Andre was getting at. While he knew what he wanted, he wasn’t very good at describing it. If he had taken the time to learn more about how they perform their jobs, he might be able to more accurately describe what he needed, but he was so busy that was hard to find the time for such an endeavor.

  Outside, Thad found the young apprentice glass worker. The temperature had increased dramatically over the past few days. The snow was still sticking around, but no one knew for how long. One of Thad’s best ideas involved the need for glass spheres. He had worked out the idea back when he lived in the capital’s sewers. Glass was much like crystal and he had tried to use it as a core, but learned that while it could hold and store magic, it couldn’t release it. He wasn’t sure why this was, but he learned that it made very effective weapons. When they broke, they let loose an explosion that ripped through anything nearby.

  Thad approached the young man who was currently working a piece of red hot glass. The young man, who Thad realized he didn’t know the name of, looked up. An eager smile quickly replaced the look of sheer concentration on his face.

  “Master Torin, I’m glad you came by. I wanted to show you what I’ve come up with, but I didn’t want to disturb your work.” The young man said, setting the glowing glass down to cool.

  “Ah yes, I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name earlier.” Thad said slightly embarrassed.

  “Oh, it’s Todd sir. Do you think any of these fit what you’re looking for?” Todd asked, showing a dozen spears that one could place their hand in.

  Thad picked up the spheres one by one and checked them with his magic. Each one appeared to be similar, but they were different thicknesses. The seventh one seemed about right. The rest were either a bit too thick to break when they needed to, or so thin that they might break by accident causing a large amount of damage to their own forces.

  “This one right here is about perfect for what we need. I need a large amount of these if that wouldn’t be too much trouble.”

  “No trouble at all sir.” Todd said smiling.

  Todd pulled a large thick pot from one of the shelves, the weight nearly causing him to fall. Hunter quickly went to the young man and helped him set the pot over a grate that was situated on the back of the kiln. Thad watched as the man poured a large mixture of something from a heavy burlap sack into the pot.

  “Todd, we’re about to head to the mess hall to grab a bite to eat. Would you like to join us?” Hunter asked the young man, who looked as if he could use a break from the sweltering heat the kiln was putting off.

  Todd pulled off his heavy apron and gloves and set them neatly on one of the work benches. “Might as well, it will take a while for the glass to melt down and I don’t have anything to do until then. I will just have to see if I can get one of Andre’s workers to stir it every so often until I return.”

  While they walked, Todd told them about himself. He had grown up in Tremon. His mother had bought him an apprenticeship with one of the local glass works when he was ten. It was hard work and he hoped that working with the army would show his master that he was ready to move on to being a recognized journeyman. He enjoyed what he did, and his small glass sculptures fetched a good price from passing travelers.

  Thad enjoyed listening to Todd’s tale, it wasn’t riveting, but it was nice to hear none the less. They were about the same age and while their backgrounds were completely different, the two seemed to get along well. Thad had few friends and since h
e would be seeing Todd regularly, he figured it would give him a change to be around someone his own age that shared his enthusiasm for their chosen profession.

  The meal line was long, but Thad had learned that since he was considered the same rank as an officer, he was allowed to skip to the front of the line. It felt a little wrong to jump ahead of those who had stood out in the cold, but no one seemed to begrudge him or his escort for it.

  The meal was the same as usual, meat, vegetable, and hard bread. Todd seemed to enjoy the food way more than anyone should. It wasn’t that it tasted bad, but it didn’t taste good either. Seeing his new friend take after the food with such fervor made him chuckle lightly.

  Looking up from his plate, Todd blushed a deep red. Thad thought that a major challenge, considering his skin was a deep bronze from his many hours standing in front of a hot furnace.

  “Sorry, I usually only get to eat some tasteless slop the master feeds us.”

  “Don’t worry about it, not all of us are used to eating from the queen’s table. Master Torin here is used to eating roast duck, and other such fine foods.” Hunter reassured the young man, while slightly mocking Thad at the same time.

  Thad wasn’t sure why Hunter didn’t like him, but he had made sure to let him know on more than one occasion of his disgust. He never missed a chance to point out his shortcomings during his morning sparing practices, even though the young soldier had failed to beat him once when they had paired off. Thad had considered asking the general to replace the man as his guard, but didn’t want him to get in trouble so had merely tried to ignore his veiled insults.

  “Wow, you really got to eat with the queen?” Todd asked excitedly.

  Thad brushed back his hair, showing off his slave brand. “On occasion, I have eaten at the same table as the queen, though I usually prefer to dine with the princess or the guards. No matter what you heard, the food isn’t always the best. Sometimes the head cook tries to get creative, much to the queen’s ire.”

  “Really, why doesn’t the queen just fire him?”

  “Serena knows better he’s supposedly one of the best cooks in the Queendom, and if she has to put up with his eccentrics every now and then, she does. Not to mention, the queen is smart enough not to mess with the person who prepares all your food. People who do that don’t live very long.”

  As they ate, Todd continued to ask about the palace and what it was like living there. Thad answered all his questions as best he could and asked him questions about his work as an apprentice. He found a lot of similarities between glass work and magic, how one had to take great care and concentration to mold the work. Once a mistake was made, you couldn’t just correct it. Instead, you had to start over from scratch. Thad considered trying to test Todd to see if he possessed any magical gifts, but with war looming over head, it seemed that it would have to wait. Thad knew his magic and Todd’s glass were vital to the defense efforts and every moment that was wasted on something else was a life that might be lost.

  With their meal over, it was time to return to work. The walk back to the armory seemed to pass much faster than normal and Thad found himself wanting to continue talking to Todd, but his work beckoned him.

  “Do you mind if I take this with me?” Thad asked, picking up the lone glass sphere that had met with his approval.

  “Sure, I’ll have a batch of them ready for you in the morning. Would you like me to bring you what I get done today before nightfall?” Todd asked, as he walked over to the pot of now bubbling liquid.

  “Please do.” Thad said, walking through the door and into the room where Andre and the other soldiers were working.

  Thad gave the blacksmith a friendly wave as he picked up a bundle of arrows that lay finished on one of the tables. Everything was working out perfect so far. All he had to do now was show the general and officers what he planned with the glass spheres. He had already explained it, but they had shown a keen interest in seeing how it worked with their own eyes. Thad could understand their sentiments; hearing about something and seeing in action were a world of difference.

  “Hunter, send a message to the general that I will be ready to demonstrate my exploding spheres whenever he can arrange for it to be seen by the proper individuals.” Thad said before opening his office door, leaving the soldier little time to complain or comment.

  Infusing the glass with magic was easy and took little concentration. He didn’t have to really focus on any particular spell or formation. It would just take time to infuse a large number of them as they did hold a large amount of magic and while the mental strain was minimal the fatigue was something else altogether.

  Setting the glass orb next to the pile of gems, an idea stuck him. It would be easy to construct a device that fed magic into the orb without him having to directly fill it. It wasn’t much different than what he had done to his staff or magical box. With his new idea in mind, Thad rushed from the room back to where Andre sat, working with his two guards quickly following behind him.

  “Andre, can you make me about ten disks of steel, about a foot in diameter and about an inch thick.” Thad asked as soon as he burst through the door, gaining a big smile from the blacksmith.

  “Sounds easy, don’t see why a few metal plates has you all hot and bothered, but I can have them ready for you by midday tomorrow. Will that work Master Torin?”

  “Andre would you please stop calling you master Torin? Thanks to the general, I have to put up with it from the soldiers; don’t make me hear it from you too.” Thad said slightly annoyed.

  Andre knew he hated being called master and did it just to rile him up from time to time. It wasn’t that he didn’t like being treated as important, it was just that he didn’t consider himself anywhere near a master of anything yet. He didn’t want to assume a title that he didn’t feel like he had rightly earned.

  Andre laughed at him and waved him off. Thad returned to his office where he began to slowly fill the glass orb with magic until it began to glow a bright red. He could have made the orb glow any color, but red just seemed to be the most appropriate and the easiest for him, and it was also his favorite color.

  With the orb ready for its test, Thad set it aside in a box that he had had made shortly after arriving. It could hold twenty of the orbs, each safely in their own little section lined with old blankets and tunics to help insure they didn’t rupture prematurely. Thad couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen if a large group of the orbs all exploded in one confined area. Luckily the general understood his request and had even cleared a room in the command center vault for the orbs.

  Sighing out of sheer boredom of his current tasks, Thad picked up an arrow and began infusing its crystal arrowhead and wooden shaft with the needed enchantments. It was going to be a long day, but at least he had the test for the orb to look forward to.

  CHAPTER XVII

  Thad stood with General Foreman and a host of other officers, including his friends Harmon and Eloen, waiting for the test to commence. A young volunteer stood with the magically altered orb, a fair distance away, waiting for the signal to launch it toward a large grouping of straw men wearing steel armor using a modified sling.

  Though they had only been there a short time, the wait grated on his nerves. Everything that could go wrong with the test ran through his mind. What if it didn’t go off as planned? What if the soldier missed and the orb flew toward them? What if it went off in the sling killing the soldier? Before he left, he was sure that nothing could go wrong. He had check and double checked the thickness of the orb. He had even stopped by and asked Todd what force he believed it would take to cause a crack deep enough to reach its inner core, but now his confidence was waning. He had to fight to keep himself from fidgeting as he watched the soldier place the orb in his sling.

  It was a new form of torture, watching the sling spin over the soldiers head with the orb inside. He could hear the whistle made from the leather as it cut through the air. Then the orb was launched. I
t flew at an arc far down the field were Thad had to squint to see it as it struck the straw dummies.

  Thad’s heart stopped as the orb disappeared, replaced by a flash of light and an ear shattering explosion that sounded as if lighting had stuck right next to them. Thad was too afraid to look at everyone and occupied his mind by surveying the damage the orb had caused. The straw dummies were destroyed beyond recognition, and it looked as if bits of armor had been thrown twenty yards or more. The soldier who had unleashed the orb lay on the ground, and for a brief moment, Thad was worried that he may have been injured. His fears were soon alleviated when the man got to his feet, he was unsteady and breathing heavily, but he appeared to be uninjured.

  He felt a hard slap on the back that made him jump in surprise. His startled reaction made the soldiers around him break out laughing.

  “Thaddeus my boy, I am most impressed. When you first explained what you planned to do, I imagined something much less effective. I understand now why you insisted they be guarded to such an extent. If a large group of those went off in once place, I daresay we wouldn’t have a fort left to defend.” General Forman said, his face holding a little more awe than Thad had expected from the seasoned warrior.

  “That’s the truth General. I can see why the queen sent you to us now. I must admit, at first I figured you wouldn’t be of much use, but now I’m starting to feel sorry for the Ablaians. How many of these do you think you can prepare for us?” An older captain with a thick gray mustache and bald head said, giving Thad a hearty smile.

  “I don’t know how many I will be able to prepare at the moment. Tomorrow blacksmith Andre will be making some plates for me so I can enchant them to charge the glass orbs with magic. I’m planning on making ten of them; each one will take about a day and a half before the orbs are full. As long as you keep putting new orbs on them, they will continue to make more. I will be adding a time sequence to the devices, so that they will quit working after a set period of time.”