Guild Mage: Apprentice-Chapter 161. Into the Wild

“The nerve of that bastard,” Matthew exclaimed. “Sending his men into the duchy without so much courtesy as a warning!”

Triss promptly elbowed him in the side.

“What– oh. My apologies, Liv,” Matthew said, somewhat crestfallen. “I know that’s not a comfortable word for you.”

“I’m more worried about what we do next,” Liv admitted. “They’ll be here for me, of course, after what happened at Coral Bay.”

Julianne walked over to a nearby shelf of rock, swept a few bits of rusted metal away with her hand, and then took a seat. Though she’d fought ferociously during the night raid, Liv could see now in the morning light just how exhausted the older woman was. Liv always thought of the duchess as the beautiful young woman she’d been when she’d first arrived at Whitehill, but in truth, that woman had been gone for years.

Julianne’s jaw had softened with age, and crows feet at the corners of her eyes were all the more obvious now without a recent, artful application of her maid’s paints, powders and brushes. Her hair was still dark, but Liv saw now there was gray at the roots. She wondered how long the older woman had been using dye to hide it.

“I can put a stop to this,” Julianne said, after thinking for a moment. “As duchess, justice falls to me in my own lands.”

“Are we just all going to lie through our teeth?” Wren asked. “Not that I object, but let’s not forget that you have actually got the magic they don’t want you to have, Liv.”

“And a way to conceal it,” Sidonie pointed out.

“We didn’t bring anyone on the raid that I don’t trust to keep this secret,” Julianne said.

“What’s the point, though?” Liv asked, and everyone turned to her. That old urge to hunch her shoulders when she was made the center of attention was still there, but muted, now. These were her friends and family, after all. Even Bliant Crosbie was Triss’ brother: she didn’t know the big man well, but she could trust her sister-in-law’s judgement.

“What do you mean?” Matthew asked.

“The entire reason I went to Coral Bay, instead of north, was to learn what I could before going to war,” Liv said. “The real hope was to learn the word of dreams, of course, but Genevieve Arundell’s bit of bribery means that I don’t even need to go back to do that. I’m a journeyman, recognized by the college, which means Master Grenfell can just imprint it on me and we’re done. I know enough about silent casting to progress on my own, I’m a competent enchanter. I can continue to work on my Authority wherever we go. Jurian was my teacher, and–” she swallowed. “What would I actually be going back for, if we went through all this trouble to prove my innocence? Assuming it's even possible.”

“If we assume that all accusations could be put aside, for a moment,” Sidonie said, “you would need to stay at Coral Bay to help with the King Tide this year. After that, you would be sent to various cullings to gain combat experience which is, let us be frank, a waste of your time.”

“Especially when where I really need to be is Varuna,” Liv said. “If we leave, can you find a way to put them off?” she asked Julianne.

“I remain the Duchess of Whitehill,” the older woman said. “And whatever charges they think they can bring against you, they have only hearsay against me. After all, you could have learned Luc in the north, from one of your father’s allies, couldn’t you?”

“I could have.” Liv nodded. She wasn’t sure it would have actually been that simple, but it was a good excuse, and she doubted that Benedict’s servants would know enough about Elden society to question it.

“What is your plan, then?” Julianne asked.

Liv took a deep breath. “North. I have promises to keep in Al’Fenthia, and I can get news of my father and Keri there. After that, I’d like to find a way to meet up with my grandmother. And there’s something at the bottom of the Tomb of Celris that I need. Once we take care of all that? Varuna.”

“Arjun and I aren’t journeymen, yet,” Rosamund pointed out. “Not that I’m saying we wouldn’t go with you, but it's something to consider.”

“Liv and I can teach you what you need to know,” Sidonie offered. “To be honest, both of you already have as much combat experience as most journeymen.”

“I can’t go north,” Wren said, finding Liv’s eyes with her own. “They’ll kill me.”

“Actually, I think that’s another reason to go,” Liv told her. “We can’t have our allies working at cross purposes. For the past year, you’ve done everything you could to keep me safe, and fought Ractia’s forces twice. Your information’s been crucial more than once. We need to prove your value to my father’s people, and get this settled.”

“Just like that?” Wren raised her eyebrows.

“I’m not saying it will be easy,” Liv told her. “But I do believe it will be worth doing.”

“How will you go?” Matthew asked. “Going to dig that waystone out?”

“Don’t even ask them,” Triss said. “Better if we don’t know. You know we have to stay?”

“I understand.” Liv smiled. “You all need to keep Whitehill: and Valegard: in one piece. Which I don’t think will be easy. Benedict is grasping for more and more power.” She reached her arms out, and Triss stepped in to embrace her.

“Stay safe, little sister,” Triss said.

“And you keep that husband of yours out of trouble,” Liv told her. “I wish we could have gone back to Whitehill and stayed for a while.” The two young women released each other, and then Matthew stepped in to embrace Liv in turn.

“Try not to get into too much trouble,” he said. The lack of his other arm felt strange, but Liv simply nodded, let Matthew go, and then turned to Duchess Julianne.

“Tell my mother:” Liv swallowed.

“I will,” Julianne promised. She stood up and embraced Liv in turn, then leaned in so that her lips were nearly touching Liv’s ear. “I can put this off for a while,” the older woman whispered. “But sooner or later, I’m going to need to call you back. You understand that, don’t you?”

“One war at a time,” Liv murmured in response, and then they each took a step back. She turned to look over her friends. “If anyone wants to stay in Lucania, now is the time to tell me,” she said.

Rosamund simply huffed and crossed her arms.

“I was only staying at the college this long to be ready for you to leave,” Sidonie pointed out.

Arjun smiled. “Are you asking because you actually expect us to turn back, or for your own comfort?”

Liv shook her head. “Alright. The rest of you best head on back to the wall. We’ll wait here until you’re out of sight.”

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“It was good to fight beside you all,” Bliant Crosbie said. “Keep yourselves safe.” The big man offered an arm to Duchess Julianne, and then the four turned and walked west toward Valegard.

Once they were out of earshot, Wren turned back to Liv. “What’s the plan? Dig up all that rubble?”

Liv shook her head. “No, they’d expect us to travel by waystone, and Lucanians are allowed in Al’Fenthia. If I were Genevieve, or Benedict, I’d already have a trap set for us there, and at Whitehill, as well. These new soldiers, and mages loyal to the king. I want to drag them into a fight on ground they don’t know. But first, I want to quietly make contact with Master Grenfell, if we can. Can you get into Valegard and find a way to speak with him, without being seen?”

“Once night falls it will be easier,” Wren pointed out.

“Then we’ll find a place to make camp,” Liv said. “Not in the valley, but north of here, in the mountains.” She pointed across the short part of the valley, neither east nor west, but toward the lands of the Eld.

☙

The five companions retraced their steps, first, heading back west toward the ruins of the Foundry Rift, now buried in a landslide, until they were no longer in sight of the wall at Valegard. Only then did they turn north, trusting to the dust and debris that covered the valley to conceal them from the sight of their enemies.

They avoided the spider-like scavenger Antrians as best they could: stopping to fight would only work to their disadvantage, now, and Liv wanted to be lost in the mountains before Benedict’s troops made any attempt to follow. When they were forced to defend themselves, they destroyed the machines as quickly as they could, and then kept moving.

Liv was tempted to send Wren to scout for them again, but she also didn’t want the huntress to run herself short of blood. It was more important that they pass a message to Grenfell, and the scavenger spiders, being constructs of metal gears, armored plating, and powered by mana stone, could not be used for Wren to replenish herself.

It would have been nice to have Steria, Liv thought more than once, and not just because she hated the idea of leaving her horse behind. They had no real supplies, and they wouldn’t be able to hunt until they’d gotten out of the wasteland of the valley. They would be able to purchase mounts in Al’Fenthia, she had no doubt, but that was only going to be possible after many miles of hard travel.

“How about making a few of those great conjured hawks and just flying us up into the peaks?” Rosamund asked, when the sun had crossed the halfway point of its daily arc, and began descending. They, on the other hand, were now climbing the slopes that marked the northern border of the valley.

Liv paused to catch her breath before responding. “I’m confident I can handle one,” she said. “But we’d need at least two, to carry all four of us. I’ve never tried that, and I want us to get somewhere safe before we make an experiment of it.”

“I see you’re counting on me doing my own flying,” Wren grumbled. “While you all just sit back and relax.”

“Of course,” Liv said, with a smile. “Do you really want to trust someone else to do your flying?”

They made a camp just over the crest of one of the lower heights: from the valley, it had looked like the peak, and Rose, Sidonie and Arjun had erupted in a fit of curses when they finally reached the top, near sunset, only to see that the mountain extended up above them even higher. Liv couldn’t help but laugh.

“How can something that big hide?” Rose complained, throwing herself down on the grass. They’d long since left behind the scraps of mechanical wreckage that littered the valley, and the coating of rust that seemed to cover everything below.

“It’s not hiding,” Liv explained. “You’re just at the wrong angle to see it, when you’re all the way down at the foot.” She managed to kill two rabbits, with needle-thin frozen shards, and now she sat down to skin them. “Can one of you get a fire going?”

It was Sidonie who did it, which surprised Liv until she remembered that the other girl had gone along on several college-supervised culling expeditions. Wren, in the meanwhile, paced in front of Liv, rolled her head to the side, and cracked her neck.

“Whatever you can learn will be useful,” Liv reminded her. “Don’t get caught. And tell Grenfell to come find us in Al’Fenthia come the spring.”

“I know,” Wren said. Then, she jogged over to a rocky promontory and leapt off into the open air. A moment later, a small black bat beat its wings and flew down from the summit in the direction of Valegard.

Liv spit both rabbits on a branch each, and set about turning them over the fire. It wouldn’t be much food, split five ways: though perhaps Wren would steal herself something to eat while she was sneaking about down in Valegard. Worse, the rabbits had apparently never been daring enough to go down into the valley and explore the shoals of the rift, which meant they weren’t infused with any mana at all. Still, it would be better than an empty stomach.

“You sure it's safe to drink water from a stream like this?” Rose asked, sitting down next to Liv and setting down four wine-skins, one of which she lifted and eyed suspiciously.

“You’re such a city girl,” Liv teased her. “I hadn’t even realized until now. Do you even know how to hunt?”

“All my parents ever did was falconry,” Rose admitted. “And drinking straight water is a good way to die of the flux.”

“Right, in a city, where everyone dumps their sewage into the river,” Liv told her, turning the rabbits so that they browned evenly. “Up here it's just clear mountain streams, snow-melt and rain tumbling down over rocks. If I had a pot or something I’d boil it anyway, honestly. But we should be fine.”

“We’ve got no beds,” Rose pointed out. “No tents. And it's getting cold.”

“I’ll make us a shelter after we eat,” Liv promised.

“Out of ice?” Rose groaned and let herself fall back onto the grass.

“You came to Kelthelis,” Sidonie pointed out. “You know that structures made of ice can be quite warm, if built properly.”

“That’s not the point,” Rose grumbled.

“It is, though,” Liv said. “Those soldiers down there, Rose? They’re like you.”

Rose lifted her head just enough to regard Liv with narrowed eyes.

“City boys, I mean,” Liv explained. “Or if they’re not: certainly they won’t be used to the mountains.”

“What do you mean?” Arjun asked.

“No one from Whitehill is going to have joined up with Benedict’s new army,” Liv explained. She pulled the two rabbits off the fire to cool for a moment. “Maybe someone from Courland, but they only know foothills, not real mountains. Look, snow comes early up here. It’s already harvest season, and the nights are cold. If they try to follow us through the mountains to Al’Fenthia, they’ll be lucky to get back down again, never mind find us.”

“Clever,” Sidonie said, scooting closer to the fire. “You’re luring them onto ground that you’re familiar with, and that they are unprepared for. If they actually do follow us, that’s quite a tactical blunder.”

Liv grinned, and passed one skewer over to Sidonie to share with Arjun. She took a bite from the rabbit she was holding, found the meat cooked through but not over done, and then offered Rose a bite. “Exactly. I haven’t been north of Valegard, specifically, but I’ve been hiking, skiing, and hunting these mountains for over twenty years now. Even without magic, I could survive up here. With magic?” She shrugged, to show her complete lack of concern.

Rose hesitated for a moment, then tore off a chunk of cooked rabbit meat and gulped it down. “Alright, it might be because I’m starving, but that actually isn’t so bad,” she admitted. “So what, they either try to follow us into the mountains and give up, or they get lost and freeze to death?”

“Freeze, starve,” Liv waved her hand. “And if by some miracle they don’t give up, we set an ambush and drive them off. One way or another, by the time we come down out of the mountains at Al’Fenthia, I intend to have lost them. And they won’t be able to watch the waystone all winter long: sooner or later, they’ll either give up, or make the Eld so angry they’re forced to leave. Plus, there’s no reason we have to enter the city in the trading quarter. We can always come down from another direction. Once we’re there, I have contacts that can hide us.” It would be at a cost, she was certain, but Airis ka Reimis’ family was nothing if not willing to make a deal.

“You thought all this through the moment Wren told us about those soldiers on the wall?” Rose asked.

“Not all of it,” Liv admitted. “But the mountains are home. They’re safe. For me, anyway. Even just being up here now:” she waved her hand out at the sky. While she’d been cooking the rabbits, darkness had been falling, and now the sky was scattered with stars. The thin crescent of the moon had risen above the dark shadow of the peaks, and the bright ring arced overhead. “It feels like coming home,” she finished.

Somewhere, far to the west, Liv knew that her father was already hunting Ractia’s forces. She itched to be there, to join him: but she would keep her promises, first. She would go to Al’Fenthia, and pay her debts to Airis ka Reimis and his family. She would go to the Tomb of Celris, as her grandfather had asked her to do.

But for now, she had a crackling fire, a bit of tasty rabbit to share with her friends, and the stars above. She looked from Sidonie’s face to Arjun’s, across the flames that painted their skin in tones of orange, and glittered in their eyes. Then, she looked to Rose, sitting at her side, close up against her for warmth, her lips greasy from the rabbit meat.

Liv thought of Jurian, and her grandfather, and resolved to enjoy the moment while it lasted.