Chapter 91 Ripples of Trouble

The remainder of the second term was not pleasant. I struggled with using my aether. The discomfort was slowly fading from consuming the exchange ability, but it made all my efforts to imprint a new spell impossible for weeks. Using my abilities to create and shape metal was possible, but spellcasting remained difficult. Selina speculated it had to do with spells feeding aether through my spell matrix while abilities drew aether directly out of the aether core.

Selina was worried the changes might have made changes to my spell matrix, so she suggested I see Ennet. I had Ennet read my spell matrix, which had improved from 32/109 to 35/110 just two days after consuming the dungeon essence. I had improved my available slots for spells to 35, and my potential maximum had increased to 110. Even though this was a fantastic surprise, it didn’t help my mood as my body continued to resist the imprinting process for new spells.

I could feel my aether core and matrix normalizing over time. I was hoping that with rest, the adverse effects would disappear completely. How long this was going to take was a mystery to Selina. I was very hesitant to even consider using another dungeon essence after this experience.

I remained in the barracks on every seventh day during the remainder of the term while Gareth continued training and delving into the Frost Vault dungeon. Gimble had left Aegis City as promised, and Ullmark was doing a good job leading the team. Gareth’s relationship with Fera had mended, and they were now a couple, doing everything together. Mera was still trying to pursue me. Her recent attempts had to do with bringing me samples of her mead. We had provided enough of the queen bee sacs and Broderick’s dungeon yeast that our Shiny Platinum brew was well into production and extremely popular. We charged a premium for the frost mead, and Broderick’s mead was considered our generic ale.

I spent my time on the seventh day with Bleiz. We sparred, and I assisted him with imprinting spells. After he imprinted the cleanliness spell and started to evolve it, he became excited at the prospect of learning more spells. Most of his cleanliness spell evolutions added to his stealth. He could remove his scent, cleanse his bladder and bowels, and clear his tracks, and he selected three evolutions that had to do with grooming his fur. The grooming gave his fur a soft, velvety feel, which he was overly proud of, and more importantly, for stealth, removed all loose fur.

He was thoroughly frustrated learning the dimensional box spell, though. The tier two spell seemed to stymie him, and I even had Selina come and help for a few days. Selina told him sometimes, certain spheres of magic were anathema to people. The mage’s spell matrix resisted efforts to allow a spell to be imprinted from certain spheres. It appeared that for the space sphere of magic, this was the case for Bleiz.

Selina and Talia did some research in the capital library and found the Wolfsguard had difficulty imprinting space, chronomancy, and divination magic on their aether matrix. It was possible, but it took five to ten times as long as normal. I didn’t relent, though, in having Bleiz continue to learn the storage spell. It was very useful, and he could double the cubic yard the space started with initial spell evolutions.

I also introduced Freya and Bleiz in case he appeared to assist her. Freya decided to come with us to Twin Rocks every seventh day after their introduction since Bleiz was available to protect her. She loved the feel of Bleiz’s fur, which made Monty jealous. So Monty chose to bark at Bleiz whenever they joined us and was constantly trying to find him when he used his invisibility necklace. I thought it was humorous, and after a few weeks, Monty had calmed enough to stop barking and just placed himself between Freya and Bleiz so she couldn’t reach him. Bleiz didn’t mind the attention as he had grown fond of my sister in his time watching her from the shadows.

I got Bleiz a fishing pole, and when we were not fishing, Bleiz was instructing me in combat. I spent time training with my two-handed falchion but also received practice with my staff and the curved knives Bleiz preferred. Since my metal shaping and creation skills were unaffected by my condition, I turned to craft weapons. All Beliz’s weapons now had the basic hardness and sharpness enchantment on them. I also took to wearing a belt with one of the curved knives, replacing the first dagger I made. Was I subconsciously replacing Gareth with Bleiz by switching the blades?

Bleiz didn’t understand how he had lost to me so easily during the bonding ceremony. Since I couldn’t use my lightning reflexes spell without staggering from the agony, I had been training without its assistance. From this, I was certain Bleiz would be a match for Gareth, but they didn’t have the opportunity to spar. Gareth left every sixth night for Aegis City to delve and returned early on the first day for the academy. The difference between the two was that Gareth was still improving phenomenally, while Bleiz’s progress was stagnant without a superior trainer.

Callem and Elijah did come to Twin Rocks after I asked them to help Bleiz improve. Bleiz said that both of them were equals of the Blackguard Captains who trained him from a pup. Callem took it as a compliment, as most Blackguard captains had over two centuries of experience and spent most of their day training.

Our academy class made two trips to fight other academies in duels. The first event was a partner duel against a small city academy. I paired with Mia, and we easily took our opponents. Only three of the remaining twenty-eight different pairings from our academy that fought in the tournament lost. The other duel was one-on-one, and we won every bout against another small-town academy similar to ours. Hen’s Hollow was on the lips of many people, and recruiters from numerous advanced academies and noble families visited every day, seeking to sponsor my classmates for an academy in exchange for service after they graduated.

Mia, Mera, Fera, and Gareth were all under contract with me. Mia had contracted another four of our classmates through me to be future guards at the Shiny Platinum. I had the contract written and filed for everyone with an escrow deposit for all seven academy years. Other members of our class got started signing their own contracts. I was also solicited regularly, and I managed to reject no less than twenty offers. My academy payments and escrow account were set up with Wynna’s name as the payee.

As the term progressed, my knowledge of artificing skyships made leaps and bounds. Remy and Rippon were slowly accumulating and preparing materials with Isla. We would be starting the construction on the Lightning Maelstrom. Rippon wanted the ship to have a name as they worked on her, so I gave them one. The name had a lot of vanity to it, as a maelstrom was a type of storm, and lightning reflected my affinity for that sphere of magic. Well, I was footing the bill, so naming rights were mine. Maybe I would go with just Maelstrom.

We started the end-of-term testing. Enchanting was an easy pass for me. I was probably a better artificer than Instructor Aldon regarding skyships. I was familiar with all the propulsion, stabilization, anti-gravity, and inertia shielding runes. I could do the load calculations for how thick to make the runes based on the size of the power core and expected power draw.

Of course, putting this into practice on the practice target that was only as big as a bathtub and weighed less than 100 lbs was different than a 340,000-pound skyship. I figured out the amount of mithril I would need to complete my runes for the Maelstrom. It was about as much as I had gifted Pomare Torrent in the mithril shirt—one million gold. I had 18 mithril coins in my dimensional space, equaling 18,000 gold. I had moved away from mithril and had been focusing on making platinum to purchase the materials for the skyship. Mithril was too rare to spend in the city and would draw attention.

All the material needed to be harvested from dungeons. For the frame of the ship, we planned to use bone oak. It was harvested from a dungeon in the lowlands that Skyholme still controlled. It was the most costly of all the materials. The wood was pale white with tight white grain. It was extremely hard but not too dense. The only way to work the wood was with spell shaping. Our other primary wood was abyssal walnut. This wood was a glossy black and was going to be used for the siding and decking. It took enchanting runes exceptionally well and had high strength at a thin thickness. Red iron oak was the third type of wood we accumulated in the warehouse. This was to be used for the interior walls and doors. It was strong, light and gave a beautiful finish when treated with an alchemist’s teak oil.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I also recently sent Rippon dimensions for a deck to install in my dimensional space. This would give me two floors in the space and make organizing and using the space much easier. Rippon was going to build the deck with red iron oak and assemble it in the warehouse. Due to its mass, I would have to wait until my condition was alleviated before transitioning it into my dimensional space.

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I was in my room chatting with Gareth while we both studied textbooks. We had three days of exams left before the term ended, and then we would have a week’s break before we started our third and last term of the first-year academy. I had already secured admission to the Dungeon Academy in Aegis City for Gareth, the twins, and myself. Mia had decided to attend the City Guard Academy instead.

Gareth asked, “When are you coming back to the Shiny Platinum? It has been weeks.”

I put down my book on gravimetric control runes. “My father and mother are moving to the Shiny Platinum in two weeks, at the start of the third term. Freya is going with them under protest.” Gareth chuckled. I added, “I plan to help them get settled in.”

Gareth rolled to his side to look at me, “Are you going to talk to Aelyn? She has been hanging with Mia and Talia after the delves. I think she is no longer angry with you. But she may challenge you to one on one combat,” he joked. “She still wants to beat some sense into you.”

I grunted softly, “I will talk with her if she approaches me. But I have been more focused on what is going on in the capital. Isla has been relaying the stories to me when she visits Hen’s Hollow. I told you last week that the Miaden delve team in the Bricios old dungeon died?” Gareth nodded. “Well, today Isla said it looks like there has been evidence found that the Bricio’s Wolfsguard were responsible.”

Gareth sat up in a flash, “No way! Isn’t that a violation of the Triumvirate? House Wolfsguard can only be used to defend, never attack.” Gareth’s eyes were fierce. He understood this was likely the start of something much bigger.

“Yeah, Isla said the Bricios denied it, and the divination magic used to implicate them was flawed. But she thinks…” my communication stone buzzed in my dimensional storage. I pulled it out and opened the communication. Bleiz had only contacted me twice in the last few weeks. Once, because Freya was sneaking out to go swimming in the middle of the night with her friends, and another time, he asked if I could bring him some more strawberry cheesecake at the farm. I had made it for him when I learned he had a birthday and then explained only to use the communication stones in an emergency. I assumed this was important.

Bleiz’s voice came over the stone after I activated it, “Storme, two individuals are watching your house. They definitely have some skill and are using a poor version of the invisibility spell. Maybe it is just a potion.” Gareth was already dressing rapidly.

I swung out of bed and slipped on my boots. I pulled my staff from my dimensional space. I now had almost no feedback from the action of using my aether for spell magic. Selina and I determined it wouldn’t be long before it was completely gone. I was even thinking of trying the exchange ability soon in the dungeon. Gareth was ready before and waited so we could leave together. I asked the stone, “We are coming. Are you sure it is just the two?”

There was no response, and I increased our pace to a jog. Then the stone gave a reply. Bleiz said, “I have knocked them both out. We are on the far side of the maple tree by your house. The big tree I told you I like to perch in while I watch your house overnight.”

We arrived at the maple and found two gagged and bound men unconscious. Bleiz suddenly appeared. He kneeled, checking the bodies, “Still don’t sense anyone else.” Bleiz scanned the area on high alert, though.

I decided, “Bleiz, just bring one to Ennet’s house. Gareth, you take the other.” I could have carried one, but I had two strong companions. Gareth had only met Bleiz a few times in passing. One was the infamous swimming incident with Freya, and the other was when Bleiz came to pick up new enchanted weapons from me. Gareth got me to make the same weapons for him after complaining I favored Bleiz.

I later learned that Gareth wanted the weapons to train with Bleiz’s preferred weapons. Gareth was obviously preparing for when he would be able to test his skills against an actual Wolfsguard, against Bleiz. Gareth was doing his best not to show his jealousy, but it was easily apparent.

We got the men to Ennet’s house. Ennet was in Aegis City setting up her new office for readings. Callem and Wynna were awoken when we knocked. Callem was informed about the men spying on my family’s house. He nodded, and we got them in chairs. Bleiz disappeared and went to the left to resume watch on my house.

I used my assess person on both men.

Lancer Riffolk

Human Male

Age 37

Disposition: Neutral

Gryth Riffolk

Human Male

Age 42

Disposition: Neutral

I said, “This one is Lancer Riffolk, and the other is Gryth Riffolk.”

Callem grunted, “Riffolk? One thing for sure is they were up to no good. The Riffolk are a minor noble family and the closest thing Skyholme has to organized crime. Before Sebastian became a mage, he was a Riffolk. They tried to bring him back into the family by kidnapping his apprentices. Two of his apprentices were killed by the Riffolk.” Callem sighed. “Wynna, I think it is best if you are not here for this. It is not going going to be pleasant.”

Wynna grimaced and nodded. We got to see another side of Callem. It was not a side I wanted to see. The men in the chairs were bleeding and blubbering in twenty minutes. Callem asked, “Storme, can you clean up the floor? I feel guilty about soiling Ennet’s floor.” I was slightly ill as I used my cleanliness spell to clean the blood, urine, vomit, and teeth. Callem stood in front of the two men. “Now, I am guessing you are ready to talk. Why are you in Hen’s Hollow?”

The men said some incoherent words, but Callem voiced his displeasure at their stalling. Finally, one said, “We are to watch the girl in the house. We were to use her to bring him to the capital in five days.” They indicated to me with a jerk of their head. I understood Freya was leverage to get me to cooperate.

Gareth voiced loudly, pushing forward, ready to punish the men, “Who were you bringing Storme to? Do you have the means to contact them?” He stamped his heel into the closest man’s foot, who screamed in response. I was surprised by Gareth’s brutal act, but I felt no remorse. To me, this was not torturing someone. When you went after my family, you lost the right to be treated with dignity.

The man, not screaming spoke before he got the same treatment, “We were hired,” he rasped. “We were to deliver you to a Harbinger skyship, the Phobos. They didn’t give us anything. We are to meet them when they arrive and help them get you on board.” Callem was pulling out his communication stone for Sebastian.

Sebastian was quickly informed of the situation. These two men were actually his nephews. He had no sympathy for them, though. “The Phobos is one of the new harbingers. It was assigned to Abaddon Bricio, who is its captain.”

Were the Bricios finally moving against me? My blood heated in rage. They had chosen to go after my sister to get to me. I felt the urge to kill both men. I didn’t catch the last few words Sebastian had told Callem. I looked up, the blood pounding in my ears lessening.

I asked, “Are more coming, or are you alone?”

Gryth looked at me pleadingly, “There is a skyship coming. They are coming to create a distraction for the abduction. We were tasked to bring the girl when they arrived to them. That is all! Just deliver her to the skyship.” Callem stepped forward and, with a blow to the head, knocked out the sobbing man. The other looked ready to continue to cooperate.

“The Riffolk are petty thugs and thieves. They do the dirty work of the Inquisition, and the Bricios run the Inquisition,” Callem offered his perspective. “So, most likely, this is part of some plan by the Bricios. The capital has been simmering under the surface for weeks. It is ready to explode.”

I thought out a plan, “Callem, can you sneak my family to the Shiny Platinum? They should be safer there.”

“It shouldn’t be an issue. These two have some invisibility potions on their belts. I can use them if needed to make the job easier,” Callem offered. I looked, and there were six potions in each belt bandolier, each marked with the runic symbol for invisibility. I pulled two potions, handed them to Gareth, and then took two for myself. That left eight potions for Callem. Gareth added the two potions to his belt that I got him for the New Year gift exchange to his belt.

Gareth asked, “What is the plan?”

Callem glared at the two men, “I can take these two to the farm and stash them in the basement and then get your family to safety, Storme. I still have six burgers on your menu that I have left to try before deciding on my favorite,” he added, trying to make some light of the situation. I could tell Callem was torn, though. He wanted to stay with us.

“Thank you, Callem. Gareth, Bleiz, and I will wait. When they arrive, we will subdue them and get more information,” I said, finally calming down.

Callem seemed to consider, “If you decide to go after Abaddon, wait for me to return from the Shiny Platinum. The four of us will have a higher chance of success. Do you want me to ask your delve team if they want to join us?”

“Okay, Callem. Here is my communication stone with Bleiz,” I said, handing it to him, but I actually had no intention of dragging him into this mess. “Let the team and guards know that I want them to help watch my family. Father is probably going to ignore warnings and start his new guard duties at the docks,” I said, sounding more lucid than my churring thoughts were. “Unfortunately for the Bricios, they don’t know half of my secrets and have bit off more than they can swallow by coming after my family,” I said coldly.