The Archmage: Chapter Forty-Five (Patreon)

Osheen, Tara, and I regrouped as soon as we could after the pillars of light, and I picked up the three seeds, flickered on my assassin’s cloak, and flew out to Yesgol. 

There were already nobles and investigators from Hallowbrooke at the site, but with the power of the cloak, I poked a hole in the wards and slipped in, then dipped the seeds into the ash. 

I wasn’t sure why this was so necessary, but I also wasn’t going to disrespect the wishes of the tree.

As soon as the three large seeds touched the ashes, a bright green light started to emanate from them. I swept my cloak around it, doing everything I could to hide the light, but I was also entranced, watching as thick strings of a power that I couldn’t place were slowly assimilated into the tree. It reminded me of the angelic artifact that Draven had given me to create a simulacra, in a way, and I wondered about the origin of the tree. It was clear that it wasn’t from this climate, and I didn’t know what sort of place had the ambient aura, heat, and humidity to support it. It would have to be a place without any snow, even in the winter… But did a place like that even exist? 

The foreign magic spun through the seeds for almost thirty minutes, and I became increasingly nervous as it did. I’d expanded the reserves of my cloak by quite a bit, but running the assassin’s cloak for this long, around so many people, was still concerning. 

When the green light finally died away, the seeds had ignited some sort of strange power within them that caused them to humm slightly against my skin when I touched them. I put them in the pockets of the cloak and shot into the air, flying to my hidden cave in the mountains and depositing the seeds there, before flying back to Hallowbrooke.

I spent the day shifting from expected to be attacked, but while there was a great deal of confusion about what the light had been, who had caused it, and if it was an attack from Zheren, there wasn’t any direct violence. 

I was sure there would be, especially when later that evening, Draven stepped out of the shadows behind the three of us, smiling from ear to ear. Tara immediately tensed, but I had gotten so used to Draven at this point that it barely even registered. 

“I must congratulate you,” he said. “You’ve succeeded.”

“How do you know?” I asked. “I’m sure some people were asleep during the day and already got the message, but the chaos should really spark tomorrow.” 

“It snapped the mental defense wards on my manor, and completely tore through the spells I had around my mind,” Draven said. “You’ve drawn the attention of every noble in the country with that act. Not to mention, the exploding aura pillars have depowered just about every noble house. We don’t have that many giant crystals, and they’re all integrated into powerful spellwork.” 

Tara and I exchanged a look. 

That… 

No…

“That shouldn’t be possible,” Tara said, voicing the thoughts I had. “We put no pressure on it. It wasn’t an attack, it should have bounced off of even the most meager of mental defenses.” 

“Nobody’s worked magic on this scale before,” Draven said seriously. “Not in my memory. In the last war, when an Elderspawn was summoned and rampaged across the land, it still was a smaller scale than this.” 

“The scale shouldn’t matter,” I said with a frown. “That’s not how magic works. Pumping more aura into a force bolt doesn’t make it start producing fire. We didn’t attack, and it should have only rippled to unprotected minds.” 

“Well, it didn’t,” Draven said with a casual shrug. “I don’t know why it produced the light pillars either, but it did. And regardless, as I said a moment ago, the shattering of the crystal pillars is a dead giveaway regardless.” 

“We should still wait to ensure the message is actually sent,” Osheen said. “But it does seem like it’s happened. Now the only question is… What comes next?” 

“It’s always hard to tell what people will do when the chips are down and the cards are all laid out on the table,” Draven said. “But I, for one, expect that Dormer and Talik will be delighted. The trouble will be the old houses, as we’ve always stated. I’ve no doubt that they’ll be attacking you.” 

“They’ll be stupid to do that,” Tara said. “That will just turn him into a martyr. Everyone loves a hero who dies for freedom.” 

“Foolish or not, I concur,” Osheen said. “We should sleep with one eye open.” 

The beginnings of a plan were starting to come together in my mind as I processed what Tara had just said. 

Words from Oberon echoed in my mind. 

A mortal life for a mortal life.

“We should also summon the council,” I said, turning to Tara. “Can you?” 

“No,” she said. “I summoned them by altering the ambient aura and setting off their emergency alarms. Draven?” 

“I can summon the council,” Draven said with a smile. “But I think we’re going to want to wait until the morning. After all, we shouldn’t ruin your big announcement.” 

“True,” I said. “It might give them the chance to counter it.” 

Draven rolled his eyes at the statement, but I didn’t understand why. Osheen just bit his lip, but nodded. 

“You’re welcome to stay at my manor,” Draven said. 

“No,” I said. “It’s known that I stay here. I should be here, because this will be the first place they look, and the second isn’t something I want them looking at.” 

“Ah,” Draven said, inclining his head slightly. “I’ll be in the area, but you should certainly prepare yourself for a fight. Eat, sleep, and be on guard.” 

I nodded, and then Osheen and I went to go get food. When we returned, both Tara and Draven had already left, presumably headed to whatever secure facilities they’d prepared. Osheen and I slept in the small apartment he’d started renting, in order to stay close to the town. 

The cave was safer, but its greatest security was still the fact that nobody knew about it. 

I was woken early that morning by one of the basic alarm wards Tara had set up being tripped, and both Osheen and I bolted to our feet right away. 

A force blade rippled toward my throat, but Osheen intercepted, causing it to clash against his armor. He snapped, and a half dozen flame lances exploded towards the assassin in an instant. 

The attacker, who had slipped in through a window, dove away, catching themselves with their flight spell and fleeing into the night. 

“At least they were smarter than the one your father sent,” I said, and Osheen nodded.

“I don’t think I’m really going to get any more sleep,” he said. “Do you want some tea?” 

“Tea would be lovely,” I said. 

By the time we had breakfast and the town was starting to get up, there had already been nine other attempts at our lives, including one particularly stupid attempt of throwing a bottle of alcohol with a lit rag into the building. Osheen had stuffed out the fire within moments, but that was what caused us to take to the streets. 

Attackers breaking down our door or entering through the window was one thing. That was limited to Osheen and me. 

But if someone was throwing bombs, that could hurt others in the building. 

As soon as we stepped outside, however, I was swarmed with people. I started to get a headache from the crowd as a whole, but it got worse when they started shouting. 

“Is it true?!” one man asked. 

“You savage!” one woman screamed, throwing a force bolt I had to snap before it could hurt the crowd. 

“Hallowbrooke Daily,” one of them said. “Mind answering a few questions?” 

Osheen used a force push to slowly push the people away, and I gave him a thankful nod. I needed to make some sort of private security bubble, honestly. 

With the space to think, I pointed at the reporter, a short young woman in a suit with a pen and paper. 

“I’ll be happy to answer the newspapers,” I said. “But please don’t accost me on the streets.”

That didn’t actually help, but I needed it said. Osheen kept gently pushing people away, but allowed the reporter to walk forward. 

“First, the thing that everyone wants to know,” the reporter said. “Was what you said true?” 

“Yes,” I said. “Every word of it, every image. Those were memories. It’s true.” 

“What do you plan to do now?” she asked.

“It depends on the government,” I said. “I would be happy to work with anyone who’s willing to change, but I’m not going to keep propping up a broken system.” 

At that, the lights began to flicker on the street. Even the sun overhead dimmed, then seemed to wink out for a moment. 

When reality reasserted itself, Draven was standing there, hands in his pockets. 

“Archmage Luis!” the reporter gasped. “What is your take on this?!” 

“You’re more than welcome to check my records,” Draven said. “I’ve only ever maintained a small core of nobility. The reason for this has been long speculated, but thanks to the efforts of young Evan here, I’d be happy to finally explain. I detest the current system, and have only ever supported those who would be happy to see a change. I cannot speak to the old nobility, but I can assure everyone that I’ll be doing everything in my power to ensure that the transition of power is smooth and clean, and that we can work together towards a brighter future.” 

He gave a dazzling smile at that, and I wondered how much of it was true. While he did have a much smaller faction, I doubted that it was really that he hated the aura sparks. Still, it was a good answer, and the reporter wrote it down frantically. 

Draven and I answered several more questions before he put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. 

“I’m afraid I must beg off now,” he said. “Our newest archmage has several other newspaper interviews to attend.” 

“Who’s going to protect us?” someone in the crowd called out, and I glanced over to see a small child, no older than ten. 

“I still will,” I said. “Just because you can’t see me doesn’t mean I won’t be protecting you.” 

Then I tapped my assassin’s cloak and vanished. Draven and Osheen vanished a moment later, but I felt both of their hands on my shoulders, and we all flew up to a hidden alcove on a nearby roof, slipping through one of Draven’s portals, before we re-appeared. 

“Well handled,” Draven said. “You’re going to become the boogeyman of Paerús at this point.” 

I chuckled at that, and shook my head. 

“I don't think so. Is it time to summon the council?” 

“Well,” Draven said. “First, you should know that I wasn’t joking about the reporters – you’re going to find quite a few of them when we arrive, but I’ve organized them in a manner that should allow you at least a little less stress.” 

“That’s not about the council,” Osheen said, and Draven grimace. 

“Interesting thing, that. We’re headed to the council… Or at least, what I was able to throw together of a council. Do you want the bad news on the political front, or personal front?”