Chapter 47 — Artificery

  I walked back to Lana’s to get my car, the chilly air and time since learning about the attacks cooled my mind. The jeep fired up on my first try, and I saw Lana had left a little secretive note on the dash that said: “Xoxo —Sorry our plans changed. See you soon!” It dispelled my mood.

  I felt bad she needed to be around me to feel safe now that the creature knew her home and our familiarity. Yet being by me was also the most dangerous place. The fact that I’d dragged her into this mess gave me the itch to punch something.

  I drove to the bank and withdrew some cash. Most people now-a-days rarely had to go inside a bank, where I was a regular customer. I couldn’t use credit cards, the magnetic back dying after a short day or two. I was honestly concerned about the future of banking, and money for that matter. If it all transitioned to electronic devices I would be hosed. Still, that day wasn’t today.

  I walked up to the teller, who knew me by name.

  “Cash today, Cal?”

  “As always.”

  I withdrew five hundred dollars. Sadly, that was a pretty large dent in my tight finances. Staying at inns and buying food while away had hurt my budget. I had enough left to cover the mortgage and food next month… but that was about it.

  Grumbling about being an honest wizard and not accidentally damaging an ATM or something like that to get a couple grand, I drove to the hardware store. It turned out to be surprisingly difficult to find objects made from plain iron. I was especially careful after having discussed what would work and what wouldn’t with Fren. I had nearly resolved to leave and try someplace else, as most things made of ‘iron’ had something else mixed into them upon inspection, or they were coated in nonrusting materials. A briefly concealed spell I uttered near each showed no disruption to magic.

  I even put on my glasses, I’d been working on having them be able to identify items. Unfortunately, they didn’t reveal much.

  Item: Metal

  Type: ???

  Inherent power affinity: ???

  Special Use: ???

  I still had some work to do on the glasses. I did feel a note of pride that while I had wasted a lot of time, I was in the process of making something that could be a true gamechanger for wizards. Altogether, I was so annoyed I didn’t concern myself with the three florescent lights, high above, which sputtered and died when I tested the possible fifth item of iron.

  Then I had an idea and checked the iron fencing… to find they were all steel alloys.

  Here I was, trying to save the town and the literal hardware store didn’t have what I needed. I thought about asking an employee but decided to hell with that. I searched awhile longer and left with the few things I’d found, some elbow pipes and small pipe fittings which were covered in paint or some anti rust coating. I hoped they would work when I sanded it off. They had disrupted my spell. A few long pipes would have been nice, but they were all steel. I grit my teeth at the price of the fittings and again contemplated a life of not so innocent living. But no, that was the type of thing the Strikers did seek out misguided practitioners for.

  I drove to a nearby custom fencing company and found that they did wrought iron fences and the raw material would actually work. Unfortunately, the raw pieces they used were too big for me and the tools I had on disposal at home. I would have no way to shape something like that other than extensive use of magic which would be hard to work near and around iron. The worker did gather up a few scraps in a bucket and sold them to me for a pittance. I told them that if they worked for my project, I would be back for more or to discuss buying pieces they could shape for me. This time my glasses worked a little better, though I had to focus and force a little more mana inside them which I felt comfortable doing outside in the parking lot where damage to anything around me should be minimal.

  Item: Metal

  Type: ???

  Inherent power affinity: ???

  Special Use: Spell mana flow disruption

  The special use was just what I was looking for. If it could disrupt spells, it could disrupt fae beings. I had no idea what the metal’s actual composition was other than ‘wrought iron’ and how it different from most of the stuff sold at the hardware store, but I eventually would need to figure it out. Using the full ‘identify’ spell at home I could get a definitive answer, but I was satisfied my glasses had identified something. With a little more tinkering around they would be invaluable.

  Lastly. I stopped at a thrift store and picked up a few cast iron pots for a few dollars each. It saved buckets of money compared to what the hardware store had charged, and I knew they would work. I personally didn’t know the difference between wrought iron fencing, cast iron, and steel alloys but I knew cast iron would work against the fae, and the wrought iron had interrupted my magic and probably would too.

  I got a quick lunch and headed back home to do what work I could. It took a lot of time to file down iron filings into a Ziplock bag. My tools grew dull, and I had to work them by hand. I got frustrated with the fact that I’d need to upgrade them soon. Power tools would have been amazing, but they wouldn’t work for more than a moment. Still, I persevered.

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  I attached a few hunks of iron to the end of wooden dowels. I managed to fasten a few around an old wooden baseball bat I had lying around. It didn’t look as fearsome as say nails through it, but it would work in a pinch. A few pieces I simply made into crude implements with sharp points, essential shanks. I did not want to use those against the creature. If it got that close the battle was already lost, but the more prepared we could be the better.

  Once done, I swept and mopped the area to make sure I wasn’t leaving anything behind that could hurt Fren. The metal work had been noisy, and I hoped not so noisy that it disturbed Kate and the shoppers upstairs. For that same purpose, I kept my grumbles and swears to a minimum as I worked.

  I had an edge over the creature now and felt better about our pending battle. Having workable weapons did wonders for my mood. It would be aware of the threat of iron, but it would lose something in the conflict by trying to counter what I prepared.

  Now ready, I turned to work on something new. I had also picked up a signet ring at the thrift store. It had cost fifty dollars but was large enough to fit comfortably on a few of my fingers, more importantly it was made of pure silver. Its front was flat, that surface left blank for an insignia to be carved or stamped. The blank signet ring gave me the perfect place to inscribe a ritual circle or rune of my own that I could use for spell casting. If I wanted, I could craft it in a way to help me control my power more or use less energy when casting. I could also possibly devise ways for it to cast a spell charged up and saved in the ring which would save me in the heat of battle.

  The problem was… it wouldn’t be done in time.

  I had precursory knowledge as an artificer from what I’d read and the few things Clair had me make. But everything I’d made so far had been short term junk that only worked a few times and was not worth the time put into making it for what they did. Even my staff had been limited. My glasses were the first true success, and they were still a work in progress. I had ended up using some of the principles I learned making my shop more defensible in crafting them, and getting runes and magics to work together had expanded my horizons. It was also a pain in the but because things grew infinitely more complex and I had no formal training.

  I knew the Tribunal had an artificer who made specialized gear for the strikers and crafted circles like I’d sat into the floor of the basement for burgeoning wizards to train in. He’d also made portable structures other members could purchase to make their homes more defensive.

  Seeing the price of one, I’d saved a literal fortune doing them myself.

  When I’d become a full wizard, I’d received a few things from the Tribunal. First was a parchment which listed the current rules of the Tribunal as well as their punishments. A calendar for the next five years of Tribunal meetings, and another paper that listed items and services that I could procure through the Tribunal. I’d been flabbergasted by the quoted prices which all said ‘prices may vary’ beside them in a way that made me know they would actually cost much more than the listed price.

  True magical items were amazing but took a damn long time to craft. Artificery wasn’t a skill most wizards had. Clair had surmised that my earth affinity as well as my fire might have led to me having more of a gift for that art.

  Since I’d done so well with my staff, basic as it was, Clair had taught me the fundamentals of artificery she’d gleaned over the years. However, runes, connection lines and glyphs as well as the knowledge of what materials would work best for a given construct were tightly horded secrets—else they were simply unknown. She hadn’t known much. Even if I had access to every scrap of artificer knowledge it would still take time, each magical item was insanely specialized. If I made something and created a blueprint, the exact same lays of power wouldn’t work for anyone but me. They would have to painstakingly modify them to their own affinities. It was the same with spells and why it took so much work to develop individual ones, even if you had a tomb describing every detail of the functioning spell with diagrams and descriptions of how others adapted it to their own power sets. It was why several standard spells were required in the testing to become a full wizard. If you hadn’t developed your talent enough to master them, then you weren’t ready for membership.

  Many items, even more basic items like a wizards staff that most could manage, were so individually tailored in the creation process that they wouldn’t work well for others.

  The last item I had received had been the most important, I’d received the medallion of full Tribunal membership which hung on the limb of a plant upstairs. It was a true work of artificery and the reason the Tribunal always kept a Master Artificer and horded all the information they could about the art.

  That medallion was my proof of having achieved full wizard status to the Tribunal. It was my badge or license to operate as a wizard. Only holding it, and verifying my identity with it, could I attend Tribunal business.

  I didn’t wear it often.

  It was gaudy, heavy, and really didn’t match anything, but I was glad to have it and someday wanted to figure out its secrets. Something the wizard who had given it to me had strictly forbidden. Probably for good cause, it had been tied to me by spell, blood, and rite.

  I delved deeply into thoughts about what I could do with the ring, my mind racing in ways it hadn’t in years. I was excited to push myself and prepare like never before. I drew out several ideas on paper. Containment and directional runes set in a circle that should draw power towards it when I willed it.

  Then I scrapped that idea, it would be best if the ring could hold its own power, building up over a long time rather than pulling energy into it in a rush. That would make my own core have to compete with it for ambient mana in a battle. Once I had some ideas, I would try to get them to actually work in my spell crafting circle. It could test their stability and efficiency over a few weeks, then begin crafting.

  I knew silver could hold a little magic inherently. That made it more effective against creatures like werewolves and vampires without any changes, working much like iron did upon the fae but the disrupting effects would be less pronounced and more localized. Silver had antibiotic properties, and crafting it into… say, a bullet, also fueled it with the intentions of the will of the maker, which would compound its power. Silver worked like poison or an opposing will on some creatures. Vampires and werewolves were both infected with a sickness that the silver could directly try to circumvent if it was used right. That was one of the reasons artificery was so hard, each gemstone, metal, and spell required various changes in order to work together. Then you could also tap into the power of various metals and gemstones if you knew the trick. But those tricks were painstakingly hard to identify and know beyond the more broadly known attributes of things like iron and silver. They were simple enough even mundane people could craft workable weapons from them. My iron filings and weapons for example, didn’t need any changes to fight whatever this creature was beside the baseline properties of the metal. If I truly knew how to forge a weapon with iron it’s power would be magnified.

  I devised a few more ideas. Things I would run by Fren later. A leaf from a nearby plant had slowly made its way to look over my workbench as I tinkered, so I knew he was aware of what I was doing. “We can talk about this later, when you’re better rested.”

  The leaf bobbed slightly. If Fren where to fully empower it, the plant would be able to move much more freely. This leaf’s movements were so small I could have dismissed the gesture as from a nonexistent breeze. Fren had done far, far too much the past few days.

  My anger and frustration diminished after training and prepping what I could. I planned on returning the iron from the hardware store since the other stuff had been cheaper and more usable and saving a chunk of money was a big win. Finished, I went up to help Kate with the store.