17th of Taka, 1000, late evening
Fort Kitapüru,
“We’ve had the word form the captain, Fujiama has mobilised. We need to form the coven now.” Fitzhugh strode into the lounge in the mage’s tower preempting any plans to head for be. “So there are a couple of things that I need to go over that I couldn’t discuss before. Now it’s too late for the enemy to change their plan I can.”
“What details.” Silvia as the self appointed head of the mage tower hatted to be out of the loop.
“Max, Silvia you are used to being the mages and consequently telling people what casts you will be making. That will not be the case here. Once you join the coven, we all will have to act as a single whole. There will be no room for either of you to run off doing your own things no matter how justified you think you.” Fitzhugh replied.
“If you think that some lowly castor is going to tell me what to do, you are vastly mistaken.” Max bristled.
“Luckily I don’t have to tell you anything.” Fitzhugh smiled nastily. “I have the written verified word of the head of His Majesty’s Conclave of Castors. And I read. ‘For the duration of the upcoming war all directions utilising nguvu for any battle will first come from any coven conveners firstly.’ Now before any of you little darling thinks that somehow you get to fill the role of coven convener and thus able to take official control, that is covered too.”
He paused before reading a second portion. “'For the duration of the war all conveners are to be appointed directly by His Majesty’s Conclave of Castors, hereafter referred to as HMCC. All conveners are to first report us, HMCC and our appointed representative William Fitzhugh.”
There was a number of grumbles before everyone settled down.
“So, lets discuss roles.” He hadn’t really given them time to respond. He wasn’t inclined to do so. Max was overweight, underprepared and entirely too proud. Silvia didn’t have those issues but she had been the highest ranked mage in Kitapüru for three years and have never brought the other castors into line. Not the mages before Max nor Max himself.
He moved on “Cindy is possibly the most useful member here. She has the highest connection, finesse and sensitivity ratings. Connection is a general boost allowing for the biggest improvement in recuperation it does not require intervention. The other two are more significant. Her sensitivity score is significantly better than anyone else here. Though her finesse is one a single fraction higher than Max or Silvia.”
This comment generated a look of surprise on Erica’s face. She had assumed that she was the most important member of the team. She quickly hid her reaction.
Fitzhugh took a breath. “As you know sensitivity is about connection to nguvu. The higher the score the more the castor can sense the flow of nguvu allowing for optimal release, greatly influencing the efficiency of any cast. Silvia is the next closest, twelve fractions behind but still greater than one. So either a five percent increase in damage or seventeen percent.”
“As I said Cindy is the only one with finesse over one. With eight nine fractions, Max is the next highest, however he also has the highest switch score. Clara however is only two fractions behind and so we would expect a eleven to thirteen percent improvement to ability to change the cast at any point between starting the cast and it being realised.” He loved talking about magic statistics this was fun stuff to him and Fitzhugh revelled in the process of building the coven.
He sighed. “Which brings us back to the finesse score. If Cindy does this we get a one percent boost to distance and accuracy. If Max we cop an eleven percent penalty and if that’s me the penalty grows to thirteen percent.”
“That said with the professor we can implement cast circles allowing us to influence some of the casts we make, given sufficient time.” He continued.
“What sort of influence are we talking here?” Silvia asked.
“There are two options. Firstly we can aim for a loose coven structure and then create custom cast boosters with each cast or we can opt for a rigid structure and rely on that abilities of roles to give us the requisite flexility and power for our purpose. Empirically speaking the nguvu balance for each option is dependant on the…” The professor appeared he was about to lecture the entire room.
Fitzhugh headed him off. “Thank you professor but we don’t have a lot of time so let me leave it like this. By my calculations we should be able to cast every three hours. Two, with meditation. But it would take the professor almost four hours to tailor a circle to a specific cast. Consequently I would recommend that we aim for option two. Specifically a boost circle. Additionally our store of reagent will be limited after the base coven is cast so we really don’t have a choice. So…”
He was interrupted as The professor commented. “In such circumstances, we will be aiming for a three for four percent boost to any one for the three previously mentioned items.” Nobody was quite sure which three items he was referring to but understood that time was now a factor so nobody sort any kind of clarification.
Fitzhugh bluntly changed tack. “So we need to work out how we are going to sort out the roles.”
Captain Devereux strode in obviously having head some of the conversation climbing the stairs. “So if I am understanding you correctly, Cindy either adds twelve percent to damage or range and accuracy. Max only adds two precent to flexibility over others but prevents a four percent penalty in accuracy.”
“Correct.” Fitzhugh replied. “I would suggest however that we move Cindy to sensitivity. Even with a two hour cycle time we cannot cast frequently enough to prevent twenty thousand troops reaching the fort’s walls. Mass damage is going to be critical and accuracy and range less important.”
“It’s not as simple as that. Anything more than ten percent as a debuff for accuracy means we are in real danger of casts having negative effects. It would be a serious problem if a firewall blew a hole in our own wall or a strengthening cast missed the gates and instead toughened up their armour.” The Professor said.
“I understand the risk.” The captain replied. “But we are going to be out numbered between nine and twelve to one. They will be bringing five or six full mages. So you will need to counter six casts every cycle. Intel indicates we are getting the pro team. So that could result in their cycle time dropping to twenty-two or even twenty-one hours. What do you think your going to be able to manage in response?”
"Until the coven is cast it’s a little fluid.” Fitzhugh qualified “Roles will affect various parameters and so it’s hard to say. But we can used castors as mages meaning seven casts per cycle and significant reduction to a thirteen to fifteen hour cycle. However, I anticipate one or two shield spells.”
“Shields? Those useless things.” That captain didn’t sound impressed.
The professor interrupted. “There are some interesting things that we can do as a coven. The shields I have developed for this kind of scenario will not be detected during casting allowing us to pretend only Max and Silvia are mages.”
The captain wasn’t impressed. “They will see the effects failing against the shield. They will guess quick enough. They switch to shield breakers and we’ve wasted a cast to no material benefit after the first cast. You know they will stagger the first casts testing for this.” He paused. “No its should like a waste of a cast.”
“Not so captain.” The professor replied. “That is why a strong switch skill is important. These types of shields focus on forcing miscasts.”
“Miscasts?” The captain asked.
“The fireball misses the city, lands in an empty square, flames out early, burns slowly without exploding. Perhaps two of their spells collide. Any one of a number of counter cast effects. We need strong finesse and switch numbers to effect these things.” Fitzhugh saw where the professor was going.
“I see.” The captain remarked. “Well I can see you have a number of choices to make. Make them with the good of all in mind.” He strode for the door. As he was about to leave he turned back. “Damage is key. We have to do lots of damage.” He paused. “Also who’s in charge of casts? I don’t mean the cover rulership role but who’s actually doing the fireballing and shielding things.”
There was a momentary pause as everyone looked at each other. Eventually Fitzhugh spoke. “From the point of view of the effectiveness of the coven it’s best if those who fill the switch, finesse and sensitivity roles are excluded from the cast selection roles. The professor has probably the best knowledge of casting but with limited experience outside the classroom. Erica is a water castor and shouldn’t be in charge of anything. She brings the risk of the water madness with her.”
“So why is she part of the team?” The captain asked bluntly.
“Because we need to boost a number of factors to improve the team performance. Specifically she has ridiculously high recoup and rate factors. She also provides access to water magic. Consequently as a straight buffer she is almost the most useful member here. However, as you know, water madness is no joke.” Fitzhugh replied.
The captain turned again for the door remarking as he did. “Well make your decisions in a hurry. The enemy will be arriving with the dawn. You all need to be ready. Make your choices and get on with it. For head castor, or whatever you call it, I would prefer Silvia. She has the best knowledge of our fortifications, the most battle experience and I’ve fought with her before. I’m sure you’re all thinking magic things but you will need us mundane combatants to avoid being knifed in the back whilst you’re sitting on your comfy cushions in recoup meditation. So pick a leader who will work with us.” And with that last comment he departed.
For a moment everyone just looked at each other before Max spoke. “I’m the only fire mage here so I had better lead. I have the most experience with creating damage and as the captain said it matters.”
He might have continued but was cut off by the professor of all people. “Sorry son. That’s your ego paying Gohan when your magic only has tsuki. I might never have cast a fireball but I’ve forgotten more about cast damage than you ever knew. I’m also not the right person for the leadership role.”
He sighed. “You mages don’t know enough about the way a coven works but in short there are benefits of any size coven but they start in earnest with more than five members. When there are three or less, the castor must be the mage with the sensitivity role. That's unhelpful in this situation. Instead I am best utilised as the scribe.”
“What's that?” Max wasn’t impressed that he wasn’t immediately instituted as the leader of the coven.
“As discussed sorting out the balance of roles between finesse, sensitivity and switch decides what buffs and debuffs apply to our casts. As you should well know those are general modifiers. There are also cast specific modifiers. Your experience with fireballs, Max, depending on your involvement, will affect the coven’s fireballs. Then there are bonuses that are directly related to our experience with the coven cast itself.” The professor replied.
The professor paused. “Lastly there are the modifiers related to augmentation. You can think of these as reagents, chants, cast circles and the rest. Initial trials of the coven cast showed that we can modify the coven cast circle as the cast progresses. The scribe’s role is to make the coven cast circle and to modify it as the cast remains. The base circle is fixed by necessity, required to instigate the coven. As we choose casts we can add or remove different sigils, reagents and catalysts changing their performance.”
He continued. “Don’t misunderstand the coven cast. Mages casts are a solo effort reliant on muscle memory, training and endurance. A coven is an orchestral performance where everything is variable and at the discretion of the performers. Everyone will have a role.”
“To that end I suggest that we confirm the professor as the scribe. I will act as the liaison.” Fitzhugh would have continued, but he was interrupted.
“Isn’t that what the leader does?” Max asked.
“No.” Fitzhugh responded. “The leader’s job is to act like a general. What casts, when, where to what purpose. If you are not a military strategist you have no part as a coven leader."
“So I am the best candidate.” Max was cheerful again. “Best array of offensive casts. Most experience with offensive casting and as the captain said. We need to do damage.”
“No.” Fitzhugh sighed. “You aren’t close. Your command A score is the second lowest of the group. Erica has the highest but appointing a water castor to govern a coven is seven kinds of stupid. You might have a chance on combined SKAT as your experience would raise your rank. But Silvia has more experience, a better K score and with a half grade in source magic a better T score. In fact looking at everyone’s command SKAT there is no contest.”
“In that case shall we agree that for the purposes of this coven Mage Silvia will be the coven leader and consequently the first leader of a coven in battle.”
She wasn’t shy or lacking in confidence but quiet and thoughtful by nature. “My K score hasn’t any boosts for the coven cast itself. Whilst I am sure it won’t affect our overall buff debuff numbers, everyone with a reasonable ‘knowledge of self’ score knows it points dangerously poor understanding of the coven cast. I don’t understand all it’s benefits and penalties. Surely someone who understands this cast would be better?”
The professor spoke. “I absolutely agree if we were only talking about the cast itself. However, we’re going to be besieged. Fitzhugh and I talked this very point through before deployment with Sir Jordan. He agreed that the emphasis needs to remain with military experience. If all that happens in this cast is that you and max can cast eight times a day rather than two the coven is successful.”
He smiled at the younger shy mage. “When we initially started developing the coven we believed that we could develop a cast circle that would optimise all covens. I am starting to believe that’s naive and scribes will become a permanent part of covens. As scribe, it is for me to weld our diverse abilities, knowledge and techniques into the most powerful whole. What we do with that whole is the leaders job.”
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The smile grew. “A chicken and egg situation I know. You don’t know what I can do and I don’t know what you need. The only thing I can say is that neither Fitzhugh nor I have the battlefield experience to decide shield, wall, fireball or lightning storm at any given minute. Only experience can tell you if the best plan is to spend the coven’s entire nguvu pool at the first moment or keep some in reserve. Should we sacrifice some recoup as shield cast upkeep? I don’t know.”
“Fine.” She huffed, she really preferred being a support mage and would usually be quite happy to let Max handle the aggression. That didn’t mean that she was afraid of command or was timid. She was a Mage. Capital M. Used to telling others what to do since puberty told her she was one of the chosen. Roughly five in a thousand had the ability to become a full mage. Less than one in ten managed the transition.
Time to woman up she thought to herself. “In that case I will accept the recommendations for liaison and scribe. As I shouldn’t function in two roles I will be making executive decisions about the rest.”
She took a breath. “I understand what captain Devereux says about damage. I don’t agree and entirely. We need to land our damage. Additionally, comments about your dynamic shield gives me some thoughts on this. If I understand affinities correctly water affinity is tied to flexibility. Erica also has the best creativity, perception and spatial intelligence factors. If I understand your new shield cast, it will be held for the duration and require constant attention and adjustment. Erica will be responsible for this.”
Turning to Erica she said. “I know you haven’t ever held a cast. Don’t focus on that. Some things are going to go wrong, don’t consider them. You will have to hold it together for the duration. Maybe we get lucky and this is done quick. Actually that’s probably unlucky as they will have crushed us. More likely this will turn into a drawn out siege. Think weeks of holding up a single spell, changing it hour by hour. It will take everything you have.”
“You want a water mage, in danger of water madness, to hold our primary defence together?” Max was derisive.
Silvia turned to him replying sharply. “Yes. Or you can hold the shield spell and she can cast the fireballs?”
“Ahh, no.” Max recanted. Out of the corner of her eye Silvia could see Fitzhugh hiding a smile. Clara and Cindy also seemed to be hiding their own grins. She turned back and winked at Erica as she continued. “I don’t know how the magic factor roles work but given the buff debuff situation Cindy your on finesse, Clara switch and Max you have sensitivity.”
“Yes.” Finally Max was so happy he fist pumped. “I’m gonna drop the casts.”
Silvia rolled her eyes. “Please act your age just once. Drop a cast unasked and I will slap your silly right out.”
He just grinned right back contemplating a response before being interrupted.
“All right you lot. We will sort ourselves out on the roof of the tower.” The professor might not have been in charge of the coven but he was taking charge of the setup. “Fitzhugh make sure we get some soldiers up there to enforce a no entrance policy. They can’t get on my roof or in my way. If they scuff my Pookkalam I will end them. That goes for you lot too.” He pointed an accusing finger at everyone in turn as they walked past him up onto the roof.
As the other castors set up torches around the roof top the professor walked to the middle of the roof. He folded out his three yard stick and using chalk marked out two perfect circles. A six yard diameter circle first, then a second four and a half yard circle centred within the first.
“There are no significant lay-lines to influence orientation so we’ll align for sources.” He mumbled to himself as he pulling out a sextant to sight a number of stars. “Fitzhugh, you mark the zenith line over there.” He said pointing to a spot. He directed Fitzhugh left or right until satisfied. Fitzhugh quietly marked a line running inside to outside roughly mid way between the two circles.
The professor proceeded to add twelve marks equidistant between the two circles. Ensuring the first intersected the line Fitzhugh had just made. Then using alternative placement of his yard stick was able to mark intersections for each of the other eleven points. Then he used these points to mark out twelve small circles so that each one touched both the inside and outside circles. Then he drew four more that intersected each other with their outer edge touching the centre of the four cardinal small circles. He erased those cardinal small circles and then erased the second circle he drew. He moved into he middle and drew another small circle touching the intersecting circles in the middle.
“Right, Fitzhugh, get reagent and trace all fourteen circles. Dust the chalk before applying the reagent. We don’t want the chalk to mess the marking. Erica you have the most delicate touch. Follow Fitzhugh, get mangum powder onto the reagent lines. Neither of you mess this up. I needs to be three eights of a knuckle wide. The powder should be exactly half that high. Both of you make sure it’s even.”
He took a breath. “Right now the hard stuff. Clara you need to use the copper zinc powder to outline the area bordered by the small peripheral circles shaped vaguely like arrows. Leave a finger width gap to the magnesium powder. Make sure you have it the same height.”
“Silvia, as the leader you need to fill the middle star shape with the sulphur powder. Also leave a finger width to the magnesium powder. But yours is not a boarder, fill in the shape completely. As you do that push enough nguvu into the powder so that your recoup keeps you balanced at one nguvu. Do not drop a cast or I will lecture you on your stupidity until the sun sets on tomorrow. So pay attention, you need to pour in your power for the next two hours. Keep your focus and keep the nguvu feed constant.”
Over the next hours powders of blue, pink, purple and red were added in patches, circles and intricate designs. Through it all the professor continued to control the increasing complexity of the circle. Finally he started to trace different glyphs, symbols and sigils into the various powders. Sometimes the colours melded and sometimes they didn’t. All the while instructing various member to pour in nguvu at various times and in various places.
More reagent was applied to the paths cleared by the professor’s symbols invariably topped by more of the various powders. Until there wasn’t a space without powder except for the spaces left tracing the initial circles. At some point Fritzhugh dragged Silvia away to learn the actual cast. It was complex and she had to be perfect.
Fitzhugh summoned the castors together. “We are almost ready to start the casting. Pity we don’t have two more castors I would have liked at least a medium coven for the first effort.”
“Well that’s fortunate.” The captain had stepped out of the stairwell just as they were gathering together. “Wow that thing’s complicated.” He stared at the freshly completed pookkalam.
“It’s pretty.” A quiet young voice came from behind him.
“Thank you for your kind comments.” The professor replied. “But if you scuff it I will turn you into a toad.” He grinned at the girl emerging from behind the captain who giggled in response.
“Silvia, Max, you both know my daughter. Fitzhugh, Professor, Clara, Cindy and Erica this is my daughter Amanda. Mandy, turned fourteen and has been accumulating since just before her twelfth birthday. At her current rate we anticipate she will be the family’s first full mage. No SKAT yet so no levels but a passion for magic. I brought her and her tutor, Claudia, hoping that they can both learn something but perhaps they can be off more material assistance.”
“Tutor?” The professor raised an eyebrow.
The captain cleared his throat. “Claudia is a scholar and castor from the south. She agreed to tutor Mandy almost a year ago and has been responsible for a significant growth in her magical understanding. Something that we hope will allow her to join HMCC when she is of age.”
Fitzhugh analysed both the young girl and her tutor. “Hoping to be a Flare mage are you?” He asked Mandy referring to her mix of sun and fire affinities.
“No. I’m going to be a source mage just like the Magenta Mage.” Her face lit up.
The captain sighed. “Not that again Mandy. You know perfectly well the Magenta Mage doesn’t exist.”
“Yes she does.” The pouting girl was echoed by the more serious voice of Fitzhugh.
“I’ve met her a couple of times.” He fake whispered to the excited girl. “But she has affinity with all four sources.”
The girl deflated a little. “Well I might not get all four but I will get grade zero dust for my next birthday. Well that’s what Claudia thinks. Don’t you?” She turned to the older women after asking the question.
“Yes Amanda, at your current rate of growth you should pick up a half grade in Dust by your next birthday. We also hope that your fire and sun will reach one before you turn sixteen. Though we are hoping you water accumulation continues to slow.” The answer was carefully considered
Erica, at the mention of water, walked over. “Water accumulation?” She asked.
“At one stage everyone was afraid that she would turn out as a water mage.” Claudia volunteered. “Fortunately I know the right hedge witches and we stopped that early.”
“You stopped water accumulation?” Erica was very interested.
“Not quite,” she answered. “Diet seems to have a part to play in the accumulation of affinities. Limit water intake, make sure it’s pure, eat some complex additives and you can encourage water accumulation to slow and source accumulation to quicken.”
“There’s no provable results for such things.” The professor was skeptical just as Max turned to Silvia opening his mouth.
“Oh no you don’t. Don’t start Max this is not the time.” Silvia attempted to cut him off.
He wasn’t to be dissuaded however. “Told you. The army vitals corp is manned by criminals. Criminals I say. We could be feasting on delicacies designed to increase our abilities not the fisherman slop they toss in front of us day in day out.”
“Actually I believe that the reverse is true.” Claudia interjected. “To many sugars corrupt the body and ruin balanced Nguvu growth. Safest option is a strict diet of water, legumes, pulses and meat twice a week no more. That includes fish.”
Max looked horrified. “Lies, all lies.” He mumbled to himself.
Silvia collapsed she laughed so hard.
Claudia swelled up on the verge of a response to Max’s mumbling before everyone was interrupted by Fitzhugh. “I am sure you can all discuss the importance of diet at a later point but unless the captain has heard something to the contrary we have limited time until the enemy reaches our gates. I, for one, would rather we’re ready to defend than still squabbling over the benefits of snow melt to the adolescent amongst us.”
“Quite right.” The professor turned back to business. “Silvia, if these two are to join the coven we will need to adjust what we have here slightly. Given our previous conversations I’ve drawn the pookkalam fixing certain people in certain roles. It is a little late to change. But the only roles left are dust and star alignment.”
“Captain, your daughter is fourteen. Probably a little young for war. I am a little surprised that you haven’t evacuated her.” Silvia addressed her commander. “What is your intention for her participation?”
“Silvia, you might be a mage but in His Majesty’s army we don’t question our superiors.” The captain was a little sharp. He relented. “That said, conscription during war is fifteen. She will be safe here and learn more about casting by being involved. One condition, she shouldn’t cast herself.”
“She won’t,” Fitzhugh stepped in. “Covens only have a single individual responsible for releasing casts while another directs and controls the combat. Max and Silvia have been chosen for those roles respectively.”
“From your conversations previously they seem a little more involved than that.” The captain responded. “But we need all the power we can get so you can use her to add to your coven.”
The professor piped up. “TMS is a poor indicator of magical ability for a number of reasons. However, it does illustrate a certain point. As individuals the seven of us can call on a TMS of less than two hundred. Given only two us were mages we would only contribute seventy to the actual fight. Though your daughter has almost twenty and her tutor about half of that, I would be very surprised if the coven could not bring close to six hundred and fifty TMS to the fight. In short two mages and seven castors should be able to hold our own against close to fifteen mages.”
He took a breath. “As the number of castors in a coven increases the raw power climbs rather quickly provided magical A and K factors are also high. Thankfully you have brought two castors with good knowledge.”
The captain took a breath to comment but was interrupted by Fitzhugh. “Sir, we need to actually start the cast soon if you believe the battle will commence with the dawn.”
“They won’t be late. You’d better get sorted.” The captain replied. He bent down slightly to kiss his daughter. “Stay safe honey. Hide behind Max he blows stuff up for fun. Fitzhugh get that disk up and running and then I want a chat.”
As the captain departed, Silvia spoke. “Can someone tell me how to start this thing. As far as I can tell I have pumped about a third of a nguvu into the various yellow spots in that dust collection. What’s next.”
“It's a pookkalam. A very specific type of cast circle that allows for extensive customisation and alteration during the duration of the cast. Now the large circles correspond the four sources. The four arrow type shapes to the various elements.” The professor instructed.
“We don’t want a lecture professor. We need to get started.” Max was itching to do some casting.
“Before you get too excited. As I mentioned I have customised Moon to amplify Finesse for Cindy. I have crafted sensitivity into Max’s fire alignment. The Water element took the longest to draw as it holds a cast rather than amplifying an attribute.”
He turned to Erica. “Erica you will need to be very careful, the shield cast we selected will activate as the coven does. They are connected casts. Consequently the circle will try to draw twenty percent more nguvu than you have the moment it activates. You will have to dive into he cast quick and pull from the common pool almost before we are all in. If you do not act aggressively you will likely pass out from overdrain. If that happens both casts will fail and we don't have the reagent or time to redo the pookkalam. The whole thing hangs on you.”
“Oh goody,” Erica didn’t hide her sarcasm.
“You’ll be fine. Plenty of time before the cast closes. Silvia, do you want to bind upkeep to the shield or are we going to rely on Erica remembering to pay the upkeep on time?” The professor asked.
“What are the pros and cons of each?” She replied with a question.
“If we allocate recoup. The coven as a whole regenerates more slowly but there is no chance that we will forget to pay. If the fight continues long that will be an issue. Alternatively if we handle the upkeep directly, we can pump more nguvu in early and customise the shield as we go. We just pay additional nguvu as the cast changes. If we go with he former the recoup drain increases no matter the change.”
“Erica, Fitzhugh, thoughts?” Silvia asked.
“We’ve allocated a castor to manage this shield for the duration. It would seem to me a redundant question.” Fitzhugh responded.
“Flexibility vs poor nguvu management.” Erica was more thoughtful. “If this was a term paper the answer would be flexibility. But the prospect of shield failure would seem critical. We cannot cast a second like it on collapse. If we go that path we will need an nguvu reserve incase the cast needs alteration or it drains more quickly than expected.” She paused. “I still prefer flexibility.”
“You just want the control.” Max’s comment came with a grin but it wasn’t funny to anyone, not even Max if he was being honest.
“Idiot. No water castor wants to use nguvu it brings them closer to the madness.” Clara snapped.
A little hand crept up.
“Mandy you don’t need to put your hand up. We’ll be in this coven together.” Silvia said.
“I can watch the nguvu levels. I won’t be doing anything else. But can I be star aligned. I like it more than dust?”
Her tutor spoke up. “Perhaps I should manage the nguvu levels rather than you Mandy.”
Mandy opened her mouth to protest when Silvia spoke. “Claudia was it. That would be great.”
Mandy’s expression soured. To placate her the professor spoke up. “You would be prefect for star. I’ll get you drawn in.” Whispering to her he continued. “And I’ll and the monitoring sigils so you can keep an eye on it too,” which earned him a smile.
Glancing around he said slightly louder. “Leaving Claudia to dust, Fitzhugh to wind, I’ll take sun and Clara’s earth also governs switch.”
“And I am where?” Silvia asked.
“The golden centre my dear, we all revolve around you.” He snorted. “Well at least for the cast itself. After that we shall see. I suspect that Erica and possibly Claudia may need to remain where they are to interact with the pookkalam.”
Glancing up he pointed at two soldiers. “You too, get that board you brought up here last week. Silvia can stand in the middle and you are to carefully lift her over the centre of my pookkalam. You drop her or wobble and she falls of smudging something there will be hell to pay.”
Minutes later Silvia was standing on the yellow sand in the centre of the pookkalam. Everyone else was standing in their designated circles. The powder having just enough resident nguvu not to deform under the weight.
Fitzhugh spoke. “Alright everyone, don’t try to cast but push your nguvu down through your feet into he pookkalam. Erica get ready for the shield pull. Silvia commence the cast.”
Unlike most of the casts taught by HMCC this wasn’t a simple hand-wave accompanied by a muttered work. Silvia started to recite words in a language she had never learned but practice with Fitzhugh reassured her.
Slowly her arms and feet started to move almost as if dancing to a tune unheard. She didn’t know why they moved only that the words seemed to have a life off their own. She closed her eyes surrendering to the cast finally understanding why magic called to her. Nguvu flowed through her, around her, enveloping and caressing her.
She floated on a layer of air the thickness of hair above the ground. Nothing she did disturbed the pookkalam, the powder of which seemed to be solidify in places and remaining powdery in others. The hard portion seeming to sink slowly into the stone before an in audible pop sounded. All the castors in the coven heard it.
Wham. Like the slap of an angry Titan all the castors were slammed in to the ground. Erica screamed as Nguvu was mercilessly ripped from her. Over pressure in the element sub circles caused bleeding from the noses of The Professor and Fitzhugh. A stabbing pain flooded through the minds of everyone on the roof not in the circle. A light flooded out from the roof momentarily flashing brilliant vermillion colouration. Then with a crystal clear chime it was done.