The First World Sphere - Chapter 17

Chapter 17 The Carnival

Freya was dressed in her blue birthday dress with her blue ribbons and looked very cute. I had packed all my coins and had my new backpack with some drinks and Wigand’s book to return to him. I hoped to be able to sneak away during the carnival to finish my business with Wigand today.

On the road to the city, Freya said the first thing she wanted to do was see the play Ashton’s Valor. It was a common ballad about a woman who became a knight and rescued her true love. It was two hours long but the other kids in town told Freya it was awesome. After that, she wanted to play some of the games for prizes or more precisely have either me or Gareth win her some prizes. Then she wanted to go to the beast menagerie which had various monsters and beasts from the lands throughout the sphere. Then she wanted to see one of the magicians perform real magic. To top off her birthday she wanted to get a ride on the unicorn which Gwen was not able to do. Also if time permitted she wanted to see the baby dragon. I doubted it was a real dragon. Probably just a drake hatchling or common lizard.

As we got to the city there was a massive airship sitting in the fields just outside of the city. The massive vessel made me think of Noah’s ark. Painted on the side in the large common script was The Wonders of the Sphere, Traveling Carnival. Surrounding the airship was a tent city. Around the tent city was a short wooden fence. It was an amazing sight covering maybe a half mile square (800 m). In addition to the airship, there were a number of visible airships and skyships docked inside the city limits with more coming and going. Freya answered my question forming, “They are only stopping here. The Triumvirate is just allowing them one week to put on their shows for some stupid security reason. But it has brought thousands of people from all over Skyholme, even nobles from the capital!”

I looked at the people milling about around the tents and that was true. Even from here, I could see half a dozen Wolfguard escorting important-looking people in finery and a large array of clothing from low to high born. Freya pointed, “Look the Blackguard!” I turned to see a Wolfguard in a trim black leather uniform outside the fenced area. Freya continued, “There are supposedly 300 Blackguards in the city to keep the peace. At least that is the rumor. Gwen said she counted no less than 50 when she was here two days ago but that is probably a lie.” Well, anything Gwen said was a lie according to Freya.

We reached the fence gate where people were entering. As we got closer to the crowd we saw hawkers for food and souvenirs from around the sphere. Others were walking advertisements for the various large tents that housed specific shows.

The paths were starting to get crowded but Freya led us straight to a ticket vendor and I gave him a shiny gold which the man licked before returning me 30 tickets, 9 large silver, and 7 silver coins. She then dragged us to one of the larger tents with a big advertisement on it for the performance of Ashton's Valor. It cost us three tickets each to enter. Inside there was a large stage set up and seating for maybe 500 people. A quick inquiry had the next show starting in 40 minutes. We were early and learned the front row, where we first tried to sit, was considered ‘principal’ seating by the young elf male who was acting as an usher.

Those seats were larger, padded, and right in front of the stage but cost ten tickets each. Freya gave me her puppy dog eyes and I gave the elf usher three silver coins for the center front row seats. Soon after we had sat down the stands behind us started to fill quickly and you could hear the hawker outside yelling the countdown to the start of the show. A young woman in finery sat next to me and looked me over before holding her nose up and making an effort to avoid acknowledging my presence. A man I assumed was her father sat next to her. Freya was between me and Gareth and I decided to make the best of the situation by ignoring the young woman and enjoying myself.

I ordered us drinks and a snack. The drink ended up being a ginger beer, nonalcoholic, that was chilled and quite good after you got past the bite. The snack was salted caramelized nuts but I couldn’t place what kind of nuts through the salt and sweetness. Gareth ordered some meat on a stick which I paid for as well and the meat reminded me of sweet teriyaki chicken but chewier during consumption. Soon the show did start and I turned briefly to the stands behind us to find every seat had been filled. I counted 50 luxury seats and estimated another 500 other seats. So that would be around 2 gold per show they netted plus more for the food and drinks which I had spent one silver and six large copper on. They did four shows a day so maybe this troupe netted 10 gold a day? My musings ended as the show got underway.

The show was put on entirely by elves. They had many varying body types like humans. These elves were mostly slender, at least the ones that were in the cast. They also did have a unique charisma to them. The lead actor was an extremely beautiful elven woman with dark hair and aquamarine eyes. She was very good at her part and drew you in when she spoke. Actually, all the actors were excellent. The play was similar to a modern performance of Shakespeare except they had the added benefit of illusion magic for special effects. I could see the two elven mages casting spells far off-stage. In all, there were maybe 20 elves in the troupe. I scolded myself for putting effort into sorting the behind-the-scenes work. I returned to focus on enjoying the performance.

The play was two hours but definitely worth it. It had a good amount of romance, comedy, action, and magical special effects to keep the audience highly entertained. The cast got a standing ovation when it ended. As we were leaving Gareth was clearly smitten by the lead elf woman and he kept staring back at her as we were getting ready to leave. Well, his teenage hormones were starting to kick in. Being in the front row we got the unexpected extra benefit to meet the core cast as we were leaving, five of the actors and actresses. This made Freya ecstatic and she would be bragging to Gwen non-stop about it. The young woman who sat next to me handed one of the male actors a large silver and complimented him on his performance, she had that same infatuation look Gareth had for the lead actress.

I guess it was normal to tip actors? I used my ability on the lead elf woman.

Niserie Imiduis

Elf Female

Age 148

Disposition Indifferent

I pulled out a shiny gold coin and handed it to the lead woman with a slight flourish so the snobby girl who sat next to me could see, “Your performance was marvelous Niserie. My friend, Gareth, and sister, Freya, greatly enjoyed the show.” I said with respect giving a partial bow. “Please accept this coin on behalf of your entire troupe.” Yes, I was trying to be spiteful to the young woman who had looked down on me, she gave just a large silver in appreciation! Well here is a gold coin worth 10 times that amount!

Niserie locked eyes with me. Damn, she was more beautiful this close. She then clasped her hands over mine and said, “Thank you for your generosity young man. Perhaps you will see a second showing.” Her touch sent pleasant tingles to every extremity of my body. And her intoxicating smile fogged my brain. Maybe my hormones were ragging too! They were trying to get past my aether core heartburn.

I stammered a response, “Uh…sorry Niser..ie…we only have…come…have time for the one.” Freya's face was laughing at me while Gareth had a shadow of jealousy on his. Well, next time Gareth you can give the damn coin! We were pushed along and out of the tent by the remaining people in the front row who were waiting to thank the actors. Outside I was sweating a bit even in the cool air.

Gareth seemed to catch his breath, “Whoa. That was great but I think one or two of those elves had some type of charisma ability!” Yes, that was it! I just nodded sagely as Freya spoke.

“Guys come on! We don’t have much time before they close down for the day.” She started dragging us and we could clearly see the countdown showing the carnival was open for another eight hours! What was Freya thinking that we were going to stay for eight more hours?

She dragged us to the rows of small tents with games. “Gareth and Storme win me a prize!” It was kind of a demand, not a request by her tone. The tents were crowded with people trying the games. I found something to try. It looked like a mini laser rifle shooting game. You had 6 shots to hit 6 targets. I paid for my chance with a ticket and picked up the metallic rifle with Gareth and Freya looking on. It was somewhat heavy and I extended my metal shaping sense into the rifle. There was a spell form inside! Pulling the trigger activated it, casting the small flashy bolt out the end. The sights seemed like a normal rifle but…there was something wrong at the end of the barrel. Oh, this was interesting. The end of the spell form had a metal gyroscope inset at the nozzle. Each time you fired it ‘wiggled’ the bolt a little. So even with the targets being 10 feet (3 m) away, it would make it hard to hit them. I used my skill to hold the gyroscope steady and quickly went 6 for 6 on the targets before handing the rifle back to the stunned carnie. Freya got a pair of red silk ribbons for a prize selection. I didn't tell Gareth and he tried the rifle game three times before giving up.

A short walk later and Gareth took on the challenge of catching and putting balls into large cans. You stood at one end and six ball tossers threw 60 softballs at you. You needed to catch and dunk 10 of the same color before they hit the ground. The balls were different sizes, weights, and four different colors. The better you did the faster the balls came from the tossers. Gareth did it on his first attempt. Freya got a small jar of hard candy for her prize this time.

The last game we played was against other carnival goers. It was like skee ball. The first competitor to get 12 balls into the single hole won. Of course, there were 12 stations. Gareth got a little too pumped up wanting to win. All three of us played the first game and we lost. Gareth played three more times before giving up. There was a smug kid with a Wolfguard behind him who kept beating Gareth by a single ball. We had to pull him away from the game.

Our next stop was the beast menagerie. It was the biggest tent of all. The tent was sectioned off with wooden walls to separate the exhibits. Each stop had a showman telling of the beast and where it came from within the sphere and how dangerous it was. It had cost each of us two tickets to enter and we moved with a group of 20 or so from exhibit to exhibit. The first exhibit was a panther the size of a horse. Its eyes were coal black and if the lighting hadn’t highlighted the beast in the large cage it would have been hard to find it in the shadowy enclosure. The announcer said the beast hunted the Jungles of Termelia and was the apex predator there.

The next exhibit was a large water tank with three mermen in it. It would have been better with a female of the species. We were told the mermen lived in massive underwater cities across the sphere. These three were 'rescued' from a leviathan by the carnival. It was interesting to watch them swim but soon we moved on. The next monster gave us a scare, a 9’ (2.7m) snow white yeti. It was chained. It was clearly unhappy with its fate and red-brown eyes burned with hate. We moved quickly to the next exhibit as the beast had an intimidating aura.

The next exhibit was a small ice elemental, the size of a cat. It was snowing in its enclosure and the walking ice statue wasn’t overly interesting otherwise. Soon we were moving from exhibit to exhibit. A troglodyte, a bullwog, a giant forest python, a stegosaurus, an imp, three kobolds, a trap door spider, an owlbear, and their piece de resistance in the final exhibit was an adult griffon who was actually tamed. There was a quick sketch artist at the last and for two silver he would sketch you riding the griffon. We passed on it as you didn’t actually get to sit on the griffon. The walk-through had taken a good two hours and we had seen and heard a lot. It was weird to actually see the beasts up close that we had read about in stories.

Next on Freya’s list was a magician. There were multiple acts to choose from and as we were looking Gareth talked her into seeing the acrobat troupe instead. So we spent an hour watching ten acrobats do amazing feats that would make an Olympic gymnast go pale in fright. We were all enthralled as every display they did seemed to defy common sense. I thought these tickets were well spent and hoped Callem didn’t see this show and get some ideas to add to the obstacle course.

Well the last two items on Freya’s list, the dragon tent and unicorn had extremely long lines. I didn’t really want to wait so I talked Gareth into waiting with her while I went into the city to visit Wigand’s bookstore. We agreed where we would meet up later. The meeting location was one of the fence gates monitored by ticket sellers near the city side of the enclosure. Since the city was crowded and there were Wolfsguard around I didn’t fear the gang of kids that had molested me in the past. 

Getting out of the tent city took a little while as the concentration of people was growing. I heard someone saying there were more adult acts performed later in the evening. I was slightly curious but I had things to do. There was also some pyrotechnic display just before the main exhibits and attractions closed so the crowd was growing to see that since it was essentially free. Also, you could smell dozens of different food vendors sending aromas into the air and that slowed me. I wanted to try some but could do that when I got back. I was checking the food on display as I passed. Maybe I could fuse something into my own cooking?

The other large tent in the complex maze was the trader's tent. I wish we had gone there as I am sure there would have been lots of items of interest to purchase. I planned to make the run to Wigand's and get back here to hopefully convince Freya to go shopping.

I noticed a large number of city guards on duty with the influx of people into the city as I entered the gates. The streets were actually crowded and I heard a number of people say what a dumpy little city this was. I am sure it was compared to the capital. I pushed on to my goal. Thankfully Wigand was open and I entered to find six customers browsing his shelves and he was hawkishly watching them. “Wigand?” He jumped at my voice.

“Oh, Storme! Good to see you!” His facial expression did not match his greeting as he was probably stressed by the volume of customers. “I have your book…give me one second while I go grab it.” He went into the back room and I took the opportunity to pull out the Skyholme Navy text. When he returned with the large book in a fresh leather binding he said, “Very good! I had forgotten I had loaned you this book.” I took the large tome I had purchased and placed it into my pack while he returned his book to the shelf behind him.

He turned to face me, “So Storme what else can I help you and your patron with?”

I just shook my head, “Nothing currently. I want to get headed back to the festivities but I wanted to browse your shelves for a bit.” His face creased in thought.

He leaned in and whispered low to me, “I have some new spells you might be interested in…just got them. 40 gold each,” he winked at me. “Rare spells. Condense ice and Ice Shield.” Those spells were more uncommon than rare and neither interested me currently. 

“Not today Wigand.  I just don’t have the coins,” I walked into the aisle where his magical references were located. He followed my movements and the other six patrons in the store. It took a few minutes for me to find the book I was looking for, Introduction to Your Magic Skill Affinity. I read the text over a year ago. It mostly described the 23 magic skill spheres and how having a tier one or tier two affinity affected your practice of spells within that sphere. I found the passage I was looking for near the end.

If you are fortunate enough to be bestowed with a tier-two skill affinity in a magic sphere you will most likely be able to imprint spells for a lower cost. It is generally accepted that a tier 2 spell can be imprinted for the cost of a tier 1. Tier 3 spells can be imprinted for the cost of a tier 2 spell. Reducing the cost of tier 4 spells requires higher skill affinity than tier 2. It should also be noted that even with a skill affinity of two mages are not always successful in the reduced imprinting cost. To ensure a successfully reduced cost imprinting you should purchase a high-quality spellbook with good spell forms. Spellbooks from dungeons are highly suggested as they always ensure a reduced spell cost.

I read the passage twice before returning it to the shelf. I was uncertain if this was an attempt by the conglomerate that made spell books to get new mages to purchase more expensive spell books or if it was in fact true. I would have to either try it or find someone to advise me.

I slipped out the front door while Wigand was busy with another customer who was paying for two books. I was not planning to come back to Wigand’s store any time soon.

I made my way down the street and my focus was split on thinking and avoiding traffic when I was suddenly shoved strongly into an alley I swore in disbelief. I hadn’t been paying enough attention and was going to give the idiot a piece of my mind. There were five boys my age blocking the exit to the street concourse. I recognized all of them. I crawled deeper into the alley before scrambling to my feet. This was not good. I reached down, yes my knife was on my hip and I drew it and took a defensive stance.

A larger shadow filled the mouth of the alley, I was screwed. Wait...he wore a city guard uniform. A smug grin came on my face as I said, “Don’t look behind you boys but you all are done for.” The red-haired boy laughed. Soon I could see why. The guard was also red-haired and shared features of the gang leader. Fuck.

Ok, Storme. Pull your shit together. I positioned my body and feet with the blade. All the boys produced clubs except the red-haired boy who had that stupid short iron blade I had made in our first encounter. Not to worry I told myself. They had range but I had the skill and better movement speed. Three of them could come at me at most and I would just have to injure one quickly. The guard turned his back to the alley, probably making sure no one disturbed his brother's mugging.

I had been gaining more and more confidence as the boys refused to advance. I mean I thought I looked pretty confident, Callem had taught me well with a sword and a dagger was just a really short sword. Two of the boys smirked. Go time was coming. Then I heard a scraping of a hard shoe on a stone behind me. I turned in time to see a girl swing a club.  My quick feet sidestepped and the club barely touched my shoulder. My dagger slashed her arm as I moved behind her, putting her between me and the advancing boys.  The girl was tough, she dropped the club but didn’t cry out.  She moved to the side and let the boys pass.  I backpedaled and kept my ears on alert for more ambushers behind.  I realized my mistake too late.

The alley started to widen quickly which would allow the boys to surround me.  I turned and ran but my heart fell, the alley was a dead end and I was now 50 feet into it.  Even if I screamed I was sure no one would come.   

At first, I hadn’t wanted to kill anyone but the look in their eyes made me fear for my life.  I got the wall at my back and waited for them to make their move.  The girl was out of it as I was sure I had cut the tendon in the forearm of her dominant hand.  So it was just five on one.  Great odds right?  The red-haired boy who had claimed the short sword I had dropped started ordering his thugs.  It was going to be an all-out assault which meant I would have to take the initiative. 

Just before they attacked I moved quickly to the right and got a weak swing on my back as I moved too close for the boy to hit me with his full strength.  My dagger cut through his quad muscle and to the side of his thigh.  As he dropped I rolled away, planning to run back to the mouth of the alley and tackle the guard out into the pedestrian traffic, screaming bloody murder.

I came out of my roll too slow though and the red-haired boy got me in the temple with the hilt of the sword.  It was a lucky swing on his part as he had been planning to strike me in the head with the blade but I was too fast…well not fast enough. I stumbled from the blow slightly dazed but lost my sense of direction and ran headlong into the stone wall.

I was groggy when I came to and heard voices. “….what the…” “….so much….” “….how many gold…” “…is that a platinum…” my head was clearing up except I didn’t like what I was now puzzling out from the voices. “We need to kill him.” “He isn’t a lord, he probably stole all these coins.” The guard was conversing with the gang and they had my purse as my vision came into focus. God damn it. I tried to rise. “He is up. Beat him to death.” It was the red-haired guard who had given the command. Greed was heavy in his eyes as I focused on him. I was too woozy to defend myself other than back up as the clubs started raining down, my dagger was nowhere near me and they had probably already scooped it up. They were not overly strong but kept targeting my head and ribs and my wrists and fingers were soon broken as I covered my head.

Darkness was coming and I felt a blade push through my chest, the fucking blade I had made in haste in our first encounter. The irony of being killed by my own creation was not lost on me. I couldn’t see any more just a blurry red haze. Blood was in my lungs as I struggled to take a breath.

All my big plans were ruined by a few greedy street toughs. I was dead and I knew it. My ears heard them stream out of the alley leaving me to bleed out. I reached within myself, trying to find the spell I had been trying to learn for five days. I had been close if I could just…seconds felt like hours while I struggled to overlay the spell forms…damn it imprint ALREADY! I felt something click in my mind and pushed my aether through the spell form a few times directing the flows to my organs before passing out.

Arturo watched as the city guardsman and local kids streamed out of the alley. They were excited about something. The boy had probably just been mugged.  It wasn’t his concern.  He was in the city due to the carnival, tracking the workers that ventured into the city. Minutes passed and the boy didn’t emerge. After nearly an hour Arturo dropped his chameleon ring effect and stepped away from the wall and headed toward the alley.

He was cautious entering but noticing the broken body on the ground started walking purposely forward. Damn, lots of blood, and the boy’s head and hands were a complete mess. Maybe if he hadn’t waited so long to enter the alley the boy might have lived? Probably not.

The boy's chest rose slightly and fell. Arturo squatted down in the blood pool and looked more closely at the boy. He was breathing, very shallowly and strained. He moved the shirt where a blade had obviously punctured the boy’s chest garment. The wound was closed… This boy suddenly got a lot more interesting.

Announcement Patreon is up to chapter 30 Chapter 17 The Carnival Freya was dressed in her blue birthday dress with her blue ribbons and looked very cute. I had packed all my coins and had my new backpack with some drinks and Wigand's book to return to him. I hoped to be able to sneak away during the carnival to finish my business with Wigand today. On the road to the city, Freya said the first thing she wanted to do was see the play Ashton's Valor. It was a common ballad about a woman who became a knight and rescued her true love. It was two hours long but the other kids in town told Freya it was awesome. After that, she wanted to play some of the games for prizes or more precisely have either me or Gareth win her some prizes. Then she wanted to go to the beast menagerie which had various monsters and beasts from the lands throughout the sphere. Then she wanted to see one of the magicians perform real magic. To top off her birthday she wanted to get a ride on the unicorn which Gwen was not able to do. Also if time permitted she wanted to see the baby dragon. I doubted it was a real dragon. Probably just a drake hatchling or common lizard. As we got to the city there was a massive airship sitting in the fields just outside of the city. The massive vessel made me think of Noah's ark. Painted on the side in the large common script wasThe Wonders of the Sphere, Traveling Carnival.Surrounding the airship was a tent city. Around the tent city was a short wooden fence. It was an amazing sight covering maybe a half mile square 800 m. In addition to the airship, there were a number of visible airships and skyships docked inside the city limits with more coming and going. Freya answered my question forming, They are only stopping here. The Triumvirate is just allowing them one week to put on their shows for some stupid security reason. But it has brought thousands of people from all over Skyholme, even nobles from the capital! I looked at the people milling about around the tents and that was true. Even from here, I could see half a dozen Wolfguard escorting important-looking people in finery and a large array of clothing from low to high born. Freya pointed, Look the Blackguard! I turned to see a Wolfguard in a trim black leather uniform outside the fenced area. Freya continued, There are supposedly 300 Blackguards in the city to keep the peace. At least that is the rumor. Gwen said she counted no less than 50 when she was here two days ago but that is probably a lie. Well, anything Gwen said was a lie according to Freya. We reached the fence gate where people were entering. As we got closer to the crowd we saw hawkers for food and souvenirs from around the sphere. Others were walking advertisements for the various large tents that housed specific shows. The paths were starting to get crowded but Freya led us straight to a ticket vendor and I gave him a shiny gold which the man licked before returning me 30 tickets, 9 large silver, and 7 silver coins. She then dragged us to one of the larger tents with a big advertisement on it for the performance of Ashton's Valor. It cost us three tickets each to enter. Inside there was a large stage set up and seating for maybe 500 people. A quick inquiry had the next show starting in 40 minutes. We were early and learned the front row, where we first tried to sit, was considered principal' seating by the young elf male who was acting as an usher. Those seats were larger, padded, and right in front of the stage but cost ten tickets each. Freya gave me her puppy dog eyes and I gave the elf usher three silver coins for the center front row seats. Soon after we had sat down the stands behind us started to fill quickly and you could hear the hawker outside yelling the countdown to the start of the show. A young woman in finery sat next to me and looked me over before holding her nose up and making an effort to avoid acknowledging my presence. A man I assumed was her father sat next to her. Freya was between me and Gareth and I decided to make the best of the situation by ignoring the young woman and enjoying myself. I ordered us drinks and a snack. The drink ended up being a ginger beer, nonalcoholic, that was chilled and quite good after you got past the bite. The snack was salted caramelized nuts but I couldn't place what kind of nuts through the salt and sweetness. Gareth ordered some meat on a stick which I paid for as well and the meat reminded me of sweet teriyaki chicken but chewier during consumption. Soon the show did start and I turned briefly to the stands behind us to find every seat had been filled. I counted 50 luxury seats and estimated another 500 other seats. So that would be around 2 gold per show they netted plus more for the food and drinks which I had spent one silver and six large copper on. They did four shows a day so maybe this troupe netted 10 gold a day? My musings ended as the show got underway. The show was put on entirely by elves. They had many varying body types like humans. These elves were mostly slender, at least the ones that were in the cast. They also did have a unique charisma to them. The lead actor was an extremely beautiful elven woman with dark hair and aquamarine eyes. She was very good at her part and drew you in when she spoke. Actually, all the actors were excellent. The play was similar to a modern performance of Shakespeare except they had the added benefit of illusion magic for special effects. I could see the two elven mages casting spells far off-stage. In all, there were maybe 20 elves in the troupe. I scolded myself for putting effort into sorting the behind-the-scenes work. I returned to focus on enjoying the performance. The play was two hours but definitely worth it. It had a good amount of romance, comedy, action, and magical special effects to keep the audience highly entertained. The cast got a standing ovation when it ended. As we were leaving Gareth was clearly smitten by the lead elf woman and he kept staring back at her as we were getting ready to leave. Well, his teenage hormones were starting to kick in. Being in the front row we got the unexpected extra benefit to meet the core cast as we were leaving, five of the actors and actresses. This made Freya ecstatic and she would be bragging to Gwen non-stop about it. The young woman who sat next to me handed one of the male actors a large silver and complimented him on his performance, she had that same infatuation look Gareth had for the lead actress. I guess it was normal to tip actors? I used my ability on the lead elf woman. Niserie Imiduis Elf Female Age 148 Disposition Indifferent I pulled out a shiny gold coin and handed it to the lead woman with a slight flourish so the snobby girl who sat next to me could see, Your performance was marvelous Niserie. My friend, Gareth, and sister, Freya, greatly enjoyed the show. I said with respect giving a partial bow. Please accept this coin on behalf of your entire troupe. Yes, I was trying to be spiteful to the young woman who had looked down on me, she gave just a large silver in appreciation! Well here is a gold coin worth 10 times that amount! Niserie locked eyes with me. Damn, she was more beautiful this close. She then clasped her hands over mine and said, Thank you for your generosity young man. Perhaps you will see a second showing. Her touch sent pleasant tingles to every extremity of my body. And her intoxicating smile fogged my brain. Maybe my hormones were ragging too! They were trying to get past my aether core heartburn. I stammered a response, Uhsorry Niser..iewe only havecomehave time for the one. Freya's face was laughing at me while Gareth had a shadow of jealousy on his. Well, next time Gareth you can give the damn coin! We were pushed along and out of the tent by the remaining people in the front row who were waiting to thank the actors. Outside I was sweating a bit even in the cool air. Gareth seemed to catch his breath, Whoa. That was great but I think one or two of those elves had some type of charisma ability! Yes, that was it! I just nodded sagely as Freya spoke. Guys come on! We don't have much time before they close down for the day. She started dragging us and we could clearly see the countdown showing the carnival was open for another eight hours! What was Freya thinking that we were going to stay for eight more hours? She dragged us to the rows of small tents with games. Gareth and Storme win me a prize! It was kind of a demand, not a request by her tone. The tents were crowded with people trying the games. I found something to try. It looked like a mini laser rifle shooting game. You had 6 shots to hit 6 targets. I paid for my chance with a ticket and picked up the metallic rifle with Gareth and Freya looking on. It was somewhat heavy and I extended my metal shaping sense into the rifle. There was a spell form inside! Pulling the trigger activated it, casting the small flashy bolt out the end. The sights seemed like a normal rifle butthere was something wrong at the end of the barrel. Oh, this was interesting. The end of the spell form had a metal gyroscope inset at the nozzle. Each time you fired it wiggled' the bolt a little. So even with the targets being 10 feet 3 m away, it would make it hard to hit them. I used my skill to hold the gyroscope steady and quickly went 6 for 6 on the targets before handing the rifle back to the stunned carnie. Freya got a pair of red silk ribbons for a prize selection. I didn't tell Gareth and he tried the rifle game three times before giving up. A short walk later and Gareth took on the challenge of catching and putting balls into large cans. You stood at one end and six ball tossers threw 60 softballs at you. You needed to catch and dunk 10 of the same color before they hit the ground. The balls were different sizes, weights, and four different colors. The better you did the faster the balls came from the tossers. Gareth did it on his first attempt. Freya got a small jar of hard candy for her prize this time. The last game we played was against other carnival goers. It was like skee ball. The first competitor to get 12 balls into the single hole won. Of course, there were 12 stations. Gareth got a little too pumped up wanting to win. All three of us played the first game and we lost. Gareth played three more times before giving up. There was a smug kid with a Wolfguard behind him who kept beating Gareth by a single ball. We had to pull him away from the game. Our next stop was the beast menagerie. It was the biggest tent of all. The tent was sectioned off with wooden walls to separate the exhibits. Each stop had a showman telling of the beast and where it came from within the sphere and how dangerous it was. It had cost each of us two tickets to enter and we moved with a group of 20 or so from exhibit to exhibit. The first exhibit was a panther the size of a horse. Its eyes were coal black and if the lighting hadn't highlighted the beast in the large cage it would have been hard to find it in the shadowy enclosure. The announcer said the beast hunted the Jungles of Termelia and was the apex predator there. The next exhibit was a large water tank with three mermen in it. It would have been better with a female of the species. We were told the mermen lived in massive underwater cities across the sphere. These three were 'rescued' from a leviathan by the carnival. It was interesting to watch them swim but soon we moved on. The next monster gave us a scare, a 9' 2.7m snow white yeti. It was chained. It was clearly unhappy with its fate and red-brown eyes burned with hate. We moved quickly to the next exhibit as the beast had an intimidating aura. The next exhibit was a small ice elemental, the size of a cat. It was snowing in its enclosure and the walking ice statue wasn't overly interesting otherwise. Soon we were moving from exhibit to exhibit. A troglodyte, a bullwog, a giant forest python, a stegosaurus, an imp, three kobolds, a trap door spider, an owlbear, and their piece de resistance in the final exhibit was an adult griffon who was actually tamed. There was a quick sketch artist at the last and for two silver he would sketch you riding the griffon. We passed on it as you didn't actually get to sit on the griffon. The walk-through had taken a good two hours and we had seen and heard a lot. It was weird to actually see the beasts up close that we had read about in stories. Next on Freya's list was a magician. There were multiple acts to choose from and as we were looking Gareth talked her into seeing the acrobat troupe instead. So we spent an hour watching ten acrobats do amazing feats that would make an Olympic gymnast go pale in fright. We were all enthralled as every display they did seemed to defy common sense. I thought these tickets were well spent and hoped Callem didn't see this show and get some ideas to add to the obstacle course. Well the last two items on Freya's list, the dragon tent and unicorn had extremely long lines. I didn't really want to wait so I talked Gareth into waiting with her while I went into the city to visit Wigand's bookstore. We agreed where we would meet up later. The meeting location was one of the fence gates monitored by ticket sellers near the city side of the enclosure. Since the city was crowded and there were Wolfsguard around I didn't fear the gang of kids that had molested me in the past. Getting out of the tent city took a little while as the concentration of people was growing. I heard someone saying there were more adult acts performed later in the evening. I was slightly curious but I had things to do. There was also some pyrotechnic display just before the main exhibits and attractions closed so the crowd was growing to see that since it was essentially free. Also, you could smell dozens of different food vendors sending aromas into the air and that slowed me. I wanted to try some but could do that when I got back. I was checking the food on display as I passed. Maybe I could fuse something into my own cooking? The other large tent in the complex maze was the trader's tent. I wish we had gone there as I am sure there would have been lots of items of interest to purchase. I planned to make the run to Wigand's and get back here to hopefully convince Freya to go shopping. I noticed a large number of city guards on duty with the influx of people into the city as I entered the gates. The streets were actually crowded and I heard a number of people say what a dumpy little city this was. I am sure it was compared to the capital. I pushed on to my goal. Thankfully Wigand was open and I entered to find six customers browsing his shelves and he was hawkishly watching them. Wigand? He jumped at my voice. Oh, Storme! Good to see you! His facial expression did not match his greeting as he was probably stressed by the volume of customers. I have your bookgive me one second while I go grab it. He went into the back room and I took the opportunity to pull out the Skyholme Navy text. When he returned with the large book in a fresh leather binding he said, Very good! I had forgotten I had loaned you this book. I took the large tome I had purchased and placed it into my pack while he returned his book to the shelf behind him. He turned to face me, So Storme what else can I help you and your patron with? I just shook my head, Nothing currently. I want to get headed back to the festivities but I wanted to browse your shelves for a bit. His face creased in thought. He leaned in and whispered low to me, I have some new spells you might be interested injust got them. 40 gold each, he winked at me. Rare spells. Condense ice and Ice Shield. Those spells were more uncommon than rare and neither interested me currently. Not today Wigand. I just don't have the coins, I walked into the aisle where his magical references were located. He followed my movements and the other six patrons in the store. It took a few minutes for me to find the book I was looking for,Introduction to Your Magic SkillAffinity. I read the text over a year ago. It mostly described the 23 magic skill spheres and how having a tier one or tier two affinity affected your practice of spells within that sphere. I found the passage I was looking for near the end. If you are fortunate enough to be bestowed with a tier-two skill affinity in a magic sphere you will most likely be able to imprint spells for a lower cost. It is generally accepted that a tier 2 spell can be imprinted for the cost of a tier 1. Tier 3 spells can be imprinted for the cost of a tier 2 spell. Reducing the cost of tier 4 spells requires higher skill affinity than tier 2. It should also be noted that even with a skill affinity of two mages are not always successful in the reduced imprinting cost. To ensure a successfully reduced cost imprinting you should purchase a high-quality spellbook with good spell forms. Spellbooks from dungeons are highly suggested as they always ensure a reduced spell cost. I read the passage twice before returning it to the shelf. I was uncertain if this was an attempt by the conglomerate that made spell books to get new mages to purchase more expensive spell books or if it was in fact true. I would have to either try it or find someone to advise me. I slipped out the front door while Wigand was busy with another customer who was paying for two books. I was not planning to come back to Wigand's store any time soon. I made my way down the street and my focus was split on thinking and avoiding traffic when I was suddenly shoved strongly into an alley I swore in disbelief. I hadn't been paying enough attention and was going to give the idiot a piece of my mind. There were five boys my age blocking the exit to the street concourse. I recognized all of them. I crawled deeper into the alley before scrambling to my feet. This was not good. I reached down, yes my knife was on my hip and I drew it and took a defensive stance. A larger shadow filled the mouth of the alley, I was screwed. Wait...he wore a city guard uniform. A smug grin came on my face as I said, Don't look behind you boys but you all are done for. The red-haired boy laughed. Soon I could see why. The guard was also red-haired and shared features of the gang leader. Fuck. Ok, Storme. Pull your shit together. I positioned my body and feet with the blade. All the boys produced clubs except the red-haired boy who had that stupid short iron blade I had made in our first encounter. Not to worry I told myself. They had range but I had the skill and better movement speed. Three of them could come at me at most and I would just have to injure one quickly. The guard turned his back to the alley, probably making sure no one disturbed his brother's mugging. I had been gaining more and more confidence as the boys refused to advance. I mean I thought I looked pretty confident, Callem had taught me well with a sword and a dagger was just a really short sword. Two of the boys smirked. Go time was coming. Then I heard a scraping of a hard shoe on a stone behind me. I turned in time to see a girl swing a club. My quick feet sidestepped and the club barely touched my shoulder. My dagger slashed her arm as I moved behind her, putting her between me and the advancing boys. The girl was tough, she dropped the club but didn't cry out. She moved to the side and let the boys pass. I backpedaled and kept my ears on alert for more ambushers behind. I realized my mistake too late. The alley started to widen quickly which would allow the boys to surround me. I turned and ran but my heart fell, the alley was a dead end and I was now 50 feet into it. Even if I screamed I was sure no one would come. At first, I hadn't wanted to kill anyone but the look in their eyes made me fear for my life. I got the wall at my back and waited for them to make their move. The girl was out of it as I was sure I had cut the tendon in the forearm of her dominant hand. So it was just five on one. Great odds right? The red-haired boy who had claimed the short sword I had dropped started ordering his thugs. It was going to be an all-out assault which meant I would have to take the initiative. Just before they attacked I moved quickly to the right and got a weak swing on my back as I moved too close for the boy to hit me with his full strength. My dagger cut through his quad muscle and to the side of his thigh. As he dropped I rolled away, planning to run back to the mouth of the alley and tackle the guard out into the pedestrian traffic, screaming bloody murder. I came out of my roll too slow though and the red-haired boy got me in the temple with the hilt of the sword. It was a lucky swing on his part as he had been planning to strike me in the head with the blade but I was too fastwell not fast enough. I stumbled from the blow slightly dazed but lost my sense of direction and ran headlong into the stone wall. I was groggy when I came to and heard voices. .what the .so much. .how many gold is that a platinum my head was clearing up except I didn't like what I was now puzzling out from the voices. We need to kill him. He isn't a lord, he probably stole all these coins. The guard was conversing with the gang and they had my purse as my vision came into focus. God damn it. I tried to rise. He is up. Beat him to death. It was the red-haired guard who had given the command. Greed was heavy in his eyes as I focused on him. I was too woozy to defend myself other than back up as the clubs started raining down, my dagger was nowhere near me and they had probably already scooped it up. They were not overly strong but kept targeting my head and ribs and my wrists and fingers were soon broken as I covered my head. Darkness was coming and I felt a blade push through my chest, the fucking blade I had made in haste in our first encounter. The irony of being killed by my own creation was not lost on me. I couldn't see any more just a blurry red haze. Blood was in my lungs as I struggled to take a breath. All my big plans were ruined by a few greedy street toughs. I was dead and I knew it. My ears heard them stream out of the alley leaving me to bleed out. I reached within myself, trying to find the spell I had been trying to learn for five days. I had been close if I could justseconds felt like hours while I struggled to overlay the spell formsdamn it imprint ALREADY! I felt something click in my mind and pushed my aether through the spell form a few times directing the flows to my organs before passing out. Arturo watched as the city guardsman and local kids streamed out of the alley. They were excited about something. The boy had probably just been mugged. It wasn't his concern. He was in the city due to the carnival, tracking the workers that ventured into the city. Minutes passed and the boy didn't emerge. After nearly an hour Arturo dropped his chameleon ring effect and stepped away from the wall and headed toward the alley. He was cautious entering but noticing the broken body on the ground started walking purposely forward. Damn, lots of blood, and the boy's head and hands were a complete mess. Maybe if he hadn't waited so long to enter the alley the boy might have lived? Probably not. The boy's chest rose slightly and fell. Arturo squatted down in the blood pool and looked more closely at the boy. He was breathing, very shallowly and strained. He moved the shirt where a blade had obviously punctured the boy's chest garment. The wound was closed This boy suddenly got a lot more interesting.