Chapter 47: Runic Renovations
Throughout all of their time experimenting, Wil genuinely felt bad for how much damage he did to the Stevenson farm. By now, the land was unrecognizable, though he did enjoy the new look. It was a lot like his parent’s house, now forever changed due to his interference and needs. Wil asked, and people gave without a moment’s notice.
It would be so easy to dwell on that for hours and hours, and hate himself for it. Sometimes, it was tempting. When he’d brought it up to Darlene the night before, she’d set him straight, in that sharp way she had.
“Everyone who did this, did it freely because they trust you. If you question that hard enough, that means you’re questioning their judgment and not trusting them.”
He had no reasonable argument to that.
But just because he accepted that his loved ones trusted him enough to donate to his causes didn’t mean Wil had no intention of making up for it. He couldn’t undo the changes, but he could clean up and make things as easy as possible, for his parents, and for Bram. With that in mind and two days until the party at Bram’s place, Wil flew there after lunch.
He knew Bram would already be at work, but he underestimated how far along he would be. The brewery was closed for the next couple of days until the party, but some of his employees were active. It turned out the fae had decent carpenters who could work without growing their buildings from a sapling, and half a dozen trolls and ogres worked on construction of a new, larger brewery close to the Wil-made lake on the southwest part of the property.
More still worked at cleaning up the house itself, and a hobgoblin stood over a pit filled with weeds and detritus. He burned it with conjured flames, laughing occasionally as the flames danced wildly. Luckily, most of the grass and plants on the land had been cleared out when Wil shaped the earth. One of the many things he’d hoped to correct, but it looked like Bram was tackling everything at the same time.
Wil left his Thunderhawk at the start of the lane and walked through the construction. Now that he was closer, he could see the garage Bram and Thomas had built to house their surplus faricite. That was finished and right beside the cellar, with one of their cars parked next to it. Bram stood nearby, arguing with a goblin.
“I’m telling you, when I’m done with everything it’s going to be cold proof and fireproof. I know you guys don’t like or trust runes on account of their connection with demons, but you trust me, right?”
“Most days,” said the goblin in his high, nasally voice. His pointed features looked malicious much of the time, even when mildly disagreeing. “Now? Questioning it.”
Upon spotting him, Bram motioned for Wil to come over. “Back me up here, Wil. Runes are perfectly safe, right?”
Wil forced himself to keep a straight face. “I don’t know about perfectly safe.”
The goblin made a triumphant sound, but Bram wasn’t deterred. “Nothing is one hundred percent safe. I’ve been working my ass off to try different arrays and configurations for each design I have, and these are the safe ones.”
“Even when they’re all combined and in the house you live in?”
Bram’s face reddened. “Yes! I’m the one gambling here. So trust me and let me deal with the risks.”
“It’s your funeral,” said the goblin with a nasty grin. “If your house explodes with you in it, can I have the land? You know, if you’re going to be gambling.”
“Sorry,” said Wil, “but I am pretty sure I have next dibs on this place. Me or Darlene.”
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The goblin sighed and backed off. “I’ll get grab Mitts and start working on the stove and Freeze-it, then. Just saying that we have no way to guarantee how it’s going to affect the water going through those weird pipes.”
“Thank you,” said Bram. He sighed as his worker went around to the front of the house. “What a headache. How’re you doing, Wil?”
Wil chuckled, looking around at the chaos around them. There were almost enough of them to make him think of an anthill. With the scattered dirt everywhere, plateau, and arch of stone, it seemed a fair comparison. “I was actually going to ask you the same thing, and to see if there’s anything I could do to help.”
Bram nodded and took in his property. He had a satisfied smile Wil rarely saw. Most of the time, his friend fretted over the future and how to best meet it. Now, he looked at peace. Or at least, as much peace as the neurotic man ever got. “Honestly? Probably, but I…I don’t think I need anyone’s help. I’ve got it.”
He sounded almost surprised, as if the words didn’t feel right in his mouth. Wil was nearly as surprised, and part of him worried before he realized how silly it was. Bram wasn’t his friend because he needed Wil’s help.
“You do, don’t you?” said Wil. “You’ve been doing so much, and succeeding at everything. You should be proud of yourself.”
“I…think I am,” said Bram. “Huh. This is a weird feeling.”
Wil burst out laughing. “You deserve it. You’ve been working your ass off, with or without me, for a year now. You don’t need my help because you’re capable in ways I’m not. Hell, I’m more likely to ask you for help these days. And I am so grateful for that. The last three months have been draining, but the most rewarding time of my life. And a huge part of that is seeing how far you’ve come along.”
Bram looked like he was ready to cry. An entire childhood of failing to live up to an abusive father, hiding who he was from the world, and struggling to fit in with a community that didn’t understand him…He needed more encouragement in his life.
“Um,” he said with a conspicuous clear of the throat, “do you want to see what all I’m having done?”
“You’re damned right I do,” said Wil. “Show me what you got and maybe I can still help after all. I’m feeling earth magic and plants today. How do you feel about topiary dragons?”
His eyes lit up. “How big are we talking?”
Wil took a few steps back, and produced an illusion of a fifteen foot long dragon with a long neck that would be difficult, if not impossible, to grow naturally. As he went, he added more details, like glowing orbs for eyes and smoke coming out of the mouth. “Imagine a pair of these at the gates, guarding over the brewery.”
Bram wrung his hands together, eyes wide and a big grin on his face. “That would be incredible! I worry about it intimidating people though. Hmm. C’mon.” He went around to the front again, and Wil followed.
Now that the land was uneven and chaotic, there was no making it look clean and neat. Bram pointed to the arch and Wil understood immediately. “You want the dragon to be on or in the arch? What about coiled around it?”
“Hanging from the top of it, looking down on its prey. You can do smoke and stuff. Could you make a plant breathe fire safely?”
Wil gave him a look that said, ‘c’mon now’ and they laughed. He looked over at the building being constructed. “I really don’t think that’s going to be finished in two days, do you?”
“Never doubt the fae when it comes to hard work. Especially when it comes to creating something. We’ve got teams working night and day. It’ll not only be ready for the party, but it’s going to be twice the brewery we had before! More room to seat patrons, a place for an actual cook and storage, cool but not cold all year round.
“More importantly, we’re going to keep the barn mostly as is, but improve on it. If I put a time bubble there, we could brew more beer in shorter amounts of time!” A familiar, manic glint in Bram’s eyes told Wil that yes, he could and would get it all done. No more underestimating him.
“I can see why your one employee was worried about potential interference,” said Wil. “That’s a lot of things to tie together, but if we can make it work…Are you sure there’s nothing I can do? Even just looking over your work for peace of mind?” He’d do that anyway, come to think of it.
Bram looked around the property one more time. He nodded with satisfaction at all the activity. “You can definitely help with the groundskeeping. I want this place to be green and lush when we open, a veritable paradise and a vision of what homes in the future could look like if we embrace the magical lifestyle. When we’re done, Harper Valley will go from being considered a backwards farm town to the envy of Calipan!”
There was more fire and strength in his voice than Wil had ever heard, even if the enthusiasm was a tiny bit disconcerting.
“Absolutely!” Wil held out his hand, and Bram took it. “Two days to the party, and nine more until Bullworth shows up and pardons me. Let’s get going!”