Chapter 35

The Mage’s Academy of Horath

Kraevos

As the group of five began to march up the high arching steps to the entrance to the academy, Kraevos let out a rather audible sigh of exasperation. “Ugh, I truly had hoped to never step foot in this place again.” He gazed around looking at the entranceway and the stonework around it. Every step, every breath, every second dredged up old memories for him. He tried to shake his head and push away the ghosts from the past but to no avail. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and was losing the battle to hold them back as he thought of the first time he’d laid eyes on this location before even the academy had been constructed.

Vella looked over to her friend and mentor, seeing the pain in his eyes, “It’s ok Kraevos. We will try to get in and out of here as quickly as we can. We’ll make sure this goes smoothly.” Vella smiled to reassure him, but not a single thing had gone smoothly since Vella left the farm.

Vella put her hand consolingly on Kraevos's back, but at that particular moment even looking at Vella just caused Kraevos pain. Since the day he’d met her, Vella had constantly reminded Kraevos of his daughter Precia. The earnest way she acted, her never-ending optimism, and her willingness to believe in the good in people reminded him of the same qualities in his daughter. At first, he was able to block out these thoughts, but when Precia’s tome had sprung up in Lazzure he couldn’t block out the connection any further. That book was a reminder of all he’d had and lost and he couldn’t ignore that, especially with what was ahead of him. At least this time he was determined to bring about a better outcome.

Kraevos pushed open the gateway to the academy and looked in, watching the shimmer of magic as the illusion surrounding the building changed. Where at first had seemed to be a massively wide structure with gigantic walls, they were now looking down a long walkway that led to a central glowing structure. There were blocks of stone, frames of wood, and pieces of metal sliding, turning, and twisting about the walkway in all different directions, some static, others humming with energy. At the central glowing structure, many of these blocks of material were congregated, forming a large cube that hung in the air. Each piece was at least the size of a large room, some as big as a dining hall, and yet they moved effortlessly through the air.

“What in the world is this?” Vella asked with her mouth hanging open in awe.

“This Miss Vella is the Mage’s Academy,” Kraevos replied with a grin as he spoke. For all the bad memories that he associated with this place, the building itself he had always considered a triumph of form and function. What seemed like a wondrous, bizarre design to some was an intricate pattern of moving rooms to help the channel and flow of the magic within. “I designed this myself. It shifts constantly, never staying still too long, always moving according to the pulse of the magic being used by those within. It has many different configurations that can change depending on the need. The only fixed point is what you see in the middle, the linchpin of the whole design.”

“It’s amazing Kraevos,” Vella mumbled out. She nudged Sani who was beginning to drift back, caught in a state of curiosity as she watched the building.

“So, remind me,” Sani began, “Why exactly did we not want me to go here? Cause right now this place seems pretty darn impressive.”

“Buildin’ is fancy an all,” Aren replied, “But the people inside this place sure aren’t. I think the first time I came to this place I was about five. Came here with some o Dad’s emissaries, supposed to be seein’ how to negotiate a major political deal. All I remember are the horrible experiments I saw, a lot o things that no kid should ever see or be forced to be a part of.”

“My people have never trusted this place,” Moren interjected, “The only reason I’ve been here is that I was under America’s control. We go to great lengths to protect our magic users from ever being sent here.”

“But you are familiar to them, correct?” Kraevos asked.

“Unfortunately yes,” Moren responded, “I’ve been forced to come here on Emeria’s behalf several times in the past year.”

“Good, whatever familiarity we have will help us. We have a small glimmer of hope that we can enter this place without causing a ruckus and you and Aren are essentially it.” As they began to walk further down the walkway they grew quieter, Kraevos being the only one speaking as he went through the plan. “You Moren will pretend to still be under Emeria’s control, coming to check on the academy with some mages that you have found.”

“But Kraevos, I thought we were pretending to be academy mages?” Sani asked.

“With Moren on our side the plan can change and this one relies less on acting for all of us. We will be non-academy mages that Moren has captured. We will be presented as prisoners and thrown into the dungeon of this place. Moren and Aren will get the grand tour as a noble and one of Emeria’s most trusted generals. They will draw all of the attention for those aware of us while that frees the three of us up once we break ourselves free of the dungeon. We will find the chamber I need at the place and time it moves into the correct alignment. If we miss this window though it will be a far worse endeavor for us all. Timing is the real key to this operation.”

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“Hold up,” Aren interjected, “You mean ta say that the darn room we need isn’t there all the time?”

“Yes, that is precisely it,” Kraevos said, “It is actually the room that has the smallest amount of accessible time in the whole academy. One of the many defenses I put to safeguard it. After all, I wouldn't want someone stumbling into this particular location.” Aren glared at Kraevos, disgruntled with the usual issues of decisions Kraevos had made hundreds of years ago. “Honestly I was hoping I would never have to go back to this place, so I wasn’t particularly focused on getting back in. Not to mention I assumed I would be far more intelligent and have access to far greater magics so I could access it easily. Though I was right on several counts, I have not figured out how to best myself here, sowe have to play by the rules I set a long time ago.”

“Fine, so we have no voice, no use grumbling,” Sani said. “But how exactly do we find each other in this place? With these moving rooms and all the magical interference, I doubt the coins will be much good.”

“You are very correct, they are utterly useless here. For that matter, there is little magic that will help us in that way. The unique properties of this place are why I founded the academy in this spot. It surges with the greatest amount of magic I have ever found. We will have to rely on our cunning over magic, that said, you will all know once I find the room. In fact the entire academy will react to my accessing the room.”

“Splendid,” Aren grumbled, “So what you mean ta say is that there’s no way to do this quietly. One way or another the whole place will be on high alert?”

“Yes and we can safely assume that once that happens they will inform Emeria of what is going on,” Kraevos replied with an odd confidence.

“I would expect nothing less from a hive such as this,” Moren began, “After all, if you try to take honey from a bee’s hive they will rally and try to sting you, this isn’t any different. We will simply have to deal with the repercussions as we go. I can’t say I’m sorry to hear all this, it will be nice to warm myself up before we go to see Emeria. So much time restraining myself means I need to stretch my muscles.”

Aren made a face at Moren halfway between confusion and frustration, neither one of his reactions able to form words at the moment. Kraevos stopped as they reached the doorway to the central mass of buildings all moving around the glowing center and motioned for Moren and Aren to take the front. “You two really need to sell this or this won’t work. We need that just right mixture of proper behavior and things that will drive the suspicions of the mages so that no one pays attention to the prisoners in the dungeon.”

“Don’t worry,” Sani said as she slapped Aren on the back, “This big lug will stand out so badly in an intellectual place like this.” Aren turned to shoot Sani a dirty look, but then just shrugged and nodded in agreement.

“What can I say, I’m more a man o the people than a book learner,” Aren said sarcastically.

After a little chuckle, Kraevos motioned for Moren to knock on the great door and he did. Each thud of his fist sent a green ripple across the door frame, each small tap amplified both the sound and electricity in the air until there was a pounding pressure surrounding the door and everyone around it. A small slit opened in the door that began to glow a blue light. “Who would ask for entrance into the Mage’s Academy without having a scheduled appointment?” a voice from the slit boomed out.

Matching the booming level of the noise around him, Moren replied, “I would. I am Moren, Hntsmaster of Morenseo and general of the Sacrotian Empire.”

There was a pause for a moment before the voice from the door replied, “What purpose would you have here general? We were not told about your arrival or of any reason to stop.”

Moren moved closer to the door, almost letting a disgruntled snarl out before speaking. “As per the agreement with Sacrotia, I have found several untrained mages and brought them to you. They were causing problems in Draeton and Emeria bade me to bring them to you. I believe one of them in particular will be of interest to you. She is a member of the wild order and goes by the name Greenbraid.” As Moren finished speaking the slit on the door snapped shut and with a massive gust of air the doors slid down and away. Behind them stood a man in mage’s robes that were similar to the ones Kraevos normally wore.

The mage ran over to Moren excitedly, “Let me see her,” he exclaimed. Moren pushed Sani forward and the mage began to look her over. He ran around her, like a child receiving a new toy, taking in the details that he could, “Yes… yes… I do believe this is her, this seems to be Greenbraid. She has been a thorn in the Academy’s side for some time. The Academy gives you our thanks Huntsmaster. We will take Greenbraid and the other two, you may be on your way.”

Moren stretched out his arm to block the mage, “Not quite yet goodmage,” he said. “My empress asks that I have a stay at the Academy. She would like me to observe what is going on here for a few days to make sure that we can trust our supposed allies.” Moren made sure to stress his words, forcing himself to be even more imposing than usual to the rather timid and small-seeming mage.

The mage looked offended while he replied, “That won’t be necessary, we uphold all deals that we make. The Empress need not worry about our loyalty.”

“Though I may believe that,” Moren began, “Do you think it wise to deny a request from the Sacrotian Empress?” Moren let the question hang in the air for a moment and watch the mage’s spirit sink. “Besides, I care very little for what goes on here, in truth I would just like to meet with the Headmaster of the Academy and see how Greenbraid will be broken by your magic.”

The mage looked up at Moren, buying the ruse, “Certainly Huntsmaster. Anything for the new Empress, I’m sure the Headmaster will value your visit greatly, after all, you have brought him such a great bounty.” With that Moen and the others began to follow the mage inside the academy. With a loud thud, the doors slid up and into their place, blocking the outside world out and sealing the party inside the Mage’s Academy.