The enchanters' guild had established a standing relationship with Alexander in advance to offer an optional quest to apprentices about to embark on their journeys. It was a way to give them a little taste of the life of a journeyman while helping out the alchemist who was always searching for potion components.

  “Indeed, Master Alexander. Do you need my assistance on any quests you or a colleague may be entertaining?”

  “Well, well! An adventurer's spirit. I have three available quests that you can choose from, and there is no obligation to complete any of them if your duties prevent it.” That was a polite way of saying that no harm was done if they were too hard or you got cold feet.

  “And what are your offered quests?” I asked.

  “I have a minor, lesser, and greater quest available at this time.”

  Quests were identified based on expected difficulty, ranging from 1 to 7, related to the skills and experience of the questor. A minor quest for a master enchanter could be a greater quest for someone like me.

  He continued. “The minor quest requires you to gather a flowering Sunburst in the marshes outside our city at sunrise on Springtide morning. They only bloom for one minute at that time, and while they are not difficult to gather, the timing has to be perfect.

  “The lesser quest requires you to gather a venom sack from a giant marsh viper, which can be found throughout the day or night in the marshes outside our city. They tend not to be too near the city during the day, and you may need to delve deeper into the marshes to find them. They are deadly venomous, and you must take great caution.

  “And the third quest, which is a greater quest, is to retrieve a lustrous black pearl from Oyster Cove. They are only found in the deeper waters among the giant oysters, which can be quite dangerous. I have searched for one over the years, and I have never had an apprentice retrieve one yet. But there have been those who tried and never returned.” He finished ominously.

  I knew in advance what the three quests would be since they are the same every year. I planned to complete all three quests, having a strategy in mind. I also wanted to wow him with my success and seek a special favor in return.

  I handed him ten gold coins. “Thank you for your advice, this wonderful vest, and three quests to contemplate.”

  “Do you plan to attempt any of them, sir apprentice?” he asked with a twinkle in his eyes.

  “I am afraid, master alchemist, my counsel on this is my own,” I replied with a mischievous grin.

  I would not worry about any of these quests until later this evening when the group gathers. I planned to complete the quests tonight before my trials, scheduled to start in the guild hall trials room mid-morning tomorrow on Springtide. My companions and I would have a very long night of it, however.

  “A man of mystery indeed!” He exclaimed again and laughed good-naturedly as I turned to leave the shop.

  I paused at the door, turned, and returned to the counter.

  He was still standing behind his counter. “Is there something more, sir enchanter?” He asked with that familiar twinkle.

  “In fact, yes. I am not sure if you are the right person for this, but I am sure that if you are not, you could point me in the right direction.”

  “I would be happy to serve such a loyal customer.” He replied.

  “Well, I encountered three dire wolves recently and picked up some hides, claws, and a fang for my trouble that appear to be wyrds.”

  His eyebrows raised. “Three dire wolves, you say? Were you alone when you encountered them?”

  I remembered my adventure beneath the shading tree. “Yes. It was a bit harrowing, I can tell you.” I admitted.

  He looked at me speculatively. “Your master said I should pay special attention to you and not underestimate you based on your kind and gentle demeanor. Three dire wolves are not the kind of thing an apprentice should walk away from easily. Short of maybe a wizard or elementalist apprentice, no insult intended; it is not the kind of thing an apprentice should walk away from at all.”

  I nodded. “I know what you mean. And I was injured, but a healing draft managed to remedy that after the dust settled.”

  “Well, the fact that there was dust to settle speaks to your wit and prowess. Let’s see these memento mori, and I’ll offer what advice I can give.”

  I set my backpack on the floor and reached for the hides first. The two brawlers moved from their positions either to better observe what I was doing with the backpack or because they were curious about the hides—maybe both.

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  As I removed the first of the three hides and placed it on the counter, I heard one of the brawlers remark, “That is no cub hide.”

  The other two were just as large, and as I removed them, I could tell that the brawlers had changed their opinion of me. There was a nod of respect where, before, they had seen me as a low-risk customer. It also meant that they moved closer and treated me with greater suspicion. I couldn’t fault them; it was what they were paid to do. The protection of alchemists had to be hazardous on several levels.

  By the time the three hides were placed upon it, the immaculate counter was overflowing, but I withdrew the three claws and a fang, putting them on top of the center hide.

  Alexander inspected everything closely.

  “Did you use a silver knife to remove the fang and claws?”

  “I did for the claws, the fang I knocked out with a shepherd’s hook.”

  The alchemist paused and glanced up at me. “That sounds like a story worth telling.”

  I also saw renewed interest in the brawlers. I laughed. “Yes, well, they came upon me unawares, and it was the only weapon at hand.”

  The same brawler who had remarked about the hide size nodded deeply. Brawlers were specially trained to use natural weapons as a common practice. Most warriors and thieves used blades, but brawlers tended to use the most effective and least lethal option at hand. That was not to say they were not deadly, but they were usually instructed to incapacitate rather than kill their opponents. Killing off rough-housing drunken patrons in a tavern was bad for business, for instance.

  Alexander said, “I don’t have much use for the hides, but I know a halfling leatherworker specializing in armor, and she certainly would be interested in these.” He paused in thought before continuing. “But you may also want to consider your own guild hall. Master Habberjaz might be a good option for these hides. I’d start there and go to the leather worker at Tanner’s just down from my shop if the good master is not interested or available.”

  “I should have thought of that myself,” I said with a nod. Master Haberjaz was a prodigy with natural armor. He was very expensive, but based on what I knew of his reputation, it was usually worth the extra cost.

  Alexander said, “However, I am interested in the claws and fang. Would you accept 155 gold for the lot?”

  I thought about it and replied, “Yes, that seems fair, and as you said, we will likely do business together, and building a friendship is more important than haggling over a few coins.”

  He nodded once. “Then we have a sale.” He withdrew a key from a pocket in his vest and bent down to open what I presumed to be a strongbox behind the counter. He handed me fifteen platinum and five gold coins a few moments later. A platinum coin was worth ten gold coins, ten silver coins were worth a gold coin, and ten copper coins were worth a silver coin. The system was straightforward, provided each coin weighed a full ounce. This kept transactions honest across the realm and the various races.

  Do you have any other business to transact, sir enchanter?” He asked after he had given me the coins.

  “No, Master Alexander. It was a pleasure doing business with you.”

  “It is just Alexander to my clients and associates, sir enchanter.” He reminded me.

  “Then it will be Gwydion and Alexander,” I said, mysteriously swiping my finger across my nose.

  “A man of mystery!” He repeated and chuckled as I refilled my backpack and departed.

  Since I was so close to the guild hall, I decided to seek out Master Haberjaz. I discovered at the atrium desk that the good master had left an hour ago for the Crafter’s Corners. It was a mammoth warehouse off Guilds Row, just a bit northwest of the university. It wasn’t very far, and it had been some time since I had been there myself. When I was younger, it was where I learned many of the additional tradecrafts I had beyond my gem and metal work.

  There was a second Crafter’s Corners set up down near the harbor. It focused on more traditional trade work that was useful to the merchants and businesses around the wharf. The location I was heading to was a bit larger and catered to a more upscale clientele. Both had crafting workstations that could be rented out for individual use, along with a wide range of crafters and their wares.

  I followed St. Michael’s Way until I departed the Round and turned left onto Sanctuary Drive. If I took this road to its end, it would take me to the Elven embassy and the river. But I only needed to follow it for a block before turning right onto Guilds Row.

  This section of the city included trade guild halls and professional businesses. The Round covered the mage guild halls, but this part of town was where most of the other guilds could be located, and there were many of them.

  Crafter’s Corners was a wooden-roofed, open-walled warehouse that stretched two blocks west of me and three blocks south. It covered six city blocks and was busy at all hours, day and night.

  I entered from the north and wound through aisles with craft stalls on either side. Each central crafting area had anywhere between two and a dozen workstations collected together that served as the hub of its craft. The stalls and aisles around those hubs were usually rented out by crafters who could be hired to work on independent client projects or for some merchant families on paid contracts.

  Despite the size of the warehouse, it did not take me long to locate Master Habberjaz. His bright yellow enchanter’s robes stood out among the more traditional earthen tones of other workers' clothes.

  Apparently, my own robes drew his attention because he was smiling and waiting for me with his hands on his hips as I approached.

  “It’s been a while since I saw you in here, apprentice. On some errand for one of your masters?”

  Our guild was not so large that my enchanter masters wouldn’t all know about my dual apprenticeship with Master Glimmerblade and Sundance.

  I smiled back. “No, master, I was looking for you.”

  “Me?” he said in surprise, then, with keen interest, asked, “Are you thinking about a specialty class in magical garments or armor? Adding this to your growing array of trade skills might not be a bad idea.”

  All of the masters approached me and the other graduating apprentices about continuing into enchantment subspecialties. This was a common way to recruit advanced journeymen and postpone the journey for those unprepared for time on the road. Some managed to delay the journey entirely. Adventure was not a prime motivator for most enchanters.

  “Perhaps. I have a proposition, but it does not preclude a little learning along the way.”

  He smirked. “As an old mentor of mine once remarked, ‘Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty or one hundred eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young."

  “Wise words and something the masters ensure we apprentices never stop doing.”

  He roared out loud in his often boisterous and dramatic fashion. “Too true. We ride the apprentices in the hopes that they will be worth something in their later years. But you have no fear in that regard; I have seen you here at all hours learning everything from woodcarving to sculpting!”

  I was surprised that he had taken such notice of me, and when I was too young to be of interest to advanced practitioners. The warehouse was home to a hundred different trades, and I had only learned a few of them, but he was right. I did spend a lot of time here when I wasn’t learning from one of my masters.

  “It’s about time you learned some skills to improve your enchanting.” He was still smiling, but his hands were back on his hips. Master Habberjaz was a hard master but passionate about his work. Seeing me hesitate as I tried to find a reply to his remark, he asked, “So, what proposition do you have for me?”

  It was now or never…