Explosive results

Vel was flat on his back and raised his head to look at what happened. One of the apple trees had half of it blown away, and the remaining half was smoldering. Wow. Fal came over and helped him up, handing him his cane as well. “Fucking damn, lordling. There’s no way that was your first bolt.” Vel shrugged. “It was.” The merc raised his eyebrows. “Well, I don’t see why you would lie about that. You probably drained your magical reservoir pretty good with that kind of power though, didn’t you?” Vel was pretty sure he was right. He felt the kind of drain he got when he overstretched his mind power, but it was slightly different. He suspected the two drew on different reserves, as he still felt ready to use the mind ones. “Yeah, I think that bolt consumed most of it.” That got another nod. “That is my fault, I did not teach you how to control how much energy you put into the bolt. I did not think you’d manage a full bolt, much less that you’d be able to pour your whole reservoir into one. I’ve never seen anything like that from a first timer. Hells, a sworn in battlemage would be proud of a bolt like that.” Adi’s words about him always excelling at everything echoed in Vel’s head.

“Right, I should probably try and teach you how to control how much **** you put into one of those. Depending on how quickly you recharge we can go over some other useful techniques too, and that should probably do for today.” That sounded good to Vel, and they spent the next couple of hours going over theory and practicing. The mercenary was sparing in his praise, but Vel had the distinct impression he was impressed. Vel also did his best to subtly probe a bit about how much this man knew about the order, the unbound, and the heir. He couldn’t push too hard, he did not want to arouse suspicion, but he was confident he knew very little or nothing about the order’s goals and had no clue about the prophecy.

By the time they returned to the cave, Vel was exhausted both physically and magically. He was pleased with himself though, he’d picked up some useful new skills for sure. “Ah, my liege, please do join us.” Seph was sitting at the little table with his two sisters, all three of them were drinking tea and chatting amiably. The attendants brought two more chairs and the two men joined the little tea party. “I understand congratulations are once again in order, my liege. I’ve already offered them to your lady sister, but I offer you my sincerest congratulations at the pregnancy as well.” The mercenary’s eyebrows rose to the point where, had he not been shaved-headed, Vel thought they would have probably vanished behind his hair. He made no comment though, and Vel found he did not care. Ella had been blissfully unaware of the reaction, basking in the congratulations. “Thank you, Seph. I am honestly overjoyed.”

They kept a pleasant conversation going for a while longer, but Vel really was drained, and everyone could tell. “I do believe it is time we headed home, dear Seph. My twin looks beyond weary.” Seph nodded. “Right you are, lady Adeline. There is one last matter, though. My liege, you will require further lessons with Fal. And they likely will need to be held here, due to their nature.” Vel nodded, that made sense. “I will endeavor to return within the next two or three days.” Fal nodded. “I will probably spend the next two days in town, then, and await you here on the third one. I prefer to not live in a cave when I can avoid it.” That was fair enough. With that sorted out, the trio left the cave and headed home.