Henry soundlessly whistled and began examining the book titles. Written Luda was a little harder for him to make sense of sometimes than the automatic translation he got from speech, but he was still able to skim the books, his books, pretty quickly.
When his eyes rested on a particular shelf, he stopped cold and chills ran up his spine. He removed one of the books and flipped through, noting diagrams and words for various elements. “It’s interesting that there are books on magical devices and magic technology here.”
“Yes, the second to last master of this place took an interest in the subject. The last owner of the estate didn’t much care for reading but she liked keeping the library for appearances. She left all the books in here as-is.”
“I see,” said Henry. “Just how far back does the kid’s power reach?”
“Come again, Sir?”
“Don’t worry about it,” replied Henry. His entire body felt tense. “Okay, let’s head over to Tanushree, now.”
“Yes, Sir. Just follow me, please,” instructed Ellen and began to lead the way.
Henry was thinking furiously. There is just no way. He’d basically just been handed a title with land, land that sat on top of natural deposits of metal, and a house that had an entire shelf of huge, old books about Ludus magical tech in his fucking library. There was no way. When Henry began thinking of all the coincidences, all the trials, all the battles that he’d just barely survived to get to this point, his blood ran cold.
He knew that if he spent too much time thinking about it, it could drive him crazy wondering how much of what had happened to him, or how many times he’d avoided death had been influenced by Tony’s power. The kid didn’t know himself what he was doing and wasn’t actually directing his ability. His orb controller was calling the shots, and Henry had met her. He had no doubt she, or it, or whatever, was completely committed to Tony. Henry’s happiness or survival was not on the agenda except perhaps as a means to an end.
This was the type of thing for Jason to ponder, not Henry. He wasn’t cut out for unraveling the mysteries of the universe. But what he could do, he could do well. Henry kept working on his plan, fleshing it out in his mind until he reached the area where Tanushree was practicing. It turned out it was also where the caravan’s wagons were lined up and the yucka were tethered.
Rekkla and Trask sat in the grass together by themselves. Tony stood to one side, leaning on a barrel that had been moved from a wagon. He’d found some silly looking, wide-brimmed hat somewhere to wear. At least half a dozen armswomen loitered around the area, including Ceevil, the orb-Bonded fighter.
One thing was certain, not much phased Ceevil. She constantly looked bored. Her expressions seemed especially skeptical around Henry. With her reputation as an excellent healer, Henry figured she probably had skill to back up her 'tude.
The short, curvy brunette Terran woman had a plain face with Latin features, but was thick bodied—thick in a good way. If curves were currency, she'd be rich. She looked middle-aged, and carried herself with the self-confidence of someone who had led a full life.
Henry had no idea what rank she was. Her LEDF, or Left Eye Data Feed had been hidden at some point in the past, probably because she was a personal guard of Tanushree.
Tanushree herself currently had no such protection. After he’d seen her that morning, Henry had heard a chime in his head and seen,
Tanushree Bobrik, Terran, Berban Peerage
Dolos Orb, Animation, Evolving Type
First Rank
The newly orb-Bonded young woman was currently standing in the middle of the small field, drenched in sweat. She wore a workout uniform that Henry had seen the armswomen wear - simple pants and a tunic made from the local equivalent of cotton. Two armswomen faced Tanushree with live weapons. The display made Henry cringe, but he remembered Ceevil was a healer, plus, people on Ludus generally didn’t go easy on training as a rule.
As Henry watched, the two guards rushed forward, but Tanushree held her hands out, lifting them up. The ground erupted in front of her, and two chest-height figures that were roughly the shape of men took form, created from dirt.
Tanushree’s guardswomen were very well trained and highly proficient with their weapons, but sharpened bronze didn’t do much against animated earth. The other armswoman had pulled a hammer of sorts and struck her animated opponent, but it didn’t have much effect, either. Soon, both armswomen were pinned to the ground by the great strength of Tanushree’s thralls.
Henry slowly clapped, and the blonde girl, startled, whirled around, the two clay figures falling apart behind her. The armswomen got up, dusting themselves off and looking sheepish.
“Can you only control two right now?” asked Henry.
“Yes, Sir Henry. I started with one this morning, but I’ve been improving my focus.”
Henry nodded, impressed. “Not bad, but you need to change your thinking. You should keep at least one of them near you at all times if you’re fighting like that.”
“Why? I kept both of my opponents away from me and they were defeated.” Tanushree frowned.
“And what if one popped up behind you?”
“It is not like I am defenseless on my own,” the fierce woman said, setting her jaw.
Henry gave her a level look. “And what if the person popping up behind you was me? Or Tony? You used all of your power to neutralize two regular fighters. They are dangerous, yes. But if you’re orb-Bonded and fight other orb-Bonded, you can’t just throw everything you have into a single attack.”
Tanushree narrowed her eyes. “Would you have a bout with me, Sir Henry?”
“I guess. I came here to try something out, so I need to ask you to help me with that next, though.”
“That is fine.”
“Do you want Ceevil to help you? She’s a Body school mage or something, right? I know she has some mojo.”
Tanushree gritted her teeth. “That will not be necessary.”
Henry shrugged. “Okay, let’s get this thing started, then. It seems like everyone is always wants to duel me for some dumbass reason.
***
Tanushree gathered her power and waited for the match to begin. Sir Henry just stood and faced her with his hands on his hips, smirking. The man’s manner irritated Tanushree immensely.
By this point, since Henry was a knight, Tanushree had decided that Aodh must be an esquire. It was the only situation that made any sense at all. But they were both so, so powerful! She was much higher ranking than they were, a fact that was muddied by the reality they had saved her life more than once now, and had never asked anything in return.
Henry’s land being part of her family’s jurisdiction brought some very ugly implications to mind, and raised dozens of questions that Tanushree had no answers for. The determined young woman had no idea what was going on. She’d been raised her whole life to swim in the world of the peerage, to be strong and independent. And yet, it seemed she was relying on others more and more!
Then there was Aodh himself. She spared him a glance. He looked dashing. His rough, Fideli-like features at odds with the Berber gentleman she knew him to be. His hints of a Tolstey accent gave him an air of mystery, too. She had to admit she was falling for the honest, rough-and-tumble youth.
He was so powerful, though! How could she look at herself in the mirror if a boy was stronger than she was? It was her job to be the strength of a family. Unfortunately, her rank didn’t matter in this situation as much as she wished it did. Plus...she was a coward.
As a woman, Tanushree knew it was her job to communicate her interest to any boy she liked. Men were more passive than women, and there were so few of them of marrying age that didn’t already have a family, it was really their prerogative to just say yes or no to approaching women. Tanushree usually thought of herself as fairly self-confident. She’d been told how brave she was her whole life...but she just couldn’t get the words out! Every time she spent time with Aodh, his dopey expressions and
honest aura were adorable and made her completely tongue tied!
She glanced over again and noticed his attention was on her. Tanushree quickly averted her eyes and frowned, her cheeks coloring. She frowned even more heavily to hide her embarrassment. Why couldn’t she just ask him if she could court him?
The only answer was because of real power, of violence. It was the only explanation that made any sense to her.
Aodh obviously respected Henry and even took orders from him, which was appropriate if they were knight and squire. So maybe if she showed some skill in fighting Sir Henry, perhaps she would look strong and... she could feel braver. Or maybe Aodh would hold her hand.
Tanushree’s heart fluttered until she heard a familiar growl. She didn’t even need to look. It could only be that horrible creature, Rekkla. Somehow the little monster girl always knew when Tanushree was thinking about Aodh, about his gently curving eyebrows, or his cute nose, or his lean arms, or his long, dexterous fingers, or his pointy eye teeth, or his—
She heard the growl again, and the proud young woman felt a moment of murderous fury before calming herself. Never in a thousand years would she have believed she would be getting romance-blocked by a, a, a goblin! Why was such a creature even walking around, living with normal people?
The answer was obvious. Tanushree turned her gaze on Henry, where he still stood with his hands on his hips, wearing a grin like he knew what she was thinking. The fact he was unflappably self-confident, somewhat handsome, and effortlessly commanded the respect of those around him made it worse. If she didn’t know he was a knight, she would have placed him as at least a viscount based on mannerisms alone. It could only come from real power.
Tanushree flexed her hands. She may be new to her ‘Bonded powers, but this orb had been held in stewardship for her for the last ten years, if she survived that long. She’d had years to study everything she might be able to do with it, to practice mental exercises to control it. In less than a day of hands-on practice, she was confident she had the equivalent of at least a year of training for most other young nobles.
Besides, she didn’t need to beat Sir Henry, just make a good showing. It might help with when she eventually corrected the balance of power as well. She wanted to smile, but she only let her lips twitch.
Tanushree called out, “Sir Henry, are you going to draw your weapon?”
“This?” the Asian man asked, pointing at the strange gray mace on his hip. “Nah, that would be overkill for this. I’m kind of avoiding using it while I still don’t really know what it is, too. Seems smart.”
Tanushree’s lip quirked again. What a fool. It was a shame that a wonderful young man like Aodh O’Breen was forced to attend such a dullard. Henry had just seen her power. Fine. It was his choice. “I am starting then.”
Henry just nodded.
Tanushree pushed her magic into the earth and formed two animates out of soil, instructing them to climb up and pin her foe. She had expected Henry to struggle, to battle against the two animates and probably eventually win free. Instead, he jumped forward. The next thing she knew, a long blade was kissing the side of her throat.
“This was why I told you that you should keep one of your minions close to you,” Henry said conversationally. “See, they’re both over there,” he said, pointing with his other hand, “where they can’t do you a single fucking bit of good. Plus, you are seriously overestimating your power. You have flexibility, yeah. With a few more of these things, you’d be hell on wheels against regular soldiers.”
Henry sprang back, covering twenty feet in a single bound, and, in an instant, he was between the soil animates again. “But against most of the orb-Bonded I’ve seen, you’d be fucked.” The steel blade extending from Henry’s forearm had already sunk back down out of sight, and the man lashed out with both fists at once.
The two animates were blown apart, exploding into a cloud of debris and rock behind Henry’s hammerfist strikes.
Tanushree used every scrap of spunk and spine she had to stay upright and not simply sink to her knees. How strong was Henry? Maybe sixth rank? How in the world was he so overwhelmingly powerful? And if Henry was that strong, how strong was Aodh? She turned to look at the dark haired, dashing young ‘Bonded. He was just looking on with a gentle, encouraging smile.
The young noblewoman felt humiliated. Tanushree’s first impulse was to yell at Henry, to hit something, but no, she was stronger than that. Working past her hurt, she had to acknowledge that Henry had saved her before. He’d probably taught Aodh to fight. Perhaps he would teach her, too. She could worry about his allegiances later. “What would you advise?” she asked.
“Like I told you,” said Henry, walking over. “Keep one of them close to you. Even if you can make ninety of those things in the future, keep at least one or two nearby. Plus, why are your golems people-shaped?”
“Golems?” Tanushree tasted the unfamiliar word. “It is the most versatile shape.”
Henry eyed her out the corner of his eye and shook his head. “Can you make an arm and a hand? Or a blade?”
Tanushree tried to make an arm, and she was able to produce something larger than her own limb, but it was lumpy and malformed. “I need to focus on the form, and it’s easier if I already memorized the shape in my mind and meditated on it.”
“So you have to spend energy just keeping these things together?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm. That brings me to what I came over here for in the first place.” Henry pointed at the ground, and a pillar of earth rose from the ground, as tall as he was. Then the Asian man began crafting the pillar, passing his hand over it in intervals. By the time he was done, an easily identifiable finger stood from the bare ground.
“Can you control that?” he asked.
Tanushree frowned, but she could see where the man was going with this. She might have no idea what to do about Aodh, but she was not a complete idiot. The young noblewoman pushed and pulled on her magic, easily flexing the finger coming out of the ground. She gasped, “How is this possible? It’s common knowledge that a mage cannot control the automata of another mage!”
Henry just grinned. He placed his hand on the finger and suddenly Tanushree’s control was ejected, the whiplash stung a bit. The man ran his hands over the figure again, changing it to a near-formless pillar. “I rejected and then took ownership of my creation again. Can you move it again?” he asked. “Like, thinking about this as a finger?”
Tanushree crossed her arms, but tried to take control of the earthen figure again. With a little concentration and a trickle of power, she made it flex. Just like before, it was much easier than forming her own automata. “What does this mean?” she asked.
“What it means, is that I’m going to have one hell of a deal for you soon,” crowed Henry. “Everything is all coming together. It’s too much to be coincidence. Tony, you beautiful bastard! Follow me! You too, Ellen.”
Tanushree had forgotten that the new Sato estate mojordomo had been behind her. The woman was very good at her job, and could be quiet as a miniature scythe-armed assassin demon if she wanted to be.
Without any hesitation, Henry turned and began walking back the way he’d come. Curious, Tanushree swallowed her shame and followed along. Her armswomen followed. Tanushree had seen no reason to stay behind. She still couldn’t figure out who Henry really was or what he was doing, but things were rarely boring around him. Plus, she could still be near Aodh. The young man currently wasn’t looking at her, though.
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Tanushree had just learned a lesson in humility. She decided to begin thinking of Sir Henry as an armsmaster. In fact, from this moment on, he was her armsmaster. He just didn’t know it yet.
Finally, Henry stopped at un unremarkable field a few stone’s throw from his new manor. Tanushree’s brow furrowed in confusion.
Henry grinned and pointed straight down. “Okay, this is it. I’m going to be hanging out here most of the next couple
days.
“Ellen, this is what I want you to do. Go get me some food, some lights…actually never mind. I don’t need the lights. Just bring me food, my traveling pack, everything I had with me in the wagon, and keep everyone away while I work. Give Tony all of the money in the estate we can afford to give him.
“Tony, I want you to get me every magic stone for power that is not nailed down. Bring them all here. I also need some more enchanted items. They don’t have to be special or do anything that even matters. I also need some blessed steel, like a dagger or something. See if Tanushree’s people have any of those weapons that the assassins were carrying a few days ago.”
Then Henry did something entirely unexpected, even for such an incomprehensible man. He bowed, and said, “Lady Tanushree, give me three days. Please just stay here for that long.”
“Why should I stay?” Tanushree didn’t ask her question as a challenge, at this point she was honestly curious.
“Because I may have a deal for you that is too good to refuse. I need your resources, and I’m going to prove to you that you should work with me. Plus, after today, with all the pieces falling into place, I have a feeling we are going to be classmates. There are no coincidences.”
“What do you mean?”
“This school you keep talking about in the capital that you need to go to soon, the one you need to leave for in about a week in order to reach in time—I don’t suppose that you’re talking about the Mensk Officer Academy, are you?”
“Yes.” Tanushree wanted to demand how he knew. But she realized if he was an agent of her parents, or of her enemies, of course he would know. And if he was a Berber noble, he’d have been able to figure it out. She’d been dreading attending the Officer Academy. Heading to the academy basically ensured the coming of a long, lonely, dangerous existence. The fact she was about to swallow a spirit stone that night to immediately become rank two ‘Bonded and drink her tincture to hide her ‘Bonded status wouldn’t help much.
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