The Archmage: Chapter Thirty-Five (Patreon)

“I’ve got a solution to our power problem,” I told our little group as we sat around one of Tara’s tables.

“Oh?” Tara asked, giving me a curious look. 

“We’ll use Yesgol’s aura and remaining life force to power it,” I said. 

“What do you mean, remaining?” Tara asked, and I quickly caught her up to date on the fact that the tree was dying. I left out some details about how alive the tree really seemed to be, just confirming that it had asked me to kill it. 

“That is convenient,” Tara said, and I saw her mind whirling. “There are three new trees that can be grown from the ashes then? Would those become new universities?” 

“It is convenient, but at the end of the day it’s just a time saver,” Osheen interjected. “We could have done it the normal way. It would have just taken a very long time. If anything, I think it’s more important to bathe the seeds well.” 

I nodded my agreement with Osheen, then responded to the second half.

“Maybe three new universities would be a good idea,” I said. “As well as basic, free glyph courses in most schools, mundane or magical.” 

“A Druid, Witch, and Sorcerer school?” Tara suggested and I hesitated and shook my head. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I know I’ve gotten a lot of use out of interdisciplinary magic,” I said. Seeing that Tara was still unconvinced, I pressed on. “Besides, if we separated them, while commoners might be able to succeed in the witch or even the druid schools, the old nobility would have too much of a grip on sorcery.” 

Tara nodded at that, and I shrugged. 

“Regardless, I doubt it would be as simple as we’re saying here. Other people will have their own desires,” Osheen interjected. 

“To get us back on track,” I said. “I’ve got things set up in a way that we can use the power of the tree to fuel the ritual, and the spell that will draw that power, I acquired the very first growth spell that was cast on the tree. It should be more than doable.” 

“What about the defenses?” Tara asked. “Even I’m only given a limited amount of aura I can draw from the tree for my rituals before it cuts me out.” 

“Oh, I added a way to disable them,” I said, waving the concern away. ‘I’m more worried about the people who live in Yesgol. If we’re going to help kill the tree, what will we do.” 

“We can get a one bedroom flat in Hallowbrooke,” Osheen said. “We’re not making a ton as teachers, but we’re not that destitute.” 

“I have a single safe house I can stay in,” Tara said. 

“And what about the kids?” I asked. 

“During the summer, most leave,” Tara said. “Summer courses are offered, but only two dozen students usually take them. If we strike during the summer, it will be a lot easier to evacuate them.” 

Osheen nodded, and I agreed as well, then we sat back. 

“Well,” I said. “I guess the only things left to do is to make artifacts that will help us engrave the relays, and then make the spell itself.” 

Tara let out a slow breath. 

“I’ll get started on the main spell when I can,” she said. “I’ve been using a lot of free time to stock up on extra defensive spells and layers, to make sure that when the archmages come knocking I can take them on.” 

“A good idea,” I said. “I appreciate it. I’m going to get to work on the spell shaping to allow me to make the artifact.” 

“I’ll… Help however I can,” Osheen said. “Even if it’s just painting runes or whatever.” 

“Thank you,” I said, kissing his cheek. “You’re going to be a grand help.” 

“Maybe,” he said. “But where I know I can help is getting your sorcery skills in shape to cast your veil spells. Even if you make the training foci, you’ll need shaping skills to make the on the fly modifications that the spell requires.” 

I made a face. More shaping exercises definitely was needed, and I didn’t disagree with that, it just wasn’t fun in the same way enchanting was. 

“Once you do have them ready, I’ll prepare some tests for it,” Tara said. “The most important thing is hiding from an archmage’s sight, though. I’ll not say it’s impossible, but I don’t think it will be easy.” 

“Probably not,” I agreed. “I’m just lucky I can test it out with you.” 

Tara smiled, and we disbanded not long after that. I headed into Hallowbrooke, making a beeline for Sarai’s uncle. When I entered, he gave me a surprised smile. 

“Well, hello there Evan. Are you just swinging by while in town?” 

“Oh, I got a teaching job,” I told him. “But I did want to ask how Sarai and Lyn are.” 

We made a bit of small talk before I finally got around to my goal. 

“Some of my students are learning industrial magic,” I said. “They need spells to shape metal into specific shapes, and I remember that you had a spell that was something like that, one that Lyn didn’t know. You showed her though, so it couldn’t be too much of a secret.” 

“Oh, it’s not a secret,” he agreed. “Everyone’s got some variation of it. The basic theory is that you use your aura – or in your case, you’d have the enchantment – shape into what you want to carve, then the spell engraves that in. it’s much easier than trying to warp the metal directly. The only problem is that it’s no good for shaping larger blocks of metal. It can inscribe, but it wont automatically punch out bullets.”

“Right,” I said, “I’ve done something similar with glass, I think, in order to make spell bottles. As for shaping specific shapes, I’d love those too. Both will be useful for the kids.” 

“Sure, sure,” the blacksmith said. “I can show you them.” 

I followed along, practicing different spells that I drew within the spell in order to make sure I was able to meet his requirements. I didn’t show him the actual copy that would be used as a relay, of course, since that might get him in trouble if someone managed to put it together, but I hadn’t been lying about my students getting use out of the spell. If nothing else, several of them had pistols, swords, daggers, or other weapons, and that would be of use. 

As I thought about pistols, I glanced around the shop, and I spotted an odd one. It looked like a pistol, but it had an almost spherical chamber, where six bullets were loaded in at once, rather than the one or two that I saw with most. 

“Ah, the revolver?” Sarai’s uncle said when he caught me looking at it. “We only just started making those for non-military personnel. It’s a bit pricey, but removes one of the weaknesses of the older models needing to reload for a while.” 

“I’ll take it,” I said. “Do you accept spell bottles in trade?”

It was an impulsive decision. I didn’t have any specific plans for it, and each bullet would still need to be enchanted on its own. Though the single use artifacts did assuage the power problem of only being able to pack so much energy into a burner, it didn’t solve the time issue. Furthermore, it was loud, and while I could enchant a silencing sphere around it, that would take up even more of my time. 

I had multiple more important things on my list of enchantments to do. But I bought it, along with a box of fifty rounds for two spell bottles, and that was worth it to me. 

If nothing else, it could be a surprise weapon. There weren’t any metal archmages I knew of, and I was allied with the only fire archmage left, so the threat of one of them exploding the gun in my hands was low. 

I paused at that thought. 

If I was fighting a normal group of battle mages, that wouldn’t be true at all. They’d have enough versatility that using a gun would be totally ineffective. 

Archmages, though… They were used to being invincible. While all of them did still have defenses, they might not have anything more mundane to stop a bullet. A true battlemage might wear armor or such, but I’d never seen an archmage rely on anything but magic. 

For that matter, I didn’t either. Maybe I should fix that? If someone did manage to counter my cloak, I’d be completely out of defenses. 

But the point still stood. If I could poke a single small hole in whichever archmage’s defenses I had, I could shoot them. 

I was sure I wasn’t the only person in the world who had thought of that, of course, but until guns had become increasingly prevelant, there was only a little bit that could do. 

A distant archer with amazing timing may be able to help, but that would take far more planning and precision. A sword required you to be closer, where you could just as easily get stabbed. 

As I walked back to Yesgol, I started running over the spells that I could implement into the bullets and the gun. It was a refreshingly new challenge – it had been a long time since I’d made an enchantment without incorporating faerie magic into it.

The silencer and some basic anti-detection spells on the gun, to prevent most people from noticing it. That would take up a lot of space, but I’d gotten good enough at rune compression to maybe fit one more.

Probably just a basic metal acceleration spell along the barrel. It wasn’t the most unique or original concept, but it was a good one. 

On the bullet… For their casing, another simple metal acceleration, one that could be built to sympathetically link with the one on the barrel for a synergistic effect. Interlock that with a spell on the bullet itself. 

But what spell to put on the bullet? I ran through my mental catalog of spells, then paused at shaping disruption. 

That would let them punch through certain weaker defenses on their own, even without my cloak’s help. Sure, it wasn’t some sort of perfect anti-magic spell, just a bit of disruption, but it meant that if they had some small layer that I’d missed, it might punch through that. 

It also meant that when it hit the person, even if it didn’t kill, it would release the rest of the power it stored, and the pain and disrupting flare could mess with their spells.

Yes, that was definitely the best idea. It would also give me a chance to practice the metal carving spell in an actual enchantment I could apply to each bullet before I made the far more important ritual spells. 

I started running through the list of enchantments that I needed to make: Oracle’s new bracer, the metal shaping for the gun, metal shaping for the bullets, metal shaping for the relay, veiling spells for Osheen to allow him to remain as lookout, the three training wands for shaping the hiding spell Oberon had given me… 

With only being able to enchant on the weekends and my evenings, and also trying to keep a good relationship with my fiance, this was going to take weeks of work. 

Well, that just meant I needed to reorganize by priority. I mentally started ordering my list.