AO 5 Ch 12

Chapter 12

I waved my hand in front of my face, making my skin ripple. It was incredibly itchy to try to resettle onto a new face. 

"Mage Arden, there is no need to do that," Lord Valken said. 

The carriage bumped along. We had found that it was surprisingly easy to slip through the border using Cyam to carry us in the dead of night. Depleting their nearby forces mages kept us from anybody who could more easily detect us.

They had really gone all out to try and sack Chillwind Fortress.

We landed quickly at a nearby town where we were told to report. As soon as we stopped, a cloaked woman appeared. She said nothing, but she gave us a carriage and a set of horses before disappearing into the night. I started to wonder if I’d imagined her as we moved into the more bumpy carriage.

This one was not nearly as comfortable as Cyam’s creations. But it would be hard to blend in moving in a dark magic carriage through the area.

"We will be replacing an incredibly minor merchant family," Lord Valken reminded me. 

Zuri had a small portfolio that she quickly unpacked. Her notes about our new identities were very thorough. 

"The merchant family has been wanting to get out of Garrish. Zenovia has ferreted away their family and their employees so we can slip in and have full control of their estate," Zuri said, glancing over at the two Zenovians in the carriage. 

"They wanted out and we got them out. That we are going to use their identities to sneak in is of another matter," Eva said calmly. “They are unaware of our operation.”

"Well, shouldn't I be taking their face or something?" I asked. 

"No. With the offer came a few other items," Eva said. 

“The patriarch of the family had been ill in his bed for some time. Part of why he wanted out of Garrish was because he hadn't been able to get a life mage to come heal him for the last several years.” Zuri leafed through the papers. “Essentially, the man was bargaining for his life, which gave quite a bit of leverage.”

"He and his family have been rather reclusive as of late, mostly operating through intermediaries. And as an added bonus, he has a distant mage in the family. The son, who little is known about, could easily have just awoken his powers," Zuri glanced at me. 

"Oh, that'll be hard. I'll have to pretend that I don't have very good control of my magic. Hmm, I suppose I can try to be less awesome." I nodded to myself as Emlyn patted my knee. 

"I'm sure you'll manage to pull that off.” She said her tone dripping with sarcasm.

I clicked my tongue. “But I'll have to limit what I use. What sphere, what sphere?” I murmured.

“That's been the debate," Zuri tapped on the paper, her fingers tracing the information. "The relative had the fox sphear."

"Well, that seems like the simplest option," I said. 

"But what would be the best for infiltration?" Lord Valken urged me to think harder. 

I frowned and leaned back in the carriage. "If I have the fox sphear, that allows me to use ice, which is what I'm very proficient at using. It also means that I don't have earth, or darkness, which I can use more covertly. With those, I could open up stone walls and see through the shadows. It gives me plausible deniability if others believe I only have the fox sphere, but I will also have the advantage of surprise if needed." I said. 

Zuri smirked at Lord Valken as if telling him not to underestimate me. I frowned at that exchange. 

"Fine. Then for the time being, you will be a nascent fox sphear mage. And your awakening will be a wonderful reason for you to begin to step out and take over your ill father's business." Lord Valken settled it.

"Ooh, ooh!" I raised a hand like a student in the classroom, suddenly far more excited about where this was going. "Are you going to be my papa?" I made my eyes wide and childlike.

Uncle Valken let out a heavy sigh. "Perhaps this was a mistake," he turned to Zuri, who he apparently viewed as the tactical mind of the group. What an insult. 

"I told you he's not going to appear to take it seriously, but I promise this is him being serious." Zuri told him.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Uncle Valken said. 

"Well," I spun a ball of fire in my hand, "I think I would be great at pretending to be a mage who just got his magic. I could pull that off." I let the ball of fire dance in my palm a moment longer before grabbing it and smothering it out. "I think it's perfect! So, what's everyone else going to be? Ooh, wait! Are they going to cart me off and send me to school?"

"No, Garrish does not have a formalized mage school system. Instead, you will likely be approached by an older mage and taken in as an apprentice and taught solely by them. Our information suggests that the network of training mages is currently what the King of Garrish is using to collect mages for his war."

"Wait, I'm just going to end up in the thick of it? Just like that?" I asked.

"Not before you've been trained for several years. It will, however, give us a connection to the overall system."

"Understood. I'll be assigned another mentor. Hopefully, this one will be less incompetent than Carmilla. And certainly less deceased," I mused.

"I'm not sure how long it will take for one to approach you, but we'll have to keep that in mind. They'll be a competent individual, and we'll have to hide a lot from them. But until then, we set up shop. You'll begin to step out and take up the mantle of this fallen noble house."

I gestured at Maribelle, curious what they would have her be..

"Maribelle can continue being your maid. You'll have to conceal that collar on her." Zuri told me. “There’s little chance we will manage to separate her from you.”

I nodded at the blue steel collar. Maribelle quickly pulled a ribbon from her hair, wrapping it around her neck and the collar, and tied it off in a large bow at the back. "Easily done." She replied. “It’s difficult to remove.”

I choked, that was an understatement. It was fused together, the only way to take it off would be to first remove her head.

"And, you'll likely need several guards, which we have." Zuri answered.

I gestured to Emlyn. "We'll probably need to make her look a bit more rugged."

A low growl emanated from Emlyn's throat.

"Did I say a little? A lot more. A lot more rugged, Emlyn," I corrected myself. "You need to look a lot more rugged. You're far too beautiful. Too attention getting."

"Yeah, I thought I heard incorrectly," Emlyn crossed her arms and leaned back. "Alright, I can play guard."

"Meanwhile, Zuri," I glanced at my other anchor, "I think you would make a fine accountant." Emlyn wiped her forehead as if she had just dodged a bullet. "Yeah, accountant. You'll have to do all the math for me."

I thought about the concept. "Why don’t I already have an accountant? I definitely need more staff. " I rambled.

Zuri was stiff in the carriage but nodded, taking another note. "That seems easy enough." She sighed. "The real question is, what do we do with her?" Zuri pointed her pen at Aurelia.

Aurelia’s bright flame-red hair was unfortunately quite distinct. Though there were the occasional redheads amongst the population, the Virel Red was quite bright in its variety.

"I was hoping to have a conversation with her," Uncle Valken hesitated. "Technically, we can use life magic to change your hair color."

Aurelia snatched at her hair possessively. "No. If we make it brown..." She trailed off, pulling her hair over her shoulder and held onto it. "You're going to change my hair color?"

"We can always change it back," I hurried to reassure her. "We can change it back, right?" I asked Uncle Valken.

"Yes, but when we make the hair color change, it will be permanent. And then when we change it back, it will be permanent as well.”Uncle Valken seemed the slightest bit nervous for the first time ever.

“So it will never go back to its natural color," Aurelia asked firmly, her hands going to her hips. She was about to firmly take a stance on this and I needed to stop it.

I held a hand up. "What if we take a few strands and make sure we save them so that we get the color right when we change it back?"

Aurelia looked around the group as if hoping someone would come to her rescue before she pinched her eyes shut and swallowed. "I understand the need to alter my hair color. However, I would like it to be reddish, if possible."

"Yeah, we can just lighten it by like a dozen shades. So it's like a red blonde thing.” I waved my hands.

“Strawberry blonde, Ard." Emlyn offered.

"Yeah, that's what I said," I gestured to Emlyn for her helpful commentary.

Aurelia fidgeted with her hair a moment longer before letting her shoulders sag. "Fine. Do it now, before I change my mind."

I put a hand on her, having absolutely zero idea of what I was doing. That said, hair had to be easier than changing a nose. I thought hard about her hair, visualizing it changing colors, only for nothing to happen.

Uncle Valken cleared his throat from across the carriage. "You have to grow it out. It'll grow out in the new hair color."

"Ah, yes, I was just warming up. I was opening up my sphere and getting ready for this magical task." as I talked, Aurelia’s hair continued to grow out, and the roots were considerably lighter. There was a slightly red tint to the blonde, but it was completely different from the vibrant red.

A thought occurred to me as I worked on the hair. If this was permanent, all it would take would be a single life mage in the Virel family that could change the children's hair colors at birth to make sure they were all that bright, vibrant red. However, I kept that thought to myself. The last thing I'd ever want to do was suggest that her hair color had been altered previously. It was part of her identity. And I made note to myself that if we ever had a kid, I was totally going to ensure he or she had Virel Red hair before she even saw it. 

Maribelle was swift, her dagger cutting off the old hair sharply before Aurelia had a chance to fight it. 

Soon the new hair was long enough, fully replacing Aurlia’s red hair. Aurelia groaned and slammed her head against the side of the carriage. "I swear that was physically painful."

"Well, at least now we learned the Virel weakness," Emlyn said. "If you shave off all their hair, they're completely vulnerable."

"No jokes," Aurelia said, pointing at her. "If a huge part of your identity were ripped away, then you would feel the same," Aurelia glowered. "Also, we are going to make you ugly. Let's see how you feel about that."

"Ugly? No, just more rugged," Emlyn was suddenly fidgeting, glancing at everyone in the room.

Uncle Valken waffled his head. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." 

Emlyn turned back to me. "You will be able to put me back exactly as I am? Exactly. No differences." 

"Oh yeah, sure," I tried to keep my face straight and struggling as Emlyn began to panic. "Why does he get to stay the same and I have to change?" Emlyn pointed at herself. "That's not fair." 

"Well, it's one thing if a noble lord has an appearance as wonderful as myself. However, a guard normally isn't that beautiful," I gestured to Emlyn. 

"Okay. I have a new plan," Emlyn held her finger up. "We turn Ard into a serpent mage; that way we can all be pretty. And not have to change my face.”

“There's one big flaw in your plan.” I added, already seeing the problem. “If I am a serpent mage, why is my dying father still dying? Not to mention, this whole scenario highlights the strange disappearances of serpent mages in Garrish. I do not want to come out as a serpent mage, only to get sucked up in King Martin's experiments." 

Uncle Valken glanced to the side as if thinking.

"I'm going to stop you right now.” I told him. “If I am trying to become one of his experiments, I am getting out of this carriage. I am summoning Cyam and I will ride him back on my own. I did not volunteer for that. I volunteered for some spy work and maybe disrupting supply lines.”

The idea of being hunted down by the king and turned into some sort of experiment was horrifying. It was the very last thing I wanted to happen. Like Aurelia said, I wanted to go on the offensive.

"Understood," Uncle Valken waved as if dismissing the thought. "There will be no goal to get you sent for experiments. There is no sign that they are doing anything to fox mages.”

“Good, good. I'm glad we have that under wraps. As for you, Emlyn, maybe we'll just add a scar and put a little mud on your face." I enjoyed messing with her.

"You are not putting mud on my face.” Emlyn frowned.

“How about the special kind of mud, the ones that women wear to make themselves more beautiful?" I offered.

"That's not mud, Ard." Emlyn huffed.

I shrug helplessly. "It could be bat poop for all I know. Ladies do lady things." I gestured vaguely at all of them. 

"I could handle just a couple scars," Emlyn said slowly. 

“What about Maribelle?" Emlyn pointed at the maid.

"Well, for a maid, especially for a young merchant such as Ard will be playing, it would be no surprise for him to find one that is quite attractive. And though Aurelia has lost her hair, she can likely play as his anchor in a few weeks. We want to keep as many of you around him as possible. For a single sphere without much to his name just a single anchor is all that he can really afford." 

Everyone in the carriage was nodding along except for Emlyn, who was touching her face as if to try and remember every detail so she could tell me if I put it back wrong.

"Eva here," Uncle Valken gestured to Eva, "will be working in the house with me, and I will be able to send her on several missions for herself. She had the necessary contacts and communication methods for the Zenovian spies to recognize and be able to communicate with her." 

I nodded along. It was slightly uncomfortable that we would be entirely reliant on Zenovia's spy network. However, I also acknowledged that Uncle Valken liked me and wanted to bring me to Zenovia. I found it almost ludicrous that he would use this opportunity to leave me high and dry. 

I rubbed my hands together. "This is exciting! We get to be spies!" I hummed a little tune and flattened myself against the back of the carriage looking both ways. 

"Ard," Emlyn said as she finally stopped touching her face. 

"What? I'm a spy, Emlyn?" I did a little spy-like wiggle. At least, to me it was a spy move.

A hand wiped on her face as she watched me. "For those of you who don't know, Ard loved to pretend to be a spy and write and find hidden messages when we were kids." 

"It's a common kid game," Uncle Valken said, not putting much stock in the concept. 

"Yeah, but Ard is still a kid and this is not a game." 

I frowned at Emlyn and put a finger to my lips. "Shh! Do you hear that? That bird call? I think it's a secret messenger!" 

"Ard, there's no bird call," Emlyn groaned, only for the caw of a crow to catch our attention.

I burst out laughing, the whole scenario breaking apart for me as I held my gut like it was about to burst with how hard I was laughing. 

"Yeah, he's taking this completely seriously," Zuri added, putting the documents back into her folio. "If I can stay with Ard as his accountant, then we should be good at keeping our details straight. The only concern comes with we won't be able to run an entire merchant operation with just this group. We'll have to hire help," Eva said, "which means we will have to keep in character as much as possible so nobody detects or reports anything being off.”

“Does that mean it's part of Ard's character that he's sleeping around with the guards and the help?" Emlyn asked.

I opened my mouth as if to argue, only for Zuri to pat my leg as if to tell me this was not the fight that I wanted to fight.

"In this case, I suspect that will just have to be part of Ard's character. After all, you are bonded anchors and mages. It would be impolite to keep you two apart for so long." Uncle Valken nodded.

"Wonderful." Emlyn squeezed my leg on the other side. "I'm sure Ard will have no problem playing a playboy." 

I flashed all the ladies in the carriage an over-wide smile.

***

"All right," Uncle Valken said, drawing the word out as our carriage rolled to a stop. "Think of this place like a practice ground. We still have a couple days before we'll get to the home of our new identities. However, this inn will be full of Garrish citizens that will not recognize you. And I want you to blend in."

"What will you be doing?" I asked him.

"Eva, Aurelia, and I will be playing the role of tired travelers. And we will be sitting in the corner. Not talking," he said, glancing at the three of them.

"Right. Okay. I can do this," I said, mostly to myself.

This was just some town we were passing through on the way to our ultimate destination. There, I would make a small name for myself before I began traveling like a merchant should, allowing me the mobility to pick on particular targets within Garrish. 

I had asked why I couldn't just ride Cyam around at night and destroy targets that way. Uncle Valken informed me that most of these military outposts have raven sphere mages capable of looking long distances. We needed to be able to strike and disappear back into the fabric of society before said mages could identify who was attacking, and before said mages can be notified to use their power and track us down. I didn't love the answer, but it was what it was. Cyam was going to get a small break.

"Remember Ard, you are Trevor Shalman," Uncle Valken reminded me.

"Trevor Shalman," I muttered under my breath. "Got it. And you all?”

“Same names, just no last name," Emlyn reminded me.

"Why do I have to have a different name?"

"Because you're actually someone, and we're just commoners," Emlyn shrugged. She had a large scar across her forehead and her skin tone was tanned, like she'd been out in the sun doing manual labor and camping. Scars riddled the little bits of exposed skin and her chest was bound and well covered up. She looked a little tomboyish. Emlyn glared at me. "Don't mess this up."

"I won't. I won't." And that was my cue to go.

I stepped out of the carriage, waving to Maribelle who was wearing similar colors to me. It appeared that I would be abandoning my blue and white, now wearing an ugly maroon for my new house. Garrish, with their capital city set upon red plateaus, tended to favor warm colors. Reds, oranges, and yellows were prominent amongst their noble families.

As a merchant family, I had to do my best to mimic them. Though there was no crest or actual significance to me and Maribelle's outfits, they were relatively matching, signifying me as her master.

I walked into the inn with all of the swagger of a young merchant son having learned he was a mage. Which was to say, enough swagger that I had to step widely around the gigantic balls I suddenly obtained. I could hear Emlyn groan behind me as she followed. 

Zuri had on a pair of reading glasses and carried with her a leather folio tucked tightly to her chest. Her head was hunched slightly, giving her a meek appearance despite her height.

"Welcome in, welcome in," an older barmaid that suddenly reminded me of Beth greeted us.

When she moved around the counter, I noticed that she had a slight swell to her stomach, likely early on in her pregnancy. I suddenly felt guilty lying to a pregnant woman as if that made all the difference.

"Thank you, just passing through. We're interested in..." I glanced over at the group, not having thought this part through. "One room for the night."

She raised an eyebrow at our small party. "Did you have horses with you?"

"Yes, two. They're being stabled in the back. My maid's taking care of that.” I answered.

“And she'll be in the room with you too?" The woman scanned our group.

"Yep.” I had said one room, and I was sticking to it.

"Well then, if you don't mind. Payment please. It'll be two coppers for the night. Throw in another and I'll give all four of you a meal."

I leaned on the counter. "Two coppers for the night and meal. One room, one copper," I said as if I was trying to drive a hard bargain.

The lady glanced at me, my clothes, and the people behind me. "Two copper," she repeated. "For the room. If you don't want a hot meal, that's on you."

I grumbled before reaching into my pocket, digging deep as if the cost was painful. I was suddenly thankful that Uncle Valken had already confiscated all of my money and replaced it with Garrish coin.