"I know, but there's no one to teach me about this stuff," he tells them. "I try to be, but magic isn't exactly the easiest thing to work with."

"Probably why there're darn few mages in the world," Roland adds.

Nodding his head, James replies, "Most likely."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ezra asks. When she gets an affirmative from him, she says, "Alright then, just don't do it again." Then she turns and with Tersa in tow, returns to the house.

"Let's see what happened," Jiron says as he moves toward the workshop.

The interior of the workshop is a shambles. His desk now has a large hole in it and the test table has completely disintegrated, shards and pieces of wood coat every surface of the workshop. The other crystals that had been lying on the workbench are gone, most likely are part of the crystal shards scattered all over. He checks the sack of crystals on the floor and finds them unscathed, much to his relief.

"Man, what a mess," exclaims Roland as he enters the ruined workshop. Shaking his head, he picks up a broom in a corner and begins to sweep up the debris.

"Here," Jiron says to James as he takes one end of the ruined workbench, "let's take this out."

Taking the other side, James lifts it up and they carry it out where they set it down along the side of the building. When they come back in, Roland pauses in his sweeping and says to James, "You go on in the house while I clean this up. You look like you could use a rest."

Suddenly feeling how tired he really is, he replies, "Thanks, I think I'll do just that."

"We'll get this place cleaned up and you can start again tomorrow," Jiron a.s.sures him.

"Alright," he says and then leaves them to finish cleaning up the mess. Returning to the house, he's greeted by Ezra in the kitchen with a cup of ale. Taking it, he says, "Thank you." He then moves on out to the front room where he sits in a chair by the window and stares out while he sips his ale.

The spells had taken more out of him than he realized, must've been concentrating too much on the effects of the spells and less on the effects they were having on him. He sits back and relaxes as he thinks of what went wrong.

When the second one began to leech from its surroundings, of course it would take magic from the other one. Then when the first began to drop in power, it started leeching from the second, and so forth.

The strain of working against each other must've been what caused them to begin vibrating and ultimately explode. Going to have to find a way around that.

He must've dozed off for a while, for when he comes awake, it's near dusk and he sees Illan coming back with the hunters. They have several large game animals and Miko seems very happy with himself. Getting out of the chair, he opens the door and goes outside.

"James!" hollers Miko exuberantly when he sees him come out. Rushing over, he says, "I got the biggest one!"

Uther comes up behind him and claps him on the shoulder. "He sure did," he affirms. "Put us all to shame." Giving James a grin and a wink, he returns to the others who are taking the animals around back where they'll begin getting them ready for the fire.

"You better go with them," James tells Miko. "If you killed it, you better help butcher it."

"You're right!" he says as he turns and rushes to follow them.

James grins at the exuberance of his friend. He's sure come along way since James first found him on the streets of Bearn. The changes the Fire had wrought doesn't seem to bother him the way it does James. Guess most boys wish to grow up quickly.

He walks around the house to the workshop and again sees the ruined workbench sitting outside. When he goes inside, he's amazed at just how well they have already cleaned up most of the mess. They even brought in another workbench for him, though not nearly as nice as the other one had been.

His sack of crystals rests on the floor beside the new desk. Going over to it, he reaches inside and pulls one out. Holding it up, he peers within it, not really looking for anything.

From the door, he hears Jiron says, "Haven't you had enough for one day?"

Turning to him, James gives him a sheepish grin and shrugs. "I hadn't planned on doing anything more tonight," he replies. "Just came to see how the workshop turned out." Glancing around, he continues, "You guys did a good job, thanks."

"Not a problem," he says. "Just try not to make it a habit."

"I won't," a.s.sures James. "Promise."

"Tersa said that dinner's almost ready," he tells him. The aroma from the house makes his stomach cramp and growl.

"Then let's go. I'm starved." Leading the way, they go into the kitchen and find that dinner is about ready to be served. The table is set and many of the dishes are already upon the table. They don't take their seats, instead they move on into the front room to wait until all is ready. One of Ezra's rules is no one sits down until everything is on the table. Miko had tried in the beginning and was thumped in the head with one of her spoons.

When the meal is finally ready, everyone comes to the table except Miko, Illan and Uther. They're still out getting the animals ready for the smokehouse. One of the dishes on the table is boiled tubers, one of Ezra's favorites. One of these days, James plans to suggest mashed tubers and gravy. He hasn't seen anything like that since coming here, seems too simple an idea to not have been tried.

Midway through dinner, he clears his throat and once has everyone's attention, makes a couple of announcements. "First of all, I'd like to let you all know that I finally got the letter of account from Thelonius in Cardri today. I went to Alexander's and cashed it in so will be able to start paying you all." He gets a round of applause at that.

"Now, before you all get excited, let me explain a few things. First of all, Roland will be in charge of the money seeing as he'll be here when I'm gone and is going to be my administrator as well. If you should need extra money for equipment or supplies, see him. I'm going to sit down with him later to figure out exactly how much each will receive a week. After dinner, I'm going to give each of you two silvers and then we'll go from there." He sees several heads nodding agreement to what he's saying.

"Now, another thing. Today, a man walked in here and disturbed me while I was in the middle of an experiment and it almost killed me. I want you all to keep alert for any strangers approaching the property and turn them away, gently and nicely if possible. If they seem to have a good reason to see me, and I mean it had better be a good reason, then take them to the house and have them wait while you get me."

"What would const.i.tute a good reason?" Jorry asks.

"Imminent death, perhaps," suggest James. "I don't know, just not for their own selfish reasons." He then goes into the reason the man had come here seeking his help and what happened. When he's done, he asks, "Do you understand now?"

Nodding, Jorry replies, "I think so."

"Good," he says. "I really don't want a repeat of earlier today." He takes another bite and then continues, "Also, I understand there are rumors circulating about me. Jiron is going to go into town after dinner and try to find out just what is being said and by whom. If any of you wish to go with him, I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Jiron nods his head indicating he would welcome any and all who want to come with him.

"Be subtle, don't ask any questions," he explains to them. "Just sit back and enjoy the evening, but keep your ears open. Oh yes, and don't get drunk or cause any problems, please."

At that, several grin and one even chuckles.

"I mean it," insists James. "I don't want to go down tomorrow and pull your sorry b.u.t.ts out of jail."

"Alright, James," Yern says. "We'll be on our best behavior."

Once dinner is over, James goes into his room and returns with the promised silver pieces. He hands one sack of coins to Ezra saying it's for the household expenses.

With money in hand, Jiron and the others going with him leave for town. Roland stays at the Ranch, as well as those a.s.sisting Illan and Miko with the carca.s.ses.

By the time James goes to bed, Miko and Illan are still out there slicing and preparing the meat for smoking. He can smell the meat that has already been placed within the smokehouse.

The next morning when he wakes up, the sound of a wagon leaving can be heard. He quickly gets out of bed and looks out the window, only to find farmer Hunst heading back to the road with his load of milk jugs. A local farmer, he sells milk and b.u.t.ter to the various people living in the area.

He gets dressed and takes out his shaving kit and mirror, something he acquired shortly after coming to The Ranch. The dull knife he uses to shave the stubble off has been magically imbued with the ability to only cut hair. You could run the edge along your wrist without the fear of opening a vein, yet run it along your jaw line and the stubble comes off easily.

Breakfast is the only time when he isn't required to be at the table before anyone else gets to eat. Others rise much earlier than he does and that wouldn't be a very practical rule. He scoops a cup of soap out of a large barrel sitting in the corner of his room and then grabs a set of clean clothes.

Leaving his room, he goes through the kitchen where Ezra hands him a towel before he exits out the back door. A little ways past his workshop is a good sized stream where he had a deep pool dug adjacent to it, allowing the water to flow in and out. His bathing pool, at least during the summer that is. He's not about to use it when there's snow on the ground.

Removing his dirty clothes, he steps into the cool water and then sits on the sandy bottom. It's just a couple feet deep and only comes to his mid chest when he sits in it. Using the soap liberally, he gets all the dirt and grime of the day before off as well as thoroughly washing his hair. All that he needs now is a toothbrush and he'd be set but he hasn't been able to locate one yet, not to mention a suitable toothpaste. He figures he'll have to make one himself, but hasn't had the time yet.

Once he's clean, he rests in the water and just enjoys the sensation of being surrounded by it. Everyone here thinks him slightly crazy to want a bath every day, except Miko who tends to join him more often than not. Most of the others wouldn't bathe at all if he hadn't made it a requirement. Everyone has to bathe at least once a week, more if they're exceptionally stinky. He's going to have good hygiene on his place.

When he finally brings himself to leave the pool, he dries himself on the towel Ezra had given him and then dons the clean clothes. Back at the house, he drops the towel and the dirty clothes in a basket for Ezra to wash later on.

She already has a plate of eggs and tubers ready for him upon his return. Jiron is there as well as Jorry, both looking as if they had too much fun the night before. Between bites, he asks, "You guys okay?"

"Just a little hung over is all," admits Jiron.

"We didn't get into trouble though," offers Jorry.

"Did you hear anything?" he asks them.

"Not too much," says Jiron. "They might've known we are with you so didn't gossip as they might of otherwise. But the general opinion of the people there is that you're okay."

"That's it?" he asks. "Just okay?"

"Well, it's better than being called evil or demon sp.a.w.ned," jokes Jorry. "At least they accept you and aren't afraid of you."

"That's something, at least," agrees James. He sees them exchange glances and asks, "What?"

"Well, one traveler who was pa.s.sing through asked if you were possessed by a demon," Jorry explains.

"Why did he ask that?" he asks.

"Seems someone fitting your description is said to have been possessed by a demon a while back," replies Jiron. "In some town called Willimet, there's a woman who's claiming that you were."

"Oh my G.o.d!" exclaims James. "That's absurd."

"You know this woman?" asks Jorry incredulously.

"In a way," he admits. "Here's what happened..." He relates to them the events as actually transpired back in Willimet. When he gets to the part where he and Miko are forced to leave the angry crowd, Jiron can't stop himself as he starts laughing.

"You needn't worry though," Jorry says, a grin on his face as well. "The people around here don't take any stock in it. They just dismiss it as idle gossip."

"That's good news," James says, breathing a sigh of relief.

"But it makes for a good story," Jiron adds. "I expect it to spread fast."

"Can't be helped I suppose." Changing the subject, he says, "I plan on going into town today. Need to see the blacksmith."

"What for?" Jorry asks.

"Want a special chest made," he replies, not expanding any further on why.

"Like some company?" Jiron asks him.

"Yes, I would," he says. "Plan on leaving right after breakfast."

Finishing his last bite, Jiron says, "Well then, I'll just go get the horses ready while you finish eating."

"Thanks," James says.

Jiron gets up and leaves the kitchen through the back door. James finishes eating quickly and then goes to his room where he fills one of his belt pouches with thirty gold coins. Then he returns to the kitchen and leaves through the back door. Making his way over to his workshop, he searches through his sack of crystals for five of the largest, all roughly the same size. Once he has them in another of his pouches, he leaves the workshop and heads over to the barn.

Outside the workshop, he can smell the meat being smoked in the smokehouse. Glancing over to it, he sees Miko and Illan sitting in a couple of chairs, talking. Looks like Illan is instructing him in the finer points of smoking meat.

As he approaches the barn, Jiron comes out with the horses. They mount and are quickly on their way. Uther's standing guard at the end of the lane leading to The Ranch where it meets the road into town.

"What're you doing?" Jiron asks him.

"Making sure no one approaches the house," he replies. "After hearing what you said at dinner last night, Illan set up a schedule for watches out here."

"Seen anyone?" James asks.

Shaking his head, he says, "Not a soul."

"Be back in a couple hours," he tells him.

Uther just gives him a nod as they turn on the road and head into town.

Chapter Three.

They find the blacksmith overseeing an apprentice who's working on some nails, his hammer ringing with every blow. His other apprentice greets them as they ride up and asks them to wait a few moments while he tells his master that they're here.

When the apprentice has finished the nails, the blacksmith comes over to where they're waiting. "What can I help you gentlemen with?" he asks.

"My name's James and I wish to have a small iron box built to specific dimensions," he says as he holds out his hand.

Taking the hand, the blacksmith gives it a shake then replies, "Kraegan, nice to meet you. What sort of box did you have in mind?"

Using his hands to show the dimensions, James gives him a rough idea what he wants. "Also, I need the inside to be padded to prevent the contents from coming to harm," he explains. "On each of the four sides, as well as the top, I need to have a crystal embedded within it."

"Hmmm," he says as he considers the request. "The box and inner lining I can do with no problem. The crystals now, that's another matter. I know someone who can do it and can get with him to do that part once I'm done with the box."

"That would be fine," James a.s.sures him.