Moral Stand (Aether’s Revival Book 7)

Gregory sat in his room, looking at the future. Today had many possible outcomes from his meeting with Magus Justina Smitton— she would not take his enforcement of the slave laws well, even bringing her to the point of rage. Her time in Icelake had seen her enrich herself by ignoring the rules and using her position to gather more wealth and favors for herself.

Two futures— only two out of dozens— where I can push off this conflict for later. Is it even worth pushing it? Trida isn’t behind me yet, and that might change later if I can show strength. Artok will balk when I do the same in Coldwood, but Roberts will back me there. Gregory pulled his thoughts back to the topic at hand. His resonance had shown him one of the futures where he mitigated the anger Justina felt. Resonance shows me the best path forward, but as I learned in Buldoun, it doesn’t show me how the future goes for those near me. This could cause my men more harm…

The third bell chimed, and Gregory let go of his aether. Sinking into meditation, he exhaled slowly, the cavern appearing around him a moment later. His aether flame burned brightly in the middle of the cavern, illuminating the space. The channels were still slowly expanding and polishing, with his training helping to push them.

“Can you give me a person to spar against today?” Gregory asked the flame as he stretched.

The fire surged high, a piece of it separating into a flame copy of a person. Gregory stared in awe, as it hadn’t worked before today. The person suddenly held a wakizashi of flame and took up a defensive posture. The height and build made it clear that it was Jenn.

“Can you use her aether, too?” Gregory asked.

The flame copy nodded, then extended a hand to beckon him.

A naginata appeared in his hand and his armor covered his body. “Show me what you can do,” Gregory said before he launched an attack sequence.

~*~*~

Panting as the copy of Jenn broke into streams of fire, Gregory dropped to his knees. It encircled him briefly before darting down the channels in the walls. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he took up a lotus position near the flame, which was much smaller now.

“Thank you.”

The flames bobbed and danced in acknowledgment.

“Every day?”

They wavered side to side.

“Once a week?”

They bobbed again.

“Please pick the best people for me to practice against. Different weapons would be preferable.”

The flame bobbed once more in acknowledgment.

Gregory stared into the fire, letting his resonance flow out to fill the room his body was sitting in. After a couple of minutes, he pulled it back in, trying to stop it from leaking out of himself at all. He failed, but did manage to tightly constrict it around him— a magi would fail to notice him as a fellow magi unless they touched him. He repeated the cycle a few times before the fourth bell chimed.

Letting his meditation drop, Gregory stood to stretch. He’d made his choice on what he would do when he met with Justina. Leaving the room, he greeted the others in the hall.

“How will it go?” Davis asked as the group headed for the stairs.

“Badly, but not as bad as it could. I’ll burn up all the goodwill I’d built with her. There won’t be an outright conflict, not today. If I stop another group of slavers… it’s almost a given.”

“You won’t stop, though. That isn’t who you are,” Rafiq said.

“My stubbornness might one day be the death of me…” Gregory murmured. “You’re right, Rafiq. I won’t stop. We’ll do as we agreed: uphold the laws.”

“Will the men be okay today?” Davis asked.

“Yes. Nothing’s reported by the end of the day. I’ll see you before bed to be given that report.”

“Yes, sir. It’s easiest to arrange it that way, since the men have a curfew.”

“Which was a smart idea. Thank you and the sergeants for that. The men, too, for not fighting it.”

“We all understand that we can help, Greg. It’s a small thing to return at a specific time so you can know enough to keep all of us safe.”

“Yet other units wouldn’t be as understanding,” Rafiq said. “You know that, too, Davis.”

“That’s true. This unit is as special as their magi.”

Gregory snorted as they went past the barracks his men were using. He gave Bunson a nod, the sergeant being the one watching over the men while they got up. Bunson gave Gregory a nod back. Gregory had never asked, but he’d noticed that the sergeants took it on a rotation to be awake to make sure everyone was up and moving before breakfast. It was yet another reason he was proud of his entire unit.

~*~*~

Breakfast had been good, but Gregory could feel the worry his men had. He’d given them a small speech, telling them it would be okay, and that seemed to settle them down. Gregory still felt jittery about his meeting, but he was able to ignore it.

As he walked the streets to the magus’ manor, he mused at what he’d done the day before. He’d falsified a report, deliberately leaving off the attack by the eurtiks. His only note for that day was Thera grabbing her own rune and dying. The fact that he’d not killed any eurtiks and his slave vanished just two days before he freed a wagon of eurtiks would be too much ammunition for anyone looking to discredit him. That had him write up the new report, which he’d given to Rafiq and was about to give to Justina, while Davis took another copy to Trida.

She’s heard about the slavers by now, Gregory thought. She didn’t mention how she’d known when I’d looked ahead, only that she’d been informed. One of the guards or maybe the commander himself must have told her… I don’t think it was Trida. Maybe the gate sergeant, looking to curry favor? Hmm… Gregory waited for the butler after having knocked. She didn’t summon me, which means she expected me to arrive on my own. It’s obvious that I’d show up to explain, but still, that points to her having men inside the guard. Not surprising, but does Trida realize that?

Shown into the study a few minutes later, Gregory accepted the tea from the maid. He let his resonance expand out while he waited, lightly meditating to pass the time. When he felt the magus’ hollow presence striding toward the door, he withdrew his resonance and put on a pleasant smile.

Justina came stalking into the room, a frown on her lips. “Adept, we have a lot to talk about.”

“We do, Magus,” Gregory said as he set his cup aside. He stood to bow formally to her. “I wanted to make sure my report was in order for you.”

Justina stiffened slightly; she didn’t return the bow, but took her seat. Snapping her fingers, she stared at him. “Sit. We’ll begin after my maid has served us and left.”

“Yes, Magus,” Gregory said, taking his seat again.

A couple of minutes later, the maid shut the door behind her as she left. Justina had taken a token sip of her tea before she spoke, “You freed eurtiks, Adept. That should see me arrest you.”

“For upholding the laws, Magus?” Gregory asked politely.

Justina’s brow furrowed. “You freed eurtiks. That’s against what the empire stands for.”

“I’m sorry, Magus, but I was only adhering to the slave laws. I’m not sure what law you seem to think I broke in doing so.” Gregory set his cup down, then put a scroll on the table between him and Justina. “My report. If you’d like to read it, so you have the facts?”

Justina set her cup down, then snatched the scroll. Sitting back, she started reading it, her lips compressing tightly. When she finished, she set it down, then stood to go to her bookshelf. It took her a minute, but she eventually pulled down a thick tome. Bringing it back to her seat, she flipped through it until she found the page she was looking for. She bent forward and grabbed the report, checked something, then flipped to the next page.

After a few minutes, she exhaled roughly before slamming the book shut. She set the book and scroll down, picking up her cup again. Staring at Gregory, she sipped her tea for a couple of silent minutes. Gregory did the same with a confused look on his face. He wasn’t sure he could sell it, but he was doing his best.

“You are correct about the outdated laws,” Justina finally said. “They haven’t been updated in hundreds of years.”

“That’s true, Magus, but they’re the laws on record, and are therefore valid,” Gregory replied. “Should we not do our best to uphold them? This way, our neighboring nations look to us for guidance.”

“My report said you’re from the fringe, yet in all our meetings, you haven’t acted in the least as ignorant as a fringer should.”

Gregory let a real smile bloom. “My wife, Yukiko, helped me learn a great deal during our time in the academy together, Magus. I’m a better man today because of her care and attention to my education.”

Justina seemed to let go of some of her anger. “She’s the reason you haven’t already agreed to join me for the solstice?”

This was one of the spots where things could start to lean away from a direct confrontation. “It was, Magus. I’m sorry; I wasn’t sure what I should do. Yuki… she can be… possessive. She’s also a shadow magi. Upsetting her… well, I might never see the blade. As I was struggling with what I should do, Magus Artok also asked me to spend the solstice with him. I’m… umm… I’m not like that, and I don’t believe he is either, but…” He trailed off, shrugging. “I was torn between a vengeful wife and two magi stronger than me that both wanted me to be with them on the solstice.”

Justina’s eyes searched his face before she sighed. “I rescind my offer. I’m upset with your actions, even if they were— strictly speaking— legal. Pity. I was looking forward to some…” She trailed off, then continued, “But that is past. I will be ordering Trida to release the men you have him holding. This isn’t a problem, is it?”

“No, Magus,” Gregory said.

“Good. As for this nonsense of them being banned, we’ll ignore the—”

“Magus, that’s inadvisable,” Gregory said softly, cutting her off as gently as he could. This was the second point where things could either go positively or slip into confrontation. “My reports to you and Trida aren’t the only reports. All my reports are sent directly to the academy, as well. One of the slaves in my unit was placed there by Sage Windfoot himself. As far as I know, he reads them all. If we ignore a law… I’m sure I’d be hearing about it, but I think anyone else would, too. I don’t want to see you caught up in the net with me, Magus.”

Justina licked her lips for a moment. “What did you do to upset him, Adept?”

“Truthfully, Magus, I don’t know. I won the Buldoun tournament, and thought I’d done well. Then, I found myself with a strict instructor for my last year, and I was sent here this year. Next year, I’ve already been informed I will be going to Krogga.”

Justina shook her head. “You’re a doomed man… I will release the men, but will uphold the ban on them. Don’t let us have this conversation again. Understood, Adept?”

Gregory set his cup down. Standing, he bowed to her. “I have heard you, Magus.”

“Good. If we have to have this conversation again, you will regret it,” Justina said simply, letting her aether out to push down on Gregory.

Gregory blinked once before he winced, then wheezed. “Yes, Magus.”

“Perfect. Go.”

Gregory bowed when her aether was withdrawn. He quickly left the manor, heading for the barracks. When he was safely away, he shook his head. Justina was barely a first rank magus by her own admission, and he was already on the fifth rank of adept— her resonance pressure had been negligible. One of the futures he’d avoided had them exchange resonance pressure. He’d forced her to her knees, as she had no control over hers while he had excellent control over his. But today had thankfully gone as he’d hoped; there was no conflict, giving him more time to get through the year before things went badly.