Chapter 20. ARTIFACTS & TALISMANS

  Over the next few weeks, I spent all of my waking hours with the new mages. They each needed to learn basic spells and practice them each and every day so that the simplest motions and movements became second nature.

  I spent time with each of them individually and worked on areas of emphasis as they discovered both what they did well, and what they actually wanted to study.

  I spent most of my time with Bend, talking with him about training and leadership and mage craft, and he became the de facto trainer for the others when I spent time alone teaching one mage.

  Bend progressed quickly in learning new spells too, though it had been some time since he’d last trained seriously. He set out to learn a multiplicity of disciplines and took on dozens of new spells quickly.

  I also asked Dirk for some specific supplies and took time over a couple of these days to sew together a Mage’s Book for each of them. These small leather-wrapped books consisted of a thick stack of hand-stitched parchment, which would be an invaluable resource where they could keep all their notes on The Way of the Mark, their areas of emphasis, and details on each spell they had learned.

  I kept my own Mage’s Book of course, which had been sewn by a mentor many decades before. These days it was incredibly worn and full of notes on spells from decades of mage craft. I guarded it with my life as it was one of the most prized possessions of any adept mage. I also had in my possession three other Mage’s Books from friends and mages I’d trained with or met in years past. This was a sacred trust to keep another mage’s book as they passed along their learnings at the end of their lives.

  Dirk’s small force of rebel warriors began to grow as word spread throughout Vale. While this was encouraging, the danger increased exponentially as more people learned about us and the return of The Way.

  Every day we heard about another shop closed down or merchants who were harassed for no reason, as thugs patrolled the city and sought out information about me or the rebellion. They jailed suspected rebels on sight, and the prisons swelled with captives as a result. Uof also imposed a curfew over the city, forcing people to stay behind closed doors after dusk.

  We started training so often out in the desert, and so far from the city itself, Dirk and his men built a small outpost five miles south and east of the city. A place we could train, sleep, and prepare.

  The squat building sat hidden in a valley, which offered the additional cover of a small stand of bare trees. It was just a small house where we kept a weapons cache, some rare matter, and other supplies. This made our training easier and allowed us to perform incredibly destructive spells without worrying about who might hear them. In addition, we could train past the curfew and stay away from the city as we worked.

  After one particularly long day of hard training, Shade and I sat down to talk about crafting magical artifacts and new spells from scratch. I sat on a cut log next to a small popping fire, and she sat across from me on another log. The others talked and ate around a much larger fire on the other side of the outpost.

  “I’ve been thinking about creating new spells, and I realized, if it’s new, no one else will know the spell,” she said. “So, it’s use has a chance to catch an enemy by surprise.”

  “Yes, that’s true,” I replied. “Also, as you would suspect, a spell is at its most powerful just after it is first created, because no one else in the world knows it.”

  She scratched notes in her Mage’s Book, then looked up and asked me a question. “Do you have any spells that you’ve never shared with anyone?”

  “A few, yes,” I said. “But I’m sharing as much with all of you as I can now?—?and I don’t intend to hold anything back. We need every advantage we can get in this fight. However, once you learn the process, I think it would be prudent to create several spells just for your own use.”

  She nodded and wrote this down.

  “However, today Dirk’s men need some more powerful weapons,” I said, shifting my sitting position slightly so as not aggravate the old wound in my side. I hadn’t agitated it too much in recent weeks, so it was starting to heal. “So, instead, we’re going to create weapons imbued with magic.”

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  “Aren’t these called talismans?” she asked.

  “I suppose any magical artifact or weapon can be described commonly as a that way,” I said. “However, the famed mages you’ve heard about each had many magical artifacts, but only one talisman. Their talisman was their most powerful weapon or most relied upon artifact. For example, you remember Aiden and his…”

  “His Ring of Healing!” she replied with glee. “I thought that was just a fable.”

  “No!” I said. “Aiden was a real mage, and he was known to use many magical artifacts. But it was the Ring of Healing that became synonymous with Aiden himself. That ring was his talisman and he relied on it in so many difficult moments.”

  “Like when he walked the 1,000-Mile Desert and survived?” Shade said.

  “The story I heard Shade, is that he set out to rescue a young mage who’d gotten lost in the 1,000 Mile Desert, and Aiden’s ring kept refilling his health when he couldn’t find water.”

  “Amazing. Well, what about you?” Shade asked.

  “What about me?”

  “Do you have any magical artifacts?” she asked. “And which one is your talisman?”

  “I will show you the artifacts I carry,” I said.

  I drew my pack from the ground nearby. From within it, I pulled out a small dagger in an ordinary leather sheath. I unsheathed the dagger and its blade gleamed in the darkness, there was a single dark quartz crystal embedded in the hilt, the blade narrow and sharp.

  “It’s an ordinary dagger,” Shade said, clearly unimpressed.

  “It certainly looks that way, and actually, that’s by design,” I replied. “This dagger bestows on me an added degree of stealth. I only need to carry it in my pack or on my belt and it helps me to slip in and out of so many situations more easily.”

  “So, what’s your talisman?” she asked.

  I shrugged.

  “I have a necklace that helps me when navigating, and a metal rod that I can use to find water,” I rolled up my sleeve revealing a bracer on my right wrist. “This leather bracer glows in the dark, but nothing so powerful that I would consider it my talisman.”

  “We should create you a talisman, Mage,” Shade said with some level of determination. “You know, there will be stories and songs about you.”

  “Perhaps,” I said, moving on to the process. “It just so happens, I’ve been thinking on an idea for a new artifact.”

  Shade cocked her head to side, curious.

  “Shade, the basic idea when creating artifacts is to funnel some of the power of The Source of All Magic, as well as some of your own innate power, into a static artifact and give it a clear purpose and intent. Point this magic in a particular direction.”

  I brought forth my staff, which I’d had with me for many years. I also drew out a steel staff head I’d had one of the men acquire for me in Vale recently.

  The piece of steel had been shaped into a metallic bird, a dove frozen just as it was getting ready to fly, its wings thrust out wide on either side. The dove’s clawed feet perched atop a rock—the bottom of which would fit nicely atop my staff.

  “I’ve had an idea for a particular magical artifact for years, actually,” I said, showing Shade the bird. “This bird is a simple piece of metal meant to be a decorative head on a staff. But what I want to create is a repository, a place to store up matter once it’s been drained so its there and available for use later. Then, I can perform many spells more quickly, or one spell more powerfully, all at once.”

  Shade nodded, getting excited. “So, you can go into battle with a full store of matter ready for use, already drained?”

  “Exactly,” I said.

  She nodded as I handed her the metallic dove.

  “So, this is just an ordinary piece of steel right now?”

  “Right,” I replied. “Now write down the spells I perform in order, as well as the movements, because whether you’re creating a sword that spits fire, or a crossbow that shoots magically poisonous arrows, the principles of creating artifacts are the same.”

  I began the long process by casting an opening spell to lay the groundwork for the staff’s head allowing it to receive power from The Well. I then cast a second spell allowing the bird to receive power from me, and only me. Artifacts were usually attuned to one mage. More spells followed.

  Each spell layered onto the artifact power, then purpose, then more power.

  Shade followed every movement, every piece of matter drained, every spell cast, taking careful notes along the way as I talked her through each step. The entire process took four hours of hard work, spellcasting, and focus.

  After I cast the final spell, I took up a hammer and pounded the piece of steel onto the head of the staff, locking it into place. When I declared it complete, I drained a nearby rock of its matter and sent it into the Dove, my new Matter Repository, and then drew on the matter again to cast a simple spell that stoked up the fire.

  Shade’s eyes went wide. “How much matter can you store?”

  “It should be able to hold matter equal to several rare gemstones and gold pieces,” I replied. “It’s not infinite, but it will save me invaluable time in a battle.”

  “Your talisman,” she whispered, almost to herself, her eyes going wide. “The Last Mage and his Staff of Matter.”

  I smiled.

  “Shade, do you think you can follow the steps,” I pointed at a small pile of swords, pikes, and clubs on the ground nearby. “Now, we must imbue these weapons with magic that will help our fighters in the battles ahead, especially against soldiers who will be using motorized weapons. Let’s see how many of these we can finish before we get some sleep.”

  Shade grinned and immediately went to the pile of weapons, taking up a sword that she brought back to the fire.