It goes on like this for a few more months. Damjen visits regularly, occasionally bringing a gift of some sort. Typically a book, since books are considered 'relatively safe'. He once tried to get a scale model of a boat to him, but it was rejected.

The second book he gave him was a Southeastern weather almanac, similar in format. On the left pages were illustrations of some weather phenomenon, on the right pages were the same phenomenon with annotated spiritual energy flow diagrams, as well as explanations about the correct interpretations and predictions to make about the weather given some formation. His family didn't specialize in weatherworking, but they held their holdings long enough to know some, and enough money to have books about it. He justified this book to the guards in that it still had utility to a non-eye mage, since they could still use the mundane pictures for weather prediction.

The third book he gave him was a book about plants, especially flowers, on an island preserve. It has fewer pictures, and the pictures are entirely mundane. They're photographs though, rather than prints. The text is denser with more jargon, intended at a nonmagical but specialist audience. The book explains that although island wasn't contaminated by the biological workings of the Cannibal Kings, the plants there have hybridized with mainland plants, making them of particular interest. He justified this book the guards in that it had utility for survivalism, given that they talked about which plants are edible and not, and which had useful aspects like medicinal effects or fiber that could be processed.

What are the Cannibal Kings?

He shouldn't be explaining that.

Damjen is silent.

Kandrad continues to think this question at him.

Damjen continues to be silent.

Did he stop mindreading him? He didn't relinquish his permission earlier, or at any time, really.

Can he please say if he still is?

"Yes, I've already read it. It's quite dense, I didn't know if you'd like it."

So he is. Why isn't he answering his questions?

Damjen is silent.

He can hear the tension and anticipation from Damjen. Hm.

Why? Why is it doing this?

Oh. It's one of those topics that will cause the guards to get upset.

"I'm glad you were able to understand what the book was talking about even though it was aimed at specialists. I had to consult a biological encyclopedia to make sense of some of the passages."

Talking to the child about his progenitors was probably the most unwise decision Damjen has ever made, and he has made many unwise decisions before. But he's committed now. Before, it had just been self preservation, but now, he's become attached. A very dangerous thing: attachment.

Is he really going to try to do this?

Well, if he puts it like that, it's a foregone conclusion.

He doesn't skip the lessons with his tutors. In part because he still wants to cultivate favor with his father in case that ends up useful, and in part because it would arouse suspicion if he returned to his old ways.

He uses all his free time to go to the castle and hide within the trees. He doesn't fear detection: eye magic is much longer ranged than flow magic. And he is pretty sure that the castle only has one entryway. At least, aboveground. He doesn't think there are any tunnels, though.

With a watch, he notes the times of the comings and goings of the guards. When they change shifts, how many there are, who they are. It's hard to make out faces from this far away, but he can discern enough of the broad patterns of their bodies' energy flows to distinguish them. If only he had a stronger raw gift. Oh well.

The guards consistently change shifts at 6am and 6pm, meeting inside to perform shift change. Ugh. It would have been easier if they did it outside. He needs to manufacture some distraction or stratagem to draw them all outside enough that he can sneak in and talk to Kandrad in private.

Could he create some sort of ball of living tissue and have it make a loud sound? No, flow detection doesn't work like that. How about lying and saying there's some spiritual contagion? It would work...but spiritual contagions can only attach directly to people, and they would want to be examined by him. So it would draw them away, but it would occupy him. Not helpful.

What to do, what to do...

...ah.

He was thinking like a mage. He was only looking at the things he could see, the things he could do with his magic. When there's so many things one could do without it. Why use spiritual sound when you can use mundane sound?

He can't buy any firecrackers — the nearest village is miles away, and it would absolutely arouse suspicion if he asked the servants to buy any on their grocery trips.

By dint of having more space, the library in the rural estate was bigger than the one in their urban house. Which meant it had more chemistry textbooks. And the storeroom had various chemical reagents to be used in medicinemaking.

pipe bomb

He makes several, actually, with fuses of different lengths, calibrated to be about a minute away from each other.

Since the shift change wasn't an opportune time, he decides to make his move at midnight. He drank a lot of coffee in the morning to be able to stay up late. He had to arrive at the castle before shift change to ensure he knew the number of guards that would be present. It varied from two to four, typically. Being an eye mage, he can still use his spiritual sight to navigate by looking at the grass and trees, whereas the flow mages will have no such advantage.

He's done testing with the fuse lengths, but not of the actual bombs. It's very possible none of them will work. It's part of why he made several. The other reason being that, if he times it correctly, then they would blow at around the same time, attracting more attention. He made his pocket watch visible even in the night by attaching tiny pieces of moss to the hands and the hour and minute marks.

He approaches the castle and lights each one in turn, keeping low in the greenery, watching to see the telltale silhouette of a human with his spiritual sight.

Once they're all lit, he scurries away, ensuring he still has a good view of the castle entrance — the vine antispying protections it has also make it very visible to spiritual sight even at night — and plugs his ears with wax.

He suppresses making a sound when the bombs blow. It wasn't perfectly synchronous, but it will be loud enough, he thinks. He calms himself as best he can with breathing exercises to make himself less loud in spiritual hearing. He presses himself low to the ground and waits, taking out the wax. He hopes that both of the guards will come out rather than just one.

He smiles when he sees two silhouettes exit. He rushes inside, boots clacking against the stone floor.

Oh. He didn't know he had an appointment today. His room doesn't have a window, so it's hard to tell when the days pass. The electric lights are always on.

He can hear the agitation radiating from Damjen, and the smell of sweat and dirt. It's very unusual, because he typically smells very clean.

"Hi, Kandrad. Do you trust me? If I say you ought to do something and that it will be for your benefit, will you believe me?"