Four Horsemen: Chapter 25

Chapter 25:

Some damn merchants thought that they could steal from him?

Baron Graxle fought down his rage as his carriage hit a rock in the roads. He smacked the armrest of his seat.

“Fucking roads!”

He yanked on the string in his carriage, ringing the bell beyond.

Moments later Orvin knocked on the carriage door.

“Open!” Graxle commanded.

Orvin opened the door, riding alongside while still mounted.

“My baron?” He bowed as much as riding might allow.

“How far are we from the traitorous village?”

“Two days ride my baron,” Orvin said.

“We were meant to have been there already! What is wrong with these horses and carriage?”

“The ground has been worse than we first thought. We’ve already lamed twelve horses on the road. It is inexcusable. If we were to go faster then the tax carriages might become damaged. I want to make sure that the rightful proceeds from the taxes on the merchants and villages is secure,” Orvin pandered.

Graxle let out a grunt. It wouldn’t do for the carriages to be damaged and then others might steal it from him.

“It is good that you know my displeasure. We cannot let these tax evaders free from justice. We will impound these traders goods, their carts. Remove any that resist arrest!” His voice grew in tone, his excitement growing. He was a righteous baron collecting what was due to him, and the amount that his source with the traders mentioned was a baron’s sum. “Then we will move through the villages, making examples of those that dared to evade taxes. We’ll increase their output of ingredients and sell it directly to Aetheria through the braony’s merchants!”

The clever villagers had found another way to make coin, he’d work them to the bone, out here there was no one to hear their complaints. Then his father-in-law’s traders would take everything and sell it in Aetheria for the highest price.

“Inform my chef that I will be having water fowl in tangerine sauce tonight,” Graxle said, feeling much better.

“Yes my baron.” Orvin bowed and backed out of the carriage.

Graxle listened to the hundred footmen and fifty horsemen moving around him. The stout tax carriages groaning at the rear of the convoy, manned by his dependable tax collectors.

***

Valter leaned against a table in his forge, watching Petor.

He moved through different positions and movements while wearing weighted gear, spear and shield. His face was the blankness of one falling into rote movements and ignoring the strain and pain upon his body.

He’d been doing it for hours, each movement with his shield, with his spear, lifted the dust and dirt from the ground, sending it swirling around him.

It was a dance that he was familiar with, Petor’s style was different but he picked out the effectiveness ofhis movements. A lifetime of training fighters had given him a keen eye.

One that picked out how Petor was increasing in speed, that he was getting stronger before his very eyes.

Where his spear had shook when fully extended, now it had a bare tremor.

I thought that he was overdoing it like the younger recruits. It was normal for them to try and fight with the heaviest gear to show off, then become so weak from their exertions that they didn’t get any training value from it.

When Petor did pause he would create water to drink and eat snacks while forming a green flame on his finger. He made it bigger, smaller, tried to concentrate it and disperse it.

Valter stepped out of his forge and turned it back into an orb.

“Heading off?” Petor asked as he recovered, his brow covered in sweat. His body expanding under his armor.

“Yeah, going to talk to Desari about spells.”

“Worth it. I’ll be here if you need me for anything.”

Valter waved to him and walked for Desari’s barn. “Have to resize your armor for your new size.”

Petor chuckled behind him.

Valter smiled, it was nice being around professionals that were driven and working on their own improvement.

Laughter broke out at the market. Mya was chatting to several merchants and a few villagers, her hands moving along with her story. The laughter grew.

Valter scanned the people, the guards positioned to be hidden between carts, close enough to be there in just two steps. Even out here there were thieves and people looking to take advantage.

He reached the barn and walked inside. Ingredients were quickly being processed, people from the village talking and chatting to one another as they worked.

Desari was on her own side of the barn, sheets made of stitched burlap sacks hung from the rafters to give her privacy.

“Desari?” Valter asked.

“Come in,” She said.

He shifted the sheet so others couldn’t see in.

Potions and concotions glowed, her tools operating and doing different things. Put him in a forge, on a battlefield-he could tell you just what everyone was doing. This, he hadn’t a clue. Some of it looked similar to what smiths and foundaries would do.

“I finished with your plates and gear, added in some enchantments to increase their strength and so they wouldn’t impede your mana as much,” He held out the pieces.

“Thank you.” She looked at them. “These are well done.”

“Thank you, I was also wondering if you could help me like you did Petor? I’m looking to learn spells better.”

She opened her mouth half-closed her eyes and looked away in thought for several seconds. He waited as her thoughts ticked over.

She put the plates away and drew out a metal box with carvings wrapped around it, there was an outline on two sides opposite and a maze of lines on the other four sides.

“This is a mana manipulation box. The aim is to move your mana through the grooves and find an entrance inside.” She held it out to him.

“So you’d like me to hold it and follow the maze till I find the entrance to the box?”

“Correct.”

“Okay.” Valter looked it over.

“Hold it and close your eyes, push out mana and trace it,” Desari said.

He complied. Mana spread out from his hands, he moved it through the maze, prodding and testing for openings,

There was more than just pouring mana into the box. He felt resistance as it moved through the cracks in the box.

There’s a pathway here. He prodded and moved his mana into the box. The path continued and he kept going, testing for another entrance or exit, feeling out the shape of the new pathway.

There, another exit. He frowned, this one diverted into two paths half the thickness of the original.

Valter split off thinner strands and traced out the path with both strands at the same time. It was straining a bit but nothing he hadn’t deal with before moving his armored shell with the power of runes.

“A new art of the puzzle. Four pathways now.” He split once again and started threading through the new paths.

A thread touched a pathway’s side. His mana was shoved out and he opened his eyes to look at Desari.

“Third stage on your first try.” She held out her hand and he put the box into it. “I guess I should stop being surprised,” Desari said, turning it over.

“You use fire attributed mana, though your level of control is impressive.”

“Now I know about that box ejecting you from hitting the side I think I could pass through the next stage of the box,” Valter said.

“Just how skilled of a crafter are you?”

Valter shrugged. “I don’t rightly know. Worked with a bunch of different metals and made different things. Never had someone telling me what level of item it was.”

“Well you can work with steel and add runes to it, that would push it to Rare I would think, though your horse and your armor. Even though the metals are a lower quality, the ability I would say they’re Epic items.”

Valter nodded. “Okay.”

“Rare items are worth thousands of gold, Epic are tens of thousands of gold coins.”

“That’ll make it easier for me to get the information I need on Xander,” Valter said.

“I don’t think that you understand just what I’m saying?”

“I can make powerful gear that others are going to want to have. I need better metal in order for them to contain the power of my crafting. With stronger materials I can create something to kill Xander completely. I can make gear that will allow you all to be a help to me in defeating him. What does the level of the gear matter? Using the best tools for the job, destroying that fucker.” Valter’s eyes flashed deep red, his voice deeper. “It’s all that matters.”

“And spells are an untapped area where you look to increase your overall ability,” Desari nodded.

“Exactly.”

Desari considered him and turned the box in her hand once more. She tossed it back to him.

“I think that you should look at spells as you look at your runes. You already have a powerful understanding and skill there. Instead of learning anew, using what you already know can greatly increase your power and quickly.”

“How do I use runes for spells?”

“Well you have done the main way which is creating actual enchantments on gear, empowering them and having them render and effect. With casting spells you can simplify spells into runes and then cast them.”

“Runes on armor have direction and area of affect already part of them. With creating the spell out of runes it won’t have an area of effect or direction. Unless I was to use my own body as an area of effect.”

“Well you can fudge things a bit, use the runes as a core of the spell and then as you picture the spell that can turn it into a seeking, direction or area of effect spell.”

“Are there runes for that too?”

“Yes, there are.”

Valter learned forward. “You wouldn’t happen to know what they look like would you?”

Desari drew out several books, each covered in formations. “I’m hoping you’ll be able to make me a new set of armor when you have the materials.”

“The stronger we each are, the stronger we are overall,” Valter sat up.

She held out the books to him. “Keep working on the mana circuit box as well and when you do spells, try to keep them simple at first.”

“Try to not blow up half the village with my first spell.” He grinned, accepting the books.

“You would be surprised how often it happens. There’s reason that most cities on powerful worlds have protections against spells going awry.”

“I’ll be careful,” He promised.

“Here are several books on crafting with spells. Here are some more books on complex spells and different spell forms in diagram for. Remember you can make things in three dimensions not just two when working on your own spells. Borrow Petor’s book on area of effect spells. When you know what kind of spells you want to learn, let me know and I can see what we can come up with.”

“Thank you Desari.”

She looked at him, searching for something and took out some more books. “Well, you have plenty of reading to do.”

“Back in the inscriptorium books were valued more highly than an anointed Sarcophagi Immortalias. The Sacrophytes were known to cut the hands from those that took books without permission-within their own order. The punishments for others. Those punishments were made for pain. Those subjected would be lucky when they died.” He shook his head. “Guess you shouldn’t expect better from a group of bastards that create armor to entomb and leech off the lives of those within.”

His eyes flicked up to Desari’s realizing he’d talked too much, his apprehension fading away like a candle cut out in the breeze. There was understanding there, an experience shared.

They gave one another tight and grim smiles. He held up the book.

“Best get to it then.” He departed, putting the last of the books away. He had armed himself in knowledge and weathered his soul in hardships.

I wonder what knowledge will be in Ilus. Just what could he do without worrying the Sacrophytes would find his modifications, would learn the truths of his armors and inscriptions.

***

Petor paused his training, the sweat irritating his eyes.

One child he’d spotted earlier was mimicking his actions with a broom to the entertainment of the others.

Seeing Petor looking over, he let out  a squeak, dropped the broom, stumbling and blinded by the bucket on his head blocking his sight, he fell. Pulled the bucket off as he got his feet under him and ran after his other friends.

Petor snorted and shook his head, a grin sneaking onto his face. How long ago had it been when he’d been with friends, playing soldier, not knowing the reality of what they practised.

He fed a slow stream of mana into his muscles, healing them and giving him relief. The tightness and pressure was drawn away as he stood taller.

He opened and closed his shield hand, the newfound strength within. “She was right.” Petor moved the shield around with greater ease, as if it weighed but half of what it did. In just a day he’d brought himself back to his peak when he was training every day in the army.

The tricky thing was using his mana. Too many times he used it to enhance his overall body instead of just his recovery. He’d trained with the heavier gear, then paused to heal himself and started again. He’d worked up to letting out a trickle of mana to heal himself and not enhance himself, increasing his endurance and allowing him to train for longer.

As he grew stronger his limits increased and his mana drip increased his endurance but he still had limits.

If I can increase it then I can fight longer and I can train more. Though as with all things there were limits, as he continued he couldn’t heal everything and he needed to fuel the changes, he needed to eat.

He stored the spear and undid the straps on his shield. He put the shield down, it sunk into the mud as he stretched his shoulders and moved down through his body. Just because he had mana to help with the healing he shouldn’t skip on cooling down to try and prevent his injuries.

“Done some body training, should do something for the mind too,” He pulled out a field table and collapsible chair, then several books from Desari and a pad of paper.

His stomach started to complaining to him, he took out a canteen and snacks.

Alright, what’s your current situation and what do you need to become more effective?

He didn't have a unit backing him up. Valter had fought in group tactics before, but they couldn't create a proper shield wall with just two people. They needed to use their speed to engage multiple people at the same time.

"Alright I need something to break up people so I don't get swarmed. Then something to disrupt them when they're fighting? And lastly a last resort."

He ran through the spell book, making notes, eating from his snacks, canteen and adding and crossing out names until he had just three left.

[Arcane Nova]

Cost: 8 mana

Description: Unleash a blast in a 15m radius, dealing 5d10 force damage, and knocking creatures prone.

[Glacial Freeze]

Cost: 6 mana

Description: Freeze a 10m cone, dealing cold damage, possible to freeze opponents solid.

[Disruption]

Cost: 9 mana

Description: Create a 20m detonation that disrupts the mana within your area and creates random attacks based off of your elemental affinity.

“Arcane nova clears the area out around me. Freeze disrupts people greatly. Disruption will be the most interesting I can pick out the area where it will happen and it will have a large effect. I also wonder what will happen with mana that doesn’t have an affinity.”

He recorded down the information on the spells, keywords, images, thoughts and the spell form that one might use and turned to the next books,reading through the contents.

“Well there are a lot more than three spells that are interesting here.

[Entangle]

Description: Vines and plants restrain creatures in a 20-ft square, hindering movement.

“That’ll be great to trip people and depending on the plant you were doing it with, you could to a lot more than just that.”

[Plant Growth]

Description: Enrich soil in a 30m radius, causing plants to grow rapidly and obstructing movement.

“Cool like the first and both would work well together. I guess that Entangle would need for there to be plants there already that can actually entangle. Plant growth, well that would be kind of useless in a place with no plants.”

Bring your own plants to a plant fight.

[Speak with Plants]

Description: Communicate with plants and gain information from them.

“That would be cool and I could understand them better. Don’t know how much they would be sentient.” That might make it harder to grow and harvest plants.

One to have maybe later on.

[Spike Growth]

Description: Add thorns to plants targeted, or extend and sharpen already formed thorns.

“Can turn any plant into a weapon, cast if multiple times… How sharp can thorns get?”

[Wall of Thorns]

Description: Create a wall of thorny brambles, damaging and impeding movement of those who pass through.

He tapped on the spell. “This one is really dependent. Plant growth would speed up growing plants when fighting and when I’m looking to harvest. Would this force the plants to grown into a wall if they wouldn’t already? Would plant growth turn them into a wall if it was strong enough?” He drummed his fingers on the page. “Could even mean that it creates a magical wall of brambles that weren’t there before.”

He shrugged, useful and interesting, though overall not as key as plant growth and he had some more questions.

[Root Road]

Description: Step between roots under your feet to any other in a 150m radius, gaining fast travel.

Hit the enemy from one position, disappear, then hit them from another, also could move fast in any area that had roots. “I could move around the plants I’ve grown if I need to.”

[Award Winning Produce]

Description: Increase the natural size of the targeted plant.

To be honest I’ve been thinking of all of this with something more aggressive like the bramble. “This one would let me use other plants. Emberblooms, seven times the size and energize them up, they turn into fearsome plants that burn everything that comes near. Stormvine becomes a barrier that shocks and stuns anyone that crosses it. If I can overcharge them with mana then they could detonate… Well they do if they’re harvested. I don’t know if they will when still alive.”

Massive versions of his plants definitely had its own draw.

[Blight]

Description: Wither plants in a 30-ft radius, dealing necrotic damage and reducing their vitality.

His thoughts travelled to before he died, reaching out to the land, drawing in the energy surrounding him and consuming it. The field dying around him. “Do I need this one?” If he could use his own leeching power instead.

“And if I pull the power from the land. Then well… could I throw out the ever-burning bramble, super grow it and as it gets stronger from killing others, I draw power from it and get actually more power from it than I put into it?”

He sucked his lip and drummed out a ditty before hitting the page of information.

“Okay, if I was to only take three, plant growth, then root road and—yeah it has to be grow thorns.”

He didn’t like any of the options that came with the paladin based spells.

“I have healing, the shield sounds interesting, especially if I can power it up a bunch. The others are all just enhancements to weapon damage. The concepts are interesting, I think I could do that myself and coat a weapon in mana. Though that’s a lot of constant mana going. Then there’s others that hurt the enemy and help allies and I can do that already really.”

[Shield of the hero]

Create a barrier fueled by your mana instead of your faith. Attacks may go out, but they won’t make it in.

“Yeah I’ll add that to the list.”

His stomach was still growling at him and he had a need to go to the bathroom. His eyes skipped to the plant spells. “I’m an idiot. No wonder it was taking me more time to heal up. I didn’t have the food and fuel to work with. He shifted his shirt, seeing veins and muscles bulging out. “Yeah, going to need food and lots of it.”

Valter walked back into the space, looking up from a book.

“Hey Petor, you got that book on area of effect spells?” Valter closed the book as Petor stood

“Yeah, I’m done with it, want to use the desk?” Petor waved to it, moving to the side.

“Thanks, yeah. You heading off somewhere?”

Petor picked up the shield. “You mind if I borrow this?”

“Go for it.”

“Cheers,” Petor stored it away and searched through his storage. “Yeah, I want to go find a place to cook up that deer we caught the other night.” Petor found the book and handed it over.

“Well there are merchants and farmers cooking near the carts if you’re looking for something.”

“That’s a good plan.” Petor’s stomach growled. “Well have fun with the spells!”

He hurried off, he was ravenous.