When Saturday morning came, Pax kept watching the clock behind Mage Lorkranna with itchy nerves. He had permission to leave a little early so he could stop by Incedis’ office and go together to the appointment with the Student Compliance and Enforcement office.
He really needed a chance to talk to Incedis and not just about the upcoming meeting that had his nerves on edge. Pax wanted to know how the progress of breaking open the messages without detection was coming as well as the overall status of the war. Speculation about the empire’s defeat had spread through the city like wildfire and popped the bubble of optimism that had existed since the initial declaration of war.
Yesterday’s message deliveries hadn’t been nearly as easy as their first two days. A fresh wave of worry and tension had bubbled to the surface on Salman’s streets. Mage Lyndara had even cautioned them to be extra vigilant before leaving on deliveries.
Pax hoped it didn’t mess up the good thing they had going. Lyndara had turned the message operation over to them after they’d done so well on Monday. Then, halfway through their shift on Wednesday, they’d finished the backlog and had time to help three of the Steelshade fighters Tame the beasts Captain Langley had acquired. Now, though, everyone was suddenly under more scrutiny.
“Mage Vipersworn. You seem a bit preoccupied.”
Mage Lorkranna’s sardonic words snapped Pax’s attention back to class. He flushed and tried to rewind his memory to what she’d just been teaching. He came up empty.
Her gaze narrowed as she walked toward his desk. “Does this have to do with your upcoming meeting with the idiots over at the compliance office today?”
Pax’s eyes widened in amazement at her blunt words and heard more than one person stifle a snort.
She barked out a half laugh. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve reached the age and level of experience that I can pretty much say anything I want. Oh, something deliberate and clearly mutiny against the empire might cause me a little trouble. But I’m free to share most of my thoughts. The Student Compliance and Enforcement office is the brainchild of a bunch of pencil pushers who never risked an injury to their pinky fingers, much less getting mauled and killed every night on the walls.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice as she said the full name of the office.
Pax was torn. He’d been working so hard to keep up the public appearance of extreme loyalty. He completely agreed with her, but couldn’t afford to show it. “I’m sure the office helps keep us students safe and on the right path.”
She stopped, a flicker of surprise in her gaze as she studied him. It felt as if she was looking right through his pretense. But, instead of calling him out on it, she gave him a quick somber nod before turning back to the class. “Well, I guess we have another well-taught and well-trained student among us. What do you think, class? Are you happy to see more students like Mage Vipersworn toeing the line? Will mages like him keep our empire afloat?”
The confusion of the class was evident, as many of them tried to figure out what the safe answer was.
She finally scoffed. “Don’t worry your pretty little heads about it. Let’s get back to healing and meditating while we excuse Mage Vipersworn to his meeting.” She spun and met his eyes as he piled his things into his inventory school box. “I hope you report back on how it went. Good luck.”
He could tell she meant it and nodded back, thinking she’d make an excellent rebel. He wondered if Mage Incedis’ people had ever approached her.
Pax left the room quickly, half jogging across campus to Incedis’ building. Talpa kept pace beneath him while Whisk stayed hidden in the nooks and crannies of his armor. The paths were eerily deserted, with almost everyone being in class. When he made it up the floors to his mentor’s office, Pax took a moment to catch his breath and let Talpa make it up the last few steps before knocking.
“Enter.”
Pax walked in, Talpa on his heels. Mage Incedis was standing, shifting a few papers rapidly into a pile before holding them up to tap against the top of his desk into an ordered stack. All of Pax’s anxiety surged up, making images of disasters pop into his mind in a rapid sequence.
Pax activated his privacy pendant and let all his impatient worries pour out. “Did you figure out how to break the tampering protections on the messages yet? And what’s the plan for this meeting? They won’t send me straight to the Inquisitors if they don’t like my story, will they? We’ll still have time to get out of town if it goes bad, right? Turgan’s got us practicing mental resistance techniques. Plus, I earned a new point in Intelligence and Insight recently, but I don’t know if that’s enough to keep an Inquisitor out of my head. Maybe we should just grab our stuff and leave now? What do you think?”
Incedis had stopped moving, just watching patiently until Pax’s words trailed off on their own. Then he took a breath and let it out a somewhat tired sigh. “The answer is no to most of that. I have two people working on a way to get into the messages without anyone being able to notice. But we’re not the first to try, so it’s not a simple matter. And as far as the meeting today goes, Mage Eldan pulled some strings with a contact in the compliance office. Thankfully, the war and rooting out rebels has stirred up the department a lot more than a first-year who might have skills he doesn’t want his teachers to know about.”
Pax opened his mouth to object.
“And—” Incedis held up his hand. “There doesn’t seem to be any suspicion that these spells are ones from forbidden elements no one has heard of before. It seems they suspect you of doing what other students in the past have done to cheat the system, load up on mage skills that are easy to level to boost your leveling speed.
“Thankfully, Warrior Rowan saw right through Graybrew’s tactics and understood his motivation to use his attacks on you to gain favor and status in the Amberborn family. So, while he was required to send the official message back to the academy, he added his own notes to it. Eldan couldn’t find out exactly what he wrote, but it was enough to ensure that they are treating your case like a misbehaving student, not one who is turning their entire magic system upside down. Now, sit down and take a few deep breaths.”
At Incedis’ words, Pax felt some of his tension release, and he slumped into a chair in front of the desk. Talpa pushed up against his leg to offer comfort while Whisk sent a soothing vibration under his chestplate.
“Sorry for that,” Pax said when he felt calmer. “So, I’ll just play the part of a new student who has been skirting the line to get stronger, so I can help save the empire, first from the beasts and now from the traitors.”
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“Exactly,” Incedis gave him an approving nod. “I’ll take care of any surprises that might come up.”
“Like what?” Pax’s nerves flared back up.
“I have a few guesses, but I’d rather you react with surprise if they come up. It’s hard to keep your reactions from giving away things you already knew about, right? And your Charisma still isn’t that high.”
Pax wanted to grumble that eleven was pretty high for him, considering he’d started at three back on the streets of Thanhil when he mostly punched people he disagreed with. And with all the work he’d been doing lately, delivering messages to powerful citizens and keeping up appearances, it had to be close to leveling again.
“I think the appointment will go better if you focus on your persona of an eager student worried about being caught for your minor infractions you felt were necessary to help you serve the empire better. Understand?”
“Fine.” Pax forced himself to take a calming breath and glanced at the clock. “Time to leave, then?”
“We still have a few minutes,” Incedis said with a shake of his head. “Our goal is to arrive exactly on time. Early and we’ll look too eager to change their minds. Late and the disrespect might anger them.”
Pax nodded, noting the information for the future.
“I’d like to run through a few of our plans. Things are moving fast, and we may need to abandon the capital sooner than planned.”
“So, now you’re going to tell me things?” A bit of sarcasm tinged Pax’s words.
Incedis almost looked hurt. “I’m not perfect, but I am doing what I think will work out best for you, your friends and the rebellion as a whole. Believe me, I had no plans to suddenly become a key player in changing the world by helping a boy who can work miracles no one has seen before.” He waved a hand toward Talpa and Whisk.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to doubt you. I’ve just been on edge for so long, it’s getting to me.” Pax blew out a breath before tipping his head in respect. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and my friends. We wouldn’t have survived all this without your help. You’re family to me now.”
Incedis’ eyes widened in surprise at Pax’s last statement, suddenly going still. “Well, um. Thank you for that. It means a lot to me. If I ever had a family, I’d have hoped for a son like you.”
Something inside Pax instinctively objected to the statement. He had a father, one he’d lost, but still. Then his father’s face flashed in his memory, how he’d looked when he’d crouched down to help Pax with something. The old loss still ached, but what surprised Pax was how much it had eased. His crew and Incedis were a big part of that.
The thought loosened another thread of old anguish. Pax gave Incedis a half smile. “Thanks. That means a lot to me, too.”
“Alright.” Incedis flushed and cleared his throat. “So, a quick review of our plans?”
Pax nodded, happy to let Incedis change the subject.
“Turgan and I have an appointment with a military logistics major early next week to discuss how Tamed beasts can strengthen the empire forces. That should allow both of us to work more closely with the leaders in charge of the war effort, now that the empire has learned they couldn’t easily roll over the rebel forces in Quarrybrook.”
“Yeah, about that.” Pax leaned forward. “What comes next? The empire won’t let that stand. What if they send an entire battalion to smash the rebels in Quarrybrook?” Pax could just imagine how fast they’d destroy the rebels and probably many of the civilians in the town.
“The rebellion is very aware of how the empire will respond and is planning accordingly.”
When Incedis didn’t continue, Pax sighed. “Now you’re going to tell me these are more details you shouldn’t share with me.”
“No,” Incedis said, and then chuckled at how Pax perked up. “Obviously, I can’t mention specifics, but the rebellion has been adapting their plans as quickly as possible. We’ve got plans in action to overthrow multiple cities, while also sending all the new recruits through our quickest, most efficient training so they can return to man the walls against empire troops.”
“And they will split up to various cities instead of only reinforcing Quarrybrook, giving the empire multiple small targets, not just one big one.” Pax grinned, excited as he realized the brilliance of the tactic.
“We’ll also design streamlined evacuation plans for each city we take in case the empire focuses all of their forces on just one. We’re faster and more mobile than the empire, so we just need to keep them off balance long enough for us to grow stronger.”
“We’d abandon the people who supported us?” Pax wasn’t sure how he felt about evacuating a city ahead of the empire’s army, imagining the street rats and weaker people who wouldn’t survive something like that.
“Pax.” Incedis held his gaze with a solemn expression. “If there’s one thing you can count on with the rebellion, it’s that we understand the worth of the individual. How can you doubt that? You’re a former street rat who is changing the face of magic and a huge part of improving the rebellion’s chances. Our evacuation plans will take everyone willing to go, send them through our training bases and have them join the fight as soon as they’re ready.”
Pax shook his head, trying to visualize the scope of it all. Their entire empire was truly changing. However the war turned out, nothing would be the same.
“So, as this war expands to more fronts, getting critical intelligence will be even more important. We need to know which troops are being sent where. This gives us time to prepare or evacuate, depending on the situation. We can also use the ambush teams General Sterling has been training to harass the troops and supply caravans along the way.”
“Stealing supplies benefits us twice.” Pax turned thoughtful. “Hurting them and helping us.”
“Exactly.” Incedis glanced at the clock and reached for the stack of papers he’d organized. “That just leaves the push to turn all of our new recruits into fighters who can survive against the empire’s troops. We’ll do our best to avoid face-to-face battles, striking from ambush and capitalizing on our strengths. But we’re going to need to send you and your crew back to the light headquarters sooner rather than later.”
Pax sat up in surprise.
“You’ll be Taming adult beasts soon, as will your mage friends. And we need to get that process started and taught to rebels as soon as possible. That’s not to mention how important it is to get every one of our mages to unlock a second element. It’s not as critical since we’ve figured out a way to do it on our own, but it’s still slower than the way you do it. And time is something we’re running short of. That just leaves a way to Awaken the disaffected youth who are flocking to our banner.”
“I’m assuming you won’t be putting them on the front lines?” Pax was leaning into his hopes that the rebellion would bring a new philosophy of equal opportunities that the empire had always lacked.
“Of course not. But you and your friends are an obvious example of how even the youngest rebels can make significant contributions once they’re Awakened and have a mission to strive for.”
Pax waffled for a minute, deciding whether to share his latest guesses with Incedis. He knew there were definite reasons for the rebellion to lock him up in a room and tap into all his powerful magic. Sure, they’d say it was for the good of everyone in the rebellion, but it wouldn’t negate the fact that he’d be the one they locked up.
Still, Incedis had only ever given him reasons to trust him.
“About that—” Pax stood as Incedis walked around the desk to leave. “Before we go, I have one possibility to share with you.”
“Make it quick. Remember how we’re going to arrive exactly on time?”
“I have no evidence to support it, but the more I consider the control I have over all four of the primary elements, along with how my light mana helps with control and getting other mana types to play well together—” Pax shrugged, still not wanting to say it out loud. “With Awakening, there is a possibility that I could—”
“—Awaken youths without an artifact?” Incedis finished for him with astonishment loud enough that Pax was glad he still had his pendant activated.
Pax gave him a sheepish nod. “Remember, I have no evidence, but the logic and my growing experience handling mana seems to suggest it’s possible.”
Incedis’ expression was flush with excitement and incredulity. He shook his head as he grabbed his cloak from a hook by the door. “Not another word about it. Organizing a way for you to test this just moved to the top of my list. Now, let’s hurry. Just remember, you’re an empire-loving student who broke the rules because you care too much.”
Pax nodded as he hurried to follow him, hoping the coming meeting would go as easily as Incedis expected.
Then, he thought he heard his mentor mutter to himself, “Not some Vitur-blessed kid whose magic might just topple the empire by itself.”