9. Chapter 9 #2
“Anytime, love. Right now, though, I’d kill for an early dinner, a hot bath, and not being on my feet the rest of the day.”
“That, we can manage.”
Rowan was incredibly sweet and attentive the rest of the evening. He filled the bath for Milo himself, letting him soak until he was a prune, and then when Milo did get out, he gave him a foot massage, which Milo loved. A massage was honestly needed after all those damn stairs.
He ate dinner with the family and felt like he’d made a bit more headway in getting to know them better. The twins were a riot once they relaxed around him, teasing and poking at each other as only siblings can do. Made Milo wish, again, that he wasn’t an only child.
About halfway through his second plate, another tall ginger joined them.
With her long braid and fighting leathers, she looked like a warrior goddess in search of a battlefield.
Milo blinked at this new person, taking her in with a sweep of the eyes.
She looked much like Raina, but something about her expression reminded him strongly of Rowan.
The RBF was what did it. Her freckled nose was a touch sunburned, and based on her scuffed boots and fraying braid, he assumed she’d just gotten in.
Rowan paused in eating as he waved his sister down. “Riley. This is Milo.”
Ah-ha, the resemblance now made perfect sense. This was the other sister he hadn’t met yet. “Hi-hi. Nice to meet you.”
Riley gave him a curious once-over and nodded back in hello.
Oh yeah, she and Rowan were definitely siblings; they had exactly the same expressions and mannerisms.
Riley dropped into the seat kitty-corner to his, her blue eyes on Milo as she filled a plate. “That barrier your doing?”
“’Tis indeed.”
“No ward?”
“Ward’s shot,” Milo explained, not put off by her brusqueness. “It’ll take me a good week to tear it down and then redo it. Barrier is there to help protect everyone in the meantime.”
His answer satisfied her and she smiled. “Good.”
“He renewed all the watchtower sigils, too,” Rowan informed her, then resumed eating.
Troy questioned this, tone rising with hope. “Does that mean they’re all working?”
“They are,” Milo assured him while grabbing another dinner roll. “I’ve taught Rowan how to renew them, too. It’s not hard. Just takes paint. If the paint fades enough, the sigil stops working. That’s why it was so glitchy.”
“Ohhh. Well, that’s good to know.”
Milo had been thinking as he walked up those many stairs, and he had an idea. Most of the time, the mage was stationed up here to help back up the family’s defenses. Helping with healing, too, of course. But mostly to help protect the area. The ward fell under that job description.
But Milo could do leaps and bounds more than just help defend the place. For Rowan, and this wonderful family who had wholeheartedly accepted him, he’d pull out all the stops.
“So, uh, since we’re all here and everything, I have several thoughts I want to run past people.
Rowan wants me to do the fire-suppression charms, which I’m happy to make up, and we can apply them not only to the kitchen area, but also to any fireplace in the fortress.
Just to cover the bases.” Milo knew they were all right with that and kept going.
“But I also want to do a few other things. Stock up the infirmary with better healing potions, for one. That way people aren’t in life-threatening trouble while waiting on me. ”
Raina sat up straighter, eyes hopeful. “What do you need?”
“Frankly? My own workspace. Basically, I need a kitchen, but I need that kitchen to have lots of shelves and jars and such. Some potions have to sit and cure for a few weeks before they’re viable.
I can also create bandages. Uh…not, like, standard bandages, but healing bandages.
Wrap them around a major injury, like broken ribs, and it can heal the bulk of the injury within a few days. ”
Rowan looked at him hopefully. “Will those take long to make?”
“The prep takes longer than the spell,” Milo explained with a shrug.
“Takes about an hour for ten bandages? Roughly? Once they’re cut into strips, I write the spell with a pen on one end, and presto, done.
” Milo could tell they were super excited about his offer, especially with the danger all around them.
“One last thing I want to offer is heating charms. I understand it’s brutal up here in the winter.
If you can get me platinum, I can start making up charm necklaces.
The heating charm will last a good six months, and it’ll keep a body warm even with the thinnest coat on. ”
Troy was all over this. “Do it. How many of those can you make?”
“Again, the prep is what dictates the answer. I don’t have enough materials to even begin to make those. I also have no idea how many you need.”
“We have a little over two thousand people living up here,” Raina supplied. “Would it be impossible to get a heating charm for each person?”
“Hmm… No? So long as I have help making the necklaces.”
Reagan threw a hand up, practically vibrating in her seat. “I’ll help!”
She wore quite a few handmade necklaces and bracelets, so Milo had a feeling why she volunteered. She even wore a hairpiece, the twisted metal clipped into her short hair. “You like jewelry making?”
“Favorite thing,” she answered with a happy nod.
“Then please do help.”
They set to discussing how much material this would take and how to get it here, just the logistics of it all. Milo hadn’t expected anyone to dismiss his offers, but he was still a bit surprised by how enthusiastically everyone chipped in with their own offers of support.
Some of this would take several months, of course. The necklaces alone would. Still, that was why Milo was here for a full year—to do this kind of work. He also hoped that by offering all of this, he could carve out his own permanent place here.
With that goal in mind, the work would be worth it.
After breakfast the next morning, Rowan stopped Milo as they stepped outside. “Milo, a thought.”
Milo paused, literally one foot out the door. “Yes, sweetums?”
“Do you know any way to put trip alarms up around the cliff face?”
“Sure. There’s quite a number of spells I can do.”
“Can you do some today?”
Milo shrugged. “I mean, if you want those up before I work on the ward?”
“I do, yes. They’ll help act as another first line of defense.”
“Then let’s go. Shouldn’t take me more than an hour.”
Looking quite pleased, Rowan led the way.
They left the fortress altogether, heading to the west side of the duchy where the cliff faces all were.
Milo skipped along at Rowan’s side, turning his head here and there, taking in the scenery he’d acquainted himself with yesterday.
Honestly, the idea of an alarm of some sort along the cliffs was fabulous.
Leave it to his brilliant strategist to think of it.
Milo’s brain thought with puzzles; he didn’t really keep offense and defense at the forefront of his mind.
Rowan’s request was interesting, though, as Milo would have thought the harbor would need more protections as merchants sailed to and fro. “So, Rowan, why here? Why the cliffs?”
“Harbor is well patrolled,” Rowan explained, hazel eyes sweeping the area.
“Drachifel don’t like to fight groups of people; they’ve learned we can fight back.
They like to pick off singular victims, or perhaps two people.
They like to scale the cliffs so they can skulk and ambush someone in the sparse tree line. ”
“Uh. Did you say scale the cliffs?”
“I did.”
“They can fucking climb a cliff this steep?!”
“Easily.” Rowan lifted his hands in a claw shape. “Their claws make it possible. They climb a cliff the way you would walk through a park.”
“Fuck. That’s alarming.” His request now made perfect sense, too. In fact, Milo was going to do a redundancy alarm because fuck that. “Ohhh shit, I just realized why you’ve been so on edge while I worked on the barrier. You were guarding against ambushes.”
“That’s why. Until late fall, we’ll be at our highest threat level for attacks.”