Chương 16: Arrival at The Front

The trip to the border was mostly more of the same dull travel. Chadwick worked on enhancing his muscles while they rode. Then chatted with Sloan in the evenings. Occasionally having another small sip of the brandy. The only interesting event came when two of the mages who were brothers found the ingredients needed for bread stashed in one of the supply wagons. One brother was a fire mage, the other a stone mage. And both were raised as bakers.

Between the two of them they could create an oven and keep it hot long enough to bake fresh bread every evening when the convoy stopped. The difference this made to the general mood of the group was huge. They no longer looked like a group marching to their deaths. But just a wealthy merchant convoy enjoying the country-side.

They did run into an issue of trying to ensure they had the right consistent temperature, but Chadwick had seen some runes for this and enchanted a small piece of iron to drastically change color with temperature. A few test runs of them adding the enchanted iron into the oven gave them a perfect run of bread. The whole camp could smell it and knew they had succeeded. Things got a lot more interesting though, when they stopped just a day from the border.

The convoy had stopped for the night and most people were asleep when one of the sentries shouted in alarm, his shout cut off with a short scream. Panic ensued in the camp amongst most of the mages. Most of them trying to get out of their tents while still half-dressed. The soldiers were more practiced and they quickly attached any missing bits of armor and then formed up with their backs to a carriage. Staring out into the night to see what had caused the sentry to wake them.

The only two mages who seemed dressed and ready were Chadwick and Sloan. They both stood on the drivers bench of the middle carriage. Each facing a different direction, also looking out into the extremely dark night.

"I'd say we have a 'four' on our hands. There's a mage of some kind on my side, quite a ways out in the trees still," said Chadwick quietly. Sloan looked where Chadwick was looking, "I don't see anything but trees. But I'll take your word for it boy. I'm going to put up some walls." Chadwick nodded and kept scanning the dark of the trees. Sloan started moving large rocks with his magic. Molding them together into a low wall around the tents.

The captain in charge of the convoy came striding out from where the soldier's tents were, "what are you doing mage? I have a scout out investigating the noise. I see no reason to be putting up fortifications that are in the way of the carriages leaving again."

"The lad can tell there is a mage out there. If it's a Siyene shaman, then you know they don't travel with groups smaller than about fifty," responded Sloan. The captain just gave a short laugh, "it's always the same with you mages that are headed to the front for the first time. Jumping at every shadow and thinking it's a Siyene shaman out to get you. Stop wasting your time with that wall." Sloan was about to respond when Chadwick yelled, "incoming!"

Sloan ducked down just in time as a section of a tree almost as big as one of the tents flew out of the darkness and crashed into the carriage behind him. One of the young mages who had just come out of his tent, still in his underwear, screamed at the sight and dove straight back into his tent. The captain turned and started shouting orders to his soldiers, who now rushed over to duck behind Sloan's low rock wall. Sloan suddenly saw Chadwick pop up next to him, though he hadn't even seen him move.

"Finish the wall, keep the mages and soldiers behind it and defend this position. I'll get rid of the shaman," said Chadwick. Then immediately darted off into the dark. Sloan just stared for a moment at the spot Chadwick had disappeared into, then jumped into action, "any stone mages, help me finish this wall. The rest of you, keep your eyes peeled on the night and use whatever you have to stop any more of those flying trees!"

A clash of steel sounded as one of the soldiers by the wall was struck by a huge warrior in furs, carrying a sword almost as long as he was. The man had seemed to just appear out of the night. A black haze surrounding him. With a clear target now in sight, the rest of the soldiers rushed over and used long pikes and shields to hold the man away from the wall. Then it became mayhem when dozens more men in furs appeared. Some more men with bows appeared behind them and started firing arrows into the tents.

One water mage finally responded and raised a wall of water that started catching the arrows. This stopped the arrows, but also prevented any of the mages from launching attacks of their own. In barely thirty seconds, three of the soldiers were dead and two mages who had run for the carriages were on the ground with arrows in their backs. They had run out of the protection of the water wall.

From the woods there was a burst of noise and then the attacking men suddenly all became easy to see in the dark and less fearsome. Suddenly, what had looked like a 7-foot man wreathed in shadows that hid him in the night, with a sword as big as him, turned out to be an average man with a fairly cheap looking sword. The furs were still accurate. The clear view of the suddenly ragtag looking bunch attacking them, spurred them all into action.

Many of the mages stepped around the edge of the water wall to launch attacks at the archers. A mix of flying stones and fireballs launched out. Soldiers pushed the invaders back from the stone barricade. The tide turned very quickly. Three of the archers at the back saw the battle getting away from them and ran back into the night. Sloan was breathing heavily after the fight ended. As was the water mage who had held up the wall the whole time until then.

An exhausting exercise to make one that large and sustain it. Chadwick appeared from behind one of the carriages and stood next to Sloan. Like he had been there the whole time. The captain ordered the mages to stay and help the wounded while his soldiers chased those who had fled. A dozen of them rushed into the woods with enchanted lights. Chadwick glanced over to the two mages with arrows in them, "both already gone. I'm glad we have a dirt mage here to do the digging."

Sloan was still getting his breath back, so he just nodded. He was distracted from Chadwick when the captain came back out of the forest looking puzzled. He walked up to Sloan, "the three archers who ran barely made it three steps into the forest. There was a dead shaman not far past them. Did one of yours get them?" Sloan glanced at Chadwick, "it was hard to tell in amongst all that, many were launching projectiles out. Perhaps one of those?" The captain shook his head, "barely a mark on them.

Just looked like they collapsed and stopped breathing. Well, dead is dead, I don't really care who kills them. Though I might have more tasks for someone who can manage that." Sloan just shrugged, "I didn't see anything I'm afraid. I can ask around after." The captain just grunted and went to check on his wounded. Sloan looked over the group of 15 mages that were left in amongst the tents, a few looked exultant after the battle, still breathing heavily.

Most of them were in a state of shock, with dead soldiers and mages still very much in sight. Not one of them seemed like they could have silently killed three archers and a shaman in the dark, not without anyone in the camp seeing a thing. Then he glanced at Chadwick, who was now sitting on the carriage and looking every inch the innocent boy that had just seen a battle and was shocked to his core. Chadwick saw Sloan look his way and the mask slipped for a moment.

He winked at Sloan and then put back on his 'shocked' face. The aftermath of the short battle lost them a full day of travel, as they had to repair one of the carriages and bury the dead. Chadwick was right about there being a dirt mage amongst the freshly graduated students. The captain even said a few nice words about each person over their grave and promised to let the next of kin know, if they had any. The alcohol flowed freely the next night and the captain looked the other way while his soldiers joined in.

He had no say over the mages drinking, but it was normally strictly off limits for soldiers on duty to do so. As the night wore on and many turned from tears to the happy buzz of the 'just drunk enough', some pairs of students disappeared into tents to celebrate still being alive. Technically fraternizing was forbidden amongst students. But, since they were all graduated mages now, it had just moved into 'frowned upon' territory.

And expecting a bunch of drunk teenagers who had just faced death to care about that was asking a lot. Sloan didn't see Chadwick anywhere for most of this, but he presumed the lad was too young to be in a tent with one of the girls. He thought he had just gone to bed at some point. Therefore, he was a bit surprised when Chadwick hopped up onto the carriage seat next to him, slipping out of the dark forest.

Sloan jumped a bit as he hadn't heard a thing until Chadwick sat down, "I need to get you a bell or something if you are going to be creeping around and trying to give me a heart attack lad."

"Moving quietly is a valuable skill in the forest. Who knows what might be listening. How did the celebrating go?" Asked Chadwick.

"Who knows indeed. Were you always this ominous sounding boy? Or has Elvera had you scribing copies of her fantasies about nightmare shades and goblins?" Responded Sloan.

"Never met a goblin, but nightmare shades are quite real," said Chadwick quietly. His face was utterly blank. Sloan glared at Chadwick for a good long moment, taking a puff from his pipe but never losing eye contact. He seemed to be waiting for some crack in Chadwick's expression. Some proof that he was joking. When he didn't see it, he sighed and said, "I think I'll put that into the category of a mystery best left untouched, perhaps a little brandy would help sate my curiosity?"

Sloan now had a cheeky grin on his face. Chadwick gave a quiet laugh, "if only all adults were this easy to bribe. I'll fetch my pack." They shared a brandy, Chadwick's glass having almost twice the amount in it compared to what he normally tried. Sloan was yawning as they finished them off.

"It's safe to sleep," began Chadwick, "I checked the forest for miles around. I found the camp those Siyene came from and no one has been there since yesterday. None of them got away. Or, if they did, they certainly didn't return to that camp for supplies." Sloan looked around the extremely dark forest around them, "not sure how you see a damn thing out there lad, but I'm tired enough to take your word for it. A good night's sleep might be worth it, even if I am murdered before I wake."

Aside from the few sober soldiers who drew short straws and had to be on watch that night, everybody slept like the dead. It was a very hungover group that met General Bracks that next morning. The carriages had rolled into camp two hours after dawn. Every mage was suddenly alert. Even those mages who were still drunk from the night before suddenly shot out of their seats, some saying "I need to see General Bracks!"

The captain seemed familiar with this reaction and announced loudly to the convoy, "General Bracks will meet you all in the big tent over there. Once you are done, come get your belongings and head to your assignment." All the mages poured out of the carriages and rushed over to the tent. Chadwick knew he could resist the compulsion if he needed to, but he went along with the crowd. Already wearing his pack.

The tent itself was easily big enough for the whole group and had a fire going inside and tables full of refreshments. The hungover mages were eyeing the egg, bread and bacon trays eagerly. Between looking around for General Bracks so they could report to him. A man in servant's livery stepped into the tent and announced, "General Bracks asks that you wait here and enjoy the refreshments until he is available to see you. Consider this part of reporting to him."

All the mages relaxed slightly, the compulsion now eased off and most of them swarmed the tables. Chadwick found it curious that both the captain and now this servant seemed to understand the compulsion the mages were under. They said just the right wording to use to get them cooperating without causing them undue stress from a compulsion they couldn't comply with.

"Not partaking boy?" Asked Sloan. Chadwick shook his head, "call it an abundance of caution. It feels a little too much like fattening up a pig before the blade comes. Though in our case, more likely it is just putting us in a compliant mood before the bad news."

"Honestly lad, you have the vocabulary of a poet, and the cynicism of a politician. You are in the wrong profession, though I'll be damned if I know what the right one is," said Sloan. He had been mid eating a pastry, but now looked down at it sourly and put it down on the table. Dusting the crumbs off his hands. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Sorry, I didn't intend to ruin your snack. But, you did ask," said Chadwick.

"That I did. I supposed I only have myself to blame. So, what do you think the news will be?" Asked Sloan.

"I only saw very general reports when I was handling the messages, but from what I gather everyone will be given an assignment of some kind. Mages that excel at defense will often be kept here at the main camp to build up fortifications. For unique types they will either be given a role suited to them if they can do something useful. Or they will just go into the remaining pool, the mages that will be used to attack Siyene forts. I expect this meeting will decide where we go," answered Chadwick.

Sloan considered this, "that lines up with what I've heard from various friends who have come here. I expect that puts me in a position of defensive fortifications," he said. Then he looked around the room, "though I worry about where that leaves some of the rest of the group." Chadwick nodded towards different groups, "those five will be put into the remainders. The brothers over there will probably join them, even though one is a stone mage.

Since he is very weak as stone mages go, I suspect he actually has affinity for a specific type of rock and never realized. In that group, only the girl in the middle will stay here." Chadwick paused for a moment and glanced around at the rest of the groups, then nodded towards the oldest boy in the group, "he never uses his power where others can see. But he is a barrier mage. He can enforce anything that prevents movement, or create barriers out of various things — even air.

Extremely strong defensively, but almost no offense without enchanted items. I suspect he will be used as a personal guard for someone important." Sloan listened carefully, but he had one raised eyebrow. He knew a lot of what Chadwick was saying, but mostly because he had access to data that only very senior teachers got to see. Or he helped gather those very students himself. Some mages couldn't really hide what their affinity was, without just straight up not using it.

But any that could, would try to keep it a secret.

"Of the group over there, I could see them going either way. The dirt mage in particular might be useful here. Depends on what mages general already has access to. Then there are also the children of the wealthy, I honestly don't know how much leeway that gets them, but I suspect they will get special duties," finished Chadwick.

"Nothing in your thoughts that I would be wagering against, I suppose we will see when Bracks arrives," said Sloan. Then, almost as if he was summoned by name, General Bracks came in. Every mage in the room suddenly scrambled to their feet to come and 'report' to him, he waved them back and announced, "everyone line up so you can report to me one at a time. I will be handing out your assignments."

The mages complied and the General pulled out a sheet of paper and started reading out names, directing people to different sides of the tent. One small group was everybody Chadwick said would end up being kept at the camp. The wealthy looking children landed in that group. The other group was all those he thought would be the remaining pool. The last two left were Chadwick and Sloan. To Sloan, he said, "you will report to the mage command tent. Taverish will have tasks for you."

The General looked Chadwick up and down, "I'm not totally sure what I should be doing with you. You are far and away the youngest mage here. Younger than the cutoff I allow for my soldiers. What skills do you have lad?"

"I handled decoding the messages for the tower. I was a scribe by trade. I'm a fair enchanter," began Chadwick. The General put up a hand to interrupt him, "Can you create new message stones?"

"Yes, General," answered Chadwick. He had never actually made one, but he knew he met the requirements of them.

"Excellent, go with Mage Sloan. Report to Taverish at the command tent and do whatever enchanting work he needs," said the General. Then he turned to the smaller group on one side of the tent, "you lot, report to Captain Tam, my assistant outside can direct you to him." Then he turned to the larger group, "and the rest of you, report to Captain Saverich. Again, my assistant can point you in the right direction. All of you collect your belongings from the convoy before you go."

Once the two groups had filtered out, the General turned to Sloan and Chadwick.

"I'll take you two over to the mage command tent myself." Then began walking out, expecting them to follow. The General stopped them at the convoy with instructions to grab their belongings. When Chadwick just stood beside him and waited, still wearing his pack, the General looked down at him, "already got everything you need, and packed light? You might be young, but you are already ahead of some of my soldiers." Sloan returned shortly just carrying one small bag.

He had actually brought a lot of things with him and had bribed one of the stable boys to have everything delivered to his tents. Once he found out where they would be staying. The general led them through the maze of buildings and temporary shelters until they came to an enormous tent. He let himself straight in and announced, "these two are yours, Mage Taverish." Chadwick got his first look at Taverish since the man had been teaching his classes at the tower. The man looked like he had aged 10 years.

With a harder edge to him. His frame had been soft at the edges, with a bit too much flab hidden under loose robes. Now it was all hard lines and wiry muscles. Taverish looked up curiously, his eyes not registering much surprise at Sloan. His face fell when he saw Chadwick. But, he didn't voice anything other than, "Yes, General."

"The lad says he can make message stones and was a scribe. Assuming he is telling the truth, you should be able to handle the backlog of stones now, yes?" The General asked Sloan. Elvera stepped out of a back part of the tent, leaning on her cane as she walked up slowly and said, "young Chadwick here scribed the copy of Siyene Tribes that you borrowed from me, General. And he's been the one answering the enchanting questions our mages send to Master Enchanter Sal for almost the past year.

I suspect he has passed that bushy lunatic by now." The General raised an eyebrow at Chadwick and seemed to consider him more thoroughly, "interesting. Well, no excuses for those message stones then, Taverish? Or delays while we wait on answers for other enchanting projects. If I feel things are not getting done fast enough, I will run the young prodigy myself." Taverish gulped and looked a little apologetically at Chadwick, only responding, "yes, General."

The General left the tent and everyone seemed to relax a bit. Taverish glared at Elvera, who just shrugged and said, "the General would've worked it out eventually. This way we are ahead of the game and he works out of here." Taverish nodded thoughtfully, then turned to Chadwick, "you were really the one answering the questions we sent to Sal?" Chadwick nodded then placed down his bag, "since well before you came out here."

"Well," began Taverish, "the General is usually serious about his threats. I suspect we have a week to have all the tasks complete before we risk him showing up. So, once you get settled into a room here I can give you the list." Then he indicated a small pile of paper. Chadwick just shrugged and moved to examine the stack of paper right away. Elvera turned to Sloan, "I see the Chief Mage got you between rounds of villages? Couldn't keep staying out of sight that way forever I suppose.

At least I have someone to drink with now." Sloan had made a face at the mention of being caught, but then smiled at Elvera at the end and said, "Chadwick has been keeping me company for the occasional drink. I think he partook mostly for my benefit. Apparently you left a few bottles in your office and I told him you wouldn't begrudge a thirsty mage on the road a drink." Chadwick smiled a little at the mention of his name while he rifled through the papers, but then he paused and asked, "where's the rest of them?"

Taverish looked puzzled, but Elvera and Sloan just rolled their eyes. Somehow anticipating what was coming next.

"The rest of what boy? That's all the enchanting tasks we haven't been able to find a solution for," said Taverish. Chadwick frowned at the pile then looked back up at Taverish, "but this is only about an hour's work." Elvera just chuckled a bit as she lowered herself into a seat. Then said, "wipe that silly look off your face Taverish, you will soon get used to this one surprising you. Though I suppose his launching was a little subpar, the only place you would've seen him in action."

Taverish looked a bit sheepish, "actually, the Dean me had rig a dummy for him to fake a lower advancement. He could've cleared that class in his first few months." Chadwick perked up at the mention of the Dean, "is he here somewhere?" Taverish glanced at the big map on his table, "he should be on the way back. Probably get in tonight unless something went wrong with the tower he was checking on." Sloan settled down into the chair next to Elvera and they started chatting idly.

Taverish looked at the stack of paper Chadwick was now holding and seemed to consider it, "bring those here for a moment." After Chadwick complied, the Dean sorted them into small piles and continued, "complete these ones in two days, these two days after, then the last one here on the last day. We want to look like we were getting rushed to make it within a week."

"Alright, easy enough. I have other things I wish to work on and will need at least a few hours a day for those. Do you have anything else you need?" Asked Chadwick.

"Just the message stones, we are running low on materials so I didn't want the enchanters I have trying and risking ruining them. Made those before?" Asked Taverish.

"No, but I've see no issue in getting them done based on Sal's notes on them. Seems simple enough," said Chadwick.

"Put your bag into the room on the right there, then we can go visit the enchanting tent now. Better if we just get the message stones done earlier than everything else," said Taverish and waited for Chadwick to drop off his bag and follow. They went to a nearby tent and several mages were sitting at tables, surrounded by bits of loose materials and equipment for carving. A metal mage was sweating as he tried to shape a piece of iron with the rune symbols he wanted.

"This is," Taverish began, but was interrupted by Chadwick diving across the table and snatching up a large block of jade with runes on it that one of the mages was staring intently at. The mage seemed to snap out of it and shouted, "hey, who let this kid in here? He just broke my concentration, right before I got this message stone working." Chadwick glared at the taller boy who was now standing over him and holding his hand out for the piece of jade.

"While I did interrupt you, you weren't about to make a message stone. You were about to ruin a very expensive piece of jade and probably blow up half that table," said Chadwick. The mage spluttered, but the Taverish stepped in and said, "I thought I said no more attempts at message stones until we got word from Master Enchanter Sal?" The mage looked sullen for a moment, but then burst out, "but he hasn't answered in weeks! The General wants these now!"

"I'm well aware of what the general wants, that's why I brought Chadwick here to solve the problem. The reason you haven't heard from 'Sal' for several weeks is because Chadwick here is the one that's been answering those messages. And he was busy traveling here," said Taverish sternly. The mage just frowned, "what on earth are you talking about!?" But then quickly added, "I mean, could you explain, Mage Taverish?" When he saw the look on Taverish's face.

"How on earth would this child even know what I was doing with the jade just now anyway?"

"You had dropped the 8th point that ties to the consecutive flow rune here," said Chadwick, pointing at part of the jade, "you were barely holding on to your 12th point that was tied to this amplification rune. If you had dropped it, you would've caused an inversion into the control runes. And judging by the way you carved them, there was a very good chance they would blow up instead of containing the power." The mage was staring at Chadwick, completely stunned.

"As I said, you haven't been getting answers from Master Enchanter Sal for the past year. Chadwick here has been the one answering those messages as part of his training," said Taverish. A mousy girl at the back of the room looked up from her work for the first time, and addressed Chadwick with an almost whisper-quiet voice, "was it you that came up with the solution on that crossover matrix?" Chadwick made a face, "yes, but I wasn't particularly happy with that one.

Sal refused to let me propose a 24-point conditional as a solution. That would've made it twice as efficient at least." The mousy girl seemed to nod approvingly then went back to her work. The mage who had the jade now looked indignant, "and who would do such an impossible piece of enchanting? Master Enchanter Sal would only attempt that on a good day." Chadwick was about to answer, but Taverish butted in, "I don't have all day to watch a dick-waving contest until you realize your mistake.

Why don't you go fetch the so-called impossible piece of enchanting and let Chadwick show you why he will be running the enchanting for the camp from now on." The boy just sputtered some more. The mousy girl reached under her table and pulled out a tub of materials and slid it up the desk. Chadwick pulled out the pieces of the unfinished barrier and looked them over, "good carving, though it's a little shallow on the bottom here."

The mousy girl had creeped quietly up the length of the table and around the indignant looking mage, she was peering closely where Chadwick pointed, "hmm, I should've gone deeper there. You are right." Chadwick nodded, "I'll just correct it real quick."

"Ah, so finds an excuse to not produce his fantastical piece of enchanting, how convenient that he will need to spend a few hours carving," said the indignant boy. Now practically dripping with sarcasm.

"Done," said Chadwick and then handed the piece to the girl. She turned it over and peered carefully into the channels and said quietly, "I need to learn that trick." Chadwick traced some of the runes with his fingers and then paused to concentrate for a moment. Then just said, "finished. Shall we test it out? We need somewhere we can safely launch some spells." The indignant boy just looked dubiously at the pieces in Chadwick's hands, but he smartly kept his mouth shut.

"There is a range just over by the wall here, that should work," said Taverish and led the group out of the tent. The three enchanters and Chadwick followed. They found a bare area that ended at a thick stone wall. Chadwick strolled out and placed the pieces of the enchanter barrier down in a circle. Then activated it as he walked away. A faint shimmer appeared in a 30 foot dome.

"Whenever you are ready Mage Taverish, no need to hold back," said Chadwick. Taverish looked concerned for a moment, "are you sure lad? If it has any issues, I'm liable to bring down that wall. And I generally don't like using up enchanted items that have such expensive materials." Chadwick just waved his hand dismissively, "this one is rechargeable, the worst you should cause is 20 minutes of extra work for whoever charges it back up.

If you can actually damage the wall through the barrier, I will provide Mage Sloan's brandy ration for a week in exchange for the time it would take him to fix the wall." Taverish shrugged, then pulled four small stones out of his pocket. He closed his fist around one of them and then it came out of his hand as molten rock and floated into the air. It started growing in size and the heat that began radiating off it caused the others to take a step back.

When it was roughly first-sized, Taverish flung out his hand and it flew into the barrier. As soon as it hit the barrier, it just bounced off and splattered onto the grass and smoldered.

"You can give it more speed, it has inertial dampening built into it. Also, I'm fairly certain I asked you not to hold back, Mage Taverish," said Chadwick calmly. The indignant mage was just standing to the side an looking slightly horrified. The mousy girl just seems enraptured with the barrier. The third boy, who hadn't said anything, was starting to grin a bit. Taverish laughed, "I don't get to do that very often lad. Let's give it a try."

The last three stones in Taverish's hand turned into molten rock and then started expanding. He didn't stop until he had three balls of lava the size of his head. Everyone else had to take several steps backwards and Taverish's face was glowing red. Then he launched them at such a speed at the barrier that they made a ripping noise in the air. The three balls spiraling around each other. If there had been a house in the way, no one living inside would have survived.

The balls wouldn't have even have slowed down for a wooden house. Once again they just harmlessly splashed off, losing all their speed in the process, the blue dome just flared slightly darker blue for a moment. Chadwick nodded with satisfaction and then stepped around the puddles of rapidly cooling lava on the ground to turn off the barrier and collect the pieces.

"But… how," the indignant mage began. But was interrupted by the boy who hadn't said anything yet.

"Oh, give it up Taj, the kid is obviously the real deal." Taverish had a wistful smile on his face when Chadwick strolled back up and handed the bits of the barrier off to the mousy girl.

"That was enjoyable lad, normally I'm not allowed to do that for risk of burning down forests or knocking holes in the tower," said Taverish.

"Glad to help. It was satisfying to know I could be here to resolve this one myself, I was never really happy with the answer. Since Sal limited me to 16-point solutions," said Chadwick. Taverish nodded, then turned to the group of three enchanters, "so, who is ready to learn from Master Enchanter Chadwick?"