Engineered Magic

Harry

Todd came by late the night before and told Harry Grandmother would like to see him at breakfast. Todd was on his way to his apartment next to Harry’s. The poor boy looked worn out. Harry wondered what he was up to all day.

When Todd came up red back in Londontown, Harry was one of the few people he trusted with the secret. In Harry’s role as enforcer for the current queen, he heard of a group of crafters planning to break away from Londontown and make a go of it in the wilds. As the queen moved to break the group, Harry told Todd he should join them and leave Londontown. Todd carried Harry’s warning that the queen was moving against them. Harry was shocked when the leader of the group offered Harry a position with them.

As a member of the ruling party of Londontown, even a minor one, he was trapped. No citizen would trust him. It was impossible to survive alone in the halls. Harry wasn’t alone. He had a family of his own. His partner was a crafter, not a fighter. His oldest was a young warrior, newly graduated from training. The rest of his children were all at home. The youngest was barely five.

After a discussion with his spouse, they decided to join the group and leave the square. It was one of the toughest decisions of his life. His oldest son chose to stay in Londontown. Harry lost three of his children and his spouse during the early days in the halls and the migrations. Left with the care of his youngest children he felt desperate when Grandmother arrived. He knew who she was instantly. Unlike anyone else in the square, he was unsurprised when she left the next morning. The only thing that surprised him was that she allowed Todd, Alex, Ellen and young Sarah to go with her. Harry realized that this was an opportunity. With those four traveling with her, Grandmother would be back.

He cleaned up the damage and organized the newly protected square in Grandmother’s name. By the time she returned the square was firmly in her control. She tried multiple times during the years to get out of the duty, so far Harry always managed to put the reins of power firmly back into her hands.

Whatever she was planning this morning, Harry would make sure she stayed in power. Regardless if it was internal, external or Grandmother herself that was the threat. Harry worked for bad kings, he knew good leadership when he saw it. This was the future he wanted for his children and grandchildren. It was the future his spouse died for.

He dressed carefully, wearing blue touched leathers and his best sword. He combed his hair trying to minimize the bald spot on the back of his head, while not making it obvious he was trying to hide it. He was getting old and he knew it. If not for Grandmother’s example he might be feeling pressure from younger warriors to step aside and let someone else lead. That was his greatest fear, since he wasn’t certain if the person who took over for him would realize how essential it was to that Grandmother ruled the square.

Grandmother’s table was empty when Harry arrived. He sat down to wait for her arrival. One of the innkeeper’s grandchildren took his order for breakfast and returned with his grappler juice. Grandmother arrived while Harry was still waiting for his meal. The young server nearly beat Grandmother to her table carrying tea. Grandmother thanked the server for it. She set down a stack of vellum sheets and greeted Harry. She picked up her tea and took a long sip.

“You wanted to see me?” Harry asked when she didn’t pick up the conversation.

“Yes,” Grandmother replied. “I’ve taken the last few days to do a survey of the surrounding halls,” she explained. “There is a potential square on a greenspace to the west.” She glanced through the vellum sheets and passed one to him. He inspected the sheet. It showed a section of map, with a square structure clearly in the center. The edge of a green was on the right side. Since Home Square was on the west side of their green, this would indicate there were only halls between the two. Harry lowered his brows in thought as he considered the security implications.

“Do you know how to load that into your own map?” Grandmother asked.

“Yes,” Harry confirmed. Todd showed him how to do it. He didn’t use the mechanism much. He opened his map and loaded up the section. An area of revealed map popped into place. Harry could see this potential square was west, slightly north and high above them. It was only a level or two below Londontown.

Two servers arrived with the food. They set a plate in front him, breaking his concentration and causing his map to close. Harry looked up and saw that one of the servers was Todd. Todd sat with his own plate, after setting one down for Grandmother.

“I want to nudge any wandering skilled fighters in that direction,” Grandmother commented, as she inspected the dish in front of her. “This looks wonderful, Todd. Thank you.”

Todd mumbled a response through a full mouth as he dived into his own food.

“This is a little close to us,” Harry commented.

“If someone succeeds in taming it, it will be close enough for us to influence. In that event we will have to set up a trading convoy,” Grandmother explained. Harry made a note to find out what a trading convoy would entail and how much protection it would need. Grandmother let the silence stretch as she ate her meal.

“Was there anything else?” Harry asked.

“Yes, but I asked Joe to join us too. Todd, were you able to find him?” Grandmother asked.

“I only tracked him down this morning. He may need a few minutes to get ready. I was able to notify Harry here last night,” Todd explained.

“That explains it,” Grandmother replied. “I will give him a few more minutes.” She turned back to Harry. “In the meantime tell me about your children.”

“My children?” Harry asked, puzzled.

“I hear you have five. What do they do? Do any still live with you or are they all off on their own?” she asked.

“I have six,” Harry countered. “My eldest stayed in Londontown. I have not had word of him for years now, so I guess I don’t know if he still lives or not.” Todd choked on his food, before sitting his eating utensil down.

“I didn’t know that,” Todd announced. “Why didn’t you say something before we went to Londontown. I would have checked up on him for you.”

“When last I spoke to him he was very much a king’s man. It is better that he goes his own way. He doesn’t need the disapproval of his father leaking through to color his life,” Harry explained.

“What of the other five?” Grandmother asked, letting his rather horrible comment about his eldest son slip away like it was perfectly natural.

Harry told her about each of his children. He had three more sons and two daughters. His youngest daughter was apprenticed to Joe as a woodworker. Harry was very proud of her. His spouse was a woodworker and his youngest was their only child to follow her into the crafting arts.

“And your second youngest,” Grandmother said, “what was her name?”

“Muriel,” Harry responded.

“What does she do?” Harry should have known Grandmother would not let his brief mention of his daughter pass. He really didn’t understand Muriel, so it was hard for him to explain her to others. Harry looked over at Todd. Todd was pretending like he wasn’t paying attention at all. He was sipping his drink and looking off towards the entrance of the inn like he was watching for Joe’s arrival.

“She wants to be a farmer,” Harry answered.

“Really?” Grandmother said. “How fascinating.” Harry caught the true interest behind Grandmother’s response.

“She listened to Todd’s stories of the eastern villages and got it into her head to do something similar here. She tends all the planting boxes in the square. She has tried to farm the greenspace, but most changes revert back overnight,” Harry explained.

“Most?” Grandmother prompted Harry to continue.

“If a plant grows in an area, Muriel has some success in getting more to grow,” Harry explained. Grandmother looked thoughtful. Something changed, Harry felt it in his bones. He found himself shifting in his seat, as he felt a tremor of something run through his blood. He glanced over to find Todd was also affected. Although Joe finally arrived at the door, Todd was now looking at Grandmother. A curious expression on his face. He showed no signs of alarm, so Harry forced himself to keep his own to himself.

Grandmother turned to look at Todd. “Do you think you could find Muriel and ask her to join us?” Grandmother asked him. “I would love to talk to her.”

“I will see if I can catch her before she heads out,” Todd said, rising to his feet. He nodded to Joe as he passed the man on the way out.

“Grandmother?” Joe addressed her standing beside the table.

“Thanks for making the time,” Grandmother responded to the craftsman. “Have a seat. Did you get breakfast?”

“No,” Joe responded. “I didn’t want to be any later.”

“Feel free to order something,” Grandmother responded. The server arrived and Joe put in an order for a light breakfast and a strong hot tea.

Grandmother gave Joe a quick update about the potential square to the east and how if someone tamed it she wanted to set up a trading convoy to it. Joe offered that the crafters in the upper stories would greatly benefit from such an arrangement.

“There is another square to the southeast,” Grandmother announced. She went through her stack of vellum’s and picked one out. “It is odd in that it isn’t on a green,” Grandmother explained. She picked up the empty vellum that Harry set back down on the table after loading up the location of the potential square into his own map. She did a quick spell, turning it into a copy of her second vellum. She handed one copy to each of the men.

“It seems small,” Harry commented, looking at the map.

“Yes, I believe it is. I want to send any non-combatant wanderers in its direction,” Grandmother explained, “but before we do, Todd advised me that we should have someone claim the crystal.”

“There’s a crystal?” Joe asked, in a slightly shocked voice.

“Yes,” Grandmother confirmed. “It is small, but larger than the one in Londontown as it stands now.” The server was delivering Joe's breakfast when Grandmother spoke. Harry saw him take note of their conversation and knew that news of a new square with a crystal would be spread among most of the inhabitants before they finished. Harry loved this about Grandmother. She held almost all of her planning sessions here in the inn or at the tables just outside. She never tried to hide anything from the people of the square. Their meeting in her quarters after the visit to Londontown was an indication of how much the confrontation with her family shook her. It was not in any way an effort to keep those developments secret, which she was quick to point out to him before the meeting even ended.

“If either of you want to claim the crystal I will support you in that decision. I expect you to take ownership of the square seriously. You need to do everything in your power to advance it and its future residents' interests, even at the expense of this square,” Grandmother explained. “That is why I am not going to claim it.”

“No,” Harry responded immediately, “this square is my home.”

Joe studied the map. He seemed to be considering the opportunity. “No,” Joe responded at length. “I don’t see my business doing very well without hunters,” he explained.

“In that case perhaps we should put a hold on your decision,” Grandmother replied to Joe. “In talking to Harry before your arrival, it has occurred to me that there may be another possibility. The square is high above us. The top of it must be at least twenty five stories up. It pains me to admit that I did a poor job surveying it. I saw that it was a square and moved on. This square is so far up it might be near the top of the structure. If that is so, perhaps it doesn’t have a green because it has access to the outside,” Grandmother offered.

“How would that work?” Joe asked.

“I don’t know,” Grandmother responded, in an excited tone. “I haven’t seen it before. I can theorize that one or more of the stairwells may continue up and open onto the roof. We will have to go and look.”

“Now?” Harry asked.

“When Todd gets back,” Grandmother confirmed. Harry could see that Joe was a little alarmed at that thought. He was himself. His experience between squares involved the death of loved ones, even though he knew Grandmother’s entire group moved through the halls with a casual ease.

“Didn’t you want to talk to Muriel?” Harry queried.

“She can come along,” Grandmother replied. “If the square does open to the roof it might be her chance to start farming. There is one other thing. Have either of you heard rumors of a coliseum?”

“What is a coliseum?” Joe asked.

“An arena for fighting displays,” Harry replied. “Ancient Roman gladiators used to fight to the death in them.” Harry’s mother was an avid history buff. She was starborn and learned her history from the educational machines on the Speedwell. She passed her knowledge on to all her children.

“Why?” Joe asked.

“For the glory, the fame and the riches,” Harry responded.

“In this case the prize is glass armor,” Grandmother responded. She went through her pile of vellums again. When she found the one she was looking for she noticed neither man loaded the small square’s location onto their maps. Joe didn’t know how to do it. Grandmother walked him through it. She copied the coliseum location onto one of the blank vellums and handed them to the two of them. They loaded up its location.

“It is down in tier three space,” Grandmother explained. “The minimum I would try it with is a team of six, all of them at least tier three. Todd and I decided it was too dangerous for just the two of us. It will be a while before we will get back to it. I want both of you to be aware so you can warn your people of the danger. If anyone does try it, I would love to hear the results.”

“You are not forbidding access?” Joe asked.

“It is not for me to make people's life or death decisions. I have given my warning and I encourage you to pass it on.” This was another thing Harry loved about Grandmother. She didn’t seem to ever think about securing a cut for herself. There was no mention of a tax on any winnings from this coliseum. Instead all she asked for was to get a report.

Todd returned, leading a frightened Muriel. Harry smiled at his second youngest, trying to reassure her. She was dressed in hunter's greens and was armed with a bow. She looked reassuringly normal. There weren't any dirt smears on her face.

“Grandmother,” Todd said formally, “this is Muriel, Harry’s daughter.”

“Muriel,” Grandmother said, rising to her feet with a smile. “Your father told me about your experiments with farming. I want to hear all about it. We are on our way out to an odd square to the southeast. Do you have time to join us?” Harry could see that his daughter wanted to say no, she didn’t have time. She glanced at him before answering.

“Yeah, I have time,” she responded a little sullenly.

“Excellent!” Grandmother declared. “Everyone go grab your gear, we will meet at the back door in ten minutes.”

“What are the rest of these maps?” Harry asked, glancing at the pile of vellum that remained on the table.

“Oh, those are for you,” Grandmother said, picking up the pile and handing them to Harry. “They are all the secure rest’s Todd and I found in the survey. They are the best place to start looking for wanderers.” Harry was impressed with the stack. He knew of about eight or nine in the hall space around the square and green. There were at least thirty sheets of vellum in this stack. Harry thought about loading them into his map and decided against it. He would see about getting copies made or learning that copy spell himself, then he could distribute them to all his guards.

He ran the maps back up to his apartment, where he grabbed a water flask and some food. He wondered if Joe had been out of the square since the final migration and packed some more, including a second water flask. He added a knife to his belt alongside the sword he always carried. That done, he headed back down to meet Grandmother.