Alcingeria Volume Three

Chapter One

Chapter One

I reflected on all the adventures my friends and I had since the summer of 1690 and contrasted it with the lives we led today. Many of my friends settled down at one point or another, a few even went on to be extraordinary people and do extraordinary things. I followed suit, for a few years anyhow. Right after the war ended, I left the army and went back to Fel for the first time in years to see my mother and father, the first real opportunity for that since I started out with Robert and the others.

I had a long story to tell them, and they hung on every word. It took a long time to tell them everything, well, not everything. Mostly everything.

I stayed for a while and caught up, but I didn't want to stay with them or even in that town. I did have fond memories of my hometown, but most of them were quite bittersweet given that I was arrested and almost killed there. They were made even more so because of my status as a Marquess. (I was promoted when I went back to the castle to see my other friends, during my time in Fel I was still a Count.)

Along with the rank, I was given a large patch of land in the countryside around Valgate as well as a salary increase. For a few years, life was good. I lived on that land, in a large mansion, with servants to tend to everything. I didn't have any real worries. The country was at peace, and the post-war Magic Revolution was starting to bring many new technologies to the public sphere.

After a few years, it struck me like a train that I could no longer stay around those I once knew. It was actually pointed out by Erin during one of her periods of leave from Rao Mansa, not yet a settlement. She made the casual remark that I was aging well. Funny how you never think about how you age, physically, I mean. Had it not been for her or someone else, I might not have realized for another few years.

I hadn't aged a day since the war. More specifically, or so my theory went, I hadn't aged a day since I died. Since I bonded with Minerva.

After I saw for myself, I knew I had to leave. People would start asking questions. While the idea of witch equality was starting to become accepted, the idea of theoretical immortality wasn't. I didn't know what else to do. I talked with Tabatha in secret, and she even got Antionette to scan for any magical illusions. It was one hundred percent real. There was nothing either of the two witches could do, they said they sensed an odd magic, which is why I think the bond I have with Minerva is responsible. They tried looking into it, but they got no results.

They agreed with me that I should go into hiding, at least until we managed to figure something out. I thanked them genuinely, I was lucky to have made such great friends, and went to Estaire to get a cash advance on the next six months of my salary, which she agreed to give me.

After I had the money, I went and saw each of my friends and told them what was happening to me. Don and Tabatha wanted to come with me, but I assured them it wasn't necessary. They had their own lives to live, after all. I said my goodbyes and set out for Lepper Rock, the province's main port, where I would catch the next ship bound for Rao Mansa.

I could have stayed in Alcingeria, and a part of me wanted to, but I knew it would have been safer to leave. I wasn't even sure if I was in any real danger, surely I wouldn't be for a few more years, if at all, but I wasn't willing to wait around until someone noticed. I wanted to get out of the country, and I knew a few people in Rao Mansa who I could stay with.

Walden, Macalister, and Erin were all happy to see me. I hadn't seen Walden or Macalister since they left after the war, and we all caught up. When I explained my situation, they agreed to help me. Erin arranged for me to live at the legation, where I helped out wherever I could. As the years passed, I learned the Suli language to an acceptable degree and became a useful cog in the machine of empire building. At the time, only myself, Erin, Walden, and Tnui spoke both English and Suli at a competent level, so I was put to work as an interpreter. I also helped defend the legation against periodic Lizardfolk raids.

I took up a rifle once again in 1700 when the Retler, the same tribe that captured Macalister during the war, started stirring up trouble. During the years leading up to what would be called the Retler Scourge, we had trouble with the Lizardfolk. However, the Retler were a force to be reckoned with, even for our reptilian counterparts, who were at one point allied with them. After a few months, we were pushed into an unsteady alliance with them.

Two years later, we fought the Retler back into their own land. It wasn't a grand-scale war like the one I fought in almost a decade before. The casualties on our side were only a few hundred, maybe a thousand. We had technology on our side in the form of the new breach loading rifles, which we sold to our allies, and that was the main reason we managed to end the conflict so quickly.

That conflict, though relatively minor, opened up an entirely new world of diplomatic relations between Vulrock, the Retler, and the Lizardfolk. We came to be on friendly terms with each other, and when Treigner's Point became a settlement and Henry Pinto Treigner was appointed governor, he opened the settlement to our allies, creating the first settlement of its kind, a place where our three races could life together in peace. Even the Retler, who were elves like the Suli, were allowed inside in order to prevent further hostilities.

There was still one race that gave us trouble though, and that was the sea people, or the Sirens, as they were called when sailors first got a good glimpse of one. They resembled the creatures from naval legends. They were presumably carnivorous because they had sharp teeth and they liked to drag unsuspecting sailors to the depths. They were also known to climb up the sides of ships and pull sailors off the decks, which placed a hindrance on shipping in Siren-infested waters anywhere past Rao Mansa.

The years after that were relatively easy. I read the newspapers from back home and saw that the Magic Revolution was being pushed further with each passing year, with Tabatha and Antoinette being key players.

Technologies such as railroad and radio emerged, and they amazed me to no end. Vulrock was industrializing at an outstanding rate and from what I heard, the other provinces only started following suit a while after. With Vulrock's near monopoly on magic technologies and influence in the Southwest Archipelago, it was only a matter of time before something happened. By 1724 I could tell my country was on the brink of something, I just didn't know what.