by Zack Finley
Inoa promised to let us all know immediately if the guild contacted the chamberlain's office.
Argon and I teleported home to drop off our purchases and share a mid-morning snack. The Klee bank transaction had barely dented our current cash reserves, so we still had plenty to set up a bank account in Losan.
While I ate, Argon had her nose stuck in a book, and I pulled together a mental to-do list for Losan: mage guild membership, ask about potential steading properties, visit guild teleport sites, buy local maps, check out armor and weapons, set up a bank account, hit the library.
Argon put her book away when I finished, and she accepted my list as a good start. We held hands and teleported to Losan.
We arrived in another empty temple room dedicated to the local deity. The wards embraced us, and we knew we were welcome to stay. Argon acknowledged our gratitude for the deity's welcome as we headed for the exit.
My direction sense had already located us, and Losan was further south than it appeared on my main map. The more we traveled, the more it was clear I would need to draw my own map.
The Losan Mage Guild was in a compact building and looked much like the other businesses surrounding it. The lobby and second-floor market area were open to the public, but the rest was restricted to members.
We got quickly handed up the guild chain of command, all eager to take our membership dues. We got a slight discount due to our Klee guild membership and added a magical tag to our Klee sigils allowing access to the members-only areas in the Losan guild.
Rubit, the highest-ranking Losan mage we interacted with, set up a lunchtime appointment for us with one of the mage directors at a local restaurant. Rubit provided teleport coordinates to Argon, and we exchanged com-cards.
We had about an hour before our engagement and visited the second-floor shops. The marketplace had a central hallway, large enough for three people to walk abreast comfortably, with shops on each side.
The bookstore was near the entrance. I purchased some new maps, a stylus, and some paper. Making mental to-do lists would only take me so far.
Argon purchased several books, which she stored in her pouch.
Our visit to the Losan mage bank was a treat. They must have gotten a head's up from the guild office because we were ushered into a luxurious lounge immediately. We had decided on a substantial deposit but did not have any insight into local appraisers, so we picked three at random. Choosing three rather than two might be overkill, but the cost was small compared to the potential for getting cheated.
The Losan guild's armor and weapon shop took up nearly a third of one side of the building. Its extensive selection of gear made the Klee guild shop look provincial. Recruiting armor and weapon enchanters for our enterprise became a new entry on my long and unending to-do list.
I didn't purchase anything, although a knife handle with an on/off force blade was tempting as was a crossbow with bolts that could not miss.
The most expensive items in the shop were armor chests and helmets made of oso hide. Oso hide was not very eye-catching, being a mottled grey. The armor didn't look like much--especially when compared to a full set of enchanted plate armor but Argon said looks could be deceiving.
Oso hide was very resistant to piercing and had a significant magical capacity. Magical capacity determined how strong an enchantment the armor could hold.
The best artisans could elegantly balance physical strength with magical properties. Since each warrior had a different fighting style and set of skills, Argon considered finding the perfect set of armor and weapons a lifelong quest for any serious warrior.
When we left to meet our mage guild contact for lunch, we knew we would be back for a more serious look at the weapons and armor sometime soon.
Guild Director Erfo was a jolly fellow who acted thrilled to meet us for lunch. How much was sincere and how much was a good sales technique wasn't clear. We outlined our need for a substantial holding, and he confirmed only King Arvich could grant such a deed. He was not optimistic the chamberlain would agree to anything quickly, although he preferred we brought our money to Losan rather than Klee.
Erfo promised to contact the chamberlain personally to facilitate our search for a suitable property. He hinted some expression of our gratitude could go a long way in smoothing the way and Argon assured him we could be very grateful.
Argon told him we would prefer to express our gratitude through a bank escrow account pending the completion of any transaction.
While Erfo clearly would have preferred we slip him a pile of gems under the table with no strings attached, he conceded he could work with our method.
Argon revealed, confidentially, we were also considering purchasing a downtown business property and harbor warehouse. She suggested this might be contingent on how cooperative the chamberlain was.
Erfo was so pleased with the meeting he bought lunch. We exchanged com-cards, and he did not linger over chee.
We strolled out the door of the eatery and into the street, aiming to get a feel for the city. We were south of the mage guild and north of the river. The chaos in the streets reminded me of outer Klee with a similar cast of characters.
Losan had fewer long-haulers on its streets but more small carts. One style of carriage not seen in Klee had several rows of seats, all oriented to face the curb. A very large basas towed the carriage, plodding along at a steady pace. It never stopped, but we saw passengers hop on and off frequently. The other traffic treated it like a long-hauler. I suspected when it got to the end of the street it would turn around and start back.
We used our mind-reading app to get a feel for the city's routine. We learned little from our lunchtime scans as most of the patrons were either mages or had mind shields. The wait staff was protected, likely part of the restaurant's efforts to protect customer privacy. Argon had scanned them but found nothing of interest.
Most of the mental clamor was about personal worries and plans, but a few common themes emerged from the chaos.
People were blaming recent hikes in food prices on a power struggle between two harbor factions, the Sloms, and the Blunts. No one particularly cared which faction won; they just wanted the clashes to stop. Suspicions were rife that greedy distributors were pushing the price hikes just to extract more money from the public.
The long-haul drivers, to a man, did not believe the food shortage was real because the port warehouses were full-to-overflowing with supplies.
The Losan King's Guard was taking advantage of the conflict to make money. Several members of the guard stopped drivers and forced them to pay fees to pick up or deliver goods to any of the factions. The long-haulers couldn't agree if the king's guard just found a new way to fleece all drivers or whether the factions were getting help from the guard to enforce a blockade. The drivers knew they would eventually have to raise haulage fees because there was no way the king's guard would give up this new source of income.
No one considered complaining about graft in the king's guard. That could be bad for your health.
A local entrepreneur recently introduced the trolley-like carriage. The pedestrians liked it, and the carriage drivers were grousing it was cutting into their business. The cart drivers were just irritated about the new obstacle on the roadway.
We shrank our mind-reading apps and 'ported to the Losan guild hall. The guild 'port area was next to the member lounge. There were several groups of mages interacting in the cramped lounge room. Space was at a premium, and no singles or couples were lounging in the chairs or reading. Loud conversations were the norm.
We'd learned the library was on the top floor and hiked up to visit.
The Losan librarian was just there to collect fees. She was cheerful and allowed us to roam freely. She had no idea what books were available or how they were organized. I found a different book on Losan, but the maps were similar to those I bought earlier.
The new book had more about local wildlife, including a recap of a famous oso hunt that ki
lled three of the hunters but brought in a fortune in hides. This hunt had financed the original mage guild nearly 200 years ago. Now hunters only harvested a few osos each year, and the hides were very pricey. At that price, I was surprised more hunters weren't actively hunting them.
Mining was a very important local enterprise. The raw ore was loaded onto barges and shipped to smelters in towns along the river. Barges brought the raw metal from the smelters to Losan for general use, weapons, and armor.
Argon reluctantly set her tomes aside and we 'ported to our desert training site.
Training was more earth magic. I could now make basic shapes. I tried a different way of conjuring precious metals but still had no luck. Those metals were probably precious because they aren't easy to conjure and most were mined by hand.
I tried getting creative about ways to use earth magic in battle. I conjured a chunk of rock 10 feet up in the air and dropped it. I practiced expanding the size of the chunk, holding it higher, and slamming it to the ground with a force magic boost assist.
Controlling a 3-foot-thick stone slab larger than 20 ft. by 20 ft. was still a strain by the end of practice but I suspected it would get easier with time.
I also suspected I could conjure stone to encase someone easily. I wanted to try it out on a group; it should take all the fight out of an attack squad. I wondered how quickly it became fatal. Not something I wanted to try on Argon and I knew how she felt about using potentially deadly force towards innocent animals.
Conjured lava would take care of an attack, but I needed to banish or quench it quickly if I didn't want everything around us to catch fire.
I liquefied the earth and then turned the liquid into stone, which might be useful to keep someone from getting too close or prevent someone from escaping. As long as the person or animal didn't sink too deep, it should be survivable.
I'd have to ask Argon whether she'd ever killed anyone by conjuring a blob of water around them. Capturing someone with conjured water seemed chancy.
I conjured a block of water and then removed its heat, and it turned instantly to ice. I couldn't tell whether this was water magic or fire magic or both.
I turned it back to water, then ice, then water again, before allowing it to seep into the desert sand.
We had a lot of powerful weapons. In a no-holds-barred fight against an attacking force of non-mages, we would wipe the field within moments. A limited engagement against a group of tangos with a bunch of non-combatants mixed in on the battlefield would be a much tougher challenge, even against non-mages. If there was a mage or two on the other side, things could get dicey. It was like taking a howitzer to a knife fight.
We needed help with tactics.
◆◆◆
Chapter 13
Dinner was a lively affair around Inoa's kitchen table. Argon helped Inoa pull out dishes while I shared details of our visit to Losan.
Tobron agreed to check with an appraiser friend and get some advice on future gem valuations, especially before we started buying properties in other cities. Tobron was impressed with our new bank balance after Argon reported she had approved the transfer of funds following a com-card call from Pernet. Except for one gem, which she withdrew from the account, we accepted the average valuations for the rest.
Our other com-cards were silent, and the Klee chamberlain still hadn't heard from the guild. Klee King Ruton was at his country estate and unlikely to return for a few days so any meeting with him would have to wait.
Inoa and Tobron's oldest son Cleon expressed some interest in joining the new operation but wanted to discuss it with his mate. Inoa felt he would be on board as soon as we began building something tangible.
Tobron arranged for us to meet the owner of the building he was recommending we buy for our Klee headquarters. He and Argon strategized on ways to purchase the property without paying an exorbitant premium. We had plenty of money in the bank so regardless of any potential premium; we should soon have a business office and could begin hiring our core staff.
Only the nagging problem of getting our hands on our ultimate refuge property hung over us.
Tobron announced he was applying for a leave of absence from the library to get our new office up and running. He was telling the guild he needed the leave for personal reasons.
"If I just quit, it will raise too many questions," Tobron said. "It will be better if I just drop out of guild business. I can always quit later when it doesn't matter."
"I'm going to stay in the king's office until we get our keep," Inoa announced. "If I stay I’ll be in a better position to keep an eye on the chamberlain and guild. I remain committed to getting us up and running promptly. In the meantime, I can help set up the wards on our new property, get it properly stocked, and help hire a staff."
Our interest in potential magical trainers spurred a lively discussion on the pros and cons of different specialties within the different magic types.
While each person's magical power and skill levels were very private, Argon felt now was the time to show them what we were working with.
I felt how stunned Inoa and Tobron were with her power set. Argon just laughed at them and said, "Wait until you see this." She then opened a portal to my seat of power.
"I have never heard of anyone with power levels that high in even one aspect, let alone nearly all of them," Tobron gasped. "You are truly a god's champion. If I had any doubts before now, you have erased them forever."
"You see my problem, then," said Argon. "He is powerful but untrained. The goddess summoned Steve only days ago. He has developed more quickly than I thought possible but what he does not know could kill us all."
I winced at her observation, but couldn't argue. "I also need help with battle tactics. While I can easily wipe out everyone on the battlefield, any good guys interspersed with the enemy will die too. I'm also concerned if I go up against someone with serious magical talent there's a chance they can tie me up long enough for me to lose."
Tobron revealed his personal mix of magic: strong earth and force magic with a solid foundation of mind magic.
Inoa exposed her magical mix: very strong mind magic, strong force magic, and medium earth magic.
Neither Tobron nor Inoa could identify the undetermined type of magic Argon, and I shared. Tobron promised to research uncommon magic forms, but he was not optimistic, especially if a god didn't recognize it.
All agreed to alert one another of any significant happening, including any contact with the Klee chamberlain, and to meet again tomorrow for another dinner planning session.
Tobron arranged to help us train our earth magic at our desert training site after we returned from Augun.
Inoa committed to assessing our mind magic the next day. She suggested we strengthen our mental containment for any top-secret areas before we began the assessment.
"You have very good controls now, but with your power levels, we can increase that to impenetrable. Unfortunately, until that happens we may get some trainee to trainer spillover," Inoa winced. "As a minimum, you should lock away everything the goddess doesn't want you to share and all aspects of your joint mind meld. Failing to protect your mind meld properly could put the other partner at risk from a mental attack."
We spent the rest of the evening studying at home. Allo was pleased to see us and spent the time hopping from lap to lap. I wanted to complete the primer on mind magic, hoping to better prepare for Inoa's teachings. Argon was studying up on earth magic.
It was late before we headed to bed, my mind felt it was going to burst from information overload, and we were both tired.
Not that tired.
◆◆◆
Chapter 14
I was already showered and in the kitchen making chee, when Argon slipped her arms around me from behind. I was not surprised, as I felt her wake. I had been busy tweaking the sensitivity of our link over the past few days.
My favorite daytime mental setting let me know where she was and how she
was feeling at all times. This setting allowed me to concentrate on what I was doing without her thoughts distracting me too much. Any thought she directed my way got through and vice versa. By linking to her emotional state, I would recognize a problem as soon as she did. Then I could be fully in her mind in less than a heartbeat. Knowing her location meant I could already be moving to come to her aid.
When we touched, or the mood turned amorous, our minds became as one.
"I feel so guilty to be this happy," she moaned, hugging me tightly as her voice and mental message merged. It didn't take long for the thoughts about all we had to do today intruded into our quiet moment. She grabbed a cup of chee and sat at the table.
"We are out of food," she announced, "I'll order some for later, but we have to go out for breakfast. I failed to account for how much you eat." I noted the indulgent humor that accompanied her words. I wondered how we got food and other stuff delivered here.
"I maintain a mundane com-card at a shop in one of Shala’s strongholds," Argon explained. "I place orders and authorize payments from my store account. They use my pre-charged teleport card to send the package here. They don't know where it is going, and as long as it doesn't exceed the card's charge or weight limit, it comes directly to my pantry. Occasionally I pay them extra to pick up items from other stores. The magic charge on the teleport card drops with use so at some point I’ll have to replace it or establish a similar service elsewhere."
Argon used the com-card and ordered supplies while I reviewed sections of the mind magic primer and waited for her to be ready to leave.
Breakfast at the Klee market was fun. It gave me a lot of practice with my mind-reading app. I also played around with my eavesdropping app. I was dismayed at the difference between what so many people said and what they thought.
"Are there rules on how we can use the information we learn this way," I sent.
"All mages are warned not to reveal what they learn from mundanes through mind magic," Argon replied. "It is a delicate balance. Mundanes need to feel they are safe in their minds or they resent us. Resentment and suspicion have fueled so many murderous cycles throughout Jaloan history. Most mages keep what they learn to themselves. Besides, few mages have enough mind magic to waste reading the mundanes around them, except during business transactions.