Hand Made Mage

by James Haddock

  He was nodding his head. "As long as we have guards to maintain order, there should be no problems."

  "They will be too tired to cause problems, and I'll hang the first one who does. They will rearrange supplies between ships. That will keep them busy."

  The Provost ordered the Great Chain lowered. It was better he did it. That way he felt in charge of the Port.

  They lowered the Great Chain, and I flew back out to the flagship. "Captain Hicks, signal the fleet to follow us into the Harbor."

  "Aye, Aye Sir."

  We moved the fleet into the harbor and docked the ships along the seaward crag wall.

  "Captain Black, set your guards at the end of the crag wall to keep the curious away. Mind you, the Provost will probably come to visit. Him you may let pass. When he comes, please coordinate your guards with the city watch. We don't want to ruffle any feathers."

  "Yes, Sir Mage."

  Once we docked, the first thing I did was go under and open a vault and open my pavilion. I then move all the gold chests from all the ships to my pavilion storage room. I'd sort through them later.

  "Captain Hicks, I need you to see who, if anyone, may be able to fill a Captain or at least fill Officer positions on the ship. When you've found them bring them to me."

  "Yes, Sir Mage."

  "Captain Black have your men move all of your equipment off of the troopships, divide your company between the four warships for now. Once you have moved off of the troopship, we'll start moving the Army Centuries on them."

  "Yes. Sir Mage."

  I found Top-Sergeant Cooper, "Top-Sergeant, go to the other Top-Sergeants and gather them here for further orders."

  "Yes, Sir Mage."

  The Top-Sergeant returned first, "Gentlemen, you will gather all of your equipment and move it out onto the docks. We will do some rearranging. All the Centuries and their equipment will move to the troopships." I saw their bodies tense. "We will not lock you in. As a matter of fact, we will take all those cells out. The troopships will move up the coast to Black Stag Keep, our military's training grounds. You will be posted there for the time being. You will also move enough supplies for two weeks onto the troopships. As soon as the mercenaries are off the troopships, start your move on. Questions?"

  "Rum, Sir?"

  "Rum?"

  "Yes Sir, the men have not been getting their rum ration."

  "For how long?"

  "Two weeks, sir."

  "Is that because there is no rum, or because those officers were stupid?"

  "I really can't speak to the supply problems sir." We all chuckled.

  "I'll see what I can find out, at the least I'm sure we can find some ale to make do for now."

  "Yes sir, thank you, Sir."

  "Anything else?" They shook their heads.

  "Right, let's get to it then."

  Captain Hicks showed up a while later with forty some-odd men. "What have you found Captain Hicks?"

  "Sir Mage, these men are, or were, Captains, First officers, and other Officers on their own ships, before they were conscripted."

  "Are you telling me those fools took trained Offices with experience and made them ordinary seaman?" They all nodded. "That is the stupidest thing I think I have ever heard of. Why would they do such a thing?"

  "They want you indoctrinated, brainwashed into thinking their way, and only their way. Not to question any order. To obey period."

  "Then they are doomed to failure. That may work in the short term, but it will eventually collapse in on itself."

  "Ok, let's keep this simple, Captains raise your hands." Eight hands went up. "Captains move over there. First officers raise your hands." Eight hands went up. "Don't tell me you've worked together too." They nodded. I shook my head, "Idiots, Ok, move over with your Captains. If any of the rest of you have worked under one of these Captains move over to them." The rest moved over. We had eight ship's officer groups.

  "Gentlemen I need one more complete officer group, and one group to fall under Captain Hicks here. I want you to give me the most experienced you have to fill those positions. And remember, you're going to be working and probably fighting alongside them. Call me when you've figured it out." I walked away and left them to it. In the end Captain Hicks stepped down to First Officer Hicks and gave the Captaincy to a more experienced man.

  "Mr. Hicks, I'll not forget this, well done." He nodded. "Before you fight over ships. Those with experience on War Ship will go to our War Ships. Those with merchantman experience will go to the merchantman. The troop transports will be converted to armed merchantmen. So, raise your hand if you've had Warship experience." Three raised their hands.

  "Go to your ships." Those three captains and their officers left us. "merchantman?" the rest raised their hands. "Anyone with experience on the type of ships those transports are?" Two raised their hands. "You two will be the Transport Ship Captains for now. They will be converted to armed merchantmen as soon as possible. All right gentlemen see to your ships. Troop transports will leave in two days, be ready. More orders to follow. Let's get to it." They all went to work.

  Mr. Hicks remained behind. I waited. "Sir Mage, may I have a word?"

  "Of course, Mr. Hicks, what can I do for you?"

  "Well, Sir as you have all the Captains you need, I was wondering if you would consider moving me to be your Quartermaster Officer?"

  "Really?"

  "Yes sir, I'm the son of a merchant, and I'm very good at, in fact, I love it. Where many try to avoid the duty, I relish it."

  "You don't want to be a ship Captain?"

  "Well, when I joined the Navy it was to gain experience to become a merchant ship's Captain. It's not worked out as I'd planned. The way the Hinterland Navy uses people makes no sense to me."

  "Me either. What do you want to do?"

  "You seem to be starting your countries Navy, and your own trading fleet." I smiled; this guy was sharp. "I would like to be your Trading fleets Quartermaster, and I can double, at least at the start, for your Navy's Quartermaster as well."

  I nodded, thinking. "Mr. Hicks you've got yourself a job, well, two actually. You will be my Trading Company’s Quartermaster, and for now, our Navy's Quartermaster. You first task is to find your replacement for your Captain, so he's not left hanging. Then come find me, there is someone I want you to meet."

  "Yes, Sir Mage, I'll return as soon as I can. And thank you."

  "Thank you, Mr. Hicks."

  Chapter twenty-seven

  Mr. Hicks returned within the hour. "I found my replacement Sir, and he is now on his ship with the Captain. Everyone is satisfied."

  "Very well then, let's go to the Williamson's trading house. We'll get accounts set up and start getting supplies." We walked over to the Williamson's warehouse on the harbor front. We walked in and were greeted.

  "Good afternoon, how may we be of service?"

  "I would like to see Arthur Williamson on behalf of Earl de Crypta."

  "Of course, Sir. One moment." He left to get Arthur.

  Arthur came out, "I'm Arthur Williamson Sir, please come into my office."

  "Wait here Mr. Hicks, I'll call you in a bit."

  "Yes, Sir Mage."

  Once we were in Arthur’s office, "Arthur, Earl de Crypto is a Mage."

  "I see, what does he need."

  I changed my image back to de Crypta, "I just didn't want to shock you to bad Arthur. We've come a long way since the dungeon."

  He bowed, "we have indeed, how can I serve?"

  "I'm now, for a time, using the name of the Mage Orcus. You're going to hear that de Crypta was killed. The King and I had a falling-out. This was the easiest answer for all concerned."

  "I understand. Dealing with Royals is always tricky."

  I laughed, "so I have learned. Anyway, all of our deals remain the same. I may have to change guises from time to time, but our deals remain the same." He nodded. "I have a man outside, Mr. Hicks, he will be my Quartermaster. I authorize him to
use my accounts. We also now have four new armed merchantmen ships. I will need cargos to send them out trading. Mr. Hicks is from Hinterland, and a merchant family there. See what you two can come up with to make us money."

  "I will sir, four ships, turning cargo around will make us a nice profit."

  "One thing I need right now is fifteen barrels of ale delivered to my ships on the docks, and any rum you may have available."

  "Yes sir, I'll get them there as soon as I can."

  "On another subject. I built these warehouses, I put no vaults in them to keep money on site and secure. Would you like me to put a vault in for you? Say under your office, with a door here for you to access it?"

  "That would be wonderful and take a load off of my mind."

  I concentrated and grew a stone vault under the office with stairs up to a false wall which was now a door. I got up and walked over to the hidden door latch. "This is your new vault." I opened the door, and we went down the stairs to the vault. "I'll be making a deposit in there tonight. You'll find it here when you open in the morning."

  "This is wonderful." He looked around. "I hate to look a gift horse in the month, but can you put one in my house too?"

  I laughed, "yes I can do that." We left the vault closing it all up behind us. I changed back into my Orcus guise. We went out, and I introduced Mr. Hicks to Arthur. I left them to get acquainted.

  ✽✽✽

  Late that afternoon fifteen barrels of ale and ten barrels of rum were delivered to the docks. That seemed to relax some nerves and put the men at ease. They all stayed in our dock area so any fighting or disruptions we handled there.

  I took four small chests of gold from my pavilion under the docks, then closed the pavilion, and put it in my pouch. I put the chests in Arthur's vault to buy cargo for my cargo ships. I found Arthur's house and added a vault under it like the one in his office. The door opens into his home office. I'd show it to him later.

  I flew under to the troopships and looked over the iron cells. I touched the iron and turned them into iron bars and had them put in the hold. I had plans to make cannons from it, but I needed more materials. The men seemed pleased to see the cells go.

  I returned to the Castle terrace and set up to the pavilion. I brought Harbinger up to the pavilion stable and took care of her. I ate, took a bath, and sat outside looking out over the ocean. I thought of Maddie briefly, then she was gone.

  I sipped wine wondering what I would do next. I didn't have to worry about money, food, or shelter. I could go look at the Southern District. I'd at least have to stay long enough to see what the King would do with Prince Kade and his lands. We might both be going to the South District. I smiled. I finished my wine and went to bed.

  I awoke in the middle of the night thinking, "why do I need War Ships?" I'm not going to war with anyone, and if I do, I don't need ships. I don't care if the King gets any War Ship or not. I'll just make them all armed merchantmen. I'll evenly distribute the cannons between all at the ships. If I do that, that would give each ship forty-four cannons. Twenty-two per side, eleven per deck. That would work. I also needed to look over the ships better. I went back to sleep but was up early.

  I ate then levitated down to the ships. I went to one of the armed merchantmen. The captain was on the dock watching the work crews. "Good morning, Captain."

  "Good morning, Sir Mage."

  "There has been a change of plans, we will convert all the ships to armed merchantmen. They will all be forty-four-gun ships. At least to start with."

  "Do you have carpenters and workmen?"

  I smiled, "one of the good things about being a Mage is you don't need them. Show me around your ship. We need to pull six of her guns so she will have twenty-two guns per side, and I'm guessing eleven per deck?"

  "Right this way, sir."

  We looked over everything. "I'm thinking six guns on the upper deck, five guns on the lower deck. Take out every other gun to give the gun crews room to work their guns. We'll leave the unused hatch openings in place to let air in when we want it. And to add guns back if we need them."

  He nodded. "That would work fine, for a merchantman. It would give us more room for cargo too."

  I nodded and lay my hand on a cannon and took it through the wall of the ship and out onto the dock. That caused quite a stir. Word spread quickly about what I was doing. The men lay to it, working hard to keep up with what I was doing. We had the cannons out of the ship's before lunch. I had Mr. Hicks order four cooked beefs brought in for the evening meal. And told him there would be no Navy, he was going to only be the Quartermaster for my shipping company.

  Putting the cannons into the troop ships took longer than taking them out of the others. I had to make hatches and bracing for the guns. Once we got the positioning worked out, converting the second troop ship went faster. We were finished by late evening, and we had a celebration of beef and ale that night. I now owned a fleet of ten armed merchantmen. I told the Captains that we would take each ship out for a run. I wanted to see how they handled and If I could improve their performance.

  I slept in the earth that night to restore my strength. We started early the next morning.

  The first ship we took out that morning taught me a lot. I went below and lay my hand on the ship. The runes in my hand glowed. She began to show me where she was dragging and how to improve speed and handling. I made the bow narrower and the bottom a little wider. Then narrowed the rear a little. I made her bottom slick and tightened her caulking. I added runes to keep her bottom slick and her caulking tight. I added some bracing where I made her bottom wider to strengthen her and improved ballast for handling his rough weather. The Captain was all smiles.

  I repeated this with each ship. It became a competition among the crews. By the end of the day we probably had the best and the fastest ships on the water. You could tell the crews were proud of their ships. Which made for better crews.

  I slept in the earth again that night restoring my strength.

  ✽✽✽

  We cross loaded supplies from the fleet to the old troop transports. We were taking a two weeks supply with us to Black Stag for the four Centuries. We had ordered another six months' supply from Williamson's to be shipped up as soon as they loaded it onto one of our other ships.

  It was less than a half-day trip up the coast, but we would wait until morning to go. I had some things to do before the troop ships arrived.

  I went down into the earth, and fast-travelled to Black Stag Cove. I changed from my Orcus guise to being Draugur.

  I found the Quartermaster who was also the rear detachment commander. "Good evening Quartermaster."

  "Good evening, Captain."

  "I imagine you have seen the new training grounds and buildings."

  "I have, and your instructions about the supplies and livestock."

  "Good, tomorrow we'll be arriving with two ships, and four hundred soldier who will go into those barracks. We will be here about mid-day. Come with me, I'll show you our cove."

  We walked to the crag wall where I put the opening. He watched as I made the wall into a gate and portcullis. I made a stone road down to the quay and docks.

  "Add this to your guard list, keep it closed until we arrive."

  "Yes, Captain."

  "When we arrive have wagons brought down for them to load their equipment and supplies into. Their equipment will go into the barracks with them, the supplies into one warehouse. I will also be in another guise when I arrive and going by the name of Orcus the Mage. I put on the Orcus guise for him to see. Don't tell anyone else that de Crypta and Orcus are the same person."

  He nodded, "yes, Sir Mage, all will be ready for your arrival."

  I nodded, "do you need anything for here?"

  "Not at the moment sir, unless you want to order the livestock for the farms."

  "I'll take care of it; we'll see you mid-day tomorrow."

  "Yes, Sir Mage."

  I levitated and flew out of s
ight, then went back down into the earth, and fast-travelled back to my pavilion. I slept in the earth to restore my strength.

  ✽✽✽

  When I arrived at the docks, the next morning all the soldiers were ready, and the two ships were loaded and ready. I boarded the lead ship.

  "You may leave when ready Captain head north along the coast. We'll be there by mid-day."

  "Yes, Sir Mage."

  The soldiers stayed below and out of the way of the ship's crew and sailing operations. We made good time and arrived at Black Stag Cove before mid-day.

  The ships docked, and soldiers disembarked. Wagons were there ready to take troops, equipment and supplies up to the training area.

  I introduced Top-Sergeant Cooper to the Quartermaster, then we went up to the training grounds and barracks.

  "The Quartermaster is our rear detachment commander. Work together and he will get you started on how the Black Stag Company operates. Work in on the guard duties and prepare for training when Sergeant Major Miller and the rest of the company gets back."

  "Yes, Sir Mage."

  I levitated and flew back down to the ships. "Captain, when you have off loaded everything, return to Port West Gate."

  "Yes, Sir Mage."

  I flew up and over the crags, then down into the earth. I fast-travelled back to Port West Gate.

  I found Mr. Hicks and gave him a list of supplies and livestock we needed for the farms. "Buy them and send them on the supply ship to Black Stag Cove."

  I needed more farmers now, so I went to the slave master. "My name is Orcus, I'm here on behalf of Prince Kade. He wishes to buy more farmers; do you have any available?"

  "We do, Sir Mage. Come, I'll show you what we have." I bought ten families of farmers. I paid the slave master and had them delivered to the docks to ride to Black Stag on the supply ships.

  I stopped by to see Arthur Williamson to show him where the door to his house vault was. While I was at his house, they served us a meal.

  "You now have ten armed merchantmen; you have been busy Sir Mage."