Chapter Text
Alex felt the heat from the furnace, he was sweating from slightly as he watched the small porcelain bowl filled with several lumps of true silver ore. Currently Alex’s was working in the smithy that his father had installed inside of his magic bag. He had been working this particular project for hours, and yet no matter how hot the furnace got, he couldn’t get the metal ore to melt. With a frustrated sigh Alex moved back to his work bench to check the book on metal work once again.
Alex taken to working in the smithy as a hobby, on his teacher Whalen Vankin’s advice. It had begun as a casual activity and turned into a passion. Although Alex would be the first to admit his work was not the best, he thoroughly enjoyed every project he started. Except this one.
It was getting harder to keep his frustration under control. Whalen had told him getting a hobby would be good for him, “Focusing on something nonmagical will give you a chance to work with your hands and relax your mind,” he had said. “If you think about magic all the time you might not notice the normal things that are going on around you.”
Working with his hand had been given Alex a sense of calm. Recently his temper had been getting the better of him so it was nice to do something relaxing every once in a while. Alex was just checking the book again for the instructions on how to work the frustrating true silver, when he heard an odd tutting sound.
He straightened up from his hunched position over the book and looked around the room. Seeing nothing he turned back to his useless book. After going over it again Alex shut it in with a growl.
A second later he heard a soft ‘humph’. He looked at the furnace again but nothing had changed and the sound did not repeat itself. He walked closer checking the true silver and shouting off the water wheel that worked the bellows. The smithy was silent, and Alex could hear nothing but his own breathing and the hissing of the furnace as it began to cool.
He carefully removed the ceramic bowl from the furnace and dumped the lumps of true silver onto the sand-covered table. He tried to twist of bend the lumps with no success, he even took one to the anvil and struck it with a hammer, but he only ended up with a slightly dented hammer and an unharmed lump of true silver.
The tutting sound came again. Much louder now that the bellows had stopped. Alex felt something watching him, and the skin on his arms rippled. Slowly he turned scanning the smithy in its entirety. He was alone, but the feeling of being watched remained.
“Whose there?” Alex asked. The silence of the smithy was disappointing but expected. “You might as well speak up because I will find you, one way or another.”
Another humph sounded out, from the other side of the room. This humph seemed to say ‘I doubt it’. Alex was starting to get annoyed at the ‘humph’ sound the thing made. His eyes grew dark and his brown furrowed.
“Come now, show yourself,” he said. “I won’t hurt you.” Probably, Alext thought. If the thing continued to annoy him he just might.
After waiting a moment for the thing to speak up he sent out a bit of magic to search the room. He was tired of this and tempted to summon his staff.
“I’m being as nice as I can about this, show yourself before I force you out into the open myself.” He growled lowly. The silence remained, but Alex’s magic had found it. There was a small creature standing behind the books on the far side of the room. He had no idea what it was but he was angry and he didn’t particularly care at the moment. Alex could tell it wasn’t dangerous, what ever it was, and that calmed him down some.
“If you will not show yourself then I shall have to use magic to force you into the open.” Another loud humph came in answer, in response Alex began to shape his magic into a rope around the creature’s legs. As the rope began to solidify
He added a little more magic to the spell, but the creature must have noticed what was happening because there was a gasp of surprise and a pattering of feet as the thing attempted to run. Alex quickly pulled the magic rope tight, lifting the creature into the air and whisking it toward a large empty table in the middle of the room. Alex watched as his captive floated upside down above the tabletop, and examined it with glowing eyes. The thing looked like a very very small dwarf, around nine inches tall if Alex had to guess.
“Gear offva me! Let go!” The creature yelled. “I’ve done nothing wrong! I claim the right of sanctuary in this bag!”
“ The right of sanctuary? Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Alex questioned having finally calmed down enough to be curious about the creatures origins.
“I might ask you the same thing!” It responded. “I’ll answer to Master Joshua and no other.”
“Joshua?”
“The master of the bag, Joshua Taylor,” said the creature, looking at Alex suspiciously. “I demand to see the master of this bag!”
“I am the master of the bag, I’m Alexander Taylor, Joshua Taylor’s heir.” Alex explained.
“If you’re the heir, then you should know who and what I am, Master Joshua wouldn’t have given his bag to an heir and not him about us!” The creature said hotly.
“My father didn’t tell me anything bout his bag, He died when I was a baby.” Alex growled, his anger returning.
“Died? What do you mean died? I don’t believe a word of it!” Shouted the creature.
“It’s true-”
“Prove it.”
“Prove what?” Alex hissed.
“I want proof that master Joshua is dead and you are, in fact, his heir.”
“I will give you my word-” Alex started only to be cut off once again.
“Ha! Just what a bag thief would say. ‘Give you my word’ indeed. What’s the word of a bag thief worth?”
“I am no thief,” Alex growled, his skin rippled and his voice sounded dangerous. “I give you my word that is true, and if you are foolish enough to doubt a wizard than I shall expel you from my bag.”
“A wizard? Ha! Oh you’ve got some magic in you that’s plain to see, but you’re no wizard. You’ve got no staff nor familiar, you’re not even wear ing one of those robes wizards like to wear!”
“Silence, creature. I am Alexander Taylor adventurer and wizard, son and heir to Joshua Taylor, and I do have a staff.” Alex could feel a headache coming on from this creature’s stubbornness. He wondered idly if it would be immoral to turn it into a mouse for a bit, if only to give him some quiet.
“Oh do you now?” The thing said hotly. “Well then Mr. Wizard, would you be so good as to show me this staff?”
Alex snarled at the snark in its tone and closed his eyes remembering the spell that would summon his staff ti his hand. Eyes flying open he held out his right hand while simultaneously releasing the magic. There was a wound like rushing wind and Alex’s staff appeared in his hand.
The creature gasped and its eyes grew large, mouth attempting to fall open but failing as he was still upside down.
“Oh sir, a thousand apologies,” the creature stammered as Alex set him down and released him. “I had no idea, Master Joshua never said—”
“Yes I’m sure my father didn’t get a chance to say a lot of things.” Alex sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Now tell me, who and what are you?”