Athenia: By the Power of Four: The Master Mage Chronicles Book Four by H. D. Jacobsen

Author:H. D. Jacobsen [Jacobsen, H. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-22T16:00:00+00:00

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They were a four-day getting to the Okur Mountains, an additional two-day, including a seventh-day they rested, to reach the copper fields. The few men they passed on the way were reluctant to share information. It was understandable for men guarding their claims. Marcus removed a copper from his purse, focused, and felt a faint pull up-mountain and down-range. There were no trails, save those created by forest animals. The terrain was difficult to traverse. They climbed steep ridges and descended deep canyons. The pull of copper always grew stronger.

At last, very late in the day, Marcus called a halt. “We must be very close to the copper deposits. The pull is in every direction, it seems. But I am too tired to look and the animals too weary to travel farther. And darkness will soon be upon us. Would you be willing to unpack the animals while I pitch our tents and prepare food? We passed a stream a short while before and the animals drank well. And there is enough grass around here for them to feed.” He had felt a vague sense of being followed earlier in the day. “But perhaps we should tether them for the night.”

Marcus was aroused from his sleep by a wuff from Rex, who had been snoring softly at his feet. Marcus reached out with mind-touch and detected three men trying to untie the tethers holding their mounts. Max was snorting, having none of it. Marcus arose quietly, slipped on pants, shirt and boots, and invoked tiemp. The men were rough-looking, and even rougher in character and speech. None was a murderer, but all three had long histories of theft. Marcus was tired, annoyed, and without patience. He released time, opened a portal to Windsor, and immediately suspended time again. He half-carried, half-pushed the three men through the portal, closed it, and went back to bed.

Wilhelm was a heavy sleeper and a reluctant early riser, but the smell of sizzling sausage roused him quickly from his bed. “How did you sleep?” he asked Marcus.

“Fine, except for when three men tried to steal our animals.”

“What? When was that? I must have slept right through it! What did you do?”

“Sent them to Windsor. I wonder if they will fare better at ocean-level than here, at these mountain heights.”

“You know, Marcus, that was a very cruel thing to do.”

“And stealing isn’t? They simply received in kind. Pain-for-pain. Grief-for-grief. Trouble-for-trouble.”

They ate breakfast in silence, cleaned up the utensils, and began their search for copper.

Wilhelm had learned what to seek, from his discussions the last turn at the Caldonian mint. Copper was often associated with blue-green stone. Climbing over a small ridge, he let out a gasp. There, before him, in a wide crack in the canyon wall, was a broad vein of dark green stone. There was a reddish-brown ore throughout. He broke off a piece of the ore, exposing a pinkish-orange surface within. He turned to Marcus. “Pure, and I mean pure copper. The miners call these copper nuggets.

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