Broken Soul

Sibil

Alchemy was an art as old as basic sentience. From the first moments of awareness, people had mixed things together to create something new. More often than not, those new things proved to be useless, deadly, or at least uncomfortable.

Sibil didn't have the same problem as those people, though. She could look back at centuries of alchemical knowledge passed down from teacher to student, so her concoctions were only useless, deadly, or uncomfortable if she wanted them to be, at least if she wasn't experimenting with something new.

Something new, like Lord Rowan and Rayakan had asked of her. Sibil had spent the forty-two years of her life learning about alchemy from her mother, and she had heard a lot of strange requests, but no one had ever requested a soul harmonization potion.

It was a very old recipe that hadn't been made for hundreds of years in her family, as far as she was aware. The use of the potion and its recipe would have probably been lost a long time ago if her family hadn't been so adept at hiding from the inquisition.

The alchemist waited till Rayakan and the young lord had left her shop before turning her sign to closed and locking the door.

Her shop was small and packed. A small table served as her registry while the remaining walls were covered by the heavy and stable cupboards where she held the raw ingredients and concoctions that sold well. Mostly healing salves and stamina-enhancing substances that the adventurers liked. Alchemist sold most things as either ingredients or custom solutions anyway, so she had little on-hand stock that wasn't raw.

She left the little storeroom for her laboratory. A large cauldron occupied the middle of the room, standing cold and forgotten. It was surrounded by a ring of runes that Rayakan had been so nice to place for her to inject mana into her brewing if necessary. She rarely used the whole setup, but it was good to have in case the lord needed a big shipment of potions all of a sudden.

To the left was a worktable filled with glass beakers and other instruments she was able to acquire over the years. They were so much more precise than cauldron brewing and served a mercantile style of commerce much better than the huge batches one generally made in a cauldron. Easier to clean, too.

She ignored both setups and stepped over to one of the walls while checking her windows to make sure they were all shut tightly.

It took some dexterity to open up the hidden compartment in the wall, but a few moments later, Sibil was holding an ancient tome bound in skin. She had no idea what kind of skin and wasn't looking to find out.

Sibil took the tome to her table and began slowly turning the heavy parchment pages.

"Moonwine extract, redcap binding, curse of fatal diarrhea," Sibil mumbled as she flipped through the more unfamiliar parts of the book. Her family wasn't a line of witches, and she had no magical talent, but the recipes in the book were too good to toss aside, even if it would get her burned if someone found out that she possessed a witch's tome with such dark rituals and recipes.

"Ah, soul harmonization potion," she finally exclaimed and flattened the old page with her hand. "That shouldn't be too difficult," she continually mumbled to herself while glancing at the ingredients. They were things that would generally serve as a stabilizer for concoctions, but in this mix, those properties were pointed at the target's soul through the addition of some magical infusion.

While Sibil wasn't a mage, she was able to do alchemical cantrips like this. They took little mana and could be done by anyone with enough training or the right setup.

Sibil frowned as she continued reading. The potion wasn't difficult, but it was rare due to the fact that it had only very niche applications. The one noted in the book was for stabilizing the makeshift souls of created abominations.

According to the book, you could mix and match different animals or even people into creatures and use parts of what remained of their souls after their death to animate them. Those 'souls' were very fragile and needed stabilization.

"Holy hells, what do they need this thing for?" Sibil said. For a moment, she considered walking over to the academy and confronting Rayakan about it, but then quickly decided against it.

While this book had very strange fields of applications, that didn't mean that the headmistress and count had evil intent, and quite honestly, Sibil wouldn't stick her neck out for this anyway. With that decision made, Sibil shrugged and began rummaging through her stock to see what she had available and what she needed to procure.

She smiled a little when she remembered the group of copper adventurers that liked to bring her herbs from their quests, and decided to give them another job later. They were sweet kids and deserved some work.

Kiran

"Work on your mana control for the rest of the lesson. If you have questions, you can come to me," Kiran told the class and left in the direction of the community kitchen. He hadn't eaten in a few hours, and they had been living on road rations for the last couple of days.

As he reached the community space, he found an unfamiliar man standing there with a little girl, maybe eight or nine, holding on to his cloak.

"Greetings," Kiran said and approached the pair. "I am Kiran. I am a teacher here. What can I help you with?"

The man's eyes widened before he bowed low. "Master Kiran, I have heard a lot about you from Master Tifel. It is my honor to meet you in person."

"Master Tifel? It is great to hear from him. How is my old friend doing?" Kiran brightened up at the mention of an old acquaintance.

"He is good. He is wandering through Perios right now. That is where he found us, or rather my daughter, and sent us this way," the man explained, visibly less tense.

Kiran's gaze turned to the little brunette girl who was hiding behind her father's legs. "Hello there, little one."

The girl waved shyly but stayed quiet.

"So, I assume she, or both of you, are mages?"

"My wife was, but she ... isn't here anymore," the man replied. "Linda awakened her abilities half a year ago, and I have been terrified since. Master Tifel said that if you and Mistress Rayakan are here in the open, then my girl would be safe with you."

A mixture of hope and desperation emanated from the man as he looked at Kiran with pleading eyes. The old mage was all too happy to confirm his hope.

"Of course, she is. We take in all magicians who wish to learn or work. Well, except for those with the darkness affinity. As much as our lord would like to help, he is bound by the law."

The man relaxed even more and quickly affirmed that his daughter didn't have a darkness affinity. "She has awoken water affinity, and praise Idas for that. It is much easier to hide that magic than say fire or air."

Kiran smiled at the man. "I agree that water affinity is a lucky pick."

Kiran then took Linda and her father into his office to discuss how things would work. They could house the girl in either the academy or one of the extra buildings around it that Michael had acquired for them, but the father would have to look for his own place. More likely, he would find a place and then send his daughter to school every day.

They left an hour later in the direction of the administration office that Michael had opened for migrants to help them integrate. There was always a worker shortage in the rapidly expanding city, and Kiran doubted that the man would have difficulties finding work and a home.

Rayakan returned a few minutes later and found a satisfied Kiran. "What has you in such high spirits?"

"A little girl with a water affinity that has just signed up for the academy," Kiran replied happily.

Rayakan scoffed and lowered herself into one of the chairs. "That still leaves me with a two-person lead."

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"Not for long. And we both know that the water affinity students show more promise." They liked to banter about the affinities of their students, and the number of fire and water mages was obviously a favorite topic.

"Five more arrived here since you went to war," Rayakan mentioned while pouring some wine for herself.

"I noticed. The nice man with the water girl also told me that Master Tifel has sent them this way. It seems the trust in us is on the rise, even internationally."

"Oh really? I had another family come to me a month ago saying the same. I hope he will make his way down here one day. We have a substantial lack of mages with arcane affinities here," Rayakan lamented. "Already had people approach me and ask if they can learn magic without a born affinity, and I think we will have to start that branch as soon as possible."

"I agree. Has Michael talked to you about the academy building by the way?" Kiran asked and got a shake of the head as a reply.

"He said that he is gonna push that project timeline forward with the influx of students, so we should prepare a final draft of what it is we need," the old man continued.

"It is quite unimaginable. A really magical academy in Idas worshipper lands. Those damned priests must be going insane," Rayakan did a cackle that would put any witch to shame.

"Maybe not all of them," Kiran said and toasted to their new academy with his colleague.

Geron

Geron felt more relaxed than he had for nearly two months, a drink in hand and sitting in a comfortable chair in the meeting room of his office. He wasn't alone. Sir Pyke, Samuel Ragar, Commander Irem Stanes of the City Guard, Captain Wendel of the outriders, and a couple of people more from the different parts of House Rowan's military were sitting in the room with him.

This wasn't a social gathering, of course, but it didn't hurt to have a relaxed atmosphere.

"Alright, now that we have recapped the military campaign. I would like to hear your thoughts." Geron asked into the circle.

"I was quite happy how our soldiers held it together even with only minimal augmenter support," Geron started it off. "It couldn't have been easy to hold off desperate augmenters with what you had."

Commander Stanes nodded gratefully at the praise. While he was officially the commander of the city guard of Reen, he unofficially held the title of master of the man-at-arms of House Rowan due to the fact that most of the original soldiers were either part of the city watch or the castle guards. The city watch also shared some of their space with the army, and the man had just assumed responsibility for them.

"Those magical weapons were a great force multiplier. Without them, I doubt that our charge would have penetrated their lines so easily," one of the veteran knights went next.

Zeke nodded before adding, "As well as the magical support. We definitely need more of that."

Murmurs of agreement went through the room. It was hard to argue that having magic on their side for once wasn't a great feeling.

"I agree, and as far as I am aware, more and more gifted children and mages flock to the academy. Our informants put at least three or four times their numbers in the surrounding area, too. They are still keeping it quiet to probably see if Lord Rowan's promise of safety holds true, but I am sure we can recruit from both those sources in the future," Geron explained.

"We need more drilling in the out-of-combat duties," Sir Pyke continued. "The troops behaved admirably in the field of battle, but marching discipline and especially camp construction were pitiful. It didn't hurt much due to the brief nature of our campaign, but this is not a problem we want to face when deep in enemy territory for months. I want to specifically exclude the outriders from this critique. I have been very impressed with your men, Captain Wendel."

"You have my gratitude. We are out and about more frequently and for longer periods of time. I would recommend that the troops have more training campaigns to practice and work out flaws. We could even combine that with extermination campaigns against the monsters in the mountains and forests," the outrider captain said with his raspy voice.

Geron thought for a moment and then said, "I will trust your judgement on this. I will leave solving those inadequacies to you and Commander Stanes. Captain Wendel and his outriders may assist when needed."

The three men nodded, and they continued to talk about things that went well and things that they should improve upon.

"The consensus seems to be that this campaign went well overall," Geron concluded and then sighed. "A shame that we won't be able to do this ever again with the current state of our military."

"What do you mean?" Commander Stanes asked, and others also made confused remarks.

Geron wasn't surprised that they didn't understand, but he also didn't want to just tell them what he meant. It would have more impact if they realized themselves.

"Who led this last military campaign?" he asked.

"Count Duncan Grim, with Lord Rowan as his second," Sir Pyke replied while watching Geron intently.

"Who led the northern flank?"

"The former barons Ragar and Tengel," Captain Wendel replied, and he also seemed to be the first person to realize what Geron was getting at, even if he was probably the only one whom the problem didn't directly concern.

"Right, and the southern front was led by Baron Namer. Do you see?"

Commander Stanes nodded slowly and then said, "Nobles lead armies. Not only that, but they provide a good chunk of the army, but we have less than half of our nobility left. Is that what you want to get at?"

Geron saw understanding roll through the faces of the remaining knights and soldiers. "Precisely. Our military structure relied on the nobility to provide soldiers, and they also expected to command those soldiers. Should they need more sub commanders, they would just put their family members or their own vassals in those positions. Even Lord Rowan is doing that with the knighthood.

"Now, though House Rowan holds more than half of the territories of the combined Reen and Emall. Which means that we have lost the command structures of a vast portion of our armed forces. Lord Rowan has already started remedying that by naming Sir Pluke as High Castellan of Emall, but that still leaves one man in command of the entire forces of Emall with no clear substructures."

The men turned toward each other and began discussing the problem in small groups while Geron waited for them to wrap their heads around it in its entirety.

"The knights could take up those positions in wartime, can they not?" Commander Stanes asked.

"We already discussed that too many tasks fall onto the back of the knighthood. In this last campaign, we had to handle nighttime guard duties, prisoner guarding, scouting, frontline fighting in the hottest areas, hunting enemy scouts, and much more. We need to reduce the tasks falling on the knights so that they can concentrate on the areas where they can have the most impact. Leading troops doesn't necessarily need an augmenter. We need more specialists in the guard," Sir Gellan argued.

"I agree with Sir Gellan," Sir Pyke supported the other veteran knight. "A knight's work is to face the strongest enemies on the field, and while those with the talent for leading men should be encouraged to do so, I believe it would be a mistake to force that kind of task on all of us. It would bind too much of our combat power to the rear of the army."

This sparked a new round of calm discussion among the soldiers as they suggested how to alleviate the problem, and then another told them why that wouldn't work.

"If I may speak," Samuel said. The former baron had remained silent for the entirety of the meeting except for recapitulating some parts of the battle.

"Please, Lord Ragar," Geron said. While the man wasn't a landed baron anymore, he was still nobility.

"I think we are going at this problem the wrong way," the young man said carefully. "We are looking for ways to lessen the symptoms of the sudden hit our military system took, but if there is one thing we should have learned by now from Lord Rowan is that sometimes you just have to take the hammer to the source of the problem."

Samuel looked around at the faces of the grizzled veterans but managed to keep his nerve. It helped that they looked interested in his statement.

"All the suggestions were how to fix the system we always had, but why not break the whole thing down? It won't work anymore with the decline of the nobility and the feudal system. So, I suggest that we need a new kind of army for the new reality that our counties have become."

Silence fell on the room as the men thought about what the youngest member of their group had said.

Sir Pyke was again the first to give his thoughts. "Lord Ragar is right. We have thrown a lot of traditions out of the window in the knighthood already, but maybe we need to stop trying to change a few things that were done for hundreds of years and rather see that building from the ground up is the better way to reach our goal."

"I am sure Lord Rowan would be elated by such an approach," Zeke said with a light laugh.

One by one, the men agreed with the plan, even if some raised some important concerns, like that it would take a long time, and they might be vulnerable while implementing the new system.

"I believe that this is going to be our best option," Geron finally said. "If we do not do it now while so many things are in flux, then we will never. I will get his lordship's approval. While I am doing that, I want all of you to think about the structure, the ranks, departments, hells, everything you can think of. We will have a lot to consider to make this work, and we will do it right."

After that declaration, the meeting ended, and the attendees filed out of the room until only Samuel and Geron remained. The knight commander looked at the younger man with curious eyes, wondering what he could want.

"I wanted to thank you for the opportunity to be in this meeting, lord commander," Samuel said and then bowed deeply.

"You were one of the commanders of the campaign, so it is only natural that you should be here. You will be just a normal squire after this day, though, until you prove yourself," Geron replied, but he was certain that there was more to this than simple thanks.

"I would like to become your squire, sir," Samuel quickly got to the point.

"My squire?" Geron asked, surprised. "You won't be one for long, from what I have seen from you, and I don't have much time to train someone. The little time I have goes to Lord Rowan's training, and I share that with multiple knights. You should ask Sir Pyke, he is a better knight than I am."

Samuel quickly shook his head and said, "I don't need you to teach me how to be a knight, sir. I can learn that from Sir Pyke or Sir Kilev. I want to help you lead. It is something I am good at, and I would like to learn more about it by being at your side as you build our new military. You can't tell me that you didn't have this plan before I suggested it."

Geron smiled at the squire and admitted, "I have considered it, but I, too, still lack a lot of experience. But very well, you have already shown yourself to be a promising lad, so I might as well see firsthand how promising. I probably will be able to squeeze some training in, too."

"Thank you, sir. You won't regret this," Samuel said with another low bow.

"Stop with the bowing, I like that about as much as Michael does. Good, you should prepare to accompany me to Lionsgate, then, we will spend a lot of time planning on the way."