Rune Mage [Fantasy/Adventure | Book 1 +2 | Complete]

Chapter 54: Maura Woodbead

Seiren followed the base of the wall. Acrise had reinforced the initial stone wall with beams of metal, but in the windy, rainy climate, the metal began to rust. Chunks of the support were eaten away, leaving a flaked surface or even small pieces missing. Seiren was provided with waxy paper that survived in the perpetual drizzle in Acrise and chalks embalmed in a violet rune that made them hardy and able to penetrate the paper's surface, and instructed to blend the metals provided together to make steel.

"You're too conservative with the locking runes. It's limiting the power potential," said Maura Woodbead, hovering over her shoulder. Seiren fought back the urge to slam her hand over the rune she was creating. "You're Rowan's protegée, huh? I'm not surprised he hasn't corrected this. He's too lazy to invest in something as time-consuming as rune magic. Leave some empty."

"Empty?!" Seiren couldn't believe her ears.

"It's against that tosh King's teaches you, I know. They're careful about control because an out of control mage is collateral damage. They'd rather you be underpowered. Leave two empty."

Seiren hesitated. This went against every theory she'd studied. Sigils should always populate locking circles and runes should either have the prerequisite numbers of circles or go without. But under Maura's unforgiving stare, she dutifully left two empty, filling the other three with extension sigils and one with a delayed activation so the workers could activate it themselves. She primed it with magic and passed it to waiting hands, half-expecting it to become unstable and explode prematurely.

She held her breath when the worker applied it to the metal beam he was hoping to repair. It glowed a fierce orange, the energy searing out of the centre and hitting the locking sigils. The energy remained contained. The extension sigils kicked in, elongating the period of activity. The metal turned white-hot before melting into the defect and filling it.

It would have taken Seiren perhaps another three runes to achieve that if she hadn't left the sigils empty.

"Th-thanks," she muttered. Maura withdrew without a word. She looked about eighteen, like Seiren, but Portendorfer said she was under his tutelage when she qualified nine years ago. That made her at least twenty-seven years old. It must run in the Woodbead family to look younger than their age, but her fierce persona ensured nobody disobeyed her. There were no other rune mages beyond her and Seiren in this area. The others in the debriefing room must all be flash or burst mages. Seiren couldn't help but feel a little disappointed; she'd rather be on the frontlines seeing the action rather than packing in the back ensuring the wall stayed up and the stocks dry.

She kept an eye out for anything exciting as she lined the gunpowder shed with violet runes to keep out the moisture. It was not particularly taxing or stimulating, but she could see why mages were needed. She was only surprised the native mages assigned to Acrise weren't able to do something like this.

The walls stretched up almost as far as the eye could see. The scaffolding behind it was at least ten storeys high, bound together with a mixture of resistant rope and runes, and men hammered and hauled away. Seiren worked her way along, ensuring every sector had enough reinforced, non-rusted metal to attach to the old foundations. The workers offered few words beyond grunts of thanks, but it didn't really matter. She was able to tune out the mundane chatter and put her runing on autopilot, studying the size of the defect from weathering and adjusting her runes appropriately without too much effort. More pertinent information filtered in soon enough.

"King Pollin has never asked fer mages to join them soldiers like this before."

"Aye, you reckon it means it's gonna be bad?"

"I reckon they ain't been telling us nothing, have they? This winter's been all kinds of crud and our harvested food's running low. Didn't tell us to prep for that, did they? If we ain't careful, it's like them Benover lot want us to starve or sum'ink."