The Foot in the Furnace
Chris left the café and went to a quiet place where hardly anyone passed. There he took out the mask Emerick had given him and fused it with the one already on his face. Recover the mask the fiend Tenbo had carried off, and he could complete the whole.
He ran a hand over his face. He had joined four masks, and nothing about it was different from before. Gather all five, and maybe something astonishing wakes up. I'd like to see. Meeting Tenbo right away, though, would be difficult. There was an order to these things.
He hurried to the boundary of Mick Magic Tower. A barrier was up; he could feel it. Back in his Lion Pavilion days the ward had seemed deeply ominous. Now it was nothing much.
He shot upward on flight magic before the barrier, then stopped. There was a barrier overhead as well. He had thought it merely walled the grounds like a fence. It covered the whole of them like a dome. No getting out without being caught.
He came back down and studied whether he could slip through in secret. He knew nothing of barriers, so dispelling one was impossible, just as Grain had said. Even opening a small hole was hard.
What about underneath?
He dug deep into the earth. The barrier sealed the ground beneath the surface as well. Thorough.
Chris climbed back up and rubbed his chin, thinking. Then he set one foot outside the barrier. Crossing without permission brought no great punishment—only a curse, and he flicked that aside easily with a defensive screen.
He stepped clear and waited. The barrier's real purpose was not to kill whoever trespassed, but to send a signal. As expected, mages were dispatched before long. Three Jenyeom mages in yellow robes came swaggering up, recognized who had touched the barrier, and bowed in a rush.
"We greet the Elder."
"I'm an elder now, am I?"
"You're of the Ring Binding realm, aren't you? Of course we should receive you as an elder."
"Who told you to?"
"Elder Richard commanded it."
So he tossed me a little favor for accepting the commission.
"And why did you lot come?"
"Because you touched the barrier, Elder."
"Must have crossed it while I was out for a walk. The place was stifling. Sorry to trouble you."
"Not at all. It's no trouble."
"Do they usually send Jenyeom?"
"Ordinarily a Sikbae mage takes command, but..."
The man chose his words with care. Chris nodded as if he understood.
"Some of them were turned into materials. Some went to ground. Right. You'll be short on Sikbae."
The other man looked cornered.
"Ah. Yes. Well..."
"Right. Carry on."
Heading for the cave, Chris turned over ways to pass without sending a signal. He was nearly a blank page where barriers were concerned, and nothing plausible came to mind. Dull.
On the way back he stopped at Wilbur's house again. Wilbur made no effort to hide his dislike. He opened the door only halfway and spoke with his face wedged in the gap.
"What is it now?"
"I need to see Vilpua and Randal."
He had no business with Vilpua, but asking after Randal alone would look strange, so he had thrown Vilpua's name in as well.
Wilbur's answer was sullen.
"Why are you asking me?"
"I don't have either of their contacts. Don't know where they live, either. You can reach them with an identity token, can't you?"
"And why do you want to meet them?"
"I don't know where Elder Richard stays."
"And what would you do if you knew?"
"I'll need to know, if I'm delivering Motaro."
"Go find Alex and ask him where the elder stays."
"I don't know where Alex lives. You're the only person whose whereabouts I know. And even if I did know Alex's place, it hasn't been that long since I took his arm. Dropping by would be a bit much. The shock would give him a heart attack."
"I resent myself for stepping outside that day. Wait a moment."
He did not let Chris in. He shut the door, took out his identity token, and muttered into it, then opened the door halfway once more.
"No response at all."
"Why?"
"If they're outside the tower, the signal doesn't catch. It seems they're still away."
"Well. Hard man to meet."
"We're done, then."
Thud.
Wilbur shut the door in his face. Chris hammered on it and aired his complaint.
"Your manners keep getting worse."
No answer.
"Getting awfully stiff, hiding behind Daryl's backing."
Chris grumbled and turned away. While he had been gone, Grain had made one Motaro.
"The goods get there all right?"
"Yes."
Chris sighed at the floor, which had grown filthy in his absence. There was no end to the work.
"Any commissions?"
"How did you know?"
"They could have just sent the goods, but they insisted on a meeting. Means they've got a request."
"Hell, tower master of Hermann Magic Tower, and Elders Hugo and Pearson want three made for the price of one. And soon."
"They get something on you?"
"No."
"Then did they take you for a sucker?"
"No."
"Then why make a demand that unreasonable?"
"Beats me. I suppose they decided I was an idiot and a fool with nothing to my name, just swaggering because I got lucky with a master."
"They looked down on you because you're lacking."
"No. It's because you never taught me properly, Master."
"Me?"
"You don't teach me anything."
"I taught you Iron Skin and Cober Circulation."
"And nothing after that."
"I'm busy right now. Once we go up to the Middle Realm, I'll teach you real ascension magic."
"Ascension magic?"
"Set beside that, the tower's magic is nothing but a toy."
Chris spoke, full of hunger for it.
"You mean it?"
"The lies I've told in my life can be counted on one hand."
Chris ducked his head in a bow.
"I'll work hard."
Grain held out the newly made Motaro.
"Delivery."
"Who do I give it to?"
"Elder Perez."
A deep crease settled between Chris's brows.
"I don't like that man."
"Why?"
"He's gloomy. I feel like he'd smell, too."
"You just said you'd work hard, and now you're refusing the very next order? And you wonder why I don't feel like teaching you magic."
"All right. I got it."
Chris took the wooden case that held the Motaro and moved along the wall toward the communication tubes laid out in a neat row. Grain asked,
"Why the tubes?"
"I don't know where Perez stays."
Among the dozens of tubes, Chris poured mana into the one linked directly to Mick Tower and spoke.
"This is Grain. This is Grain. Headquarters, come in. Headquarters, come in."
Grain frowned at the flippant tone.
"You're my disciple. Have some dignity."
A voice spilled from the tube.
"Is this Great Elder Grain?"
"No. It's his disciple, Gary."
"Yes, Elder Gary. What is it?"
"Where does Elder Perez stay?"
"Please wait a moment."
They could not hand out information on an elder lightly. It seemed they were calling someone higher up. After a short while, an aged voice came through.
"Elder Perez's residence is..."
"Don't bother explaining it out loud. Send a map this way. Mark the house."
"Understood."
A moment later a messenger bird arrived with a map in its beak. Chris took the map and went looking for Perez's residence. Word must have gone out from tower headquarters; Perez had come all the way out to the road and was waiting. Cheekbones dried to jutting knots were, for once, flushed. Deep wrinkles lay beside the brows his sparse hair barely grazed as it passed.
First time I've seen that old man smile.
That's how good Motaro is.
Chris held out an empty hand. The flush and the smiling eyes vanished in an instant.
"The payment was made in advance."
"There's unfinished business between you and me. Let's settle it cleanly."
"There can't possibly be anything left between us..."
He broke off, remembered, and nodded.
"There is."
"Hand it over."
"Very well."
He rummaged in a spatial pouch and found a foot, black and dried stiff. The very foot he had used to track Chris.
"Here it is."
Chris reached for it, and Perez drew back the hand that held the foot.
"We exchange at the same time."
"Suspicious, aren't you."
Chris handed over the Motaro first. Once Perez had confirmed it, he flung Chris's foot aside like garbage and went back into the house.
Chris picked up the foot and brushed off the dust. He put it into the spatial pouch Emerick had used to hand over the mask, then set out for Montgomery Smithy.
Been a while here, too.
He looked around the smithy, caught up in old feeling. Ralph approached, hesitant.
"Who are you?"
Chris smiled at him. We used to be close.
When Chris kept his mouth shut, the man's unease showed plainly.
"I need a passage token. Is the boss in?"
Ralph hesitated.
"She is, but..."
"Is that the office?"
"Yes."
Chris patted the anxious man's shoulder and went to the office. At his knock, Linne's voice came.
"Come in."
Charles was inside with her. Both of them stared at Chris, eyes wide.
"Great Elder Grain's disciple!"
Chris had always thought Charles's booming voice was noisy. Hearing it after so long, he was glad of it.
"Give me a passage token."
"A passage token? Why?"
"I crossed the barrier without leave and mages came after me. It's a nuisance all around."
"We can't issue one without permission from above."
"Give it to me first and report it later."
Charles was about to refuse when Linne spoke first.
"Yes. We'll give you one."
Chris made another demand.
"You've got a furnace?"
A smithy without a furnace was unthinkable. Linne nodded.
"Yes, we do."
"I'll use it a moment."
They moved to the small furnace in the processing room. Charles and Linne watched him with keen interest, thinking he had borrowed the furnace to craft a magic tool.
These days the most famous mage on the continent was Grain, and no one would argue otherwise. At the word that a disciple of that legendary renown was making a magic tool, every worker threw down their work and crowded in. What a tremendous tool would be born of this? It would be a legendary piece. Breathless, they watched Chris's every move. The fire was lit, and the furnace climbed to a heat so fierce they could not even draw near.
Chris took out a spatial pouch. Someone swallowed.
"A legendary metal is going to come out. Mithril."
"It could be a dragon's bone."
"Maybe even a dragon heart?"
A blackened foot came out of the pouch.
"What is that!"
"It's a foot."
"Why a foot?"
"Could it be a fairy's foot?"
Chris threw the foot into the furnace.
Kaaak!
A scream poured from the foot, so ghastly that the workers twisted their faces and covered their ears.
When Chris turned, Linne asked, looking betrayed.
"Is that all?"
"That's all."
He held out the empty spatial pouch.
"This is payment for the passage token and the furnace."
"We can't accept it."
Chris shook the pouch out.
"It's an empty pouch with nothing in it, so don't feel burdened."
Over her protests he forced the pouch into her hand, took the passage token, and left. In his heart he bid farewell to the people of the smithy, whom he never expected to see again.
