“So nobody knows where he is? Even now?” Lord Kardo asked over the wave link with Lord Daron.

“No one knows, a very scary state of affairs.” Lord Daron replied. “My Caravan is now pulling up in view of the city. Shall I come to your house?”

“Of course. I’ll treat you to some tea.” Lord Kardo said.

“I’ve spent my entire journey drinking tea.” Lord Daron laughed. “I’ll be fine with some cold water.”

“That can be arranged.” Lord Kardo replied. “Now hurry up before he appears out of nowhere and kidnaps you!”

A few hours later, Lord Daron’s caravan had entered the city and docked. He and Binko parted ways and he called up his personal Hovercoach driver to pick him up and take him to Lord Kardo’s house. The latter was already waiting for him, and shook his hand warmly as he welcomed him to his house.

“I’m immensely grateful that you have returned.” He said. “Lord Defon, for some reason, refuses to leave the hospital, and I will tell you this, I am not cut out for the work of a council speaker.”

Lord Daron smiled as one of Lord Kardo’s granddaughters, Nyubi’s sister, named Boba, served him cold water. It was magically chilled and was ceremoniously frosted at the top. Lord Daron smiled at the effort and nodded to her in greeting.

“We have a long list of concerns to address.” He said after she had left, facing Lord Kardo squarely, the seriousness of his stance pulled the latter into focus and he nodded along.

“Ganz, at large, is a severe security risk.” He continued. “To my knowledge, even though we now understand the trick with the field spell, we honestly have no way to counter it.”

“Yes indeed.” Lord Kardo agreed. “The spell dampening field remains flexible despite our efforts to make it rigid.”

“How many people have worked on this?” Lord Daron asked.

“The two original Mages that discovered the answer, Mullam and Roska, are currently unavailable, however there was a third, Altey, who worked with them briefly before he had to leave on an assignment. I’ve had him and some other mages work on the problem.

Lord Daron shook his head, “I fear he and his companions will not be able to solve it. We need to get Roska and Mullam back on the problem, they have the deepest understanding of it.”

“Well you know how these things go.” Lord Kardo said. “Roska is an easy matter, but warrior mages are like cats. It’s never quite clear if you are in control or if they are.”

“Well this is a matter that concerns all of us,” Lord Daron said. “I too detest having to order them around, as they are, after all, some of the most powerful forces in the universe, but I think they will appreciate the urgency of the situation.”

Lord Kardo nodded, “I will get both of them on the problem. The matter of Ganz remains.”

“Ah yes… Ganz.” Lord Daron leaned back and took a sip of the cold water. It was icy cold and chilled his teeth. He grimaced from the biting cold of the water and swallowed. The coolness of it radiated within him. He leaned back.

“I will be forthright with you, Lord Kardo, Ganz is entirely beyond my expertise.” Lord Daron said. “I don't even know how to begin to search for the man.”

“I was very worried for your caravan.” Lord Kardo said quietly. “I was afraid he might attack you.”

“I had Mage Binko with me, Although, I agree, she probably would not be enough.” Lord Daron replied. “Ganz will be injured. Possibly still unconscious. I thought about putting out a warning to all healers in Gan… But then I thought, he’s too smart to go to any official healer.”

“Yes indeed.” Lord Kardo agreed. “A man like that would go somewhere where secrecy was either a given, or could be easily purchased.”

There was a short silence as both men pondered.

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“Did Makon survive?” Lord Kardo asked.

“I did not wait to find out.” Lord Daron replied. “I know he did not immediately die, and was still alive and being stablized by Sungan healers when I left, But, given the severity of his wounds, he may not have survived.”

The men continued to talk, eventually the discussion moved into more personal matters, they discussed how Dodi and Nyubi were doing, as well as their other relatives. About three hours later, They were served Dinner. Lord Daron was invited to eat with the family. There he talked to Nyubi about her schooling, and asked about Dodi.

Eventually, at dusk, he left and headed home to his family.

--

Three weeks passed without incident, except perhaps the Sungan protests against Aku’anda for blocking the brilliant dyes. This was expected and no one in Aku’anda took it seriously. What they did take seriously however was defence.

Segi moved quickly, summoning all the War mages home, requiring that every Elite war mage bind a powerful spell, preferrably a field spell, every single day. Regular war mages who did not have the expertise to understand these complex spells were put on watch duty to patrol the perimeter of Aku’anda city and report any sightings of Ganz and his men.

Lord Kardo even finished his painting of Ganz, it was extremely accurate and was quickly reproduced into many wanted posters for Ganz, most of them posted in Aku’anda itself, Everyone was looking for Ganz and his men.

--

Lakan was invited to the first day of war mage training. Since the schools had split, he was invited to give a talk to those who had chosen the difficult path, the path of a true war mage, the School of Warfare. Of course Hark had been the one assigned to talk to the school of Law-Enforcement. Lakan thought it was very fitting.

His coach landed in front of the small building where the School of Warfare had been relocated to. There was a much larger builing in the same compound, a few hundred meters away, where all war mages had originally learned together. Lakan remembered going there as a child, he felt extremely grateful to have grown up during an era of peace, given time to learn everything at a slow pace.

As he walked towards the building, the air was eerily still and quiet. Not even the trees nearby produced any sound. He sniffed and walked into the building where he was met by Mage Saulmon. One of his old teachers. The two men smiled and hugged one another.

“Good Morning sir.” Lakan greeted.

“Good morning my dear boy.” Saulmon responded. “Now, in just a couple of minutes, you’ll speak to your juniors. There’s only six of them that made the cut. But they are extremely bright students and they hold so much potential. Their lives are about to get quite stressful, so if you could give them a kernel of resilience to hold on to, in their journey, that could go a very long way.”

Lakan nodded and walked into the hall.

He immediately noticed Dodi, Lord Daron’s cheerful son who certainly didn’t get that countenance from his father. He also noticed the girl a few seats away looking at him with lover’s eyes, his girlfriend perhaps? Well not clear, because there was another girl sitting right next to him, He’d seen her a few times before, he guessed she was another Lord Mage’s offspring.

He decided to ask their names. The girl’s name was Nyubi Kardo. The girl with lover’s eyes Zoyi Kana. The others introduced themselves and he got them started with a light hearted joke.

Then he began his speech, first telling them about his early education as a war mage, how his education progressed and became harder and how he fought through, earning high marks upon his graduation. He gave them study tips, good sleeping routines and even diet tips. Then he gave them some inspirational phrases and ended. They clapped. Then he bowed and left.

Mage Saulmon was very happy with the performance, grinning as they met outside the class. He handed Lakan a glass of water.

“We’re hoping to graduate them in four years.” he said.

Lakan spit out his drink in shock.

“What? Four years?!” He exclaimed.

Mage Saulmon nodded. “Yes, Yes I know it is a short time.”

“That’s a massive understatement sir.” Lakan said with great concern. “This is a ten year programme. Warfare spells are extremely complicated. Even during my time, with the long degree time, most students dropped out because they couldn’t keep up!”

“I know, I know, Lakan.” Saulmon said, waving him aside. “That’s why we picked the best and brightest. Hopefully they will keep up. Listen, the four year timeline is really only an aspiration. Trust me, you know I will never let them loose until they pass the standard assessment test.”

“Just…” Lakan replied. “Go easy on them. The last thing we need is traumatized, super powerful mages.”

“I will,” Saulmon replied. “Pardon me for asking, But any word on Ganz yet?”

“No, he has vanished into what seems like thin air, no doubt plotting his next scheme.” Lakan replied. “We have spent the past few weeks cleaning up his mess. The Prince of Pirun will be getting crowned next week, you can imagine how tense everyone is getting.”

“I hope you are preparing?” Saulmon asked.

“I dare say over-prepared.” Lakan responded, dreadfully reminiscing on the daily spell bindings. “I’ll be leaving now, Have a great day sir.”

Saulmon waved as he walked away to his Hovercoach to leave.