The Archmage: Chapter Eighteen (Patreon)

I split my Sunday between spending time with Osheen, and spending time working on a bribe-gift for Oberon. 

Osheen and I made an excellent breakfast, got some exercise in, and complained about work together. It wasn’t much, but it was lovely.

While I was working on a gift for Oberon, however, I was struck with a rather devious idea. 

I’d already committed time to making a pair of powerful artifacts for Awel Meddal, one of wind and one of water. 

But was there any reason I couldn’t steal the designs for that and then repackage it for Obereon? 

He was supposedly a step down from Medb, so I wouldn’t just do that. But I could easily then take the designs I used for my staff, and repurpose those as well, then integrate all three of them together with a sympathetic linking spell to create a single incredibly powerful storm artifact. Probably a three sets of three, since my staff was built that way. 

In fact, it might even be better for Mellt than if I’d not done that. Seeing two thirds of a complete spell might give her the right ideas on how to spread her mind out from herself, since she would be able to fill the missing third. 

It would also let me work on my rune compression. Even cheating some using the Tracktath method, I still would need to cram a lot of runes on one item, and unlike with my cloak, I couldn’t just use different colors of thread in the same space to define it. 

Or… Could I? 

I could use different colors of reinforced paint, then put a clear coat on top of it. Maybe the same alchemical reinforcement that was used to coat glass to make it shatter proof for spell bottles. 

I’d need to get Wisteria’s help to shift it from glass to wood, but it should work. I’d still need to practice rune compression, both for this and for the revelation spell, but not as badly as I would have if I’d tried to triple the amount of things on my staff. 

Was there anything else I could repurpose to get my work done? It wasn’t like there was any real reason I had to reinvent the wheel each time I wanted to get something done.

The first deal that I’d struck with Awel Meddal was to make an artifact that pushed iron away from her, since she’d been having trouble with a human hunting her Court. I could repurpose that design too, sell artifacts that did that to Garnet and the Silver Queen in exchange for the information that I needed. 

The problem for all of these was components. I didn’t have any favors to call in for free stuff, and while Draven might be willing to provide components for a ritual to keep me alive, that was a far cry from funding all of my projects. 

There were a few items left over from the creation of my cloak, but not many, and I was out of the water from Medb’s party.

I did have some money in the bank, but not much, since I’d spent a lot on things for my students, and hadn’t spent the summer making spell bottles to sell to Mabel. I did get a paycheck from teaching, but a sizable chunk of it was tied up in paying for the room and board, as well as investing for retirement. 

Tara would probably suggest heisting a noble family a second time, but that was beyond foolishness, at least for right now. We’d already tweaked the nobility’s noses, and were going to punch them there once we got this ritual finished and unveiled three archmages. 

At the very least, the components for Mellt’s spell would be provided for me. 

But how to get my hands on more…? 

Well, I could always try the fae. 

The enchanter in me wanted to make them powerful artifacts, but I could practically hear the Mabel in me yelling about how that was terrible business sense, and I couldn’t help but agree.

On top of that, if I wanted to make the most efficient and powerful repelling spells, I’d need loads of components. 

There was another option though. One that I’d even used myself, one that I’d seen in the vaults of Archamge Roark. 

By restructuring the power and recharge functions of an artifact, you could allow it to unleash far, far more power than it would be normally able to. 

Of course, the downside of that would put way too much pressure on the enchantment and absolutely shatter it for power, making it one use. A burner in all but name, essentially, even though they could exert far more power than a burner ever could. 

Horribly wasteful… and an amazing bartering chip with the fae. 

I headed into town and spent most of what was left in my bank account on some empty bottles, paper, and ink, and once again was left annoyed at how extremely expensive even low quality ink was. 

Then again, that was the point of the bottles – to give me a bit of spending money. 

When I got back to the tree, I set up a handful of the rituals in various empty classrooms in order to get them set up. By the time I’d finished chanting out those rituals, the day was mostly spent, but I spent some time working through converting an iron-repelling spell to a one-use artifact. 

The following week went by swiftly, and while I spent most of the evenings with Osheen, I did pick up the bottles and start setting up for a new ritual. I used the ink to write out and cram in as many capacitors as I could. I barely used any inductors – they were great for a slower release of power, but this was intentionally a one use artifact. 

Once that was done, I started setting up what was swiftly becoming one of my favorite spells. If I ever got the chance to teach Intermediate Witchcraft, it would absolutely wind up on the syllabus – the copying spell. 

While it might have been intended to copy the text off of a sealed letter, to let you read it without opening it, it was doing far more lifting for me as a magical printing press. Slower than a mechanical one, but able to do far finer details. 

Thinking about that made me wonder if there was a way to combine the technology and spell, to improve on printing presses, but that was a project for the future, when I had more time to look into industrial enchanting. 

I set it up to copy my one sheet of paper onto all of the other papers that I’d bought, then left it to work. 

By the end of the week, I was left with a massive stack of paper, and I came to a rather annoying realization – charging all of them would be a pain. They all drained aura individually, and each one required chanting. 

My flawless plan had some flaws, it seemed. Alas. 

Though… All of them were the same. 

I wasn’t a master of sympathetic magic, but drawing out a spell to sympathetically link everything within it was incredibly easy when all of the materials were the same, so I moved them down to my deep root lab, then set up a sympathetic linking spell linked to the stained glass clarification spell, and chanted out a single sheet’s worth of paper. 

The power quickly built in the room, and once I finished my chant, I left to spend the day with Osheen. The following morning, I headed up with Tara and Osheen to summon Garnet and the Silver Queen. 

The Silver Queen came first. Oracle fluttered to the center of the circle, then reached out to touch on her mind. I’d done this before, without even powering up the wards, but I was no longer in her debt, so I wanted to be a little more careful. 

“Hello, Evander,” the Silver Queen said. 

It was always strange to hear her throaty purr coming out of the mouth of a three-eyed owl, and I shivered slightly. 

“Silver Queen,” I said. “Or are you an Autumnal Queen now?” 

“I have not yet expanded my song to that of Autumn,” she said. “Silver will suffice, for now. I admit, I was quite curious when my most impetuous child approached and said you wished to bargain.” 

“Come now,” I said. “Oracle is a fine familiar, and a budding ritualist.” 

“Impetuous  is not quite as much of an insult when you speak to a Queen of Change,” the Silver Queen said, chuckling. “But yes, he has done quite well. I expect within a few decades he’ll be a Maestro himself. Now, tell me, what do you wish?” 

“First, can you tell me if my Faerie Magic is capable of jumping the wall between my auras?” I asked. “If not, it’s fine. I still have more deals to make with you, but I do need an answer.” 

“I cannot tell you. It may, but it may not,” the Silver Queen said. “What else do you want?” 

“First, I need to know how Faerie Magic is able to convey and transfer magic so quickly, or at least get a better and more efficient method than human divination.” 

Oracle – or rather, the Silver Queen in Oracle’s body – tilted her… his… their head. 

“Why is this?” 

I couldn’t help myself from smirking. This would be perfect – I thought I understood enough about the Faerie’s strange, conceptual magic that I might not even need my one use iron repelling spells. 

“To bring about change across all of Paerús, of course,” I said, smiling. “The spell we need contains three main parts…” 

I quickly set out to explain all of the parts of the spell, as well as the problems that we were running into. 

“I see, I see,” the Silver Queen said. “I do certainly believe that I can help tutor you in this, and indeed, grant you access to a summoning array that will help you do even further.” 

“I see,” I said neutrally. “Now, from what I understand, by my actions changing all of Paerús, you’ll gain a substantial power boost.” 

“Yes,” she said. “Indeed, if you’d bartered with me for the power to do it based on that premise, I’d be happy to claim more power by incurring debt for all knowledge and power that was spread to all.”

I cursed under my breath. That was exactly what I’d spent a bunch of time avoiding.

“Something you can’t do,” I noted. “Because I’m not bartering away information for giving you power.” 

Oracle inclined their head. 

“Indeed, as you say, I cannot claim debt over the nation when you cast your spell, since I did not barter my growth for knowledge on casting it.” 

“I wish to make a deal for knowledge, but not for the power you would have gained,” I said. 

“I thought not,” she said. “For another favo–” 

“No,” Osheen cut in before I could. 

“Alas. What do you have to offer.” 

“I can create sheets of paper that act as a single-use talisman to ward against iron. It can protect you from a battlemage’s spell,” I said. “Ten of those.”

“For knowledge you can use for the rest of your life?” the Silver Queen scoffed. “I think not.”

“Knowledge you don’t have,” I reminded her. “You’re going to have to point me towards someone else, in order to fulfill the terms, per your own words. And since it’s faerie magic, it won’t be teachable to most other humans, unless they’ve got a reliable source of faerie magic.”

“A reasonable argument, but you still would gain permanent knowledge. Fifty sheets,” she said. “I am a Queen, after all, and if they can only defend from battlemage, it will not hold up against your archmages, if need be.”

“Twenty,” I said. 

“Fourty,” she responded. 

“Thirty,” I said. 

“Thirty five,” she countered. 

“Thirty-three. That’s three and three, good for magic,” I said. 

“Fine,” she said. “But I want them before I teach you.” 

“Deal,” I said, then turned to Tara. With a smirk, she pulled a bundle of papers from her satchel, and counted out thirty-three of them.