Chương 19: 342 Names

In the gap between coughing and spitting out dust, Elvera managed to say, "a little more warning would've been nice lad. I wasn't ready to experience freedom from that accursed necklace just to be staring into the face of the largest shaman curse I've ever seen." Chadwick looked a little apologetic, "sorry. I had to improvise a little with our lack of preparation time." He looked around the cave they were now hiding in.

The large rock that was the target for the summoning belts was in the back, with his pack propped up against it.

"Seems to have worked though." Taverish, still grinning from ear to ear, said, "worked? Boy, you freed us!" Sloan and the Dean were both nodding enthusiastically.

"So lad, you told me we wouldn't just be running. And you certainly earned some trust after that display, but it seems like you can finally tell us the whole plan," said the Dean.

"Sure, but let's just make ourselves a little more comfortable first," said Chadwick and then headed over to his pack.

"Not sure how you plan that boy," said Elvera, "hard to be comfortable in a cold, dirty cave." Chadwick started pulling entire chairs out of his bag. And then a table and a lantern. None of the four watching moved. All frozen in shock at the display. They all rushed over though when Chadwick pulled out a full brandy bottle and five glasses, then smugly asked, "anyone care to celebrate?"

They may have still been hiding in a cave, but after Chadwick set up a fire and then pulled out an entire ham and some fresh bread, they all quickly forgot about their surroundings. It ended up being the best night the four of them had experienced in years. Chadwick burst into the cave complex and asked, "who would be the best to restrain a dozen mages without hurting them?" They had been in the cave for a few weeks, Sloan gradually turning it into a whole complex of rooms.

With Chadwick adding enchanted lights and heat sources to everything. From the outside it still looked like a shallow cave, though they had dragged some bushes over to disguise even that. Elvera stood up, "me, I wouldn't say without hurting them, but no long-term damage."

"Good enough, come with me," Chadwick said and rushed outside again. Chadwick had been rigging up enchantments on the paths to all the fortresses so he would know if another group of mages got sent to one of them. Their plan had been to wait until another group attacked a fortress and then attempt to fake more explosions, breaking more necklaces as they did. It would help that the mages would all be exhausting themselves first.

If they had done it right, it would just look like more false alarms from necklaces caused by some new attack the shamans were using. It was easy to blame the enemy. Something had obviously changed. Since it wasn't nighttime — when the groups would normally get sent out to die under cover of darkness — and his alarm runes had just picked up a group of twelve mages roaming the countryside. He had gotten a look at them from a distance.

There was an air-mage among them that was using his magic to look for something by monitoring the disturbances in the breezes he was pushing around.

"There are twelve mages, most of them younger, they seem to be searching through the forest, likely us," explained Chadwick as they moved through the forest. He had to slow down as Elvera still had to hobble with her cane. Getting free of her necklace hadn't made her any less old. If we she was acting far younger in spirit. Chadwick got them into a hidden position where they would see the group coming, assuming they maintained their course, and waited.

He asked Elvera some questions about how she could restrain them and they came up with a rough plan. As soon as they got close enough, she could lock up their muscles with a constant buzz of low-power lightning. It was hard for her to maintain for long, so Chadwick had to get down there quickly and break all their necklaces. It was a simple enough plan, and went off pretty smoothly until Chadwick got in sight of the group and one of the older mages still managed to fire off some high-pressure jets of water.

The ability to do so without hand motions, purely by intention, was something that was difficult for most to master. This mage apparently had it down. The enchanted brass ring on Chadwick's belt that handled his liquid dispersion shield was chewing up its available power at an alarming rate. So, he broke that mage's necklace first. The man shuddered and stopped his attacks. The rest of the group was slowly turning to face the one man with a broken necklace, trying their best to attack.

It was a struggle for them to try and do anything while their muscles twitched uncontrollably. Chadwick broke every necklace before any more attacks could occur and gave Elvera a signal so she would stop her mild lightning. The group all collapsed on the ground, some of them laughing and others crying. Elvera and Chadwick got thanked almost constantly as they led the group back to the cave.

None of them particularly knew any of this group, but the Dean greeted each of them by name and introduced them to their small rebellion. Chadwick had to pull out more tents and sets of bedding from his seemingly endless bag. The general only sent out one more group of mages, followed by several observers that the Dean picked up into the air and dropped while Chadwick and Elvera removed necklaces. After that, he didn't seem to want to risk losing more of them.

There were probably still fifty mages left in the encampment. The group couldn't see a way to get them all free without also killing a lot of innocent soldiers, or risking the General just ordering all those remaining mages to kill each other — something the necklaces were perfectly capable of forcing them into if he decided he didn't care about the public potentially hearing about it. Soldiers were notorious gossips.

So, the group decided that their only option was to try and find the central enchantments that powered the necklaces. Starting with the Chief Mage, who certainly had at least had one of the gold control necklaces like the General had. Getting their hands on that control necklace might give them some new options. Chadwick trained Sarah, his enchanting student, how to use the spatial bag so that the hidden mages could stay supplied without risking leaving the cave.

She had been in the second group of mages that was sent out to try and find them. Once she was trained, Chadwick set about creating the perfect enchantments to get them across the four-week journey to the tower in a more reasonable time. There was one slightly awkward moment where one of the rescued mages turned out to be someone Chadwick remembered, but hadn't noticed at first since it had been so many years since he last saw her, from his perspective.

Claricia, the same girl who had tried to kill Chadwick in order to cover her escape. Claricia was cowering in a corner of the cave complex, several other girls standing protectively in front of her.

"You do know what she did, right?" Said Chadwick, who was somehow looming over the group while shorter than all of them. The girls huddled closer to prevent Chadwick from being able to see Claricia. One of them spoke up quietly, "you can't blame her for actions taken while under those slave collars." Chadwick's memories of that event had come crashing back and he was certain nobody had been ordering her to kill him.

"If you expect me to believe…," he began, but then was cut short by the Dean.

"It's true, though perhaps not in the way these girls believe. Commendable that they will stand up for the friend without truly understanding what she did," said the Dean, who stepped up in front of Chadwick.

"Come, I will explain, they don't need to hear this," said the Dean and led Chadwick away. Chadwick looked reluctant, but seeing how terrified the group of girls actually looked, agreed and stepped away. Once outside and away from listening ears, the Dean began his story, "her father was a man by the name of Carlisle. A man who wasn't a noble. But associated with nobles due to his sheer wealth."

So far, nothing in the story was endearing Claricia to Chadwick, but he knew the Dean was going somewhere with this and waved him to continue.

"When his daughter first manifested her magic, he hid it for a long time. Using that chance to research everything he could. His extensive connections meant that he got data no one outside of the king's court should really know. He learned about the necklaces and at least somewhat understood the situation the Chief Mage had put us in," said the Dean. He sighed deeply and continued, "he made a grave mistake at that point.

He used his wealth to get ahold of one of the master control necklaces and ordered his daughter to find a way to escape, without revealing her plans. Because of the nature of the seniority of the controls, only those with another master control necklace could get her to reveal what had been ordered." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Are you trying to say her father ordered her to kill me?" Asked Chadwick.

"Not exactly," said the Dean, shaking his head, "he didn't fully understand how the compulsions worked, or how deep it would run. Claricia kept trying to find ways to escape. And every time they failed, she was forced to escalate in an attempt to achieve the goal she had been given. He had no way to contact her to check on her progress and discover exactly how bad it was getting. No attempt by anyone short of the Chief Mage would have exposed what was going on."

Chadwick began to see the picture, but didn't look convinced, "so, befriending those boys and attempting to use me as a distraction while she fled was something she was compelled towards? How do we know that for sure? She seemed perfectly willing to kill me."

"We know because the Chief Mage personally made her confess everything, once he tracked her down at her family estate," said the Dean flatly.

"You said her father was Carlisle. What happened there?" Asked Chadwick.

"Something the noble who spilled the secrets failed to warn him about. That there are consequences. The Chief Mage personally ended the man. Obeying a rule that the king himself issued," said the Dean. Chadwick seemed convinced, but decided to just avoid Claricia in the future. No matter the validity of the story, he wasn't interested in reliving that part of his life. He doubted Claricia was either.

"So," Chadwick asked the Dean as they sat outside the cave, "you are effectively compressing the air with your usual method, and then using brute force to hold someone up?" The Dean nodded, "for myself, I can maintain a sort of flat plane of compressed air that I can send more air against to move myself along. Something like a bird's wings. Reasonably efficient if it's just me. But it requires constant adjustments and way too much focus to do that with a second person."

Chadwick nodded and then chucked a few runes onto a stone, "what if we did something like this for me?" The Dean brushed a breeze past the stone, "hmm, interesting idea. That would make things a lot easier. You still have wind resistance to worry about." The stone itself had sprouted wings of compressed air that were just fixed in place and the Dean was able to view them by controlling the air around them. Effectively seeing the invisible wings.

"Not sure I follow," said Chadwick.

"Air is like water, but much thinner. If you try moving your arm fast through water, it slows you down. It works the same and becomes much more noticeable at the speeds we need to move," responded the Dean.

"Oh, I actually have something that removes friction. That might apply here," said Chadwick and then reached out to the stone and made a tweak. The Dean brushed some air past the stone again and then frowned, wind picked up and flattened the grass in a small circle around the stone, "interesting, it's almost like I can't touch it with wind. Put the wings back on it, but leave that enchant just on the stones surface." Chadwick complied and then tossed the stone into the air.

The Dean's magic was able to grab the wings and make the stone soar around like a diving falcon. He let it glide back down in front of Chadwick, "I'd need you to tweak the shape again. Do you actually have enough material to achieve keeping this on constantly for the duration?" Chadwick sighed and fished the gold coin out that he had won gambling, "I hate to waste this, but this is the only material I have that could handle that level of enchantment for the length of time we need."

The Dean winced, "that would do it, sorry lad." Chadwick shrugged, "my teacher warned me that the life of an enchanter is an expensive one. I may as well get used to it. Now, show me what shape you need the wings in." The 31 mages that would be staying in the caves seemed comfortable enough with all the extra accommodations that Sloan had been carving out of the stone of the cave. It helped that Chadwick had stolen quite a range of supplies.

Most of it was things that would last, but there was a surprising amount that could be done with ham, eggs and the general's personal liquor supply. In hindsight, the general might be taking this whole rogue mage thing a bit more personally because Chadwick had swiped his booze. The brothers with the stone oven were also able to work some wonders with the bags of flour and sugar. So the cave smelled delightful and most of the mages were actually eating better than they had been in camp.

It had taken a few days to get everything they would need ready and do some low altitude test runs. Once they left, they really didn't want to have to stop and adjust things on the way. It had to be perfect before they began. Once they were both ready, Chadwick had restocked all his usual enchanted items and set up fresh conditional magic that should suit a fight with the Chief Mage — who the Dean knew was a sand mage. The mages watching them prepare to leave had a full spread of breakfast pastries.

Someone had even had their personal supply of coffee on them. It looked more like a garden party than an escaped camp of prisoners as the group sat around watching Chadwick and the Dean prepare. They were enjoying breakfast with a show. Taverish helped them check over their gear to make sure everything was well secured in place and wouldn't be knocked away with strong winds. He was also there to keep an eye out for wraiths, since they had seen several in the area.

Sarah was fussing over Chadwick's items, to make sure he had thought of everything. And then, when she ran out of excuses, stretched up and kissed his cheek. Turned bright red, squeaked with embarrassment and ran back into the cave. Chadwick froze up, went a bit red himself and grinned. Taverish just laughed and told them the lady had "blessed their journey" now, so they best get on with it. There was even some clapping from the mages watching by the food.

The Dean lifted them up by the invisible wings of air being held in place by the gold coin on Chadwick's belt. The small crowd cheered their departure. Then they gradually built up speed until they rocketed out of sight. They made the four-week journey in about nine hours. Chadwick had ended up putting anti-friction runes onto some brass loops that both he and the Dean wore for the sake of efficiency. While they were watching the countryside fly past, they barely felt a ripple.

The noise was still deafening, as the wings of compressed air didn't have anti-friction on them, they cut through the incoming air with a tearing noise. The Dean wouldn't be able to push against them with air if it just slid by. So, it was a necessary problem. Since Chadwick had almost nothing he could do to help the Dean at that point, he just enjoyed the sights of the countryside and kept his magic reserves fresh for when they made it to the tower in the dark.

The Dean had slowed them down as they reached the tower and they came down from above it. Heading straight for the Chief Mage's window on the outside of the tower. They silently floated down and found the Chief Mage seemingly asleep at his desk. Chadwick signaled that he was ready and then prepared to blast the Chief Mage's brain with particles. But, something caught his attention. He was used to seeing tiny particles coming out with someone's breath. His blue eye was usually able to see them. And now, he couldn't.

Something was off. He signaled the Dean closer and then deconstructed the latch on the window, opening it and stepping into the room quietly. He tiptoed to the Chief Mage and got a closer look and confirmed it, the man was already dead. He straightened in confusion and then waved the Dean in.

"He's already dead," said Chadwick quietly, scanning the room. The Dean looked confused and then peered down at the Chief Mage, "but who killed him?"

"That would be me," said a voice from a corner. Chadwick spun and fired thousands of particles into the figure hidden in the shadows. A slight flare of a barrier showed up, blocking them. The figure just stepped out of the shadows, wearing mottled grey and blacks and picking at her nails with a long dagger. She turned out to be a pretty brunette lady with piles of different metal shapes affixed to her clothes. And a stack of gold discs at her belt.

From the runes, Chadwick knew they must be enchanted, but for some reason his gold eye couldn't make out even a single strand of magic. She was like a void of magic to his sight. The lady didn't move, but Chadwick and the Dean both jumped when the front door thumped open and some large men in full plate armor stomped into the room and then took up stances on either side of the door. After a moment, a middle aged man in a dark blue robe stepped into the room.

He paused for a moment, looking at Chadwick and the Dean, "I suppose I better wear this," he said, then fished a gold crown out of his robe and put it on his head. The lady in the corner was already bowing. The Dean scrambled to bow and then hissed at Chadwick to bow as well. Chadwick hesitated for a moment until one of the guards cleared his throat and made a gesture with his face and eyebrows that very clearly communicated "bow or regret it lad".

Which was quite impressive for eyebrows to achieve, so Chadwick complied. It was best not to argue with such talented eyebrows.

"Rise," said the king tiredly. When they did, he continued, "I assume you two are to blame for that infernal alarm that's been going off in my palace?" Chadwick glanced at the Dean, who looked flustered to be in front of the king. It was the first time Chadwick had seen him look like that, so he took the initiative and answered, "if it goes off from the control necklaces? Then yes."

"Yes, 'your majesty'," the woman in the corner hissed.

"Err, right. Yes, your majesty?" Chadwick added, not sounding sure.

"The thing makes a bloody awful racket. General Bracks has tried to assure me that everything is under control and he will have the responsible parties apprehended any moment now. I assume from your presence here that his reports are entirely too optimistic?" Asked the king.

"Perhaps a smidge, your majesty," said Chadwick. The king sighed and said, "well, I decided to save you the hassle of a grand battle with the Chief Mage, that he would undoubtedly lose. He got entirely too reliant on those necklaces and hasn't had to face a real mage for half his life. Also, by allowing Clarice to do what she does best," the king indicated the woman in the corner, "the tower doesn't get half destroyed by the fight. Now, tell me, what's your plan from here?"

"Umm," Chadwick looked confused.

"Don't tell me you didn't get any further than 'kill the bad guy'. Surely you planned to find the central enchantment for the necklaces, free the rest of the mages and bring them all back to the tower?" Asked the king.

"I, well," began Chadwick, "we planned to see if the Chief Mage's necklace would give us more clues about where the central enchantment was…" The king nodded and then strolled up to the desk with the dead Chief Mage and dropped a large, rune-covered block of gold onto the table. Then said, "ok, here's the central enchantment."

"Umm. Thank you?" Said Chadwick. The king just waved his response away, "I'm more interested in what you plan from here. It's always been a tradition that the Chief Mage had the responsibility of educating mages about the wraith curse and it was ultimately up to him to make sure the overall magical weight in the kingdom doesn't exceed a certain amount. He had autonomy in that. Now you need to convince me that you have a solution for those that refuse to leave in the future.

The necklaces were meant to be a way to enforce that only when necessary. The recently deceased over there was using them a bit differently. I don't know how many young mages got sent to their deaths because of his unwillingness to do the right thing…"

"342 in my time as Dean," said the Dean, "I know every name." The king looked stunned, "I apologize sir mage. I never knew the numbers. Perhaps Clarice gave this one too quick of a death," he indicated the Chief Mage's corpse, "but, even with the ex-Chief Mage's substantial magical weight removed, we still have the same problem our ancestors did. The curse."