Emerilia Box Set, page 126
part #1 of Emerilia Series
“Why do you follow her? Are you not one of the Dark one’s mages?” Krenua asked, confused.
Malsour let out a laugh as he paused in mid-air and looked over the land. “We are not our magic. We might have an affinity to one element over another, but we are not beholden to it. I may wield the Dark magics, but what I learned from the Lady of Fire and her knowledge is much more powerful than any blessing that that useless shadow lord could come up with,” Malsour drawled.
Krenua laughed. “I like you, Malsour.”
“You are quite the interesting Demon, too, Krenua.” Malsour pulled a tome from his bag and threw it at Krenua. “Read that. I have someone I must talk to before I start making houses all over the place.” Malsour looked out over the crater.
“Hello, nephew! How are the kiddos?” Malsour said.
Krenua snorted as he looked at his book. Basic spells of Fire.
Krenua opened the book and read the first pages. It was slow going; he had only learned to read and write because of his position as the Black Hand’s leader.
The pages started to move faster. Krenua understood more; his mind seemed to open to the world ever so slightly, making connections that he would have never made before. The pages moved faster and faster until the book’s back cover slammed shut and turned to dust, drifting away in the warm night’s breeze.
“Teach me, teach me to read.” Krenua looked to Malsour.
“I’ll send you a party invite so that you can teleport to me. I’ll talk to you when you get here. I’ve got something to attend to. I’ll pay your fee here and back.” Malsour tapped out something on his interface. “Talk soon!”
Malsour looked to Krenua with his full attention. “That is most definitely something I can help with, but before I do, I must ask you to make a vow.” Malsour smiled and lowered himself to the ground.
“A vow?” Krenua asked.
“You must vow to teach others who are willing,” Malsour said.
“So, if someone asks me about something, then I should help them learn?” Krenua asked. That doesn’t sound that hard.
“Precisely. Which means not hoarding books from others. And books that are dangerous—I would advise you to give them to the mages guild, but that I will not make you swear to. Your knowledge is your own. I hope that you will help others in their path as I will help you,” Malsour said.
“If someone seeks me out to attain knowledge or I see someone I can teach, I will help them,” Krenua promised, cutting his finger with his claws. “I vow by my word.”
“Very well. Now, try this out.” Malsour pulled out another tome.
Once again, Krenua opened the book. Krenua read through it a lot slower than the book of Fire spells, but he started understanding more of the Fire spells as words that explained foreign ideas started to make sense.
There was a flash of silver light for a few seconds as a third person joined them.
“Hello, Uncle!” The man embraced Malsour.
“Who are you?” Krenua’s hand moved to his blade.
“I’m Fornau. Pleasure to meet you.” The man extended his hand.
“Good to meet you,” Krenua said, not willing to shake his hand, suspecting foul play.
“Krenua is a warrior by training and birth, not one to shake hands for fear of a fight,” Malsour explained.
“Oh, very well,” Fornau said with a disarming smile, lowering his hand. “I won’t eat you. Most people always think that.”
“Now is not the time to think on stereotypes. What do you think of this land? I have been tasked with making homes for farmers and loggers, as well as their facilities. Where would be the best place to put it all?” Malsour asked.
Krenua went back to his book. His hand rested on his blade, one eye remaining on the uncle-nephew duo.
“Hmm, the ground is good. You’ve got some decent forests to the northeast that would probably be nice to keep. Also, have some dungeons and caves there for rarer beasties. The south gets the most amount of sun. I’d say the northwest would be good for logging and mining into the cliff created by whatever hit this. A town in the center for trade and management. Also, make a fortress there in case the seven exterior fortresses fail. The forests have claimed the south. There are some rare trees there that are old. Might put an orchard and greenhouses to the southwest; that way, they’d have the most sun year round. Going to need to set up a large retaining lake, maybe run it from the higher peaks of the crater, guide it into a moat around the fortress and then down toward the fields and greenhouses. Make the grade steeper for the fields so that with the spring rains, the water overflows—the detritus from the city mountains and river covering the farms so that they have good soil every year without too much need for manure or fertilizer,” Fornau said.
Krenua looked up at the growing image that Fornau drew on his interface, sharing so that Krenua and Malsour could see.
Krenua remembered how Devil’s Crater had been before. Camps everywhere, with the hordes moving around and fighting one another for the best hunting areas. The villagers lived in their fields, scared that they would have their own crops stolen by their fellow Demons.
What Fornau was creating was not just a place to live. It was an entire ecosystem onto itself. Military standing and positions were secondary. Food production, sustainable resources: these were in the forefront of their minds.
“What about the Hordes?” Krenua asked.
“The fortresses can be extended. You have a lot of area to cover to make sure that you know what is coming in and out of the area. I would also think that they would train in the forests to be ready to deal with animals. They can do hard labor in the mines and fields during different seasons. And these cliffs seem to be rather solid to me. I don’t see why you couldn’t tunnel them and put military barracks in them. There would also need to be a guard that makes sure that the people are following the laws you put down. Do you mean practice areas? Well, you could practice in the cliffs if you flatten out an area, or in the fields that don’t have good ground for the season.
“Then, there is the fact that if you are transporting anything from here to anywhere else, it would need a guarding caravan and there is a massive area just beyond your fortresses that are hostile. Cut the forest back a bit, make training camps there. Forces ready to deploy as soon as a threat is seen on the horizon,” Fornau said.
“How can you plan this all out?” Krenua asked.
“I’ve seen a few cities in my time and I took it upon myself to learn a bit about architecture when I was building my home for me and my kids. I might have got sidetracked and learned a bit more about how cities were formed. Right here, you could make a pretty powerful entity. It wouldn’t be completely self-sustainable, but it would be pretty damned close.”
“Could you share your plans with me? I know that my Prince would be very interested and he might have a few things that he wants to alter,” Krenua said, feeling out of his depth with it all.
“Certainly—this is just rough. I would suggest that we move to where there are the sunniest spots. I will start to clear out the trees that can be used for firewood and relocate the rare ones into a small park in what I hope will become your fortress city. I’ll get started on a large bastion around where the fortress city would be best situated and lead it down to the farming plot. I think it would be best to put the logging facilities here.” A waypoint appeared in everyone’s vision and on their mini-map, if they had bought a map.
“I’ll get started on that and look for the best places to start mines while I’m over there.” Malsour looked back at Krenua. “I’ll be back soon. Let me know when you finish that book.”
With that, Malsour darted off on his shadow, still creating a stone road behind him as Fornau rubbed his hands together in excitement.
“I’ve never built a city before,” he said before speeding off faster than an arrow from a bow.
Who the hell are these people? Making entire cities, transforming Devil’s Crater more than we did in the seventy-five years we spent here?
Krenua shook his head and looked down at the book Malsour had given him. Knowledge had allowed them to get to this level of ability. Krenua was not going to let the advantage slip through his fingers. Malsour had shown him how blind he was.
Krenua looked at his hand, knowing enough of the knowledge he’d had dumped into his mind by the previous book. A small flame appeared on his right index finger.
“The Fire of knowledge.” Krenua looked at it before he smiled and extinguished it.
Krenua didn’t know it, but he had contracted a well-known disease among the mage’s colleges and guilds. He’d contracted Bookworm, driving him to seek new knowledge and new experiences to broaden his mind.
Chapter 36: Out of Sight
The lowest island of Per’ush lowered itself till the lowest jetty was half-submerged in the water below. A number of mages and reporters looked over from the higher levels, searching the seas for a sign of the guests of honor.
After a few moments, a head popped out from the water. A man standing seven feet tall and holding a trident with runes on its surface glided out of the water and onto the jetty.
Mages met him, guiding him to testing lines that had been set up.
He walked, surveying the area before tossing something into the water. Everyone held their breath as a half-dozen more heads appeared, rising from the water and stepping onto the jetty. They looked like humans, with lines of varying colors across sections of their bodies, followed with dots of different colors.
The mages at the testing area had the first Merman put his hand over a crystal. It glowed different colors, each of them revolving in the crystal and denoting numbers. The man was waved on to where there were more mages waiting, ready to talk to him about admittance into the mages college.
“Are you sure about this, Archmage Jelanos?” his aide and life-long friend Alamos asked.
“No, but it is sure to be interesting! The race that has never once left their home cities coming to our schools in order to learn!” Jelanos rubbed his hands together in glee.
He didn’t wear robes of the school, but instead leather armor that had been made by the Elven people as a sign of his adventurer days. He had a mop of brown hair, hazel eyes, and a goatee.
Alamos sighed and rubbed his face. He wore simple mages robes, had salt-and-pepper hair and azure eyes. He hid a smile behind his hand at his friend’s antics.
“You do remember that Elani is making dinner for us and the Merpeople’s representative?” Alamos said.
That stopped Jelanos rubbing his hands together in glee and jumping up and down.
“Well, you must remind me to not forget. She would not be happy if we missed it!”
“I know, Jelanos—why don’t you? You’re the one married to her!”
“Bah, remembering all that stuff is annoying!”
“You memorized half of the library!”
“Well, the library and women are different altogether!”
“I have my own wife to care for, you know!” Alamos said.
“I really do have to see little Ginny again! Did you see that she was a level 4 in Air magic!” Jelanos said.
“I do remember—she is my grandchild! Did you see how she was looking at your Petunia?” Alamos said.
“My granddaughter Petunia?”
“What did you think I was talking about? The flower?”
“Well, there was one time when I did get the two mixed up in a meeting. That turned into a rather nasty affair. Whatever did happen to the Heurick Kingdom?”
“They were talking about your granddaughter Petunia. The Heurick Kingdom was on the Ashal continent. After you kicked them out of the mages guild and said that none of their people were welcome to learn from your schools with pigheaded idiots like them running the country, their spell casters left. The country fell apart after that. Most of it got absorbed by the Heldar Kingdom,” Alamos said.
“Huh, well, they aren’t all that original—they’ve got two of the same letters in the name!” Jelanos looked away in thought. “Wait, you said that your Ginny was looking at my Petunia? My granddaughter Petunia?” The Air became thick with Mana and anger as Jelanos looked at Alamos.
People looked at the archmage and his aide, slowly stepping away.
“Yes,” Alamos said, undisturbed.
The wind slowly stopped and the pressure fell away.
“Well?” Jelanos asked, as excited for the arrival of the Merpeople as he was about his granddaughter’s love life.
“I’ve heard that they might have gone on a few dates.” Alamos’s finger rose up defiantly in his best friend’s face. “You are not to interfere or I will hide your glasses from you for a week.”
Jelanos’s eyes thinned, as if he had met his mortal enemy. “Fine!” Jelanos turned back to the merpeople who were walking out of the sea and onto the lowest jetties of the Per’ush islands.
“But wouldn’t that be fantastic!?” Jelanos said, his annoyance once again turning to joy. There were few things that could keep the archmage’s spirits down.
“So, how exactly did this all come about?” Alamos waved to the growing party of Merpeople who were now being tested.
“The Lady of Fire gave me a message and I listened. She said that she didn’t want the fact that the Merpeople are Creatures of Power made by the Water Lord to make us prejudiced against them.”
“How do you know it was from her and not one of the other Affinities?”
“I know,” Jelanos said with a sly smile. “After all, she said all Creatures of Power, like her Dragons, are interested in different things. If we let the Dragons wander our halls, what’s the problem with a few hundred Merpeople?”
Alamos’s jaw opened, but no words came out.
Jelanos turned around. “I never said that.” He held his friend’s eyes.
“Was that a seagull farting? I think it was.” Alamos held a great reverence for his lady. He might be an Earth mage and Jelanos an Air mage, but none of the other lords and ladies had helped him or changed him into the man he was today.
The Lady of Fire and her mage’s guild had helped him to understand his gift, matched him up with Jelanos and given him purpose, a life and a family.
If we’ve now got the Merpeople coming out of the depths of the ocean, maybe those reports of new monsters appearing in different dungeons wasn’t that far-fetched. What the heck is happening? I hate it when I’m in the dark!
Alamos took a deep breath of the refreshing sea air, glancing behind and above him.
There rested the fifty-seven islands of Per’ush, his home and the center of the adventurer’s and mage’s guild.
“Well, it looks like we will have a fair number of promising applicants.” A smile appeared on Alamos’s face. He looked forward to his few lessons that he gave to pass on his knowledge.
“We have done a lot in our lives, my friend.” Jelanos smiled to Alamos. “But damn, I could do with an adventure!”
“You just got back from messing around in the shadow labyrinth in Southern Ashal! Do you know what kind of shit I got in for covering for you!”
“Fine, next time we’ll go together,” Jelanos said.
“Good!” Alamos said, before thinking over what his friend had said. “Who the hell’s going to run all this while we’re gone?”
“Well, Fire, of course,” Jelanos said, once again pausing as if he’d said something he shouldn’t have. Jelanos looked around. His eyes stopped as the color drained from his face.
Alamos felt the hairs on his neck rise, much as if a predator were behind him. He looked back and up, finding an unassuming woman wearing the robes of a water Expert. Her lips were pursed together in thought as she looked over Alamos and Jelanos.
“The next time you boys are talking about me, use a damned sound annulment spell. Jelanos, don’t come to try to find me again. I had to resubmit three times to get back in!” Her lips never moved, but Alamos and Jelanos heard her voice in their ear.
“Salt-and-pepper suits you, Alamos.” Her eyes seemed to glow with inner Fire as she grinned and winked at them. She turned and left.
Alamos turned to Jelanos. Both of them used a sound annulment spell at the same moment.
Others watched as the archmage and his best friend yelled at each other like groupies; not a single noise escaped their overlapping annulment domes.
“Who are those two idiots?” one of the Merpeople asked.
“That is the archmage and his friend, the famed Jelanos and Alamos. Seems they’re in an argument again.” The mage testing them sighed. “I hope they used the right warding this time.”
“This time?” the mer asked.
“There used to be fifty-eight islands. You might have passed it on your way up. We’re still fixing the damage to it before we put it back in the sky. It’s said that they were experimenting,” the tester said. “Please put your hand over the crystal and allow your Mana into it. You will feel a sensation through your body—don’t fight it.”
The Merpeople who had heard the conversation looked at the two talking to each other and the two yelling masters.
“I don’t ever want to fight that.”
“Sunk a damned island, for an experiment.”
“There’s little left of it down there.”
“Well, it might not be as dull and boring as I thought. Might actually be fun,” one said.
The Mer started to feel more relaxed as they were accepted in short order and took teleport pads off to their assigned islands to be trained in magic.
***
“What do you mean that you can’t make them again?” the Lady of Light asked. Her eyes flashed dangerously as golden outlines of her wings seemed to appear on her back.
The people in the room quivered in fear from the outpouring of Mana coming from her. None of them were as shaken as the woman prostrated on the floor in front of her.
