"Why do sorcerers always live in tall towers?" Fei asked as she and August rode up to Nair's tower. "Is there some reason behind it?"
"Why do sorcerers always live in tall towers?" Fei asked as she and August rode up to Nair's tower. "Is there some reason behind it?"
August gave her a sideways look. Fei's smile looked innocent, and her ears and tail remained still. Although that might have been because she was riding an automaton horse.
A few weeks of lessons during patrols helped, but she was still uncomfortable on horseback by herself.
"What sort of reason are you thinking of?" August asked.
Fei's smile twitched. That was all August needed to see to know she was faking innocence.
He sighed.
"You realize Nair is a woman, don't you?" August said.
"Maybe she wants what she can't have?" Fei broke out into a fit of giggles. "I mean, why else live in a gigantic penis." Her giggles strengthened.
Her joke was an old one. So old that August remembered reading it when he was little. Everybody made the joke.
Sorcerers lived in towers that resembled phalluses. Were they compensating for something? Lusting for something? Were the towers symbolic of the true nature of sorcerers?
No doubt somewhere there existed a group of people who believed that the phallic nature of sorcerer towers was some sort of plot or conspiracy.
"Towers are easy to defend, given their height and the ease of protecting one with magical wards and barriers," August explained.
"A handful of defenders can hold the entrance, and you can hurl all the spells you like from up on high. It even applies when the tower is breached."
"So they climb the—" Whatever Fei was going to say dissolved into a mess of giggling.
August decided not to bother trying to explain any further. Fei's mind was lost to her lewd jokes.
Nair's tower was uninspired by sorcerer standards, if taller than August expected. Perhaps because it was old. The dark granite exterior was overgrown with vines and moss, and the stone looked aged.
A low wall of limestone surrounded the tower in a perfect circle, with a gatehouse located at each of the cardinal directions.
Fairly normal stuff for a sorcerer. Their type loved this sort of symmetry.
The plain outside the wall was empty save for paved roads leading to the gatehouses from the nearby highway. Not a shred of vegetation could be seen within half a mile of the wall.
Two suits of armor stood guard at the gate that August and Fei rode up to. He eyed them warily. The magic within them was simple to detect. They were summons. Good ones, too.
Although Bastions were renowned for their summoning talents, nothing stopped an ordinary sorcerer from creating their own summons.
Nothing except the vast amount of power necessary to create and run the things.
A binding stone was an all-in-one magical generator and battery that eclipsed anything created by humans or any other race. For a sorcerer to try to match one was folly.
But that didn't mean a sorcerer couldn't create a handful of good summons. What made Nair strange was that she had summons outside of her tower.
Most sorcerers that August met only used a handful of summons —sometimes as few as one—and kept them close.
A summon was an indefatigable defender. They didn't sleep, didn't eat, were unaffected by darkness or deception, and were far more powerful than any non-magical warrior. Assassins didn't have a chance against one.
But a summon couldn't defend you if it was a hundred meters away.
August tried to open the gate. It didn't move. Looking around, he couldn't see any obvious method to contact Nair or any occupants.
With no other options, August banged on the wooden gate. The loud thuds echoed across the empty clearing.
After close to thirty seconds—long enough for August to want to leave and Fei to become bored—a voice spoke from the air.
"I'm assuming from your uniform that you're the new Bastion?" the voice asked. It was too distorted for August to know who or what the speaker might be.
"I am. Bastion August—"
"August Straub," the voice interrupted. "Yes, I know. Anna sent a message letting me know that you were here, among other things. Let us talk in person."
The voice vanished. A moment later, the gate creaked open. Somebody needed to oil the hinges.
August and Fei approached the tower. He was all but certain the speaker had been Nair herself, given she spoke of receiving a message from Anna. Regardless, he needed to keep his guard up.
For all he knew, the Federation had already replaced Nair with an imposter and this was a trap.
By the time August and his Champion reached the base of the tower, the double doors at the front of it were open. A beautiful young woman stood outside, waiting to greet them. Vera Nair herself, August assumed.
She wasn't wearing a uniform, which meant she wasn't part of the military. Instead, Nair wore a blue robe cut to reveal plenty of thigh and cleavage. Definitely not military issue.
Atop her robe was a combined jacket and cloak that almost glowed white in the morning sun. Her flowing red locks contrasted against her cloak, as did the golden adornments on her jacket and her many pieces of jewelry, such as her rings.
August noted the two badges on her cloak, connected to one another by brass chains.
One badge identified her as a member of the Imperial Sorcerer's Lodge, which was the only recognized authority for sorcerers in the Anfang Empire. The other was a badge of knighthood from the archduke of the region.
So, Nair was an actual lady—a noble serving the Empire. August had assumed others referred to her as Lady Nair out of respect for her position as a sorceress, but she was the real deal.
He didn't know what to make of this revelation. If anything, it was further proof of her allegiance to the Empire. A knighthood was hereditary in the Empire, unlike in many other nations, and granted many noble rights to the holder.
"Lady Nair," August greeted, dismounting from his automaton horse. "It's a pleasure to meet you."