Chapter One
Pallabar anxiously fidgeted his sticks as he sat behind the closed curtain of the town amphitheatre, listening to Maester Woodlawn's introduction speech on the other side. A month ago, when he'd dreamed up the instrument he now sat behind, he never would've guessed the idea would come to any success at all. And yet, here he was, on stage, in performer's dress, about to showcase something that had never before been seen anywhere. It's safe enough to say he was rather nervous.
'Oh well. Nothing for it, I suppose⦠Just stick to what I've rehearsed and I'll be good. Heheh. Stick. Good one, Pallabar.'
He thought this to himself as Maester Woodlawn finished his speech, then abruptly came back to reality as the curtains started to open.
'Here goes nothingā¦' he thought to himself, scanning the crowd for familiar faces and finding more than a few. Smiling, he jauntily twirled his stick through his fingers in salute before starting his routine.
First came the kick-drum, beating like a heart made of thunder in the finely-tuned acoustics of the amphitheatre.
Dum, dum-Dum, Dum, dum-Dum.
Second came the drum he'd decided to call the rattle-drum, mainly in part because he'd taken some artistic license and placed a handful of small seeds inside, making it buzz when struck., which he did now with slightly exaggerated moments of both hands.
Dum CHAT dum-Dum, Dum CHAT dum-Dum.
Third came the two smaller drums and the larger drum to his right, which he'd decided to call Tenor drums because of their differently pitched tones.
Dum CHAT dum-Dum Dat-Det-Dom Dum CHAT dum-Dum Dat-Det-Dom.
He repeated this last pattern three times, before switching to the two metal disks on his left he'd taken to calling the hi-hats, because of the way the were stacked on top of one another.
Ti-ti-ti-ti-Ti-ti-ti-ti-Ti-ti-ti-ti-Ti-ti-ti-ti
He added in the rattle drum and kick drum then, booming out the respective notes.
DUM-ti-ti-ti-CHAT-ti-ti-ti-DUM-ti-ti-ti-CHAT-ti-ti-ti
He switched back and forth between the two complete patterns a few times, and then decided it was time to finish the performance. Using the innate magical abilities possessed by all gnomes, he made the drum set appear to catch on fire, though in reality it was just an illusion made to startle the crowd, which it did very quickly. As concerned watchers rose to their feet in disbelief, he ended the rhythm with one last big DUM from the kick drum, which was the signal for Maester Woodlawn to cast a spell of darkness over the stage, showing only the flickering flames of the illusion Pallabar had set down.
Quickly running off-stage, Pallabar tapped Maester Woodlawn - who had been hiding backstage - on the shoulder, and they ended their illusions at the same time. There was silence for a moment, and then the audience slowly started clapping, which soon turned into a thunderous applause for the young apprentice. Strolling back out onstage, Pallabar took a bow, an enormous grin stretching from ear to ear plastered across his face. His invention had been a success.
