by Zack Finley
“Good, we have time to set the proper wards,” Maude said.
“What wards?” I asked.
“We cannot let them eat the wrong plants,” Maude explained. “We have planted their pastures, but their plants won’t be ready to eat for two days. I hope they are bringing sufficient food to avoid hunger. We can make some other fields available if we must, but that would not be good.”
I checked with the com hub and was assured the herders were bringing stored food for their animals.
“They have sufficient food for several days,” I promised.
“Excellent, once they are here and into a routine, we will no longer need any wards. When jarma are hungry they don’t always listen to the plants,” said Maude. “Especially in a new location.”
I had noticed two very large fields surrounding the new barn and dwelling but hadn’t realized they were meant to feed the jarma.
We walked back through the main ward, nearly automatically providing the password to pass.
“This is very disruptive,” Maude said, indicating the ward. “Now that we have expanded outside of it, Jestn and I spend much of our day helping our people come and go. It also keeps the rain off many fields. Inoa has explained we need it for now, but something must be done.”
“How are your quarters?” I asked, changing the subject as we neared the door into the Keep.
“Clive does good work, though his attitude is dreadful,” Maude replied.
As we went through the Keep door, I was shocked when I looked toward her residence. The change was that extreme. No sign of the dirt remained, and the entire structure was one large jungle.
“Come, I think it has turned out well,” Maude said, clearly proud of it.
As we got closer, I could tell I’d been wrong, it was less jungle and more explosion. Despite the cover of vegetation, doors and windows remained clear. The dirt floor was now a fine carpet of moss. The interior stonework remained clear of vegetation. I was sure this was at Maude’s direction and not because the vegetation couldn’t have conquered that, too.
“Everyone is still settling down,” Maude explained. “Not everyone works and plays together without encouragement. I had to send Jestn and my farmers away for a time, they can’t handle the discord. Battles of dominance are so tedious, yet children will be children.”
I had wondered why none of her helpers were nearby.
Her furniture was mostly soft cushy benches. She urged me to sit on one while she sat on the floor instead. I couldn’t tell if the bench was a plant or what. Deciding it didn’t matter, I relaxed and enjoyed the experience.
“How is our food production going?” I asked trying to avoid looking at the moss wriggling and growing over her feet and legs as she stroked it.
“Very well, we have several fields preparing for harvest now. Our plants are hungry, we do not have enough manure or vermin for them. The jarma will help, but we need more plant food. I told this to Ellte, and she is working on relieving the shortage. I am also not clear once we begin to harvest grain, where you will grind it to flour. I have seen no mill. Food and grain storage are also lacking. I do not know what Mad Toffad was thinking with his design,” said Maude.
I was saved by the bell. Literally. Tobron’s dinner bell was audible throughout the keep.
I excused myself and wondered whether even now ships filled with manure were on their way to the Keep. I was starting to appreciate why animal power was still very much a key aspect of Jaloan life. The plants needed them. Remembering how quickly the dead banders disappeared after my first fight in Jaloa also made me realize these plants might not be willing to wait forever to be fed.
I decided I needed a course in recycling, Jaloan style.
We had a full house at the directors’ table, so I wasn’t surprised to hear Tobron wanted the group to eat and then adjourn to our meeting room for further discussion.
Marfo reported she was looking for a gristmill and grain handling equipment in the marketplace without much luck so far. Clive said he was pretty good with millstones, so she didn’t need to worry about them.
“Once we get the equipment we’ll need to bring in at least four more barnta to power the mill,” said Marfo. “They are going to be hard to acquire locally.”
“Shouldn’t we be looking for windmills?” I asked, thinking of the steady wind we experienced most days.
The blank stares I got suggested windmills were another innovation unknown on Jaloa.
Moving right along.
Tobron said, “Buy as many barnta as you can, we can use the barnta we already have to get us started. Purchase as much flour and grain as you can now before everyone else notices supplies from Kavil are in short supply. That will give us some breathing room to get our flour making facilities working. It will take Maude a while to get Duchy grain production where we will need it for the long haul.”
“Will do,” said Marfo. “Whatever mill we can buy will be run down. Someone will have to dismantle it and put it on a ship headed our way. We’ll then need someone to put it back together. My first choice is to hire someone who can build one for us from scratch. No matter which way we go it will be some time before we can produce our own flour. We need to add grain processors and mill workers to our list of future recruits.”
“Any other food supply chain issues?” Tobron asked.
“Now that our farming area is expanding so fast, we need to address the security of that area,” said Cleon.
“We need to replace the doors in the Keep wall leading to the farming areas right away,” said Clive. “Getting our people safely inside the Keep walls is the first line of defense. After that we can build a 10-foot wall around the current perimeter in about five days if we focus all our earth mages on it. It won’t be as good as the Keep wall but should give people time to withdraw into the Keep.”
“I’ll be satisfied with strong gates for now,” said Cleon. “I am not expecting a siege anytime soon but protecting our food supply needs to be part of our overall defensive strategy.”
“Our first group of Losan recruits should arrive in the morning,” reminded Tobron. “They will require full livery and have brought most of their possessions with them. Marfo tells me Klee is running low on red cloth to make the livery. She is purchasing as much of the cloth stored in Augun’s warehouses as she can. It is still available at bargain prices, but we think that will change when the region realizes getting more cloth will be at least a year away. Marfo is already talking with mills in Asme about future fiber needs once the Augun king lifts the emergency.”
Noting that everyone had finished eating, Tobron got up and led the way into the side room we’d used to meet in before.
As we settled back down, I proposed adding Jorvik to our director ranks and everyone endorsed the change. Tobron agreed to brief Jorvik on upcoming issues and ask him to join us for some meals.
The biggest issue in front of us were the preparations for the pirate hunt. Capt. Malek said he expected a ship from Klee to arrive in the morning for our exercises. The crew would be returned to Klee aboard the vessel arriving from Losan. He expected the Malan to arrive at the Keep the day after.
“The entire Duchy Guard has enthusiastically accepted the special protection being offered. They hope to be equipped with it before they begin exercises on the water,” Cleon announced. “They are much more concerned about being eaten by fish than privacy.”
“I doubt we will have any issues with my sailors for the same reason,” Capt. Malek added.
“We can start installing the implants today,” Loma said, “With a little help from Alba and our other healers.”
“The revised mundane mind shields now include a communications package,” Inoa announced. “Once equipped with the implant, mundanes will be able to send and receive mind messages with the com hub. Per the Duke’s request, each can also be linked directly by workgroup. The com hub can add or remove people from a group, but everyone in that group will hear all chatter on i
t. Mages and the com hub can still send private messages, but our mundanes will be limited at least for now.”
There was quite a bit of excitement with this announcement because it was such a significant step to fully integrate mages and mundanes.
“The new shields recharge using each person’s personal magic, then it will harvest any other excess magic to charge the closest battery connection. We will install a battery on the Malan when she comes in tomorrow,” said Loma.
“From the beginning, we knew that protecting Duchy secrets was critical. Technical innovations and attack plans cannot be allowed to reach the dark sect or future enemies. While a death geas could protect our secrets, Duke Steve would never agree to such an abhorrent solution. We have also learned a lot from our captives despite their protections,” said Inoa.
“We need to explain how the oath of fealty works with the implant,” Inoa said. “Oaths of this type went out of favor centuries ago. Such oaths only work on honorable people. The impact of the oath is more spiritual than magic. Since we screen separately for honor, we’ve avoided the main downfall of the oath. Those who swear fealty can’t reveal something they believe is a Duchy secret to someone who isn’t also sworn. This is one reason we emphasize those things we really want to keep secret. It avoids any issue. Our com center will get an alarm if a mage attempts to access any of our people. It will trigger an emergency teleport if the attack persists past a certain point. The emergency teleport will also trigger immediately if a person’s heartbeat stops, someone removes the mind shield amulet, or if they say the words ‘Duke help me.’”
Cleon stood up, “I volunteer to go first, and my guard will follow.”
“The Malan’s crew are ready as soon as they arrive at the keep,” said Capt. Malek.
“Everyone should coordinate with Loma. First priorities are those being considered for anti-pirate duty and those with normal business away from the Keep. Starting tomorrow, I don’t want anyone, mage or mundane, leaving the Keep without this protection,” I said.
Loma was ready to implant all of the directors before we left the room. Alba stood by to do the necessary cutting and healing. I volunteered to go first and was happy to report there was no pain. Even the slight amount of blood didn’t soil my under-armor. Argon and Tobron nearly fought over who went second, Argon won.
Loma was more concerned about those left behind in Klee for tonight. She, Alba, and Cleon left for HQ to begin rolling out the new protection. Inoa provided a batch of mundane mind shields to take with them.
Alba said she would warn the HQ hospital to expect new arrivals. She doubted we’d get through the hour without someone trying out the new teleport.
I told Inoa she should inform Maude. Tobron thought that was funny until Inoa scowled at him.
Oops.
◆◆◆
Chapter 12
Argon and I planned to visit Surn at around 2 a.m. Keep time. It was the last kingdom on the east coast on our list to visit. Since it was located south of Xter, I was concerned it might be spooky like Xter. We let Tobron and the com hub know our plans before we went to bed.
Allo was again out with friends. I wondered if we had lost her forever, but Argon just laughed at the thought. I had now met a lot of mages and none, but Argon had a familiar. It seemed Allo was more of an anomaly than I had suspected.
Her absence didn’t stop me from getting to sleep, knowing we had to get up long before dawn. We laid out our east coast clothes to ensure we had everything ready. We also had our armor ready just in case we had an incident in the keep before we left.
***
Argon nudged me awake, urging me to get up and get dressed. Allo was in the covers next to me, having arrived sometime in the night. Argon was already fully dressed. I could smell chee brewing. I stumbled to the head, took care of the necessary and splashed cold water on my face. On duty, I usually jolted wide awake, but this morning I was dragging. I didn’t know what a normal sleep cycle was anymore. I needed a few quiet days and nights to fully recharge, but that didn’t seem to be in the cards.
At least I didn’t have to shave.
It didn’t take long for me to gear up. It felt odd not to wear our armor, but we didn’t want to stand out in Surn. We did wear our new battery belts and some strong wards, but that would have to be sufficient. Argon notified the com hub we were leaving before I teleported us to Surn. Argon supplied the invisibility cloak.
It was just after dawn in Surn when we arrived in a temple. There were welcoming wards in the walls. There weren’t a lot of people on the street. We waited for a break in the light traffic and slipped onto the street. My mind-reading app was pretty quiet. Most folks on the street were trudging to work and nearly all would have liked another hour in bed.
We didn’t spot any other mages out but didn’t know whether that was odd or just due to the small number of pedestrians. Argon identified the route to the Surn market, and we headed that way. A large percentage of those on the streets were also heading there. Most were expecting to open up market stalls, but several others were looking for bargains or buying something before going to work.
Surn let carts on the main streets. We dodged several transporting goods to some of the established shops in the shopping district. Our new clothing helped us blend in with the Surn early morning crowd. As we neared the market, we finally caught sight of a member of the Surn King’s Guard. He wore no armor and as best we could tell was armed solely with a short stick. The stick was black, about the thickness of a broomstick and about three feet long.
“They have very few King’s Guard here,” Argon sent. “His stick isn’t even magic. It is just a stick. That seems all they are allowed to carry. The odd thing is, he doesn’t seem worried or feel that he needs anything more.”
I still hadn’t spotted any mages. None of the people in my mind-reading app were thinking about mages.
There were no teleport sites marked for the market either.
We scoped out several alternate sites in nearby cul-de-sacs but not finding any sign for approved teleport locations was troubling. We weren’t looking for the Surn mage guild, but the complete lack of information about it was a surprise. No one we encountered had any reference to mages in thoughts.
Argon wanted to check out the book vendors. We wandered through the Surn market looking for them. We only found one open and Argon popped in while I monitored the early morning crowd. She came out in record time, handed me a book, and nudged me to move along. I stuffed the book “A Complete History of Surn” into my pouch.
“What’s wrong?” I sent.
“There wasn’t a single magic book in the store. Not even a primer,” she sent back, puzzled.
I didn’t want to attract any attention and decided we should leave the market and return home once we were out of sight. No one was paying us any attention, according to our mind-reading apps, but we were both uneasy and left forthwith.
We ‘ported to the Keep front gate and greeted the guardsman on duty before jogging back to the Keep HQ. Neither of us could understand what was going on in Surn. Nor could we explain the unease we both felt. I knew we’d be going back, but something in Surn did not feel right.
It was still hours before breakfast, and my bed was calling.
***
I had hoped to sleep in, but Argon had other plans. We were back up at the crack of dawn to take part in the guards’ morning training. We jogged to the muster with plenty of time to spare. Erik once again started the troop on a jog around the perimeter of the Keep. Once he was satisfied we were properly warmed up, he sped up to a run. That was when I spotted Gera, just arriving at the muster location.
Within a few minutes, I no longer cared about Gera and remained focused on Argon’s lovely rear end. I struggled to get enough air in my lungs. I swear Erik really pushed the pace this morning. I felt more than saw members of the guard fall out of formation around me. My legs kept pumping, and I stayed focused on Argon. No way was I dropping out.
I was happy when we returned to the muster location and reassembled in ranks. I finally had a second to note a lot more guards had dropped out this morning and Gera was nowhere in sight.
Erik gave the command to charge the obstacle course by twos. Argon beat me again, and again. I finally concluded there was something fundamental I was missing. It wasn’t just willpower nor grit. Maybe I just didn’t understand my new body the way someone born in it would.
Argon agreed to monitor me during the next evolution through the obstacle course and provide pointers for improvement. By the time I was through the course, Argon was uncharacteristically quiet.
We didn’t talk about it because Erik set off on the last run around the Keep and I needed to concentrate on breathing and putting one foot in front of the other. As he did the day before when we were three-quarters of the way around he began slowing the troop to allow us to ramp down in time for chow.
“Well did you see anything?” I sent as we jogged back to the Keep HQ.
“Actually, yes I did,” Argon replied. “We have a few things to work on, but I really need a shower first.”
By some coincidence, so did I and conserving water was a Jaloan principle.
We didn’t miss the start of breakfast by much. The head table was still pretty bare when we sat down. As usual, I was starved and much more interested in eating than talking. Cleon, Tobron, and Inoa were the only ones there when we arrived.
“How did the rollout of the new sigils go?” I asked Cleon.
“Okay, we only had three “accidentally” trigger the teleport,” sighed Cleon. “That stopped once the squad leaders informed them that the next guardsman who triggered the teleport in a non-emergency situation would be on scut duty for a month. Erik will provide the same guidance to the guards at the Keep after breakfast before they get the sigils.”
“We should plan to have each one trigger the sigil before we chase after the pirates. That way they will know what it feels like and actually may then believe in it,” I suggested. “I don’t think we should toss them into the ocean first, though. No need to test it that thoroughly.”