Tales of the Artificer 1 : The Ring of War
hat do you think of the Vantee's town fair, M'lord?" Mirix, the new
royal advisor, increased his pace to match that of his new king.
"It looks like a giant marketplace." the King boomed, not even looking at Mirix's direction. "Well, if I notice any threats or dissention, I can always ban the practice of this 'town fair'." At the sound of the word 'threat', all ten royal bodyguards started scanning their surroundings and tighening their grips on the massive halberds.
"In the five months since your glorious victory of Vantee, I have heard mutterings about the new taxes and the behavior of your soldiers." Mirix frowned. "And hopes of the Prince."
"Yes. I already know that the only royal family member to survive my conquest is massing troops near the eastern border. That whelp doesn't know how to fight and none of his so called generals have seen any true battle." The king laughed and placed his meaty arm on the advisor's shoulder.
"Ha, It will be a slaughter, and I don't even have to waste any effort searching for him. He's going to come to his death. As for the taxes, why do you suppose I wanted this town? eh? And soldiers have to be soldiers. If they're too rough on a barmaid or two, ha ha, well, spoils of war and all." The peaseants moved to the sides of the road as the royal enterauge passed the vendors and stalls. Most seem to glare at the ground. None made eye contact with the new king as he glanced around peddlers' tents.
The King smiled, "As for those muttering peaseants, they've been taken care of properly." Mirix did not like the king's grin. He gulped trying not to remember what happened to those poor men and their families. He wished he never found out their names.
"Here's an interesting one." The king, his men and Mirix made their way into a small tent simply marked 'Wizardry and Magic Items'. Inside sat a grinning old man in a tattered grey cloak among several unmarked vials and glowing weapons and objects. The old man looked to be a hundred years old, but if he is a wizard, thought Mirix, he could be any age at all. They were forbidden to use magic on their customers, but taking the form of a decrepid old man who practically had a 'take advantage of me' sign on him, well, that was fair game.
"Welcome, customers." he peered at the tall bear of a man for several moments. "And the King Sarien himself, too. Lucky day, lucky day." the old one croaked, his toothless grin never leaving the wrinkled face. "What can I interest you in, my majesty?"
"Do you have any healing potions, good wizard?" The king brushed off the wooden chair and sat down and looked at the old man. Mirix was wondering if the rotten chair would support the king's bulk, but it never even squeaked. Magic, he shivered. Even the neutral wizards made him nervous.
"Alas, alas no. Healing potions being rare in general, I made a good profit on all I had before coming to this fair city, yes." The old man kept on grinning.
"By chance, who did you sell all these potions to?" The king questioned.
"I only had five or so, and I sold them to young lad, dressed in blue he was, with dark eyes." Apperently, the old man's memory was perfect.
"Tell me, wizard," the King frowned, "did the youth have a scar across his face like so?" he traced a line from his eye down to his chin.
The old man nodded. "That was the lad. You know him?."
"The prince has gotten himself some healing potions. I gave him that scar myself." Turning to the old wizard, he asked, "And do you have anything that can save your hide for selling war supplies to my enemy?" The king's guard tensed for a battle.
"Against healing potions?" The old man pondered, giving no thought to the eight battle-ready soldiers standing next to the king. "Ahh, I have just the thing, I do. Here you go." he took a loaded crossbow from its hook and handed into the experienced arms of the king.
"Elven worksmanship, nice weight and sight." the king examined the weapon like a professional, "This enchanted crossbow is supposed to negate healing portions?"
"No no. The bow is enchanted, but only to always hit whatever it's aimed at, and only once. After that, only normal crossbow." The old man pulled out a quiver and counted four black crossbow bolts. "Black bolts can negate almost any magic. Wounds from these cannot be fixed by healing potions. Sold five to your enemy, here four bolts, plus one in crossbow. All equal now. In balance." The wizard kept grinning.
"Most useful." The king kept thinking about these black bolts and how they can kill anything magical. "But not enough. What else have you, old man?" Mirix looked around and realized why nothing was labled. If the wizard is killed, there is no way of knowing what an object does. No way to tell apart a strength potion from violent poison. Still, that bow had one anti-magic black bolt in it, even if the crossbow's enchantment expires after one shot.
"Since into battle you will go, I'll sell you my most powerful item. It can help." The old wizard waddled over to a chest and started to root. "Here you go." He pulled out a small jewlery box and opened it. Inside sat a plain looking gold and ruby ring. "That will be ten thousand gold, please, he he."
"Just like a wizard, even though his life's in danger, he still only thinks about making a profit." It looked like one of the elite soldiers was about to crack a smile. The king glanced down at the unassuming ring. "So what makes this ring worth ten thousand?"
"This is one of the Artificer's works." the old man paused a moment for Mirix and some of the soldiers to gasp. "Yes, see that little indentation of a hammer. That is his mark. It is common knowledge how the Artificer uses magical items to vastly overpay for services." the old man lost his grin for a moment at the though of overpayment, but gained it back soon enough.
"Well, as I was staying at this inn, the innkeeper brought me two rings to appraise. He said they were given to him by a traveler in exchange for several nights of particularly good rest. He did have nice looking serving girls that if I was years younger, em, uh. Anyway, I told him these were ordinary and normal rings and offered two hundred gold for each, he he. This one has inscripted on the inside 'Control over your enemy', the other ring had 'Control over your friend'. That one I sold two years ago to a Duke for eight thousand gold."
The king thought it over for a moment and stared at the ring. The words 'Control over your enemy' were indeed firmly etched on the inside of the ring. He suddenly smiled. "Allright, you got a deal, wizard. Mirix, give him eight thousand. In case you were thinking about it, I don't haggle. Be thankful for your life and this money, old man."
"To use the ring, just look upon an enemy, close your eyes, picture them and think the word 'invoke'." The old man was counting his gold and grinning as the royal group left the tent.
The king had the crossbow and quiver strapped on his back as he was pondering the ring. "How about that. An enchanted crossbow and quiver and a ring of the Artificer in one day. Maybe I will keep the town fair after all. I'll just increase taxes to pay for my purchases, heh heh heh." Mirix just nodded.
The Prince chose to attack withing the month. His mercenary army was badly outmatched by the king's. Even as they started their assault, the king was already prepared with advance information. He stood on the high battlement, training the magic crossbow at the Prince and wearing the gold and ruby ring.
"Look at that fool, he positioned himself at the head of the attacking force. Even if this was a regular crossbow, I could make the shot with ease. All right, Mirix, let's see if this ring works." The king picured the young prince, scar and all, in his head and mentaly spoke the word 'invoke'.
There was no feeling, hot or cold, just a breif moment of strangeness. Then the king opened his eyes and saw the battlements of his castle. There was a moment of confusion as he looked upon his own body on the high tower and another as he looked down and saw a black crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest. His last thought before he slid into oblivion was about the ring's inscription.
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