Map of Sweet Port:

I suck at art and using map making programs. So what I did was search the internet for famous harbors throughout the world. It turns out that New York Harbor is pretty close to what I had in mind for Sweet Port and I found an excellent map at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:5_Boroughs_New_York_City_Ma.png which can be freely used so long as it is attributed to its author (Julius Schorzman) properly. I have modified this map slightly, it is terribly incomplete and a little inaccurate as pertains to Sweet Port, but it should give you a general idea of where things are. Please be aware that this is a work in progress. For a scale of reference, Cone Island is slightly over one league long.

The top of the map is North.

If you see any flaws in this chapter, please leave a comment.

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Chapter 18: Fashion Accessories

I awoke late the next morning finding myself wearing only my thin underclothes. The regeneration series, until a body fully heals, can really take a lot out of a person. For the next two or three weeks, I would need much more sleep than normal. The bedroom that I had been led to yesterday had an outer sitting room and I heard voices coming from that location, voices that I quickly recognized; my two sergeants and my two servants.

Upon arising from my borrowed bed, I was fortunate to find that they had food and clean clothes ready for me, after eating, bathing and dressing we set off. First thing I needed to do was to return to those two captured ships. It was imperative, that I secure all of those rare potion ingredients that I brought back yesterday before someone else, recognizing their value, permanently borrowed them. Equally as important, I needed to make sure that the two crews were being treated properly.

Sergeant Russell and Sergeant Sanders both seemed on edge for some reason and they must have been feeling a little more paranoid than usual, because they were both wearing full armor and lugging those big nine-tube kraken shooters that I had made for them and not the smaller four-tube version. I was amazed that the Royal Guard had let such heavily armed men inside the Palace, let alone the private environs where I had been sleeping.

“Sergeant Russell, the last time I saw you, you had just reunited with your father and uncle. How are things going for your family and is there anything that I can do, to help?”

“I hate to ask this Milord but do you think that you can give my father, mother and uncle some of your potions so that might all get back into good health. My mother is ready to burst with joy with my father back but both of them could be in better health. As for my uncle, his wife or former wife remarried a few years after he disappeared. She has children now with her new husband. So my uncle needs whatever boost to his spirits that he can get, though he privately told me that he had hoped while he was enslaved that his wife would go on to find someone else but it’s still a sad situation.”

“Certainly Roy, I had planned all along to give potions to all of those former slaves. That’s the primary reason why I stopped off in Drake’s Swamp, so as to harvest the needed concoction ingredients.”

It was only a short carriage ride to the docks and it’s a good thing that we returned to the ships when we did. I found both crews now on the brig and they were having a heated discussion with some Navy personnel, one of whom was Admiral Taylor. They all looked relieved when I arrived on board.

Emile, Nena, Vella and those two young servant girls came hurrying over to my side. They all looked very upset and flustered. Captain Roka and Captain Reyes were right behind them. Admiral Taylor and his people followed at a much more sedate pace.

Nena began talking as Vella clutched my hand. “James they want us to give them your ships and they’re going to put us all in some kind of military prison until they find out who we were.”

Her words had me confused. “Nena, these are not my ships. I told everyone that before. These ships belong to the people who were slaves aboard them, and are to be disposed of as you all see fit. I know for a fact that the King wants to buy the Iron-Balls, because I heard him say so last night. As for putting you all in a military prison, it will be over my dead body. But I don’t think they plan anything like that and it must be some kind of misunderstanding.”

She had tears in her eyes. “Oh James, we know that you are an important young man. Can’t we all go with you?”

Even Emile was giving me a helpless look and Vella now had two young assistants clutching at me, what were their names again?

Admiral Taylor spoke. “I’m sorry James this is my fault, one of my aides misunderstood and she confused the situation. I arrived just a few minutes before you did and I still haven’t straightened things out.” He then proceeded to speak in a louder tone of voice. “PLEASE EVERYONE LISTEN TO ME. There is nothing to worry about, you are not going to prison and we will buy these two ships from you. Many of this Kingdom’s soldiers are in the new territories or they have been released from service. As a consequence there are many empty Army barracks buildings located near the palace. For the time being we would like you to stay there but we will not force you to, you are free now and you can make up your own minds about where you will stay. However, the former slaves from the other eight ships that were liberated are already residing in one of those buildings. So you will not be alone. We have people who are working to undo what has been done to your minds but we don’t know how long that will take since it’s not something that we’re familiar with, here in the Gulf Kingdom.”

It took a while but finally everyone was calmed down. The Navy people that Admiral Taylor left behind to see to the efficient transfer of the former crews and their belongings were much more polite now. It was decided not to rush things and that they could take as long as a week to move to one of the empty Army dormitories. Since both vessels were almost new and had been designed as kraken tube carrying warships, the former slaves were being offered three quarters of the cost of what it would take the Gulf Navy to purchase a similar ship from this Kingdom’s shipyards. But that still had to be determined however the brig was obviously worth much more than the schooner.

The Admiral lent me some Marines and a large freight wagon to get my things back to the University. I thought that I had everything smoothed out with Nena and Emile but upon my arrival at school, I found that they and the three girls had managed to sneak aboard and hide themselves inside the large canvass covered wagon.

It was late afternoon by that time, so it would be difficult to send them anywhere else that day. Oh, what the heck, the old University Servant’s wing, where my workshop was located, was still mostly empty and even though it was old, many of its rooms were still nicer than the brig’s shipboard cabins. I finally learned the names of the two other girls, Patria and Bari.

Seeing as how both Emile and Nena were both rune wrights and since Emile was a carpenter, I decided to just admit defeat and hire them permanently. As such I could house them in the University as my assistants without getting into any trouble. As for the girls, I would worry about their official status later, for now they could stay with Emile and Nena.

During my time at the University, other rooms in the old wing had been cleaned and refurbished. My two original servants, who knew their way around the school, acquired beds for the five new additions, as for other furniture there was already plenty of serviceable stuff that had been kept stored within the old wing, it was just matter of shifting the items over to the clean rooms. Emile and Nena shared one room, and the girls took another. My servants would provide them with meals and there were two large functional washrooms located nearby their rooms. It was by no means a palace for them but I’ve lived in worse places until the last year or two.

We all went to my private quarters for a large dinner. I warned them about some areas of the University and how it wasn’t wise to go around unescorted since some of the nobles, teachers, staff members, and the wealthy attending the school were morons who tended to look down and cause trouble for those they thought were beneath them. Sadly they all understood; I made clear to my two servants and the Sergeants that they were to keep an eye out for my friends’ well being until they all learned their way around here and in Sweet Port in general.

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Nena was quite pleased with herself. Everything had worked out perfectly, she just knew those practice runes of invisibility that James had discarded would come in handy and it’s a good thing that she had saved them. It had allowed her and the others to slip inside the wagon and ride the entire way to the University without being detected. Now she had her new family with her and she wasn’t going to give them up for anything.

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The next day I decided that I had better go to all of my classes since I had missed so many of them. I was really taking advantage of that fact that I had been guaranteed to graduate but what I had been doing was so flagrant that even I was getting embarrassed by it. All of my teachers were especially hard on me which I completely understood, I mean how could they possibly maintain discipline with the rest of their students if they didn’t hold me to same standards. I was given a pile of work to make up and publicly scolded for my lack of attendance.

It wasn’t too bad except for spell casting and composition; I might be caught up in those two subjects in time to graduate. As for the rest of my classes, I should be alright within a week or two.

I was in my workshop and at my desk, writing a composition paper for class when all of my cruel oppressors walked in. Dean Marks led the way.

“James, we’re here to have our first company meeting. The Crown is anxious for our products so there is time to waste. Professor Tanner has agreed to be our accountant and Professor Lee is going to be our secretary.”

I sat up with hope. “Does that mean that I can have her do all of the homework that she assigned me?”

All my teachers frowned at me and Professor Lee immediately replied. “No, you have to do all of your homework and on your own too, not only that but you’ve attended my class so infrequently that I will also grade any company correspondence that you might write.”

I groaned. I was chivied out of my chair by Dean Marks and led to a different room in the same wing. Someone had turned it into some semblance of a poor man’s conference room without my knowing.

Mage Greta Marks began the meeting. “The first thing we need to do is to establish a place in which we can work. While we can temporarily use this wing, at least until James graduates because of the urgent need for our products, we must find a new location both for appearances and for later work. Sadly because of the shortages in Sweet Port that might be difficult to do. Since the Army has many vacant facilities, I’ve made an inquiry with General Howard to see if he has something that we might rent or purchase, I expect to have an answer from him within a day or two.

We also need to discuss what we will call ourselves, what we will make, pricing, wages, shares and who does what labor.”

I am never going to get my homework done now. I know that some of my fellow students have been calling me a fake from the very beginning and I’ve certainly lived up to or rather down to, their expectations.

I didn’t contribute very much during the discussion. I just told them what products I had to offer. I was surprised when all of the other mages there also had their own things that we could make and market. I shouldn’t have been and I castigated myself once more for being overly arrogant. In my opinion the four mages gathered here were among the best in the Kingdom despite how much they tried to hide it. With my witch sight I had seen the powerful undercurrents deep within their own personal magical fields and I’ve seen the magical auras of many of the posers at the Guild, including Philip Wright the High Mage. Well I guess he wasn’t exactly a poser but my four teachers here, were all at least two ranks his superior.

Besides describing their own inventions, they all loudly insisted that I get three times as many shares in our business as they each received. I wasn’t even able to argue them down to twice as many. Professors Tanner and Lee were each given a quarter of one share.

A bathroom break was called for; with the meeting resuming in twenty minutes. Deep in thought, I wandered next door to my workshop. I started digging out, some of the potions that I had made after classes were done for the day. Those four accomplished mages seemed to be giving me their very best and it was only fair that I do the same for them.

When everyone resumed their seats, I began speaking. “Professor Lee and Professor Tanner, I mean no insult to you but I must relate a private magical matter to the Mages gathered here. The information that I will give them pertains to their safety while doing magical work, it was something that I learned through personal experience and it concerns a matter that I would rather keep confidential. Could you please grant us fifteen minutes or so of privacy, while I speak with them?”

Both Professors looked curious but not insulted and they complied with my request.

After they left, Professor Black intoned some words and sketched some symbols in the air while releasing a stream of magic. “I’ve just sealed this room James, so you may speak freely.”

“You might already know this but when Princess Ellen was fighting the Eastern Empire, I was her only magic user and even when the Army mages showed up, I was still heavily involved with the war effort. When I look back at all the work that I did during those years, I can scarcely believe it. You have all mentioned in your classes, how important it is for mages not to overly strain themselves and how a careless magic user can seriously and sometimes permanently injure their own body and mind if they don’t know their own limitations.”

I snorted, “I probably did that within three months of my first meeting with the Princess. I had and still have a lot of anger towards the Witch that had enslaved me. I readily and without realizing it for many years, transferred that anger to the Wizards of the Eastern Empire, even though I had no personal experience with them at the time. Don’t get me wrong they are a horrid and evil bunch but being young and dumb, I leaped to strike back at something similar to the Witch Lauren.

As a result of my attitude I pushed myself to do too much and I hurt myself quite badly. I was my own best customer when it came to health and fever potions; and I was frequently plagued by headaches and nosebleeds. In essence because of my actions, I felt like crud for years and only this most recent summer did I feel healthy and completely pain free once more. I know that you are all much more experienced than I am, but this Kingdom is now in another desperate situation where they need every tool that they can grasp a hold of. They are going to want as many of our products as they can possibly get and what I have to say to you, is don’t let them push you too far or too fast. Loyalty can be a powerful thing and I know, from comments that you’ve all made, that everyone of you are extremely loyal to this Kingdom.

You must ask yourselves, if you work yourselves to death during the first few months, who will then assume the jobs that you can no longer do? The Guild might do so, but only at a very steep price and I’m already afraid of their power and greed.

While I want those who are enslaved to be free and I want this Kingdom to win any conflict with the Kingdom of Fata. I am not going to devote all of my time to producing potions and enchanting equipment to serve towards that purpose. I have my own goals to work towards and my own magical research that I will not put on hold, just as I am sure you all do.”

I pulled out sixteen little bottles from the box that I had brought back from my workshop, four sets with four bottles each.

“I didn’t start feeling better on my own this summer; this concoction series here, is what finally did the trick. I would like you to all take a set and please consume the contents of one bottle every ten days, you can see how their numbered in blue ink and that’s the order you should take them in.”

Bottles were passed around the table. Dean Marks and Professor King opened theirs and sniffed the bottles. Professor King’s eyebrows went up. “What is it? She asked.

Swearing them to secrecy, I then told them about the blue and red series longevity potions. Later on I would give Professors Tanner and Lee, the red series but they would be told that it was simply a powerful health potion and not a life extension concoction. If they had significant others, I would also provide potions for them.

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His Supreme Majesty Ambroos Von Legion sat upon his ornate yet comfortable golden throne reading the report that Consul Count Fabian De Leest had brought him.

Consul De Leest was the head of the Institute for Cooperation, sometimes referred to as “Icy,” in informal situations. The Institute was in charge of the police, the secret police, intelligence gathering and special actions, whether on the Island of Fata or abroad.

After reading the report King Ambroos incinerated it with a touch of fire magic, dropping the still burning document into the hands of an attractive female slave who was chained to his throne. The slave winced only slightly from the pain. She knew better than to drop it and let the charred paper strike the valuable rugs surrounding the throne.

The King snarled, “Count De Leest, it is insufferable that I had to wait almost two days to learn that, that cursed deformed swamp rat of unknown parentage survived being swept overboard! Tell me, when will we strike back at those decadent mongrels in the Gulf and you had better tell me that James Drake has been added to the list!”

“Your Supreme Majesty, as soon as we learned that Drake was alive, we of course put him as one of our primary targets. The team that was supposed to go after either Countess Green or General Howard will be assigned the task of his execution.

As for the problem with communications, Countess Green has swept up many of our agents during the past year, believing them to be of Imperial origin. Also, as you already know our safe havens within the Gulf Kingdom and our powerful message caster relay stations have been destroyed under my orders so that Countess Green’s Counter Intelligence Service wouldn’t learn about our own involvement. Now we are forced to rely on ships traveling nearby Sweet Port to relay the messages from our spies, which has become increasing hazardous because of the GKS Navy during the last two weeks. Luckily we have some foreign flagged vessels that we can use but not as many as I would like and even those are at risk.

As for the planned special action against the Gulf Kingdom, I have successfully suborned the three surviving Imperial spy cells within that country and along with six of our IC teams that should be enough to instruct those fools that it wasn’t wise for them to anger you or your kingdom, your Supreme Majesty. As we earlier agreed, the spy cell that we have within their Mage Guild is considered to be, too valuable to risk at this time. We might lose all nine teams but even with a fifty percent success rate, these actions taken under your orders will strike terror into the hearts of those Gulf scum! The confusion caused will give our military more time to prepare and give the Institute time to send in additional special action teams.”

“See that your words to me prove true, De Leest. I will not brook failure! As for our spies within the Gulf Mage Guild, do they have any progress to report?”

“The Guild does not keep secrets because of Gulf Kingdom Security but for their own economic benefit which makes them even more cautious. Most of their advanced knowledge is controlled by the established mage families who reap the lion’s share of any gold coin generated. The senior mages and their families are greedy for coin and penurious when sharing their knowledge. Thus our visiting “mages” have had no success so far at learning the secrets for Gulf’s new communication system, watch system or long range kraken tubes. However they have learned a little about the new ship shield runes and the new kraken spears. We already have our own research wizards working on developing our own variations of those two magical devices for our Navy’s use and results look quite promising. While we possess the formulas for Drake’s healing and regeneration potions, we don’t have sufficient quantities of the required ingredients to put them into general use.”

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My third day back home and I was having breakfast with Ellen.

“James, I am depressed at the thought that I won’t be able to use the new magical tools and weapons that you are developing. Is there truly no way for me to use a flight harness, shield coat or enchanted spear?”

“Both an enchanted pole-arm and a shield coat requires you to be able to control the runes. As for a shield coat, I might be able to make something that you can activate but it will have to exhaust all of its energy for it to deactivate which might be very inconvenient for you. Just think if you need to go to the bathroom. I suppose you can physically cover the shield runes, to bring down the magical barrier but weird things can happen when you do that, especially when you have a number of runes working in concert. In fact, it might possibly be dangerous and you would need to simultaneously cover all of the shield buttons which is an impossible task.”

“I don’t care! I’ll take whatever I can get, how about a set of pipes that will take down a shield?”

“Pipes” I asked, looking at her with a confused expression?

“I am referring to the weapons that your own sergeants and the Royal Guard are now carrying. You know, those four-tube, crossbow-like kraken launchers that shoot tiny spears or arrows.”

“Well I suppose, if you had some enchanted arrowheads and if I boosted the speed a little they might penetrate a magic user’s shield. But enchanted arrowheads are expensive and really time consuming to make, especially since you can’t reuse them. And in your role as Princess, how could you carry one around without upsetting people? A sword is acceptable for you to carry about but a kraken launcher would cause people to wonder. And since when have people started calling them pipes?”

“I can get the arrowheads; we already have some in the Palace Armory. As for how I carry it about, let me worry about that. Oh, the pipes name is the most popular slang term for your invention, taken from a musical instrument called the Adrial pipes which are commonly used on that Great Isle. But I’ve also heard them called kraken pipes and Drake’s pipes; at other times the word flute is substituted for the word pipe. You must admit that ‘multi-tube kraken arrow launcher’ is a mouth full to say.”

“Okay, I’ll get working on a set of shield buttons for you, but you’ll need to get your own tailor to make you a coat to put them on.”

“I want a witch sight visor too.”

I sighed, “I hate making that potion and it simply takes up so much time when compared to other things. But okay, I’ll make the concoction however you’ll have to figure out a way to hold the witch sight visor before your eyes, which means getting your own glass blower too, to make the little window.”

“James, if you get me the magical components, I’ll take care of the rest.”

After breakfast Ellen left, promising to return in two days so she could pick up her magical desires. I sighed, nothing like a little pressure; I would now have to come up with a personal shield array that would work for a normal person. I guess I can always experiment on my two sergeants. I wonder if I can make their shields’ glow slightly and give them bunny ears.

I attended my classes since I was so far behind, after which I went to my workshop to make witch sight potions, which were difficult, boring and very time consuming. After spending almost five hours, making only three concoctions; I switched to playing teacher, as I showed Dean Marks, Professor Black and Professor Sanchez how to engrave the runes for a flight harness and a personal shield array.

Besides a shield variation for normal people like Ellen, I would also need to come up with one for Rune Wrights since they don’t have the same level of control that a mage possesses.

While my students were practicing, I worked on a simple set of test shield buttons for the Princess. It wasn’t until late at night that I came up with something that I thought might work. I had Sergeant Richard Sanders test them out while Sergeant Roy Russell pounded on him with a stick, to test the strength and durability of the shield. I guess Rich lost the coin toss or something. While I was dozing; in my chair, a sudden yelp from Sergeant Sanders woke me. It seems his shield exhausted itself after about half an hour of furious pounding by Roy, who looked pretty tuckered out too. Considering that I only put a partial charge into that set of buttons, I thought for the magical barrier to withstand a half an hour of blunt force blows was pretty good.

Now that I have a successful design, I can stop worrying and make a prettier set of buttons for the Princess to pick up.

The following day, I again went to classes and then went to work afterwards. I made shield button sets for Roy, Princess Ellen and the King. After which I called it quits because there was no way I wanted to overstrain my body again.

The next morning I was woken up by servants even earlier than normal, they informed me that the Princess had already arrived seeking her magical presents.

I stumbled out into my sitting room wearing only my robe. I figured since she had seen in my worse and woken up me up too, that she didn’t deserve any better. The Crown Princess completely ignored my appearance. Ellen was wearing a beautiful lavender dress and a matching top hat of all things, and for some odd reason she was holding a similarly colored open umbrella over her head. Was the roof leaking?

“What do you think James? I talked with my personal tailor and he recommended this ensemble. There are places on this type of dress where buttons can be easily attached, the parasol has a hollow tube for its center shaft which is the same diameter as a kraken pipe and as for my hat, which is the latest style by the way, my tailor is certain that he can attach some kind of hidden visor to the brim, which I can drop down at need. Are you really certain that I can’t use a flying harness?”

I scratched my head, yawned and then spoke. “You look like a plum, I need hot tea and no, you can’t manage a flight harness.” Scratching my butt, I returned to my bedroom.

An hour later she left with two sets of shield buttons and a bottle of witch sight potion. She was rather dismayed with the appearance of the buttons that I had made for her but too bad, if she wants them to look more stylish, then she can bring her own buttons and maybe some gold or silver paint to use on them. She in turn left me her umbrella and a great number of arrows with enchanted heads for me to add my own magical touches to. I would be sure to steal a few for my own sergeants.

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That evening, Princess Ellen was dining with her parents and sister.

“Father, I had James make a set of shield buttons for you and me. They are similar to what he wears on his own jackets but they can be invoked by a non-magic user, the only problem is that we can’t adjust the shield or turn it off; we have to wait until the magical charge dissipates. The buttons James made for us generate a contoured shield a third of a step from our bodies except for our hands. And we have to wear two enchanted rings on each of our hands that go with the shield button set.”

“Sounds interesting, let’s see them Ell.” A moment later she brought out the small box full of buttons and rings. “Daughter those have to be the most awful things that I’ve ever seen in my life. There is no way that I’m going to wear them even if they would save my life, the entire Court would not only laugh at me behind my back; they would laugh at me to my face too.”

“I know Dad, they are ghastly.” Her mother and sister chimed in with comments that magical accessories were horrid looking and yucky, respectively. “I’ve got my tailor looking for some nice big wooden buttons and wooden rings that James can engrave, and we’ll get him some proper decorative paints too, like royal blue, forest green, silver and gold. But you really should keep your set handy just for emergencies.”

“Ellen, how about you keep my set handy for me, that way I’ll always know where they are.” The King said with a laugh.

The Crown Princess frowned at her father but there was nothing more that she could do. She tried to get her other family members interested in the magical items but they weren’t interested in the hideous things either.

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Victoria Ridge, former Constable and now Head Proctor at my school, turned out to have the makings of a rune wright, she along with Nena and Emile have become my test subjects for equipment that will be issued to the new Marine Rune Wrights, once they’ve been selected. The shield arrays that the three of them have been testing have four limited barrier modes. Mode one: is perfectly form fitting, Mode two: radiates one-third step from their body, Mode three: radiates one step from their body and finally Mode four: forms a spherical shield when things get really desperate which has a radius of five steps. Air vents are designed into the shield and they can be open or closed as the rune wright requires. The shield array that I constructed for Ellen has vents which can’t be closed.

I still can’t believe she doesn’t like the buttons and rings that I made, she brought me some other ones that she wants me to enchant but it will take a few days for me to get to them.

My rune wright test subjects were practicing with their flight harnesses, shield coats and some enchanted wooden staffs which are supposed to be used for glaive training exercises, there was no way that it was safe to let them use a real enchanted glaive, they could easily kill someone while using one of those and beside that we only had my glaive. The company I was now a part of still needed to recruit a couple of good blacksmiths if we were going to make enchanted pole-arms but that was proving to be difficult because of the labor shortage.

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Wizard Dylan Payne led his team of mules into the walled compound that contained the Gulf Kingdom’s Admiralty Building. His business there that morning was what he did every day, alongside the other members of his spy cell.

He curled his lips thinking of the stupidity of the Gulf mongrels. If he succeeded with this mission he would be elevated to the nobility as a Baronet and when the Gulf Kingdom was conquered, he would be granted a large estate and be elevated yet again but at that time it would be to at least the level of a Count. He had made his own promises to his team which consisted of one junior wizard and six immunes, what the Gulfies were now calling rune wrights. He snorted; thinking how the fools had only now discovered the usefulness of such people like the immunes. Once he and his team successfully completed this mission there was a little sloop waiting off of Western Bear Island, all of the IC teams would rendezvous there for a voyage out to a merchant barque flying a false flag, which would then take them home.

Dylan almost laughed when Marine guards at the gate inspected the garbage already loaded onto his wagons, didn’t the fools realize that sometimes even garbage can be a weapon. The piles of discarded notes and documents that he had brought out from this compound, week after week had been invaluable for his Kingdom’s cause, but what he was bringing in today would be devastating for the Gulf Navy!

An hour later he left the compound, it had all gone so smoothly that he and his team had a hard time hiding their grins and smothering their laughter.

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Princess Ellen sighed before she got out of her carriage outside the Royal University. James had been peeved, is the only word, when she had asked him to do the two new sets of shield buttons for her and her father. She giggled a little remembering his affronted face, “that man definitely needs a fashion advisor,” she thought to herself. Sighing again, with the help of one of her guardswomen she attached a set of those ugly buttons to her dress. It wouldn’t do for her to arrive at his suite without her wearing them; she feared causing him to pout for the entire day if she did that. It was not like she hadn’t been using them, in fact earlier that morning, well before dawn, she had been in the training yard, practicing how to fight while magically shielded. She was the first to admit that she needed to improve but she had been getting better during the last few days. Ellen then gathered up her top hat and umbrella. Those last two items were just what she had envisioned them being. With a flick of a finger the glass lenses would deploy from her hat and before her eyes, granting her witch sight. Crafters working for the Navy had determined it was better and more efficient to use one small potion filled lens for each eye rather than a single wide pane. The vision afforded was better and it used less than half as much of the valuable magical concoction which was even more important. As for her parasol, though it distressed her that it was only a single shot as compared to a proper set of pipes, it did allow her to carry extra arrows within the furled canopy fabric, so long as she didn’t open it.

She was assisted down from the carriage and walked into the Royal University. She nodded politely to Head Proctor Ridge as she walked by.

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Victoria Ridge bowed slightly as Princess Ellen walked by; she always made it a point to be about when the Crown Princess visited. The former Constable was not trying to suck up, but only doing what she thought of as her duty, and that was seeing to the safety of one of the University’s sponsors.

When the Princess walked past, Proctor Ridge couldn’t help but snicker at seeing her also wearing the same kind of hideous accessories that also adorned her own clothing. “Oh well,” she thought to herself, “you can’t have everything.” She idly twirled her enchanted practice staff. It was only supposed to be for training purposes but it was so darn effective and well made that she hated to let it out of her grasp.

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The IC team led by Paul Lanteigne was targeting one the many shipyards used to construct warships for the Gulf Navy, specifically those yards constructing the GKS heavy frigates. Those kinds of ship took well over a year to complete and the destruction of any one of them would be serious blow to the Gulf Kingdom. His cell’s goal was destroy three heavy frigates, and if they achieved that, Paul was assured of being named a Baronet. His men infiltrated the shipyard while looking like ordinary workmen. They delivered miscellaneous supplies here and there; and everywhere they went they left small innocuous little pieces of wood lying next things that were highly flammable like tar, pitch, oil, dry wood, rope and canvas. Two hours later they left, well pleased that they had successfully visited five ships under construction, all of them less than four months from being completed.

As they were leaving they heard an alarm bell being rung from the other side of the enormous shipyard. They quickened their pace out the shipyard’s northern gate.

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Imperial Wizard Zachary Miles’ task this morning was that he along with his cell; were to destroy the Swan and Otter Bridges which crossed the Swan River. The problem being that both bridges, as were almost all such in Sweet Port, were fine examples of stone arch construction, and as such they were difficult to damage even when using magic.

Luckily they had days to prepare and both bridges were unguarded, it had been ridiculously easy for them to place their runes and special concoctions on, about, and under both bridges.

Two other Imperial spy cells would be taking care of the Pelican, Black Stone and Red Stone bridges in the exact same fashion.

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King Richard Rivers loved sailing ships and frequently bemoaned the fact that he couldn’t sail as often as he liked. During the long war, he was never even able to leave the harbor because of the threat from the Imperial Navy. Today, he was inspecting two new heavy frigates that were set to launch in less than ten days time. He missed the giant carracks that the Navy used to have, but he agreed that they were too time consuming and costly to build, and what with the new magical inventions, they might also be impractical nowadays.

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The IC team led by the Wizard Alexander Johnson had been assigned the most difficult task, to assassinate King Rivers. Wizard Olger Bomhof’s IC cell was tasked with destroying as many frigates as they could. Both teams were working together today because thanks to information gathered by Dylan Payne, they knew that the King would be inspecting some newly built ships this morning. In point of fact that was why the Kingdom of Fata’s attack had been put off for this day rather than occurring earlier, for today they had their best chance at killing Richard Rivers. Both Wizards were eager to succeed, for if they did, they would be accorded the rank of un-landed Barons back on Fata and once the Gulf Kingdom was conquered they had both been assured that they would be elevated to at least the rank of Landgrave and receive lands in the newly acquired country in accordance with such noble rank.

The two frigates almost ready to be launched were right next to one another in order to speed their construction, they were also nearby two other frigates which had nearly another month to go before they were completed. The two teams of Fata agents had snuck aboard those two unfinished vessels which were empty now, as all the workmen were outside hoping to greet and see their King. The IC assassins had brought with them kraken tubes and spears of their own manufacture and right now, they waited on the tube deck for sight of His Majesty, Richard Rivers. The plan was for them to wait, until the King entered the designated “kill zone” of either of the two teams. Once he did, the appropriate team would launch all of their kraken spears at him, upon seeing the flames and hearing the resulting tumult, the second cell would then shoot their spears at the partially completed vessels in the immediate area. Both teams had four tubes and eight spears, and all of the spears were equipped with fiery concoctions that were only slightly inferior to the one that James Drake had invented.

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Teams led by the wizards, Wolters and Lalonde were working together that day as they had expected to be. The cell led by Alex Wolters, had Princess Ellen as their target and the one commanded by Pierre Lalonde was out to terminate James Drake. While the other teams had been dressed in working clothes, these two teams wore attire appropriate for high class servants and were carrying bundles of still more expensive clothing and other fine things into the Royal University wing that housed the students. Obviously the sixteen men were the retainers for some wealthy person or noble who was sending some gifts to a family member, thus they were not to be stopped or questioned as they seemed to know their way about the large building.

Lalonde was more than a bit angry that his reward was going to be less than Wolter’s, since his target was the commoner but he was still resolved to do his very best.

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Proctor Victoria Ridge attempted to keep herself nearby the dormitory wing just in case the Princess required her presence, sadly she was frequently drawn away at times because of other duties or she might have questioned why so many men had arrived while bearing gifts this morning. Normally that type of thing happened after classes and not before. But she was back inside that wing when she heard shouts and screams coming from upstairs, where the children of great wealth and nobility were housed. Blanching white, she ran for the staircase while blowing her whistle.

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Ellen was so very pleased when James presented her with the new buttons. They were painted gold and would go with most of her wardrobe; with some assistance she quickly changed those that were on her dress. “Perhaps,” she thought, “I can get James to make me some different colored ones when he has more time.” Just then, she heard yells coming from outside the luxurious suite. She stood up in alarm watching the door, there were more yells and she invoked her buttons. A split second later the door exploded into a mass of flames.

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Royal Guards Sergeant Coahoma (Red Panther) Oklahombi was in charge of the Princess’s security detail this morning. As a newly recognized rune wright, the Princess had loaned her a set of witch sight goggles which were made in the new Navy fashion. The Crown Princess had used the extra witch sight potion, left over from making her own special spectacles, to make the goggles. The Sergeant liked the new eye-ware but she was anxious to receive a full set of the rune wright magical combat gear that she heard whispers of; presently she was only armed with her enchanted shield, a set of pipes and a sword.

The Sergeant saw a large party of men coming down the hallway towards young Drake’s suite. They were all dressed like servants of the nobility but because of her goggles she could plainly see that magic curled about four of the men, identifying them as experienced magic users. She yelled out an order to her squad, “Defensive Positions!” Then calling out to the approaching servants, “You men; stop where you are and identify yourselves!”

The four magic users started sketching hasty symbols before them, Sergeant Oklahombi saw the magic change shape and she launched all of her kraken arrows at the one with the most powerful magical aura, while screaming at her fellow Guardswomen, “They’re wizards, shoot your arrows!” Red Panther was thankful that because of the Princess’s actions, half of the arrows in her squads’ pipes were equipped with enchanted heads.

Three of her squad fired a second after her own shots and before the approaching magic users completed their spells. Two of the women aimed their pipes at the same target as their Sergeant, half of their arrows hit, bringing down his shield and killing him. The other Guardswomen just by happenstance and without knowing; targeted the second most powerful wizard amongst the attacking group. It probably didn’t help him any that he was leading the way.

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Alex Wolters cursed when he saw Lalonde go down and his own shield be depleted by over half its energy, muttering a vindictive he launched a fireball at the woman who had just shot him. At the same time the other four women emptied their pipes at the approaching men.

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While the enchanted shields of the Royal Guard were not as versatile or had the resilience and longevity of Drake’s shield buttons, on a very short term basis they were in fact tougher since the runes were actually engraved into and radiated outward from a physical steel shield.

Once activated the shield runes projected a magical barrier two steps above, below and out to the sides from the center point of the steel shield. The only problem being the Guardswomen had to make sure that their enchanted shields didn’t interfere with one another.

The single large fireball hit the shield, forcing the Royal Guardswoman back three steps and depleting the energy in her shield.

Pipes were fired by the four slow to react, Guardswomen. Two of them fired at the magic user, who had just launched the fireball, killing him instantly. One shot at a minor wizard who possessed a very poor personal shield, instantly slaying the man with two lucky shots. The other launched her arrows at an immune, who while he could not generate a magical barrier; he did possess an enchanted buckler. He managed to deflect one shot but another seriously wounded him, causing him to fall.

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The attacking IC teams were dismayed to see three of their four wizards dead but they knew better than to break off and retreat. The Kingdom of Fata would only make them slaves upon their return and chances were, unless they killed the Guardswomen in front of them, that they wouldn’t be able to safely escape anyways.

The men started to hurl potion bottles at the women and the door to Drake’s quarters. The flasks shattered, and the hallway and the door exploded into a mass of flames.

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Here I was eating my breakfast, when all this commotion starts outside my own suite. It being early and me being still sleepy, my thoughts were kind of slow, so I wasted precious time deciding what to do. My glaive was hanging on the wall nearby but should I get my shield jacket first which is back in my bedroom, or should I have another sip of tea?

Just then my door exploded inwards and I decided that maybe diving behind my couch was a better idea.

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Ellen saw a man come hurtling through the wall of flames where the door had once been. The man threw a bottle which hit a sofa to her left, splashing fire on and behind that piece of furniture. She pointed her new parasol at the intruder, and pierced him through the heart with the arrow shot from it. She grinned fiercely and strode over to James’s enchanted pole-arm which was hanging on the wall. The Crown Princess then walked out the door to greet her visitors. While she couldn’t activate the movement runes on the weapon, it didn’t take any magical ability to use its enchanted blade.

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Proctor Ridge had just arrived on scene and she attacked the backs of the men with her “practice” staff. While she may not have been the best of swordswomen, she was an expert at wielding a truncheon or a staff. Coupled with her new magical personal shield and the movement runes on the staff, she was a force to be reckoned with, especially when attacking someone’s rear.

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Sergeants Russell and Sanders had been in the kitchen of the small suite, eating their own breakfasts along with James’s two servants, Philip Turner and John Cooke. They heard the yells outside and just made it to the outer sitting room in time to see the Princess deal with the single intruder. But they didn’t see James; anxiously they began to search the room. They found him on the other side of the couch, a burned and twisted figured. In desperation, they started pouring the emergency healing potions that they constantly carried with them, onto his body and into his open mouth that looked to be frozen mid-scream. They took those actions without even knowing if he was still alive.

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Thanks to her shield, Ellen easily strode through the flames without getting burned, but she did feel some heat. The Princess saw that her Guardswomen had been forced back by the flames and so she started to lay into her foes with James’s glaive. While she normally carried a sword for the sake of convenience and appearances, her preferred weapon was indeed a pole-arm almost exactly like what she was currently wielding. There had been sixteen men in the assault force with twelve still alive when the Princess first appeared. Thanks to her, Proctor Ridge and her Guardswomen acting as snipers, they finished off those men in seven minutes of furious combat with thankfully few injuries amongst the Royal Guardswomen.

The hallway was burning well but a few short minutes later Dean Marks, and then Professors King and Black appeared. The three powerful mages immediately began casting spells to extinguish the fires that the immunes had started.

Ellen returned to the suite ready to boast to James about her easy victory over the assassins. She saw his two servants extinguishing the flames in the smoke-filled apartment with buckets of water. But what the Princess saw next caused her stomach to plummet. James’s two bodyguards were both desperately working on a burned twisted human figure lying behind the burned out remains of a piece of furniture.

Ellen started to scream.

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It was almost an hour after dawn and Olger Bomhof watched as the Mongrel King approached the first frigate on his inspection tour. The IC Wizard smiled to himself as he realized that he would be the lucky one to slay that pitiful excuse for a nobleman. The King stopped at various times to talk and shake the hands of the ship workers who had all gathered to greet their King.

When Richard Rivers was in the center of the “kill zone,” Olger gave the order for his cell to launch four spears loaded with flaming death shot towards the Monarch at the center of the gathered throng of officials, guards and shipyard workers.

It only took a fraction of a second for the spears to cross the slightly over one hundred long steps to their target. King Richards didn’t even have time to regret not wearing those ugly shield buttons; they wouldn’t have done any good anyways, since he would not have had time to activate them.

That section of the shipyard exploded into flames as both IC teams now expended their spears. Olger’s cell having fired first; was done first as well and they quickly fled from the other side of the ship that they had staged their attack from. But Alexander Johnson’s team was not nearly as lucky, they were caught by a shipyard full of enraged workers, Marines and two mages who were also employed by the shipyard. It seems that Johnson’s unit would not be returning to Fata.

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If you see any mistakes please leave a comment. I didn’t spend as much time editing this chapter as I should have.

The RNG rolled a really bad number for James; I wonder what is going to happen now?