There were only three days left until Hecate had to go and et the Count of Yarol. Percy wouldn't be coming and he didn't want to, honestly. He was too busy with his water system project.
Percy and Terra lazed around on a high terrace in the fortress. They personally dragged the table and chairs out here for the fresh breeze, then Percy had the servants bring them snacks.
This was their little office, when it wasn't raining at least. Here they worked on the schematics for the pipe design and tested their purification circles.
Terra turned to take in the view for the hundredth ti. She hated heights, but it was so beautiful up here. The rolling green fields and scattered trees, the colossal white river to their left, and the sprawling city beneath their feet.
"Why do you like this place so much? I like the view, but it takes years to climb up all those stairs. Can't we just use the ballroom downstairs?"
Percy grabbed an eraser from the table, fully locking in on his latest sketch for the eastern city pipelines.
"No can do, Dark Mistress. Less disturbances up here and this is where I first sensed spirits."
"Is that rumor true? That the mont you were born the spirits began rejoicing and appeared to honor your birth?"
Percy laughed a little. The way information transforms when it moves from person to person was insane.
"I was born before we got here. And no, the spirits did not appear when I was born. I communed with them when I was like a year old."
Terra had said that as a joke. Everyone knew imnse concentration was needed to even barely catch a spirit's attention. She shivered upon learning that Percy could do that seven years ago.
"That's just unreal… let's focus on sothing else, I guess. How is the pipe design going? Aren't you tired of remaking them? How many models have you created this month?"
There were three days left before Hecate went to Yarol, so Percy had been hoping to have a final model done by then.
"I'm almost done with making sure the water can always reroute if needed. Then after this I'll go to Rinca Market Square and redraw the line going to the well, because one of the clerks told a house's foundation might obstruct it. Then I need you to go down into town later and asure the elevation of the place we marked for the first water tank in the city. It needs to be perfect or even with the hand pump the water will stagnate."
Terra slumped into her chair.
"We were supposed to be done with schematics a month ago. Why are you still fussing about so many little things?"
Percy chuckled; it must have been hard on a kid to do the sa thing over and over again, but that was how professional work was done.
A single mistake could cause a flood or poison the water supply of over ten thousand people.
"This is just preliminary work, kid. When we get started with installations, we'll encounter even more problems and have to change plans again."
That wasn't even all. He would still need to calculate flow rate and velocity at the water gates and design deflectors to control the flow of water.
Thankfully, he was able to do calculations and iterations with his system. Nyx must have added that feature after seeing how much work he had.
Not only that, he could rember every single formula, constant, and small tips he learned throughout his life by ditating and sensing spirits.
It was like the spirits beca individual mories of his and then they sharpened and clarified things. With these sharpened mories connected directly to his system, Percy could remake plans in seconds, run multiple calculations and spot possible problems with a single glance.
This was beyond being a genius. The combination of his knowledge and Spiritmancy was just too seamless.
He looked up, sighing, Terra couldn't understand. There were so many problems to solve, but he was on a ridiculous high right now. She was just bored because she was done with her tests.
"Dark Mistress, what's with the long face?"
Terra glared at him. Her blood-red eyes would be scary on anyone else, but it was just Terra. Even though her voluminous black hair had been tad by Sirena, Percy still saw her as the shy, scattered little girl.
She huffed and turned away.
"It's been all work the last few days. I'm tired of constantly purifying water that has nothing wrong with it."
Percy's tests showed that the water's pH level was too high, but she wouldn't understand that. Creating a perfect magic circle was hard work; drawing it was simple, but the ditation needed to infuse the circle was tiring.
"From my last test a week ago, I declared the water safe to drink."
Terra perked up.
"What? When? I never heard you say the circle was perfect."
Percy's smile was lopsided and amused.
"I didn't tell you because I wanted you to get better and better at drawing and infusing the circle."
There was a mont of silence between them. The soft wind carried Terra's black hair into her frozen face. Then she jumped across the table and grabbed Percy's collar.
All the schematics, jars of water, and plates of half-eaten food fell to the ground as Terra tried strangling him.
"I hate you!" Terra smiled, little hands banging on his head.
Percy shielded himself with his arm, laughing hysterically as Terra hit him. They both needed so ti to unwind after working for so long.
Their little fight continued for a few minutes until Percy saw sothing in the distance that made him sit up.
She sensed that he was serious now and stopped hitting him. Her crimson eyes followed his line of sight until she gasped.
"They're here!"
The band of rcenaries that Dema was hiring to protect the city had arrived. They crossed the green field with black banners and rows of n marching in formation.
They were called Graveseekers, led by Lecetes, the hidden blade. Their black banners were emblazoned with the crest of House Amphene, a red heart surrounded by black thorns.
Percy and Terra exchanged a smile, then ran out of the terrace and into the ballroom. They stord down the stairs, weaving past the servants carrying trays of food and clothes.
Hecate and Thalos were already standing at the doors of the fortress, dressed in regal uniform. All the servants also stopped as they sensed sothing was wrong.
The fortress was sowhat elevated, so they could see over the brown thatched roofs of the houses in the city. And past all the houses, the western gate stood tall.
It was the sa gate that Percy, Thalos, and Hecate passed through when they first entered the city. Now the Graveseekers ca through that very gate.
For a mont, all they could see were the black flags of the rcenaries. That made Percy nervous for so reason as he considered the possibility of Lecetes truly betraying them.
Escaping the city wouldn't be hard, as across the river was the other half of the city of Dema and the eastern gate.
But escaping ant they could never co back. They would have truly lost to House Eurides.
The nerves lasted until every single one of the three hundred n arrived at the fortress. Their boots marched across the stone bridge with the sound of thunder, but their faces were still and focused.
Dunn, the steward of the fortress, would have sent them protocol that they were ant to work with. Google seaʀᴄh noveⅼfire
But this was a rcenary group. Weren't they a bit too organized and formal? If you told Percy that it was an army regint, he would fully believe it.
They weren't dressed in any uniform, but they all wore black capes with the symbol of a skull and a map drawn in grey.
They stopped at the doors of the fortress and knelt. One man spoke over the now silent space. The man was fully bald and had a grisly scar over his forehead.
"The Graveseekers greet you, Viscount Hecate. We have co to serve House Amphene."
All the soldiers behind the man thundered.
"Amphene!"
Hecate nodded and stretched out a hand. The bald man rose to his feet and walked to her, dropping back down to his knees before taking her hand and pressing it to his forehead.
"Welco, brave soldiers. It is my pleasure to have you in our wonderful city, and I hope you find your stay to be enjoyable."
She turned to Cain, the fortress chamberlain.
"Sir Cain, help them find accommodation in the barracks. Sir Lecetes, your journey has been long, I hope you can spare a mont to speak?"
Lecetes rose. He watched his n leave with Cain for a mont before turning towards Thalos.
"I want to say it's nice to see you here, but it's not really."
Thalos's grey eyes shone with mirth.
"I've wanted to et you again since your last attempts to break Fort Cassidy's walls."
"What were you even doing there?" Lecetes asked, face morphed by disbelief. "We asked ourselves that question many tis. I swore on my grave to turn back if I ever saw you guarding another castle."
Hecate frowned. "How can you swear on a grave you don't have? You're clearly alive."
Lecetes nodded thoughtfully. "I always dig a grave for myself before I go on a siege."
They all laughed awkwardly at the man's grim nature. But Percy was very excited for their arrival.
Lecetes could see it in his eyes and shivered. He had never t a kid that seed so aware. Even the little girl right beside Percy was just staring at his bald head blankly.
Percy walked forward and offered Lecetes a handshake.
"My na is Perseus. I think we're going to be very good friends."
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