Ends of Magic

Nathan blinked at the assassin.

They’re scared? I mean I killed a few of them, but I wasn’t trying to be especially terrifying.

She saw his confusion, and her answering smile revealed her sharpened teeth. “They found the slave-elites you fought. One had attacked his masters and been slain. The other tried to swear his undying loyalty to the first Giantsrest mage he saw. The war mages disintegrated both of their bodies. They used the blood you left behind to cast innumerable tracking spells, but they all failed.”

No surprise there. I didn’t even feel the divination. Probably couldn’t even catch a trace of me.

Faline wasn’t done. “The responding mages followed your path, and found your victims. They have less than your shadow, but saw the trail burned behind you. The bodies, torn and crushed even after their spells had been cast.” She pulled out a dagger and started rolling it through her fingers.

“They face an unknown threat that they cannot track, in their very place of power. You are not just another assassin. You kill mages in their sleep, but also kill watchful mages through their armor and survive the spells of a war mage. You killed an archmage. Every mage now wonders if they will meet you, and doubts they would win that fight. They know you are in the city, but cannot find you. The detection enchantment does not kill this problem, and you can free their slaves. Imagine the panic when they summoned Histol to solve the situation, and found him dead in his bed.”

Nathan asked. “Didn’t you disguise yourself as Histol?”

Faline’s brow lifted sardonically. “And all who saw me in that guise are dead, thanks to your chaos. No. They are panicking, and many mages not directly sworn to Exea are fleeing Halsmet until the situation is dealt with. She has reacted badly - likely due to a certain dead grandson.”

Khachi had been listening quietly from the side, but now he put his hands on the table and leaned forward. “All the better to make our escape.”

“Indeed. Tomorrow will be a day of fire and smoke, as soon as the city awakes and the news spreads.” Faline shook out her long hair, the knife vanishing as she combed her fingers through it. “Nathan and I can encourage that panic. Exea has already pulled the elite soldiers into the inner city. I heard the plans being made. We can avoid them and make them shift even more forces into the inner city. The escape itself will be an easy target.”

Her eyes glowed brightly as she met Nathan’s gaze. The question was clear - was he going to separate from the Heirs in order to help them escape? Or would he go with them back to Gemore, but expose them to more danger?

I don’t want to leave them on their own. But it sounds like Giantsrest is going to be on a hair-trigger to chase me down, so being with them would probably endanger them. If they do chase the Heirs they can hold their own - and I am free to kill mages while their attention is elsewhere. I’ve shown I’m willing and capable of that, and they can’t risk it.

He had a sudden thought. “What would it take to capture Halsmet? Completely kick out Giantsrest?”

Nathan expected Faline to be surprised - but she took the suggestion in stride. “I would trade that outcome for a grand Insight, but we do not have the numbers. There are thousands of soldiers in this city, and hundreds of mages. Even if we terrify the mages and many flee, at least fifty will remain. And we cannot beat the response force, even by surprise.”

Stella spoke from the corner, where she’d continued to [Message] back to the Adventurer’s guild. “Three teams will be here by tomorrow afternoon. The Giantraiders, The Old Hands and the Oath of Tulin.”

Faline turned to Stella and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. “You would fight not just to escape, but to destroy Giantsrest?”

“I understand Nathan’s crusade better now - and Badud won’t leave us alone. I don’t want to flee, and leave this place unchanged by our passing.” Stella shot an uncertain look at Khachi and Aarl, but they didn’t dispute her words.

“I see the light in your eyes.” Faline smiled sadly. “But we will have to settle for death and destruction, which has already begun. Nathan is a perfect tool with which to undermine the Ascendant Academy. I would lead him to the city of Giantsrest itself, which is less easily locked down. We could reap quite a harvest.”

Nathan held up a hand. “Hold on for a moment. Let’s think this out for a second instead of dismissing the idea. If it doesn’t make sense, then we go with the plan to escape. What do we need to do to conquer the city?”

I don’t want to leave these people here. Even a violent revolution is better than mind-controlled servitude. With Adventurer forces on the way, we might even stage a clean takeover.

The dark-haired woman pursed her lips, then shrugged. “Above all, speed. If it seems that Halsmet is about to fall, then more archmages will come. Exea may be jealous of her territory, but if there seems a clear threat to her, she will call upon them to defeat us, and they will arrive within the day.

“Beyond that - Exea must be gone, and publicly so. Her mansion captured, for it is the heart of the city’s enchantments. The response force she has built must be destroyed, so that it appears none can stand against us. The mages must feel hunted, such that the torch of the current panic becomes a raging bonfire. We need mages fleeing from the gates, not grouping in the streets.”

“Ok. How do we get there?” Nathan said. “What are the obstacles? Say we get the Adventurers onboard with this plan, get them into the city and take Exea’s mansion. Can we take out this response force on the way there?”

Faline rolled her eyes. “The response force - she owns nearly every slave-elite in the city, and after last night has consolidated them all into a group of fifty, with a core of six war mages. It is a strike force to win wars. They will respond to any alarm, and fight with Giantsrest tactics. The elites will protect the mages with their lives, and they can fight evenly with any Adventurer short of Stanel Crusens.”

Aarl popped his knuckles. “What of his Heirs?”

The assassin smiled wryly and tilted her head. “But you are two, and they are fifty. Each has enchanted gear, and their own style. Then there are the mages - war mages. To be a war mage, you must be able to kill a hundred with a single spell, and cast [Disintegrate]. They may fear Nathan, but they know that he must run from four elites. Fifty would bleed him dry.”

Stella replied. “Then the elites are the problem petrified in place. They must be shattered. How?”

“I am pleased that you have blood in your eyes, but let us be done with this.” Faline’s voice grew frosty. “You would die facing these foes. I cannot fight them directly, or quickly. Better to strike from the shadows, weaken them by drops. Leave this place. Become powerful, and return when you can each challenge an archmage.”

Khachi had bowed his head for the discussion, but now he spoke up. “That does not work for our parents. They cannot approach Giantsrest without the archmages showing up in response, then the land is devastated and Gemore loses its protectors. Once we leave, it will be the same way. But now we’re here, in the city already. If the city falls before they can respond, the archmages won’t destroy it, will they?”

Faline said “No. They would want it back, and will march an army to retake it.” She was getting exasperated. “An army led by a Questor! And either Gemore would come to fight, or we would have to flee anyway!”

Stella shot back a response. “But we’d have a Questor of our own, right?”

Faline threw up her hands. “Likely! But I wouldn’t bet dragon bones to stalker teeth that Gemore would win that battle. We would be staking all on this fight, and Gemore’s strength has never been in battles. And Questors are rarely blessings.”

The door to the bedroom opened, and Sarah came out. Egall was behind her, but she stayed in the doorway.

Sarah studied the faces around her. “Who’s farting ice?”

Faline waved a hand at the rest of the Heirs. “Your friends wish to bait the Castlebear, to attempt to capture Halsmet. It would wake the giant, in the true meaning of the phrase. Help me convince them that it is foolishness.”

A crooked smile appeared on Sarah’s face as she looked Nathan’s way. “Halsmet. How could we do it?”

Faline rounded on Nathan. “Yes. Is there a way to do it, my apprentice?” She drew out the last word, making it mocking.

For the first time in a while, Nathan reviewed his status. He didn’t pay attention to any of the new lines, instead focusing on one of his oldest skills. “I think so. We have a lot of problems - but that means we need to make our problems solve each other.”

His brows furrowed for a moment. He looked to Faline. “How much do you know about the place where the response force is staying? They’re in a central location, right? Where they can easily reach anywhere?”

Faline’s eyes were shadowed, and she considered him for a moment before answering. “Exea gave the orders by [Multitarget Message], to calm the mages examining the trail of your rampage. I overheard them discussing as I scavenged those.” She gestured again at the mage marks on the table. “The response force is in the same square as the mage barracks, staying in a building hidden by an illusion. They think you will come back to the barracks to continue your spree. They’re leaving it underguarded, but mean the response force to catch you if you should return.”

She chewed on a lip for a moment before continuing. “Though the response force will patrol the inner city until past dawn, having seen no sign of escape. Then they will rest, expecting you to wait until nightfall to return. It is why I meant to act during the day tomorrow.”

Nathan’s smile spread wide. “Then this might work. What building are they sleeping in?”

The shapeshifting assassin narrowed her eyes and thought. A small spark of hope kindled in her eyes, showing through the cynicism and bloodlust.

—

After the planning session, Nathan should have gone to bed. He'd slept a long time the night before, but a lot had happened since then. A lot of tense sneaking around, a lot of personal reflection and a bit of combat.

Nothing like getting in a fight to tire a body out. And nothing like convincing yourself to kill somebody in their bed to tire a mind out.

But as Khachi got up from the table and headed into the bedroom, Sarah chivvied Egall to the table and locked eyes with Faline. The assassin was looking excited. She’d taken some more time to agree to Nathan’s plan, but after being convinced it had a good chance to succeed she’d gone all-in.

Nathan sat back down, blowing out a breath and looking over at the ex-slave. He still felt responsible for Egall, which was a little weird. Sure, he’d freed her, and escorted her to the safehouse. But that didn’t mean he needed to take care of her going forward. Still, it seemed like he should stay for whatever was about to happen.

Faline took her time studying Egall, who was visibly nervous under the gaze of the black-clad woman.

Egall’s voice was small. “Who are you?”

Faline cocked her head. “I’m your counterpart. Just older, and with more experience. After all, you were trained as a Nail?”

Wait. The black robes? The Giantsrest secret police?

“No?” Egall was the picture of confusion, but Faline didn’t relent.

“The weighty question is if you’re a Nail in truth. After all, a Nail would kill to sit in that chair. Can you imagine the rewards for exposing us to Giantsrest? The levels you could gain for slitting our throats in the night?” Faline cocked one sculpted eyebrow, inviting a response.

Egall spluttered for a second longer before rapidly calming down. “Fine - I turned my finger towards the Nails as an intermediate student. It is a good option for a mage without political backing. But they didn’t raise their hands when Exea’s favored child turned his attention towards me.”

Faline traced her finger over the table. “Hmm. Even a promising student isn’t worth making further enemies with an archmage. There’s enough bad blood between the Nails and Exea - and I would not be surprised if Cala gave you up as a peace offering.” Her eyes snapped up to Egall, gauging the flash of anger in the young woman’s eyes.

Then Faline nodded, looking between Nathan and Sarah. “She’s no spy, just a discarded tool.” She turned back to Egall, her entire mien changing to express kindness. “The question is, what do you want? Do you wish to fight Giantsrest for what they’ve done to you? To punish them for everything, starting with Exea?”

Egall shivered slightly, biting her lip. “No.” She looked down at the table. “I just want to get away from them - from my past.” She glanced towards Nathan. “I needed to see Jaxis gone - but you did that. Now I want to get away from the Academy. I’ll fight to keep myself free, but I won’t risk recapture by going anywhere near the Academy.”

Faline clicked her tongue. “Shame. Trained as a Nail - you could make a fantastic [Assassin Mage]. Well. No Path can be forced. You’ll stay with the second team, and Stella will come with us into the city as planned.”

Sarah reached out a hand, leaving it on the table in reach of Egall. “There’s room for you in Gemore, if you want it. You don’t even have to be an Adventurer. Hear me but there aren’t enough mages in Gemore as it is. You could enchant things, or teach people [Mana Shaping], or… so many things.”

Egall reached out and took Sarah’s hand, squeezing lightly. “I’ll help tomorrow. I can do that, to earn my place.”

The [Headshot Gunslinger] continued, her voice questioning. “You don’t have to. You know this plan is dangerous. You can always sneak out when we open the gates - or even stay here. Even if we fail, they probably won’t scan the countryside for you, and you can hide with your [Invisibility].”

Faline had been watching Sarah with a sly smile, but at this point she raised a finger to make a point. “She can cast [Message]. We need that for timing.”

Sarah opened her mouth to retort, but Egall spoke first. “I’ll join. I - you all saved me. I don’t want to fight forever. But here, now, my clenched fist can help you, and help make Exea pay for all that she has done.” She smiled at Sarah for a moment. Then her lips turned down. “But I’ll hide and run if you lose.”

Nathan had been watching the exchange and almost interjected a few times, but it didn’t seem like this situation needed his input, and now Egall seemed at peace with her decision.

He looked at Faline to see her wearing an almost bored expression. She rolled her eyes towards Sarah and Egall before getting up and pulling a blanket from her bag. “I’m going to bed. You two keep watch, and wake Khachi when it’s his turn. It’s too late for lockpicking lessons.”

Oh right, neither Faline or I are on watch tonight. Phew. Anything else I need to tell her?

“I picked up [Quiet Movement].”

The Assassin shrugged. “Not the best skill. Not the worst. It may steer your class skills towards more of a stealth focus. Is that something you want?”

Do I want to focus on stealth? Honestly, seeing Faline breeze through Giantsrest has made me really see the value in that power. The ability to choose your fights, and penetrate defenses with stealth. Surprise is a huge advantage.

Nathan nodded at her. “Yeah. I think I want that.”

She returned the gesture. “Then keep the skill, and I will teach you another tomorrow. But now, sleep.”

He followed her advice, only spending some time meditating before going to bed. Nathan was looking forward to the next day.

I’m finally following through. No more delaying.

—

The next morning, Nathan was watching everybody go through final equipment checks, and thinking about his own armaments.

Should I try to grow wolverine claws or something? If they can carry my antimagic, that would be cool.

He toyed with the idea for a little while, starting to figure out how he would grow the bones. Then he thought about leverage - he’d need to build the claws deeply into the bones of his arm so that the first swing or stab didn’t snap the claws out of place. It would be very hard to both do that and make them retractable.

Which I want to, because it’s hard to sneak around with claws. Maybe hold off on that for now. I think the most important thing to do is prevent something from killing me instantly. Reinforced skull and neck? A second brain would be ideal but. Uh. That sounds like a lot. I don’t have time to get that working right.

Khachi interrupted his reverie. “Nathan. You blaze your own path, now and into the future.”

“Hey, Khachi. What’s up?”

The wolf-man’s smile exposed his fangs, and his gold-glowing eyes looked around at the Heirs as they readied their gear. Sarah and Aarl were going over ammunition as Stella fussed with her disguise.

“I cast myself back to when we first met - you an unknown. Us the young dragons of the next generation.” His expression turned wry. “But we fought together. And you shone a light in our eyes.”

The Heirs were all paying attention. Egall was definitely listening in from the side while Faline was almost certainly eavesdropping from outside of the room.

Aarl spoke up. “It didn’t take Stella long to see your spark. To raise the past, I remember our first training, and a certain shield-bash.” He was running his fingers over the bundled metal ribbon that held the dimensional space they’d recovered from a ruin full of ashblood vipers, seemingly deciding if he should take it or leave it.

Khachi’s smile turned wry. “Yes. But then our Paths intertwined. You taught us much, including your meaning of friendship.” The cleric nodded his head gravely. “Which means I do not worry if we have returned the favor.”

Where’s he going with this? I’m not sure I like whatever this is.

“We fight with you today, and into the future. But attacking Giantsrest is not our Path.” He gestured around to the rest of the Heirs. “This plan - it is good, and right. But after - we must talk of the future, and of the Oath we swore atop the Seal.”

Nathan looked around at the rest of the Heirs. “I haven’t forgotten what we swore. But I need to do this. Thank you all for agreeing to help.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “Friendship.” She shook her head, seemingly exasperated by the word. “And revenge.”

Stella snorted. “I just don’t want you to outlevel us. If we help out then we’ll get some of the reward.”

Faline knocked on the door and leaned languidly on the frame. She had the expression of a tolerant schoolteacher. “It’s time. Let’s go.”

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Aura of Antimagic 3

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 7

Talent 3: High-tier Slow Fall 9

Class: Implacable Antimage level 158

Deepened Stamina: 4599/5040

Antimage’s Impassivity

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Improved Antimagic

Strenuous Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Class: Assassin level 26

Focus: 360/360

Vital Targeting

Stealthy Movement

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 7

High-tier Earnestness 10

High-tier Sprinting 4

Magical Perception 5

High-tier Notice 7

High-tier Identify 8

High-tier Dodging Footwork 7

High-tier Enhanced Memory 9

Mid-tier Lecturing 9

High-tier Tumbling 4

Mid-tier Noticeability 3

Low-tier Quiet Movement 2