The next morning, Arkie is inseparable from his teddy bear. Wherever he goes, he drags it along behind. “That was a good idea,” states his father as he watches him toddle across the floor. He glances up to James, who has just left his bedroom.
“He does seem to like it,” he agrees. Moving into the kitchen, Ezra gives him a quick breakfast before he heads out to the forest where the stool marked with the ‘X’ lies. He casts the spell of concealment upon it he worked out last night before dinner.
Once it’s cast, James returns to the workshop and picks up the mirror lying on his workbench. Concentrating hard, he attempts to locate it. The image settles upon the spot where he knows it to lie but sees a black spot where it should be.
That’s no good! Whoever is looking will know where it is even if they can’t see it! Canceling the spell he sits back and considers the problem once more. He needs to prevent someone’s magic from even knowing where it is, not just being unable to see it. Maybe warp the magic around it, so whatever spell is cast will pass it by as if it wasn’t even there? Perhaps.
Excited by the idea, he tries to come up with a way for it to work, keeping in mind that the box will need to be able to absorb magic from the surrounding area in order to sustain the spells. If the magic is unable to be drawn to the box by the crystals due to the effect of the concealing spell, then he’s got a problem.
He considers the problem and then a thought comes to him. Is there a difference between magic at large in the natural world, and magic that is being manipulated by a mage? Could there be some slight alteration that he can exploit to make this work?
The difference could be likened to a river and a lake. A river being the force driven by a mage, and the lake being the static magic in every living thing.
So intent is he in trying to figure this out, that he doesn’t even realize it’s getting close to noon until Ezra sends Miko out to retrieve him for lunch. “But I’ve almost got it!” he exclaims to Miko.
“She said to get you or we don’t eat, so get you I will,” he says. “It’ll wait a few minutes longer James, you need to keep up your strength.”
Feeling slightly light headed from the intense concentration he’s been doing all morning, he says, “You may be right. I think I could use a break.”
“What do you say we go and take a bath after lunch?” he suggests. “You haven’t taken one for several days, that’s not like you.”
Suddenly feeling quite dirty, he says, “You’re on.” He walks with him back to the house where Miko holds the door open for him.
With a quick, “Sorry” to everyone, he takes his seat and the meal commences. Afterward, he and Miko, along with Illan and Jiron go out to his bathing pool.
They settle in and are ten minutes into it when they hear someone approaching. He hears Miko give a short intake of breath and looks up. There stands Errin several feet away and she’s looking in their direction with a smile on her face.
“Get along with you!” Illan hollers over to her from where he sits naked in the water.
Giving them all a mischievous grin, she continues with her patrol and soon disappears in the trees. They can hear her begin to whistle a merry tune.
“She’s got more pluck than any of the others,” Illan tells them.
“I have to agree,” adds Jiron. “Definitely more dedicated and takes to instruction better than the rest.”
“Women can be fierce fighters,” comments James. “Why, where I come from they tell of a band of women, Amazons they’re called and…” For the rest of the time they spend in the bathing pool, they argue the various merits and handicaps of having women fight. The consensus seems to be, that though they don’t figure into the armies of this world, they can be good fighters.
After they get out of the bathing pool, James heads back to his workshop, resolving to figure this whole thing out before going to bed tonight.
“Need any help?” Miko asks when he sees the direction James is heading.
“No,” he replies. “Not with this, anyway. Thanks.”
“Alright,” he says. “Might go and see if I can’t bag some rabbits, Tersa asked me earlier if I could.”
“Why?” he asks.
“She said their fur would be good for her teddy bears,” he explains.
Nodding, James says, “They would at that.” Leaving Miko behind, he makes for his workshop. Good to see she’s taking a real interest in this.
Entering his workshop he begins working on the problem. It takes him the rest of the evening and almost the entire following day before he gets it to work. Ezra had sent Miko to fetch him for dinner but he didn’t even bother answering his call, so engrossed was he. She finally relented and allowed everyone else to eat and was mollified by Miko bringing him out a large platter of food to the workshop.
When exhaustion finally takes him, he falls asleep at his workbench. In the morning when he wakes up, he’s disoriented at first, not realizing where he is. Then he recognizes his workshop and resumes working.
Just before dinner of the third day, he has everything set. He’s taken one of his crystals that had been charging and places it upon the stool in the woods. The crystal has been infused with spells which he believes will hide the stool from any type of magical searches.
Holding his breath, he picks up his mirror and lets the magic flow as he concentrates on finding the stool. The mirror remains normal, the image never even so much as flickers.
Excited, he puts more and more magic into it as he steps up to more intense searching. Still, the mirror remains blank. Finally, he’s putting so much magic into it that his head begins to hurt and his vision starts growing hazy. Suddenly, the image in the mirror begins to shimmer and with a loud crack, the glass in the mirror shatters.
“Yeah!” he yells as he stands up quickly. But the intense use of the magic has weakened him greatly and his legs fail to hold him. Crashing to the floor he lies there, bruised but smiling. It worked!
The door to the workshop opens up and Fifer comes in, sword in hand. Seeing James lying on the floor and the shattered mirror on the workbench, he begins to sound the alarm.
“It’s okay,” James croaks from where he lies on the floor.
Pausing, Fifer comes closer to hear him better and asks, “What?”
“Don’t worry,” he tells him. “Everything is alright.”
“You don’t look alright,” he says, returning his sword to its sheath.
Jiron rushes into the workshop and Fifer says, “He’s okay.”
Giving James a cursory glance, he asks, “Do too much again?”
James nods as Fifer helps him to his stool before the workbench. Sitting down, he rests an arm on the top to keep himself steady. “I had to,” he explains. “I had to see if it would work even with everything I had working against it.” Giving them a smile, he adds, “And it did!”
“Congratulations,” Jiron says. “Now, let’s get you inside to rest.”
“No, no, no,” protests James. “I’m not that bad off, just give me a moment to catch my breath. I need to go see what happened to the crystal which was hiding the stool I was searching for.”
“We’ll go with you,” Fifer says.
“If you want,” he tells them. “But I’m okay.”
After resting a moment to regain some of his strength, he gets up and finds his legs are still a trifle wobbly. Jiron lends him a hand and they make their way into the forest to where the stool sits.
The crystal sitting on top of it, the one whose spells prevented him from seeing the stool in his mirror, still has a barely discernable glow within it. It would seem the effort to counter what James had been doing took almost all of its power. Had James possessed more power, then the crystal would’ve exhausted its internal supply and the spell would have failed.
James cancels the spells of concealment that are still active in the crystal and replaces them with the slow leech spell. He then takes it over to where the other crystals are sitting in the woods absorbing power. The other crystals have a deep crimson glow within them, indicating they have maxed out their capacity.
Leaving them there, they return to the house where Ezra has dinner almost prepared. She’s setting a bowl full of steamed tubers on the table when the door opens and turns to see him being helped in through the door. Taking in his condition, she gives a small shake of her head.
He flashes her a grin as they help him through to his room where he collapses on the bed, feeling completely drained.
As they leave, he says to them, “Tell Ezra I’ll not be joining you for dinner.”
Jiron pauses at the door and replies, “I’ll tell her. You just get some rest.” He closes the door and leaves James by himself.
Too tired to even attempt to get out of his clothes, he tries to get comfortable and allows sleep to claim him.
The morning drill of the recruits again disturbs his slumber. Going to have to ask Illan to take it somewhere else. He just lies there listening to him instruct them in proper defensive techniques for awhile, too comfortable to get up despite having slept in his clothes.
I did it. I can now hide the Fire with the concealing spell. Feeling very good about himself, he relaxes and tries to put the rest of his cares out of his mind. The money situation continues to plague him, disturbing the inner tranquility he was trying to achieve.
With the money he has now, both here and at Alexander’s, he can keep this place running for several months with no undue hardship. However, he’s got to figure out a way to generate a steady, reliable source of income that will last for years. The teddy bears will bring in some, but not nearly the quantity he’s figuring to need.
Finally giving into the inevitable, he swings his legs over the side and sits up on the bed. The room starts spinning and he has to remain still for several minutes before it stabilizes. A slight headache and a trace of fatigue is all that remains from the exhaustion he experienced the day before.
Holding onto the bedpost for support, he stands up and the dizziness returns, but only for a second before subsiding. He slowly changes out of the clothes he slept in and into a fresh clean set Ezra has laid out for him on his chest.
Once dressed, he opens the bedroom door and makes it out to the kitchen where she provides him with a plate with eggs and a ham steak.
“Thank you,” he says. The aroma coming off the plate makes his stomach cramp and he realizes just how hungry he is.
“You shouldn’t go without eating,” Ezra tells him. Sitting down across from him, she begins peeling tubers for their midday meal.
Finishing the bite of ham, he replies, “I know. But I needed rest more than food last night.”
“Are you done with whatever you are trying to do?” she asks.
“I think so,” he says. “I shouldn’t be doing anything too draining for awhile.”
“Good,” she says. Then she pauses in her peeling and looks at him with concern in her eyes, “I worry about you.”
He gives her a reassuring smile and says, “I know you do. I’ll try to be more careful.”
Before he’s finished with his breakfast, the sound of a wagon coming down the road can be heard. Stuffing the last of the eggs and ham in his mouth, he goes to the window and looks out to see Kraegan the blacksmith, driving a wagon toward the house. One of his apprentices sits in the back with the iron box he commissioned.
Leaving the kitchen through the backdoor, he goes out to meet him. When Kraegan brings the wagon to a stop, James says, “You’re done!”
“Just got it back a short time ago,” he says as he climbs down. “Thought you may be wanting it so brought it out myself.”
James comes forward and shakes his hand as the apprentice brings the small iron box down from the wagon. It’s little more than six inches wide and tall, should be just right for the Fire to sit securely within. He can see the crystals are embedded in the sides and top just as he requested.
“Where do you want it?” he asks.
James gestures over to his workshop and says, “In there would be fine.” He then turns and leads them over to it.
“Been having trouble?” Kraegan asks.
“Why do you ask that?” he replies as he approaches the door. Opening it up, he stands back as the apprentice carries the box in through the door.
He points over to where Illan, Uther and Jorry are working with the new recruits. “That and the guard I encountered out by the road,” he says.
“A little,” James tells him. “People keep coming by to see what I’m doing. Annoying.”
“I can understand that,” he tells him.
To the apprentice, he points to the floor near his workbench and says, “Just put it down there.” Once he’s set it down, James tells him, “Thank you.”
“Go and wait at the wagon,” the blacksmith says to his apprentice.
His apprentice says, “Yes sir,” and then leaves the workshop.
James comes over and inspects the box, running his fingers over the crystals. He nods his head when he finds them securely embedded, they don’t even wiggle a tiny fraction. Opening the box, he feels the soft inner lining where the Fire will rest. It’s just large enough for it to sit securely within. Closing the lid, he sees a small keyhole in the top near one of the sides.
“Here,” Kraegan says.
Glancing over his shoulder to the blacksmith, he sees him holding out a small key. Closing the lid, he places the key within the lock and turns it. After removing the key, he tries to open the lid and finds it securely locked. Placing the key in a pocket, he stands back up and turns to the blacksmith. “Very nice work,” he says.
“Is it what you wanted?” the blacksmith asks.
“Yes,” replies James. “Exactly. Now let’s go back to the house and I’ll get you the rest of what I owe.”
Leading the way, he takes him in through the house and has him wait in the kitchen.
“Would you care for anything?” Ezra asks him.
“No thank you,” he tells her.
James moves into his room and opens the money chest. Taking out a sack of coins, he removes all but what he needs for Kraegan. He adds two silvers as well as the promised bonus of ten extra golds for quick delivery and then closes the chest.
Coming back out to where he’s waiting, he places the sack of coins on the table and then they proceed to count them. When Kraegan sees the extra two silvers, he nods his head and puts the coins back in the sack.
“I appreciate the speed in which you managed to complete the job,” he tells him.
“Always try to, if I can,” he says as James leads him out the back door to where his wagon waits. The apprentice has already taken his position in the back.
Getting up in the driver’s seat, Kraegan says, “Good day to you sir.”
“You too, master blacksmith,” replies James as Kraegan turns the wagon around and heads down the lane to the road. On his way back to his workshop, he sees Yern out practicing with his sword as he works to regain the strength he lost after being hit in the shoulder. He’s moving his sword in a complex pattern as he moves around the ground. His red hair is matted against his face by the sweat his exertions are producing.
Coming over to him, James says, “How’s your shoulder?”
Yern brings his workout to a stop as he turns and replies, “Much better. It doesn’t hurt so much anymore and I’ve regained much mobility and strength.”
“Good,” he says. “I was wondering if you could find Fifer and meet me in the workshop?”
“Why?” he asks, rubbing the sweaty hair from out of his face.
“I have something I need you to do,” he tells him.
“I think he’s out by the road,” he says. “I’ll see if Jiron will take over for him and we’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Alright,” replies James.
Yern goes over to a bucket of water and washes the sweat off of his face before going to find Jiron.
James turns back and continues to the workshop. Once inside, he picks up the box and places it on his workbench, it’s not nearly as heavy as he’d been anticipating. He spends several minutes in further examination of it, checking to make sure there are no cracks in any of the crystals, even to the point of sending his senses to inspect them internally.
Finding no fractures that he had been afraid would’ve happened during the construction process, he brings himself out of the crystals just as Yern enters the workshop with Fifer close behind.
“What did you need to see us about?” asks Fifer.
“I need you two to go on a trip,” he tells them. He then fills them in on just what he wants them to do and answers their questions as best he can without revealing too much to them. Once he’s sure they understand, he leads them back to the house and into his room where he opens the money chest and takes out two small bags of coins. Handing one to each, he says, “I’ll be meeting you there in less than a week so don’t take too long.”
“We won’t,” Yern assures him.
They then proceed to the stable where they saddle their horses and are soon heading down the lane to the road. Pausing only a moment to speak with Jiron, they then turn and gallop down the road toward town.
Back at the workshop, James is inspecting the box further when Illan walks in. “Saw Yern and Fifer leaving,” he says.
“I asked them to do me a favor,” he explains. “They’ll be gone for a while.”
“Might I ask where and what for?” he asks.
James nods and then fills him in on what he plans on doing. When he’s done, Illan asks, “Think it will work?”
“I hope so,” he says. “If it doesn’t, I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“When do we leave?” he asks James.
“Day after tomorrow,” he replies. “There’re still a couple more things I need to do before I’m ready.” He turns back to the box and resumes his inspection.
“Very well,” says Illan and then turns to leave the workshop.
“Oh, one more thing,” James says quickly before he leaves.
“Yes?” Illan asks as he glances back from the doorway.
“Could you find someplace else to do the morning drills?” he asks. “They keep waking me up.”
Giving him a smile, he says, “Sure, no problem. Didn’t realize they were bothering you.”
“Thanks,” says James. As Illan walks out of the workshop, he thinks how glad he is to have good reliable people with him.
He leaves the workshop and enters the forest where he collects the crystals he’s had out there absorbing magic. They all look fully charged, each having a deep crimson glow. Taking them back to the workshop, he begins the final stage in preparing the box for the Fire.
There are five crystals embedded within the box. He endows three of them with the concealing spells, one which will leech magic from its surroundings, and the last one will be an extra reservoir of magic. His original idea of only having one concealing crystal had been scraped. After his experiment with the stool, he figures to need three so as not to lose too much power should it become necessary.
The way he has it set up, only one of the concealing crystals will be completely active at any given time. The other two will standby and only join the first when they detect someone searching for it. The concealing crystals will in turn continually draw their power from the reservoir crystal whose only function is to provide a single source of power for them to draw from.
The reservoir crystal will get its power from the leeching crystal which will continuously draw sufficient quantities from its surroundings to keep itself at the maximum, thereby powering all the rest as well.
James takes the crystals that have spent the last several days absorbing power and transfers their power into the leeching crystal, one at a time. As he begins the transfer of power, the crystals on the box each begin to emit a soft red glow as they slowly fill with power.
He hears a knock at his door but ignores it.
“James,” Miko’s voice is heard from the other side. “Lunch time.”
“Can’t right now,” he says. “In the middle of something serious.”
“But…” Miko begins.
“NOT NOW!!!” he shouts as his concentration begins to waver from the interruption. Miko must’ve gotten the idea for the knocking ceases and he is no longer bothered. He returns his full concentration to the matter at hand as the first of the crystals whose power is being absorbed into the box completely loses its glow.
He then directs the flow to draw the power from the next crystal with a deep crimson glow just as he hears a barely audible… Crack! The first crystal which he completely drained now has a hairline crack running through the middle of it. Interesting.
The second crystal’s glow steadily diminishes until it, too, is completely drained. Shortly after he’s started on the third one, again he hears a… Crack! Again, a hairline crack has appeared in the second drained crystal. By the time he’s done with all the crystals, three of them now have hairline cracks within them, while the fourth has completely split in two.
Thinking he’ll worry about the cracking of the crystals later, he turns his attention back to the box. The crystals embedded in the sides and top of the box all have a crimson glow, not quite as deep as it would be if they were fully charged.
Taking the box outside, he takes it into the forest and places it on the ground. Leaving it there with the leeching spell activated to continue charging the crystals, he returns to the workshop where he picks up the mirror he brought out earlier to replace the one he shattered the day before. Concentrating hard, he tries to find the box. But just like the last time with the stool, he’s unable to get a picture. He increases the magic usage and concentration, yet still the mirror remains blank.
Backing off, he finally cancels the spell and sits back. Exhausted and tired, yet feeling good about his accomplishments, he knows the box is unlikely to be found by magical means. Unless an incredible amount of magic is used, but that doesn’t seem too likely.
There’s one more thing he wants to do before they go and hide it. Getting up from his stool, he sees the moonlight coming in through the window. A lit candle sits on his workbench which had been giving him enough light to work by. Just when did I light that? Surprised at how long he must’ve been at it and how engrossed he must’ve been to not even remember lighting a candle, he leaves the workshop and goes into the house where Ezra provides him with a plate of leftovers from dinner.
He can hear the rest of them out in the front room where Tersa is favoring them with a song. Her voice is really quite good but it makes him realize how much he misses hearing Perrilin sing. Wonder what’s happening with him and if he’s gotten into any more trouble.
When he finishes eating, he moves into the front room with the others who just give him a concerned look. “I’m okay,” he assures them. “I was just in the middle of something requiring my undivided attention and time just sort of got away from me.”
“Here,” Tersa says to him. “Come sit by me.”
He takes a seat next to her as she begins another song, this one a fast paced ditty that he’s heard many times. It’s one of his favorites which is probably why she’s singing it now.
After another song and an improbable story of how Uther and Jorry had managed to be invited to attend a hunting party in search of a band of thieves which, according to them, they slew all by themselves, he excuses himself for bed. The rigors of the day have taken their toll and he’s barely able to keep his eyes open.
Lying in bed before sleep finally takes him, he thinks about the last thing he wants to accomplish before setting out the next day. A warning system to alert him should the box be disturbed.