Chapter 25 - Studying the Sword

  "The most powerful of the Sorcerer-Kings prior to the establishment of the Empire were known as the Seven. Each of them ruled a swathe of land with an iron fist, exploiting their population and warring with their neighbours as the whim took them. These degenerate monsters knew no boundaries in their lust for power and each of them was a threat to match one of the Empire’s Archmages. In fact, many of them casually engaged in necromancy or summoning, as if their other crimes were insufficient. Even when compared to the atrocities committed today in the Lands of the Dead, some of what they did seems beyond comprehension. The Undying Queen’s decision to put an end to their rule was truly something for which we should be eternally grateful.”

  Two Thousand Years of Empire by Jahangir Amini

  =====

  The camp at the top of the hill was a more subdued place than when Ester, Velxe and Lars had set out in the morning. The servants and guards’ nervousness was clear, not least in the way they’d fussed over Velxe’s few scrapes.

  Ester stared morosely into the fire as she sat on a log and half-heartedly ate some stew as Velxe nattered on about something next to her. To her distress they’d been much less concerned about Lars’ broken jaw than about the practically uninjured Velxe, although eventually Lars had received some treatment.

  He’d ended up with his face bound in bandages. She’d been avoiding him since they’d returned, but she could only assume he was in some pain. There wasn’t anything else she could have done though. She’d already replayed the whole incident on the battlefield in her head. Several times over. Each time it was the same conclusion. She’d needed to stop Lars from casting and if she hadn’t knocked him out he’d just have kept panicking and casting. Shouting hadn’t worked and if she’d just hit him lightly who knew what he might have done. He might even have attacked her.

  She still couldn’t feel good about it though. It was one thing to hurt someone who was trying to kill her. That was bad enough. But severely injuring an ally, however necessary, was just terrible.

  Ester jumped as something poked her in the ribs. Velxe met her outraged look with a guileless smile. “You are not even listening, which is rude. Anyway you should cheer up, you are the hero of the day.”

  “I was listening.” She couldn’t help the waspishness in her tone. “Sometimes I just need to think.” Did he love the sound of his own voice so much that he could not resist interrupting her even now?!

  “Really?” Velxe raised a single eyebrow. “What was I saying then?”

  Of course he’d decide to push the point. Ester huffed and rolled her eyes at the same time as she cast her mind back. “You were talking about House Rutane’s trade interests in the Republic. Specifically in relation to trading your citrus fruits for their tea.” She resisted the urge to tell him that as far as she was concerned, especially after seeing that battlefield and hearing about how many people had died there, it was bordering on treason to be trading with the Republic.

  “Ha. Is that a trick they teach you at the Academy?”

  Ester sighed and turned her full attention onto Velxe, since he wasn’t going to let her feel sorry for herself in peace.

  “Were you not taught that it is improper to touch a lady, let alone to poke her in the ribs?” She had no intention of answering his question. Being able to recite something back when you hadn’t been listening wasn’t taught at the Academy, but it had certainly been a useful survival skill.

  Velxe just grinned infuriatingly at her. “Oh yes, but we are comrades now. Eating together. Sitting around a campfire after fighting for our lives. Someone should sing a song or something.”

  Couldn’t he take it more seriously?! She should give him a piece of her mind! They’d nearly died and he was making a joke about it!

  Although, thinking about it, it was quite nice being called a comrade. That hadn’t happened before.

  After a moment’s indecision, Ester settled for just looking back at the campfire with a small smile.

  =====

  The next day saw them on the road, or more accurately, the barely visible trail back towards Vass Karan. After the Weiryin and Lars’ injury neither Velxe nor Ester had much of an appetite for more exploration and Lars could hardly act as much of a guide when he couldn’t even speak.

  Velxe still seemed to be inordinately cheerful and Ester found that, despite her best efforts, some of it was rubbing off on her. Enough that by the end of the day she could think about things other than the fight on the battlefield and what new unpleasantness might be waiting for her back in Vass Karan.

  Velxe was riding with his sword on his hip and Ester found her eyes drawn back to it more and more. She’d mostly forgotten about it in the immediate aftermath of the fight with the Weiryin, but as the day went on the thought of it drew her in.

  If she could only take a look at it she might be able to replicate it. Maybe she could make something for herself. Not a sword. That would be silly. People would just laugh at her and say she wished she was a man. She didn’t even know how to use a sword. Sergeant Etroan certainly hadn’t been interested in teaching her. A dagger though that might work. There was no reason why she couldn’t adapt a Schema from a sword to a dagger. With a bit of work, maybe.

  That could be a neat surprise for anyone who managed to trap her or stop her from using magic. She could just imagine them, cackling evilly, thinking she was defeated and then thwack! She’d stab them with her enchanted dagger. She could probably come up with something herself if she had to actually, but just making things up as she went along was never going to be as effective as learning to do it properly. Her own protection Schema still left her sparkling after an impact after all and she was sure it could be made stronger. If no one was going to teach her then she’d just have to find other ways of learning. Simple!

  By the time they’d made camp and sat down to eat the meal prepared by the Rutane servants, Ester had decided, she was going to ask Velxe. What was the worst that could happen after all? He could say no, in a patronising way? She was an adult, a Mage, that shouldn’t be frightening. She grimaced to herself. It wouldn’t be that bad. Really!

  =====

  Velxe was starting to get nervous with the way that Ester kept looking at him. It was not the kind of look he liked getting from a woman. There was some nervousness in there, for sure, but also a good deal of calculation. No doubt there was something on her mind, the question was what and how it would involve him.

  He sighed to himself. After almost two weeks on the move with Ester, he thought he knew her well enough to be able to say that she would get to whatever point was taxing her sooner or later. Bringing it up early would just annoy the prickly Mage.

  However, the looks she was giving him reminded him of some girls he had been introduced to over the years. The social climbers, on the hunt for a husband of higher status. They always had that same calculating gaze and often they allowed it to drift down in thoroughly improper ways. It was concerning that Ester’s eyes seemed to be drifting down too, going from his face to his waist and lower in a deeply inappropriate manner. If she only looked a bit less calculating when she did it he would be less worried.

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  “Lord Velxe, might I ask you a favour?” Velxe swallowed his mouthful of rabbit and resisted the urge to grimace. This was no doubt the moment when he would find out what had been bothering her. He doubted he would enjoy it as much as he sometimes had with the social climbers.

  His first instinct was to respond with some empty gallantry, but he suspected Ester would not appreciate that, so he settled for humour.

  “Well, you can ask.” She started to huff and turn away so he hurriedly added, “Of course I will help if I can.”

  She stopped mid huff and met his eyes, hesitating. He could not help but notice she was biting her bottom lip. It was somewhat endearing actually. A real departure from her usual affectations of haughtiness.

  “I…” He took a sip from his flask as she hesitated. “I was wondering if I could see your sword.”

  Velxe spat his drink out in a spray of wine.

  “I am sorry, you want to see my sword.” Surely she was not propositioning him so blatantly?!

  “Umm, yes.” She seemed completely non-plussed by his reaction. “I noticed it when we were fighting the Weiryin and I would be truly grateful for the chance to look at it. Are you alright?”

  Velxe rapidly regained his composure. Ester looked utterly confused, she really had no idea why he had been surprised.

  “Yes. Yes. Sorry, I just swallowed poorly.” He cast around for something to say as he mentally kicked himself. “Why do you want to see my sword?”

  “I was hoping to study it. I know it must be valuable to you, I promise I would not do anything to harm it.” She sounded shy, but with an undertone of eagerness. Velxe suppressed a wince. He really needed to get his mind out of the gutter.

  “I…” He forced his mind back on track. “The sword is a family heirloom, if something happened to it I might as well disown myself as my uncle surely would when I got home.”

  Ester quickly shook her head. “I do not want to do anything more than examine it, honestly.”

  If she damaged it though, he truly would be in a great deal of trouble. “I mean it. My grandmother likes you, but without a word of exaggeration my uncle would likely have you killed if you damaged it.”

  Ester leant back, looking disappointed. “Of course I would not force you to let me see it. However, I can give you my word as a Mage that I will do nothing more than look at it. I will not cast any spells on it or do anything that might damage it in any way.”

  Velxe hesitated. If she did something to it then he was not exaggerating about the potential consequences. However, he had been told to try to build a relationship with her. Given his failure so far, perhaps it would be worth doing her the favour. For all that Ester was both naive and rather odd, he did believe that she would keep her word. She was too uptight to do anything else if it came to it.

  He sighed and drew it from its scabbard, the evening light reflecting prettily off its patterned blade. “Very well my lady. I will trust you on this, but please return it to me before we go to sleep.”

  He was rewarded by a huge grin.

  “Thank you!” Ester almost snatched the sword out of his hand. “Do not worry, I can look at it here in front of you, it will never leave your sight. Just keep quiet and do not distract me.”

  With that she put the sword across her lap and bent over it, already muttering to herself. Velxe was left sitting by the fire, not sure what to do with himself. He did not really want to let the sword out of his sight. It was not the greatest or most valuable Schema available to House Rutane, but that did not mean its value was not huge. Certainly enough to buy out a Baronet’s entire lands. In the end he settled down to watch Ester, at least she was easy on the eye, even if she was a bit mad. It was actually somewhat pleasant, sitting by a crackling fire in the dimming light of a cool evening, occasionally catching hints of her thoughts when her muttering briefly rose in volume.

  “They’ve somehow woven disjunction into the middle of it, but why?”

  “This doesn’t make any sense. Those shouldn’t go together.”

  “How did they get the Schema to stay in place? This doesn’t look like gold. An underlay maybe?”

  It was actually quite funny when he thought about it. She was so utterly oblivious to anything around her. If it weren’t for the fact that he might not survive the aftermath, he was almost tempted to poke her in the ribs again, just to see what happened.

  =====

  “No one else understands me.” Cerve sobbed as he wrapped his arms around Abiel. “They just think I am a useless fool.”

  “There there, if they think that then it is them that are the fools.” Of course Cerve was a useless fool. There was a reason why he was considered highly unlikely to inherit his father’s title. Many reasons. “Come now, let us have another drink. I know a tavern where the serving girls are almost as easy as they are pretty. It will be just the thing to cheer you up. Then tomorrow we can sit down together in your chambers and talk about how we will finally show them you are no fool.”

  “Thank you Jarin. The Spirits blessed me when we met and I will thank them for it.”

  A kind word, a bit of fun and some wit and it had been all too easy to inveigle himself into the affections of the young man. As easy as catching a fish in a dried out stream. He could almost feel bad for Cerve. Almost.

  =====

  The next day Ester rode in silence. Well, she was silent, Velxe was nattering on about something or other. Regardless, she wasn’t sparing the mental attention to engage with him. After he’d let her examine his sword she’d slept terribly, her mind refusing to give up for the night as she kept chewing over what she’d seen.

  One thing that had been clear from the sword was that she knew even less than she’d thought she did about how to make Schema for combat. The runes on it had been more complex than anything she’d attempted before and some of them she didn’t even know! Not that that was a bad thing. It just meant there was more for her to learn. After all, it wasn’t some simple Schema for gangs of Adepts to reproduce by rote, it was very clearly a masterwork.

  She’d already had some ideas just from looking at it. As soon as she was back in Vass Karan and had access to paper she was going to try to write out the Schema from memory too. It was so excitingly complex!

  “Woah.” Ester’s train of thought was broken by the deep, booming voice of the knight riding at the front of their party. “Goodman, I am Sir Aranthur Cencu, in service to House Rutane and you are blocking our passage. Step aside.”

  Blinking as she reoriented herself, Ester followed Velxe’s lead in reining in her horse before they got too close. Sir Aranthur was looking down at a lone man ahead of them. He stood in the middle of the rough trail with his feet set wide apart. A quietly confident stance that didn’t suggest any intention of moving.

  The whole thing seemed a little absurd really, they were surrounded by grassland and the trail was hardly a road. They could just go around him. Ester shrugged to herself, it would be humiliating for nobles to give way like that she supposed. There didn’t seem to be any other reason not to.

  The man didn’t seem interesting, except for his odd behaviour. He wore a long, plain brown coat, that hung open to expose his shirt and breeches. A wide brimmed hat cast his face into shadow. There was also a horse, laden with saddlebags stood some way back, presumably his. Ester was about to turn her attention away, perhaps to see if Velxe had found something more interesting to say, when the man started to walk straight towards Sir Aranthur. She found her eyes drawn back to him. There was nothing particularly notable that she could see about him, not on the surface anyway, but she somehow felt a sense of menace from the way he moved.

  “Stop there man.” Sir Aranthur put the bite of command into his voice and his hand on his sword. When the stranger didn’t pause he half drew it.

  That seemed to make the man hesitate. Instead of continuing his advance he shifted to the side and leant forward slightly. He almost seemed to be peering around Sir Aranthur.

  His eyes landed on Ester and Velxe.

  “Lady Mazar?” The stranger’s voice carried surprisingly well. His words were comprehensible, but oddly accented and Ester blinked in surprise at being addressed. She didn’t know anyone who’d want to speak to her out here.

  “Yes? Can I help you goodman?” She raised her voice to make sure she was heard. Maybe he had a message for her from Vass Karan?

  The man nodded, a short sharp movement.

  “Lady Ester…” Velxe started to speak.

  Magic flared in the man. With a wet thump Sir Aranthur simply came apart. A line appeared diagonally down his torso and then the top half of his body tumbled to the ground. At the same time the stranger leapt sideways, his hand diving under his coat.

  Ester didn’t hesitate, the focus she needed for casting coming to her instantly. “Diwaien daabru.”

  She couldn’t properly hear the stranger’s words, but her spell came apart under his disjunction. At the same time he drew a tube of some kind from under his coat. Light flashed, a crack ringing through the air. A fraction of a second later magic exploded around Ester as one of her Schemas flared and shattered. Something tugged at her side, drawing a line of fire along it.

  Ester gasped, nearly falling off her horse. What had happened? That shouldn’t have been possible?! She glanced down to see the side of her dress darkening. Was that blood? There hadn’t been a spell, but her Schema had failed.

  She looked up, forcing her mind clear, just as the man reached into his coat and pulled another tube. She opened her mouth to shout the words to a spell and Velxe wheeled his horse in front of her. Placing himself between her and the attacker.

  “Get back!” He gave her horse a kick, making it dance backwards and almost unsaddling her.

  Another crack sounded and magic and light flared around Velxe. An unseen impact slammed him backwards in a flare of magic. Ester hardly had time to think about it though. Her horse had decided that it wanted to be away from the chaos and it was everything she could do to stay in the saddle as she struggled to get it back under control.