Four Horsemen: Chapter 6 Part 4 of 5 (Patreon)

Gus brought his cart to a stop, filled with broken armor, shields and several large axes and some swords that seemed too big to be useful.

“Who the hell was using this?” Valter picked up a sword with one hand that could have doubled as a spear, if not for the fact it was bent two thirds of the way down.

“One of the adventurers, he boasted how strong he was that he warped the sword,” Gus said with big eyes.

“Shouldn’t believe everything you hear. It warped because it wasn’t hardened properly. Swords, good ones should break instead of bend. This is more toy that weapon,” Valter put it on the work bench and picked up the other pieces.

“Thank you lad, these will help out greatly, let me know when there is more steel stock.”

“Yes mister Valter. Umm, do I get a question.” Gus handed him items from the cart, making it faster.

“Sure thing lad,” Valter smiled.

“What are you going to use these for?”

Valter took two more pieces silently.

“I’m sorry if I was rude sir.”

“No you weren’t lad, and I’ll let you in on a secret,” Valter leaned close. “I’m working on inscriptions.”

Gus nearly dropped the axe on his foot. Valter snatching it up.

“Your own or tracing them out?”

“Tracing them out?”

“Mister Alan, he creates these prints that one can run chalk over, then you just carve out the lines and symbols then it adds an effect to the item. Only Remin and Dula have made their own inscriptions.”

“Those symbols are runes, and tracing them out is one method, but it makes it cruder, best to carve each inscription to what you want to make.”

Gus’ mouth made an O shape.

Valter patted him on the shoulder with a chuckle and turned back to his work.

“Can you teach me?” He said in a rush.

“Tomorrow,” Valter smiled.

“Yes mister Valter!” Gus grinned, grabbing onto his cart and wheeling it away.

Well I’d best learn how to do this, so I can teach the lad something. Now what were those guiding lines again? He pulled out his book and a inscribed blade, its runes glowed with a trickle of essence, allowing him to carve into the broken gear with ease. He started replicating the shapes and symbols inside, not trying to make inscriptions but ingrain the information into his mind and hands.

Every time he made a mistake he would restart again until he could replicate them by feel.

***

Desari checked her guild request against the mortar and pestle sign swinging in the early morning wind.

Small warped glass windows showed the inside of the store, different liquids of every color caught in potion bottles. Carl’s Apothecary had been written on the sign, weather beaten and worn.

Desari opened the door the bell attached to the door ringing.

A man at the counter looked up from cradling his tea cup with bleary eyes. He blinked twice, wetting his eyes and yawning.

“Morning, ah sorry about that.”  He stretched his shoulders, blinking back the yawn tears. “Something that I can help you with?”  He wore an apron over his simple clothes, black hair poking out in every direction as he scratched at his five o’clock shadow, taking a sip from his tea.

The small room was filled with locked cabinets, showing potions and alchemical ingredients and gear behind glass and steel bars. There was a roped off long corridor down the right side of the counter,

“I was told to come here to assist with potion making?” She pulled out the writ, placing it on the counter.

Behind a display to his side a beaker bubbled slowly over a flame, the alchemist’s tea.

He blew on his tea with one hand holding the writ, he took another sip.

“They say you’re skilled in alchemy?”

“I am a little rusty, might take me some time to get used to it again.” He folded the write back up and handed it over to her, sipping from his tea.

“Do you have your own alchemy tools?”

“Yes.”

He tapped his fingers on the cover of a bookmarked book, one of several on the counter.

“Kat!”

Desari braced herself at the volume.

There was a rustling noise and thump. “Ow.”

The man winced as a girl rubbing her head moved through the shelves behind the counter.

“Master Carl I nearly dropped the Kradi root! You know they get worse when bruised!” She pouted.

“Ah sorry Kat, I wasn’t sure where you were.” Carl coughed meekly.

Kat stopped rubbing her head looking at Desari and back to Carl.

“Though Kradi root, you need to get that prepared right?” He popped back up with a smile, nodding to himself.

“Yes?” Kat ventured.

“Good, good! That will be perfect. Get the other ingredients.”

“You mean the-“

“Nope, pshfsh,” Carl made a grabbing motion in alarm. Kat closing her mouth, confused. He turned back to Desari with a grin. “You’ll get three ingredients, you’ll need to identify them and prepare them.”

He looked over his shoulder at Kat and made a shooing motion. With a huff she walked back into the shelves, muttering to herself opening a drawer and measuring out ingredients.

“Once you have the ingredients refined bring them back up here, I’ll grade them and we’ll see what you can work on next.” Carl smiled.

Kat walked back towards them with a box of ingredients.

“Good luck.” He said cheerfully and poured some more tea into his cup. He opened up a book on the counter, cradling his tea, sipping as he read.

“This way,” Kat exited the store room through a door, entering the corridor. She pulled off the rope. “Third door on the left.” She hooked the rope back on as Desari walked past her.

Desari pushed the door open, finding a basic workshop, stone counters on three sides with a fire stained section cut out of one. A place for someone to put their cauldron to boil and simmer, it had been roughly cleaned with tinder laid out beside it.

Cut logs lay under one of the counters.

Rudimentary, but that was all Desari needed, she turned back to Kat.

“Here you are.” Kat pushed the box into her arms. “Door locks from the inside, once you’re done go back up to the counter. Carl or I will be there. If you need the bathroom there is one two more doors down, it even has running water.” She smiled proudly.

“How?”

“The water melt from Jorai mountain feeds into the city then through water tunnels it passes through the city, collects waste, then the farmers use that on their fields.” Her excitement dimmed. “Well they did at least. I hope you are actually an alchemist, we need a lot of potions and remedies to help the sick and wounded. My master hasn’t slept since the attacks yesterday, making ointments and potions to save people.”

“I will do my best,” Desari promised.

Kat gave her an awkward smile. “Sorry for that, just tired is all.” She laughed, bowing her head and closing the door.

Desari put the box on the counter, opening it, three ingredients lay inside.

“So what are you?” Drawing out books from her storage devices she filtered through identifying them.

“Kradi root.” She pulled out the ingredient, three bulbs with roots dangling underneath, picking up the next, a squishy twig with a bark on it. “Polydraxin and…” The last looked like dried cranberries, but with green lines. “dried Jessel berries.”

She crushed the bulbs of the Kradi root , waited three seconds and snipped off the roots. She cut them smaller, pulling out distilled water, pouring a small amount into a mortar and pestle she added the diced roots and crushed them into the water, turning it purple.

“How did it smell?” Her eyes flicked to the open pages of her book and smelled the water, stringent with an almost pine needle after taste. “Perfect.”

She poured it all into a glass container flipping through the book “Now for the Polydraxin.”

Biting her cheek, her eyes followed her finger down the page again.

“Okay, get the cauldron boiling.” She lit the fire in the pit and placed her cauldron on the grill above. “Shouldn’t be long to get that up to temperature.” She adjusted a gauge on the side of the cauldron and drew out a preparation knife.

“Need to get it under the bark, but not pierce the flesh under.” She hooked the edge of the curved blade under the bark and ran it down in one quick motion. Using her thumbs she lifted up the bark and peeled it away from the white softer flesh underneath running her thumbs up and down between the bark and the flesh.

She laid it into a glass container and repeated the process.

Her cauldron started hissing as the temperature reached high enough.

“That worked out well,” Desari took the top off and laid the long thin white Polydraxin across the cauldron and then up the walls.

“Now the berries.” She threw them into the mortar and pestle and ground them up into a fine powder and stored it away.

“Think that’s it?” She checked the containers and the cauldron, the Polydraxin still steaming away. She took out a chair and sat on it, watching the cauldron and the door.

I should get reading. Her stomach felt hollow as she zoned out on the cauldron. Frustration, anger and fear coiling in her stomach.