Theo stood outside Throk’s workshop the next day, gawking at the array of alchemy equipment arrayed there. The marshling himself stood among the field, hands on his hips as he glared at the alchemist.

“You wanted some equipment? Here ya go.”

“Do you sleep?” Theo asked.

“No.”

The equipment ranged in function, but was all under the 50-unit requirement. Theo counted twenty pieces, each with a note describing what they did. He realized Throk didn’t make each item here. He had a small army of apprentices that helped him make things. While Thim had taken over the blacksmith, it freed the old marshling up for other tasks. Combined with those apprentices, he seemed more like an artifice designed to create artifices. Never-ending and as much of a genius as always.

Theo flicked Throk another gold coin.

“Your patronage is appreciated,” Throk said, biting the coin and pocketing it. “Now go away.”

Theo gathered each piece of equipment into his inventory, clearing some junk out of the Tara’hek shared inventory before moving off. There was too much equipment here to test in one day, so he would focus on working with the ones he was confident would work. The ones with the paddles would likely work best, but there were several variations on the ones he had requested.

Crossing through the town square, Theo winced as he saw the decorations going up. He had nothing against weddings or Xol’sa and Zarali’s relationship. He just hadn’t come up with anything to say. And he would be expected to say something. Instead of figuring it out now, he buried his head in his work and headed for the lab.

Salire wasn’t in the shop yet. It hadn’t been opened yet. Theo locked the door behind him as he headed up to the third floor. His lips pulled into a tight line as he crossed the threshold to the lab. Unsurprisingly, the still he had been running on the new essence had exploded. Chunks of metal were embedded in the walls. Large gouges were visible on the other equipment. He worked on cleaning up the mess and thinking about what went wrong.

It didn’t take Theo long to reach a conclusion. He found a chunk of iron on the ground. No part of it was exposed, meaning it couldn’t collect anymore of the buildup produced by the essence. Whatever artifice they went with needed to have the capturing system changed regularly, otherwise it would explode. It made no sense coming from a Drogramathi method, but this was new ground to cover.

After cleaning the lab, Theo withdrew the still he expected to work best. It was a small pot-bellied still, just like the others only in miniature. His large stills could hold 500 units of liquid, making them as large as a human was tall. Throk’s newest version was tiny, requiring a stand to be accessible. But the walls were now much thicker, made of joined plates with heating elements sandwiched between. The paddle that mixed the contents within was made of iron—as requested—and could easily be replaced with a latch on the bottom.

“Throk knows his way around artifices,” Theo said, checking the functions on the contraption.

The upgrades were nice, but the still would function much like the others did. They used the artifice shredder to prepare some Spiny Swamp Thistle Root, placing it in the bottom with some water. He used an equal ratio of ten units for both and set the device to work. Of course, Throk had added a one-button approach to the slow heating cycle. He was good at predicting needs.

Once that was running, Theo headed out into the fields behind the Newt and Demon to work with the other devices. He was less confident in them working, but would take anything to improve his knowledge of this new alchemy. The first was the shaker Throk had made—under Theo’s request. It was a normal still with little arms on the side. When the alchemist pressed one of the many buttons on the base, it shook. Violently.

Theo prepared a mixture and a few blocks of iron, tossing them into the device. He activated the slow-heating method and a gentle shake. The sound of the iron slamming against the sides of the interior was awful, but it didn’t immediately explode.

The next interesting artifice was one that spun. Really fast. Theo got dizzy watching the device as it spun, pressing his foot against the side to slow it down after shutting it off. He loaded it up with his mixture and some iron, setting it to work about fifty feet from the first still. How Throk had made it so the body of the still could draw power from the base without visible wires was beyond him. Artificer magic.

Theo started a few more stills, all of which were variants of the first two. They did the same thing as the others, just in different ways. Positioning himself behind a thick Ogre Cypress tree, he waited for a while. A variant of the shaker stills exploded about ten minutes into the test, sending a plume of black smoke into the air. Shrapnel slammed into the tree, some zipping by with force.

“Vertical shaker is too violent,” Theo said, nodding to himself.

“You realize you look like a crazy person, right?” Sarisa asked from behind.

“Says the stalker.”

“You pay me to stalk you.” Sarisa huddled up behind the tree. “Also, that last piece hit rowan.”

“Just a flesh wound,” Rowan retorted.

Theo turned to find Rowan bleeding from the head, prone on the ground. “Feed the poor man a potion. Good god.”

“They’re too valuable for him.”

“I’m good. Seriously,” Rowan said, standing and falling.

Theo tried hard not to roll his eyes, shooting a message off to Sulvan. His reflex was to also send one to the Ogre Bilgrob, but it was unlikely the man still had his core. Perhaps it had reverted to a regular healing core…

“Put some pressure on his forehead, then,” Theo said.

“I told him to hide,” Sarisa said, pressing a rag into her brother’s head. “But he’s not thinking so well.”

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“The bugs were biting me,” Rowan said, wincing as Sarisa applied pressure.

Theo closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to yell at someone who had just been hit by a piece of flying metal. “You slept outside last night?”

“I told you I could. Would.”

“How about you, Sarisa?” Theo asked.

“Oh, the Dreamwalk thing was lovely. There’s this elf in town that I like, and we went on a date.”

Theo winced, trying not to think of where that went. “How much control did you have over it?”

“Some. It was more like having a dream I could control, but strange dream logic kept rearing its head.”

Anyone sleeping in the manor could enjoy a minor version of the Dreamwalk. That made sense, since dreams were like little realms. Tero’gal started out as a dream… Or so Theo thought—he never actually got to the bottom of that. Leave it to someone like Tresk to want something so bad she made it manifest into an entire world. The power of marshlings was not to be undervalued, as anyone looking at the stills could see.

Of course, there were problems. Another still exploded, sending another wave a shrapnel through the sparsely forested area.

“I’m hit!” Sarisa shouted, falling to the ground and clutching her shoulder.

“Seriously, people!” Theo shouted, pressing his hand into the tree. He infused it with a defensive ward that would catch any further bits of flying metal. The ward wanted to expand out, covering a massive area. Theo forced his will on it to create something more like a blast shield. “Maybe I should have done that earlier…”

Sarisa groaned, rolling on the ground. “Ya think?”

“I can see the heavens,” Rowan said. “I’m coming, Baelthar.”

“Baelthar isn’t even a god anymore,” Theo said, shuffling over to press the cloth into the downed half-ogre’s head.

The sound of heavy footfalls came from a distance, closing in swiftly. Sulvan, who was looking more beefy than normal, came running over with a worried look on his face. “What did you do?” he asked, crouching near the injured pair.

“Hit them with bits of metal. Not on purpose,” Theo said, releasing the cloth on Rowan’s forehead. “Do you have a Hallow core, now?”

Sulvan offered him a sly smile. “You’re always ahead of current events, aren’t you?”

Light issued from Sulvan’s palms, filling Rowan’s wound. The half-ogre sucked in a breath, shooting to a seated position. “Oh, that’s some spicy healing. Good stuff, Sulvan.”

Another still exploded in the distance, slamming into the barrier Theo had erected. The shards of metal were held in place for a moment before falling to the ground. Yeah, he should have done that from the start. It was easy to forget that Sarisa and Rowan were always lurking in the nearby shadows.

“No luck with the potions?” Sulvan asked, moving to Sarisa. He yanked the bit of metal from her shoulder with exactly no bedside manner and began working on the wound. Sarisa looked as though she was ready to bite him.

“We’re almost there,” Theo said.

“Just a few more explosions and I won’t have to rush around town again?” Sulvan asked, more light spilling from his hands. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

Theo watched the man work, feeling some regret that he got his people injured. This was the danger of the alchemy lab being down. Without a person like Sulvan to help, everyday injuries could be deadly. The alchemist was reminded of a time when people in town just dealt with whatever wounds they got. They had no way of healing themselves, so often lived with lifelong injuries that would have been easy to cure. With potions from the capital being so expensive, it was never an option for them.

The potions provided to citizens by the Newt and Demon were sold at rock-bottom prices. But the purpose of the lab was never to make a profit. Sulvan’s ability to heal was impressive, though. Both Sarisa and Rowan were back on their feet shortly after Sulvan attended to them. The former inquisitor looked at them with a kind of warmth Theo would have never expected from the man. Not when he was hunting down dronon under the orders of the Burning Eye.

“Hey, Sulvan,” Theo said, wondering if this was the right time. “You know we left Uharis on the moon, right?”

“I’m still aware of that situation.”

“And you’re still good with it?”

Sulvan took a moment, rubbing his chin as he collected his thoughts. “I thought what I was doing was the right thing because the grip the Eye had on my mind. Uharis enjoyed the work and his schemes were wide-reaching. Theo, are you aware of how rare teleportation magic is?”

“I haven’t really thought about it.”

“Can Xol’sa teleport?”

“He can make a portal between his tower and the town.”

“But he can’t teleport across the world. Uharis could. He was dangerous, and now he’s mad. My recommendation is to either kill him, or prepare to deal with him in the future.”

Sulvan made the statement with such conviction it gave Theo chills. He had taken his vow to Glantheir seriously, devoting himself to pacifism and serving the people. Recommending death for anyone was a leap from those vows. The alchemist wouldn’t take the statement lightly. For now, Uharis was trapped on the moon. But if he ever got his hands on a core that allowed him to move through space, there might be problems.

“I’ll take that into consideration. Perhaps I can imprison him.”

“Maybe. Also, do you have any news on Jan? I understand he escaped, but that’s all I know.”

“You know as much as I do, then.” Theo sighed, trying not to think about an Earthling loose in the world like that. “If I had to guess, he’s going to kill Twist. But my unnaturally high wisdom says there’s something more going on.”

“Such as?”

“I don’t know. I never know with you people. There’s always a scheme.”

Sulvan tapped his chin. “Isn’t Jan your people?”

“That’s a good point. Well, thanks for your help.” Theo clapped a hand on Sulvan’s shoulder. “You really turned around.”

“I’m happy to serve my lord, Hallow,” Sulvan said with a wink. He headed off, leaving the group behind.

Theo expected another still to explode, but it didn’t. That just meant the first phases of distillation were working for those that were running. He needed to put some signs and more barriers in the area to prevent more people from being smacked with flying metal.

“Hold on a second,” Sarisa said, folding her arms and glaring at Theo. “How far can you see into the future?”

Theo slipped to the side as Sarisa leveled a punch at his face. Her fist slammed into the tree.

“Our boss let us get exploded!” Rowan shouted.

“You didn’t get exploded. Stop being dramatic. I can only see the future at places where I’m looking.”

“But you were looking at the still when it exploded.”

“Yeah, and I saw I wouldn’t get hit.”

“That’s okay, buddy,” Rowan said, sauntering over. Theo caught his fist before it slammed into his stomach. “Ah, dang. Why did I think that would work.”

Theo pat Rowan on the head. “Don’t worry. I’m not a psychopath.”

The other stills seemed stable enough. Theo went around the area, tacking paper to the surrounding trees and setting shaped wards. At least the one within the lab was working fine. He didn’t want to take on the responsibility, but it was time to investigate the upcoming wedding. Rowan and Sarisa marched along behind him.

“When the super powerful guy tells you he isn’t a psychopath…” Sarisa started.

“He most certainly is,” Rowan finished.