Chapter 10
They were awakened late the next morning by a Speaking from Nemia. “Good morning! Rise and shine, sleepy head! Oh! Make that sleepy heads! I didn’t think I’d be able to contact you with a Speaking, Mark!”
“My psionics are fully awakened now, even if I’m not.” Mark playfully grumbled as he cracked his eyelids, then shaded his eyes against the sunlight streaming in the windows. “Weren’t those closed last night?” he asked Talia.
“I was hot in the night, and opened them.” she told him. “Good morning Mother.”
“Would you care to join us for brunch?” Nemia asked.
“Sure, and thanks.” Mark replied. “We’ll see you in half an hour.”
“We’ll be on the balcony.” Nemia said, and ended the Speaking.
Mark rolled over to Talia, took her in his arms, and smiled into her eyes from a distance of half a foot. “I love you.” he told her with deep sincerity.
“As I love you.” she replied.
They shared a long, deep kiss, and then she giggled. “You know, we can spare twenty minutes, and still be there in half an hour.” she told him.
“That’s what I thought.”
As it turned out, it was almost forty minutes later when Talia Translocated them to her parents’ central room.
“Good morning!” Mark called as he removed the tine band and slid it onto his bicep.
“Good morning to you!” Yazadril returned as they emerged onto the balcony, to find him seated with Nemia, Hilsith, and to their surprise, Tithian, who reclined on the floor next to the table and munched on a huge bowl of greens and sprouts.
“Why good morning Tithian!” Talia smiled with a respectful bow. “I didn’t expect to find you here!”
“I’ve been filling Yazadril in on the theoretical information we have that you elves have lacked. And enjoying a delicious supper, I might add, for it’s late evening in Xerv right now.” Tithian told them.
“Well it’s a pleasure seeing you again.” Mark smiled as he sat, then picked Talia up and set her in his lap. She began filling their dishes.
“And I you. I sense a great difference in you this morning.”
“Oh. Well, almost without even realizing it, I’ve learned to do Speakings and maintain various kinds of mental Links with my own power. Also, after the meeting last night, we had quite a learning session with our companions and Ria, the spirit of Talia’s sword.
“Here, if you’ll all allow me to open a short Link with you, I’ll show you how it went.”
Without waiting for an assent, he opened the four Links simultaneously and passed his surface memory of the event to Tithian and the three elves.
Nemia gasped, Hilsith dropped her spoon, and Yazadril exclaimed; “Great Source above!”
“That would explain the difference in you, all right.” Tithian chuckled. “I can’t help but agree with Ria’s assessment of the arts, as I’m primarily a magician myself. For those who are fully capable of using them, the old ways are best. For most humans with the talent to use the power, wizardry is a much more productive study, but for you, magecraft is the obvious choice. I was a bit disappointed with my daughter when she chose sorcery over magicianship. Of course she doesn’t know that, and that minor disappointment in no way diminishes my great pride and love for Equemev. It’s only my own pride in my art anyway, since her qualities make either choice about equally appropriate for her. And there are more instructors available for her in sorcery.”
“Of course, I can’t help but disagree.” Yazadril chuckled. “It’s true that it takes more practice to have the same degree of control over your spells with wizardry than with magecraft. But the lesser effort required to initiate wizard’s spells can be important, and so can the ability to cast without having to achieve a specific emotional position. Most importantly, you can simply do a great many more things with wizardry. Over a third of wizard’s spells have no counterpart in magecraft at all, and the disparity increases daily. I can’t but think that overall, wizardry and sorcery are superior to magecraft and magicianship. Though as you say, Tithian, the choice depends on each individual’s qualities, and much of my surety in my opinion must be due to my own pride in my art.”
“I don’t plan on making the choice, myself.” Mark said between bites. “I managed to pick up all of Ria’s magecraft spells in about ten minutes, so I don’t see why I can’t do the same with the other arts of power. I don’t plan on learning the rest quite as fast as that, as it was extremely intense, but I think I could learn all there is to know about magic within the next month.”
“You are so incredible.” Nemia told him reverently. “Do you even realize how much of what you did last night has never been done before?”
“Oh? How so, other than what was pointed out last night?”
“May I answer that?” Tithian asked, and continued at Nemia’s nod. “Yours was the first simultaneous casting of two different arts, and so also the first simultaneous casting of three and of four of them. You are the first person to have cast any spells with three different arts at all; no-one has been able to use more than two before, and you have used five. Even Povon, who knows a few sorcery and magecraft spells as information, could not cast them. You are the first of another race to have drawn power from one of my people, the first magic user to have drawn power from any race but their own, actually, and so the first to have drawn power from two people who are of two different races from your own, let alone simultaneously. You are the first non-draconian to have cast with their method, and the first non-draconian to combine the heat of the stone with the light of the source. Actually, the first non-draconian to have used both kinds of power at all, and the dragons have no choice about using both, they cannot separate the two. No novice caster has ever received even a single spell psionicly and been able to cast it immediately, and the very few who can required centuries of training. The amount of spells Ria passed you in such a short time is frightening. If you could cast them already, you would indeed be one of the premier magic users alive, after less than an hour of training.”
“Well, a lot of them are still all jumbled together in my head, which I guess is why she told me to not do any casting for a couple of days.” Mark mused. “But a couple of hundred of them have sorted themselves out already, and I could cast them right now. I could have cast a few dozen of the easier ones last night, a few minutes after she gave them to me.”
“As Nemia said, you are incredible.”
“And he did it all without needing to hum a note, without needing any gestures or audible frequency cues at all!” Talia proudly stated.
“Well, be that as it may, I’ll try not to get a swelled head about it.” Mark chuckled, and continued his brunch.
“Wise of you.” Yazadril allowed. “On another subject, we’ll all be making public appearances together as you suggested, starting six days from now. We’ll spend six hours a day at it for nine days, spending two days touring each of the four continents of The Just Alliance, and one day touring The Association of Oceania with a stop in the capitol of The Stone Islands.”
“That doesn’t seem like a lot of time to spend if we want the majority of people to see us all together with their own eyes, as proof of the reality and solidarity of The Just Alliance.” Talia pointed out.
“We’re only going to appear in the capitols and major cities.” Yazadril informed her. “People will gather in the largest arenas, stadiums, coliseums, open parks and public squares. In the center of each gathering place there will be a cleared space as wide as a street and about fifty paces long, with a Translocation Plate at either end. We’ll meet in The Hall of The Just Alliance, and file through a Translocation Plate, emerging in the cleared space at the center of the first gathering place. We’ll traverse it, and the Plate at the other end will take us to the next gathering place, and so on. In this way we’ll be able to appear before the maximum number of people in the minimum amount of time. To further
speed things along, our procession will include only the leaders and rulers of nations, but none of their staff, and so will be very much smaller than the assembly at the meeting yesterday.
“Enough people will be able to see the procession with their own eyes that the rest will not be able to deny the truth of the event. Dwarven wizards will broadcast Illusions of our procession to thousands of locations in each nation, which is a common practice in Kletiuk, and so almost everyone will have a chance to see it.
“And every community, whether it is a major one where we will appear in person, or an outlying one that will see the closest live appearance via Revealing, will have a day-long celebration to mark the founding of The Just Alliance. After feasting and games and dancing, there will be speeches by the spokespersons for local government making the formal announcement, and our somewhat brief appearance will be the culmination of each local event. Of course, some Revealings will follow us along our entire route, and we will pause at the end of each day in the largest city on each day’s route, to make a few speeches ourselves.”
“Wow! That’s really good thinking!” Mark enthused.
“It is. You’ll also be pleased to know that the rest of the plans that were made yesterday are also being implemented, and as we speak, the world is changing at a staggering pace.
“The militaries of The Just Alliance are melding and redeploying throughout the alliance, civil defense and emergency response corps are forming everywhere, programs for the assistance of the poor and needy are suddenly so over-financed that they’re having to hire extra accountants just to keep track of it all, thousands are swearing binding oaths to justice with every second that passes, laws are being re-written by every government, prisoners are being sworn and prisons closed or renovated for other purposes, Wards are being altered to allow the passage of any who bear the mark of The Just Alliance, and travel between continents is widespread and increasing with every moment.
“And of course, Readings, Revealings, recorded Illusions, and written transcripts of yesterday’s meeting, and of your words on just laws after the meeting, are being copied by the millions, yet still the supply of them falls short of the demand.
“We are all suddenly world-famous among the citizens of every nation in the alliance, you two more so than the rest of us, and you, Mark, most of all.”
“Ah. Well I’ll try not to think about that too much, as well.” Mark responded a moment later, after finishing his meal. “At least until the public appearances.
“My compliments on the meal, Nemia. It was delicious, especially that duck pie with the melon sauce.”
“Ah, Hilsith and I bought it all from the market earlier, already prepared.” Nemia shrugged with a smile. “But thanks anyway.
“We didn’t cook because we slept in rather late this morning, since Hilsith, Yazadril and I spent most of the night making love on the center of the podium of the Laylas Valley wedding chapel. We’ve no wish to make a public declaration about it or anything, but we’re very proud to have our family and friends know that the three of us are now a bonded trio.”
“Well congratulations!” Mark laughed, giving Yazadril a friendly pat on the back. “I guess you’ve still got it in you, eh you old rascal?”
“These two lovelies seem to think so, which is good enough for me!” Yazadril chuckled.
Talia had come around the table to hug Nemia and Hilsith. “I’m so happy for you!” she giggled.
“So are we!” Hilsith laughed as she enjoyed the embrace.
“At any rate, I’m wondering what your plans for the day are?” Yazadril asked.
“Visiting our holdings, arranging our possessions, talking to those who’ve sworn to us, training, and doing our financial planning.” Mark told him. “And I wanted to ask you about a few things.”
“Oh! And we have to talk to Grakonexikaldoron!” Talia added.
“That’s right, I’d let that slip my mind for a while.” Mark nodded. “Too much to think about lately, I guess.”
“What did you want to talk to me about?”
Mark considered what he wanted to say for a moment before answering. “Remember when we first met? At that time, you thought that understanding my magic properties was the most important thing in the world.”
“It was, at that time!” Yazadril chuckled. “Who could have known then what was to come?”
“Not me, that’s for sure.” Mark nodded thoughtfully. “At any rate, we swore binding oaths that I would remain here for your study for five years, that you would build me a home, and so on.”
“Ah. And circumstances have changed, so you’re wondering whether those oaths still apply.” Yazadril nodded. “Let me assure you my boy, those who have sworn such oaths to each other can always release each other from the terms by mutual consent, even in the case of the binding vow of an elf.
“Thanks to Tithian here, and the rest of the theoreticians of Xervia, I now understand much about your unique properties. Furthermore, with what I’ve learned in the last few days, I have enough research on my ‘to be done’ list to keep me occupied for three centuries, even if the other recent occurrences weren’t occupying most of my time. I would still like to conduct research with you, once you have a firm grip on your power, but that can certainly wait a few years.
“Most of our agreement has already been fulfilled in other ways. I have some understanding of your power, you have a home here, you have a horse ranch, and you have instruction in magic. We can therefore mutually disregard that contract.”
“Agreed. Another thing I wanted to ask you about is this; Since I’m now Prince of Hilia and all that, I’m unsure of the necessity and the wisdom of our agreement that I would become a citizen and a Knight of The High People, in order to make it politically palatable that elves from every elven nation have sworn to me.
“Ah. Well as Theramin pointed out after you left the meeting yesterday, your marriage to Talia automatically grants you citizenship here, so that’s already settled. King Dren of Finitra then pointed out that his people still proudly consider you to be one of their own, and that he considers your Finitran citizenship to be in no way revoked. Overlord Senchak advanced the view that since you are Prince of Hilia, your Hilian citizenship must be considered your primary citizenship, and that our nations had no right to claim you for ourselves. Empress Emeroth then insisted that since you are the somewhat informal leader of The Just Alliance, you must be considered a citizen of The Just Alliance itself, and to hold equal citizenship in each of its constituent nations. In order to diffuse the argument, which was becoming somewhat heated, we all agreed with her position.
“We’re very proud of you both, you know. Your conduct yesterday was exemplary, and your words were brilliant.
“As well, The High People and all elves everywhere are quite proud of the fact that you are already listed as a Knight of The High People, indefinitely detached to the service of The Just Alliance.
“In any case, no one will consider it out of order that a few hundred elves have sworn to you. At this point, no one would question anything you might do, unless it was absolutely outrageous!”
Mark laughed. “My whole life has been absolutely outrageous lately! I tell you, there’s a big part of me that’s still sure that at any moment I’m going to wake up to find that it’s all just a fantastic dream!”
“That is good to know, fine youth.” Tithian mused. “So long as you keep your humility and don’t take all of this too seriously, everyone will stand behind you, and you will remain the uncrowned leader of most of the world. Paradoxically, if you try to insist on command, you will likely lose it.”
“No chance of that! I tell you, me being leader of The Just Alliance is ludicrous!
“Tell me, when you made that comment about us having attained a position of leadership of sorts, after we spoke at the meeting the first time, did you actually mean to nominate us to a real position of leadership?!”
“
That had not been my thought before I spoke the words, yet as soon as they were spoken, I knew they would be taken that way. And I approved whole heartedly.”
“Huh. Well, we’ve got quite a few things to do today. I suppose we’d best get to doing them. I’m sure looking forward to seeing all our new places!”
“By the way, Father, could you recommend a wizard who is also a specialist in optics?” Talia asked as she and Mark stood. “As Ria pointed out, Mark’s extreme visual sensitivity to spell casting could get him killed in battle if he gets blinded by a flash at the wrong moment.”
“Not offhand, but I’ll ask around for you.”
“Since you’re going to be talking to Grakonexikaldoron today, you should ask her about it.” Tithian suggested. “She is one of Xervia’s most prominent astronomers, and as such knows a thing or two about the spectra of light, and its manipulation by magical means.”
“Thanks, we’ll do that.” Mark smiled as he slipped the tine band onto his forehead. “If we don’t speak before then, we’ll talk to you tomorrow morning.
“Except for you of course, Tithian, unless you should happen to be here again tomorrow. It’s been a pleasure seeing you again, and we are always available to you.”
“Bye for now.” Talia smiled as she took Mark’s hand, and Translocated them to the living room of their suite in the Living Palace.
“Now, I’m to Speak to those who’ve sworn to you, and explain our thoughts on their training and service.” she said as she retrieved their wedding album. “But really, we should both speak to them together. I think it’s far too early for me to be exerting any authority on your behalf, if you want to be a leader and not a lord. They are sworn to you, not to me, and that’s a different thing from having truly earned their loyalty. You must do that first, and then I should do so on my own merit after that.
“I would feel more comfortable issuing instructions to our four companions at arms, since they are equally sworn to us both. But that’s not the case with the elves, and that’s why you should be the one to ask them whether they wish to aid us in acts of war on behalf of The Just Alliance, should the need arise.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Now I know how Alilia must have felt, when her people chose her as their Princess. But I have to face my responsibilities, and fulfill them. And I have to have a healthy attitude about it to avoid her mistake, and not let it embitter me.
“So, how do we go about contacting them?”
“Now that’s actually a good question. I can contact every one of The High People who’ve sworn to you, as I know them all to one degree or the other, and a few of the ones from other nations who had my attention for more than a few moments. But I didn’t get a chance to really get a feel for the rest of them. It helps a bit that we have their names in the wedding album, but not enough, and I couldn’t contact more than six at a time anyway. I could cast a Reading on myself and replay the swearing; paying enough attention to each of them to be able to contact them, but it would still take me a while to contact them all. Perhaps you could contact more of them, but you told Ria that you wouldn’t cast any spells for two days.”
“Hmm. Let me think for a moment. There’s a military command spell for contacting your subordinates that Ria gave me, but it’s not really sorted out in my mind yet. Why don’t you bring her out and we’ll ask her about it?”
Talia put her hand on her hilt, and Ria appeared.
“Good day Ria. How are you?” Mark smiled.
Ria stared inscrutably at him for a moment. “Why, I am fine, Mark, and thank you for asking. Good day to you both.
“As Talia now realizes, the spell you are thinking of is Brigade Command, and it is one of the fifty-two spells that are embedded in my steel, so Talia can cast it by merely invoking it. Now, since these elves are sworn to you, and you are the Prince of Hilia, and Talia is your Princess, she is rightfully in your chain of command as it affects the spell. Thus, she can use it to contact them on your behalf.
“Talia, brigade commanders seldom have the opportunity to know every one of their subordinates, and the spell is designed to allow for that. If you read the list of their names, and review a Reading of their swearing enough to take a good look at each of their faces, you will be able to contact them.
“The ones you know well enough to match their names with their faces can be contacted singly or in selected groups. As far as the spell is concerned, they are your officers, and the spell initiates a shielded two-way Speaking with them, so that they can pass you information as well as receive your orders. The rest, those you do not know well enough as individuals to know both their names and faces, can only be contacted together, all at once. The spell considers them low ranking soldiers, and so it only initiates one-way communication with them. It allows you to speak to them, so that they can be given their orders directly, but they cannot speak to you in return. The designers of the spell expected that anything they had to say to you would be passed up the chain of command through their officers. An elven brigade in Visinniria’s time was ten thousand, counting both soldiers and support staff, and that is the most you can contact with the Brigade Command spell. And since the spell was designed during The War of The Segregation, it can only be used to contact elves. This makes it very difficult for psionicists who are not elves to intercept it.
“I’m rather disappointed that you haven’t yet taken the time to review the spells I contain as a sword. As your assignment today, you will review them, as well as the rest of your magic items of special significance, and the properties of the wizard’s tools and the magically enhanced weapons and armor you were given as wedding presents. All the power of the many magic items you own does you no good if you are unfamiliar with them and their use. This knowledge will affect a greater immediate increase in your practical abilities than spending your time learning from me, so we’ll defer my lessons for a day or two.
“Mark, you will also review the magical properties of all the weapons and armor you were both given, and you will inspect their physical quality and craftsmanship as well, considering only their battle worthiness, ignoring their decorative aspects.
“Each of you will spend two hours on those tasks, plus the four hours you will spend on physical combat skills. Other than that, enjoy your honeymoon. Your workload will increase drastically the day after tomorrow.”
“We should also review our entire inventory with an eye to each item’s usefulness on campaign.” Mark mused. “The tools, particularly the smith’s tools, the climbing gear, many of the pots and pans and dishes, and a great deal more of it would all be useful to an armed force. Then there’s the issue of transportation for all of that. Perhaps I’ll have some of the elves help with that. While we’re at it, we should consider the qualities of each of our properties as military assets. Their defensibility, as well as the tactical and strategic aspects of their locations.
“I’d also like to talk to Foreman Joseth Narr about the possibility of training some of the horses at Winghoof Estates to be war-horses.”
“Now you’re thinking!” Ria chuckled. “Now you’re starting to become an officer! I’ll leave you to it then, but before I go, let me check your mind.”
Mark let her initiate the Link to him through Talia.
“Excellent. Your comprehension of the spells you’ve been given is proceeding nicely, better than I expected, even after working with you yesterday. By the day after tomorrow at the latest, you will be ready to begin casting them. Have you realized how many there are yet?”
“Nine hundred and fourteen, plus variations on some of the main spells.”
“Very good. Speak to me again tomorrow morning for your next assignments. Till then, be well.”
She faded away.
“It’s nice that our assignments fit with what we were already planning for today.” Mark mused.
“True.” Talia nodded. “I’ll cast the Reading and review the faces of the sworn, th
en review the list of their names in the album. What should I say to them when I’m ready?”
“Invite them to come here for a visit and a discussion of their service, if they can conveniently come here during the next two hours. Ask if any of them need assistance with traveling here. If any of them do, we’ll have to figure out a way to get them here.”
“I can bring some here, and those who are sufficiently skilled at Translocation can help bring the rest.” Talia nodded. “Let’s go downstairs before I get started on the Reading and the list. It’ll take me about forty minutes to be ready to contact them all, and you can start your review of our weapons and armor while I prepare.”
“All right.” he said as he offered her his hand with a smile.
“Be ready, I’m going to Translocate us.” she giggled. “We were told that our power improves with exercise, so I’ve decided to exercise mine at every opportunity.”
“Go ahead.” he grinned, since he was already wearing the tine band.
She concentrated for a moment, and brought them with a slight pop to just inside the doorway in the ballroom.
“Hah! I did it without whistling!” she stated with a proud smile. “Though my displacement could have been better. Ria says that it’s a weakness to have to make an audible sound in order to focus your mind on the frequencies of a spell, so I’m going to try to stop doing so.”
“Seems wise to me, my pretty wife.” he smiled as he swept her up in a hug. “And I think that your review of the names and faces of those who’ve sworn to me is valuable extra effort, beyond what Ria assigned us. Moreso if you won’t have to do it again to contact them next time, as I surmise.”
“You surmise correctly.” she giggled, and kissed his nose.
“Therefore, I’ll spend that time doing extra things as well, and then we can start our two-hour assignments together, starting with the magic properties of our weapons and armor.”
“All right, let’s take a moment to plan our day in greater detail. It’s almost noon. They’ll start arriving in forty-five minutes. All who are coming will be here in two hours, and we’ll allow for half an hour to discuss their service and another half hour to establish an organization among them. After that, I’m hoping that some of them would like to stay and help us transport many of these possessions to our other properties, and get everything put away. We’ll spend three hours at that and break for supper between the sixth and seventh hour. We’ll feed them a nice banquet, hopefully here in our newly-cleared ballroom, then politely bring the gathering to an end at the eighth hour or so. That would be a good time to talk to our gold draconian neighbor. Then we’ll spend two hours here working on our assignments, with a short break at nine to talk to our four companions. We’ll do the four hours of physical combat training while enjoying the evening at one of our other properties. We’ll return here about ninety minutes after midnight, spend an hour or three on intimacy, and get to sleep around the same time we did last night.
“How does that strike you, my handsome husband?”
“As good planning, my dear.” he chuckled.
“And what will you be doing while I’m mentally compiling your followers?”
“Well, I was going to review the geography and location of our holdings from the cards that came with them, and plot them on the globe so I really know where they are, and if I had time, I was going to research Visinniria in the books we were given. I’m really curious about what she did both before and after she made Ria, and how she became a goddess. But now that I think about it, I should spend the time with you reviewing the faces and names of the elves. I’ll be able to cast the Brigade Command spell myself in a couple of days, and then I’ll be able to contact them myself if need be.”
“And I’d love to have you share the experience with me, my love, but it’s not really the most practical use of your time. You’ll meet many of them today anyway, and once I’ve done the compilation, I can pass you the faces and names of those who don’t come today through our Link, in much less time than it would take you to review them yourself. The quality and completeness of our communication through our Link is a very rare and special thing, my love, and we might as well take advantage of it.”
“Well in that case, only one of us really needs to study the magic properties of the weapons and armor, and then we can pass that knowledge through the Link as well!” he enthusiastically realized. “For that matter, I bet you already have a pretty accurate idea of the locations of our properties, and know much of the history of Visinniria, so you could pass me that too!”
“I do, and I will!” she laughed joyously. “And you can pass me your knowledge of combat! I’ll still need to practice the motions to develop the skills, but having your knowledge of them, and your feel for doing them, will save a great deal of time!”
“All right, but that would still leave me needing to do something while you review the faces and names, so how about this; You cast your Reading of the swearing to me, and we’ll divide the elves in half, and each review half their faces, then we’ll divide the list of names and each read half of them. Then I’ll pass you the names and faces I’ve reviewed over the Link, and you should be ready to cast Brigade Command to them in about twenty-five minutes at most!”
“By the source Mark, I think we’re getting smarter!” Talia laughed. “Let’s get started!”
As it turned out, it only took ten minutes to review the faces of the sworn, as a quick glance at each one sufficed for the spell, if they were concentrating intensely enough. Mark inspected faces faster that Talia, but she read names from the list at twice the pace he could, and that task only took seven minutes.
“All right.” Talia smiled as she drew her sword. “I’ll keep it short this first time. It’s a complex spell, and it might be a bit tricky, even though the sword is actually doing the work.”
She held the sword vertically before her with both hands, closed her eyes in concentration, and invoked the magic. “Good day. Prince Mark and I would like to invite you to visit for discussion and dinner today. We would be pleased if we could gather here, on the grounds at the rear of The Living Palace, before two hours have passed, should your schedules allow. We apologize for giving short notice, and look forward to your visit.”
Before Talia had finished the Speaking, Stripe and Scout were already announcing the arrival of friendly visitors with psionic signals and proud calls.
She sheathed her sword, and cast the Movement combination she’d invented at their wedding reception, floating up four feet beside him, and taking his offered hand.
He grinned as they walked with matching paces down the aisle between their possessions, through the anteroom and out onto the rear porch.
Over four hundred elves had already arrived, and more arrived in the center of the lawn in a steady stream of flashes and puffs of air, then quickly walked to the nearest point on the lawn’s perimeter to clear space for new arrivals. On the porch stood Balen, looking exactly the same in her ornate blue striped gown and bright red braid, and Sheramiv, the elfess who had spoken for those who’d Compelled his wedding vows at their swearing two nights past. Her brunette hair was tied back with a ribbon that matched her simple white summer dress, and she stood in a tense posture with her eyes closed and her brows knitted in concentration.
“Hi Talia.” Balen smiled shyly. “Hi Mark.” She tried to keep her greeting nonchalant, but when she met Mark’s gaze she couldn’t help but stare longingly at him for a moment, before she dropped her eyes and blushed. “I was the first one here. I’ve been keeping myself prepared to answer your call at all times. She was next.” she nodded to Sheramiv. “It’s a good thing too, as she took charge of traffic control right away. Otherwise there’d have been a pile up. Over a third of these amateur Translocators didn’t make adequate checks for clear space first. She’s really good at it.”
“Oops. I should’ve thought of that.” Talia admitted with a blush. “I’v
e never organized such a gathering before, but I still should’ve thought of it.
“It’s nice to see you again, Balen. How have you been doing?”
“Well, I’ve been serving some of my penance to those three I discolored. And I’ve been getting together with the others from here that swore for you. We all watched the Reading of the meeting of The Just Alliance together. It was magnificent, and you were both so wonderful! And we’ve all sworn Osbald’s Oath upon mighty Mountainfire.”
She proudly showed them the three tiny symbols on the back of her left hand; the round white and blue that was the marker of the oath, a recognizable pictogram of Yazadril’s sword, and the sword-star of Hilia.
“How is it that you wear the sign of Hilia?” Talia asked in surprise.
“All of us who’ve sworn to you got it with the other two after we swore Osbald’s Oath and called for the Marking.” Balen explained. “If you remember, the Xervian wizards wanted to use it as the Marking of The Just Alliance, but you said you wanted it for the symbol of Hilia. So they must’ve made it part of the Marking spell of the vow. We thought it was really nice. No one else got it when they swore Osbald’s oath, so it kind of makes us special.”
“Huh. I wonder why we didn’t get it.” Mark mused as he pondered the symbols on his shoulder.
“I’d think it’s because it’s the Marking of a vow.” Balen speculated. “We got it because we’ve sworn a binding vow of service to Hilia, or rather to its monarch.”
“And since we became Hilia’s monarchs when there were no other Hilians to swear an oath of office to, we are not sworn to Hilia, so we didn’t get the Marking.” Mark chuckled in understanding.
Zayobod and Holanam took that moment to step up and bow.
“The Valiant Glory Seekers are all present, Your Majesty.” Zayobod grinned as he gave a snappy salute, his blue eyes sparkling beneath his blond hair.
“As are The Unthinking Impulsives, uh, would you prefer Your Majesty or Sir Mark?” Holanam asked with a bashful smile and a nervous toss of his black hair.
“It’s just Mark, thank you very much!” Mark laughed. “Have you really taken those as names for your respective groups?”
“We have, Mark.” Zayobod proudly declared. “For we seek to be guided by you in all things. Thus we three, who were chosen by you to speak for our like-minded companions after we swore to you, have been nominated as spokespersons for our groups.”
“You didn’t really name us, so my group has chosen to refer to ourselves as The Devoted.” Balen shyly revealed.
“That’s all so cute!” Talia laughed. Then her look became serious as she noticed that Sheramiv was starting to shiver, and sweat was dripping from her hairline. She laid her hand on Ria’s hilt and invoked Battalion Command. “Cease incoming Translocations! We’re having a traffic control problem! We’ll give you word to resume in a few moments!”
“Ahhh. Thank you!” Sheramiv sighed with relief. “Over eleven hundred of them already, and the space to guide them into shrinking every moment! That was a bit of a strain, for certain. Who’d have thought so many would be ready to come at a moment’s notice?!”
“Not I, that’s for sure!” Talia declared as she surveyed the huge yard, already half full of elves standing in loose groupings around the perimeter, most of them looking at her and Mark.
“We’ll be ready to continue in a minute, my Lady.” Sheramiv said as she stretched a bit. “They won’t be in such a hurry after your warning, and we now have time to contact them individually and schedule arrivals.”
“It’s just Talia, thank you very much.” Talia giggled. “And thank you very much for your help, Sheramiv.”
“I’m pleased to contribute. I arrange Translocation sequences on many occasions. I’d be pleased to assist you in organizing any gatherings you might hold. I’m sure things will run much more smoothly next time.”
“Thank you for offering.” Mark smiled. “Do you organize gatherings as your profession?”
“Not exclusively. I trained as a Master Administrator at the Academy of The Empire, in Latrel, capitol of Sming, and have held various administrative positions these last seventeen centuries. Some of them were private positions, but the majority of my experience has been government service. Most recently I was Financial Privy Secretary of the Civic Authority of Bojoston. There are three others among us who are more experienced administrators than I, but I was chosen by Prince Yazadril to speak for us at our oath taking, so I have been nominated to continue in that role until you should choose another to do so. Thus I was the first of my group to arrive, and was the first to realize the need for traffic control. It was lucky for me that you prevented further arrivals when you did, for having started the task alone and come so close to my limits, it would have been dangerous for anyone else to join me with the spells in progress.”
“You’re a skilled wizard.” Talia smiled.
“I am. As are all of us who erred so gravely at your wedding. Compulsion is not the easiest of spells. Only a quarter of elven wizards are capable of it, and we are all here because we cast it.”
“True. I should have realized that.” Talia nodded. “And since our organization of this gathering is obviously sadly lacking, would you be so kind as to provide some guidance in that regard?”
“Why not just let us take care of it?” Sheramiv smiled. “There’s no need to trouble yourselves about such things when we can do it for you with great efficiency, and if you wish, you can learn by observation. Just tell me what plans and preparations you have in mind.”
“All right, and thank you. We expected that everyone’s arrival would be more gradual, of course. After everyone who’s coming is here, we thought to spend a half hour discussing service; yours to Mark, and ours to The Just Alliance. Among other issues, we’d like to know if any of you would consider serving in a support corps for the strike force we’ve proposed forming. It’s Mark’s intention to ask for your co-operation, rather than commanding any of you by your oaths.
“After that, we’re going to ask if any would like to help us with putting away our things. We were going to do the planning for that while waiting for everyone to arrive. Those who help with that will have an opportunity to join us as we appreciate all the wonderful things we’ve received, and tour all our properties, all over Kellaran. Then we’ll have a nice dinner here. We’re so well provisioned that feeding a thousand or two will merely clear my kitchen of clutter!”
“All right, first things first.” Sheramiv nodded. She cast a quick little spell as she turned to the crowd and clapped twice over her head. That sound and her subsequent words were amplified to a volume easily heard over the many conversations. “Your attention please. We have an opportunity to be of assistance to our liege. First, let’s clear the rear of the yard between the outbuildings for incoming Translocations. Everyone there move forward, thank you.
“Those of you with a class seven Translocate or better, please move back to the Translocation stage, co-ordinate further arrivals, and assist those who cannot bring themselves.
“Those with catering and hospitality skills, please report to me for assignment to the distribution of refreshments.
“Those who have skills as decor artists or architects, please report here as well.”
“I invite the rest of you to explore the grounds.” Talia added, amplifying her voice as Sheramiv had done. “The front gardens are quite lovely, and there are wonderful views from the top of the wall. Until everyone has arrived, we’re going to organize our things, and if someone would like to pass on a Reading of our activities to the rest, we welcome you to share them.”
“And thank you for coming!” Mark added.
“I’ll cast the Reading for you, if I may?” Zayobod eagerly offered, and Mark gave him a smile and a nod.
“Now then, do you have an inventory?” Sheramiv asked.
“We do.” Talia said, Retrieving and handing over the wed
ding album.
“Thank you.” Sheramiv smiled as she opened it to the index and quickly read the page, then flipped ahead to the inventory.
Two groups of elves gathered round, and Sheramiv looked up and regarded them. “You would be the architects and decor artists?” she asked one group with a smile, then continued without waiting for an answer. “And you would be those skilled with food and personal service. One moment please.”
She quickly flipped through the pages. “Ah. Kitchen. Mileemi’s work is always so well organized.” she muttered to herself as she chose a page and quickly scanned it, turned to the next one, then the next, reading each page with a few glances. She flipped to the last page, read a paragraph, and snapped her fingers, producing a neatly lettered stack of paper sheets. She handed them to the service group. “The kitchen inventory. Set up refreshments tables on either side of the back stairs, and every fifty feet around the perimeter of the back lawn. Then plan on dinner for eighteen hundred. It’s all top quality, as we all remember from two days past, so use the more perishable items first.”
A slim black equatorial elfess stepped forward and took the papers. “I am Jwebil, formerly Chief Household Manager to Prince Himo of Dakrin Cliffs. My Personnel Evaluation spell tells me that I’m likely most qualified to take responsibility for this work.”
“Agreed.” Sheramiv nodded. “I enjoyed your work at the Feast of the Sun, two hundred fourteen years ago.”
“Thank you.” Jwebil grinned and bowed, then led her team to the kitchen.
She didn’t ask where it was, but Talia surmised that she would find it easily, since the floor plan of The Living Palace was based on such a common design.
“All right, shall we go inside, and organize the disposition of your possessions?” Sheramiv brightly offered.
Mark and Talia led the way to the center of the ballroom.
The administrator flipped through the inventory a moment, stopped at a page, then turned almost halfway around to her left and pointed. “Decor artists. Please clear the largest table, which lies twelve paces in that direction, and bring it here.”
They nodded, and closed their eyes in concentration.
“Architects, please review the Reading of the gift presentation in the jewel on the cover of this album, and study the presentations of the gifts of nations. Prepare to cast scale design Illusions of the properties and vessels.” Sheramiv pleasantly instructed.
They gathered around the album so that six of them could touch the jewel, one of whom passed a Reading to the five who surrounded them.
A few moments later Mark noticed movement out of the corner of his eye to his left, and turned as a beautiful oak table over thirty-eight feet long and six feet wide floated over the stacks of items. They all stepped back, and it settled in the center of the aisle.
“This is going to be great!” a pale polar elf announced with a grin, rubbing his hands together in eager anticipation. “What an opportunity, to help design decor for nine properties at once!”
“Actually, only three. Three and a half at most, today.” one of the architects disagreed as they handed the album back to Talia.
She was tall for an elf, over five and a half feet, with gray hair in a bun and warm brown eyes.
She turned to her ten companions, who smiled and nodded.
“I am Bizyutin. Allow me to demonstrate.” she grinned as she strode to one end of the table. “We’re all eleven of us co-operating on these scale models, by the way. Here is the beach house at White Sands Resort.” The eleven architects all slowly blinked at the same moment and hummed in unison, and a miniature Illusion of the beach house appeared on that end of the table, seventeen inches high and thirty one inches long, open to the lagoon with the silk drop sheets lowered across the back and stirring slowly in the breeze. “As you can see, it’s fully furnished and complete, themed in wicker and palm fronds, with hammocks matching the silk wall sheets.
“The cottage at Hilia is also furnished and complete, as is the suite at the Dragon’s view Inn, the ranch house at Winghoof Estates, the yacht Sunrunner, and the Queen of Waves. The Xervian volcano has no facilities.” she listed as she walked beside the table, directing the group casting of each property and vessel in miniature as she mentioned it, and they appeared in a row down the center of the table.
“These aren’t all to the same scale, of course, as there’s an extreme variety in size among them, and the view of the volcano is mostly a surmising based on its description and the appearance of similar peaks.
“That leaves the four properties that require the installation of decor.
“Sweettower is still under renovation, and only the additions will need furnishing. Someone contact the renovators, inquire as to the progress of the work, and ascertain whether any of the rooms are ready for decorating.
“Most of the rooms here in The Living Palace are still empty?”
“Yes.” Talia nodded as the building appeared in miniature on the table. “All except for the kitchen and our suite. And this ballroom of course. The ice keep at 157 by 89 in Axis is still empty, as is the palace at 274 Riverside Park Way in Bojoston.”
Bizyutin cast the last illusion on the end of the table, and turned to proudly survey the row of model displays. “I can add the spells for this to the jewel on the album, if you like.”
“That would be fine, for these are beautifully done!” Mark grinned as everyone started walking around the table, inspecting the displays.
After he and Talia had viewed each one, Bizyutin continued.
“For now, we’ll disregard the ones we won’t be working with today.” she smiled as all but the last four miniatures disappeared. “That creates room to represent the materials we have to work with, that is, your possessions. From the Reading of the gift presentation, we can model the room groupings as they appeared.” Small Illusions of the roomfuls of furniture and possessions that had been pre-arranged for the presentation suddenly occupied much of the table. “And at the same scale, the rest of the gifts as they were arranged around the podium.” A miniature of the ring of gifts appeared, placed as they had been on the moss of the chapel before being brought here.
“Now, can we assume that this; The Living Palace, will be your primary home?”
“Yes, at least until we can finish the improvements we plan for Hilia.” Mark nodded.
“All right. I’ll make the models of these four homes semi-transparent, so we can see the rooms inside. Now all you have to do is decide where you want something to go. Have you chosen where you wish your music room to be?”
“Yes, right here behind our suite upstairs.” Mark said, stepping to the model of The Living Palace and pointing to the second floor.
“Well chosen. Mileemi had every décor artist in the elven race to choose from, and whoever did the room arrangements for the gift presentations was expert, and showed excellent taste, so we’ll start with those and assign them to rooms, and refine it all afterward if you wish to change anything. So, we just take the model of the second of the two roomsful of musically related items, which had the better instruments, I think, and we move it into the appropriate room in the model.”
The model of the roomful of items floated over to the model of The Living Palace and through the wall, then shifted slightly to match the dimensions of the indicated room, and shifted again so that the room’s doors and windows weren’t blocked.
“Wonderful!” Talia laughed, and pointed to the basements of the palace. “I’ll use this corner for my wizardry workshop.”
The miniature magic items floated over, and they continued assigning possessions to rooms. Soon they had the decor of their home decided, as well as the locations and storage of all their clothes and personal items. To their surprise, The Living Palace required most of their furnishings to decorate every room, and had ample storage for all of their personal possessions as well.
“What are your plans for the rest of your prop
erties?” Sheramiv asked.
“We’re thinking we’ll let them out as vacation properties, allocating some of the suites to the needy who most need a vacation, and offering the rest for revenue at an appropriate rate.”
“Good thinking.” Sheramiv nodded. “So that you may still enjoy your properties, I suggest you reserve your smaller homes for your own use for one week on two occasions per year, those being White Sands, Sunrunner, and Dragon’s View. I also suggest that you permanently reserve the master suite at each of your larger homes for yourselves, those being Winghoof Estates, The Queen of Waves, Sweettower, the ice keep, the palace in Thon, and of course, here.
“You have enough unallocated furnishings remaining to finish furnishing Sweettower, but not enough to complete the ice keep or the palace in Thon. It would be wise to go that route, for then you could purchase matching furnishings for the keep and the palace. Sweettower would otherwise rent for less per suite than those two, and furnishing it with your personal possessions will increase the rent it can command. Of course, should you decide to rent any of your unused suites here in The Living Palace, they will command the most.”
“I have news of the progress at Sweettower.” one of the other architects reported, taking advantage of the break in the conversation. “None of the new rooms are ready, but they will be finished by this time tomorrow.”
“In that case we can still plan its decor today.” Sheramiv smiled. “And I must say that it’s an excellent idea to utilize The Queen of Waves as an excursion ship for vacationing passengers. It will sustain less wear and tear in that role than it would as a cargo vessel, and require far less maintenance. Likely it will prove far more profitable carrying passengers as well.”
“Thank you, though to be honest, I hadn’t thought of that.” Mark chuckled.
“It is doubly wise to proceed in that manner, as it keeps most of your business in the same industry, that of luxury hostelry, which will reduce your management costs and complexities considerably.”
“Which is good, considering we had already planned to seek advice on our financial dealings; they’re complex enough.” Talia laughed.
“I would suggest you immediately arrange for the furnishing of the ice keep and the palace with the liquid funds you have available.” Sheramiv mused. “I would also renovate the cargo holds of The Queen of Waves, converting them to cabins, restaurants, and recreation facilities, before her first voyage as a passenger ship. This would increase the revenue you would derive from those assets, and they are smart investments that will pay for themselves within three months.”
“That’s good thinking, except that I can’t ignore the value of The Queen of Waves as a military asset.” Mark stated thoughtfully. “So any renovations can’t reduce its utility in that role. No matter how fancy it gets, it still has to be ready for battle at sea or the transportation of marines at a moment’s notice.”
“That could be accommodated.” Sheramiv nodded. “Bizyutin, could you re-cast the model of the ship, and give us interior views?
“Thank you. Now these holds; here, here, here and here, are of such awkward shape that they will be of little use for hostelry in any case.” Sheramiv noted, indicating spaces on the ends of the hull where the taper of the ship made the floors curved and slanted. “They would be used for storage, not only for items related to hostelry, but for additional military materiel as well. They would also be excellent locations for the installation of hidden additional weapons emplacements, and other nasty surprises of that sort.
“Similar hidden modifications can be made to your other properties, to better prepare them for emergency or conflict.”
“Sheramiv, you are obviously expert at administration, and I get the feeling that you’re hoping we’ll hire you in that regard.” Talia smiled.
“Not hire.” Sheramiv frowned as she shook her head. “I cannot speak for the young High People who swore to you voluntarily, but I am authorized to speak for those of us who swore as atonement.
“Only four of us have dependent children at this time, and eighteen have other personal commitments such as military service or other firm contracts. Those twenty-two stand ready to serve you during their otherwise unscheduled time.
“The rest of us are all independently comfortable at the very least, financially speaking, and have ended our other commitments. In my case, I have resigned my position with the city of Bojoston, and I have enough wealth and profitable investments to live in ostentatious luxury forever, or until the economies of the empires fail. We stand ready to serve you full time, needing no recompense and wanting none. Indeed, it would be both wrong and illegal for any of us to accept payment from you for any service. We are serving for atonement, and we all deserve to be in prison or worse. One does not pay convicted criminals to serve their sentences.”
“Really?” Mark asked in surprise. “I mean, you really think you deserve to go to prison?”
“Yes.” She nodded gravely.
“Why? You didn’t really mean to harm me by Compelling me to obey my own wedding vows, did you?”
“No. But… you must understand. I had seen the girl’s prank well enough to know that she was right; her spell had passed through you like you were an Illusion. So I had my doubts that the vows would be binding on you. And I… I feared you. I decided to Compel you right after Yazadril said that you had decided to invite so many so that our presence would reinforce your vows.
“After you spoke, I had my first doubts about my plan, and I had more doubts as I saw the intensification of the power field. As Yazadril said, I knew better, and that is the core of my crime. I knew before I cast that the behavior of the power field was already unprecedented, and that casting into it was very dangerous. But my fear was stronger than my doubts, and so I cast the spell. Of course, I thought I was the only one to do so.
“When I saw your reaction, I knew that I had seriously harmed you, that I had committed a crime, that I had broken the oath of the invitation. When the famed Healer Hilsith called out that she could not save your life, I knew I had killed you. I knew myself a murderer. That moment will never leave me. I imagine all of us had that same experience.”
She paused for a deep and shaky breath, and collected herself before she continued.
“Serving you is far less than the punishment we deserve. However, we proposed it because it is the best way to make restitution for what we’ve done.
“There are many reasons why we Compelled you at your wedding, Mark, but most have to do with fear, combined with conservative attitudes, whether concerning humans, or change, your presence in The Nine Valleys, or the propriety of your marrying Talia.
“As you would expect of a group of conservative wizards, we are a mature and capable group, with an average age of twelve hundred years. We can be of great assistance to you in any task you might wish to see accomplished.
“Beyond that is the fact that legally speaking, it doesn’t matter if we have proposed our own penance in asking to be sworn to you, or that we have so sworn, or that Yazadril has allowed it. The Council of The High People will still judge each of our cases individually in their own due time. We are lucky that we are not considered likely to flee from their authority when the time comes, or we would be held in their custody right now. When our cases are judged, it will be taken into account that we have sworn to you as atonement for our crime. If our efforts on your behalf are considered to balance the scales of justice, they will likely let things stand. However, if they feel that our service is too lenient a sentence, they will impose additional sentencing upon us. Rumor has it that they would consider forcing us to receive a complete deep Reading of your experience when we cast upon you. We would... We would have to experience your death. Perhaps many times. I for one am very much afraid of that.
“Therefore, we are all desperately hoping that you will work us till we drop, everyday. And for at least the next ten years, since it will likely take
that long for the Council here to deal with all our cases. Should you wish to accomplish anything that is beyond your financial means, we would be sincerely thankful for the opportunity to contribute funds, or anything else we own or can procure, in support of your plans. We have already accounted our skills and resources. We are ready to begin.”
Mark stared intensely at her, then at those who stood about. He realized that there was complete silence, because every elf in attendance was following the conversation with rapt attention.
Talia sensed his mood, and waited as he considered. Then his thoughts came clear and comfortable to her mind. “My love Talia. Do you truly look to me for leadership?”
“I do my love. I love that you think that we should have equal say and influence in our relationship. But being the voice of leadership is not a task I want, nor is being the responsible monarch of a populated nation. I have found my own boldness since we’ve been together, but not that much boldness, and I am still more comfortable in a supporting and advising role. And I really am eagerly anticipating seeing you fulfill your shining potential as a great leader.”
“All right.” Mark nodded, then enfolded her in a gentle and cherishing hug.
“All right.” he said aloud as he straightened with a smile. “Talia and I will take you at your word.
“From now on, those of you who Compelled me at my wedding are a single unit, and I name you The Atoning. You will pool what resources you wish to contribute to our efforts into a common fund. You will organize and assign yourselves to best accomplish our common aims. Our goals are these:
“We will support The Just Alliance in their efforts both peaceful and military, as was spoken and agreed at the founding meeting. We will manage our funds and properties so as to increase their worth, while also making significant and increasing donations to good works. We will train our military skills so as to be able to counterstrike at those who break the peace with the fastest possible effective response. Those who wish to contribute to that effort without personally engaging in combat can form a logistics and support corps.
“We should all train to work well together as wizards, increasing our abilities to share power, to communicate amongst ourselves securely, to Translocate some or all of us at once with safety and accuracy, and to cast group spells for both defense and attack.
“We will build facilities at Hilia. All constructions must be as unobtrusive and natural looking as possible. Inside the crater of the volcano we will build The Military Academy of Hilia. Rooms will be excavated in the sides, and the area surrounding the lake will be leveled and landscaped. We’ll build a resort on the outer slopes of the volcano, above the tree line only, again by excavating into the stone. We envision that the entrances and windows will appear to be natural caves and openings in the rock, with fully finished interiors. And so far as we can practically ensure, all the facilities must be usable by any citizen of the alliance. Here’s the Illusion we worked up with the others of The Six. After you’ve studied it, let me know what improvements you suggest.”
He sent a quick mental request to Talia, and she cast the image of Hilia as they’d developed it before the founding meeting, and privately felt a bit smug at showing no outward sign that it was she and not Mark who cast it.
“We have it now, thank you.” Bizyutin nodded.
Others were interested in seeing it further, so Talia kept the Illusion active.
“For right now, I’ll let you get started on the planning for all that, and on putting our things away.” Mark continued. “I’d also like an evaluation of the military utility of our entire inventory of items and properties. Let us know when you’re done with the decor here, and we’ll look it over. Then we’ll tour our holdings until it’s time for supper.
“Is there anything else you need, or need to know, before you get going on that?”
“No, thank you.” Sheramiv smiled. “I’m sure we’ll have things well in hand. I’ll keep you updated.”
“Excellent. Thank you.” Mark smiled as he took Talia’s hand. “Now, can we have those who swore to me voluntarily, and not as atonement, gather around the back porch?”
As Talia dismissed her Illusion and they turned to go, The Atoning went into action. Sheramiv was already casting a group Speaking that included all of them. Many of those in the hall were already moving items to their assigned rooms by Translocation, Movement, and muscle power. More were flooding into the room through both entrances to join in that task.
By the time Mark and Talia had reached the back porch, those he’d asked to gather there were assembled.
One of the last of The Atoning to file inside stopped and bowed. “Mark, Talia. There remain only twelve of us still to arrive over the time remaining. They will need no further traffic control, beyond the arrival circle I have marked upon the ground there.”
He pointed to a twelve foot wide blue ring of light in a rear corner of the yard, with glowing blue lettering floating in the air above it. They said; ‘Caution, Arriving Translocations’ in Common, alternating with Elvish words that Mark suspected said the same thing.
“There are nineteen of us who cannot arrive in time, but who can be here before dinnertime, Nine Valleys time, which is six hours after noon.” the Translocator continued. “They ask if they may make a tardy appearance. And there are five whose schedules do not allow their attendances today, who offer their apologies.
“Ah. Thank you.” Mark nodded. “Please tell those who wish to arrive late that they are welcome to do so, until dinner begins. And if you would, tell those who can’t come today that we’re sorry they couldn’t make it, and that our next gathering will be held with ample notice. And make sure they get complete Readings of this gathering, so that they’re completely up to date on developments.”
“It would be my pleasure.” the other smiled, gave a respectful nod, and took his leave.
Mark surveyed the eager young elves around him. “I notice your six friends who were our gracious waitresses at our reception are here.” he chuckled to Talia.
“Almost all of my friends are here, actually.” she giggled. “And almost all the rest are my classmates.”
“From your wizardry school? I’m not really surprised, for by their glow, they’re a more powerful group of wizards on the average than The Atoning!”
“The Nine Valleys have the most intense power fields of any place on Kellaran.” Talia proudly explained. “Because of this, The High People produce both the most powerful wizards on average, and the most wizards per capita, of any nation. Those who are weak or unskilled in the power are more likely to emigrate to another elven nation so as to feel less out of place. Wizards from other elven nations who are strong or skilled or knowledgeable are more likely to immigrate here than to anywhere else. The instruction in magic available to us here is the finest there is, and every child raised here receives enough basic training to qualify as a journeyman in any human wizard’s guild.
“For these reasons, we here are among the very finest of the elven wizards of our generation. The Atoning may have us in knowledge and experience, but we can more than hold our own for power, cleverness, and the use of the newest techniques.”
“I see.” he grinned, then addressed the group around him.
“Were there any of you who can’t make it here today?”
“We’re all here, all eighty-four of us.” Balen proudly announced.
“Good. We’d like you all to know that we’re glad you could come today. I approve of the meetings you’ve held and the organizing you’ve done, and I like the names you’ve taken for your three groups. But I’m going to give a name to the eighty-four of you, to distinguish you from The Atoning, and you will be called The Hilian Volunteers, or The Volunteers for short. And you are volunteers. If any of you ever wish it, I will gladly release you from your vow of service to me, and see that you are released from Alilia’s Compulsion of it.
“I see yo
ur service as a very different thing from that of The Atoning, due to its voluntary nature, and you are also our contemporaries in age and experience. I consider The Atoning to be somewhat like employees, but I consider you to be companions.
“Now, you’ve all heard the statement of our goals that I made to The Atoning, and any help you offer in achieving them will be greatly appreciated. But I will not have you contributing any of your money to this. If you truly wish to donate to good works, that’s fine, so long as you do so on your own as individuals, and not as part of this organization or your service to me. I’m not that comfortable with your having sworn to me in the first place, and I intend to never command you by those vows, though as I say, I welcome your help and co-operation. But I won’t have you spending the money you’ll need to make a future for yourselves on my account.”
“You don’t understand.” Balen giggled. “We let ourselves be Compelled by Princess Alilia! Her Compulsion is not only very powerful, it’s very complete, and it affects every part of our minds! Because of that, none of us will ever want to be released from our vow, so we’ll never ask you to do so, because we like being sworn to you! If you tried to have the Compulsion lifted, we’d just resist it. We serve you, and that’s all there is to it! We’ll obey you in anything you ask, unless you command us to not serve you, or to do something that we know is in any way harmful to you. We’d just ignore any such command.
“We swore to serve you, not to obey you, and they’re not the same thing. That’s true of The Atoning as well, so you might as well forget ordering any of us to do anything that we feel is against your interests, or that reduces our service to you. Only the knowledge that you’re on your honeymoon, and are therefore best served by being left to your privacy, has kept any of us from showing up here before now and doing things for you, whether you asked us to or not.
“And it’s silly to tell us to not help you with our money, as well as our time and effort. We all have enough skills to make a very comfortable living already, or to make the necessities of a comfortable life from raw materials if necessary, even if the economies of every nation in the alliance were to fail. We don’t need our wealth to assure a prosperous future for ourselves. And since most elven inheritances are given at a child’s birth, and not upon the parent’s death, most of us already have far more than enough to live in comfort for centuries. Furthermore, the financial expertise of the administrators among The Atoning is far greater than ours, far greater even than any we could hire in The Nine Valleys, since there is very little commerce conducted here. So having them manage our money with theirs and yours is a smart investment, even allowing for those funds’ contributions to good works.”
“If it makes you more comfortable, we could refrain from telling you which of us has contributed to the group fund, or the amount of our contributions.” Holanam offered.
Mark chuckled as he shook his head in bemusement. “All right. Do so if that’s what you want to do. Since you’ve obviously spent more time considering the question than I have, what are your thoughts on the nature of your service?”
“If I may, Mark.” Zayobod smiled with a crisp bow. “In general, I think the greatest difference between The Atoning and ourselves is our desired proximity to you.
“They are all deeply troubled by what they’ve done, and by the consequences they may face. They are indeed most eager to serve you, but I doubt any of them wishes to serve you while in your presence, or in any personal capacity, or to work closely with you, because your presence reminds them too much of the traumatic moments they caused themselves and you at your wedding.
“We, on the other hand, are quite literally thrilled that you consider us your companions, for we do very much hope to serve you personally, to share your presence during great challenges and great accomplishments alike! We hope to be there to support you if times are grim, and to cheer you at your triumphs.
“We hope to be your assistants, your aides, your secretaries, your valets, your maids and servers.
“We also believe the youth and pure talent of our warriors and combat wizards will give us the edge over most of our counterparts in The Atoning when it comes to speed and quickness, both physical and magical. We plan to be able to best them in any contest of our ability to launch a lightning-fast response to a breaking of the peace, and will conduct our own training in that regard. We hope to thus win the right to form your initial-response platoon on those occasions when your first attack wave includes more than you six of the strike force.
“We are also hope to form your household guard, and to be your bodyguards on those occasions when you wish to visit facilities whose dimensions are too small for dragons and unicorns. The nine girls of The Valiant Glory Seekers are especially eager to be assigned to this duty, and are among those who’ve begun training their skills as personal security agents with some intensity, in hopes of winning that post.”
“It’s as he said, Your, uh, Mark.” a very slight brunette said as she stepped forward. “I’m Kalem, and thus far we have only begun to study the foundations of the discipline. But among the first things we did is contact the captains of the knights who form the royal guards of the elven nations. What we learned from them is alarming.
“As they taught us, in quite stern terms, the best protection is prevention. In order to even begin to protect you, we must study your enemies, including anyone who could have motive to do you harm. We must consider every way they could attack you, and discern their most likely methods of doing so. We must be prepared to counter them before they can endanger you.
“My Lord, since you are the most prominent of those who have initiated the recent sweeping changes and government actions of The Just Alliance, you are in great danger. If your enemies could kill you they would count it a huge victory, as it would have such a hugely negative effect on the morale of the multitudes who believe in what you’ve done.
“Your opponents and casual enemies include those who are for continued segregation and prejudice, those who benefit from unjust uses of power, most professional legal advocates, and everyone who supports the status quo for any reason.
“Your mortal enemies include every member of the insidious conspiracy, and every one of the criminals whose livelihoods have been threatened or curtailed by the crackdown. There are tens of millions who would like to see you dead, and hundreds of thousands who are motivated enough to attempt it. Our calculations establish that it is a virtual certainty that at this very moment at least ninety thousand are actively trying to find a way to assassinate you, at least four thousand will be devoting everything they have to the effort, and at least three hundred of those will be persons of great power.
“They have proven themselves willing to slaughter hundreds at a time, merely to test their attacks. Imagine what lengths they would go to in attempting to take your life. They would likely consider it of no regard to devastate entire cities if they thought that doing so would give them the slightest chance to kill you.
“Your properties are predictable places for you to visit, and your enemies will know of them by now.
“Our inquiries have satisfied us that you are safe within The Nine Valleys, and you have not ventured beyond them since the founding meeting. Our Wards are being continuously strengthened, and the capabilities of our defensive personnel have been bolstered by specialists from every nation in the alliance except The Hidden Nation, just as some of our forces have been dispatched to other nations to improve their defenses. Right now for instance, Billigog the Blue, physically the mightiest of The Just Dragons, is conducting high altitude surveillance far overhead.
“The other elven nations have similar Wards and defenses, if not of the quality we have here.
“The Warm People have the poorest security among them, as they have a large and sparsely populated territory with weaker Wards. They have historically depended on the fierce cold of their lands to help prevent invasion, and so their settlements are
all located deep within their frigid territory, but that does little to deter assassins who attack by Translocation, or by casting spells from a distance.
“Of your properties, the volcano in Xervia is likely the safest, as the Xervian Wards and security are the best.
“The thousands of security specialists who will guard the parades of leaders are the very finest in The Just Alliance, and they’re taking every possible precaution to ensure the processions will be safe.
“But my... I mean Mark, your homes in Thon and Sming are very vulnerable. Hilia in particular is a likely place for you to be attacked, as it is completely undefended.
“We are not yet qualified to protect you, though there are some among The Atoning who are. We suggest they be assigned to doing so, until we’re ready to assume that duty. We’re qualified to assist them under their direction, at least. And we would greatly appreciate if you also have at least Stripe, Scout, and your red bodyguard with you, if not the entire strike force, and that you both travel fully armed and armored.”
“We strongly suggest that you allow us to inform the knights of The High People of your itinerary, and to inform the military commanders of each of the nations your properties are located in, as to when you will arrive at each one. They will provide additional security, and we will ask each of them to dispatch a contingent to secure Hilia before you arrive there.
“Huh. All of that’s good thinking, and good advice.” Mark nodded. “I won’t call our other four companions though, as they have other assignments today. If we need them, they’ll be there on a moment’s notice, believe me. We’ll leave Stripe and Scout here as well, since I think that doing that many Translocations may upset them. And we’re on our honeymoon, and will be visiting some tropical places, so we’re not going to wear our amour. We will bring it with us, and be ready to don it quickly, and we’ll wear our weapons. The rest of the precautions you listed will have to be enough for today. Please see to them when we’re done this meeting with you Volunteers.”
“Thank you Mark.” she smiled, and nodded respectfully.
“Well that covers your group, Zayobod.” Mark mused. “What about you of The Devoted and The Unthinking Impulsives? What are your thoughts on your service?”
“Actually, sir, I think I’ve given you a misimpression.” Zayobod explained. “While it’s true that all of the girls of The Valiant Glory Seekers wish to be in your security service, other than that, our desired forms of service do not so neatly match our motivations for swearing to you. For instance, many of The Devoted are among our best wizards, sword wielders, and scouts, and would prefer to serve you in that regard, despite the fact that they swore to you because they are so completely besotted and smitten with you.”
“You watch your mouth, Zayobod.” Balen warned in a quiet and dangerous tone that surprised Mark and Talia. “You came close to mocking us just then. We got enough of that when we swore, and we have determined that we will never again unjustly submit to ridicule and jeers about our devotion to Mark. It’s an insult to think we had only a childish crush on him, and Alilia’s Compulsion has multiplied our devotion into a great and loving loyalty. Now it’s like a powerful spiritual enlightenment, and we will not be mocked for it!”
Zayobod’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and he took a moment to consider. “I’m truly sorry, Balen. I was making light of your emotions, and that was insensitive of me, though I didn’t think I’d hurt your feelings, or those of The Devoted. I assure you, it will not happen again.”
“Then we’ll forgive you.” Balen smiled.
“Thank you.”
“Zayobod is right about our aptitudes, though.” Balen told Mark, then shyly looked at his feet at she continued. “We of The Devoted want more than anything else to pleasure you with our love, and our love-making, to each surrender our entire being to you in that way. But we recognize that you are newly married, and have human morals and folkways about such things, and we may not be permitted to serve you in that way for a very long time, if we ever are. We don’t intend to mope around doing nothing while we wait in hope for that opportunity, and we have a lot of skills and enthusiasm to offer.
“Likewise, there are some among The Valiant Glory Seekers whose skills and aptitudes do not lend themselves to combat, who will serve you in other ways.
“The three groups we formed based on our reasons for swearing to you are mostly social organizations. All of us Volunteers met together to watch the Reading of the meeting, to swear to justice, and to discuss our service. But after that, when we were just mingling, we found that the three groups tend to, ah, talk about very different things. That’s when we formalized the three groups.”
“I see.” Mark smiled. “And what of The Unthinking Impulsives? What are your thoughts on your service?”
“We’re working on a song, a national anthem for Hilia, subject to your approval, sir.” Holanam smiled. “Other than that, we really haven’t discussed much. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say that the five of us spent the latter half of the meeting of The Volunteers fornicating. As to our service, whatever you want us to do is fine with us.”
“Unthinking Impulsives indeed!” Mark chuckled. “I see that you five are also gifted with considerable magical power.”
“Pardon me?” Holanam said with a puzzled look. “I’m not sure what you mean, sir. While our strength in the power is normal among The High People, I doubt we’re even average among this group in that way.”
“Huh! Are you certain of that?” Mark asked. “I mean, so far my ability to judge a wizard’s power has proved pretty accurate, and each of you is glowing as brightly as Balen, here.”
“I don’t see how that could be.” Holanam frowned. “All five of us together couldn’t match Balen’s strength with the power. I’m quite certain of that. She’s among our most gifted that way.”
“Huh. Do you mind if I open a Link with you?” Mark asked. “I’d like to check this a little closer.”
“By all means.” Holanam smiled. “Though it would be unkind to the rest of us if only we five are granted the honor of sharing your thoughts that way.”
“All right, but you five first, starting with you, and we’ll have Talia and Ria with us.” Mark said, and Talia laid her hand on her hilt.
Mark introduced Ria, and briefly explained about her and Talia’s sword while Talia and Ria established a firm Link with him. Then he Linked with Holanam.
“He is indeed drawing power that he cannot access for casting.” Ria commented. “Though he has used it on occasion in the past. I cannot tell what he did with it. Bring the other four into the Link.”
Mark closed his eyes and did so, thrilling to the ease of it, and to the pleasure of communicating so closely with these five young minds for the first time. He gave them a cheery wordless greeting with one part of his mind, which they acknowledged and returned.
“These two are somehow different from those three, though they all use the power without casting it.” Ria commented. “Other than that, I cannot say. They are all of them unique in my experience.”
“The three have a feel to them that is different, yet somehow familiar.” Talia noted. “Here, this aspect, do you feel that?”
“I recognize that!” Mark mentally exclaimed. “Here, disregard all these other aspects like this; their individualities, and these; their elvishness, so to speak. Now consider this unicorn. Disregard all of her individual and racial characteristics with the same method, like this, and this. You see?! The little bit of each of their auras that are left are the same! Somehow, they have something in common with her, and when you consider the three, you can see here how that aspect is part of their subconscious expenditure of power that Ria detected!”
“Very well done, both of you!” Ria congratulated. “Very perceptive. I suggest you now cast a Speaking to the morning child. This may be important.”
“I agree, love.” Talia added.
Mark nodded. “Tithian, may we have a moment of your time?” he called out loud as he concentrated on his image of her.
Instantly the eight Linked minds felt her join them and absorb their surface thoughts. “Thank you for calling me. Fine work. You five, please allow me to take a deep Reading. Thank you. This will be analyzed. I’ll have the results in a few minutes.”
Then her mental touch was gone.
“I get the feeling we interrupted her.” Mark noticed.
“She’s no doubt a very busy person right now.” Talia nodded.
“If you and Ria are ready, I’d like to start bringing the rest of these fine elves into our communication.” Mark asked.
They gave him their mental assent. He opened his eyes and began glancing at those around him, bringing each of them into the Link as he met their gaze. When he’d Linked with another thirty-four of them, he closed his eyes and felt for the rest of them. He noted the presence of each of their eager minds, and Linked with all of them at once. Now Talia, Ria, and the eighty-four Volunteers were all Linked through him.
It was a wondrous experience. He spent three minutes getting to know them, and Talia shared her memories of them with him as he mentally greeted each one. He was surprised at how well he knew them after that short time.
He was humbled by their feelings toward him; by how much they all looked up to him, by the sincerity of their service. The joyous power of their friendship and their love was so wonderful that he couldn’t help but return it.
Talia felt all this, just as they all felt Mark’s love for her, and hers for him.
It was a profound experience for all of them, and then it was suddenly further brightened when Tithian rejoined the Link. They made her welcome, and she delighted in sharing it for a half minute before revealing her news.
“This is beautiful, but I know you’ll be interested in what we’ve learned.
“These two; Holanam and Dewkan, have an ability so subconscious it can almost be considered inherent. They constantly cast an effect somewhat similar to a Blessing upon themselves and their immediate surroundings. It alters probabilities to their benefit. It is a subtle effect, but it would be true to say that they are magically lucky. Their spontaneous oath to serve you can only be of benefit to them, and it bodes very well for you that they did so. If you keep them near to yourself, or to those who are doing the greatest or most unsure works on your behalf, the further functioning of their unique ability will be of maximum benefit to you.
“You were correct in noticing that these three have a similarity in their auras that I share. It is the power of a seer. The ability to use this power takes centuries to develop, and little can be done to guide them, as it is a very intuitive learning process. I will spend a few minutes every week with each of them, and teach them what can be taught. They are very young, and they are quite lucky that their potential was detected so early. At this stage in their development, their talent will manifest as hunches, each of which will need to be considered individually, as they will be sporadic in their accuracy and completeness. On the other hand, none of their hunches or intuitions should be disregarded completely or routinely.
“You see how the thus-far unrecognized subconscious abilities of these five; magically enhanced luck and mild prescience, have led to their being Unthinking Impulsives? Without such spontaneity, they might have interfered with the function of their own talents.
“More important is this; Mark, your hastily developed method of disregarding irrelevant aspects of an aura is the first method ever found for isolating and identifying the talent of a seer. We will use it to search the world for prescients, most of whom are like these three, in that they would never have been identified otherwise. We may find dozens of undiscovered seers and oracles in the days ahead, which would be of great benefit to The Just Alliance.
“We immediately adapted the technique to the auras of these lucky two, and when we correlated the results with the events in their memories when they manifested most strongly, we were able to identify the nature of their talent. We can begin screening the populations of The Just Alliance for that ability as well.
“We are most excited by your ability to see an individual’s strength in the power, though we hadn’t realized its importance till now, and we haven’t been able to duplicate it. Others are able to do so indirectly, by observing the effect that a person and their spells have on the magic field, but that is far less exact and far less useful for the purpose, particularly when many are in close proximity to one another. The problem with using your aura aspect isolation technique to screen the population for magic abilities is that a deep Link or Reading must be cast upon each person to be so tested. If we could duplicate your ability to visually detect strength with the power, we would be able to detect all the potential spell-casters. Just as you did today, we could then compare their spell-casting strength with their total strength, to identify those with subconsciously cast magical abilities.
“Tell me, do you detect my power in the same way, or that of dragons?”
“Oh yes.” Mark nodded. “Your glow is as bright as Alilia’s, and Povon’s is brighter. Though now that I think about it, it is different. Povon’s glow is less glaring and is easier on the eyes than Alilia’s, even though it’s brighter, and yours is even softer and less irritating than Povon’s. We haven’t spoken to my gold neighbor yet today, but when we do, we’ll ask her about the possibility of others duplicating my ability that way.”
“Thank you. If we haven’t learned to do so before the parades of the leaders of The Just Alliance, we would greatly appreciate if you would try to visually scan every member of the audiences for their power glow, while allowing several of our researchers to be Linked with you. They would pass your findings to many staff members, who will note the power holders you detect, and offer them testing and training for their undiscovered talents. The parades will be attended by tens of millions. This is a wonderful and unique opportunity.”
“I’d be glad to. I’ll be a lot better at it if it’s dim or dark at the time, for greater contrast.” Mark nodded.
“We will add that priority to the planning of the parades.
“We must also point out that you have only been a spell caster and psionic for less than two days, and you have already made many important new discoveries in those fields. We therefore request that you Link with me each day, so that we may Read and review your latest findings. As you now know, it need only take a few seconds of your time and attention, and I am always available to you at your convenience.”
“I would be glad to do so.”
“Thank you, from all of us; the researchers of The Just Alliance. I now bid you all good day.”
“Thank you, Tithian. Please pass our gratitude and greetings to all your colleagues.”
“I already have. And by the way, when you get to Hilia, you’ll find we’ve left you a gift there.” Tithian said with a warm mental smile, and left the Link.
At that point Mark realized that many of the Volunteers were reaching the limits of their psionic strength, even though he was doing almost all of the work in maintaining the Link.
“Hold the Link one more moment, please.” Ria requested. “Thank you. You can release it now.”
Mark did so, and many took a deep breath, some stretched, and some rubbed their faces or eyes, as the tension of holding concentration on the Link was lifted.
“Relax, everyone.” Mark grinned.
With sighs and a few quiet groans, the Volunteers sank to the grass or sat on the steps.
“Everything in my life makes so much more sense now!” Holanam marveled. “I’m magically lucky! Now I’m amazed that I’ve never realized it before!”
His four companions expressed similar sentiments as they reviewed their lives in light of what they’d learned about themselves.
“That was a beautiful experience.” Ria softly stated, then resumed her normal brisk tone. “And t
hat was masterful work, Mark, in casting and maintaining the Link. You’re coming along much more quickly than I’d anticipated. We’ll speak of this later today. While you were getting acquainted, I was reviewing these recruits for their military potential. They’re a fine crop, better than I expected to find in these peaceful and leisurely times. Just before you closed the Link, I gave them enough training assignments to keep them busy for a few days, both to perfect their strongest skills, and to address their individual weaknesses.
“I should like the opportunity to do the same with The Atoning.”
“All right.” Mark grinned. “Volunteers, have some refreshments and enjoy yourselves for a few minutes, while we check in with The Atoning.”
He and Talia turned to return to the ballroom, accompanied by Ria, who floated eerily along in her rigidly vertical posture.
The rear anteroom was now tastefully decorated with padded benches, end tables, coat and boot racks, carpets, a tapestry of the view from the top of the pass looking into First Valley from the south, and two paintings; one of a herd of galloping horses, and one of a tropical beach.
To their amazement, the ballroom was already almost clear of their possessions. The shelving, cabinets, draperies, paintings and tapestries they had planned to place there were already in position. All that was left to move were the items that had been assigned to Sweettower and the huge table at the center of the room. The table was covered in paperwork and surrounded by about thirty of The Atoning, and every few seconds another one of them Translocated in, reported, received new instructions, and Translocated out again.
“Ah, you’re back.” Sheramiv smiled. “As you can see, the decor of The Living Palace is finished. Sweettower’s renovations will be finished within twenty minutes, as some one hundred fifty-three of us are helping complete them, and furnishing it after that will only require a few minutes. The ice keep has been completely decorated, and the palace in Thon will be finished in twelve minutes.
“Military renovations at all of your properties will be completed within the week, and we’ll fortify them defensively in the first two days, before we begin installing counter-attacking emplacements and spells.
“The management of White Sands was most co-operative about subletting, as was the proprietor of the Dragon’s View Inn. They were also appreciative of our plans for hidden fortifications. It’s impractical to try to improve the defenses of your beach house without improving the defenses of the entirety of White Sands resort, so that’s what we’re going to do. The same applies to your suite at the Dragon’s View Inn, so the entire hotel will be fortified.
“We suggest some modifications to your plans for Hilia.
“Bizyutin, if you would?”
Bizyutin cast a scale illusion of the island that covered the entire table. The volcano became semi-transparent so that the excavations within it could be seen.
“As you can see, we’ve expanded the resort considerably. Our calculations reveal that the island’s resources and ecology, if well managed, can easily sustain sixty-five thousand guests and staff, so we’ve planned accordingly. You’ll notice that the resort’s and the military academy’s facilities are now linked by tunnels, finished passageways actually, as well as by paths, and that the existing cottage and the dock we’ve added are also joined to the main complexes by tunnels and paths. The dock is floating and multiply anchored, rather than being mounted on piles. Its design and its extreme length are meant to spare the reef while allowing the docking of vessels requiring deep anchorage, such as The Queen of Waves. It was added because sailing is a popular pastime at such resorts, and because it’s smart to make Hilia one of the ports of call for your cruise ship.
“We suggest that the inside of the volcano’s crater at Hilia is not an appropriate place for training with artillery weapons or battle spells, as the lake there is the only source of fresh water on the island, and the ecology there is delicate. On the other hand, the north face of the volcano you own in Xervia is already a lifeless wasteland, so it would be perfect for that use, and the mountain’s bulk between there and your nearest neighbor’s lair seventeen leagues to the south will prevent her from being disturbed by us. Should you agree with this, and if you can get permission from The Grand Council of Xervia for your academy’s staff and students to go there for that purpose, we will hire a construction company of the Kwetkerthok to build facilities and emplacements there.
“The Queen of Waves has never been to sea. She was originally built for a human consortium that went bankrupt and reneged on the purchase, and was eventually sold to The Sea People for gifting to you. She remains at the docks of her constructors; Vertiwin and Descendants, at Gimoosh on the east coast of Thon. They were delighted to accept the contract for her renovation to a passenger vessel, and promised to be finished within three weeks.
“We considered having some of us serve as staff and management at your various establishments, but frankly, it would be a less than wise use of our talents, with the exception of the positions of captain and officers of The Queen of Waves. The rest of them are rather small as hotels go, and we can be of more use to you if we hire others who are less over-qualified for those positions.
“Is there anything else?”
Mark nodded. “Go ahead with all of that, and I’ll have word about our use of the Xervian volcano later tonight. I’d like whoever is most senior among The Atoning at providing security to confer with Kalem of the Volunteers about a personal guard for Talia and myself on those occasions when it’s called for, including our tour of our properties today. And as soon as the decorating is done, I’d like all of The Atoning to gather here so that they can be evaluated by Ria for their military skills, and assigned some training.”
Ria tipped toward Sheramiv for a moment in her stiff version of a bow, so Mark introduced her and explained a bit about her, including that she was to be considered the senior training officer of all those under Mark’s command.
“Might I suggest that we be evaluated by Ria just before supper, as we have already planned to gather here then?” Sheramiv asked. “We can accomplish more without the additional interruption, and if we schedule it then, you can begin your tour of your properties as soon as your security arrangements are finalized, which should only take a few minutes.”
“Agreed.” Mark smiled.
“Till later, then.” Ria said, and disappeared.
“We’ll start our tour here, as we’ve still seen less than half of this place, then we’ll walk down to the lake to see Sunrunner. By that time our guards should be organized, and be ready to set up at the next place. We’ll skip the Xervian volcano for today. Other than that, we’ll proceed down the list to the next best defended property, and end at Hilia, which is the least defended.”
“Thus giving your guards the most time to prepare for your arrival at the places that require the most attention.” Sheramiv nodded. “Wise of you. They’ll appreciate the co-operation.”
“Thanks. If any of The Atoning beyond those providing security want to accompany us on our tour, they’re welcome to join us. I’m sure all the Volunteers will want to come.”
“I’m sure the eighty-four of them will prove an unwieldy enough entourage, by their numbers alone.” Sheramiv smiled. “The rest of us would be wiser to continue with our work.”
“As you wish.” Mark nodded, and turned to Talia. “Take us out to the porch if you would, my love. For the exercise.”
Talia took his hand as she returned his fond smile, and cast the spell.
“I notice you had the displacement perfect that time.” he congratulated as he noted the silence of their arrival.
“Thank you.” she grinned, and gave him a quick kiss.
He opened a momentary Link with the Volunteers, just long enough to fill them in on his conversation with Sheramiv.
To his surprise, every one of them jumped like they’d been startled by a basilisk, and they all cried out, some in surpris
e, and some seemingly in pain. Many clutched their heads, some stumbled, and a few went to one knee.
“Ahh! Uh, your pardon my liege... I mean Mark.” Zayobod stammered as he winced and touched his right fingertips to that side of his forehead.
“You gave us quite a start!” Balen giggled. “You have to give us a bit of warning before you stuff five minutes of experience into our heads in a tenth of a second! And you have to take it easy on most people, not make it so bright or so loud or so fast! I mean, I know you didn’t know, but if you’d had a chance to receive formal training in psionics you’d have a better idea of your own strength compared to other people’s, and you’d have learned to edit all the unimportant stuff out, so there’d be a lot less to send.
“I mean, I was fine with it, but most of the rest of us will have a headache for a minute or two.”
“I’m, I’m very sorry about that!” Mark stammered.
“On the other hand, it was an amazing performance.” Zayobod smiled.
“For sure!” Balen nodded. “I could do that to one person, maybe two if I knew ‘em really well. And I’ve been working on it since I was three! You did it to eighty-four of us! How’d you get so good so fast?”
“I don’t know.” Mark shrugged. “It just seems to come naturally.
“Avoiding my mistake with the Link is part of an assignment the Eldest gave me. Learning the scale of things, how everyone compares to everyone else in their various kinds of ability and power, and how I rate compared to them. Obviously I have to get to work on it soon, for safety’s sake, as well as for the assignment. And I obviously need a whole lot more background education on magic. Until I get it, I’m practicing wizardry without a license, and while unqualified to do so. Pretty hypocritical of me, now that I think about it.”
“We can work on it tomorrow morning, right after breakfast.” Talia suggested.
“Sounds good to me.” Mark nodded.
Just then Dilimon, Yalla, and two other elves in the brown uniform of the Sentry Corps Translocated into the blue circle at the rear of the yard, and gave a wave and a smile as they started over to the porch.
“Why good day!” Mark called.
“And good day to you!” Dilimon returned.
“You know The Volunteers?” Mark asked as the arrivals started up the stairs.
“We’ve known them all their lives, no need for introductions.” Dilimon smiled as he nodded to those around. “Your militia here informed The High People’s Defense Command of your tour today, and they’ve passed the news on to the appropriate authorities in the nations you’ll be visiting. They’ll be co-operating with your teams in sweeping each location for risks and threats before you arrive, and in establishing a strong perimeter around each property. No one will be allowed within a quarter mile of you unless they wear the Marking of The Just Alliance.
“Our squad has been assigned as Talia’s close security team.”
“Do you really think that’s necessary?” Kalem asked, mildly irritated. “We already have over three hundred of Mark’s sworn assigned to their security, and most of them have centuries of experience. Relgemit of The Lava Shapers has been put in charge of The Atoning’s militia and guards, and he has almost three thousand years of military experience, besides being a mighty Battle Wizard.”
“Granted, but all of you are sworn to Mark with a powerfully binding oath. Not to Talia.” Dilimon patiently explained. “In most cases, that wouldn’t matter. But if two crossbow bolts are fired at the same moment, one at Mark and one at Talia, in the fraction of a second you had to act, every one of you would block the bolt aimed at Mark first. Similarly, if it came to close melee, and there were a squad of you guarding each of them, and the squad guarding Mark were hard pressed, those of you guarding Talia might well abandon her to her fate in order to ensure Mark’s survival, even if he’d ordered you to do otherwise. We mean no criticism of your abilities, but you must admit the truth of what I’ve said. Thus we stand for Talia, as her last line of defense, by order of her father; Prince Yazadril.”
Kalem swallowed hard, and nodded.
“Right.” Zayobod nodded. “There were some unpleasant truths there, but they’re undeniable. We welcome your assistance.”
“As do I.” Mark said.
“I... I meant no disrespect, Dilimon.” Kalem told him.
“None taken, I assure you!”
“Well then, let’s get started!” Mark laughed. “We’ve many wonders to see before suppertime!”
As they turned to re-enter the building, two of Dilimon’s Sentries and Kalem’s nine hurried to take the lead.
The Atoning in the ballroom raised their heads from their work just long enough to exchange a smile and nod with Mark.
The front entrance hall now had paintings and tapestries on the previously blank flat places on the walls, as well as coat and boot racks by the door.
They went downstairs to familiarize themselves with the locations of their stored items. The basement was a massive open space that was interrupted only by rows of flared wooden columns from two to five feet thick beneath the structural walls of the floor above.
“Talia my love, would you do me a favor?” Mark asked as they looked around. “Could you put us in contact with your father?”
“Certainly. I’ll see if he’s available.” Talia responded, and initiated her familiar Link with Yazadril.
“Hello Talia. And Mark! What can I do for you?”
“I’d like to find a way to turn the tine band on and off, so I won’t have to try to hide my handling of an invisible object when I put it on or take it off, or use the velvet cover.” Mark explained.
“Good thinking. I should have thought of that. The spell that makes it vibrate is a very simple one, really. I can show Talia how to de-activate it, and how to cast it again. And to avoid using the velvet cover, I’ll give her a spell that damps its ringing completely when the vibration spell is inactive.”
“Why not give them to me directly? I’ve pretty much got all those magecraft spells Ria gave me sorted out in my head already, so those two should be no problem.”
“All right, just a moment. Here.”
“Thanks. You’re right, these are easy.” Mark practiced casting them with Talia’s power for a moment, and soon had the de-activation and casting of both spells smooth and fast enough that he could turn the tine band on or off in a fraction of a second, then he left it off.
“Thanks. What a relief! I’ve had that thing vibrating my skull since before we came over this morning!”
“You’re quite welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No thank you Yazadril.”
“I’ll bid you good day for now, then.”
“Give my regards to Nemia and Hilsith.”
“Thank you Father. We’ll see you for breakfast.” Talia added, and ended the Speaking.
They toured the rest of the palace, taking no more than a few minutes to see each room, and the huge deck on the roof. Their security teams maintained a continuous group Speaking to trade orders and reports among themselves, moving smoothly around the pair as they went from room to room, with at least two advance members Translocating into each room at least a minute ahead of them.
They spent a few minutes touring the front gardens, then left by the front gate for the short walk to the lake. A loose crowd of those whom Mark was beginning to consider their devoted fans were enjoying the day in the parkland outside the wall, and they smiled and waved as they stopped what they were doing to come along, and Talia called greetings with the closer ones she knew.
Mark carefully noted how brightly everyone around him glowed, so that he could pass a Reading of it to the senior wizards of The High People later, and they could compare the strength of each person’s glow with their strength in the power to check for subconscious magic abilities.
“Talia, do you know exactly how much more strength you have with the power tha
n any of these other fine elves?” he asked.
“Not offhand, really.” she shrugged. “Balen, you use exactly the same Movement spells I use. What’s your weight limit?”
“Twelve hundred and fifty pounds, the last time I was tested on it three weeks ago. I could probably lift thirteen hundred by now. I’m growing fast that way.” the petite redhead answered.
“And you, Kalem?” Talia asked.
“One hundred and thirteen pounds exactly.” she giggled. “If I put too much in my pack, I can’t get off the ground. My best Movement is Small Projectile. I can Move one of these darts up to five times as fast as a crossbow bolt, or use the same energy to Move up to twelve at short bow speed. My accuracy is as good as my visual acuity, and I have pretty sharp vision.” She reached into a slot on the side of her pack and withdrew two steel darts the length of Mark’s little finger, one with a thirty degree point for penetrating armor, the other with a barbed crossed-blade point for use against leather armor or less.
“Nasty.” Mark chuckled. He suspected her pack was full of the things.
“Zayobod?” Talia prompted.
“Around three hundred sixty pounds, I’d think. I haven’t tested it since last season, but my development’s almost finished, so I won’t have improved much. I’d say an average adult of The High People could Move about two hundred fifty. And to complete the spectrum of comparison, Neebla over there is a masterful Illusionist, but has only enough power to Move about seven pounds.”
“I see.” Mark nodded. “That does give me a good range of comparison. Or at least it will, once you’ve told me how much your weight limit is, my love?”
“Well, I don’t want to boast...” Talia giggled.
“Then allow me to boast for you.” Balen interrupted with a grin. “The last time they were tested the whole school gathered to watch. Talia lifted ninety-six thousand, six hundred and fifty-one and one half pounds. Dalia beat her by only nine and a half pounds.” She choked a bit on the last word, and a tear escaped her eye a moment later, but she kept her smile. “Source, I miss her so much.”
Talia stopped walking in the air, but continued floating along beside Mark as she held her arms out to Balen. “Come here.” she murmured, and Balen floated up to join her in a hug.
Mark waited a respectful minute before he continued the conversation. “So you lifted over forty-eight tons. That’s impressive. And Alilia said she lifted sixty tons...”
“Not exactly.” Talia interrupted. “My mother can lift about sixty tons. Alilia said that she lifts a sixty-ton weight repeatedly for ten minutes, just to burn off enough excess energy to make it through the day. I’d guess she could Move over ten thousand tons without even straining. She lifts the sixty-ton weight repeatedly, because if you slip a bit on the release with anything heavier, it shakes the ground or the tree you’re in for quite a distance, plus it’s pretty dangerous. If she went all out like she did when she cursed me and almost drained herself to death, I’d guess she could Move at least twenty-five thousand tons. She really is a rarity.”
Mark whistled. “I’ll say.” he agreed.
“And I think I could do a lot better now that I’m getting used to holding my power all the time.” Talia added thoughtfully. “I’m holding almost two-thirds of it now.”
“No doubt. I wonder what the limits of it truly are?”
“The greatest Movement ever done by an elf was done by Visinniria, less than a decade before she attained divinity.” Holanam revealed. “She lifted all of the water out of Beseram Lake, they estimate over two hundred and ninety million tons worth, and carried it at high speed over twenty miles before she started dropping any of it, and had gone over eighty miles when she ran out. She used it to help extinguish the forest of the People of Life, much of which had been set alight by a massed incendiary attack by most of the dwarven wizards. Almost all of the great trees were saved, though much of the undergrowth was killed. The dwarves were left so weakened by their effort that they were unable to withstand the elven counter-attack, which drove the last of them from the continent eight weeks later. We never lost another battle in that war, and only lost a few dozen lives in the winning of them. Without her, we’d have surely been exterminated. At that time there were less than sixty-eight thousand elves left alive on all of Kellaran.”
“Orders of magnitude.” Mark murmured to himself, then asked; “How did Visinniria become a goddess, do you know?”
“It was declared by the other gods.” Holanam said. “As strong as she was when she did that great Movement, she was still growing in power and skill and understanding at an accelerating rate. She was probably thousands of times stronger when she became a goddess nine years later, and she was laying waste to her enemies on a huge scale.
“Then one day she found a way to cause a drastic change in herself, and the gods of the other races told her she was divine, the second elf to join them in divinity, and that if she continued to make war on the other races with all her power, they would oppose her. There has never been war among the gods, and they said such a thing might destroy reality. She knew that if she withdrew her help, the elves would surely be slaughtered. So she said she’d take her place among the gods, on the condition that the other gods force their races to leave the elves in peace for ten thousand years. They knew that if our race died, she wouldn’t hesitate to exterminate their slayers, even if she had to destroy reality to do so. So that was the end of elven involvement in that war. That’s also why we’re the only race to still have nations on every continent. The other races continued battling until they were completely Segregated on their own continents, having forced everyone else off.
“After that, she only directly acted for the elves twice, and she considered the fate of our race to be at stake both times. Mind you, she and the other gods still acted through their worshipers and priesthoods, and occasionally lent them some power. Until all the gods withdrew from the world.”
“Thanks Holanam, I’ve been meaning to read up on that.” Mark smiled, and the young elf blushed at the attention and nodded.
They reached the market by the lakeshore, and the enterprises ranged from an eight-year-old boy selling fruit juice from a tiny table on the grass, to booths, stalls, and carts, with permanent retailers and restaurants in the bases of the great trees that lined the beach.
Sunrunner was moored at the end of a floating dock, one of seven docks that constituted the local marina. Most of the other boats were out sailing on the crescent lake, their colorful sails waving as they tacked in the warm breeze.
Most of their entourage remained on the dock as Mark and Talia toured the graceful yacht, appreciating the exotic appointments, including numerous sculptures and reliefs of birds and marine life in the unique style of The Stone Islands, all shaped by guiding the growth of the wood.
When they emerged on deck after viewing the cabins, Talia gave Mark a hug and a kiss, then smiled into his eyes and opened their Link.
“Before we announce our departure, my love, let me explain how long-distance Translocation works. It’s the most difficult and complex of the commonly used spell sets.
“Before you can go somewhere you’ve never been, you need a reference for getting there, a memory passed along from someone who has physically traveled between the two points and memorized the physical relationship between them. That includes the exact distance and direction, accounting for curvature of the surface of the world and differences in altitude. Then you must picture exactly where you wish to emerge, and keep in mind any rotation your body will need in order to arrive with the correct orientation. Remember, if you Translocate to the exact opposite side of the world without any change in your orientation, you’ll arrive standing on your head. Then you must project your consciousness there, in order to ensure that the arrival space is unoccupied. Then you perform the actual Translocation. Always try to swallow or yawn as it’s cast, so your ears will pop easier if there?
??s a difference in air pressure. Finally, you must achieve displacement. As you know, that means a volume of air with the same size and shape as whatever you’re Translocating must be simultaneously Translocated back to fill the space you’ve left. Casting the displacement also insures that if things go badly wrong and you appear in solid rock, at least you will be in a hollow in the rock shaped like you, rather than being melded with the stone. This allows a few seconds to Translocate back again before you suffocate.
“Other than the Translocations themselves, the hardest part is projecting your consciousness, so it’s a lot easier if you can Link with someone who’s already where you’re going. They check that your arrival space is clear, and anchor the transfer from their end, so to speak. The first few times you do it, you should always be guided by such a person, as Sheramiv guided the arrivals at home when she was performing traffic control.
“I’ve traveled with my father enough to be familiar with diplomatic travel and security arrangements. Since this Relgemit is in charge, he will likely guide our group’s Translocations, and likely he is already in place at Sweettower and Linked with Kalem in preparation for doing so. We’ll Link with them while it’s done, so you can learn how to do it, and so I can improve my skill.”
“Thanks Love.” Mark grinned as he carried her back to the dock.
“We’re all ready to go if you are.” Kalem informed them. “We’ve decided that the order of travel, based on our evaluation of the properties’ relative security, should be Sweettower, the ice keep, White Sands, Dragon’s View, the palace in Thon, the Queen of Waves, Winghoof Estate, and Hilia. Relgemit’s team and the local security are already set up at Sweettower. He asked me to warn you that at the first sign of an attack, we’re going to Translocate you both back to The Living Palace.”
“Thanks.” Mark nodded. “We’re ready, and we’d like to be Linked with whoever’s doing our Translocations, for educational purposes.”
Kalem nodded, and brought them into the security Link.
Relgemit gave them a friendly greeting, and showed them a huge wooden railed platform set with outdoor furniture around the edges, large enough that three or four hundred could gather there.
“Actually, now that I think about it, I wonder if I might power and perform the Translocations while you guide me, Relgemit?” Talia asked. “I could use the exercise.”
“Certainly, if you’re sure you’re up to it. Here’s the reference.” Relgemit said as he sent her the information.
“Thank you.” Talia said, then spoke out loud. “All right, would those who are coming with us please gather around as closely as you can?”
As they did so, Mark waved and called; “See you later!” to their admirers on the shore, and activated the tine band.
“Here we go!” Talia called, and Mark felt her Linking firmly with him and with all of those gathered around, then suddenly they all stood together on the wooden platform at Sweettower. She slumped in his arms and gave a deep sigh, but it was a satisfied one.
He cuddled her comfortingly as he turned off the tine band, and noticed a few dozen of The People of Life gathered by the double doorway into the trunk of the tree, as well as over fifty alert members of The Atoning spread around the perimeter of the platform, all looking outward as they scanned the surroundings.
“Great missing gods above and below, child!” Yalla exclaimed. “We never thought you would bring all ninety of us at once! You could have killed us all!”
“I beg to differ, Yalla.” Talia happily smiled as she recovered from the exertion. “I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been sure of its safety.”
“It was rather perfectly done!” one of The Atoning exclaimed as he stepped over. He had dark brown hair with silvered temples and wore a brown robe over chain mail armor. “Even the displacement was almost perfect! How did you accomplish that with so many?”
“I memorized the Volunteers’ displacements when we were Linked with them through Mark, earlier. Those that I didn’t already know, that is.” Talia explained, and had Mark release her so she could stand on the wood as she felt her energy coming back. “And I’ve Translocated with Yalla’s Sentry squad before. And some things I’ve learned recently helped a lot.”
“Good job. I’m Relgemit. The advance team and I will go ahead to your keep in Axis and begin sweeping it. Link with me for the reference when you’re ready to go.”
“We will, and thank you.” Mark nodded.
Relgemit nodded in return, then he and several others Translocated out.
Alilia stepped forward with a smile, clad in her Battle Wizard’s uniform. “Welcome to Heartwood, the capitol city of The People of Life.”
“Thank you, Alilia!” Mark grinned. “You’re looking well! I didn’t expect to see you here! Aren’t you and Gorsh supposed to be on vacation?”
Alilia’s smile tightened. “Gorsh and I have ended our marriage. I’ll tell you about it later. Right now I’d like to introduce you to the renovation team who rebuilt your home here.”
She turned to the group gathered by the doors, and waved them forward.
“Good day, your majesties.” their spokeswoman said as she bowed. “The renovation was our contribution to your gifting of this great tree, and we’ll be glad to alter it further if you so desire, after viewing our work.
“Of course, we were assisted in finishing it today by the one hundred and fifty-three of The People of Life who are sworn to you, Prince Mark. They’ve already left, to see to other work on your behalf.
“We’ll leave you to your tour now. If there’s anything at all that you’d like changed here, either today or at any time in the future, your manager here can contact us in a moment.”
“Thank you.” Mark said, and the renovators took their leave, some by suspended walkways that led off the platform in four places, some by Flight, and a few by Translocation.
“Wow, it’s even more beautiful here in the daylight than the Illusion of this land at our wedding!” Mark exclaimed as he really took a good look around for the first time.
There were hundreds of walkways, platforms, homes, and businesses scattered among the great trees all around, and the warm summer breeze made all the leaves rustle.
He noticed that thousands of elves had gathered on the branches and walkways of the neighboring trees to see their arrival. He gave them a smile and a wave, and Talia joined him in that. They both turned slowly around so they could give smiles and waves to everyone, which were cheerily returned. He noted the brightness of everyone’s glow as well as he could, given their distance.
He walked over to the railing to enjoy the view, and his party came with him. He realized that the platform had been shaped by making one of Sweettower’s thickest branches grow wide and flat on top where it joined the trunk. The ground was twelve hundred feet below and it couldn’t be seen at all, since the undergrowth around there was impenetrably dense and over two hundred feet deep.
“Your people don’t use the ground at all?” he asked Alilia.
“Only for hunting and gathering.” she nodded. “And some logging, though we never cut the great trees. The bounty of the undergrowth is the source of much of my people’s material and commercial worth. We also harvest the parasitic plants and fungi that grow on the bark of the great trees. Sweettower has none of those, since it’s of important historical value to my people, so it’s spelled to prevent parasitic growth. Your plan to rent out its rooms has my people’s approval, as it would be a shame to leave it unoccupied and unappreciated most of the time. We know you have many other homes, and you can’t live in all of them.
“By the way, most of the walkways that connect to Sweettower’s branches are considered public highways. The exceptions are the paths that connect to this platform, since it’s considered your front yard, and the branch below there, since part of the home is built into it. None of the public ways are within a hundred feet of any of your windows and doors,
so your privacy and that of your guests is assured.”
“Oh. How do I tell which paths are public?” Mark asked.
“They are all named, and their names are grown into the wood of their handrails at every intersection, to aid in navigation. For instance, that widest one up there is Sweettower Corridor, one of the main north-south highways that run the length of Heartwood. That one down there running east to west is Council Walk. If you follow it east for a quarter of a mile you come to the center of the city, and the Tree of Government. You can just see a great walnut tree to the left of the Walk over there, the top half of which is my home, so we are close neighbors. Of course I welcome your visit at any time.”
“I notice that almost all the other great trees have a lot more development than Sweettower, which seems capable of housing hundreds of people. Why is that?” Mark asked as they turned and approached the double doors.
“Because of it’s historical importance, development here has been limited. We’ve raised the ceilings for you, enlarged the rooms, added a few, and connected the four homes with hallways and stairways, but no new homes have been built in Sweettower for over one hundred and seventy-five thousand years. The style of the home was left unchanged, but by adding modern conveniences they’ve not only enlarged it, they’ve truly improved it. The lighting, plumbing, heating, ventilation, and kitchen are all of the latest development.” Alilia explained as they went inside.
Mark paused in the doorway and turned to the Volunteers. “The hallways and most of the rooms here are too small for you all to accompany us, but feel free to look around.” he told them.
“We’ve already worked out a rotation, so everyone can take turns accompanying you.” Balen explained.
“Excellent.” Mark laughed.
“You’ve seen the rooms here since the renovation, Alilia?” Talia asked.
“Yes.” Alilia grinned as they went inside. “Curiosity got the better of me, so I used my authority to appoint myself one of the civic building inspectors who checked the work for any violations of our construction regulations. Of course we found it to be in complete conformity.
“Mind you, I was already familiar with the general layout from being here before it was given to you. Would you like me to show you around?”
“Certainly!” Mark grinned.
“By the way,” Talia asked her with a mischievous grin as they passed through a small cloakroom, “Did you know that Mark considers myself, my mother, and you, to be the three most beautiful and desirable elven females he’s seen?”
They stopped just inside a large living room as Mark gaped at her, then at Alilia, then closed his eyes and shook his head as he blushed bright red.
“Really? How flattering!” Alilia laughed, eyeing him speculatively. “Allow me to reiterate how welcome you both are to visit me!”
Mark was saved from having to comment on that subject by the approach of Twelcher, the manager of the newly established Sweettower Inn, who was identified as such by a printed brass pin on the breast of his tweed suit jacket. Mark turned to greet the fellow, who had emerged from behind a desk in one corner of the room.
“Good day, Prince Mark.”
“And good day to you, Twelcher.”
“Sheramiv hired me only minutes ago, and asked me to inform you that she has widely announced that rooms in each of your properties will soon be available to the public for daily or weekly stays. Apparently, the response has been quite overwhelming, and she plans to auction three-quarters of the tenancies, leaving the rest to be granted at your discretion. Prospective guests will be requested to submit their first bids tomorrow morning, three hours before noon Nine Valleys time, for occupancy at noon local time at each location.”
“Ah. Thank you. And we’re glad to have you with us.”
Twelcher gave a smile and a quick little bow, and retreated behind his desk.
Mark turned back to the two females, who had cast Speaking and stood giggling together as they psionicly communicated. Realizing that Mark’s attention was upon them, they suddenly dropped the spell like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
“I was just catching Alilia up on developments since last we spoke.” Talia explained with an embarrassed smile.
“I’m sure.” Mark grinned. “It’s okay. My father warned me that it was the nature of women to chat with one another about absolutely everything, no matter how private some matters may be. It was his advice to simply ignore it.”
“Wise of him.” Alilia laughed, completely unabashed. “Come, the master suite lies this way.”
“This is beautiful.” Mark commented as they took a hallway to a pair of double doors amidst a loose cordon of his elves. “It’s not that different in style from Yazadril’s place, or the Hall of Anticipation at Laylas chapel, but the grain and depth of this maple wood is astounding, and the slight maple syrup smell is nice too.”
They poked around the master suite for a few minutes, then toured the rest of the rooms as Alilia offered interesting commentary on various features of each room, and related the historical events that had occurred there. They were gazing in wonder at the inside of a ballroom almost seventy feet long and twenty feet high on the lowest floor when Alilia suddenly changed the subject.
“It’s no secret what happened between Gorsh and I. I was called before our Council and our people yesterday morning. My recent behavior was discussed, every detail of it revealed, and my leadership called into question. They acted with rare swiftness, so that I could be either confirmed or replaced before the impending meeting of the alliance yesterday evening.
“Gorsh spoke quite passionately, arguing that I should be released from the duty.
“I was the last to speak.”
She’d started calmly, but had grown pensive as she relived the memory. “I knew it could go either way, and that the outcome depended on what I had to say for myself. For the first time, I could resign as Princess, and my people would let it stand. And then I had to face the truth. I am still the most qualified to lead my people. I am still their choice to do so, by a wide majority. The approaching Nexus adds urgency to our need to have the best leadership in place, and the existence of the conspiracy makes this the worst possible time to disrupt the established workings of our government with a succession. If I stepped down and my successor bungled things badly, my remorse would be overwhelming.
“But as important as that was my realization that I was no longer a reluctant ruler, and haven’t been for two millennia. I’ve truly grown to love the work, the responsibility, the respect, and even the power that comes with being Princess of The People of Life. I’d maintained the facade of reluctance to placate Gorsh, and to avoid being bothered by trivialities that others could just as easily deal with without me.
“I’m told that my speech was the best I’ve ever given. I begged their forgiveness. I went over all the reasons why I should remain our leader. I... I humbly pleaded with them to reconfirm me. They did, with an enthusiastic consensus that was almost completely unanimous.
“But it was the last straw for Gorsh and I. If I’d known my decision before he spoke, I’d have told him, and he probably wouldn’t have spoken out on the opposite side of the argument that I took. But I hadn’t had my moment of deciding epiphany until just before I spoke, and he felt humiliated by what I’d done. And perhaps all of that wouldn’t have mattered, because we both recognized when we met later that we would each be happier without our commitment to the other. Having recognized that, we had no choice. We were bound by our vows to do that which brings the other the most happiness. We ended our marriage. And without the magic re-enforcement of our vows, it was obvious that our natural love had faded almost completely.
“After that, we made love all night, and we both wept the whole time. I haven’t seen him since. We’ll probably avoid each other for a century or two, till the pain of loss fades. I can’t even see us getting together as friend
s after that, because we really don’t have anything in common except memories.”
She heaved a heavy sigh, and smiled. “Already I feel better than I have in centuries. It’s like a huge weight has been lifted from me. Until I think of Bezedil. At least he didn’t have to see the failure of his parents’ marriage.
“At any rate, I know that you have no comfortable response to all of that, so let’s change the subject.”
“All right.” Mark nodded. “I was thinking that it’s really quite a waste for you to simply lift a weight in order to burn off excess energy, when that power could be economically valuable. I’m thinking you could turn a mill wheel instead, or if the timing for that was inconvenient, you could lift water into a reservoir, so that the water could be used to turn a mill wheel when it was convenient for the millers. And if you lift water within a pipe, you could probably lift more than sixty tons at a time, since it would cause less danger or disturbance if you slipped or dropped it. So you’d save time too.”
“That’s... That’s very good thinking, Mark! Thank you! I’ll have our engineers look into the idea. I’m surprised none of us have thought of it before. Sometimes I think we’ve come to depend on magic so much, it’s impaired our creative ingenuity!
“Ahh, here’s the west veranda, equipped with a hot pool.” Alilia announced, swinging open a pair of glassed doors. “A rare thing to have in a tree home.”
Their route eventually brought them back to the platform they’d arrived at, and the Volunteers gathered around.
“When the time is right, Alilia, we’ll invite you to spend a night with us.” Mark told her with a twinkle in his eye. “We’ll give you an erotic experience like nothing you’ve ever had before, that’s for sure.”
As he’d anticipated, he’d caught Alilia by surprise with that one.
“Ah. I see.” she responded with a raised eyebrow and a bemused smile. “And when do you think that might be?”
“I’m getting more Elvish every day, it seems. It won’t be long, by elven standards.” he grinned, and activated the tine band.
“I look forward to it.” she smiled.
“We’ll see you soon, Alilia.” Talia smiled.
“Take care till then.”
Mark and Talia made another slow turn and smiled and waved farewell to the onlookers, then she Linked with Relgemit for the reference and the go-ahead.
“Here we go!” she called, and cast the Translocation.
They emerged in the dining hall of the ice keep, the largest room in the home.
“I’m getting used to doing that, I think.” Talia mused as she relaxed into his hug. “That one didn’t take as much out of me, even though it was almost twice the distance.”
Princess Pimall awaited them, and her face lit with surprise. “You brought the whole crowd of you by yourself?! Well done!”
“The next one will be another challenge, four times farther to White Sands.” Talia smiled. “Then about the same to the Dragon’s View Inn in Kletiuk, and back. The two hops across the empires should be easy after that. I’m glad we’re leaving Hilia till last, since it’s almost halfway around the world!”
“Well if that’s the second one you’ve done while carrying this whole pack of youngsters, you should be all right, since the power cost of Translocation only increases in proportion to the distance, but it increases at half the square of the mass.” Pimall chuckled. “Though you might want to take a few less on that last one, since the power field is weak in the empires compared to most of the elven lands, and even you might be depleted by then.”
“Thanks, I’ll remember that.” Talia nodded.
“Why push yourself so hard, when you have so many who would be glad to do it for you?”
“I need the exercise, if I want to keep up with Mark.” Talia giggled. “I think he’ll still surpass me as a caster in a few days though.”
“Oh. By the way, welcome to Axis.” Pimall smiled. “Let me show you around the house.”
“This is beautiful! I didn’t expect the walls and floors to be so nearly transparent!” Mark marveled as he gazed around in wonder.
“Some of my people finish all their surfaces perfectly flat and smooth, so their homes truly are transparent!” Pimall laughed as she led them through the nearest doorway. “Many find that disconcerting though, so most of these blocks are only flat and smooth on one side, resulting in the more blurry and distorted transmission of light you see here. If you look carefully, you can see your security personnel moving around in other rooms, downstairs there, and over there, but it’s just out of focus enough that you could never tell what they’re doing.”
“Nice!” Mark laughed as he looked around the central living room. “It sure looks like it should be cold in here!
“By the way, what’s that noise?”
“The wind, and the crowd outside.” Pimall told him. “If you’d like to say hello to them, we could step out onto the balcony there. It’s spelled to be as warm as this room.”
“I’d like that.” Mark smiled, and they went out.
The scene outside was a vista of sparkling snow and ice. A fierce wind was blowing, but the thousands of The Warm People who were gathered in the street were unaffected by it, though most of them were barefoot and dressed in light clothing, most of it white. The keep was set back fifty feet from the street, it’s property line marked by a three foot high wall of ice blocks. The crowd behind it were difficult to make out as individuals since they blended into their surroundings so well, but Mark still dutifully did his best to note how brightly each of them was glowing as he and Talia smiled and waved.
Then Talia cautiously stuck her arm out beyond the balcony railing till her hand was beyond the weatherproofing spell, and suddenly snatched it back and tucked it into her opposite armpit.
“Pretty cold out there?” Mark chuckled.
“Yes, and the snow that’s blowing in the wind is all little ice crystals that sting a bit.” Talia told him.
His curiosity made him do the same as she’d done. “This warmth spell is really amazing!” he marveled. “But what do we do if we want to visit other places in this fine city while we’re here?”
“You either bundle up in at least three layers of fur clothing, or Translocate, or hire an enclosed sleigh pulled by musk oxen, which is the recommended way to see the sights for you heat lovers.” Pimall explained as they went back inside. “Of course, the animals are de-scented, and the sleighs can drive right into your downstairs vestibule, so you don’t really have to go outside very much.”
“Or we could just learn a personal version of the spell that keeps the balcony warm.” Mark mused.
“Ah. The knowledge of such spells is forbidden to outsiders, actually. Certainly, one can buy a spell in Finitra or Iktra that provides all-day comfort in the worst of their winter weather. But this is the axis of the world, where such a spell would only save your life for a few minutes before the cold and the wind killed you anyway. And if you simply cast enough heat on yourself to protect from the worst of it, the fickle wind will die for a minute, and you’re suddenly dangerously overheated. None can battle effectively while making the constant thermal adjustments that method requires. The fact that our enemies have always lacked effective protections from our weather has kept us safe from invasion for millennia.
“On the other hand, you two being who you are, I’m sure we can make an exception for you.”
“I’d really prefer it if you could. I’d feel silly bundled up like a bear with his winter fat while you’re all running around in short sleeves!”
They all chuckled at that.
“I’m curious; why did your people decided to settle here in the first place?” he asked as they went back inside to continue the tour.
“The sea is very bountiful, even when covered by twenty yards of ice, and the land beneath the snow pack has vast mineral resources.” Pimall told them, her love of her land plain in her tone an
d her face. “Our southern lands experience a short summer, during which they are astoundingly productive and a migratory destination for wildlife from all over Kellaran. Most of all, there’s a vast formation of stone beneath the northern portion of our land that makes the magic field quite dense over a huge area. And of course, for those of us who don’t notice the cold, it’s a very beautiful and comfortable place. We came here during a warmer epoch, when it was no colder here than Finitra is now, and we’ve adapted to the land over time.”
The ice keep’s more compact design had only a third of the volume of the home in Sweettower, so they were soon ready to depart, and after fond farewells they were off to their next destination.
They were met at White Sands Resort by Princess Wemetik, a crowd of The Fisher Folk, and tourists from all over Debivin.
At the Dragon’s View Inn they were greeted by Prince Himo, a few hundred Dakrin Cliffs elves, and a huge mixed crowd of tourists from almost every nation and race in The Just Alliance.
They spent only ten minutes at each of those before meeting Mileemi in the front courtyard of their palace in Thon.
Talia didn’t find those Translocations to be much more difficult than the first two, as her skill and efficiency improved with each one, but due to their distance and the steady depletion of her power, she didn’t find them any easier either.
Mileemi welcomed them to Thon on behalf of Prince Jaromer and Emperor Osbald, and conveyed their apologies for being unable to extend their welcome in person. She explained that they’d been unable to free the time in their schedules on such short notice, and that she herself was also extremely pressed for time. She made her own apologies, and left them in the capable hands of a tall brunette human woman.
“Good day, I’m Marva Kulibe, your new manager here.” she said with a warm smile. “Since this property has thus far only had an address, and not a name, Sheramiv’s administration team has suggested that for business purposes it be named The Hilian Palace Hotel.”
“That sounds fine to me.” Mark smiled. “What do you think, Talia?”
“It’s lovely, and suits the place well, I think.” she nodded as she took in the beauty around her.
“Let’s take a walk along the top of the wall.” Mark suggested. “I’d like to take a look at the neighborhood before we go inside. I’ve never really seen the panorama of a great city before, since you can’t see very far in Heartwood. I mean, Axis is a great city I guess, but it’s so different from regular cities, it almost seems more like a dream than a real place.”
“You’d better prepare yourself, then.” Marva advised. “There’s a huge crowd out there, and they’re liable to get pretty excited when they see you. You’re both very popular in Thon, and word spread pretty fast once we learned you were coming.”
“I’ve been wondering about that.” Mark frowned, turning to Kalem. “Has our itinerary been announced ahead of us?”
“Not officially, but we haven’t asked anyone to keep it secret, so it goes out from dozens of sources by word of mouth. Our people tell the guards and sentries of each nation we’re going to, and they talk about it with other people, then we help them cordon off a perimeter to exclude those who haven’t sworn to justice, bystanders see us with the Marking of Hilia and ask questions. So a lot of people know by the time we get here.”
“Oh. Well, let’s go see them then.”
They started across the yard to the front gatehouse, which contained the stairs to the top of the wall.
As soon as they emerged on the wall the crowd exploded into cheers and applause. The noise was deafening, since the crowd filled the street and the park beyond it for blocks in both directions. The balconies of the mansions on either side were also packed with well-dressed admirers. Dozens were Levitating above the crowd to get a better view, about half of them elves, the rest human. It was a far cry from the quiet and restrained welcome they’d gotten from the crowds of elves they’d seen that day. Even at White Sands and Dragons’ View, the mixed crowds of tourists had followed the decorum of the elven lands they were visiting.
This almost seemed insane by comparison. Teenage girls were screaming in wordless joy, some of them were crying, packs of young males were chanting his name, and everyone was yelling at the top of their lungs while he stood there in stunned amazement.
Talia gave him a nudge, and he saw that she was smiling and waving, so he joined her in that as he realized he’d just been standing there looking stunned.
The crowd became even more vocal in response.
“Wow! How many of them do you think there are?” he asked.
“About one hundred and eighty thousand, I’d say.” Marva speculated.
“Well. This deserves more than a wave.” Mark grinned as he took Talia’s hand. “Let’s give ‘em a bow, shall we?”
She grinned in response. Hand in hand, they gave the crowd a gracious bow, and the noise became even more intense. Then he remembered to scan them for their glow, and was somewhat surprised to realize that only a very few of the humans on the ground had any glow at all. On the other hand, many of them had spelled items with them, indicated by small and concentrated glows of power.
“Can you make my voice louder?” Mark asked.
Talia nodded, and cast a quick spell while still smiling and waving.
“Thank you.” he said, and his voice rumbled out loud enough to be heard by everyone over the noise they were making. “We’re humbled and very moved by your welcome. I’ll always remember this. But we’re on our honeymoon, and still have much planned to do today, so we’ll bid you a fine afternoon. Be well, until we see you again.”
They smiled and waved a last time before turning to retrace their steps, the roar of the crowd still loud in their ears.
“Wow! That was really something!” Mark marveled. “I didn’t even remember to notice what the city looked like!”
“There are several wonderful views of the neighborhood from the upper floors of the palace.” Marva told him.
And there were indeed many beautiful vistas to be seen. They had seen most of the palace and were enjoying the view from atop the tallest tower, when Talia suddenly gave an anguished cry and fell to her knees from three feet in the air.
Mark opened their Link in a fraction of a second, and found that he was completely blocked from her mind.
“What is it?!! Talia, what’s wrong?!!” he frantically asked as he knelt beside her and laid a hand on her slim shoulder.
She was shaking badly as she leaned to whisper harshly into his ear. “It’s the curse! It came over me suddenly, and stronger than it’s ever been! You must hurt me! You must hurt me right now!!!” she said this last while clutching frantically at his shirtfront.
“I want everyone out of the palace! Now!” he barked to those around them as he scooped Talia up in his arms and stood. “And I want the best soundproofing spells you’ve got in place around the building! If we need you, we’ll cast a Speaking!”
With that he Translocated them to the bedroom in the master suite of the palace with the magecraft spell that Ria had taught him. Later he would marvel that it had been as effortless and instinctual as walking across a floor.
“What must I do?” he asked as he laid her on the bed.
“Everything!! And hurry, this is horrible!!!” she cried, tears running down her face.
He tried, driven by her need, but after only four minutes she was almost mad with frustration.
“You must be more intense! Please! Your heart is not in it, and your halfhearted effort is not enough! Please, I can feel it; if you don’t do it right the curse will never release me!
“I can’t!” he sobbed, driven to anguish by her torment and the guilt of what he was doing.
Talia had been in the Link when Yazadril had passed the spells to turn the tine band on and off. She turned it on, making Mark vulnerable to wizardry.
Mark felt an immense rush as the power of the
curse flooded into him, bending and twisting his mind, and he cried out as he clapped his hands to his head. He almost tore the tine band off, but by the time his fingers touched it, the curse had affected him enough that he no longer wanted to.
He took a deep breath as he lowered his hands. He looked her over, and she shrank back at the look on his face.
“We’ll have some fun now, my little elf wife.” he chuckled nastily, and reached for her.
Forty-five minutes later the curse left them as suddenly as it had struck. At that moment he held her in magic bonds, spread-eagled face up on the bed, and was whipping her nakedness with a leather belt.
As soon as the curse left him he frantically released her and threw the belt into a corner, and was almost overcome with self-revulsion at what he’d done.
She continued screaming for another moment, then frantically scrambled away from him into the corner of the canopied bed, curled herself into a tight little ball, and cried hysterically.
“Hilsith! We need you now!” he cast frantically as he broke down crying, retched, and struggled for enough self-control to keep from vomiting.
A moment later the Healer appeared, and he walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind him. He sat down in the nearest chair and cried into his hands.
A minute passed, then Hilsith Spoke to him. “She’ll be fine. I’ve given her a Tranquility. You could use one as well.”
Mark firmly ended the Speaking and continued crying with great wracking sobs, until he felt Talia’s familiar and calm presence in his mind. “I’m all right, my love. I’m sorry I cringed from you at the end, it was just a reaction. Feel my love for you, Mark. See? I still love you just as much. Please, come to me.”
“Just... Just give me a minute, please.” he told her in response, and she withdrew from his mind.
It took him five minutes to get himself under control, and he spent another five thinking intensely. His concentration was broken when he heard a sound coming from the hallway outside the suite. He strode angrily to the door and yanked it open, yelling as he turned the door handle. “I asked that you all leave the palace! Oh.”
Alilia sat on the floor with her back to the opposite wall, crying into her crossed forearms, which rested on her drawn-up knees.
“Alilia. You’re not someone I want to see right now.” he growled.
“I... I have to... to tell you...” she sobbed before he angrily interrupted her.
“I can guess. It wasn’t enough for me to hurt Talia like that. When you cast the curse, you wanted to know I was hurting her. You wanted to see it. Now that I think about it, I could almost feel you Reading me.”
“I couldn’t block it out!!” Alilia wailed.
Mark glared at her for a moment. “And so in a lesser way, you’ve cursed yourself along with us. That’s good. It reduces my urge to kick your face in.”
He glared a moment more, then suddenly yelled. “Well that’s the last time it’s going to happen! I tell you, I’d rather be dead than do that to Talia again! And I will not have my mind twisted like that again! You will come to our place in The Nine Valleys tonight, two hours before midnight! We’re going to find a way to defeat the curse, and we’re not going to stop until we do! I don’t care if I have to call in the best spell casters of every race in The Just Alliance, one way or another we’re going to end it!!!”
He realized he was becoming completely enraged, and clamped down hard on his emotions.
“Until then, get the hell out of my house.” he growled, then turned away and slammed the door without bothering to see if she complied.
When he returned to the bedroom he found that Yazadril and Nemia had arrived as well, and realized to his surprise that he had sensed their arrival somewhere in the back of his mind, but had disregarded it since he was so distracted by his conversation with Alilia at the time.
“We’re going to do something about the curse tonight, at two hours to midnight. I’d appreciate your assistance.” he said as he strode to the bed and sat on the edge.
For a moment he couldn’t bring himself to reach for his wife, but Talia had no such reservations. She sat on his lap and hugged him desperately.
“Oh Mark, my beautiful love. I’m so sorry.” she sighed.
“For what?” he asked in surprise as he gently returned her embrace.
“For activating the tine band.”
“I can’t blame you for that.” he softly re-assured her. “It’s obvious that the curse is a horrible thing when it comes upon you. That the torment of having it active in you is worse than the pain of what I did. I was just... afraid that I’d made you feel less for me, because of how I was.”
“But now you know I love you just as much as ever.” she said, and bravely smiled.
“I do, and I love you as always too.” he smiled in return, then became more thoughtful. “We can’t let that happen anymore, Talia. I know how dangerous it could be if we try to change the curse, but I have a few ideas that are pretty much risk-free. And if they don’t work, we’ll ask every spell caster in The Just Alliance for help. Someone must know of a way to help us.”
“That’s a point I hadn’t considered, and I’m very sorry that I didn’t.” Yazadril said. “I must admit, until the recent events and the formation of the alliance, and Osbald’s Oath, I would never have considered asking the other races for help in such a thing. I wish I’d done a few centuries of research on self-directing spells, but I’m sure some among the Xervians must have done it, and perhaps some from the other humanoid races as well.
“What are your ideas?”
“I’d rather not say yet.” Mark mused. “Not only are they still only partly complete, I’m... changing. All the magecraft Ria gave me has pretty much settled in my mind now, and with that knowledge in place, I’m... reconsidering, I guess you’d say, my memories of the magic experiences I’ve had. Right from the first time I saw you glowing, the Tranquilities I’ve had cast upon me, the vows and Compulsions and Translocations, the spells I’ve cast and the psionics I’ve experienced, and the curse when it brought me back to life. Twice. I’m remembering details that I’d never noticed before, and I’m learning new things from every magic experience. And I’m learning a lot about the curse, from feeling it when it was active in me just now.
“By tonight I’ll have a much better grasp of things.”
“All right. We’ll be there.” Yazadril nodded.
“Are you going back to First Valley now?” Nemia asked.
“No.” Talia decided. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t continue our agenda. I don’t want the curse to disrupt our lives any more than necessary.
“Unless you’d rather we went home, Mark?”
“No, I think you’re right. We’re mostly done our tour anyway; we might as well stay with our plans.”
“You still appear shaken.” Hilsith advised him. “You should let me give you a Tranquility.”
“No thank you.” Mark decided. “I’m becoming leery of spells that affect your mind like that. I think it’s a bad idea in general, and besides, I’ve got too many things messing around in my mind already. I’ll be all right. Especially if we can beat the curse.
“And thanks for coming so fast. I really appreciate it.” Mark smiled. “You can be sure that my contributions to Healing research will reflect that.”
“If you can heal Talia of the curse, and teach me how it was done, it will be a greater contribution to Healing research than a mountain of gold.” Hilsith told him. “Particularly if the technique can be applied to curses in general.”
“I’ll try my best.” he shrugged.
“All right then, we’ll see you tonight.” Nemia smiled, and gave them both a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Bye till then.” Talia said as she and her father shared a quick hug, then Nemia cast Translocate, and the three visitors departed.
There was silence for a moment.
“Do you really think you can remove the curse?” Talia asked, almost afraid to hope.
“No, and I don’t really want to remove it completely anyway.” Mark stated thoughtfully. “It’s saved our lives enough already; we’d be foolish to give up its protection. We just want to remove the bad parts.”
“Source, that would be wondrous!” Talia marveled as she rose from the bed and hunted around for her clothing.
“Sweet mother! I must be turning into an elf!” Mark chuckled. “Here I am naked and uncaring! I was so distracted, and Alilia and Hilsith and your parents acted like they didn’t even notice, so I didn’t even remember to get embarrassed!”
“Well you’d better get dressed now!” Talia laughed. “We’re in a human city, and I don’t know if they’ve passed your new laws allowing public nudity yet!”
“Not to mention that it’ll still be considered offensive long after it’s ceased being illegal.” Mark chuckled as he started searching around for his shorts.
Once they were dressed, Mark cast Speaking to Relgemit and Marva Kulibe. “I’m sorry for the disruption. Please resume normal hotel and security operations.” He received their positive acknowledgment; the psionic equivalent of a polite nod, and ended the Speaking.
It didn’t take long to finish viewing the palace, then gather in the courtyard.
They said their farewells to Marva, then Talia Linked to Relgemit, whose team was already in place at the Queen of Waves.
“If you don’t mind my saying, Talia, your strength is somewhat depleted.” Relgemit pointed out after carefully considering her condition through the Link. “You should have some assistance in Translocating your group.”
“You’re probably right. Just a moment.”
“I don’t have the strength to take us all at once this time.” she announced. “Who wants to...”
“Excuse me love.” Mark said, and Linked with her. “I think we should try something, Talia. If you connect with my power, like this, then think about how you’d cast the Translocate with my kind of power, like this, then just let the spell draw the power it needs instead of consciously allocating power to it, like this, I’m sure you can cast with my power without overpowering the spell like we did with the fireball.”
“That’s brilliant Mark!” Talia marveled.
“All right everyone, we’re ready to go after all.” she announced with a grin. “Next stop, the shipyards of Gimoosh! Here we go!”
It was the first spell Mark had seen cast that didn’t cause a flash, or affect his vision in any way.
“Well, that was just neat!” Talia grinned. “I mean, it was so easy, I think I could Translocate this whole ship that way!”
“Now you won’t have to worry about falling behind me in ability.” Mark chuckled.
“I sure won’t!” Talia realized with a grin, then abruptly sobered. “That’s a scary thought. With what you just showed me, I am suddenly the mightiest elven wizard, by far! Perhaps the mightiest wizard alive!”
“Which would make me the mightiest mage. You’re right, those are scary thoughts. It’s a big chunk of responsibility.”
“But it’s also pretty thrilling, isn’t it?” she giggled, then turned to a group of elves who stood ready to greet them.
“Good afternoon, I am Vertiwin.” a very ancient looking elf said with a bow and a grin. “Please be welcome; to the Gimoosh Enclave of The Sea People of Debivin, to the facilities of Vertiwin and Descendants; Master Shipwrights, and to The Queen of Waves.”
“Good day to you,” Talia smiled, “And thank you for having us.”
“Not at all, not at all!” Vertiwin happily protested. “She’s your ship, owned and outright, so I very much encourage you to inspect her and the work done on her at any time!
“The Queen of Waves is already a magnificent vessel, and we’re very proud of her, but she’ll be immeasurably finer when the improvements are complete! She’ll be a magnificent showpiece for both of our companies! She will not only be far more beautiful and visually impressive, the extra structural work will greatly increase the already ample structural integrity of her hull! And as a passenger vessel, she’ll be carrying only a fraction of her weight capacity, so she’ll sit higher in the water, and require less depth for hull clearance and anchorage, she’ll handle more nimbly, and make more speed!
“You’ll have to pardon the crowding and the bustle all about, but the ship is being renovated, refitted, stocked, and prepared to sail, all simultaneously. Between our workers, your security staff, and temporary hirelings, over eighteen hundred work here today.
“So, if you’d be so kind as to advise me of your planned route of inspection through the ship, I’ll clear your way through the confusion, so to speak.”
“I’d be pleased if you’d plan a route that causes the minimum disruption to the work.” Mark bowed, then looked around with interest at the bustle of activities all around.
“I’d be delighted to!” Vertiwin laughed. “To truly appreciate a ship this size, it must be seen from without. So first thing, if you would join me in Flight, we will go straight over the side here to avoid the rigging, and circle the ship a few times at varying distances and altitudes. Then I’ll show you the bridge, and the captain’s cabin, which is actually a very large and beautiful suite of rooms. Then we’ll see a few of the existing crew cabins, which are the only ones already finished. While not obviously luxurious, they are certainly comfortable homes. Then I’ll take you to the largest hold, where you will see work on the framework of the walls and floors that will divide it into passenger facilities.
“Finally we’ll visit a small suite of offices in that dockside warehouse over there.” Vertiwin pointed to a building near the front of the ship. “They were included in the sale of the ship, and originally intended as it’s shipping offices, so that cargoes could be contracted while the vessel was at sea. They will be mildly renovated at the end of the project for better utility in serving your passengers for bookings and information, but right now they serve as the office of our foreman of construction. He can best present the plans for the completed renovations.”
“That sounds excellent!” Mark agreed. “Let’s get started!”
It was a pleasantly brisk and partly cloudy day in Gimoosh, and the ship was indeed magnificent. They smiled and waved to the cheering crowd on the dock as they flew overhead for three circuits of the ship, accompanied by Vertiwin and their security staff. An hour was spent viewing the ship, the offices, and the planned renovations and refitting.
Their party gathered where they had arrived; on the center of the ship’s top deck. They said their farewells, and then Talia tapped Mark’s power to Translocate them to the center of the yard in front of the ranch house at Winghoof Estate in Sming.
They were met by Foreman Joseth Narr and the staff of the ranch. One hundred thirty knights of Sming, twenty-five of whom were elves, helped Mark’s security teams patrol the grounds by air and on the ground.
“Good afternoon Prince Longstrider, Princess Talia, and welcome to Winghoof Estate. Joseth Narr at your service.” said a lanky, dark haired man in his forties as he stepped forward and offered his hand.
“A pleasure to meet you, Foreman Narr.” Mark smiled as he shook hands, noticing that the foreman was missing half his pinky finger. “And I’d be pleased if you’d call me Mark.”
“Thanks. My friends call me Jo.” the other smiled as he turned to indicate his staff. “Allow me to introduce...”
He was interrupted by a blinding flash and a simultaneous CRACK of sound that was painfully loud.
As Mark shook the stars out of his eyes he felt someone Linking with him and preparing to Translocate him, even as he realized that Talia was no longer beside him. Her psionic presence was completely gone from his mind. His ability to locate her only gave him a very faint sense of her, but paradoxically, it located her right beside him where he’d last seen her out of the side of his vision.
>
He latched onto the Link, simultaneously issuing a frantic command to cease the Translocation and seizing the knowledge of what had happened.
He was in contact with Merik, one of The Atoning who was flying perimeter security almost a half-mile away and two hundred feet in the air. He Read Merik’s memory of a bright blue bolt in the sky, quick as lightning but as straight as a tight string, a line of light lancing perfectly vertically from his and Talia’s position, just wide enough to contain them both, and extending into the sky above them as far as the top of Merik’s field of vision had seen.
He glanced about, and realized that everyone close around him had fallen, stunned or injured or perhaps killed by the concussion of the bolt. He was naked except for his sheathed sword and his wedding ring, standing in a small round area of blackened grass. Talia’s sword and most of her magic items lay on the ground beneath where she’d been, or scattered close by.
He frantically cast three simultaneous Links to Hilsith, Yazadril, and Somonik, and in a wordless rush he sent them what he knew and saw, as well as his horrified realizations that Talia had been obliterated by the bolt of wizardry, that he’d been saved because he’d de-activated the tine band, and that even now the curse was trying to draw Talia’s matter back together again. He dared not leave, nor could he allow anything resembling Battle Shield to be cast about him to protect him from further attack, for fear it would block her dust and mist from re-forming.
Only eight seconds after the bolt had struck, the advance force of The Just Alliance arrived in a mass Translocation, accompanied by a huge boom from many imperfect displacements. The six thousand warriors and magic users from every race in the alliance were already in formation in the air and on the ground when they appeared, and quickly redeployed about the ranch to Yazadril’s crisp psionic orders. Many of them began psionicly scanning the region for aggressors, the memories of all who’d witnessed the bolt were Read by a team of unicorns, and a flight of a thousand dragons appeared far overhead and immediately shot straight up from there, quickly gaining altitude till they were lost to sight.
Hilsith, Yazadril, and Nemia were closest, and Nemia seemed stricken with fear for her daughter. Hilsith quickly directed a team of Healers to the fallen.
While this was going on, Mark dismissed it all and turned to where Talia had been. A small cloud of mist and dust was forming there, remaining stationary despite a slight breeze, and it was starting to glow. He sidled around it till he blocked the wind from it, and saw that particles were accelerating into it from all around. He closed his eyes and examined it with his recently awakened sense of magic, and found the familiar feeling of Alilia’s curse at the center of the tiny cloud.
He put all his concentration into discerning exactly what the curse was doing to re-assemble his beloved, and how it was done. When he was sure enough of what was happening, he carefully, ever so carefully, began adding his power to the spell of the curse.
“Great blazing Source!” he heard Yazadril exclaim beside him.
After a few seconds Mark slowly opened his eyes, being careful not to slip with the magic he was using. A glowing, transparent statue of Talia had formed, and her internal tissues could be seen if he focused his eyes just so. The matter that was rushing into her from all around was moving too fast to see, but she was obviously gaining solidity very rapidly.
“She was barely a Talia-shaped cloud after twelve minutes, but whatever you’ve done has accelerated it!” Yazadril exclaimed. “At this rate she’ll be completely re-integrated in less than another minute!”
As it happened, it was only thirty-four seconds later when the spell flashed its completion, and Talia gasped into life even as she fell. She’d been reformed in the same standing position she’d been in when the bolt had struck, and Mark had to catch her with a quick but gentle two-handed grab.
“Now go!” Yazadril barked, and Mark and Talia were abruptly Translocated by a mind Mark didn’t recognize.