Chapter 229 - The Warning

Kit sighed as put down the Carving Tool, flexing his fingers and massaging his hand. He'd just finished the last charm of an order that had 100 healing charms for the Knight Academy in Barday. And that was only the small ones. He turned around to look at Olly's table, not surprised that he had long ago finished the 50 medium healing charms and the 25 large healing charms. He seemed to be working on the regular order, having placed the ordered charms to the side in a large crate. Kit stood, stretching his arms as he took steps over the the crate and dragged it to the side of his own table before he proceeded to sweep the small charms into the crate with the others, counting as he went to make sure the number was right.

"Is there another order?" asked Olly, noticing that Kit had finished carving.

Kit indicated to the order book to the side and Olly rose to look at it, "Five Large Lock sets and ten truth charms, the Sais Bank order".

Kit nodded, "Alright, you get started, I'll take this out to the packing room. Give me the book I'll see if any more have come in".

Olly put the book beside Kit then walked over to the larger crates to the side full of Evanine.

Kit used his Shadows to lift the crate. He'd been getting better at making his shadows solid ever since Rassa had taught him how. The construction of this place had helped significantly considering that most of the heavy lifting was done by Kit.

Kit walked through the tunnels, bypassing the artisan room to go to the packing room. The workers there busily handled the previous orders, ensuring that the charms, both on their own and worked with metals or leather, were stored appropriately for travel and presentation.

"Master Kit," the manager of the packing house, Wilma, noticed and rushed over, a warm smile on her face despite her large figure.

Kit placed the crate at the end of the line as she approached smiling back, "The Knight Academy Order. Let us know if we missed any, there were quite a few healing charms".

"Of course, though I'm sure its perfect as always, Master Kit," said Wilma smiled, she'd brought with her a clipboard which she knew was a replica of Kit's Order book and Kit stood with her as he crossed a line through the Academy order and she ticked beside it to indicate the order was completed and ready for packing.

"Any new orders coming through?" asked Kit.

"We have received some, yes, the specifics are on my desk," Wilma said as she began to lead Kit over. Kit followed, the staff nodding respectfully as he passed them. Kit held no actual position at the Mine apart from the Charm Craftsman. But the fact that he was a Magician, and that he was one of only two Craftsman in the world, had earned him an ocean full of respect despite being only 13. Olly as well, though everyone understood that out of the two craftsman, Kit was far more personable.

"Here we are," Wilma stated as she passed Kit the order form, "And this came as well for you".

Wilma passed him a letter that was stamped with the Crescent Moon inside a Full Moon. The Moonshadow Seal. Getting a letter from Iah wasn't unheard of. He usually got one every week that he replied to, but getting one with the Moonshadow Seal indicated something substantially more serious.

"Can I have a minute, Wilma?" asked Kit as he saw the letter.

"Of course," Wilma nodded, "I'll do a round of the warehouse and come back".

Kit nodded as she walked off, then he cracked the seal.

the letter had two notes in it. The first was a substantial order, one of the largest they had received so far, and required a talk with the artisans so that Iah could give a proper quote and time for the order to be completed. The second note looked as if it had been composed in a rush. It was quick and to the point.

'Jane's Magician Team has sensed the Inktress heading north from Port Cresh. The Pavilion has been warned ahead of time. You and Olly should be careful'.

Kit sighed. Even without being told he somehow knew it had been coming. Ishta had been too quiet for too long considering their success. Kit folded the letter then waved over to Wilma. He spent ten minutes going over the new orders with her and ensuring their lists were the same before Kit walked towards the Artisan Warehouse with the order form and the letter in hand.

There he spent an hour talking with the Artisans about the large order, and eventually came up with a price closer to 10,000 gold for the 1,000 armour breast plates with crests and inlaid protection and healing charms. He then walked back to the Charm warehouse were Olly had pretty much finished the Sais Order.

Kit sat down opposite him and waited for him to finish in silence. Olly had barely placed down the Carving Tool when he spoke.

"The Inktress is coming," Olly said.

Kit just nodded in the silence. Olly smiled, "The Sais order is done, what's next?"

"You're not even a little concerned?" asksed Kit, "What if she finds the tunnels?"

It was how no one had been able to trace the orders back to the mine and only to the Pavilion. Below the Pavilion and known only to the Knights who worked there and the Owners, was a Labyrinth-like network of tunnels that spanned for leagues in every direction. They'd originally been used as escape routes, but with the charm business, Olly had suggested using them for sneaking the charms into the pavilion so that no one would know where they came from. It had worked better than expected, most people believed that the charms were coming from the Pavilion itself.

"The Mist is never concerned," said Olly, "So why should I be?"

"The Mist is the Mist," Kit argued, "You are Olly. What do you think?"

Olly just smiled, "That the Mist will tell me if I should be concerned".

Kit rolled his eyes, then pointed to the next order in his open book, "One last one before you started dealing with the ones for the next week. I'll be back in a bit, I've got to write a reply to Iah".

Olly just nodded, busying himself with packing away the last order in the crate and moving onto the next.