Ch: 15 A Treacherous Knave
Sunrise found Shai and Gary enjoying coffee and pastries outside the bakery, discreetly paying no attention to their friends waking up in the reading nook.
They certainly did not huddle together and sqwee with excitement, when Liam and Tawny woke moments apart and both blushed furiously.
“An Liam nae had Contract wi War, those two should be as close as we…” Shai whispered.
“We just gotta get him to journeyman before this time next year, together we will find a way.” Gary said, bolstering his confidence with some good old fashioned wishful thinking.
Shai stared back blankly. “Tis nae possible, War does nae ever release a Cont-…”
Her eyes widened in surprise and Gary grinned, “I asked Otho and Amicus the same thing, they reacted the same way. It’s a blind spot you have built in from birth. War doesn’t get a vote if we get him over the line.”
Gary looked serious for perhaps the first time she had ever seen. “Don’t tell those two. They would take crazy risks if they realized.”
The week seemed to trickle through his hands like water. The gang upped their training across the board, leaving Gary ragged and gasping. Each day was a new and excruciating torment, wringing exquisite agony from his shuddering wreckage.
The rest of the Bathers were amused by Gary's new dedication to training, giving him some gentle abuse for it. Only Shai knew how much work he was putting in at night with Thirp and Secret in the depths of his soul.
Stitching your entire being back together from the inside was a lot of work, even with expert guidance from Thirp.
Teams of Gary’s other selves were in constant rotation, meditating and competing in strategy games against the Shai-lites.
Other Notgarys were painting in the garden or composing poetry, working to pull himself back together.
With the approach of full winter the whole town, except Gary seamlessly adjusted to the increased hours of darkness.
He found himself struggling to wake, and restless too long into the night.
“Discipline is the only answer.” Otho pronounced, when he brought the issue up. “Pay attention to the bells and be mindful of your habits. You will adjust quickly, in three or four years perhaps…” The old coot chuckled.
Liam set Gary’s remains adrift in the pool each morning, after their workout and training circuit. By lunch Gary was capable of moving under his own power, then off to the alchemist guild to learn as much as he could from them.
Alchemy seemed to link most directly to cooking and harvesting, but had connections in a lot of other places, suggesting possible growth opportunities… and healing potions. What nerd didn't want healing potions? Sadly, that was one of the guild’s deeper secrets.
Shai was busy with her projects and commissions, leaving Gary at loose ends in the mornings, once he could drag himself out of the pool. Dannyl caught Gary coming out of the bath, hair still damp on the second morning and asked; “Will you really teach me to play guitar? Or was that one of your weird fits?”
There was a guitar in his hands before ‘was that’ came out of his mouth. The rest tumbled out before his brain caught up. “Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie” Gary said enigmatically, draping an arm over the younger man.
Shai felt them head out together, already strumming. No doubt going to make nuisances of themselves in the crafts quarter. “That would be a fine morning’s dance…” She mumbled to herself.
Enjoying the unheard of convenience of a magic fueled forge that she could just turn off, Shai changed into something fit for a cool morning in the square.
After the week he spent working Shai’s forge, Gary found returning to the neighborhood refreshing. It was too quiet in the boring bureaucrats quarter, where the orphanage was located.
A few power chords in, that carpenter’s apprentice with a natural funky groove settled in with a drawknife, peeling logs in time. Hammers from the forges started hitting the One as his gift spread.
He set Dannyl up on a simple strumming pattern, letting his gift put training wheels on it. Gary’s guitar started in on ‘Dancing Queen’, It was Shai approved.
‘ABBA must be relieved.’ He snarked to himself, while watching the woman dance.
Honestly, she was distracting every apprentice and artisan to the point that it was only Gary’s gift preventing massive workplace trauma.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
His mysterious and weird entrainment power made the audience part of the show… and it was a big budget musical of sweeping scope.
Hammers and saws missed fingers by scant moments and inches while workers swayed and pranced.
Before long Gary noticed Otho (the human) in the crowd, smiling ecstatically and having a conversation with someone who was not there.
Gary pulled it back, slowing the tempo and settling into some mellow flamenco vibes. Dannyl came along for the ride, managing a few very nice chord changes and staying rock solid on the beat.
Disco made the craft ward a bit of a highwire act, if he got too far up his own butt and dropped the beat for whatever reason… Tawny was busy enough at the temple, no need to add a dozen severed fingers to the mix.
Otho pulled his magnificent instrument from his robes and sat in to join the fun, settling into a nice fingerstyle groove. “Joy is pleased by this Gary, Shai is coming along nicely!”
Gary struck a sour riff across Otho’s groove. “Not cool man, you make me sound like some sleaze… I’m her sleaze.”
Otho laughed and rode Gary’s sour riff into an improvisational journey through the minor keys, ending up someplace tropical and mellow. “Shai will belong to Joy much as I do, my lady has foreseen it. As will you.” Gary shook his head and almost lost the beat.
“Wait, I will foresee it? That makes no sense, I’m no prophet…” The penny dropped a little later. “Wait, own me? Nope nope nope. Not happening. Deal breaker.”
“Oh Gary, She already does, the way a mother owns her children, or a craftsman his tools. You belong to her because of who you are. Fighting that is like trying to make water run uphill.” Otho now had his gift wrapped up with Gary and Shai’s, making the craft ward one living organism for a little while.
A surprising number of weddings happened in the craft ward that spring, but that is a tale for later.
Otho offered to join them in the square each morning, to educate both young men in the art and craft of music, while Shai kept the whole ward smiling.
And so it developed that Gary would whistle up his gift for Shai, while soaking post workout. He conjured a brass communication tube to the workshop just for the purpose.
His Gift made her crafts craftier, providing enough free time for her to join in and dance as Gary taught Dannyl rhythm guitar and Otho taught a master class in the musical traditions of their world.
Only the presence of Otho kept priest Theo away from their shenanigans. That and the effect Gary’s gift had on the output of the local artisans. No one seemed to be complaining about the startling increase in efficiency and quality.
Well, Shai complained a little. “They be me competition boy, kin ye nae slow the work a little? Tis Mine own coins ye be giving them so freely!”
Gary laughed and stole a kiss on her next orbit. “Even the carpenters are stealing from you Shai?” He scolded. “Do you have all the crafts now, my dear?” She danced by with a smile.
“Kin I nae subcontract those jobs tae mine own pet woodworker? Or be ye to good fer honest crafts now an ye are some high an mighty alchemist…”
“I did invent an ointment to cure toenail fungus… but I guess you guys don’t have that here. It's the sandals I think.”
Shai almost tripped laughing as she passed by. “I do be in love wi an idiot…” She said, before blushing bright red, sheeting ghost pale and then vanishing into the crowd for a few minutes.
Otho and Dannyl had been enjoying the way the pair wound each other up. Finding themselves eavesdroppers on a tender moment in a swirling crowd was just too delicious for Otho to resist.
He already had the two enspelled in his gift, their own similar abilities were active and entangled together as well, making his mischief childishly simple. With a few deft tugs on their emotions, he had a fun new entertainment for the entire ward.
Soon, Gary was chasing Shai, who slipped through the crowd effortlessly. He struggled to follow, without losing the musical thread laid down by Otho and Dannyl. Her jingling hips remained just out of reach and she avoided eye contact like she owed him money.
They swept along like a force of nature, spinning through workshops, storefronts and stalls with careless grace. She slid to and fro, avoiding his reaching hands by the barest moments each time while the tempo slowly gathered speed. She pranced and twirled a full circuit of the ward before the boy finally collapsed. The music ended when he sagged onto a bench, wheezing like a rusty hinge.
Shai slipped onto his lap and hugged her arms around his neck whispering; “Aye, I kin say it, I do be in love wi an idiot. Tis true.”
He breathed into her ear; “Lucky me, I’m in love with the girl of my dreams, and she already knows I’m an idiot.”
Gary arrived at the alchemists guild a little late that afternoon.
Young Muktar was gracious, waving away any tardiness with an indulgent, knowing smile and “I hear you had a busy morning in the crafts ward…”
Gary just sighed and shook his head. “This town runs on gossip, I bet you know what elder Yasmeen of the tailor’s guild had for breakfast yesterday.”
“Young man, someone in this town knows what you are having for breakfast tomorrow, don’t be surprised if you are the last one to find out.” He swatted the young fool on the shoulder and propelled him into the workshop.
“Go earn your keep now boy. I haven't had an orphan through my hall in some time, don’t make it harder for the next with your laziness.”
Every adult, and most of the kids in town seemed to feel a slight unease and obligation to the orphans, no doubt aware of their likely fate.
That, and tradition opened the doors to craft halls that would ordinarily be closed to all but full members. Long tradition held that orphans could migrate through the craft halls, picking up odd jobs and the occasional skill as they went.
Most of the orphans had a smattering of skills in unrelated fields before finding what they wanted to do. Only those who demonstrated profound talents had even a chance to avoid a primary Contract with War. Those contracted early, like Liam, had no hope of freedom under normal circumstances. Only the patronage of Joy and the presence of her highest cleric allowed any hope at all.
In a refuge controlled by War, only those who could embrace their fate had a chance to thrive, tales like Liam’s were all too common in the wider world. The hard bitten warriors of the cult of War that trickled into town over the week bore that out.
Tough looking men and women, scarred and often haunted by an aura of pain and sorrow, were roaming the Adventurer’s compound.
Their groups filled some of the vacant dormitories with rough and tumble life, most, if not all were orphans.
Nearly all officers, being clergy of War and from the higher strata of society, stayed in the more luxurious temple of their god or found lodgings uptown.
The guild compound had a loosely enforced ‘orphans only’ rule, with some officers and clergy staying with their parties, despite not quite fitting the orphan label.
None of the upper crust or noble clergy felt the need to remain with their underlings, thankfully.
It was only a few minutes after the first group arrived that they landed in the public bath, lounging and chatting with the elders and younglings with ease.
The family of orphans was not close, but it was huge, most families on the fringes sent their youngest and oldest children to live with relatives in the cities with temples, for safety. That practice seemed warranted, as Wheatford’s spacious and largely empty facilities filled with orphans.
Gary and Shai took a few predawn minutes on second day to re-summon the house, with further expanded public baths. The steady repair work on Gary’s insides seemed to demand the expansion anyway. He had been feeling constrained for a day or two, now the little garden court they had been squatting in was completely taken over.
His outer garden wall was a vine covered delight, surrounding a lovely public bath with pleasant garden plantings and a small waterfall. The shop stood beside the entrance with an inviting garden patio out front for relaxed noodling and music lessons.
The house and workshop stood behind, proudly tall and elegant, draped in Shai’s flower boxes and colorful accents.
It was a lovely home that somehow failed to look out of place, even in those drab surroundings. Everyone on the compound took the changes to the bath and shop with enthusiasm and few questions, those few who pressed him on it he stonewalled.
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