Runic Apprentice, page 18
part #1 of The Rune Mystic Series
Regardless of not being able to cast most of it, it would be several more months before he had the power for that, he’d also finished off the advanced library in those three months, completing his raw education. His afternoon classes the last week with Cassandra had turned into chat sessions. If it wasn’t for his power growth, and lack of experience in mock battle, he had no doubt she’d have named him a full mage even weeks ago.
As a result, his relationship with Cassandra had shifted subtly. He never forgot she was his mistress and he was the apprentice. But their relationship had shifted slightly. She was his mentor, mother figure, friend, and respected colleague, all at once. He’d been tempted more than once to mention his spell ideas during their talks, and his fix for the power rune which had to be flawed on purpose, but he’d always held back. There had to be a good reason she never broached the subject, so he never did either.
With his education complete, it also meant he’d had the time to complete his mage equipment. He had scribed several complicated advanced rune spells into his sword and dagger, he was even able to cast one or two of them. Point being, when his power finally caught up, he’d be ready to go if anything came up requiring them, like war, or facing multiple opponents in the competitions.
Still, they were spells of last resort, and would exhaust his magic just casting one. Spells to avoid ever needing to cast, because things would be desperate if he needed to. Things would have to be very dire for him to expose himself to the next threat so baldly. In six months, it’d be different, but not by much. Sure, he’d be able to cast those couple of spells several times, but the stronger ones he couldn’t cast yet at all would just replace them.
Even master mages did their best to use the minimum magic required, an exhausted mage was a dead one if they encountered another threat. Powerful showy magic was just proof of lack of tactics, but life was random and hazardous at times, and desperate situations couldn’t always be avoided. Better to be prepared for it.
He’d also scribed a few advanced spells into rods, that were spells of convenience and utility. In those cases, it wasn’t about the power required. No sane mage would exhaust their magic just for convenience, that would be suicidal. They were advanced because of the rune structure, and how many runes there were. The only exception to that was the gate spell, but a mage would tire themselves for that, if it was an emergency and meant saving lives.
On the good side, as far his power went, he was finally powerful enough to use the rune spell wards constantly, which would automatically trigger his protections and enhancements if they detected a threat. They slowed his magic recovery very little, after the growth of the last three months. As a result, he always had two active spells going at that point, even in his sleep.
Sam and he were friends again, though he was absent as much as Lia was, and while he’d gotten to know Karen a little bit she was always with Sam on missions, which was as it should be. The mage had settled down with his marriage, and didn’t frequent the city at all anymore, which certainly had a lot to do with their friendship making strides.
His biggest issue in that moment was he couldn’t really bury himself in his studies any longer to distract himself from missing Lia, or other issues. He also saw no great need to create new runes, though new rune ideas did occur naturally almost all the time. Subtle variations.
The gate spell would exhaust several mages, because it opened a doorway between places that stayed open for several minutes. Well, that was one of the variables that made it cost so much. With a little focus and thought he’d come up with another rune spell that would move one, or maybe two people, instantly. It worked the same way as the gate spell, but the gate itself would be active for only a split second, and it would move instead of the caster. Basically open and fold itself around the target person, then close.
It was cheaper magic wise, but much less useful, even if it would only exhaust one or two full mages to cast depending on their power. The upper level of power as far as mages like Lia, the spell would just take one, average mages it would take two, perhaps three on the lowest part of the average spectrum. He couldn’t imagine an emergency where moving one person would make an appreciable difference, where as a gate spell could move a whole regiment of soldiers to the border to shore up a falling defensive position.
Despite that, his wandering mind had come up with it. There were other similar spells, all with close approximations already out there. Not one of them seemed important enough to reveal what he truly was to the guilds at large. Even the improved power rune wouldn’t make risking his life worth it. He could hear Tanner now, instilling fear in others at the wicked and dangerous mystic in their midst.
Of course Tanner would do that, he might even believe it. It was how Tanner thought. The ambitious old bastard would have seized power already if not for the cost that would ensue to do so. He wouldn’t be the only one to demonize Olin either, just the most influential one.
He also had several enhanced spells. Enhancements saved in magic. Like his water enchantment on the sword was now enhanced by air much like Lia’s spells were in his fifth competition. An advanced spell, but one that saved magic. It was cheaper to enhance an element with another to increase its power, than to cast just that one element at the same resultant effectiveness. That one was best to use against fire mages. He had a different enhancement mixes for each type of enemy mage as well, based on the weaknesses of their shields.
Despite having and knowing several offensive spells, he’d always choose to enhance his physical sword and take them that way first, if he could. Besides saving on magic by using steel for offense, projecting spells outward always had an added cost. It was cheaper to enchant his blade with a temporary spell, than it would be to launch an offensive water spell enhanced by air. Same with a thrown dagger, the enchantment spell wouldn’t be moving when he threw it, the physical dagger it was bound to would be moving.
Magic could be complicated, and he suspected experience would only prove it more so than he believed in that moment. Point being, advanced spells didn’t necessarily mean more magic power, though power did mean effectiveness. His experience with detect magic, that air spell that sensed movement, had much improved since he’d first used it. He almost instinctively knew how much power he needed to expend to take down an enemy at that point.
In the last two competitions he’d manage to avoid fighting two masters he’d known he couldn’t take down, by evasion.
He’d also realized that clever air spell would be far less reliable outside. Which had made him question using it as a crutch in the competitions last month. In the vast domed arena, the air circulation from the vents were extremely predictable, making it easy to ignore and not mistake for a person moving, but out in the real world where the air moved constantly at the whims of the weather, it would be far less reliable. Not that he would mistake a gust of wind for the subtle air movement the size of a person, but that gust could disguise the smaller air movement quite easily, as it got lost in the noise of flowing air, even light breezes.
He’d decided to keep using it though, as he was just as likely to be attacked in real life inside a building as he would be outside. He’d take the edge when he could, he just wouldn’t fully depend on it, but instead on a mixture of detection and sense enhancements to filter the world around him.
His standard spells during a competition had expanded to what a typical rune mage would use. Besides the six shields, speed, and strength, he also enhanced his eyes, nose, ears, and the subtle sixth sense of knowing when being watched or if someone was near. A spell to sharpen perception to filter the stronger input, the air spell, and detect magic rounded that out.
That gave him six ways in total to detect an enemy closing in, none of the concealment spells to cloak a person’s presence covered all those eventualities. It was possible to run multiple spells that would do that, but most mages wouldn’t waste the magic on it, in his experience anyway.
His use of his various enchantments and offensive spells, as well as his reactions, were starting to become instinctual reflex. When he detected a mage of a particular sphere, he didn’t have to think through the best response to take including his spells, he just did it. Still, the thing he was looking forward to most in his eighth competition was teaming up with Lia again. He truly wondered how far they could get, without his suicidal tactics of defending an open and empty field with no cover. Though he didn’t regret what they had done, they’d learned a lot by doing it.
He was fairly excited and pleased with his readiness for the upcoming competition, his equipment truly was complete for the first time, even if his magic wasn’t up to utilizing some of its potential. He was also excited that night as he went to bed, as he’d be seeing Lia the next day.
Chapter Twenty-four
“Not tired of me yet?” the stunningly gorgeous blonde and cerulean eyed mage asked.
He shook his head mock sadly, “I guess I’m just a masochist, I can’t seem to get enough of you.”
Lia laughed, “Hey! Watch it.”
He snickered, “I love you.”
She smirked, “You can’t always get away with that, you know. Deflecting my ire with those words, even if they do make me melt.”
The two of them were dancing at an inn the next night. They had gone out for dinner that night, in one of their favorite taverns. Good food, good music, and the couple on stage providing that music was particularly good that night.
“Like you can’t get away with fishing for compliments?”
She mock gasped, then giggled with a guilty flush.
He said, “I’ll never get tired of you, my love.”
She tilted her head, “Even when I’m old, and wrinkly. And fat.”
He snickered, “I’ve seen your mother, I’m not worried about that at all.”
While it was true that he hadn’t physically met them yet, that would happen in a few months, he had seen an illusion of them.
Her face darkened, and he answered her seriously instead of teasingly.
“That’s not important to me. I do enjoy the way you look very much, your beauty still shocks and overwhelms me at times, but it’s your company, bright presence, your heart, and the way you make me feel that matters.”
Lia wasn’t a person that doubted herself. She was stubborn and confident, but on occasion she took some relationship readings. The fact they teased each other often, and their sense of humors played off each other so well, could be a detriment in those situations.
Her eyes widened slightly, and she seemed to melt at his words, though he suspected it was more the undeniable sincerity and heart he’d put into the words than the words themselves.
“Ready for tomorrow?”
He shook his head, “My partner still hasn’t told me her tactics.”
She giggled, “Good point. Here’s the plan,” and she told him her plan.
He sighed, “That’s crazier than my plan.”
She mock pouted.
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it,” he added, “Just saying, it’s crazy.”
She said, “It’ll work, plus they’re annoying me, being mean to you. We must destroy them, utterly,” she said that last with an intensity that almost made him flinch.
He made a mental note to never get on his love’s bad side. It was true enough, the death mages were as almost as rude to him as the fire mages, whenever he went to the general library, or stores, or anywhere else in the common arena building when he left the tower. They never attacked him or anything, outside of hunting him purposefully during the last two competitions, but the dirty looks and snide comments were getting old after three months. He’d ignored it, but at times it wasn’t easy. He considered briefly that maybe he shouldn’t have told Lia about it, but he rejected that thought almost immediately, hiding things from one’s chosen mate in this life almost never worked out.
He suspected she’d have made her plans against the fire mages for a first strike, but their tower was two towers away, and not right next to theirs.
“In that case, let’s make it happen.”
They dropped it then, and they focused on each other and their date. He was an average dancer and wasn’t crazy about the activity, but he’d take any excuse to hold her in his arms, take in her scent, and look into her glorious sparkling and happy blue eyes. He was more than willing to make the sacrifice.
Their courting wasn’t all flirting and teasing, and they discussed such things as children, the future, and matters of weight. Their careers and where they lived was the simple part, they’re really was only one choice there, so that was one relationship stressor they didn’t have to worry about compromising on.
He also didn’t mind the fact she wanted a large family, so that wasn’t a stressor either. He’d always wanted a sibling, and she’d wished she had a sister or brother growing up as well. Despite being unromantic, it also wasn’t lost on either of them that the next generation of rune mages in Reton depended on them along with Sam and Karen. He wasn’t sure why Cassandra hadn’t ever found her match, or why Sam’s and Lia’s parents had stopped at one, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to ask.
It was none of his business.
Though he expected human nature might have a little to do with Cassandra being single. A woman wanted a strong husband, many non-mage women would see it as a coup to gain the security of male mage, they would never want for anything with the tower guilds taking care of their needs. The opposite was not true, any male but another powerful mage would probably be intimidated by marrying a woman far more powerful than they were.
Still, that was making assumptions, he could be wrong, but he wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t part of the problem. It also wasn’t his business, or a problem to be solved, or even a problem at all if Cassandra was content with what she had.
When Lia and Olin fought, and needed to compromise, it was usually about the little things. Most of the major stuff they agreed on, even politics and the need to maintain the status quo as long as possible. Even if it wasn’t fair in a lot of ways.
When it grew late, they returned to the tower and as usual wound down their date on the couch. She sat sideways on the couch, and then leaned back into his side and sighed with contentment as he wrapped an arm around her. It was their favorite position, otherwise he’d be too tempted to kiss her, and kissing always led to deeper temptations, it was better to limit those.
Their desire and intimacy was known and discussed frankly as well, they didn’t shy from that subject once the temptation had reached a certain point. They’d both decided to wait for their handfasting night, despite those temptations and their potent chemical attraction, and the fact that there were spells to prevent premature pregnancy taking most of the risk out of it. It was not just for custom’s sake they’d made that decision, it was also a fact that those who waited had much happier marriages as a rule. There was a reason for that custom. Sex wasn’t bad, it was just reserved for the hand-fasted in their society.
It was getting late, and they had a competition the next day, but he still didn’t want to call it a night. He always felt that way when they spent time together, but especially on the first day that Lia had come back from a mission, most of all.
It was then that Cassandra walked into the room with a serious expression on her face. She usually gave them privacy in the living room at the end of their date nights, so they both sat up straighter, and Lia swung her legs off the couch and sat properly, though they continued to hold hands.
Lia asked, “Mistress?”
Cassandra said, “We just got word, the fighting has started in earnest at the border. It looks like the Vemor Empire decided on Sleekfalls pass for their major thrust, though there are skirmishes at the other passes between our kingdoms as well.”
Lia stiffened, “My parents are stationed at Sleekfalls.”
Sleekfalls was a small village, similar to Bayside where he’d grown up, except they had fortified walls being a southern border village. The northern villages in the kingdom had no needs of such, if a foreign army reached them, it would be after the capital of Highspire fell. Once the capital fell, the village wouldn’t even bother putting up a fight, and would just accept their new rulers. What could one little village do, after all?
Cassandra nodded, “They are safe for the moment. The pass’s defenses are holding, and all the masters save the tower masters and our weapons master have just been dispatched, along with half of the mages on the roster. You’d have been sent, if you hadn’t just gotten back.”
Lia sighed, “I understand. Thanks for letting us know.”
Cassandra said, “As a result, there will be no masters at all in the competition, and only around a hundred mages, instead of the usual two hundred. The rules for full mages being in one of every three competitions is lifted during times of war, and Reton is at war. Only the apprentices are still required, unless the capital city is threatened, and all citizens are required to mount a defense.”
That thought disturbed him, that so much blood and death would grant them a real chance at scoring high in the competition, especially with Lia fighting by his side, she already had the power of a master mage, if not the long experience, and might be the strongest person competing tomorrow. The thought of it was so disturbing, it wouldn’t have even occurred to him if Cassandra hadn’t just pointed it out.
Still, disturbing or not, it was what it was.
Lia asked, “Dreston?”
Cassandra said, “Waiting and watching, so far, but it’s still too early to know if that’s their response or if they’re still planning based on the new information. My hope is they won’t attack. Their current king isn’t as expansionist as their old one. I suspect their troop movements on their border is just them making sure we don’t get any ideas, and we have no intention of attacking them. It also frees our hand in the south for a counterattack to deplete Vemor’s war infrastructure. Now that we’ve been attacked, a foray into Vemor owned land won’t overly alarm our eastern neighbor, whereas before it might’ve alarmed them enough to come to a false conclusion, and preemptively attack us to prevent an expansionist invasion before it started. It’s murky at best, their perceptions may not align to our truth, and the reverse is true as well, but it’s what we have to work with.”
