“Both,” answered the artificer. “As well as hardness. At its ground state, demon-steel is very close to simple iron, but as the turyn within it increases, its material properties shoot up at exponential rates. This also explains the scratches—whenever those were made, the metal was probably drained, or very close to its ground state. You never said what made the scratches, did you?”
A giant cat demigod, thought Will. “No, I didn’t.” Considering the effect of the ritual on the demon-lord, it was very possible the entity had been extremely low on turyn when the Cath Bawlg attacked. Leycachak might have drawn on his armor to replace some of his lost energy at the start of the fight.
Master Salsbury stared at him for a moment, hoping for a better answer, but eventually gave up and continued, “In any case, we found that by using a transducing enchantment, we could drain the excess turyn and make the metal pliable enough to work with. We actually have to continue the drain while working on it, as hammer blows, cutting, or any other work done simultaneously causes the demon-steel to produce turyn and become unworkable. If we had continued testing it without draining the turyn, the metal might very well have reached its saturation point and exploded.”
Will coughed. “Really?”
All three men nodded, then Dugas spoke. “With a little math, it’s apparent that the amount of turyn released after it reaches full capacity would be enough to destroy a sizeable area, and worse yet, it would be void turyn. Even people at a considerable distance might be poisoned by the turyn, leaving them to die slow deaths later on.”
“So does it have to be drained at regular intervals?” asked Will.
“As long as the stress put upon it isn’t constant, no. Once it reaches sixty percent, it begins to radiate void turyn, which, while dangerous, isn’t nearly as bad as an explosion. It will passively radiate that turyn until it gets below sixty percent, so while someone touching it might be turyn-poisoned, it won’t ever get to the point of exploding unless it’s placed under immense stress for an extended period of time,” answered Dugas.
“I still think it’s too dangerous just to let him have it,” said Salsbury.
Will ignored the remark, picking up the breastplate and opening it up so he could see if it fit properly. The backplate was attached to the frontplate with a hinge that ran along one side. He could see that the edge had been cut and rolled on the other side, and that a set of new leather straps had been added. The rest of it had been reshaped, since simply cutting a bit off at one side would have made it unwearable.
Overall, the work was functional, but the lack of polish and finish would probably have disgusted any armor smith with a sense of pride in his craftsmanship. The fact that much of that wouldn’t be noticeable when the armor assumed its usual matte black color would have been small consolation to someone like Byron Waters, who lived by his reputation.
Will didn’t care, though. All he wanted was something that would keep sharp things away from his heart and belly. Pulling it closed, he tightened the straps and checked the fit. It was slightly loose, but that was to be expected since the measurements had been taken with a padded gambeson in mind. “It’ll do,” he pronounced.
Salsbury looked at the others. “You aren’t going to let him take it out of here, are you?”
Courtney shrugged and Dugas remained silent. Will undid the straps then stored the breastplate in the limnthal with a thought, before giving Salsbury a mischievous grin. “Take what out of here?”
“What? Where did it go?” demanded the artificer.
“That’s not your concern, Master Salsbury,” said Will in tone that was meant to placate the man, but which probably had the opposite effect. “Besides, don’t forget who it belonged to originally.”
“A demon-lord,” said Salsbury. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“It became mine after I made sure the demon-lord was dead,” said Will. “And as we’ve just discussed, I’m probably the only person who can safely use it, at least for now.” He left out the fact that it was actually the goddamn cat who had slain Leycachak, but Will had put considerable effort into the summoning that brought the demon-lord over and drained most of his power, so he felt he deserved some of the credit.
Chapter 21
Laina spent the rest of the week with them rather than stay alone in her family’s (now rebuilt) city house. Despite her claims of extreme business Will’s sister did take time to come and observe some of his training sessions, though she didn’t comment or participate. Ostensibly it was so that she could visit with Janice, but Will suspected it was more to satisfy her curiosity regarding his doings.
The next two weeks after she left passed without incident while Will’s trainees continued to improve. Most of them could now keep two spells prepared, and a few, including both Burke Leighton and Emory Tallowen, had managed three. The two young men were from vastly different social classes, but they were developing a grudging respect for one another despite their differences.
His personal efforts showed results in both the variety of spells he had committed to memory as well as his ability to hit targets at long range with the light-darts. He still couldn’t reflex cast either the iron-body spell or the light-darts spell, but oddly he had become capable of reflex casting Selene’s Solution. That blew his theory about the primary factor being time since learning the spell. He had known and been using many other spells before mastering that one. Again, he was left shaking his head at the seeming randomness of it all.
The end of the year arrived, bringing with it the end of the school semester and the Winter Ball. Will and Selene attended, as was expected, and this year he was able to spend more time dancing and enjoying the company of both his sisters and a variety of other acquaintances he'd made since moving to the capital and joining high society.
Selene’s magical issues hadn’t changed. She seemed to have fully adapted to the third-order compression, but she still didn’t absorb enough excess turyn to enable her to cast spells without rendering herself virtually helpless. Will didn’t mention, it and whenever Selene did bring it up he told her he was sure things would resolve themselves over time, but he was growing more worried by the day. When he pestered Arrogan about it, the old man simply pointed out that at the very least she would live as long as he did.
Once the new year had arrived, the military preparations were getting closer to done, and Will knew that soon he would be leaving. Since he was no longer attending classes, he and Selene took the opportunity to visit his family in Barrowden. Will had seen them once, during the vampire incidents, but this was Selene’s first visit since their marriage, so she was visibly worried when they exited their carriage at Will’s old home.
It wasn’t his mother’s home anymore, though. Erisa’s brother, his uncle Johnathan, had converted it into a workplace, keeping only a small area to sleep in. The rest of the building now held tools and supplies for his trade—building wagons. The broad-shouldered man stood on the front porch now, watching Will and Selene climb down from the carriage. Unbidden, the image of Arrogan standing in the same place came to Will’s mind. It was the exact spot that the old man had made his final stand.
He shook his head to clear it, then glanced at Selene. Back in the capital, the proper protocol would have been for him to offer her his arm and escort her to the house, where they could make formal introductions.
Fortunately, Selene was a social chameleon, having spent years pretending to be one of the masses under various disguises. Rather than stand out, she had chosen a well-made but modest dress with simple floral embroidery at the hem, neck, and sleeves. Unlike her former common guises, her current attire did nothing to hide her royal station, but neither did it flaunt it. Today she was a very ordinary princess, the sort almost anyone could feel comfortable talking with.
Ordinary, my ass! thought Will. Dressing down seemed to produce the opposite effect, at least in his opinion. Rather than have her honest features overshadowed by jewelry and ornamentation, Selen
e made up the difference by radiating a calm confidence that seemed to brighten the colors of the world around her. Then again, that could just be my personal bias talking, he reminded himself.
Suddenly self-conscious in front of his uncle, Will glanced down. He was dressed to match, in a well-made but understated tunic of red-dyed wool. In his peasant’s eye, he looked ridiculously wealthy, but the effect was ruined by the way he imagined the tunic hung from his shoulders. Selene had insisted he looked dashing, but his own glance in the mirror had confirmed his own underwhelming opinion.
A second man stepped out of the house, and for a moment Will almost didn’t recognize his cousin. He’d long ago seen the signs that Eric would share his father’s sturdy frame, but a few years, army food, and hard training had turned his cousin into an unreasonably handsome man. Light brown hair and beard, shoulders to match his father’s, tall, lean, and well-muscled—Eric looked so good that Will couldn’t help but feel a bit of envy.
While he goggled at his grinning cousin, Selene stepped forward and affected a warm and almost shy demeanor as she greeted Johnathan Cartwright. “It’s been too long since we were able to visit, but I hope—”
Johnathan cut her off, “—save your apologies for Erisa. I’m just glad to see you.” His expression was open and friendly. “We’re family now, but I have to ask, is it allowed to hug princesses?”
“Depends on the situation,” she answered. “In Cerria, only in private, but here—I’d love it if you could treat me just as you would your own son’s wife.” Almost before she had finished, Will’s uncle stepped forward and swept her up into a massive hug before swinging her around with an enthusiastic ‘whoop.’ Her feet flew out as he spun, and then a second later he put her down.
The respite was short-lived, for Eric followed his father’s example and snatched her up again, spinning around several times until she was dizzy. Will steadied her when her feet found the ground again, then embraced his uncle and cousin in turn. After a second, he held Eric out at arm’s length. “What the hell have you been eating?”
“Hard work and clean living,” answered Eric. “Besides, I’m pretty sure whatever you’re eating is even better.” Eric’s hands squeezed Will’s upper arms, elbows, and then his wrists. “You’ve filled out even more than I have.”
Will frowned. “I had a lot farther to go, and from what I can see I doubt I’ll ever catch up.”
After their greetings were done, Eric and his father closed up the shop and together the four of them started walking along the forest trail that led toward Arrogan’s old house deeper in the Glenwood Forest. No roads or large paths went to the old shack, which was the main reason that they had left the carriage (and the carriage driver) at Will’s old home.
In years past, Will could have run to their destination in fifteen to twenty minutes, but with four of them walking at a regular pace the journey took half an hour. Along the way, Will asked his cousin about his appearance. He hadn’t expected a chance to see both Johnathan and Eric on the same day.
“Dad got word to me when he heard you were coming, and I was lucky enough to have some leave coming to me close to it. I only had to trade days with a few friends and get the captain’s approval to be here today,” said Eric.
“Still, it must have been a bit of trouble for you,” Will replied.
His cousin shrugged. “Not too much. I think you forget who you are now.” Eric’s eyes shifted to Selene and back before winking at him. “My captain was only too happy to let me visit with my cousins-in-law.”
“That reminds me. Which unit are you in?” asked Will.
“As the Royal Marshal I figured you’d have had one of your assistants look up that information for you by now,” replied Eric.
Will sidestepped a fallen tree limb, offering a hand to Selene as she stepped over, then responded, “I’m still new to this, and to be honest, I wasn’t even sure if I should ask.”
Eric frowned in confusion, but his father clarified Will’s meaning. “He means he worried about knowing what part of the army his family was in, since it might affect his decision making.”
“Ahh,” said Eric. “I won’t tell you then, even though you asked.”
“First Division, Third Regiment, First Battalion, Company D,” said Will’s uncle decisively.
Will was puzzled, but Eric frowned at his father and asked, “Why’d you do that?”
Eric’s father shrugged. “I’m not burdened by his ethical concerns. If he bends the rules and it keeps you alive, all the better.” Will’s uncle finished by repeating Eric’s division and unit a second time for good measure.
Will laughed while at the same time taking mental notes to make sure he didn’t forget. He had no conscious intention of deliberately keeping Eric out of danger, but at the same time he couldn’t let the knowledge pass him by. “I don’t suppose you know which division Tiny’s unit is in?” he asked.
“Barrentine’s company is somewhere in Second Division, but that’s as much as I know,” answered Eric.
That meant if something happened to either the First or the Second, he might lose someone important to him. Toss in the fact that Mark Nerrow was leading the Fifth and Sixth Divisions, and it made it even harder to imagine a disaster happening to any part of the army without it personally affecting him, and that was before he considered the student sorcerers he was training, Janice among them, who would be spread throughout the six divisions. Will had no intention of playing favorites, but with every day that the war drew closer, he felt ever more certain he was bound to lose people he cared about.
He was snapped from his reverie by the sound of Sammy’s voice carrying through the trees. She had spotted them and was running back toward the house to alert Erisa. By the time they had reached the small yard in front, his mother was already standing there, drying her hands with a towel. Will might have wondered what she’d been doing, but his mind was already occupied with the revelation that a smaller and entirely new building had grown up beside the original shack, which itself had been rebuilt in many places. The term ‘shack’ didn’t really fit it anymore.
Before he could ask about the new addition, he had to wait for the ongoing moment between his mother and his wife to end, however. Selene had moved forward the moment she spotted Erisa, and ignoring everyone else she had faced her mother-in-law with a look that combined both trepidation and a hint of regret. Will started to move forward but his uncle put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a hard stare and a firm shake of his head. “Don’t,” his uncle said almost inaudibly.
“It’s taken me too long to get here,” began Selene. “I know you must be terribly hurt and—”
Will’s mother held up one hand. “Stop. I don’t like where that’s leading.” She studied her daughter-in-law for a moment that dragged an interminable silence before she finally spoke again. “I won’t lie. I was disappointed and sad. He’s the only child I’ll ever have after all, but what’s done is done, and from what I’ve heard the two of you really didn’t have much choice. Besides—” Erisa looked at Will then back at Selene, her expression changing. “For a while I was afraid my son might be making the same mistake I made, back when I fell in love with a charming and handsome young nobleman. I knew it wasn’t wise, that we could never stay together, but I couldn’t help myself.
“I thought that would be the same fate for my son. And even though I liked you from the beginning, I didn’t believe he would ever get anything but misery from falling in love with a royal.” Erisa’s eyes grew misty and a sorrowful smile twisted her lips. “But you proved me wrong, and you’ve given him happiness instead, so even though it was sudden and unexpected, even though I didn’t get to see it, I should thank you instead.” She barely finished the sentence as her voice grew steadily thicker and by the end she was choking on tears.
She wasn’t the only one, of course. Selene’s cheeks were streaming as she threw her arms around Erisa. “I’m so sorry. You deserve more…”
“
Don’t be sorry!” answered Erisa hoarsely. “Don’t be! I couldn’t ask for a better daughter…”
Johnathan and Eric watched stoically, though the older man daubed at his eyes a few times with one sleeve. Sammy teared up, but since the other two were already hugging each other, she turned to her favorite cousin for comfort. Will’s misty eyes were obscured by a cloud of frizzy red hair as Sammy hugged him fiercely. “I missed you,” she said over one shoulder.
“I missed you too, Sammy,” he said quietly, and he meant it.
“Are you cooking tonight?” she asked softly.
Will pushed her back but held onto her. “Now I see why you missed me!”
His cousin’s face was a messy mixture of shining tears and a bright smile. “I won’t deny that I have more than one reason for being glad to see you,” she responded.
He pulled her in close again before her happy tears could make him start crying as hard as his mother and Selene currently were. “You ever think of moving to Cerria, Sammy?” he asked suddenly.
She answered over his shoulder. “And leave Papa, and your mom? What would they do?”
Neither his mother nor his uncle were getting any younger. “I mean everyone. I’ve come into a lot of money. I could take care of everyone—you, Mom, your dad, even Eric. They could do whatever they wanted, work or take it easy.”
Sammy squeezed him once more, then let go. After she wiped her face, her features took on a more serious look. “Obviously, I’m not the one to ask, but I suspect it wouldn’t be as simple or as easy as that. Dad’s proud and he likes his work. He could probably work anywhere, but this is his home. Your mom, I have no idea, and Eric’s married to the army now. He won’t settle down until he can retire and take a wife.” She paused, then grinned. “Besides, you’ve forgotten that you promised to start taking me along on your adventures. I’m almost grown now. You weren’t thinking about leaving me behind again, were you?”
He’d actually been thinking about her off and on for over a year. “Would you like to learn magic? It won’t be easy.”
Disciple of War (Art of the Adept Book 4) Page 19
