Chapter 3 – Part 3 – A Coup Indeed
It didn’t take long for the students to dig into their task. As soon as the group entered the long, low building, they were confronted with row upon row of stones, lumps of metal, petrified wood, deadwood… All manner of material was there for the taking, in all its myriad forms and sizes. Almost immediately, Kintere dove headlong into a pile of hematite. Rhayd wasn’t at all surprised; neither was Mireya, by her quiet smile.
Unlike their friend, they had less luck at the outset. Annoyed with the competition near the entrance – as if all the good pieces were waiting to be found first, by the first sucker to come along – Rhayd abandoned the gaggle and struck out along the aisles, passing through category after category of mineral and stone. Dozens of varieties of agate and quartz, hundreds of small spheres of bloodstone and ferrite, nummit, redstone, sapphire, emerald – it was all here, and yet none of it was catching the young noble’s attention. None of it spoke to him, and after an hour or so he began to perish the idea of ever finding anything at all.
And then, in a spark of inspiration, it came to him. He was looking at a small spear of selenite, weighing it in his hands, when the image of a sword beckoned him to leave the white stone behind and continue on toward the end of the row. And sure enough, there, tucked in amongst what looked to be a deposit of raw chunks – likely new arrivals from Keen Rimmor, from the small labels affixing some of them – he found it. Nearly two meters long, and as thick as his thigh.
A massive core of bright porphyry amethyst.
Without a second thought, Rhayd yelped out in his excitement and slapped his admission card down on the stone to lay a claim, and fired himself back toward the front of the building, toward the forge proper where Anrui would be waiting.
The forge gate opened slowly, tugged by an apprentice with massive shoulders and softly glimmering green-grey eyes. Behind the young man, Anrui looked up from the long, heavy stone he had been inspecting under the watchful eye of the Stone smith, and smiled.
“Found one already? I was expecting to wait half the day.”
The Regulator nodded and handed the huge white stone back to the smith, muttering quietly to the man – who nodded and gingerly, with the care of a father, placed the quartz beam onto his forge and began pouring over his tools. Anrui strode back to the door, gathering up his cloak and tunic from the hooks beside it, and went out into the stockroom proper, tugging the door shut behind him.
“I’ve got Wheld making something new for me. Discharging a favour. So, what did you find? Bring me to it.”
“I wasn’t sure what to do with it,” Rhayd breathed as he dragged his instructor toward the back of the armoury’s store room. “I was looking through the selenite, right over here, when I just got this… I don’t know how to describe it, this image in my head, of a sword. Here it is,” he said with a grunt, hefting the huge core of stone free from the detritus and dragging it a few feet back, into the light from one of the overhead portals. “It’s amethyst,” Rhayd said with a questioning look to Anrui. “I can’t see the color at its centre, but I know it. It feels like it’s been waiting for a long time.”
“Well,” the mage said quietly, staring almost entranced at the stone. “Amethyst’s an interesting choice. Not quite as tough as some other varieties of quartz, not usually found in so large a core. Nor solid, either,” Anrui knelt beside the stone, tapped it with an open palm. “But this one seems like it’s tough enough. Certainly heavy, so that’ll be a challenge if you’re aiming for a larger Focus.”
“What am I supposed to do now?” The young Noble couldn’t keep his eyes from the stone, drawn in by a sick sense of longing for the task to be finished, so he might see his new Focus. So he might learn to use it.
The Regulator smiled, clapping Rhayd’s shoulder with his free hand.
“We’ll see what you can do with it. Getting it to the forge is simple, at the far end of the column there, rests a sledge on wheels. There are a lot of heavy stones and metal deposits in here.” The mage smiled, crossing his arms. “As for forging it. Well, talk to Bross once you get it there. He’ll give you the tools and release an apprentice to your use for the next three days and nights – however long it takes you to chip whatever you need from that stone. The rest goes back on the shelves, so make sure you try and leave large pieces rather than whittling away sliver by sliver.”
He paused, blinked. And looked Rhayd hard in the eyes.
“You’re cutting it yourself, boy. All mages trained at Lockwood form their own Foci and Athama as part of their training. It will teach you to know the materials you’re working with, the tools of more than one trade. If your Focus ever breaks, you will then be able to forge a new one with the tools you are issued when you complete your training. I’m sorry, kid; I should have warned you about this. You might have picked a smaller rock.” The Regulator laughs. “But then again, you might be able to get a High Athama out of that – a crafted Sword. Wouldn’t that be a coup?”
The tall man slapped Rhayd on the shoulder and turned away down the lane.
“Remember. Talk to Bross. When you’re tired, you know where the Barracks are – Inductees sleep in common quarter. I’ll see you in three days’ time. I have to go find out what the hell happened to my other Blackcards!”