Armament

The Guild finishes its first big order of magic powered cannons, but others are taking an interest in the new arcane technology.

4.

Armament

 

The next day dawned bright and warm, causing Muld Mozzil to completely forget the mysterious airship of the night before in the busyness of the day.       The parts for the cannon were delivered at sunrise by a pair of rather dark looking men, but they were quite polite and Muld dismissed his appraisal of them.

Rick and Jevon helped him set up the workstations for the cannons while Mutt ran errands and Tadd manned the front counter.

To the Practical Magician’s delight, they were patronized by a handful of merchants desiring the benefits of indoor plumbing or vermin free businesses.    The halfling handled the customers with a natural charm that lent itself to customer relations.

By nine o’clock they had received eight orders and the bell above the entrance kept ringing with more and more curious townspeople.

Muld was sure it would be mid-afternoon before Syndi would be able to join them, so he was quite surprised to see the beautiful redhead, escorted by Alleania and Allea, slip into the shop at a bit past 10 AM.

The Drow Sorceress and her niece seemed both amused and impressed at bustling business that the shop was doing today.      Syndi seemed very surprised and torn over what she should do - stay with her teacher and fellow student, or help Muld and her fellow guild members.

Muld waved at the three, and then gestured for them to join him in the back.

“Matron Alleania, Lady Allea, it is very nice to see you this morning.     Welcome to the first full day of business of the Westmark Practical Magic Guild.”    He bowed to them, spreading his arms wide to indicate the workshop area.

“This is quite impressive, Master Mozzil.”   The Drow Sorceress said as she glanced around her, “Syndi told us about your opening today and we thought we would come and see it.    You are quite busy!”

“Yes, ma’am, I am rather surprised, but quite pleased.”

 

Allea waved at Rick, Mutt and Jevon who were assembling pipes nearby.   “You’ve already put them to work, Muld.”

“Indeed, Lady Allea, we have already begun working on orders.”

Alleania touched Syndi on her shoulder, “Child, you seem to be struggling with conflicting loyalties.     I’ll tell you what I’ll do.    Since you and Allea are progressing so quickly in your studies, I will change our schedule for this week.     Both of you meet me for dinner at the ducal keep and I will instruct you while we dine.”   She turned to Muld.   “Would that help you, Master Muld, by having Syndi available to help immediately?”

“Yes, ma’am, you are so very kind!”   He bowed respectfully to the Drow lady.

“Not at all, Muld; I am a firm believer in the benefits of Practical Magic and unity amongst all of us spell casters will only help all of us.”   She grinned prettily, “Besides, I know for a fact that my niece desires to spend some time with her boyfriend before the dance tonight.”

Allea’s face brightened, “Really?   Thank you, Aunt Alleania!”

Before the Drow matron could respond, the half-Drow girl was racing from the workshop.

Alleania laughed, “Ah, youth!    Well, I will busy myself with some personal business of my own, now that I have excused my pupils.    Syndi, I will see you at 6 PM in the ducal keep.”

“Yes, Ma’am, thank you!”

“Don’t work too hard.”   She winked at the girl and exited the business with a nod to Muld.

“Wow, I can’t believe she did that,”   Syndi said to Muld as they watched her go, “She’s been working us so hard for the past couple of weeks, and suddenly she gives me the day off.”

“Well, technically you haven’t the day off - you’ll have plenty to do here.”

Syndi snickered, “Compared to Matron Alleania’s expectations, this will be easy as pie.”

Muld arched his eyebrows, “You may not think that way after we close up shop today.”

Syndi’s large green eyes sparkled. “I’m ready for the challenge!”

“Well, alright then, let’s get started working on those cannons.”

 

***

By 5:30 in the evening, Tadd had taken 42 orders for Practical Magic items.    The halfling was weary but seemed to greatly enjoy his job interacting with the customers.  

But what excited the exhausted guild members even more was their completion of the cannon order.    

At first Muld and Syndi had cast the Push spell and then the Minor Permanency spell after it to seal it.    It took two hours to complete the first one, but as they finished it, Syndi had a brilliant idea.     She had learned a basic Sorcerer’s cantrip called ‘Duplicate’ that copied a cast cantrip onto another object.    It was used most often to quickly light candles for incantations.

It wasn’t powerful enough to work duplicating ‘regular’ spells, but Syndi knew that the Push spell that they were using was almost identical to the Push cantrip in wording, except for a slight modification toward the end of the spell.      She suggested that they let her try the Duplicate cantrip on the cannon that they had finished, just in case.    Muld had been very skeptical, but to his amazement, the Duplicate cantrip managed to copy the Push spell - though the Minor Permanency Spell part did not copy.

Yet it still cut their casting time in half, and after each cannon was enchanted with the Push Spell, they could recast the Duplicate Cantrip and instantly have another cannon halfway finished.

Muld was so thrilled by the shortcut that he decided to quickly teach Jevon and Mutt the Push Spell and Rick the Duplicate Cantrip.

Thankfully all of them quickly learned the simple spells and by 3 o’clock all the cannons had the Push enchantment upon them.    

The Minor Permanency Spell was more complex, and he didn’t have time to teach any of them the spell, but again Syndi amazed him.    She stopped working and listened intently to his enchantment of one of the cannons and amazingly remembered the entire spell from just hearing it cast once.

They both began casting the Minor Permanency Spell, splitting the work in half.     At noon, Archmage Keith stopped by to see how things were going.     Led by Tadd into the workshop to see their progress, he was quite impressed with their quick and focused work and suggested that he would be willing to assist them in completing the cannon order if they would remember the favor at a future time.

Muld happily agreed and the elderly wizard disappeared for a few minutes, returning with two of his most advanced students, both of whom knew the minor version of the Permanency Spell.

With five of them casting the Permanency Spell on the cannons, they were able to finish shortly after 5:30.      All the exhausted (and hoarse) spell casters and guild members gave out a loud cheer as the last cannon was completed.

Muld was overjoyed and bought all of them a fine meal at the Muddy Boot, after sending word to the Airship yard that they had managed to complete the entire order in one day.

“This will certainly get you business.”    Mage Keith said as he happily drained his fourth flagon of ale, “Unfortunately, we won’t be able to help you out like that each time.”

“I’m just extremely thankful for your help today, Master Keith.   Whenever you need the favor repaid, let me know and we will be at your disposal.”   Muld saluted the wizard with a bow and Mage Keith seemed very satisfied with that.

It was nearly 7 o’clock before Syndi remembered that she was supposed to meet with Alleania and Allea an hour ago.

With a shriek of horror, she jumped up and raced out of the Muddy Boot.  

“Maybe I should go and explain to Matron Alleania.”   Muld told the wizards and guildsmen at his table, “All of you sit and enjoy yourselves; I have already paid the barkeep for the meals and drink.”

 

By the time he had exited the Inn, Syndi had already disappeared into the ducal keep that was located next to the popular Inn.     His mood was so good that he didn’t want an unhappy sorceress to spoil their great success today.    

The ducal guards were respectful, but would not let him enter the keep without first getting permission from the watch sergeant.    Muld sat on the steps, humming softly to himself, watching the traffic on the main street of the city.    Ten minutes later the guard returned with permission for him to enter, but just as he was ascending the stairs to the main hall, Syndi appeared at the top of the stairs.

He held his breath as she descended to him, but as she neared, he was relieved to see a slight smile on her lovely lips.

“What happened?”   He asked.

“Muld, it was amazing - the news had already reached her about it.    She knew about the wizards helping us.   I’m not sure how… I wonder if maybe she was using a crystal ball to spy on us?    At any rate, she forgave my tardiness and said I could catch up tomorrow.”

“So you’re not in any sort of trouble?   I would be glad to speak to her, since it was my fault.”

 “There is no need - she seems to understand.”

“That is a relief to me.    Come on back to the Muddy Boot and finish your dinner.”

“Oh, I was finished anyway.”   She patted her stomach. “With all the skimpy outfits I’m expected to wear as a Sorceress, I can’t let myself gain any weight.”

“You’re perfect as you are now,”   Muld told her, “But I see you’re wearing just a typical wizard’s robe today.”

Syndi sighed, “Oh, I have something embarrassing on right now, but I knew we would be busy today, so I left on the robe I wore this morning when it looked like rain.   I didn’t want to disrupt my fellow guild members while we were working on those cannons.”

“So Alleania wants you to wear revealing costumes each day?”

“Sadly, yes.     She gave me five outfits to wear.   They are so scant, Muld.    I can’t imagine myself ever being used to wearing them.”

“You probably could still generate enough ‘Feminine Qi- just wearing normal clothing, Syndi.”

“Ah, thank you, Muld, you are too kind.     Alleania says that the more we generate, the better, so she’ll expect me to parade around half-naked.”

“What about Allea?   Is she comfortable wearing so little?”

“She seems fine with it.    I don’t know, maybe it really bothers her, but of course her sister is Lady Sophia.”

“The Watcher?”

“Yes, and she is a Sorceress as well.    She is very confident about her body, but she has good reason to be!    She’s extremely beautiful.”

“Well, you should be as well, Syndi.   You are beautiful too.”

Syndi looked skeptical.

“Really, you are, Syndi.    In fact, to be perfectly honest with you, I would say you are probably the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen.”

Syndi stopped on the stairs, giving him a ‘get serious’ look.

“I’m not saying that to flatter you.    I sincerely mean it.    You are quite breath-taking.    I imagine that when you begin feeling comfortable wearing scant clothing, you’ll cause all sorts of whiplash and marital strife when you walk down the street.”

“Well, you certainly know how to flatter a girl.”

“I’m just being honest, Syndi.     I don’t believe in giving false praise.”

“Well you certainly made me feel better.”   She smiled at him.

“Good, that was the idea.”

“Hey, I think I left my spellbook in the workshop.   Alleania wants Allea and me to bring our books with us each day, as part of our instruction is copying spells.    My book has only four completed spells in it, but I don’t want to get in trouble tomorrow morning if I don’t have it, so would you mind letting me retrieve it?”

“Not at all, I’ve had my fill of dinner as well and have already paid for everyone’s meals.    I’m exhausted from our success today, so I planned to just bathe and go to bed, so I was heading there anyway.”

 

The sun had set by the time they reached the building, but as Muld leaned in to unlock the door, he stepped back in alarm.     Someone had forced the lock and the door was slightly ajar.

“Uh oh,” Muld mumbled with a warning glance to Syndi.   

“We’ve got to find the Night Watch!”   The girl whispered, pulling Muld away from the door, “They could still be in there!”

“Go find one; I’ll make sure they don’t escape.”

“Are you crazy?!     You don’t know how many burglars are in there!”

Suddenly from somewhere off in the city, a warning trumpet blew, which was followed by several more and the sounds of alarm.

Turning to glance in the direction of the noise, they immediately saw the cause.

To the west, sailing silent and low over the top of the city walls was the same sinister black airship that Muld had seen from afar, the night before.  The surprised guards on the city wall could do nothing but stare in surprise as the ship passed over.

“I’ve seen that ship before!   Last night, in the distance,”  Muld told the young Sorceress apprentice.   It was coming toward them, across the city like a black ghost, sending everyone out into the streets.

“Why is it flying so low?”  Syndi asked, both of them forgetting for a moment the break-in.

“It must be preparing to land, but it has passed the landing platform already.”

They heard some movement behind them and spun around to see the door to the Practical Magician’s Guild flung open and three very rough looking men start through the doorway.     They stopped halfway over the threshold, startled upon seeing Muld and Syndi standing at the entrance.

“Hey!   What do you think you are doing in there?!”  Muld shouted, angrily reaching for the man.

But the burglar produced a long club and swung it quickly.     Muld jumped backwards but he was not able to avoid the blow.     With a crack, it contacted with his head, sending Muld sinking to his knees.

“Run, Syndi, run!”   Muld yelled as he slipped into unconsciousness.

The men grabbed at the Losasidhe girl, who screamed shrilly as she pulled a dagger from a hidden sheath behind her back.

“Shut up you damned banshee!”   One of the ruffians growled.   He swiped at her with his club but she ducked under it and poked him with the tip of her dagger.

The thief cursed and yelled for assistance.      The four men rushed her, joined by four others who had remained in the building.

Syndi knew she was in trouble.  She spun and ran, screaming as she flew down the street to attract attention.

But the airship slowly going over the city had everything in chaos and none noticed her.     Never had the Losasidhe princess run so fast, zigging through several side streets and nearly knocking down several residents that had come outside to see what the commotion was about.

About a block away, she looked behind her and was shocked to see no one pursuing her.    Syndi stopped in the middle of the street and waited a moment, but her pursuers were gone.   She did not know exactly what to do. 

Seeing a couple of merchants standing in front of their businesses, looking up at the passing airship, she called to them, asking them to call for the night watch and telling them that the Practical Magician’s Guild was being burglarized.    They glanced at her as if she was either drunk or insane and promptly ignored her.

“I’ve got to go back.” She told herself, “Muld is unconscious and there is no telling what they’ll do to him!”

She quickly debated racing across town to find the others in the guild, or to at least search for a night guardsman.    But by then Muld might be dead.

Swallowing her fear, she knew she had to go back, alone.      With a sigh, she took off running down the street, heading back to the guild.

Reviews

[Elina]

Another great chapter, as the story continues to unfold. I have a sense of foreboding about Syndi going to save Muld on her own. I can hardly wait to see what will happen to these two.

"...redhead, escorted by Alleania and Allea slip into the shop..." There should be another comma after "Allea."
"...the news had already reached her about it." Perhaps specify what "it" is.
"As he swiped at her with his club but she ducked under it and poked him with the tip of her dagger." You can remove "As."
"Syndi knew she was in trouble, spun and ran, screaming as she flew down the street to attract attention." Perhaps change this to something like, "Syndi knew she was in trouble. She spun and ran..." or "Syndi, knowing she was in trouble, spun and ran..."
"Never had the Losasidhe princess ran so fast..." Here, "ran" should be "run."

[Eddie Davis]

Thank you, Elina, I am indebted to you.