Balancer (Advent Mage Cycle)

by Honor Raconteur

  I went over the plans with them, letting them draw in a few revisions as we travelled up to the Isle. I had to focus more once we reached the Hahn Gulf, as I had to cross under the water at that point. Still, we reached the very eastern tip of the Isle in short order and I brought us up on the shoreline.

  Raile I expected to see, but not Aral. Both men had clearly been waiting for at least a few minutes for our arrival and they turned to us with a smile of welcome on their faces. “Are we late?” I asked, crossing to them.

  “No,” Aral responded with a pointed look at Raile, “we’re early.”

  With a snort, Raile ignored the statement. “Garth, let me see those plans of yours before we get started.”

  “Jenna has them,” I said with a nod of the head in the right direction. “Have you met either Cora or Jenna?”

  “No, don’t believe I have.”

  “Ah. In that case…” I introduced everyone all around. I’d mentioned Raile often enough to both girls that they recognized him instantly. He seemed pleased, as all men did, to have a chance to work with pretty women.

  I made an earth table so that we could spread the plans out and let everyone have a chance to take a good look at them. Cora made some adjustments to the stables, gardens, and meuritta’s houses. Raile had several suggestions on improving the overall glamour that I wanted put on the Isle, as well as a few ways to make the campus more Chahiran in feel. I didn’t worry too much about the changes they were making. I was fairly positive that Vonlorisen didn’t really care what the campus looked like, as long as it was functional.

  When the blueprints had been hashed out to Raile’s content, he turned away with a sigh. “We actually came early for a reason. Garth, no one has ever come back to the Isle to properly bury the dead. We have a lot of fallen ancestors here.”

  A point that I had considered many times while drawing out these plans. “I know. I want the Academy to the far east of the Isle. The west will have a graveyard and memorial. Before we start building, we need to put the past properly to rest.”

  Raile met my eyes for a long moment and then dredged up a sad smile. “Let’s get started.”

  ~*~

  It took us most of the morning, even with all of our considerable power, to carefully excavate the fallen magicians and give them proper burials. It was hot, grim, depressing work and no one said a word during most of it. When we were finally done, I escaped to the shoreline and took a moment to just let the sea breeze wash over me. Here, the past seemed more distant and acceptable. Hopefully I wouldn’t have nightmares about this tonight.

  I don’t know how long I sat there before Raile came to join me. He didn’t sit on the sand, as I did, but cast his levitation spell so that he could rest on thin air. For several moments we just looked out over the ocean, not speaking.

  No part of me wanted to talk about the grim task I’d just completed, so I brought up something else I wanted to know instead. “Raile, Shad told me something interesting. He said that there used to be another class of Mage—a Weather Mage.”

  “He’s right,” Raile answered with a long sigh. “Chahir…it doesn’t look right anymore. It’s changed a great deal. If the Weather Mages had survived the war, I’m sure that things would be very different now.”

  “What happened to them, exactly?”

  “I don’t know,” Raile admitted heavily. “No one does. When the order was passed down for all the magicians to leave Chahir for the Isle of Strae, they weren’t able to leave it as a well-organized voluntary evacuation. It was total chaos. Everyone with magic was forced to evacuate immediately, at sword point if necessary. There was little time to even attempt to gather most of their belongings. Even the children were force marched to the Isle. It wasn’t until we were all assembled on the Isle, and they started doing a headcount, that we realized we were a few magicians short. One Earth Mage was missing—I figured he used the earth path to leave on his own, but that’s just a guess—and both Weather Mages. We only had two at the time; an older man that was semi-retired, and his young grandson, who wasn’t old enough yet to be trained. We never heard what happened to them.”

  “They weren’t part of the battle on the Isle?” The very thought made me a little queasy. That battle was a pointless massacre, in my opinion, and to risk two irreplaceable Mages in that unholy conflagration….I let the thought stop right there.

  Raile shook his head immediately, silencing my fears for the moment. “No, impossible. All of the children were taken to Coven Ordan. If they made it to Strae, the older Weather Mage might have chosen to go join the battle, but his grandson, because of his age would have been taken straight there.”

  So it was safe to assume that they had never made it to the Isle. If they’d been caught or killed, someone would have heard about it. If no one had… “Maybe they went into hiding; two people might be able to disappear in all of that confusion.”

  “If they had, we’d have surely seen another Weather Mage appear in Chahir by now,” Raile reasoned. “We’ve had at least two of every other class of Mage emerge.”

  “But by contrast, there’s never been as many Weather Mages as any of the other classes,” I pointed out. “There’s still hope that one will appear, that blood line had to be very narrow.”

  “That’s if they escaped, and survived the purging, or if the grandson married and passed along his genes.” Raile’s voice fell to a low, troubled whisper. “I don’t think they did, Garth. I think we’ve lost that class of Mage entirely.”

  I was very afraid he was right, but clung onto my shred of hope in spite of reason. Even obscure side branches of families were capable of producing Mages. I was proof of that. Besides, I would rather go on looking for a Weather Mage that may not even exist, instead of abandoning all hope. I was a great proponent of hope. After all, look at the long odds I myself had faced to complete my destiny as an Earth Mage.

  “Well.” Raile slapped both hands against his knees. “Shall we get to work?”

  Blowing out a breath, I stood and brushed sand from the back of my pants. “Might as well. Where did my blueprints get off to?”

  “I believe Cora had them last,” Raile suggested.

  According to my magical sense, Cora was on the far east side of the Isle. Well, at least she was in the right spot to start building.

  The Isle of Strae was a very narrow spit of land roughly two miles long, but it was by no means flat. The south-west end had the largest section of level land, but from there it gradually went up so that the far eastern section was elevated a good hundred feet above sea level. I’d debated where to put the academy several times, but I instinctively felt that the east side would better suit my purposes. No matter what warfare you wage, it’s easier to defend a place if you have the high ground. I didn’t want any more battles on this land, but I was not naïve enough to think that just because we’d sent the Star Order into shambles, we were completely out of danger.

  There being no paths, I scrambled around rocky ledges and stunted trees to get to the build site. Roads. We were definitely going to have to build roads. This was ridiculous.

  “Garth, where are you?” Aral called from somewhere up ahead.

  “Coming!” I climbed up the last slope, boots sliding a bit on the loose soil.

  Aral, Jenna and Cora all stood looking expectantly at me. “How much are we doing today?” Aral inquired.

  “Basic structure,” I responded. “We’ll do the decorating, furnishing, and finishing touches later. Aral, your earth sense is strong enough to help me level this area, right?”

  “It certainly is.”

  “Excellent. Let’s get the foundation down first. Jenna, I need lots of metal rods about the length of my arm to strengthen the foundation.”

  She nodded understanding and started working on the nearest earth at hand, changing its properties into metal.

  Aral and I tackled the upper courtyards first, as well as the compound that would be behind the school that would hold al
l of the teachers’ homes. Then we did the main level. Whatever excess stone we moved, I set aside for later use. When Jenna started handing me her metal rods, I put them into the foundation at even intervals.

  “What does that do?” Raile asked me, sitting on his air chair again.

  “Strengthens the foundation,” I answered almost absently, my eyes never wavering from what I was doing. “I learned from an early age that the strongest things we have are never made from purely one element. Jenna, I need about twenty more rods.”

  When the rods were in place, Aral and I took the stone we set aside and covered the entire area with flagstones that fit snugly against each other. As this took precision on our parts, it took longer than doing a simple foundation did and a good hour slipped past before we were done.

  I stepped back to admire our handiwork and take a breather.

  “Garth, if you can set up the garden walls next, I can get started on the plants,” Cora suggested.

  Well, that would be a better use of her time than have her just stand here watching me work. “Sure. Actually, Aral why don’t you and Cora put in the gardens? I’ll start on the main structure.”

  “And me?” Jenna inquired.

  “You’re going to have to wait on me,” I answered with an apologetic shrug. “But not for long. Do you remember the hall of windows? And the greenhouse on the top of the roof? You’re going to need very long strips of metal to frame those windows.”

  She nodded understanding. “I’ll get started on those, then.”

  “I suppose you want me to deal with the windows themselves?” Raile didn’t sound as if he were truly asking.

  I blinked up at him. With Jenna’s ability, she could certainly handle the glass as well, but if he wanted to conjure them… “If you want.”

  With a satisfied nod, he floated off to the shore, probably hunting for sand. Glass was easy to conjure from sand.

  With a shake of the head, I started working on the outer walls.

  Every inch of the stonework on the academy came from the land all around me. At one point, worried that I might be stealing too much stone from the slopes, I went back and built a road leading up the hill. The stone I cleared for it became my new building material and I hauled it all along back to the main site.

  Parts of the academy I built just for aesthetics. The rectangular tower that extended out of the academy, resting along the water’s edge, had no real functional purpose. The walkway leading to it would no doubt become a favorite spot for sightseeing, but I didn’t have specific plans for it. The very top of the tower was just one of the many roosts made for meurittas. The same could be said for the tall tower with the round top on the other side. The walkway would probably become a favorite lookout point, but the only ones to get any real use of the place would be the meurittas.

  The other two towers that flanked the main entrance did serve a purpose for us humans. Chatta had assured me as I was planning this thing that I did not want the potions labs connected to the main building. Barring explosions, she testified that there could be some very bizarre, and often smelly, accidents. We would want a way to shut the area off in those cases. Since she was clearly remembering several such accidents from her student days, I didn’t argue with her about it but just designed the towers so that they were not connected to the main building.

  The light failed us at that point, as it had taken me the entire day just to come to that point. We went home for the night, got a good night’s sleep, and came back early the next morning to tackle the building again. I admit, seeing it in the morning light like that gave me a proud feeling. I had no idea I could build so much in just one day.

  With renewed enthusiasm, I built the main hall. Everyone else scattered and went back to the tasks they had abandoned the night before. I lost track of them as I concentrated on building everything stone by stone. The section next to the twin towers was twenty feet tall with an angled roof, and held all of the professor’s offices. Then the next level was twice that, with a greenhouse on the very top for all of the odd plants that potion making seems to require. I was very thankful that Cora was in charge of starting that place. My only contribution was limited to the building. They didn’t want me planting anything anyway. I was notorious for planting seeds and forgetting to water them.

  Since this section of the building was so much taller, I had to put in support buttresses on all sides. Once I felt it was solidly in place, I went to the tall, cylindrical part of the building that acted as the main entrance.

  Aral walked in from the side, looking all around with a smile of approval. “You’ve done a fair share of work.”

  “Are the gardens in?”

  “Well, the part that I can do, yes. Cora’s still fussing with all of her seeds.”

  “Seeds?” What seeds?

  “Sure, didn’t you know that her bag was just full of seeds?”

  “I hadn’t, actually.” But now at least I had an explanation. Still, considering the size of most seeds, just how many plants was she putting in? “I’m on the cylindrical section of the main hall, if you want to pitch in.”

  “Love to.”

  We finished that part and started on the base section of the glass hall when Raile came back, large panes of glass floating in his wake. Jenna wasn’t far behind him, hauling along very long, narrow strips of metal. Between the four of us, the hall snapped together in a fraction of the time I thought it would take.

  The basic structure was up. We still had to go inside and build the individual classrooms and offices, but once again we were out of daylight. It amazed me, how time could just fly by when I was embroiled in a project. We once again went home for the night and returned at daybreak the next morning to do the last structural work.

  We all had our specialties that we focused on. Aral and I played tag by putting up the walls for the classrooms, offices and hallways. Jenna and Raile went through and put windows wherever the designs called for them. Since the stone frames were already in place, all they had to do was fasten the glass in. This apparently wasn’t a difficult task—I heard them laughing and teasing each other as they worked. It seemed a good omen, to have echoing laughter be the first sound in the academy.

  Cora, once the garden was planted, seemed intent on landscaping the rest of the academy as well. She disappeared into the greenhouse for a very long stretch at one point and we didn’t see her until noon.

  With all of the magical assistance, the building just seemed to fly together. The sun was just starting to sink over the horizon when I stepped back, double checked the plans in my hands, and realized there was nothing else to be done.

  We were finished. Oh, there was still the professor’s homes that needed to be built, but I wasn’t about to tackle that now. I’d wait until the teachers actually started arriving and then build according to their wishes. After the main structure was up, the rest I could leave to them.

  We’d been so focused on the nitty little details that came with building that none of us had really paid attention to the overall structure. But now with it done, we all stepped back and really looked at it.

  A feeling of immense satisfaction filled me. Yes. This was what it was supposed to be like.

  “What will you name it?” Cora asked, her voice almost hushed.

  “Strae Academy,” I answered promptly. For some reason, every person gave me a dumbfounded look. Why was I getting this response? “What?”

  “Not Rheben Academy?” Jenna asked in disbelief.

  Rheben? I pointed my finger at it. “I’m not the founder, I’m just the builder and the dean. There’s a difference, Jenna.”

  Raile snorted. “Nonsense. You should at least name it Advent Academy.”

  “Absolutely not!” I protested vehemently.

  “Balancer College,” Aral suggested, eyes dancing with impish delight.

  “All of your opinions are automatically rejected,” I told them firmly. “Come on, let’s go home.”

  Cora, caught u
p in the enthusiasm, snapped her fingers and said, “Garth’s College.”

  This was going to be a long trip.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven: Wedding

  The day of my wedding dawned clear and crisp, fall hinted in the air. The craziness and stress and waiting were over. Chatta and I would finally be starting our lives together. I put off getting dressed until the last minute, partially because I wasn’t wearing something that hot and stifling until I had to, and partially because I had no desire to run around like a crazy man in elaborate dress robes. Turned out it was sound judgment on my part. At least three people in the immediate wedding party were late, my mother had me run back for some forgotten but vitally important thing twice, and Night completely destroyed the staircase entering the building so I had to fix that before the guests arrived.

  Yeesh.

  By some miracle, everyone finally arrived. The amphitheater had two different side entrances with dressing rooms off in the wings. It was there that we all met and finished getting dressed. Well, okay, I finished getting dressed. Everyone else arrived in full finery.

  I very carefully ignored the large audience of people that were gathering out front.

  Finally, by some hidden signal, it was agreed that it was time to start the ceremony itself. We all gathered in our respective wings, Night acting as our coordinator as neither side could see the opposite end of the stage because of the thick dark blue curtains.

  I stood off in the wings, everyone from my side gathered behind me. It felt more like some sort of theater performance than a wedding, but this was what everyone had agreed on. More importantly, this was how Chatta wanted it, so I wasn’t about to say one word against it. No, I just stood there in very formal, and hot, velvet robes, waiting for my cue.

  It took a second for me to realize that Xiaolang was giving me a puzzled look, as if something wasn’t quite what he expected. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing or not doing to get this reaction. “What?”

  “You’re not nervous,” he said bemused.

  “All I have to do is walk forward, say two different sets of vows, and then go party,” I pointed out dryly. “Why should I be nervous?”