Preparation

As it turned out, Lord Farsight traveling “with” us was a misnomer. Farsight’s encampment, which included at least two hundred people, lagged at least two miles behind us. The size of his group meant it traveled much slower than our small party. All told, we made the return journey in a single day, while Farsight had to stop and make camp a several miles away.

As soon as we returned in the evening, Carina, Kyn, Gaz, and a few others including the butler gathered in the great hall to hear our report, which Gwyn efficiently delivered. At the end, Gaz woofed something I think meant “not bad, not good.”

“So we’ve bought some time, but if we can’t revive the king it means little,” Carina said, stroking her chin.

I turned to her. “Has he improved?”

She half-shrugged. “He’s still unconscious. Kyn has been diligently administering the proper Potion of Youth to him daily, and it seems to help, but I don’t know enough about it to say exactly how much. He might wake up tomorrow, in a dozen days, or never at all.”

Gwyn said “all this means is our situation is unchanged. We must summon the court alchemist. My darling wife, how much longer until we can attempt the process?”

Carina answered “at the earliest? Four days.” Kyn nodded in agreement. “We’ve done all we can. Now it’s just a matter of letting the brews age properly.”

“There is one additional factor,” Gwyn added. “We must consider the possibility that Lord Farsight wishes to overthrow the throne by force.” I let out noise of surprise. “Friend Rei, what did you think his host was? He brings an army to the doors of our castle.”

I asked “but then why hasn’t he attacked before?”

“He fears that, with troops enhanced by the gifts of a great alchemist, he could not seize it. And insofar as we know, he still fears that. So perhaps these troops are a yet another political move.”

“So, we’re bluffing,” I said.

“In a fashion. Unless you can give merit to the bluff?”

“Sorry,” I replied, “I can make a strengthening potion for myself, but making one that can work on someone other than me is a lot harder. I can’t do it overnight.”

At that moment, Arnya stifled a yawn. That reminded me that it was quite late. One of the attendant dogmen suggested going to bed. Everyone agreed and the meeting dissolved, each returning to his or her room.

But I couldn’t sleep. After tossing and turning for maybe an hour, I threw off the covers, entered the lab, lit the torches, and began performing alchemy. This kind of preparation was the least I could do.

First, I started on a potion to increase my own strength and toughness. According to An Introductory Guide, this was a combat brew popular for its simplicity and usefulness. That done, I tinkered with a few others—a potion that would let me breathe fire, a tincture that kept a sword sharp, and a few other combat-related ones. Unfortunately, this book didn’t have a lot of combat potions, and it seemed the Court Alchemist Rei either wasn’t interested in that kind of alchemy, or else he didn’t keep recorded notes on it.

So I turned to my pet project: the potion I had promised Arnya. I started with the recipe for Awakening a normal human into an alchemist (it was one of the easiest potions in the book). All I needed to do was tinker with it to work on a former sorcerer, working under the knowledge that sorcery and alchemy were linked somehow…

The skills I learned in all my past work with theoretical physics came to bear here. After all, this new potion had to be entirely theoretical. I couldn’t test it; giving Arnya an incomplete potion might put her in a coma like the king, or worse.

I lost myself in the frantic flurry of research, theorizing, and alchemy. It was very like that night I had fixed the machine to send myself here. It wasn’t until I finished, blinking, that I realized the sun had risen hours ago. But there, in the midst of a table that looked like a hurricane had hit it, was a small vial filled with a liquid glowing a dim blue.

The exhaustion now crashing over me, I staggered out, almost colliding with the butler. “Ah, lord Rei. It is good to see you alive and well. Her Highness was concerned when young Kyn told her you had vanished in the night.”

I muttered something like “thank you” before stumbling into the throne room, where Arnya perched on the edge of the throne. When she saw me she leapt up and ran to me, grabbing my arms. “Rei, you must not do such things! We need everyone at full strength for the coming days.”

I pressed the potion into her hand. “Like we talked about,” I said hoarsely.

“You mean…”

“I think it works, but there’s no way to know until you try it. Also, um,” I cleared my throat, “there’s also a chance you die when you take that. I mean, of course could poison you, but also it might cause all your sorcery to explode at once and—”

She shushed me by placing a light finger to my lips. “I understand. Emergency use only.” She slipped it into a pocket of her royal robes. She then gave me a quick hug before pulling away. “Now. I must speak with our interloping lord. Do you wish to witness this confrontation?” I nodded, and the two of us, closely followed by the butler and a silent Gwyn,

We reached the shut gates in the castle wall. A dogman guard signaled to operators inside the gatehouse, who opened it just enough to let us through.

A hundred feet away, brightly decorated in violent red and orange robes, stood Lord Farsight, casually eating from a chicken leg held by a servant. Behind him was his entire company. In the clear late morning sunlight, it was now fully obvious that this was an army, just as Gwyn had said.

Farsight lazily strolled forward, still eating. When he reached easy earshot, he said in a malicious drawl “well, well, well. I visit the castle to speak with the king, and who receives me but the suspicious princess? Now that is peculiar.” He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and spoke again, this time his voice hard. “Let’s talk.”