40 Fire (1/2)
”You've finally done it. This seems worse than the ruins of that gang's headquarters.” Chen remarked, a mug of ale in one hand and the magnificent 'nameless skewers' in the other. Sitting on a rock in the courtyard he observed the ashen mess of the kitchen with a satisfied expression.
”It's not that bad.” With a flick of his wrist, Nikolai cut the spell collecting the fire and let the flames peter out.
”Then why use magic?”
”As a precaution.” Nikolai declared self-righteously, glad that he'd come so early today and no one else was around to witness the debacle. Casting another spell to summon water in the shape of a dragon he manoeuvred it across the charred surfaces to pick up soot and ash.
”If Levan the Water-Prince saw what you're doing with his aqua form spell, he'd roll over in his tomb. It's positively inflammatory.” Chen chuckled, tossing an empty skewer into the spell.
”Don't add to the mess! I hate it when you talk about magic.”
”Don't be so cold. You're the one responsible for building the Thunder Lancers, so you can't complain.”
”Ugh… don't remind me, teaching you barbarians history was a pointless endeavour. Levan was burnt to ash in a spell duel by the way. He has no tomb.” Building on the research of Mages attached to the Ministry of War, Nikolai managed to consolidate their ideas and create the Thunder Lancers. Most people believed them to be trained for combat with great monsters but in truth they were Mage killers. Warriors bestowed with an understanding of the esoteric arts of magic and powerful magical equipment, capable of analysing the weaknesses in a Mages spells and striking like thunder to destroy them.
”Proof of your flaming incompetence then.” Chen hopped from his perch, being careful to stop the ale from spilling.
”The fact you can't remember is somehow my fault?” Grunting with effort, he swept the dragon across the damaged countertops. Maintaining a spell was far more difficult than creating one. It was the reason most War Magic relied on constructing arrays to create sustained effects.
”I had a burning desire to learn. You were the wet blanket.” Chen rasped, taking a swig from his mug.
Grumbling at his friends antics and disastrous wordplay, Nikolai pulled a stream of dirty water from the dragon and flung it towards him. With both hands occupied Chen couldn't react in time and his head was drenched. Sputtering he glared at Nikolai, cursing in his soft voice.
”Stop playing around and sit quietly.” Nikolai ordered, trying to fix the mess of a kitchen. Whatever marks remained would need a good scrubbing with lye which he'd leave to the maids. Even if he tried to hide his mistake by scrubbing, he didn't know where the lye was stored and if he went around trying to find out, things would escalate.
”You were the one who asked me to come.” Chen rasped, awkwardly trying to dry his face with a sleeve. Not willing to put his food aside.
”No. I asked you to meet me in the tower after breakfast. You're the one who snuck up on me and caused this mess.”
”Nikolai… I was coming back from the plaza when I saw the smoke and fire. Which by the way was insane. How could you get stone to burn so easily?”
Coughing in embarrassment, Nikolai dismissed the question with a wave. ”Not important.”
”What were you even trying to do?”
”Trying to make Shashlichya for lunch.”
”The grilled meat stick thing Suri made for us outside Sieradz?” Chen licked his lips at the memory, thoughts of the succulent, tender marinated meat did that to a person. Especially when it came from Suri's hand. ”What did you do with the swords?”
Nikolai blushed and pointed to a misshapen lump lying in the corner.
”You melted steel? What in the Fates name were you doing?”
”I was in a rush. Wanted to get everything up an running for a test so I used some magical fire to speed up the process.” He tried to defend his actions. Although not much chance existed. After all who would be foolish enough to conjure magically fuelled flames in a kitchen? Nikolai blushed even harder, recalling the surges of fire turning his carefully prepared food into ash.
”The only magical flames you know…” Chen gaped at him, eyes wide in shock. ”Did you actually use White Thunder Fire to cook?”
”Only a little, and that's a stupid name.” He'd just used a few licks of it. Unfortunately something in the food created a strange mana vortex which acted like a lens, intensifying the flames. Not that it would help him in explaining things to the Head Maid when she found out. Still it was an avenue to explore if he could isolate what had happened.
Quietly.
In his laboratory.
Once he successfully avoided the Head Maid for a few days.
”I've got to hand it to you Nikolai.” Chen leaned back against his rock. ”Your incompetence is reaching even greater heights.”
Drained from dealing with the fallout of his cooking, Nikolai pushed his friend aside and joined him on the rock, snatching one of the skewers from his hand despite Chen's complaints.
”I'm only taking one. Don't make such a fuss.” Chomping down, he waved at the town. ”Since you're here, let's talk.”
Chen took a small sip, collecting his thoughts. ”The town's on the mend. Most of the damage was confined to the area around the Silver Serpents territory although when I say damage I mean absolute destruction. The death toll is still being updated as rescue efforts continue but luckily much of the population in the area had already been evacuating before anything too dangerous cropped up.”
”Black clouds would terrify anyone.”
”Yes, that's part of it. But Nikolai, many of the citizens we've rounded up claim they'd already approached the guard with rumours of Dark Magic. I've followed a few trails, found some reports that were submitted, a few officers who claim to have intimated their superiors and so on. Somehow the information's been suppressed before reaching the highest levels. Petrov's furious and he's hunting for traitors, uprooting every single guard post to find out what's going on.”
”If there's anyone, he'd be the one to find them.”