Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Bokuboy

I was done of my carvings ten minutes later, as was Vanessa. She watched as I took out a silvery potion and carefully used it to fill in the carvings. I whispered to her to use the book to block the sight from everyone and then I infused both of the enchantments. Both glowed brightly for a few seconds and then the glow faded.

“Do I even want to know what the heck that was?” Vanessa asked as she stared at the two squares.

“Yes, you do.” I whispered back and used some fortifying waterproof potion on them. As an added caution, I cut a sliver from another square and used a dab of number ten potion to cover up the more powerful enchantment. It needed to remain a secret, after all.

Mage Black Montgomery stood up with a folded letter and whispered something to his wife. He glanced at me and I held up the two squares. He nodded and left the classroom at a fast walk. It took him nearly twenty-five minutes to return and he had a very old man with him. His wife Heather looked very surprised when she saw the old man and went over to them.

They talked in hushed whispers, so that none of the students could hear. I easily could, since my vigilance technique was always on, and overheard them discussing my breakthrough achievement with the simple enchantment. The old man was adamant that he wanted me to marry his granddaughter, despite me already being betrothed. It was almost funny as they argued, because the granddaughter was only a child.

“What's going on?” Vanessa asked in a whisper as she watched the confrontation. “I can only see Mage Black Montgomery's mouth and I'm not getting the whole conversation.”

I leaned in close. “The old man wants me to marry his six year old granddaughter to get me permanently bonded to his family.”

“You mean betrothed, don't you?” Vanessa asked, confused.

“Nope.” I said and her eyes widened. “I know. I almost laughed when he said it.”

Vanessa clamped her mouth shut and also looked like she was going to laugh. It was ridiculous. I couldn't marry a child, not even with the family's permission, and that would only be if I wasn't already betrothed. I was, to a very prominent family, and even if they could somehow coerce Grand Mage Henrietta to remove his permission, I would still marry Helena. I gave my word and that was that.

The family squabble ended abruptly and the old man let out an exaggerated sigh. Vanessa had to cover her mouth to smother her giggle, because she knew that the old man had lost the argument. The three of them came over to my desk and the old man waved a hand and said a mumbled chant to make smoky glass panels appear around us.

“Show me.” The old man demanded.

“I need something to break.” I said.

After two more chants from the old man, a glass container appeared on my desk and a six inch block of ice appeared inside it. I charged up the normal one that Mage Black Montgomery had told me to make for the class and the old man let out another sigh. Vanessa giggled again and the old man raised his eyebrows at her.

“It's been years since I heard a young woman giggle.” The old man said.

“Forgive me, my Lord.” Vanessa whispered and ducked her head.

“That wasn't an admonishment.” The old man said and looked at me. “Go ahead with the useless one and then show me the real one.”

I gave him a slight smile and slapped the wooden square onto the ice. A distinct crack was heard and the ice split right down the middle. Heather gasped and Black looked surprised. The old man raised a single eyebrow, then he huffed and waved his hand to make the broken ice disappear.

“Now the new one.” The old man said as another block of ice appeared.

“Full charge?” I asked and the old man nodded. I picked up the 'blank' square and poured my magic into it. The wood glowed and that surprised the three of them. I held it on the edge and brought it down to smack the ice and the ice shattered into hundreds of pieces and sprayed everywhere. Only two large chunks were left in the container, so I hit one of them to smash it and the glow faded from the wood.

“You don't even need the wooden dagger?” Black asked and I could see his mind working.

“It's the same principle.” I said and pointed to the corner. “I just imagined this was the tip of a blade as I struck.”

“May I see it?” The old man asked and I handed it over. He made the ice disappear and made another block appear. He charged the wood enchantment up and did as I did, using the corner as the tip of the blade, and repeated the same result. The ice block shattered and the old man grinned as he hit a smaller chunk and the glow faded.

“It uses my own proprietary infusion technique and catalyst.” I said and the old man nodded.

“I know. I could feel the difference. You've infused your magic into the engraving itself and not the wood that the engraving is on.” The old man looked at the bonded square. “You hid it from view?”

“Mage Black Montgomery said it was to be kept between your family and mine.”

The old man looked at Vanessa.

“She's petitioned to be my concubine.” I said and Mage Heather Montgomery gasped again.

The old man gave me a tooth bearing grin. “Good work, my boy. Good work. It's always nice when a woman is more interested in being with you than with strictly following traditional society rules.” He said and handed me the wood back. “Is your betrothal ironclad?”

I chose to tell him the thought I had before. “Even if Grand Mage Henrietta rescinded his offer and permission, I would marry Helena anyway. I won't break my word.”

“Good. Good. You're reliable.” The old man said and then gave me a skeptical look. “Is it true? She's already pregnant?”

“G-g-g-grandfather!” Heather exclaimed. “It's not possible for...”

“On our very first try.” I said, knowing now that it was a point of pride for mages.

Heather wavered a little and nearly fainted. Her husband easily caught her and held her steady.

“I deeply regret that you're already betrothed.” The old man lamented, his face sad.

“I'll add you to the list of women that have told me the same thing.” I responded and the old man looked shocked.

Black laughed and clapped the old man on the shoulder. “I bet it's a long list.”

“And getting longer.” Vanessa whispered.

I put an arm around her shoulders and she leaned against me to sigh. “I won't break my word.”

“I know you won't.” Vanessa whispered with a smile.

“I'll have six swords commissioned immediately.” The old man said. “I'll do three of them.”

“I'll be able to do two.” Black said and gave me a smile. “Would you like to do one?”

“Normally or like this?” I asked and held up the covered square.

“Oh, definitely like that.” Black said. “Grandfather?”

“Yes, we can do it sometime this week, if that's agreeable.” The old man said.

“I have the entire afternoon off today.” I said and the old man gave me another tooth bearing grin.

“Good!” The old man said, happily. “After lunch, we can head right over to our blacksmith. I'll send word right now to get him started.”

“Can he make six swords and keep them near the molten stage?” I asked.

“He'll have them made and we will join him near the forges when he tempers the metal.” The old man said. “It is best to settle the enchantment during the final stage, so it can fully integrate with the object.”

“I see.” I said and considered it. “Would you mind if I prepare one of your three swords? I want to know if someone else can power and infuse the same enchantment to get the same result.”

The old man gave the two teachers a searching look.

“I've heard he can infuse several potions within minutes.” Black said. “It's just a rumor, though.”

“What would you say if I claimed to do four potions within that time frame?” I asked and the three people had shocked looks on their faces. “So, nothing?” I asked and Vanessa giggled beside me.

The old man smiled. “I'll allow you to use your own preparation technique. I haven't tried to infuse the work of someone else before, so I am curious if it'll work as well.”

“Do you only want this modified one or do you want the full family enchantment?” I asked and all three of them gave me shocked looks again. “I'll need a few hours to decipher the crest completely and to fix it. I don't know what the other runes are for, since only three of them are connected with the damage rune.”

The old man gave Black another questioning look.

“I told you how quickly he modified the real one.” Black said. “Even if he doesn't know what the rune components do, he can create the proper structure to string them together. I'm sure of it.”

The old man nodded and held a hand out to him. Black handed over a piece of parchment and the old man quickly drew out the full secret family crest. Heather took in a sharp breath as he did so and she looked like she wanted to snatch it away or hide it.

“Show me what you can do with this.” The old man said and slid it back over to me. “If you give me a preliminary drawing, I'll tell you what the other runes are for.”

“Grandfather!” Heather gasped.

“We are under a tentative verbal agreement to keep our secrets.” The old man said. “I haven't seen anyone complete an enchantment as quickly as Black has told me, and that includes me.”

Heather closed her mouth and nodded. She knew he was right. No one she knew could do it within moments.

I took out a piece of paper and recreated the enchantment with a pencil, then below it, I drew out each component. I had been pulling enchantments apart for years and it was child's play to mark out which was which. Heather, Black, the old man, and Vanessa watched as I easily recreated each of the components and at the very bottom of the page, I redrew each of the runes perfectly.

“By the Son's Light.” Heather whispered.

I took another piece of paper and stared at the components. I knew some of the magic channels were a bit too long and it would cause the activation to take longer. That was not something you could suffer through in a fight. If your magic blade didn't glow right away, you were dead.

I put the first damage rune down and drew the same power line to it, then added the second rune. I had no idea what it was for, only that it took too long to light up because of where it was situated. I changed the channel to shorten it significantly and added it to the power line. With that change, the next rune needed a magic reservoir and I added it on the other side to connect it to a circular magic channel and connected it to the first.

I added the final rune in the empty space in the circle, then added in the final components of a proper enchantment to complete the circle. I drew the outer boundary and then went back over everything to add in redundancy and extra connections, then added in a second magic reservoir on a separate power channel.

I checked over my work and shook my head. It was a bit messy and I made a mistake on one of the power connections, so I used another piece of paper to redraw it, fixed the connection, and handed the completed enchantment to the old man.

It was almost completely different from the one he had handed to me.

“G-g-grandfather.” Black whispered, his voice trembling.

“I know.” The old man said, his own voice tightly controlled. He put a finger on the original sheet where I had written out the runes. “Damage.” He pointed to the next rune. “Sharpness.” He pointed to the next one. “Toughness.” He pointed to the last one. “Durability.”

“Ohhh.” I said. Now that I knew what the runes were for, I could fix the design. I held my hand out for the paper. “I need that back to fix it.”

“What?” Heather asked, finally getting over her stunned silence and the old man almost hugged it to keep it.

I tried to not laugh at that. “Durability and toughness need to be charged first or they'll be useless. They are also on the wrong channels for power consumption.” I pointed to the runes and traced the lines. “The two reserve magic lines need to be attached directly to the sharpness and damage runes instead. They are the ones that need the significant boost when attacking.”

The old man almost looked lost as he handed me the paper back. I had to chuckle at his reluctance and took out another sheet, then got back to work. To their surprise, it looked completely different again, because I had to rearrange their positions and put the durability and toughness runes nearer to the outside of the circle and put the magic reservoirs on the sharpness and damage runes.

I added in the finishing mark just as the class bell rang, which signified the the end of the first morning class, and handed the new completed enchantment to the old man. He took it like it was made of solid gold and would break if he wasn't careful. I didn't remind him that it was made of paper and that I could draw it again if he needed me to.

That actually reminded me to make it the right size for enchanting and used another piece of paper to draw it smaller. None of them noticed as they stared at the new enchantment, except for Vanessa, who had put her hand on my knee to lean in and watched me closely instead.

I drew it six times on the paper, duplicating it exactly, then drew it again for myself to keep and added in the notes on what the runes did. I couldn't add in the actual percentages of what they would change on the weapon, since I had designed it to scale with the amount of magic used to activate it.

“You're amazing.” Vanessa whispered.

I tucked my paper into my writing pad and picked up the practice sheets. I put them into the glass container and used the fire starter spell to light them. With a whoosh, the papers were all consumed and only ashes were left.

Heather was startled and looked at the container, then she sighed. “Mr. Drake... Lord Drake.” She said and ducked her head. “I'm sorry that I tried to cast a compulsion spell on you to get your attention.”

Black reached up and flicked her ear with his fingers to make her flinch. “Say it right.”

Heather gave him a quick glare, then sighed again. “I was trying to entice you into being attracted to me... a little... so I could keep your attention solely focused on me while in class. It usually works and keeps students diligent and working hard. It also makes them listen to me when I speak.”

I had to think about that. “Why me? I didn't feel you cast it on anyone else.”

“You're the only male in the class and she had no one else to cast it on.” Vanessa said, catching on immediately. “I bet she almost exhausted herself when trying to cast it on the other classes that she teaches.”

“You were the only male.” Heather said. “In my experience, if you don't make men interested, their minds tend to wander and they won't listen.”

Her husband Black shook his head. “It's such a stupid reason to get in trouble with.”

“No one's caught me at it until now.” Heather said and gave me a look. It was a mix of desire and exasperation, which was an odd combination.

“In order to enchant this, we'll need to hold the tempering for quite some time.” The old man said. “As soon as we reduce it in size and practice with it...”

I put the paper with the six smaller copies on top of the one he held.

“Of course you've already done it.” The old man chuckled. “How long did you work exclusively doing this?”

“It was a really long winter last year and I had nothing to do but work on enchanting while I brewed potions.” I said with a shrug. “I only sleep for about six hours a night, so...”

The old man laughed. “You are a wonder, my boy. A wonder. Are you sure that you don't want to marry my granddaughter?”

“Even if I wanted to, and I don't, Helena's pregnant and I'm doing everything I can for her and my family.”

The old man nodded. “I can honestly say that you'll be one of the first magic couples I've heard of that have had a child before getting married.”

“We would have been married already if the Grand Mage hadn't added the stipulation that I needed to become a mage first.” I said with a shrug. “We should have married before coming to see her parents.”

The old man laughed again. “I assume you're allowing the child to be named Henrietta?”

“It was Helena's desire to provide an heir. She never told me why she wanted to do that, though.” I said.

“It's probably to release the family pressure on her sister.” Vanessa whispered.

“Selena?” I asked and she nodded.

“Ah, I see. Yes, that would make sense.” The old man said. He didn't seem to have any trouble hearing Vanessa. “She has taken responsibility away from her sister, who can now find someone she loves, rather than wait for her parents to arrange a marriage for her.”

“I know that's pretty rare.” I said.

The old man laughed once more while Black and his wife exchanged looks.

“We need to get back to teaching the students.” Heather said. “We're well into the next class already.”

Black nodded agreement. “Grandfather.”

The old man waved his hand and the glass container and the smoky glass partitions blocking us off from sight, disappeared. He had already rolled up the papers and tucked them into his mage robes.

“I'll meet you after lunch at the main gate.” The old man said and nodded to me, to his grandson and granddaughter, then he walked out of the classroom without another word.