Engineered Magic

37 AL: Grandmother

“Let’s start with the basics,” Grandmother said after Alex agreed to try to learn the spell. “Have a seat,” she instructed. “Both of you,” She added when Todd remained standing. She recast her muffle spell.

“The first thing you need to do is spread your fingers and then make a fist,” Grandmother said. She held her hand out and spread her fingers wide. She slowly rolled them around and made a fist with her thumb tucked in. “This is the start symbol for all cast spells. If you want to cancel a spell at any time, just shake your hand out.” She spread her fingers and twisted her hand twice and set it on her lap. “Let me see you both do it.”

Both men made fists and then shook their hands out. Grandmother watched them do it. “Again,” she said. They both made another fist.

“Both of you are acceptable and since we are in a bit of a rush I am going to move on with just a word of warning. You both moved your fingers slightly differently when you went from the spread to the fist. You need to fix yourself a certain pattern of movement and stick with it. Speed is unimportant at this stage, you need to be precise. If you aren’t precise, Control guesses what you are trying to do. If you get sloppy enough, Control will default you to the same spell over and over and that really limits your growth,” Grandmother explained. Alex and Todd shared a look between them. Grandmother decided it meant they both knew someone who was limited.

“Spells of different types have different finishing moves. For instance the throwing motion is the final move in most of the tier zero attack spells,” Grandmother made an empty throw. Both of the warriors jerked in alarm but nothing happened. “Why didn’t anything happen?” she asked them.

“You didn’t make the fist first,” Todd guessed.

“Exactly,” Grandmother replied. “The finish move for a heal spell or any enhancement spell is to touch the target with your off hand and push the final symbol on your casting hand away from yourself. Technically you don’t have to push your casting hand into the target but most healers do. I mention it because not touching the target with the casting hand is a way to hide that you have cast a heal.” She reached out and touched Alex with her left hand while pushing her right hand with her fingers spread away from her at about a 45 degree angle down. “Try it on each other,” she said.

Feeling incredibly stupid Alex mimicked Grandmother’s action, grasping Todd’s shoulder. Todd returned the favor.

“Good,” Grandmother observed. This brings us to the last part. Between the start and finish you need to form the correct sequence of symbols to get the effect you are looking for. There are seven symbols in the magic system. The simplest tier one heal is three-five, or you probably think of them as ice-fire. Since this is tier one the timing is unimportant.” Grandmother held up her hand. She held her pinky finger and thumb spread but held her first three fingers together. “This is three,” She said. She moved two of her fingers over to join her pinky. “This is also three. See how I have my fingers grouped together into three groups? There are many ways to do it.” She started cycling through all the different versions, some of which she could barely hold. “You need to pick the one you are most comfortable holding with the largest spread,” she told them. She switched back to the first configuration, which was what she used for three in order to show how large she could hold the gaps. She waited for them to try.

Todd picked using his forefinger alone while Alex picked his pinky. “Ok,” she said to them, “that is your three. Always use it for three regardless of the spell. Five is easy.” Grandmother held her hand up with all the fingers spread. “Five,” she said.

“Now we put it together. Todd, sit this one out. I’ll explain why in a second,” Grandmother said. “Alex, follow me. Make a fist.” Grandmother rolled her fingers around into a fist with her thumb tucked in. Alex followed along. Once he held a fist Grandmother told him, “put your other hand on my shoulder.” Alex tentatively reached out and touched her.

“Now open your fist into the three symbol.” Grandmother made the move with a silken smoothness that only years of practice could produce. Alex managed to do it but the movement was rough. “Spread your fingers out into the five symbol and push it away from you.” Grandmother spread her fingers but didn’t push it away. Instead she held her position as Alex spread out to five and pushed his hand away. She shook her hand out, canceling her spell.

“Good enough,” Grandmother said. “Now you just need to repeat. It takes fifteen to twenty tries against a real subject to successfully cast a tier zero spell. You need another fifteen to twenty repetitions before you won’t have any failures There are ways to shorten that. The first is the easiest, which is to only cast that spell during the training time and no other. The next way is to stand in front of a training inscription. The last way is to have a trainer, which is the role I am playing with you. This is a tier one spell so it will take a little longer.”

“Is it really that easy?” Alex asked.

“Yes,” Grandmother assured him. “The really hard part is discovering the symbol sequence for a spell. A randomly cast spell can as easily kill you or the person standing next to you as it does a bear. A last word of warning, the power of the spell is a combination of your tier, the spell tier and your skill with that particular spell. Your heal will be much weaker than mine. You will need to cast heal on each patient multiple times.”

“All right,” Alex replied.

“Let’s go,” Grandmother said, rising to her feet. The two warriors stood. Todd led the way into the archery shop, with Alex bringing up the rear.

The back room of the shop was far emptier than before. Ellen was there, handing Celia a cup of broth. The woman was propped up against one wall. Her child had fallen asleep beside her.

Todd went over to distract the last caregiver that was on watch. Ellen watched Grandmother and Alex go over and sit by the injured man. Alex gestured to her and she turned her attention back to Celia, engaging her in conversation.

Grandmother sat down by the Craftsmen. Alex sat down stiffly, uneasy with his role in this. Grandmother cast muffle. She also cast blur, which was a weaker version of her camouflage spell. Their patient was unconscious and breathing shallowly.

“I will walk you through the first one,” Grandmother said, “just like we did outside.”

“Ok,” Alex said. Grandmother began to cast a heal. She went through the steps slowly waiting for Alex to match her movement before proceeding to the next step. She held her hand still at the five symbol. When Alex paused as well she told him to push it away. After he did she canceled her own spell.

“Good,” she told him, “now do it again.” After the sixth attempt she spoke again. “Watch your precision,” she instructed. She ran through the spell again, showing him how he needed to open his fist up smoothly into the three symbol.

Alex nodded. He knew he was getting sloppy. His hand was starting to ache in a really weird way. He found it hard to believe that this was ever going to work. After the eighth attempt Alex felt Joe tense beneath his touch. The man moaned slightly even in his unconscious state.

“Success,” Grandmother announced. “Again.” She kept Alex casting until at least five of his heal spells were successful. Alex was rubbing his hand trying to get a cramp out of it. Grandmother studied their patient, checking his heartbeat and breathing. She peeked under the edges of the man’s bandages.

“He is out of danger,” she announced. “He is not completely healed but maybe that is better for keeping this quiet. Let’s switch over to the children.” Alex wanted to say he couldn’t do it, his hand was cramping too badly but one glance at their small bodies and he knew he had to try.

They moved over to sit between the two. Following Grandmother’s instructions, he cast one spell on each child before repeating. The girls were both asleep when they sat down but they woke with a cry of pain at the first heal. They cried out even louder on the second heal. Alex was starting to feel awful about this. He paused to rub the cramp out of his hand. Grandmother checked their patients.

“One more each,” she said. “They weren’t as badly injured as the Craftsman was. They should be just about fully healed after that.”

“I am surprised Todd has kept that caregiver away this long. I expected him to run over at the first cry,” Alex commented.

“I have a muffle spell cast. It keeps sound from traveling very far,” Grandmother explained. She was comforting the kids, telling them they would be ok. Alex cast the heal again. The child stiffened for a moment but then relaxed. She mumbled something and then fell back to sleep, exhausted from the ordeal. The second girl reacted similarly after Alex healed him.

“I am going to see if the innkeeper has found a bed for me yet,” Grandmother said, after she canceled the muffle and blur spells. She stood up. Ellen and Todd saw her movement and heard her words.

“I came over to tell you your room is ready,” Ellen said. “The innkeeper is guarding your pack and staff.”

“Excellent,” Grandmother announced. She marched out of the shop and across to the public room. As soon as Grandmother entered, the innkeeper rushed over to escort her to her room. She was given a large room which overlooked the square’s courtyard. She fell into the bed without even removing her leathers.

When she woke in the morning the room seemed very fancy. She was pretty certain she had never seen integrated carpet before. The rich purple color was no longer a surprise. There was an elaborate tapestry on the wall that showed a forest scene complete with animals looking out at her. She only recognized half the animals represented, which was a little worrying.

She cleaned herself up and went down for a quick breakfast. She carried her pack and staff with her since she planned to leave right after the meal.

She found Ellen, Todd and Alex sitting at the same table in the common room. They were dressed in hunter’s greens and carried packs and assorted weapons. “I don’t do groups,” she said to them as she walked by their table. She sat down at a smaller table next to the counter. The three of them conferred for only a moment or two, before they followed Grandmother. They pulled in chairs from surrounding tables and crowded around.

“We don’t group either,” Todd said. “We are just random strangers traveling in the same direction.” Grandmother remembered how he told her to find a group on the meeting board. He managed to deliver this obvious falsehood with a straight face, she had to give him points for that.

“And which direction are you traveling?” Grandmother asked politely.

“East,” Alex said. “We have business there.” Grandmother remembered telling Todd she was going east. Alex’s words were a clear echo of what she said.

“Hmm…” she grunted. “And what is your business?”

“We have heard there is a wizard’s tower in the east where a wise woman lives. If she approves of you, she will teach you the secrets of magic,” Alex responded.

Grandmother grunted again, this time in surprise. Where did that story come from? she wondered. What worried her was that it sounded like Narrative. Grandmother knew the power in that. What did Control know about the tower in the east?

“In a narrative like that it seems to me the journey would be part of the test,” Grandmother offered.

“Please,” Ellen suddenly spoke, surprising Grandmother. “My father gave his life trying to find a better way for our people. He grew up in Londontown, yet you have proven almost everything he knew about wizardry false. His dream would have died without your magic. I am not naive enough to think the protection crystal means there will be no more challenges. If we are to have a chance at the future my father wanted for us, we need to know the truth about magic.”

Grandmother thought about her next words carefully. In her silence the innkeeper arrived, setting plates of food and drink in front of each of them. Todd thanked her for the group.

“I only know the bits and pieces I have picked up over the years. This structure and its control program are far older than any of us. What I think is the truth, might not be precisely correct or might only scratch the surface,” Grandmother explained.

“It is more than we know,” Ellen countered.

“What I do know is not the answer to all your problems,” Grandmother continued. “I was never the only person to hold the knowledge. You are not the first people I shared that knowledge with. Some of those people have become part of the problem.” Grandmother allowed the fatigue and futility she felt to leak into her words.

“You haven’t given up,” Ellen said with conviction. “You came back to help us. Help us now.” Grandmother rolled that around in her mind for a moment. She sighed, picked up her fork and started eating the meal in front of her.

Her three companions gave happy looks to each other before picking up their own utensils. Sarah came running in. She carried her own miniature backpack and Grandmother realized Ellen intended to bring the young girl along. Grandmother was composing her response to that when Todd swept the young girl up onto his lap and let her eat from his own plate. Yeah, Grandmother thought, she wasn’t winning that one either.