Rune mage

Chapter 53: future paths

It took a week for my power stores to refill.

During that week my men took care of me, but it was the boy who never left my side.

He had a name. I had forgotten it after calling him boy for so long. If anyone noticed that I had started calling him "my boy" no one said anything.

The lad had saved my life. I saw him as much mine now as any other in the fort.

He and I worked on ways to use his magic. Magic was a fickle thing, needing to be used or it would go astray. That was why fire mages were so dangerous at start. Until they learned to use it in many small ways, they would likely set things on fire.

A stone mage was better for building and cementing and such rock-centered things, so he was unlikely to destroy anything. It was good practice to have him work along side me as we turned waste bricks into proper stone and stone into proper walls.

We were making knee high walls that lined the road. We had only just begun of course, but there were enough bricks to line the path at least down to the bottom of the hill.

Each brick that he worked with, turning what my magic had created into rock that fit in with the surrounding stones, held runes that would keep travelers healthy, as well as alert me to any danger.

And some held runes that would allow me to hide the path altogether. This was the only proper path to the pass. Our fort sat right up to the edge of it, guarding the pass successfully now for three years. I felt the path belonged to the fort as much as anything else.

My boy and I worked together to create an illusion that made it look like the pass had been destroyed by a rock avalanche. Later, when I could work for longer than a few hours at a time, I would include an illusion that would make the fort look like ruins, unsafe to consider approaching. Now we just had to lay down all the runes to make it realistic and possible.

We were working on rocks in the path, my sergeant nearby for added protection and to make sure I didn't overwork myself, when I felt someone approaching on foot.

I stood. "Someone is approaching. Going too slow to be riding."

We waited there on the path.

"Looks like one of the villagers." My sergeant said.

The villager slowed in their approach, looking at us hesitantly.

"What news?" I asked when it was clear they weren't sure how to proceed.

"We ah... have these horses. From them soldiers. And they said they would be returning soon. But we can't afford to keep feeding them. I came to ask them to consider paying for more feed, so we aren't sacrificing our own beast's needs."

I had forgotten about the horses.

I looked to the sergeant. "Could they sell them without being suspect? Are army mounts well monitored?"

My sergeant shrugged, "my guess is those men weren't on official army business." He looked at the man, "You can sell the mounts and any gear they had with them that isn't marked as belonging to the army."

The man looked at us. "Are they...staying?"

I shook my head.

"We were attacked by an army thousands strong," I said. "Sadly, they were among the causalities."

The man blanched. "Thousands!"

"I believe it was close to five thousand, but of course I was not counting. All of the visiting men died, as did one of mine. I myself took injury."

The man looked past us towards the pass and then swallowed hard. "You have kept things so peaceful, I had been hoping war had forgotten us."

He looked to the boy. "Is the enemy recruiting children? Does he need a home?"

I shook my head. "We have some rescues that the enemy attempted to use against us. They feel safer with us than anywhere else. This lad... he is mine."

The man blinked at me. "Yours?"

I understood his confusion. There were never women at this fort. I was aged prematurely by war but still rather young to have a ten year old.

"He saved my life, we belong to each other now. I stand as elder brother for him, and teach him how to use his newly emerged mage powers."

The man's eyes raised. "You can teach mages?"

I tilted my head "I am teaching him. I don't know if that counts. Why?"

"We all know folk who don't want to send their children to that awful school, where death is a possibility."

I held up my hand. "I am not an alternative to the school. But I can help prepare them, or..." I paused. This was something I could get accused of treason for. I wondered if it was worth it, and then looked down to my boy. "I can place down a rune that will suppress their powers so that they aren't selected for the school."

"Place down how?" The man asked.

I held up my hands, covered in rune tattoos.

The man rubbed his face and nodded.

"It is something that would have to be discrete," I added. "The army and kingdom would consider it treason to deny future mages their potential."

"So why offer?" The man asked.

I looked to the fort. Then put into words the feelings I had silently held since being attacked in my own castle, but also for long before, as month after month passed with no supplies, no relief.

"They abandoned me, abandoned us. My concern is not for myself, but for the child and family. And once the rune is inked upon them, there is no removing it. If temporary suppression is needed, I can trade charms for food or goods."

The man listened and nodded. "We will Sell the horses and gear." He said. "We will come at the new moon with supplies. Is there anything you might need?"

"Supplies for the woman," I said. "She's been making do with what we have."

The man offered a sloppy salute and walked away.

"Was that wise?" my sergeant asked, "telling him you could suppress the powers of future mages?"

I tussled my boy's hair. "Maybe not. Let me tell you my experience with the school and you can decide."