Duchy Unleashed

by Zack Finley

  Young mages started out with a virtual thimble amount of magical storage, although the quantity of magic each mage’s thimble held was different. It might take 5 minutes or 2 hours for their body to produce enough magic to fill the young mage’s thimble. Once the thimble was full, all new magic the mage’s body produced disappeared. It only began to accumulate again once the thimble was emptied enough to store more magic.

  A thimbleful of fire magic might allow one youngling to cast three spells to toast marshmallows or one fireball. Another youngster’s thimbleful might hold only enough magic to toast one marshmallow. While I found it hard to believe, Jaloans didn’t have a measuring system for magic. That left everything subjective. Fixing that was on my to-do list.

  Whether the original thimble held a lot or a little magic, the more fire spells a youngling cast, the more his thimble stretched to store even more fire magic. All types of magic a mage could use behaved in the same way. The amount of new magic being generated didn’t increase with practice. Only the capacity of the thimble or container to store that magic increased with use, up to a point.

  As the storage increased the mage’s trickle of magic would take longer to fill the expanded container. Once the container was filled or partially filled, mages could cast more intense spells or a bunch of low-end spells.

  Maximizing or “capping out” a mage’s magical storage was the holy grail. “Capping out” required countless hours of practice but was every serious mage’s goal. How much magic the mage’s container could hold when “capped out” was a matter of genetics.

  Argon capped out her air, water, force, and mind magics long before we met. Many mages choose not to push themselves to reach their caps in every magic. But these seldom include battlemages.

  After “capping out” mages put most of their efforts into increasing spell efficiency. All mages benefit from more efficient spells. Sometimes spell efficiency came naturally through repetition, sometimes it was gleaned from other mages, and sometimes it came from a burst of inspiration. Mages seldom shared these efficiencies, even with their apprentices. In the dog-eat-dog world of Jaloan mages, everyone was looking for an edge. Secrecy was the norm.

  Genetics determined the types of magic a person was born with and how much of each magic his body produced and could ultimately store. As mages aged, the amount of magic their bodies generated increased naturally but it was only through incessant practice that mages reached their full genetic potential.

  That changed when Jaloans found their life partner. Mating between life partners created a mind-meld. Once consummated, such melds could not be undone. There were no second chances. Mages might remarry but that would not create a second mind-meld.

  Mind-melds added to genetic predispositions. A mind-meld was the only thing a Jaloan could do to boost their ultimate caps and access new types of magic. Melds were also tricky with numerous cautionary tales warning of the downside of choosing the wrong partner.

  Suitors had plagued Argon through the years seeking a meld. She suspected they only wanted to boost their caps and gain access to her water and air magic. While some mages did choose mates based on their magic, Argon wasn’t one of them. Argon thought melds were too intimate to risk without trust and true compatibility between the partners.

  Mind-melds were a wild card. I’ve been told the benefits of melds were directly related to the strength of the partnership. From everything we could tell, Argon and I had a top-tier meld.

  After our meld, all of the caps on the magic I had before the meld increased. The greatest percentage increase came in force and mind magics, the two magics Argon and I had in common before the meld. According to Shala, after the meld, my magic caps also increased for fire, flesh, and earth magics. Since I had very little grasp of my magic before the meld, I just took her word for it.

  I did notice I could now cast spells in air and water magics, a gift from Argon. Argon was thrilled with the increase in her caps for force, mind, air, and magics and very happy to access fire, earth, and flesh magics.

  Mages usually embarked on a new training cycle after mind-melds, eager to learn their new magics and reach their new storage caps.

  Argon and I were spared that tedium. Shala intervened, deciding Argon and I needed immediate access to our full magical potential. She was right, having immediate access to our flesh magic saved both our lives.

  It was still hard to believe that all magic on Jaloa depended on the trickle of new magic generated by mages. This life force was the magical blood that formed the basis of all magical powers in Jaloa.

  If a magical object, ward, or appliance ran out of that life force, it became dormant. Spells can’t be cast unless they use up this life force. If your magic cap is lower than a spell needs, you can’t cast that spell.

  I hoped our magical batteries could overcome this constraint. It was still a work in progress. But one I had high hopes for.

  I damped down my eagerness to hear about progress on the batteries and listened to the preparations underway to move everyone to the Keep.

  I learned Cleon, Tobron’s son and the commander of the Duchy Guard, took about half the Duchy Guard to the Keep this morning to help an advance group of foresters and farmers. Tobron assured me while some were going to keep watch, the rest would pitch in to help. They were staying far away from the exterminators and the cleansing site.

  “I promise they will be back to HQ by nightfall,” Tobron preempted my question. “Your orders are clear, no one stays overnight at the keep until the glappners and spirits are purged. I’m told both of those activities are on schedule. Captain Malek and our HQ team will be loading up the ships while we are dealing with the last details. Most of our people will move tonight to the Klee dock warehouse to avoid the downtown daylight ban on carts and basas. We’ve hired nearly every carriage in Klee for the move.”

  “What happens if we get a delay at the Keep?” I asked.

  “Our people can always stay at the warehouse until we can move them to the Keep. The living quarters in the warehouse are a little primitive, but everyone is eager to get to the Keep, so morale is high,” Tobron said. “Clive and his crew are finishing the final repairs this morning to the building we chose for our first residence in the Keep. They are also fixing things the foresters and farmers need. By tomorrow night we should have everyone safely tucked into a guarded building at the Keep.”

  Clive was Tobron’s older brother and Loma’s mate. He was a retired master builder with substantial earth magic.

  “It’s going to take several weeks before I can relax inside the Keep. Finding those glappners really shook me up. I’d hate for a group of younglings to stumble across something like that,” I said.

  “We can delay moving the younglings for several days if that would make you feel better?” Tobron offered.

  I had learned to listen to the unease I was experiencing. “Yes, let’s keep all younglings at HQ along with their caregivers. Have some mages and part of the Duchy Guard stay here with them until we have spent a few nights in the Keep. Once we confirm there is no hidden hazard at the Keep, they can move out of HQ. I’d also feel better if Capt. Malek stationed one of the ships at the Keep dock, in case we need to evacuate for some reason.”

  “Are you having one of your feelings?” Tobron asked, unable to keep the worry from his voice.

  “Yes and no. While I’m worried about the younglings, I don’t have any concerns about the adults. We need to be vigilant but not overly cautious, as long as our younglings are safe,” I said.

  Tobron nodded, and I could tell he was rattling out mental orders for Ellte to convey.

  Loma came to stand beside us, waited impatiently for Tobron to get free. “You have got to see this,” she crowed. “I never would have believed it.”

  “Let’s go,” Tobron said, grabbing both our arms and ‘porting us to a dim location. My bump for direction indicated we were still in the building but a few stories underground.

  Tobron made th
e light brighter and pulled me over to look into a dark hole in the ground.

  He conjured a light and aimed it full force into the hole. There was a 20-foot-tall clear hexagonal crystal rising from the bottom of the hole. Tobron was nearly jumping with excitement.

  I thought it was pretty, but it was hard to get that excited about a rock.

  Tobron looked at me with disappointment. “There is your battery,” he said pointing at the crystal.

  “Clive and I have been playing around with conjuring quartz. He has been conjuring sheets of the special glass Toffad used for his windows. Loma and I mentioned how disappointed we were with our battery stones. Clive suggested we try glass. I conjured a block of glass, but it didn’t hold much more magic than plain rock. That caused me to rethink the whole concept. Gems are rocks. Why do gems hold so much magic and rocks so little? Many gems are just crystalized glass with different trace elements. Then I decided I’d missed the point. I think it is the pure crystalline structure that stores the magic.”

  I looked again at the large crystal and felt a chill run up my spine. Was it this easy?

  “We can’t conjure a large crystal,” Tobron added. “We tried. All Clive and I can conjure directly are tiny crystals. They hold magic but are very fragile. Loma suggested using the original stone battery to power a continuous conjuring cycle. At the bottom of the shaft, we used one of our conjured crystals as a seed crystal. I set up the initial conjuring spell, and Loma turned it into a repetitive enchantment, using the existing battery to power it. We set it to run all night. When Loma came in to check on it before breakfast, this is what she found.”

  “When will you know if it acts like a natural crystal and can hold lots of magic?” I asked.

  “I’m going to start growing a smaller sized crystal right away,” said Loma. “I’m concerned that if we run tests on that huge one, we might get an explosion or another magical backlash. I don’t think anyone has ever dealt with a crystal of this size. Remember almost all the gems we currently use are the size of pebbles. I’ll do some tests once I have a crystal about six inches long.”

  “If this works it could revolutionize enchanting,” Loma said. “This is so important it should be treated as need-to-know information. Everyone knows we have been experimenting with different types of stones for the batteries. We just started playing around with crystals in the past day or so. I certainly don’t want the dark sect to learn about this. I also recommend casually letting people think the rock batteries have been disappointing. Still worthwhile but disappointing. That part is definitely true.”

  “Let’s keep this information tight,” I agreed. “Mates only for now. Preaching secrecy to Inoa is laughable, and I suspect Clive has quite a few secrets he’s kept through the years. We need to confirm that we really have a breakthrough here before getting too crazy. If it is as big as you think, it may give us a serious edge in the coming years.”

  As I took one more look at the huge crystal, I asked, “What gemstone holds the most magic?”

  “Quartz,” Loma answered drily.

  “Wow,” was all I could think as I ‘ported back to the food court.

  I could tell Argon’s morning wasn’t going well. She wasn’t broadcasting but when I checked on her this morning’s emotional feast was mainly irritation with side dishes of exasperation, annoyance, and frustration.

  I shared my feelings about keeping the younglings at HQ for a bit longer. She suggested we might rethink transferring everyone to the Keep at once. People were already settled in HQ, she wondered whether we’d be better served by moving a large group of pathfinders to the Keep to prepare for the bigger transition.

  It sounded like we needed a management meeting. I shared Argon’s thoughts with Tobron.

  “All of us have been impatient at the delays that have kept us here at HQ when we want to move to the Keep and begin building the future. We may have let that eagerness blind us to potential risks. As your chamberlain, I recommend we convene an all-hands meeting at lunch to determine our best course. I’ll have Ellte let everyone know so they can either attend or send someone.”

  “Do it,” I sent, my gut feeling at peace for the first time since I got up this morning.

  ◆◆◆

  Chapter 2

  I spent the time before the meeting reviewing the list of Duchy citizens. This list was updated every time someone took the Duchy oath of fealty. It included all the regular information, such as age, sex, mage or mundane, marital status, country of origin, skills, children, and even hobbies.

  I knew we still had a few contractors working for us, but our recent recruitment efforts had begun to fill most of those holes.

  I also looked at the lists of Argon’s recruits from Losan and Klee who were off-site awaiting transport to either HQ or the Keep. Many of those had the skills we needed to make the Keep self-sustaining.

  “Tobron,” I sent. “Have Capt. Malek arrange reliable transport for Argon’s Losan recruits directly to the Keep. It will take them days to get here, but a lot of them have the basic village skills we need. I’d also like to move the recruits from the rural areas around Klee either to HQ or to our warehouse to start getting them assimilated.”

  “I suspect you are right,” Tobron responded. “Argon’s recruits should help ground our Augun group. I also don’t want to lose them, due to delays getting to the Keep. We are going to need them to train some of our Augun people.”

  “I don’t see any armorers on our rolls,” I added. “Did our local candidate fall through?”

  “He didn’t pass the Inoa check,” Tobron sent. “You should chat with your good friend Jorvik and get a lead on someone.”

  I had been avoiding Losan and its difficult ruler King Arvich since helping stop the coup there. Inoa remained active in the Losan information loop, and she was keeping the inner circle apprised of progress there. The Losan king was still cleaning house after the thwarted coup, and the country was reeling from the aftermath. The Kingdom of Losan was directly south of the Kingdom of Klee.

  A group Argon and I called the dark sect attempted to destroy all five countries on the west coast of Jaloa. They crushed Kavil and Ylee weeks before I arrived in Jaloa. The destruction of Augun was in full swing when Shala recruited me. Argon and I prevented the complete destruction of Augun and helped thwart the overthrow of the governments of Klee and Losan.

  King Rufix of Augun was very grateful for our help. King Ruton of Klee was so pleased he gave us Mad Toffad’s Keep as a prize. King Arvich of Losan, not so much.

  The dark sect slipped one of their members into each government. They gave a mage the memories and looks of a trusted member of the targeted king’s inner circle. In Losan the sect replaced the leader of the Losan King’s Guard with one of their own. The traitor systematically destroyed the Losan guard. Only our uninvited actions saved Losan from the destruction seen in Kavil and Ylee.

  We recruited the Losan Armorers Guild to help in Losan. While King Arvich showed little gratitude, Armorer Guild Leader Jorvik recognized the value of our intervention.

  I spoke briefly with Jorvik several times since we stopped the Losan coup. He continued to share what they learned with Inoa. The destruction of the Losan King’s Guard left much of the cleanup in Losan to the Armorer’s Guild.

  Purging the Losan King’s Guard of criminals and ending the feud between the Blunts and the Sloms turned out to be a bigger challenge than even Jorvik had predicted. In the past weeks, King Arvich had already put down several mini-revolts as he tried to restore order in his kingdom.

  Orik, in our initial contact with the Losan armorers, told us no Losan armorer was likely to join our keep. I was hoping the events that transpired since might provide some room for negotiation. One could hope.

  I still had a few minutes before Tobron’s meeting and contacted Ramda in Augun. She was King Rufix’s communication hub.

  “Do you want to talk with King Rufix?” Ramda asked. “I can connect you via com-card. I know
he’d be happy to hear from you.”

  “No, I don’t have a lot of time, I’m just checking to see how things are going in Augun. Especially, after we moved our recruits out.”

  “It is so nice you are sending their letters back to Augun and forwarding their Augun letters to them in Klee. That is working really well with our new mail system. I don’t hear as much from Olive since she took over the civilian corps. But people are much happier in the corps since she took over,” sent Ramda.

  “How is Gera doing?” I asked.

  “I love working with him,” Ramda said. “But I don’t think the Augun mages who have finally shown up really appreciate him. I hear he will be returning to Klee soon and intends to sign up to become a member of the Duchy. I would, too, if they treated me that way. King Rufix keeps them from getting too snooty to me, so I’ve been very happy. It has been really exciting to be part of this whole thing.” She paused. “Are you sure you really don’t want to talk with Rufix?”

  I stopped myself from arguing further and just told her I had to go. I was happy Olive was doing a good job with the Augun Civilian Conservation Corps. I considered speaking with King Rufix about Gera’s situation but decided not to intervene. If Augun didn’t need him, I knew a Duchy that did.

  The food court was packed when I got there, even though the food line was nearly empty. I got in line and got my meal, chatting with those around me. Everyone was curious about the meeting and a little anxious. I reassured those I spoke with that nothing was wrong. I noticed a few more people getting in line behind me and sat down at the head table. I saved a chair beside me as Argon insisted she’d join us momentarily. I’d gotten her several tidbits in case she came too late to get her food before the meeting started.

  I was proud of them. My team strolled into the food court acting like they didn’t have a care in the world. They called out to people they knew and moved slowly but purposefully toward the head table. I could feel the tension in the room ease.