Border wars book nine of.., p.1
Border Wars: Book Nine of Crystals of Memory, page 1
Crystals of Memory: Book Nine
Border Wars
P.S. Power
Orange Cat Publishing
Copyright 2024
All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Chapter one
Chapter two
Chapter three
Chapter four
Chapter five
Chapter six
Chapter seven
Chapter eight
Chapter nine
Chapter ten
Chapter eleven
Chapter twelve
Chapter thirteen
Chapter fourteen
Chapter fifteen
Chapter sixteen
Chapter seventeen
Chapter eighteen
Chapter nineteen
Chapter twenty
Chapter one
Anders kept his mind sharp, mainly using force of will and a discipline that he truly hadn’t earned, even if he felt totally exhausted at the moment. It was the memories of Farad Ibn Istel that allowed him to manage the task at hand, not his own abilities. He could feel the old man who lived inside of him adding his efforts to the moment, in fact. Looking outward at the sides of the road, which was being pressed into a firm path in front of them as they moved down it. That was in the distance, some fifty paces in front of him, but he could feel the magic working constantly. Also the panting and struggling of the man, Apprentice Kip Storrow, who was busy doing the difficult work for them that way.
Most of Ander’s current cohort was on foot at the moment, their mounts having been laid to waste by a powerful magic.
Less than a single day before, for all it felt like much longer than that. The mounts they had left were busily pulling the one wagon they’d salvaged, which took a team of four, or the carriage that his cousin Collin had protected.
That portion had shocked him, at the time. Even as he walked, at that moment, it struck him powerfully. For the fifth time in less than a day. Which was probably a sign of poor fellowship on his part, not thinking the man would have done such a thing. Truly, before it had taken place, Anders would have figured on a very different outcome in an emergency. He, it turned out, had been very wrong.
Collin, when pressed unto death itself, with a wave of untold, unknown darkness destroying the world around them, cast his powers forth as he had. Very nearly everything he had in him that way, too. Not to attack the enemy, or even to guard himself from certain doom. No, the boy, a man some few years older than himself, had protected the children with them, the youngest and least prepared in their group at least, at great cost to himself. Understanding that as he did it. Knowing he was going to his death, giving everything he had to protect others.
In truth, that act had killed him. Only, the others there had been strong enough, and clear enough of mind and purpose, to rescue him in time. To grab hold of him and heal his broken body, as the last of his life flowed from him. A thing that, even if Anders hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, had been very close to being the final loss of the man. In truth, his last breath had seemed to come, a great and wracking matter, as a hurried spell was used to repair his flesh and restore him to life.
Those attacking forces, hired men in their hundreds, at a guess, instead of a real military force, had fallen to them in battle. Then their mage or shaman, with a Devica, a powerful spirit inside of her, had simply... Destroyed. Churning the very world under them, seeking their demise. It hadn’t worked, thankfully. Not on their human friends. The horses had been hit much harder. All but three of them.
Still, even if they’d won, they were lacking two of their wagons now. Also, everyone was spent, magically, and nearly as beaten to shreds on a raw physical level. Some were doing better than the others, in certain ways, naturally.
Salina for instance, while walking with a bit of a limping gait, had been doing almost half of the magic for them, over the last day. Depak Sona was covering most of the rest for them, as well. So, trying, striving with some difficulty, Anders attempted to watch. Using wizard skills. That took far less power than the efforts those others were using that day, almost none at all. More focus however, and constant attention to the sense of the world around them. It was, insufficient or not, all he could manage at the moment.
At the same time, such magics weren’t a replacement for using eyes and ears. They allowed you to gather information from a distance and could even guide magics far away from your current place. Those skills were incredibly valuable to him. At the same time wizard vision was a rough sense, shadowy and imprecise. Not clear or crisp like eyes could be. Not attention grabbing, like a sound in the night would be, either. It took work to use such to protect them. So, again, he tried even harder to seek for any sign or signal that a new threat was upon them.
There was, of course, nothing. Not so far.
The path ahead was just a road. With, he noted, a group of soldiers and camp followers ahead of them. This wasn’t even the front, on the border with the Natech lands, yet. It was the first of three groups they should be meeting on the way. The place where Anders was intending to leave Naveed and the younger prince and princess. Perhaps. Prince Roald and Princess Sabine were working hard each day to learn magic, taking their courses from Journeyman Walden and Apprentice Niven. Both of the boys, could, he thought, also be left behind there.
Except that they were both doing well enough that it could be difficult to deny them the right to move forward. Truly, he didn’t want to insult any of them that way. Naveed, either. The man was the heir to Barquea though and taking him directly to a border conflict was probably a poor plan. Then, keeping him, any of them, too safe was probably a mistake as well.
Honestly, Anders rather hoped that the Natech had pulled back, raiding due to a small change in their environment keeping them from having enough food that year. Someone had built a large river, some years before, to stop a different war. That had changed the flow of water into the deeper southern lands it seemed, by enough to make the normal crops and animals adjust, moving in different locations and patterns.
Basically, not meaning to, simply wanting to keep Modroc from attacking Barquea, Anders had caused this latest issue. Though the food was actually still there, for the Natech. They simply hadn’t bothered to go and find it, for some reason. Matters had changed on them, so they raided using magic and violence, rather than simply working out where the animals and plants have shifted to.
Sighing, wiping at the sweat that ran down his neck, not calling a cool breeze for comfort or a shade to float over his head, since he couldn’t manage that for everyone at the moment, Anders waved. At Salina. She didn’t notice him, which meant that Collin, who was moving more smoothly than the lady was, ran over, as if a command had been given, summoning him.
“May I be of aid, Cousin Andy?”
He smiled. Actually meaning it. Collin wasn’t a bad person, after all. Even if the history of recent times had been rough between Anders and his side of the Caldas family. Truly, so far, he was the single relative on that side of his family line who was worth spending time on. The rest kept trying to kill him, and worse, were rude about it.
“There’s no water between here and the first military group we’re going to meet. They’re, wisely, set up next to a decently large river, but until we get there, we need to make wells or summon water. Only, most of our people are too beaten down magically right now to risk having them exhaust themselves.”
The man looked away, made a face, then, slowly, nodded his head.
“I... can do it, at need. Not and stay ready to fight. Tomorrow, I can do that as well, I think. I should be back to normal by then. Everyone will be, likely. Only...” The slightly older man looked out at the group, then frowned. “Not everyone exhausted themselves yesterday. Prince Roald and Princess Sabine seem fresh that way. They didn’t even have a real practice this morning. Neither did I, of course. Lazy of me, skipping that. I can memorize spell parts well enough, at a guess.”
Anders simply nodded.
“Not that resting just now is laziness. That... You know, we should ask if they want to try it? If not, then I can do it. We have to have water.” It was that or die. Not that day, perhaps, but it wasn’t going to help them to be dry internally if a second battle came.
Collin, not waiting, simply dropped back, to the slow moving carriage and walked next to the window. That, rather quickly had Prince Naveed sticking his tan head, covered with black hair on the top, out of the window.
“Is there need?”
Collin nodded, smiling. Anders moved over as well, trying to also seem positive, even if he was a little uncertain about pressing the younger children as had been suggested.
Still, Anders was also a prince, so just in case the children were left feeling abused, he moved in, speaking first. To draw any ire onto himself.
“We have a task, for Prince Roald and Princess Sabine, if they wish to attempt it? Building the wells today, so that we have water for the journey.”
From the other window, first a small girl, then a slightly older boy, appeared. The coach moved slowly, being pulled as it was by only Juniper, who was a pony, and doing the work alone, instead of with three equine friends, as should have been the case. Also, the good girl horse was matching the people ahead of her, who were walking. Even if, to Anders’ knowledge, she’d never done the task before that morning at all. No one was up top, to
So it was a learning day for many of them.
Sabine nodded, going wide eyed. She looked a bit strange, though was cute, as children her age often were. Round eyes and slightly plump cheeked.
“I don’t know how to do that, yet. Can I learn how? How many spells does it take?”
Collin spoke up then, smiling. Counting on his fingers.
“You can do it in five or six words. Most of them you already know, I think. So, you’ll likely need to learn how to do three new spell portions before we stop. That should take you... A quarter mark?”
Anders didn’t know how fast they were at learning, so called out. To Nevin. The boy was walking, being a full King’s Mage as he was. Not a mere child, for all he was nine.
“Mage Nevin!” The boy was behind the coach, hidden by it.
He moved around and walked over, his clothing seeming clean and tidy that day. He also had a large sun hat on. So did Collin. Anders needed to make one of those for himself, soon. The sun only got hotter and brighter in the dry lands.
“May I be of aid, Mage Anders?”
Nodding, he let himself ponder the idea he was proposing. Then, tilted his head. Not a lot, just enough to show he was thinking, instead of merely falling silent in anger or upset of some sort. A feeling he’d never actually had to hold in regard to Niven at all, so far.
“Prince Roald and Princess Sabine need to learn to make wells. Then their task will be to do so every two miles we travel, for the rest of the journey.” That was about twice what they actually needed. It was only set that way so that each of them would have several chances to practice that day. Sighing, softly so that no one would notice it, he swallowed. “Then, when they have that, I want them to each take a turn working on the road as we travel.” The trick there would be doing enough to press them, without doing so much they hated magical practice from that point on.
A matter not to speak about in front of them.
Naveed looked concerned but held his peace. Roald actually grinned.
“I can do that. I mean, I think I can?”
Niven waved the words away. A thing common to Istlan, which meant little to a man or boy from those far off lands. Roald and Naveed both stiffened, as if he were about to be high handed. Anders noticed it and didn’t speak on the idea. Even Farad, who was more sensitive to the feelings of others thought it of little consequence.
Besides, Niven grinned, broadly, hard on the heels of doing it.
“Of course you can do it. You both can. I was just working out what will be needed. You should each be able to do several types of well, which means understanding when to use them. The most basic sort first, so you can practice when we stop in a bit to water the horses?” There was a glance at Anders, who nodded.
Then glanced at the children. He’d loosely followed what they were doing each day but hadn’t paid too much attention there.
“How long will it take both of them to be prepared for the first well?”
Niven shocked him then.
“Nine minutes. Possibly ten?”
Anders felt impressed.
“Three minutes per new spell component?”
“Yes. They meet that time for all of their new work very reliably, in fact.”
“They’re both still learning ten new parts each day?”
Niven ducked his head, blushing. It showed, under his falsely dark tan skin. Not too much however.
“Yes, ten. We skipped that, this morning. I shouldn’t have. Everyone else wasn’t practicing, so...” He clearly looked like he was about to be scolded for the lack.
Farad, the old man who lived in his head, a part of him now, actually spoke. Internally.
Telling Anders that a boy who felt such shame would already not repeat the error again soon. Not that Anders was going to punish him for it. After all, he’d skipped the early work as well that day.
“ That was the right plan. We can take days off, occasionally. Can you safely move to twenty or more each day for them? My error, not doing that already. I was too concerned with other matters and didn’t realize that they’d moved to a higher level. Please, forgive me, Princess Sabine. Prince Roald. You came on this trip to learn magic and I failed to see to that as well as I could.” He bowed, in the Barquean style, hands out to the sides. Going low, to show he meant it. That made it hard to keep walking, though he managed it.
There was no feeling of that, embarrassment or shame, inside of him. Even Farad was simply thinking that it would be good to allow them to work at their own best pace. They weren’t King’s Mages, after all. Just regular students of magic. Still, going too slowly was boring. It could utterly destroy a love for learning, if taken too far.
Naveed smiled, covering his lips. Perhaps understanding that portion of matters. Both of the smaller people hooted, however. Seeming happy to have something to do, not upset at being given more to manage. Then, riding in the back of a carriage wasn’t that interesting.
He nodded.
Then went on, looking at the heir.
“Prince Naveed... I was thinking that we’d put you in lessons with Journeyman Walden. Fifty new parts per day. I know you can do it. Unless other work is needed, of course. We’re moving toward danger, so that might take place.”
The man, who wasn’t old, took a deep breath, then after a moment, nodded. It wasn’t eager seeming, certainly, but also the man not shirking his duty.
“It shall be done, Prince Anders. I should see to that as I ride?”
Wincing, since Juniper couldn’t easily pull the coach and five people, which having Walden and Niven inside would require, he needed to stop that.
“No... You and Walden need to train while you walk. That’s much harder, and shouldn’t be the only way you learn, but you should do that as you can.” He explained, waving to the single beast, a rather small one, doing the work for them. “Juniper...”
After a quick frown, the heir took another deep breath and then smiled.
“I see! That is a very important point. We must not overstress our equine friend. It shall be done, or at least well attempted. We should...” The man shook his head, then opened the door, and carefully hopped out, stumbling a bit as he found his footing.
Then looked around, and raised his right hand, waving it. Regally.
“Walden Sona! We have new orders. We’re to work on magic together as we walk. A test for me, I believe, to make certain I’m willing to do the hard portions, as well as the easy.”
Walden came around, and didn’t give a greeting or salutation, simply nodding.
“Move into the hallway of magic, in your mind. I will be watching your thoughts for this. I have to, really. It won’t work well otherwise.”
Then, as if he had a plan for the lesson, the red-haired boy pressed the man without much mercy at all, Anders noticed. The pace was slow, since walking and holding a trance state was a difficult matter at the best of time. Anders did that himself, using his mind to seek any attack or issue that might arise.
Niven hopped up into the coach, carefully. Then moved his own charges at a much faster pace.
Anders stood watch, using his eyes and mind, since the boys were distracted from that duty, at the moment. It was the task they had been given, guarding the heir of Barquea, in order to keep them from the front lines. A thing that he wanted to hold to, if possible. Not being certain it was going to be. They were both too advanced to treat as small children. Even if his orders conflicted with what was needed at the moment.
After some time, not a long one, Niven called out from the coach.
“Ready for wells! Starting on roads, now.”
They could travel for a while more, before needing water for the horses. They simply weren’t traveling at a fast pace, after all. He didn’t answer, since Niven was in charge of the lesson for the younger pair. So he waited, until they moved over a large hill and down, the valley below showing no real water, but an open view that showed a region of dense green growth. A jungle, of course. In the distance, seen only as a smear of green and a haze of low clouds. Promising water and life, without it being close enough to actually drink.
Still, lips growing dry, he waited an hour, for the younger people to learn a full twenty new spell components, before calling for a stop. Then, instead of waiting for him to tell them what to do, Prince Roald got out of the coach, seeming almost drugged from working in a deep trance, and promptly started in on making a well.
