“Welcome, welcome, I’m Baran of Baran’s Enchanting. What can I do for you?” A young man said, springing up from where he was slouched behind a counter.

Reud had wandered the outer city for the whole morning, searching through the myriad of stores for one that fit exactly what he was looking for. An enchanter, without the connections or wealth to operate in the inner city, but still with a competent enough looking shop that he could trust them with his requests. A noble that had fallen on hard times, but still with enough skill to keep a business alive. Someone like that would have to be far less selective with their clientele, so he wouldn’t have to field any awkward questions about his outdated noble lineage.

And nothing about his status as a free mage.

“I’m looking for a few standard items, and a couple of custom orders if your work proves to be to my liking.” Reud said.

Baran’s eyes lit up. “Of course, of course. What is it you’re looking for? Some Skinsheen? Clearwater?” He leaned forward. “Or is it a boost of potency you want? A Swellhorn?” He waggled his eyebrows.

“Do I really look like some foolish scion?” Reud said, irritated.

Baran sat back. “My apologies, most of those who walk through my door are just that, so I assumed… Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Please, what are you looking to buy?”

“A Sightstone, a Steelshell, and a Razoredge. Oh, and I’d be interested to see anything you have for necromancy.”

Baran’s brow furrowed. “A what? I haven’t heard of any of those. Standard items, you said?”

Reud frowned. He’d hoped it wasn’t the case, but evidently the names for the artefacts he’d once considered standard had changed, or they’d fallen out of favour.

It had been centuries, after all.

“My apologies, I may be a little out of date with my naming. A Sightstone is… Luxomancy melded with a touch of kinetomancy. A crystal roughly this big,” Reud held up his hand and gestured with his fingers. “And it enhances the vision of the user gazing through it. Can be used to see a longer distance.”

Baran snapped his fingers. “Oh! You mean a Stargazer!”

“I… guess?” Reud hazarded.

“In that case, yes, I have those in stock. The component crystal and the full eyepiece, tube, and frame setup. Pretty popular these days, especially now that the provost has the academy gripped in astronomy fervour. I can do you a good deal for the full set, I’ll even throw in the cleaning kit for free.”

“Just the crystal, please.”

Baran shrugged. “Your loss. Let me go fetch it.”

Turning, he stepped through a curtain into a backroom, the sounds of rummaging coming from within. Eventually he returned with a clear crystal orb, roughly the size of an eye. A slice had been cut off the top, and an intricate array of tiny sigils carved into the flat surface.

“Please, take a look.” Baran said, placing it on the counter.

Reud picked it up and inspected it closely. It was definitely a Sightstone, exactly as he remembered it looking back when he’d last seen one centuries ago. Lifting it to his eye, he focused through it, the image within immediately magnifying fourfold, the interior of the clothing shop across the street jumping into crystal clear sharpness.

Reud placed the Sightstone back on the table. “Just what I’m looking for.”

Baran nodded. “About your other items, why don’t you describe them, and I’ll see if I know them by another name.”

“A Steelshell is a shield, enchanted with kinetomancy and geomancy to ward it against damage, both physical and elemental. A Razoredge is a sword with kinetomancy enchantments to allow a kinetomancer to channel through it easier.”

Baran’s eyes widened. “Good gods, are you looking to be an adventurer?”

Reud nodded.

“I don’t even remember the last time I heard of someone doing that. You’re certainly a braver man than I.” Baran stood up straight. “I’m afraid, however, that I don’t have anything like that in stock. Not much call for weapons these days. I do however have the sigils to do kinetomancy and geomancy enchantments. If you give me a few more details on how these ‘Steelshell’ and ‘Razoredge’ artefacts should behave, I can do them for you as a custom order.”

“That’s good to hear. Do you have anything for necromancy?”

Baran shook his head. “I’m sorry, the sigil for that has been far out of my budget as of yet. If you can supply me with one then I can see what I can do, but if not then I can’t help you.”

“We’ll leave that for now, then. The final artefact I’m looking for is a bit of… cosmetic enhancement.” Reud said. “What have you got around that.”

“I have a Glamourveil, that’s a delicate bit of luxomancy that gives you a lovely, well, glamour. Very popular with the ladies, as you might imagine, but I do also get a good number of gentlemen customers too. Then there’s Skinsheen of course, like a weaker Glamourveil but for the whole body. Pheroscent if you want to take a different approach. That uses geomancy to modify your bodily minerals, to make your scent more enticing.”

“Have you got anything using biomancy?”

Baran frowned. “I… do, but it’s certainly a far more dangerous product. Biomancy changes are permanent, in ways the others aren’t.”

“That sounds exactly like what I’m looking for. Does it maybe allow for the skilled user to reshape their face as they please? By modifying the underlying structure with biomancy?”

“You’re familiar with a Facewarp?” Baran said, looking surprised.

Reud nodded. “Not by that name, but yes. And I’ll take it.”

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“I really would advise against it. The dangers…”

“Let me worry about that. How much for the lot?”

Baran looked uncertain for a moment more, before shaking his head. When he focused on Reud once again, the salesman’s smile was back in full force.

“The Stargazer on its own is twenty crowns. The Facewarp thirty-five. If you order the shield and sword as well, I can do the lot for… a round one hundred.”

“Let’s call it seventy-five for the set, with potential future work if you perform it well.” Reud countered.

“I can’t eat future work. Ninety for the three items.”

“Eighty, and I’ll pay right now.” Reud said.

“Eighty-five, and that’s the lowest I can go.” Baran said, holding up his hands.

Reud smiled. “Eighty-five it is.” He counted out the crowns and placed them on the table, slipping the Sightstone into his pocket.

Baran pulled out a sheet of parchment and began scrawling on it. “I assume the sword and shield are meant to be a pair?”

Reud nodded.

Baran scrawled something onto the parchment. “If you come back in three days, I’ll have the weapons ready for you.”

He tore off the top of the parchment and handed it to Reud. “If you need a servant to pick up the items instead, tell them to bring that with them.”

Slipping back through the curtain, Baran returned with a plain mask that he set beside the crystal on the counter.

“The Facewarp. I recommend you against using this though, and I offer no refunds or support if it goes wrong.”

“I know what I’m doing.” Reud said, slipping both artefacts into his pocket.

“Sure.” Baran grunted. “Now, those weapons you wanted, why don’t we flesh out the full details.”

—

Reud walked through the inner city feeling pleased with himself. The sword and shield would make a perfect present for Lilia. A blade that let her channel her magic through it, giving it a razor cutting edge that would cleave through almost anything. And a shield that would let her block spells, attacks, elemental projectiles, and pretty much anything else that might be thrown at her. She’d be overjoyed at finally having some equipment more suited to her talents.

And both would help keep her safe.

Soon, Reud arrived at the city’s west gate. The gate opened onto a great bridge that crossed the river Seine, vast pillars at either end supporting its mass, not a single part of the construction touching the water. It was an exceptionally impressive feat of structural engineering.

Only a few buildings stood on the far side of the river, with none of the bustle and life that the inner and outer cities had. Despite the area being safe, no one seemed to want to live out there. Likely, for one simple reason.

The Seeker enclave was out there.

It wasn’t visible from the bridge, but Reud had asked around, and been told that it lay within the trees, just out of sight of the city walls. There wasn’t quite the distrust and animosity towards the Seekers that pervaded the villages he’d visited so far, but the people here still weren’t fully comfortable with them.

Reud touched the Sightstone in his pocket as he walked out the city. He’d bought the enchanted artefact not for its sight enhancing ability, but for something else. A modification that he remembered from his days in the academy.

Reud wasn’t sure how things were now, but back in his day, scrying, the art of seeing things at a distance, was banned. There were a variety of reasons for this ban, from attempts to protect state secrets, to criminal concerns, to privacy complaints. Only sanctioned luxomancers were exempt from the restrictions, and they were heavily monitored and controlled.

However, as with all attempts to ban things, people found a way around the regulations.

Sightstones were the most common of which. The enchantment on it worked by enhancing the light coming into it, allowing people to see small things larger. Normally used by those with an obsession for quietly watching the world from a distance, from birds to stags to stars, they also worked for people who had a need for magnifying the minute. Jewellers trying to carve the most intricate earrings, enchanters inscribing runes onto the smallest of artefacts. However, it was well known in certain circles that a skilled luxomancer could turn the artefact to a more interesting use. A bit of careful editing of the spell inscribed into its surface and it could be made to bend the light, not just enhance it, to see things around corners or over roofs. Unscrupulous luxomancers made a killing selling modified Sightstones back in Reud’s day.

Though he wasn’t a luxomancer, Reud had spent centuries working on his mana control. A simple act of luxomancy like this was easily within his abilities.

It took mere moments to edit the enchantment on the stone, and then Reud held the artefact to his eye, twisting it until he could look over the trees. The view was distorted, but visible.

Now he just had to find the enclave.

Doing so was surprisingly easy. The Seekers were making no attempt to hide their encampment, The great white walls of their fortress standing out in stark contrast to the forest around it. Sentries patrolled the walls, carrying crossbows loaded with black metal bolts, glancing out into the trees every dozen or so paces.

Reud crept through the trees, carefully staying out of sight. With the Sightstone in his possession, all he needed to do was get close enough to survey the enclave's interior. Pressing himself up against a large tree, Reud peered through the stone.

The enclave was a hive of activity, packed full of people in armour as well as a number of others in more regular clothing. Which was curious indeed. It didn’t seem to be a purely military station. Yes, there were training grounds, put they were being used by only a few men, not the whole squads he would have expected. Instead, most of the activity seemed to be centred around a few long buildings, buildings that shimmered with mana.

Reud twisted the stone, trying to get a different view. As distorted as it was, he could just about make out the interior of one of the rooms through a window. Chalk boards filled it, each one covered in scrawled mana circles and spell diagrams. People moved about the room, waving their arms at one another, erasing and rescrawling sections.

Definitely more than a military base.

In the corner of the enclave sat three huge black wagons, a void in the otherwise mana rich air of the base. A serious amount of magebane had been used in the construction of those hulking things. But it was also a good sign. Three black wagons was what both Cecily and Rachel had both reported as the caravan that abducted the children from Littlestream.

That meant there was a good chance the children were here.

At the centre of the enclave stood a final building. It also seemed to be a void in the mana, its walls made from the same smooth white stone that formed the rest of the enclave, but flecked with chunks of black. Magebane again, Reud guessed. The Seekers really loved using it in all their construction. If he had to guess, that was where they were keeping the children, if they weren’t still in the wagons.

Reud slipped the Sightstone back into his pocket, thinking about what he’d seen. He knew where the enclave was, knew where the children likely were, and knew the layout of the encampment. Getting inside would be relatively easy, given the Facewarp in his pocket. Getting the children back out, on the other hand, would be much harder.

He would have to think of a plan.