War mage crystals of mem.., p.41
War Mage (Crystals of Memory Book 4), page 41
“Princess Salina is in front, doing the road, Meric and Hollan, you’re with her, point guard. Gull and myself will take the back. Prince Erold, I’d like a roving circuit, from you. Pay special attention to the sides of the road.”
That was a good call, as it turned out. Anders wasn’t truly busy, after the first stop, since Mathia was learning not to fall out of the saddle as she used wizardry rather quickly. He had to grab her a few times, but she didn’t break her mental state at all, even then. He was also riding to the wagon with the food, a few times per hour, which was still holding out very well, and grabbing dried fruit, crackers and cheese for Salina. She wasn’t gasping at all, in her efforts, being very strong, as far as magic went. She still ate the food though, seeming hungry enough when he gave it to her.
She also drank water fairly freely, even if she didn’t seem too hot.
Erold being on the side of the road meant that he was able to raise his right hand in a fist and make the neck of a medium sized deer explode, about halfway through the day. They actually stopped, to bleed it, and did a quick butchering, so they could wrap it up, frozen, for later. Anders did that part, even if his skills that way still weren’t wonderful.
Fresh meat would be nice, for the evening meal. They’d been eating preserved, so far. He had some fresh things in the wagon, but those were mainly greens. He used some magic to collect some gosberries, which were nicely ripe and in season, the egg sized hairy green and tan fruit flying to him through the air in plentiful numbers. He also got some early apples that seemed fine, if not perfectly ripe, some fresh roots and greens. The work being done as they rode, taking things from the forest around them. It was the perfect time of year for it, in that area and they were far enough from people that, with a bit of care, he knew he wasn’t stealing from farms or gardens.
When they stopped, he still put up the new shelters, and in one case, an inn, since the spot was perfect for it, and he had a new phrase for it he’d wanted to check out. It took the right kind of environment, with a river or moving body of water near it, but it came into being with only one spell, over the course of thirty minutes. Complete with running water inside.
Duke Lister gave him a hard look. It wasn’t clear why until he spoke.
“Are we stopping for the night?”
Anders shook his head.
“No? There will be rain tomorrow, but we can keep going, now. Salina isn’t stressed or anything and we have several hours until the normal time for that. Unless you see need for it?”
That got him cuffed, gently, on the shoulder.
“I don’t, in fact. I just wasn’t expecting you to casually build a structure like this in the middle of the day. Good work. Let’s ride then!”
That night, when they got into place, the structure was built by Lissa. She had a bit of trouble with the water system, but instead of doing it for her, Anders had her do the work over again, explaining it slowly to her, and letting her do it all, until it was finished correctly. That clearly frustrated her a bit, but instead of lashing out, she sighed.
“I’m not that good, am I? At magic, I mean?”
He was taken aback by the words, which certainly weren’t true at all.
“You’re very good, in fact. Why would you think otherwise? Because it took a bit of practice to learn something you haven’t done before? That’s how everything works, you know that, right?”
She gave him a strange look then.
“Certainly, except that you did the same thing earlier, with a single spell, didn’t you? This took me... What, a hundred?”
“About that... Still, I made up a new spell component for it, the other night. You can do that, right? You have that one for clear glass, so you know how to do it. I need to learn that one, myself. Maybe tonight?”
She looked troubled for a moment then nodded.
“I should do buildings then, too? It hadn’t occurred to me, before this. I mean, how often will I really be doing that kind of thing?”
Anders didn’t know at all. Still, he tried to give her a thoughtful look, instead of a shrug.
“As often as you wish? Also, work out something finer for the road work? You’re doing that tomorrow, for the whole day. The more refined the spell, the better you know it, the less energy it takes. You’re strong in magic, but there’s no need to not do it the easy way. You know, the one that requires you to lose hours of sleep tonight, instead of being well rested in the morning?”
She stuck her tongue out at him, a bit snottily, then laughed.
“That sounds less than pleasant. I’ll do that. You really think I’m doing well?”
It was clear that she needed to be reassured, rather than her not understanding how far she’d come.
“Very much so, in fact! Which, of course, means that you’re just going to be pushed to do even more. That’s learning for you, though. Say, do you know when everyone plans to go back to Barquea? I didn’t ask, myself. I need to know, before I go around making new plans for everyone.”
The girl glanced at him, standing outside of the new inn, and sighed.
“We’re set to travel at the start of winter here. Just before that, so we don’t get stuck in the snows. Javina needs to marry Prince Daren, so she might be staying. I don’t know on that part, to be honest. Jasmin will be with her husband, but there’s no real reason for me or Salina to stay. Well, other than to learn more magic, if we can? I’d get into your new school, but I’m fairly certain that would take a spot from one of your people, so it can’t be allowed.”
She seemed a bit down about that part, for some reason.
He raised his eyebrows.
“We should put in for that, then? I’m nearly certain that we aren’t going to have hundreds of volunteers to begin with. If we can get even twenty in the first year, I’ll be well pleased. Of course, so far, it’s only lessons from myself and Demo Gull. I should try to get Depak Sona in on the effort, if I can. Hoatha...”
The girl looked around then, and leaned into him.
“Something is wrong there, Anders. He’s... Not right. I can’t explain it.”
He’d had the same feeling, and tried to come up with a reason for it.
“It’s probably his age, to be honest. What’s a person who’s over a thousand supposed to be like? I can’t even imagine, except that I’ve seen him. Lady Martya... You know that she’s Ganges as well, right? Hoatha? Ganges was his first name.”
The girl frowned at him.
“What? I don’t... No, I don’t understand.”
He nodded, even though he’d been certain things had been mentioned around the girl. That didn’t seem to have connected with her, for some reason, and might not have really taken place.
“Ganges the Great and Terrible was a wizard, which means roughly mage now, about fifteen hundred years ago. He tried to take over the world and nearly succeeded. No one has mentioned why he gave that up. He saw the error of his ways, perhaps? Anyway, Hoatha Eta is that man from long ago. In his own person. Lady Martya has a copy of Ganges in her mind. An old thing, from over a thousand years ago. It seems like she’s working to take over the world now. We’re trying to talk them out of it.”
The girl shook her head.
“Oh. I... knew that... I must have forgotten.” Then, shaking her head again, she suddenly walked away. It was strange and a bit rude, but Anders simply went and started the meal for the day, not really thinking about it.
That idea, that Ganges was back, wasn’t a thing for a little girl to have to concern herself over. Truly, even he shouldn’t have to worry. Not over that. Lady Martya was fine, and even had been kind to him, for years. Hoatha was his oldest friend. Considering that, he grabbed some of the frozen meat, enough for everyone to have healthy portions, as well as the apples and some other ingredients. Greens as well, for health.
It was interesting, using the stone oven that the Princess had made, being a bit large for their needs, but he made bread, for that night and the next day, and several apple pies. He also portioned the beef into tiny slices, for easy eating. That was served along with sliced and lightly fried roots, and a small selection of greens, bitters and herbs that he’d gathered that day.
The food was humble enough, really, he thought. That, he knew was probably him showing the fine upbringing that he’d had, growing up in a castle. Farad had gone through much of his life with very few fine pies, made with sugar or other sweet things, for instance. The idea had existed, but it was a special treat. The kind of thing he’d enjoyed once every five to ten years. Now he made that sort of thing while they traveled, on the road.
Truly, he wasn’t serving what the castle would have, or the household of Sula Darian, but it was filling, wholesome and even if he had to lay claim to it himself, well done. The people of Goshberry wouldn’t be eating anything as fine that day, he had to believe. What they really would be having though, was a thing that Anders Brolly honestly didn’t know about.
Due to the fact that, while he’d never considered it much before, he’d been wealthy, his entire life. Privileged, in a way that was invisible to him, or had been.
Still, they had pies, and his work and effort had provided them, meaning he could take pride in them. They were well made, and flaky, as well, since he used some fresh butter for them, which was a thing he had about fifty pounds of, in a time sealed travel box.
It wasn’t until later, as everyone ate pleasantly that something occurred to him. It was a dark thought, and probably not true at all. Still, he waited for everyone, and as he cleaned up for the night, clearing the tables, he waved to Princess Lissa. She scampered over, seeming happy enough.
“You wish for me to help you clean? I barely know how, but if you show me what to do?”
He nodded. Extra hands were always welcome, after all.
“Oh, say, do you remember what I said about Ganges, earlier?”
She gave him a puzzled look then.
“Who? I...” Then, turning on her heel, the girl walked away directly, not saying anything more.
Chapter twenty-eight
The strange reaction from Lissa didn’t make any sense to Anders or Farad. They didn’t even internally argue the point, which still happened on occasion in regards to other topics. Anders, the boy, was feverishly attempting to work out why the girl would act that way, and simply couldn’t. The old man tried to step back and think, but also came up with nothing that would make her behave that way. Sometimes people forgot things, but Lissa wasn’t of weak mind, and managed to recall other things very well, most of the time.
Instead of telling anyone else about what had taken place, Anders went inside the inn that the youngest Princess had made, seeming to admire the work done. It wasn’t bad, though it was very close to what the rest of them had been putting up each day. The small details were different, of course. The front room that Lissa had constructed was a bit larger than anything else he’d seen, so far, by nearly half. The kitchen was smaller, being on the first floor, and the living quarters there, next to the kitchen space, was also rather cozy, comparatively.
When he went to pick a room, that was smaller as well. By counting doors, he found that there were six additional spaces per floor, for some reason. Which might be the correct thing to do, for all he knew. His guess was that the places could afford to be roomier, since they were remote enough that not that many would use them at any given time, but having things like that available might just increase travel, over time. A good road almost always did, after all.
Later in the evening, after the food had been prepared and consumed, he stood up and waved to get Princess Sweyn’s attention. The short haired girl, who was rather cute, thanks to the bristles on her head having grown well in the last year, giving her brown locks that touched her shoulders now, smiled at him.
“Anders! That was a good meal, for travel food. All of them have been so far. I haven’t had to eat a bowl of gruel at all, for instance. I can do it, but that truly isn’t my favorite food.”
He was actually fine enough with that kind of thing, but was used to a certain amount of variety in what he ate, being a bit spoiled that way. Still, he tossed off a small bow, almost playfully.
“Good! It’s one of the nice things about traveling in summer, we get to have some variety and fresh foods. Now... If you will, show me everything that you’ve learned about magic?”
The girl scowled a bit, then sighed.
“I’m not very good yet. I can do some things, but...”
She moved then, using hand signs first, pushing him hard enough to make him take a step back, but no more than that. When she shielded, she blocked things, but a few got through at times. The light she made that floated over her hand was bright enough, but not blinding at all.
When he looked at what she was doing, reading her form, rather than her mind, he understood the issue.
“Well! You’re doing everything correctly. Using about half your personal power that way. That... You’ll need to work on that part of things, by pushing yourself very hard, in everything you do.” The truth was that the woman was simply weak, magically. Perhaps the weakest person that he’d ever seen who had learned to use it.
Which, he realized, meant that she wasn’t actually gifted with that talent. Being one of the other types, instead. He’d thought, from everything he’d been told, that those other people couldn’t use magic at all. Instead, it seemed, possibly at least, that everyone could. They just weren’t strong enough to get the best results easily.
She frowned.
“I’d thought that I was just not good at it...”
He shook his head.
“That isn’t what’s happening. Here, make a light, like you did before?” That was produced with a hand sign, her third finger held down by her thumb. There was an imagined symbol as well, and a flow of power into the idea. A small, rather weak, light glowed fairly merrily over her fingers.
“Great! Now, that sense of tingling... Make it grow. Push more magic into the concept being used...”
That took about ten minutes for her to really do, and five more before she started to gasp from the effort. The glow was much stronger though, being at least twice what it had been.
“There! From now on, every day, practice things like this, for at least an hour. Push until you gasp and sweat from the effort. Starting tomorrow. Right now, I want to see the rest of what you can do. Add more power to each effort.”
That produced better effects and considering she’d been learning in the back of a moving box on the road, her grasp of things was actually rather good. That meant Princess Jasmin had been teaching her well, walking her through various memory techniques. Anders counted all of what she managed to do, and nodded.
“Great! In a few days you’ll need to begin doing the memory portions on your own each time. Then you’ll be able to move much faster. I still need to write up some books on that for everyone. To start with, have Jasmin go over everything in Magic for Princesses. She should have that memorized.”
That got the girl, who wasn’t that much older than he was, perhaps four years, to hug him.
“Wait... There’s a book called Magic for Princesses? That sounds rather specific.” She grinned, rather cutely, not letting him go for ten seconds or so.
He shrugged.
“It covers a lot in regards to clothing and such things. Some others as well, of course. Now, remember, an hour per day of the extra exercises! I expect you to double your ability to use magic over the next season. Minimum.” He didn’t know if that was possible at all, but being used to using power did make it seem easier. Aiming too low would just have her missing the target.
The woman didn’t seem upset by having to do more than others did, at all.
“I’ll do that, Master Anders. Thank you, for taking the time to see to me this way. I was worried that I was failing. Even now I can see what I need to work on. I can take this home and... Well, my people don’t have a lot of personal magic. We have the Devica... In Scara that’s... Slouagh, I think? The dark riders? Except that they aren’t bad. No more than people are, truly. We don’t have magic like this though, except for a very few people. A lot of that is illusion, for some reason.”
Anders blinked, having never heard the word in Modroc before.
It was, very nearly, the same thing that Duke Cohen had spoken of, in regards to his own abilities. devic, in that case. It was far too close linguistically to be random, but Yansian and Modroc were languages that didn’t have a common ancestor. Not one close enough for that kind of commonality.
He nodded.
“By nature that, or resistance to magic being used on you, are probably your strongest talents. Both could be useful, I wager. That means you’ll have to work harder to be strong in magic, but you might be able to resist a lot in magical combat.” He frowned.
She didn’t interrupt him, since it was clear he was thinking of something.
“I wonder if it’s possible to strengthen that talent, as well? That partial immunity to magic? I have no idea how to do that, but if other talents can be trained and made more powerful, why not that one?”
The words seemed to lose the Princess, who just looked at him, clearly trying to seem engaged. Also, not speaking, even to say she didn’t know the answer.
So he went on.
“We can work on all of this over the coming days, if you have time? For now, see to the exercises planned, please? I should... Oh! Say, did anyone tell you about Ganges?”
She frowned and then shook her head.
“No? That’s a name? From my part of the world, but I don’t know anyone named that, personally. No one spoke to me of that? Is it important?”
Anders nodded.
“A long time ago, over a thousand years and more than that, a man called Ganges the Great and Terrible, tried to take over the world, starting where the Red Desert is now.”
She pointed at him, excitedly.
“Oh, that Ganges! I know that story, of course. From my lessons as a child. He was a bit of a monster, wasn’t he?”
