After a few moments, Cal found the rhythm of the folding process and was able to give some of his attention to other things. He kept his gaze fixed on the enchantment as he heard Max stepping quietly though into the workshop.

“Okay, Cal?” Max asked.

“Just,” Cal said. “It was touch and go for a moment there, but I held the magic together, and I’m at the folding stage now, which is a bit easier. What happened? Are you all right?”

“Yeah,” Max said, letting out a long breath, “but it was touch and go for me too. If it had just been Lord Hefton on his own I think I could have handled him, but he had that butler with him, the tall, expressionless man with the eyebrows, you remember?”

Cal nodded.

“They came at me from both sides, and if Maddie hadn’t shown up when she did I think it might have gone badly for me. Honestly, Cal, when she wielded her walking stick and cracked Lord Hefton with it, I got such a surprise I nearly fainted. I had no idea she was so capable. I knew her a bit from when I worked here with Darkworth before, and I always just thought she was an elderly fabric merchant, but the way she dropped into a fighting stance and wielded her stick… I think she must have been a soldier in her youth or something - she’s had training, there’s no doubt about that. And more than just training - experience, too. When she threatened to kill the butler if he came any nearer, no one could have doubted that she meant it.”

“The Heftons will cause more trouble for us if they can,” Cal said. “I’m glad Maddie showed up when she did. You did well, keeping them out for as long as you could, but from what you say, I guess Maddie probably saved us from disaster. I hope Mephisterion comes through on his promise to use his influence to fix things up with them and make them go away.”

“I agree,” Max said. “But how’s the spell going? Maddie’s gone away for now, and Lord Hefton and his butler rode off in a huff after Maddie stepped in, so hopefully we won’t be disturbed again this afternoon at least.”

“I’m folding the enchantment into the glass now,” Cal said. “It’ll take a while yet, I think, but probably not as long as it did to get the spell out of the core in the first place. Why don’t you get the kettle on? I think we could both use a cup of tea.”

Max did as Cal suggested, and as Cal continued to fold the spell, he was aware of the quiet, homely sounds of Max building the fire up, filling the kettle from the pump in the washroom, and setting the kettle to boil over the hearth. The swing arm for the kettle squeaked slightly as Max moved it, and not long afterward the deep bubbling sound of freshly boiling water reached Cal’s ears.

Max made the tea and brought a cup over for Cal. “Do you want me to just put it on the enchanting table for you?” he asked.

“Please,” Cal said, still not taking his eyes from the enchantment. “Just here, by my right hand.”

There was a reassuring clunk as Max set the mug down, and Cal risked a momentary glance away from the spell to locate his mug. He picked the mug up carefully with his free right hand and sipped, all the while continuing the steady, rhythmic folding of the magic into the eyeglass with his left hand.

The brew was warm and sweet and fragrant, and he felt the welcome, soothing influence of the drink moving through him as he took another sip and then continued to work.

Max let Cal get on with it, occupying himself by pottering around the workshop tidying up, then sitting at the desk to look over the cores again and scribble more notes in his pad of paper.

Cal kept breathing steadily, folding the magic, and sipping from his tea at intervals. When he finished his cup, Max silently came and took it and refilled it for him.

“Nearly there, I think,” Cal said. He’d taken his own eyeglass out of the eye socket where it had been set and had put it back down on the table, but now he lifted it again and held it to his eye.

“Yes,” Cal continued, looking at the magic through the glass, “I can see the folds of the enchantment going in. There’s not much left to do.”

“I’m just counting the cores again and tidying up my notes,” Max said, “but I’ll tell you the numbers after. It looks like there’s going to be a lot more enchanting to do once you’re finished there.”

Cal chuckled. “Maybe so, but I’m taking a break after this. I might go see Maddie. How is the spider web doing?”

He heard Max get up and move over to the stand where the webbing hung, over in the corner. The webbing rustled as Max felt it, then Cal heard his friend make a satisfied sound.

“Hm, it’s doing better,” Max said. “I think breaking it up like this was a good idea. It was pretty slow-drying to start with, but it’s getting there now.”

“Less sticky?” Cal asked.

“Much less sticky, and the color has really dropped off since last time we looked.”

“Hopefully we’ll be able to get Maddie a good sample to work with by tomorrow at the latest, then,” Cal said. “Maybe even sooner.”

There was a moment’s silence.

“Cal?” Max asked.

“Hmm?”

“About the spiders. Are you really going to turn upstairs into a spider farm?”

Cal nodded. “If the fabric is good, definitely. And even if it’s not, I’m keen on the idea of getting a regular supply of blank cores. This project is just one example of the kinds of things we could do with blanks. The ability to modify the spell in an item that’s already been enchanted… Ah, hold on, it’s nearly time.”

As he spoke, Cal saw that the new eyeglass was almost full. The cloud of purple smoke that was the physical manifestation of the spell was almost completely in the new eyeglass. Interestingly, he realized that if he closed one eye so he wasn’t seeing through his own eyeglass, he could only see a cloud of purple smoke, and the progress of the enchanting was nowhere near as clear. If he’d not had the benefit of his eyeglass he’d not have been anywhere near as able to tell that the spell was about to come to an end.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

When he looked through the glass, however, he could see very accurately how much there was left to do. The magic remaining appeared as a long thread of purple dropping out of the cloud of smoke; a thin, flat thread that folded neatly back and forth, back and forth, under Cal’s guidance.

Max stood and came over to stand next to Cal, and watched in silence as Cal drew the enchantment to a finish, letting the last of the thread fold into place.

As Cal finished, the purple cloud of smoke faded out of existence, and the purple scryer rune got suddenly brighter.

New stats flickered up in front of Cal’s augmented vision as he gazed at his new creation through the glass.

Enchanter’s Eyeglass

Enchantment: Vision +15

Enchantment Level: 4

Duration: 0…

As he watched, the duration of the enchantment began to change. The number 0 became 1, 1 became 2, then 3, then 4, and as the number increased so did the speed that it changed until Cal couldn’t see each new number, just a flickering blur of changing figures as the number climbed and climbed.

As the duration figure hit the high 200s, Cal felt his excitement rise. As the number hit the 290s, the rapidly changing figures slowed.

296… 297… 298… 299… 300.

“Yes!” Cal said, punching the air in triumph as he stepped back from the table and let his breath out in a huge sigh. “Yes! I did it! Despite everything - the interruptions, the lack of practice at this level - still I managed to get a complete 300-day duration out of this spell.”

“Ha! Well done, Cal!” Max shouted, slapping Cal on the back and cackling madly at the sudden relief from the pressure of having to keep everything calm. “Oh, that’s a relief. I thought that it was all over when Lord Hefton and his stupid butler came banging at the door, and even afterward I didn’t think you’d be able to manage quite so complete an enchantment.”

“No?” Cal said, raising an eyebrow at his friend in mock disapproval. “Your lack of faith disappoints me.”

Max laughed loudly and slapped Cal on the back again, then danced back and forth on the spot. “What are you going to do now?” he asked excitedly.

“I don’t know, how about I sit down for a minute?” Cal suggested, flopping into the chair by the fire. “That was exhausting. I mean, I’m sure that with practice it would get easier, but I’m glad I don’t have to embark on enchanting more Level 4 stuff straight away. Give me a fire pendant or a heat key any day.”

“It’ll be a while before you’re regularly doing Level 4 stuff to sell,” Max said. “So you don’t need to worry too much about it for now, I guess.”

“That’s true,” Cal said, stretching out in the chair and propping his feet up against the hearth. “By the time I’m in a position to pay the small fortune that the Level 4 exam costs, I’d hope to have a bigger space to work in too and…” A sudden giant yawn interrupted his flow, and he covered his mouth as he stretched out in the chair.

“Oh, sorry,” he said. “More tired than I thought here. I might just rest my eyes for a moment…”

He leaned back in the chair and shut his eyes. He still had a lot to do today, but it was not yet mid-morning. He could afford to rest for a moment. Just a moment…

* * *

Afternoon sunlight moving through the workshop woke Cal as he lay stretched out in the chair by the fire. He blinked and moved his head, groaning at the stiffness in his neck. The sun was low in the sky outside, and the light was shining through the front window of the shop and the doorway to the workshop, right onto Cal’s face.

He sat up, blinking, his mouth dry. Leaning forward and looking down, he saw the remains of his cup of tea on the hearth beside him, and he picked it up and drained it. The liquid was cold, but it was welcome.

Cal rubbed his eyes, stood, and stretched. Sleeping in the chair had given him a crick in his neck, and he groaned as massaged the back of his neck. He was groggy after his sleep, but overall he felt better. He must have needed it.

There was no sign of Max, but when Cal went out into the front of the shop he saw a note lying on the counter.

Cal,

You seemed to need the sleep, so I didn’t wake you. I’ve gone shopping. I’ll get some enchanting supplies from the potter and I’ll send Laria a message at her inn to let her know we’re making progress. See you later.

Max

Cal noticed that the ink on the page was gleaming, and he touched it with a finger.

“Still wet,” he muttered, looking at the black mark on his fingertip where he’d touched the ink. Max must have gone out very recently for the ink to still be wet on his note. He might be a while getting back.

Cal smiled. He was glad that Max had taken the initiative to step out and get enchanting supplies without asking. It wasn’t that long ago Max wouldn’t have felt able to do that without checking what was needed with Cal first, and Cal felt pleased to see how his friend’s confidence was increasing.

He went to the bathroom, then looked to see if the fire needed building up. It didn’t - in fact it looked like it had been fed fairly recently. Another clue that Max hadn’t been gone long.

Cal smiled at the kindness inherent in that small act. Before going out, Max had added wood to the fire to make sure Cal stayed warm if continued sleeping. It was a little thing, this thoughtful gesture, but it meant a lot. Cal had always been a fairly sociable person, but for all that he’d gotten used to living on his own and caring for himself. The feeling that there was someone else here, living with him and feeling a sense of care for his needs was new, and very pleasant.

I must do something for Max when I get the chance, he thought. We’ll follow up on the stealth training idea, and one day it would be great to get him through enchanting school too, if he’d up for that.

He looked around the workshop. Max’s bedroll was neatly rolled up and stowed away in a corner. The space definitely felt like home to Cal now, but still it was a small building. Both Cal and Max living here full-time wasn’t sustainable in the long term, and when he could, he’d like to be able to see Max in a place of his own - a nice place, somewhere comfortable that he could call home.

For that matter, I’d like that for myself, too, Cal thought, and I’ll need it if I turn upstairs into a magic spider farm for harvesting cores and creating webs. Well, I better get this eyeglass finished. One thing leads to another, and upgrading my hunter team is the key that’ll allow me to realize the long-term goals.

He munched on a bit of bread and honey as he got the kettle boiled and made fresh tea, then he washed and dried his hands and got out the little blank core that Laria had harvested from the spiders upstairs. The core had been stashed in one of the locked boxes. As he got the core out, he was struck by the small size of it compared to the others. Even the Level 1 cores were bigger than the blank.

The blank core was pure white, opaque and smooth, and Cal held it up in the ray of sunlight that shone in through the workshop door, marveling at the fact that the potential of these cores had never been tapped by the enchanting community before.

He would use it to alter the Vision spell that was contained in the eyeglass, then he would be ready to hand the new tool over to Laria.