Chapter: 185 - Not Surprised in the Least (Patreon)

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Tala found the Mage Hunter waiting for her as she approached the northern gate of Bandfast.

She waved and called out to him. “Master Cazor! I’m so sorry, did I keep you waiting?”

He smiled and shrugged, pushing off the wall he’d been leaning against. “No, we’re both actually early. I was just earlier.” He chuckled. “I prefer to wait for people, rather than make them wait on me.”

Tala looked around. They were still a few dozen feet from the actual gate. Cazor had been leaning up against a blank wall and had moved away from it when he’d spotted her. That should work. “Follow me for a moment; there’s something that we need to discuss.”

She took Kit from her belt and threw it past him at the wall, where it transformed into a door.

Tala pushed through the door, and Cazor hesitantly followed.

“What is this? A fully morphable dimensional storage? Very nice.” He looked around the inside of her large, front room but quickly returned his focus to her. “So, what’s this about?”

The door closed, and Tala willed it to seal them off from outside. She knew from prior experiences that no sound would transfer either in or out when she did that.

“This trip is partly so I can be bait for a mind altering arcane who seems to be able to infiltrate human cities.”

Cazor froze, seeming to process what she’d just said. To his credit, he didn’t panic, nor disbelieve her. She’d been half-expecting to have to argue with him about her claims. “Well…rust.”

-Memories?-

That’s a good idea. “Do you have an Archive link or tablet?”

He gave her an odd look, then nodded. “I do.”

-Access given.-

“I’ve just given you access to some memories.”

“Memories? How-”

She shook her head and cut across him. “I’m sorry, but that’s unimportant for the moment. I want you to be informed before we leave the city.”

Cazor pulled out a slate and began manipulating it. What he was able to pull up was a sort of grayscale version of the memories, without sound. Interestingly enough, it almost seemed like the memories had too much information to easily be displayed on the empowered stone surface, making the whole thing less clear than if it had been pared down and simplified.

Huh, I didn’t really consider quality differences.

-Yeah. Hopefully the important parts will be clear enough.-

Cazor finished looking at the two memories before returning his attention to her. “So, what was that?”

She spent a couple of minutes explaining the parts that he couldn’t glean without sound or better-quality renditions of the memory.

“So, if I understand correctly. The powers that be believe that you’ve been targeted by an arcane who can manipulate your mind, and that he has already infiltrated the city at least once?’

“That’s right.”

“And you’re going out, today, to act as bait. To try to draw him out.”

“That’s my understanding.”

“And he’s a Revered?”

“Last I saw him, yes. I don’t really understand how arcanes increase their rank.”

“It’s not that hard to grasp, but now’s hardly the time.” Cazor ran a hand through his hair. “And here I thought you were bringing me in here to explain why you’re suddenly dipped in iron and hiding it.”

Tala’s eyebrows rose. “How did you notice that?”

He gave her a mildly condescending look. “Come on, Mistress Tala. I manipulate magnetic fields. I have to have a way of perceiving them, and you’re all sorts of obvious with that sight. Not sure how you masked the magic-reflecting nature of the material, but I’d bet it has to do with the visual illusion?”

“Near enough. There’s a magical one interwoven through the visual part.”

“So, you still have your inscriptions, but the illusion is hiding them.”

“That’s right.”

He grunted. “But we’re off topic, now.”

“True enough.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So, do you even need to go harvesting?”

“Oh, yeah. I need to get as many ending berries as I can.”

He gave her a long, incredulous look. If anything, he seemed more dubious of this, than of an arcane having entered the city. “Ending berries.”

“That’s right.”

He rubbed his face across his hands. “Mistress, those are toxic to Mages, and do all sorts of unpleasant things to mundanes who eat too many. There’s a market for them, sure, but a highly regulated one. There’s enough reasonable use for them as protection during one-off, incredibly dangerous jobs, but the number you can safely sell, and not crash the market, makes even a single Archon going to harvest them a losing prospect. Mundanes love them for the one off protection, but they’re still not worth the hassle.”

Tala paled slightly. Unpleasant side effects for mundanes? “What do you mean by side-effects? How do they harm mundanes?”

Crazor shrugged. “Has to do with the warriors of old. If the berries are used enough to make an impression in the person’s natural magic, those spell-forms begin to draw power from their gate to stay empowered. That sounds wonderful. They’re now naturally more durable. The problem is that mundanes don’t increase their throughput as a general rule, not really. So, that power is no longer going to other areas. The results are almost always a lessening of magic reinforcing other, critical for life systems. The berry users get sick easier, they die younger, that sort of thing.”

“Is there a cure?”

“Sure, they can become a Mage, but then the berries’ magics have to be overridden, and until then, they clash with any other magics the new Mage pursues.”

“You know an awful lot about this.”

“I was a mageling on assignment with Mage Hunters who had to hunt down an ending-berry seller. My master thought it would be instructive for me to research the topic thoroughly. In the end, it wasn’t really needed. She wasn’t precisely hiding her actions. Who knows how she was harvesting the things, but the woman was selling them as miracles, which would protect the user from harm. She didn’t bother to tell her clients any of the side-effects.” He growled. “A large one being that when people get a feeling of invincibility, it’s hard for them to think rationally about danger. More often than not, a mundane goes into a situation where ending-berry power protected him in the past, without proper consideration or eating another. They die; they die horribly.” He shook his head. “No. I’m not going to help you, and I’ll probably even stop you, unless you give me an incredibly good reason why I shouldn’t.”

Tala was feeling a bit uncomfortable with the whole thing. “Well. I use them myself. A large subset of my inscriptions are directly modeled on the ending-berry power.”

Cazor tilted his head up in contemplative surprise, looking at one of the upper corners of the room and scratching under his jaw while he bit his lip. “Huh. You know, that could actually work. In theory. But doing that would require a truly insane number of inscriptions to function properly.” He closed his eyes and scratched between his scrunched eyebrows. “Is that even possible? The level of detail required…” He shook his head in disbelief.

“Can I show you what I look like under the illusion without you freaking out?” She still had Kannis’s reaction vividly in her memory. If this man thought she was an arcane, even for an instant, things could go badly wrong.

He narrowed his eyes. “What am I going to see?”

“Gray skin from iron paint, and glowing lines of power carved onto reality itself.”

“What?” He laughed, maybe with a hint of uncertainty. When she didn’t join in, he stopped, lifting one eyebrow. “Huh. Alright then. This, I have to see.”

Tala took a deep breath, nodding. As she let the breath out, she forcibly suppressed the illusory portion of her through-spike.

Cazor sucked in a sharp breath, but otherwise didn’t move. “Mother of Decay. You look terrifying. I’ve fought arcanes who looked less menacing than you.” He gave a nervous chuckle. “If the memories you shared are any indication, your blood-stalker looks less terrifying than you, if I’m being honest.”

She didn’t really know how to respond to that. “Thank you?”

He snorted a laugh. “Thank you for letting me see.”

She released her manipulation of the device and the illusion returned in an instant.

“Well, someone’s using you to test some theories, that’s for sure.”

“Couldn’t I be using myself?”

He shrugged. “Maybe.” He scratched the back of his head for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll go with you. I can get us there faster than even Terry can probably travel. The increased speed will draw attention, but that’s the point, right?”

“That’s right.” She knew that Mages traveling at high speed was dangerous due to the attention it could draw, but she’d never really tried it, or experienced it, herself.

“I can probably help you harvest as well, but both the transport and the harvesting will cost me in wear and tear on my inscriptions.”

She nodded. “That’s true enough. Can I compensate you?”

He grimaced. “I was just going to go with you as a friend, but what we’re discussing now will actually be a bit expensive for me. How about I help you, then you tell me what you think that help is worth, after the fact?”

“We should at least set a minimum. I don’t want you to be ripped off.”

He laughed. “If you lend a friend a silver and never see them again, it was money well spent.”

Tala contemplated that for a moment, then nodded. “I think I understand.”

“Good. Now, let’s get to it. Do you have a map of where we’re going?”

Tala opened a cabinet door and pulled out the map. She could, in theory, just reach behind her back, and it would have been there, but there was something a bit disturbing about pulling items out of thin air. I’ll get used to it, eventually.

Cazor studied the marked locations. “So, this grove to the north?”

“Yup.”

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

*      *      *

Tala regarded the compressed disc of gray sand, hovering before her.

“It’s perfectly safe, especially for you.”

“And it won’t strip off my iron?”

“If it does, I’ll replace it, but no, it shouldn’t. I keep a very tight control of my magnetic fields.”

Tala sighed, looking over to where Cazor already stood on a second disc of compressed iron dust.

“I can make this one larger and share, if you’d prefer?”

She shook her head. “No… This will be fine.” She stepped up, finding her balance with ease, as the surface felt firm and textured beneath her bare foot. Even the moisture she brought with her from the snow-covered ground didn’t seem to ruin her footing.

Terry flickered around, inspecting the disc and Tala before returning to her shoulder, perched looking forward expectantly. He even did a little shuffle step and crouched lower.

Well, he’s ready to go. “Ready.” She called over to Cazor.

A few onlookers had stopped to watch them as they stood just to one side, outside Bandfast’s northern gate, overlooking the mostly dormant, winterized farmland surrounding the city.

Cazor nodded, acknowledging her readiness. The platforms tilted in unison, and just when Tala thought she would lose her balance, they began to move, slowly at first, then gradually speeding up as she got the hang of it.

It was odd, as she had absolutely no control. Much like riding atop a cargo wagon, I suppose. Just with a whole lot less wagon.

Soon enough, they were moving faster than a galloping horse, sending out puffs of snow to either side as they skimmed along a few feet above the ground.

Tala laughed, looking over towards the Mage Hunter. “This is amazing! Why don’t Mages always travel this way, or in ways similar to this?”

Cazor grinned, then shouted back. “Wait until we leave the city. You’ll see.”

They quickly passed the outer defensive towers, and Tala almost felt like she slammed into a wall, though not physically. Her speed didn’t change, but suddenly she felt an odd drag of magic.

The power that they moved through compressed ahead of her. It entered her aura taking on an aspect like that put forward by her through-spike. Like my own magic. Then, it was pushed before her, into the power that had been further away.

As it did so, it seemed to create a reverberating pulse of power that was subtle at first, but grew quickly.

-It’s like a continuous whip-crack, but with magic instead of air.-

I’m creating a magic boom? That had interesting implications. No wonder this isn’t advisable under normal circumstances.

She contemplated a moment longer, observing the compression of power, pushing against her as she moved. So, we’re only going a bit faster than what we really should be? The build up seems on the slow side, considering.

Their speed began to adjust slightly, first slowing down until Tala barely saw an increase in the building concussion of power around her. Then, it increased a bit.

Looking over to Cazor, she could see why.

He had a halo of power around him, as well, but it was fading, and after a minute or so it was gone all together.

Terry, somehow, didn’t look like she did or Cazor had, though he did still seem to have a bit of a halo of magic around him.

Magical density? Not weight?

-Likely, also probably something to do with human power, in general. You’re seeing the odd echo between Cazor and yourself, right? His presence is making your power more prominent.-

Yeah. That’s…odd. The phenomenon did explain why caravans weren’t just a single Mage with a fast method of travel and a storage backpack. Though, they could still probably move faster than a caravan, except…

-If I had to guess, Kit, Terry, and your other gear is adding to your magical echo. With a caravan’s worth of storage, you’d have to be going a lot slower to avoid this effect.-

And the iron isn’t blocking it because this, by its very nature, is magical turbulence. She nodded to herself.

-That would be my guess, yeah.-

They were going too fast for easy conversation, so Tala just smiled and gave Cazor an appreciative gesture.

He waved back and smiled, clearly enjoying himself.

Tala noticed that Cazor had pulled out some glasses to protect his eyes from the wind. Her own eyes weren’t bothered overmuch, but as a test, she extended her senses and power into her elk-leathers and found the right path to manifest a magical defense in front of her face.

It worked wonderfully. Instantly cutting off the wind.

It also drew a lot of power, because she was manifesting it without the physical component of the defense. So, she was forced to connect a couple of void-channels to her outfit to speed up the flow of power.

They weren’t strictly necessary, as the soul-bound item could pull directly from her gate and reserves, but the use of the void-channels increased her flow, which was required given the increased demand from the item. Everything’s a trade-off.

After fifteen minutes, Alat grunted within Tala’s mind. -Oh, that’s unpleasant. I only have access to my own files, now…-

You lost touch with the Archive?

-No, not that. I can still pull some information, though it’s a lot less than before. I don’t even seem to be able to modify anything I created, though I can access all of it much more easily than the rest. If I had to guess, it’s because we just don’t have the magical weight required to access the central Archive.-

Then why can we access our information?

-I think because it’s magically closer to us? As Holly implied, this is probably why this sort of Archive access doesn’t usually happen at such a low rank.-

That made some sense.

In less than half an hour’s travel from Bandfast, they reached the mouth of the twisting valley indicated on Tala’s map and slowed. That diminished Tala’s magic boom considerably, for which she was grateful. It had been beginning to give her a headache.

A few more minutes’ travel up the valley, and they came around a bend almost running headlong into the leading edge of towering trees.

Cazor reacted quickly, pulling them both backwards, even as the nearest branches lazily swung through the space that they would have entered, had they not slowed and pulled back.

“Gah! These things should be trimmed back a bit.”

Tala laughed, noticing that Terry had flickered away and was waiting for them on the ground, well out of reach of the trees, even if one were to topple over entirely. That’s probably a smart move.

Cazor lowered them to the ground back near Terry; Tala tossed the bird a big portion of jerky; and the discs broke apart and returned to the Mage Hunter’s belt-pouches.

Before them, the grove loomed, completely filling the mountain valley, between two short cliffs, just barely twice the height of the tallest tree she could see.

Grass filled the area around them, knee deep in places, but it got noticeably shorter, the closer it came to the trees.

Through the center of the grove ran a pleasant stream that babbled and bubbled and burbled happily into the stillness of the late-morning, winter air.

Not too cold. Something about the area seemed to be warming the valley. Hot spring? There was a bit of steam rising from the water. Fascinating.

Cazor cleared his throat, bringing her attention back to the matter at hand.

“So, how do you usually harvest the berries?”

She shrugged. “Well, I used to strip down and use this.” She pulled out her long berry-picker, which she’d purchased in Alefast. “I then put the berries into an iron barrel to process as I have time, later.”

“You strip down…”

Tala glanced away and cleared her throat. Didn’t think that one through before I spoke. “Well, I didn’t want to destroy all my clothes.”

He shook his head, seeming to choose the wiser course and not comment on the topic further. “Alright, so is that necessary?”

“No? I can mirror my ending-berry like defense onto my clothing. So, it should be safe from the trees, so long as I maintain focus.”

“Soul-bound?”

“Soul-bound, yeah.”

“Nice.”

“How about you? How do you think you can harvest?”

He grinned. “Oh, I think a demonstration is better than just saying it.” He lifted his hands, and they practically radiated palpable power.

Iron dust shot from his pouches and flowed over the nearest tree, sweeping it from base to top-most leaf, leaving it utterly undisturbed.

No. That’s not right. All the berries were gone.

The iron cloud came back, seeming more substantial than a moment before. “Barrel please?”

Tala quickly pulled out one of the barrels and removed the lid.

Cazor gave her a puzzled look when he saw the barrel, but didn’t comment.

Bloody barrels…

Instead, he gestured, and his iron cloud deposited a miniature mountain of berries within the barrel, easily at least ten gallons.

Tala gaped and Cazor sank down to sit on the grass, looking strained. “That was harder than I’d expected.” He looked down at his arms, clearly analyzing the scripts there. “Rust, the tree’s magic even wears away at power, forcing a greater through-put. I’m not sure how many more trees I can pluck before this portion of my inscriptions are spent.”

“At least a few more?” Tala looked into the barrel. All I have to do is remove the seeds and press berries. He didn’t take any stems, or leaves, or anything.

“Yeah, at least a few.” He regarded her. “You know, I really should have asked, but what’s your plan with the seeds?”

She shrugged. “I toss them back among the trees.”

He didn’t look like he really understood, but shrugged nonetheless. “Alright, I suppose. So long as you aren’t planning on selling them.” With a groan, he pushed himself back to his feet. “Ready for the next?”

“Yes, please.” She reached inside Kit and pulled out her other barrel. “Place the new harvests in the first barrel. I need to process these.” She began biting the berries in half, quickly removing the seeds and tossing them in among the trees. Then, the two halves of the berry went into the new container.

Cazor stared at her for a long moment, then let loose a single barking laugh. “She puts the seeds in her mouth. Somehow, I’m not surprised in the least.”

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