Lord Daron sat in his coach as he established a wave link with Lord Kardo to inform him of what had happened in Pirun. In the absence of Both the speaker, who was in the hospital, and the second speaker, Lord Daron himself, Lord Kardo had volunteered to speak at the next Lord Mage meeting. Lord Daron was giving him information that he would need to talk.
“We might make enemies of Navon if we should use them to punish Sungan.” He said to Lord Daron over the wave. His voice booming all around.
“What do you mean?” Lord Daron asked.
“Northern Navons and Southern Sungans are quite literally families.” Lord Kardo said. “Unlike us, Navon and Sungan used to be one country less than one hundred and twenty years ago, the separation today even, I find superfluous.”
“Where else can we hit them?” Lord Daron asked. “What I witnessed at Pirun must not be allowed to stand, My lord Kardo.”
“Hmm,” Lord Kardo thought. “We may yet find a way to punish the Sungan royalty without putting the people into turmoil, unlike us, Sungan does not have a large elite.”
“Continue?”
“Yes, Most of Sungan is filled with men of simple means, honest workers, yes, but they do not possess the wherewithal to purchase items of great cost.” Lord Kardo said. “If we block these items, they will feel none of the pain.”
“Perhaps you have an idea of what such items might be?” Lord Daron questioned.
“Well, for one, Bright dyes. Red and Yellow especially.” Lord Kardo said. “Aku’anda and Seyrule make almost all dyes of brilliant color. If we block our dyes, they will experience an immediate spike in cost. Seyrule will love this because they will be able to raise their prices immensely.”
“But are brilliant dyes so expensive?” Lord Daron asked. Lord Kardo laughed. “Not to Aku’andans, my friend. I did not realize this, but I was dragged off to Odan by my children during my leave last year, I was underwhelmed.”
“Oh?” Lord Daron asked. “I haven’t been there since I was a child.”
“I hadn’t been there for thirty years,” Lord Kardo replied. “I assumed they would have improved in some way, Just as we have, But alas, Odan appears to have moved backwards in time. For all their love of heritage and tradition, they have failed to preserve their own capital, much less improve upon it.”
“That is surprising.” Lord Daron said.
“Oh don’t worry, the floating structures have improved alright.” Lord Kardo laughed. “They shine even more brilliantly now, the few elites of Sungan continue to relish the good life even as the people on the ground languish in poverty.”
“And yet they rush to wage war.” Lord Daron remarked in disgust. Lord Kardo laughed.
“Well, it is expensive to run an absolute monarchy, my dear friend.” He remarked.
They continued to discuss, agreeing to block the trade of brilliant dyes, gold, and various prized spices to Sungan, The prince of Pirun was also to return to his city, and would be guarded by his fellow Pirun war mages and some Aku’andan war mages.
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By the end of the call Lord Daron was exhausted. He called for the Caravan to pause and camp for a few hours.
--
“This is officially the worst thing I’ve ever attempted.” Mage Mullam said, gazing up into the morning sky.
“Oh come on,” Mage Roska laughed. “The worst thing you’ve ever done is using my feelings for you to string me along on your little projects.”
Mullam glanced at her in surprise, “Oh? I’m sorry you feel th-”
“Hahaha, no worries. I’m just messing with you.” She laughed. Mage Mullam sighed, this happened every time he worked with her, She would insinuate that she liked him but then cut him off whenever he tried to press the issue. He decided to let the matter die for now.
They were outside Aku’anda, right next to the wall of the city. Aku’anda had the oldest wall in the entire kingdom and it was already falling apart, but nobody cared, in fact it seemed Aku’andans wanted the wall gone. The City had grown past its initial boundaries and people wanted to expand out, not just up.
Mullam and Roska now stood near one of the few sections of the wall that was still sturdy, Mullam listened as Roska explained her plan.
“Because of the energy exchange at the membrane, There’s a small force that the dampener exerts away from its surface to the outside.” she continued. “That’s why we need to make a super sensitive hooking spell that grabs on to that force.”
“And so that way we can climb the thing, yeah?” Mullam asked.
“Yeah, that’s the idea.” She said,
“How come no one has ever thought of this before?” Mullam asked.
“Well, it would seem they have.” Roska said, referring to Ganz. “So I have a few amplifier spells written down in my hooking spell, but they’re going haywire.”
Mullam looked at the book she had on, it was a Grimoire, a large book with thick, white pages, and a thick leather cover. researchers and students used them to test and develop new kinds of spells. Roska’s Grimoire was stained and dirty from runes that had been erased over and over. Mullam’s Grimoire was somewhere collecting dust, He hadn’t developed a new spell in two years.
Mullam studied the amplifying spells she had and realized that they would cause a feedback loop that would fizzle out the spell. She needed a specific smoothing spell designed to handle energy spikes.
“You’re not very familiar with powerful spells, I see.” Mullam said. He took a pen and drew a few runes on the next page. “That should work.”
Roska looked at the runes he drew and copied them into her spell, slowly, while focusing, binding the spell she intended into the runes
As she wrote the runes, they glowed, she brought out a device that looked like a magnifying glass with dark glass, she looked at the runes through the dark glass, they glowed different colors when viewed through the glass, which she and Mullam understood.
“Wow that fixed it, perfect spectrum.” Roska said. “Thanks!”
“Okay let me see the spell.” Mullam said. She gave him the grimoire containing the spell she wanted him to bind and cast, even though the grimoire was large and Roska had small handwriting, it still filled the entire page. By the time he transfered the spell to his paper, it would probably take two and a half pages. He sighed. “Darn it, I hate field spells.”
“Well quit complaining, and start spellbinding.” Roska chided. “I’ll take a nap on the grass while you do that.”
“You’re just going to sleep on the ground?” Mullam asked.
“Hahaha nope.” Roska replied, reaching into her bag and pulling a green striped picnic mat of Aku’andan make out. She walked a few steps away, spread the mat and relaxed on it.
Mullam looked at her with a sour expression, and then fished his tools out from his bag. His spell papers, a pen, and a small foldable stool. He sat cross legged, brought out the paper and pen, then started to write, slowly with deep focus, binding the massive field spell he was creating from nature into the runes he was writing down. Meanwhile, the birds chirped in the trees around them and the breeze wafted around small dead leaves.