Heinrich Tablos

Someone knocked at the door of his study. He looked at the important administrative work he was doing, then at the door and back.

He fought with himself, on one hand, what he was doing was important on the other hand, whoever came also might bring important news. Also, he did not like doing this, and maybe it would be a nice distraction.

So he pushed magic out of his hand and opened the door with it. Before the door stood Mage Hager, who went inside, closed the door and bowed: “I bring news about Elise’s summon, Lord Archmage.”

Tablos sighed and asked what he did this time.

Hager answered: “He told me that his nation did not have a king or queen. Their rulers are chosen by the people, and while he said that he did not plan to reproduce their political system here right now, he did hint that this was his end goal.”

Tablos thought for a moment and asked: “Do you know what he wants to do right now?”

“No, I do not. He was very adamant about not telling. But he thinks that a political system where the peasants choose the ruler is generally superior to one with hereditary leaders. Absurd, I tell you, absurd!”

“This is absurd, Mage Hager, but if he had been born in such a society, maybe he had been brainwashed into believing that. But no matter. I will keep an eye on him and make certain that he does not try something stupid.”

“I have told you what I knew. If you do not need anything more from me, I will take my leave.”

The Archmage answered simply: “Ok, then I must return to this important work. How many bushels of rye did we need last year again?” Tablos got quitter as he said that last part, after which Hager left the room and closed the door behind him.

A few hours later, Heinrich was finally finished with the acquisitions and logistics report, as well as allowing a certain budget for needed repairs of the school building, of which he hoped that it was enough and that he did not make any mistake in his calculations.

He stood up and went to another room. In this room, there were multiple maps. One of these maps showed the nation of Theron, as well as its immediate neighbours.

Theron had access to the coast, which of course was useful for trade, but because of the dominance of a series of other nations, one of which had a border with Theron, it only ´had a small fleet. Most of the rest where flatlands, and then there was the river that was the most important trade route in the nation itself.

Theron was relatively small, but so were its neighbours. It was not the most prosperous county, but it was certainly not poor.

He thought about the danger posed by another of Theron’s neighbours, one who wanted to have free access to the ocean and saw Theron as an easy target. But while this country was larger and had more men, it generally had worse mages. But the hiring of mercenaries or similar things could clear this problem, for both sides.

But enough of this, he thought and, before he went to bed, he looked at the most expensive and biggest map in this room. A map that was in his personal possession which showed the entirety of the world, or at least of the known world.

It was beautifully made, but he also knew that it was not completely accurate. Some parts of it were incredibly detailed, for example, the coasts of the southern lands, but others, especially those far away, where big blobs with a general shape.

He thought back to something Jonathan had said, his world was round and had a circumference of 40000 of his kilometres. This was also with this world. Some mages had researched this extensively and so they found that answer.

“What would Jonathan think if he knew that these facts about both of their worlds were identical?”, asked the Archmage to himself.

Maybe he should ask him tomorrow. “Hm, that might not be a bad idea,”, muttered Tablos to himself: “tomorrow he will learn about the geography of this world, so it would fit right into his curriculum. Also, I am certain that Jack Miller will be happy to see an invitation to the map room. It would be excellent for both of them, and maybe interesting for me.”

The more he thought about it, the more enamoured he became with this idea. So he called for Ione Geron to set everything up.

Ione Geron was not exactly happy with the task, she had already too much on her plate, but she did accept it, if not without making her displeasure known, and went back to work.

After this, Tablos went to another study of his, where he continued working at the project that should free Elise from Lord Wagred.

Stirrup production in itself was not exactly complicated, and riding with the few existing prototypes was certainly easier, but it did need some training.

He thought about asking Jonathan if he could at least give them pointers, but while discussing them, he was adamant about not being able to ride, which Lord Wertin had found preposterous, how would one of high status, and someone of Jonathans knowledge was certainly of high status go from one place to another without being to ride?

If he were a woman this would have been more understandable, but as things stood, how could he have never learned to ride.

Tablos knew a bit of the things Jonathan had told the king, understood that the thing with a lighted surface was not magic, but something mundane and thought that maybe they had found a better way of transportation.

A way that had advantages over riding on horseback or being carried by a carriage. He also remembered that Jonathan really hated the carriage, so they were certainly not the preferred way of movement, because it was practically impossible to make them more comfortable. But he stopped his train of thought and went to bed.