Inexperienced Mage (Reawakening Saga) (11 page)

As soon as the rest of the visitors had presented their gifts they all retreated to the dining are where the princess sat to his left and another young girl with light brown hair was seated to his right. Throughout the meal he casually chatted with both girls the brown haired girl asking the majority of the questions about the gift he had brought the princess. As the meal was winding down his head began to throb, he had already been inside the place for slightly over two hours, and he knew it was time for him to make his exit but couldn’t think of a way to do that as he was under the uncomfortable eye of the queen.

After the meal was over everyone returned to the grand hall mingling around as group of musicians played a variety of music. The second he and the princess were given a moment of peace he leaned down and told her he couldn't hold up his disguise much longer. Having spent a lot of time around him she understood what he meant. "How much longer can you keep it up - everyone should be breaking off now to their own engagements and it wouldn't be unseemly for you to leave at that time, shouldn't be more than another half hour?"
 

Thad rubbed his hand across his brow trying to ease the slight throbbing of his head. “I should be able to hold that long, but I’m going to be hurting in the morning.” He said letting out a light chuckle so as not to worry the princess.

Just as the princess had said the party quickly started to wind down, and people began moving away mostly those Thad figured most likely to make deals and reinforce bonds. While Farlan wasn't the biggest land it still took a great deal of time to travel from holding to holding and gathers like this were great opportunities for the highborn to make arrangements. From what he had learned at the academy the school was much the same while all the nobles could easy afford private tutoring Farlan's nobles sent them to school so they could mingle with others of the peerage and make valuable future contacts. Many other counties also sent some of their nobles to the school much for the same reason but in all fairness the school was one of the best available.

With the party dying down Thad made his way to the front gate not wanting to take the chance on getting caught using the secret passage. No one stopped or questioned him on his way out of the palace grounds, and he soon found his way back to his lair.

Chapter V

The next morning he woke to the expected headache. The night before had went well, he only hoped that Monique wouldn't be put out with him for using the company name in his visit to the palace. Setting up he was reminded of his overuse of magic the night before as his vision blurred. He wanted to get to work on his idea of augmenting his own magic but he knew he should wait a day at least before he started on the project. With nothing else to do he began carving out more small wooden tiles. He could just use wood or metals but he discovered that if he used two different bodies one holding the spell and the other the link to him it made using them much easier, and wasted less magic.

Using a thick stick of charcoal and one of the many pieces of brown butcher's papers he began working on a diagram for his staff. He wanted it to be made of marblewood and it needed to be about six foot long. If he worked it the same way he had the music box using a large diamond as the core focus, and other gems as sub cores it would greatly increase its potential. If he could get his staff made along with his rune necklace he would be incredibly dangerous. The staff would increase his power while reducing the strain and the necklace would allow him to cast spells with reduced focus and feed him saved magic, and if he made both with the other in his mind he might even be able to make them more effective.

To test his theory he planned to make a weak version of each before sinking a large amount of gold and time into the full project. He already had a large selection of magical items for Monique, and it was still weeks before she would be coming back through the capital. He had other project in the works too like making an offensive ring. He had tried using metal but no matter how well made any conduit of magic got some feedback from the spell which, with a fire spell, resulted him getting a bad burn. He had tried lighting with wood but it blew apart nearly taking off his finger with it. He had a workable idea for fire, making a stone ring with a metal coating on the outside but hadn't yet come up with a workable idea for lighting, or his explosive spells yet. Mental effects like his paralyzing spell were easy since metals and woods didn't have a conscience to effect.

Early the next morning he donned his disguise and headed straight for the carpenters shop. He was pleased to find that due to an order for a marblewood table they had some left over wood in the back that they had yet put to use. The longest block being seven by one by one, much bigger than he needed but with the superior magical conduit ability of the wood he was sure he could find a use for the extra. The wood alone cost him a fair amount of his coin but that had been expected with the rarity of the wood.

Inside the jewelry store he had frequently visited he was greeted by the familiar shopkeeper. "I am in market for a large diamond as well as some other fair sized gems." Thad said trying his best to mimic the princess's entitled demeanor. The shopkeeper said little but brought out a large selection of gems from the back room of every shape and size. The largest diamond was the size of a large grape. "How much?"

The lady fidgeted for a moment waiting for more information on what he wanted to know the price of; seeing nothing forthcoming she started giving the prices of all the gems. "the large Diamond there is twelve gold the smaller ones range from a gold to eight gold, the rubies and emeralds range from two silver to three gold, the amethysts and garnets range from a silver to a gold, the rest vary on cost if one strikes your eye just ask and I'll quote you a price my lady."

Looking through the assortment of gems a dark blue gem about the size of plum with a thin streak of white through its middle. Probing it with his magic he found that it held equivalent potential of a ruby. "May I ask what this is called?”

"That is called a cat's eye gem we have plenty of them in the western sapphire mines I get them cheap since most people view them as imperfections but in the right setting they're still very fetching. One that size I would sell you for five silvers the smaller ones
are much cheaper."

After s few moments of quiet deliberation he finally decided on the large diamond and five plum size, twenty five grape size and fifty pea size cat's eye gems. He couldn't believe his luck the cat's eyes gems were cheap and extremely suitable for his needs, only sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds were better and the first two not by much.

His coin pouch was almost empty containing only a single gold, and a few silvers so he made his way back to his home. He would need to sell some more of his items but that could wait a few days, he still had plenty of food, and the items he was carving would keep him busy for quite some time. The marblewood was heavy and he began to tire quickly, and trying to get it into the sewer without just dropping it down the hole was near impossible.

Once back in his lair he immediately went to work on the staff. After an hour of cutting at the wood first with his magic then with his magical dagger he understood where it got its name. Not only did the wood look like marble it was as hard as stone as well. After nearly six hours of work he finally had the staff looking like he wanted. The main shaft of the staff was sleek and only about as thick as the hilt of a sword, graduating getting thicker until it was topped with a spherical top.

Setting the staff aside he flexed his aching arms, even with the magically enchanted blade he had to put a lot of strength behind it to cut the wood. He still had to cut out the sections where the gems would go but that could wait for another day, he still needed to test out his theories before he finished his staff.

He picked up a small wooden staff he had made, it was only about two feet long and adorned with a host of crystals. All it was waiting on was the spells to make it function, so he went straight to work. Linking himself to the miniature staff he linked the top crystal to the ten smaller ones ringing it one by one. The staff worked in a reverse fashion of his normal spells collecting his magic into the smaller gems and sending it to the larger one amplifying it and focusing whatever spell he was casting.

He didn't know how long he sat there but when his eyes focused on his surrounding he noticed that the princess sat cross-legged in front of him. He tried to speak but his voice came out as more of a harsh whisper. Trying to move he was suddenly aware of the massive throbbing in his skull and cramps in his arms and legs. "Oh great, I was starting to get bored staring at you."

He tried to rise but his legs gave out and he slammed head first into the floor, getting a gasp from the princess who rushed over to him and helped get him in a sitting position using the wall of the room to brace his back. She quickly got him a skin of water forcing the water down his parched throat. “Are you okay, what happened?” Her voice that a few minutes before had been slightly displeased was now full of concern.

“I let myself get drawn too deep into what I was working on; I’m not even sure how long I was out. I started working on it the night after our party.” His voice still sounded horse and every syllable spoken made his head feel as if it were being ripped in two.

“The party was three days ago.” The princess said giving him a worried look. “Stay right there, I’ll be right back and I swear if you moved so much as an inch ill beat you with a whip.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth the little princess darted out of the room, he chuckled slightly as he heard her footsteps echoing throughout the sewer. As soon as the princess was gone he closed his eyes and let himself drift off to sleep.

He was awoken a short time later by a gentle tugging at his arm. Opening his eyes he let out a soft groan as the princess pushed something into his hands. Taking a sip he found that it was a cup of warm broth, it was rich but very good, he was about to tell him he wasn’t an invalid yet but automatically thought better of it. As soon as he finished the broth she forced him to drink another glass of water. As soon as he finished the water they talked for a bit but he kept drifting off to sleep in the middle of their conversations.

The next time he woke his body was still sore and the princess was gone. He felt bad about falling asleep during her visit but he was sure she understood. He laughed as he thought about her last visit; he decided her caring side was cute. His headache was gone though he hadn’t expected it to last long since he had used very little magic on the staff, all the effort had been the intricate intertwining connections he had to make to the different crystals.

Thad picked up his miniature staff and placed it in his lap then grabbed a necklace that held four crystals and three tiles that had already been engraved with runes and spells. Not wanting to stress himself he made a mental note to take a stop after every few connections. He was happy that he only had to connect the four crystals with each other, with the main crystal on the staff, and himself. It still took him over eight hours to finish after two stops to eat and stretch.

Shortly after he was finished he was graced again by the princess who was none too happy that he had been performing magic again. “If I find you nearly dead again
I’m going to drag you in front of my mother clapped in irons so you can take a nice long reflective rest in the dungeon.”

"I was more careful this time, as I told you I'm still new to magic and it's not like I have someone to tell me what I should or shouldn't do, it's all hit or miss." She didn't take his explanation too well and chewed on his ear for a long time. He thought about antagonizing her a little more since she was cute when her hackles were up.

After her tirade was over she sat down heavily next to him with a slight humph. “So what are you working yourself to death over anyway?”

Needing little reason to brag about his newest project he started rapidly explain what he was working on. A few minutes of him speaking the princess held up her hand stopping him. “Please keep it simple, you’re giving me a headache.” 

“Sorry,” Thad said blushing, “the staff will allow me to strengthen my spells while the necklace will allow me to draw on their strength to keep from draining myself so fast. There’s a lot more to it but that’s the quick answer. If they work right ill finish the real staff and necklace, but first I’m going to have to get more silver as well as a silver necklace to attach them to.
”

"Oh, oh!"
The princess said excitedly. "I just remembered I thought of a way for you to gain a bit of good will with mother. There is a large group of bandits wreaking havoc all over the Queendom. There's a large group of men demanding that all slaves be freed and men be given the same status as women within the Queendom. Their message I can sympathize with, but their methods are ruthless, they're killing and attacking everyone on the road and killing those that refuse to join them. If you were to bring them down and maybe return the tax money stolen it would buy you a lot of good will not only with mother but with the other peerage who have to send out their tax men again."

Thad had been well schooled in economics and understood that if the slave system were abolished overnight it would destroy Farlan's economy, the only way would be to slowly reduce the country's dependence on slave labor. As for making men equal he could get behind that but wanton slaughter was not the way to achieve your methods. "Once I finish my staff and a few other things I'll see what I can do, if they're as ruthless as you say I'll see to their destruction." He spoke clearly but left the hanging question of what he would do if they weren't blood thirsty killers.