RavensDagger

  Chapter Forty-One - The Tea

  55th Day of Spring - Year 1758 of the Golden EraShorefarm, Yellowfield, Draya Calyrex

  Maldrak didn't vocalize anything to let the others know, but he was appreciative of the seat that was offered to him. It was pleasurable to pull his aching feet off the ground for a moment.

  "The tea will come soon enough," the Magus across from him said. "But in the meantime, I must ask out of professional curiosity. The puppets that you sent. They felt like someone with a smidge of draconic essence, but without the taint."

  "Ah," Maldrak said. "A trick developed some twenty years ago. Unfortunately we were never able to perfect the spellwork, and so it remained mostly theoretical until quite recently. A colboration with Artisan Artificer Magus Woodbone led to the creation of the puppets' cores. They're quite marvelous."

  "Indeed," Beornhelm said. "I'd love to see their inner workings. Not of the functional models, of course, but the schematics."

  Maldrak nodded slightly. That was... a steep price, but one he was willing to negotiate. "I believe we can see about that. At this time and this pce, the artifice in question may be of great use."

  "Yes," Beornhelm said. "Yes. Things aren't well."

  "No, I imagine they're not," Maldrak said. "That is partially why I am here, however. I have a primary goal, of course, one detached from any academic leanings or phinthropic desires. I need to reach Sorrowmire, specifically the Avaris Myrcana Academy."

  "Ah, and so you came here first," Beornhelm said.

  They both paused as the apprentice returned, carrying a tray next to him on which a metal kettle sat. It was steaming. He pced it upon a small end table between the two maguses and then carefully poured clear, warm water into two porcein cups.

  The tea itself was procured from a small purple pouch and pced within a pair of metal spoons with enclosed ends perforated by dozens of small holes. The ends of the silver spoons were csped shut, and the spoons dipped into the cups where the tea within started to gently flow out of the infusers.

  "Thank you," Maldrak said as he took the cup proffered his way. He swirled the spoon, then sniffed the steam coming from the cup. "This is... Crown tea?"

  "From Drake's Crown, yes," Beornhelm said.

  Maldrak eyed the man, then took the spoon out once the water was darkened sufficiently. He pced it upon the tray, then sat back and took a small sip. He could instantly feel the warmth coursing through him. Not just of water, but of potent draconic essence. "Dangerous," he said.

  "Perhaps," Beornhelm said. "But without a dragon leashed to the essence, is it not something we can use?"

  "Dangerous," Maldrak repeated. It was power, power without restraint or leash, as the Magus had said. But it was inherently corrupting. A powerful or well-practiced magus could control it, tampen down the worst of the side effects, work through the spike in magic as he was doing now, but it was still dangerous. And he suspected, somewhat addictive. There was a reason Draya Calyrex was infamously rich. Exports such as this tea would be worth a home in another continent.

  The magic of the tower bore down on him slightly, dulling some of the rise that had come from the tea. He supposed that the Magus ahead of him wasn't entirely foolish.

  "I want to negotiate the use of your tower," Maldrak said. The words didn't have an immediate effect on Beornhelm, but his apprentice started, and Jorvin shifted where he stood.

  "Oh?" the man asked. "Do you want to own it, or use it?"

  "Use," Maldrak said. "It is your tower. Moreso now than ever, I suspect. Your tower is linked to others, isn't it? A communications system?"

  "It is," the Magus said. "As are all towers, as you well know."

  "And how far can you reach?" Maldrak asked.

  Beornhelm leaned back, spinning his spoon in his teacup as he thought. "From here? This tower is linked directly to the one in Viremontis, which has gone quiet. And to two more towers in the environs, as well as to a tower out by a small isnd some distance away, called Harbour Isle. Though what is there is merely a rey across the ocean."

  Maldrak hummed. "So, the towers of Draya Calyrex aren't linked to all others?"

  "No, of course not. The expense of such a thing!"

  "Ah, but that is how it is off this continent," Maldrak said. "Though yes, it is an expensive endeavor, in space and magic and raw materials. Still, without fear of a node being lost, a mage near a tower can safely communicate across the world."

  "Using nodes is far safer, and cheaper," Beornhelm argued.

  "Until a city is sacked, and suddenly towers once linked to a grand network are lost in a much smaller sea," Maldrak said.

  The man paused, then nodded. "Fair. I suppose that's not a consideration I'd ever had."

  "Yes, quite," Maldrak agreed. The other continents had to worry about Draya Calyrex rousing itself to come and pilge every century or two. Most forgot, but mages had long memories and careful records to remind them of what had happened before. "In any case, I have need of a network through which I can communicate. You don't have access to communications to the Academy?"

  "No," Beornhelm said, and he sounded genuinely sad about it. "The Academy is out of my reach. The st missive I received from them came some two weeks ago, and it was rather dire. A procmation that all mages should investigate the fluctuations in the magic of the world while keeping safe. Someone snuck in a warning, to keep away from the churches and perhaps consider holding to the nearest tower."

  And yet the man had lost one apprentice and almost another.

  "I see," Maldrak said. "What would it cost to be able to use your tower for communications like this?"

  Beornhelm shifted in his seat as he considered it. "The cost to myself is rather small. I will therefore keep it small for yourself as well. Simply tell me what your pns are, and my services are yours."

  The warning that if he found the pns distasteful he would be failing to uphold his end wasn't spoken, but it was heavily implied.

  "I have a daughter. A child from my marriage with my now-deceased wife. I care for her very much, and wanted the best education for her. She is attending the Academy of Avaris Myrcana."

  "Ah," Beornhelm said.

  "Yes. I wish to rescue her, if possible. But I was never a man who only had one goal. This nd is prosperous and rich, and was so for generations untold. When I leave here, I wish to do so richer than when I arrived. Moreso, I believe that there is power to be gained in uncovering what is happening to the nd currently. Both in academia, as a matter of research into the disastrous outcome of a dragons' demise, but also in terms of magical knowledge. It may well be that Draya Calyrex will remain a rich but poisoned nd for a very long time. Knowledge on how to handle this space may well be invaluable."

  That wasn't all, but it was enough to satisfy the magus. An emotional reason to be here. A reason tied to base greed. A reason linked directly to his wants as a mage.

  What more could someone want?

  The wizardly community was a tightly-knit one, where knowledge was preciously guarded and shared in equal measure. To lie, to omit, was sacrosanct.

  It made the average magus so very easy to manipute at times.

  Beornhelm and Maldrak finished their tea, and discussion turned to current affairs. The Magus had his apprentice retrieve a fat binder filled with loose sheets, each one a communication between this tower and its neighbours over the past weeks. There had been few signs that the dragons were in decline.

  Few wasn't none, however. As they scanned through communications, they tried to draw links, but it was all tangential, and to truly make headway would require more time and effort than could be given while seated in comfortable recliners in a living space such as this.

  Eventually, however, time came that Maldrak couldn't excuse staying here for longer. "We will have to depart," he announced as he stood and picked up his cane. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Magus. I hope that moving forwards, we have a long and fruitful partnership."

  "Indeed. I hope for the same. Maybe, when all is done and over with, this continent will be one where our sort of person is held in a greater esteem than in the past."

  "That is very possible," Maldrak said. "But we will have to see."

  They finished saying their goodbyes and were soon out the front of the tower and back on the road to Shorefarm.

  Maldrak waited until they were far out of earshot, mundane or otherwise, before speaking. "That man is a fool. I just hope he's not also a liability."

  ***