Chapter 15
KNOWLEDGE AND FEALTY
Devon yawned as he wandered from the Hub to the front room.
“Good morning. Are you off to the kitchen?” Finn asked from one of the armchairs.
Devon grinned warmly at Finn. “Good morning to you, too. Yep, breakfast is calling me.”
“Would you mind if I tag along?”
“I’d be delighted. Let’s eat.” He continued through the other entrance and turned left to get to the kitchen. The smells of cooking massaged his nostrils enticingly, and his stomach instantly paid attention.
In the kitchen, June was bustling around as if she had worked there her entire life. The room was a spacious, open-plan arrangement with the dining area in one half, a breakfast bar dividing the centre, then the kitchen and food storage was on the other side. A long pan-rack hung from the ceiling above the breakfast bar, and copious drawers and cupboards kept all the equipment and utensils tidy. June was currently frying thinly sliced and cured boar meat in a skillet with a horde of eggs cooking on the hotplate. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted across the room from a large batch of fine-looking wholemeal loaves that were sitting on a wide, cooling-trellis.
“Oh, June! I adore a lady who can bake. Where have you been all my life?” Devon cooed.
Finn guffawed when he heard Devon’s patter.
June beamed across at Devon. “Good morning, you gorgeous creature. Sit at the bar. I’ll get you two fine fellows fed.”
Finn mouthed ‘gorgeous creature’ at him and grinned. “She will be eating you for breakfast before you know it.” His comment was met with a rap across the knuckles with a wooden spoon brandished by the chef. Unfortunately for Finn, June had excellent hearing.
Lorn stumbled into the room, looking tired, followed by Dawn and her daughters. Devon had given bedrooms to all the guardians with children, plus Madi and Finn, Izzy, and Beth, while Gwen was still in Haven’s hospital. Devon had his master bedroom. Abi was currently adding more bedrooms along with a dormitory.
“This place is beyond belief, Devon. You have a beautiful home. Thank you for letting us stay,” Dawn said.
“You are very welcome. Until we can get your new residences ready, I would like you to treat Haven as your home. You’ll find this place is full of surprises.”
Lorn grabbed a stool and dragged it over until it was right next to Devon, then leapfrogged over it, landing squarely in the seat on her bottom. She smiled slavishly at him.
“Morning,” she said.
“Hello, sunshine. Very impressive entrance. Hopefully, you ladies should start seeing aspects of your new magic soon. Maybe even today.”
“Awesome! Will you be teaching me today? My dragon said that you are my master now, and you will mentor me.”
“Did she now? Firstly, I’m not your master, but I would consider taking you and a few others as apprentices for a while. Secondly, I should explain that your mana-dragon is one of my dragon’s little sisters. Grace got the other.”
“I did,” Grace said happily.
“All the dragons chat together. Their accents are funny,” Lorn said.
“Well, now that’s interesting. You can hear all of the dragons?” Devon asked.
“Uh huh! Yours tells rude jokes.”
Devon snorted. “He does. My dragon has a very rustic sense of humour,” Devon replied with a smile. Lorn’s abilities seemed to be emerging much quicker than expected. He wanted to take all these young ladies and create magical, frontline soldiers. He would need them for the trials to come. What stopped him was the ethical implications.
Lorn thought to him.
Devon gasped.
“Bloody hell!” Devon said, unintentionally out loud. Her mana-dragon was intent on pushing this intense young lady straight into his path.
The one mention of mentoring Lorn yesterday had started a chain of events in motion. Devon decided to go with it this time. He’d shied away from company for too long. Now felt like the right moment to cast aside the enforced solitude of his past.
****-****
Devon was so happy to have his memories back. It made him feel whole again. Knowing his past unlocked all the secrets of Haven, including his beloved library and his passion for literature. Over the millennia, he had read most of the books in here. With Abi’s new connections to the outside world, she might be able to start obtaining more. He had decided to ask for a comprehensive library restock as a favour from the gods. Abi had promised to convey his wishes to his mentors.
He walked to the bookcase and reached for the blue book on the second shelf up, fifth from the right. He tilted it back, and the bookcase slid into the wall and then sideways to the left. Behind the door was a long corridor with a towering bookcase on either side, which opened out into the study area. Devon revelled in the enormity of his library, and he knew that it would just keep getting larger every time he managed to obtain more books.
Bookcases radiated out in every direction. Each double-sided bookcase rose over thirty-five feet from the floor. On both sides of every bookcase, there was a metal sliding ladder. The ladder wasn’t what guests expected a library ladder to look like, though. Yes, it was designed to slide along the bookcase’s length, but each ladder had intricate mechanisms mounted to its frame.
The décor of the library was straight out of the history books. It had dark parquet flooring that currently stretched for at least seventy yards in each direction, with the wooden panelled walls matching the floor in colour. The domed ceiling was fifty feet high and painted with a detailed depiction of the night sky. A warm glow from concealed lighting around the walls lit the area, and a plush, thickly piled rug of the deepest blue covered the floor in the centre of the room. The whole effect was one of subdued opulence.
The central reading area contained a wide circle of twenty armchairs, each facing the middle. Each chair had a low-slung side table made of mahogany and a tall, heavily shaded floor-lamp on the other side. In the centre of the circle was a matching table that was about six feet in diameter.
Devon sat and waited for the others. He had put June off for ten minutes to allow time to set his first students on their path; but the first person to arrive was Gwen, and she did so at speed. Luckily, Devon had stood to greet her before she reached him because as soon as she was near enough, she flung herself then landed in his arms in a princess hold.
“God, it seems like a lifetime since I passed out. Did you miss me?” She leant back so she could look at him, then she leant in and kissed him tenderly. “We’ve got some catching up to do, but first, put me to work. I am now a dark-witch and a master alchemist. I need to learn how to craft and so many other things too. Like you, for instance. I want to know everything about you. Oh, and my faie race is pumine. I’m a bloody cat-girl, Devon, and a bad-ass one at that. I’ve been reading comics about them since I was small.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Wow! Aren’t you talkative! And yes, I was worried, and I’m relieved you are okay. Are you officially joining my ranks then?”
“A witch is a dark-priestess, so yes. I’ll be swearing a vow to the Reaper once I know what the words are. Anyway, don’t be daft. I was yours from the start. You knew that. Absolutely, completely, yours. You’re a god. Why the hell would I settle for anyone else? You make life fun. You’re not hard on the eye either.”
Devon coughed at her last remark. He blushed but couldn’t help but grin shyly. Gwen wasn’t the least bit shy, though. “You’d best take a seat then. You’ll be here all day, probably through the night too. Abi will put you to sleep while you assimilate the knowledge.
Abi, can you fetch Gwen books on the Wayfarer, Reaper, the Pantheon, Haven’s crafting system, materials, realms, all the faie creatures, lore, magic, witches, and everything you have about chemistry, alchemy, and potion making?”
“I don’t have anything specific on realms, master. When your consignment of new material arrives, that will be rectified. I can help with all the other choices, though. I will have the books brought to you.”
They watched as the library sprang to life. The library ladders got to work, sliding left and right rapidly along the shelves. A flotilla of library trolleys had appeared from somewhere. They dashed here and there between the bookshelves, while ladders used mechanical arms to pass books down to them. He watched with familiar fascination as magic and mechanisms worked together in harmony. It was a ballet of motion, and he loved it.
“This whole place goes way beyond cool, Devon. Can I live here?”
“Of course, you can. I’ve already organised a room for you. Welcome to your new home, cat-witch.”
“Mmm! I like the sound of that name.”
Soon a trolley, heavily laden with thick, leather-bound tomes, sidled up to Gwen’s table and used a mechanical arm to place the books carefully onto it. When the trolley had finished, Gwen had five neat piles of books arranged next to her.
“Mistress, your reading list will take twenty-six hours and eleven minutes to assimilate. Do you wish to sleep for the duration?” Abi asked.
Gwen looked at Devon, and he nodded. “Yes, please.”
“Certainly. Starting now.” Abi replied.
Devon watched as the floor lamp behind her dimmed, and Gwen’s eyes flickered closed. When he turned, he saw a crowd waiting for him.
The group that had assembled were all keen to try and learn the art of crafting. Izzy was there, with Beth, Beks, Madi, and Finn too. Beks was standing next to Beth, chatting happily with her. She was a little shorter than Beth and had short brown hair and big, dark eyes. Her face was slim, and her prominent cheekbones added an elegant touch to her features. She looked a lot like her mother, Madi.
Dawn was also there. She was the village seamstress and a good one, not only with cloth but with leather too. Lorn had, of course, insisted on being there, so had her best friend, Pip, and her sister, Grace. Dawn’s two daughters both wanted to learn how to make clothes and other things they refused to disclose. A young lady named Ffion was also there. He’d cheated with her name as he’d asked Abi to mentally prompt him with information on people he didn’t yet know. All the villagers had been scanned, and so Abi recognised everyone now. Even though Ffion was a little older than the other three, she seemed to be part of Lorn’s crowd. The trouble was he knew nothing more about her other than she was orphaned at the age of three. That made him wonder what had happened to her parents, and it also made him a little sad.
“Take a seat, everyone who isn’t waiting to see me in the other room. The rest can join in a little later,” Devon said. Grace, Pip, and Ffion all had a whispered conversation with Lorn and Dawn. Lorn nodded quickly, then shushed them.
Devon waited until they were all seated and looking at him expectantly while glancing at Gwen. “Abi, please can you give everyone except Izzy the same reading list that Gwen has. Izzy just needs all of Haven’s manuals along with the crafting and materials reading lists.”
“Of course, master. Does everyone wish to have a sleep-induced study session?”
Devon looked around the circle. Everyone nodded except Izzy. “All but Izzy, Abi.”
“Sweet dreams, everyone,” he said as each floor-light dimmed, and they dropped to sleep. He looked at Izzy. “I’ll see you later, priestess. When you have finished in here, would you care to join me in the design centre?” He kept his voice neutral. Until Izzy made her mind up where her loyalties lay, he would not allow himself to need her more.
“I would be delighted, my lord,” Izzy replied with a warm smile.
“Commencing now,” Abi said.
Devon wondered if his comments about Izzy leaving had startled her. She certainly had been acting more warmly toward him since then. He wanted her to stay but would never stop her from going. Putting those thoughts aside, he motioned to Lorn and the others, then walked back into the front room.
June was sitting there waiting for them.
As soon as Devon had sunk into his chair, Jet looked up, grinned, then launched herself into his lap. He automatically started scratching her head and making a fuss of her. The purr that Jet let out was noisy and blissful. Her swishing tail bashed against Devon’s leg and told Devon that she was in her happy place. Jet was currently in her most diminutive form, which meant she looked just the same as she did in her massive horse form but on a much smaller scale. Now, she was just over two feet long and very fluffy.
“She’s adorable,” June said. “Does she live here all the time?”
Devon laughed. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that black horse I ride; well, this is her. Her name is Jet. She is a magical creature and can change her size; her shape too if she chooses. She seems to prefer her horse or cat forms, though.”
Everyone’s mouths went into an ‘O’ shape, and they looked at Jet with fresh wonder.
“June, even though Lorn is nineteen, I still want to ask you to allow her to become my apprentice. She would become my ward, and I will train her to become a soldier and fight for our cause. In the meantime, you would be welcome to take up permanent residence in Haven. If you’d consent to continue cooking full-time, then I would be an even happier man.”
Lorn was watching him with intensity, and he turned his attention to her. “Has Lorn told you what her magical class is yet?”
“No, she just said that you would tell me and that I wasn’t allowed to be mad,” June replied.
“Did she now? Coward,” he said, grinning at Lorn.
“For goodness’ sake, just tell me, Devon. If this is what she wants, then she has my blessing. Nothing she does with you will put her in more peril than she has already known throughout her life. In fact, with you, she will have the protection of a real god. She is desperate to take this opportunity, and I’m not going to be the one to stand in her way.”
“I appreciate your faith in me. Magic has chosen to make her into something called a ‘fast-strike shadow warrior’. She also received a second class of neuromancer, a mind-mage. Lorn has already demonstrated that she is an accomplished telepath, and I expect telekinesis and empathy will be hers to utilise as well. She may even be able to do far more complicated things that I do not know of.”
“And what does the shadow-warrior bit mean for her?” June asked. It was evident that she was trying to be brave about all this.
“It means that her mana will make her very fast, agile, and deadly for targets with anything less than heavy armour. If she tries to attack anything stronger, she’ll answer to me. She will kill swiftly using whatever type of blade she chooses. Most likely, she will have concealment magic, shadow magic, and some minor location jump skills. She will probably also get one or two different forms to utilise. Sworn to me, she might be able to take on the same shadow-cat form that I do. A deadly predator that’s very fast with large claws and teeth.”
“Oh, okay. No man will ever hurt her again then?”
“Not if she’s smart and doesn’t stay still long enough to be grabbed. She’ll have many ways to deal with that situation, though. Her neuromancy will be a blessing as a backup defence.”
“Fair enough. Give me one of those fancy bedrooms near you, and keep Lorn as safe as you can. Deal?” June agreed.
“Deal.” He grinned, leaning toward her with his hand outstretched.
June bit her bottom lip and shook his hand.
Lorn knelt in front of Devon, took his hand, and bowed her head to it. “Lord Reaper, I choose you as my deity. I beg you, grant me the powers to fight in your name and the strength to thwart any that oppose us. I offer you my vow of fealty in return.”
“Oh Lorn, my little girl, I hope you know what you are doing,” June whispered, her voice choked.
“I accept your vow, Lorn.”
There was a flash of shadows that engulfed both Devon and Lorn. Lorn’s eyes flashed black, and the bond formed. Lorn’s form became shadowy at the edges as dark energy infused her. Nodding at the positive outcome of the oath, he turned his attention to Dawn.
“Devon, I wanted to ask you if you would accept Grace and Pip as your apprentices, just as you did for Lorn,” Dawn said. “They want to join you so badly that they’ve begged and pleaded with me to allow it and to ask you on their behalf.”
“Would you teach me too, Devon? I’m a hard worker and just want to learn and to fight,” Ffion said.
“Okay! One at a time. Dawn, are you happy to release your girls into my care? They will live separately from you and spend most of their time working with me or training hard. The same offer I gave to June goes to you, too.”
“Yes, they want this so much, Devon,” Dawn replied. She looked serious and a little emotional. “I want my girls to be capable of protecting themselves and others, just like you do. I will happily live here and do what I can for the new village.”
“That sounds fair. Yes, of course, I will take them. It will never be dull, I can promise them that.” He turned his attention to Ffion. “Now, to you, young lady. Are you absolutely sure that this is something you want? I demand loyalty from my apprentices. You would be placing yourself in my care. You’ll need to work hard and make an effort to get on with everyone that’s not on our shit-list. Does that work for you?”
“I’ll work my arse off and do whatever it takes. You have my word,” Ffion replied with a grin.
“Abi, please recognise Lorn, June, Dawn, Grace, Pip, Ffion and Gwen as residents of Haven. They may spend points with my authorisation.”
“Noted. I have marked the rooms with the names of each resident. Do you wish your students to use the barracks, master?”
His plan had been for the barracks to be a dormitory, but times change quickly. “Yes please, Abi. That’s the new plan,” Devon confirmed.
Once he had sworn the other three young ladies in, he sent them back to the library with a much-expanded reading list.
Time was escaping him, and he needed to move quickly to set up a new waygate in the queen’s realm, and he now had less than three days to do it. It would need to be created where the old one crumbled, just west of the city walls.
Now that everyone was peacefully sleeping in the library, he and Jet could begin the task of hauling Haven out of the Nexus so that he could seal it back up. Later he had a mountain of crafting to do. With a sigh, he grabbed a portal charm from the mantle and left Haven to begin his day’s work with Jet closely behind him.