Border wars book nine of.., p.13
Border Wars: Book Nine of Crystals of Memory, page 13
“Well, that has to be impossible, don’t you believe?”
He laughed along, to be companionable.
“I did it last night. So, everyone else can. I don’t count though. Not for prizes for this. I already have many such chests, after all. You can do it too. Really, let me teach you the new technique for that? Rapid learning. You as well, Prince Alpert? You can both go over that with Leopold, when he’s ready. I was just suggesting we put a magic tutor in with him, when I return. Niven Kilroy, though Walden could be good for that as well. We’ll want someone very good for that task.”
It took about an hour, but even working at a distance, he was able to teach them both the basic skill of rapid learning, locking the memory into place with steady focus. They weren’t that fast, taking about seven minutes for each new spell part, but Aisla got the basic idea, when they were finished.
“Well! There goes my excuse of not having enough time in the day to practice, doesn’t it? Perhaps Master Jeld will be able to aid us in learning, Alpert? It might be a little early for Leo to be learning magic, however. He’s only three, after all.”
Anders nodded.
“He should start at about five years, I think? Nothing too advanced, but teaching him memory skills, as well as languages would be a good place to start. History as well. That gives us a few years to teach his instructors first, which is to the good. Now, I need to... Review mining and making coins, I think. Chests, as well. Those will need to be fine looking, for a reward like this.”
He was able to break the spell shortly after that, saying goodbye a few times. Then he finished the messages up, and being dutiful, checked on the other people he needed as well. Master Toland, Prince Robarts, King Mathias, and his mother. All of whom were busy with different tasks. Some of them embarrassing, since they were the nighttime adult activities of men and women at the castle of a king. Instead of bothering them, he checked in on his old friend Carlton, noticing the man was sitting alone.
Still at his father’s castle.
After a moment, the man muttering to himself, Anders impulsively connected to him, hearing what the man was saying. It wasn’t about him at all. Just speaking about the day. Alone, however. With a cup of weak ale in front of him, in a metal mug.
“Carlton? It’s Anders Brolly. Just checking in with you. How are you doing?”
“What!” The man had panicked in the past, on hearing a sudden voice, but this time he took a deep breath, then laughed. “Finally decided to kill me, then? Well... I can’t say I didn’t expect it to come sooner or later. Just... Don’t make it too painful?”
The man, didn’t even sound defeated. Just accepting of his fate. As if that had been the real plan, instead of keeping an extended family member alive after he’d been foolish, which had been his real reasoning. Otherwise the man would be dead already.
“Nothing like that. Not at all, in fact. Collin is doing well, learning magic. Truly, Ezola is starting to learn well that way, too. Both would be acceptable as master mages back in Istlan, already. Collin is set to marry, you heard?”
There was a pause, then the man, who Anders had only known as a bully and a rather idiotic one as well, spoke then. His voice... Pleasant.
“I did hear of that! To a lovely Princess, as well. Is she honestly lovely, do you think, or is that what we have to say, due to her power? Not that it matters. She sounds like a good person. I’m glad for the boy.”
Anders tilted his head a bit, smiling.
“She’s honestly lovely. The real kind. Exotic as well, given her land of birth, naturally, but even with that difference I think you’ll find her distracting in her good looks, when you meet. Are you traveling for the wedding?”
There was silence for a moment.
“I don’t think so. I’m a prisoner here on the estate. My duties removed. I’ve taken to cleaning the stables and working in the glass houses, trying to get a late crop in. Those are working. We have snow on the ground and I have to work with my shirt off for half the day inside of those monsters you built for us. The water is holding, too. From the snow melt cisterns? I’m a poor farmer but learning at the hands of men with such skills. I can’t imagine I’ll be allowed to travel any time soon. Father decided that I was too unstable of mind to be allowed to even leave on my own, in shame. I tried and was arrested. Then, I’d planned to book passage there to Barquea and kill you, so... Perhaps that was right on his part?”
Anders could see that part. The man had been tortured with rather intense pain for far too long, by Anders. That could lead to some hard feelings.
“Ah? Well, I know that it will be very hard to forgive me for what I did to you. I... Truly, I reacted, and did the wrong thing. I should have just left and not added that pain in. It was the wrong thing to do. I’m most sorry for my actions there. Not, of course, for putting you to sleep so I could flee, just the pain portions. I was wrong.”
That part tried to stick in his throat. Not that he couldn’t make mistakes but having to apologize again for his actions. Only, he, the boy inside, understood that it was needed. It wasn’t even the older, wiser portion of himself making that happen. Just Anders, himself.
After a moment, Carlton Caldas sighed.
“Thank you for your words. I... Know that it was my fault. Even under that torture, I knew that I’d forced your hand. I think I was trying to drive you to kill me. I’d failed to take a boy, and you acted like I wasn’t even a threat to you. Which, now, I can see was the simple case. We should have taken your gift and stood back, thinking instead of reacting like we, like I did. The others were drawn along by my demands that we take you, kill you to prove we weren’t cowed. Even father was reluctant on the matter, but backed me, as his heir. Little Don will do a better job that way than I ever did.”
Instead of rubbing salt in the wound, Anders changed the topic.
“Will it bother you if I check in on the topic of the glass houses through the season? We haven’t seen them being used as of yet, so if there are flaws, I need to know, so I can fix them in the future. It will be a pain, having to redo everything, but better to know and get that done in the spring, than to let problems linger.”
“True. So far I have no complaints. The real farmers don’t either. They love those beasts of glass, I assure you. We’ll have fresh sweet fruits and savory fresh greens for the winter holy days, I think, this year. Still, check in every few weeks and I’ll report on what’s happening that way. Might as well.”
“Understood. We’ll speak in some weeks then, unless you need me earlier than that, cousin.”
A bit slowly, a single word came then, as Anders broke the spell.
“Cousin.”
When that was done, sitting in his room, Anders tapped his lips with the side of a single finger.
“That... Went better than I would have imagined. It was almost like he’s become sane.” Cheating a bit, Anders read the man using wizardry, examining his thoughts, which, yes, did brood a bit, but weren’t focused on the death of one Anders Brolly.
Indeed, grudgingly, Carlton seemed to finally understand that Anders was actually thinking of him as family. Not that it made sense to the man. Oh, they were related by blood, but Carlton had only shown him the back of his hand, the whole time they’d known of each other. Then Anders had held his own hand, even if known to have taken tens of thousands of men in battle. Because they shared some links by blood.
It was, Anders thought, good enough.
The man wasn’t plotting anyone’s death any longer, and while not kind of gentle of spirit, he seemed more or less to be calm at the moment. Not filled with anger at his new state of being. It couldn’t be undone, either. He wanted his old spot back, as his father’s heir, but the deal worked out had been with the King of the land and that man wasn’t going to strip Little Don of power in favor of him. Not in his lifetime.
Which Anders figured as being a simple truth. It was far too late for that.
Also out of his hands. Out of the paws of both of them, in fact.
That night he slept well enough, waking twice to check the world around himself with his mind, actually standing both times, next to his soft pallet and pillows. Otherwise he’d drift back to sleep, trying to watch for threats. There was nothing of note in the darkness outside that registered as a vital threat. A few of the soldiers were thinking dire thoughts about taking some of the ladies with them by force, but that was mainly directed at some of the women in the camp itself.
Everyone understood that trying to take one of the magic women would end in their own deaths. Even if they acted in a group against the smallest woman there. That would be Lissa, of course, so the man thinking that specifically was correct. Trying that would end in his death.
Even if Princess Lissa didn’t want to bother killing him herself. Thoughts were thoughts however, not actions. He left even the bad ones alone and went back to bed. Waking with the first light of day, cleansing himself well, then moving to prepare the morning meal for everyone. Coming up with several new dishes, since they were all resting still.
Most of them. Depak Sona was out in the front area at nearly the same time as Anders, taking food from the side bar where it was laid out, and eating it with good appetite.
“This is very good, Anders! Thank you for making it.”
He smiled and nodded.
“I have nothing else to do today. It will be hard, I wager. I should check with the Sula and see if he needs anything of me? Perhaps Sulat Mondeth over in Modroc, as well?”
A bit absently, Depak nodded, chewing on a bite of savory egg.
“Those are good things to consider. I haven’t even thought to be in touch with the Sulat directly at all. Some missives have been being passed back and forth with Darian, of course, but nothing pressing, considering there have been Natech attacks on both lands. You’ll see to that for us?”
Anders thought about it, then nodded.
“Later, though. I have permission to contact the man, but no one wants to be woken up to hear my voice in their ear.” He didn’t think that was the case, at least. It was a bit high pitched sounding still, after all.
Depak chuckled.
“A good thought to have, in general. I know I’d jump and call out if someone were to speak to me in such a fashion while in my bed. Even knowing it might happen. Prince Erold mentioned that you haven’t spoken to him recently? He’s at the palace of the Sula, visiting, for the moment.”
Anders winced.
“I... Have been bad that way, for a time. With everyone, not just him. I’ll do that, today. I’d gotten busy, but that’s no excuse not to take some moments for my friends occasionally.” He felt a bit sad then, having forgotten the boy like that. The man.
A father, with a royal wife and a child. A girl. Anders had heard the name but couldn’t recall it, not having bothered to lock it into his memory for some reason.
It felt like he was failing, suddenly, losing track of what he needed to be keeping up with each day. Only, even with magic, there was a limit on what he could do. Rather than let it upset him too much, he stilled his mind, and worked out how to make a variety of fine juices out of water. He could do wine as well of course but decided to hold that for the late meal.
It would give them something different than what they’d been having each day.
Chapter nine
Anders had to admit that he was ready to get back to work, when Naveed suggested they start traveling on the morning after their third shared rest day. Everyone else seemed to be interested in doing something other than sitting around and moving into the jungle for a day, just to see the sights. It had been lovely, but also just sort of there. At least for him.
Some of the others had been rather enraptured with it, he had to admit.
So, after hooking their two large horses up to the wagon and Juniper to the carriage, with Niven and the two royal children inside of it, hard at lessons, they set off at a fairly slow walking pace. It would take them a little over half a day to reach the home of Lord Haist, but that was a rather general idea. They’d be in his lands inside of an hour and a half of walking, from what the map Naveed had provided told them.
From the start, Anders was healing everyone, using a new spell that was more aggressive, so that their feet would never bother to blister or turn raw on them. It was a bit of work for him, magically, but his own feet felt much better for it, after they made the first stop.
No one was limping at all, which was a good sign. He waved at the side of the road.
“I’ll make a fountain to the right of the road. One bit here...” There was actually a nice flow of water under the ground, not far from the surface, for once. Salina moved over to him, seeming ready to do something, but she didn’t speak, just staring at him, as if he were missing something.
“Yes?”
“I could make a catchment for the spring?”
He simply nodded, then spoke the basic spell he wanted, which worked slowly enough to not hurt or cause him to gasp for air.
“It will come up here, and be... This high.” He held his right hand out, to show what he meant. That had him waved back by the dark eyed Princess, who smirked a bit. Then spoke her own bit of magic. Some of the terms weren’t ones that he recognized. They all spoke their own magical language, after all.
What came into being wasn’t a simple trough, though it had elements of that. It looked like stone, a heavy gray type with flecks of color inside of it. The work seemed to be carved out of natural stone by hand, including tool marks on it. It was a bit of a race, but the water flowed from the ground just as the stone basin and water outlet finished enough to hold the moving water.
Juniper neighed, the sound loaded with a request for water.
Anders simply spoke out loud to her, but also hit her with a mental connection, using wizardry.
“You should be able to get water while still hooked up to the carriage, if nothing is rubbing or bothering you?” It probably seemed insane, talking to the girl horse like that, but she simply moved over, and while it was a bit of a stretch still, the water level not that high as of yet, she managed to drink.
Carefully.
Salina stared at the pony, shaking her head.
“I don’t know a lot about horses, but that’s a bit... She understood you.”
He nodded.
“Use wizardry to talk to her, when you want. I think it’s that she isn’t actually a horse. A different type of person, really. I’m not certain how that works, but she does seem to understand much.” He shrugged.
“Oh.” The Princess stopped then and nodded. “That makes some sense. Well, I’ll do that, from now on. It would be rude not to talk to her, knowing she’s a person now. Forgive me if I seemed uncouth before, Juniper?”
The words were sent with information, and the good girl horse lifted her head, gave a single nod and went back to drinking. Not seeming too bothered by the lack of good communications before that moment.
Niven walked over with Roald and Sabine, the slightly older boy in military robes speaking first thing.
“We should plan out a crop area, and plant seeds before we leave. If... Is that all right, Mage Anders?”
It truly was, of course.
“That works. Prince Roald and Princess Sabine... Can you collect the needed seeds for us from the green space around us?”
The small ones, even if given the boring portion to do, didn’t balk or complain at all. What they needed however, was for him to get some of the seeds they needed, having names for them, so they could learn what was needed for summoning. It was extra effort, but fifteen minutes later they were tucking dozens of seed types into an area that was slightly raised, with the spoil just starting to dampen a bit. The issue there was that it would be fairly constant in dampness. Not everything was going to grow well, given that.
Then, as Captain Gull called out, they hit the road again.
“To the left. Onto the road. To the left, onto the road!”
Since most of them were walking, the trip went no faster after that. Still, at only two hours past high noon, they could see the rather large and well-appointed palace of Lord Haist. There was already a very nice tan stone wall around it and a decently large town nearby. It wasn’t La’usa Tet, by any means, in either size or splendor but it was rather impressive, anyway.
Naveed seemed slightly annoyed, as they walked past the city, heading to the walled complex outside of it by about half a mile. Reading him, carefully, Anders understood what was going on. They had to, by tradition, as nobles go to see the Lord first, before doing anything else in his area of control, but that meant walking back to town to pick up riding horses, if they could even find any there.
Still, they all freshened their clothing as they walked up the paved road to the walled complex of buildings, Naveed in a nice suit, while most of the others were in robes, except the soldiers they had with them. Looking at Naveed and Sergeant Spent, he sighed.
“Sorry, but Prince Naveed, you need to be in robes for this, I think. You as well, Sergeant... Though...” The man had earned them, being a master of several magical systems, but he was also a soldier.
Lissa nodded.
“Agreed. They can both back such a claim. Handily, in fact, since it’s a simple truth. Great One? Your take on the matter?”
Depak grinned, as if it was he being given the promotion in magic that day.
“Yes! Though military style robes for you, Sergeant. Something rather more grand for you, Naveed. Also, I think that we need to place Anders in different colors for this meeting. Ones that declare you a free man, even if you’re the Prince of three lands. Perhaps a shining gold and copper for you? Grand, with a subtle pattern of plants woven into the fabric?”
He nodded, spoke a single line and felt the power flow from him directly into the robes he already had on. Altering them. The fabric shifting against his skin, as it became more lustrous and softer. The style of robe, what he liked to call walking robes, were maintained, but the patterns of herbal medicines from two continents was placed into the cloth as if woven there. It was very faint and difficult to make out at more than a few paces.
