Rune mage

Chapter 60: more visitors

Winter came early with a fierce storm.

I was pulled awake before sunrise by my magic insisting someone approached.

I focused on what my magic told me and ran down the stairs, pulling in my heavy coat.

The fort would not allow me to exit.

"Let me outside!" I snarled.

I could not move forward.

"They are floundering! Let me out! They are scared and young and let me out damn it!"

"What trouble?" Archer asked me.

"There is someone approaching on a donkey that is half frozen and they are Going to die before they reach us if we don't bring them warmth. I have activated the runes that clear the path of snow but it will not save them from those winds and snow."

"I will go," Archer said. "And take Red if you allow it."

"If I allow it? Of course! It will depend on if the damn fort allows it!" I lashed out with power at the fort, frustrated. "My sergeant is dead! His order should not still stand! Let me out you damn fort!"

The fort would not let me leave.

Archer and Red rushed out into the early morning darkness and soon brought back the three I had sensed, two youngsters and a donkey.

Red provided a gentle warmth for them while Archer gave them words of encouragement. Once inside, the healer was there to check them over.
"Welcome to our fort," I said while the healer helped them remove snow and ice crusted coats, while Red provided heat, and while Jess began making food. "I am Logan, the officer in charge, sometimes when everyone feels like listening."

"We all listen just fine," Red said, "it's the fort you're angry at, sir."

He wasn't wrong. The fort flashed runes at me. It seemed we were angry with each other.

"Why are you out in this weather?" I asked.

The elder one, a young man of 17 had opened his coat to reveal his sister, age eleven. I wasn't surprised she was there, but the healer had been at first.

The elder one replied, "my sister's mage powers awoke, and it is said in hushed voices that if you need help with mage powers, to come to the haunted fort."

I don't know if it was coincidental timing or the fort having a poke at us. I suspected it was the later because at that moment one of the illusions ambled by, calling for men to gather for training.

The illusion was of my sergeant and made my heart ache.

I glared at the nearest wall. "Not. Amusing. fort." We were still angry at each other.

The girl turned into her brother and hid her eyes.

"See what you did! You scared the girl!" I snapped at the fort.

"Sir," Archer cleared his throat.

"Right. Water mage? Do you want suppression, a façade, or training or some combination of all three?"

"Let them get warm and eat before you start asking life changing questions!" Jess called from the kitchen.

She wasn't wrong.

I threw my hands up in the air. "I told you I'm not really in charge! Go, eat and get warm, give your answer thought."

I stormed away, keeping my hands in my pockets so I wouldn't trail fingers along the wall. The fort didn't deserve my kind touch. Those two youngsters could have died while I watched and the fort wouldn't let me leave because a man now dead had told it I wasn't safe in the darkness beyond the walls.

Levi brought me breakfast in my study.

"Something is making the mountain nervous," he said, sitting.

I tilted my head in question.

He shrugged. "I don't understand what I'm feeling from the stones."

I had back. "I've felt anxious for a good long while, since the merchant. Could my mood impact the very mountain?"

He shrugged, but said, "this feels different. I think something is coming. Something big."

I counted the hearts automatically. Eight men, four boys one woman, two visitors. But wait. Something more.

I smiled. There was new life within the woman. I wondered if she even knew.

She probably did, she had been with the healer in the mornings. I let that little glow of life delight me while I ate.

"We may be facing a new attack." Levi worried, his subject matter clashing with my thoughts of new life.

"I'm confident whatever comes, we mages can handle it," I said

He liked it when I included him as part of our defenses. "For today's study, work with Red and write out a plan to defend against a stone mage or a fire mage who might get past my defenses."

His eyes grew large. "Could they get past the defenses?"

I shrugged, "Unlikely, but it is wise to make plans."

I knew the knock was coming so I didn't startle. I noticed Levi didn't either. He must have some connection with the stones.

"Sir," Archer said and opened the door at my response. "The two visitors."

He showed them into the study.

"We would like to stay, to learn." The brother said. "She will need help with her magic, and I can learn to fight."

They told me their names. I forgot them almost instantly.

Levi glared at me. "You can use their names."

They will leave and my heart will break.

I didn't mean to say it aloud, but I did.

"We will all one day be elsewhere," Levi said in an uncharacteristically wise tone. "Maybe even you."

I laughed bitterly. "Not if the fort keeps me prisoner." I searched my drawer and found two charms. "Wear these for protection against traps, and travel with one of us until you are more familiar with the fort."

"I will show them around," Levi said.

"Don't forget your studies," I reminded him.

He nodded, then met my eyes. "Something is coming, something big. I can feel it. The stones are all nervous. Stones are never nervous, Sir."

He took them from the room.

I wrote in my log my report of our new arrivals, then wandered down to the heart of the fort to try to make peace with our home.

Whatever was coming, I didn't want to be at odds with my magic, whatever form it took, when it arrived.