Chapter 118

I sipped the wine. I studied the old Wolfsguard, who was almost completely white. Where he was not white, it was a silvery gray. I looked into his icy blue eyes and asked, “Before we discuss the orchards. What is the tale that brought you to these apple orchards?”

He had a full-tooth smile, and his teeth were in rough condition, and one top canine was missing. “Me? I am a nobody. I guarded Lady Mirabel for a hundred and ten years before she passed. Then the Bricio lord thought I was too old to guard another of his family. I was sent here some hundred years ago.”

I nodded and asked for more, “I thought the bonded Wolfsguard had trouble after their charge passed?”

“Ah, true. It wrecks the heart. The bond can sometimes be passed to a descendant with the blood, but it is a difficult process as well. Some Wolfsguard manage to live through the urge to join their charge in the afterlife,” he sighed. I considered it for about three years after Lady Mirabel. After the three years, it became easier, and I had a new purpose,” he sipped his wine, “Helping others through the same process.”

“So you are a good samaritan?” I nodded. I do not think he understood the word, but he nodded as well. “How many Wolfsguard do you have here?”

“Fifty-nine.” My eyebrows went up as the number was higher than Loriel gave me. He waved his hand, “No one ever cares to count too closely. At first, this was just a refuge for the Bricio and Citadel Wolfsguard. But we accept the Miaden and Torrent as well. We had a small influx recently,” he added with pursed lips.

“Fifty-nine,” I echoed. “How many can still fight?”

He gave a horse laugh, “None. When we come here, we swear never to swing a weapon in battle again.”

“The Wolfsguard have been freed. I would have to check to confirm, but you have been given a choice to guide your own future. Any oaths of service are voided. Most live on Stonefell Island now and will be crewing the skyship scouts. If you want, I can see about your number joining them,” I offered but hoped they would decline my offer.

“We have heard our kin have been freed.” He momentarily contemplated, “But I do not think that is our place. Unless you plan to remove us from the orchards, I believe all will stay here.” He looked expectantly at me for an answer.

Relief flooded through me. I felt my next question could go either way. “Would you be willing to work for me? I will pay you all a fair wage. Say five silver a week, with another silver for every five years of service already earned?”

His eyes widened, then narrowed suspiciously, “You would pay me thirty silver a week to work the orchards?”

“No,” I said, watching his suspicion turn slightly unfriendly. I grinned, “The foreman would make one gold a week. I hope you will take that role.”

Some shock, and he reclined in the chair creaked, “You know some Wolfsguard have been here more than fifty years. I have been here the longest, but to tend and pick apples sounds outrageous. I appreciate the gesture, but we can reach a more reasonable wage agreement. Mostly we need clothes and food. Provide that and a silver a week per person, and it would be acceptable,” Asger said with some thought.

“Maybe I am choosing the wrong foreman? Negotiating down? My offer stands, but I require more than just picking apples. I need skilled guards and want you to train them!” I said with a flourish of my hands.

“Train soldiers?” He leaned back in his chair and thought long on it. He finally spoke with a low tone, “It would help some here direct their energy and distract their grief-stricken thoughts. Some Wolfsguard are not made to be gardeners,” he admitted. “There are maybe a dozen among us suited for the task. Some others would but are crippled.”

“What if I could restore their lost limbs?” I held up my hands to stop his excitement, “I am a healer, and my lesser restoration spell is evolving. I can do it in a few months, but for now, all I can do is teeth. May I?”

Asger ran his tongue over his missing tooth. He seemed hopeful as he gave me his hand. I focused on my aether and, using the diagnostic tool of mend flesh, I found he had a lot more problems than visible. I fixed them all: cracked teeth, cavities, a missing tooth, an infection in the gums. I restored his teeth to perfect state and white condition. He started running his tongue over them, smiled, and went to a mirror.

“I had been learning to ignore the pain. The missing tooth had to be pulled because it got unbearable. Now,” he looked and felt the teeth, “just amazing.” He turned to me, and I think I had won him over. “I think I believe you are a High Mage now,” he smiled and sat back at the table with renewed energy on his face.

“I am glad you approve. You have a few in your number with the harvest skill?” I asked, returning to business.

“Yes, Juno, Oriana and Calix. Oriana is a stronger version of the ability, and she has a larger aether core,” Asger noted.

“Good, they will all receive an additional five silver a week for their ability. If others have abilities, we can discuss them at another time. Let us move on to talking about the grounds. They are in terrible shape. Gardens are overgrown, and weeds are everywhere. I will hire gardeners eventually, but for the next few months, I need your people to care for the grounds.” I licked my lips. “Also, I am going to be tearing down your residences. You will be moving to the aether fields closer to the Black Spire after we renovate them. Your talents are wasted on apples.” I said, expecting a positive reaction.

Asger did not look too thrilled. It was a prideful habit if you spent one hundred years doing something. I backtracked seeing my error, “Asger, you are the foreman and can decide who works in which field and at the orchard. I will need you to move to the farmers’ house, though. These buildings,” I indicated the hovels, “are not good enough for your people.”

He nodded, slowly accepting but still showing some reluctance to leave. I conceded again, “If you want, after we tear them down, we can rebuild them to something suitable?” That finally got the twinkle in his eye.

He apologized, “I just would miss the night air and smell of the blossoms when I slept at night.”

I wondered if I was making too many concessions to win him over. “Let us review years of service for everyone so I can start paying you immediately.”

We spent the next hour updating my roster of Wolfsguard, and he noted their injuries and if they had any abilities he was aware of. His group had two dozen tier-one abilities, some useful in combat and some useful in other ways. Nothing remarkable, though. For now, I would just pay them an extra silver a week. The fifty-nine Wolsguard was going to cost me just over six gold a week—what I paid a single delver.

After agreeing to payment for every Wolfsguard I discussed my next plan. “I plan to set up an apple press and juice the apples to make some interesting ales. Your people can get a handful of animals to eat the waste if you want.” We then got into a discussion of how many animals and what type. We settled on fifty chickens, sixteen goats for milk, and two milk cows. I had plenty of land but did not want the livestock to get out of hand. I pictured the rebuilt housing to be kind of a retirement village for Wolfsguard.

With negotiations done, we walked out to meet the Wolfsguard, who had been milling about, waiting to hear of their fate. Most of the Wolfsguard were malnourished. The Bricios had sustained them with shipments, but they had been forgotten while the new Trivumverate was trying to figure out what to do with the property. They desperately needed income, and Asger figured none of the nobles saw the lands as a profitable investment based on taxes. The real value was the dungeon and the tower residence. I only got the dungeon one day a week and planned to use it well.

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After my walk-through, I agreed the land would be a money pit to start before getting it back to productivity. This was still secluded lands on the capital island. Asger introduced me, “This is High Mage Storme Hardlight. He is going to allow us to continue to work the land. He has agreed to pay us for our services.” There were a lot of skeptical faces in the crowd. I counted forty males and fourteen females. With Asger, that made fifty-five. Four were currently not here.

I stepped forward, “I am a healing mage. I will repair your teeth today, and in the future, I can repair your missing limbs.” Just like Asger, there was a lot of hope in their eyes. “Everyone here will be paid at least five silver a week; the more experience you have, the higher the wage. I will let Asger inform you of that, but for now, let me correct your teeth.”

I then spent time and a lot of aether giving all fifty-nine Wolfsguard fresh teeth. Their malnourishment was starting to show, so I would have to task Leda and Cilia to get them some variety out here immediately. I also healed poorly healed bones, malaligned vertebrae, and poorly healed muscle tissue—the current extent of my lesser restoration spell. I went through most of my substantial aether pool to finish all fifty-nine of them. Restorative healing magic was very aether intensive, and not many archmages in Skyholme had the aether reserves for it.

It also gave me a chance to meet them all. I could tell some of them had broken spirits, but the healing helped. On completion, the old Wolfguard were now fairly excited about having a High Mage as a landlord. The younger Wolfsguard also seemed to be in better spirits. I would need to reach level twenty-three in the lesser restoration spell to regrow limbs. I had just reached level fifteen in the spell from healing the Wolfguard. I had a long way to go. The Wolfsguard were polite and thankful.

I made my way back to the Maelstrom, and the two cats were having a lot of fun in the overgrowth, scaring out birds and other small creatures. As I reached the bridge, Cilia asked, “How did the meeting with the Wolfguard go?”

“Exceptionally well,” I was pulling the contract out of my dimensional space to read it. “They are going to remain, and there are fifty-nine of them. I am confident they will train with my guards as well. I need to find out if they can serve as guards themselves. The laws prior prevented it.”

Leda answered, “As far as I remember, the new law released all Wolfsguard from service, and the ones remaining need to be paid a fair wage.”

Cilia nodded, “That sounds about right. Indentured were freed of all debt as well. I know this caused some issues in the capital. There were maybe three thousand? The Triumvirate paid all their debts so the debt owners did not become angry. Of course, they still are from losing their servants.”

“Well, you two can confirm this in the capital tomorrow when you bring Remy and Isla out to the Spire,” I said as the fast flight quickly came to an end. After we landed in the warehouse, one of the port guards came rushing down from the upper docks nearby. He was upset with the speed at which we had come in through the port and also tried to give us a fine for parking the Maelstrom inside the warehouse.

At first, I thought Loriel had rezoned the special permit for allowing skyships in my warehouse. It turned out that he was new and just an idiot. My father ran inspections for all incoming skyships, and he laid into them guardsmen verbally.

When I got to my room at the Shiny Platinum, I called for Remy and Isla. Isla arrived first, “I have four layouts of the park to choose from, and the building will come down tomorrow.” She had a self-satisfied look on her face.

I praised her, “Amazing work. Now I have a new property. I want to build a village.”

Isla paused and looked confused. I was happy as it appeared she had not been communicating with Loriel, otherwise, she would have known about the Black Spire. “A village?” She asked skeptically.

“Yes. On the capital island, I am taking over the Black Spire and the land surrounding it. First, I need to the glass replaced on the fourth floor. It was shattered. I need the property thoroughly cleaned as well.”

Her jaw was open and still processing, but I continued. “You should take notes. Cilia and Leda will fly you out there tomorrow.” She opened her satchel and found some blank pages and started to write. “I want the two barracks demolished behind the Spire. I think I want a small fort built back the two skyship cradles. Functional for one hundred men.”

She interrupted, “Only the families can have more than ten guards.” She was quoting the law.

“I have special dispensation,” I pulled out the paperwork and showed it to her. She scanned it, and her disbelief widened.

I continued, “The farmhouse by the dungeon aether crop fields needs to be rebuilt. Nothing elaborate. Just updated. The real project will be by the orchards. There are some very old buildings there. I want them all demolished and a town built in its place. I was thinking small, just four square acres. A town commons in the center and buildings surrounding it. Most of the buildings will be small two-story duplex residences, enough for one hundred people. I also want a general store, a small factory for pressing apples into juice, and a small armory with a training yard.”

Isla paused as Remy knocked. “Come in, Remy. I have more people on my payroll.” Remy entered and smiled at Isla. She had a shy smile returned to him. I guessed things were happening I was not aware of. “Her is the list, Remy,” I handed him the roster of Wolfsguard.

“Wolsguard?” Isla said and scooted very close to Remy to look at the list. They were definitely closer than I remember. Isla looked at me in shock, “You have over fifty Wolfsguard?!” Remy had disbelief as well.

“It is not what it seems. It is more of a retirement community for the Wolfsguard. All of these Wolfsguard have been abandoned; considered too old, or maimed to do their duties,” I stated.

Isla still could not hold her disbelief, “And Loriel is letting you have them? Even an old Wolfsguard is a formable fighter.”

I laughed, “She gave them to me to hand off a problem. From my understanding, the Triumvirate is bleeding coin. Loriel is betting heavily on the open trade and taxes from it to bring Skyholme to prosperity again.” Isla nodded as it was becoming common knowledge apparently how over-extended the Triumvirate was.

I turned to Remy, “So when you fly out with Isla tomorrow, fill the hold of the Maelstrom with clothing and food for the Wolfsguard. Everything will be free to them, but once the town is built and a general store is established, we can sell them goods, and they can use their coin. They are in a somewhat miserable state, having been ignored since the Bricio revolt. So how long to plan and build,” I asked Isla while reviewing her plans for a park and outside dining where the adjacent warehouse was.

“There is not much building happening. I think people are holding their purse strings to see what is going to happen with the trade. I guess it is a question of how fast you want it down and what material? I suggest using builders from Titan’s Shield and ferrying them out daily with the Maelstrom. It would save you considerable cost as the builders in the capital get paid twice as much. Also, since you are not building in the city, you should be able to get around angering the Builder’s Guilds.”

“Faster is better. Stone would be preferable. Lock up as many build teams as possible.” I took out five platinum coins and put them on the table. “Here is a start. Try and secure as much building material as possible.”

Isla had a glint of excitement in her eyes at the project, “Stone is cheaper than wood right now. We have some unique lumber from the islands and our dungeons, and they are hoping it will sell well in the lowlands. So they are holding it in their warehouse. I can get the stone mage who worked on the Shiny Platinum. I already contracted him to add the balconies on the apartments facing the park.”

“We also have a day’s exclusive access to the nearby dungeon. It was a private Bricio dungeon, and I do not know what is inside of it. Maybe we can source materials for construction from there.” I checked the paperwork, “Every sixth day, we have unlimited access.” They were shocked. “Remy, do you need funds for the silver to pay the Wolfsguard and purchase food and clothing?”

“No, we have about twelve hundred gold in the safe. I will communicate with Leda to get everything loaded as I purchase it,” he confirmed.

“Isla, I like these plans for the gardens.” I passed her the plans with trees and marble dining tables.

She nodded and looked at the plans I selected. It was not her first choice because she did not seem too happy, but it was the one I preferred. Isla nodded and focused on the next project, “I will want to survey the land before drafting plans for the fort and Wolsguard town.”

I forgot something and added, “Plan for there to be two small farms for the Wolsguard on the far side of the town. Maybe two acres worth. I promised them some chickens, goats, and cows.” Isla noted it, and they both left.

I went and located Ullmark in the training room with the red-haired Namira and Mera. I was a little shocked to find Mera training with her staff. They all paused as I approached. “Ullmark hope things are going well. I have a new dungeon for the team to explore.”

His eyebrows went up in surprise, “Really? What dungeon is it.”

“The dungeon by the Black Spire on the capital island. It was the Bricio’s private dungeon, and I do not have much information on it,” I said.

He frowned, “I know it. When I worked for the Bricios, I often delved into the dungeon. Not many good memories. Can we go somewhere to talk privately about this?” He looked at the Namira and Mera.

I motioned for Ullmark to join me down in my room. I had known Ullmark worked for the Bricios in the past, so I was curious about this conversation.