The three enchanters working in the tent all ended up being mages that had graduated around a year earlier. Chadwick had never met them. Taj and the other boy, who was named Ghaile, were both from the same town and their fathers were both merchants. Well off merchants, but not obnoxiously so. Not bad enough that they looked down on Chadwick. In their attitudes at least, they did physically look down on him. A consequence of being quite a bit taller than Chadwick. Even though they were both still teenagers.
The mousy girl ended up being only two years older than Chadwick and was a good six inches shorter than him. A refreshing change for Chadick. She wouldn’t say where she came from. But then she didn’t say much at all.
Over the next hour, Chadwick finished the message stones himself and set each of the three a task to assess where they were at. What skill level each could display. He also gave them instructions to deliver one message stone that day, but split the rest off into batches over the next following two days.
Taj ended up still being a bit indignant about taking orders from someone at least six years younger than him, but he still started doing the tasks assigned to him after asking Chadwick a few more questions while they worked. Questions Chadwick had extremely detailed answers for. It just took a while for it to sink in for him that this wasn’t all some elaborate hoax. That Chadwick really did knot what he was talking about.
Ghaile jumped into the assigned work happily. He was the least advanced of the three and genuinely seemed happy that he would be able to improve his skills. His dream was to get good enough to make a set of those rigged dice Chadwick had seen in the convoy. A dream Chadwick found a little depressing, even if he appreciated how enthusiastic the student was as a result.
It took almost the full hour before Chadwick could even get the name of the girl. It turned out to be Sarah. She would barely even raise her eyes from the floor unless it was to look at something related to enchanting. She seemed enamored with Chadwick’s work. Carefully poring over the runes he carved and taking notes.
The only thing that could seem to get her talking was when she couldn’t restrain her curiosity about something to do with enchanting. At one point she was comparing two message stones and frowning, she finally said, “why do you carve these splitting runes like this? The center channel is far too deep.”
Chadwick glanced up from the message stone he was working on, “actually, the splitting rune is wrong in Charleston’s compendium. I spotted the difference after seeing the channel was twice as deep in three other books of runes I was studying. I tried it that way and it’s far more efficient and won’t burn the channel out over time.”
She frowned at the piece in her hands for a moment, but then her eyes lit up with understanding, “is it because both of these channels flow back through the center one? So, it should be twice as big as the side channel?”
Chadwick smiled, “that’s right. Even Sal didn’t get that as quickly as you did.”
The girl beamed, then blushed red for a moment and hunched over the stone she was examining. Breaking eye contact in her embarrassment.
“Don’t mind her,” said Ghaile, “our young Sarah is full of brains, but doesn’t come out of her shell easily.” He smiled fondly over at the girl who was going out of her way to not at any of them.
Once the three were making progress on their enchanting projects, Chadwick found himself with a little time on his hands, so he explored around the encampment. Sections of it seemed well organized, but the mage portion in particular just seemed to be a random assortment of tents. There was almost no one around. The few mages Chadwick saw outside looked haunted.
The sections with soldiers seemed to start with tiny tents around campfires near the edges. Then grand tents and pavilions towards the middle. Culminating in a very large log building in the middle. It was all set up in orderly rows that had shared campfires every few tents. Lots of precise lines and standardized equipment. Chadwick didn’t know much about proper military standards, but he could appreciate the neatness displayed.
During his exploration, Chadwick reviewed some of the enchantment repair requests that had been on Taverish’s list and fixed a few of the minor ones as he went. It was everything from waste disposal, to runes that pumped fresh air and then one to filter the well water of any bacteria. He made a mental note to let Taverish know he could report them as done whenever he thought was appropriate. He didn’t want to show too much progress too fast.
He attempted to fix a heat control rune inside a large series of kitchen tents, but an enormous woman with a broom chased him out. Accusing him of trying to steal pies. She was so ferocious with the broom and her hurled accusations that Chadwick completely forgot he was a mage with a perfectly valid reason to be in there. He just ran from the tent, ducking a swing from the broom.
Even without completing the kitchen, he had managed the first few days of work during his walk. So, he headed back to the mage command tent to see if the Dean had arrived.
He heard the Dean’s voice before he even stepped in.
“Far eastern tower was fine. I’m really starting to wonder what they are trying to accomplish,” said the Dean. Then turned and saw Chadwick. He strode over and dropped down low enough to hug him suddenly. “I’m sorry lad, I failed you.”
Chadwick was just standing with his arms awkwardly at his side. His face softened at Dean's words. “You didn’t fail me. You did a magnificent job hiding me. Considering the circumstances.”
The Dean let him go and sighed, saying, “I suppose you know all about those circumstances now. Shame I couldn’t warn you. Or do anything much about it now.”
“Oh, the chance to warn me might be long past. But I’d say we still have a chance to do something about it now,” said Chadwick quietly.
The Dean shook his head sadly, and even Sloan and Elver seemed to have the same look on their face as he said, “we’ve all tried lad, but it’s a vicious bit of…,” he trailed off and shrugged his shoulders, unable to finish the sentence.
Taverish looked a bit more hopeful though and spoke up, “I dunno John, I’ve seen this lad do some things. Starting to wonder.”
Even Sloan seemed to come out of his melancholy and added, “there’s some truth to that. Mage Chadwick surprised me many times on our trip here. Things I’ve made a point not to ask him about, yes?” He said the last bit pointedly. The unspoken rule between them that they couldn’t be forced to speak about something if they didn’t know about it.
The Dean raised his eyebrows as he looked at Sloan and Taverish, “you gentlemen aren’t ones to impress easily. If you think the lad has a shot, I certainly haven’t given up all hope yet.” Then he turned to Chadwick, “what do you need from us lad? Certainly none of us are skilled enchanters.”
“Just a little time. Taverish already got me access to the enchanting tent. And I have plenty of materials,” said Chadwick.
“Hmm. Time is a little tricky, I can certainly keep you away from combat for a number of weeks if the General forgets about you. The new group of mages usually get sent to assault a fort within three days or so of arriving, along with those left from the previous groups. I can make sure you aren’t included,” responded the Dean.
Chadwick’s face darkened at this, “I’m not worried about myself. How bad is it with the new groups that get sent?”
The Dean’s face contorted and he stepped over to Elvera’s ever-present bottle of brandy to pour himself a drink before answering, “usually less than half make it back. Their instructions are always the same, attack until their magical reservoirs are down to the point of straining, then they are allowed to return.”
Left unspoken by the Dean was that those were not just orders, but an actual compulsion that would keep them there until such time as they had obeyed to the letter.
Chadwick looked ready to march out of there and start murdering the people holding the reins to their control necklaces, instead he calmed himself down and said, “warn me when a group is going. I need to know how many of them and what their affinities are.”
The Dean nodded slowly, “the General forbids us from helping them. He will likely do the same with Sloan before the next group goes.”
Chadwick starting walking out of the tent, “then make sure he forgets to order me to not help them. I have some enchanting to do.”
The three enchanters in the tent seemed surprised to see him back so soon. Nevertheless, they were all eager to show him the work they had been doing so far on the tasks he had set them.
Chadwick waved them back, “slight change of plans. We only have three days to come up with a design that will extract people from a battlefield, something that will allow them to trigger it. And then we need to make whatever it is we design.”
The two boys just looked puzzled, but the girl turned and started rifling through a box of books.
“What do you mean by extract?” Asked Taj.
“A new group of mages arrived with me today. I imagine you all know what will happen in around three days then?” Asked Chadwick.
Ghaile looked down morosely.
Taj looked angry and said, “my cousin was in the first group after we arrived.”
“Then you will understand when I say that they are not allowed to stop attacking until they feel strain on their magical reservoir. So, by that point they would struggle to get back here on their own. I need a way to assist them,” said Chadwick.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
“What about this?” Asked Sarah quietly. Holding out a book that was open.
Chadwick walked over and looked down at the page, saying, “an excellent idea. We would just need a high place and some mattresses.” Then he turned to the two boys who were looking puzzled, “which one of you wants to try flying?”

Three days later, the group of four enchanters had generated enough of a spectacle that there was a crowd of mages hanging around just to watch and cheer. The entertainment proving enough to drag the morose mages out of their tents. They had done small scale tests and eventually moved up to Taj now standing at the edge of the firing range.
A large rock was affixed twenty feet up, to the side of the wall at the back of the range and it had several blankets over it. A pile of various blankets and mattresses were at the base of the wall, under the stone.
The Dean was standing by in case something went wrong, his air magic being well suited to slowing people’s falls. The rest of the crowd was various other random mages from the small city of tents that had no other tasks required of them. At least until the next attack on the fortresses.
Taj’s hand nervously fluttered near the buckle of the large belt he was wearing, waiting for Chadwick’s signal.
“Alright, looks good. Go ahead Taj,” said Chadwick.
Taj gulped nervously, then twisted the iron bar on the front of the belt. He was almost immediately pulled into the air, bent backwards slightly as the belt hauled him towards the large stone on the wall.
The Dean tensed up as Taj rapidly approached the stone, even though it was covered in blankets. But Taj just came to a gentle stop and then floated down to the pile of mattresses and blankets underneath.
The crowd of mages cheered.
Taj was beaming as he trotted back over, “that take off speed is a bit much. Though, I guess I would rather it be fast, if it was me out there tonight.”
Chadwick turned to the Dean, “does Sloan have the tower ready for us?”
The Dean had relaxed again, but was looking at the big stone on the wall appraisingly while he answered, “he does, it should be ready for you to bring the stone over.”
Chadwick nodded, “good. We should be able to save some lives tonight.” Then he turned to Ghaile, “organize the team to move the stone over, I’ll detach it now.”
At the word, “now” the large stone just fell from the wall and crashed into the mattresses below.
Ghaile looked impressed as he ran off to round up the stone mages that had helped move it before. Taj and Sarah went to assist.
When it was just the Dean and Chadwick standing there, the Dean quietly said, “he will only let you get away with this once.”
“Hopefully that is all the time I need,” said Chadwick and turned to follow the group moving the stone.
That night they got word from the General that all the regular pool of mages should report to him in the large tent in the soldier’s section. Every single mage that went was wearing one of the new belts Chadwick and his team had designed.
Sloan was banned from helping, as anticipated. Chadwick, however, was completely forgotten about. Which was exactly as he had hoped.
The group that was being sent to assault one of the forts was strangely optimistic for something that normally resulted in half of them dying. They didn’t look like they were trudging to their deaths.
The General didn’t seem to notice. Chadwick was carefully watching the group and it seemed obvious to him. He was perhaps a bit biased though. Once he was sure of which fortress the mages were being sent towards, he disappeared into the night.
The sight of a patrol or an attack going out of the camp was far from unusual. Normally the groups leaving were mostly soldiers. With a few support mages. This group was only mages.
Chadwick had learned as much as he could about the usual routine. They always went after night had fallen and were sent to one of the forts along the border to find enemy mages. There were to kill as many Siyene as they could find, and only leave once they were under strain — that being a term that all mages were taught for when they had pushed their magical limits and couldn’t perform any more magic.
Exactly how far they could go before getting strained and how much magic they could channel in one go was tied to the size of their magical reservoir. Which was measured in weight and varied quite a bit amongst the group being sent.
Chadwick had never hit his strain limit. He had certainly experienced a change in how much magic he could handle in one go. He had never been able to output enough continuous magic to find a point that he couldn’t continue anymore. He suspected he was more likely to get hungry and need to stop for a meal before his reservoir ran out. He still understood the principle though.
Chadwick approached the fortress the team of mages were headed towards, a good ten minutes ahead of them because of his enhanced muscles and how easily he could see in the dark forest. Running through some trees was hardly enough to leave him out of breath, even if he hadn’t gotten his physique anywhere near the level he had managed in Vander’s book.
Once he arrived, he could make out dark, imposing stone walls. Torches lit up on top of them. The gate looked to be made of fresh wood and was currently closed.
Chadwick found what seemed like the most likely spot that the mages would arrive and set up the barrier that he had completed on his first day. He just placed the pieces on the ground, but didn’t turn them on yet. He found a good hiding spot up in some tree branches and settled in to wait. Keeping himself occupied by trying to make sense of the swirls of magic that emanated from the fortress. They were quite large and disappeared off into the earth.
The group of mages arrived rather more noisily than Chadwick had. A horn blew inside the fortress. Announcing that they knew the mages had arrived.
The group of mages stepped into range and started launching projectiles at the wooden gate immediately, the compulsion demanding they attack as soon as they could.
Chunks of ice, fire, wood and some jets of something that smelled like swamp water came flying out of the group of mages. They began battering the wooden door.
In just a moment, shamans began popping up on the tops of the walls and launching counter attacks.
Chadwick activated the barrier and the group of mages that had been diving out of the way of the counter-attack found themselves untouched. The shimmer of blue was almost invisible in the dark, though someone could easily tell where it was by the balls of fire and stone that just splashed harmlessly against it and fell to the floor.
The group of mages perked up at the unexpected protection and began firing back at the shamans on the tops of the fortress wall. The shamans may still have the advantage of walls they could duck behind, but there were far less shamans.
Things began to turn when one of the shamans got hit. A scream was followed by a thump. He had been knocked off the very high wall and back into the fortress.
One of the youngest in the group of mages must have hit the point of strain. Because he twisted the iron piece on his belt and went flying backwards through the dark night with a scream.
Some of the mages inside the barrier panicked and dove outside of its invisible safety when they heard the scream. Thinking they were under attack from behind.
This caused Chadwick to rapidly have to disintegrate several incoming projectiles to keep them safe while they scrambled back into the safety of the barrier. He was fairly certain none of the shamans noticed his intervention from his dark hiding spot.
About half the group of mages, primarily the youngest ones, activated their belts within the next few minutes. Leaving just the strongest behind.
When the shamans gave up trying to counter-attack through the barrier, unable to hit a single mage so far, the mages that remained began focusing on attacking the gate again. The compulsion forcing them to attack the fortress when they couldn’t see any mages.
The gate collapsed inwards with a splintering noise. Chadwick suddenly understood why the gate had looked like it was made of freshly cut wood. This was part of the routine. Soldiers rushed out of the collapsed gate with an assortment of battle cries.
To Chadwick, they looked much the same as those who had attacked the caravan, just a lot more of them.
The barrier was only designed to protect from incoming magic, so it would be down to the mages to fight directly with the soldiers attacking them now. It wouldn’t stop a person stepping through the barrier.
Two of the mages deliberately fired everything they had left at the attacking soldiers and then activated their belts and flew off into the night. One of them even made several rude gestures as he flew backwards.
This just left three mages. One of them coated his hands in fire and leaped into the incoming soldiers, punching indiscriminately. This gave Chadwick a hell of a time keeping the man safe, since he had to keep disintegrating metal weapons from a distance to prevent the mage from getting stabbed.
Regardless of how hard it was for Chadwick to protect the fire-punching mage, he was certainly effective on the soldiers with the fur armor. His punches ignited their furs and melted the flesh underneath. Many ran away from the mage in terror.
The mage’s hands finally guttered out, and one of his fellow mages reached down and twisted the iron on his belt for him. He flew off into the night, laughing like a madman.
The last two mages were a plant mage, who had been throwing the chunks of wood. And a metal mage. Each of them had crafted themselves partial suits of armor from their affinity and were launching close range projectiles at any soldiers that got near them.
One of them took a glancing blow from a curse when a shaman peeked through the gate. Then seemingly out of nowhere a large piece of stone fell from the gate above and crushed the shaman’s head.
The two mages seemed to be doing their best to burn through their magical reservoirs, knowing they couldn’t leave until the compulsion had been fulfilled. They had made their armors needlessly large and were throwing chunks of wood and metal out almost indiscriminately.
Where a small attack would have worked, they went for full overkill and blasted soldiers away from them so hard the enemy splattered against trees. Or bits of them went flying off into the night.
Chadwick saw the plant mage lose his armor as his magic finally failed him, but he looked down sadly at his belt that had been cut off by a Siyene sword.
The metal mage attempted to cover him, but there were seemingly too many soldiers. He was being weighed down as he pushed towards the exhausted plant mage.
A large man in furs screamed and jumped towards the helpless plant mage, sword raised above his head. Then stumbled as the weight of the sword vanished from his hands. He looked puzzled for a moment, then his eyes went blank and he just dropped bonelessly onto the ground.
The metal mage sprouted spikes out from his armor and killed all those close to him. His armor finally him as well as he hit the point of magical strain. He was trying to pull himself towards the plant mage, but kept slipping in the mud.
He was ready to give up and die there, exhausted, when he saw all the soldiers around him suddenly collapse to the ground.
His vision was slightly blurry, but he could’ve sworn he saw a small boy darting amongst the soldiers, picking things up from the ground.
He heard a dragging noise. The boy was pulling the collapsed plant mage over to him. The boy stood and said, “it should carry you both. Hold onto him tight though please.”
The metal mage regained his focus long enough to wrap his arms and legs around his friend, then nodded. He felt the belt activate and he quickly had to close his eyes because of the wind rushing past.
He held onto the plant mage for all he was worth, the two of them had survived five tower assaults together. He was his companion in misery. He was still holding on tight, with his eyes locked closed when he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder.
It was the Dean standing over him, “good work Davids. I do believe you saved Mel’s life. With both of you arriving, that means all twenty made it back alive.”
Davids was still a bit in shock, a common side-effect of magical strain, but he collected his thoughts enough to ask, “what about the boy that was there with us? It was dark, but I think it was the same one who gave us the belts. Fifty Siyene warriors suddenly died, then he showed up.”
The Dean looked around to see who was close or listening and leaned down, quietly saying, “you just forget you saw anyone, yes? Be happy you came back alive and leave it at that.”