Border wars book nine of.., p.7
Border Wars: Book Nine of Crystals of Memory, page 7
He needed a map, to show his findings, of course. Instead of doing that, they moved then, walking toward the wall, which was covering two and a half sides around the camp now. It was a vast space, truly. Mary also had to move slowly, being better with entities than she was with the flashier portions of magic. Not that there wasn’t power in befriending Devica, of course.
Truly, the only thing preventing those who worked with the spirits from ruling the world was that those beings of energy refused, in the main, to go to war and harm or kill others. There were ways of gaining their aid in such things, but it, thankfully, tended to be reluctant on their part. The reason for that, from what he’d been able to glean was that the Devica tended to think of humans as being small, very young energy beings. They even saw them that way, as clouds of light, which was why they failed at healing, even if they were vastly powerful.
Truly, some of them were considered gods. More were considered dark entities that wanted to kill all of mankind. That second portion was less than true. Some of them worked with the enemies of his people, and friends, but they tended to be more or less good beings. Not perfect, and at times lacking in understanding of flesh beings, but outside of that, they were decent, overall.
Lost in thought, he was clapped on the shoulder, by the huge man beside him.
“Sorry there, you seemed lost. Daydreaming about pretty girls, perhaps?” The words were teasing. Spoken in a friendly tone, however.
He chuckled.
“Ah, nothing that fun. I was thinking about the nature of Devica. Sluoagh, as they used to be called. The Natech are working with some of them, but the relationship seems off. I was led to believe that they worked closely with such beings. They haven’t aided them with food or war, however, as of yet. I wonder why that is? The Devica resist war, in the main, but aiding with food for their friends should be easily accomplished for them. Even if they had to find or create it for them.”
The Captain looked away.
“I don’t know. They do have them and will pull them out at times in devastating fashion. They also have mages who aren’t bad at all. Nothing like this group of yours, thankfully. We haven’t heard much from them, in the last weeks. You folk were attacked, I hear? That, from the sound of it, is the largest single attack so far in this set of battles. I don’t know that I would have tried for you. Then, you have the Heir with you. That might be worth doing, for some. Politics, from our side, not the Natech. Are you planning to stay here, for a while?”
The question was simply being asked, from the sense of it. As if the man didn’t mind them staying there, while also not caring if they did or not. They were the rearward base, after all. It probably made sense to protect the soft magic users from danger, to the tall fellow.
“I don’t rightly know. We need to find a place for some of the younger people, and Prince Naveed. Then the rest of us will go to the front and see what we can do in order to repair this situation. Much of that will be up to Depak Sona and Prince Naveed, of course. They’re in charge here, of us, at least.”
Technically Anders was, as well. Still, they had orders to take direction from the Barqueans, if they could survive them. They were a foreign military force, invited to aid with a border issue. There was some difficulty to the matter, or could be, of course. Anders would keep his people alive, if at all within his capability. It might be tempting for some of the people at war, or at least in conflict, to use up his forces as a low-cost way of handling the Natech.
As a Prince, if at great remove from power, of Istlan, he could not allow that. As a Prince of Barquea, he might be commanded to. All he could hope was that no one would insist on that being set in motion. The giant clapped him on the back again, as if he were a small child. Politely, for that, however. Anders was clapped in a manly fashion, but not pushed forward or knocked off balance, even if that was clearly within the abilities of the Captain.
His deep voice seemed normal, when the other man spoke, however. Calm and thoughtful, even.
“Understood. Well, if it’s allowed, let me know what the plan is? We’ll need to collect more food, having this many more people. This part of the world is easy for that, of course. The jungle will feed us. I just need to send some people out to hunt.”
Anders nodded at the idea.
“We can do part of that, using magic? I mean, we could do it all, but I rather want to get some of the newer people involved, if possible. Perhaps put Collin in charge of that. He’s doing good work. The man who made the bathhouse for us? He only started learning magic at a high level about a week ago. He had some tricks before that, working with food, so, clearly he has the talent for it.”
“He can collect food?”
“Oh, yes. Shape it as well. It’s a pleasant trick, doing that. You can take basic grains or rough and hard meats and transform them into almost anything, if the practitioner of that art is skilled enough. Let me see to that for today? When is the late meal here?” He’d missed the middle one, and his stomach was about to start shouting about that fact. Truly, they had food with them, so collecting some of that up, from the overloaded wagon, seemed like the best plan. What didn’t was dumping all of the task on Collin.
A task that had been taken on by the man, even as he stood under brutal levels of training each day. He wasn’t strong in magic, either. Still, Salina had pressed him to being about halfway trained in mere days, instead of months or years. Truly, most would consider the older boy a master of magic already. In only eight days of real training and practice. Even Ezola, who hadn’t been pressed nearly as rigorously so far would be respected for her magic, if she used it correctly.
Slapped on the shoulder again, he was subtly pushed this time, as if telling him to stop chatting and to get to work. He did it, smiling at the idea. The tall man was a bit strange, for all he looked incredibly fierce. Walking, he found Collin with his mind, the man standing at the very food wagon, tending the horses. Juniper was already free of her place at the harness of the coach, and eating from a bucket of rich grain as he walked up.
He patted her on the shoulder, her head staying down.
“Hello, Juniper! Do you have enough food? Water?” He spoke, not expecting an answer. Then actually used his wizard skills and noticed a sense of an idea coming back at him. Showing she was fine. A bit annoyed with the harness, since it rubbed a bit but she understood the need of it. The little humans being too small to easily walk on their own as they were. At least over long distances.
Sending a clear thought back, he spoke at the same time.
“I can see that, I wouldn’t want to pull the coach all day either, myself. No hots spots or sore limbs though? I can heal that if you need anything done.”
Still eating, a single ear flickering, she indicated that had already been done that day. By Collin.
Smiling, he turned.
“Oh? Collin healed you first? That was nice of him. You’ve been seeing to all of the animals, Collin?”
Muttering, the blond-haired boy finished the spell he was working on, then nodded.
“Nothing major so far. Then I’ve been keeping up with them, twice a day, so a few things were headed off, I think. Do you have need of me?”
He nodded, since it was more or less the truth.
“We need to put together a meal for the mid-day. Using our supplies, then collect what we need for the late meal from the jungle. For everyone, including the troops here. Something rather more plain that what we’ve been eating lately. I don’t know when we’re leaving, but when we do, the magical food will go away as well. A treat, without being so special that the men lament their lot when we go away?”
Those words got a slow nod.
“Roast venison, toasted plantains, bitters and herbs with fine pasta on the side? Then some sort of ungarnished sweet cake, to finish it. That’s a bit plain, truly.”
Anders had eaten worse while at war. Indeed, he’d always eaten worse in those conditions. Even when he had plenty of food and was making it himself.
“That sounds about right. We’ll need to warn everyone with us about why the food is suddenly not as grand. Anyway, I’ll do the greens and cake, and you can take the pasta and meat? For mid-meal, we can eat meat in flat bread with a savory sauce. I’ll do that today. You can help pass that out to all of our people. Covertly, if it can be done. I don’t know what the soldiers here had to eat so far today.”
The simple way of doing that would be to hold a meeting inside one of the buildings, and eat there, Anders looked around, locating the place which looked like an inn, instead of a military barracks or fine command house, and pointed at it.
“Get everyone to meet me in there, in... Call it half a mark? I’ll have the food ready.”
Having something in their middles would go over very well with everyone, he had to think.
The idea made Anders smirk.
Farad seemed a bit more pensive than that on the matter. As always, Farad was the one in the right.
Chapter five
The word about the new food rules had traveled with the mid-meal, apparently. At least, that evening, when the food they were having was flat bread with a hearty, but simple stew, along with a soft, sweet fruitcake for after, no one in the group traveling with them complained at all.
Oh, the younger people did tilt their heads at the idea, including Walden and Nevin. Coming from them, very powerfully, was not that they didn’t understand that they were eating the same victuals as the soldiers, however. No, it was simply that it shouldn’t be too hard to improve the quality, at least the perceived value, of what they were having for everyone.
Anders didn’t answer them, since reading their minds by happenstance, trying to hold to his efforts in wizardry that day, wasn’t polite. Not unless needed for real reasons. Training, or to determine if someone were plotting to kill him. That, a bit dishearteningly, turned out to be true. Ezola was doing very much better, but about once per hour she wondered if poison could be slipped into his food. That or if she could entice him into bed, then stab him in his sleep.
On the pleasant side of her thoughts, she understood that she didn’t need to do such a thing at all. That he, her Cousin, if not one close in blood, would simply leave her alive, even protecting her, unless she did something so foolish as to attack him. Possibly even then. She’d done that twice after all, and Andy had not only left her alive, but free. That single thought, a bit forced and not totally believed by the woman as of yet, was being pressed into action, using fairly decent meditative skill each time she slipped.
So, while not perfect, Anders wasn’t going to fault her for lack of effort. Still, she was, in many ways, the most entitled person there at the table with them. She looked directly at her brother however, shaking her head.
“We have the captain of the regiment here, don’t you think a more... Elaborate meal would be in order?”
The giant man, his face looking very different, having been healed already, smiled. He wasn’t grand looking, having too heavy of a face, but was definitely happy that evening.
“This is fine. Better than we’ve managed out here, out of supplies and foraging, so far. Your Mage Cook and Prince Anders made it for all the men, as a treat, which is going over well, I’ve heard. Sweets are rare out in the field like this.”
The woman, making eye contact, as if she either wanted to fight the giant fellow or get him into a marriage, nodded. It was a bit clipped and hard though, if she really wanted to entice him that way.
“Understood. Still, we, here, could have a feast. Yes, made from grains, and stored lard, with some hunted animals from the trail, but it could look and taste like the finest fare you’ve like to ever have eaten. It’s made from the same things, after all.” Then she finally grinned and looked down. “Not that I could have put this together as well. I can make, I think, seven different foods now, using magic?”
Down the way, having been seeking with his mind the entire time, Gull nodded. Then spoke. His voice almost sounding kind. Genteel. Which was new for the fighter and Captain of War Mages. Also correct, for a visiting officer, Anders had to think.
“I can see the reason for care, though. If we produce grand feasts, while pleasant for the men in the moment, we will be leaving them with their normal fare when we depart. Going from this, which is very nice, thank you both for making it, to their standard out here will be a mild disappointment for some. Moving from foods they might never have seen the like of to boiled hard potage and war sturdies would probably cause a revolt.” He smiled to show he was jesting, looking at the other Captain. “Perhaps not, being well disciplined, but I can see some grumbling happening in that case. Best to keep the treats small, given that.”
Anders nodded, then twisted his lips a bit. They’d been training people to do magic much faster than they had in the past. It used to take a decade for a good mage to know a hundred spells, in fact. Now they had several individuals who had learned that inside a month. Collin, truly, had done three and a half times that each day for a week, nearly, and was all but caught up to the others now. Naturally, the young man needed a lot of practice, drilling and to expand what he’d been working on, before truly specializing, but it should be possible to teach a few of the men how to alter food, if they had a will to do so. Even before they left that encampment.
Instead of suggesting it to Captain Daroom directly, he glanced over at Naveed. That man, heir to the entire vast land they were currently in, was down the low table, sitting at the end, but on the far side, by Nevin. Walden was on the other side of the thin, good looking and dark skinned fellow. Locking eyes, Anders tilted his head.
“It’s not my place, to suggest certain things, but...” He waited. The man could signal him not to speak, or simply desire it not to be done and Anders could change the subject.
If that became needed, he was planning to suggest a single feast day, for the men there. Before they left. A kindness, but one that could come with an explanation of the lack to follow, so that no one would be too put off of their duty by it.
Naveed simply smiled, meaning it.
“You think that Captain Daroom should be considered for promotion?”
Anders smiled, surprised by the suggestion.
“Of course! However, I was going to suggest that we set Collin to teaching some of the soldiers here, how to work with food magic. The rules and basic techniques. We leave in three days, but even knowing how to make a dozen foods would enrich life for men out in the field. If anyone wants to try it?”
Gull frowned then, and slowly, nodded.
“That... Could work. Teach the cooks though, so they can learn to make new foods, out of what they already know. That won’t cost them a job, either.”
Naveed looked down the large table, the single platform holding all of the people in their group, and nodded, slowly.
“Is that a project that you’d wish to work on, Mage Collin?”
The pale man from the north looked nearly panicked, for about ten seconds, then swallowed the bite of bread he’d taken and slowly, nervously, nodded.
“It’s a good idea. Truly, we should do that for other tasks as well. Only, I’ve never taught anyone before. I’m not certain how well I’d do at it.”
There was a head hung then, as if in shame. Nevin tilted his small head again.
“It’s not hard, truly. You have the language here and can use wizardry to make certain that those being trained are doing the memorization correctly. If you focus on single word spells, each performing a very small transformation, that will be easier too. Really, you should be able to teach about thirty food items that way in a few days, even to beginners. The same with other magics.”
He shook his head then and looked down the table at Anders, who, while an older boy was nearly a contemporary of his. That had to make it easier to speak up at a fine table with a bunch of adults.
Still, he sounded like one of those as well, if with a voice that was a bit too high pitched. It was a problem that Anders could sympathize with.
The boy went on then. As if speaking only to Anders.
“We could teach the first ten hand magics to everyone, really. Not all of them will learn it equally well, perhaps, but if even half of a force could use that in battle, even if only at ten paces, it might make a difference?”
Naveed looked at the smaller, tan skinned, boy next to him, and slowly nodded.
“That is, of course, brilliant. We can’t do either of those things without permission from Sula Darian, of course. I’ll ask that of him, as soon as possible, however! We might have to have someone else do the teaching for that, instead of you or Walden, however.”
Those words got a simple nod. The face went blank, and the sense coming from the boy, while troubled lightly, also understood.
His words were sensible, as well.
“Since grown men wouldn’t work easily with a child?”
Naveed chuckled, shaking his head firmly.
“Never that! I have to imagine that either of you walking in front of the men here, making a few boulders explode and then summoning a grand ball of fire would gain their attention rather keenly to any lesson you wish to provide.” The man waved at Selina and then a moment later at Lissa. “These two are already officers in the Army, however. You’re a dignitary, a mage and noble, from Istlan, so there are certain tasks that we should not, and indeed won’t be allowed to ask of you.” He looked, rather forcefully, down the smooth gray table at Anders. “I have orders to that end, in fact, from my father. Not to prevent teaching, but to ensure none of our visitors are ill pressed.”
Captain Daroom took a bite of his stew, using the flat bread as a paddle to get it to his lips. Then the man slowly started to nod.
“I can see that. Something like that, teaching the men and women magic, should probably be kept to a chosen special team, anyway. Too many of the people in the ranks are idiots or hotheads, to be honest. Good men in a fight, each and the last, don’t think I’m speaking otherwise... Still, given the ability to kill a man with a look or wave of the hand, a lot of innocents who casually slight them might just die, quickly and without much thought.”
