Chapter 115

I left Loriel and moved into the crowd. People descended on me like locusts. I sidestepped conversations and moved across the hall. I noticed Callem and Gareth having an animated conversation in an archway. No need to bother them, and I trusted Callem would talk some sense into my friend. I found Mera and Fera talking to some Sadians. I joined the shelter of their conversation, “Mera! Who are we talking with?” I sounded interested but was really just trying to avoid the mob that wanted to talk with the High Mage.

One of the men introduced himself, “I am Governor Bishop’s aide, Huey, and this is the aide for Governor Richt, Tilliam. Do you know these fine young women, High Mage?”

“I do! They both work for me, and I wanted to ask Mera about barley. I may have a source for white-seeded barley. Is it usable in your production?” I asked with a fake smile.

Mera nodded, “It is generally what I use for the ales. It is a little more expensive than the brown but yields a less bitter and sweeter ale.”

Huey’s eyes popped in shock, “You know about brewing!” He looked at her in fascination. I patted Mera reassuringly on the shoulder and moved away. They looked like they were having fun, and I did not want to spoil it with my presence.

My parents and Freya were hovering around Wynna and Ennet, so they appeared safe. I was about to move to where I noticed Leda talking with a woman in Torrent colors when a hand grabbed myshoulder. In reaction, I went immediately into overdrive mode on lightning reflexes. I sidestepped and flanked the assailant.

A surprised Lord Antioch stepped back, “Sorry to intrude High Mage.” He looked a little frightened that he may have offended me. “I can see your power extends beyond healing.”

I smoothly replied, “Not at all. The spell just enhances the body’s reaction time. It is still within the healing sphere of magic.”

I noticed no one approached us as we talked, “You appear to be the most important man in the room after Loriel.”

He chuckled, “No, just the wealthiest. While my older brothers craved power, I built an Empire of coin. Much like Loriel Miaden is doing in this city in the clouds.”

I hesitated and then asked, “Why the change in disposition?” I indicated the Sadians and Skyholme royalty talking. “What perpetrated the end to the war between our kingdoms? How can years of fighting can now be cast aside so easily?”

He smiled a little slyly, “Not privy to the negotiations, are we? No matter. There are no secrets. The Sadian Empire was once part of Skyholme. I bet they did not teach you that in school,” he chuckled at my surprise. “Before the Triumvirate, there was a Quintenial Council.Five men. One was murdered, and one fled the floating islands. Some said he fled because he was guilty of the murder and others because he feared to be murdered himself.”

I focused on Antioch because I was slightly intrigued. There was never one side to an argument. He continued, “I am a descendent of the man who fled,” he smiled and stopped his story frustratingly there.

“That can not be the end of your story. Will not offer your opinion on who was in the right?” I asked.

He smiled slyly, “If you insist. My ancestor united the outposts on the lowlands that used to be under Skyholme rule. The new Triumvirate waged war to retake the lands and resources and failed. We retaliated and failed. The battle waged back and forth every few years. It actually kept both militaries sharp and would be a boon if not for the loss of life.” Lord Antioch proclaimed, and I got angry as Iremembered that the mercenaries almost killed Freya in the last attack.

“I can see you do not wish to dwell on it or discuss this subject further,” Antioch noted my dark visage. He pivoted the conversation, “I wanted to talk with you about the Bricios.” He said seriously, “They came to us claiming to be just like our ancestors. That they had been forced out of the islands by betrayal. They wanted to join forces with us and retake them. They insinuated you, in particular,were the perpetrator of their exile and asked for your head as well as Loriel Miaden’s,” he smiled and sipped some wine.

“And what of the Briocos now? I know Baladon and Abaddon were meeting with your father when I dropped off Skyholme’s envoys,” I retorted, thinking there was a point to this conversation after all.

“Yes, and they left shortly after your arrival to seek different allies when my father told them he would listen to both sides.” He smiled as he sipped his wine. “We know the Bricios were responsible for most of the raiding in our lands over the centuries. We are not stupid. The repeated abductions of the young wolfkin women united the beastkintribes recently and brought them to our kingdom.” He stepped back, “I just wanted to meet one of Skyholme’s three High Mages. The fact you are so young tells me you are going to do remarkable things. Consider this an offering for open dialogue between yourself and the Sadian Empire.” He bowed in deference and turned away.

I was a little stunned and tried my best not to show it. I knew he was sizing me up and trying to gauge my ability, but it felt good to be recognized. A lot of people around me noticed as well, and we whispered at the Emperor’s son bow to me. I decided it was time to leave before I got any more entangled in politics. Damn you, Loriel. I had enough trouble dealing with you to add another elitist after me.

I found Cilia, and we pulled Leda away from a conversation. “You two can bring me back to the Shiny Platinum and then return to the party,” I ordered. They did not argue, and we walked to the Maelstrom.

Bylura came running to me with a large satchel as we climbed the ramp, “Storme. Loriel said to get this to you when you left. I did not think you would be leaving so soon. I paused to look inside, and there were many folders with parchment. “Very good,” I said, taking it and climbing the ramp.

Lifting off, we had two Harbingers move lazily toward us. We had not asked for clearance, but Leda quickly flashed a signal that we were exiting the docks. We accelerated away quickly. Leda asked, “The party just started, High Mage. Why are you leaving?” her attempt at humor was not welcome.

“You should never tease a high mage, Leda. He might turn you into a frog,” I retorted without seriousness.

“I would still love you as a frog,” Cilia quipped. I could tell she was quite drunk and not so sure she should be flying. I took over the controls and flew the ship myself. I landed outside the hangar and had Leda fly the ship back to the capital to bring everyone back when the gala was over. No point in spoiling their fun. Kiara and Adrial tried to surprise me in my room, but I entered invisible and surprised them instead.

I could tell Kiara thought I had not played the game fairly and went to pout in the corner. I cleaned the apartment with my cleanliness spell and fed the cats, and the food erased Kiara’s resentment. I had only been gone about two hours. Adrial has marked up the new leather sofa. She hadn’t burrowed into the cushions like last time, but I could tell she wanted to.

Even before I scolded her, she went into her cage while I was inspecting the damage. At least she was learning. I noted to get something the cats could scratch to their heart’s content. At the desk in the other room, I started pulling out the folders. This was going to be a headache. There was a folder for each farm, one for the Black Spire and one for the requirement for mutual defense. I opened the last one first as that seemed the most important.

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It gave the owner of the Black Spire the right to maintain a force of no less than fifty guardsmen and no more than one hundred. In the event of an attack on the Skyhold, the High Mage was required to send a skyship to Citadel, Gate Two, to evacuate up to one hundred and twenty civilians to the Black Spire and defend them in the Black Spire with the guardsmen as mentioned above. That meant the skyship did not need to be a warship but needed to be able to hold one hundred and twenty plus its crew.

The interesting fact was the way the document was worded; I could, in fact, own a warship in Skyholme. That was normally reserved for only the succession seats in the Triunverate. The Maelstrom could squeeze that many people on board if needed. The mass would drain the crystals quickly, but it was only a few miles to Skyhold from the Spire. I reread the documents a few times, looking for loopholes. The biggest one was my standing garrison could be called upon if there was a threat to the sovereignty of Skyholme.

I interpreted that as if Skyholme ever declared war, it could conscript my entire guard even though I was one hundred percent responsible for recruiting, training, equipping, and paying them. I did not like that one bit. Another difficult point was the ‘rescue skyship’ I was calling it, could never leave the islands. It could travel between the islands but could never venture to the lowlands. That would not work for the Maelstrom as I planned to explore the Sphere. So I would need another skyship to fulfill the obligations. Something cheap that maybe I could refurbish with my artificing skill and use as a trader in the islands. It had some possibilities.

I had been going over the papers for quite some hours and had not set privacy wards so I could hear people returning from the party. Mera and Fera had a room across from me, so I got up and went to the door to see if they could help with the farm folders. I knocked, and Mera answered, her eyes going wide in surprise. “I am sorry if you are occupied,” I started, but I could really use your help in my room.”

“Yes!” she burst with some alcohol clearly on her breath.

“And Fera, too, if she came back with you,” I added.

Mera looked confused for a moment. “Fera is showering, but she is here and would not mind,” she said slowly. She paused, “I need a shower too! We can be over shortly!” she slammed the door in my face. She didn’t think I was asking them over to have sex? No, that would be silly.

When they came over with wet hair and tight-fitting night clothes, I immediately apologized, “Ladies, I actually do need help. I am sorry for the misunderstanding. There is a possibility of acquiring an estate that has three farms, and I need your expertise. It is the source of the barely I noted to you at the party, Mera.” At first, they were disappointed, but I pressed. “I really need your input. This is a monumental decision, and I want to go in knowing exactly what I am getting involved in.”

Fera asked, “Will we be working on these farms?”

I nodded, “Yes, that is most likely. But it will be my new residence as well. It is one of the most renowned and recognized properties in all of Skyholme.”

That perked them up and erased their disappointment. I cleared the documents I was working on, and we opened the folders for the three farms. The first thing they both noticed was the aether soil. Fera had been caring for Callem’s tobacco, so she knew how difficult it was to grow dungeon crops outside of a dungeon. The Bricios had a monopoly on dungeon soil as the dungeon they controlled had easy access to earth on the first floor. Callem sourced his dungeon soil through Sebastian, which probably meant it also came from there. Fera did the numbers, and the acarage was ten times Callem’s farm. Mera found the contracts for the alchemists guild in the papers.

The crops generated were pre-sold to the Mage Academy and Alchemist Guild in Skyholme at fixed prices. I frowned at that. Ferawas willing to do the research and see if the prices were too low or too high. Mera suggested including Lachlan, my alchemist, but Feradidn’t like him and insisted on doing the work on her own. She wouldn’t elaborate why when I asked.

Fera pointed out the deed had heavy restrictions on how much land could farmed and how much could be used for livestock. The farms only took up about a quarter of the estate, about 150 acres. The Spire, skyship docks, and surrounding support structures took another quarter. The remaining half was a woodland that could be used for grazing any domesticated livestock. Each of the three farms was as large as their parent’s farmlands outside of Hen’s Hollow. The property was just over one square mile, but oddly shaped. The dungeon was only a two-mile walk from the Spire.

It looked like the estate had been redrawn to make it much smaller. It had once been about ten square miles and included the dungeon in the map. I was studying the maps, and the twins were reviewing other documents.

Mera found the labor documents. The apple orchards had all the retired Wolfsguard working there. Forty-one of them. They only worked the orchard, and the records showed three of the Wolfsguardhad the same or similar ability as Fera. It was the ability to accelerate the growth of plants using aether. At tier 1, it was a fairly commonability to manifest. She slid me the paper with the disabled Wolfsguard. There were a lot of missing limbs, and twelve were listed as elderly. Basically, they had been forcibly retired from the ranks of the families so a younger and stronger replacement could be recruited from the trainees. Since Wolfsguard lived between two and three hundred years, they must have seen quite a bit in their time.

Depending on their attitude, they could be a huge asset if I accepted this estate. Only five of the forty-one were not maimed or elderly. Their bonded partner had been killed, and they were fighting depression. I wanted to talk with this entire group. There was a loophole in the number of guardsmen I could maintain; the max was one hundred, but instructors did not count toward the number. If this forty-one wolfguard could train my guardsmen, half the headache of that obligation could be handled.

We worked well into the morning on the farmlands, and Mera and Fera showed the depth of their knowledge and usefulness. I asked if their parents and family would relocate and run the farms. They were both adamant that their parents would not move. Maybe their older brother and his wife would, but definitely not their parents, who had worked the land for generations. They eventually got too tired to continue working, and the cats wanted breakfast and attention. The twins left my room.

I went through my morning routine with the cats and my own training. It was the seventh day, so I did not have to be at the Academy until tomorrow. How would my instructors treat me when they learned Iwas one of three High Mages recognized by the Mage Academy in thecapital? I was still learning quite a bit at the Academy and did not want to give it up just yet.

I had one more folder to read in depth before accepting Loriel’s offer.The Spire. It had no requirements other than a sizable yearly tax of five hundred gold. The Spire had been the personal tower of a powerful mage. One so strong he could break the original floating island. I think the possibility of gaining access to his library is what made everything so intriguing—Loriel knew me too well. This carrot was too irresistible. What spells and secrets were on that top-floor residence?

I came up with a list of concessions I would need from Loriel if I wereto take residence in the Black Spire and officially take the title of High Mage of Skyholme.

1) Include all the original lands in the estate with the exception of the dungeon. The additional nine square miles were not needed, but always ask for more than you wanted to start negotiations.

2) Exclusive access to the dungeon one day a week. I knew she would not give the dungeon over to me, but one day a week would allow me to get aether soil and train my delvers. I would still send them to the Frost Vault as well to supply the Shiny Platinum.

3) Eliminate the clause where my guardsmen could be conscripted. It seemed too easy a way for the Triumvirate to strip the land of any military strength I developed.

4) Supply a grace period of one hundred days to meet the fifty guardsmen and evacuation skyship requirement in the deeded contract. I had a few ideas on how to quickly acquire a skyship on the cheap—not safe or sensible ideas, but it could cut some corners. I also needed a larger skyship to deliver the blood marble.

5) Under no circumstances was Loriel to dock her skyship at the Black Spire. I understood that was part of her intention. She also wanted to create her own loyal force outside the Triumvirate using the clauses in the contract, but I would be damned if I was going to allow it.

6) Give me all the information of Aelyn and her mother’s use of the portal stone. She had been holding it over me, and I had serious thoughts she was already hinting them to obtain the Heart Stone.

7) I would not be obligated to attend any political functions in my capacity as High Mage of Skyholme.

I looked at my list and tried to think of anything else I should request. I could not think of anything else.

I walked down for breakfast to the bakery and found Whnna and Callem there. Callem looked apologetic. “I am sorry Storme. My talkwith Gareth did not go as intended. He is going to start a rival dungeon team and earn his own coin. He wants to prove to you that he doesn’t need your coin. He thinks he needs to prove he is your equal to continue being your friend.” I was slightly shocked and did not know what to say. Maybe I would let him try to make it on his own. It might help him in the long run.