"I can't believe that guy!" Landar slumped into her chair, not even giving a glance at the wooden framework in the center of the stone warehouse.
"Something wrong?" Cato asked.
"My father," Landar muttered, "he's actually threatening to send 'escorts'. More like kidnapping. "
"I don't understand," Cato turned away from the schematics on the table, "is someone about to kidnap you?"
"My father insisted I come back. And said that he was going to send escorts to ensure this summoning stone returns safely," Landar snorted, "Sure, in my family, a guard 'escorting' you is also your jailer. "
"Is the stone really that useful?" Cato asked.
"You saw what it did," Landar said, "summoning stones are ridiculously powerful when used correctly. Of course they're very important. A Ritual class like this one is a family treasure. "
Family treasure? But from what Cato had seen of life in Inath, most families weren't very large. Perhaps the nobility were different. Funny, Cato hadn't thought of Landar as nobility. Maybe she was.
"If they're that powerful, no one can force you to do anything," Cato pointed out, "what good will 'escorting' you do if you just vapourize the escort?"
"Summoning stones use the magic of the user," Landar held up her hands to indicate the sizes as she spoke, "the smallest stones have the weakest effects and use the least magic. Ritual class requires so much magic that I could train for the rest of my life and would probably still not be powerful enough to use it alone. They're only really powerful in an army. "
"I see. And how did you come across such a stone?"
"We-ell, it belongs to my family," Landar looked away guiltily.
Right. "And you stole it from your parents, I'm guessing?" Cato asked.
"My grandparents actually. I was, you know, curious what they were keeping all locked up in that building and I... borrowed it. It was only going to be for a while, honestly, but then they started looking all over for it and I just couldn't work up the courage to admit I took it. "
"And how long ago was that?"
"About a year. That was when I came back from the Academy," Landar laughed nervously, "they kicked me out quite quickly during that uproar and I left with the stone still in my pocket. Well, they know about it now. "
She sighed and tried to look pitiful. On the other hand, it did seem like the whole thing was her fault. Clearing it up could be simple.
"You know, perhaps its not so unreasonable from your parents' point of view?" Cato said. Landar looked up sharply. "You stole a powerful magical weapon after all. And then you've been hiding it for the last year, anyone would be annoyed. "
Landar winced and twiddled nervously with her ponytail. "Yeah, I could see that," she admitted finally, "although I think my father might be more than just annoyed. "
"How about doing things the reasonable way?" Cato suggested, "you can't use the stone by yourself so it's no use to you. Why not just visit them, apologize and return it. Safely. "
"But my father-"
"Is being reasonable," Cato said, "the stone is very important and I don't think he wants to lose it again. Perhaps the escort is for the stone?"
Landar scowled, "not likely. My father hates me. "
What was she, a teenager? Actually, Cato didn't know her age, perhaps she was younger than he.
"Unless you want to run away, I don't think you have any choice. "
"Yeah, I'm too famous. " She sighed and said as if it was a burden too heavy to bear. Cato could almost roll his eyes.
Regional Leader,
I have a concern of which you should be informed with all haste. As you are aware, I am the Corbin Leader of the Ironworkers' Guild and a troublesome matter has been brought to my attention regarding a merchant named Kalny. This merchant is known for his supplies to Wendy's Fort and our products have traveled on his carts upon occasion that ours are unavailable.
Thus it is with some familiarity of his actions that I write of this irregularity. Kalny has often come to us for nails and tools related to wagon and crate repair, as expected of a large overland trading company. Three nights past, he placed an order for four iron workpieces, of a specific design and shape that no ironsmith has ever built before, and asked for them to be built to the highest quality.
I write not of artistic pieces nor that disastrous experiment with iron wagon wheels, our craftsmasters are used to such odd orders, but none such as this. Each of the four pieces are to be made to strict specifications and are of different shapes and sizes with much special care paid to their edges.
The master craftsmen have never made anything to this level of precision and I took it upon myself to examine this order closely. Bolt from the moons, I realized that the four pieces are meant to fit together into an iron vessel with a tapered mouth! I called the good Kalny for a meeting and pointed out that no craftsman, no matter how expert, could make such a vessel hold water, and the iron would quickly rust away. He insisted that it be made anyway, leaks and all. When I proposed that he go to the barrelmakers instead, he said iron was acceptable. For what liquid he requires such a vessel I have no idea and is the subject of my concern.
I doubt he is building such a thing on a whim. Not only will it cost nearly a hundred rimes and take even a master like myself an eight-day to build, the shape is so horrid that no sane person would regard it of artistic value. Certainly, Kalny intends to gain some benefit from it.
I'm proceeding to investigate the matter. Discreetly of course. Even if it turns out to be just an obscure winery recipe from the Tsar, we may be able to leverage some advantage from the changes he brings, provided we are forewarned.
Signed Yours With Faith,
Elma Karin
Corbin Branch Leader
Danine hummed to herself. The busy street was nothing at all like her village, there were so many new things to look at that even after a week in Corbin, she was still finding a new sight every day. And it was so noisy too! She could hear the creak of wooden carts or raised voices of merchants peddling wares. Her village was nothing like this.
Cato was boring though, now that she was staying with him. Back when he was the only human among Fukas, Cato was endlessly interesting, somehow talking to the village council and being treated seriously. Now though, he seemed to spend most of his time writing and drawing that blast furnace thing he told the merchant about.
It was seriously starting to make Danine reconsider wanting to be an important person like Cato. If having people listen to you meant that you needed to spend all day thinking and planning things like him, then Danine wasn't sure she was up to it. He could sit in that room the merchant gave them all day, just add a quill and paper and Cato was happy. It sounded like insanity to her.
Honestly, if it wasn't for her, the room would have looked exactly like it did when they got there. Cato went out to buy food and paper and ink. And that was it. So it fell to Danine to do their shopping and even wash their clothing! Cato stayed in that room or the warehouse more than ever.
She spun the toy in her hands again. The wooden stick with four curved pieces of paper stuck to one end was what Cato gave her when she complained of boredom. And then told her to figure out why it could fly. It was just like Cato to simply... forget to tell her how to make it fly in the first place. Danine had spent nearly the entire Little Night working that out.
When Danine spun it, the toy leapt out of her hands and soared into the sky for a few moments before slowly coming down onto the stone paved street. Of course, no stick should be able to fly like that, but Cato's actions always had a reason even if it didn't make sense at the beginning.
Wagging her tail curiously, Danine picked up the stick again. The paper had something to do with it, normal sticks did not fly even if you spun them. She had got that far but was now quite stuck.
"Hey, a monster!"
The nasty undertone in the voice cut through the usual noise of Corbin's streets and Danine whipped around to look- No, the voice wasn't talking to her.
Off the main street, there were three human boys standing around the side of a building. No, they were surrounding something. Danine put away Cato's stick.
"No, give it back!" a smaller voice cried from inside them.
Could it be? Someone in trouble?
Danine looked around but the other people on the street simply walked past, ignoring the four of them. It wasn't a good idea but Danine was curious. She edged closer.
One of the boys pushed the victim and he fell backwards onto the ground. Danine sucked in a breath, he had furry ears and a tail. The boys were picking on a Fuka!
The bullies grabbed something out of his hand and the Fuka boy cried desperately. Her eyes met his and she almost stepped forward but the boy just looked down, ears lying flat against the evil laughter above him. Something boiled up from inside her, a wordless ugly fire that clouded across her vision.
Before she knew it, Danine had marched over to the three human boys and gave the biggest one as powerful a kick as she could.
He leapt straight up into the air, like Cato's toy stick. Before he could even turn around, Danine put her foot onto his behind and shoved him forward onto the ground. He slammed into the paving with a hard smack, the brown doll flying out of his hands.
"What under Selna-" the other two boys rounded on her but faster than they could react, she knuckled her fist and punched the closest one in the throat. He also went down with a gurgle.
The last remaining bully looked at two groaning on the ground and hesitated. Danine didn't wait, she marched over to the cowering Fuka boy and pulled him up on to his feet.
Wordlessly, they ran down the street, dodging carts and angry yells. Behind them the cries and shouts of the bullies faded away rapidly.
They came to a stop in another tiny side street, panting and massaging their burning legs.
"You run fast," Danine said to the Fuka boy, "what's your name?"
Now that she got a good look, he was perhaps a year or two younger than her.
"Uuu, they took Sparky," he pouted, "I just bought him after saving up for a year!"
"That's the doll?" Danine asked and got a nod, "so, your name?"
He eyed her for a moment, "Tam. "
"Tam? Why do they pick on you?"
Tam stared at her incredulously, "they always pick on us. The human children never leave us Fukas alone. " He elaborated with some prompting, "they call us monsters because of our tail and ears. I mean, we do kind of look like one. "
Danine frowned, "what are their names? Those three?"
Just asking about them gave Tam a shiver. "I don't remember their names, I don't want to. "
"Not like they're worth it," Danine and the boy shared a grin. Then she thought something brilliant and smiled slyly, "I've got something better than a doll. Help me figure out how this works!"
From Danine and Cato,
Mama, I'm here in Corbin with Cato. I am very sorry for running away. Cato is helping me write this letter. Cato is taking care of me now, don't worry.
Corbin is very very big! There are buildings made of stone everywhere! And there is so much food and so many types! We found the merchant that sells the bread to Wendy's Fort. I think he might be eating too much, he is very fat. But Cato says he is a nice person. But also greedy.
My learning is going well. Magic is very fun to learn. Cato is teaching me how to write! I can even write short letters now.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
I want to stay here, but Cato says you should be the one who decides. If you say to come back, then I will go on the next supply wagon. But please let me stay.
To you with love,
Danine
Your daughter is perfectly healthy and very cheerful. She likes it here in Corbin.
This letter comes with the second supply wagon after the one we left on, they rotate between two wagons, one is at the Fort and one is in Corbin. Since it takes ten days to make a round trip, by the time your reply reaches us, the fastest Danine can get to Wendy's Fort is with the wagon leaving immediately after your reply arrives here, which is in fifteen days from when I write this and ten days after Wendy's Fort receives it. Considering the time it takes to prepare for such a trip, I doubt Danine will be able to move so fast.
Therefore, if you request that she return, the quickest she can arrive is fifteen days after Wendy's Fort receives this letter.
On the other hand, I humbly ask that you allow Danine to stay. Corbin is much better for learning magic. Even if the knights are stronger in Wendy's Fort, there is more to magic than destroying things. I do not believe you think Danine can be one of the knights nor is she inclined to such matters. I can also teach her how to read and write, skills that she will find extremely useful now that Inath is likely to begin trading with your village through Wendy's Fort.
Those are good reasons but the most important part is that she wants to stay. To find what she truly wants to do, so she says. Even if she is a child in some ways, I hope that you can respect her wishes. She may have the chance to grow here in ways that the village and Wendy's Fort aren't able to provide.
There are even other Fukas here. From what I have experienced here in Corbin, Inath is prejudiced against Fukas like you. Just the other day, she saw three human children tormenting a young Fuka boy. Far from cowering in fear, Danine stood up to the human children all by herself. It was quite courageous of her and she has made a friend.
In other news, I have contacted a merchant by the name of Kalny and am working with him. Like Danine mentioned, he is the person who supplies Wendy's Fort with bread. I shall see if I can persuade him to send extra caum spice powder to trade since some of you crazy people like it so much.
I would also like you to pass a message to the Elkas, Ka in particular. Kalny says that he knows another frontier province six borders away houses a full clan of Elkas. Apparently they're called Clan Two. Where Clan One is and if there are more, Kalny does not know. If they wish to ask anything more, please relay their messages and I will do my best to find out.
Related to my observation of prejudice, please inform the village council. They would be wise to watch any traders that arrive, I hear the first such caravan trip will be in twenty days. Likely the traders will try to force very unfavourable prices, thinking that Fukas are stupid or cannot defend themselves. Needless to say, I am sure you will prove any such idiots wrong. To aid you to that end, I have attached a price list of common items gathered from the various shops and stalls here in Corbin by Danine.
Respectfully,
Cato Lois
The walls of the Iris family was shorter than a city wall but just as imposing. The decorative crenelations reminded her of unpleasant past memories.
"Mistress Landar, your father is expecting you," the maid at the front gate bowed to her. Figures that she would have been informed, Landar had been on the carriage for the past two weeks.
When Landar asked to just ride a Reki, the 'escorts' gently but firmly denied her. She, and the stone, was to stay safely inside a box.
She followed the maid down the paths through the grounds, marveling at how little changed the scenery was from her childhood. There, the pond where she used to fish the family's prized carp with bubbles of magic. Here, the stone lamp where she had hid her first pretend love letter.
Landar hid a light blush, just remembering that was embarrassing. But it felt like she was walking back in time, growing younger with every step.
Hey, her father's house was that way... the dueling grounds?! Landar stopped at the ugly walls of solid cut stone in shock. The maid showed her through a side door and bowed. She glanced at the maid, just standing there with a bowed head. She could walk away, her escorts had left already, Landar might even make it out of the compound. But the maid would probably pay for her impulsive actions.
Landar pushed open the door and walked in. She gulped as she saw her father standing a third of the field away. The field enclosed in Iris's walls was enormously large, almost as big as the central courtyard of Wendy's Fort. The lone man standing proudly in the traditional Tsarian robes, a light breeze trailing his greying beard, was tiny compared to the expanse of lightly browning grass.
It was not a place she remembered fondly. Not when her father seemed to loom higher with every moment.
"Have you progressed in the Art?" her father asked in a low voice.
Her anger that had been suppressed by nostalgia came flaring back up. The edge in Landar's voice surprised even herself, "I've left the Iris for years and that's all you ask when I come back?!"
"For us, the Art is everything-"
"Not for me," Landar shot back hotly, "I left for a reason. "
"You promised your mother that you would return more powerful than when you left. " The implied action left Landar with a cold feeling. She had not told anyone else of how she had persuaded her mother to let her go to the Academy.
"I am," Landar said, "but not in the way you imagine. "
"Then show me," he said stiffly, "take out that Stone you have and show me. "
Landar drew out the Ritual Stone and tossed it aside. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the casual disregard, but she had enough of this sort of nonsense the things filled people's heads with. "You know no one has enough power to use one of those by themselves. "
"Hikkiri did. I hoped you might follow in her footsteps. "
"A bedtime story told to overly ambitious little girls who don't know better. "
They glared at each other over a gulf of values that had long since become impossible to breach.
Without warning, a wave of magic spilled out from her father, seemingly cloaking him in an aura of latent power so strong that it battered at her senses and blinding out all the smaller sources in the Iris compound. It grew larger and brighter as her father poured out his magic.
Just like an Iris, to rely on sheer brute force. Landar took her time to concentrate and build her spell, quick strikes were not the Iris way after all, it was almost relaxing compared to the frenetic energy and chaos of the knights' battle training. An Iris duel always resulted in a slugging match, power and stamina were everything. Finesse took a backseat, after all the tricks and traps could only do so much in the face of overwhelming power.
And what better way to demonstrate one's superiority by showing that one could spare the power to simply ride roughshod over all attempts at tactics, eat the inefficiencies and still come out on top? Or so the theory went. In truth, Iris's major weapons were the summoning stones that were descended from Tsar. Her familial duty was to train all day and all night so that she could gain enough magical power to use them properly.
Her father loosed a maelstrom of raw magic, unleashing a torrent of power that matched the enchantments on the walls of Wendy's Fort. Enchantments that had been charged painstakingly by the knights. From a single man.
Landar fired her trump card, a tiny speck compared to the sun-like intensity. It disappeared into the torrent and without fanfare the entire wall of magic reversed course. Her father stumbled in surprise and Landar grinned savagely, the ball was literally in his court now.
It wasn't a spell that would have worked on the knights. They kept fierce control over their magic, dodging and weaving between spells and shields in a practiced form that Landar would have found hard to get a hit in. And they preferred swarms of weak individual bolts, compared to the single monolithic behemoth of the Iris style.
Landar ground down a tuft of grass under her foot and readied another. Truth be told, she had barely grown at all in power since she left those years ago. In exchange, the Academy had taught her the techniques and combat style of an Inath battlemage or at least tried to. Her power was monstrous compared to the other students but her focus was beyond pitiful. Curse this Iris training.
Her father countered the ball of concentrated magic with an even bigger one, smashing aside the offending return and still having enough power left to be threatening. She loosed another spell and the scene repeated.
Again her father lashed out and again she turned it back. Then without waiting for it to hit, Landar fired out a swarm of smaller bolts that arced around to attack from the sides and above.
They splashed on a shield, a wall of solid magic that made her feel like she was throwing stones at a cliff. But still, he was on the defensive!
She took more time to fashion another trick spell to make the shield implode but he simply blew it away with a powerful pulse. She was bleeding his magic while hardly spending any! She could win this!
It was ironic that she who failed combat classes was giving her father a hard time. A depressing reminder of the fading glory of Iris. Except when that happened.
Irritation snarling his face, her father pulled out a small stone tinged with a familiar green. Bad form to use a stone in a duel of strength, but he was beyond caring. A blade of magical force sprang up in front of him. It had no handle, no central thickness, no support from the ground, it had no need for any of those niceties. An idealized concept, a vertical plane of magic sharpened into a cutting edge.
The Phantom flew towards her. It was small and silent, compared to the howling blasts of raw magic, but this one would kill her just as dead, rip her clean in half.
Landar summoned up her magic and emptied it out at the phantom, her reversal spell wasn't going to work on something as complicated as this. Even if it was small and simple compared to the Tempest Bolt she had used, any summoning stone generated an effect that was complicated beyond even the best wizards from the Academy. Even the simplest light phantoms were complex.
The blade absorbed her magic, growing thinner but still refusing to disappear. It surely wouldn't hit her, right? Her father wouldn't really kill her just because she didn't practice enough... Landar was about to dive out of the way when it finally crumbled into specks of magic too small to sustain the phantom.
She collapsed to the ground and coughed wetly, the drain of magical exhaustion rising like bile in her throat. She hadn't stretched her power to its limits lately and the old feeling brought back currents of fear. Fear of defeat and punishment that she had experienced so many times on this very ground.
"You haven't grown at all," her father said, dripping with disappointment, still leaking magic like a faulty sieve. No doubt he had enough stamina to launch the same again.
What arrogance. He just brushed aside all her effort, all the knowledge she had gained! Just like that! When she had even forced him to cheat to win! But there wasn't anything she could say when she was still hacking out her lungs on the ground.
Landar gritted her teeth. Gah, this was why she hated this place.