It didn’t take long for the four Templars to get over their awe and down to business. Raith supposed that if anyone was used to witnessing amazing [Skills], it was them. Durnam and Myst immediately began fine tuning the details of the keep after he explained how it works. Relk didn’t say much, but would wander over to a section from time to time with a frown, then cross his arms and grunt. One of the other three would immediately interpret and orchestrate the necessary adjustments.
Raith found that his servants could sort of wander around and serve as mobile objects to avoid, but not engage in anything resembling combat. Veil proved to be much more dynamic and helped add some variety to the ‘opposition’. After what must have been several hours of rehearsals, Durnam offered a suggestion.
“These servants you have are better than nothing, but if we could bring in some live role-players for the bad guys that would be really helpful.”
Raith shook his head, trying not to be irritated at the question. This man had never had to hide his powers and it showed.
“I hope you can understand, but I’d prefer not to let even more people know about this.”
The man shrugged and they got back to work. Myst stepped in to take over without really asking. It got Raith’s hackles up at first, but after watching her experience and competence on display, he quickly decided he didn’t really mind. Indeed, he found himself learning a lot from her calm direction and this will make him a better captian for the Myth Seekers if they make it out the other side of this.
After another few hours of run-throughs, everyone was getting tired and starting to bicker so they called a two hour lunch break. As a group, they filed out into the mirror chamber. When they filed out into the bedroom, Myst paused by the open curtains and looked out onto the courtyard. She had an odd look on her face that Raith assumed was admiration at what Thea and the other [Druids] have been doing with the garden. It was really quite spectacular. Both beautiful and suggestive of some primordial power at the same time. Thea said that the garden would also help with security, but he wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.
Myst pointed at the sun, still low in the horizon across the city and looked back over her shoulder at him.
“What time is it?”
“Oh, it’s the same time we went in. When I activate [Life in Staccato], no time passes in there.”
Myst shut her eyes, flattened her lips in a tight line and took a deep breath. Raith didn’t know her very well, but was fairly sure the expression was ‘exasperated’. She opened her eyes again and frowned.
“Are you earning any weft from this setup?” She gestured back towards the mirror. “With the aethercore and everything. Keeping that [Skill] activated constantly and using it with all of us in there?”
Raith thought that was a weird thing to ask, but examined his pattern. He let out an involuntary gasp. He hadn’t really noticed with everything that was going on, but a slow trickle of weft crept in, and the [Mnemonic Manor] pattern had been especially affected by whatever was going on. It reminded him of the progression of a pattern as it moved from a Lesser to Greater [Skill].
“Does this mean it’s getting trained up? I thought that was incredibly difficult. The only time I trained up a [Skill] took weeks of agony.”
Myst shook her head and gestured to the mirror chamber again.
“Do you think all that is easy? How many individuals do you suppose have their own aethercore?” She chuckled. “I suppose I can understand why you avoided the Templars all those years, but you really missed out on a huge amount of education and power development. We have centuries of practice evaluating [Divine Skills], testing their limits, and optimizing use. Grinding up ancillary [Skills]. I spent nearly a decade at the Academy doing all that and more.”
“Ok, so what am I missing here?”
“What’s the next braid up of this manor you’ve got here?”
“Lorehall.”
“Huh, I figured it would be palace or something like that.”
“Palace is after that. Kingdom is at the Divine braid, not that I’ll ever get to that.”
He laughed at that last, but Myst didn’t share in the humor. She stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder, looking around as though to check no one else was nearby.
“I want you to listen to me very carefully right now. When we train new Templars, more than anything we’re looking for a cheat. A way to take the enormous power of a [Divine Skill] and find some pattern, combination or loophole to make it unstoppable.” She squeezed his shoulder gently and made sure he was looking her in the eyes. “If you can really keep time from passing while we’re in there, you can grind your [Skills] up as high as you want. Weaver’s tits, kid, we all can. That’s like the ultimate cheat. Think about that for just a minute.”
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Raith did, and the implications made him feel like the floor had dropped out from beneath him.
“I need to sit down.”
He made his way to a chair and plopped into it, putting his face in his hands.
He took a peek at his pattern again, and as though prompted by his gaze, watched as the weave for [Mnemonic Manor] shimmered, coalescing into new, more complex pattern right before his eyes. He’d already read the pattern for [Mnemonic Lorehall] and knew without checking that’s what it was on the verge of becoming. Weeks of keeping his library and manor open constantly, bringing Darius and Vandamir in to study for hours, and hosting all these people within his halls had unknowingly ground up the [Skill], just as if he’d trained it deliberately.
Myst squatted down in front of him to meet eye to eye.
“Go take a break and relax for a bit. Get some food in your stomach. You’ll have plenty of time to figure this out when we reconvene. I’d advise bouncing your thoughts off your team. They seem like a good group, and I don’t say that lightly.” One corner of her mouth turned down. “Except maybe the pixie. I’m not too sure about that one.”
***
“I still don’t understand why this is such an urgent issue, Mr. Quirric.”
Vandamir’s smaller legs pumped much harder than he was accustomed to as he tried to keep up with the longer legs of Raith and Darius. The satyr gave a curt nod of agreement.
Raith sighed and tried to explain again, but did not slow his pace. They were already running late because he had spent too long in the Order’s library consuming every book he could think of that might be useful for their mission. Everything from infiltration to sabotage, including tomes from the restricted section thanks to his arrangement with Darius.
“The group will be in there for a long time training and grinding [Skills]. With you two there not only will my [Manor] evolve faster, but you guys can take advantage of all of that reading time. Just think about it. Maybe weeks of research without a moment passing or any interruption.”
That last part seemed to finally quell the objections.
Raith expected the others to be irritated at his tardiness, but the group was just lounging around his bedroom in idle chatter or relaxing quietly by themselves. Thea was sprawled out on his bed, head resting on the golem they had named Murder. She sat up when they walked in with a puzzled expression.
“Get that thing off my bed,” Raith protested.
Thea ignored him, instead focused on her father.
“What are you doing here? You’re not coming with are you?”
“Coming with where, honey?” Darius looked around sternly at the gathered Templars, noticing them for the first time. “And why in the five realms are you all here.”
Shit, shit, shit. I can’t believe I forgot about Darius’s promotion.
The expressions from his guests ranged from incredulous to pissed. Thea was the only one who didn’t hesitate to speak.
“Are you ever going to stop being a complete idiot?”
Myst laughed and stepped in smoothly.
“Interim Archive, what a pleasant surprise. Why don’t we all head into Raith’s little realm and we can discuss the situation unbothered.”
Darius looked skeptical, but didn’t press the issue and the group filed back through the mirror. The satyr looked around at the manor’s configuration and recognition lit in his eyes, followed quickly by a red flush that Raith recognized all too well. So did Thea, because she immediately stepped up and put a hand on his arm.
“Dad, let’s go in the other room and talk.”
Hob stepped forward, meeting the satyr’s gaze.
“I’ll join you, if that’s alright.”
The painter’s sad eyes seemed to drain away Darius’s anger like the receding tide. With another nod the three of them adjoined to an adjoining room. Raith looked over and saw poor Vandamir standing awkwardly amongst the Templars and adventurers.
“Sorry about that, sir. Veil, will you please show Vandamir and Crinkle to the library and help get them settled in. Bring one of the servants with you.”
At the sound of its name, Crinkle poked its head out of the pages of a book Vandamir had tucked under his arm. Veil ran forward excitedly, then gestured for them to follow, speeding off to a door across the room.
“Library?” Myst asked.
“There’s no point in keeping any of this a secret, I guess. Especially if we’re going to be holed up here for a long time.”
Durnam’s head whipped towards Myst and Raith was pretty sure Relk’s eyebrow moved up a fraction of an inch.
That man makes Nyhm looked positively theatrical.
“We’ll catch Hob up when he gets back, but here’s the deal.”
Raith watched everyone’s face in turn as Myst explained the plan. Nyhm didn’t give away much, but Raith figured his brother would just go with the flow. Zinny seemed thrilled with the idea, and the Templars were reserved. Tolliver, however, had an increasing frown. Raith sidled up and nudged him, whispering.
“What’s the matter?”
“Had I know this was the plan I would have brought spell books to study.”
“Don't worry. We can step out and you can fly and grab them really quick before we get started.”
The [Mage]’s face relaxed and they tuned back in to Myst.
“Relk here was head of [Skill] grinding at the Academy. He’s sixth braid, but almost all of his [Skills] are at least seventh. I’m pretty sure strength and endurance are at eighth, but he’s never said and you may not have noticed but Relk isn’t much of a talker.”
They all turned to the big man, who stood with his arms crossed over his chest staring ahead at nothing.
How is this guy going to teach anyone anything?
“So if he is willing to help, between the two of us we can up the power level in this group so far that we could practically walk in the front gate.” She grinned. “Ok that’s not really true, the enemy are still Templars. But our odds of succeeding with your plan become astronomically better. Any questions before we get started?”
“Why can’t I shake the feeling like this is all unfair somehow?”
Raith hadn’t intended to say that out loud, hadn’t really even realized he felt that way until he said it. But now that he articulated the feeling he hoped Myst had a good answer.
“When it comes to fighting people like Venton, ‘fair’ doesn’t have shit to do with anything. There’s just power. And whoever has the most power gets to live. Now tell me, do you want to live?”
