by Zack Finley
While none of the five men had particularly strong battle magic, they felt their best option was to stay together and wait out the chaos. About a week ago, Jahan lost the bet and 'ported into the mage guild offices to learn what was going on. The news was worse than they had feared and when he returned they decided to remain holed up and abandoned their tentative plans to get in touch with their families. The brothers were convinced the secret police were still after them.
I thought Augun could really use these bargemen if we could recruit them without hurting them or letting them escape before we could reason with them. Unfortunately, they were so wound up they would teleport away at the slightest provocation.
Could we try Argon's new oxygen deprivation spell on the whole house? During our time with Alba, we discussed a less deadly form of the spell. One only had to remove half the oxygen to knock out our targets.
Argon agreed to set up the modified removal spell, followed 2 minutes later by an oxygen restoration spell. This should allow us to secure all five mages without danger to any of us. We would just have to hope the rest were like Jahan and didn't have a dead man's teleport.
I surrounded my head with an air bubble and waited at the door until Argon launched the first spell. I forced myself to wait 15 seconds before entering the building. Three men had collapsed on the floor; I used mage cuffs to secure them and created a force and air bubble around them before doing the same with Jahan and the fifth mage. Argon triggered the oxygen replenishment spell the instant I secured the last mage.
A check confirmed all five were breathing fine. I sent a jolt of healing through each one, as I had watched Alba do. This allowed Argon to verify that each of the mages had a variant of Jahan's story. She could sympathize with their situation and thought they were basically good young men caught up in a horrible situation.
When the five men recovered enough to talk, I handed out copies of the king's proclamation and Argon shared our credentials from the king. I left the rest of the explanation to her. One, she was a much prettier sight for five men to watch and she had a more sympathetic way about her.
We apologized for taking them into custody but advised we had to verify they were not complicit in the attempted assassination. Jahan and his brothers exchanged guilty looks, which Argon and I ignored.
Argon assured me she intended to use that guilt to recruit these boys to help rebuild Augun. Having direct ties to three more Augun mage families could also be the break we were looking for.
Argon released each one from the mage cuffs once they agreed to help the Augun King’s Guard take back Flom. They were uneasy with the possibility of combat but were happy to leave the sidelines. Three weeks of hiding and a liberal serving of guilt left them ready to serve their king.
We brought them back to the garrison and introduced them to Sgt. Bomes, who swore them in as members of the Augun militia for the duration of the emergency. We provided them with com-cards, and the teleport location for the Augun keep ballroom.
I took one of the mages with me and we 'ported to the ballroom. I spoke with the corporal on duty there about needing to reinforce the Flom garrison. He assigned four more men for us to take back to the Flom garrison.
I com-carded Lt. Valso and updated him about our five mage bargemen. I suspected his reinforcements to Flom were going to be slow in coming unless he found some mages in the Augun port willing to head upriver.
Valso had dispatched the reinforcements by barge; unfortunately, the barge was limited to the speed a team of long-haul barntas could maintain. I was glad Valso was beginning to understand the benefits of having a few mages around.
Through a multi-way conversation with Valso, Argon, and the bargemen, we arranged for two of the mage brothers now in Flom to meet the reinforcement barge on the river. Argon had the sergeant issue a set of orders for the men, to make sure there would be no question. She had them share the 'port location and told them to call if we needed to convince the king’s guard to let them aboard.
Sgt. Bomes was happy to get the four reinforcements and even happier to learn the three remaining mages could now teleport to and from the Augun keep to pick up more help should they be needed.
Argon reminded the mages, with the sergeant listening on, to prepare their combat spells in case the marauders attacked the garrison. She encouraged them to talk with Sgt. Bomes to coordinate how their spells could best support the garrisoned troops.
Argon gave each of the three mages another com-card and asked them to share it with any other mages they ran into. She emphasized the need for all citizens of Augun, mage and mundane to pull together for the common good.
She didn't mention we already had their secret teleport locations, but we didn't expect to need them as we continued to seek cooperation, not coercion.
The Flom mounted patrols had so far not come under attack and seemed to be encouraging villagers to come out on the streets. No vendors had opened a stand in the marketplace, but the foot traffic had definitely increased.
Argon changed our request of the sergeant. She told him to call us if he learned the marauders were active as well. We hadn't forgotten the dead younglings. Eliminating the marauders would solidify the return of order in Flom, and we wanted someone to pay for the deaths of so many innocents.
Argon had already messaged Tobron about the assassins hiring pirates and worse to plunder the Augun countryside. We didn't know whether they'd employ the same tactic in Klee, but it might be another way to unravel the plot.
The mage accompanying the troop of Augun King’s Guard to locate the heir had not reported in again, so we didn't expect to hear more from him until evening.
Before leaving the garrison in Flom, Argon had fixed the bargemen's prime teleport locations along the river. It was too bad they hadn't expanded their barge route to include Asme, or we could have beat the king’s guard to the heir's estate.
Rather than return to Klee, we decided to post proclamations in the villages along the river north and west of Flom. Spreading the word about happenings in Augun could help good people hold on a while longer. Hope could also encourage communities to band together and take down the thugs and bullies.
We prepped our offensive weapons and 'ported to the first downriver location, southwest of Flom. The way station was a blackened ruin. From the pungent smell of old smoke, we guessed it had burned weeks before.
One barge was mostly submerged but still tied up to the docks. Two others were still afloat, but no one was aboard. A mind scan found no one nearby, either mentally blocked or unblocked. I conjured a rectangular slab of white stone and inset it into the blackened way-station wall where we posted the proclamation.
When I suggested embedding a series of colorful stone arrows to point to it, Argon suggested I had too much time on my hands.
We held hands and 'ported downstream. Right into the middle of a melee in progress.
Our invisibility spell bought us enough time to sort out the good villagers from the bad murderers. It took only a few heartbeats for us to take out the bad 'uns. We chose to use non-lethal weapons so we could interrogate the losers without being rushed.
Unfortunately, that was hard to communicate to our impromptu allies. After paralyzing a few allies to keep them from killing the people we wanted to question, the villagers were starting to get riled up enough to attack us.
I tossed one of my special lava grenades high over the river. It went off with a spectacular bang. I then formed a huge fireball in my right hand and walked towards the village leader.
A few orders from him and he had control of his troops. Argon freed the villagers we had paralyzed and encouraged them to settle down.
Argon decided this type of encounter was more my style and began interrogating the defeated marauders.
Their deeds disgusted her. She wanted to slit their throats after querying them. I agreed they needed to die but thought it would be better all-around if the villagers handled that duty. She learned a barge crash separated t
his group of foreign raiders from the main group weeks before. They had arrived by ship and then transferred to the barge. The mage who recruited them promised lots of slaves and treasure. They didn't know what had happened to the rest of their group or the other five groups on the barge. None of the men had seen the mage who recruited them.
I banished my fire orb and approached the village leader. He was angry because we paralyzed his men, but was wary, too. I could work with that.
I handed him one of the king's proclamations and showed him our credentials by way of introduction. He had called out the town militia after the Augun King’s Guard defeated a much larger group manning the roadblock earlier in the day. His men recognized the scum attempting to reform the roadblock as those who attacked his village earlier in the week, killing, maiming, and raping.
I thanked him for taking a stand and told him we fully endorsed having the villagers execute these cretins. We had verified they were guilty of the crimes he had recited as well as countless more. Now we had interrogated them he was welcome to execute them. I encouraged him to make a ceremony of the executions to allow his entire village to take solace in the justice his men were able to deliver.
I sensed his surprise at my words, tinged by strong disbelief. Argon placed the weapons removed from our captives at his feet. I suggested the spells holding them immobile would wear off in a few minutes, and his men might wish to secure the prisoners before then.
I secured the king's proclamation to the signpost marking the road to Asme.
While I was placing the proclamation, Argon told him a small garrison of king's guard was now present in Flom. She cautioned they didn't have the strength yet to leave Flom, but they were recruiting locals to help protect the town. We didn't mention the reinforcements heading upriver for obvious operational considerations.
As the villagers began to drag the bound marauders back to the village to meet their fate, we said our goodbyes and 'ported to the next location.
Not much to see. There were a stone dock and a locked way station, but there was no one hanging around. We had both hoped to jump into the middle of another battle.
The battle at this place had concluded earlier in the day. Someone had routed those manning the roadblock. The bodies were left by the wayside, and the roadblock was shoved to one side. We assumed the fight involved the king’s guard headed up river toward the heir's estate in Asme.
I still posted the proclamation at the way station. I was tempted to use one of the marauder's knives to pin one to his chest. We gathered their weapons and tossed them into the shallows under the dock. No reason to make it easy for the next group of scum to establish a roadblock.
The sun was starting to hang low over the horizon. We were expecting to take part in some major combat tonight either in Asme or in Flom. If we were lucky, maybe both.
We ported back to our apartment to rehydrate, shower, and stoke up for the night's battles.
Tobron had happily stepped into the lynchpin role making sure everyone had the information they needed to function at top efficiency. A small group of mages from the Klee Mage Guild was snooping around on the dock with the help of a few well vetted Klee King’s Guard. A few of Tobron's buddies, mages long retired from the Klee King’s Guard, were now coincidentally vacationing near key garrisons in outlying towns.
He reminded us that he'd be happy to join us for any or all of tonight's battles. We told him to keep his gear nearby just in case.
Cleon and Inoa were still too busy to take any break.
With the possibility of Tobron and Inoa both being gone, we changed our emergency teleport location to the king's wing at Alba's hospital. If we landed there with life-threatening injuries, we would probably get faster care there than anywhere else we could think of. Alba fully supported the change. She promised to stand by at the hospital, just in case.
Our new office building was making great progress, but the critical path was still getting the proper wards set up. Attempted coups and assassinations were definitely impacting Tobron's critical path schedule.
I suggested he follow up on Capt. Malek's mage references. I wanted to hire Malek full time to support our enterprise. I figured we could offer better and stronger wards, better weapons and a profitable business relationship. Tobron might also look for cargos to and from Losan.
I could nearly hear the whirr of his mind spinning as he stepped out of his builder's role and into that of a shipping magnate. It was good someone in our enterprise was looking farther than tonight.
Tobron had three people he wanted to hire, but all of us had to get past this current mess before we were ready to contemplate adding to our enterprise. We agreed he could bring any or all of them on board on a probationary basis.
We suggested he go to Losan, use a pile of gems to kick-start a business account, and join the Losan Mage Guild. He could contact Erfo and follow up with him for us if he wanted or strike out on his own. The dock rivalries and an apparent glut of food stored in warehouses on the docks might present an opportunity for us. My only concern was what we would have Capt. Malek haul back from Klee to Losan. Perhaps one of the local businesses needed to ship something, and we could transport their goods at a discount.
Tobron reported King Rufix was doing much better after our morning healing session and was eager to do his physical therapy. During therapy, he learned three weeks of being badly injured, bedridden, and unconscious made his immediate return to Augun unlikely. Alba was urging him to delay his return for a few days.
To reduce the impetus for Rufix to return to Augun too soon, the queen mother hired Ramda, a mage from one of the Klee business communication services companies. Her job was to help the king stay in touch with his staff. Inoa had vetted Ramda before she was chosen. Ramda had plenty of mind magic but didn't have enough force magic to handle many teleport duties.
One of Ramda's first efforts was to distribute a bunch of mundane com-cards to key Rufix staffers. Alba thought it likely Rufix would want us to teleport him to Augun to visit with his top people sometime very soon.
We made a tentative plan for a working lunch with Tobron tomorrow, to have a more thorough strategy session and to meet those he wanted to hire.
Argon settled in her chair with a book on enchantments. I picked the flesh magic primer but couldn't concentrate on it. I was ready for action. I got a cup of juice from the kitchen and returned to the living room to pace and fidget.
I knew I was disturbing Argon's concentration, but I couldn't help it.
Within moments, she slid her arms around me and embraced me. Touching her helped center me. She pulled me over to the couch and snuggled against me. It took only moments before I was okay.
She still had a raw area walled off from both of us, but her natural spirit was reasserting itself.
For some reason tonight, I needed physical closeness. When she handed me my book and retrieved hers, it was okay. When she rested her back against my chest and draped my arms around her, it was much better.
I actually found the primer on flesh magic to be interesting. Unfortunately, if this was the first-grade level of instruction the work I was doing for the past several days had been MD level work. Alba had guided me well, but in this, as well as most other things magic I had way more power than I could effectively use. Except for bone sculpting, my healing efforts had primarily boosted the body's own ability to heal. I also didn't know whether I could heal myself.
I reached for my knife and cut my arm. This startled Argon until she sensed what I was up to and she settled back down, although I could tell she was now paying significantly less attention to her book.
Yup, I could heal myself.
I suggested we both preconfigure some rapid heal spells. One for our own body and the second to heal someone else. Argon consulted with Alba, and they settled on several layered spells historically favored by combat medics.
The main level of the spell concentrated all the healing on the core body functions. The second
level closed significant bleeders, whether from a severed limb or a cut artery. The third level prioritized keeping the injured conscious. The last level buffered the pain. Most healers thought some pain was instructive, but debilitating pain, especially in a combat setting prevented action.
We settled on the commands "heal me" and "heal them" to trigger the spells.
"Good thinking," Argon messaged, as she burrowed deeper into me. She returned to studying her book. I was happy just to bask in her essence.
I must have dozed off because the next thing I remember was Argon prodding me. "Wake up sleepy head," Argon said, "Cleon sent us the teleport location for the group near Asme. It’s time to get this show on the road. Apparently, they have a problem and need our unique brand of mayhem."
I stretched and reached for my gear. "I'm ready, what's holding you up?"
Gera, the Klee mage, and Lt. Brik, the leader of the expedition, greeted us at the teleport location supplied by Cleon.
The troop was nearing the town of Asme. They had already fought several battles and lost five men. I com-carded Lt. Valso. He agreed to have replacements for our casualties ready for transport.
Argon and I 'ported to the Augun ballroom where Lt. Valso was waiting with 10 armed troopers. He agreed to continue staging armed men at the ballroom site as they become available.
We brought the first six men with us on the first trip to Asme. I left Argon to confer with Gera and Lt. Brik and went back for the last four men on my own.
Argon relayed that bands of roving thugs had taken over Asme and several of the expedition scouts were attacked before they retreated.
Lt. Brik felt he could probably fight his way to the center of town and again to the heir's residence but was not confident this troop could hold Asme. We relayed the logistics and information between lieutenants Valso and Brik. Valso left to organize another expedition to Asme via barge.
