Dragon Sorcerer 3- Interlude 18b (Patreon)

Sorry I meant to schedule this for tomorrow morning but apparently still tired from the 13 hour drive yesterday. At least I got almost 2 chapters worth of writing done yesterday.


Tolston stalked back to his office in a rage. Everything had gone wrong. The worst part was that he knew it was his own fault. He had rushed, pushed harder than he needed to. It had been a while since he was this nervous. He was trying to walk a very fine line.

By the time anyone becomes as old as he was, they tend to have a very good idea of who they are. He defined himself by a number of things. He was one of only two publicly known holders of legendary classes in all of Taliea. That combined with his highly productive career as an adventurer were the things that many knew him for.

The other obvious defining trait was his role as the headmaster of the Imperial University. That was prestigious in and of itself, but he was also the one presiding over the largest expansion of the university in the history of the empire. For most of the history of the empire the university had been limited to those of noble blood or the rare commoner who possessed so much magical aptitude that they couldn’t be turned away.

Yet neither of those were how Tolston saw himself. At his core, he saw himself as a patriot. He had personal desires of course, but he wanted the best for the empire. To him the empire was not defined by its people, its land, or who sat upon the throne. For him the empire was a concept. It was peace and stability for the entire continent. It was the superiority of unity and dare he say of the human race. That wasn’t the sort of sentiment that one expressed openly but he was an old man and set in his ways. Dwarves, orcs, and even elves had their place in the world, but well… enough of that.

It was that dedication which led him to his current predicament. He like most others wasn’t aware that the prior emperor had not actually died when the current dynasty overthrew them. He had in fact gone into hiding even as his throne was taken from him.

It didn’t matter to Tolston that the former emperor was a practitioner of forbidden magic or that he had turned himself into a lich. All that mattered was who was best situated to lead the empire through the trials that were undoubtedly coming. Emperor Castine was a decent enough fellow. Tolston could find nothing to fault in his character as a man, but an emperor wasn’t a man, but a leader. As a leader, Tolston found him to be weak.

Then those thoughts were driven from his mind as one of his alarms sounded. One of the advantages of being an archwizard was that while he was not as specialized as say the emperor he could still handle magic of all the legal fields. He had numerous wards around his office ranging from pure information gathering spells to outright offensive barriers.

This ward was keyed to a specific individual. He would have known if anyone approached but this specific person was one of the few that warranted an individualized ward. Serius was an accomplished wizard with the epic class of grand magus. His path was similar to Tolston’s even if he had tended to focus more on summoning and teleporting magic rather than evocation.

But that wasn’t the real reason that he warranted an individual ward. It was rather his connection to Emperor Castine. Tolston was convinced that Serius was part of the emperor’s inner circle or at least a highly trusted agent. He felt like Serius was just waiting for him to make a mistake.

Now, he’d handed the man a screw up with public implications. Well, best to get it over with. “Come in, Serius.”

The mage walked in wearing blue and white robes. “Headmaster.” He bowed his head. A sign of respect between near equals rather than a full bow.

“Just get on with it.”

“As you wish. The emperor is more than a little upset. You are ordered to leave Nico and Cami alone. Provide resources as best you can, but unless they harm other students, any rule infractions are to be ignored. How you handle that with the rest of the students and instructors is up to you.”

Tolston sighed but otherwise kept quiet as he waited for more explanation. When none was forthcoming he said, “Am I allowed to know what is so special about this student?”

“You’re hardly in a place to demand answers. Even if you had the technical authority to do as you did, you pushed it too far. And the letter of the law is never as important as the spirit. Take it to heart that Emperor Castine chose not to punish you beyond his silent reprimand.”

“Fine, then if not from the emperor, surely you can tell me something. What is so special about these two.”

Serius sat down and made himself comfortable before bothering to answer. “I would have thought that would be obvious. Cami is a true dragon rider. The first in far too long. We need to see what she can do with the dragons.”

Tolston hid his hands in the oversized sleeves of his robe to hide their fidgeting. “Yet, she has spent very little time with the dragons and none riding one of them.”

“True but were you aware that she just obtained a legendary crafting class a few days ago. The university records may not have updated yet or no one may have thought to check on her recently.”

Tolston leaned forward. Legendary crafting classes were not quite as rare as legendary combat classes but they were still a matter of celebration. “What class?”

“Soul Forger with an elemental base.”

Tolston whistled at that as his mind ran through the options. “And the boy?”

“Already the holder of an epic class which despite the fact that it is a melee based he is also a magical prodigy of sorts capable of mastering a spell simply by seeing it cast.” Serius suddenly stopped talking. He stood up. “I apologize, headmaster. Remember the emperor’s orders and I’ll share more with you as I can. I consider you a former mentor and old friend. I don’t want things to be awkward between us. But something has come up and I must leave immediately.”

Then he was gone as a teleportation spell activated.

Tolston pounded his hand on his desk. He was no fighter but his stats were still more than enough that if not for the enchantments on his desk, it would have cracked down the middle. He spun though quickly as he felt another one of his wards trigger. This one caused a blazing sphere of white fire to appear around his desk.

It was one of the wards which told him that a necromantic creature had just appeared in his office. Teleporting out of his office was one thing, especially for a master of that field like Serius, but to teleport in should have been virtually impossible. Normally, the small undead who were sent to him as messengers flew or crawled into his office in a more mundane fashion.

Not this time. This time a creature reeking of death had appeared in the shadowy corner of his office.

Then he heard the voice. It cut through the silence and yet made his heart pound in fear.

“Lower your barrier or I shall do it for you. Such defenses would work with my minions but not against me.”

Tolston only hesitated a split second before doing as he had been commanded.

Then the figure stepped out of the shadows. Arjes Sillun, lich king and former emperor of Taleia showed his bony face deep within the cowl of his velvety, black robes. Thank you. That conversation confirmed many things. It will not be enough to capture the boy. You will need to take both of them, but don’t worry. I’ll provide you with some help.

“Why, you majesty?”

“Curse the gods. I’ve explained this to you before but they keep wiping it from your mind. Well no more. I had my suspicions and was pretty sure about Nico, but now I know for sure.” Then he waved his hand.

A medallion of bone and silver worked with runes and green gemstones appeared on his desk. That will protect your mind from interference by the gods. Then you too can know the truth.

Tolston gasped. He was one of the strongest mortals but despite his bravado earlier, he had no doubts that his power was a far cry from that of a god. “I mean no offense, but you have the power to defy the gods?”

Arjes laughed deeply. “Soon perhaps, but not yet. Suffice it to say that the gods are not the only powers in the universe. Now put on the charm and have your eyes opened.

Tolston hesitated but felt the cold, eye sockets filled with wispy blue flames as they stared at him. He trembled but was too far in to object now. So he put it on. Then it was as though a veil had been pulled from his eyes. So many little pieces of information came together.

He gasped, “Dragon.”

___________________

Lisella made sure to give Tolston some time to cool off. She didn’t go to his office until the next morning. She was still nervous even if she didn’t think he would do anything to harm her. The simple fact was that she understood. Nico was frustrating. He did flout the rules of university.

There were reasons. She knew that and it still frustrated her. She could only imagine how a by the rules sort of administrator like Tolston would take it. She’d spent the night thinking about what exactly she could tell the headmaster. Hopefully, he’d accept it.

She was shown into his office by one of the clerks and a moment later offered a slight bow. Headmaster or not, she was a grand priestess and a princess. There was no way that he could be seen as her social superior. Then she was offered a seat and took it, waiting for him to speak first.

“Welcome. We haven’t spoken much. I want you to know that despite all of the ugliness yesterday, that I do appreciate your work here teaching classes on healing.”

“Yes, I’ve had a number of students who have no potential with healing magic but are still taking my classes. It makes for an interesting mix and helps if more than just the healer knows what’s happening.”

“I’m sure. Every member of a party is important but healers are important both in and out of a dungeon. Now, though, I’m certain you know why we’re here today. I won’t waste more of your time than necessary.”

“You’d like some explanations about what Nico has been up to and why I’m not keeping better tabs on my apprentice.”

“Yesterday that would have been the conversation that we’d have been having. Today, things are different. Today, I understand the situation better. Nico, still needs to attend some group classes. I’ll settle for him taking two classes. Cassandra has offered to admit him to her introductory alchemy class and even tutor him to help him catch up.”

“Yes, I’d been meaning to talk to her more about that. Apparently, Nico ran into her and they hit it off.”

“Excellent, so that just leaves one more class. If you’ll accept my recommendation on that class, then I’ll consider the matter of Nico’s classes to be settled and leave the rest of his education to you.”

Lisella’s mind was racing. Something was still off. He had changed. “Do you mind me asking why the sudden change of heart?”

The archmage smiled at her. “Let’s just say that I have an imperial source.”

Oh, that sorta made sense. If the emperor had ordered Tolston to back off of Nico he undoubtedly would have.

He continued, “I will of course pay restitution for the trouble the other day and now that I’ve heard about Camille’s legendary crafting class, I’ll ensure that she has all the materials that she needs for crafting. The empire will directly fund her and will buy anything she makes which doesn’t have a buyer for.

“Then for the two of them I will personally craft a specialty item. It will take some time, but it’s something unique to my class. You’ve heard of signature spells no doubt. Well, they are real. Normally, a wizard has to spend years and years mastering the nuances of a specific spell, but my class allows me to creature an items called signature crystals.

“With them a mage may link one of their spells to the crystal and then cast it as a signature spell. That will mean that the casting time, cool down, and mana cost will be reduced by around 50% and the effect of the spell will be increased by approximately 25%.”

Lisella whistled at that. It was a powerful offering. Nico might not see it that way, but she’d just have to explain it.

“And given that Camille now has the support of the empire, I don’t want Nico to feel left out. So I thought of a gift of gold might be appropriate for one such as he.”

Lisella was too much of a political creature, even if she hated it, to be caught off guard and give anything away there, but she definitely paused. Her mind was racing. How could he have found out? Miseria was still protecting Nico wasn’t she?

Then he continued and put her mind at ease, “He was an orphan and rather poor from what I’ve been told, at least prior to your mentorship.”

She held back the sigh of relief and said, “That’s true. Rich in talent, poor in gold.”

“Well perhaps I can change this. I want to show how genuinely sorry I am for overstepping. I’ve been reminded that rules are all well and good but the primary purpose of this institution is to train up talented young minds.”

Lisella nodded. “I’m sure some gold will help ease any tensions he is feeling.”

“20,000 gold to be precise. I saved up a small fortune, maybe not as much as royalty, but then I’m only the third son of a duke and don’t have a country to run. The gold is doing me no good in my current position so I’ll share some of the wealth with young Nico as it were.”

“That’s too much…”

“Nonsense, I want him to know that I’m serious.”

Lisella couldn’t think of a way to refuse the gift even though she knew that amount of gold would make Nico lose his objectivity. So she thanked the headmaster and stood up to leave. One last thought struck her. “Oh, what was the other class that you wanted Nico to take?”

“Oh, it’s a new class. Given the appearance of Camille, I decided to form it and have already got a few potential candidates. We’re going to call it Prospective Dragon Riders.”