S01E09 - The Septumhate

*****

The next morning I joined Simon, Brice, and Colin in the lunch room of the embassy for a buffett-style breakfast of beans in sauce, sausages, toasted breads with a selection of honey and jams, and some foul greasy vegetable concoction that Brice couldn't get enough of. I'd brought my elvish glaive with me and leaned it awkwardly against the table. It wasn't quite a traditional mages staff, but it would be perfect for channeling once I attuned it. It would be even better for poking and slicing bitey things that got too close.

Kaldi, the local name for coffee, was both available and in plentiful supply.

I found out that the resident mages loved the stuff and imported not only the Aryssian variety, but also a Treian (tray-ean) variety grown on plantations located relatively nearby. Local ships would travel two or three days east to the Principality of Mouria and trade with its capital city Godmanc, which was situated near the mouth of the Biverhambe river. Godmanc, it turned out, was a bustling port exchanging goods from the northern edges of Treian empire for those of the new lands that lay on this side of the barrier mountains.

Breakfast completed, we left our dishes for the help to clear and made our way east across the city for my interview with the Septumhate, the seven sages that ruled over Kaliana.

"I feel really awkward not having any cash in my pockets." I mentioned to Simon as we walked. "Am I supposed to speak to the king about a stipend or something? I'm sure he's not expecting us to save the world for free."

"You're the hero," Simon said, somehow shocked at the idea of getting paid to work. "You don't really need money, do you? There's honour, glory..."

"And jingling money so I can buy things." I interrupted. "Brice, Colin, what's the pay like for a royal guard?"

"It's not bad, but the benefits are what makes it worthwhile," Brice shrugged.

"We get paid more than the guys in the army," Colin said. "About 2000 silver a month depending on experience, which includes meals, housing pay, uniforms, armour and medical care. A guard in the army would earn about 1500 silver."

"I'm not sure about your currency," I admitted. "Is that enough to live on?"

Colin shrugged. "It's fair, I suppose," he said. "About the same as an unskilled labourer, but they don't have the benefits."

"What about a skilled worker?" I asked.

"Depends on the trade." He replied. "Guilds set the rates, but a journeyman cooper or farrier might earn 3500 silver a month, and a master armoursmith would command 15,000 easily."

"So I want to buy drinks at the pub." I said, trying to get a feel for the exchange rates. "How much for a round for all of us?"

"Silver a pint, three for two glasses of wine, sausages are an extra silver each." Brice said, glancing back at me. "I know a good pub around here and anything you buy gets charged to the King."

I laughed at his eagerness. "That solves my problem now, doesn't it?" I said. "Let's have a few drinks and go shopping when I get done with this interview."

Colin clapped me on the shoulder and grinned. "Don't get too excited," He said. "Now that you have a pointy stick, we'll begin training in the tomorrow."

Yeah, I wasn't looking forward to that. I have a severe allergy to getting wacked with things. Poked, prodded, sliced, stabbed, clawed, and chewed are also on the short list of things I actively avoid.

The streets were soon filled with people going about their daily business and we arrived at the walled complex that housed the septumhate to find it filled with people. The large desk that had been manned by a single functionary last night now held seven of them, each with a deep queue of people waiting for attention. Simon looked hesitant, so Brice took the paperwork and pushed through to the desk, causing angry squawks and muttering.

I made a mental note to locate some armour, seeing how people tended to shut up when confronted with shiny metal and a nonsense attitude.

The clerk rose and walked from behind the desk, leaving a dozen men and women groaning in the queue. "I am scribe Sofia Gallagher. You are expected," she said. "Please follow me."

She led us up a set of well-worn stairs behind the desk and down a long hall filled with identical doors set in the wall, leading one to believe the interior rooms were no larger than a pretentious closet. Small brass plates on each one bore a letter and number. A spiral stair at the end of the hall led to the top floor which opened into a waiting room with greenish glass windows on three sides. The fourth contained portraits of men and women, possibly wizards judging by the staff depicted prominently in one, and a set of polished double doors made of some reddish wood.

"Please wait here." Sofia said, indicating the plush chairs placed strategically around the room to offer the best view. "I'll announce your presence." Knocking thrice on the doors, she slid one open and went inside, closing it behind her.

Brice and Colin remained standing, the swords at their side a deterrent to planting a bottom in a cozy chair.

I selected a chair with a view of a large belltower in the distance, somewhere near the centre of the town. I half-remembered it from our trip to the embassy last evening, and pointed it out to Simon who had sat nearby.

"Do you have clocks in this world?" I asked him, trying to recall if I had seen any since my inter-dimensional kidnapping.

"Clocks?"

"Mechanical time keepers. Made of gears and springs. You wind them up and they keep track of the hours that pass."

"Lady save us, no," Simon said in horror. "Complex gear work is forbidden. Any design must be approved by the royal artificers to prevent gremlins. "

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "Gremlins?" I said, uncertain if the lanky youth was messing with me. "The cute and fuzzy kind, or the nasty scaly kind?"

"The nasty scaly kind, I suppose." He replied after a moment. "I've never seen one myself, but it's common knowledge that the imps are born from the infernal forces that surround any working device of made of gears."

"You're joking," I said in disbelief. "Gears cause real gremlins to appear?"

"Any thing with enough gears," Colin supplied. "Brice and I had to go root out an infestation once. Usually the imps will smash whatever machinery that birthed them and you only have a couple to deal with. But this contraption was built sturdy and water powered, so they kept getting caught and ground up while it kept creating more. Dozens of the infernal beasts were created before we managed to ram a boat under the wheel and stop it."

Brice nodded at the memory. "It was months before any mother would let her child out of sight for even a moment."

I sat there in shock. Technology created demons from thin air. This world would never experience an industrial revolution. Technology would never advance. It was designed by the gods to punish those who created anything more complex than a water mill.

Sophia opened the doors and gestured to me. "Your presence is requested," she said. "The rest will remain."

I got up and walked past the doors and into what appeared to be a court room. Sophia slid the doors closed behind me. The richly panelled room was occupied by a horseshoe panel behind which seven balding and bearded men sat in elegant robes of orange and brown. A slim wood podium sat in the middle of the floor, surrounded by these elite mages. I had a strong flashback to university and the defence of my thesis, and I broke out in a cold sweat. Then I smiled at the memory. The thesis defence was just a formality. If you made it that far, your success is almost 100% assured. I had the backing of the lady Avelan, her priestess, and the king himself. This was just an intimidation tactic.

I stepped up to the podium, looked each one in the eye, and grinned broadly.

"Gentlemen," I said, pitching my voice to carry around the room. "Tell me exactly how you're going to help the Hero defeat the evil that threatens your lands." They sputtered in shock.

"You there!" I picked the one who looked like he would be the most trouble. Call out the bully and the rest of the dogs will fall silent, right? "Give me reasons why you personally aren't fighting against the Demon King." I said, levelling a finger at his face. "Tell me why I should fight and die for you."

"You are out of order!" He shouted, half rising from his chair. "You are here to prove your knowledge to the septumhate!"

"No, I am not," I said, slapping a hand on the podium. "I am in this world because I was kidnapped along with my daughter and her friends. My only goal is to ensure their safety and return to our world. That means I am HERE to get the tools necessary to save your scrawny butts. You will everything I require, in abundance and without hesitation, or you will perish when the evil consumes you. Is that clear? I am not here to prove anything to you. You are here to provide for my success."

I glared each one of them, daring someone to disagree.

"That is true enough," a thin reedy voice said from my right. "We assisted with designing the summoning circle that would allow lady Mirna to channel the will of the goddess and summon heroes who could defeat the evil that threatens us. But it would be irresponsible to grant you a locus at Ubrid without plumbing your knowledge. You could cause great harm to yourself and others with misuse of the power."

I looked at the mage who was speaking. Garbed in robes of orange and brown and trimmed in a brilliant cobalt blue to match his eyes, they threatened to engulf him and his beard. He looked like someone had wrapped their grandfather in a blanket. I could work with this guy.

"I am Doctor Samuel Andrew Carter," I said, giving him a nod. "An educated man in my world, given the title 'doctor' for my pursuit of knowledge, magical knowledge in particular. May I have your name?"

"Sage Eamon Carmac Aghton. I have served the septumhate as a sage for nearly two decades now."

I looked around the stern faces of the other mages, then back to Eamon. "What would satisfy your concerns?" I asked.

After clarifying what was desired, I began lecturing them on magic, the invocation Spirits and the evocation of their Aspects. I explained how the runic language of magic was common to every world where citizens of Earth had been summoned and most Spirits and Aspects were mirrored across them too. I covered magical reagents, spell forms, the seven sacred crystals, uses of Melody's stone, which was an amalgamation of those sacred crystals, infernal and celestial forces, ley lines, locus channeling, and demonstrated several long-form spells, including the ad-hoc scrying spell I had pieced together for Indred.

Tracy was currently running an obstacle course with her friends and eight other soldiers, by the way.

After about an hour, they were satisfied with my theoretical knowledge of the subject and were willing to provide me with a growlery, that is, a locus of that tapped the ley line that emerged from under Ubrid.

Feeling pleased with myself, I joined Simon and the others back in the waiting room.

*****

Sage Galfrid watched Samuel slide the doors to the chamber behind him and turned to his companion Sandulf seated beside him. "I do not believe he is under the compulsion of the summoning gate." He whispered loudly. Sandulf nodded grimly. "It was quite apparent to me. He even demanded compensation for him and his wards."

Galfrid stared at the closed doors, brow wrinkled in thought.

*****

Author's Note: none

Completion date: 20NOV2019

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