Though it chafed at Liv to admit it, Ghveris was right. Even if she hurried things along as much as possible, there was no way they would be getting to Godsgrave in two days, or three, or even a week – not unless she wanted to simply take the waystone to the outpost at the dam, conjure a few birds from coherent mana, and fly herself and her friends to the rift.
But she’d seen how taking only four people to Godsgrave had worked out for Jurian and for Genevieve, and Liv had no intention of letting her own companions end up the same way. She had the advantage of a host of resources that her late teacher’s culling team hadn’t, and she fully intended to bring it all to bear on what was quite likely the most dangerous rift in the entire world.
Which was why she ended up hosting Mistress Ethel, the dressmaker whose shop-windows on The Hill had caught a much younger Liv’s eyes more than once; Ethel’s grown daughter, Avina; Melody, who’d been Julianne’s dressmaker in Freeport before fleeing to Whitehill and taking a position as Triss’s lady’s maid; Eluard Fox, a representative of the Most Honest Guild of Traders and Merchants; and Vivek Sharma, all at the Culler’s Rest. The setting had been Bryn Grenfell’s recommendation, though in truth Liv didn’t have many options if she didn’t want to expose her guests to the mana of the Bald Peak rift.
The proprietors, Sayer and Joan Brewer, refugees from Ashford, had been more than happy to open their doors early on the morning after she’d returned from Lucania, serving a spread of breakfast, ale and wine that filled their largest table, leaving hardly enough room for anyone to eat without knocking something to the floor. Miina and Sidonie sat on Liv’s side of the table, while Thora hovered behind her, ready to leap in at the slightest need.
“Thank you for hosting us all this morning,” Eluard said, after wetting his throat with a sip of local ale. “I admit, I was a bit surprised to get an invitation to an inn, rather than that palace you have taking shape up on top of the mountain.”
Liv smiled. “I wouldn’t be a very good host if I allowed you to die of mana sickness, Master Fox,” she pointed out. From the rich colors, intricate embroidery, and fine silk peeking out of his merchant-gray doublet, she suspected that he was one of that class of rising merchants who bridled at Lucania’s sumptuary laws. “The entire palace, as you call it, in addition to being not even half complete, rests within the shoals of the rift. Unless you are, in addition to a successful merchant, a talented mage, you wouldn’t be able to handle it safely.”
Eluard swallowed a mouthful of smoked bacon before responding. “Some might wonder at the motivation of a queen who rules over both human and Eld, but who raises her palace in a place where humans cannot set foot without risking their lives.”
“Thora,” Liv said. “Show Master Fox your brooch.”
There was the slight scuff of shoes on the bare wooden floor of the inn, and Thora moved around the table to hand the merchant the enchanted piece of jewelry. Eluard took it in his hand, examining the gold setting and the white stone, running his finger over the engravings. “An enchantment. May I ask what function it serves?”
“It is an Aluth-based inscription,” Sidonie explained, though likely in language that would be too advanced for the merchant – nevermind the dressmakers who shared the table with him – to understand. “It draws in ambient mana at a rate substantially higher than the human body does naturally, causing a sort of vortex, or current, in nearby mana flows. As a result, when worn into a rift, it shunts aside the worst of the wild mana surges, creating a path of least resistance which lends substantial protection to the person wearing the enchantment.”
“It helps to keep me safe inside the palace,” Thora said. “Though it does require regularly changing out the stone.”
“Even that has its own benefits,” Liv pointed out. “So long as one can find a use for fully charged mana stones.”
Eluard Fox turned the brooch over, examining it from all sides, and then handed it back to Thora. “Is this something that you would be willing to produce for sale?” he asked.
Liv smiled. “We might be persuaded to do that. In fact, an initial – limited – supply could be arranged as part of your share of compensation for what I want.”
“Which is?” the merchant asked.
Sidonie passed a piece of parchment over the table, leaning forward to hold it up above the plates of half-eaten food.
“Pandit Sharma will supply the raw materials,” Liv explained. “Mana-infused Dakruiman silk, suitable to hold an enchantment. Mistress Ethel and her daughter will, if they agree, create the garments themselves, as well as embroider the V?dic sigils to our specifications. We’d like your guild to take advantage of their license to use Ve to arrange for the final enchantment.”
“May I ask why I’m here, Your Majesty?” Melody asked.
Liv nodded. “To produce the quantities we need, by the time I want to leave, I believe that Mistress Ethel and her daughter will need help.” She turned to the Whitehill dressmaker. “We worked with Melody when I visited Freeport with Julianne and Henry, before she ever took a position as lady’s maid. I actually expect you’ll need more than three people, but I imagine you have a few acquaintances of your own who might help.”
Ethel shared a look with her daughter, and it was the younger woman who spoke. “I’m certain we can find assistants for cutting and pinning, if nothing else.”
“What is this actually going to do?” Fox asked, frowning at the plans. “I can see that it’s some sort of scarf, or veil, but–”
“If it works the way I’ve designed it, it will filter the air, so that the person wearing it will be able to breathe easily,” Sidonie explained. “Even in the smoke of a burning building, or down in a mine in a pocket of bad air.”
“And you need how many of these?” Mistress Ethel asked.
Miina, lounging back in her chair like a satisfied cat, grinned. “Call it two hundred.”
“And you can get us, say, thirty bolts of silk?” the dressmaker asked Vivek Sharma, leaning over the table to look the old priest in the eye.
“That part has already been arranged,” Pandit Sharma assured her. “The first bolts should be arriving through the waystone at Bald Peak in two days.”
“I don’t even want to imagine how much you’re paying for that,” Master Eluard admitted. “The enchantments alone are going to run you a high price, nevermind the charge for transport by waystone, if you truly need these ready as quickly as possible.”
“We will cover the mana costs ourselves,” Liv told him. “We have plenty of students who need practice using waystones. As to the rest – let’s talk about more of those brooches. And a few of the things we can provide from Al’Fenthia, and points north.”
The rest was simply bargaining.
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“Soile has done an exceptional job with them, while we’ve been away,” Keri said, riding close to Liv’s side on Kersis, the horse he’d brought from Mountain Home months before. He’d gotten back late the evening before, having, as Liv understood it, relented to his son’s pleading and remained long enough to help put the boy to bed.
Steria tossed her mane, clearly happy to be out for a ride, and Liv reached down to pat the mare’s neck with one glove-less hand as they approached the palisade on the west slope of Bald Peak. Behind them, two of Liv’s guards rode close at hand, and Ghveris brought up the rear, his immense feet cracking ice and cold earth with every step.
The wooden gate in the palisade swung open as soon as their approach was spotted, and Liv could hear the calls of the sentries on watch up on one wooden platform set above and to one side of the entrance. A rough bridge of wooden boards had been laid across the ditch outside the palisade; because it hadn’t been secured to anything, and iron rings had been bolted onto the sides, it would be an easy thing to simply lift it up and carry it into the camp.
“We’re having real difficulties getting everything built,” Liv realized, scanning the encampment the moment they were inside. She’d approved Keri’s request to have their stoneworkers set out foundations, at least, back at the beginning of autumn, and upon that base the soldiers had raised barracks of rough-hewn logs, in the same style as some of the cabins scattered throughout the mountain slopes around the valley. From the stone chimney of each building, a trail of gray wood-smoke rose up into the blue winter sky, and that gave her some confidence that at least her soldiers weren’t freezing to death.
“I had details ranging all through the forests along this slope, and even up into the nearby mountains, coming back with every decent sized stone they could find,” Keri explained, having apparently noticed what Liv was looking at. “We dug out clay from the riverbanks. But I think they’re going to be happy to go somewhere a bit warmer – until the bugs start in, at least.”
Liv winced at the memory; she hadn’t actually ever been to Calder’s Landing, and had only spent a few scattered hours at the bridge rift with her father, but that had been enough for her to hate the things.
As they passed, men and women stopped what they were doing to turn and watch. Many called out to Liv, and by the time that she and Keri had reached the cabin which had become Soile’s command post, quite a crowd had gathered.
The door swung open, and Soile emerged, wrapped in a cloak of white fox fur which stood out in sharp contrast to the rich, dark tone of her skin, and her black braids. She nodded to Liv and Keri, then turned her gaze on the troops and scowled. “The queen’s visit isn’t an excuse for you all to slack off!” she shouted. “Back to your duties!”
Liv couldn’t help but smile at how quickly the crowd dispersed as the soldiers scurried away. She swung herself down out of her saddle, strode up the wooden steps to the cabin door, and met the Elden commander’s eyes. “Keri tells me you’ve done quite a bit of work getting our men and women into shape. Thank you.”
“I had a good base to work from,” Soile admitted. “Come on inside, it’s cold as Celris’s balls out here.” She paused for a moment, her eyes widening at the realization of what she’d just said.
Liv laughed. “Believe it or not, I’ve heard that one before – from Kaija. How’s your hip?” She slipped through the door into the cabin, which had been divided by a hanging piece of canvas into two sections. The one to the rear served, presumably, as Soile’s bed-chamber, while the front half of the cabin contained a trestle table of rough wood, half a dozen chairs, and the hearth. The stack of parchment on the table was, Liv noted with some jealousy, only half the size of what awaited her back on top of the mountain.
“Have a seat.” Soile walked around to the side of the table which would face the door and settled into one of the wooden chairs. “I’ve got a pot of tea by the fire, if any of you want some.” She waved to indicate an iron hook and rod which had been bolted into the wooden wall to one side of the hearth, from which a teapot hung, and could be easily swung over the logs. It was primitive compared to the equipment in the Whitehill kitchen, but would get the job done well enough.
Liv settled into one of the other chairs, and Keri sat next to her, while her guards remained outside to watch the entrance. Ghveris had evidently decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble to try and maneuver himself through the doorway.
“I made a promise to the Red Shield Tribe, and it’s time to keep my word,” Liv began. “When my teacher, Archmagus Jurian, went to Godsgrave more than thirty years ago, they discovered there were dozens of Great Bats sleeping in the ruins, preserved by V?dic magic. We’re going to go in and get those people out.”
Soile exhaled in a long, low whistle. “You want us to go into the place where Tamiris dropped the sky and killed four gods.”
“No.” Keri shook his head, and Liv sat back to let him explain. They’d already talked about this, and he knew exactly what she wanted from the fledgling army. “We don’t want any of our soldiers inside the rift, even in the shoals. That’s a needless risk, and it would be foolish to have them operating in a greater rift for the first time, rather than a lesser. What we need is a base to send out teams from, and to return to.”
“A fortified command center,” Soile said, nodding. “With healers, I assume, and room to store supplies. That’s much more reasonable. We’ll still have to carve it out of the jungle, and that isn’t exactly terrain we’re familiar with. We have a few veterans from Valtteri’s expedition across Varuna, but it’s only a small portion.”
“The Red Shields, on the other hand, know the area better than probably anyone else in the world,” Liv pointed out. “I’ve already sent Wren to go get Soaring Eagle, and he should be here within the week. I’m sure we’ll make changes once he arrives, but I want at least the basics of a plan to take half the army downriver from the bridge, cut a road through the jungle, and fortify a good piece of ground. Once we’re dug in, we’re probably also going to need to build a road up to Calder’s Landing, because we’re going to have a lot of people to move to Red Shield lands.”
Soile leaned back in her chair and raised a hand to her temple, as if Liv had personally given her a headache through the simple act of speaking. “I think you probably actually want the full two-hundred,” she said, after a moment’s thoughts. “One hundred split into four shifts is only twenty-five, and we’re going to have people on work crews, cooking, clearing brush, someone’s going to get bit by a snake or hurt some other stupid way even if we don’t end up fighting a single thing. I say bring them all. It gives me more to work with.”
Liv looked to Keri silently. She’d long ago agreed to rely on his judgement in matters of war; moving troops around wasn’t her specialty.
He nodded. “That’s reasonable. My only concern with bringing all of them is how large the camp is going to need to be – we’ll have Red Shields, healers, and we plan to bring Iravata wyrm riders, as well.”
“We’re essentially going to be building a small town from nothing,” Soile said. “Do you know how long we’re going to be there?”
“We want to be out before summer, if we can be,” Liv said. “According to Wren, that’s when the rainy season begins. But until we actually get into the rift, we won’t know how many people are preserved there. And it’s going to take time for us to pick through the ruins and find out.”
“Which means we need to keep open supply lines for that entire time. Well, you’ve certainly given me a lot of work to do.” Soile laughed.
Liv pushed her chair back and stood. “My apologies for that.”
“No, don’t be sorry,” Soile told her, rising as well. “I’d rather something like this for their first engagement than an actual war. It will let us give our new recruits experience in the field that they desperately need, and even our veterans need to practice coordinated tactics with new weapons and words of power. We should look at this as an opportunity to forge the core of this army into something special, before we need to deal with Ractia again.”
Once they were outside the cabin, Keri offered Liv a hand up into Steria’s saddle. On their way back out of the camp, the soldiers still called out to her, but otherwise now continued on about their business. Liv gave a few waves, which still wasn’t an entirely comfortable thing for her to do, and then they were back out on the frozen earthen road which would lead them around Bald Peak to the college and the rift.
“We’ve got a student from House Iravata,” Liv told Keri and Ghveris as they made their way back. “Karina. She beat one of the Crosbie boys to make it to my advanced course. I’d like to find her and pick her mind about how we can handle the wyrms Jurian and his party found.”
“Invite her to dinner tonight,” Keri told her. “Arjun’s charged me with making certain that you get up to the ring by third bell.”
“We can just duck into the college for a moment,” Liv protested.
“I promised him that I’d get you up there if I had to throw you over my shoulder,” Keri said, with a grin. “I think that would make a pretty picture, carrying the queen through the streets while she kicks her feet in protest.”
“Now you’re just teasing me.” Liv rolled her eyes, but couldn’t resist smiling. The idea of being picked up by Keri wasn’t entirely objectionable, if it happened in private rather than out where anyone could see. “Fine. I don’t want to keep Elder Aira waiting, I suppose.”
Which was a lie. Liv couldn’t help but be afraid of exactly what they might find, once they examined her.
here. I am more available there than I am here.
Sporemageddon, which releases today on Amazon!
three chapter week! My wife and I are flying out early thursday, so there will be no thursday or friday chapters. I'm getting very close to writing the end of the volume, but I do have at least one more major event that I want in this book before it closes out, and I'm not certain how many chapters it will take, so we'll see.
Dramatis Personae
Livara T?r Valtteri Kaen Syv? - Guildmage, former scullery maid at Castle Whitehill, the bastard daughter of Maggie Brodbeck and Valtteri Ka Auris. Mountain Queen, and Lady of Winter. Has decided to throw overwhelming resources at Godsgrave. [35 Rings of Mana, not counting mana stored in items.]
Eluard Fox - Member of the Most Honest Guild of Traders and Merchants.
Ethel & Avina, Dressmakers - Multi-generation institution on The Hill in Whitehill. They've provided gowns for Julianne, Triss, Liv, and every other woman with means in the city. Now they have a royal commision!
Inkeris "Keri" ka Ilmari k?n B?lris - A young warrior of the Unconquered House of B?lris, father to Rei. Unofficial minister of war. [20 Rings of Mana.]
Melody - Formerly a dressmaker in Freeport, now employed at Castle Whitehill. Called into service with her needle in hand!
Miina t?r Eilis, of House D?ivi - Daughter of Eilis, niece of Eila, cousin of Liv, Lady in Waiting. Mostly went along for a trip to the pub. [21 Rings of Mana]
Sidonie Corbett - Guildmage. Would be right at home spewing techno-babble on an episode of star trek. [19 Rings of Mana]
Soile - A Commander of House Keria, now essentially Liv's general. Has been doing much drilling and training off screen, since last we saw her. [17 Rings of Mana]
Thora - Lady's Maid to Liv. Got the very first prototype.
Vivek Sharma - A priest of the Trinity from Lendh ka Dakruim. Calling in favors from silk merchants. [21 Rings of Mana]
