by Zack Finley
“Yes, sir,” said Gera, this time with a bit more enthusiasm.
“Com hub, please add Gera as my aide-de-camp. He has access to everything but inner circle information,” I sent to the com hub.
Someone beside Ellte confirmed.
“What magic do you have?” I asked Gera.
“Mind, force, and earth, sir,” he replied.
“Are they all capped?”
“Only my force magic is capped,” Gera admitted, knowing I would be disappointed in the answer.
“Do you have training spells for mind and earth magic?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s go have some fun.” I stood up, grabbed his arm and ‘ported to my desert training site.
“This is my private site, so I’d appreciate it if you don’t come here without my leave,” I said as Gera looked around.
“Let’s start by having you set the wards around the edge,” I instructed. I monitored his technique and gave him some pointers. Gera was a quick study.
“Now show me your earth battle-magic,” I said.
Gera began pelting the field with rocks. He switched to conjuring and dropping slabs, then creating quagmires and solidifying them.
After 20 minutes he announced his magic was depleted. I asked him to show me, and indeed it was low. It was glowing nicely, suggesting the session had succeeded in expanding his storage.
I told him to do it all over again until he was completely out.
Within a few minutes, his magic sputtered out.
“It wouldn’t take much of a battle to send you to the sidelines. I want you to try my mind-reading app.” It took a few false tries, but he soon had a functioning version, though without some of the bells and whistles I’d added later.
“Let’s test this,” I reached for his shoulder and we ‘ported to the Losan market. While Gera had had a primitive mind monitoring app, he was blown away by the one he now had. I showed him how to broaden or narrow the focus. I decided mage monitoring would come another day.
I sent Gera off to get us some chee and a few cookies as I sat and monitored the market. I hadn’t been to the Losan market since helping thwart the coup. The feud between the Sloms and Blunts were old news. Most discussions revolved around changes to the King’s Guard and the ouster of the king’s chamberlain and his crew. No one seemed concerned, and most were supportive of their king’s actions. There was some irritation about special deals no longer being available from the guard, but that was definitely a minority opinion.
There was no sign of hoarding, and there were no obvious shortages. I set my monitors to sift for mentions of Kavil and Ylee. A few merchants were musing about what they were going to do without access to those markets, but that was all the attention those countries received.
Gera and I drank our chee as he tested his new app. I told him it wouldn’t be of much use at the Keep, but it was worth mastering. I told him to take us back to the Keep. He transported us to the port side entrance. I asked him to take us to the main gate. He didn’t have a teleport site for that. I showed him where we were storing teleport information and he immediately saw its value. I doubted I’d ever have to ask him again.
I decided I’d not been to the pier in a while. I countermanded the order to relocate so I could observe the systematic unloading under Capt. Malek’s watchful eye. Groups of contract sailors, aided by liveried Duchy workers loaded the wagons that barntas waited patiently to haul away. A far sight from the chaos of earlier in the week.
I noticed all the corridors on the first floor were open, along with a good part of the second floor. Some barntas were making the short trek to one of those warehouses while others were clomping up the ramps toward the heart of the Keep.
I introduced Gera to Capt. Malek before we left for the farm district.
Maude was holding court in a new section. Perga spotted us and jogged over.
“She is starting to get worked up about hydration, your grace. If you could help,” Perga trailed off pointing toward her.
Gera introduced himself around while I attended to Maude’s requirements. She wanted every remaining orchard hydrated, immediately. Perga told me there were about 20 more to be hydrated, although no forester had been to see them all yet.
“Show me those nearby,” I said to Perga. I turned to Gera and said, “Check with the com hub to make sure the mage assigned here today has water magic and that they will be here at noon as posted.”
I followed Perga some distance to a woeful looking orchard. This one was still inside the dome and had been deprived of rain for 50 years. I wasn’t sure how well the trees would recover, but I hydrated the orchard to the depth of about 10 feet and for at least 10 feet around the edge. I could nearly feel the relief flowing off the trees.
“Next,” I said to Perga. He took me to three orchards in similar shape before Gera returned with a young mage in tow.
“Sir, this is Jestn. He hired on today and is still getting oriented. I confirmed he has water magic, but I suspect he may not be familiar with the way you are using it,” Gera said.
“Jestn, welcome to the Duchy of Toffad’s Keep,” I said with the appropriate nod. “Have you ever hydrated an orchard before?”
“Uh, no sir.”
“Today is your lucky day then,” I said.
I opened up a bit to let him follow my actions with the orchard before us. I hydrated a large section but left the rest for Jestn. “Why don’t you finish this orchard, while I move on to the next one,” I said. Jestn looked baffled.
“Okay, let’s start with the basics. Jestn, conjure me a blob of water and let it fall on the soil.”
That was a spell he understood, and he hastened to comply.
I waited until the ground sucked up the water. “Jestn, can you sense the water in the dirt?
He nodded. “Banish it,” I ordered.
He looked concerned, then determined. With a swish, what had been a muddy area was now bone dry.
“Excellent. Now put the water back.”
It took several tries, but Jestn eventually got the hang of integrating the water into the dirt. When he showed he had mastered the concept, I had him finish the field, monitoring him the whole way. I came to appreciate how effortlessly both Argon and Alba had made this copilot thing look.
It was hard not to jump in and do the work for Jestn. It couldn’t have been easy on him either, as he could feel my impatience with his progress. But he finally had the technique down. I sent him off with one of Perga’s helpers to tackle his own orchards. I plugged away at those on Perga’s list. I was very happy to see Gera pitching in with the farmers. I left Jestn with four more orchards to manage as Gera, and I hiked back to the Keep HQ. On the way, I spotted Cleon working with 16 people, not in Duchy livery.
“Cleon, are those our new Duchy guard?”
“As soon as mom clears them,” Cleon answered. “She has time to meet with them in about an hour.”
“Gera needs a workout; can I send him to you?”
“Sure, the more, the merrier,” Cleon laughed.
I sent Gera for an hour of physical training. I was pleased he ran to meet up with the group. I continued on to the Keep HQ.
Lunchtime was long over, but the staff accommodated that with sandwiches and drinks set up for those of us on the go. I noticed several workgroups sent someone to pick up lunches for their team.
I checked in on Argon, the cleansings were going well.
“Jorvik, do you have time to meet?” I sent.
“For you Steve, of course.” Jorvik sent me a ‘port site at his office.
He encouraged me to sit in the conversation area and arranged with his steward to bring us a pair of brews. “How did the economic summit go?” Jorvik asked with a smirk.
“I noticed you weren’t there,” I said.
“I saw who the king was bringing as advisors and opted not to attend. I doubt there will be another summit.”
“I didn’t come to talk about summits
, I came to talk about armorers. The Duchy really needs armorers. I’m hiring Duchy guards as fast as I can, and I need to train and equip my militia. I am worried the Duchy may become a target of the dark sect. I need people who can fashion the best armor and weapons to keep them alive.”
“I have been expecting this request, in fact, I’m a little surprised you waited this long.”
“You have been busy cleaning up Losan,” I replied. “But we have moved into the Keep, and I can no longer wait.”
“Our guild certainly owes the Duchy a serious debt,” Jorvik said. “There has been much discussion about how that can be repaid. The coup attempt in Losan and the lawless conditions now in Kavil and Ylee have made many question the wisdom of limiting our guild to Losan. While diversification has many supporters, it also has many opponents; leaving no consensus for going forward. The guild has decided to release its members to consider your request individually but without specifically endorsing it.”
“That is good news,” I said. “Have any guild members shown an interest in joining the Duchy. I’d like to visit them and discuss the details.”
“So far, no one has stepped forward. Apparently, the fear of retaliation by those opposed has especially impacted our juniors. I had expected several to leap at the opportunity. I suspect Orik would have put his name forward had he not become a mainstay for King Arvich. He is spending nearly all his time helping the king, allowing his forge to go cold,” Jorvik said. “He has even released his apprentices. I believe he will return to it someday, but I do not think it will be soon. I can’t blame him, Losan needs someone like him to root out corruption.”
“Perhaps his apprentices will consider coming to the Duchy?”
“You are free to ask them, but I would very much doubt they’d consider it. Orik has promised to help them gain positions with other guild masters.”
“Do you have any suggestions for me?” I asked.
“One possibility has emerged. We have one very old armorer, far past his prime who has expressed an interest. He could probably bring a few apprentices but would need to discuss some limits to his fealty.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this first,” I said. “Can you introduce me to him?”
“I was referring to myself,” Jorvik said. “I am prepared to turn my forge over to my eldest sons and immigrate to the Duchy. But I owe it to them not to compete with them for business. If I come, my efforts must be solely in support of the Duchy, not as a competitive business.”
“That is the easiest thing to agree to,” I said. “That said, you may learn things in the Duchy your sons would love to know. We must insist that you keep Duchy secrets from family and guild. Of course, you can always recruit them to join the Duchy in the future.”
“It will take me a few days to settle things. I suspect my immigration will come as a serious shock to my family. My mate isn’t pleased to leave the great-grandbabies, but I think that is her only problem. I know she has been chafing since her retirement from the forge. She has an excellent touch with blades even I can’t match. She was much taken with your kukri. I suspect my sons will be thrilled and terrified at the same time. It is time for them to lead their own forges. My guild will be shocked. I will step down from the leadership but think it will be critical for me to remain a part of the guild structure.”
“I have no problem with that. I must caution you that while I am thrilled you are willing to join us, we have one hard and fast requirement, even I will not violate. All new Duchy citizens must be interviewed by Inoa. She is the keeper of all of our secrets. No one comes in who she has not certified,” I said. Jorvik knew very well what Inoa was.
“I can live with that for myself. It also gives me even more confidence in becoming part of the Duchy. The odds of someone of poor character getting by Inoa are slim to none.”
“We need to get you sworn in so Tobron and Clive can start building your facilities,” I said.
“Inoa, are you free for a few minutes?” I sent.
“I can be, I just finished giving the oath to our new Duchy Guard,” Inoa sent back.
“Jorvik is joining the Duchy. I need you to check him out and swear him in,” I said sending a ‘port site.
“I’ll be right there,” Inoa said, ‘porting in nearly as soon as her reply came in.
“I’ll leave you two to chat, Jorvik should get with Tobron to specify what he needs so it can be ready when Jorvik joins us in the Keep,” I said. I then ‘ported to the Keep pier. Only the Malan remained tied to the pier, the other ships had already left to pick up another load.
“Gera, let me know whether the guard has completed the Keep search. If they haven’t, figure out what they need to finish by days end and make it happen,” I sent. “I’d like to get the rest of our people here tomorrow as scheduled.”
“Yes, sir,” sent Gera. “I’ll get back to you once I find out.”
I began walking to the Keep HQ. I had barely exited the port complex when Gera answered.
“I’ve offered my assistance to Cleon. He has put me in charge of the search. They are lagging behind, but he has been dealing with our new recruits and appreciates the help,” Gera sent. “They have only searched half of the guardhouses on the outer wall. They’ve run into a lot of blocked doors.”
“Check with Tobron on who is available to assist. I suspect you can pull in some of our farmers, the Malan’s crew and Clive’s builders if you ask nicely,” I sent. “Show me what is left.”
“Cleon’s worried we’ll get someone hurt or killed if we trip some latent spell,” Gera sent.
“Okay send me a couple of people and assign me a guardhouse,” I sent.
Gera indicated the location on his map. “They have had two teams moving out from the pier. Join up with this group.”
The com hub had a ‘port location nearby. I greeted the six-person crew. They were waiting for someone to come and check three blocked doors in the guardhouse.
“Looks like you are stuck with me, show me the problem rooms,” I said. The metal doors must have been locked when the place was abandoned. Apparently, those who took all the other metal doors considered them too difficult to bother with.
I didn’t sense any problem inside the rooms but cut a keyhole through the stone to check anyway. Glappner’s had me convinced to take it easy. There were a few weapons and armor racks in them, but that was everything. I slapped the stone back and had them mark the rooms as searched.
We moved onto the next guardhouse where there were two blocked doors. A quick check and we moved on. As we approached the next guardhouse in line, I got a bad feeling. I had my team standby.
“Argon, did you find something bad in the guardhouse I’m searching now?” I asked.
“No, in fact, we were getting ready to shut down for the day,” Argon sent.
“It doesn’t feel as bad as the lich, but something isn’t right,” I sent. Argon arrived nearly before I finished my thought.
“Ooh, I see what you mean, I don’t know how we missed it. Wait a bit,” with that Argon left. And then returned with a tired group of Avia’s acolytes.
“Why don’t you move to the next guardhouse and we’ll tend this mess,” said Argon, as her weary sisters started pulling out their tools. “I don’t know how we missed this one,” she added, clearly disappointed.
I was reluctant to leave her, but we had a lot of ground yet to cover, so my team moved to the next tower. It was routine, with only one barred door.
Argon and the acolytes were still chanting away when my group started toward the next guardhouse.
The explosion knocked us all to the ground. It took seconds to realize it had no physical aspect, I wasn’t physically wounded. My mind was just fried. I knew Argon was hurting and I had to get to her. My men were still groggy and rolling on the ground when I ‘ported to her side. She was numbly healing an acolyte to her right. I began healing the one to her left while calling to the com hub for medical help.
Cleon ‘ported
to my side and began treating another acolyte. I used my ‘heal them’ on each of the wounded, including Argon as we tried to determine who had the most serious injuries.
I was relieved when Alba arrived, with Tobron and others on their heels.
Alba used me as a healing tool. Two of the acolytes had major head wounds from crashing into the walls, and I was removing crushed bone and healing the injured brains. Alba didn’t need to tell me that it might not be enough. Once she felt they were stable, we attended to the three other acolytes with less severe injuries. Argon insisted she had already taken care of her own wounds. I couldn’t argue as I had healed the insult to my brain when it started interfering with aid to others.
My team of searchers was doing fine, although they each had a headache. The blast had dissipated before it reached any other groups. I sent each a healing jolt aimed at soothing their brain, That seemed to take care of them.
I no longer sensed the malevolence in the guardhouse that felt before. Inoa thought the acolytes had purged the undead target, but it had shattered their containment circle when it was purged.
“I sensed the bad vibes in the guardhouse and called Argon,” I explained. “I am going to each of the remaining locations we haven’t completely searched. If I feel another of these, we’ll wait until the acolytes recover.”
Someone had ridden a basas to the tower. I borrowed him, asking him to take me to the next guardhouse. He was quite willing to help. Together the basas and I rode to guardhouse after guardhouse. No sooner had I determined a guardhouse had no malevolent spirit, troops arrived to clear it. Then I was off to the next.
At the last guardhouse, I handed the basas off to one of the guards and asked him to make sure the basas had a rubdown and a meal. I then couldn’t help myself, I ‘ported to Argon’s side.
She was in a hospital room at Klee HQ looking at the two acolytes with brain trauma. I knew what that was like, having lived through Argon’s brain injury. All I could offer was the comfort of my presence as I wrapped my arms around her.
