"A visitor for you, Danine!" a shout came from inside the house below. Kalny's door guard had quite the yelling voice.
Danine didn't bother with the stairs. She hopped off her perch outside the attic window, bouncing off the ledge on the house opposite then onto the frame of the back door. From there, it was a short hop to the ground. A visitor for her? Were her friends in trouble?!
She peeked out from the alleyway and a squeal rose in her throat almost involuntarily. "Ryulo?!"
The hunter turned away from the guard to look at her. Then another familiar tail appeared from behind him. Aleas waved at her, "hello, I'm here too!"
"Wow!" Danine bounded up to them, "why are you here?"
"To pick up a little lost lamb," Ryulo winked at Danine, "If you're not with Cato anymore, I think your purpose here is over. Time to go home. "
Wha- Before Danine could even think about protesting, a certain tail lashed out and whacked Ryulo on the behind.
"Don't believe this idiot," Aleas grinned, "the council sent us here. We are to choose the Fukas who can make the trip to our village and guide them back. "
"Hey, not in broad daylight!" Ryulo yelped.
Danine giggled and turned around to give him a whack also. Served him right for teasing her like that! But Ryulo blinked in surprise then flushed a cherry red.
"Well, aren't you a bold one," Aleas's voice was filled with mock anger, "trying to steal what's mine?"
Oh! Danine felt her cheeks burning. She hadn't realized the... risquer connotations until after she did it.
"I don't belong to you!" Ryulo protested.
"You're forgetting who is marrying who," Aleas pointed out.
Wait! Did she just hear that?! "It's real?!" Danine half-squealed.
"My grandfather made it official just before we left," Aleas said proudly, "and he's the one engaged to me. "
Well, that was obvious, Aleas was the council member's granddaughter after all.
But to think that the two were standing here telling her the news in person! It was like a romantic dream come true!
Ryulo snorted, "not to worry, after all, I have the perfect plan to make you fall for me. " Smoothly like he had practiced for months, Ryulo dropped a hand behind Aleas and swept up her tail in one hand. With a perfect bow, he brought it up and kissed the tip. Danine utterly failed to suppress another squeal and even Aleas was flushing bright red.
There was the sound of a throat clearing. Kalny's door guard nodded at the street and the open front door meaningfully.
The little fact that they were still standing on the middle of the street, attracting stares, had been lost on Danine but now the embarrassment came down on her like a block of cast iron.
Her tail was through the doorway and into the safety of the house in a blink.
----------------------------------------
"How is Minmay doing this?!" the hand slammed onto the wooden tabletop. The goblets arranged around the table wobbled dangerously but none spilled their contents.
The air was filled with a sweet cloying smell, smoke from acacia weed wafting up from glowing pipes to circle around the roof. They added a golden hue to the light flickering around the room. And a buzz to the thoughts of the lords and ladies hunched around the table.
"It is those inventions, of course," another voice added.
"But where do the inventions come from? That is the question!"
"My people have cased his place completely. There are no artifacts from the First, none in the guilds too I might add. Be sure to remember this favour. "
There was a pause for a mutual waving of hands. A wordless agreement was exchanged.
"So it really is due to that new Academy he is building?"
"Pah! No way! That so called Academy is a dinner table of peasants, not a single wizard or spellstorm among them. "
"Not even the Academy is paying them any attention. I shall quite enjoy turning Minmay into a laughingstock come next Parliament. "
"That is, if he doesn't buy out all your caravans. My estimates, by a very reliable recordkeeper, think that if he achieves what he is saying to his peasants, his tax income will rise by a full tenth next year. And another tenth after that. "
"It could put him solidly above the Central Territories. If you're not overestimating things. "
There was a short silence in the room during which goblets were refilled with expensive spirits and new rings of smoke joined their brothers hanging out below the polished wooden ceiling.
"Something needs to be done about this. "
"We know what you're thinking but no. Minmay is a border territory. You don't do that sort of thing, unless you want to turn into a border territory yourself?"
"Then what are we going to do about this?!"
"We need a political solution. "
"It's too slow!"
"You forget yourself, Chancellor," the voice was stern, "do not presume to tell us what we can or cannot do. "
There was another silence, this one deeper and more nervous.
----------------------------------------
Zaraan the alchemist waved a forkful of braid leaves to emphasize his point, "And so I think we can use elemental Water to form a weld between the stones. "
"But you haven't even managed to recrystallize something out of water," the objection was immediate from Sari.
"This is for after we can do it," Zaraan retorted, sucking down another forkful of the leafy vegetable.
The camp along the road was halfway up the mountain and the knights were out scouting for any monsters nearby. The explanation the three alchemists had received was transparent, there was no way the knights would go out looking for monsters just to secure the campsite. They were out for the bounty.
After all, a request that paid knights to go out for a camping trip was clearly in need of livening up. Nutcases, all of them.
The three alchemists hadn't paid much attention to that and started up a roaring debate about the uses of elemental Water.
"There's no real point if we can't find Cato's natural magic," Mari cut in. Sari's twin sister was quieter but she had a piercing intelligence that Cato had liked immediately. Unlike the two of them, Mari had an open invitation to his rival Academy. Not that it would be much use.
"But imagine we could weld stones together!" Zaraan exclaimed, "a thin layer of magic, then poof, two stones are now one stone. Imagine a city wall bonded so! It would be almost indestructible!"
"And where would you find such magic?" Mari asked, "surely you're not going to undertake this project yourself?"
There was no real answer for that. Zaraan's idea had been considered by the masons already, as an alternative to iron bridges, but it still cost too much magic. In the end, Cato hadn't managed to convince them to fund research into elemental Water.
"The mana tax perhaps," Zaraan added lamely. They all knew that ambitious projects like welding together Wendy's Fort's walls would probably require years of tax income.
"If you're going to consider using ludicrous amounts of magic," the knight staying behind to guard them interrupted, "you might want to get on with finding this natural magic our client wants. "
The knight pointed upwards into the night. On the dark mass of the mountain looming up, there was a tiny light, blinking.
"That's Quinn," the knight said, "they found. "
"Found?" Zaraan asked, "you're not making sense. "
"Not me, them," the knight pointed at the blinking light, "they're just saying 'found' over and over. "
----------------------------------------
The 'found' signal turned out to be an error. The front party forgot to bring a copy of Cato's code book and the only relevant signal the knights remembered was 'found'.
But it wasn't an error that they had found something. The six knights had come across a cave system and wanted to explore it.
"Haa..." Zaraan complained as he dragged leaden feet up the steep slopes, "why is it all the way up here?!"
"You're just unfit," the escorting knight said, with a glance at the twins behind him. They weren't in any better shape.
"I don't understand how you can climb this cliff while carrying all our tents and food!" Zaraan huffed as he pulled on the rope to haul himself up the steep slope.
The knight raised an eyebrow. The knight not only managed to climb with straps and bags hanging off every limb, he also had three bedrolls and a tent across his back. And he was even wearing light chainmail.
If Zaraan wasn't completely sure, he might have thought the knight was some kind of monster. Why, he wasn't even sweating! After three hours of hiking!
Zaraan reached the top of the incline and stumbled onto the ledge the knight was standing on. Then he turned to the two twins also puffing their way up and helped the knight pull them up the rope.
As the alchemists sat down to nurse lungs on fire, there was a clink of metal further up the slope. Then another knight appeared around the corner of the rocky cliffside, clanking in full plate armour.
"Hey there Quinn," the escorting knight waved.
"Not doing too well, huh?" Quinn said, looking down at them, "you'll spoil them if you carry all their luggage, Tarral. "
"A one hour brisk walk is taking more than three hours, if I give them back their tents and beds I think we'll never make it up here. "
Zaraan could only pant on the ground, it was frustrating but true. None of them had ever left Minmay except during their apprenticeships, and going on extended hikes was definitely not his thing. But Cato's money was substantial.
A little thing like a hundred mile hike was a small sacrifice for becoming rich, at least until you actually tried it.
"Come on, it's just a little more," Quinn said, pulling the groaning Mari to her feet. The twins were so tired they couldn't even talk anymore.
They moved carefully along the ledge, holding onto the safety rope tied to Tarral. After another half hour of walking, they came across the gathered knights.
The party was standing in a huge flat area in front of a cave mouth. Rocks the size of heads sat amid a sea of gravel that had settled into a rocky soil. The barren area tilted downwards further away from the mountainside, shedding rocks and soil until it became a bare rock cliff over a vertiginous drop.
With such a convenient base camp, the knights were already starting to pitch their tents under the light of torches placed around the perimeter.
"This is an interesting place," Zaraan said, looking around the area with interest.
"What do you mean?" Quinn said as he helped Tarral unload the alchemists' tents.
Zaraan squatted down and brushed at the rocks, the gravel went quite far down, more than he might have expected. Then he looked up at the damning evidence, the cave mouth itself.
An oblong hole in the mountainside was what came to mind in the common conception of a cave, and indeed, this matched that idea to a tee. None of the knights or even the twins saw anything amiss.
Zaraan walked over to the mouth to examine it. Nope, no traces of water at all. "Caves don't form like this," he explained as everyone started to pay attention to him.
As Cato's designated rock collector, Zaraan was the only member of the expedition who had studied what little there was to know about stone. "Why are there small stones here when there are no small stones elsewhere?" he asked the air, "and don't caves usually have water that wears away the rocks? This one is dry. It has always been dry. "
He gestured at the cave mouth, just a little higher than a person, and apart from the wearing of time, the floor and walls were unnaturally smooth for most caves, lacking random undulating rock surfaces.
"I don't think this is a cave," Zaraan concluded, "someone mined this place. "
----------------------------------------
"How is it you people manage to come up with this?!" Landar cried, dropping the book down onto the table.
"Is it too hard to understand?" Cato asked, looking up from the ugly glass contraption on his side of the laboratory building.
"No, I mean, I understand it. Momentum, forces and friction is an elegant concept to explain why things move," Landar sighed. She picked up the polished iron ball and rolled it into another ball lying on the demonstration table. "But to think of something like a 'force' as an thing... or an interaction between objects. Whoever thought of that must be a genius! And you say there are more advanced concepts!"
Cato caught her eyeing the bookshelf storing Cato's primary set of writings. They both knew it was the book on relativity Landar had been thinking off. What little of relativity Cato remembered anyway. And quantum mechanics too.
"Did you read about the scientific method?" Cato asked, "I had a book on that too-"
"Why would I want to read about how to discover stuff when you've already done that for me?" Landar shot back. She looked down at the book and picked up newtonian mechanics again, "besides, how hard can that be? I don't need a book to tell me how to discover things. "
Cato frowned, discovering rules and patterns wasn't something that naturally came to people. "Why don't we play a little game?" Cato asked, "then we'll see how good you are at discovering things. "
Landar raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical about whether a game could teach something this fundamental. "All right, I'm listening. "
"I'll give you a series of five numbers and your job as the player is to guess the rule that governs whether a series of numbers are valid or not. You can propose your own series of numbers and I'll tell you whether they are valid series or not," Cato explained.
She grinned and nodded.
"Let's go then," Cato said, "numbers can range from one to ten. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, is a valid series. " He wrote down the numbers on a sheet of paper.
"Is there more than one valid series?" Landar asked immediately.
"You'll have to find out," Cato said.
"2, 3, 5, 7, 9," Landar guessed.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Oh, that was good. "That's valid," Cato smiled.
"So adding two was just a bait," Landar grinned. She thought for a moment.
"1, 6, 5, 7, 9. "
"Valid. "
She was frowning now. "So what isn't valid?" she muttered to herself, "Five 1s. "
"1, 1, 1, 1, 1? Not valid. "
Landar nodded to herself.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5. "
"Not valid. "
"3, 4, 5, 6, 7?"
"Valid. "
"What in the world...?" Landar frowned for a while then suddenly thought of something.
"2, 4, 6, 8, 10?"
"Not valid. "
This pause was much longer. Landar stared at the paper and muttered to herself. Then she sighed, "all right, you made your point. I've thought of all the simple rules I can think of but nothing quite explains this. So what is this scientific method you speak of that turns people into geniuses?"
Cato stared at the paper in turn. Yet another reminder not to underestimate Inath people just because they didn't come from a scientific tradition. "Actually, you were right," Cato joined her sigh, "you already know all the main points. "
"What?" Landar looked at the paper filled with numbers and back to Cato, "but I couldn't solve this?"
"Your first guess, do you remember why you asked that?" Cato pointed at the number two.
"Well, the first thing that I thought of was that the numbers had to increase by two," Landar said, "so I changed one number to stop that. "
"Precisely," Cato said, "you guessed a hypothesis and tested it. And tested it in a way that was designed to falsify it. That's the core of the scientific method. "
Landar frowned, "that's it? You're telling me that your special scientific method is that simple? A child could figure that out!"
"You'd be surprised, most people can't do it on Earth," Cato said, "and from what I've seen, the same in Inath. If you've figured that out on your own, I would say you're pretty special. "
Landar smiled, "you're not going to get any favours by praising me. But you're seriously saying there's not special method for thinking of ideas like these?" She waved at the bookshelf of distilled genius.
"No, there are no special techniques, but I still think you are amazing for working that out yourself," Cato shrugged. What could he say after all? Cato wasn't like one of those historical giants, he didn't know if there was any special method for finding bright ideas beyond waiting for them.
Her smile just got bigger then a frown crossed her face. "By the way, what was the rule?"
"The series is valid if there is a seven in it. "
They shared a long look. Landar slowly broke into a sunny smile, "you have no idea how much I want to strangle you right now. "
----------------------------------------
The arrow shot through the leather belt and the man's pants fell to his ankles. Without even pulling it up, the Red Water gang member fled down the alley in his underwear.
"Hmph, these guys can't even stand and fight," Ryulo scowled, unstringing his short bow.
"The Red Water gang have knives and swords, I don't think many of them can shoot a bow," Danine said, "I've followed them around. "
"Then all the better for us," Ryulo said, an undercurrent of anger in his voice, "so have you tracked down where this gang likes to hang out? What about their homes?"
Uh. "What are you planning?" Danine asked.
"Just a little night time visit," Ryulo said, the angry twitching of his ears putting the lie to his light tone, "you have to pay your respects to people who have taken such good care of you. "
Behind them, Aleas was dressing the wounds of the Fuka man lying in a pool of dark blood. Her ministrations had stopped the bleeding but his pale face was not a good sign.
"I am starting to question whether it is a good idea for you to stay here, Danine," Ryulo added, "the Red Water is attacking more viciously ever since I got here, they're even attacking Fukas in broad daylight now. "
He didn't mention how many new faces they had seen in the Red Water lately. Ever since Ryulo arrived, the Fukas in Corbin had started to take Danine's little gang seriously and many more Fukas had turned up wanting to learn magic for self-defence.
The Elder's agreement to take in the Fukas had been tempting but most of the Fukas in Corbin were still skeptical of such an offer. Some level of trust was needed, that the offer was real and their lives could be improved. Along with that, rumours had spread that the Fukas were arming themselves with magic, and Red Water were the only people who could stop them. It was totally unfair of course, to treat Fukas as unable to do anything properly and yet still be a threat with magic, but unfairness was normal.
"I started this fight," Danine said, "so I'll be here until we win. "
"Even if it's dangerous? Your mother will be very worried," Ryulo pointed out.
"Even so. " Danine tried to inject some confidence into her voice. Ryulo just raised an eyebrow.
Aleas hefted the Fuka man up onto her shoulder and they were about to leave when a new voice interrupted.
"That's quite the dangerous weapon you have," the speaker said from behind.
Ryulo snatched up the bowgun from his own belt and spun around, ready to fire faster than Danine could even react.
"Oh no, I'm not here to fight you. Or are we beyond talking already?"
Danine turned around and snarled involuntarily.
"Someone you know, Danine?" Ryulo said without taking his eyes off the man.
"Klaas, he's the one who broke Cato's iron furnace," Danine explained. She couldn't help the rising fear in her throat causing her tail to fluff up. She took him by surprise last time with a ball of magic but she didn't think the man would fall for it this time.
Klaas spread his arms wide, the signature cane in his right hand hanging from idle fingers, but clearly ready to snap up into a fighting position at any time. "Now now, you know how it is with Ironworkers, you couldn't expect us to overlook that, could you?" he spoke, "Ryulo, I have heard many things about you in the last few days. "
"What is it you want?" Aleas said, still keeping an eye on the injured Fuka.
"I heard about a new pair helping the Fukas against Red Water and I wanted to take a look at you for myself," Klaas said, "first Danine shows up then two warriors like you, I wonder where you come from?"
They were not going to tell him of course.
"Well, your performance with those Red Water hooligans has been interesting to watch. Do show me more," Klaas said, the cane snapping up into his hand as if alive. Danine frowned, was that magic she felt?
Without any warning, Ryulo fired his bowgun right at his chest. Klaas was already moving and a flare of magic bounced the arrow off the back of his hand to shatter against the wall.
"Good, good! That's the spirit," Klaas smiled and backed away as Ryulo pulled another magical arrow from his quiver, "well then, it seems I have overstayed my welcome. We shall meet again. "
Ryulo fired again at the retreating man but it just bounced off the man's coat again, then Klaas disappeared around the corner of the alley.
They all relaxed slightly.
"Who was that? And how does he survive getting shot by bowguns?" Ryulo asked, still holding his bowgun nervously.
"I think that was magic. It has to be. People don't deflect arrows with their fists. " She remembered the Resist magic dancing under her skin. Perhaps Amra's discovery wasn't actually new after all?
"Indeed," Ryulo agreed, "I saw a flash of green, maybe. "
"So did I," Aleas said, "perhaps you should teach us too, Danine. "
Teach them? Ryulo and Aleas?! Danine looked at the two best hunters in the village and nearly choked. She was going to be teaching them magic?!
----------------------------------------
Klaas lounged on the chair while Elma read through the report.
"Your opinion?"
"If it comes to open war, the Fukas could win," Klaas said, "those two warriors have magical weapons and they're not like the Redwaters. They've fought and killed people before. "
"So has Red Water. I recall using them for that very purpose. "
"They're different. The gangs have always been better for intimidation and mayhem than killing, murder draws too much attention after all," Klaas indicated his chest for emphasis, "that Fuka man? He aimed for my heart without hesitation. Frankly, I wouldn't want to fight him without magic. And the order won't move if a known Red Water member gets himself killed. Gang wars are always messy because of this. Are you planning to take a side here? What's there to gain?"
It went without saying that the order wouldn't investigate Fuka deaths either. They were just Fukas after all.
"I wouldn't count on their inaction though. " Elma picked up another report and tossed it into Klaas's lap.
Klaas scanned it and whistled, "I see. So Cato continues to influence events even after he's gone. "
"With Corbin's earlier attempt to kill Minmay's favourite toy, she won't want any reason to be criticized for public disturbances," Elma explained, "if the fight between the Fukas and Redwater starts to spill over into the streets, she might decide to take action. I doubt she realizes the connection between this scuffle and Cato, Corbin always had a blindspot around tails. "
"So, what would you have me do?"
"What do you think are the Fuka's chances?"
Klaas raised an eyebrow at Elma. What could he be thinking? "Like I said, they may win a fight against the Redwater. Especially if rumours of them practicing magic prove true. "
"The Fukas are favoured by Cato," Elma muttered.
"What are you thinking about?"
"We are getting rich here," Elma said, "but with Cato somewhere else, I doubt that will last for long. We need some way to attract his attention again, and the Fukas might just be it. "
"You're planning to side with the Fukas?!" For a distinguished guild to help mere Fukas was beyond unheard of. They would be the mockery of all other guilds in Corbin.
Elma just shrugged, "Cato is our money source, yes? If we want to get more inventions from him, it would be best to gain his favour somehow. The Fukas could be one way. "
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"Chancellor Minmay, news from your province is rather worrying. "
The Chancellor stood stiffly in the small room, "what news are you thinking of, your majesty?"
"The Mayor Corbin is causing disturbances regarding a certain man," the king leaned forward on his desk, "it has not escaped our attention that a rather interesting figure has opened a rival Academy in Minmay itself, and that Corbin, Selabia and yourself are all vying for rights to work with this person. His name is Cato, I believe. "
Minmay bowed, "this much is true, your majesty. But I see no cause for alarm. The matter with Corbin is minor and easily dealt with, I am sorry that she has troubled your ears. And rumours of this rival Academy are greatly exaggerated, there are naught but two handfuls of people participating in this cooperative. "
"Interesting you should paint it so, Duport thinks that Cato's work is the most amazing thing to have happened," the king locked stares with the chancellor.
"Your majesty, I have not known the good chancellor is given to praising the goings on in my lands, it would appear I have misjudged him," the chancellor smiled faintly, "nevertheless, I feel he is praising me too much. "
The king knew that Cato's Academy was something Minmay wanted to keep to himself, the chancellor knew that but continued to pretend that Cato's impact was much less than miraculous. This dance of words had been going on for some time now.
The king had had enough. He looked at the row of servants waiting for orders and indicated the door with his head. Without a word, the servants filed out and the door closed to leave the two nobles in true privacy.
"Your majesty needs something from me in private?" Minmay raised an eyebrow.
"Drop the formalities, Minmay, I need to know what is going on in your province," Ektal said, "What is he doing in your territory and why are you so eager to keep what he's doing to yourself?"
"You put me in a tight spot, sir," Minmay frowned, "I don't wish to say. "
"Do I have to issue a writ? Because I really will launch a formal investigation. If I can't get the truth. "
Minmay was silent for a long while then he spoke up, "Cato is responsible for the cast iron invention that we have discussed lately. "
"Ah," the king thought for a long while, "very interesting. I presume the disturbance with the Ironworkers... hm, a clash between the guilds and the nobility cannot end well. They are too strong and this cast iron will only make them stronger. "
"Indeed, sir, I fear that if news of Cato spreads too far, the guilds will attempt to use him. They may even become unruly. " Minmay left the 'revolution' word unsaid but it remained in the air.
"And you think the cast iron is too valuable to not be used?" the king eyed Minmay, "how will you presume to control the Ironworkers by keeping it a secret? No one will help you if you lose control of the Minmay guild. "
"I have plans to engage the order of knights. I know most of the local leaders in Minmay and I believe I can handle any disagreements that may arise. "
The king continued to eye him for a long while then nodded, "so be it. I wish for your experiment's success then, may we see a day when all of Ektal is pouring iron. "
"Perhaps in a few years," Minmay nodded and with that farewell, hurried out of the room.
The king wrote a few more lines on the paper on the desk then said to himself, "an Academy of iron makes very little sense, cast iron is not crysteel. There is more to this than Minmay is letting on. "
The room remained quiet for a few more moments then the air seemed to get lighter, as if a hidden pair of eyes was now gone.