I must have been closer than I thought, because I was still half conscious when I bumped into a fishing jetty in town. Some children found me first and ran screaming to the guards. For the second time today I was threatened by spear point until my identity could be verified. The guard captain quickly ushered me to see the town elders, and I relayed the information as quickly I could while trying in vain to suck up some meager warmth from the fire. My message was taken from the pouch, charcoal still mostly legible after the wild trip through the river, and rushed to the Republic Mail Relay. Everything would work out now. The armies would be mobilized, the invaders driven back and the people kept safe. All id fought for, all I’d lost, would have a purpose. My body slumped in relief and blackness took me.
I woke with a start, confusion thick in my mind. Panicked shouts and screams, the sounds of quarreling livestock and hurried packing reaching my ears. My stiff body protested getting up from the chair I had fallen asleep in, the need to find out what was going on providing the impetus to get going. Night was beginning to fall, and the town was hurriedly packing. A glance through the closing gates showed me why: the invaders had arrived. Torchlight illuminated camps being assembled, the numberless mass stretching as far as I could see and disappearing into the tree line. It was as though and anthill had been kicked, the swarming industriousness of war steadily blocking off all hope. The council of elders was easy to find, arguing in the main hall.
“We need to stop them here for as long as we can, provide some cover for the civilians to escape!” one elder argued.
“They’ve already begun to circle around. If we don’t send our guards with the townsfolk, they’ll be slaughtered en masse while they try to escape,” another said, waving his cane emphatically as though daring anyone to disagree with him.
“If we split the forces, we should allow at least some protection to the citizens while still providing some resistance with the towns manned walls,” a third argued.
“At the very least we need to provide an opening for the Courier to get the word out,” the eldest of them all said. I was stunned! The Courier hadn’t left with my message yet? Of course, I thought, they’d need to take some time to transcribe it and memorize it, to prepare the potions and unguents of their craft.
I sidled closer to the Guard Captain, impatience writ clearly on his face as he waited for some clear orders. The hall devolved into shouting as they split into three camps, each side trying to prove their merit by being the loudest in the room. A feeling began to settle over me, a calm awareness of what needed to be done. Clearing my throat as loudly as I could, I addressed the assembles elders.
“I may be able to provide some assistance. If there are any bags of salt, crystal dust, gold and silvers filings, and at least four precious stones, the rarer the better,I can give you the time needed to escape while sending all the guards away.” You could hear a pin drop in the silence, the sudden rush of noise ever louder for the precious absence. Thankfully it sounded like none of them knew anything about what magic entailed, and quickly rushed to assemble what I’d requested. I glanced at the guard captain, freezing under the intense scrutiny I found myself under. His eyes searched my face, looking for something unknowable. Seemingly satifisfied with what he found, he nodded one and stared into my eyes.
“Thank you. I won’t tell them what you’re planning on doing, but I will make sure you’re remembered for what you did.” He turned and walked away, giving orders on the move. He knew, or at least suspected, what was going to happen.
When a mage unit falls below a certain level, they’re considered ineffective and retired. The time it takes to build the appropriate bond, and the lowered success rate, means slotting the remaining members into other units is, at best, a good way to increase burnout in the newly created group and, at worst, a guaranteed way to completely destroy a unit the first time they link up. So they’re sent on their way, given a healthy pension for their service, and released back into civilian life. I was an orphan when my ability to sense the lines was discovered, and my unit was my entire life. My family was in the mountains and forests ahead, laying cold and almost completely forgotten. They would eventually be found and given full proper burial rights, but that was only if I that message got out. Otherwise they’d become too entrenched and by the time they were forced back the bodies of my friends would be lost to time. With nothing left to bind me, I had to do what was right and at least give the chance for my family to know peace.
My steps were sedate, my hands sure as I grabbed the assembled packages delivered to me. The Republic Courier was frantically mounting their horse, the tell tale glow of alchemies evident in their eyes. If they could escape the field they could ride as far and as fast as they needed to make it to the next leg of the relay. Guards stopped what they were doing briefly as I passed, solely saluting me before returning to their tasks. They knew, even if they did not know the specifics, that I was giving them a chance to survive, to go with their families, their friends, their loved ones, to make it to safety and enjoy another day, and they were grateful it wasn’t them staying to hold the line. I slipped out the gate and heard the thump as it closed behind me. No turning back now.
The sun had fully set as I made my way across the empty expanse. The sounds of a foreign army growing louder as I approached. A small cairn sat about halfway, a perfect place to make my last stand. I knew I did not have enough left in me to make a difference by myself, and that’s where my requested goods came into play. Some Academy researcher back at creation discovered that certain items, when included in a casting link, could mitigate the cost on the body. That’s where the gold and silver filings came in. Normally cost prohibitive, but readily gotten for my purpose. Another researcher discovered that precious stones could stand in for other mages if they were properly prepared, the more precious and pure they were tbe longer they would last. The main downside, apart from cost and the time it took to set up, is the increased difficulty it took to break a link once it was in motion.
Normally, and mage in the link could break it when they felt the strain get too much. But the fewer live mages there were, the more the magic took over the mind and the less you were aware of how much your body had broken down. With only one mage in the link, it was practically guaranteed to end in a burnout, but that was fine with me. I had no intentions of walking away from this field , this cairn to become my tomb and as many of the bastards as I could make joining me in my final resting place.
It was full dark when my preparations were complete. The stones were blood soaked and passed in their own circles, certain unreadable runes drawn in salt and iron unknowingly by my hands surrounding them. My own circle was prepared in front of me, wand gripped tightly in my hand. Blood dripped from the point, seeping from the cuts I made in my unfeeling palms to prepare the gems. Pain was beyond me at this point. An opened pouch of precious metals sat in my opposite hand, waiting for the right moment. Peace and calm settled over the field, sounds fading away into nothingness, time and space bearing witness to the sacrifice being made to the natural forces of the world.
Slowly, light began to fill the stones, each a sudden pin prick in the darkness. My wand provides a counterpoint, the tip pulsing in time with the tattoos on my body, the eldritch light revealing ruined flesh. A wind seemed to billow around me, playing with my robes and the dirty tattered remains of bandages on my arms. Some unknown signal suddenly rang out, and my hand threw the bag up. A second sky seemed to open up, each piece of metal becoming a mote of arcane energy, a new star populating the earth. Shouts came from the enemy camp, but I was no longer in a place to heed them. My wand began to move, softly, conducting an orchestra only I could head. The tip flowed from point to point, bands of light illuminating the darkness and painting a picture of things unknowable. I seemed surrounded by galaxies, the billowing clouds beating in time with my racing heart. Faster my wand moved, my face split in a rectus grin and blood poured from me.
The first stone burst, and I felt the spell falter for a moment before growing more rapidly than before. One by one the stones burst, each time providing a small reprieve on my tortured body before once more increasing the strain on it. I was no longer in control of my mind, the magic falling taking hold of me. Just a little more, I thought, deep within the recesses of my consciousness. The lines seemed to agree, pulling more and more power into the great clouds of energy around me. Arrows began to fall around me, some incinerated as they struck some passing piece of power, others thudding into the ground at my feet. The first of the advance troops entered my vision as my legs gave out the muscles ruined beyond help. A pool of blood spread around me, arms swinging faster and faster to some unheard music. It all reach a crescendo, the climax of the requiem coming when they reached the outer limits of my working. A final slash, and everything that was built up was released in one final, ruinous moment. Screams of surprise, and pain, made the music heard, as blackness took my vision, and I knew no more.
