Chapter 9: Ch. 9

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The Thaumaturgist (Chapter 9)

 

by

 

Elite Shade

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daso hummed as he scaled the wooden scaffolding of the fort. Currently, he had several long and thin metallic poles strapped to his back, each of which ended in a spike. There were fifteen in total, each one silver in color for the most part, but with a series of dials and wires running through them near their flat tops.

Daso reached the top and smiled as he began to survey the surrounding area. He spotted a treeline to the south, figuring that to be the most likely hideout for the bandits. He filed that piece of information away for later, unstrapping the poles and setting them down. Daso picked up a single pole, which was just a head shorter than himself, and plucked the sledge hammer that he had hooked to his tool belt.

The mostly elven mercenaries watched Daso as he worked, some with a bemused expression on their faces. Daso took no notice as he began to hammer the top of the pole into the top of the walkway. Once he hammered it in enough, he stopped and started to fiddle with the dials and wires. A few minutes later, he nodded and stepped away. The pole was making a low deep hum as he stooped to gather the remaining poles, and started walking along the wall.

After a while of nodding to the mercenaries he passed, he stopped and pulled out a small metallic conical device. He pressed a button and it began to hum. He continued to walk along the wall until a light at the tip flashed bright orange. Daso smiled and shut it off before setting all but one of the poles down and proceeded to hammer it in and subsequently fiddle with the dials until it too began to hum with the first pole. It took him a while more of walking, whilst the mercenaries looked on curiously, until he hammered in the last one.

Daso slowly adjusted the dials on the fifteenth pole, until it began to hum the same tone that the others were. After a few seconds, the poles all began to glow a bright greenish-blue hue. The mercenaries and construction crew, who had exited the servants' quarters to see what was going on, looked at the glowing poles nervously. Before anyone could say or do anything further, a bright series of electric blue lights shot out from the very tops of the poles in a straight beam directly over the fort. The lights met and instantaneously formed a rapidly growing orb of blue light that was almost blinding to look upon.

Then, just as quickly as they had come, the beams of light sputtered out from the poles until they were all gone. The orb remained, however, and had grown to the size of a large house. The ball of light shuddered and its surface rippled, before it turned deep crimson, and split into a long series of crisscrossing red lines in the sky. The lines lengthened and soon began to form a net-like dome that encompassed the entire fort, as well as several yards out around it. The ends of the red lights touched the ground all at once and flashed, and the dome was no more. Daso nodded with a smirk, looking up to see that the late afternoon sky was not even close to dusk yet.

"I am good," he said before beginning to climb down the nearest ladder. He found General Hectalo waiting at the base of the ladder, a light smile on his face.

"That was quite the light show, Miss Daso."

"Please, General, just call me Daso," he said as he looked up at the older elf.

"Only if you simply call me Hectalo in return."

"Deal," Daso said, smiling. "You can inform the construction crew that they can resume work without fear of being attacked."

"So that was some sort of force field then?"

"Yep. It's a new configuration based off a classic method that fell out of use almost a decade ago."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, that was when the Thaumaturgists' Guild developed more intricate ethereal locking mechanisms that are, admittedly, visually stunning. However, they require such massive amounts of energy to create and maintain for any long period of time that they're actually quite unfeasible for long term use, with the exception of those wealthy enough to keep them powered however long they want," Daso explained, Hectalo nodding as he paid close attention. The elf motioned one of his men forward to relay to the construction crew that it was safe, before hurrying to follow along the young lady's quick and confident strides towards her cart.

"I take it that your force field requires less energy to maintain?"

"You are correct," Daso said as he opened up a side panel of his cart, pulling out a beige knapsack and slinging it over his shoulder. "It requires less energy and covers a larger area. Most of those expensive systems can only cover a single entryway. As you saw, before it became invisible to the naked eye, my field is now covering the entire fort."

"And what will it do to anyone trying to pass through it?"

"Oh...that actually depends..." Daso said as he started to make his way towards the main entrance.

"On what?"

"On how they try to go about getting through. Simply trying to pass through, like walking or sneaking through will result in one unpleasant outcome. Someone trying to use magic or energy will experience another unpleasant outcome. And someone trying to use brute force will experience and especially unpleasant outcome. It's very similar to the system that I have set up back at my shop in Pharanx."

"And what if someone tries to dig under it?" After Hectalo asked this Daso turned with a wink and shook his knapsack.

"That's what I'm going to go take care of right now." Daso then continued out the front, passing the two guards on duty who stared after him in awe.

 

Back in Pharanx...

 

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Arono sighed to himself as he walked along the sidewalk in front of Daso's shop.

"How could she have simply left town to go gallivanting about in such a dangerous place without telling me first, her own betrothed?" Arono cried out, falling to his knees right there on the sidewalk. A number of passers by were adamantly trying not to look at him, some even crossing the street. He stayed like that, dramatically posing for all to ignore, for a few minutes. When he looked up to see the last of the once crowded street hurry around a nearby corner. He also was becoming aware of a loud thumping followed immediately by a small tremor beneath him. Arono turned, his hazel eyes widening as he gazed upon a giant, and actual giant, thundering along up the street.

The giant was easily a massive head taller than the tallest building on the street, which happened to be a three story bookstore. He was wearing a gargantuan dark brown leather duster, beneath which he wore a pair of giant-sized jeans and a single white shirt, covering a slight pot-belly. His boots were a light brown leather and each the size of a large carriage on the street. The skin visible on his face, the parts not obscured by his thick black beard and wild unkempt hair, was a literal ashen gray. In one hand he was clutching a club, inlaid with metal rings and about as long as his own arm, casually resting on his shoulder. Huge amber eyes stared out as he looked around.

Climbing to his feet, Arono watched as the giant pulled out a piece of paper from his coat pocket. He had it pinched in between his thumb and forefinger as he stared closely at it, his mouth silently mouthing the words he read off the page. He then looked down at the street, stopping when his eyes came to rest upon Arono. The elf trembled, but stood his ground, as he watched the giant, a rare sight due to their tribes' habit of seclusion from the rest of the world, chuckle in a voice so deep and loud that there was a physical rumbling sensation as he tucked the paper back into his pocket, and then motioned with his club at Arono, for him to move aside. Arono was a little confused at first, before he turned and looked at Daso's shop, it suddenly clicking in his mind that this was the latest in a series of assaults on his beloved's place of business.

Arono drew himself up to his full height, his right palm resting on the hilt of his rapier. Then he turned and sprinted down the street and around the corner. He had his spherical communicator out and in hand, already hitting speed dial.

"Please pick up, Tietro, please pick up!" he was practically chanting as he ran.

The giant smiled smugly as he looked up and down the street for any signs of life, and saw none. Then he turned to the shop in question and his smile grew wide. Figuring that this was going to be an easy payday, he took a casual swipe at the display windows with his club. He was completely caught off guard when his club slowed down, as though he was trying to swing it through molasses, before it stopped, and then it whipped back right into his face at lightning speed. There was a massive sickening crunching sound as the club broke his nose.

The giant took a step back and turned his head. His eyes were watering just as mustard yellow blood gushed out of his nose and splattered on the street and sidewalks beneath him. The blood had a stench to it like that of something sour mixed with sulfur. He raised his head up and wiped at his eyes while his white tongue ran along his now busted lip. The giant then froze in place, his pupils shrinking until they were barely perceptible dots, and his mouth opened. He bellowed in pure rage, and ran at the shop, swinging his club down in blind fury.

 

Back at the fort...

 

Daso reached into his knapsack and pulled out a marble-sized cube of amethyst. He ran his thumb over a single symbol carved into one side, and then tossed it onto the ground nearby, where it started to burrow in the ground entirely on its own accord. Daso walked around the entire perimeter of his force field, measuring it out with the conical meter he kept in his left hand, repeating the process with additional cubes every five feet. Off in the distance, as the day was beginning to approach dusk, he could see some clouds coming in from the northern horizon.

Looking to the south at the treeline, he could see faint traces of smoke lazily drifting above the trees, and resumed his work. When he had walked full circle around the outside of the fort and used the last of his cubes, he looked again back towards the trees. There was more smoke now, and what sounded like the faint beating of drums, just at the sun began to dip beneath the horizon.

Daso hurried back through the entrance of the fort, passing the guards who seemed to be in much higher spirits compared to when he had first arrived, and jogged over to his cart. He stowed away his knapsack and started to pull out several gadgets and tools from under a hidden panel. He rushed over to an outdoor workbench and started to lay everything down.

"Is everything alright, Daso?" Hectalo asked as he approached, passing by several construction workers who were mixing mortar.

"Just fine, sir, I'm just getting preparing my equipment to do what I was paid to come here to do, and that is to help fortify this fort."

 

Back in Pharanx...

 

"Once again, we are reporting a giant rampage," an orc reporter was saying from behind cover to her cameradwarf. Their cover was an overturned mechanical horse, the front half of which was smashed almost completely flat. Arono looked at the two from where he was hiding around the corner, cursing himself for his cowardice. The guards had arrived shortly after his calling, Tietro leading them, and that had been almost two hours ago. He could hear the loud screams coming from the giant, as well as a strange zapping noise with flashes of yellow and red lights. All of that almost drowning out the multitude of voices coming from the guards, some of which Arono managed to identify as Tietro giving orders.

"--not since three years ago during the downtown ogre riots--" Arono heard the orc woman, dressed in a plum ruffled pantsuit, say briefly over the noise from the battle taking place behind her. Arono steeled himself and took a deep breath, before unsheathing his sword, and roaring as he turned back around the corner, he ran straight at the fighting taking place before him. He did slow down and stare in awe at what lay before him.

The giant, whose duster was mostly burned off at this point, was screaming in pain as one arm was wrapped by a tentacle of yellow light, emanating from Daso's shop, specifically an antenna on top of the tallest chimney. There was a loud sizzling noise coming from where the light was making contact with his flesh, as it forced his arm behind his back. Another tentacle of yellow light was attempting to wrap around his free arm, which was still swinging his club maniacally all about, taking out a second story balcony off a nearby building. The club was partially blackened and laced with scorch marks.

The surrounding buildings all had sustained some damage, with the bakery across the street from Daso's having its entire front side caved in. The street too had been smashed to pieces in some places, giving way to the sewer underneath. Presently, the giant's left foot was caught in one of the sewer holes, with some sort of green gelatinous form creeping up his leg, dissolving his boot and pants leg as it did so, leaving behind a trail of painful-looking blisters in its wake.

All around there were guards who were taking shots from their rifles, tranquilizer darts bouncing off the giant's thick hide. Some did manage to pierce through however, and his struggle became much more sluggish. His broken nose was still dripping his fetid mustard yellow blood. He cried out as the second tentacle of light wrapped around his free wrist, the sizzling sound intensifying, and soon he had dropped the club, which almost crushed a few guards who had gotten too close. Soon he was on his knees, both arms behind his back, his eyes becoming unfocused, and he let out a low and loud groan, before falling over onto his side.

Arono stood there with his rapier out, listening to the sudden quiet. All around him, it looked like a warzone. The guards slowly moved forward, their riffles drawn, and approached the giant. They stopped when he let out a grunt and raised his head slightly, before passing back out, down for the count. The slime creature was still oozing up the giant's leg, now near his knee. Arono watched as additional reinforcements arrived, his eyes drifting toward Daso's shop. While other buildings were almost demolished, there it stood, largely untouched... except for a single second story window that had been cracked in a spiderweb pattern.

 

Back at the fort...

 

"So because his son went and pissed off the Thaumaturgists' Guild good and proper, he had to go get himself some little girl playin' pretend on the cheap," Daso overheard one of the human construction workers mutter to his fellow workers with a partially wheezy voice as they were laying bricks.

"I dunno, Lurksi, that thing with the ball of light looked like pretty serious business to me," another one said, his voice carrying with it a slight accent. His skin was a darker shade of brown than most of the other human workers nearby, which combined with his accent made evident that he was from the country of Kyama. He was sticking a small metal disk on each brick before handing them to Lurksi.

"Leave it to a woman to make a pretty light show. I betcha that she's just bankin' on them bandits having seen it and being scared off, and that there ain't any real barrier at'chall, least not any would stop more'n a lie-toad," Lurksi said. Daso was actively ignoring him and instead focusing on making more of the disks. He was aware of at least one pair of eyes on him when he bent over to pick up one of the disks that had fallen to the ground.

"I will say this though, she is quite a sight for sore eyes. 'Specially with a fine arse like that," he chuckled, as did several of the others. Daso had heard, and continued to ignore them, choosing to focus on his work.

"Although her bosoms could be a bit bigger."

Daso wasn't sure why that last part angered him even more, but he didn't really care at that point. He set down his tools and strode right on over to the group he had overheard.

"I think she heard you," the one attaching the disks said quietly, looking up at Daso apologetically. Lurksi, who had a very obvious combover that did nothing to hide his very large bald spot and a pronounced paunch, merely snorted before turning to see Daso approach him.

"Do ya need anything lass? Or are ya done with those pretty little charms that you're making for us and need someone to help you carry them over here so ya won't go breaking one of your nails?" he asked, making several of the other workers within earshot snicker. The Kyamanian did not laugh, however, seeing the look in Daso's eyes.

Daso looked Lurksi up and down once, right before he slammed his fist right into the surprised portly man's jaw. Lurksi's legs gave right out from under him, and he collapsed into a heap, knocked completely out. Daso looked around at the other workers, who all started to avert their gazes, with only the Kyamanian meeting his eyes. The dark skinned man smiled at Daso, not at all put off by his actions. Daso said nothing and simply nodded to him, before walking back over to his workbench and resume his crafting of the disks.

A couple of workers ran to where Lurksi laid, and rapidly picked him up to carry off to the servants' quarters. A new worker joined the brick layers, and they resumed their work in silence.

 

 

 

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