Page 73 of Stars May Burn

He opened the door into a wide room lit by huge floor to ceiling windows. A large fireplace stood empty on one side with a cauldron above it. Workbenches stretched across the center and one wall was nothing but shelves and drawers. Tools hung on racks everywhere.

Callum spun and held out his hands. “Welcome to my humble room where I create wonders.”

I ignored him and walked to a bench where identical metal objects lay in rows. I picked one up. “I know this—it’s a freisk knife. A man gave me one.”

Callum nodded. “Yes. Made of pure yadum. Soulless are kept alive by kryalcomy alone. If you stab them with yadum, they die instantly. This isn’t really kryalcomy, and they’re not illegal, just not military standard outside of Kasomere. I like to make most of them, especially since they’ve attained ceremonial significance here in Kasomere. Though there is another kryalchemist who helps me in the city. These are simple and boring.”

He took the knife from my hand and replaced it with a smooth metal disk the size of my palm and a small metal ring. “Now for the things the king and nobles are pulling their hair out about trying to work out how Kasten manages to survive every attack and win so many battles.” He grinned. “This is a reserve, and that is an impactor. They’re made of the same metal. Similar to the opposite poles of a magnet if you like. The reserve, that disk, stores strength, or force if you prefer. It charges when the impactor, that ring, takes the force of a blow. You withdraw that force as strength through the reserve when you choose.” He held up a finger. “Let me demonstrate.” He took the small metal ring and placed it on the desk. He slapped it hard with his hand, making me jump. He pointed to the disk in my hand. “The turstan inside that now stores the force of that blow. Press on the center to release it.”

I did as he asked and an odd sensation entered my hand. A little like the strength that came from a surge of adrenaline when in danger.

Callum continued. “Of course that was a small amount of force. These rings form the small hoops in our soldiers’ chainmail, so they constantly absorb the force of enemy blows, making them far less dangerous. Then, when the soldier wishes, they take that accumulated force to strengthen the sword arm, either a small amount gradually, or a lot for a single blow. They can also be used for general speed and stamina. Even our horses have reserves they are trained to draw on. That’s how Kasten gets between Kasomere and Adenburg so quickly.”

I turned the unmarked metal disk over and over wondering how on earth Callum had invented something so groundbreaking and kept it a secret. It was far away from the four pillars of kryalcomy. The two poles weren’t even joined together. There were hundreds of applications for something that could make you stronger.

Before I could say anything, Callum took the reserve from my hand and replaced it with what looked like a normal handyman knife with a bronze handle. It had a small amount of decorative engraving just below the hilt. “This is a fansifold knife. They’re tricky things, requiring a lot of kryalcomy from other devices, so I’ve only ever managed to make a few. The blade is incredibly strong, sharp, and can become hotter than a fire. Basically, it can cut through anything. It has a concentrated turstan core, far purer than anything the Maegistrium have come up with, which is then magnified by a jadum coating. The turstan stores the heat, and when you press down here, it is released. It’s surrounded by a much stronger metal so it doesn’t break, one with an incredibly high melting temperature, though I’ve had a few melt on me before.”

I looked up at him in surprise. “But that’s amazing. Surely something like this could get approval from the Maegistrium and become commonplace, helping lots of people?”

He shook his head. “Nah. It won’t meet their safety standards. Even Kasten’s burned himself on it a few times, and he’s pretty careful. He even set fire to an entire keep by accident. You could lose your hand if you slipped or do even worse damage. Also, I don’t think Adenburg would be a safer place if any old person could slice through a lock. Better it’s in our hands alone. Then we alone have the advantage.” He waggled his eyebrows, then sighed. “It’s also too inefficient for commercial production and ridiculously expensive. It eventually runs out of kryalcomy, and I have to reforge them to make them work again. Which is why only Kasten uses one regularly, though Meena and Egbert each have one for emergencies. And Cley used to.”

A shadow fell over his eyes. Before I could offer him comfort, he grabbed the penknife and replaced it with another metal disk, though this one was curved into a dome on one side and flat on the other with tiny sharp hooks around the edge.

“A fansifold knife is just advanced kryalcomy. Now, this, like the reserve and impactor, is true callumalcomy.”

I couldn’t help my lips twitch in amusement, but thankfully he didn’t notice.

Callum plowed on. “This is a detector. It makes two sounds. One, if somebody using kryalcomy is close, such as a soulless or that Red Man with his tracking device. The other is a low noise for anyone else wearing a detector, which you can amplify into an emergency signal to summon others. You can turn it off and on to send pulses of sound to other users too. Most of our soldiers have these. You fasten it behind your ear and it works via bone conduction, which means nobody else can hear.” He met my eyes. “This is why Kasten was so furious with Meena. You can turn the volume up or down and hers was down when you were attacked. If she had been using this properly, she would have detected the Red Man long before he got close enough to threaten you.”

I nodded, the argument outside my door between Kasten and Meena suddenly making more sense.

“So if this is callumalcomy, does it still use kryal? Is it still channeling something from one pole to another but sound instead of heat, light, water or air? Just like the impactor and reserve channel strength? But how is that possible?”

Callum grinned, my question clearly pleasing him. “It does use kryal, but it isn’t channeling anything from pole to pole. No, this alloy is attracting itself. More specifically, it attracts other detectors and haemalcomy, though people using other forms of kryalcomy can sometimes trigger it to a lesser degree. Since things using kryalcomy are too big to be moved, the detector tries to move to them. But it’s fixed to your skull, right? So all it manages is these teeny tiny vibrations which then amplify into sound. Only it’s not audible sound. Like I said, it uses bone conduction.”

I blinked, completely lost. I would take him at his word. I forced a smile as if I had followed every word. “And you invented all these properties and uses of kryal and other metals yourself?”

He nodded, pride radiating from him. “It’s taken me years and a small fortune to perfect each one, and believe me, I have plenty of failed projects. Each of these devices is kryal mixed with very specific quantities of other metals at very specific temperatures. There are a million ways to get each one wrong. When I discovered we could channel more properties than the original four and without the two poles needing to be physically connected, that’s when callumalcomy was born. One day I shall be famous.”

I moved to the other side of the room where weapons hung from racks. Spears and swords and daggers a plenty. “And this?”

Callum shrugged. “These aren’t kryalcomy, but I’m good at making strong alloys. These are made from a version of steel that is stronger and keeps its sharp edge better than standard weapons. They are also lighter. But not illegal. Unfortunately, they are too expensive and time-consuming to make, so we only supply them to soldiers in our central battalions. A blacksmith in Kasomere also knows the art of this alloy, but it’s tricky and does require some knowledge of kryalcomy, even though they aren’t devices.” He pointed to a cylinder. “We make metal ropes for grappling hooks as well, stronger and lighter than standard. We use a small amount of kryalcomy in the controls for ease of use.”

I looked around the room, taking it all in again. “So this is why Kasten is such a good general, why he wins battles that seem impossible.”

Callum folded his arms and raised his eyebrows. “Don’t be fooled. Kasten might frequently lay all the praise for our survival at my feet, but all these devices require skill to be used well. Some more than others. And Kasten is a master. You could put a blindfold over him and drop him in a pit full of soulless. If he had his devices, I bet he would still strike every single one. I’ve never met anyone else like him. Besides, I can equip him, but he’s the one who comes up with strategies and who’s mad enough to enter an enemy fort on his own through a toilet and kill all its leaders within an hour.” He shook his head slowly with a fond lopsided smile. “The soldiers are loyal to him, not me.”

My heart lurched. “He did that at Whitehill?”

Callum chuckled. “Oh yes. We took Whitehill from the inside because of him. The man is recklessly brave. With the risks he takes, he doesn’t deserve to survive, even with all this kryalcomy. But he hates risking others’ lives.” He huffed a laugh and looked down, his hands on his hips. “He does so much to protect others, yet the guilt of the people he’s lost plagues him night and day.”

I shifted, uneasy. I didn’t want him to risk his life to save others. I wanted him safe at home with me.

Callum clapped me on the shoulder. “Now, do you want to help with my new project? I need to find a method to make Lord Lyrason’s victims unconscious. I need you to make the strongest sedative you can, and then I will use kryalcomy to affect air flow to propel it out of a tube. Then we need to work out a way to make it inject on impact. You suggested darts to Kasten. Were you thinking of just coating a needle? I worry it might rub off or drip onto the handler.”

I nodded slowly, chewing my lip in thought. “Making a safe injectable will be tricky. I can make a few for us to try, but you would need to be very careful handling it.”

He grinned and saluted. “Yes, captain!” He held out a cane of bamboo about two fingers in diameter. “I plan to fit it in this, so you’ll only have about one milliliter of sedative to knock them out. Remember they’re enraged, too, so they’ll process medicines fast.”

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