Mad Toffad's Keep

by Zack Finley

  They were taking no chances with the mage captives. They were being stored in a secret location known only to three people. Each mage was in a type of stasis, bound with high-end mage handcuffs, paralyzed and forced into a form of hibernation. If the three mages who knew the location never returned to the secret location, the prisoners would eventually die.

  There was plenty of early debate in favor of killing the coup mages. Inoa successfully argued you couldn't question a corpse. She was confident they would eventually acquire the key to defeat the death geas. Everyone agreed it was essential to discover who or what the mages worked for to ensure this conspiracy was over.

  The mundanes we picked up in Augun had already been interrogated and executed. It didn't take Augun King Rufix long to order their immediate execution after reading summaries of their capital crimes.

  Sifting through the mental sewers of those involved in the various plots was tough on Inoa. These were evil people. She felt working at our office for a few days would be a vacation.

  Tobron agreed to go to the chamberlain's office and start the ball rolling on the new keep. When he suggested we go visit the keep this afternoon if the chamberlain said it was okay, Argon glared at him.

  That seemed to remind them of a topic they'd been avoiding.

  "The mage that maimed you used a very unusual enchanted spear," Tobron said.

  He now had all of my attention.

  "The combination of your wards and armor would have deflected or stopped any enchanted spear we can build. This spear is made from a metal we can't identify, and the heavy enchantments it carries should be impossible. Because we can't question the mage's ghost to learn more, Cleon has scholars researching the metal, and a guild mage is cataloging its enchantments."

  "Any clue how we defend against something like this," I asked.

  "The spear is a kludgy weapon." Tobron held up his hand to avoid my instinctive interruption. "It is too thick, too long and too unwieldy to have been designed as a spear. We thought it must have some kind of weight canceling spell, but found the metal is very light and very strong."

  Tobron's retirees made a field trip to the Klee armory to check out the new weapon. "They think there is enough metal in it to make a lot of metallic plates. If the current enchantments can be removed, one of my friends would give his right nut to work on the raw metal. Until we are ready to try some potentially destructive testing, it is too early to tell what more we can learn."

  "Any idea when the researchers will finish their work?" I asked.

  "You know academics; they can spend a year studying a new bed bug."

  I needed to see this thing for myself before authorizing any destructive testing.

  Tobron's part in this sideshow was over. He turned the floor back to Argon.

  "We need the best armor available for our core team," she stated.

  Why anyone thought I'd object was still not clear to me.

  "We need to hire the best armorer in Losan," she finished.

  "Okay," I answered, "Hire him or her."

  "Neither Tobron nor I know how to locate an armorer from Losan. They never leave their country."

  And I thought this was going to be a pleasant argument where I got gently persuaded to buy some new armor.

  "We can't find a journeyman armorer from Augun or Klee willing to work with us to raise his skills and start a new business?"

  Tobron admitted that was our fallback position. He still felt the specialized techniques handed down to a top-level Losan armorer would be critical to keeping a lot of our combat team alive.

  That comment certainly put it into perspective. I wasn't going to be the crappy leader who sent troops into combat without needed equipment just to save money. Sure, there were times you had to go into combat without all the latest gear, but I wanted that to be a tactical decision by the troops themselves, not a decision made in the boardroom.

  My suggestion was to do both. Having two armorers couldn't hurt. Tobron apologized that he had been lulled once again into thinking too small. He assured us he'd get right on recruiting a local mage to get started. Argon and I agreed to see what we could do in Losan.

  This place needed an internet.

  Our new office building was very impressive. The last time I had visited, groups of contractors were everywhere installing doors, furniture, and appliances. Now it was finished but had no people. While we hired six people today, it would take a lot more to staff up. At this pace, we would still be staffing up long after moving into our empty keep.

  I stopped Argon and Tobron. "What about the slaves?"

  "What about the slaves," they echoed, not following my leap of logic.

  "Why can't we offer the ex-slaves in Augun a new start with us?" I asked. "We could alleviate a humanitarian crisis and give us an immediate boost in staffing in one step."

  I monitored both Argon and Tobron as they worked through the logic and was pleased to see the possibilities light them up.

  "We can divert the Malan to bring food from Losan to Augun to feed the refugees, and the Malan can then transport our first batch of recruits,” said Argon. “If we have to, when they get here, we can house them in part of our new Klee warehouse complex until we have a better place for them. If we are lucky, they will already have a lot of the skills we need to create a community. If not, we'll have to recruit people to train them. I suspect they'll be motivated to work with us, in exchange for a new start."

  "I can add a residential floor to the warehouse," said Tobron. "Nothing fancy but a whole lot better than that slave camp I saw. There are a lot of used magical appliances for sanitation, heat, and light that can make even communal living pleasant."

  "I suspect leaders have already emerged in the camps," said Argon. "They can help us get them sorted out." She paused and turned to Tobron. "We need to get in to see Mad Toffad's Keep."

  "We also need to go to Augun and talk to King Rufix before we get too far ahead of ourselves," I said. "There is no guarantee anything that feels logical to us will make sense to governments."

  I got no argument from them on this.

  "Argon and I will look for somewhere to stage our refugees in Augun. I may need your help to build something quick and not too luxurious. I don't want them to get too attached to the staging quarters. Supplying them with food, clothing, and essentials is going to be a problem in Augun as the nation's entire supply chain has been damaged," I said.

  I could already see the wheels in Tobron's mind whirling at the challenge.

  Tobron said, "We must hire more ships to bring them here quicker than the Malan can shuttle them back and forth. We need a local stockpile of food and general living supplies much sooner than expected."

  This solution felt right to me. I already felt a sense of responsibility to those we rescued. The logistics were a nightmare. Good thing we had Shala's treasure to kick-start this operation.

  We went to see the model of the warehouse complex Tobron had built.

  "I wanted a scalable dockside warehouse design we could build wherever we are doing business," Tobron explained. "Now I think of it, having a residential complex on the top floor makes a lot of sense."

  "These feeder warehouses will accumulate the raw goods from a single country. Our shipping fleet will then transport the goods directly to the keep. I designed it so someone could build it as a series of modules. Some places will only need one, others two or more. I wanted to make them tsunami, fire, and riot resistant. We will need some combat mages to hold them against a serious assault."

  "Tobron, you are a genius," I said. "Start building here in Klee, and by the time you get that rolling, we'll have a suitable site for a warehouse in Augun. You need to set a high priority for recruiting some earth mages to help you. I foresee a lot of building in our near future."

  "I've spread the word I'm hiring. I've already had several inquiries. I'd like to get at least three apprentices and a journeyman. Until then I'll use contractors wherever I can," said Tobron.<
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  "Can we post our job needs at the mage guild?" I asked.

  "I haven't done it, but I know of others who have," said Tobron. "The service is associated with the mage school."

  "Get a list of skills we need right away and post the openings. You should join the Losan guild and post the openings there, too. We are going to need every mage willing to join us," I said. "I'd like some trained combat mages as well."

  By the time we were ready to 'port to Augun, we all had a lot more assignments. I was already kicking myself for not savoring yesterday's slower pace.

  Argon maintained contact with Olive during my recovery. She was now the leader of King Rufix's eight-person mage force. Rufix took Argon's advice and hired Gera.

  Ramda, a Klee mage hired by Klee Queen Mother Jenia, was now handling much of the communication for the Augun king, allowing him to coordinate with his new management team. The five bargemen rounded out her entire force. A few mages surfaced, briefly, at the Augun Mage Guild, but none would leave their families for long. The ones Olive spoke with were willing to help but only after knowing their families would be safe in Augun.

  People were starting to hoard food. The Augun economy was still tanking.

  King Rufix was eager to talk with us. Olive verified we should teleport into Augun's keep via the ballroom.

  Olive was hoping we could help the garrison in Flom. They were making a difference in town, but they still had several bands of raiders roaming the countryside. She was also convinced the raiders had slave camps hidden outside of Flom. She was concerned the raiders might cut their losses and kill them all before melting into the countryside to escape.

  When we 'ported into the Klee keep, we barely recognized the place. While it didn't look like a ballroom, it wasn't the battle zone we left days before, either. A liveried Augun king's guard was waiting to escort us to King Rufix.

  Our guide explained the king was now working out of the former secret police headquarters. Our mind-reading apps verified those scurrying around us were all on important missions to save their country. Argon messaged me "If the king can energize his help this way there may be hope for them."

  We were taken straight in to see the king.

  King Rufix was talking with Olive and Lt. Valso when we arrived.

  "I am so pleased to see you on your feet," the king said, approaching Argon and I. I got the impression he wanted to hug me but was familiar with how uncomfortable mages were with physical touching.

  Instead, he ushered us to sit in a pair of lush chairs. He pulled up his own chair and directed Olive and Lt. Valso to sit as well.

  Valso seemed uncomfortable, but Olive took it in stride.

  "We have much to discuss," said the king, "but first, have you fully recovered from your injuries?"

  "Alba released me for full duty this morning. How are you feeling?" I countered.

  "Great, Alba warned me I'd feel some discomfort for the rest of my life, but I'm so much better than I have any right to be. Suffice it to say I owe you both a debt I can never repay."

  Argon and I were both uncomfortable with the praise. Mind you, we were counting on exploiting this same debt we had trouble acknowledging. Go figure.

  "Don't think of it," I responded. "From what we hear, we may be able to help restore order in Flom. I hate the thought of people being murdered in their homes and others being kept as slaves in pens."

  "I know I have no right to ask, but we need help restoring order along the river and in Flom, or the city and nation will run out of food," said the king. "We have vastly expanded our hiring efforts, but we are too shorthanded to spare more than a handful of soldiers to go to Flom. We lack the manpower for even the citizens of this city to feel safe."

  "What are your plans for the slaves we rescued?" I asked, noting the look of sadness the question sparked on the king's face before he controlled it.

  "We have nowhere for them to go yet," said the king. "Reports out of Asme are filled with news that entire villages were burned to the ground. Things are so chaotic the few king's guards we have can barely handle the gravest emergencies. We have some supplies headed upriver to help them, but I understand conditions in the camps are deteriorating."

  "We might be able to help with that, too. We are forming a new keep. While details aren't final, at this time, we think the best site is in Klee. Our original plans were to hire slowly and build up our forces at a modest pace. This humanitarian crisis has caused us to re-examine our plans," I paused to allow Argon to add on.

  "The plight of the slaves has been haunting me the whole time I've been helping my mate heal. I know intellectually we cannot right every wrong, nor rescue every injured person. But we feel we left these people in the lurch, and we feel a tie to them. Had my mate not been so horribly injured, I know we would have found a way to get them back to safety by now," Argon said.

  "What do you want to do?" the king asked.

  "We'd like your permission to ask them to join our keep. We will accept any honorable person who wants to come. We will also help resettle those who wish to stay here in Augun," I said. "We would like to do the same for any slaves rescued from Flom as well."

  The king just stared for a few moments before letting out a relieved sigh. "I had no idea where you were going with this. Of course, they can relocate. You didn't need my permission for this. They aren't slaves anymore. If you can help them not starve, I'll be even more indebted to you than I am today. If something happens to your deal with my grandson Ruton, come to see me, you can have this keep if you want it."

  With the main issue resolved we agreed Flom had the most critical situation, followed by the river route. We told the king the Losan docks were bulging with food supplies if he wanted to purchase and import some into Augun. He decided that was a good idea and tasked Ramda, his mage assistant, to contact his Losan business agent.

  He shared a stack of proclamations he'd issued since returning. The first declared a nationwide emergency.

  The second addressed the food supply. During the emergency, the crown banned farmers from planting non-food crops and gave bonuses for growing certain high yield foods.

  To prevent fields from remaining fallow, the emergency proclamation authorized any citizen to file a claim to farm fields not under cultivation within the next 10 days. Those with valid claims could keep any proceeds earned from growing those crops. The farmer's claim would be honored if they registered with the crown before planting and actively farmed the property during an entire growing season. The crown agreed to facilitate the sale of all food grown.

  Absentee property owners would receive no compensation for any field claimed under this act. After the emergency ended, the property would return to the original owner but only after the final harvest. Should no property owner come forward for one year, the claimant could petition the crown to acquire the property.

  "Pretty clever," I said to King Rufix.

  "I'm hoping so," he replied. "Reports suggest the raiders slaughtered a lot of farmers around Asme but an unknown number fled to Augun and surrounding villages. While there are still small bands of killers loose in a few places, the farmers in the small communities around Augun and Asme are now reasonably safe. This should provide incentives for them to return to their farms. If they aren't able or willing to get back to work, others should be willing to step in.

  "We need to get new food crops planted immediately. If that doesn't happen, a lot of people are going to be hungry in a few months. Once we can remove the raiders around Flom, the kingdom should be able to feed ourselves again. People may get tired of eating the quickest maturing crops, but they won't go hungry."

  Another clever proclamation slated to go into effect at the same time allowed the crown to confiscate barges on the Augun River or its tributaries not actively transporting goods or personnel.

  Other emergency provisions allowed the king's guard to declare curfews and travel restrictions and to commandeer and redistribute property.

 
The last emergency proclamation increased the penalties, to potentially include death, for looting, robbery or theft during the emergency. The proclamations authorized the king's guard to execute some criminals on site.

  When I asked about these new penalties, the king said the innocent needed to be protected from the thugs and bullies. With the king's guard so under strength, he wanted to give his guard the authority needed to stop the downward spiral into chaos.

  “I know this is a dangerous precedent, but these were dangerous times. While the guard now has the tools, their life is forfeit should they betray my trust,” said Rufix.

  “Do you need anything from me,” King Rufix asked.

  “We are looking for a warehouse on the Augun docks,” Argon said.

  “I’ll give you one of mine,” said Rufix.