A Snoop Without Magic, page 26
“I don’t know what I’ll be doing when this is over. You told Tru that the art to selling things is to not flood the market with them. I can help with a piece here and there and still have plenty of time for my dueling. I’ll leave you that to get your imagination rolling, but I imagine anything that artistically floats would be desirable.”
“How long will your pollen last?”
Sam laughed. “Honestly, I have no idea if I don’t have to touch it. The jewelry stand was made is dense as I could, so you tell me how long it lasts.”
“We can talk about it over dinner,” Antina said.
“As long as you keep this to yourself until you are ready to introduce a line of the stuff and have some inventory.”
The older woman laughed. “Here I am the commercial genius being chided by my little Sammy.” She reached up and pinched his cheek.
Dinner was an event filled with excitement for Antina. She talked about her business and her new designs but was able to keep the conversation on general topics, leaving invisible pollen out of everything she said.
Sam let her go on and on. He imagined she needed something to look forward to after her unpleasant split with Tru, and this was the best way to pay the woman back for all the help she had given him.
They took a hired carriage home, and Antina sketched out some designs and took him back to her workroom, still neat and tidy like her old one, but this was, as it happened, much larger. She gave him some partially made pieces and the sheet of notes of what Sam could do with them to make some prototypes.
“I will work on these tomorrow.”
Antina shook her head. “After the Trials.”
Sam smiled. “I can’t wave a sword all day long. I’ll have the time, don’t worry.”
He left in the dark, hiring another carriage, and spent the rest of the evening playing with what she had given him. Stefen had returned before he had, and his snoring filled the whole house.
The white pollen that he could see gave him an easy way to make the framework, and his spectacles enabled him to see his finished work the way a normal person would.
Chapter Thirty
~
S tefen was impressed with the pieces, although the butler couldn’t be counted on to be totally honest. Sam thought of Winnie and decided to see if Stefen could arrange a meeting with Winnie, Antina, and Keeta at her mansion while Sam trained.
Sam was a little late to Kened’s studio, but he still was there ahead of the guest of honor, an ex-champion of the Baskin Trials.
“What kept you busy?” Worren asked.
“A personal project,” Sam said. He smiled and doubted that Worren would be interested at all.
A slight man a bit younger than Worren entered the studio carrying a long box containing swords, Sam thought.
Kened rushed up to him. “This is Ian Shelf, champion of the Baskin Trials three years gone.” Kened introduced Sam and Worren, but it looked like Shelf already knew Worren, since they exchanged nods with slight smiles.
Shelf walked up to Sam and looked up into his eyes. “You are the victim?”
“I suppose I am, depending on your point of view,” Sam said.
Shelf grunted. “Let me see your hands,” he said in good court language. The man might have been noble with that kind of command.
Sam held out his hands and stood silently while the ex-champion examined them. The man finally grunted and turned to Kened. “He is proficient? The hands show dedication and much work,” Shelf said in Toraltian.
Sam put his hands behind his back and felt callouses that had become even harder since he had arrived in Toraltia.
“Effian is proficient, but spar and see for yourself.” Kened motioned toward the practice floor.
Sam chose a plain practice sword and observed Shelf pulling out a similar sword from his wooden case. Both men warmed up and then stood looking at each other.
“Address,” Kened said, waiting for them to assume the standard Toraltian pose, and then blew on a whistle.
Shelf put out his sword in a short slash, so their session began with each man showing nothing but wrist work, slapping their swords until Sam thrust at Shelf. The man parried quickly enough, and that brought on an onslaught of thrusts, slashes, and parries.
Sam waited for some magical technique on Shelf’s part, but no such thing happened, so Sam didn’t try any of his more aggressive moves.
The whistle sounded again. “I understand you are trying to get the measure of each other, but please, let’s try again. I know both of you are more creative.”
Shelf smiled at Sam and nodded as they addressed each other again. This time Shelf was the aggressor. His timing had changed from their first encounter. Sam matched it and then began to show his footwork. He slapped Shelf’s sword away and tapped him on the side before Shelf did the same as he followed the sword’s follow-through and twisted in a way that Sam hadn’t thought possible.
They stopped at another whistle. Kened gave them a few minutes of rest. Sam had a slight cut on the sleeve of his shirt, but the blow hadn’t made it to his skin. Shelf sucked on a cut on a knuckle and slapped a pollen patch on it after he rubbed it with a towel.
“One more session, and then we will evaluate.”
The third match was faster than the other two. Sam was able to keep up with Shelf’s excellent wrist work, but the champion’s sword dropped to slap Sam’s thigh after a feint. Sam bit his lip in frustration as Kened blew the whistle to stop.
They sat at a table against the wall and drank watered wine.
“More than adequate speed. No shred of clumsiness in the footwork. How did he do in the country?” Shelf said in Toraltian.
After Worren’s translation to Sam, Kened said, “He won three out of four tournaments, Dale, Mount Vannon, and Cherryton.”
“Cherryton,” Shelf said dismissively. “What about Apple City?”
“Quarter-finals before he was arrested.”
“What for?” Shelf asked.
“A village lord’s son stabbed Effian in the back and was ready to do it again, but Effian was able to stop him before he dropped.”
“How did he escape death at the hand of the father?”
“He broke out of the jail and rode to Apple City. The lord’s reach was exceptionally long, especially with a false account to the Apple City constabulary. Sam was arrested during the tournament, but eventually, truth won out, and he was able to make it to Mount Vannon.”
“Truth won out,” Shelf said disgustedly. “Luck was at work there.”
Sam kept quiet, but he was heartened by Shelf’s show of anger.
“A quarter-finalist, at the least in Apple City, is a better place than a first in Cherryton,” Shelf said. He looked at Sam and switched to court language. “Are you learning Toraltian? I dislike switching languages, since it makes my head spin.”
“I am. If I don’t know a word, I will ask,” Sam said his first few words in the accented Toraltian he had been practicing.
“So did you understand what I said?”
“Most of it,” Sam said.
“Good. How much did you hold back?”
“About as much as you did,” Sam said.
Shelf smiled. “Then I won’t have to teach you basics, but techniques.” He looked at Kened. “My price will go up since I will be divulging secrets.”
Kened nodded. “I am prepared, Ian.”
Shelf rubbed his hands. “Then we can get to work.”
“Do you discount when you learn something new?” Sam said, purposely mispronouncing ‘discount.’
“Discount,” Shelf corrected. “Perhaps, if it is noteworthy.”
Kened laughed. “You will see noteworthy.”
Worren and Kened broke apart the three matches for the rest of the training session. Sam hadn’t even noticed Worren taking notes. When they came to the last point, Sam and Ian took their swords and walked through dropping the sword’s point.
Sam tried a few times before the technique was burned in him. The move could only be made under specific circumstances, and they went over those, too. A short match proved that Sam had perfected the technique, but more importantly, Ian said, was the defense of such a move.
“So, are you willing to continue?” Kened asked.
“As long as Effian continues to work on his Toraltian. He will place better at the Trials if he knows my tricks. As it is, he probably won’t struggle until he reaches the quarter-finals.”
Kened nodded. “I agree.” He looked at Sam. “The competition at the Baskin Trials is much higher. You have men who make their livings with a sword participating, as well as those who focus solely on this tournament.”
“The tournament tour is for losers?” Sam asked.
“For the most part. Your wins will get you the recognition you deserve at the beginning of the Trials, but your exposure to my techniques will get you to the finals,” Ian said.
Sam walked back to the townhouse thinking about Ian Shelf’s words. His basic swordsmanship was more than proficient, but when Sam thought of competing in the Baskin Trials, he had no idea of the many tricks that were abundant during the matches. If he succumbed so quickly to Ian’s drop technique, he wondered what else he would learn.
Stefen was supervising another of Lady Keeta’s maids as she cleaned the house when Sam walked in.
“Ah, there you are. The cook is fixing lunch today,” Stefen said. “Keeta, Antina, and Winnie will meet you here. I bought an additional maid to bring the place up to Lady Grate’s standards. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t, although I don’t mind going out.”
“Antina Mulch wanted a demonstration and will bring materials for one ,assuming you went through everything she gave you.”
Sam grinned. “I did.”
~
Sam washed up and changed into better clothes before the ladies arrived. The maid stayed to help the other serve refreshments during Sam’s demonstration.
Stefen played the part of the butler, something he did with aplomb as the guests arrived. Sam fidgeted as they came into Dickey’s masculine-styled sitting room.
Sam couldn’t muster the patience to sit, so he stood at the fireplace. Keeta and Antina showed up together.
“You have been a busy boy,” Antina said, handing Sam a small bag of jewelry components. “Will we be surprised?”
“I don’t know if you will be, but perhaps Lady Grate and Winnie might.”
A few moments later, Winnie walked into the room. Sam felt his face heat up. She looked very nice. “Am I late?”
“A little, but we can go into the dining room,” Sam said. He felt as nervous as at any duel he had faced.
Sam had draped napkins over the pieces. “I don’t know if these will come off as too gimmicky, but here is the first.”
He withdrew a napkin, and a brooch was on an invisible stand. The stone of the brooch floated in the middle of a silver circlet made of intertwining tendrils. Sam pulled out his spectacles and looked at the piece the way they would see it.
Antina picked it up and handled it to see how delicate the piece would be. “This is sturdy.”
“I can make the pollen as thick as I’d like. I didn’t make it too bulky to keep the piece light.”
Keeta pinned it on Winnie’s dress. “The color goes with what you are wearing.”
Winnie colored a bit and looked down at the pin. “It is stunning. I don’t think it looks cheap at all, and the stone is real. It is much more effective than hanging by silver wire.”
“I don’t know how long the pollen will last before it begins to degrade. I’m not a good judge of that,” Sam said, feeling totally out of his element.
Antina looked closely at the brooch, something Sam would never dare do. “That is my job,” she said. “If these are successful, Sam and I are going into business.”
“You can make invisible swords,” Winnie said.
“I’ve already done that,” Sam said, nearly blurting it out. Why was he so nervous in Baskin and not so much when they traveled together? He didn’t have an answer. He leaned over and uncovered the next design.
“Floating earrings,” Keeta said. “They are darling. These would be very inexpensive with your pollen stones,” she said.
“Not too inexpensive,” Antina said. “Sam’s pollen is truly invisible. Any competitor would have to use transparent pollen, and that would show.”
“And not look nearly as good,” Winnie said.
Keeta took her earrings off and had one of the maids standing next to the door help her put the new ones on. Stefen had the foresight to have put a mirror on the table.
“Lovely and striking. The pollen could be made into any number of shapes,” Antina said.
Sam pulled back the third piece he had made, a necklace. The elements were separated by invisible pollen. “A variation on a theme,” he said. “I suppose you could make matched sets.”
“Suppose is correct!” Antina said. “Stone or pollen, these would definitely have a market in Baskin.”
“And they would do well in foreign markets,” Winnie said.
“Hander Pot isn’t available to help there,” Sam said.
“Not now.” Keet held the mirror while Antina put the necklace on.
Sam smiled as the three women looked at each other. It looked like his first attempts were a success. He uncovered the last item, a headpiece. He had had to enlist Stefen to make the spikes that came out of the headband earlier that morning, making him a bit late to his training.
“Who will wear it?” Sam said.
“I will,” Antina said. She put it on, and everyone laughed except Sam. Antina looked ridiculous, even he had to admit.
“I suppose if someone wanted to play the part of Havetta, they could wear one of these,” Stefen said, his only comment during the demonstration.
The women burst into giggles, pointing to the spikes floating in thin air around Antina’s head.
“Maybe something a little less dramatic?” Sam asked.
They all nodded.
“Now that I have provided you with a good laugh, it is time to show you how I did these. I haven’t seen what Antina has brought, but let us see what we can make of it,” Sam said.
He spread the contents of the bag onto the table. “Any suggestions?”
“A matching necklace and earrings,” Winnie said.
Sam had his notebook at the table, and they all participated in coming up with a design. The actual creation of the pollen and the assembly didn’t take very much time. “The design is still the hardest part. Right, Antina?”
She nodded. “I think we can be more sophisticated in our designs,” she looked down at the headband, “unless someone wants to make a statement, although I don’t know what that kind of statement would be.”
The three women giggled. Sam looked at the maids who were trying to combat smiles.
“So let me show you.” He looked at the design and at the items spread out in roughly the same shape. The frame plopped onto his hand, although the others couldn’t see it. He spelled some pollen glue in the right spot and in a few minutes the pieces were complete. “Not too hard to make.”
“Not for you, pollen magician,” Antina said. “What you are seeing, ladies, is something in the whole world that only Sam can create. Take what you want. These are prototypes, of course. Once the Baskin Trials are over, we will introduce our pieces at a ball of Keeta’s choosing.”
Sam wondered what Baskin society would look like if Harrison were successful. He smiled as Winnie chose the two items he had created last.
“I can really have these?” she asked Antina.
“Of course, if it is all right with Sam.”
Sam smiled. “It is all right with me. I just used some free pollen. Antina provided the costly stuff.”
Stefen nodded to the maids, and they both left the room and returned with refreshments, tea, and pastries.
Sam stood at the head of the table, waiting for the women to sit.
“I can thank you for your support as Sam Smith, even though Effian Walk wouldn’t bother.”
“But you invited us to Dickey’s townhouse. How will Effian explain that?” Keeta said.
Sam laughed. “Stefen will spread a few rumors that I was pressed to hold this little soiree because Great Aunt Antina demanded I pay back what she and Lady Grate did to help me get to Baskin.”
“What about me?” Winnie said.
“I invited you,” Antina said, “through Stefen. A man needs a woman his own age to make our little meeting interesting, don’t you think?”
Winnie blushed just a little and looked at Sam.
He cleared his throat and sipped his tea, while Lady Keeta began to control the conversation, until Sam had had enough of their banter. He stood. “I thank you for coming here for the demonstration. Antina and I were excited to have you two here.”
Keeta and Antina stood. “Thank you, Sam. I have other business and will take Antina back to her shop.” They left the room, leaving Sam and Winnie alone.
Sam nearly followed Lady Grate out the door, but he looked at Winnie raise her hand and sat back down.
“How is your father?” Sam asked.
“The Court of Nobles thinks he is languishing in Dale City, but we both know better. He doesn’t communicate much since he must still show respect to the Court until the last moment.”
Sam nodded. “I can understand that. I may soon be in the same position. Worren said there will be social events beginning next week, and I will be invited to many of them.”
Winnie put her hands in her lap and looked at them. “Are you going to be swept off your feet by brazen noble women?” she said with a smile.
“Maybe I’ll sweep them off their feet,” Sam said.
Winnie put her hand to her mouth and laughed. Sam felt his face heat up. He knew he didn’t have it in him to flirt with strange women, and Winnie knew it. If the strange woman had a sword in her hand, Sam would be comfortable, but parties and balls weren’t typically places for duels.
