Dire Prophecy

by Zack Finley

  "Wards are great," Argon continued, "But, I much prefer that the enemy's force spell, or crossbow bolt hits the wall we are using for cover."

  I decided this was good advice. While I wore a helmet and body armor on several deployments, I preferred to come home with it intact. When I was badly wounded in Iraq on an earlier deployment, the armor helped, but it still took me six months to return to active duty.

  I was so focused on the role of magic in combat; I missed how fundamentally integrated it was into the lives of Jaloan mages. It also explained the chamber pots and why many mundanes failed to share in the lifestyle mages took for granted.

  It seemed the existence of magic prevented Jaloan mundanes from seeking non-magical solutions to many problems. Why invent something if you could see a mage using magic to accomplish the same thing. It explained a lot.

  As we got ready to join Tobron, Argon teased me that if the prophecy was wrong we would both be in high demand replenishing all types of appliances.

  ◆◆◆

  Chapter 16

  We met Tobron at the desert training area, and he had us run through our basic set of earth spells. He then demonstrated the same spells; showing us a different and often more efficient way to accomplish the same objective.

  His combat spells fell into three main categories: tossing various rocks to knock holes in the enemy, dropping rocks to crush them, or changing the terrain to delay or trap them. He shared the preconfigured spells he had available for action at all times.

  During his warring years, he used a more comprehensive set of layered spells. These allowed him to trigger a series of actions with a single command, making it more difficult for enemy mages to counter all the effects in time. One of his mainstays was a simple liquefy and freeze spell targeted at one or more foes. The wider the area involved, the greater the power drain. Tobron only recommended hitting multiple targets if they were close together. His follow up spell involved either a flurry of missiles or burying the opponent under a solid slab of rock.

  "I especially liked using the rock slab on the most powerful non-earth mage in the fight," Tobron said. "It usually didn't kill them, but they became so preoccupied with not getting crushed they weren't helping their buddies. Even after they 'ported away, their power levels needed time for their wards to recover."

  When Argon originally showed me the technique for layering spells, I lacked the context to understand it. Now the concept seemed ridiculously easy.

  Tobron's battle experience had been as one of a cadre of king's mages supporting the Klee King's Guard. Very few battles involved solely mages and few involved mundanes only. A few mediocre mages could quickly decimate a mundane-only army even if the mundanes had magical armor and weapons. A group of mages with a supporting army--especially with magical weapons and armor, could easily overwhelm even a slightly stronger group of enemy mages. Mages who lost their heads to a mundane battle-ax stayed dead.

  Most organized groups went into combat with a mix of both.

  Tobron espoused the key to battling other mages was to hit them with an elemental spell they had the least protection for. Since most mages were skilled in force and mind magics, few used these against fellow mages in battles except when combined with an elemental spell.

  Earth mages only battled other earth mages as a last resort as this resulted in a protracted fight. Such battles typically ended with one mage teleporting away to fight another day. Anything one earth mage could conjure the other could counter, although skill and power did matter. While the mages engaged one another, the mundanes battled it out.

  Battle commanders ideally had a core team of mages covering all four elementals, but this was usually a pipe dream. Finding mages interested in studying combat magic was difficult. Most commanders considered mages with fire or earth magic the strongest. Every faction attempted to recruit battle mages with these skills.

  Commanders always had fewer mages than they needed. This was especially true since killing the other group's mages was usually the easiest way to end any battle, creating significant attrition in the warrior-mage ranks.

  The Klee King's Guard was a well-trained group of mundane soldiers who fought side-by-side with their mage counterparts. These forces handled the kingdom's battles against organized groups of bandits, slavers, and pirates.

  The king's guard had a treaty with the Klee Mage Guild and could call upon a strong core of experienced battle mages to reinforce the troop if needed. Activation of this group was a rare event, and only the king could authorize it.

  An unusually strong group of mages supported the death cult worshippers Tobron faced at Mad Toffad's Keep 50 years before. The cultists nearly defeated the king's guard before the relief squad of guild mages arrived to turn the tide.

  Tobron had been in that relief squad. He recalled even with the guild reinforcements the battle remained in doubt for hours, due to the strength and battle skills of the cult group's mages.

  Tobron enlisted in the king's mage cadre after getting a taste for combat at Mad Toffad's Keep. He left following a 10-year career spent eliminating a host of criminal groups, including a large band of particularly vile pirates.

  One of the reasons Tobron left was the guard's success. Early in his career, they fought frequently against a series of large criminal groups. By the time he retired, there had been no significant skirmish for several years. Tobron got bored spending so much time in barracks and decided to move on. He spent the next 30 years building with stone in and around Klee before retiring to indulge his love for books as the guild librarian.

  Tobron had plenty of combat experience to call upon. He urged us to preconfigure a series of combat spells, aimed at tying up fire or earth mages and a set of spells designed to destroy a mundane army.

  In an evenly matched mage battle, the conflict was frequently one-on-one, with neither wanting to leave a mage free on the other side to attack its army unchallenged. Once one side had a free mage, he usually attacked the mundanes opposing them. Once the army was in retreat, the spare mage would join the attack on one of the enemy mages.

  After the enemy mage’s mundane support scattered, Klee's mundane soldiers usually mowed down the enemy mages. The Klee king paid a large bounty to any soldier who decapitated an enemy mage.

  Before the bounty, most Klee soldiers waited for their mages to defeat the enemy before joining the conflict. This practice had cost the crown too many mages and made hiring new mages difficult. The bounty encouraged the mundane troops to take the fight to the enemy. All the king's mages had to do now was to tie up the enemy mages until the king's guard took them down.

  Since criminals usually paid more to hire mages than the king did, most of the king's mages were younger and less powerful than the enemy's mages. The mage guild's guarantee to back up the king's guard was an important factor in developing a battle strategy. If the king's mages were seriously overmatched, they were instructed to pull back and summon guild reinforcements. The guild could also bring more mundane soldiers to a battlefield if needed.

  At the time Tobron served, the king's mages were all young; none had found a mate. To get the most of this young resource, the cadre developed specialized techniques to accelerate each mage's training. Each of the king's mages had an enforced daily regimen of magical exercises designed to expedite their power growth and control.

  Tobron learned these techniques well and provided us with similar training exercises for each elemental skill. We agreed to review progress several times each week.

  While Tobron was a taskmaster, he was also interested in learning how to use rebar. As a skilled builder, Tobron was way ahead of my meager skills, but he had never considered embedding iron bars in his conjured stone.

  He asked whether the bar shape was special or whether he could use bigger iron shapes instead that would be easier to conjure and connect to each other. It sounded logical to me, and he was the experienced builder. I suggested he experiment with it.

  Forming and pl
acing the iron reinforcement might add substantially to the construction time. We agreed to limit its use to the exterior walls of our new building. I was willing to stay with the older techniques for our business offices, but Tobron wanted to get some experience with it now. He saw its benefits and believed we could stage most work to minimize potential delays.

  The iron I conjured was not refined, but Tobron was impressed because its impurities made it stronger than raw iron. Fire mages employed in forges and smelters normally handled all ironwork. The iron they produced contained few impurities.

  Until my demonstration, Tobron had believed only fire mages could work with iron and so had never tried before. He monitored my conjuring and began conjuring the iron alloy with ease. He was excited about his new skills, bemoaning it took a rookie like me to educate him.

  Tobron acknowledged mages were extremely secretive and it was likely other earth mages had discovered the technique through the years. Each mage family maintained a legacy spell book passed down from generation to generation. The oldest active male family member usually maintained his family's legacy book. Some families shared in all discoveries, but others were more restrictive. Tobron’s older brother Clive maintained their family’s book, sharing the family secrets with all male descendants.

  Tobron admitted nothing in his family’s book of spells matched what I showed him.

  Tobron had never conjured a sheet of clear glass or quartz either, until today.

  Tobron left us with the assignment to set up our layered combat commands before meeting back at his place for dinner. Inoa had already told us their oldest son Cleon and his mate would be joining us. She suggested we limit any confidential discussion until they left. She felt the two would be a good addition to our group at this juncture even if only in an advisory capacity.

  We 'ported directly into Tobron's foyer after practicing another hour in the desert. Tobron helped us stash our gear before pulling us in to meet his son Cleon and Alba.

  Cleon had his father's build and his mother's coloring. His tight mind shield came as no surprise since he had likely learned mind magic at his mother's knees. I couldn't tell whether Cleon lacked his father's sense of humor or whether he was just keeping it under tight wraps.

  He carried himself like a warrior, so I wasn't surprised to learn he had followed in his father's footsteps with an enlistment in the king's mage cadre.

  Cleon stayed in the king's service as a troubleshooter even after meeting his mate Alba.

  Inoa thought his vast knowledge of the entire Klee kingdom would be of value to our enterprise and she sensed he was ready for a change.

  Alba was a talented healer who provided care at the king's hospital located in south Klee. She was excited to meet us; especially after learning, we both had strong healing magic. Alba was dark skinned with shockingly blond fur. She was nearly as tall as Cleon. She had a medium build, not as delicate as Inoa nor as stocky as Argon. She gave me hope Cleon was not as humorless as he seemed. She had painted her finger and toenails a striking purple color.

  ◆◆◆

  Chapter 17

  Dinner began as a congenial affair over drinks but quickly took a more serious twist.

  The evening began with our sharing the excitement about our new building, the search for a suitable warehouse and our hiring of a business manager in Augun.

  We failed to appreciate the potential impact of the Augun assassination on the Klee monarchy. Cleon was shocked to learn of the assassination attempt, as no word of it had reached his office. He reminded us Klee's Queen Mother Jenia was the daughter of Augun's king. He grilled us about the assassination, but we had only the general gleanings from our mind-reading app to share.

  We agreed Cleon could brief his boss immediately about the assassination. He promised to be back in time for dessert. He planned to 'port to his office to set up a series of actions and if necessary brief higher-ups about the finding.

  Cleon cautioned us that while he was not aware of the events in Augun, it was likely the Klee royals had already learned of the assassination and initiated contingency plans.

  Despite his assurances, we could tell Cleon was extremely concerned no one had alerted the rest of the king's forces to a potential threat to this kingdom.

  Inoa gathered us back together, and we tried to regain some of the earlier enjoyment of the meal.

  Alba and Argon hit it off immediately. When Argon mentioned she was tempted to injure me just so she could practice her new healing magic, Alba invited us to join her at the hospital in south Klee for training. Alba said they had so many more patients than magical healers.

  We exchanged com-cards and agreed to meet at the hospital the next day. Alba shared the hospital's ‘port site.

  True to his word, Cleon returned in time for a quick dessert. He conveyed his commander's gratitude for our information but couldn't share what the kingdom expected to do with it. He provided us with his com-card and asked us to share any further news we gained while in Augun. We gave him one of our com-cards but told him we now shared a close link with his parents, who could convey any news we learned and vice versa.

  Cleon looked at Inoa, and she nodded as the two obviously shared a private conversation.

  "You could help us understand more about this situation if you are willing to listen for information on certain key topics during your visit tomorrow. I'm not asking you to draw attention to yourself, but any intelligence you can glean will be very welcome," Cleon said. "I can forward you a list of issues we'd like to know more about if you are willing."

  We agreed readily, and he promised to send a list to Inoa to forward on to us.

  Cleon and Alba left shortly afterward. We settled in for our business meeting.

  The mess in Augun had derailed Inoa's plan to enlist Cleon's help in our quest to meet with King Ruton. She expected the consequences of the attack in Augun would likely engulf Klee.

  We also agreed events in Augun had the potential to bring us to the attention of King Ruton directly. Tobron thought we should be prepared to put our proposal for Mad Toffad’s Keep forward if this happened.

  Tobron was lunching with two retired members of the guild council to get suggestions on ways to exert pressure on the mage guild to push our application forward. We agreed to drop by the bank, add some gems for deposit, and pressure Pernet as well.

  Tobron was still drawing up his list of supplies needed to equip and support 1,000 persons for one year as requested. We agreed to look it over and bring forward any suggestions at our next meeting. He thought the list could help guide our purchases in Augun.

  He warned us to prepare for action by the Augun special police and endorsed the plan to interrogate anyone they sent. Inoa offered to assist with cracking any mind shields and planting false memories afterward.

  While I hoped this wouldn't be necessary, Argon was looking forward to the opportunity.

  Our new buildings needed wards against weather, earthquake, fire, unauthorized entry, and magical attacks of all varieties. Tobron said he and Inoa could prepare the spells for most of them, but he wanted the four of us to execute them together, to imbue them with the most power possible.

  I was also hoping we could expand the wards to include more subtle effects similar to those we felt in the different temples. I wanted wards that would make anyone wishing us harm to soil themselves and run screaming for the exit, or force criminals to confess spontaneously and turn themselves over to the king's guard. I recognized this would be difficult to achieve. I just hoped we could have a ward that made anyone considering harming or cheating us to feel so uncomfortable; they just had to leave. Inoa was familiar with wards of this type for mundanes but said she would research applications affecting mages. Argon told her the ones in Avia's temple affected mages.

  Tobron thought having the exterior walls radiate these types of wards was a great idea. They would create a buffer zone around our buildings with the effects getting stronger as people approached. He ackno
wledged these spells were very rare due to the power and skill they took to create, but he observed that between the four of us we could handle it easily.

  Argon and I agreed to move into one of the apartments in our new business building once construction was complete and the wards were set.

  Tobron was contracting some of his old builder buddies and some mundane laborers to assist with the renovation of our two buildings. As agreed, Tobron did not intend to apprise them of the reason for our efforts but could see adding them to our budding empire as lower level associates.

  Inoa agreed to develop protections from mind magic for our future population. Once we moved out to the steading, we could limit physical access, but until then our mundanes and weaker mages would be vulnerable to prying from curious or unscrupulous mages. I cautioned to expect criminals and even government agents might kidnap and question our people, especially as we developed a higher profile and expanded our base of operations.

  Everyone agreed we should scope out the harbor in Losan for its potential to provide the food staples on our supply list. Tobron thought the conflict at the harbor had the potential to create another business opportunity.

  No one knew much about the next city on our list, Kavil, located north of Augun.

  I failed to comprehend much of the mind magic training Inoa offered after our business meeting, but Argon lapped it up. By the end of the session, Argon was hoping the Augun secret police would attack us so she would have someone to try some of the mind control techniques we had learned.

  The two of them chattered excitedly over many esoteric nuances. Inoa promised to loan Argon some advanced texts for her to study later.

  Inoa was concerned about our joint meld with Allo. She warned Argon that we would need to ensure Allo had a strong mind shield of her own before bringing her into the reach of others. She confirmed my suspicion that Allo had penetrated into the deepest levels of our joint shield. Argon promised to introduce Inoa to Allo as soon as we moved to town.