Dark Realms #1: Hestrick’s Amulets
Apr. 2nd, 2016 02:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sidhe_faerieDark Realms #1: Hestrick’s Amulets
Word Count: 3016
A storm was raging angrily when a pounding was heard at the door. A young boy ran to the window beside the door and looked out.
“Master! There is a traveler at the door.” A boy called out to the old man studying a book on a work table.
“Let him in and stoke the fire.” The old man got up and moved a wooden chair closer to the fire.
The boy opened the door and let in the traveler. He pointed into the other room. “My master is through there. He will give you a place by the fire.”
“Welcome friend. I am Hestrick of the dark order of wizards.” The man was tall with dark hair and sparkling dark eyes. “It is a raw night to be out. Sit by my fire and dry yourself. “
The young man said nothing but bowed his head in greeting to his host. He sat in the chair by the fire to get warm and dry out.
Hestrick raised a curious eyebrow at the strangers silence then instantly dismissed it. He walked over to a large dark sphere and gazed into it and laughed.
The blurry image showed Wincet working on potions at a work table. There were no poisons or papers to show what he was making but he was concentrating intensely.
“What is that fool Wincet trying to do now? I swear he is an embarrassment to all proper wizards everywhere.” Hestrick gazed into the sphere again and shook his head before he walked away.
“I have been a dark wizard since I was a pup. That seems like many millennia ago but in truth it was only one. I remember when I was a boy sitting at the knee of Lexathic conjuring my first ball of dark magic.” Hestrick sat down in a large chair. “Wincet was right beside me and he was a natural at it. It used to make me so angry that my ball would pop. Of course Lexathic would scold me and tell me to try harder.”
“Lexathic was an old bastard that loved to use his walking stick on young boys heads. I wasn't sorry when I heard that one of his students blew him up for it. Brave thing was stripped of his powers and exiled to some planet somewhere. Now I have students of my own. Boy! Bring some wine! My guest looks thirsty.”
A boy ran in carrying a tray with wine and two goblets. He held onto the wine as he sat the tray on a nearby worktable. He poured the wine and brought it over to the man and his master.
Hestrick took the wine and raised his glass in a silent toast to his guest. He took a sip and waved the boy back to wherever he had come from.
“That boy was left on my doorstep five years ago as payment of a debt owed. Between us, I would rather have gotten gold.” Hestrick chuckled. “He has little aptitude for the dark arts. He conjures butterflies when he thinks I'm not looking. He must be related to that buffoon Merlin.”
“My Lord, what can you tell me about your work?” The man asked. “I have never met a dark wizard before.”
“My work? I was the one who brought the dog soldiers to Kless. I fashioned them after a mongrel I had once. He was a surly old cur. The dog soldiers did justice to his memory. They terrorized the planet for decades. When I refused to end the terror without payment, Wincet undid the spell.” Hestrick ground his teeth for a moment. “He didn't even ask for payment. He just walked in and undid the spell. What kind of a wizard does that?”
“Was that your only great deed?” The young man asked quietly.
“No I have had many great deeds. I froze the women of the planet Hern. Just the women, mind you. I told their loved ones that I would thaw them out for an annual payment of one million pieces of gold.” Hestrick laughed. “It would have been a glorious plan, save one thing. Once I froze them, I couldn't unfreeze them without killing them.”
“Did all the women die?”
“No. Wincet undid that spell too.” Hestrick sighed. “I don’t even know how he knew about it.”
“Maybe he has spies.” The young man shrugged.
“He’s not clever enough to have a following.” Hestrick shook his head then suddenly perked up. “He must have taken the gazing sphere from our mentor. I wonder what else he has of Lexathic’s belongings. That old fool had some very powerful magical objects in his possession. I wish that I had taken a thing or two when I left.”
“Do you have nothing of great magic here?” The young man looked around.
“I do! I have procured the largest collection of dark magic amulets anywhere.” Hestrick stood up and sat his goblet on the table next to his chair. “Come friend, I will show them to you. There is one carved from a dragon's tooth. There’s also one made from a snow giants pinky toe. That was the one I used when I froze those women on Hern.”
The young man got up and followed the wizard to a locked door down a dark hallway. The old door creaked when Hestrick put the key in the lock and pushed it open.
“We shall need a little light in here. Light!” Hestrick smiled as several torches lit around the room at once. “There! Now you can see all my treasures.”
The walls of the large square room were lined with hooks full of amulets. There were even several racks standing in the interior of the room at least eight feet high. They were loaded down as well with amulets of all shapes and sizes.
“Impressive. There must be hundreds of them.” The young man walked around the room.
“Two thousand and twenty eight to be exact!” Hestrick exclaimed proudly. “I bet Wincet doesn't have even a fraction of what I do. He wouldn't know what to do with them anyway. He's turned away from dark magic. He had gone to the light.”
“You speak of this wizard, Wincet a great deal. Is he your sworn enemy?”
“Well, he's certainly not my good friend.” Hestrick laughed. “Come, look at this one. It renders all green plants inedible. It’s perfect for causing a planetary famine.”
“There was a famine on Stek. It killed nearly two million.” The young man looked at the old wizard. “Was that your doing?”
“Yes it was but that was before your time. Did your parents tell you of it?” Hestrick looked and the young man and squinted. “Maybe your grandparents?”
“It was my grandparent but they weren't from there.” The young man turned away from the wizard's gaze. He pointed to an amulet with a large lapis stone carved into a beetle set in the center. “What does this one do?”
“Ah! That one causes a plague of beetles. I used it on Blinot. Thousands died of hunger and sickness before the frost came and killed the beetles. Do I know you, friend, or maybe your family?” Hestrick was starting to get suspicious of the young man that had come in from the storm.
“No.” The young man shook his head. “I have never heard of you before this day. Do you enjoy killing people?”
“I take pleasure in it as all dark wizards do.” Hestrick shrugged. “Come, I will have the boy prepare us a meal. You can rest here until morning. I don't think the storm will clear any sooner. “
“The storm is not something you conjured?” The young man seemed confused. “Don't wizards like to control the weather?”
“Yes but I let this planet decide its own weather.” Hestrick led the young man out into the hallway. He snuffed out the torches with a flick of his wrist and locked the door behind them.
Hestrick never noticed the mouse run across the floor into the darkened room before the door shut. He also never felt the young man lift the key off his belt as they walked back to the room where their wine was waiting.
The young man held the key in the palm of his hand and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He looked at the old wizard to make sure he hadn't seen what just happened.
Hestrick was unaware of the magic being used around him. The arrogance of the wizard was his weakness just as Wincet had predicted.
Inside the room full of amulets, the mouse slowly grew into a small creature. “Dallys! Where are you?”
“I'm over here.” A spark of light suddenly turned into a faerie. “Which ones are the ones we want?”
“There are thousands of them. We don’t have time to go through them all before the storm passes.” He looked around. “There is only one thing to do. We have to take them all.”
“Oh. That’s just great. It’s a good thing this is a magic pouch. Dallys dangled a brown silk pouch with a symbol on it. “Nellis, this is crazy. Wincet gave us a list. We should just get the ones we came for.”
“You need to be more flexible. I’m the thief and I say that we can do this and we need to do it quickly.” Nellis started to drop amulets into the pouch. Are you sure all of these will fit?
“Yes. The pouch shrinks them down to nearly nothing.” Dallys put an amulet in the bag. “Wincet is going to have a fit and I’m going to send him your way when he does.”
“He will see the sense in it. Trust me.” Nellis put a handful of amulets in the pouch. “He may even thank us.”
Dallys scoffed. “We shall see.”
“It took more than a few minutes to put all the amulets in the pouch.” Nellis unlocked the door and he and Dallys slipped out into the dark hallway. “Nellis dropped the key by the door and shrank back into a mouse. He skittered through the crack under the front door.
Dallys put the pouch on her waist then snapped her fingers and turned into a speck of light. She floated close to the ceiling and slipped out via the crack at the top of the front door.
In the other room by the fireplace, the young man sat staring into the fire. All he had to do was wait out the storm and slip out the door.
“I remember, just a few years ago, I decimated a whole solar system. I used three different amulets to do that.” Hestrick bragged with a big grin on his face.
The young man took a drink from the goblet of wine and said nothing. The old wizard was beginning to get on his nerves. Hestrick was full of stories of death and destruction each more gruesome than the last.
When the storm started to slowly turn into drizzle, the young man stood to leave. “I must be going. I have imposed upon you far too long.”
“Nonsense!” Hestrick motioned for him to sit back down. “I haven’t given you supper. I insist you stay to dine with me.”
“I must go.” The young man started to walk to the front door then turned. “I shall not forget you and your gracious hospitality.”
“You should come back when you have more time. I have many more stories to tell. I can tell you were enjoying them immensely.” Hestrick smiled.
“I did and thank you.” The young man bowed his head and walked to the door and into the quiet wet world beyond the door.
Once outside, the young man walked quickly to a clearing in the woods near the wizard’s home. He took a deep breath and put his hands to his face then pulled them away revealing the elf’s true face.
“I’m glad you did that. It was starting to freak me out.” Nellis said from his perch on a low hanging branch.
The elf turned to glare at the shapeshifter. “It wasn't pleasant for me either. I wanted to put a dagger in that old fool five minutes after I got there.”
“Now! Now! Tona, you need to watch those violent tendencies.” Dallys poked her head from around the side of the trunk of the tree. “Where is everyone else?”
“We’re here. Borne got us lost.” A man came up the path. He held up a hammer with writing on it. “We found the blacksmith's hammer right where Wincet said it was.”
“I used the map in my data banks. It is not my fault that you refused to listen to me Jace.” Borne looked around. “The portal should be opening soon. Did Nellis and Dallys get the required amulets?”
“We got all of them.” Nellis jumped down from the branch.
“What do you mean you got all of them?” Jace looked at Tona and Borne. “They took them all? How?”
“It’s a magic pouch.” Dallys patted the pouch tied to her belt. “It makes them tiny so they will all fit. Then when you take them out ...poof… they go back to their regular size.”
Jace looked impressed. He patted the hammer. “Maybe we should put this little trinket in there too.”
A portal of swirling mist opened up at the far side of the clearing.
“Time to go.” Tona walked toward the portal.
They followed Tona through the portal. When they all had stepped onto the bridge the portal closed.
“Let's go take this stuff to Wincet.” Jace looked at the hammer. “I think he has a plan for it.”
Wincet met them at the end of the bridge. “Good! You have the hammer. Did you get the amulets?”
“Did they ever.” Tona chuckled. “They took them all.”
Wincet looked at Nellis and Dallys. “All of them?”
Nellis nodded. Dallys patted the pouch and grinned.
Wincet started laughing. “Well done! I wish I could see the look on his face when he finds them missing. Maybe I should use my sphere and take a peek.”
“He watches you. He takes pleasure in making fun of what you are doing when he sees you.” Tona smirked.
“He only sees what I want him to. He can't penetrate the filtering spell I put on his sphere years ago. He doesn't even know it’s there.” Wincet grinned. “The old windbag is too arrogant to check for counter spells.”
“When did you do it?” Jace asked as he handed the hammer to Wincet.
“A little while before I came up with the plan to bring you all to this place.” Wincet looked at the hammer. “This is exactly what i need to destroy those amulets.”
“Why do you need that hammer and not the one in the shed?” Dallys squinted at the writing on hammer.
“This one was imbued with magic when it was forged.” Wincet looked at the hammer. “It is said that it can destroy any dark magical object. Those amulets are nothing but dark magic.”
Since they are all in the pouch, we can smash them all at the same time, right? Dallys held out the pouch to Wincet.
"Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. I wish it did. They will have to be destroyed one at a time. Wincet took the pouch. Let’s go to the workshop and destroy these. The sooner they are destroyed the better for everyone.
Wincet led them back to the house and into the workshop. He poured out the amulets onto the table and looked at Dallys and Nellis. You weren’t kidding. How many of these are they? There must be hundreds.
“Two thousand and twenty eight. “Tona rolled her eyes. “That old windbag was very proud of it. It took all I had to keep from running him through with my dagger.”
“I can imagine.” Wincet grinned. “He was a blowhard when we were young men. I can just imagine how much worse he is now.”
“How long do you think it will take to destroy all of these?” Jace looked at the pile of amulets on the table.
“I don’t know but they won’t get destroyed until we start swinging the hammer.” Wincet looked at the hammer. “Does anyone want to help me?”
“I have to sharpen my dagger.” Tona started walking towards the door. “Maybe next time.”
Dally and Nellis looked at each other and shook their heads.
Jace looked at the pile. “I would love to but I have a bad shoulder. Sorry.”
Wincet looked at Borne. “I guess it’s just me and you Borne.”
“I have to update my systems.” Borne followed everyone out the door.
Wincet grinned. “That was easier than I thought. I better get swinging.”
Hestrick pushed his dinner plate back and sighed. “That was unsatisfying. I need a little fun. I think I will cause a plague or maybe a famine.”
Hestrick stood up and looked for the key to the amulet room. He searched all of his pockets but he couldn’t find it. “I must have dropped it. He walked down the hall and spotted the key on the floor.”
“Ah! There it is! I wonder how I dropped this.” He bent down to pick it up. He walked to the door and opened it. “Light!”
The torches lit and the room was completely empty.
Hestrick looked around on the floor and up towards the ceiling. “No! No! No! No! Wincet! I had to be Wincet. But when did he do this? He couldn’t have gotten in here without me knowing. Could he?”
Hestrick ran down the hallway and back into the main room. He looked into the gazing ball and waited for the images to clear. All he could see was a pile of little pieces and the magical blacksmith’s hammer lying on a table in Wincet’s work room.
Hestrick clutched his heart and gasped. He destroyed them. He destroyed them all. Wincet! You bastard!
Word Count: 3016
A storm was raging angrily when a pounding was heard at the door. A young boy ran to the window beside the door and looked out.
“Master! There is a traveler at the door.” A boy called out to the old man studying a book on a work table.
“Let him in and stoke the fire.” The old man got up and moved a wooden chair closer to the fire.
The boy opened the door and let in the traveler. He pointed into the other room. “My master is through there. He will give you a place by the fire.”
“Welcome friend. I am Hestrick of the dark order of wizards.” The man was tall with dark hair and sparkling dark eyes. “It is a raw night to be out. Sit by my fire and dry yourself. “
The young man said nothing but bowed his head in greeting to his host. He sat in the chair by the fire to get warm and dry out.
Hestrick raised a curious eyebrow at the strangers silence then instantly dismissed it. He walked over to a large dark sphere and gazed into it and laughed.
The blurry image showed Wincet working on potions at a work table. There were no poisons or papers to show what he was making but he was concentrating intensely.
“What is that fool Wincet trying to do now? I swear he is an embarrassment to all proper wizards everywhere.” Hestrick gazed into the sphere again and shook his head before he walked away.
“I have been a dark wizard since I was a pup. That seems like many millennia ago but in truth it was only one. I remember when I was a boy sitting at the knee of Lexathic conjuring my first ball of dark magic.” Hestrick sat down in a large chair. “Wincet was right beside me and he was a natural at it. It used to make me so angry that my ball would pop. Of course Lexathic would scold me and tell me to try harder.”
“Lexathic was an old bastard that loved to use his walking stick on young boys heads. I wasn't sorry when I heard that one of his students blew him up for it. Brave thing was stripped of his powers and exiled to some planet somewhere. Now I have students of my own. Boy! Bring some wine! My guest looks thirsty.”
A boy ran in carrying a tray with wine and two goblets. He held onto the wine as he sat the tray on a nearby worktable. He poured the wine and brought it over to the man and his master.
Hestrick took the wine and raised his glass in a silent toast to his guest. He took a sip and waved the boy back to wherever he had come from.
“That boy was left on my doorstep five years ago as payment of a debt owed. Between us, I would rather have gotten gold.” Hestrick chuckled. “He has little aptitude for the dark arts. He conjures butterflies when he thinks I'm not looking. He must be related to that buffoon Merlin.”
“My Lord, what can you tell me about your work?” The man asked. “I have never met a dark wizard before.”
“My work? I was the one who brought the dog soldiers to Kless. I fashioned them after a mongrel I had once. He was a surly old cur. The dog soldiers did justice to his memory. They terrorized the planet for decades. When I refused to end the terror without payment, Wincet undid the spell.” Hestrick ground his teeth for a moment. “He didn't even ask for payment. He just walked in and undid the spell. What kind of a wizard does that?”
“Was that your only great deed?” The young man asked quietly.
“No I have had many great deeds. I froze the women of the planet Hern. Just the women, mind you. I told their loved ones that I would thaw them out for an annual payment of one million pieces of gold.” Hestrick laughed. “It would have been a glorious plan, save one thing. Once I froze them, I couldn't unfreeze them without killing them.”
“Did all the women die?”
“No. Wincet undid that spell too.” Hestrick sighed. “I don’t even know how he knew about it.”
“Maybe he has spies.” The young man shrugged.
“He’s not clever enough to have a following.” Hestrick shook his head then suddenly perked up. “He must have taken the gazing sphere from our mentor. I wonder what else he has of Lexathic’s belongings. That old fool had some very powerful magical objects in his possession. I wish that I had taken a thing or two when I left.”
“Do you have nothing of great magic here?” The young man looked around.
“I do! I have procured the largest collection of dark magic amulets anywhere.” Hestrick stood up and sat his goblet on the table next to his chair. “Come friend, I will show them to you. There is one carved from a dragon's tooth. There’s also one made from a snow giants pinky toe. That was the one I used when I froze those women on Hern.”
The young man got up and followed the wizard to a locked door down a dark hallway. The old door creaked when Hestrick put the key in the lock and pushed it open.
“We shall need a little light in here. Light!” Hestrick smiled as several torches lit around the room at once. “There! Now you can see all my treasures.”
The walls of the large square room were lined with hooks full of amulets. There were even several racks standing in the interior of the room at least eight feet high. They were loaded down as well with amulets of all shapes and sizes.
“Impressive. There must be hundreds of them.” The young man walked around the room.
“Two thousand and twenty eight to be exact!” Hestrick exclaimed proudly. “I bet Wincet doesn't have even a fraction of what I do. He wouldn't know what to do with them anyway. He's turned away from dark magic. He had gone to the light.”
“You speak of this wizard, Wincet a great deal. Is he your sworn enemy?”
“Well, he's certainly not my good friend.” Hestrick laughed. “Come, look at this one. It renders all green plants inedible. It’s perfect for causing a planetary famine.”
“There was a famine on Stek. It killed nearly two million.” The young man looked at the old wizard. “Was that your doing?”
“Yes it was but that was before your time. Did your parents tell you of it?” Hestrick looked and the young man and squinted. “Maybe your grandparents?”
“It was my grandparent but they weren't from there.” The young man turned away from the wizard's gaze. He pointed to an amulet with a large lapis stone carved into a beetle set in the center. “What does this one do?”
“Ah! That one causes a plague of beetles. I used it on Blinot. Thousands died of hunger and sickness before the frost came and killed the beetles. Do I know you, friend, or maybe your family?” Hestrick was starting to get suspicious of the young man that had come in from the storm.
“No.” The young man shook his head. “I have never heard of you before this day. Do you enjoy killing people?”
“I take pleasure in it as all dark wizards do.” Hestrick shrugged. “Come, I will have the boy prepare us a meal. You can rest here until morning. I don't think the storm will clear any sooner. “
“The storm is not something you conjured?” The young man seemed confused. “Don't wizards like to control the weather?”
“Yes but I let this planet decide its own weather.” Hestrick led the young man out into the hallway. He snuffed out the torches with a flick of his wrist and locked the door behind them.
Hestrick never noticed the mouse run across the floor into the darkened room before the door shut. He also never felt the young man lift the key off his belt as they walked back to the room where their wine was waiting.
The young man held the key in the palm of his hand and it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He looked at the old wizard to make sure he hadn't seen what just happened.
Hestrick was unaware of the magic being used around him. The arrogance of the wizard was his weakness just as Wincet had predicted.
Inside the room full of amulets, the mouse slowly grew into a small creature. “Dallys! Where are you?”
“I'm over here.” A spark of light suddenly turned into a faerie. “Which ones are the ones we want?”
“There are thousands of them. We don’t have time to go through them all before the storm passes.” He looked around. “There is only one thing to do. We have to take them all.”
“Oh. That’s just great. It’s a good thing this is a magic pouch. Dallys dangled a brown silk pouch with a symbol on it. “Nellis, this is crazy. Wincet gave us a list. We should just get the ones we came for.”
“You need to be more flexible. I’m the thief and I say that we can do this and we need to do it quickly.” Nellis started to drop amulets into the pouch. Are you sure all of these will fit?
“Yes. The pouch shrinks them down to nearly nothing.” Dallys put an amulet in the bag. “Wincet is going to have a fit and I’m going to send him your way when he does.”
“He will see the sense in it. Trust me.” Nellis put a handful of amulets in the pouch. “He may even thank us.”
Dallys scoffed. “We shall see.”
“It took more than a few minutes to put all the amulets in the pouch.” Nellis unlocked the door and he and Dallys slipped out into the dark hallway. “Nellis dropped the key by the door and shrank back into a mouse. He skittered through the crack under the front door.
Dallys put the pouch on her waist then snapped her fingers and turned into a speck of light. She floated close to the ceiling and slipped out via the crack at the top of the front door.
In the other room by the fireplace, the young man sat staring into the fire. All he had to do was wait out the storm and slip out the door.
“I remember, just a few years ago, I decimated a whole solar system. I used three different amulets to do that.” Hestrick bragged with a big grin on his face.
The young man took a drink from the goblet of wine and said nothing. The old wizard was beginning to get on his nerves. Hestrick was full of stories of death and destruction each more gruesome than the last.
When the storm started to slowly turn into drizzle, the young man stood to leave. “I must be going. I have imposed upon you far too long.”
“Nonsense!” Hestrick motioned for him to sit back down. “I haven’t given you supper. I insist you stay to dine with me.”
“I must go.” The young man started to walk to the front door then turned. “I shall not forget you and your gracious hospitality.”
“You should come back when you have more time. I have many more stories to tell. I can tell you were enjoying them immensely.” Hestrick smiled.
“I did and thank you.” The young man bowed his head and walked to the door and into the quiet wet world beyond the door.
Once outside, the young man walked quickly to a clearing in the woods near the wizard’s home. He took a deep breath and put his hands to his face then pulled them away revealing the elf’s true face.
“I’m glad you did that. It was starting to freak me out.” Nellis said from his perch on a low hanging branch.
The elf turned to glare at the shapeshifter. “It wasn't pleasant for me either. I wanted to put a dagger in that old fool five minutes after I got there.”
“Now! Now! Tona, you need to watch those violent tendencies.” Dallys poked her head from around the side of the trunk of the tree. “Where is everyone else?”
“We’re here. Borne got us lost.” A man came up the path. He held up a hammer with writing on it. “We found the blacksmith's hammer right where Wincet said it was.”
“I used the map in my data banks. It is not my fault that you refused to listen to me Jace.” Borne looked around. “The portal should be opening soon. Did Nellis and Dallys get the required amulets?”
“We got all of them.” Nellis jumped down from the branch.
“What do you mean you got all of them?” Jace looked at Tona and Borne. “They took them all? How?”
“It’s a magic pouch.” Dallys patted the pouch tied to her belt. “It makes them tiny so they will all fit. Then when you take them out ...poof… they go back to their regular size.”
Jace looked impressed. He patted the hammer. “Maybe we should put this little trinket in there too.”
A portal of swirling mist opened up at the far side of the clearing.
“Time to go.” Tona walked toward the portal.
They followed Tona through the portal. When they all had stepped onto the bridge the portal closed.
“Let's go take this stuff to Wincet.” Jace looked at the hammer. “I think he has a plan for it.”
Wincet met them at the end of the bridge. “Good! You have the hammer. Did you get the amulets?”
“Did they ever.” Tona chuckled. “They took them all.”
Wincet looked at Nellis and Dallys. “All of them?”
Nellis nodded. Dallys patted the pouch and grinned.
Wincet started laughing. “Well done! I wish I could see the look on his face when he finds them missing. Maybe I should use my sphere and take a peek.”
“He watches you. He takes pleasure in making fun of what you are doing when he sees you.” Tona smirked.
“He only sees what I want him to. He can't penetrate the filtering spell I put on his sphere years ago. He doesn't even know it’s there.” Wincet grinned. “The old windbag is too arrogant to check for counter spells.”
“When did you do it?” Jace asked as he handed the hammer to Wincet.
“A little while before I came up with the plan to bring you all to this place.” Wincet looked at the hammer. “This is exactly what i need to destroy those amulets.”
“Why do you need that hammer and not the one in the shed?” Dallys squinted at the writing on hammer.
“This one was imbued with magic when it was forged.” Wincet looked at the hammer. “It is said that it can destroy any dark magical object. Those amulets are nothing but dark magic.”
Since they are all in the pouch, we can smash them all at the same time, right? Dallys held out the pouch to Wincet.
"Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. I wish it did. They will have to be destroyed one at a time. Wincet took the pouch. Let’s go to the workshop and destroy these. The sooner they are destroyed the better for everyone.
Wincet led them back to the house and into the workshop. He poured out the amulets onto the table and looked at Dallys and Nellis. You weren’t kidding. How many of these are they? There must be hundreds.
“Two thousand and twenty eight. “Tona rolled her eyes. “That old windbag was very proud of it. It took all I had to keep from running him through with my dagger.”
“I can imagine.” Wincet grinned. “He was a blowhard when we were young men. I can just imagine how much worse he is now.”
“How long do you think it will take to destroy all of these?” Jace looked at the pile of amulets on the table.
“I don’t know but they won’t get destroyed until we start swinging the hammer.” Wincet looked at the hammer. “Does anyone want to help me?”
“I have to sharpen my dagger.” Tona started walking towards the door. “Maybe next time.”
Dally and Nellis looked at each other and shook their heads.
Jace looked at the pile. “I would love to but I have a bad shoulder. Sorry.”
Wincet looked at Borne. “I guess it’s just me and you Borne.”
“I have to update my systems.” Borne followed everyone out the door.
Wincet grinned. “That was easier than I thought. I better get swinging.”
Hestrick pushed his dinner plate back and sighed. “That was unsatisfying. I need a little fun. I think I will cause a plague or maybe a famine.”
Hestrick stood up and looked for the key to the amulet room. He searched all of his pockets but he couldn’t find it. “I must have dropped it. He walked down the hall and spotted the key on the floor.”
“Ah! There it is! I wonder how I dropped this.” He bent down to pick it up. He walked to the door and opened it. “Light!”
The torches lit and the room was completely empty.
Hestrick looked around on the floor and up towards the ceiling. “No! No! No! No! Wincet! I had to be Wincet. But when did he do this? He couldn’t have gotten in here without me knowing. Could he?”
Hestrick ran down the hallway and back into the main room. He looked into the gazing ball and waited for the images to clear. All he could see was a pile of little pieces and the magical blacksmith’s hammer lying on a table in Wincet’s work room.
Hestrick clutched his heart and gasped. He destroyed them. He destroyed them all. Wincet! You bastard!