WM [13] Knives Are Not Wands

WM [13] Knives Are Not Wands

“How about this? I will do a bundle just for you,” Tanisha said with an award-winning smile. “Since you need the draught of strength too. I will do it all for two and a half silver. You won’t get that deal anywhere else.”

“Two and a quarter,” a night-hand wendigo man said.

Tanisha had been haggling with this man for a while. He was trying to be a tough sell, but this was reasonably relaxed compared to the people in Lavi, who were always in a hurry. In Lavi, hundreds of other merchants sold similar products if someone didn’t like her prices. Here, she was the only alchemist, as the town only had an herbalist and an apothecary. The fact she had five platinum coins and over fifty gold also helped to settle her nerves.

Tanisha said with a clap, “Two silver forty-five, lowest I’ll go. You should see what the town herbalist can do if you need anything else. Although I am sure Bodil was here a few minutes ago and was looking for ingredients, I doubt she has anything. So, do we have a deal?”

The man tried to haggle a bit more but buckled and paid when Tanisha went up on the price instead of down.

“Thank you for your business,” Tanisha said.

Tanisha and Bjorn were in the town of Birchgrove. It was a larger settlement then they had been expecting but the fact it was on a through road to get to Lavi it should have been expected. The town was well defended with a stone wall that had some slight enchantments. It was definitely to keep out monsters and beast not for a prolonged assault from wizards or especially mages. The town also had the distinct architectural design closer to that of humans than wendigo. Structures were colorful and needlessly complex, at least much more so than was expected in a wendigo town.

Tanisha and Joha had to get permits to set up in the town, and the process took a day, so to make up for the registration cost and the day they lost, they decided to be there for the next week. So far, Tanisha and Joha had great business and couldn’t complain. On the other hand, Bjorn looked bored out of his three heads. He would help with setting up and then sit around and watch.

Tanisha was loading her unsold potions back into their proper cases. “Hmm. Joha, do you think there is something Bjorn can do around town?”

Joha rubbed his chin. “I am not sure, no. Is something wrong?”

“No, I just kind of feel bad he just sits around and watches all day. I am sure he would rather not have to lay around me at a stand.”

“He can hunt.” Joha said with some more contemplation. “Although I have noticed that wendigo don’t seem to mind him walking around even alone. It was the same in Lavi when he was larger. Are wendigo just fine with large animals wandering around unattended?”

She ran her seiðr through the weapon, and the runes lit up, but now that she was paying attention to it, she could tell that the blades were a poor conduit for her new power. Most of the seiðr slid by the blade without amplification or using it as a medium. It was better than casting by hand, but not by much.

Tanisha pressed her lips in frustration, then looked at Bjorn, who had shifted to get a better look. “It said in the book that a mage can carve the wand themselves with their mana. Do you think I should try with my seiðr?” Bjorn hissed affirmatively. “Yeah, I thought you would.”

Tanisha read a few more paragraphs in the section, although there wasn’t anything on how the process worked since the book was mainly a general overview. She sighed at her lack of information and decided to give it a shot. She channeled her seiðr, which this time appeared closer to that of a silver-gold mana.

She slowly forced her power into the weapon without letting any of it spill out. She assumed saturation in the book meant this. The weapon started to glow brighter from the infused power. She observed the blade for any changes, but nothing seemed to be happening. She pushed in a little more, and the glow intensified. Suddenly, Bjorn swatted the weapon from her hands, where it slid across the floor.

“What was that for?” Tanisha asked frustratedly as she was about to stand up to get the weapon when Bjorn stopped her. “Is everything alright?”

The blade exploded with a loud bang! Most of the shrapnel went flying into the far wall. Residual seiðr unraveled violently into its base components of mana, maya, and aether, all of which vanished quickly. Tanisha rubbed her ears, which rang after the explosion.

“What in the Infernal Planes?” Tanisha groaned as she pulled a metal shard from her arm. “Are you okay, Big Man?”

After checking on Bjorn and then herself, Joha entered her room and was already on high alert. He saw the black mark on the floor and half the blade of her dagger sticking through the wall.

Joha raised an eyebrow and questioned. “Uhh? Is everything okay?”

Tanisha, after she saw the mess her little experiment caused, blushed. “Yes, just a little magical accident. We are fine, and I will have to pay for the damages to the room, though.”

“I see that,” Joha said while inspecting the glowing knife fragments from the doorway. “What happened?”

“I found out that knives are not wands.”

Joha looked out of the room when he heard footsteps. “Looks like the owners are coming right now. I would put on your best merchant’s face if I were you.”