Hand Made Mage

by James Haddock

  I looked into the dungeon, there were prisoners being held. I pulled the dungeon master under. As I looked around, I found the major-domo, or what they left of him on the torture table. I let his body sink into the earth to his rest. I found their gold vault; I'd take care of that later. I went through the rest of the house pulling everyone I found down into the earth, drowning them in dirt.

  I went to all the entrances and walled them over inside the doors. Once I was sure I would not be disturbed I took my time and searched the Master Assassins office. Everything was written in code, which I could now read, having learned from the apothecary. I gathered up all the papers, journals, and every book I could find. I put them in my pouch. I also gathered all the money, gold, jewels, and anything of value not in the vault, and put them in my pouch.

  In the master’s sleeping quarters stood a suit of black of armor. Not the big heavy armor of horse knights. This one looked lightweight, close fitting, but would allow the wearer to move without restriction. They made it of metal, chain mail, and leather. It also had a helmet and separate face mask.

  My hand started tingling. I looked around to insure I was still alone. I then gathered swords, knives, armor, anything of high quality metal. I then gathered anything leather and piled it all in the middle of the floor and lay the black armor on top of it.

  I lay my hand on the armor and the runes in my hand began to glow. I watched as the armor absorbed all the metal I had piled in the floor. The armor morphed and twisted and reshaped itself. Finally, the runes in my hand stopped glowing. The armor that lay before me was pure black, it did not reflect light. It had a dragon scale design on the interlocking plates, interlaced with black chain mail and black leather. The face mask and helmet also had a dragon scale design on them. The inside of the armor was covered in runes.

  I had quite the pile of things I had gathered. Some of it was too big to fit in the pouches opening. I reached into my pouch, *backpack.* I pulled the backpack out of the pouch. It looked like a common large canvas backpack. The top tied closed but when you untied it, and laid it flat, you could unfold it like a large ground cloth.

  I started unfolding it, there was something inside. It looked like lots of canvas paintings or drawings. The pack, now ground cloth, kept unfolding until it was about twenty feet square. When the last fold was opened, all the canvas paintings stood up and became real-life objects.

  Lanterns stood in the four corners. There were kegs of wine, a barrel of water, food and cooking supplies, medical supplies, a table surrounded by chairs, with maps on it. A full set of armor and weapons stood to one side. It was a heavier set than my hand had made, but it too was all black and made in the same dragon scale design. I looked inside the armor; it had runes inside it like my new armor did. I wondered if this was Randolph's armor or belonged the King he served.

  There were boxes and crates stacked around the edges of the ground cloth forming walls. There was no telling what all was in those boxes and crates. I didn't want to take time to find out right now. I started moving all the things I wanted to take on the ground cloth. I also transferred some things I had put in my pouch onto the ground cloth.

  I went back to the gold vault and stripped it bare; I placed all I found there on the groundsheet. Once I had placed all I wanted on the ground cloth, I folded the one edge over. Everything became a canvas drawing and lay flat. I continued to fold the ground sheet back to form the backpack. It lay flat on the ground; I picked it up. It weighed nothing more than an empty canvas backpack would. I rolled up the backpack and put it back in my pouch. "Bless you, Randolph."

  I thought of the door openings I had closed and the walls I had built. I sent them back to the earth. I dropped through the floor and went to the dungeon. On a whim when I raised up through the floor, I brought a large stone guard dog up with me. My face was covered like the assassins were. I touched the lock on a cell door and the lock opened. The door opened and the guard dog stepped in; I followed him. A man sat on the floor leaning against the wall. He had long scraggly hair and beard. He looked to have lost a lot of weight.

  "What interest are you to the guild?" He looked at the dog then at me, he said nothing. The dog growled at him.

  Drawing his feet in, "Ransom, they are holding me until my family pays. But the sum they have asked is too much. It would destroy my whole family, which is the point, I think. My family will not pay, and I would not want them to."

  "What did you and your family do to draw the attention of someone to pay the guild to hold you and destroy your family?"

  "We are merchants, we have merchant houses in many cities and countries."

  "What is your name?"

  "Arthur Williamson."

  I took a purse of 50 golds and dropped it on the floor. "My master may need your help someday. He is the Black Stag of Black Stag Keep. Never speak of the Black Stag being here. Your captors are all dead. Go home Arthur Williamson."

  "He shall have it, whatever help we can give, he shall have it."

  Nodding, I turned and left the cell, followed by the dog. Arthur left right behind me. The next two cells held dead men. I left them where they lay.

  I came to the last cell and opened it. The dog and I went in. This man looked as though he had not been here long.

  He was sitting against the wall, a collar around his neck, chained to the wall. He had the look of a seaman, probably an officer.

  "I will not do what you want, so if you are going to torture me to try to change my mind, let's get to it."

  I smiled behind my mask. "Well, before we start, tell me what it is you will not do."

  "I'll not haul slaves; I'll not turn my ship into a slaver."

  "Are you the Captain of the ship?"

  "I am."

  "Are you the owner of the ship to make this decision?"

  "I am."

  "And that's your last word on it?" He grit his teeth, "It is."

  "And where is your crew?"

  "You are holding them on the ship at the docks as you well know."

  "Oh, I'm not part of them," I said pointing over my shoulder with my thumb. "We were at cross purposes, so we killed them."

  He frowned looking at me," All of them?"

  "All that were here. Anyway, back to this ship at the docks. Seagoing ship?" He blinked his eyes several times trying to understand what he had just learned. "Hey, pay attention, is it a seagoing ship?"

  "Um, yes, an armed merchantman." I nodded.

  "Do you know Authur Williamson?"

  "I know the Williamson trading house; we've done business with them before."

  "Does the ship have a cargo?"

  "No, they took it, and all my gold." He said spitting on the floor.

  "So you don't actually have a ship. You used to have a ship." He said nothing. "As it happens I'm about to come into possession of an armed merchantman. I'm not a captain, so I'd need a partner. I'd supply the ship and gold to buy a cargo. You would captain it and run the business side. I'll be a silent partner. I'II take 40% after expenses, and crew shares. Unless you think you'll get a better offer."

  "You pay maintenance out of your share."

  "We'll spit maintenance as an expense."

  "Get me out of here and we have a deal."

  "Your Name Captain?"

  "Jon Wester, Captain of the Bonnie M." I reached down and touched the collar, and it opened and fell off. I led him upstairs to the front door and let him out.

  "I'll meet you at the ship." He nodded and walked toward the river docks. I went back inside; the dog and I sank into the earth. In just a few moments I was at the docks and found the Bonnie M.

  I concentrated and pictured in my mind what I wanted to do. I had not tried this in water, so I was uneasy about trying it. My hand gave me a reassuring tingle, and I moved toward the ship. I moved from earth, to water, and up through the bottom of the ship.

  I was perfectly dry standing there on the ballast stones. I looked up through the ship and found the assass
ins. There were six of them stationed around the ship. They had locked the crew in the hold.

  I drew my knife and raised up behind the one nearest me and drove my blade up through the back of his skull and lay the dead body down quietly. I killed the others the same way and left their bodies were they fell.

  I went to the Captain's quarters and touched the lock on the chest, and it fell open. I took the gold from the chest and went up on deck. I waited there for Captain Wester. I didn't have long to wait. He saw me at the gang blank and came aboard.

  "The crew?"

  I motioned with my head, "In the hold. You'll find six heaps of trash around the ship that need to be put over the side." I handed him the bags of gold, "here is the gold to finance our ship."

  "These look like my bags of gold," his voice raising.

  "Odd," I said looking at them, "they all look alike to me." He just shook his head, taking the gold.

  "If anyone shows up asking about the guards, tell them someone came for them and they all left. Release your men, make sure the ship is ready to leave on short notice. Buy what you need to that end. I'll be back tomorrow with further instructions." I turned and walked down the gangplank.

  I went down an alley and sank into the earth. I fast-travelled back to the Prince. I stopped under the office then moved to the side nearest the stables. I made a passageway from stone that matched the collapsed passageway that went up into the house. The new passageway opened in a stone wall in the stable. I sealed the old passageway off making it look like just a stone floor. Then I lowered the whole office down another ten feet.

  I entered the office from the new passageway. I checked on the Prince there was no change. I was tired, so I sank down into the earth. *Wake me if anyone approaches, or the Prince wakes up.* I went into a deep restful sleep cradled by the earth.

  ✽✽✽

  The hand woke me, there were people digging through the rubble above. I drifted up to watch. It was the city watch. Two official looking people stood off to one side. They were talking among themselves. "They've found blood, but no bodies."

  "Yes, someone went through the trouble of cleaning up the dead and wounded."

  "It has the smell of Assassins' Guild to me Sir, but we'll keep looking."

  "Send your report to me at the Castle, this has the highest priority." He turned and walked away. The other man nodding, watching him leave.

  I followed the official as he headed toward the Royal Castle. He didn't stop anywhere, for anything, he went straight there. He was obviously a known man, no one stopped him as he entered the Castle gate, or the Castle proper.

  I went up inside the walls as he made his through the Castle. Finally stopping at a door, he knocked.

  "Come." He entered and approached the man behind the desk. The man never looked up. "What have they found?"

  "Sir Edwin's home was attacked. The attackers used explosives, of least four charges. It caused the building to collapse in on itself. They have found no bodies, only blood, and not a lot of that. We also checked Assassins' Guild house. Everyone, or should I say, all bodies were gone." The man behind the desk looked up at that. "There was no blood, but all papers, books, and ledgers were missing, they had searched, and stripped the place bare."

  "No bodies?"

  "Except some in the dungeon. Prisoners, from their looks."

  "So they attack Sir Edwin. He believes it's the Assassins' Guild, and he what? Goes in and cleans them out? If that's true the old man still has the juice, and powerful allies. You've found nothing of Prince Kade?"

  "No sir, that's the strange thing, we found nothing of anybody, literally. No weapons, no bodies, nothing."

  "The King will not be happy about this. Let me know when it changes."

  "Yes Sir." Bowing he left. I waited. He made some notes then got up, headed for the door. I followed. It was a short walk to a set of guarded doors. He entered. Down a short hallway he stopped at a guarded door and knocked.

  "Come in." He opened the door, entered, and closed the door behind.

  There was an older man behind a desk dressed in fine clothes. "Sir Godfrey, you have news?"

  Sir Godfrey bowed. "I do Your Highness. We have confirmed that Sir Edwin’s home was the target of the attack last night. They used explosives to get in, it caused the building to collapse. I suspect the Assassins' Guild of carrying out the attack. We found no bodies in the rubble of Sir Edwin’s home. There is a chance that Sir Edwin may have survived."

  "What leads you to believe that?"

  "Because the Assassins' Guild did not survive. Their Guild house is empty of any living thing. And the only bodies we found were some prisoners in their dungeon."

  "And my son, Prince Kade?"

  "Nothing sire, the last word I had from Sir Edwin was that the Prince was at his home. Safe from a second assassination attempt. Sir Edwin was trying to find out who was behind it."

  "Well, someone's stirred up a hornets' nest, I’ll tell you that. Any Idea who is behind it?"

  "As much as I hate to admit it sire, I have no clues at this time."

  "Well find out, someone has gone after a Royal. If they have gone after one, they may go after another. If they are still alive, what do you think Sir Edwin will do next?"

  "Probably keep him in the city where his resources are, and if need be, bring him into the Castle for protection."

  "I pray that Sir Edwin keeps him safe he may be a fourth Prince, but he's still my son. All right, let me know when anything changes, go find who's responsible for these attacks."

  "Yes Sire." Bowing he left the King's office. I stayed to watch the King.

  Moments later the other door opened and a lady who could only be the Queen came in. "What news of Kade?"

  "Little, they were attacked again at Sir Edwin's home. They destroyed his home. We think they're still live."

  "Who is behind this?"

  "We’re not sure. We’re still investigating. You can't hide this kind of information forever, someone will talk."

  "I don't want to find out who is responsible for this, after my son is dead."

  "Neither do I, we’ll find them."

  I fast-travelled back to the Teacher's office and checked on the Prince. I saw he was awake I took my face covering off and hood down. I entered through the door. He tensed until he saw my face, then relaxed.

  "How do you feel?"

  "Like a building was dropped on me."

  He looked at my clothes, "Assassins did this?" I nodded. "The Teacher?"

  I shook my head," no one else survived." I handed him the Teacher's ring. He took it nodding.

  "They'll be looking for us to finish the job."

  "No, they won't, I killed them."

  "The Guild will send more."

  "They'll have to come from another city if they do." He frowned looking at me. "After I got you down here and made sure you were safe, I went back looking for the others. I killed the assassins I found searching the ruins of the house. I tracked them back to their guild house and killed them. All of them. We are safe for the moment."

  "You killed everyone at the Guild house? By yourself?"

  "Not everyone, there were some prisoners that I released. But other than that yes, I killed every assassin I could find. That house will trouble us no more."

  He had a cold sweat showing on his face. "I’ll fix you something for the pain." I got a cup of water and pulled a small folded paper of pain relief powder from my pouch. I mixed it and gave it to him. I gave him a plate of meat, cheese and bread. I sat down with him and started eating my own.

  "I did not tell you everything about myself. I am a thief, but also a killer when I have to be. I don't enjoy it. I'd rather just avoid people. But when I must kill, I am very good at it. The Assassins' Guild attacked this house, killed the Teacher and almost got us. Once I was sure of your safety, I repaid them in kind. As I said, we are safe here for now. But we must decide what our next move should be."

  I looked over at him, th
e pain relief powder had put him to sleep. "I have an Idea, let's talk about it tomorrow." I said smiling.

  I went up to what was left of a room above where clothes were kept. I changed from assassins garb, to plain but well-made clothes that would not draw attention.

  I fast-travelled to the alley close to the Bonnie M and walked to the ship.

  I stopped at the bottom of the gangplank. "Is Captain Wester aboard? I've come on a business matter."

  "Aye, he is, come aboard." I went aboard and was shown to the Captain's quarters.

  I nodded my head to the Captain, "I've come with further instructions." He looked at me closely. He nodded for me to continue. "We’ll not need you for a time, but in six months bring a resupply shipment for a Keep of 50 men to the western shores at Black Stag Keep. There is a cove there where you can unload." I pulled out another bag of gold. "This is to insure you are fully financed."

  He took the gold and locked it in his chest. He went to his chart desk and pulled out a map. "I know of no cove near any Keep on the western shores."

  He unrolled the chart. I looked at it. "The Keep is about here,” I pointed. “There is a cove there."

  "And if no one is there to meet us?"

  "Sell the goods and continue our business. I'll leave a message here with the Dockmaster, with other instructions. Until then continue to trade and make money."

  "We'll be there."

  I bowed and left the ship.

  Chapter six

  While the Prince slept, I read reports and information gathered by Sir Edwin. There were reports from all over the realm. There was news from the wars in the east. Trade news from the south and odd scraps of information that fit nowhere that I could see.

  There were mercenary companies returning to their wintering quarters. They would lick their wounds, hire replacements, and get ready for next year's fighting season.

  There were trade caravans moving in every direction, the biggest went east and west.

  There were Kings offering to sell Baronets and land in contested lands in several regions. If you were looking to start or expand a family that was an opportunity. That opportunity took money and soldiers. Once you bought it you had to hold it and pay the King's tax.