"You should see Vera once you settle in," Anna said as they left.
She saw them out through the rear courtyard of the manor.
Monstrously tall hedges hid them from sight as she led them down a marble path. A solid wrought iron gate blocked the exit, and Anna stopped short of it.
Her servants, including Kuda, stopped just outside of hearing distance farther down the path.
"You mentioned she's been hard to contact," August said.
"She responds to messengers, but I can't get through using magic at all. I'm not a very proficient magic user, so I don't know why.
But neither the two-way communication mirror I share with her works, nor the wireless."
Anna grimaced and looked up at the odd metallic box protruding from the top of her manor house.
Wireless communication was a burgeoning field of magic.
Sorcerers had always communicated long-distance between each other, or enchanted objects to do the same.
But making it available more widely had only become a reality during August's childhood.
August knew that only nobles and the military used the wireless at present.
The boxes were expensive, used rare magical catalysts, and needed to be located close to leylines to be effective.
They also weren't portable.
But they enabled transmission of audio and images to anybody else along the same unbroken leyline connection of the wireless.
Sorcerers had been battling over what to name the technology, but most people called it the wireless.
In the future, it would become reliable enough to use over short distances and dominated all forms of communication.
August had used it to transmit the visuals of the demonic portal in his last stand, and the technology had become vital to the monitoring of demonic portals across the world.
But it would be years before sorcerers would make the advancements necessary.
"That's likely because the leylines are disrupted," August mused aloud, responding to Anna's worries.
"Disrupted? How can the leylines be disrupted?" Anna asked.
She folded her arms and gave him a quizzical look. "Usually because of demons."
Anna gasped, but he gestured for her to calm down.
"But I don't know. I've been here a day. The first thing any Bastion does is check on the leylines and the portal.
The portal is fine, but the leylines aren't.
I can probably kill two birds with one stone and deal with the bandits while checking on the leylines. Nair might know more," August explained.
Most likely, Sen had convinced her group of bandits to locate themselves on top of a leyline.
Her magic would be greatly enhanced, and she could recover her stamina much faster.
August hoped she hadn't, but Sen wasn't stupid. She would take every advantage she could get.
"Hmm," Anna let out a low noise as she eyed August. "In any case, you should be off. I'll send Kuda along to Gharrick Pass with some soldiers and staff in a week or two."
August blinked. "What?"
"I said—"
"I heard you. Why?"
"I'm the countess of Gharrick County. I need to help my Bastion run his fortress, don't I? And keep an eye on my investment." Anna smiled. "Who better to send than my most trusted adviser."
With those last words, August and Fei left the countess and the town of Trantia.
The remains of the bandit camp smoldered outside the walls. A handful of carts sat near teams of laborers piling up wood, rocks, and messier things.
The people helping were exclusively male, and the soldiers pitched in to help with grim faces.
Nobody tried to break apart the fist of earth that August had created.
Before he returned, August took the opportunity to break down the remains of his spell and burn the bodies of the fallen bandits.
Fei wanted to stay for longer to help clean up the rest, but the red rays of sunset peeked over the horizon.
The automaton horse trotted up in response to a mental command from August, and the two mounted it.
Waving goodbye, August returned to Gharrick Pass.
Outside, he found the messenger from the morning. He was drinking from the well in the courtyard.
The soldier saluted August with a slap of his chest, but his expression showed his confusion.
"Bastion, you've returned?" he asked, looking past August for something that wasn't there.
"We have." August lowered the horse to the ground and dismounted after Fei did.
"I went, I saw, I chased away the bandits. Once I find out where they're hiding, I'll finish them off."
The messenger gawked at August. "That… That fast?"
"I am a Bastion. Haven't you read the legends?" August walked past the messenger, then turned back. "Did you want to come in? You've been riding all day, I think."
"I… No. I need to pass on Lady Nair's message to Lady von Clair as soon as possible." The messenger looked troubled.
After a pause, he saluted again and said, "Thank you for helping us, Bastion."
Clearly Nair wasn't in the mood to send help.
August hadn't passed anybody on the way over, and nobody accompanied the messenger.
Something was awry with the relationship between Anna and Nair.
History spoke of Vera Nair as a brave defender of the Empire, who fought to the bitter end to protect her country.
He'd been here for a day and learned that she might be an embittered defender at best.
Or perhaps something else was at work. August recalled the activity from Champions he had sensed on the far side of Gharrick Pass.
The signs had been faint, but was it possible that Nair was being threatened by the Federation?
If she was preoccupied with a rival nation, or in danger, then leaving her tower was dangerous. The Federation could seize her tower while she was away.
The messenger left after refilling his canteen at the well and saluted August again.
The keep hadn't changed while August and Fei had been away.
If it had, he would have been worried.
"I'm going to finish what I was doing this morning," August told Fei.
"You should get some rest."
"Rest? Why? I've spent so long sitting around." Fei pouted.
Apparently, a brief tea party allowed her to forget the battle she had fought earlier.
"Just be sure not to push yourself."
Fei rolled her eyes. "Lady von Clair's right. You are like a father."
August froze. "God, don't call me that."
Fei stared at him with wide eyes. A broad grin stretched across her face, giving her a genuinely catlike appearance. "Oh? Why not?"
"I'm not that old," he muttered.