Nate sat around one of the workshop tables with Aisling, Deverell and Jacque as they waited for Kiri to return with Luc. The apprentices were asleep in their own room as it was already reasonably late in the evening. Frick was off working on one of the mana collection sites. Aisling and Deverell were having a hushed conversation about their communications with Morgane and Hildi. Nate, however, was using the small break to give Jacque some advice on his runecrafting.

  Running a finger across a few of the geometric lines scribbled in Jacque’s notebook, Nate mentally calculated what he expected to be the mana distribution field that would result and how it would impact the surrounding Sigils.

  “I think it’s fine as is,” he commented.

  “Are you sure? If I swapped to a petal pattern like you used on the barrier rune and shifted the Sound Sigils marginally closer between each petal the resulting return would be stronger,” argued Jacque, his tone unsure.

  “You’re right, but you’d drop your efficiency by twenty percent, at least. The petal pattern is meant to produce a stronger response, but it also uses significantly more mana. Which is fine for a combat item because sometimes sacrificing efficiency for strength is the right idea, like on a full-range barrier. But this isn’t a combat item. It’s a luxury item so keeping the mana cost down is a better choice and it’s not like you’re sacrificing the quality of the sound returned. Just the range.”

  “That’s true…” Jacque replied, still unsure.

  “Trust me. It’s brilliant. How many songs can it store and do they have maximum durations? Have you tested it?” Nate asked, his tone a little excited. He couldn’t help but compare Jacque’s love of music with his own love of art. Seeing the ex-Professor come up with an innovative design for a runecrafted item that could record sounds, storing them for later and then playing them on demand was a nice change from making barriers and illusions and other combat-focused items. It was the kind of thing that Nate would much rather be doing.

  “I have. The Copy and Recall Sigils really simplified the process. It costs most of my Intents to have them store what they hear and the limitation on time seems to exponentially decrease with the material Rarity. Uncommon only gets me a few minutes but Rare was able to retain eleven minutes and twelve seconds. I think if we could find a Sigil for something like ‘Store’ or ‘Record’ or maybe ‘Memory’, I could make the entire item even more efficient and cut down on the size a little. As it is, it’s functioning as a runic array and so the number of songs it can retain is based on how many of the Sound Copy and Recall runes I include. It also makes for more work since each one needs a separate piece of material.”

  Nate nodded his understanding, “None of those were in the Sigil Tome I have but maybe we can trade the information with an Enchanter from Asmuisil.”

  Before Jacque could respond, Nate sensed Kiri appearing in the teleportation room. A couple of seconds later Luc followed. Nate grinned, eyes on the door as Aisling turned as well, cutting off her conversation with Deverell.

  Kiri strode through first, followed by Luc, decked out in his black leather and his custom metal-studded armour. Nate’s larger than life spatial mentor spread his arms wide, a huge smile on his face, before bellowing out, “By the Nine Hells, what a monumental fuck up we have going on, hey? Is that why we’ve moved our workshop to a secret location?”

  Jacque, unsure of how to handle the man, looked to Nate, who shook his head with a smile.

  “A little softer, Luc. The kids are sleeping.”

  Luc grinned and gave a small nod, “Yeah, alright, but seriously, is it true?”

  “Which parts?” Aisling asked.

  “The part where Etrua lost basically two of its three armies.”

  “So you haven’t heard?” asked Nate.

  “Heard what?” Luc replied, his grin fading to be replaced by a look of confusion.

  “Prefect Porter is dead, Prefect Raoult has fled the city and Allais has seized control of the Adventurer’s Guild with the help of the Jamisons.”

  Luc’s face went from confused to deadpan to angry in under a second, “Fucking what?!”

  What followed was a quick rundown of the events that led up to their current predicament. Between the four of them, with Jacque listening in, they detailed everything from Morgane’s army, the assassination attempt and the fallout that resulted, Allais seizing the Guild, Bordain claiming the throne, Morgane’s movements to try and rally support among the Noble Houses, Asmuisil’s continued advancement and the Guildies being held at the University.

  “So, Avery is Morgane or Hildi? Or both?” asked Luc.

  “That’s the part you’re focused on, old man?!” demanded Nate, trying not to smile and encourage his mentor.

  “Well, everything else we can figure out together, but Avery…did I sleep with the Princess…or Hildi…or both?” Luc replied, smirking as he tried to make light of their situation.

  “Focus, Luc,” stated Aisling calmly and Nate watched as the Arcane Riftwalker shrugged and sat down.

  “Alright then, what’s the plan?” Luc asked, looking over the group.

  Aisling looked to Nate and he sensed that his mentor was letting him take the lead. Every other eye in the room seemed to sense the same and he quickly found himself the centre of attention. With an inner sigh, he split his focus so he could think about everything even as he went over their problems and how to resolve them.

  “The University has to be first. They’re most likely holding the Guildies prisoner specifically to keep Null there in case Prefect Raoult returns. For all we know, Allais has somehow been in contact with him and is threatening him to keep him silent. She also seems to be doing a decent job of controlling the flow of information as Luc didn’t hear anything about her coup while in Asmuisil. I’ll admit, I also want to get Britt out, plus adding Null, Britt, Ameera and Karim to our numbers effectively gives us four more low-Gold combatants. It’s also, I think, the easiest target, and one we can move against even before Evindal returns.”

  Nods and mutters of agreement followed and he continued his line of thinking.

  “As for the remaining problems, we can’t help Princess Morgane because we don’t really have any pull with the Noble Houses, so unless she asks for something, she’s on her own. Sorry, Luc,” Nate muttered as Luc gave a shrug of acknowledgement. “That leaves three things we can do. If Asmuisil is still buying, we can continue to provide them with runecrafted equipment to hopefully keep Prince Bordain busy with their armies. We can try and retake the Adventurer’s Guild, accepting that we’re up against at least four Platinums and however many Golds Allais has recruited to her cause. Finally, we can move against the Noble Houses we know are supporting Bordain. We’d need to confirm that last one with Princess Morgane.”

  “Avery,” interjected Luc who received a punch to the arm from Kiri for his troubles.

  “Ow,” Luc muttered.”Well, as for Asmuisil, they do want more. Whatever we can provide, really. And they’re paying well. Should I?”

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  Luc motioned at the workshop table, clearly intent on placing their payments for their latest batch on its smooth stone surface.

  “After,” Aisling responded, stopping the Arcane Riftwalker. “Planning first. I agree that the University should be a priority, especially if we can get in touch with Prefect Raoult. But before we make any moves we need more information. Where has Prefect Raoult fled to? What kind of defences should we expect at the University? Are they actively communicating with the Adventurer’s Guild?”

  Aisling glanced at Deverell and sighed, “Tomorrow you can start collecting the intel we need.”

  “I’ll be going as well,” Kiri added.

  “I’ll help from here,” Nate commented. He could use his farsight sphere of awareness to try and gather some information and since he could split his mind four ways and could work on two materials at once, it shouldn’t interfere with his own preparations and crafting.

  “Alright,” Aisling agreed. “Focus on the University and the Guild. Anything else can wait and we won’t move against the Guild until at least Evindal has returned. Preferably not until we get in touch with Prefect Raoult as well.”

  The discussions and plans continued for another hour until most of the details were settled. With their duties for tomorrow clear, Luc finally laid out the payment from Asmuisil for their runecrafted equipment.

  “Thirty-three Stat Orbs in total. There are twenty-one Common, eight Uncommon and four Rare. As for Skill Orbs, I only got one, but they did give me a few Skill Tomes that you requested. Mold Material, an Uncommon Skill Tome, and two copies of Imbue Material. The Skill Orb is for level-four Basic Mana Carving. Finally, four full processed-mana gems.”

  Nate was impressed. There were almost one-hundred and fifty Stats sitting on the table, coupled with four Skills and enough processed mana to give him a level with spare leftovers. Of course, it wasn’t all his, but it was still a small fortune.

  “You taking the processed-mana gems?” asked Kiri, her question clearly directed at Luc as she looked over the takings.

  “How many would be my cut?” Luc countered.

  Kiri did some quick mental math, “Two.”

  “Two it is, then. I’ll be close to gaining a level off this,” replied Luc, scooping up two processed-mana gems and heading for the training room to absorb them.

  Nate pushed the three Skill Tomes, the Skill Orb and the two remaining processed-mana gems towards Jacque, “For you and the apprentices. The mana is for you and one of the Skills. The other Skills are for the apprentices.”

  Jacque smiled in thanks, grabbing his own cut as Kiri yelled after him, “That counts as your bonus!”

  Finally, there were just the Stat Orbs left. Kiri and Nate split them up based on the Stats provided. With a small amount of pain, he shoved the two Uncommon Intellect Orbs across to Kiri.

  “Are you sure?” she asked, though he could see in her eyes how much she wanted them.

  “I know you’re almost at a one-hundred and fifty. You’ll be able to split your focus and I know Deverell keeps pressuring you about it as it affects your fighting style. Keeping track of so many arms can’t be easy.”

  “You’re right. Half the time, I just focus most of them on a rough area or only use the arms that are in range. It’ll help…but still…” Kiri hedged.

  “It’s fine,” he replied. “I need more Magic Control anyway.”

  When the divisions were finally over, and the pair had absorbed their Stat Orbs, Nate had gained twenty-seven in Creativity, eighteen in Intellect, fifteen in Magic Control, twelve in Perception and three in Magic Power.

  Kiri’s rewards totalled twenty-one in Strength, eighteen in Willpower, twelve in Intellect, nine in Perception and six in both Mana Reserve and Endurance.

  Nate smiled as a notification appeared before him.

  Congratulations on achieving over five-hundred in a single stat before reaching your Second Evolution.

  Your achievement has been recorded.

  He wasn’t sure how useful the achievement would be, but every bit counted. Kiri yawned across from him and Nate found himself mirroring her. With a quick agreement they headed to the room they were sharing to catch some shuteye. Tomorrow, they would gather the information they needed to start taking actions in the Capital. He just hoped it wasn’t too little, too late.

  *************

  Garnet quietly strolled the halls of the Royal Palace; she just wished the opulent building was as quiet as she was. Bordain had left her to manage the rebuild and deal with any of his Noble allies. Her King, a title she was still adapting to, had few enough of those due to his ideas and policies. Of those he did have, most had left the Capital with him, after helping him to gather fresh conscripts from the Slums. The rest of the “recruits” would come from various villages they passed through on their way to meet the Third Asmuisillan Army. King Bordain had been gone for almost a week and she expected it would be another two weeks before he encountered the Asmuisillans, assuming they marched straight for the Capital. It could be longer if they diverted to reinforce their First Army who was currently locked in a stalemate against King Bordain’s Army, currently under the command of Sapphire and Amethyst. Garnet snorted at the thought. She hoped the Asmuisillans would kill that disgusting man, but knowing Sapphire, he’d somehow slip through the cracks yet again.

  Walking into the throne room—that was still being rebuilt, even now—she could see how countries like Asmuisil were more functional in many ways. Many of the workers were low-level, barely having broken through their first Evolution and with low-Tier Classes. They were like ants, working hard, but slowly. A few middling Earth Mages and Enchanters could have completely restored the throne room by now. She supposed a high-level Earth Mage and a single decent Enchanter could have fixed the room in a day. Perhaps that was her King's plan, she mused. Enough singularly powerful individuals could change the course of a battle, a war, or even a nation. She swallowed her misgivings.

  A few Fourth Swords watched over the workers. They were the freshest recruits of the Royal Family and while being Low-Golds and well equipped, they weren’t useful for more than guard duty. Malachite had left them under her command, his duties taking him into the City as he tried desperately to keep everything under control. He was failing, and she knew it. While they had successfully seized much of the wealth of the Merchant quarter, leaving only enough to keep the district limping on, people had already started to disappear. The Slums were a maze and its denizens less than willing to help the guard or Swords. So day by day, more and more people with the means to do so were fleeing the city. Malachite had even ended up recruiting Adventurer’s Guild members to help the city patrols try to keep the city locked down. It seemed to be helping, but it was like trying to catch sand; some pieces still slipped through your fingers.

  She sensed a source of heat, a body, approaching the doors behind her. Probably another Noble coming to petition her for access to more mana or something equally boring. She turned to face the doors and, as they opened, she tried not to snarl as Duchess Charlotte Desmarais entered.

  She felt the eyes of the woman she hated more than anyone or anything roam over her form dismissively before speaking.

  “So, you’re still alive, Bellanca…your Father had been wondering. I assumed you had fled to Gashana. Those desert-dwellers are always looking for more people to help make glass for them.”

  Garnet bit back her knee-jerk retort, both at the insult and use of her real name.

  “Step-mother, what do you want?” she ground out.

  “Don’t call me that. You lost that right when you abandoned your duties to the House. It is, and always will be, Duchess Desmarais to you,” replied Charlotte haughtily. “As for what I want, nothing from you, child. I simply came to see how the repairs were progressing and to seek out this ‘Garnet’ who so has our King’s ear.”

  Garnet clenched her hands into fists as she struggled to control herself, the air around her heating up alongside her rage.

  “I am she,” Garnet hissed, still suppressing her urge to burn the woman before her to ash. If she did it fast enough. she might even succeed.

  “Oh? Are you now?” said Charlotte coyly. “Seems you didn’t fail to learn all the lessons I tried to teach you.”

  Garnet watched as her Step-Mother looked down at her figure pointedly, insinuating Garnet had wormed her way into King Bordain’s graces the same way her Step-Mother had wormed her way into her Father’s, the Duke.

  “Was that all?” whispered Garnet, fire still in her veins.

  The Duchess looked about the remains of the throne room and the workers busily attempting to rebuild it.

  “I suppose it is,” answered Charlotte, chin turned up as she spun on her heel heading back out of the room. As she passed through the arches, she called back one parting remark. “Oh, I thought you should know, the Twins are dead. Killed by Princess Morgane’s people.”

  The words were placid, as cool as a lake in winter and similarly, they lanced through Garnet’s heart. She dropped to her knees as the doors closed behind the woman she hated. Her sisters were dead. Her years of service to King Bordain, her growth and power, all so she could rescue her sisters from their parents, all for nothing. She felt hollow and cold, even as the stone around her hissed and steamed as the room became truly chilly, frost forming on the wood as heat was drawn towards her, finding in itself Unity. She stared up at where a ceiling should be, eyes upon the blue skies above and wondered, what was her purpose now?

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