Rune mage

Chapter 33: Fort Timoran

Dragonback ridge isn't at the ends of the kingdom. But there wasn't much located further out. The mountains here were so sharp that it really looked like the sharp ridges seen on the back of lizards in lands far warmer than this.

I arrived with a hundred and fifty seven men that would serve with me, under my command. There were seventy in the fort, and for the most part they began to flee...there was no other word for it, the moment we arrived.

"You will hold this fort as though your life depends on it," the general told me as he gave me my instructions.

And I understood that my life did depend on it. As far as the general was concerned this was the only appropriate place to put a rune mage. Failure to succeed would be tantamount to going rouge.

The ridges of stone that surrounded the mountain made defending the fort both easier and harder. Sight lines would be terrible for both sides. They were unforgivingly sharp, and shards littered the lands around the fort. Caltrops that occurred naturally.

The captain whose job I would hold stayed long enough to show me his study, a tour of the fort, and warn me that attacks would come as soon as the snow started to melt.

I estimated I had about two weeks to prepare.
My first order of business was to take inventory of the supplies and my troops and set up some protections.

Taking inventory didn't take long.

I had the bare minimum of supplies and the troops were those who had been considered... suitable only for fodder. Their fighting skills were lacking or their age was too high or too low.

Before I could ask questions...the prior captain was gone, the general had left, and I had over a hundred bored men who needed direction.

I called for the sergeants. I should have had three. I had two. One was noticeably older, fit but clearly his age would limit him. The other was portly.

"Gentlemen. I am a rune mage, do you know what that means?"

They both shook their heads.

"I have runes of well-being I can give to or place on anyone willing to prevent illness and minor injury. I see we only have five healers, so we want to limit how much we use them. Would you be willing to receive a wellness rune?"

"Sergeant Rudger," the older one said and saluted. "How would I receive the rune?"

"You can braid or wear a bead like I do, either in hair or wear it on a strap. The strap is more likely to get lost. You could also get it tattooed. I understand most wouldn't want the tattoo, but this is what it looks like."

I held out my hand and pushed power through the tattoo so that it would be seen. It glowed a moment and then disappeared.

The two men looked at me.

"I don't know about him, but I don't want a bead that can get lost. How long would it take to do the tattoo?" Rudger asked.

I shrugged, "not long. I will want to do everyone at once so I am not starting and stopping. The two of you should ask the men what they want and let me know who wants beads and who wants something permanent. I can also provide strength for any who want it. For now, I will be relying on the two of you to set schedules and that includes training. When we are not fighting or sleeping I expect training. Meet me back at sundown with the number of beads and tattoos to prepare for."

"Sergeant Howl, sir. What will you be doing? We all know you are straight from the school. How do we know we can trust you? How do we know you won't just get us killed?"

I picked up my bag of tools. "I don't care if you trust me right now, that comes with time. Fail to follow my orders and there will be consequences. For now I am going to put down runes to protect the water, food, and animals. I'll also put down some broad wellness runes. I need to get some power designs started as well, so I expect I will be busy. You two are to collect questions and concerns and bring them to me nightly."

Rudger seemed like he was pondering my skills and how he could best make use of them. Howl seemed like he was hoping to get out of work and then claim what was done as his doing. I knew his type.

I looked at them for a moment. "Questions?"

Rudger had questions lined up behind his intelligent eyes, but instead shook his head. "Not at the moment sir." He would assess and organize his mind and then return with his questions, I was sure if it.

"No sir," Howl said. That one wouldn't ask questions unless it would suit his needs. I would need to keep an eye on his men to see who might raise in ranks to replace him when he was inevitably killed.

"Dismissed."

They left to do as told, I hoped, and I started making runes, glad I had spent some time on the road there making stamps that would speed my work. It had taken two weeks to arrive and I had worked every spare moment, preparing and talking to others about what to expect.

They had told me the fort was the smallest in the kingdom but saw the most fighting. Only the location had spared them from being overrun year after year: the mountains were cruel to those caught in the open.

The fort was indeed small. I worked my way through the halls, reinforcing weak areas with strength of runes, adding web designs to pull and store energy, adding wellness runes where I felt it made the most sense: the kitchen, the training yard, the hallways where sleeping quarters were laid out.

I counted fifty rooms with four beds each split mainly between four hallways, with a separate area for officers. I would ask the sergeants if they wanted one of the rooms. We didn't need all five of them.

To the sleeping areas I also added a rune I hoped would promote the kind of sleep that was nightmare free. I had tested the rune on myself, and had found most nights nightmares didn't find me.

Which was a wonder after almost dying twice at the hands of the school that had been designed to train mages. The days after my final exam had been a frenzy of packing and preparing to leave, including having to get kitted out in a proper officer uniform- I was now lieutenant Logan Lofe- but I had also slept fitfully despite being exhausted. The charm had helped. A little.

The healers had their own rooms, and while I had expected an icy reception, they surprised me by supporting any runes I could lay down to help them. So I placed extra wellness runes around the healer hall, made their supply closets secure against pests and rot, and then continued around the main building of the fort.

Once I knew the water would stay safe and the food pest free and the stables free of pest water and fire, I walked the grounds inside the walls around the main building. I walked the battlements, looking out into the snowy landscape.

This land would be unforgiving in the winter and I was told that it was a cold muddy mess in spring and humid and hot in summer.

I could see from one end of the wall to the other, and in the other direction as well. This whole fort was not too much bigger than the school's arena. It made sense, any larger would leave gaps in security.

I wondered if I could add runes that would soak up heat to make the sentry duty less uncomfortable, but how would that work in summer, when it was uncomfortably hot? Could I store the heat to use layer? Could I store cold to use later?

Could I keep these men safe?

I was told that no one had lasted a year without losing half their men at best.

I was going to start by making them less likely to fall to Illness or minor injury.