On the Shoulders of Titans

by Andrew Rowe

  It also taught me a valuable lesson. I needed to stop using the ring when I didn’t need it or I’d be facing consequences like this in the long run.

  It was nearly noon by the time I crawled downstairs, disheveled and still cradling my half-functional hand. I’d missed the morning’s classes.

  And there was a stranger in the kitchen.

  Specifically, sitting in the middle of the kitchen table, legs crossed in what looked like it was probably some kind of meditative posture.

  The newcomer was about my height, wearing layered scholarly robes in crimson. The robes were in a Dalenos style, folded across the center of their chest and constrained with a cloth belt. Their short hair was cut unevenly at a diagonal, as if it had been sliced once with a blade and no further care had been given. They held a half-eaten apple in one hand and a carafe of some kind of liquid in the other.

  This was clearly someone who did not care in the slightest what others thought about them.

  I liked them immediately.

  “Look,” they were saying, “If you’re going to shower me with gifts, you need to make them interesting. If it’s something I could just buy and forget about, it’s not worth risking Wydd’s ire.”

  Patrick intercepted me physically before I could approach and make introductions. He took me by the arm and silently walked me out of the room.

  Whatwhatwhat—

  I panicked for just a moment at the unsolicited physical contact, but I allowed him to lead me to the entrance chamber.

  “Sorry, sorry!” He let me go. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Believe me, you don’t want to go in there unprepared.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “That was Sheridan Theas, wasn’t it? They’re wearing House Theas colors.”

  I didn’t know a lot about House Theas, but I’d done some reading in advance of the meeting. They typically wore red, sometimes gold.

  He waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. “Yeah, but we didn’t know what we were getting into. I mean, maybe Derek did, but he’s been hiding from them for most of the morning.”

  “Okay? What exactly is such a problem?”

  Patrick sighed. “They’re not interested in anything we’ve been offering. I think they’re enjoying watching us fret, though.”

  That was unfortunate. “Has Keras offered to tell them about dominion sorcery? That’s forbidden knowledge, it seems like the most likely thing to work.”

  “Keras isn’t here. We’re saving him as a last resort, since most people don’t even know he’s been staying with us. And he said he had business to attend to, something to do with that earring.”

  “Probably trying to get it to work. Makes sense. Okay, I can offer the same. I obviously don’t know as much as Keras does, but I could regurgitate the lessons.”

  “Don’t think it’ll help, but you can try. Just don’t mention Keras being around unless you need to. We could offer to arrange a meeting between them as a potential ‘gift’ for Sheridan.”

  I didn’t think that’d be enough, but it wasn’t a bad idea. “Okay. Do they know about my new attunement yet?”

  “Not sure. They didn’t say anything about it. Neither did we.”

  “Okay, good. Anything else I need to know?”

  “Marissa isn’t here. She’s in class today. Probably not an issue, but figured you should know.”

  I nodded. “What else?”

  “Uh, just be warned that Sheridan is sort of... eccentric.”

  “I can deal with eccentric.”

  I headed back into the kitchen. Sheridan’s gaze turned toward me as I approached.

  I lifted a hand and waved. “Good morning. I’m Corin Cadence.”

  Sheridan picked up another apple from the table and threw it at me.

  I stepped to the side, avoiding it, and bowed at the waist. “Pleasure to meet you.”

  Honestly, who throws apples at people?

  Sheridan stared at me for a moment, then beamed brightly. “Your reflexes are commendable, Master Cadence. Are you here to help negotiate for my ‘dark magic’ as your retainer puts it?”

  I shot Patrick a glance. He shrugged at me. “That’s what it sounds like.”

  I turned back to Sheridan. “Definitely. Doesn’t matter where magic falls on the light spectrum as long as it works.”

  Sheridan looked me up and down, appraising. I suspect Patrick or Marissa might have found that intimidating, but I was too used to being among nobles for that sort of thing to shake me in the slightest.

  “I appreciate your pragmatism,” Sheridan began. “Unfortunately, I’m not certain we’ll be able to reach an agreement. Alas, the services your dear sister requires utilize forbidden magic. While I would be happy to help her in private, under conditions she could not observe, it seems your friends are hesitant to agree to such basic precautions. And that leaves me in a difficult position.”

  I took a few steps closer and adjusted my style of speaking. If Sheridan wanted pretentious noble banter, I could play that game. “Ah, but certainly you must understand that in these difficult times, we must all take reasonable precautions for our well-being. My darling sister has already suffered so much, I fear I must take every due precaution to ensure she is not harmed again. It’s the only reasonable course of action, don’t you agree?”

  Sera shot me a look that wasn’t quite a glare, but probably sat between a glare and a withering glance. She obviously didn’t like being treated like a fragile teacup, but I was playing to the tone of the conversation. Hopefully she’d understand, even if she didn’t like it.

  “Of course, of course.” Sheridan shook their mug-carrying hand. “Family is most important, after all. And after all the tragedy you’ve suffered, I’m certain you couldn’t bear to lose someone else.”

  Sheridan set the mug down, allowing them to make an exaggerated shrug with both hands. “But my loyalty is to Wydd first, and thus, I am bound to secrecy. Your friends have offered to exchange a few curios for the service, but are such trinkets worth the value of my word? Surely not.”

  I lifted my gloved hand in a warding gesture. “I would not dare to insult you with the implication that you would accept a mere trifle in exchange for defying your sacred vows. But perhaps you would accept a trade that even Wydd would approve of?”

  Sheridan fluttered their eyes. “If such a thing were to make itself manifest, surely I would consider it.”

  “Allow me to begin by offering a small secret, but one of great personal significance.”

  I slipped the glove off my right hand, displaying my new Arbiter attunement.

  One of Sheridan’s eyebrows raised a fraction. “My, my. When someone banters about trading with a visage, I generally presume it to be all sand and no salt. I wasn’t aware you were an authority on the subject. Consider me thoroughly intrigued.”

  Sheridan leaned a hair closer to me, then abandoned the slightness of that gesture to push themselves off the table and walk right up to me. “May I?”

  I wasn’t quite sure what the question was. “Of course.”

  Sheridan took my hand in theirs, lifted it to their mouth, and kissed my attunement mark.

  I blinked, taking a step back unconsciously and breaking their hold.

  What?

  Ick.

  “Fascinating. Just forged, but such potential.” Sheridan smiled. “Yes, quite delightful. Sit. Tell me what you have to offer.”

  I stared blankly for a moment, trying to process whether or not Sheridan had just used some kind of identification magic on my attunement during that exchange, or if they were just being strange.

  After deciding that the answer was probably both, I backed away and took a seat as instructed. I took a breath, considering where to start. “Would you have any interest in learning about Pre-Attunement Era sorcery?”

  “A good thought, but I already know about it. You’ll need to do better than that. And before you offer me any sorcery-imbued trinkets, be aware that your friends have already tried that. Unless yo
u’re hiding away any legendary artifacts, I’m not interested.”

  I glanced from side to side.

  We...sort of are hiding some legendary artifacts, aren’t we?

  But Sheridan doesn’t know that, do they?

  I couldn’t tell, but I wasn’t going to let the conversation jump in that direction.

  “Perhaps you’d be more interested in something more conventional, then?” I shifted in my seat, allowing me to reach the pouch on my side. Then I pulled out the newly-made bracer of regeneration. “A new take on a ring of regeneration. Wydd would approve of taking something representing innovation, perhaps?”

  “I’m certain it’s lovely, but traditional innovation more of Tenjin’s purview. Or Ferras’, depending. Unless it regenerates something other than the body, I’m afraid it’s not forbidden knowledge, and thus it’s outside of Wydd’s domain.”

  “Well,” I reached into my bag again. I’d planned on the conversation going this direction. I’d counted on it. “That bracer may only regenerate the body, but this one,” I removed the other new bracer from my bag, “Does something more.”

  Sheridan looked the bracer over, inspecting the runes. I didn’t know if they could read them. “Oh? Something to repair bone more effectively, perhaps?”

  I shook my head. “No, it’s much better than that. This is a bracer of mana regeneration.”

  Sheridan chuckled. “Something that poisons the wearer isn’t exactly the world’s greatest gift, darling.”

  Sera shot me a quizzical look. I’d told her that mana storage and regeneration items were impossible when she’d asked for one a few weeks before.

  Weeks ago, I hadn’t known how to make one.

  I smiled. I’d worked until late at night on it.

  I was nearly certain it would work the way I wanted.

  I clipped the bracer onto my wrist. “You’re aware, of course, that such poisoning is because of contamination from the creator’s mana?”

  Sheridan nodded. “I am a healer, Master Cadence. Of course I’m aware of that. Meaning that if you’re about to show me how it works on yourself, that’s not proof of anything. Yes, you can probably make an item that regenerates your own mana safely. Presuming that you continuously recharge it yourself. Clever, but of limited usefulness to you, and completely useless to anyone else.”

  I allowed myself to smile, feeling an uncommon bit of pride. “You’re quite right — that’s the best an ordinary Enchanter could do. I did manage to find discussions of an Emerald-level enchantment for mana regeneration that works, but it’s never been popular due to the extreme cost. It has standard functions for recharging its own mana, much like the healing ring does, but that’s only a small portion of the item.

  “The majority of an Emerald-level mana regeneration item’s runes work toward purifying the mana inside it, making the item inefficient. But what if a purification function wasn’t necessary?”

  Sheridan’s eyes flashed. “Your Arbiter attunement. You believe that if you enchant an item with purified mana, the mana it regenerates over time will also be untainted?”

  “Allow me to demonstrate.” I closed my eyes, forming a crystal in my hand, and then took out my mana watch. My mana in my hand registered 81/85. I showed Sheridan the display. “Normally, I regain my mana over the course of an hour. Thus, regaining three mana would ordinarily take me just about two minutes.”

  I pressed the rune on the bracer, activating it. “I used up all the mana that I initially filled it with. The only mana inside the bracer now should be mana generated by the item’s regeneration runes.” I pointed at the appropriate runes to illustrate. “It will quickly recharge my mana with the amount that it has stored within. It also has runes to detect my maximum mana, and will not attempt to recharge me when I’m full.”

  I tapped my hand with the mana watch again. It had only been seconds, but my mana registered 85/85 now. I didn’t feel any new discomfort, although my hand was still in enough pain from the night before that I wasn’t sure if I would have been able to tell.

  This was a bit of a gamble. I wasn’t certain that the mana inside the device was pure. But if it wasn’t pure, it was probably the same composition as my original mana, and therefore not harmful to me.

  Whether or not it would be harmful to someone else was more questionable.

  I showed her the display. “When the bracer runs out of stored mana, it will continue to assist my mana regeneration as quickly as it regains its own mana. And that’s at a rate of —”

  Sheridan raised a hand. “That’s quite enough. You want to offer me something experimental? Something that might not even work properly, and that obviously could be dangerous to the user?”

  “I’m reasonably confident that it will work... But yes.”

  “How absolutely delightful. What’s that other trinket there, the one that you’re using to measure your mana? I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”

  I turned the watch over in my hand. “Oh, this? It’s a mana watch. I made it earlier in the year. It checks your safe mana value like a Diviner would, as well as how much mana you have, and displays a value indicating the—“

  “Yes, yes. I saw how it worked. And you made this device?”

  “Sure?”

  “How widespread is the design?”

  I shrugged. “I just tried to patent it, but I haven’t heard back on that yet. As far as I’m aware, only a handful of people know it exists.”

  “Delightful. I’ll take it.”

  I blinked. “The bracer?”

  “No, the mana watch. While I find the idea of a mana regeneration item delightful, and the idea that you were interested in trading me an untested one even more amusing, I would prefer something more practical. You may give me the mana watch now, in exchange for my services.

  “When you have properly tested your mana regeneration item, I will consider another trade with you at a future date.” Sheridan opened a hand. “Given how creative you appear to be, I foresee great possibilities for a future business relationship between us.”

  Their hand was open, waiting for the mana watch.

  I hesitated.

  Of all the items I’d made, the mana watch was the one with the greatest personal value. It was how I’d managed to convince myself to use my mental attunement, even if only a little bit.

  It felt necessary to me. It wasn’t just a magical item, it was a staple of my way of life now.

  Could I use my mental attunement without it? I’d turned it on for a few minutes here and there, of course, but that wasn’t anything like what I’d been doing to train the attunement. That took either hours of keeping the attunement active or directly transferring mana from the attunement into an enchantment.

  How could I do that without knowing how much mana I had left?

  I could make another one, of course. It wouldn’t feel the same as the original, but I’d survive.

  I comforted myself with that thought. For the moment, it was enough to keep the fear at bay.

  I put the mana watch in Sheridan’s hand. “Thank you. I’ll look forward to doing more business with you in the future, then.”

  Sheridan slipped the watch into their robe. I felt something in my heart disappear along with it. “Excellent. Shall we get to work?” They turned toward Sera.

  “What...like right now?” Patrick stammered.

  Sheridan chuckled. “Why ever not? I imagine Miss Cadence would appreciate a resolution to this.”

  Sera stood up and nodded once.

  I agreed with Sheridan. “Are we doing this right here?”

  “Goddess, no. There will be blood, and as much as it might amuse me to leave Derek’s kitchen strewn with viscera at some point, it would presently be in poor taste. I do believe Derek has a room upstairs for alchemical experimentation, however. That should have everything we need to take the precautions. Patrick, do be a dear and fetch Derek from whatever shadow he’s managed to hide in?”

  “Sure thing!�
� Patrick waved and headed up stairs.

  Patrick brought Derek back a minute later, and Derek grudgingly led the way toward his alchemy room. “I’ll have to clear off the table, but it should be a good place to work. Easy to clean, and I have healing potions if something goes wrong.”

  Sheridan chuckled. “Nothing is going to go wrong, darling. I’ve been doing this for years.”

  Outside the door, Sheridan stopped me. “You probably don’t want to see this.”

  I shrugged. “I’ve seen blood before. Sera, do you want me there?”

  Sera nodded emphatically.

  “I’ll be in there, then.”

  Sheridan turned back toward the door, but continued speaking. “No interrupting me. Regardless of how much she struggles or how bad it looks. You’ll only make things worse.”

  With that said, she walked into the room. Derek was already clearing off a large central table, as he’d explained earlier. I recognized most of the equipment from Vellum’s lab and the one alchemy class I’d attended, but it wasn’t important right now.

  We helped him move some of the potions onto shelves, then Derek waved at the empty table.

  Sheridan nodded. “Good. Sera, take off your shirt. You can keep your undergarments on, but I need to be able to reach the whole front of your torso. Then lie down.”

  Sera frowned, but followed their instructions. She waved me over, and I pulled up a chair to sit down next to her. She reached for my hand after she laid down, so I gave her one.

  For the moment, her discomfort was going to be a lot worse than what I felt just from holding hands, so I’d tolerate it.

  “Not going to give her a speech about how this won’t hurt?” Derek inquired.

  “Why lie? All I can promise is that I’m not going to kill her. Provided none of you interrupt me. In fact, none of you are essential, so you should just leave. The brother can stay.”

  Derek folded his arms. “I sort of own this house.”

  Sheridan pointed at the door. “It’s a big house. Why don’t you find a mirror and gaze at the person you most adore?”

  “Now, that’s not fair, Deni. There’s no point to staring at myself all the time — I need to study other people for contrast.” He shook his head. “But fine, I’ll leave. Patrick, come on. I have this great story about when Deni had just turned twelve...”