Michael Manning - The Archmage unbound

Though the armor didn’t fit me I had already tried it myself… and I had designed the enchantments that produced the effect he was describing. These enchantments were different however, and I was curious about Dorian’s reaction. “This armor isn’t actually any lighter than normal,” I informed him. “You complained that the lightness of the chainmail made you feel like you were being tossed about so I didn’t alter the mass of this armor.”

“Mass?” he asked without a hint of guile.

I sighed… he never had really paid attention to his tutors in the sciences. If it wasn’t military history he just hadn’t been interested. “It’s what gives your armor weight, what makes it heavy.”

“It doesn’t feel heavy, I might as well be wearing nothing but my gambeson and a bit of leather for all the weight I have on me,” he replied.

“It’s all still there, I’ve just enchanted the armor to move with you… at least partly,” I explained. It was actually an exceedingly complex enchantment. I had been working on it far longer than I had the actual armor crafting. As usual it was the sort of accomplishment that no one would ever really understand.

“How?” Dorian asked, though he regretted the question almost immediately.

Excited to finally have someone to tell I launched into a detailed explanation, “The armor stores energy from your downward movements, rather like a spring… then the energy is released whenever you move in a direction that works against gravity. The end result is that while you still retain the inertia of eighty pounds of metal you don’t have to exhaust yourself moving it around with just your muscles…”

“Mort!” he interrupted me with a pained expression.

The look in his eyes told me I had gone overboard again. I started over, “The armor uses magic to help you move. It’s still as heavy as normal, but you don’t have to bear all the weight yourself.”

Dorian’s eyebrows went up, “That’s perfect. I’m assuming it’s still as hard to pierce as the chainmail you did?”

I chuckled, “I don’t know what it would take to cut through that. My guess is that if something powerful enough to pierce the armor hit you, you wouldn’t care, the shock would kill you before the armor failed.”

“What about one of your enchanted blades?” he asked seriously.

I squinted involuntarily, “It would be unlikely. The edge would have to strike perfectly and the blade would have to be wielded with a strength beyond what a normal man could muster.”

“What if he was wearing magical armor that moved with him?” Dorian said pointedly, flexing his arm.

I shook my head, “No the armor doesn’t augment your strength. It merely assists you in moving it. It wouldn’t be enough.”

He looked disappointed. You’d almost think he was trying to figure out a way to kill himself. Finally he opened up, “Well I think it’s wonderful, though I wonder if it’s really worth your time to be making armor down here.”

“There’s only one of me Dorian, but I need help. I need men that can fight the shiggreth on equal terms. Scratch that… I need men that can cut the shiggreth into small pieces and send them packing. I can only be in one place at a time… while the enemy is numerous. The valley is large and there are several villages, it just isn’t possible for…”

Dorian held a hand up to silence me. “I understand Mort… I’m the one that told you originally remember? You have to trust the people to be your strength.”

“Right!” I agreed. “But they need the proper tools if they’re to be effective against the sort of enemies we’re facing now.”

Dorian nodded, “You’re right, but you can only make so many suits of armor like this. Even for you it takes too long. How many do you plan to make and what will it accomplish?”

“Twenty or so… for a hand-picked group of leaders and fighters… a new order of knights,” I told him. I was a bit hesitant, until now I had kept my idea a secret, and the thought of saying it aloud made it sound a bit like one of the stories I used to read. I feared laughter.

I needn’t have worried though. Dorian’s imagination was greater than mine and for all his wisdom he had a simplicity that made such things very believable. His eyes lit with enthusiasm almost before I could finish my sentence. “That’s brilliant!” Two words… that’s all it took and I could see my dream written in his face.

“Well don’t get the wrong idea, they won’t be a traditional military order. I’ll commission them as protectors, wardens of the people…,” I said calmly. I was hoping to calm Dorian’s exuberance, although I had to admit it was contagious. He had a habit of saying what perhaps my inner child had been thinking all along.

“So you’ll send them out… patrolling the land, guarding the citizens from undead monsters and bandits alike,” he exclaimed.

“Well yes…”

“And they’ll pledge absolute loyalty to you Mort… the defender of Lothion!” Dorian was pacing now and nothing I could say would get through to him, his head was filled with visions of knights errant and deeds of chivalry. I smiled to myself as I watched him. If I could find nineteen other men like him, perhaps it wasn’t such a foolish dream after all.

“Ideally they’d pledge fealty to the…,” I started to say ‘king’ but I knew already that it was a bad idea. “Perhaps they should swear to James of Lancaster,” I amended.

He stopped and glared at me, “Say something like that again and I’ll wallop you!”

“You object to James?” I started.

“No, fool! I know you’re trying to be modest and all, but it’s time to own up to what you’ve done. You defeated an army of over thirty thousand men, saved the realm, and won the hearts of thousands of people. Do you honestly think you could create some new order of knights and just hand it over to someone else? Do you think people would be inspired by that?” he said angrily.

“Alright, you’re right,” I said trying to placate him. I knew there was no use in arguing once he got riled up like that.

“Don’t agree with me and think I’ll shut up! You always do that. I may not be a genius but I’m smart enough to spot your patronizing ways. Listen up… the people need inspiration, just as much as they need protection. We just fought off a massive attack; many of the people lost loved ones. The first harvest was nearly a complete loss and you and I aren’t the only ones who know that there’s a lot of damned undead wandering around unaccounted for. This idea is brilliant and it’s just what they need, something to hope for. Nothing inspires hope like a hero, and you’re planning to give them twenty… but they need to be led by a hero, someone the people know. Someone the people believe can do anything… in case you haven’t been paying attention, that’s you Mort.” He poked me forcefully with his index finger.

Sometimes Dorian could embarrass the hell out of me, even when we were alone. I tried to change the subject, “Actually Dorian you brought up something important. This new order will need a captain… aside from whoever they answer to… and you made a lot of good points. Naturally I want you to be that person.”

He blinked for a second, “Well I knew that already, the real question is who else you want, you need nineteen other men if you’re to have a force of twenty.”

I had done some thinking on that already but it was a difficult subject. I had to be selective. I wanted men who had already been tested in battle, veterans who were also trustworthy. There were a number of capable warriors in my livery now but I had no way of judging the integrity of many of them. Quite a few were ex-mercenaries with questionable backgrounds. Finding killers was easy; finding men like Dorian was a daunting task. So far I had only come up with two names. “Joe McDaniels and Harold Simmons,” I said at last.