Chapter 9

Doing things around town

"You're mad at me," Malachite decided after a few minutes of walking the streets. "It's just some stupid crystals and stuff. He didn't need that crap, I know what real magic looks like. And look at the money we got for it!"

"Malachite," I finally sighed. "Remind me of our recent conversation about non-material transactions."

"Oh, wait, when you said you didn't want a reward..."

"Exactly. I was going to get a reward. Just not one in coin. What's more valuable in the long run? Two wizards who seem to be competing with each other owing me a favor, or a couple of silver?"

"The favor."

"Exactly. Honestly, you have to start thinking ahead!" Says the lady that nearly burned you to a crisp, but that was different. I had a second before that thing would have been through the door and on us. And I didn't expect the fire to make it past the thing. I know better now. This was a choice, and something we had talked about recently.

"I know, I just… I hear the jingle of coins and something just takes me over. I'm sorry."

"It's okay."

"Yeah, right. But I was thinking about the house, honest. And we still have that bandit cache to clean out, that had a fair amount of coin if that note was right. We're going to need it to get a house, right?"

"That is the plan, yes. But there's a time and a place, you know?"

"I'll try to follow your lead more. Are we heading back to the inn?"

"You go ahead. I have some shopping to do first. And honestly, it's probably better if the person that wiped out an entire village isn't there to awkwardly take credit for getting all that stuff back." Especially because I still feel bad about it, and the person that did the deed doesn't even "exist." No one would recognize the person I walk around as every day as being me, no one in town has seen my true hideous face, so it's not like I would get any recognition anyway. So best to just leave it to mystery.

"Okay. See you later." He walked off.

Sorry Malachite. Even with this, almost losing you made me realize how much I really do value your friendship. I think you showed me you express your feelings through gifts, so that's just what I'll do back. In my own unique way, of course. Now, I'm sure if I look around I can find what I need…

I first found a blacksmith's shop and went inside. The apprentice met me and I explained what I wanted.

"I'd like this opal changed from a necklace to something else. Maybe a broach? Something I can wear on my head? A bracelet? I want to wear it all the time but I don't want it to get scratched up by my other necklace." I showed him.

"We can easily turn it into a broach, that just means removing the loop for the chain and adding a clasp on the back. We could have that done for you by tomorrow morning. I can get you an estimate from my master if you want to wait a second."

"That would be fine," I told him. "But let me ask you something. How long would it take if you were the greatest smith to ever live?"

"I don't understand."

"I'm a mage," I explained. "And as you're doing this work for me, the guild would have no problem with me throwing some magic around. I know a spell to make someone better at doing something. I cast that spell on you, and for the duration of the magic you're a smith two or three times better than you ever dreamed of. What do you say?"

"Magic?" He looked around nervously. "Oh, no, uh, I have a cousin that got a spell cast on them once. At least according to my aunt, who heard it from her best friend during her son's wedding. Was never the same after that, according to her. Magic? No thanks."

"What? Look, it's temporary. That's how magic works. I cast it on myself and others all the time. It's perfectly safe." Who doesn't want to experience magic? Or better yet turns down becoming a master of their craft for an hour or two?

"I'd rather not chance it."

"Very well. Just thought I would offer. Go get the estimate then." I waved him off.

"Thank you. I'll be right back."

He left and returned, quoting me a price less than a moon, and I handed over some coin and the opal. I insisted upon a receipt 'because someone else may come pick it up' and left to see what else I could find that day. I was fuming a bit though.

There goes my plan to set up a partnership with the local blacksmith. I figured once he experienced what magic could do for him, allowing him to make pieces far better than he normally would, he would be hooked. Then, when wealthy clients that wanted the absolute best 'at any cost' came along he could have me cast the spell for them, charging them, and then do the work. He would be the very best, like no one was before, and so the piece would be well worth the extra cost. Easy money, on my part. Looks like it's not meant to be though. Really wanted another revenue stream in case we get around to killing all the bandits around here. Oh well, there's always sculpting. And speaking of…

Looking around at the various stalls and shops I found what I wanted at a very reasonable price. A large chunk of obsidian, bigger than my hand. One of the perks of having a volcano nearby I expect. When we're out and about I should stop over there, see if I can just pick up a few chunks myself for free. Anyway… I found a bench outside a shop and sat down, pulling it out. Looking it over I had an idea what I wanted it to look like, but one 'scary ooooh magic' spell later and I could almost see the dragon bursting forth from it. I was dragged down now by two spells, but gathering mana and taking my time the third one went off without a hitch and I started reshaping the stone to look like what I wanted. Not long after I had a serpentine looking dragon that might just fit over a certain draig's horn. Turning it this way and that I was very pleased with how it had come out. A craftsman at the top of their game could do it, given a few weeks of work, so little old me who hasn't been keeping up with chiseling nude figures out of marble blocks doing this well in five minutes is pretty great. Thanks, magic! You're the best! I do have to wonder if the guild has gone a little too far, forcing magic users to charge so much for doing magic. This means the common person just doesn't see it performed enough and thus, views it with suspicion. Not much I can do about it though…

Walking back to the inn (keeping my eyes open for properties for sale) I realized something. Everyone was talking about us. Not us-us specifically, they didn't know who the "powerful wizard" was that had destroyed the khi'teen camp last night, but they were both awed and concerned that it had happened. No one knew there was "such a powerful wizard" walking among them but they were glad that person (me) had chosen to use their powers for "good." Everyone said they felt a little safer with the camp gone but I wasn't so sure that was the right attitude to take. Imagine the situation were reversed, I imagined saying to them. Imagine this was a huge khi'teen town (don't think about how) and a small human village had been destroyed by them. What would the humans do? Right, grab up every available human and attack the place. So are we really safer? Personally I'd make sure the town guards were a bit more alert the next few days in case they decided to stage a little revenge but hey, it's not up to me.

I made my way back to the inn and found the group waiting for me.

"How did it go?" I asked them.

"Jekserah was quite astonished we didn't simply try to sell the recovered goods ourselves," Hanz told me. "Also she gave us a total of 60 moons for the destruction of the camp. Here is your share."

"Thank you," I said as I took the coins. Note to self, donate ten moons to the church when you get a chance. "And Snarly didn't butt in and demand to be compensated for getting the stuff back?" I asked.

"That wouldn't be 'ight," he said. "Plush now she seeth us as reliable workerth and maybe we'll get more jobth in 'eh future."

"In effect, prioritizing a greater, future gain over a smaller immediate one. Well done, both of you."

"Okay, I get it," Malachite told me crossly. "I get the picture. I'm a terrible person, okay?"

I shook my head and laughed. "No, you're not. Don't look so down, chum, I won't have this little one perched on the horn of someone that looks grumpy." I pulled out the ornament I made and casually held it out. "Though I guess if you would rather be grumpy than accept my little gift..."

"Is that? Did you?"

"A Spellweaver exclusive," I told him. "Just for you. There won't be another like it, I promise you that."

"For me?"

"Of course for you? Do you see any other horned fellows around here I might want to shower with affection? I mean, uh, are you going to take it or what?"

"So we're okay?"

"Yes, Malachite, we're okay. I accept we have different value systems, and you're trying. You've stuck by me even when you didn't have to, and I enjoy your company. You giving me that gift and me almost losing you made me realize it. So this is my way of telling you."

"Thank you," he said softly, taking it. He looked it over. "Er, I'm not sure it'll fit."

"No, that's what she said," Hanz quipped.

"What?"

"Never mind."

"Yeah, I figured I would have to do some adjustments," I told him. "Easy enough to do."

"Before you do, may I see it?" Hanz asked.

"Yeah yeah, I want ta thee it too!" Snarly echoed.

"Sure." He handed it over, and Hanz held it so he and Snarly could look it over.

"The craftsmanship of this item is above average. Have you been working on it long?"

"About fifteen minutes?" I guessed.

"Yes, that make sense. Wait how long?"

I laughed. "I used magic. This is how we made money before we met you. I would sculpt figures out of rock and sell them. No two alike. The spell basically makes rock flow like water, and I can simply shape it mentally into the form I desire. Once I end the spell it goes back to being unyielding stone."

"Interesting. I take it with the proper spell you could reshape any material in a similar fashion?"

"That's right. I'm hoping to find a spell to reshape other things if it's not too much. Maybe glass? That would make some nice figures. Wood is common enough, that would actually be useful as well. I suppose metal wouldn't go amiss either."

"It lookth really good!" Snarly told me. "I'd pay a good price for 'omething like that."

"Well thank you."

"Here you are." They handed it back and I made the final adjustments to fit it over his horn.

"Just remember, it's made of fairly brittle rock. I picked obsidian because it's shiny and I found a big enough chunk to do what I wanted. Don't smash it against anything."

"If I do you can just repair it, right?"

"True, if you get all the pieces of it."

"We must speak of our next task," Hanz told us when we were done admiring my handiwork. "There is a complication."

"Of course there is," I agreed. "What's the job?"

"Jekserah requires us to fetch a diamond of a certain size from an abandoned mine not far from town. Normally of course I would think nothing of the request and place it into the queue along with all the other places we intend to visit in the near future. I'm sure your magic could help us locate any diamonds that are left within the stone walls of the mine."

"No doubt." And any that were not big enough we keep, not a bad little deal.

"The complication there is, the mine has been taken over by goblins."

"But you could use your magiths to make us looks like goblins and we could walk 'ight in!" Snarly said proudly.

"Yes, I was going to mention that," Hanz told him. "That was a minor complication, considering. No, the real complication is that, after she left, a member of the guard named Argise, a beast-kin, contacted us. It seems our 'employer' has been in their bad graces for some time, though she could not give me any specific evidence or accusations. She, and others of the guard, believe she is up to something untoward, perhaps even plotting to overthrow the guard itself."

"From what I've heard that could be a good thing," I told them. "Everyone is saying how terrible the guard is, not doing their job to patrol the countryside like they should. We're the talk of the town, by the way. Everyone thinks the town is safer because of what we did, and sentiment is the guard should have done it long ago."

"Are we? Should I procure a pen for signing autographs? Pity I don't have any 8x10 glossies to hand out..."

"You say some weird things 'ometimes," Starly told them.

"Apologies."

"In any case, no," I told them. "I didn't shout from the rooftops I was the one that," I looked around, "exploded the encampment."

"Very wise. And it is your magic I again wish to consult. I was hoping you could use your divination spell to either show there is more to investigate relating to Jekserah, or show Argise is in the wrong about her, before we become too involved and regret it later."

"Be happy to."

"Very good. I begin to wonder how I ever functioned without being able to consult divination magic."

"I should start charging you! Joking, just a joke."

"Your strange organic humor shocks and appalls me."

"That's… what she said?"

"Now you're getting the hang of it!"

Am I though?

"We are meeting with her this evening to get more information, if we can give her an answer one way or another by then, it would be best. I must go and discuss last night with the captain of the guard as requested. So I will leave you to it."

"I'll go talk ta my friends in town about 'ouses!" Snarly decided.

"I'll come with you, Orchid will probably want to be alone to do her magic."

"I don't have to be-"

"Come on!"

"I'm comingth."

"Huh."

So I went back to the room to come up with a few questions I could ask my divination magic, and hopefully shed some light on the situation. "Are the concerns of the guard Argise about Jekserah legitimate?"

Yes

So there is some merit to us looking into things. Great, if it turns out she's evil there goes our main source of revenue. Well, maybe she's overreacting though! "Would I consider Jekserah's plans evil?"

No

Ah hah! You see? Not evil then, maybe just misguided? And with what I said before, maybe she would run the town better than… Who runs the town now? The guard? Like, who is the mayor or whatever? I didn't vote for him. Hey, once I have an address do I get to vote? How do we get our leaders around here?Or are they appointed by the king or whatever. Do we have a king? Huh, looking to own a home has suddenly increased my awareness of politics. "Is it better for this town for Jekserah to take over?"

No

Okay, so that's out. If that's her goal we should try to stop it. But why a diamond though? "Will the diamond we bring Jekserah be used for evil?"

No

Well that's confusing.

I mulled over the answers I got until the others returned, bringing news of current houses prices that could be affordable for us. We didn't want something like a row house that might only be 5 moons a month, but a small place with enough space for us could be had for twice that. I told them what I had learned with my magic, and everyone agreed we would take Argise seriously at least. So we waited around for dinner, then sunset, and went out to meet her.

"Thanks for coming," she told us, undoing some kind of cloak that made her invisible.

Oh, I want one of- oh wait I could just do the spell directly. She was a beast-kin, with cat ears and tail like I used once. Dressed in the color of the guard, she looked around nervously.

"Our magic user has determined we should at least look into it," Hanz told her. "We accept your concerns as legitimate. Thus, what can we do to gather the evidence you need to move against her?"

And why can't you do it, as really it's your job and it's going to cost us ours?

"There's a warehouse down by the docks she seems to favor," she began.

"Ah, I should have guessed," Hanz agreed. "It's always a warehouse down by the docks."

"What is?"

"Never mind, please continue."

"There's a spell over the place. We think. If anyone from the guard goes inside she'll be alerted."

Not really how magic works, but okay, I guess it could cover a whole building with enough work? How is it being maintained though? And how did you learn of it? Is there a magic user employed by the guard?

"Can you sneak in there and see what's inside? Even if you can't physically bring us any proof because you don't want her to know it was you, enough to show probable cause if the guard busts the doors down and grabs it."

Yes, if you flub it and she looks into who made her life miserable and discovers us, she can have us brought up on charges like breaking and entering at the very least.

"We're good at 'neaking!" Snarly told her.

"So you want us to find evidence of wrongdoing?" Hanz clarified.

"Yes. We're certain she wants to overthrow the military rule of this town. But not how or when. Anything you can get us would be appreciated."

"We won't even ask for any money," Malachite told her proudly. "The gratitude of the guard will be enough for us."

I nodded seriously, and he beamed.

"That's a relief, because I can't pay you, that's for sure," Argise told us.

"That brings up a good point," Hanz put in. "Why is the guard so starved for resources? I saw Sir Gelden when I went to speak to your commanding officer today. He seemed, what is the word, resplendent?"

Who?

"Oh, the leaders do okay for themselves, don't you worry about them," she admitted with some bitterness. "The problem is most money generated by the kingdom went to the war effort against Anduril. Now that the war is over that structure isn't needed anymore. We're within the kingdom of Daelin but about as far from the front as you could get, so we never got that much funding in the first place. We need to come up with a better system but for now, those in power are hanging onto it. They pay themselves first, and leave the scraps to us peons that actually do the real work around here."

And without a yes answer to my question about Jekserah taking over, we think anything she plans would actually be worse than what we've got now. Super.

"I see. Thank you for clarifying, it was as I expected having seen what I did today."

"Sure. So, when can I expect word you're done?"

"May as well go tonight," I decided. "One night is as good as another."

"I'll check back here in a few hours then. Here's the address." She handed us a scrap of paper with the address on it and brought her cloak around her again, vanishing.

"I guess it's up to me again," I told them as we headed to the place.

"It is the safest course of action," Hanz agreed.

"And if we find out this is some kind of misunderstanding," Malachite decided, "we don't want to burn our bridges with Jekserah."

"Not a problem. But I think I'll do a quick divination anyway. Will Jekserah or another working for her be alerted should we enter her warehouse from the astral plane?"

No

"So we have our answer. When we get closer I'll step us up to astral and we'll see what we can see."