Rune mage

Chapter 40: dissenters

I stormed into my quarters and pulled my sweat soaked shirt off. It didn't fit as well any more, baggy in some places and stretched tight in others. My shoulders had inexplicably widened, but eating fewer rations had caused me to have a slimmer waist. The tight shoulders but lose bottom was causing my skin to itch.

Or I was itchy because I was hot and sweaty. The heat in the summer was oppressive.

"It's the mountains!" I snarled, "why is it so damn hot!"

Despite not expecting an answer, my intrepid page replied, "isn't any wind of late, sir. The air stales, heat gets trapped. Two sentries went to the healers for over heat today," he added the last bit as though I hadn't already noticed.

Five months into leadership, I could now tell who was where, and basically knew the exact name of the person based on how they felt to my magic.

"The...ah...sentries were wondering if you could alter the illusions?" He said.

Some how my now 17 year old page had become the easiest path to ask questions about my magic. He wasn't afraid of my power, even though he had watched me dispose of many a body. Even though he had seen explosions and me kill enemy mages without a second look. He had stood by my side while I added rune after rune in nooks and crannies around the fort. And had dusted me off when the inevitable experiment gone wrong exploded.

He didn't blink at my use of magic no matter how odd or frightening it was.

I considered pulling on a fresh shirt, and decided against it.

He also no longer blanched or blushed when he saw me nearly naked, though the first time he had seen the scars bore from the whipping... he had loudly gasped.

Most people believe injuries healed by magic don't scar, but the truth was it only didn't scar if it was immediately healed and even then, there would be silvery lines if you looked close enough. My injury had been allowed to sit long enough to scar.

Lu had done a nice job tattooing around the scars.  So I had my page quickly focused on the ink and not the scars but running power through them, which made them glow. Which had led to me showing off many of my runes. So many of them were invisible that letting them glow was the only way for them to be seen. Based on his surprised expression, he had been impressed.

I gave him a few extra runes as well, providing him with strength and added wellness runes, as well as a rock barrier that he agreed to try. It didn't turn his skin rock hard, but it did reduce damage from something sharp. In a war, every little bit helped.

"The illusions aren't working?" I asked, confused.

He shook his head, "they work a little too well. They've stored the images of everyone who has spent time over them, so now the sentries are faced with images of men who have died."

I grimaced. "I will consider it, but we cannot be noticeably short on sentries. Anything else?"

"Torches are running low, as is lamp oil."

I stretched, tight from the day's siege attacks. Lately it felt like they hadn't been pushing as hard. On the one hand it worried me...what were they planning? On the other hand it gave us room to breathe.

I looked at my notes from the night before.

"At least it's summer and the light lasts longer, even if it means the fight goes longer." I picked up a candle and placed it in a circle on the floor. I knew I was close to figuring out how to capture the light and fire.

I picked up a freshly debarked stick and began etching runes along the sides. "Anything else?"

"Nothing recorded," he said, and stepped behind the line etched clearly on the floor. It would protect him if my experiment went wrong.