EIGHTEEN
“No way he cleared a rift with a rock,” Beto whispered to the others as they lounged inside mage lord Alexandros's suite. Either the young mage didn’t know that Knight’s senses were superior or he didn’t care. Without either Alice or Benny around, the thin veneer of respectfulness had disappeared.
“What would Diur do?” Kon thought, sure that the stern, but even keeled cultivator was the most balanced person that he knew. She would know how to deal with this. His instincts, admittedly a bit warped since his time with Benny and Alice, said to impress upon them with a display of strength. That was how Alice always dealt with problems. A few rounds in the sparring ring left most anyone cautious about being disrespectful of the chaotic Knight.
“Diur is more subtle than that. But do I want to emulate her or have my own way?” Kon thought on how he’d humble the young mage and settled with his idea, keeping a smile from reaching his face.
“Revenge is best done cold, right Benny?” Kon left it at that and moved around the room of a mage lord and had to repress a whistle. Benny’s suite had been the dilapidated wealth of someone who no longer cared about it. Alexandros’s wealth was in this works along his walls, the bookshelves filled with handwritten grimoires protected by vac sealed cases, rift treasures locked sealed in rune encrusted tubes, and other more esoteric things that Kon didn’t recognize.
“One of Benny’s nephews found that on a planet early on in our exodus,” Alexandros said as he exited from a locked door. The older man seemed a bit peaked, paler than he should have been with his shoulders hunched further than they had been. The energy in his eyes was still there, a fever of thought that raced along even as his body faded away.
Kon looked back at what Alexandros had seen him staring at. It was a stick. A nice stick to be honest, five feet long, bone white, polished to a sheen, with a knot of roots at the end with a crystal embedded at the end. It sat on top of a pair of wall brackets, not sealed within a tube or guarded at all.
“What’s special about it?” Kon asked.
“His notes were not up to standard unfortunately. It was while we were still figuring out how to properly navigate the lanes and he was part of a small expeditionary force. Already the mages had begun to wear thin, our numbers too slow to replace and our long travel through the darkness caused us to exhaust most of our stores.”
“So they weren’t too occupied with taking copious notes?” Kon guessed. Alexandros smiled sadly and nodded solemnly.
“Would have loved to have some footage of their early expeditions but most of that type of data was corrupted or destroyed. We do have his journal along with his grimoire. Jeremy Lachlan was his name and he found this on a planet they named NS-4.”
“NS?” Kon asked. He winced inwardly at interrupting the mage, but for the first time he met someone who not only had the patience for his questions, but seemed to enjoy them. Alexandros shifted into a teaching pose, hands behind his back and legs relaxed as he began to lecture.
“We didn’t become wanderers right away. We were looking for a home, any home. The first planet we found is where we found Oasis but the planet was failing. Over industrialization and a series of brutal wars had left the world a wasteland and rifts were left untended for too long. Our few leaders at the time sent expeditionary forces out to find a home. NS stands for Non-Suitable.”
“Didn’t realize we were looking to colonize a planet. Benny mentioned some of it, but he never went deep into the history around it.”
“We don’t talk about it. Lots of people lost their lives in these expeditions. The lanes weren’t understood, still aren’t, and we lacked the martial strength we have now. I’m sure if one were to walk the old paths on that side of the galaxy they’ll find human graves on barren worlds. Thousands died looking for home, but most what we found were unsuitable planets or occupied systems. If they were willing to trade with us we managed to secure goods and limped on. If they weren’t, then we took heavy losses while retreating. Most of the original fleet we built above our homeworld was lost like this as well as the fleet we captured when we took the Oasis.” Kon found himself entranced as Alexandros spoke.
“When they found something interesting and deemed it non-dangerous, they brought it back here. These are currently my quarters, but at one point this was the Hall of Mages for the Oasis. They came and showed off what they found, the knowledge and experience shared amongst each other in the hopes it would increase the likelihood they would survive the next mission.” Alexandros let that sink in and Kon didn’t say what was on his mind as he let himself think about that.
He’d fought for his life and he had killed before. Crucible and during the ambush at the tournament, both times he’d been in fear of his life. They were defining moments for him, moments he’d carry forever. But to live their entire life like that, balanced on the razor’s edge of not just their death, but the death of their entire people?
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“I don’t know if I could bear that weight.” What he was doing was nothing compared to what his ancestors had done and experienced. He was blazing new paths and death wasn’t far from view, but if he failed his race wouldn’t end. They’d continue on as they had for millenia.
“Mages were warriors, yes, but even more importantly we were scholars. We studied as much as we could and used our abilities to keep ourselves safe as we charted unknown waters. All three of the worldships are great repositories of knowledge, with Oasis being the oldest and likely the greatest in depth. We stopped sending expeditions out centuries ago and most of the knowledge I curate here is ancient. I do link our digital library with the Oasis’s primary to keep us up to date on all public knowledge, but the Orders and even nobles and merchant’s intelligence services have outstripped ours,” Alexandros said sadly.
“When did you get so melancholic?” Benny’s voice startled both of them and they whirled to look over at the old man as he came to stare at the staff. Alexandros just waved a hand at him while Benny stopped in front of the staff. Benny whispered a word that Kon thought was, “remember”, but couldn’t be sure.
“Jeremy brought that back from his first expedition. My younger sister’s second son. Said he found it on a world covered in shadow and darkness in the ruins of a city made of white marble,” Benny said, stroking his chin.
“That seems like this staff is very cursed,” Kon said. Alexandros snorted while Benny dryly chuckled.
“No idea what it was or did, but it was a tradition to bring something back from an expedition. If you get into the vault you’ll find lots of weird shaped rocks,” Benny informed him. Alexandros backed it up by nodding and the two of them chuckled together.
“What are we going to be doing?” Kon asked. The two of them had been squirreled away while Benny got Alexandros up to date.
“Socializing,” Benny spat. Alexandros rolled his eyes at the old man’s overwhelming dismay at it.
“There will be rumors abounding if we are in the right place and time. Contracts being discussed, weapons bought and sold, ships moved, officers transferred. If this is what you two think it is, there will be an indication. Inquisitor Ran will be running down his own leads, but we must be building alliances. Finding those who want money, or even better, put a blade in the Lion’s side as they overextend,” Alexandros said.
“Sommer’s is busy running around and rubbing elbows with anyone who will talk to him. The head of the Dragon isn’t on ship, neither are most of the senior leadership for their Knight Chapters, but they do have the civilian branches on board. Their merchants and nobles that form their core,” Alexandros continued.
“This is why we keep him around. He keeps his ear to the ground,” Benny said.
“I keep my ear out for free food,” Alexandros quipped back, patting his flat stomach and chuckling at his own joke.
“Most these events are done at banquets or galas of the rich. Different quarters, wider and more spread out, they were originally meant to be a series of parks we think, but we’ve repurposed them,” Alexandros said.
“The blue bloods took them for themselves and rent them out for events to fund their own interests,” Benny explained.
“Regardless, there is always something going on and with Sommer’s on the ship they’re constant right now. Different groups being brought in to be wooed and bribed to assist them,” Alexandros said.
“So we go and try to stop them from doing that? Lay our own bribes down?” Kon guessed.
“Yes, to a degree. You’ll be doing none of that. We want you there to attend and maybe show the strength of the newest Chapterhouse. No words at all about how it’s being done, but that a new methodology has been found to create stronger Knights,” Alexandros said. Benny shot him a sharp look and a frown immediately creased his face.
“I don’t like that. Puts the boy in too much danger,” Benny disagreed.
“We talked about this. If we’re going to gain allies we must offer them something they want. The independents and weapons can be bought, you have the wealth for that. But not even your wealth is enough to sway an Order,” Alexandros argued patiently.
“You’d be surprised,” Benny muttered, but he didn’t disagree.
“We be careful. Offer slots to young Squires, which you need anyway to see if this process is viable to others than just Kon. I’d like it to not just be my apprentices who are risking life and sanity in this process,” Alexandros said and it had the tired refrain of an argument that had already been had.
“It’s too soon. We don’t have the strength necessary to fend off anything serious. Not with me being…less,” Benny said.
“That’s what alliances are for. Make it in their interests to protect you and fight with you. Rely on their own greed and desire for power to guard you,” Alexandros said.
“That only works till they decide they want everything and not just the piece they are offered,” Benny countered. Kon kept his mouth shut as the two of them went back and forth.
“Balance. Inquisitor Ran is still in your corner. You have the direct ear of the Fleet Guardians. You have apprenticed or taught nearly every B-Grade alive. To cross you the Dragon would have to be foolish beyond all measure. We give them an enemy, we give them allies, and we make it in their interests to keep us alive,” Alexandros said.
“I’m not arguing against your logic. I do not like being in a position of weakness. They may think it worth the risk to take our research and even if it brings their eventual destruction, will that matter to us? We’ll be corpses left inside of some rift or tossed into a star in some remote system,” Benny grumbled.
“Then revive the fear, old man. Visit ruin upon your enemies and let your allies know it was you. Even crippled and lesser, you are the thing that all wise men fear.”