Kraghtol had to chuckle. “What’snotyour treat these days?”
Things weren’t as easy as he had hoped. After a surprisingly enjoyable impromptu birthday celebration, which really only was Valir treating him to a ridiculously expensive bottle of wine, Kraghtol got back to the matter at hand. Given what the seal did, it could only be based on two of the eight Principles. EitherWithin, maintaining an undisturbed inside of the sealed area undisturbed, orWithout, keeping everyone out.
Kraghtol was sure there would be more clues concerning the nature of the alchemy used in the markings on the metal, but since neither Valir nor himself could make any sense of them, he had to resort to trying blindly.
It was even harder trying to find ingredients corresponding to thePrinciplesthan it was with the elements. He tried mixing mushrooms that grew inside with crushed ore and various roots, pressing the ingredients into a viscous pulp until his arms ached. When he covered the metal seal with the paste, however, and applied the Activator powder while focusing on getting inside, all that happened after the telltale blue flame was that the mixture crept together on its own. The sight reminded Kraghtol of maggots crawling towards each other until the paste condensed into a perfect sphere and fell to the ground with an almost metallic clank.
The ball was surprisingly heavy, way heavier than the sum of the ingredients, and although it was fascinating, it didn’t help with the problem at hand.
His next experiments didn’t go better. A mixture of river water, fleeting smoke and fluffy cream produced a persistent smell of flowers, but didn’t affect the seal at all. He alternated between trying to mix something with Within and Withoutaffinity, and although the results always reflected the Principle used, he didn’t get any closer to affecting the seal. Since he didn’tknowwhat Principle an ingredient was associated with, a lot of guessing was involved, which took its time.
Regardless, every time he created a mixture that somehow went with the Principle in question, he felt a rush of joy. It feltright. When he was trying to replicate the human transformation potion in the student laboratory, the outcome seemed completely random. This time, there was a pattern in the chaos, at least, and confirmed everything he had learned in the dream: alchemy was based on these eight Principles, and not on some arbitrary four elements.
That crucial bit of insight was still not enough to solve the problem. There was something else he was missing, and when after several failed attempts during the following days the Activator became scarce, he had to admit he wouldn’t get far like this.
Dagna, who had spent most of her time watching his experiments with interest, scratched her chin.
“So, you’re saying you can’t undo that alchemical thing, then? No way through?”
Valir looked up from his newest acquisition: a complicated-looking Dwarven lyre, with a bronze frame and eleven metal strings. Only sixof those were meant to be strummed, and when he did, the other five resonated in a haunting aftersound, filling the room even after the leading note had faded away.
“You can hardly blame him. He didn’t even know things like that existed before he came here.”
“Perhaps if I had more time or… materials to experiment with, I could come up with something. I thought it was easier. Sorry,” Kraghtol said. Even though there was no contract hindering him anymore, he didn’t want to bore Dagna with too much detail about the Activator. Especially since he didn’t understand the substance himself.
“Oh, that’s alright,” Dagna shrugged, and spoke up when another metallic-sounding note vibrated through the room. “It’s not like I could get through before you showed up. But I’ve got another idea. If we can’t get through the front door, perhaps we should just go around it. Can you enhance explosives with your alchemy?”
“Explosives?” Kraghtol was immediately reminded of his glow-paste batch that had burst into flames.
“Yep. I’ve gotten my hands on some mining blast powder. It’s not enough to get through the wall on its own, and it’s difficult to get more, since we have to import saltpeter from the south for it. But if you could make it explode more, perhaps we can just create our own door.”
“That… should be easy,” Kraghtol said slowly. Adding more energy to the blast clearly meant he would need to use the LightPrinciple. It seemed as straightforward as the glowing mixture.
“Good! Because we only have one try,” Dagna grinned.
She was right. Her blast powder wasn’t the only limitation. The previous experiments had depleted the pouch of Activator as well. Perhaps there was enough left for two, maybe three applications. So, he had to make it count on the first try.
Recalling the feelings he had when he touched the Principle in his dream, he let his instincts guide him on the choice of materials and ended up with lamp oil, pitch and sulfur, a sharp-smelling Dwarven liquor, and red-hot heated copper shavings. It was hard enough to keep the mix from bursting into flame even before adding the Activator, which Kraghtol took as a good sign. When it was finally time to add the mysterious catalyst, he hesitated for a moment.Only one try!Shoving away all thoughts of what could go wrong, he focused on the desired effect as intensely as he could.Demolish a stone wall. Blast. Explode. Without looking, he sprinkled the powder over the mixture and heard the sizzle of the alchemical flame. Only when it subsided did he dare to open his eyes again.
In the pot was a dangerous-looking liquid. It was dark now, but illuminated by a low red glow from deep within, reminding him of embers in a burned-down campfire.
Dagna whistled through her teeth. “Will it work?”
“How should I know?” Kraghtol answered. “It looks dangerous enough, though.”
“There’s only one way to find out!”
Valir was enjoying all this decidedly too much and underlined his enthusiasm with a chord of hard-sounding notes from his instrument. Considering how complicated it looked, Valir was getting better fast.Perhaps he had learned another instrument before. He imagined the noble with his eyes closed and a violin to his chin.
“Okay. But I wouldn’t risk removing it from its pot,” Kraghtol decided, forcing his mind back to the matter at hand. He didn’tknowwhether the mixture was as volatile as it looked to him, but didn’t want to find out the hard way.
Kraghtol could not remember having carried something so carefully before, as he took baby steps in order not to shake the contents of the pot too much. The result of his experiment scared him, and droplets of sweat fell from his brow. Dagna, on the other hand, didn’t seem particularly concerned about her safety as she spun around the bag of blasting powder like a handbag. They chose a spot not far away from the metal seal and set up the powder around the pot, directly against the wall. From there, Dagna unrolled a long fuse, which she stuck into the pile of explosive powder on one side and went around a corner holding the other one.
“Oh, I’ve got a feeling this is going to be good,” she grinned as she was about to light the end. “Are you ready for a big boom?”
“Wait,” interjected Valir. “Won’t people notice an explosion that big?”
Dagna dismissed his worries with a wave of her hand. “Hardly. We use explosives all the time in mining, and since there’s nobody there in the alchemists’ foundry, nobody will be able to tell where it came from. So, are you ready? Cover your ears!”
