By the time the Aku’andans got back to their lodge in Pirun, there was already an excited discussion between the mages. The mages that had accompanied Binko decided to leave Pirun because they were needed elsewhere, but the rest of the group headed back to the lodge.
“That man is insane.” Binko said. “There’s no way he survived that.”
“Who the hell tatoos spells on to their own skin?” Lakan said. “Arrgghh, thinking about the pain makes my back hurt now.”
“I think his whole skin burned off.” Hark said.
“Pretty sure some of his muscles burned off too.” Regar said.
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” Lord Daron interrupted firmly. “I’m sure Ganz’s unconventional methods are exciting, but we have bigger things to worry about.”
The group went silent.
“What happened yesterday makes one thing clear,” Lord Daron began, “Aku’anda is woefully unprepared for a major assault from any of the other kingdoms.”
The War Mages cringed, they knew this was coming.
“If Sungan had attacked Aku’anda, they would have plowed through us,” Lord Daron began,
“I disagree,” Hark interjected. “There’s not a single way the Sungans could’ve disabled Aku’anda’s spell dampener.”
Lord Daron raised an eyebrow in consideration.
“I have no idea why Ganz didn’t think it was important to safeguard the spell dampener core.” Hark continued. “The fact that they made it to the spell dampener, and managed to destroy it before anyone even put up a fight is exactly why they won here.”
There was a short silence.
“I agree with Hark.” Lakan said finally. “Take me for instance, The last time I actually invoked a classic battle spell was over 5 years ago, and it wasn’t even out of necesssity, I was just a young and curious mage, The vast majority of my experience has been with modern sleek spells that work under spell dampeners, and Aku’anda’s spell dampener is incredibly well guarded.”
“Ganz could not have taken Aku’anda.” Regar said.
“Ganz used a field spell under a spell dampener.” Lord Daron. “Aku’anda would be defenseless against him. What the Sungans did was to make the playing field even. If they had attacked under a spell dampener, he could have still launched that starblast, except then they would have no defense against him.”
There was another long silence.
“And now, he’s at large, with a grilled back, probably very very angry.” Binko remarked.
“We will need to capture Ganz before he makes it into another city.” Lord Daron said. “I apologize, My fellow mages, but your jobs just became a thousand times more dangerous.”
“Meh,” Lakan said. “More danger means more excitement.”
“We also need to deal with the Sungans.” Regar said.
Lord Daron sighed. “That’s going to be a political nightmare” he rubbed his forehead. “The next Lordmage meeting is going to be a serious drag. Uggh.”
“Lara is still unconscious,” Hark said “We have to move her home so she can get proper treatment. These Pirun healers are stretched thin,”
“Not to mention General Makon.” Lakan mentioned.
“That’s none of our business.” Binko retorted. “They started this mess, let them cure their general.”
“Who, by the way, is going to answer for his crimes once he wakes up.” Regar said.
“Woah, hold it up there pal.” Lakan said. “General Makon was acting under orders, he had the full backing of the Sungan Royalty.”
“We will definitely be sanctioning Sungan.” Lord Daron said. “90% of their sugar last year was from Navon sugar cane fields, this year they’re going to have to drink bitter tea and think about what they’ve done.”
“Yeah but Navon makes a lot of money from their sugar trade. Why would they just stop supplying Sungans?” Regar asked.
“Aku’anda’s economy is almost five times the size of Navon’s,” Lord Daron said. “which is in turn, almost one and a half times the size of Sungan’s. We are extremely wealthy in Aku’anda, because we value peace, co-operation, trust, and development of magic for the benefit of human life.” He continued passionately.
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“We are perfectly capable of bankrupting Sungan entirely. Aku’anda is powerful and Sungan is about to learn that our gentleness is not out of weakness.”
The mages all nodded slowly as Lord Daron continued.
“Here’s what we need to do, first of all, We need to reinstate the royalty of Pirun. The queen has said she no longer wishes to rule Pirun, however, the prince has always been willing to take on the mantle.”
“He’s currently a war mage I believe?” Lakan asked.
“Yes, he’s currently being housed back home with the other Pirun war mages we adviced not to attack,” Lord Daron said. “I’m surprised the Sungans didn’t even try getting any of them to join this invasion.”
“Maybe they wanted Pirun for themselves.” Binko suggested. Lord Daron shrugged and continued.
“We will sanction Sungan severely. They must pay for what they have done.
As for Ganz and his men, we will put on high alert, all the damped cities to be on alert, he must never be allowed in a city center. Also he and his nine surviving men are now wanted men. As from now on, I expected all the Aku’andan war mages to be fully armed with battle ready spells should you encounter any of them.”
“Apart from Ganz, I really can’t recognize their faces.” Binko said.
“You will have to learn, I will have some magical impressions or paintings done of them so you can remember.” Lord Daron said.
“We also have to figure out an actual solution to Ganz’s special magic.” Lord Daron said. “For God’s sake he must have done something that we can fundamentally figure out.”
“Mage Mullan is working hard on it.” Binko said.
“I hope he succeeds.” Lord Daron said, He lay down on his back. “This entire event has been incredibly tiring, I think that’s all, now I’m going to have a nap.”
“What about the poisoned mages?” Binko asked.
“Oh right!” He gasped, jerking back up. “Oh yes, yes, there is that problem too of course. The Pirun healers should be able to help them once they’re done cleaning up this current mess. I don’t think it’s our problem for now.”
“Yeah but what if thye don’t know if they’ve been poisoned at all?” Binko said. “We only know about it because Lord Defon couldn’t keep a secret, but there is no wavelink into Pirun from outside, how would sheltered nobles figure it out?”
“Hmmm,” Lord Daron thought. “Alright, tomorrow, Lakan, Hark, Regar, you’ll have to go tell the Nobles they’ve been poisoned with Arcanite.”
There was a short silence…
“Anything else?” Lord Daron asked.
“I noticed something during the battle.” Lakan said quietly, drawing everyone’s attention. “I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but it seems there’s only one way it’s possible.”
Everyone looked intently at him, waiting for him to continue.
“During the battle,” He said, “The Sungans communicated and co-ordinated with each other using acoustic spells to amplify their voices over the battle noises. But Ganz’s men… didn’t.”
“What are you trying to imply?” Binko asked.
“They were talking sure, but they were completely inaudible to me or each other in the battle noise.” Lakan continued. “Yet they were co-ordinated in such a way that could only be possible with communication.”
“Wait…” Hark interjected. “The only way that’s possible is if they had a… twelve-way wave spell activated?”
“A what?” Binko laughed.
“That’s my conclusion as well.” Lakan said. “They have some kind of super advanced wave spell that can link all of them together at once.”
Binko laughed nervously. “That would be insane. Guys, have you seen Roska’s tri-link spell? It’s loooonggg”
“Yeah but she’s been cutting it shorter, consistently.” Lakan said. “What if Ganz is just years ahead of her?”
“More like decades.” Binko said, becoming more concerned. “Lakan, are you sure this is what you saw?”
“The alternative explanations are telepathy or a pre-rehearsal, I don’t know what to tell you.” Lakan shrugged.
“Great.” Regar retorted. Throwing his hands up. “First they make a mockery of spell dampeners, now they’re having twelve way wave links? I officially hate Ganz.”
“Who is this man?” Lord Daron asked in frustration, to no one in particular. “Or perhaps there is an underground spell research group? These spells are years away. We need to get to the bottom of this.”
“I mean even the tattoo spell is something I never even imagined.” Binko said. “He just came out of nowhere and upended decades of established magic.”
“I’ll speak to my colleagues, Aku’anda has fallen behind on magical research.” Lord Daron said. “We need to sponsor more research. We are in a very precarious situation and I don’t like it at all.”
---
The conversation wound down and ended, but Lord Daron couldn’t get any sleep after all. Everything Ganz had done since he appeared from nowhere was extremely disturbing to him, his true goals were unknown, as well as the true extent of his capacity. Lord Daron rolled around on the bed as the Sun climbed higher in the sky, ushering in the afternoon.
In the evening, the Hovercaravans that had been prepared for them arrived. Lara, stablized but still in a coma, was placed in one of the coaches. While Hark, Lakan and Regar stayed behind for the Nobles, everyone else joined the Hovercoaches. Binko bought herself some fruit and snuggled into her coach. Lord Daron also had a coach to himself.
In just twenty minutes the Hovercaravan pulled out of Pirun’s gates and began its long journey to Aku’anda City while Hark, Lakan and Regar headed back to the lodges.
Once again there was peace, But as the men recieved their supper for the night, none of them could say if it was the end, or simply the calm before another horrifying storm.