Interlude

Arken

Arken sat in his office, lamenting over his disappointment.

On his desk in front of him was an intricate device of wood and metal. He twisted a brass horn into place on the machine. His apprentice sat waiting dutifully opposite him.

“Many people overlook the practical uses for bondstone,” Arken said, wistfully, “oh, it pains me to think how many are wasted as signal stones by the highborn.” His assistant nodded along attentively, her eyes rapt and her ears hanging on every word he said. She was hopelessly in love with him, he knew. He had a strong build, immaculate bone structure and—most importantly—he was a genius. The girl would be a fool to not have taken a fancy for him. But she was his student and so he would respectfully decline her advances when she would eventually make them. She was much too young for him, and besides she was a cousin to Duke Garron. It would be very improper for him to entertain such a courtship.

“Did you know, my dear,” he lectured, “that bondstone is the most powerful of all the runestones combined.”

“What about soulstone?” She asked in her usual delicate voice.

“Oh come now child,” he chided gently, “this place is for science and engineering. Not fables and legends… the soulstones of the Sorcerer Kings are but a lazy attempt to explain the feats those men had achieved. In truth, the Sorcerer Kings were artificers—engineers, just like you and I—they simply happened to have knowledge beyond what we could fathom. Centuries of research and knowledge… all lost thanks Elyina and her crusade against the Sorcerer Kings.”

He fished in one of his desk drawers for some shards of eradite. “Oh, but this wasn’t supposed to be a history lesson now was it?” He indulged her with a smile, “although… evidence is plain throughout the realms that Sorcerer King’s were artificers; The Red Throne of Athlin is a beautifully crafted work of runestone artificing. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to study a relic of the Sorcerer Kings’ era.”

“Doesn’t the Red Throne brutally kill anyone that touches it?” She asked. Ugh, such savagery. Why does everyone focus on how runestones can be used for killing?

“Indeed it does,” Arken replied, “wouldn’t it be marvellous to unravel how it works?”

“I’m sure that Grimsworth would certainly be interested in learning to replicate it,” she noted.

“It pains me how much effort Grimsworth dedicates to weaponising our knowledge… and the Dukes are worse. Can’t they see the wonders we could create if they would only give us the resources with which to create them.”

Arken reached out with his edir to touch the bondstone, he pulled on its energy and held it inside of him. The tiny shards of eradite were arrayed in a tight line on his desk. He focused his attention and willed the energy of the bondstone to fuse them together into the shape of a needle. As he did so, his mind traced out the rune inscriptions he wanted on the newly formed eradite needle.

The standard runes for Draw, Hold and Shape were etched onto the face of the gemstone, so tiny that they were almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

Why do people think they’re called runestones if not for the runes?

He then added one of the newly discovered runes; Enhance which complimented and accented around the inscription for the Draw rune.

“You see this extra rune I’ve added here, Jesse?”

“Yes… I think,” she squealed.

“This is Enhance. It will allow for additional draw… which the eradite should do naturally until reaching its balanced state. The funny thing about the Enhance rune is that it doesn’t make the Draw rune any more effective when a person uses it. But the natural amount that the gemstone would draw in its active state is considerably increased. Isn’t that fascinating?” He looked up at her over his spectacles. She looked lost, the gears in her mind trying to process what he was saying.

“This means,” he tried another explanation, “that it will draw not only stone but also metal into itself and an accelerated rate. Without the need for runewielder, of course.” Her mouth dropped ever so slightly at the revelation. Yes, it is quite the discovery isn’t it, my dear?

“Now this,” he took out a metal disc from another drawer in his desk. It was incredibly thin but about a half arm’s length in diameter.

“This is the true reason, you’re here,” He grinned at her and nodded to the violin she’d brought with her at his request. The girl could play the melody to the Hunter and the Lady with such beautiful delicacy that he could feel every morsel of love that the pair had for each other.

It was both a mystery and a blessing why she had chosen artificing over her musical talents. But there was a genius to music that translated well to engineering and a keen mind needed to be challenged in order to be stimulated. And there was no better place for that than in his employ.

He placed the disc onto a plate on the device. And indicated to her that she should begin playing. Just as she touched the bow to the strings to play the first note, Arken held up his hand to pause her and gently turned the crank on the side of the device. A spring mechanism inside controlled the rotation of the plate perfectly. He lightly lowered the arm apparatus holding the eradite neele until it found its resting place on the top of the rotating disc.

He turned the opening of the brass horn towards her and nodded again. She played that first exquisite note of the song; slow and long. Perfection. Arken watched her as she played the song as he’d often requested her to since learning she could play it so skillfully. As she played, the light of the eradite needle grew brighter and brighter. He held his breath as he watched the graceful manoeuvring of her fingers on the violin strings. Almost imperceptible rivets appeared in the needle's wake as the disc continued to rotate.

He sat silently, listening to the song and as she neared the end he felt tears in his eyes. Oh such beauty. Jesse concluded the song with a flourish, the resonance of the final notes slowly faded until the only sound was that of the quiet rotation of the disc. Arken carefully lifted the needle and plucked the disc from the plate.

Jesse—still unsure if she could speak—watched in confused silence as he moved it to an almost identical device on the table behind him and placed the disc on the plate of the other device. The needle in this one was metal instead of eradite. He cranked it in the same manner as before and the plate and disc began to rotate. Just as meticulously as he had done with the last one, he lowered the arm holding the needle.

A crackle of sound came through the horn and then…

Music!

Wonderful, majestic, elegant, ingenious, magical music! The sound of Jesse playing her violin echoed back at them, as if she had started playing it again from the beginning. A tear fell down Arken’s face.

“You’ve created a machine to capture music?” She gasped.

“To capture all sound,” he breathed, “Oh, to think of all the beautiful things we could create together… the art that we could bring to life…”

There was a knock at his office door. He knew who it was—and what they wanted—he sighed with relief that he hadn’t knocked on the door a few moments earlier and ruined the capturing of the song.

“If only those with the coin weren’t so concerned with killing and wanting more sophisticated ways to do it,” Arken mourned, “then we could focus on making beauty.”

He pulled on a smaller lever on the device halting the music and called out to the visitor that they could enter. Grimsworth in a well trimmed suit strode into the office looking down at Jesse.

“A private concert?” Grimsworth laughed, “oh Arken. The things you waste your time on. Come, we have a meeting with the representative.”

Arken apologised to Jesse, and advised her that their lesson will resume in the morning. He followed Grimsworth out into the halls and out of the Ironworks Guild. The winter snows were arriving and Arken pulled on the heat of his topaz to keep from shivering as they stepped out into the light of the gaslamps.

“The Reldoni contacts we’ve made are keen to move forward with the plan,” Grimsworth whispered to him as they walked.

“Are we sure this is the wisest course—”

“—We are not going over this again,” Grimsworth hissed, “the Dukes must fall and the Reldoni are the best opportunity we have for this.”

“But think of the amount of blood that will be shed.”

“Do we not share the same dream, my friend?” Grimsworth implored, “the wonders we can create together.”

“How do we know the Reldoni will hold to their end of the bargain?”

“We are giving them an open route into Rubane. With our help their invasion will be swift and effective. Why, think of all the lives we’ll have saved by helping them reach that goal faster—and most importantly our own lives. The Reldoni will invade once it is known publicly that Prince Daegan has been killed. I have no doubt about this.”

“You are certain that Prince Daegan was killed?”

“My spies are deep within the Archduke's palace. I am certain that he is not in the palace or any known safehouse this side of the Iron Hills. The man is dead. What of your information?” Grimsworth asked.

“Mine?” Arken replied, his nose wrinkling.

“Garronforn,” Grimsworth insisted, “your contact is reliable? Duke Boern means to send the bulk of his soldiers to the Balfold to deal with all of these rakmen reports, is that not correct?”

“Oh, yes. Yes, of course,” Arken replied. Jesse Garron was a lesser cousin to the Duke and he trusted his apprentice’s knowledge in that regard. And what reason would she have to lie to him, she was besotted and would divulge to him any plans she knew of.

“I am very confident in that information,” Arken affirmed.

“Good,” Grimsworth smiled, “Good. Our entire plan hinges on that.”